"Digital Fortress" - Dan Brown

BLURB:

"When the National Security Agency's "invincible" code-breaking machine encounters a mysterious code it cannot break, the agency calls in its head cryptographer, Susan Fletcher, a brilliant, beautiful mathematician. What she uncovers send shock waved through the corridors of power. The NSA is being held hostage - not by guns or bombs, but by a code so complex that if released it would cripple US intelligence.
Caught in an accelerating tempest of secrecy and lies, Fletcher battles to save the agency she believes in. Betrayed on all sides she finds herself fighting not only for her country but for her life, and in the end, for the man she loves..."

REVIEW:

I was about halfway through this book when Mum came and knocked at my bedroom door, telling me that she was going downstairs to watch the Beijing Olympics Opening Ceremony, which - as we'd seen on the news - promised to be absolutely amazing (we'd recorded it). Did I want to see it?

I glanced from the book, back to her. "I'll be down in a few minutes," I said.

The next time I saw Mum, she was again standing in my bedroom door, telling me how spectacular it was, and that I would have loved it. Meanwhile, I'd made it to within the last couple of pages of the book.

This is how utterly engrossed I was in "Digital Fortress". The pace was absolutely unrelentless, the plot irresistably compelling, and it held my attention completely for an entire afternoon and evening, with the exception of mealtimes and helping to hold our cat while she was given a pill.

I love thrillers, pure and simple. But my favourite kind are the 'chase thrillers' - yeah, there's plenty of them, and often they all feature the same basic elements, but they are my absolute favourite kind of story, whether in print or on a movie or TV screen. Give me someone being chased and running for their life, and all the action scenes this scenario promises, and I'm hooked. That is exactly what this slightly exhausting book delivered.

In addition, I liked the 'geeky' touches; brilliant computer hackers always make a good plot device. In this case, someone threatening to compromise the computer that holds all the secrets of the United States. Sound familiar? Yeah, I thought so too, but what the heck - if something works, stick with it.

The entire book felt like a rollercoaster ride - for the first few chapters, it was that moment of anticipation as the cars are being slowly tugged to the top of the track, and the ride hasn't started yet. Then you get to the top, and the cars are released from whatever mechanism had been hauling them up to the peak of the ride, and it's just one big screaming adrenalin rush down to the bottom.

And if I say any more, I'll just end up using even worse cliches.

RATING:

Yay for nerds! An exhilarating ride from start to finish. 5 STARS

"Breaking Dawn" - Stephenie Meyer

BLURB:
" To be irrevocably in love with a vampire is both fantasy and nightmare woven into a dangerously heightened reality for Bella Swan. Pulled in one direction by her intense passion for Edward Cullen, and in another by her profound connection to werewolf Jacob Black, she has endured a tumultuous year of temptation, loss and strife to reach the ultimate turning point. Her imminent choice to either join the dark but seductive world of immortals or pursue a fully human life has become the thread from which the fate of two tribes hangs.
Now that Bella has made her decision, a startling chain of unprecedented events is about to unfold with potentially devastating and unfathomable consequences. Just when the frayed strands of Bella's life - first discovered in Twilight, then scattered and torn in New Moon and Eclipse - seem ready to heal and knit together, could they be destroyed...forever?"

REVIEW:
If you haven't read the book yet, this review does have some spoilers...which is why I've left this enormous white space. So the spoilers don't hurt your eyes when you first wander in, and you can still exit without coming into contact with them. For those who've finished (or just don't care), scroll down!
















I finally finished ‘Breaking Dawn’ yesterday – a fair task, considering its width. When I brought it home I immediately compared it to the thickest book in my collection, ‘Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix’, and discovered it was about the same size, although its actual length is probably closer to ‘Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’ once you take font size into account. But that is by the by – I finished this mammoth book in the same week I was busy studying for, and taking, my yearly exams. Now that’s dedication. (Or perhaps just obsession.)

I am glad with the way it turned out, though. Finally, here is an author who is not afraid to have a story with a happy ending for everyone! It really annoys me when authors inflict terrible events on their characters just for that added shock value, or to get in a real twist (again, Harry Potter springs to mind…). Meyer manages to avoid this and still spins a decent tale.

I think it’s interesting to note that her book has received negative reviews from some people, due to the fact that Bella becomes pregnant, and they believe Meyer is condoning teenage pregnancy. They, however, have missed the most important point – Meyer is not condoning teenage pregnancy, per se, but is condoning waiting until you have been married before having sex. Additionally, Bella decides to keep the baby, rather than just shrieking ‘Ah! Baby! I’m a teenager! Abortion!’ straight away. I applaud Meyer for upholding these basic moral values that seem to have slipped through the cracks of our society.

