The Emperor's Gift

The Emperor's Gift
Author: Aaron Demski-Bowden
Genre: Science Fiction | Warhammer 40k
Release Date: May 29th, 2012
GoodReads

This book is for:
Fans of the Warhammer 40k universe. Everyone who wanted to read about a more "human" version of Space Marines, well this book is definitely for you.

The Review:
The Emperor's Gift is an anomaly among Warhammer 40k novels. This is the first book I've read in the Black Library that does not feel like a typical W40k Space Marine book. It reeks of character-building, emotional play and devious plots, rather than the reiteration of cold hard data being relayed in written form and straightforward storytelling. It is different and yet at the same time refreshing. Aaron Dembski-Bowden managed to do the impossible; make the inhuman Space Marines become relatable and emotional (and not just that of the baser rage or righteous zealotry that we're used to seeing in W40K SM novels) beings that are just like your average (super)human, without any of the baser animal lusts.

The Emperor's Gift is the story behind the Grey Knights, the legendary and covert arm of the Inquisition and the sole Space Marine Chapter to consist of only Psykers. They are the elite tasked with the banishment of daemons when everyone else has failed. Forged from the gene-seed of the Undying Emperor, the term Emperor's Gift is quite literal. The story starts from the pursuit of a warp-ravaged Space Wolves vessel and continues to the First War of Armageddon, and the subsequent insurrection of that entire Chapter toward the Inquisition. The book raises some key talking points for fans of the series: at what point does one toe the line when faced with orders that contradict one's moral beliefs and loyalty. In the end the Space Wolves decide that loyalty and honor outweigh everything else, even the possible taint of Chaos as a result of their actions. Entire Chapters of Space Marines and fleets are mobilized against the Space Wolves who doggedly defend those who they previously fought alongside, and who the Inquisition would rather see purged than let live.

So what happens when a Grey Knights Grand Master clashes with the Space Wolves' Chapter Master? Read the book to find out.

Scores:
Cover: 8
Characters: 7
Story: 8

Overall:  7.5/10 (3.5 Stars)

Big Bad Wolf Aftermath Sale

It's back! If you've missed the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale at the end of last year, fear not, for the sale is coming back soon. Very soon. Once again it's going to be held at the MIECC (Malaysia International Exhibition & Convention Centre ). For more details check out the banner below or follow The Big Bad Wolf's Facebook page directly for more updates.

[Reread] All That Lives Must Die by Eric Nylund

All That Lives Must Die (Mortal Coils #2)
Author: Eric Nylund
Genre: Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: July 20th, 2010
GoodReads

Since Goodreads only allows you to list a book as read (in your GR challenge) once, and only once, I'm forced to take matters into my own hands by noting which books I've reread on my personal review blog instead. The same can be said for reviews; you've only got one opportunity to do so, so I've started a new "reread" category. If you're looking to read the original reviews of the first two books, they can be found here. Since this is the second review of something that I've already read once, there will be major spoilers so if you're looking for a glance at what it's all about please refer to the original review found at the link above.

Now that that is out the way I'll continue on with my deliberation. There are a lot of subtle details and references that I missed on the first read-through, including the veiled references to the divine powers, which obviously aren't talking about the Immortals considering how they're pretty much the same morality wise as the Infernals. Despite all the cosmetic differences and propaganda, they're just as callous towards human life as the other side. I believe that this book hints at the possibility (which is now crushed, but more on that at the end of this review) of actual forces of Heaven, as in the Angels, coming down to the Earth and getting involved in the conflict between the immortal beings. This is supported by a statement made by one of the characters and by footnote #57 where it's claimed that "...this church was later the location where the Divine reentered the mortal world..." that in this context literally means what it says. That Angels or a heavenly host descended from Heaven during the war that ended the Fifth Celestial Age. Angels (at least of the non-fallen kind) have yet to make an appearance in this series so all these dropped hints make me believe that in the third book they'll be more closely involved with mortal and immortal affairs. This is perhaps the biggest game-changer in the series because of the tremendous effect it will have on the overall plot. It will turn it on its figurative head and make the series that much more enjoyable to read with the introduction of a fourth force (the third being the mortal magical families and Paxington Institute) to be reckoned with in the eternal war between the Immortals and Infernals.

However, I just found out that the third book will not in fact, be coming out. Why? Simply because TOR had to be a big-ass douchebag and decline to buy any more books in the series and yet they've obstinately kept a hold of the copyrights to the original two. This is preventing the author from going ahead and getting the next installment out to us; the faithful readers with cash or credit card in hand, just dying to buy the next book. More information on the status of the series can be found here on the author's blog. It's truly a sad state of affairs for those of us who love the series. Here's to hoping that Eric has been writing the third book in the meantime, though there's not much hope of seeing it published anytime soon.

Halo: Primordium

Halo: Primordium (Halo #9)
Author: Greg Bear
Genre: Science Fiction
Release Date: January 1st, 2012
GoodReads

This isn't a book that you can casually just pick up and get into, and expect to know everything about it, even if you're a hardcore science fiction fan. You'd have to have an extensive understanding of the whole Halo universe to even get any of the references which I eventually got by reading up the Halo Wikia, which is something that I do regularly for all of my science fiction or fantasy reads especially after getting into a bit of trouble remembering all the lore and background, which is happening a lot more often now that I've been jumping around between all the various series that I have been reading and not finishing, and then suddenly deciding to pick up again a few months later.

Primordium involves a lot of walking around. I mean of the type that usually happens in high fantasy novels, but you wouldn't exactly expect to happen in the science fiction genre. I mean seriously, 50% of the book involves walking around this massive construct called a Halo, finding random dead aliens and remains of crashed warships and then more walking. Not a lot happens aside from that for over half the book. I probably should have read more Halo books prior to this but hey, I didn't want to invest the time into something that I wasn't really interested in to begin with (unlike the Warhammer 40k-verse, which is frigging awesome by the way), and I wanted a peek at the Halo-verse. I was not impressed with what I read.

