the one with the Goddesses

The shelf looked interesting. The books were predominantly in dark colored covers and there were interesting illusions and the attractive titles called to me: Goddess of the Spring, Goddess of the Sea, Goddess of the Rose.etc
A cursory glance over the back cover told me they were romances; of the kind I loved best. With the Greek Gods in them(I cant help but admit that I love Hades.).
I was curious but I knew my mother would never knowingly let me read them(a flip through the book assured me of its extreme smuttiness - though not enough to make people wince-) and I left those copies there nestled in the Fantasy section which was occupied by the likes of the Lord of the Rings and many others.
I did have the opportunity to peruse the book later on(thus bringing around a point to this post) and might I say, it ranks the lowest on all the books I have ever read. And that's saying something as I have suffered through things like Inheritance of Loss(Sorry, Kiran Desai. I know you won the Man Booker for it but it just isnt my cup of tea) and assorted lovelies whose first page I cant get past.
While I did get past the first page for this book(Goddess of Spring by P.C Cast; Hades was obviously first), I discovered that the Gods and Goddesses were mere foils for an uninspired story that attempted to touch on the metaphysical(is love only for the soul ?). Hades is nothing more than this well built, sexy man with a deep voice and the manners(If I had wanted just this, I would have gone to Mills and Boons). Where is the melancholy of the God of the Dead ?  The one who reigns over Tartarus and every other deep, damned part of Hell. He has seen things no one else has. Things that scar and change people. He does not go around making furniture or decorating his palace.
Cast in the role of the man who didnt want anyone to see him for who he truly is, all Hades seems to do is be a teenager in front of Persephone. Iapis, a character I expected more from, disappointed. The difference in the time in the mortal and the immortal world could have been gone into a little more clearly(seeing as Lina encounters people with ancient Greek names and Orpheus comes to fetch Eurydice only when Lina is there).
Carolina Santoro the mortal who finally makes Hades fold for her like paper is practically no different from the Mills and Boons novels heroines(other than the interesting ability with the animals).
What could have been a lovely fleshed out fantasy story(Percy Jackson anyone?) crumbles down to a series filled with women who make the Gods fall in love with them(a super hero per say. The Gods have been reduced to this, eh?). Orpheus is a cruel husband; Hades talks of soul mates and love(my apologies but it seemed just like a bad build up for the end) . While Tartarus provides a stronger look at hell, it falls greatly short of the epic reality that Hell would be if it existed(Dante provided a much more realistic view). Hell is not about sexy men and cuddly horses; its darker and more wicked than your imagination can come up with. The conclusion is utterly unsatisfying as well.
The excitement when you think you're going to read about the Greek Gods fizzes out when you realize that they just misclassified a sappy Romance book into the wildly imaginative Fantasy section.
We, Fantasy geeks, like a lot more than this on the plate; we require beings like satyrs, centaurs, a venegeful God and Riptide(^_^)if its Greek Gods you offer us.
P.C Cast, your book disappoints greatly.

(...dont even think about attempting to read Warrior Rising. There goes another fellow I used to like...)

the one with the Daisy

Manga.

There's really nothing like it.

From action to historical fiction, comedy to business, sports and games to fantasy, mystery, horror and sexuality, there's something for everyone.

There's shonen manga aimed at boys and shojo manga aimed at girls(though you're free to read whatever you want ^_^); there are many subdivisions within those and the total amount will make your head spin.

I started watching anime when I was around 13; Inuyasha was my first love(even though I didnt realize I had already watched CardCaptor Sakura when I was ten) and I just tumbled head first into a world where nothing was impossible. Demons, Ninja, Chakra, Mikos, Shinigami, Alchemists, Death Notes and impossibly amazing men, swordsmen with the weight of the world, magicians. etc.

It's 7 years later and I still am awed. This blog was mainly going to concentrate on the books I read but this manga feels very close to the heart. At a time when I felt like I was being held down by the weight of the world, it was Daisy to the rescue.

Dengeki Daisy is a romantic comedy shojo manga by Kyousuke Motomi. Most people will cringe at its cuteness but I find it adorable. Teru is a young girl who finds herself lost after her brother dies of a stomach tumor. Before his death, he gives her a phone and says Daisy will always be there for her; just an email away. And so, starts the most important relationship of both of their lives(both Daisy's and hers').

At times, the plot feels like its trying too hard(for instance, the Jack O Frost; we love Kurosaki anyway. No need to make him more hot.) but its lighthearted humor and the sweetness has you hanging onto it. Beautifully drawn, some of the pictures are so artistic that you just want to stare at them for hours on end.

