Monday, March 14, 2011

Books: Fallen by Lauren Kate


This year on my birthday I received a lot of wonderful presents, which I really love from people I deeply care about. One of them is the Romanian translation of Lauren Kate's "Fallen". I was intrigued by the presentation on the back cover and I started to read it last Sunday and was immediately hopelessly mesmerized by it. I finished it on Wednesday and then wanted to read it again (which never happened to me, when reading a book again, I find that its magic is gone and I feel even more disappointed) or at least get the next novel of the series.
It is the book I always sought for, the perfect combination of writing talent, storytelling and the story itself. It is probably the only book I have read until now (and there are a lot of them), which didn't left me slightly disappointed by one of the above mentioned reasons. Also its atmosphere is beautiful and gracefully gothic but with passages full of horror. The fact that the main female character is not a natural blond with blue/ green eyes is a huge plus. The way the story evolves makes you read breathless until the end. The story itself is one of the most beautiful and tragic love story in literature, without getting too cheesy. It is similar to Liviu Rebreanu's "Adam and Eve" (another book I really close to my heart, but slightly dethroned by this one) but it evolves more gracefully and has another level of symbolism in it as opposed to Rebreanu's realism. I can say that this book is like beautiful hand made lace: precious and complicated.
I am convinced a lot of people will compare the "Fallen" series with the "Twilight" series, but even though the two have similar stories (an impossible love story between a mortal girl and a fantastic creature), they are profoundly different in the way the characters are built (ex: Daniel Grigori is more human in his reactions to Luce than she is) and the way the main female character thinks and relates to the others (Luce is smarter and feels things differently than Bella, who is partly blinded by her love for Edward).
What was your impression on "Fallen"?
I am in the process of getting "Torment" and I will be sure to post my opinions about it after I have finished reading it.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Music: TERRY PRATCHETT's "Soul Music" (A Discworld Novel)

No-spoilers-alert!

After all the stress and huge amounts of learning during the exam period, I felt the need to do some reading for my soul. I decided to fulfill my soul's need with something close to my heart: reading about music and decided to read Terry Pratchett's "Soul Music". I love the way he writes, his smart wit and funny ironies! He writes stories where you find yourself laughing so hard in a bus, that the people around you look at you asking themselves were you ran from.
I previously read his "Small Gods" and enjoyed it immensely. The world he creates is so beautiful and in the same time full of criticism towards our real world, that you cannot not find yourself in there. His characters are also colorful and alive.
Back to "Soul Music"... Well, it's about music... heavy or rock or hard rock music... in a world, where this sort of music is not common at all... I sometimes find myself humming some heavy melodic songs while reading about the music. I haven't finished it yet, but I am closing the ending and I am sure I will love it just as much as I love it until now. Will come back and mention if I didn't.

Here you can find more about Terry Pratchett's books.

Have you also read Terry Pratchett's books? What's your favorite?