Farm, Day 2

 *also backdated for my own sanity*

We went into the city today (the name of it is escaping me at the moment; it was fairly large, probably the biggest in the state?). My relatives decided they wanted to take pictures, while we were on the expressway, so they got into the left lane, slowed down to about twenty mph, and snapped away. You can imagine how everyone else on the road felt about this. They also bickered the entire trip about which way was the right way to go, actually agreeing but not understanding each other well enough to realize they were agreeing.

            Grandma: “We go back the way we came. Except we take 26 instead of-“

            Great-Aunt:“Do you mean exit 26 or 26^th street? Because we don’t-“

            Grandma: “26^th street, of course.”

            Great Aunt: “-want to take exit 26, we want to take 26^th street.”

            Random Relative 312: “That’s what she said.”

            R&d: *Is unsure whether to laugh or bash head against window*

Everyone else went to tour some mansion, but I got to go to a giant used bookstore, where I got three Terry Pratchett books, and one random book- “13 Ways of Looking at the Novel” (which is not nearly as boring as it sounds, or I wouldn’t have wasted nine dollars on it)

            (Besides, I need something to help me get to bed, right?)

            I also watched my second-cousin’s tennis match. Er- did sudoku while she played, that is. Or as everyone else kept calling them “Su-ducko”

            Went home, ate dinner, watched The Notebook, which was too sad, and am now bored enough to write stuff in this, which I can’t post until I get home anyway….

Random Book Review

Random Book Review: The Company series, by Kage Baker
*Warning: contains some spoilers*

            Books:

            In the Garden of Iden

            Sky Coyote
            Mendoza in Hollywood
            The Graveyard Game
            The Life of the World to Come

            The Machine’s Child
            Gods and Pawns

            The Sons of Heaven

 

            Overall impression:

            Good entertainment, but tries a little too hard. Worth reading, but not twice.

            Basic idea:

            A company developed time travel some time in the 2300s. They can also change small children into immortal cyborgs. They come up with a brilliant business plan: go way back in time, change some little Cro-Magnons into cyborgs, and let the little buggers advance through time normally, collecting anything valuable on the way. These cyborgs, called “operatives” or “preservers,” carefully save works of art, DNA samples from extinct species, and so on, according to the will of their masters in the future. But there’s one flaw in this plan: for all the Company has time-travel and immortal cyborgs, they don’t know what will happen after the Silence in 2353ish- the point at which all communication with the future stops.
       Meanwhile, some of the operatives are getting bored/evil/not happy, and are planning rebellions.

            What I liked:

            The books were well-written, entertaining, and many of the characters were enjoyable. The concept was novel. The series was long, so it took me over a week of combined reading time to finish it. (Probably a couple of months, for anyone who reads at a normal speed, I guess?)

            I absolutely loved Literature Specialist Lewis, who is in almost every book. He reminds me of Remus, a bit. Also: Princess Tiara Parakeet. (Don’t ask. This is why little kids don’t get to name themselves.) She doesn’t show up until the last book, and I was a little bit WTF about her at first, but she turned out awesome. In her strange way.

            In fact, I liked most of the characters. They were memorable, and believable, even the one I hated. So good job, Kage Baker.

            Problems:

            I hate time travel. It hurts my head. It seems to me that it hurt Baker’s head, too. Near the end of the series, all the time-travel just stopped making sense at all. All the limitations that had been carefully maintained throughout the series starting breaking down. It smacked of deus ex machina, in my opinion, especially at the end of the series.

            Also: Edward Alton Bell-Fairfax. I can’t tell you too much without giving away plot, but that man got on my nerves so much. Picture canon Draco, but with Victorian sensibilities and a superiority complex. And he is never, ever, wrong. A Gary Stu in assassin’s clothing… Fortunately, he isn’t in the series until halfway through. And he gets a little better near the end.

            (Although if it had ended up EAB-F/Lewis, I would have liked him better, I think. I kept seeing hints, but Alas! ‘twas not to be)

            Also: The romance made me gag a little. It was of the “We have fallen in love as teenagers, but it is a deep and abiding love that will last all eternity” variety, which I can’t stomach. Yes, you fell in love. And then three thousand years went by. Get Over It, already!