If I thought the previous book in the series, was the turning point in the ten book story arc, then I was only half right, in Pendragon: Black Water, everything changes, Saint Dane is more powerful than ever, and the story telling much more intense.

In the previous book (The Reality Bug), Bobby’s friend and fellow traveler, Gunny followed Saint Dane to Eelong and once Bobby’s work is done on Veelox, Bobby makes his way there as well, what he finds, is like nothing else he has ever experienced.

Breaking the rules
Just when fifteen-year-old Bobby Pendragon thinks he understands his purpose as a Traveler — to protect the territories of Halla from the evil Saint Dane — he is faced with an impossible choice. The inhabitants of Eelong are in danger of being wiped out by a mysterious plague. The only way Bobby can stop it is to bring the antidote from another territory. Since moving items between territories is forbidden by the Traveler rules, if Bobby chooses to save Eelong he could endanger himself, his friends, and the future of every other being in Halla.

The fifth book in D.J. MacHale’s Pendragon series, Black Water, is the most suspenseful and exciting yet! Machale constantly shifts the story telling goal post, in this fast paced tale. The the advantage in the fight for Eelong (or at least it appears to) shift from, Saint Dane, to Bobby, then back to Saint Dane again, this is partly because Saint Dane’s true motivations for Eelong are not revealed until the emotionally shattering climax. (and even then, things don’t become totaly clear until the following book, The Rivers of Zadaa, once Bobby has had some time to come to terms with it).

The accolytes (Mark and Courtney) can suddenly travel the flumes, and after a visit first from Saint Dane and then the Traveler from Eelong, only they have the information Bobby needs, but with no way to contact him, they are left with only once choice, they must go to Cloral and find Spader and enlist his help.

Do they succeed? Is Bobby pleased to see them? What are the ramifications of their rule breaking? Did they in the end, have a choice? Well you need to read the book to find out, but for me at least, Machale’s answers to these questions, deliver on all counts. Oh boy, do they deliver!

The series just gets better and better.

Rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars

Buy, Black Water (Pendragon, Book 5), from Amazon.

The last of my reviews for the books I read for the recent 24 Hour Read-a-Thon, features The Lives of Animals by J. M. Coetzee.

Synopsis (from the back cover)
Elizabeth Costello, a distinguished novelist, has been invited to the United States to give a university lecture on animal rights. She meets with reactions that run the range from sympathy to scepticism and hostility. In this disturbing story the internationally acclaimed novelist J.M Coetzee uses fiction to present a subtle discussion of animal rights in all their complexity.

I was really looking forward to this one, it looked so interesting, especially after reading the comment on the back of the book:

J.M Coetzee’s vision goes to the nerve-center of being. What he finds there is more than most people will ever know about themselves. - Nadine Gordimer.

A stimulating and worrying book, It is hard to imagine anyone coming away from it without a new perspective on our relation not only to animals but to the natural world in general, and, indeed, to ourselves. - John Banville, The Irish Times.

The bulk of the narrative is taken up by the two lectures given by Elizabeth Costello, the rest taken up by the reactions they generate at the University and her son’s family (who she is staying with). Unfortunately I never found, either these sections (nor the characters in them) or the lectures engaging enough to be able to connect with what was trying to be said.

Disappointing.

Rating: 2.75 out of 5 stars

Buy, The Lives of Animals (The University Center for Human Values Series), from Amazon.

Hosted by: B & b exlibris

1. Charles De Lint, representing, Cananda | A Dreaming Place.
2. John Marsden, representing, Australia | Incurable.
   
3. Xinran, representing, China | Sky Burial.
4. Alessandro Baricco, Representing Italy | Silk
5. Brian Selznick, representing, USA | The Invention of Hugo Cabret.
6. Marjane Satrapi, representing, Iran | Persepolis
7. Yoshihiro Tatsumi, representing Japan | Good-Bye
8. Cyril Pedrosa, representing France | Three Shadows
9. Fredrick Peeters, representing Switzerland | Blue Pills
   

The year is 1861. Hervé Joncour is a French merchant of silkworms, who combs the known world for their gemlike eggs. Then circumstances compel him to travel farther, beyond the edge of the known, to a country legendary for the quality of its silk and its hostility to foreigners: Japan.

There Joncour meets a woman. They do not touch; they do not even speak. And he cannot read the note she sends him until he has returned to his own country. But in the moment he does, Joncour is possessed.

This is a very short but wonderful read, which surprised me somewhat.

Told in short, often repetitive chapters, Baricco’s sparce and elegant writing - even in translation - has a real lyrical quality to it.

What you end up with is, a beautiful and haunting (though not necessarily happy) musing on the meaning of love.

It is, a quick read, but not one I think you’ll rush through, you’ll want to take your time and savour what you are reading.

Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars

Buy,  Silk, from Amazon.

Other Reviews to Consider:

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If you usually buy your books, tell me why. Why buy instead of borrow? Why shell out your hard-earned dollars for something you could get for free?

I’m going to offer up a couple of pictures before I begin, that will help illustrate my first point, that just like Rob, I enjoy a book more if I own it.

Not, perhaps, the pictures you would expect to see, in a post about books, but stay with me!

I said earlier that I enjoy books more when I own them, and yes it is slightly irrational but that is just the way it is, and I’ve always been the same. So I included some cultural references to explain my point, the first Brit’s will understand more that anyone else I think, and the second I think everyone will get.

Fish and Chips, a British dietary stalwart for many many many years and there are generally two agreed things that improve the experience, Fridays and Newspaper, traditionally they are eaten as a treat on a Friday, and served wrapped in newspaper. Of course you can have them anyday you like and eat them off whatever you wish, but somehow on a Friday and wrapped in newspaper (if you can find somewhere that still does) is all the better.

And Coke? Well you can drink it out of a bog standard plastic bottle, but it is so much nicer out of a cold glass bottle, isn’t it?

So there you go, owning a book shouldn’t make it anymore enjoyable, but it does, so there!

And owning books inevitably means buying them! Even with my bordering on addicted usage of Bookmooch I still find myself buying books just as often as I always have. Why? Well I enjoy wandering around bookshops (who doesn’t? I know!) and well if you spend any amount of serious time in a bookshop, you would need the self-control of a saint to resist the temptation! That cover; Those 3 for 1 deals; It’s half price! All very valid excuses in my opinion.

And the main reason? Well lets pick a recent release…

Can you imagine, reading The Graveyard Book, and having to hand it back?

*shudders*

Dewy and Nymeth are running ‘The Book Bloggers Christmas Swap’, again this year, I only really joined in the book blogging world, in January of this year, so I missed this event last time around, but not this time!

From the site:

“What you have to do next is send that person a little something - it can be a book, a journal or bookmark, a box of Christmas cookies, a mixed CD, whatever you can think of. It doesn’t have to be anything pricey, of course. Second hand books are perfectly acceptable, as are homemade gifts.”

Full details and insructions on how to sign up can be found here.