So around the halfway mark through my reading of the novel after blundering around blindly and trying to get through the endless walking and poking of dead corpses, I finally did some research into the Didact, Forerunners, the Primordial and pretty much everything (including spoilers). Imagine my surprise when the story started to become interesting for some reason and when I continued reading it was still boring despite knowing pretty much everything about the lore but it finally perked up during the final third of the book. The final third of the book hinted at points that actually piqued my interest and made me keep reading to find out more. The ending left everything off on a cliffhanger and strangely enough I want to find out more despite how bland most of the book was. My interest wasn't due to the actual book itself on its own merits but rather due to the fact that I wanted to find out more about the lore from where it left off. Otherwise the book is totally forgettable.

Scores:
Cover: 4
Characters: 3
Story: 3

Overall:  3/10 (2 Stars)

The Crimson Crown

The Crimson Crown (Seven Realms #4)
Author: Cinda Williams Chima
Genre: Epic Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: October 23rd, 2012
GoodReads

Ambitious, yet underwhelming. The Crimson Crown started out strong and kept on building plot strength until it reached the climax around the ninety percent mark of the book where it suddenly stopped and decided to chill. I felt that the lackluster ending was a compromise to the legions of fans that want a happily ever after fairy tale ending. The author diluted the possibility of what could have been one of the best tragic endings ever.

Overall the story is very solid with immensely enjoyable and breathtaking writing that just makes you want to know how it all ends. The intense rivalry between the Bayars and Han Alister (the descendant of the Demon King and his supposedly genuine royal claim to the throne) continues, with  the Bayars plotting to prevent Alister from consolidating his power over the Wizards, and his discrete political maneuvering to outplay them in return. Certain major events occur as a result of this that will definitely surprise most readers.

It's quite possibly the best book in the series but it could have been a lot better. Aside from the weak ending, this is a really good read and fans of the series should definitely get this book.

Scores:
Cover: 8
Characters: 7
Story: 8

Overall:  7.5/10 (4 Stars)

The End of Magic

The End of Magic
Author: G.M. Gambrell
Genre:  Fantasy | Young Adult | Science Fiction
Release Date: September 3rd, 2012
GoodReads

This is an indie novel published through Amazon's self-publishing program. It's got a decent setting and premise for the story where the modern society as we know it has been overthrown by the magic users. Despite the implications of the story, where the magicians basically committed genocide on the humans (literally in fact, billions were killed and there's only a couple thousand survivors left by the current time in the story), the story isn't as dark as the blurb would have you believe. There was a huge war between the magicians and normal humans after people starting getting magical powers en masse. Now the only survivors are hiding in the ruins of the former human cities while the magicians remain cooped up in their shielded magical towns.

While this is a decent attempt for an indie author, it still failed to impress. For one thing, the characters aside from the main character Duncan, are wholly uninteresting. I could barely distinguish any redeeming characteristics or traits between any of them. If you were to ask me about which characters stood out in the story, I'd be unable to answer you simply because of how forgettable they all are. They're just so bland and devoid of any qualities that would differentiate them from one another or make them stand out in your mind while you're reading the story. I can't quite put my finger on the cause of it, but I think it's because of how focused Gambrell was in trying to further the plot, devoting all his attention and creativity to further the background and progression of the story, thus depriving the characters of any real development.

This is a mash-up of fantasy and science fiction that while ambitious, failed to keep me interested for long. It was a good enough but unsatisfactory read. The ending left an opening for a sequel but I sure won't be reading it if it ever comes out.

Scores:
Cover: 2
Characters: 3
Story: 4

Overall:  3.5/10 (2 Stars)

Big Bad Wolf Book Sale (Malaysia)

Most Malaysians will probably have heard about the Big Bad Wolf Book Sale due to the fast-spreading word of mouth hype by reading fanatics everywhere. You'd be spreading the word like mad too if you had a chance to go shopping for books at 75%-95% off of the retail price. Yeah, that much off. It's kinda insane but hey, I'm not complaining. I do wonder how much money they're making but they probably got their stock for real cheap (returned stock that usually gets destroyed due to not selling/new stock). I mean $2-3 (RM8) for both paperbacks and hardcovers is just too good to pass on and there's 3 MILLION books on sale.

Here are a couple of pics of the venue to give a sense of perspective on just how huge this sale is. The following images are credited to Big Bad Wolf Books.

Credit: Big Bad Wolf

Insane amount of books.

The sale started on Friday, the 7th of December, but some people got preview passes so they got dibs on the best books ahead of everyone else. There's every type of book that you can conceive of; from reference books on design/architecture to history books and every type of fictional novel. I went there on the 15th and I bought 5 Hardcovers, 10 paperbacks and 3 comic volumes for a cheapass total of RM131.

Paperbacks, got some weird stuff as well.

Only copy of this that I found.
Lady Luck was smiling upon me.

Hardcovers for RM8 each (divide by 3 for USD).
Damn good deals especially for The Wise Man's Fear,
 the only copy I found in that entire place
 (believe me when I say I searched every table!)

I got some really awesome books but most of what I wanted wasn't available *sob sob* or most of the good books that I found (Wheel of Time books 12 and 13) didn't have the prequels so I ended up passing up on them. I couldn't find a single Mistborn book aside from Alloy of Law (which is a standalone novel, and not part of the trilogy). Ever since I got a Kindle, I've been far more selective regarding which books I end up buying since when you can get any book in the world (well the popular ones at least), you tend to be far less impulsive in buying just any old book that strikes your fancy. I've reverted to my old habits in that I buy books only to collect them and not mainly for reading. But once I start buying books in a series, I just have to complete the set!

The main issue I have is that unlike last year's sale, this year they've got a LOT of copies of the same books, as in dozens of duplicates of each book; no doubt contributing to the massive increase in books available for sale while at the same time they've sacrificed variety in order to gain quantity. I'm not saying there aren't a lot of different books, I'm just saying that even among those piles of books it's hard to find the ones you're looking for and most of the time you'll be seeing unfamiliar books more often than ones you recognize or are looking for. It made me wish I had a smartphone or laptop with me to look up all these strange books on Goodreads to see whether they're any good. In the end I ended up getting the books I've heard about and wanted to read but never had the cash to buy. I might be heading back to the BBW sale later this week to stock up on the books I missed out on in the hopes that they'll have added the rest of them (there were a lot of books in their storage area still to be unpacked from what I saw).

