In Which Trai Lists Her Top Ten Villains, Criminals, and Degenerates

I decided to participate again in Top 10 Tuesday, simply because I just had to sit down and think about which villains have made my skin crawl! This was definitely a fun list and it'll be interesting to see what other choices people made beside the classic ones! A lot of these guys have fantastically creepy screen portrayals to match, too. Only one lady makes my list; she comes in at #10, but if you have any interest in reading the Fingerprints / Echoes books by Melinda Metz, I highly recommend you avert your eyes, as it's a huge spoiler.

** Spoilers ahoy! **

1) Nils Bjurman, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo: Yeah, this guy beat out the previous head honcho on my list (who's #2 here) by a lot. He takes advantage of Lisbeth in some really twisted ways and just thinking about him makes me mad! I was dying for him to get his just desserts, and luckily Lisbeth served up the hurt! (Played to creepy perfection by Peter Andersson.)

2) Paul Marshall, Atonement: Since 2007 until early this year, this guy reigned supreme in my mind. He's a rapist and he's just... nyuhhh he freaks me out so much. He is the only one that can turn a chocolate bar into the most menacing thing in the world. Watching a younger girl he has his eye on eat one, there's this creepy little paragraph: He crossed and uncrossed his legs. Then he took a deep breath. "Bite it," he said softly. "You've got to bite it." (In order to see this so spectacularly done right, check out Benedict Cumberbatch in the film version. I give that man as many thumbs up as possible because while the chocolate bar scene still gives me nightmares, he succeeded in winning my heart as Sherlock Holmes.)

3) Bob Ewell, To Kill a Mockingbird: This is my all-time favorite book, and Bob Ewell is pretty reprehensible. You have to really feel for Mayella, who's really only on trial because she has no other choice. He's a drunk, he beats his daughter, and then accuses Tom of rape just because Mayella tried to find some sort of affection. And then, to top it all off, he tries to kill Jem and Scout? Not cool, Bob Ewell, not cool.

4) Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter series: Where would any list of villains be without Voldemort? Anybody who tries to kill a baby is not cool in my book! Not to mention, you know, the hundreds upon hundreds of other people he massacred. Basically, all of the Death Eaters and Umbridge fit into this list, too!

5) The Capitol, The Hunger Games series: I still haven't read Mockingjay, so I don't know the worst of it, but, um, making kids fight to the death on live television? Making it mandatory for the families of those kids, and everyone else in the nation, to watch? And doing all this just to show your citizens that they'd better not question the government? Twisted's not even the word.

6) Roman, Kitty Norville series: One of my lesser-known choices, this guy comes from Carrie Vaughn's Kitty books, which I've reviewed here before. He's become more of a major player recently and has had his hands dipped in most, if not all, of the villainy stuff going on since Book 4. We still don't know all of his motivations, but he's got some seriously scary power and I'm really interested to see where his storyline will go.

7) Mr. Harvey, The Lovely Bones: If you want evidence of how creepy this guy is, look at the movie poster and tell me that does not give you nightmares. UGH. He rapes and dismembers Susie, and he's done it to other girls and women over the years, and he's just so severely creepy. (Check out Stanley Tucci in the movie version!)

8) Stanley, A Streetcar Named Desire: Most of the people on my list seem to be rapists... anyway. Abusive jackass who hits his pregnant wife and rapes his already mentally unstable sister-in-law after basically verbally torturing her. Stanley's just a fun guy, isn't he?

9) Sauron, The Lord of the Rings series: Where would my list be without this one? I read these books in elementary school and there's just something about the all-seeing eye and that ring and what it does to Gollum that's all wrapped up in the lovely notion of Sauron.

10) Yana, the Fingerprints / Echoes series: These books (by Melinda Metz) have recently been reissued under a different series title, hence me giving both. There's seven books in the series and you don't find out until the sixth that Yana has been the main villain all along, hence the massive spoiler warning. Believing that Rae's mother was responsible for the death of her own mother (I think; I'm fuzzy on the details as it's been six years), Yana poses as Rae's friend and does some pretty crazy things in order to scare her or try and kill her, including a pipe bomb, sending along her mom's ashes and a bone fragment, and using her powers of mental coercion to try and get Rae to cut herself to death with a knife. "I wonder how many cuts it will take for you to die? I bet thousands and thousands." Yana reforms once it's revealed Rae's mother didn't do anything, but still, she's just scary!

I'm interested to see what villains made the cut for you guys!

