Library Book: Rapunzel's Revenge

When I was at work the other day, I came across Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale. It sounded absolutely ridiculous so I had to give it a try. And having just finished it, I'm really glad that I did!

Rapunzel's Revenge tells the story of Rapunzel. She grew up in a villa like a princess, but bored to tears. On her 12th birthday, she climbed the wall that surrounded the villa and discovered many shocking truths. Mother Gothel was ruling the land by controlling the growth of plants. Mother Gothel had kidnapped Rapunzel from her parents. And Rapunzel's real mother was still alive but a slave. Highly objecting to this, Rapunzel was taken into a forest and locked up in the trunk of a very tall tree. Four years later, Rapunzel has managed to escape with the help of her incredibly long hair. So now she's out to free her mother and stop Mother Gothel once and for all!

Yes, it was an incredibly ridiculous tale (I mean, the heroine defeated everything by whipping it with her stupidly long hair!) But it was also highly entertaining, and definitely worth reading. Especially if you like fairy tales with a twist!

Library Book: Justice Vol. 3

And so ends the Justice storyline in Justice Vol. 3. The Justice League has gathered their forces and are ready to strike; their goal is to save not only their loved ones, but the entire world.

Armed with suits of armor of varying types (alien, organic and mythic) to protect themselves from Brainiac's mind-controlling nanotechs, the heroes have but one chance to stop Brainaic from destroying the world. If they succeed, then no one will die. But if they fail...

Although a bit tough to follow in a few places, overall I enjoyed the whole Justice story. It was a very intriguing idea and I'm glad I read it. Again, I have to mention the artwork; it was fantastic throughout all three volumes. I still think the story was missing more of the Joker though. And even the Riddler, who seemed important in Volume 1, disappeared somewhere after escaping Arkham.

But all in all, Justice is worth reading. Or at the very least, it is worth getting a hold of just to marvel at the artwork!

Library Book: Justice Vol. 2

Out of the insanity that is Jim Krueger's Justice Vol. 1 comes Justice Vol. 2. The heroes of the Justice League were attacked simultaneously so no one was able to help each other. Yet they managed to survive, mainly with the help of some members who are kept as back up. So as the League struggles to reconvene at a safe location, the villains step up their plans. They have created several cities where they have invited humanity to reside in an age of peace. Simultaneously, they have rounded up the loved ones of all the heroes they failed to kill....

Justice Vol. 2 continues the intriguing story of what happens when the world's supervillains team up as a force of good. The pencils of Doug Braithwaite and the paints of Alex Ross continue to amaze me as I read. I can't wait to see how it all ends in Volume 3!

Library Book: Justice Vol. 1

A friend from work recommended Justice to me. He said that the story was fantastic. What he failed to mention was the artwork. Alex Ross and Doug Braithwaite do a stupendous job on the entire series; the pictures throughout the graphic novels are of cover quality.

That said, I'm not so sure I agree with the story being super fantastic at this point. Sure, I've only read part 1 of 3 so far, but it seemed a bit hard to follow in places. It was also difficult in some places when I was unfamilliar with various characters (although there was a handy section at the end of this volume that gave info on a lot of the villians I didn't recognize).

Justice starts out with a terrible nightmare that is being shared by all of the villians. In the nightmare, the Earth dies; all of the superheroes fail to save the planet. And so, the villians of the world unite, creating their own version of the Justice League. They go about doing good deeds for the normal humans of the world, helping the crippled walk, bringing plants to the desert, and random other acts of kindness. Meanwhile, they infiltrated the Justice League's computers to find the secret identities of all of the superheroes...

Justice Volume 1 is a fast paced story where you are never sure just who is really on the 'good' side. It is an intriguing concept, and I can't wait to read more!

Freedom to Read Week

February 22-28 2009 is Freedom to Read Week in Canada. Even in Canada, books get censored, and this week is devoted to the belief that people should be free to read whatever they want to. Please check out their website!

While checking out their website, I found a really interesting list on select books and magazines which have been challenged over the last fifty years. It gives information on who challenged the book, why it was challenged, and whether or not anything was done. Some of the entries on the list are quite interesting. (TBPL made the list over the Madonna Sex book).

School Book: Bridget Jones's Diary

If this hadn't been a school book, I would never have finished it. In fact, if this hadn't been a school book, I would never have read it in the first place. But it was.

Helen Fielding's Briget Jones's Diary reads kind of like a soap opera. Once you start reading it, it gets a bit hard to stop; you want to know what happens next. But once you do stop reading it, then it gets sort of hard to pick it up again.

Bridget herself is not the most wonderful character in the world. She is absolutely obsessed with her weight, weighing in at the beginning of most entries. Her weight seems to fluctuate magically; she gains weight after a night of little to eat and drink, and magically loses pounds after a night of gluttony. She has zero self esteem, judging her worth based on the presence or absence of a boyfriend, or by the availability of people to talk to.

Bridget Jones's Diary follows a year in the life of Bridget. The books starts out when Bridget is forcefully introduced to Mark Darcy by her family and parents' friends. The meeting goes terribly, and Bridget is thankful when she can finally leave the gathering. Meanwhile, back at home, Bridget has a humongous crush on her boss, Daniel Cleaver. They start flirting and Bridget gets relatively confused about their relationship. Meanwhile, her mother has left her father and is seeing a man named Julio, denying that anything is going on because she is 'just firends' with him.

In my opinion, Bridget Jones's Diary was a terrible book. It looks down on women, like they have an 'expirary date' that is somewhere right around the age of 30. Throughout its pages, it seemed to think that women older than about 20 are worthless if they are unattached to a man. But at the same time, a lot of the married people in the book have a hard time as well. They're supposed to be happy, but end up miserable when their other halves leave them/have affairs/etc. As I said, a terrible book with terrible characters and terrible ideals.

Watchmen

A lot of people whom I talked to said that Alan Moore's Watchmen would take awhile to read. So I put off reading it for quite awhile; I didn't want Watchmen getting in the way of school books. But now that it is Study Week, and the movie is coming out in a few weeks, I figured that now was a good time to read. I was a bit surprised when I finished it a few minutes ago, having only started the book yesterday afternoon.

Right off the bat, Watchmen is very intriguing. A man is murdered in his New York apartment, attracting the attention of the police and a masked vigilante named Rorschach. It turns out that the murdered man was another vigilante known as the Comedian. And so Rorschach sets out to try to find out who killed him, and decides to warn the other heroes of New York that there might be a "mask killer" out to get them.

The characters were all great. The most intriguing of the lot was Jon, or "Mr. Manhattan." Of everyone, Jon is the only "superbeing" that exists in the Watchmen world; all the other vigilantes are normal humans who dress up and fight crime. Jon has immense power that is difficult to comprehend, being able to see atoms and even time passing.

The art deserves a mention here as well. Dave Gibbons uses a gritty style that really suited the whole graphic novel. I don't think it would have had the same impact without him.

All in all, Watchmen was definitely worth reading. I was drawn in from the first, and really didn't want to put it down. Everything was well written, including the filler little articles and stories between chapters. Everything seemed to come together in the end. I did find the ending a bit anti-climatic though. It was still good, but it wasn't what I was expecting. But that doesn't stop Watchmen from being a good story that everyone should read at least once!