If you're interested in getting books from the sale don't fret! It's still on until the 23rd of December 2012. For more details check out the Big Bad Wolf website and facebook page:
http://bigbadwolfbooks.com/
https://www.facebook.com/bbwbooks

Legion

Legion (Horus Heresy #7)
Author: Dan Abnett
Genre: Science Fiction | Warhammer 40k
Release Date: March 2008
GoodReads

Legion is without a doubt, the best book in the Warhammer 40k universe. The story is told from the viewpoints of mere mortals; primarily that of the genetically modified soldiers of the Geno Five-Two Chiliad, who are deep in the middle of a war with the human Nurthene. Little do they know that their struggles are being subtly manipulated by shadowy forces waging a proxy war involving powers beyond their knowledge and comprehension.

Most of the story details the struggle of the Cabal, a conglomerate of xeno races including remnants of the Eldar and other unknown species, in order to get a hold of a Space Marine Legion to sway to their cause to overcome Chaos. After hundreds of years of failures, during which their human spies were killed or captured, they're finally at the end of the line because if this last gamble with the newest and latest space marine chapter to be formed, the Alpha Legion, doesn't succeed then all the sentient species in the Galaxy are doomed. Mankind holds the key to their collective fates. In order to do this, they've employed their last human agent, John Grammaticus; a powerful human psyker who has been alive (reincarnated by the xeno-tech of the Cabal) for over a thousand years, to seek out the Primarch Alpharius to convince him to make the right choice...even if it goes against everything the Imperium stands for.

Unlike most other Horus Heresy novels, the main underlying theme behind the story is espionage, especially that of the secretive Alpha Legion who operate as superhuman spies rather than battlefield combatants like their other Astartes brethren. Everything they do has a clandestine purpose beyond the knowledge or comprehension of mere humans. You never see the Alpha Legion engaging in massive conventional combat because to do so would mean that they have failed their mission to manipulate events through more covert means. The Alpha Legion does not fight in the open. Instead they use others to do it for them so that they don't have to get their hands dirty. When they have to fight, they're always prepared to show up in overwhelming force when their opponents least expect it and instantly control the situation so that it ends so fast, the other side never knows what hit them.

The Alpha Legion gave me the image of a bunch of superhuman CIA agents running around in the background, subtly manipulating events and people to get the information and outcome they desire. Obviously a bunch of giants waltzing around in power armor stick out like sore thumbs so instead they act as spymasters and intermediates for specialist human agents who do their dirty work for them. Legion reads more like a military/spy thriller than a typical Warhammer 40k novel. Prior to reading this book, I used to think that Mankind had a chance but now I've realized how deluded that wishful thinking was. The small flickering light of hope for the future was engulfed and snuffed out by the overbearing darkness and despair of the revelations at the end.

Scores:
Cover: 5
Characters: 9
Story: 9

Overall:  9/10 (5 Stars)

This Book is Full of Spiders

This Book is Full of Spiders (John Dies at the End #2)
Author: David Wong
Genre: Fantasy | Comedy | Science-Fiction
Release Date: March 13th, 2012
GoodReads

First of all, I wanted to say that I should have known that it was too good to last. The spontaneity and insane plot twists that were prevalent in the first book is glaringly absent in its sequel. I'm not saying it's really bad. I'm just saying it's not anywhere near as good as the first book.

The first book; John Dies at the End (JDate), wasn't written with any fixed plots in line. Reading it felt like the author was just winging it as he went, with random turns and swerving in the storyline that made you wonder where it was all going. That came out very well and made you feel invigorated albeit bewildered at times, to read this fine piece of random chaotic plots. If you're looking for a great break-down of JDate, just check out the great Stephen's review of it here.

In comparison TBiFoS is subjected to a more rigid and conventional plot. You know where it's going, and how it's going to end but you don't know what will happen in between. That's the ugly bit. It's nearly predictable (but not quite!). The one thing that made it uberly awesome in JDate was almost removed entirely from TBiFoS.

Now back to the book itself. TBiFoS is about a supernatural critter that looks like a spider, but it invisible to most people with the exception of "Them", David and John. Oh and they also take over people's bodies by burrowing into their mouths and brains, ripping apart their soft tissues while doing so, creating the physical semblance of a nearly unstoppable Zombie. The spiders appeared out of nowhere and were nesting in David's bed for some weird reason (never stated), and apparently those two doofuses thought that the best way to handle the situation is not by trying to quarantine the outbreak in their house, but rather by burning the house down. Which inevitable leads to their escape into the wild and subsequent mind control of the entire town of [Undisclosed]. Fortunately the military responded in time and blockaded the entire town before it really got out of hand. Unfortunately they're also going to raze the entire town with thousands of pounds of explosives with the duo still inside.

TBiFoS' plot is furthered by a series of  foolish decisions made by the duo, which serve to screw things up even more and some really, really bad moves by Amy (which by the way made me want to throw the book at the wall, that's how stupid it -no she- was.) If it wasn't for her, it wouldn't have gotten this bad and a major character wouldn't have gotten knocked off. But then there wouldn't have been a story. But honestly I would have preferred one without her.

JDate was awesome, the epitome of comedic storytelling in a modern supernatural setting. TBiFoS felt like the author was trying too hard to replicate the soaring success of his previous book but crashed and burned, taking down everything that made the first book so damn good. TBiFoS was nowhere near JDate on the awesomeness scale. You'd be better off relishing the good memories and laughs you got out of the first book than sully it by reading this.

Scores:
Cover: 5
Characters: 5
Story: 6

Overall:  5.5/10 (3 Stars)

Heroes of Olympus: The Demigod Diaries

Heroes of Olympus: The Demigod Diaries
Author: Rick Riordan
Genre:  Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: August 14th, 2012
GoodReads

If you're a fan of the Heroes of the Olympus you'll love this book. It's great, fun and entertaining. It's written in the classic Riordan style with witty jokes here and there. But I guess I must be growing a bit too old for this series since I no longer found them as funny as I used to. The Demigod Diaries is written around 3 main short stories; The Diary of Luke Castellan, Percy Jackson and the Staff of Hermes, Leo Valdez and the Quest for Buford as well as the short story penned by Riordan's son, The Son of Magic.