In Which Trai Reviews 'The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest: The Movie'

** Given that this is the third film in a trilogy, spoilers ahoy for the first two parts and for this film! **

My sincerest apologies for my lack of updates recently; schoolwork is again taking over my time and I haven't had as much time to read or update. I saw this last week, so this review is incredibly delayed. It is my hope (as it always is) to resume normal updating speed shortly.

And so a week has passed since I saw this and the Swedish side of the Millennium craze has officially passed in the States. I do feel quite a bit of sadness at seeing it go; now we must wait until December 2012 for the American remake starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, which is currently filming in Sweden. Until then, I shall live in my books and the DVDs of the original films, and should any interesting news come up about either the films or the mystery-shrouded fourth book, I might throw out a mention on here.

With that being said, this is of course the final film in the Millennium trilogy and it's been quite a ride to get there. We open with Lisbeth and her father Zalachenko being rushed to the hospital, both of them nearly dead. Zalachenko has been attacked with an axe by Lisbeth; Lisbeth has been shot in the head and buried alive by her half-brother, Niedermann, a blonde giant who can literally feel no pain. The day was saved by Mikael Blomkvist, Lisbeth's once-lover and partner in crime-solving, but their problems are far from over. Lisbeth faces a grueling recovery and then a trial that will determine if she is guilty for three murders and if she can finally be declared legally competent. Unable to truly help herself, it will take the combined efforts of Mikael, the Millennium staff, Mikael's lawyer sister Annika, and Lisbeth's hacker friends to try and bring her to a victory.

To start with, this film had a lot to do and a short space to do it in. It has to wrap up an ongoing story in two and a half hours, and it has to do so while managing a lot of characters and relationships. Overall, I felt that the books were a more rewarding and cohesive experience, simply because there was no way that the movies could do the fairly vast web of characters justice. Some subplots were omitted and some scenes were altered or deleted entirely. Out of all the adaptations, I found this one to be the least satisfying as an adaptation of the book, but it was still great as a movie and a satisfying conclusion to the films.

This film continued to do the things Played with Fire did that I felt improved upon the books. We see more of Millennium than we did in the first film (it was omitted over here), and Christer and Malin get a lot to do. Erika and Mikael as a couple get more screentime; their relationship is fairly important so I was glad it made the cut (again, the cut of the first film that was shown over here omitted this). Some of the subplots that got the axe were Mikael's relationship with Monica (no tears shed by me, as I never did feel that was necessary to the third book) and Erica's tenure at Aftonbladet and relationship with her husband. (I was a little sadder about this one; I'd really wanted to see her own storyline in here, but one part of it--the threatening messages--was twisted to fit this storyline. Her husband is omitted entirely.) This film cuts down on the book's many, many characters and makes the story more manageable.

The performances are still top-notch. Rapace has less physical things to do this time around, as Lisbeth is still rehabilitating for most of it. Instead, we see her dealing with her limited abilities and with the people around her who must help her. Primarily, we see her interact with Annika (Annika Hallin), and there's some sweet, flirty little scenes concerning her and Jonasson, her doctor, played by Aksel Morisse. It was interesting to see the other, calmer side of Lisbeth as played by Rapace, as she finds herself having to deal with people asking her questions she has never wanted to answer. Michael Nyqvist gets a lot to do as Blomkvist; he has his action scenes and then his in-command position at Millennium. I still really enjoyed the way he captured Mikael's devotion to Lisbeth and his hellbent nature when it comes to finding the truth. Teleborian, as the main villain this time 'round, was played to fantastically creepy perfection by Anders Ahlbom Rosendahl.

The supporting characters also turned in good performances. Lena Endre, as Erika, is yet again the normal, grounding force in Mikael's life, and her concern for him shows through nicely. I also liked that the film decided to show the conflict in their relationship that arises from Mikael's occasionally reckless actions; it was nice to see the other side of the coin. Annika Hallin's performance as Annika Giannini was occasionally hit or miss for me--I believed her as a lawyer full-stop, but when it came to her reacting to circumstances, some of her reactions felt overdone (i.e., when her bag gets stolen, when she tells Mikael about the shooting at the hospital, when she sees the tape of Lisbeth and Bjurman). Some humor is brought to the whole thing by Tomas Köhler as Plague, who is used as a stand-in for the whole Hacker Republic that was present in the books.

On the whole, the film does what it's supposed to do: it wraps up the story of Mikael and especially Lisbeth, and it gives the viewer closure. It condenses the book into something manageable and although the amount of names could get unwieldy (I'd read the books and yet couldn't remember until a few days after seeing the film who Bjorck was!), the story still manages to be cohesive and not overly hard to follow. The film cuts down on the talky aspects of the book by interspersing it with bits of action--i.e., Niedermann slowly making his way to a safe haven.

