The once and Future King (77-245)

As I've said before, this 600 page book is divided into 4 Books, the first one is called The sword in the Stone, and takes up 1/3 of the book. What I find funny is that the sword in the stone was 210 pages and they didn't even bring the sword in the stone till page 204, so if you ask me, the pacing is a little off. I thing they should have called it the Wart, who is the main character. Wart was adopted by Sir Ector, who favored his actual son of the same age, Kay. Kay is what you would call a spoiled brat. When Kay gets knighted, the Wart becomes Kay's Squire. During this time, everyone except for Kay knows about a sword in the stone, and that whoever pulls it from the stone will become the King of England. On the way to a competition in London, Kay realizes that he left his sword in the Hotel, and sends the Wart to get it. Wart finds out that the hotel is locked, but he finds a silly little sword in a stone for Kay. He pulls it from the stone with ease, and gives it to Kay.

"But this is not my sword," said Sir Kay. "It was the only one I could get," said the Wart. "The inn was locked." "It is a nice-looking sword. Where did you get it?" "I found it stuck in a stone, outside a church. "What?" said Sir Kay. "Did you just say this sword was stuck in a stone?" "It was," said the wart. (White 205)

Sir Kay, Knowing about the competition, tells Sir Ector that he pulled it out, instead of the Wart.

"Will you promise me that you took it out by your own might?" [Sir Ector to Kay]

Kay looked at his father, he also looked at the Wart and at the Stone.

Then he handed the sword to the Wart quite quickly.

He said, "I am a liar. Wart pulled it out." (White 206)

This took me off guard because throughout this first 200 pages Kay has been nothing but a brat, and then all of the sudden he has a change in heart? Nothing changed he still should have been a jerk who took credit from the sword. Nothing change within him. It almost makes me angry the Kay Would do that. If this book was an actual event, that would have never happened. But anyway, This book has picked up and I can barley put It down, but I have to read quickly if I want to finish the remaining 400 pages in time.

White, T. H. The Once and Future King. New York: Berkley, 1966. Print.

The Once And Future King (1-40)

This is a dull book so far. It just hasn’t caught my attention yet. Even the action sequences are meh. It centers around two boys, Kay and Wart, who will one day inherent the thrown, but they are in need of a tutor. When the two boys go hawking, they lose the hawk. Wart stays behind to catch the hawk, and ends up running into Merlyn. For this book, I have chosen a unique lens, the classical lens, which is how well does this book fit in with the other books in the same realm of it. This book is divided into 4 Books, the first of which is the sword in the stone. This is a classical story that everyone knows, and it seems to be following continuity. This quote is taking place in the night, where Wart tries to catch the hawk.

At this there was a quick whirr and a smack and the Wart found an arrow sticking
in the tree between the fingers off his right hand. He snatched his hand away,
thinking he had been stung by something, before he noticed it was an arrow. Then
everything went slow. He had time to notice quite carefully what sort of arrow
it was, and how it had driven three inches into the solid wood. It was a black
arrow with yellow bands round it like, like a wasp, and its cock feather was
yellow. The two others were black. They were dyed goose feathers. (White 20)

This is a part of the sword in the stone story I did not know. But it fits right into its continuity without setting of any alarms in my head. And, surprising enough, this is the most action in the first 40 pages. And yet it still doesn’t have my attention. I hope it gets better, because I’m not changing books.
White, T. H. The Once and Future King. New York: Berkley, 1966. Print.

Killing Floor 147-544

I got a working Kindle again so I will stop reading Brisingr. And here is why: a good book isn't boring. A good book will capture your attention to the point were you don't want to put it down, especially not for 2 years. Brisingr was not a good book, so I won't continue reading it. killing floor is not just a good book, it is an amazing book! I can say without a shadow of a doubt, that this has been my favorite book I have ever read. It was never boring. And you know what is unique about this 500 page book? It takes place in just one week. This brilliant author was able to make just a week stretch out over 500 pares perfectly. And like I said, it was never boring. This story is about Jack Reacher, a brilliant military cop, who has been raised inside the military, just got laid off 6 months ago because of the economy. Now he just travels around america like a tourist, enjoying life. One day, he traveled through a small town, and got framed and arrested for murder. Ironically enough, once he is released, he finds out that the victim was his brother. Now he has to get to the bottom of his brothers murder. My quotation is here to explain just how brilliant Jack Reacher is. It takes place with him explaining how he found someone.