The Diary of Luke Castellan takes place during the time Thalia and Luke were still living on their own, prior to meeting up with Annabelle. They get into a scrape when they follow a holy goat into an  abandoned house and become trapped there with a bunch of nasty leucrota, which by the way have got to be the weirdest monsters yet. The Diary tells how Thalia got her Aegis shield chains, and how Luke and Thalia met up with Annabelle after learning about their destiny.

Percy Jackson and the Staff of Hermes takes place shortly after the events in the last Percy Jackson book but before he disappeared. Hermes, God of Thieves, somehow managed to lose his staff to a thieving giant and now wants Percy to get it back. The thing is, it's Percy's one month anniversary as Annabeth's boyfriend and she's not too pleased about it (or the fact that he forgot/wasn't aware that he had to do something special, girls!)

The third short story by Rick Riordan is called Leo Valdez and the Quest for Buford. It's about a runaway magic table that has the components that make up the Argo II (the magic flying ship from Son of Neptune This one takes place after the events in the Lost Hero. During the search they come across some nasty party animals; the Maenads.

The Son of Magic is written by Haley Riordan. In my opinion he's got a great style and I found his take on the Percy Jackson universe to be unique and very interesting. It's got a darker, more serious kind of atmosphere, but suitably so considering what the story is about. In fact, I'd say his story is the best in the entire book. I found Rick's stories to be a bit annoying to read but Haley's story balances them out. I can't wait to see what else he ends up writing in the future. That kid has genuine talent!

However, I didn't really feel like this was his greatest possible work since the humor fell flat on me for the most part. With the exception of his son's story, the rest of the compilation didn't really stand out and wow me. So aside from the excellent The Son of Magic, the rest of stories combined would only give it an average score of 4/10 or 2 stars.

Overall scores:

Rick Riordan: 2 Stars

Haley Riordan: 4 Stars

Kindle Paperwhite vs Kindle Touch: A Review

So I just got the new Kindle Paperwhite yesterday and there are some things I thought I'd point out and highlight. First of all there are no audio jacks or speakers, meaning no audio support or read to me features at all. The second and possibly most important addition is the built in front light which is nearly perfect but does come with slight flaws. Amazon addresses this here. Oh and, you'll need to connect to a wifi network when you first turn on the Paperwhite in order to set it up. I'm not sure if there's a way to bypass that since I had a connection on hand so that might be an issue for some people.

Paperwhite Box.

This is the box that the Paperwhite came in. Unlike the standard brown boxes used for the previous generation, the box is black to match the new kindles.

Inside you'll find the usual usb cable for charging and transferring content to the Kindle. The standard packaging does not include a wall charger or adapter, that's an extra that you'll have to purchase in case you don't have a pc or laptop around. I've found that I've never really needed it since on long trips I've always had my laptop with me and it's quite hard to run out of battery even if I do spend an entire week reading. If the battery life is anything like the original Touch, you'll get at least 30 hours of reading out of it before it drops dead.

Now here's the most coveted feature of the Paperwhite, the front-lit screen. As you can see the light is fairly even with the exception of the bottom-most area which has some dark spots, even on the highest illumination setting. This problem is noted on the Amazon Kindle page, and it's a minor flaw of the lighting. However it's still more even than the lighting of the Nook Glow despite its shortcomings and the light is white, and not the blueish-white of the Nook Glow. Ironically, it's only because of the light that the screen is even white (giving it its name), otherwise I think it'd be slightly brownish like my original impression when I first got it.

Unlike the Kindle Touch, the Paperwhite's back is a rubbery matte build that is surprisingly easy to grip and hold without any slipping. There is also a slight chemical smell that is most likely due to the material used. The smell isn't quite so strong after more than a day so it'll probably fade over time. No biggie there but it was worrying when I first took it out of the sealed plastic.Due to the material, the Amazon logo along with all the symbols and writing on the back is impossible to make out. Unfortunately now that I've looked closer, it seems that the material seems to be very oil-friendly since I can find my fingerprints all over it. The Touch does not have this problem though upon closer review it could also be due to the color which hides oil traces very well. Despite a year of handling I can barely see any fingerprints.

The bottom only has a slot for the micro-usb cable and the power button. From the indentation in the middle, you can tell where the original earphone slot used to be. I have no idea why there's a small hole at all there. The lack of speakers on the back and no earphone slot means that there is no audio support for the Paperwhite. If you're looking for those features you should check out the Touch instead.

Here's a side-by-side comparison of the two, my Touch has a screen-protector on it so it's a bit glossy and reflective...and it's a virtual fingerprint magnet. As you can see the Paperwhite is slightly smaller, and it's thinner too. The front bezels are built from a glossy material whereas the Touch is pretty uniform on all sides. What I love the most about the screen is that it seems to be more resistant to fingerprints compared to the Touch. The screen also has a rough texture (you gotta feel to know it) that is just amazing to swipe. I actually swiped it a couple of times just because of how awesome it feels. It's not too smooth or rough, it's just right.

Another highlight of the Paperwhite is the higher text contrast, which for the life of me I can't tell. I'll just take Amazon's word for it since I can't tell the difference even with the Touch and Paperwhite being compared side by side, with the same page of the same book opened. The screen does look better but that's probably because of the always on light, which gives it its white color, and not due to an upgrade in the literal screen build.

New Cover Menu

Second Page of Cover Menu

Traditional List View

You can choose between the new cover view or the older list view from the Touch. For some weird reason half my books don't have covers...

My meager listing of Amazon books, mostly freebies

One thing worth noting is the lack of a home screen hardware button. The Paperwhite has relegated that function to a software one, which you can access by tapping the top of the screen. It takes two steps rather than one and some getting used to for previous Touch owners.

There's also the nifty "reading speed" detector that lets you know how long it'll take you to finish a chapter or a book. I read about 100 real pages per hour so that estimation there is a bit off due to long lengths of time spent staring at a page or leaving it on while I do other things. 

One of the few major issues I have with the Paperwhite is the fact that like the light, the wifi is perpetually on unless you turn the Airplane mode ON. This is rather annoying because of how fast the wifi drains the battery  (it reduces battery life by nearly half) and having it on by default is not the right way to go about things. Hopefully that'll be fixed in the next software update.The following are the pros and cons of the Paperwhite compared to the Touch.