I enjoyed some of the screenplay's adaptational choices more than others. I really liked the little flirtation between Lisbeth and Jonasson; it added some levity and made me smile. As I said before, I liked the decision to show the tension in Mikael and Erika's relationship. I did miss some of the communication between Lisbeth and Mikael; there wasn't as much of that here as there could have been. But all of the book's relationships were preserved well, for the most part.

Then again, some of the things that were omitted really made me wish they'd been kept in, and that's why I will say that overall, I found the books better than the films. I really wish the film had stuck more closely to the book's ending, in particular. We see Lisbeth's confrontation with Niedermann; that's all intact. Where the movie strays from the book is Lisbeth's reconciliations with Miriam and then with Mikael, which really disappointed me. I don't even think Miriam got a mention, which is sad considering the effort Played with Fire made to show their relationship.

And then there was the thing that really, truly bugged me: the change to the final scene with Mikael and Lisbeth. The book ends on the beautifully symbolic gesture that gives real closure to the trilogy: Lisbeth letting Mikael into her apartment, symbolic of the fact that she'd let him into her life, cut him out, and is now letting him in again. Instead, here, she says thank you to Mikael when he comes to her apartment, and it basically ends with them saying "see you around." I had really wanted to see that final gesture on screen; it was what made the book feel really complete to me, and what made me feel it was really over. I read an interpretation that stated that the ending of the book was more ambiguous due to the potential of more books--there will be more adventures, hence why Lisbeth lets Mikael in--whereas the film trilogy itself is more finite, with no possibility for a continuation, which is why the reconciliation doesn't truly happen. I can see that point, but the fact that the one tiny little gesture wasn't concluded threw me more than it should have. I just wish the film had given us more closure to the Lisbeth/Mikael partnership than it did.

Overall, I enjoyed the film's valiant effort to preserve the final chapter of the trilogy in a manageable form. I did not receive all the closure I had hoped for, but I still got a film with great performances that provided a satisfying end to a phenomenal trilogy. The books do a better job at telling the overall story, but I recommend these films to any American Millennium fan who wants to see it all done right (I've shown them to three of my fellow book fans so far and all of them have loved them). Rapace and Nyqvist are basically the essential Lisbeth and Mikael, no matter who might take the roles in the future. I give a big thumbs up to this installment and the trilogy as a whole, and here's to Sally and Kalle, some of my favorite literary friends.

In Which Trai Reveals Ten Books That Made Her Cry

Hi, everyone! I have seen this meme all around the book-blogging world, but have never partcipated in it myself. However, I love talking about emotional experiences reading books, and this is one meme I just had to do. There might be spoilers ahoy!

Many, many books hit me on an emotional level, and there are quite a few that have not made this list. However, these are the ones that stick out in my mind.

1) Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro: This book and its beautifully heartbreaking movie adaptation had me crying buckets worth of tears. It's probably the hardest I've ever cried at a book and its ending is still with me months later. I became so invested in the struggles of Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth, and their story left me drained but constantly thinking of it. This is a beautiful, heartwrenching book.

2) The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger: I wouldn't want to spoil this book for anyone, but I will say that it is a gut-wrenching tragic love story and one I became incredibly attached to. It made me spend the day between my senior prom and high school graduation crying my eyes out! I raced through this book all the way to its conclusion and it has stuck in my mind as one of the most emotional books I have ever read.

3) God-Shaped Hole, Tiffanie deBartolo: Can you tell I'm just a huge sucker for tragic love stories? This is a little-known book that I truly loved. My friend turned me on to the author's other book, and I found this one and told her she just had to read it! deBartolo is an amazing author. There's a lot of emotional scenes in this book, as Trixie and Jacob, the leads, suffer through father issues as they struggle to build their relationship and leave Los Angeles when they feel it is weighing them down. This is a great love story that most definitely had me reaching for the tissues. I highly recommend this one and her other book, How to Kill a Rock Star.

4) Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult: My Sister's Keeper, of course, made me cry buckets, but in order to play the contrarian, I offer this one as its stand-in for one simple reason. There is a chapter in this book where the events of 9/11 are recounted partly through the eyes of the younger characters. I was only 10 when 9/11 happened, slightly younger than Peter and Josie were supposed to be in the chapter, and I had to put the book away during that chapter because it just hit this wellspring of memories. Picoult captured so clearly that feeling I had of being a kid who just couldn't understand why this was happening to the world and how people could do such a thing. It was a beautifully done scene that hit me really hard.

