Review: Soon I Will Be Invincible

"Soon I Will Be Invincible" is a book I started reading in Australia. I was almost finished with it by the time I left Australia, a scarce three days later. It was an incredibly fast and fun read.

The book takes place in an alternate America in which there are superheroes and supervillains. The story is told from the alternating perspectives of two of these: the cybernetic superheroine Fatale and the supervillainous Doctor Impossible. Although Fatale is an interesting and complex character, it is Doctor Impossible who steals the show. As literally the most intelligent man on the planet, he finds himself quite alone. It's hard to not be evil when you feel so alienated from those around you. It is his alienation that makes him so sympathetic, as it shows him as a flawed being that merely wants to be extraordinary, but feels shunned for his extraordinariness. His down-to-earth and self-aware inner monologues (especially when compared to his over-the-top external pronouncements) also make him an oddly sympathetic character, despite his unrepentant desire to bend the world to his will.

The story concerns two unconnected events: the disappearance of the most powerful superhero in the world, CoreFire (roughly equivalent to Superman), and Doctor Impossible's breaking out of prison and setting into motion his latest plan to conquer the world. To deal with both problems the Champions, a superhero team that broke up several years before the story starts, is reassembled. The team includes new recruits including Fatale, a woman who became a cyborg after a horrible accident in Brazil who remembers nothing of her previous life. Just as Doctor Impossible is more complicated than he appears, so are the Champions: they are flawed, contrary and fully three-dimensional characters. This book also doesn't resort to the infamous crutch of the comics it's based on in miring the characters in either unnecessary moral greyness or angst: they may be complicated people, but they're not gratuitously violent and cruel just because it makes them "deep."

As I said, the story is told in alternating chapters: first a chapter from Doctor Impossible's perspective, then one from Fatale's. Often chapter titles (especially Impsosible's) are taken from cliche lines from comic books, including "Join Me and We Cannot Be Defeated," "My Master Plan Unfolds," and "Maybe We Are Not So Different, You and I." Occasionally the author, Austin Grossman, plays around with this gimmick in interesting ways; for instance at least once a Fatale chapter happens before the Doctor Impossible chapter that preceded it. This switching back and forth also allows for interesting character exploration: for instance many of the Champions severely underestimate Doctor Impossible, thinkinbg of him as some sort of harmless hack, even though the reader knows very well how dangerous he is.

In the edition I purchased, there is an insert with fake comic book covers depicting characters and events in the story. This really helped the comic book feel of the book. A lot of the characters in the book are versions of famous Marvel and DC characters, and it is very clear that Grossman loves his superhero comics. The book is packed with references to a long and complicated continuity of superheroes and supervillains as complicated as the universes of the Big Two of comics. This made the world of the book seem incredibly real and interesting. I really want to learn more about events and characters only referenced occasionally.

Except for some occasional plot confusions (for instance Regina's backstory and the encounter between Doctor Impossible and Mister Mystic) that for me made no sense (I felt like I was missing something), I really liked this book, and I eagerly await the next book by this author, whether or not it's set in the same setting as this (although I hope it is).

Review: The Thief of Always

This was a short and strange, but fun book I read on the plane to Australia. It's by horror author Clive Barker, although this is targeted towards children (or at least its main characters are children and nothing too horrific happens). It's the story of a young boy named Harvey Swick who is growing bored of his life of no excitement. One day he is visited by a strange smiling creature called Rictus who offers to take him away to an exciting and wondrous place. Harvey decides to go, but says he'll only remain a few hours. When he gets to Mr. Hood's Holiday House, however, he finds it so wondrous that he cannot leave. There is tons of delicious food, and all of the seasons of the year happen in a single day. He can go trick or treating in the most beautiful constumes, and he gets whatever he desires for Christmas.

But as time goes on Harvey begins to notice some odd things about the house. He can't seem to figure out how to get back to the outside world, and Lulu, a child who's been at the house much longer than Harvey, is beginning to act odd. A Halloween prank on another child, Wendell, that goes wrong makes Harvey realize there's something sinister about the operation, and that he needs to get away. But escaping may not be enough: Harvey needs to defeat the myaterious Mr. Hood himself.