Pros:

• Awesome built-in light that is mostly even. You don't have to spend an additional $20 on an awkward-looking book light. Money saved that could be spent on more books!
• Native Cloud storage support to purchased Kindle Content.
• Better User Interface (UI)
• Snappy software responses that is way faster than the Touch and nearly instantaneous. 
• Rubbery Matte Finish that is easier to grip one-handed
• Better text contrast (according to Amazon)
• Double the battery life (equivalent to Touch's, with light on at level 10 for a total of 28 hours of reading time)
• More Text Options (Fonts, Margins & Line Spacing)

Cons:

• Smaller internal support of 2GB total, 1348MB usable. That could fill about 1000+ ebooks (assuming 1MB each but most ebooks are actually smaller)
• No audio-support. Text to Speech (TTS) is no longer possible. 
• Strange chemical smell at first.
• Ease at which fingerprints appear on the back (not an issue with the Touch).
• Requires Wifi-activation on first use.
• Lack of a hardware button for the Home screen.

Conclusion:

Overall the Paperwhite is a great device if you're looking to save money by getting a light and a kindle bundled together. If you're looking for audio-support and a larger storage (2GB total on Paperwhite, 1348MB usable), look elsewhere. There is no micro-sd slot either so you won't be able to add on any external storage. For those who are invested into the Amazon ecosystem and don't care about audio-support, the Paperwhite is a great device. In fact, I'd say it's the best e-reader device out there.

We Are Anonymous

We Are Anonymous: Inside the Hacker World of LulzSec, Anonymous, and the Global Cyber Insurgency
Author: Parmy Olson
Genre: Non-Fiction | Technology | Hackers
Release Date: June 5th, 2012
GoodReads

So this is partly about random members of Anonymous, and those who eventually came together to form the elite crew Lulzsec. It's a delightful insight into the world of internet activism, however misguided the intentions behind it may be. When read from this book's perspective, you can't help but to sympathize or feel sorry for individuals involved in these so called hacking incidents. They're not as cool as they seem from their perceived online personas. Lulzsec when cut and dried, aren't really noteworthy individuals aside from the fact that they're highly skilled at computers, or skilled in just propagating online propaganda. Topiary comes to mind as an online persona that is bubbly, peppy and very charismatic even though in real life he's really an introvert. It just goes to show how contradictory people are online and offline.

If you're a fan of Lulzsec back in the day when they were at large and breaking into servers everywhere, you'll love this book because it lays to bare everything and puts it into perspective with all the insider info the author managed to compile. It includes viewpoints taken directly from the Lulzsec crew themselves, namely Topiary, and provides insight into their activities and how they eventually got caught. You're given the play by play of how it all went down, based on the irc chat logs and interviews. I felt like I was there among the elite hackers as they went through it all.

I've always wondered if the methods they were using at the time was infallible (VPNs) seeing as how they were rampaging around for a long time before the authorities finally clamped down on their operation. Now I know how unreliable VPN providers really are, especially when served with subpoenas on customer details, which most of them log to begin with, eliminating the so called "anonymity" that VPNs claim to provide in the first place. So it really brings to mind the fact that hackers will always get caught, at least until a better method is found. Or maybe you could just work for the Chinese or Russian Governments for total hacker immunity and protection.

The fact that most Hackers can't be trusted is drilled in even deeper with the revelations in this book. Even the Great Kevin Mitnick himself was taken down with the help/betrayal of other hackers (read:  Ghost in the Wires). Most hackers are like thieves, as in they're not the most honorable of people. They'll bail on their fellow hackers if they feel even remotely threatened in real life.

Overall 3.5 Stars. Great read. Recommended for those who love hacking, technology and the internet.

I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59

I'm Feeling Lucky: The Confessions of Google Employee Number 59
Author: Douglas Edwards
Genre: Business | Memoir | Non-fiction | Technology
Release Date: January 1st, 2011
GoodReads

I'm Feeling Lucky' is the story of the marketing director who led the charge to humanize what was otherwise a faceless search company that eventually grew to become the foremost industry leader.  Google as perceived by the public, with its oft-repeated mantra; 'Don't Be Evil' was due to the effort of one man, who strived to shape user perception through sheer word of mouth, partly because the Google Founders Larry and Sergey were too cheap to spend millions on marketing firms and partly to legitimize the public perception of Google as a "good" company who genuinely cares about its users. What better way to help spread that "natural branding" than through crowd sourcing and word of mouth?

I'm Feeling Lucky' starts from Douglas Edwards' experience joining Google in 1999 and ends when he finally leaves shortly after Google's IPO, when he finds that the company he helped shape no longer needed him. It's a truly profound and insightful look into the journey of the Search Giant from its early days cobbling together hundreds of cheap, disposable servers to power its search, to its eventual dominance because of its superior search algorithms that actually helped the user find what they were looking for, instead of trying to jack up advertisers' paid ads into the results like Overture (formerly known as GoTo) and Inktomi were doing. In fact, those two former juggernauts were eventually driven extinct because they could not compete with Google which continuously strived to bring relevant results to its search.  Larry and Sergey fought the entire time against paid ads, which they saw as being "evil" due to its misleading nature. They believed that if not done right, it could lead to Google selling out their soul and becoming "evil". They did not want to create another Microsoft.

Larry and Sergey were major topics in the book, not only because of their brilliance and farsighted vision of the future (so much so that they pretty much rejected any suggestion that went against their vision, and which later circumstances and success verified the validity of their foresight) but due to the fact that they rejected much of our narrator, Douglas Edwards' suggestions on how to shape the public image of Google. Douglas came from a creative background, a rare individual in a company full of technical engineers. He was also a lot older than the engineers in their twenties that populated the company, who had never worked a day in their life prior to joining the startup. This, along with their brilliance (most of them were Stanford Graduates) was what led them to consider new and untested ideas that made industry veterans like Douglas cringe and cry, "But it's too risky! It goes against everything we've been taught". This built-in mentality through decades of work experience was not an asset, rather than a detriment for a Googler. Douglas had to relearn everything just to fit in at the company and the early pages of the book were full of his complaints that nobody was doing or following his suggestions, and in fact they usually did the opposite. He eventually got over that phase once he learned to move at their speed rather than the old outdated mode of thinking that he brought from his old job. Larry and Sergey, along with their engineer cohorts were naive visionaries. They had no concept of failure or of something being out of bounds for not conforming to the tried-and-tested norm. They dared to dream, and dream big. Even though the Search Market was cornered by Inktomi at the time, they believed that their budding search engine had what it took to beat out the rest. They believed in helping users find information. They believed that everything should be done as efficiently as possible and that Search would help bring about that ideal.