5) The Last Song, Nicholas Sparks: There's a lot of emotion in this book, as there is in nearly all of Sparks', but this one got me the worst. I was a sobbing mess by the end, but I was glad I read it. It's an affecting family drama wrapped up in a very sweet love story, and I really cared about the characters, as evidenced by the copious amount of tears I was shedding towards the end!

6) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Stieg Larsson: If you've been following my blog for a while, you've seen by now that I truly adore this series; it's the best I've read in years. Dragon Tattoo really stays with me because of the impression it made. Lisbeth, our heroine, has been taken advantage of all her life, and there are two really graphic rape scenes in the novel. The second one left me shaking, hyperventilating, and nearly in tears. It's the most visceral reaction I've ever had to a book and I knew from then on that I loved it. As hard as the story was to read, it really hammered in for me the impact of violence against women all around the world and how much we need this to change.

7) Proof, David Auburn: I acted a scene from this in one of my classes and ordered the book straightaway, because the scene I had to do had me not faking the tears I was supposed to cry! This is a truly moving story of a bipolar mathematician's daughter and her fear that she may have inherited his illness. I just remember feeling so connected to Catherine's struggle and seeing her father deteriorate into illness during the flashback scenes was really heartbreaking. This is pretty much my favorite play.

8) The Laramie Project, Moises Kaufman: ... although it's closely rivaled by this one, which was a reading assignment my senior year of high school and a play I ended up acting in later that year. It's the very, very sad but moving story of Matthew Shepard's beating and death in 1998, and the effect it had on the town of Laramie, Wyoming. It's a tough story to read about, but it's got a lot to say about tolerance, homophobia, and compassion, all in the words of Laramie's citizens. This is one book I feel everyone should read.

9) Atonement, Ian McEwan: This is one of my favorite fictional love stories and favorite book-to-movie adaptations, and both of them make me cry! Besides the sad fact of its lovers never truly getting to be together, the details of the Dunkirk evacuation and life as a nurse in WWII really affected me and opened my eyes to a different time period.

10) Little Women, Louisa May Alcott: This is one of my all-time favorite books! I don't think I'm spoiling much by talking about it, as every back cover for it I've ever seen makes some reference to "tragedy" and "Beth." And it's not even that part that really gets me going! I have to choke back a sob every time I read the scene where Laurie comforts Jo during the first part, when she believes Beth's illness is all her fault. These characters feel so real to me and that's part of the reason I find their story so emotional.

What books have made YOU guys cry?? I hope you enjoyed my list! Have a nice day!

In Which Trai Reviews 'The Vampire Diaries: The Awakening and The Struggle'

The Book: The Vampire Diaries, Volume 1: The Awakening and The Struggle

The Author: L.J. Smith

How I Found It: I read a trilogy of L.J. Smith's when I was 14 and wasn't too huge a fan, but I heard nothing but positive reviews of the Vampire Diaries books. At that time, all of Smith's books are out of print, but now, due to the resurgence of YA paranormal fiction and the popularity of the TV series based on The Vampire Diaries (which I now have plans to watch), all of her books have been reprinted.

The Review: This book is comprised of two separate books, The Awakening and The Struggle. I will try to focus on the strengths and faults of each indiviudally, but the books are so cohesive--really, it's one big, continuous story--that I might just end up evaluating the book as a whole.

I have to start off this review by mentioning that these books have marked similarities to Twilight, although these were out in the 1990s and Twilight only came around in 2005. From what I've read, there was actually a lawsuit--not initiated by L.J. Smith, I think, who says she hasn't read them or seen the movies, but is aware of the similarities. Borders apparently refused to carry both the Twilight books and these books until the lawsuit was settled. I don't know how true this is since I read it on a message board and can't dig up more info, but there are plenty of lists with comparisons between the two out there. There are superficial plot similarities, but I found the characters different in some fundamental ways, and I personally found this story more engaging. (I will put it out there now that I am not a fan of Twilight, as I said in my second-ever blog post.)

The Awakening: Elena Gilbert has just returned to her hometown of Fell's Church, after the death of her parents in France. Living with her unmarried aunt and her baby sister, Elena is trying to readjust to life in her old community. She is the queen of the school and has a circle of friends willing to do whatever she wishes, and she can have any boy she wants--except the new one. His name is Stefan Salvatore, and he is impossibly gorgeous, mysteriously enchanting--and able to resist Elena. Elena makes a vow to have him, stopping at nothing until she gets what she wants.

