The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - the movie

Whew!!!
Went to the movie yesterday and this is a doozy!!! Somehow it's so much worse to see things happening than to just read about them.  This is not a film for the faint of heart  - Lisbeth's life is not easy to see...

But - my goodness does it keep you engrossed!!

The Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

I just finished this book. I have to say I love these!! This one does not disappoint...

The books are about Tessa Gray.  A New York girl who has been brought to London and is under the care of the Institute of London. Basically that means that she lives in the institute with Charlotte and Henry, Will and Jem and Jessamine.  Now that may sound very mild mannered - but the Institute houses the Shadowhunters - beings descended from the angels tasked with keeping the world safe from demons and evil.  Tessa is not a Shadowhunter, she is not a werewolf, vampire or other downworlder, she is not a warlock because she doesn't have a mark.  But - she is not a mundane (normal human) because she is able to change into another person with the help of something that person owned.

That sounds difficult enough - but there is a nasty dark figure stalking the Shadowhunters seeking to own Tessa.  He is the Magistrat and the mastermind behind an army of clockwork monsters ready to kill.  And he seems to be everywhere - easily finding their weaknesses through spies and clockwork creatures.

Oh yeah - and there is more.  Will is a loose cannon - irreverant, uncontrolled, unpredictable, hating everyone he comes in contact with.  Jem is the exact opposite - he is caring and kind and looks out for everyone and he is dying - addicted to a drug which is slowly killing hime and to stop the drug would kill him outright.  These two are fighting partners - paired in a special ceremony to defend each other no matter what. And they are both in love with Tessa.

Now the real problem...

I hate reading series...I really hate it...It's been too long since I read the first book and I have forgotten some of the underlying connections. So what do you do??  And the book just ends. The story doesn't - only the book.  So you are left with another year before the next installment.
Sometimes I think I should just buy them when they come out and not read them until they are all here...

Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan

I clearly have been on a supernatural kick lately!  I also read the first two installments of  Heroes of Olympus.  These books follow the Roman Gods - where the Percy Jackson series followed the Greek Gods.


There is also a Roman camp - run very differently from Camp Half Blood. Everything is very military, very controlled, very scary.  Sort of the antithesis of the Greek camp. But the prophesy says that both the camps must work together to save the world. A little difficult since the camps don't even know the other exists...so on single goddess has an idea...

What if we took the heroes from each camp - bonked them on the head so they lost their memories and then dumped them in the opposite camp.  Sound like something a meddling goddess might do??

So in the first book The Lost Hero - Jason ends up at Camp Half Blood - where everyone is mourning the disappearance of Percy and are more than a little concerned about this very talented kids appearance.  The same thing happens in the next book Son of Neptune. Except this time Percy ends up at the Camp Jupiter.
Both of these boys are given a quest to prove themselves and a couple of misfit kids to help them out...

All the while both camps and campers are moving closer to fulfilling this prophecy...

Seven half-bloods shall answer the call,To storm or fire the world must fall.An oath to keep with a final breath,And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.

I enjoyed these books - I continue to be in awe of the understanding and research that Riordan brings to these stories! They are like textbooks for the ancient gods.  Incredible!

Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan

 The Kane Chronicles are Riordan's newest journey into the ancient world of gods and their children.  These are the tales of the Egyptian gods - those who fill mortals with the spirits and fly through sand filled portals at any Egyptian relic site.

Riordan's  main characters are two siblings - Sadie and Carter Kane. Two teenagers as different as their parents were - Sadie raised rather prim and proper by her English grandparents and Carter raised by his Africa American Egyptian archeologist father roaming from one dig site to another.

In each of these books the Kanes must work together to attempt to save the world from the ever approaching god of Chaos.  Each book connects known well known places with Egyptian gods and their cohorts.  Each also reminds the reader of the importance of Egypt in the past and the present.  The Kanes slowly become more of a family as they accept the difficulties of trying to train future godlings and keep the world from succumbing to chaos.

As I read these I was reminded again and again of the other Riordan books and have become quite curious about his ease in describing gods in many different lands and ways.  It makes life quite interesting.