Wizard and Glass by Stephen King

Title:  Wizard and Glass
Author:  Stephen King
Pages:  672
Genre:  Fantasy / Romance
Publisher:  Plume, 1997
Series:  The Dark Tower, Book 4

"It wasn't blood but roses."

Synopsis:   Stephen King invites readers back into the world of Roland the Gunslinger, in this, the eagerly anticipated fourth volume in his epic series of horror and fantasy. Wizard and Glass picks up where the last book left off, with our hero, Roland, and his unlikely band of followers escaping from one world and slipping into the next. And it is there that Roland tells them a story, one that details his discovery of something even more elusive than the Dark Tower: love. But his romance with the beautiful and quixotic Susan Delgado also has its dangers, as her world is torn apart by war. Here is Roland's journey to his own past, to a time when valuable lessons awaited him, lessons of loyalty and betrayal, love and loss. As he did in the first three volumes in the Dark Tower series, The Gunslinger, The Drawing of the Three, and The Waste Lands, Stephen King displays his marvelous talent for storytelling. Wizard and Glass is Stephen King at his very best.

Death for you, life for the crop.  Charyou tree.

Review:  This is probably the most difficult book of The Dark Tower series for me to get through.  A great deal of the story is about Roland's past.  His childhood takes several horrible twists and turns.  I know it's required.  How else would he become the Gunslinger he needed to be later in life?  But, that doesn't make the story any less tragic.

I also never loved the way this book brings portions of the The Wizard of Oz into the mix.  It just seemed strange and unnecessary to me, although I admit it does create an oddly scary backdrop for the meeting with Randall Flagg.  It can be argued that Maerlyn's Rainbow and The Wizard of Oz fit together seamlessly, even if it is in a twisted fashion, but the fit seems just a little too forced, a little too bizarre, and somehow out of sync.

All that aside, this story is a necessary part of the quest.  It defines how, when and why Roland began the quest and why, after all this time, he must continue it to the bitter end.  It's also a great story, even though I find it strange in places.

Rating:  9 / 10

By the Light of the Moon by Dean Koontz

Title:  By the Light of the Moon
Author:  Dean Koontz
Pages:  431
Genre:  Thriller
Publisher:  Bantam, 2002
Series:  Stand Alone

"No Goldfish, no pee, no fold."

Synopsis:  Dylan O’Connor is a gifted young artist just trying to do the right thing in life. He’s on his way to an arts festival in Santa Fe when he stops to get a room for himself and his twenty-year-old autistic brother, Shep. But in a nightmarish instant, Dylan is attacked by a mysterious “doctor,” injected with a strange substance, and told that he is now a carrier of something that will either kill him...or transform his life in the most remarkable way. Then he is told that he must flee--before the doctor’s enemies hunt him down for the secret circulating through his body. No one can help him, the doctor says, not even the police.

Stunned, disbelieving, Dylan is turned loose to run for his life...and straight into an adventure that will turn the next twenty-four hours into an odyssey of terror, mystery--and wondrous discovery. It is a journey that begins when Dylan and Shep’s path intersects with that of Jillian Jackson. Before that evening Jilly was a beautiful comedian whose biggest worry was whether she would ever find a decent man. Now she too is a carrier. And even as Dylan tries to convince her that they’ll be safer sticking together, cold-eyed men in a threatening pack of black Suburbans approach, only seconds before Jilly’s classic Coupe DeVille explodes into thin air.

Now the three are on the run together, but with no idea whom they’re running from--or why. Meanwhile Shep has begun exhibiting increasingly disturbing behavior. And whatever it is that’s coursing through their bodies seems to have plunged them into one waking nightmare after another. Seized by sinister premonitions, they find themselves inexplicably drawn to crime scenes--just minutes before the crimes take place.

What this unfathomable power is, how they can use it to stop the evil erupting all around them, and why they have been chosen are only parts of a puzzle that reaches back into the tragic past and the dark secrets they all share: secrets of madness, pain, and untimely death. Perhaps the answer lies in the eerie, enigmatic messages that Shep, with precious time running out, begins to repeat, about an entity who does his work “by the light of the moon.”

"Feel how it works, the round and round of all that is."

Review:  I was expecting this to be really scary.  It was frightening in many ways, but it is definitely a thriller and not a horror.  The main characters are all very likable.  Shep is one of the three main characters and he hardly ever speaks and, when he does, it makes very little sense.  He's autistic.  But, whether he speaks much or not, he steals the show.  He's a wonderful young man.