The atmosphere in the town begins to change as a homeless man is attacked and partly drained of blood, and on the night of the Homecoming dance, one of Elena's classmates is attacked as well. This is the night that Stefan saves Elena from being raped by a drunken classmate, and this is the night when Stefan finally begins to let her in. They begin a relationship, though Stefan still attempts to hide his true nature and darker secrets from her.

I have to say that I liked this first part better than I was expecting. I have read extraordinarily mixed reviews about the series--on the one hand are the readers who read this series when it first came out and have fond memories of it; on the other are the readers of today, who seem to take issue with Elena's character and prefer the show. I will admit that although Elena is self-centered and unlikable until about halfway through the second volume, I found that this is one area where this series triumphed over Twilight, for me. Elena does not sit around and wait to be saved; when she wants something, she goes out and does it. Her friends, Meredith, Bonnie, and Matt, are actually there to support her and help her with these things; they are not simply window dressings in order to put more human characters in the story. Even if Elena sometimes needs help from the vampires in order to get what she needs, she almost always makes a valiant effort of her own first.

I also enjoyed this book a bit more than the second half because of one primary difference--Damon. If you've seen any summaries of the show at all, and even the summary on the back of this book, it plays up the love triangle aspect between Elena, Stefan, and Stefan's evil older brother, Damon. Damon actually is not a huge player in this first part; he comes in very late. Though every other reader and viewer seems to fawn over Damon, I found myself much more in love with Stefan and who he was trying to be for Elena. I guess I'm just not one for the bad boys! Stefan does lay on the tortured-hero a bit too thick at times, but he genuinely cares about Elena and has a reason for wanting to protect her from himself. I really enjoyed seeing their relationship (although Elena does fall in love rather too quickly for my tastes; I do so wish we could change this whole trend of "I see you and now I'm in love!" in YA).

This book sustains the action and mystery very well, as the events in Fell's Church become weirder and scarier. I'd advise that it's best to read the whole book all at once, as each book ends on a cliffhanger and it really is one continuous story. Which leads us into my as-spoiler-free-as-possible review of...

The Struggle: Damon is in Fell's Church and wreaking havoc among its citizens. Stefan has disappeared and so has Elena's diary, in which she wrote all about Stefan and his secret. After she and her friends find Stefan, pages with excerpts from Elena's diary are slowly posted around the school, and Elena finds herself desperate to retrieve it, while trying to do so without Stefan knowing.

The one person who can help her is the one person she does not want to help--Damon. Determined to possess her after what he views as Stefan's betrayal centuries ago, he offers Elena a deal: a few drops of her blood in return for him retrieving her diary. When Elena refuses, Damon works harder than ever to enter her mind and heart, trying to draw her away from Stefan. Time is running out before the contents of Elena's diary will be publicized all around town, and Elena finds herself struggling between Damon's offer and her loyalty to Stefan.

I felt that this half did an admirable job of reforming Elena's character from the self-centered ice queen into the girl who, while still harboring some selfish impulses, wants to be someone more. She is forced to recognize how selfish she has been and that she wants to be someone worthy of Stefan's ideals about honor and love. We don't see all that much of her relationship here, as it is more focused on her efforts to fight Damon and get him to leave her and her friends alone.

I have to admit that I really don't understand what makes certain readers attracted to Damon. I actually have to give Smith a lot of credit for creating such a polarizing character--some think he's just a bad boy waiting to be saved; I happen to think he's a complete monster. Not only is he responsible for murders and attacks over centuries (Stefan drinks only from animals, whereas Damon goes for human blood), he goes so far as to threaten to harm Elena's four-year-old sister if she doesn't obey him! He has no remorse and won't stop until he gets his way, and even if he comes off as over-the-top, his presence still felt genuinely threatening to Elena, Stefan, and the town at large.

So it's my opinion that what's going on between Elena, Stefan, and Damon isn't really a love triangle, because Stefan and Elena are the only ones in love! We never get any indication that Damon wants her for any reason other than to have her, period, and use that to screw over Stefan. He basically attempts to seduce Elena through mind games and manipulation, whereas Elena actively pursued Stefan and there is interest on both sides. I do feel that the marketing for this is somewhat misleading, as there is no love on Damon's side, just a really, really big sense of foreboding and menace.

All in all, though I know the series itself garners mixed opinions, it is worth it to give this one to teens looking for bigger books (the two books combined clock in at 494 pages) that have in interest in vampire fiction, and who might be interested to see an early example of the craze. For anyone concerned about romantic content, there's just some kissing that leads to blood-drinking (glossed over in short paragraphs, not described in great detail), although there's some pretty scary things going on, so I'd recommend this one to maybe 15 and up, unless you feel a younger child could handle it. Happy Halloween, everyone, and happy reading!