"Efficiency, Frugality, Integrity. I would suppose if you had stitched that onto a flag, most Googlers would have saluted."

That phrase pretty much sums it all up. That's what they stood for in the early days when Douglas was still at the company. It's what made them so successful early on, that, and the tenacity to keep churning out great products that actually had value and were useful instead of the crap you see nowadays with purely intangible e-products that are time-wasters instead of efficiency-boosters.  It's why their stock value jumped into the hundreds instead of plummeting to the ground after the IPO like a certain social media giant with all its hype and no substance.

I can't recall how many times I use Google a day, but it's probably the most visited and by far the most useful site on the internet. It's where I go to find stuff I need, articles to read up on and answers to my questions when I need them and nobody else around can give me the info I need. My email goes through Gmail, I write up essays and articles just like this one every day on Google Docs or host them there as backups on Google Drive. Aside from Microsoft, Google is most useful to me for boosting productivity and getting things done.

Facebook, Twitter, Zynga and all that lame crap?  They're black holes of productivity. It's gotten to a point where their founders and chief engineers have gotten together to discuss the negative effects of spending so much time using their products. Yes, you've read that right. After making billions off of their users, they've finally decided to slow down and look at the bad, bad things they've done to millions of people who are addicted to their products. They've got money in the bank so maybe it's time to reflect? Naaah. It's probably just a PR stunt. They're still evil.

If you're looking for an amazing insider's view of how Google came to be, including all the ups and downs and the pressure of working inside one of the world's top companies, while still being accessible to the masses, this is the book for you. It's an incredible insight on how dreaming big, incredible planning and vision can help bring about the rise of one of a Giant.

Scores:
Overall: 9/10 (5 Stars)

In the Mail: Beyond The Wall Exploring George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire

Woot woot it's finally here!

The other day I entered a contest that Ned Vizzini (author of Be More Chill, and It's Kind of a Funny Story) was hosting on his blog. He wanted us to put a little banner on our sites promoting his new book The Other Normals, and whoever did that would qualify to win a free signed copy of Beyond the Wall. I was fortunate enough to win one of the books! He shipped it out last week and it finally arrived in my mailbox all the way over here in Malaysia from the US. That was wicked fast. In fact with Eid happening tomorrow I was surprised at the timing because I was expecting it to arrive next month. Epic Duit Raya haha.

Beyond the Wall is an anthology of essays relating to G.R.R.M's A Song of Ice and Fire series. The authors contributing to the book include the Fantasy heavyweights R.A. Salvatore, Daniel Abraham and James Lowder, and the extremely talented Ned Vizzini who specializes in Young Adult Fiction. Did I mention that he has a new book coming out?

Here's the front cover with that cute lil' Direwolf.

Autograph by Nick Vizzini. "Climb that Wall!" 

Yes that's my real name. I have a real facebook account and tried to use Nouda but Facebook wouldn't let me so I tried a fake name instead for my secondary account.

Stylishly simple back cover. 

I'm not sure if this is reviewable material. I haven't done more than skim the contents but it seems like a collection of literary criticism essays of G.R.R.M.'s work by other authors aka book reviews by other great authors. I'll post little snippets later after each essay I read. I can't wait to start! For more info you can check out the Goodreads entry by clicking here.

To the Muslim readers of this blog, have a great Eid Mubarak tomorrow!

God of War

God of War 
Author: Matthew Stover
Genre: Fantasy | Game
Release Date: May 25th, 2010
GoodReads

I knew that movie to book adaptations were bad, but games are hardly any better. The author was even so kind so as to include practically every single battle scene and enemy encounter that could have been found in the original game itself. Thank you for making exciting battles insanely boring.

I really wanted to like the book because I'm a fan of novels relating to Ancient Greek-mythology and an author's unique spin of a somewhat old concept into his new world. All the major Gods; Poseidon, Zeus, Athena...etc, they're all found within the pages of this novel. Combine that with epic battles, legendary weapons and the undead, and this book should have been AWESOME. Somehow, the author made complete badasses and amazing mythology seem as boring and dreary as having to sit through a droning history class in the afternoon...with a full stomach.

If you really want to know how this book reads like, picture an annoying younger brother or cousin who gives you the play by play of his favorite game, one that you're remotely interested in but have never actually played. Imagine him doing that for 300 pages worth of words, detailing every encounter, every battle, every swing of his enchanted blades and then you'll know the sheer level of determination and grit it took me to get through this book, because I just had to know how it ended. After all this is one of the more popular games around. It's definitely cool to play, but not worth reading about. I was just hoping it was a slow start and got better toward the middle but I was wrong.

Avoid this book like the plague and just play the game instead. It's the same thing but without the boredom factor.

Scores:
Cover: 3
Characters: 2
Story: 2

Overall:  2/10 (1 Star)

The Last Guardian

The Last Guardian (Artemis Fowl #8)
Author: Eoin Colfer
Genre: Supernatural | Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: July 10th, 2012
GoodReads

Oh god. It's finally over.

 This has got to be the most overused, overwritten and overdone series in existence. I'm not saying it's bad or even shoddy writing. I'm just saying...dude you need to let that dead horse rest. It's past its prime. It's time to let it go to the green meadows in the sky.

This is the 8th book in the Artemis Fowl series. The 3rd book was the final book that I consider to still be on the peak of the literary mountain in terms of enjoyability and from there on, with every additional book it went swiftly downhill. Artemis Fowl is no longer cool. He became this bratty, whiny and self-conscious teenager wallowing in his doubts instead of the cold, infallible and self-assured genius that we were accustomed to seeing. He should have been killed oh so many times and perhaps with his death, we would have been able to end this with an "oh damn, that was some deep shit. It hit me right in the feels", and perhaps I could have looked back at the Artemis Fowl series with fondness. Instead I'm just fed up with it entirely.