The author adds humorous touches by maintaining a Q&A column about the characters' traits(how will Kurosaki go bald ? Rofl.). Kurosaki embodies a character that alternates between rough and gentle; both extremes of which readers adore(even the lolicon part :P) and Teru is a funny girl with a mild temperament and a soft heart("Go bald Kurosaki !"). Filled with its share of characters that tickle your funny bone one moment and are serious the next, Dengeki Daisy made the romantic in me go 'Awww.'


http://www.mangareader.net/123/dengeki-daisy.html
in case, anyone's interested ! 

the one with the vampire

"..she lived to put her arms around my neck and press her tiny cupid's bow to my lips and put her gleaming eye to my eye until our lashes touched and, laughing, we reeled about the room as if to the wildest waltz. Father and Daughter. Lover and Lover."

Thanks to the Twilight 'phenomenon' and the TV-series made watchable only by Ian Somerhalder(Vampire Diaries), the vampire is a well known being. While vampire ficiton writers might disagree on some of the basics such as: can vampires walk during the day(Anne Rice and Bram Stoker don't think so but Stephanie Meyer says they can. The only reason they don't is because they sparkle in the sunlight though God knows what use can that be to any creature other than for blinding its prey. Though, the prey might have burst into peals of laughter just after the sparkling begins. That might be how those vampires hunt. Maybe. Superior speed and strength and sparkling. But I digress.), are they truly evil ? (Again, Bram Stoker and Anne Rice don't think so- there is Louis who tries but he succumbs as well- but Stephanie Meyer has given us Edward, the mythical good vampire) and are they mindless immortals driven just by blood lust or are they the cadre of intelligent predators above us, they agree on the most basic thing about a vampire. Blood is essential for survival.
Question upon question about a phenomenon that may or may not even exist.
   Interview With The Vampire(Anne Rice, 1976; also made into a movie in 1994 starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst and Antonio Banderas) has Louis, a 200 year old vampire, revealing his story of suffering and despair to a human male. From the years he spent as human to the second birth he went through(with Lestat as his master) to the daughter he loved and cherished and to the part of himself he lost forever, Louis holds the reader spellbound with his gift for words.
  Lestat converts Louis for his money, plantation and his skill at managing money; Louis soon becomes disenchanted with Lestat upon discovery that Lestat cannot answer any of his burning questions about where they came from, are they the sons of the devil. etc. Lestat looks at everything with mockery and takes joy in the seduction and the kill. To the vampires, the kill is above everything; it gives greater joy than sex and is something that cannot be satisfied with just animal blood. Louis describes it as an erotic process,
 "...for vampires, it is the ultimate experience."
 To keep Louis with him, Lestat converts a little five year old, Claudia and they live in a mockery of domesticity. Claudia matures mentally but not physically, an old soul in a very young body. Her bitterness wounds Lestat and Louis and drives them apart. Claudia kills Lestat to escape from him and they set off to find other vampires so that they can satisfy their own curiosity instead of being permanently trapped by Lestat in New Orleans. They find Armand and his company in Paris (Theatre des Vampires). The company suspects them of killing their maker(a grave offense) while Louis falls rapturously in love with Armand who reciprocates his passion. Louis knows he cant leave Claudia who suspects his passion and asks him to convert a human to become her keeper. Louis agrees under mental influence from Armand and converts Madeline(a woman who lost her child) who becomes devoted to Claudia. This nearly breaks something in Louis because he's sworn to himself that he would never convert someone to his miserable existence. Armand convinces him that it is he who is at fault and not Louis. However, Lestat is not as dead as they think and he returns to have revenge on Claudia and to take Louis with him.
The company, upon discovery of her attempt to kill Lestat, overpowers locks Louis into a coffin and burns Claudia and Madeline alive in the sun. Louis breaks down when he escapes and becomes witness to their ashes and even Lestat is remorse-stricken for the daughter that he has lost("...I didn't think they'd do this..."). He sets the theater on fire to revenge his daughter. He loses a vital part of himself; the part that feels passion upon the monstrosity committed by Armand(who in the end was the one who killed Claudia) and ends up, wandering alone; the grieving human-vampire. The most human of them all.
The story is a warning, not a beckon; a tale of passion and grief and eternal wandering. Louis wants nothing more than to be human again; he is compassionate and emotional in a world of vampires with no humane qualities but only filled with evil and coldness. He realizes he cannot be anything but damned in body and mind. He was evil and the only way out was to attain a depth of evil that would end his pain and make him a cold, merciless destroyer.  He becomes weary of immortality and everything he has undergone. He lives alone, without companions. His story ended in Paris when Claudia died; his life meanders on until the world ends or he chooses to end i. He even loses the hatred he feels for Lestat, the love for Claudia and drifts as a wanderer, cold and bereft of the 'mortal passion' that drew everyone to him.

("...and that's the end of it. There's nothing else.")