In Which Trai Reviews 'The Sign of Four'

The Book: The Sign of Four (Sherlock Holmes, Book 2)

The Author: Arthur Conan Doyle

How I Found It: I made a resolution two years back to read all of the Holmes books in order, but never got beyond A Study in Scarlet. PBS' broadcasting of the excellent modern-day-set series Sherlock has set me back on the path of my resolution.

The Review: Writing a review of classic fiction is always intimidating to me. What am I supposed to say that hasn't already been said? But with my lack of reviewing lately, I figured that I'd put out there now that there will probably be a lot of Sherlock Holmes on this blog in the coming months. I'm slightly in love with the new Sherlock series and I really do want to read through the whole canon. A gradual project it may be, but I do hope to complete it.

It's pretty much a guarantee that everyone knows about Sherlock Holmes, and if you don't, I would quite like to visit the rock you have been living under and see how it is you get the Internet access necessary to view my blog. This novel is the second chronologically, and is the second of four Holmes novels written by Doyle (the rest were short story collections). I think it's a general opinion that the short story collections are better, but I found this book perfectly enjoyable and it made me look forward to reading the rest of the Holmes canon.

John Watson is still adjusting to living with his flatmate Sherlock Holmes. Holmes has many odd habits, among them the proclivity towards cocaine when he's bored (!) and his extraordinary powers of deductive reasoning. I really love the opening scene, in which he manages to tell Watson all about his deceased brother from the state of said brother's watch. (This scene was preserved in slightly altered form in the recent Downey Jr. film and the new Sherlock series, as well.) As Holmes and Watson settle in for another day, they receive a visit from Ms. Mary Morstan, a woman who has not seen her father in years and is now receiving strange packages with beautiful pearls inside. The person sending the pearls has requested a meeting with her, and Mary needs Holmes and Watson to accompany her. Perhaps her father is still alive. Perhaps there is a reason she is receiving these pearls in the mail. And perhaps the story is stranger than they could have imagined.

The story is filled with the usual fun elements of a detective story, and the elements I am sure pop up in numerous other Holmes stories--Watson, a notorious ladies' man, falls in love impossibly fast with Mary Morstan. The story behind the treasure trove and the culprit we eventually meet is convoluted and filled with exotic mayhem. Holmes uses various resources at his disposal, including his band of orphans, the Baker Street Irregulars, and an old dog named Toby. So in short, there's adventure, there's romance, and there's colorful characters (and treasure!).

I really enjoyed the story, and I was pleased to find it much easier to follow than I did when I first tried to read it two years back. I really enjoy reading the earlier Holmes stories, because it's funny to think of how great a friendship Holmes and Watson eventually have and then see it from the beginning, when Watson is constantly wondering about Holmes and how he functions. I liked to see their developing relationship here; you can already see the seeds of friendship. Watson cares about Holmes' cocaine usage; Holmes plays the violin in order to serenade him to sleep. The beginnings of such an iconic friendship are a real pleasure to read.

The mystery itself lost me a little bit, especially in the last chapter, in which a far more complicated explanation of the treasure's origin that I had been expecting popped up. Yep, we get that chapter-long confession scene where the villain spills out the entire story. (Although I can say that it wasn't nearly as bad this time as it was in A Study in Scarlet, in which that confession becomes a large chunk of the book.) The book itself was fairly short; I read it online (yay for the public domain!) and went through it quickly. The chapters move along at a fast pace and each one almost invariably ends on a cliffhanger.

So while the mystery itself ultimately wore out my brain, I really enjoyed reading the book for the strength of the character development and for the glimpse into Holmes and Watson's developing friendship. It was so much fun to read and I'm looking forward to moving forward with my little project. I'd recommend this one and the previous book, A Study in Scarlet, to anyone looking to see how Holmes began--I think it's best to read things in order, but that's just me! For anyone who doesn't know the start of the story and is curious, both books are definitely worth a shot. Also recommended for mystery lovers and people who haven't already read Holmes!

(The book itself can be found for free online here. PBS also posted the first episode of the modern-day Sherlock here.)

In Which Trai Reviews 'Soulless'

Many apologies for the lack of reviewing; I've had so much required reading lately that I haven't been able to do much reading for myself!

The Book: Soulless (Book One of The Parasol Protectorate)

The Author: Gail Carriger

How I Found It: General browsing around the Internet led to me finding several enthusiastic reviews.

