Books I've read in last six months...

I've been reading a lot all my life, but only since December that I've been tracking them. I use to remind all the main characters and plots of the books I read through the years. I now realize that I can't do that anymore.

My biggest fear is to forget things, I have no problems with dying, each and everyone of us will die eventually and I am not an excpetion. I have a ashma condition that severs me body and I almost die a couple of times because of it. So believe me I don't fear death, sometimes I feel anxious for it. But that is another story. And I am alive so my bigger enemy is my mind.

I will make a list of all books I've read since the beginning of the year....

Most of them are Black Library books and some I've review here. My ideia was to review them all.. Let us See if I can do it.... Now I am reading Brothers of the Snake (Hardback book which makes impossible to me to read outside... I am reading also The Swarm, a massive book with 881 pages... It's an interesting book (i am review it in a different way) that is about the sea... well I am putting here something I read somewhere and could help understand:
""Across the oceans, more and more incidents take place. It seems that the marine world is making a stand against the threat of evolution. Below the ocean surface man discovers that they are no longer masters of the world, as a new species emerges from the deep, one that is dangerous, intangible and intelligent."
And I am also reading a beacon of Fantasy.. One of true masters of Sci-Fi and Fantasy Gene Wolfe with his Book of the New Sun. This one I will continue after the Swarm and Dan Abnetts Brothers of the Snake because the book it's difficult and demans full atention.

Book Review: Thief With No Shadow - Emily Gee

Synopsis

Melke is one of the most unusual thieves ever to have walked the land of Bresse, aided by the magic which courses through her veins, allowing her to become unseen. When, however, it transpires that a necklace she has stolen holds the key to both saving her brother’s life and to breaking a terrible curse, she has to do the unthinkable: steal it back from one of the most dangerous places known to man – the den of the fire-breathing salamanders. Things are about to get very tough for Melke indeed, especially when she comes to realise that the people she thought were out to get her may actually be her only allies… Thief With No Shadow is a rich, romantic fantasy tale set in a world where the ordinary and extraordinary co-exist, where fire-breathing salamanders live alongside men, and magic runs in the blood of mortals.

. Mass Market Paperback: 464 pages

· Publisher: Solaris (April 24, 2007)

· Language: English

· ISBN-10: 1844164691

This appears in the webiste http://www.solarisbooks.com/ about the book. Let me say first and foremost I've been intrigued to read Solaris books. I've bought already three books, this one and Summoner and Helix. I have read Black Library books, I've got them all. And I've got a dozen books of Black Flame. They didn't disappoint me. I receive the book at 17/06 and start reading since I was anxious.... I began reading and start alright and then... I told myself... What a hell?

By the middle of the book I was totally demoralized and only ended it because I've never let one book go unfinished. Not surprising in any way (I saw all the 'twists' in the narrative coming). Dark Romance Fantasy these are the keywords. For me this was a Soap. It has ridicoulous characters. I will make a small synopsis.

Girl (Melke) robs Necklace from the family (Bastian and his sister Liana)

Not surprising in any way (I saw all the 'twists' in the narrative coming). Dark Romance Fantasy these are the keywords. For me this was a Soap Opera. It has ridiculous characters. I will make a small synopsis.

Girl (Melke) robs Necklace from the family (Bastian and his sister Liana). Gives Necklace to the Salamanders who have capture her dying brother (Hantje). Bastian encounters Melke and says my sister can heal him but you’ve got to steal the necklace back. Liana heals Hantje and Melke steals the necklace back. Hantje sacrifices himself for Liana. Bastian delivers the necklaces back to the rightful owner and the curse is broken. Bastian saves Melke from salamanders sacrificing himself. Liana heals Hantje after the sacrifice and Melke and Liana fells in love with Hantje. Hantje loves her and they marry. Bastian marries Melke.

Well this was a summary. Now I will elaborate.

The parts I did like… The dog Endal.

The parts I didn’t like… the plot and the four main characters.

Don’t get me wrong. If you like soap operas than by all means get this book. I tried to read the book and I was disappointment with the development of the story. In the beginning, Bastian hates totally the brothers Melke and Hantje (who are wraiths, persons who can become invisible). The author makes understand that because every phrase got some word of hate in it. Then Melke hates totally Bastian, again we are able to see it in the same way has Bastian.

Hantje for the first 200 pages don’t appear since he is hurt. Afterwards he feels anguished of what he did and as his sister he hates himself for being wraiths and for thiefing. As the book begins you can see… they all are good characters, good in the all term of evil versus good. There are no evil characters in the book. Well apart from the Salamanders and Psaarons but they aren’t characters. They are only there to make the story go. But the evil they do are only because the main characters permitted.

The story goes like these. Someone in family of the Ver’s (Liana and Bastian family) stole a necklace. That necklace was the Necklace of Psaaron’s Tears. Each tear has the memory of the dying Psaaron. So when the Ver’s stole the Psaarons wanted it back. When they didn’t return it the Psaaron’s cursed the family. Since that day no water would fall in the fields and the water became a true enemy of the family killing several characters.

Now the background of the families… (In tragedy this remembers the Dostoevsky in a good way) Both there parents were killed. Bastian and Liana parents both suicide. And Melke and Hantje killed by the authorities because they were wraiths. Let’s weep for them. (It comes to my mind the film Dr Zhivago. I just wanted to kill myself) Now that we felt sorry the main characters let us continue… They are all arrogant with the exception of Liana and the Dog. The same characteristics/qualities are bound to all characters, again with the exception of Liana and the Dog. Mainly this was the ongoing feelings… First Anger and Hate, then Guilt, Sacrifice and Redemption and finally Happiness. Liana is a goddess; Mother Theresa of Calcuta.

In the beginning of the story I already knew the end.

I will not waste any more words saying anything about the book and I will only say this. In my humble opinion the book it’s fast-paced but has a weak plot and weak characters. But if you like soap opera, then by all means: read the book.