I liked this book very much.  It was really easy to get into and nearly impossible to put down, especially at the end.  It was humorous and thrilling and heart-warming.  The descriptions are so wonderful, it's like you're right there.  It was everything a good novel should be.

Rating:  8.5 / 10

Doomsday Book by Connie Willis

Title:  Doomsday Book
Author:  Connie Willis
Pages:  445
Genre:  Science Fiction
Publisher:  Bantam, 1992
Series:  Stand Alone

Synopsis:  For Kivrin, preparing for on-site study of one of the deadliest eras in humanity's history was as simple as receiving inoculations against the diseases of the fourteenth century and inventing an alibi for a woman traveling alone.  For Dunworthy and her instructors in the twenty-first century, it meant painstaking calculations and careful monitoring of the rendezvous location where Kivrin would be retrieved.

But a crisis strangely linking past and future strands Kivrin in the most dangerous year of the Middle Ages as her fellows try desperately to rescue her.  In a time of superstition and fear, Kivrin -- barely of age herself -- finds she has become an unlikely angel of hope during one of history's darkest hours.

"Anno Domine," the clerk said from the bed.  He tried to lick his lips with his swollen tongue.  "One thousand three hundred and forty-eight."

Review:  I originally read this book some time in middle school.  I remember checking it out of the library and sitting up late, reading it.  I was lucky to have parents that allowed me free range of the library, even the adult section.  I read many wonderful books and this one is no exception.  It is a great story.  I found this copy for sale at a used book store and grabbed it, thinking some day I'd re-read it.  I'm glad I did.  It scared me then and it still scares me.

In December of 2054, at a university in Oxford, England, Kivrin is supposed to be sent back to December, 1320, in the hopes that she'll be dropped near enough to Oxfordshire to see how things really were.  She will stay for three weeks and learn all about the Middle Ages first hand.  Unfortunately, the technician makes a mistake and Kivrin ends up in 1348, just as the Black Plague is sweeping through the land.

Called the 'blue illness' or the 'black death' by the people of the time, the bubonic plague was nearly always fatal.  Kirvin watches helplessly as the people she has come to know die, one after another, while she survives -- she got inoculated back in 2054.  It's a horrible way to die and this author does not pull any punches.  It's gruesome and awful in places, sad and pitiful in others.

In the end, however, this book is mostly about the strength of the human spirit and that spirit shines brightly in Kivrin; in Dunworthy, her mentor; and especially in Colin, a young boy from 2054 who has courage to spare.  Father Roche, the priest of the village Kivrin stays in during her time in the past, out-shines them all.  His faith, compassion, and goodness are extraordinary.  If you love time travel books, aren't too squeamish, and are a fan of the Middle Ages, I highly recommend this novel.

Rating:  9 / 10

Blogging from A to Z - 2017

I found this blogging challenge last year and it was really a challenge for me.  I'm not great at writing.  I'm certainly not great at blogging daily.  The challenge is to blog for 26 days in April, each day for a different letter of the alphabet.  I'm still thinking about my theme, but I'm pretty sure I know what it'll be.  The rules have changed a little from last year, but I think that's a good thing.

I love this new addition especially:  Each day of the Challenge, we'll add a post with the letter of the day to the A to Z Challenge blog. When you've posted your entry to your blog, post a comment to the Challenge blog with a link to that day's post on your blog.

And I found the support and community created by this challenge to be wonderful.  I can't wait to try again!

The Waste Lands by Stephen King

Title:  The Waste Lands
Author:  Stephen King
Pages:  422
Genre:  Fantasy
Publisher:  Plume, 1992
Series:  The Dark Tower, Book 3

...the voice of Yes; the voice of White; the voice of Always.

Synopsis:  With The Waste Lands, the third masterful novel in Stephen King's epic saga The Dark Tower, we again enter the realm of the mightiest imagination of our time.  King's hero, Roland, the Last Gunslinger, moves ever closer to the Dark Tower of his dreams and nightmares -- as he crosses a desert of damnation in a macabre world that is a twisted mirror image of our own.

With him are those he has drawn to this world, street-smart Eddie Dean and courageous wheelchair-bound Susannah.  Ahead of him are mind-rending revelations about who he is and what is driving him.  Against him is arrayed a swelling legion of fiendish foes both more and less than human.

And as the pace of action and adventure, discovery and danger pulse-poundingly quickens, the reader is inescapably drawn into a breathtaking drama that is both hauntingly dream-like....and eerily familiar.