I was a little leery of this book at first. Something about the "all of the holidays in one day" concept seemed unoriginal and uninteresting. But it grew on me: the monsters and setting are so creepy and weird and the situations Harvey gets into so unexpected that I found myself liking it. It's an efficient little horror novel for children: delivering scares and suspense whilst not also being gratuitously violent or gory. The characters were interesting, with pretty much every character initially seeming to be fairly simple but revealing complexity as the story went on. I also liked that when Harvey describes what happened to his parents, they don't dismiss him out of hand, but actually try to believe him. All in all, a good fun read

Eunice's Tea

The flight back from Brisbane was unremarkable. I almost missed my shuttle to the airport, but another bus driver called it back.

Once I got out of the airport I took a taxi to Eunice's house. It was significantly longer and more expensive than I was expecting, but I got there. Eunice had quite a spread, with lots of sweets and finger food, the kind of stuff that I tend to constant graze on. I was the first person there, but others came later on. Not everybody did come, which was a shame, but it was nice to see some of my fellow IESers, some of them probably for the last time. We chatted about what we'd been doing--a group of them had gone over to Sydney, so I was not the only person who had Australian stories. We ate food, and played around with this toy that Eunice and her family had brought back from the Philippines--a wooden elephant that walked down a slope. A lot of people apparently have finals early this week, so apparently I'm lucky that my first final is at the end of this week. I still do wish I could be done with my finals earlier though. As it got later those of us who still hung around played this game called "Yaneev," an Isreali card game where the object was to get the lowest value hand possible. After it got dark, the rest of us went for a walk out in the nearby park with Eunice and her dog. After that we ate more, talked about the next crew of IESers for the next semester (they show up a week after we leave), and then Eunice drove us home. It was here that I discovered that my duffel's handle is jammed up and cannot be lowered. I'm going to probably have to buy a new suitcase, which makes me sad.

Tonight I went to the farewell for Ellen, an IESer who's leaving early (tomorrow) to be a counselor at a summer camp. It was alright, we had pizza, watched TV and played Yaneev. It made me wish I had interacted more meaningfully with my fellow IESers, but I did try.

Tomorrow I'll try to write a review of a book I read whilst in Australia.

A day out on the town

So today I decided to meander about downtown Brisbane. I crossed the William Jolly Bridge, and found my way over to the Queensland Museum (which was closer than I thought, to my relief). There were a lot of interesting things there, includinjg dinosaur bones, exhbits on the history, culture, and economy of Queensland (which was pretty interesting), exhibits on endangered and threatened Australian animals, a small exhibit on Charles Darwin, and a really cool one on the culture of Australian Aboriginals and Torres Straight Islanders (this really was interesting; especially compared to what I've been learning about Maori and Pacific Islanders). After that I decided to skip the next door Art Gallery and walked over to the Queen Street Mall, where there were a lot of shops. I meandered about, getting a few souvenirs (and fulfilling a promise I made to Erika that I doubt she even remembers), as well as something that I hope Dad likes for Father's Day. I got really hungry, but a lot of the food places I went to looked either pricy or kinda gross. I finally ended up getting BBQ chicken wings at a Portugese restaurant in a mall. After that I meandered about a bit, finally making my way back to the backpackers. THen I talked with one of my roomates, a Taiwanese guy who's in Australia for a working holiday. He seemed cool.

Well, I'm gonna go now (see if Erika's online), and see if i can find any food. I go back to NZ tomorrow, and hopefully to Eunice's afternoon tea, assuming that there isn't some horrible timing problem. Talk to y'all laters!

Crikey!

So my big thing for today was my tour to the Australia Zoo. I went over to the Brisbane Transit Centre and got on the bus. The driver informed us all about the zoo and Steve Irwin (the Australia Zoo was initially the Queensland Reptile Park, owned by Steve Irwin's parents, and there are pictures of Steve EVERYWHERE). He also told us that when the time came around for him to pick us up we needed to be ready ASAP or he'd leave us behind. He wasn't kidding: he actually did leave one guy behind. The zoo had tons and tons of animals, many of which I snapped pictures of. Because it's the Crocodile Hunter's zoo, you can bet there were tons of Australian crocodiles all over the place (And each one is given their own pond with their name on it, too). It was also a very hands-on zoo: there were a lot of zoo staff walking around holding animals. When I first came in there was a staffwoman holding a koala, which I got to pet. Not only are koalas adorable, their fur is ridiculously soft. About a half hour after I got there, they had a oppurtunity to feed their elephants. I took it, and it was weird: the elephant's trunk snatched the carrot I was holding out of my hand, leaving behind a little bit of snot. According to a staffwoman who was commenting as we fed the elephants, the snot is a good anti-aging cream; I'm not sure if she was joking.