The general problem with the later Artemis Fowl books is that the plot is overly random. The fact that Colfer is not an overly skilled world-builder only accentuates that problem. If Artemis Fowl was of an epic-fantasy standard, this wouldn't be so bad. He would have known to laid down the groundwork for all this in his earlier books but instead he has to recycle the same old concepts and characters over and over again, albeit in increasingly unbelievable settings and turn of events.

He's more of the type that goes, "Oh look at that. There's something there in that old familiar place that you didn't know about before BECAUSE I didn't tell you about it. Heck, even I didn't know about it myself until I spontaneously wrote it!" There was no firm groundwork laid in the previous books for this latest installment.  That, and the constant technological/plot deus ex machinas only served to highlight the fact that there is no reason for there to be a sequel.

Ok this was supposed to be somewhat funny (though I failed to do more than smile in amusement), so I guess I could be becoming *gasp* immune to Colfer's brand of humor. After all, 8 books of this (10 if I include the Supernaturalist and that in-betweener, the 7th Dwarf) would probably cause that.

Now let's address the bits of plot that really ruined it for me. First of all, a soft and kind Artemis just rubs me the WRONG way. He's even more of a pussy in this book. I liked it more when he was badass and confident in his superiority, so much so that you know that he will come up with something to save the day. Lately it's becoming more like "What if I mess up and someone dies?!" You can see this from the fact that after his plan A fails, he suddenly freezes up. The pressure of failure got to him. The fact that his plan did not succeed messed with his mind so much that his indecision nearly cost his friends their lives.

Oh and how about Butler you ask? He becomes next to useless in this book. In fact, if he were missing entirely from the novel you probably wouldn't have noticed. He gets knocked out of commission so many times that you wonder if the great Butler has been reduced to the status of an extra, or even a plot filler to pad the page count with. On the other hand, Mulch is still the ever present Wizard-archetypal character for Artemis Fowl. His dwarf skills is the "magic" that saves Artemis and co. time after time in the novels. Whenever Colfer can't think of anything else, in comes Mulch Diggums to save the day. 

For those of you who were hoping for romance between Holly and Artemis, don't expect to see any. Colfer teased us constantly with the potential of some luuurve between the two, but somehow in his rush to end the series with bang, he neglected to expand upon it properly. Sure, there are hints of it here and there but nothing substantial actually comes of it. It would have been better to have excluded elements of it completely so that the story focused entirely on the action bits instead of trying to make us pine for something that wasn't meant to be.

Now for the ending. This part unfortunately is a bit of a spoiler. The ending wasn't masterfully done. He tried to do a Nathaniel (fans of the Bartimaeus Trilogy will get the reference), but ended up failing hard when he didn't go all the way. He wrote in a plot backdoor in case this isn't really the end. Colfer basically said, "Let's have this happen just in case I want to milk this cash cow later if my other books flop." 

Let's hope I'm wrong about that possibility and that this is really the end.

Scores:
Cover: 8
Characters: 5
Story: 5

Overall:  5/10 (2.5 Stars)
Comment : Unless you're a hardcore fan of the entire Artemis Fowl series (and not just the holy trinity / first three books) then you're better off borrowing this book from a friend or the local library.

Barcode: Legend of Apollo

Barcode: Legend of Apollo
Author: Kashif Ross
Genre: Fantasy | Young Adult
Release Date: February 4th, 2012
GoodReads

Disclaimer: I received a free copy from the author to read. It has had minimal impact on my feelings for it, but yes, I am somewhat emotionally influenced by that fact. Full disclosure here. Stop reading now if you have problems with that.

First of all, I'm going to say that this story had a great concept and was unique, at least in my book. 

The first issue I had with the book was the numerous errors that I found (without actually looking for them) in the first 15% of the book. The first one is surprisingly on the first page itself, in the warning."WARNING: This book contains sarcasm that may offend people, a charater driven story." Or the one on page 38:  "You were always sharing your senses with me and othes". This is a problem that certain indie published ebooks have in common. It's probably not just limited to this book alone but I was 100% honestly not searching for errors. I just happened to come across it like a guy tripping over an obstacle in the dark.  Once that happened, I obviously became more sensitive and aware of further errors, which I've highlighted and emailed to the author for correction upon his request.

Now, let's proceed to my critique of the story itself. I had a lot problems with the way the story was written especially the first 30% of the book, which frankly was so confusing at times that I went back a few pages to try to understand what was happening and wondering if I had missed a scene. The most prominent example is the one where Kode breaks his "cement healing pack" and wanders around the hospital, spooking a nurse and then Spencer and Michelle finally find him showering...and that's it. The Chapter ends there. See what I mean by confusing as hell?

I was on Kashif's blog yesterday checking up on his release date and Smashwords availability of his second book when I noticed a 'event timeline' of his first work, Barcode: Legend of Apollo. I noticed that he previously had problems with the whole reader comprehension bit of the book. He even mentioned being extremely frustrated with it after asking his editor to give her honest opinion regarding the shortcomings of the book. Frankly, I think he managed to fix it somewhat with the subsequent edits but the problem is still there. It may have been reduced but I had a hell of a hard time wrapping my head around it. It's not a big part of the book, it's just random scenes every once in a while like my last example that make you go; "WTF".

Another minor issue I have is the lack of emotion/responsibility. Spencer found that Kode is messing around with the school and possibly endangering everyone's life but what does he do? He wants to handle it personally. While it may fit in with his tough guy personality, I find it baffling that with another incident (where hundreds of people were secretly massacred in the city) he also didn't feel the need to...I dunno, REPORT IT TO ANYONE. I mean that's the typical response of most everyone, to tell someone about it so they can handle the problem. But no, he acts like it's all normal. Again, the character driven not plot line comes to mind. The fact that Spencer is an arrogant prick could be the reason behind it.

