Happenings

For all you book nerds... :: Monday, August 11th 2008
George Orwell's Journal posted 70 years after they were first written, in blog form.

Subscribe to the feed. It follows his return to England after his recuperation in Morocco (his lung hemorrhaged) in 1939 all the way to 1942 (three years into Brittan's involvement in World War II).

So far, the first three days, is him musing about a snake he caught and the weather.

Troy

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For all you folks who lived in Newfolden... :: Monday, August 11th 2008
Or those who just like the town...

Buy the shirt I made on Cafe Press.

Troy

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lawn bowling :: Sunday, July 20th 2008
Due to the fact that our friend Steve is now old (30), we all tried an age appropriate sport of lawn bowling. It was a beautiful day and we all had fun. Brittany made a delicous spread of finger food and after we went to a small wine bar to chat the night away.

mandy

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skyland mountain run :: Saturday, July 12th 2008
Troy and I did a nice 5k and a 10k in the hills this morning. There was pancakes, bacon, bagels, eggs and fruit after. I defended my 10k title from last year and Troy rocked the 5k with a time of 22 min.

mandy

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Small Favor - Jim Butcher :: Monday, July 7th 2008
I finished yet another book :). You probably are wondering... Don Quixote? But, no... I'm on page 120 of that thing... only 780 more!

Yesterday night I finished "Small Favor" by Jim Butcher.

Quick Overview

This is the tenth book in the Dresden Files series, the continuing story of "Chicago's only wizard private investigator". Yeah, sounds silly right? Well, it is a little silly... like how Buffy was silly... but, it is also action packed and an easy read that is hard to put down.

In this episode Harry Dresden has to do a favor for a faerie Queen that he can't refuse and ends up fighting demons.

My Thoughts

Well, out of the ten I have now read (bearing only superficial resemblance to the TV show that got me interested in the books) this one was not even in the top five.

The issues I had with it are as follows:

The bad guys are getting too strong. Think about your favorite SCI-FI show, and how season after season, the good guys have to fight stronger and stronger enemy's until it becomes a bit absurd (Buffy, SG-1, etc. all ended up fighting gods... ridiculous... but, yes I still watched them... I'm a geek <g>).
There was less "internal struggle" in this one. The problems all seemed to be stuff trying to kill Harry, after I started to get used to Harry having his own problems.
The secondary characters seemed only to be there to move the plot forward... sorta. They had their moments, but they seemed almost expendable to the plot.
The very end of the final battle was a bit "too convenient"... saved at the last second, like a bad action picture.

But, don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed this book. I read the 432 pages in six days (there was a holiday in there <g>). It was fun, humorous (I laughed out loud once or twice), and full of action. Jim Butcher is not going to be remembered with the likes of Karouac, Steinbeck, Tolkien, etc. But, for those who like off-beat SCI-FI or mystery novels that are great for the beach or just for fun should check this out. Start from the first one and you'll be hooked.

All in all: 6.8 / 10.

Troy

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