The Person From Porlock http://booklikes.com/photo/crop/50/50/upload/avatar/70/22/6d52fa1059fc4519a38a39facdc22297.png porlock http://porlock.booklikes.com 2019-05-24T15:15:48+01:00 http://porlock.booklikes.com/rss review 2014-07-28T23:54:00+01:00 2014-07-28T23:54:00+01:00 http://porlock.booklikes.com/post/942438/post porlock http://porlock.booklikes.com God Saves The Queen is a high concept story about fairy heroin, a mythic revolution and the 70s punk scene (well, it's supposed to be about the modern punk scene-but really, the author didn't have time for any research). Unfortunately, its concept falls flat on its face. This is partly due to Carey's writing, and partly due to Bolton's illustrations.

Let's get this out of the way- Bolton's illustrations are gorgeous. They're like paintings, really-but they have no movement. This doesn't lie solely in Bolton's hands, of course, as he wasn't given much room to make them move (even the climatic battle scene hardly starts). I felt that if Bolton could have added a little more movement, it would've made the entire book better, though there could have been a better distinction between Fairy and... the real world?

The lettering certainly doesn't help things. I hate any font I have to strain to read, which includes literally every handwriting font ever. Seriously, who writes in those things? I would've preferred Comic Sans for her diary.

As for the story? It just... didn't click. There were so many individual elements I should've loved (seriously, heroin with half-human half-fairy blood in? That's so out there it's in a league of its own), but when packed together into a 92-page comic didn't feel deep enough. I wanted to know more about... horse, or whatever the drug was called. I wanted to know more about the previous revolution. I wanted to know more about the inhabitants of Fairy. I'm sure some sort of author could have balanced these elements, but Carey isn't that author (which is strange, as I thought the first Tommy Taylor volume- I haven't got onto the rest-was pretty great). Also, I was fairly sure it was supposed to be about punk at first, but it kind of discarded that element pretty quickly, and left us with an outdated relic of a title.

I don't know what made God Saves The Queen fall so flat to me while others loved it. Maybe it was the characters, or the art, or even the lettering. All I know is that it just never fully clicked.

Rating: one star out of six

Also found here

 

]]>
review 2014-07-27T23:57:00+01:00 2014-07-27T23:57:00+01:00 http://porlock.booklikes.com/post/941855/post porlock http://porlock.booklikes.com [This review is part of my 30 Day Book Challenge - a book that reminds me of someone]

The Animals of Farthing Wood is an epic. An honest-to-god lengthy-narrative epic poem, except without the poetry part. Which maybe defeats the entire purpose of calling it an epic poem. In any case, it feels like an epic. It's to do with a bunch of animals, foxes and badgers and mice, having to relocate from one park to another. That makes it sounds really simple, which it isn't. It's an epic.

It draws these vivid characters; wise, cocky, mysterious characters (though not all at once-for example, with Badger, the wise man, if I remember correctly, he's not so mysterious-that's reserved for Vixen-Fox's true love). The journey takes them through thick and thin, through times that suck, and times that don't-and it takes them through the city. It forces them to confront what the natural world has become-man's world.

It sounds moral-heavy, and it probably is, but when you're a kid, you don't focus on that. You don't focus on anything of the sort. Just the journey they're taken on, and the characters that go along with it.

What I remember most, however, isn't the characters, or the plot. This book was the last book my parents read to me (not because of any tragedy, I was just getting a little too old for it), and, in some ways, it was the perfect book to stop on. It was about heroes, and death, and most of all, the end of innocence.

Rating: four and a half out of six stars.
 
]]>
review: The Islands of Chaldea - Diana Wynne Jones 2014-07-12T23:29:00+01:00 2014-07-12T23:29:00+01:00 http://porlock.booklikes.com/post/928421/the-islands-of-chaldea-diana-wynne-jones porlock http://porlock.booklikes.com The Islands of Chaldea is a bittersweet little book-mostly because it is Wynne Jones' last. It was published posthumously, and it wasn't completely when it was found, and thus it had to be completed by her sister, herself a children's author. It takes place in an alternate universe Great Britain, where all the countries are separated by water-but water is not the only thing that separates them. Culture does too-and a magical barrier put up by Logra (England) ten years before. It concerns a quest involving the heir to a powerfully gifted (in magic, of course) family named Aileen, and her companions-Ivar, a prince of Skarr (her Scotland), Aunt Beck, her aunt and a powerfully gifted wise woman, and Ogo, an stranded Logran-to take down Logra's barrier. Well, originally. They also pick up passengers from the three islands they visit in the meantime (Bernica, her representation of Ireland, Gallis, her representation of Wales and Lone, maybe a representation of Orkney and the Isle of Man).

