Nobody's Princess (Book 1) by Esther Friesner

Rating 3 out of 5
Reading level: Young Adult
Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers (March 25, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0375875298
ISBN-13: 978-0375875298


Esther Friesner takes us back in time to ancient Greece to tell the tale of a young girl who later grew up to become Helen of Troy.

"Even if I was pretty, it wasn't going to be enough to bring me the life I wanted: one where I was free to make choices that mattered, one where people listened to what I had to say.

Aphrodite had the beauty; Zeus had the thunderbolts. Everyone loved Aphrodite, but everyone listened to Zeus.

I'd never get my hands on a thunderbolt, so if I wanted to be free, I'd better find a way to get my hands on the next best thing: a sword."

What I liked

• That Helen is portrayed as a strong independent girl. Her portrayal in this book too me is more like what a Spartan Princess would be. Not some helpless little bimbo or a conniving temptress as she gets portrayed time and time again in Hollywood and most literature. In this book she is strong minded and strong willed, smart, independent, and trying to buck the shackles that tie her to her duty, while at the same time trying to honor the traditions she lives by.
• The other strong women portrayed in this book. Friesner has some really wonderful women characters who guide the young Helen from childhood to her teenage years. Shaping her views on the world. There is the nanny Ionne who is loving but firm; her mother who is Queen, politician, wife, healer, and huntress; Atalanta a fellow princess to another Greek King and has followed the path of the warrior; The Delphi Oracle who while having the “gift” is the ultimate diplomat, who is fun and knowledgeable on the world beyond her years. All of these women were believable in their roles and provided many life lessons to the young Helen.
• “Real World” explanations for the mythology aspects of Helen’s story. Helen’s own story is that she is the daughter of the mighty Zeus, but this book dismisses that as just a story. Like wise Friesner over and over discounts most of the “stories” as being just that stories. One character commented that “being told that the hero had killed a swamp snake, even a big swamp snake, is no where near as impressive as killing a three headed hydra”. While the Gods are not totally dismissed, they do not play such a pivotal role other then worshiping them.
• It was a quick, brain candy read.
• I loved the period it was set in which was the Greek “Age of Heores”. It touches on several mythological stories such as Jason and the Argonauts.

What I disliked

• It was quite light and fluffy. Perhaps this is because there is very little “known” about a young Helen before she became Helen of Troy. Or maybe because it is a Young Adult book. I am not sure why, but it was not as meaty as I would have expected.
• The modern world references irked me. While I understand for narrative purposes it probably made sense to use modern terms and ideas, but it still bugged me. At one point a character said a phrase that was essentially “she used to change your diaper” which was odd to me. The author actually used the word Diaper. While I am no expert or historian, I am pretty confident that babies in ancient Greece probably didn’t have diapers as we know them, and certainly wouldn't have used that word. This was only a minor irritant anyway.
• The “history” skipped over an important fact. That at approximately 12 Helen was kidnapped by a prince. There is a scene towards the end of the book, where the prince Theseus tried to kidnap her on the street, but this by no means was not a proper kidnap as described by history.

Overall

I think this book is a wonderful introduction to the story of Helen of Troy and the historical period of “The Age of Heroes”. Teenage girls will probably enjoy this book the best as it would resonate with them (rebelling against authority and adults, going on adventures, and competing with men at their level). Not sure if I will read the next book or not while the book was enjoyable it didn't make we want to rush out and pick up the next book. But if you are looking for something fun and easy to read this will fit the bill.

Changes (Harry Dresden Series Book 12) by Jim Butcher

Rating 5 out of 5
Format: Kindle Edition
File Size: 727 KB
Print Length: 448 pages
Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1841497134
Publisher: Hachette Digital (April 8, 2010)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
Language: English
ASIN: B003CUDOYE

Changes is the 12th book in the Harry Dresden series. I hate reviewing books in as series because you can't really talk about what you WANT to talk about, otherwise you ruin it for someone else. A Buckeye Girl Reads, recently did a LOLz Cats review for the book Hard Bitten, which gave me inspiration to give it a try. It was a fun and a refreshing way to review a book in a series. Thanks buckeye girl!

So I got my hands on the 12th Harry Dresden book and I was all kinds of happy! It has been awhile since I have read a Harry Dresden book for a lot of reasons but none that are worth talking about. I must confess I love this series and have been hooked from the very first book Storm Front. So needless to say, like a chocoholic who has been denied chocolate for a day getting their chocolate back; I was pretty excited to delve back into the world of Harry and be reacquainted with all my favorite characters. If you have not yet discovered the world of Harry Dresden then get your hands on Storm Front as soon as possible, you will not regret it!

For those who don’t know Harry is a wizard. His adventures started way back in Storm Front when he was a lowly private eye helping people with supernatural type problems, at that time he also consulted with the police to supplement his income. Fast forward 12 books and Harry rarely gets to do basic detective work anymore. He works on bigger picture stuff like fighting for man kind, his friends, and sometimes saving the planet.

So this book follows the usual Harry adventure formula of non stop thrill ride. It careens from one battle to another with barely a pause. The level of battle does seem to vary from mundane to titan throw downs. The action is fast paced and seems to have somehow been ramped up compared to the earlier books. The last battle scene can only be described as EPIC.