The Review: Alexia Tarabotti lives in Victorian era England, but it is a Victorian era very different from our own. Supernaturals walk the streets--vampires and werewolves are acknowledged and accepted by humans. Because humans have been studying supernaturals through science, technology has made great advances, and there are all sorts of mechanical inventions around. Alexia, however, might be the most fascinating thing in her world: she is a preternatural, called a soul-sucker by most vampires. She has no soul herself, whereas supernaturals in her world have an excess of soul. A touch from Alexia neutralizes supernatural powers for as long as the contact lasts.

Alexia lives the life of a spinster, her preternatural abilities known only to the BUR, a sort of FBI for supernaturals. Her quiet life is interrupted when she is rudely attacked by a hungry vampire at a ball. Strangely, though all vampires should know about preternaturals, this one seems genuinely surprised by her abilities, and when things get out of hand, Alexia kills him. This lands her in hot water with a BUR agent--Lord Maccon, an Alpha werewolf with whom Alexia has never been on great terms--and the local vampires.

It soon comes to light that loner vampires and werewolves are disappearing and being replaced with these new vampires who have no creator in sight and who have no concept of supernatural etiquette. Most troubling of all, Alexia is being hunted by a wax-faced man who seems impervious to harm... all while Alexia is developing an entirely unsuitable attraction to Lord Maccon, who seems to like her right back. What's a girl to do?

I have to say that it took me a bit to warm up to this book. I had heard rave reviews about its humor, romance, and innovative premise, but the humor felt a little too tongue-in-cheek for me at first, like the author was trying so hard to make every little thing funny. But it's impossible not to be amused by the opening scene: Alexia fending off her vampire attacker with a woodern hairpin and a brass parasol, eventually crashing into a table of treacle tart before killing him. I eventually came to enjoy the humor and laugh at it, and this was a very amusing, fluffy-but-still-science-fictiony book, and the most fun I've had reading a book of this genre in a while.

There were some great things about this book, things that I loved, but there were also some noticeable flaws that should have been edited or addressed further. I really liked the book overall, however, and will certainly be reading the rest of the series (two more books as of now, and two more in the future) as well as anything else Carriger sees fit to put out, as long as anything else she puts out is as fun as this one!

The Good: I love, love, loved the romance between Alexia and Lord Maccon. It defies all social convention and scandalizes quite a few people, but their scenes were so enjoyable and so incredibly sexy. The scene where they first kiss is going to stay with me for quite some time; it was funny and entertaining but also very passionate and hot. I also really enjoyed the supporting cast, particularly Professor Lyall, the Beta werewolf who keeps Lord Maccon in check, and especially Lord Akeldama, Alexia's gay vampire friend. Carriger is willing to poke some fun at the genre, and she acknowledges this when she introduces Akeldama (by pointing out his habit of emphasizing certain words over others, saying that he "seem[s] to speak primarily in italics"). Of all the witty dialogue in the novel, I especially enjoyed Lord Akeldama's; once this series comes to an end, I would be more than willing to see one focusing on him!

So while the characters, dialogue, and plot were all fun and engaging, I bring us to The Bad. These are things that could have been expanded upon or edited down, or things that just bugged me. None of them quite detracted from my enjoyment of the book, but they did leave me saying, "Well, I wish she'd done something with that..."

* It is mentioned early on that having no soul leads to Alexia not having both taste and morals. She learns about fashionable trends from what she sees around her and goes from there, yet, as one reviewer pointed out, she constantly critiques her friend Ivy's taste in hats and accessories. How does she know these things are ugly, if she has no concept of taste? I was especially intrigued by the idea that she has no morals and thus has to learn them from philosophy books. I thought that this could be an intriguing character; if she has no morals, one would think she'd be willing to take action and kill without compunction if someone were after her. Instead, however, she goes by the rules of proper decorum, and there's not too much action where she is the subject. Carriger's statement that Alexia had no taste or morals seemed to have been forgotten entirely after she said it, and I wanted to see that explored more--especially the part about her having no morals.

* There are fairly frequent POV shifts from one character to another from paragraph to paragraph, and Carriger vacillates between calling characters by their last names and first names. Both can be incredibly annoying. POV shifts in particular irritate me. Either this is a third-person limited narration where we see things only from Alexia's POV, or it is a third-person omniscient where we see everyone's thoughts. We should not be spending most of our time into Alexia's head and then BAM! in Lord Maccon's for a paragraph. No, it should not work that way. Also, the constant switching of what name a person is called by got to be tiring. That is something an editor should be taking care of and making more consistent.