"YOU ARE KA-TET; ONE MADE FROM MANY. SO AM I. WHOSE KA-TET IS THE STRONGER WE MUST NOW PROVE."

Review:  I really need a new copy of this book.  It's in even worse condition than the The Drawing of the Three, which I thought was just about impossible.  It's got a slit in the middle of the front cover that goes all the way through the pages, all the way to page 105.  I have no idea how it happened, but at least it's small enough that I could still read the words on the pages.

Jake, a child from New York City in 1977, has been drawn.  He and his new-found friend, Oy the billy-bumbler, are a great addition to the ka-tet.  I love Oy.  He's something like a large, smart racoon creature with golden eyes....and he talks, sort of.  
The group continues to follow the beam to find the Dark Tower and they must pass through the mostly-destroyed city of Lud to get there.  It's a harrowing tale.  I love this story almost as much as I love the previous one.  It's full of great quotes and high adventure and really horrible bad guys and monsters.  It's pretty much everything I love and I'm giving it a perfect rating because it's kept my interest each and every time I've read it.

Rating:  10 / 10

The Final Day by William R. Forstchen

Title:  The Final Day
Author:  William R. Forstchen
Pages:  348
Genre:  Dystopian Thriller
Publisher:  Tom Doherty, 2017
Series:  John Matherson, Book 3

"I'm quit now, quit forever.  This is the final day."

Synopsis:  Since the detonation of nuclear weapons above the United States more than two years ago, the small town of Black Mountain, North Carolina has suffered famine, civil war, and countless deaths. Now, after defeating a new, tyrannical federal government, John Matherson and his community intend to restore their world to what it was before the EMP apocalypse. For the most part, they are succeeding.

This period of relative stability doesn’t last long. A new, aggressive government announces that it’s taking over and ceding large portions of the country to China and Mexico. The Constitution is no longer in effect, and what’s left of the U.S. Army has been deployed to suppress rebellion in the remaining states. John fears he and his town will be targets.

General Bob Scales, John’s old commanding officer and closest friend from prewar days, is sent to bring John into line. Will John and his people accept the new, autocratic regime? Or will revolution rip the fledgling nation apart at the seams?

"Try to remember the kind of September when life was slow and oh so mellow."

Review:  This author has an uncanny ability to write a fictional story that leaves you believing that what he portrays is *exactly* what would happen.  The first novel in this series, One Second After, left me chilled and horrified.  The second book, while very good, didn't touch me in quite the same way.  This final novel left me angry.  Really furious.  And I believed every bit of what he described was absolutely what would happen if our government ever had a crisis like this one take place.

It starts out about 2 1/2 years after The Day, the day the EMP hit the United States, and ends exactly 3 years after the first novel begins.  For such a short period of time, there is so much happening and it's exciting, terrible, incredibly sad and a little hopeful, too.  While this story didn't quite have the impact of the first novel, it was very good.

This series is far and away the single most important set of books I've read.  They opened my eyes to the fact that I'm not safe.  Nobody is.  And it made me realize that I am responsible to make myself safe and to prepare for what could happen.

Rating:  9 / 10

The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

Title:  The Drawing of the Three
Author:  Stephen King
Pages:  399
Genre:  Fantasy
Publisher:  Plume, 1987
Series:  The Dark Tower, Book 2

The gunslinger had no idea what tooter-fish was --- only that it was delicious.  That seemed enough.

Synopsis:  In 1978, Stephen King introduced the world to the last gunslinger, Roland of Gilead. Nothing has been the same since. More than twenty years later, the quest for the Dark Tower continues to take readers on a wildly epic ride. Through parallel worlds and across time, Roland must brave desolate wastelands and endless deserts, drifting into the unimaginable and the familiar. A classic tale of colossal scope - crossing over terrain from The Stand, The Eyes of the Dragon, Insomnia, The Talisman, Black House, Hearts in Atlantis, ’Salem’s Lot, and other familiar King haunts - the adventure takes hold with the turn of each page.

 And the tower awaits....

To pay hell is one thing.  But do you want to own it?

Review:  I still have the over-sized paperback version of this story that I bought sometime in 1989.  It's dog-eared and worn out.  The pages are stained and the covers are bent.  The edges of the cover are peeling and the spine is crinkled.  It's in horrible shape.  I keep promising myself a new edition, but somehow.......somehow, I can't seem to quite let this one go.  It's my very favorite of all of the Dark Tower stories and this is the book I read it in first.

