Shadowmoor

It's taken me awhile (I read the first story back in March), but today I finally finished the Magic:the Gathering Shadowmoor Anthology! And I have to say I really liked it! Right off the bat I was enchanted with the land of Shadowmoor, from the treefolk and giants to the merrows and elves. I liked that there were no humans present. It, and Lorwyn (the sunny, happier Shadowmoor), reminded me of a fairy tale land and I liked that. But if Lorwyn is the happier side of the coin, Shadowmoor is the dark, Brother's Grimm fairy tales. Almost all of the tales in this anthology are darker, and many have twists that end in death, destruction and suffering.

There were nine stories in total, most by authors I am unfamiliar with (unless they wrote stories in some of the other Magic anthologies I have read). Out of the nine stories, I really enjoyed five of them, and thought another three were alright. It was only "Expedition," the story about the kithkin doun trying to teach fear to one of its members, that I really didn't like. Shadowmoor was a great read, and I wish Wizards of the Coast would continue to tell tales from this dark land (and its sunnier counterpart).

Batman: Haunted Knight

After finishing Dalamar the Dark, I knew I needed something fast and good to read. So I decided to give one of the three Batman graphic novels by Jeph Loeb that I bought in Toronto a try. I arbitrarily chose Batman: Haunted Knight because it looked like it was the shortest of the three.

Haunted Knight is a collection of three Batman Halloween specials by Loeb and Tim Sale. The first story features the Scarecrow rampaging through Gotham during Batman's early days. Batman becomes torn between his duty of stopping the Scarecrow and his personal wants when he meets a beautiful girl at a Halloween party.

The second story features the Mad Hatter's twisted scheme based off of Alice in Wonderland. He kidnaps children in an attempt to reenact the novel. While Batman is on his tail, the Hatter makes it more personal for Commissioner Gordon when his daughter is kidnapped by the madman.

The final story is a Halloween version of A Christmas Carol. Batman is visited first by the ghost of his father and then by three spirits who wear the guises of various villains and Death.

All three stories were excellent! I felt like I devoured the book, it was so good!

Dalamar the Dark

Although I enjoy reading fantasy novels, I do not normally concern myself with the magic of a world, including its mages. This is especially true of the fantasy lands such as Dragonlance, where the system runs off of a pantheon of Gods in much the same manner as Dungeons and Dragons. That said, I am a fan of Nancy Varian Berberick's books, and so I was willing to give Dalamar the Dark a try.

Dalamar the Dark tells the story of a servant elf who was born with a lot of magical talent. He was taught only a little bit and very grudgingly by the Silvanesti Elves who practice good magic, and so he taught himself black magic in secret. When war threatens his homeland, the elves must flee their homeland. Once they return, Dalamar is caught and exiled from Silvanesti forever for worshipping the dark gods. Dalamar then goes on to fulfil his destiny as a dark elf.

While this book sounded like a lot of fun, it was a very ponderous read. From the beginning, it seemed hard to follow, jumping around all over the place with no real consistency. This wasn't helped by the fact that it's been a long time since I've read any Dragonlance novels, and so could not remember what happened in the world (Dalamar the Dark parallels the story from the Dragonlance Chronicles series). But even after it stopped jumping from person to person, it just never made me want to read it. Picking the book up was a struggle, and so was reading more than about five pages. While the ending was alright, it never seemed worth the struggle to get there. As a fan of Berberick's work, Dalamar the Dark was a huge disappointment, and I do not recommend it to anyone. There are many better books out there, both in the Dragonlance series and by Berberick.

A Kiss Before the Apocalypse

I haven't cried so much at the end of a book since Brightly Burning by Mercedes Lackey. Thomas E. Sniegoski's A Kiss Before the Apocalypse was an amazing, beautiful book. Midwest Book Review describes it as a "Heart-wrenching, beautiful urban fantasy," which is the perfect summary of it.

This is the story of Remy Chandler, an angel who has decided to renounce Heaven and live on the earth as a human. He is a private investigator, is married and has a black lab, Marlowe. Yet his life is turned upside down when he discovers that the Angel of Death is missing, along with the scrolls that will summon the Apocalypse. And so he is hired by his Seraphim brothers to find the missing Israfil and avert the Apocalypse.

I was enchanted right off the bat by the characters. Everyone, from Remy to Marlowe, is well thought out (Remy can talk to animals, and so Marlowe and he always converse). Everyone has their own quirks, and while not all of the characters are likable, they are all unique individuals whom I enjoyed reading about.

As I said before, the story is both amazing and beautiful. It is full of magic and adventure, but at its very heart, A Kiss Before the Apocalypse is a love story. It will speak to anyone who has ever lost someone they loved.

Spy vs Spy

I know, I know, it's a little bit weird having a book like Spy vs Spy 2: The Joke and Dagger Files on The List. I mean, the book is mostly made up of the later Spy vs Spy comics from Mad Magazine. But even though there are very few words (there are a couple of articles in the book), it still took a bit to read. I found out the hard way that you can only read so much Spy vs Spy at any one sitting.

But that doesn't mean that it's not worth reading. Spy vs Spy 2 was full of hilarity, as well as some interesting articles by the various authors and illustrators of the comic. I really enjoyed this volume, and am going to look for the first volume (which has all of the strips by Spy creator Antonio Prohias!)

Thunderbolts: How To Lose

This was another graphic novel that I picked up from Chapters for like $1. I saw it the day I bought Club Zero-G for $2, but didn't pick it up then. It was during a later trip that I found it marked down for even less.

Thunderbolts: How to Lose by John Arcudi collects issues #76-80 of Marvel's Thunderbolts. It tells the story of Daniel Axum, a former supervillain who served his time in prison and is trying to lead an honest life. But he attracts the attention of a local (il)legal fight club.

Judging from its cover, I wasn't sure I would enjoy it. Coupled with the last graphic novel I picked up for $1, I was extremely skeptical. Yet I really enjoyed reading How to Lose. I liked the characters (especially Armadillo). I liked the overall plot. And I really liked the ending. I don't normally read a whole lot of Marvel, but How to Lose is definitely worth it!

Harley and Ivy

This was one of the graphic novels I picked up from Toronto. While the other ones were a bit more serious looking, this one just looked like a lot of fun. So I just had to buy it. I mean, I can't really picture Harley and Ivy together.

Luckily, this was exactly the type of read that I needed: totally different from those magazines! Harley and Ivy are indeed an odd pair, which led to some hilarious antics! This volume collected three different stories about the unlikely duo. The Bet, the first story by Paul Dini, was a hilarious little romp. Harley bet Ivy a dollar that she could get more of the Arkham males to kiss her! Love on the Lam by Judd Winick had Harley kicked out by the Joker, so she enlists Ivy's help for a big score. Ivy attempts to get Harley to go off on her own for awhile, away from the Joker's influence. And finally, there was Paul Dini's Harley and Ivy, a longer story about the pair on their random adventures to South America and Hollywood.

This was a great read! Perfect for any Batman fan who wants a break from the seriousness!