Oh, the dialogue could also use a bit of work. The immature brat, pest...etc etc, constant name calling between Spencer and Michelle at the very beginning nearly put me off the book. I found it to be extremely annoying to read especially when 19 year olds are doing it to each other. It got to the point where I found it to be forced rather than coming off as natural. On the other hand the cute way Michelle used Spencer as her personal body carrier by climbing onto his back and him walking around with her still attached was one of my favorite parts of the book.

Now for the good bits. Despite all the shortcomings I still liked reading the book. It gets a lot better after the first third of the book. You can definitely tell that Kashif had managed to get over the initial slump that new authors seem to have when starting their books (oh and did I mention that this is his first published work?), he manages to work out the kinks and writes a pretty smooth story that was enjoyable to read and had plenty of action. I've always loved fantasy reads involving a new mashup of ancient mythology with modern or futuristic elements (The Percy Jackson Effect <3). This book has both. Powerful new tech and abilities powered by Barcodes (tattoos) connected directly to the source (aka God Power). The Gladiators are super-humans who are linked to the Gods and can harness part of their power, but like in Real Life, not everyone has the same level of ability. There are those God-level people who can channel most of their deity's powers and under them you have the Demigods and then you have the Apes (derogatory term for human gladiators with minimal barcodes)  at the bottom of the pyramid.

The ending was....woah. Emotional overload and potentially spoiler worthy so I can't elaborate much, but it is shocking. I definitely did not expect that to happen.

I understand that this book is a character driven but you can't neglect the plot. If possible you need both to make it an AWESOME and therefore marketable read. If it's really great, then word of mouth will help spread your books. It's especially important for indie authors to get exposure. Word of mouth has been and will probably always will be one of the best ways to get marketed. The first third of the book, while kind of rough around the edges, still didn't take away from the fact that this is a decently good read. You'll enjoy Barcode: Legend of Apollo if you like YA action-oriented reads. I'll be buying the Cavern of Youth later this month.

Scores:
Cover: 9
Characters: 5
Story: 6

Overall:  5.5/10 (3 Stars)
Comment: To be honest, I first thought this was gonna in manga form from the author interview I read (where Bleach was mentioned by the author and how he wanted to one-up that series) and from the cover itself.

Zombicorns

Zombicorns
Author: John Green
Genre: Young Adult | Science Fiction
Release Date: January 2011
GoodReads

Zombicorns is a book of contradictions. Let me give you an example, the main character is trying to keep her humanity in the face of all the Z'ed, and being possibly one of the sole survivors. John Green does his typical, smarter than average person character building. We're led to believe that the main character is principled, gutsy and is well very read (even going so far as to go the library to do research during the Zombie-o-calypse. That's pretty high up there on the intellectual scale.) Most people would be busy enough simply trying to survive. However close to the ending she does something completely "out of character", thus ending it on that sad and baffling note.

John Green was not kidding when he said that it's a bad Zombie book. But that's like saying Sonnet 18 is a bad poem. Even at his worst, John Green's Zombicorns was a worthwhile read, despite being on an entire tier lower on the awesomeness scale compared to the rest of his books.

Just don't go in expecting it to be like his other books and you won't be disappointed. You'll be surprised at the awkward ending.

Scores:
Cover: 4.5
Characters: 5
Story: 5

Overall:  5/10

Battleship (Movie Tie-in Edition)

Battleship
Author: Peter David
Genre: Science Fiction
Release Date: April 24th, 2012
GoodReads


This has got to be the worst book I've read in years. Thank GOD I didn't go watch the movie, because if this book is representative of it, it sucks. For an action movie, it sure lacked action. The aliens were like a really bad extraterrestrial commie stand-in. Pure ebiiiil.

The main players involve some alien "Stingers" (their equivalent of submarines/surface ships) that got wiped by conventional weapons. Apparently extremely advanced alien shield tech can be overcome by 50 calibre bullets. Big WOW there. It's so mindbogglingly mindblowing (lol@redundancy) that I actually had to put the book down to digest the concept. Bloody hell. Supersonic projectiles can overwhelm shields able to stop space debris travelling at a fraction of c (light speed for those of not well-versed in sci-fi). That makes sense. If those humans were firing, I dunno, rail guns at near c I'd totally understand. But this is your conventional machine gun. Barely stone age tech compared to the Regents (the aliens) who have can travel ftl and manipulate the molecules in water to form solid impenetrable walls. It makes no sense.

Then there's the sub-par dialogue full of cliché after cliché. It makes you wonder whether Hopper the character, was aware the entire time that there's an audience watching/reading about him and that he's pandering to them instead of being a "real" character in his own fictional little world.

Then there's his fiance/semi-fiance. She comes out as extremely shallow and "girly" despite being the so called "badass" daughter of a fleet admiral. The entire time I was reading her scenes, I kept feeling sorry for Brooklyn Decker for having to play this character in the movie. She whines, bitches and cries when faced with danger. She nearly got everyone killed when she couldn't stop hyperventilating and screaming after seeing an alien up close.

Now back to the main character Hopper. This is your average caveman. He thinks like one, acts like it and only follows his baser instincts when confronting a challenge. Someone pisses him off? Punch the dude and start a fight in the bathroom. Court-martial afterwards? Ooops I didn't think of that. I'm in it for the short-term. Aliens then pop up and kill his brother. Oh geez, I'm now in charge of two ships and the lives of their crew. Let's go kamikaze on those aliens despite the fact that it didn't work before. "You guys killed my brother. Imma revenge him! Oh shit, our ships got blown up and hundreds of people died because of me. I should have thought of that before but my foresight and planning only goes up to 5 minutes in the future!" Totally flat, 2 dimensional character. It would have been more entertaining if they had replaced him with a sock-puppet.

That's the typical plotline of the story. It's not worth the paper it was printed on. The biggest beef I'd had with the whole affair was the dumbing down of the aliens. It just wasn't needed, but then again, if the aliens weren't nerfed, the humans would never have a chance at all. This wouldn't have been a typical Hollywood happily ever ending. Instead of creating an awesome sci-fi thriller, the movie studios sought to pander to the unwashed masses by trying to let the good guys win, regardless of how idiotic the outcome turned out to be. This might explain why the movie tanked at the theaters.


Scores:
Cover: 5
Characters: 1
Story: 1

Overall:  1/10

DO NOT READ.