 

The great thing about Chaldea is its world-the islands, and the companion animals that protect each. The protector (and the first one found) of Skarr is some sort of cat, nicknamed Plug Ugly by Aileen. Plug Ugly has a nasty talent for coming and going wherever and whenever he wants (including on a boat). The next found is Bernica's protector-a parrot named Green Greet. This parrot is owned by a monk named Finn, and it's never explained just how Finn got his parrot. However, both parrot and monk jump at the chance to take down the Logran barrier-it's affected everyone in all island. The guardian animal they find next is (obviously) Gallis' and it is (also obviously) a small red dragon-which makes sense, seeing as Wales' emblem is the red dragon (though perhaps a little more fearsome than Gallis'). This animal is owned by Aileen's cousin, on her father's side, who's a bit of a tinkerer. The final guardian is Logra's, and is a surprise.

I found the islands a wonderful treat, compared to the normal fantasy Britain nowadays (a more London-centric view, while this was almost Arthurian). Both Gallis and Bernica were extremely religious-in fact, it is said that in Gallis you cannot do anything without a priest breathing down your neck, but the Bernican monks tended to be a bit meeker. There was also a wonderful sideplot about a witch with a very Pinocchio-like ability to turn boys into donkeys.

The weakest sections for me were the end, as it was very un-DWJ to me. It wasn't twisty enough-not really. And when you're having one last ballgame in the mind of one of your favourite writers in the world-you want it to be as distilled as possible.

Rating: four and a half stars (if only for nostalgia's sake)

Also found on Blogspot

]]>
review: iZombie Vol. 4: Repossessed 2014-07-10T00:00:00+01:00 2014-07-10T00:00:00+01:00 http://porlock.booklikes.com/post/928101/izombie-vol-4-repossessed porlock http://porlock.booklikes.com
[This is a review of the entire series]

iZombie is a quirky supernatural romp, that had me laughing at several points - especially the introduction of Spot/Scott as a wereterrier. It starts off with the introduction of Gwendylon "Gwen" Dylan (and yes, I'm fairly sure that is meant to be an awful pun-I was hoping that would be brought up at some point, but it was just taken at face value).

Read more here ]]>
review: Norwegian wood. Tokyo blues 2014-05-30T00:00:00+01:00 2014-05-30T00:00:00+01:00 http://porlock.booklikes.com/post/928105/norwegian-wood-tokyo-blues porlock http://porlock.booklikes.com
Read more here ]]>
review: Runaways, Vol. 10: Rock Zombies 2014-05-25T00:00:00+01:00 2014-05-25T00:00:00+01:00 http://porlock.booklikes.com/post/928102/runaways-vol-10-rock-zombies porlock http://porlock.booklikes.com
With Runaways: Rock Zombies it is no hyperbole when I say it is the worst book I have ever read. It is about an evil radio DJ who uses a piece of techno music to turn everyone with plastic surgery into a zombie. It is as ridiculous as it sounds, if not more. Perhaps this would work better as a stand-alone, and not almost directly after an incredibly good 48-issue run.