I think though this was the first time we see Harry really struggle, both mentally, physically, and even magically. This time he couldn’t just beat his chest and say “I am Harry. I am here to smite thee evil bastard”. It did make a nice change to show that Harry had limits, and how he dealt with this realization. Don’t get me wrong I normally love Harry’s sense of humour, witty repartee, and absolute belief that he will win; but it was also a refreshing character development to see Harry tested. What would he do going up against an opponent bigger, badder, stronger, and quicker witted then him?

This book is aptly named as Changes, there are some pretty big revelations that happen in this book (in the brief down times from annihilating baddies). A lot of previous story threads seem to fall into place, or make sense and we get to learn new things. I will be interested to see how these revelations change the direction of Harry’s story, his friends, and the over arching story of Harry saving the world. Are these good or bad changes? I guess we need to wait and find out.

Then we get to the ending and......OMG. It’s all you can say really. I got to the end and thought “are you kidding me? You stop there? You are leaving me hanging like this?”. I literally could not handle it and my finger automatically hovered over the "purchase" button in the kindle store, so I could buy and download the next book immediately. But I took some deep breaths, stepped away from my ebook reader, and said “focus, your world will not end if you do not start reading the next book immediately”. If you guessed that was an epic fail on my behalf you would be right. I now have the next book on my ereader ready to go. I have zero patience.

Edit - Apparently I do not have book 13. Looks like I got the Anthologies book Side Job, I didn't read the blurb closely as I didn't want to ruin the book for myself. Book 13 is due out later this year. Oh well at least I have the anthologies to tide me over. Boo :(

If you are a fan of Harry Dresden this is a must read for the big story revelations alone. All the usual ingredients that you love about the series are here and you will not be disappointed.

Extras

Not sure if the Harry Dresden Series is for you? Check out the Harry Dresden series sample chapters at Jim Butchers website.

Movie Reviews - June 2011

All I can say is yay for long weekends!

17 Again - C

Not nearly as funny as everyone made it out to be. Dont get me wrong some laugh out loud moments and groan here and there. But for this type of time travel/living your glory days type movie it was at best average. Though I was surprised to see Zac Effron was not a half bad actor and the boy has some dance moves! no wonder he was huge in those High School Musical movies.

The Mechanic - C+

A movie about a hitman forced to kill his friend, takes on an apprentice, then seeks revenge. Pretty simple, nothing special or different. A bit of action, a lot of nudity and violence. Not a terrible movie but not great. Just an average action film.

Unstoppable - B+

I was surprised by this movie. I was expecting it to be stupid and boring. The only reason we got it is because Denzel Washington was in it. Boy was I surprised. It was action packed, tense, plausable and believable. The story was based on actual events and many of the narrative points touch on the true story. However it is only "based" on the events so in true Hollywood fashion it was seriously ramped up action wise.

Hall Pass - B

Another movie that took me by surprise. I thought this was going to be terrible, but found myself chuckling and laughing to quite a few of the gags in this film. It also had a pretty good message to it. Warning though there was some full on male nudity if that makes you squimish.

Just Go With It - C+

Standard Adam Sandler movie. Nothing original or surprising. No wait I tell a lie. Jennifer Anniston not being annoying was surprising, and Nicole Kidman doing a cameo was also surprising. There were some funny moments but over all it was a pretty average to sometimes boring and predictable film. If you love Adam Sandler you will probably like this film, otherwise wait till it is free on tv.

Battle For Los Angeles - A-

Quite a good alien invasion movie. Lots of great special effects and a simple but effective story line. It was even plausable. Heaps of action and things going boom in a spectacular fashion. Not much else to say really. I will be interested to see if there is a sequel though as the movie ended with the possiblity being there.

The Adjustment Bureau - C+

This is another case of the trailer giving entirely the wrong impression of the film. This film is not a sci-fi action flick it is more romantic drama with a dash of sci-fi. I have to be honest I was really tired so dozed a little through this film, unsure if it was because of the film or not. It is slow and Matt Damon does an ok job, but Emily Blunt is great. My biggest problem with this film was the big unanswered story threads. The biggest of all being why the Bereau were so hot to trot about keeping them apart? the only excuse I heard mentioned turned out to be a lie anyway so why was it imperative they were not together? It was an ok film but not the best around.

Paul - B+

A cute alien movie. There are some hilarious moments in this film and even a deepish story line to it. The animation involved in creating Paul is amazing and very well done Seth Rogan does a great job of voicing Paul and fits him to a t. Lots of familar faces in this film as well so have fun picking them. The humour seems to border being crude (with lots of swearing etc) and intelligent. All in all a good movie.

Source Code - B+

An interesting sci-fi movie with some fascinating twists. A smidgeon on the slow side but then it picks up fast. There is also a dash of romance. Cant say much with out giving anything away but a clever well written script with some solid acting involved.

Sucker Punch - D

We didn't even finish this. Watched about 20 minutes and then gave up. It was weird and not even in an interesting way. Visually interesting but that is about the nicest thing I can say about this movie really.

Old School

Madagascar - A+

One of my all time favorites. The penguins steal the show. This is such a funny movie I cant help but laugh every time I watch it.