“Right,” he said. “First bus out of there was to Memphis, but I waited for the next one. Memphis was too far. I didn’t want to go that far away.”

“That’s what made it easy,” I said. “You were circling Margrave. Not too close, not too far. And counterclockwise. Give people a free choice, they always go counterclockwise. It’s a universal truth, Hubble. All I had to do was to count the days and study the map and predict the hop you’d take each time. I figure Monday you were in Birmingham, Alabama. Tuesday was Montgomery, Wednesday was Columbus. I had a problem with Thursday. I gambled on Macon, but I thought it was maybe too close to Margrave.”

He nodded. “Thursday was a nightmare,” he said. “I was in Macon, some terrible dive, didn’t sleep a wink.” “So Friday morning you came out here to Augusta,” I said. “My other big gamble was you stayed here two nights. I figured you were shaken up after Macon, maybe running out of energy. I really wasn’t sure. I nearly went up to Greenville tonight, up in South Carolina. But I guessed right.” (Loc. 6178)

Now you see how his mind works, and it is also a preview of just how great this book is. If I had one book recommendation of my whole life, it would be this book. I seriously suggest checking it out.

Child, Lee. Killing Floor. New York City, New York: Jove Book, 1998

Brisingr (399-410)

First of all, I would like to inform you that my Kindle broke. The screen just broke, so I am getting it replaced, or so I hope. The reason I am telling you this is because all of my books are on it. So what I am doing is reading Brisingr, a book I started over 2 years ago, but never finished, for reasons that I forgot. But instead of starting the book over, I had a bookmark mark in it, so I will pick off were I left off, half way through it. And having forgot all of what the book is about, I will try to tell you what is happening as I slowly remember. This quote is the very first thing I read.

Ronan stare at the round flat stone he held cupped in his hands. His eyebrows met in a scowl of frustration.

"Sterna ri'sa!" he growled under his breath. The stone refused to budge.

"What are you up to, Stronghammer?" asked Carn, dropping onto the log where Ronan sat.

Slipping the stone into his belt, Ronan accepted the bread and cheese Carn had brought him and said," Nothing. Just wool gathering."

Carn nodded. " Must do so before a mission." (Paolini 399)

This assessment is based off of what I just read along with my vague memory of the past reading. Carn, called Stronghammer, is the brother of Eragon, the main character. His is a leader of a group of 30 men, with Carn as his second in command. they are about to go to War with someone. Another thing I got is that he is trying to do sorcery, but is not very good at it. What I have read so far is just talking, and no action. So I am starting to see why I stopped reading it. Hopefully It will pick up, or I get my new Kindle, Ether way is good with me.

Paolini, Christopher. Brisingr. New York City, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008.

Killing Floor (1-146)

I thought that since I have nothing to read now, that I would go back to the Reacher novels, with the first book.

Ranger's Apprentice: The Siege of Macindaw (251-320)

This isn't a blog post, but I want to talk this book in its whole, now that I have read the ending. The book starts of kinda slow, recapping what has happened in the previous book, ad then the rest of the book is just setting up the big battle at the end, witch we how how its going to end from the first few pages of the book. The execution is really good, and the battle feels like your actually there. This proves that John Flanagan can handle material well, but he is very predictable. I feel that the ending is a good set up for the next book, which will come out next year. So all in all, if your a fan of the series like me, you should defiantly read this book, but in you haven't read the other books, by all means, start at the beginning of the series, and and I guarantee you will love it.

Flanagan, John. Ranger's Apprentice: The Siege of Macindaw: Book 6. New York: Philomel, 2008.