Read more here ]]>
review: Sorta Like a Rock Star 2014-05-22T00:00:00+01:00 2014-05-22T00:00:00+01:00 http://porlock.booklikes.com/post/928103/sorta-like-a-rock-star porlock http://porlock.booklikes.com
Read more here. ]]>
review: Daytripper 2014-04-27T00:00:00+01:00 2014-04-27T00:00:00+01:00 http://porlock.booklikes.com/post/928104/daytripper porlock http://porlock.booklikes.com
Read more here ]]>
review: Where the Wild Things Are 2014-04-11T00:00:00+01:00 2014-04-11T00:00:00+01:00 http://porlock.booklikes.com/post/928106/where-the-wild-things-are porlock http://porlock.booklikes.com review: Green Eggs and Ham 2014-04-11T00:00:00+01:00 2014-04-11T00:00:00+01:00 http://porlock.booklikes.com/post/928107/green-eggs-and-ham porlock http://porlock.booklikes.com review: The Very Hungry Caterpillar 2014-04-11T00:00:00+01:00 2014-04-11T00:00:00+01:00 http://porlock.booklikes.com/post/928108/the-very-hungry-caterpillar porlock http://porlock.booklikes.com review: A Queer and Pleasant Danger: The True Story of a Nice Jewish Boy Who Joins the Church of Scientology and Leaves Twelve Years Later to Become the Lovely Lady She is Today 2014-03-25T00:00:00+00:00 2014-03-25T00:00:00+00:00 http://porlock.booklikes.com/post/928109/a-queer-and-pleasant-danger-the-true-story-of-a-nice-jewish-boy-who-joins-the-church-of-scientology-and-leaves-twelve-years-later-to-become-the-lovely-lady-she-is-today porlock http://porlock.booklikes.com
Read more here. ]]>
review: Fangirl 2014-03-07T00:00:00+00:00 2014-03-07T00:00:00+00:00 http://porlock.booklikes.com/post/928110/fangirl porlock http://porlock.booklikes.com
While I'm tempted to say Fire & Hemlock as my comfort read just for the laziness, I have to admit a better comfort read is Fangirl. Fangirl is a short and sweet read, and it quickly drags you into its world, where sweetness reigns and struggle is rarely seen.

Read more here ]]>
review: The Murder Of Bindy Mackenzie 2013-11-19T00:00:00+00:00 2013-11-19T00:00:00+00:00 http://porlock.booklikes.com/post/928111/the-murder-of-bindy-mackenzie porlock http://porlock.booklikes.com
It starts off incredibly slowly, and it's fairly boring at that point-as you would expect for a book about a girl with no friends. Bindy makes mountains out of molehills (she hates just about everyone in her FAD group-mostly for being loud), and molehills out of mountains (she refuses to go to the doctor for some ongoing illness, as she doesn't believe glandular fever exists). At this point, the book is a strange look into some poor girl's head.

However, it picks up the pace as we learn of the cause of Bindy's mysterious illness, and the details of her family life. We learn about all of the students in the FAD group with Bindy, and Bindy herself grows into someone who could have friends-as opposed to her original, brisk self.

The greatest thing about Becoming Bindy Mackenzie to me was its ability to switch from sad to funny. At one minute I was laughing at Bindy's messed up worldview, and then crying at the way others treated her (like I said, I was very tired).

Rating: four and a half stars (mostly taken for the incredibly lengthy first half)

Also found here ]]>
review: Fire and Hemlock 2013-07-28T00:00:00+01:00 2013-07-28T00:00:00+01:00 http://porlock.booklikes.com/post/928112/fire-and-hemlock porlock http://porlock.booklikes.com
I first read Fire & Hemlock when I was around nine. Since then, I'd estimate that I've read it anywhere between five and seven times. Each time, it has enthralled me, and, on my third reading (probably around ten), I promptly decided it was my favourite book-because some people don't reread any book twice, and I've read this one three times. While this was not the most times I'd reread a book (it was tied with my Hans Christian Andersen treasury), it was certainly the most times I'd reread a book and enjoyed it so much.

Read more here ]]>
http://porlock.booklikes.com/rss
porlock.booklikes.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2019-22
28256
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:CLGIXCPDEVWULDOZE7M43QYUW5O3XOYE
<urn:uuid:7209541d-856e-481e-b66d-9c1cec0a3625>
2019-05-24T14:02:47Z
192.99.40.218
application/atom+xml
sha1:2HV2JOQQMUNAC3IH74ZYAQFX37NSZ55Y
<urn:uuid:0584165b-8c87-45f2-b3e5-5f5bb9f9387e>
http://porlock.booklikes.com/rss
response
<urn:uuid:64b5da4e-d289-449c-8df4-c6b202cd527b>
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2019-22
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for May 2019
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-138-146-130.ec2.internal
software: Apache Nutch 1.15 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.1-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: http://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/