* Some details definitely do get repetitive. By the time I was past the first third of the novel, I'd had enough of hearing that Alexia was an Italian spinster with dark skin, an unsightly nose, and a curvy body. I understand that Alexia has been told these things her whole life and made to believe them, but geez, I just wanted the narration to stop repeating them.

All of these things were, as I said before, minor flaws that can be attributed to it being a first novel and just something that needed a little bit more editing. The book itself was wonderful and fun, and I've already recommended it to people. The American Library Association named this as an adult book that young adult audiences can truly enjoy, and I completely agree: anyone fifteen or up who's into fantasy and the Victorian era should most definitely give this one a shot (just be warned about some steamy kisses, anatomical references, and, eventually, a sex scene). I really enjoyed this book and I'm looking forward to reading more by Carriger. Highly recommended to young adult and adult fans of steampunk and science fiction/fantasy.

In Which Trai Reviews 'Love the One You're With'

The Book: Love the One You're With

The Author: Emily Giffin

How I Found It: Same as Giffin's first three novels: the very emphatic recommendation of Shiri Appleby.

The Review: One hundred days after her wedding to her best friend's brother, Andy Graham, Ellen Dempsey runs into her ex in a New York City crosswalk. That ex is Leo, a moody journalist--Ellen's "one who got away." The relationship was a way for Ellen to fulfill her codependence, but impaired her artistic creativity, and to everyone but Ellen, he was not the one for her. She has tried her hardest to forget him, but that chance encounter brings it all back. She knows she shouldn't, but she meets up with him in a diner, and agrees to try and be friends again.

All around her, Ellen sees her family members doing the same thing. Andy, her husband, is friends with his ex-girlfriend; Margot, Andy's sister, has her ex-boyfriend doing yard work for her. If they can do it, why can't Ellen? She knows very well why she can't--Andy and Margot didn't feel nearly as much for those exes as Ellen did for Leo.

As much as Ellen wants to be faithful to her husband, she finds herself drawn in by Leo, who soon gets Ellen, who's a photographer, the assignment that could make her career. She can't refuse--but she can't tell her husband or Margot, neither of whom would understand, that she is back in contact with Leo. As she and Andy navigate married life and the decisions that come with it, Ellen makes a decision of her own--to rekindle her friendship with Leo, even if it could lead to dangerous territory.

I have to admit, I agree with what seems to be the general consensus--that this seemed to be the weakest of Giffin's books (at least, the ones I've read so far; I've yet to read her most recent, Heart of the Matter). I didn't, however, have the same misgivings everyone else seemed to. Most people found fault with Ellen as a character. I do have to admit that her continued attraction seemed somewhat implausible--Andy never does anything that would make the reader feel Ellen's behavior is justified, and we don't see enough of Ellen and Leo's initial relationship to really feel like Ellen's attraction to him is still warranted.

Besides all that, I never really felt that anything Ellen did with Leo was all that terrible. Giffin always tries to tackle the gray areas of certain subjects, where there are no easy answers, and that's sort of what happened here. What constitutes cheating? Does it have to be kissing or sex, or can it be something smaller, like keeping secrets or holding hands? Can you really be in love with someone when you can't stop thinking about the someone who got away? Even though I was supposed to believe Ellen was toeing the line and doing something bad, I just never felt that her relationship with Andy was being threatened. Maybe I can't see it since I'm not married or in a committed relationship, but that was my perspective.

Unlike most, I felt that Ellen, as a character, was realistic. She is formerly codependent and needy, but working to get past it. Still, she does have a tendency to let other people make decisions for her ever since her mother's death, which is the big shadow hanging over the novel. (I've read four of Giffin's five books so far and the protagonist has an issue with her mother in every one. It makes me wonder, is all I'm saying.) Ellen has never had that guidance, and finds herself constantly wondering about how things would have been if her mother had been around. Unlike in Giffin's previous novels, I never truly felt connected to any of the other characters besides Ellen. They all felt somewhat two-dimensional. The Southern belle, the mother-in-law, the perfect husband, the moody ex... everyone fit a little too neatly into those stereotypical categories.

Out of all Giffin's efforts that I've read so far, I think this one felt rushed and didn't delve deeply enough into the topic to suit me. I'd say it gets maybe 3 and 1/2 stars--I didn't like it as much as Something Borrowed and Something Blue, but I liked it less than Baby Proof (which I had mixed feelings about, but that was better written than this one, in my opinion). I'd definitely still recommend it for Giffin fans, but would advise newcomers to her work to start at the beginning and make a decision on whether or not they feel this one is worth their time based on their opinions of the others.