I love Eddie, drawn into Roland's world from 'our world', where he was hopped up on heroin and living in New York City in 1987.  I love Odetta / Detta, the rights-activist with a split personality from New York City in 1964, who was drawn next.  And I really love Susannah, the woman she becomes after she is forced to face her problems, making her the third of 'the Three'.  The third door, which does not (thankfully!) bring another person, is filled with a man I absolutely do not like.  But, Roland takes care of him so it works out in the end.

I really, really love how Roland views our world.  There is so much of everything!  The waste, the huge number of things available in stores, and the sheer number of people are more than he can believe.  Paper, bullets, drugstores, and police officers fill him with equal measures of awe, scorn and confusion.

I love the whole series.  But I love this story best.  It's just so good and so funny in places and so horrible in others.  In other words, it draws me in and drags me along.  Even after having read it so many times, I still can't put it down once I've begun.  And I still eat tooter-fish sandwiches.

Rating:  10 / 10

State of Fear by Michael Crichton

Title:  State of Fear
Author:  Michael Crichton
Pages:  580
Genre:  Thriller
Publisher:  Harper Collins, 2004
Series:  Stand Alone

Synopsis: The undisputed master of the techno-thriller has written his most riveting -- and entertaining -- book yet.

Once again Michael Crichton gives us his trademark combination of page-turning suspense, cutting-edge technology, and extraordinary research. State of Fear is a superb blend of edge-of-your-seat suspense and thought provoking commentary on how information is manipulated in the modern world. From the streets of Paris, to the glaciers of Antarctica to the exotic and dangerous Solomon Islands, State of Fear takes the reader on a roller coaster thrill ride, all the while keeping the brain in high gear.

Review:  Wow.  This book is not just thrilling.  It's terrifying.  The thought that the things described in these pages could happen just scared me to death.  And they could happen, so easily, if the right powerful people decided they should.

The main character, Peter Evans, isn't particularly likable at the start of the story, but by the end he's grown to the point that you see him for the better person he is becoming.  Come to think of it, none of the characters are all that likable.  They all have their human vanities and preconceptions, just like normal people.  There are the people trying to do wrong and the people trying to stop them, but none of them are people you'd probably consider lovable.  But, that just made the story more realistic.

I've been hoarding this book for some time, mostly because I'd read all of this author's works except two novels.  Michael Crichton is dead now, so I know there won't be any more.  I was saving them and now I'm down to just one more.  That makes me incredibly sad because none of his novels have been anything but wonderful.  Some are better than others, but all of them are far above the average novel.  This one rates high because it was just so darn good.

Rating:  10 / 10

Beauty by Sheri S. Tepper

Title:  Beauty
Author:  Sheri S. Tepper
Pages:  463
Genre:  Historical / Fantasy
Publisher:  Bantam, 1992
Series:  Stand Alone

"No forest, no prairie, no birds, no fish.  It all went to Fidipur."

Synopsis: With the  critically acclaimed novels The Gate To Women's Country, Raising The Stones, and the  Hugo-nominated Grass, Sheri Tepper has established herself as one of the major science fiction writers of our time.

In Beauty, she broadens her territory even further, with a novel that evokes all the richness of  fairy tale and fable. Drawing on the wellspring of tales such as "Sleeping Beauty,"  Beauty is a moving novel of love and loss, hope and  despair, magic and nature. Set against a backdrop both enchanted and frightening, the story begins with a wicked aunt's curse that will afflict a young woman named Beauty on her sixteenth birthday.  Though Beauty is able to sidestep tragedy, she soon finds herself embarked on an adventure of vast consequences. For it becomes clear that the enchanted places of this fantastic world--a place not unlike our own--are in danger and must be saved before it is too late.

Review:  This book has it all; time travel, fairies, magic, love and even horror.  It combines fairy tales and reality to create a magical past and a horrible future for the world.  The main character travels between 1347 and 2089 with a few side trips in between.  It's fantasy, romance, science fiction and portions of it are dystopian....and some of it is almost too terrible to read.  It isn't an easy combination to pull off, all these very separate story types in one novel.  This author manages it, but I found myself only liking certain portions of it and not others.  There were just too many themes, although the main one is that we are ruining our world and the beauty of nature.

I'm not overly fond of novels that grind an ax quite so loudly as this one did.  I agree with her ideals.  I just don't agree with her beating the readers over the head with them, not to this degree and not in fictional literature.  I was determined to finish because I fully expected "and they lived happily ever after" at the end, but it wasn't that way at all.  I'm giving extra points for originality though.  There was certainly plenty of that and it's always refreshing to find.

Rating:  5 / 10