Speaking of which, ‘Breaking Dawn’ and the rest of the Twilight Saga is proof that you can write a dramatic, seductive and sexy romance novel (and believe me, there were many eyebrow-raising lines that put the ‘adult’ in ‘young adult novel’) while still only having couples that are committed to one another! Sexy romance, but married! Imagine that.

Admittedly, this book was a slight let-down (emphasis on 'slight'). Despite its length, it seemed over very quickly. Also, I think having Jacob narrate about a quarter of the book was a bad move - sure, it will please the Jacob fans, but as for everyone else (me included)? Annoying! I deliberately pushed my way through Jacob's bit in order to get to Bella's narration again. Although I did enjoy the chapter titles for Jacob's section - a nice contrast, with humour too.

'Breaking Dawn' just seemed to be lacking the pizazz of its predecessors, like there was something missing - something indefinable, but something that was definitely there in the first three books. I did enjoy it, but my final reaction was the same after reading the final Harry Potter book - "what, is that it? After all that hype?" I just feel the ending could have been better.


RATING:
Good story, happy ending, but I still think 'Eclipse' and 'Twilight' managed to surpass this one overall. 4 STARS

Emotional Inanimate Objects - i can has cheezburger

BLURB:
I can has cheezburger.com is an Internet phenomenon. Many people have already heard of 'lolcat' pictures: find a funny picture (usually of a cat but can be anything really) and add a caption spelled in 'lolspeak' (a kind of pidgin English that mocks the poor spelling and grammar of many on the Internet).

REVIEW:
I love lolcats. I love cats and I like laughing, so the two go well together, and sometimes people think of the wittiest captions for pictures, turning them from "Hey, that's cute," into "Hey, that's funny!"
However, while browsing the site renowned for the creation and distribution of lolcat pictures, I discovered that the three pictures that made me laugh the most weren't of cats at all. They were inanimate objects with feelings.


more cat pictures


more cat pictures


more cat pictures

They cracked me up.

RATING:
Hilarious site if you're able to appreciate the humour of lolcats. 5 STARS.

"The Host" - Stephenie Meyer

BLURB:

"Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed.

Wanderer, the invading "soul" who has been given Melanie's body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn't expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

Melanie fills Wanderer's thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves-Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body's desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she's never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.

Featuring what may be the first love triangle involving only two bodies, THE HOST is a riveting and unforgettable novel that will bring a vast new readership to one of the most compelling writers of our time."

REVIEW:

On the Internet, there seem to be two main reactions to this book: people either loved it, or hated it. I began reading and, about three chapters in, had a sinking feeling I was going to shuffle on over and join the 'I-hated-it!' group, and was planning to offer to sell the book to one of my friends at a discounted price (it wasn't a cheap one to buy!). The story was taking a very long time to get going, and I had to keep really pushing forward with reading it.

However, once the book really got going, it became intriguingly interesting. Soon I was flicking through the chapters at a much faster pace, and by the middle of the book, I was well and truly engrossed with the story. Time I should have spent doing homework and study was soon being spent sitting on my bed ploughing through the book - every time I reached the end of a chapter, I felt utterly compelled to keep reading on (and not just because school crap was the other alternative).

Since I'm a piano player, I think reading this book is sort of like playing a piece rubato. For the musically illiterate, 'rubato' playing involves speeding up slightly in the middle of each bar, and slowing down at the beginning and end of each bar, so that the music seems to have a 'push-and-pull' rhythm/feel to it. This book was similar: the beginning was slow (and, I confess, slightly dull), the middle sped up considerably, but by the end it slowed down a little once more. Admittedly, the ending was a little anticlimactic.

However, despite all its flaws (including the characteristic Meyer-esque highly emotional characters - you don't have to cringe and gasp at every little thing, Wanderer, take a chill pill!), I found this to be a very satisfying read. I hate books that are over too quickly, and I hate books that are so long you almost forget what happened in the beginning by the time you reach the end. 'The Host', despite the slow beginning and end, seemed to be an excellent length for me.

RATING:

Often touted as "sci-fi for people who don't like sci-fi" (which I agree with), this book cleverly combines romance, science fiction, suspense and action, while providing an interesting look at the human condition. It was a great read, but it did have it's flaws, so I give it 4 STARS.