I saw a lot of Australian animals. Besides the ubuquitous crocodiles, there were koalas, kangaroos (in big open enclosures where you can walk up to them, pet them, and feed them), wombats (the most adorable animals ever--basically koalas on the ground--a lot bigger than I was expecting), lots of poisonous snakes, goanas, echidnas (which were both cute and cool to look at), emus, cassowaries, Tasmanian Devils, and dingos. Part of what I was wantingto do in Australia was to see some native animals, and I definitely accomplished that.

But they also had plenty of nonnative animals. Two of their newer exhibits were Elephantasia (not so sure about that name), where they had elephants, and the Tiger temple, where there were tigers (although I didn't see any there). There was also plans for a cheetah run, but it hasn't been built yet.

I also caught an animal show at the "Crocoseum" (again, not so sure at that name), where they demonstrated the many talents of the saltwater crocodile, had macaws flying all around, and showed off some snakes. It was nice, and I'm glad I caught at least one show.

I actually managed to get all around the zoo 2 hours before the pickup time, so I just sat down near the entrace and watched the Crocodile Hunter feature film, which was on a loop on a monitor right at the front of the zoo. Once the bus came we took off. We stopped briefly at a fruitstand to get some fresh fruit (I decided to conserve my money and didn't get any), and then we watched a film about Steve Irwin's life as we drove back to Brisbane. He really was a fascinating guy, and it was fun to get to know more about him. I also didn't know that his wife was an Oregonian, although apparently everyone else does.

Tomorrow I plan to meander about town and see if I can find some cool things to see and do in central Brisbane. Wish me luck!

AUSTRALIA!

So I got to the airport easily enough and went to check in. It was then that I larned I needed to buy an Australian visa, which was annoying, but at least there was a kiosk for it in the airport. I checked in and then had to pay my exit fee (I damn both of the governments of Australia and New Zealand for the pirates they are), and went ot wait by the gate. The flight was fairly uneventful. It had stuff like viewers to watch movie and meals on the plane, but you had to buy them, so I just sat and read instead. I had a bit of a shock when the flight attendant said we were making our descent into Syndney, but apparently that was her little joke to make sure we were paying attention. I breezed through customs (although I was pulled aside for further questioning by an immigration official--I guess I just look extra sketchy)and then went to the Coachtrans kiosk, where I checked in for my shuttle. The driver dropped me off somewhere supposedly closer than where I had told Coachtrans to drop me off, but i got a little lost before I found my backpackers. But once I got there, it was dead simple to check in. Once I checked in I wandered out to buy some batteries and find the bud transit centre. I did find it eventually, but it took some time. But when I go on my tour to the Australia Zoo tomorrow, at least I'll know where to go. Well, that's about all: I shall write more tomorrow about my trip to the zoo.

Review: Flashman

So yesterday I finished up reading "Flashman," the first book in the aptly named Flashman Papers series by George MacDonald Fraser. These books feature the adventures of Harry Flashman, a Victorian-era soldier and adventurer, who is secretly a coward and a scumbag who takes advantage of lucky situations to appear to be a hero. Flashman was originally featured in a Victorian-era school story called "Tom Brown's Schooldays," in which he was a bully. "Flashman" opens with him being thrown out of Rugby School for drunkeness and going to London to become an officer in the army. The book details his first posting in a regiment in England (which he specifically picked so he wouldn't have to do any actual fighting), his transfer to Scotland (where he is forced into a marriage to a factory owner's daughter), his posting to India (which he finds to be less horrible than imagined), and, containing most of the book, his posting in Afghanistan, in a horribly bungled campaign by the British to control the country.

Flashman himself is a surprisingly charming character. He is utterly without heroism, but to get ahead in life (especially in the army) he knows how best to fake it. He is also remarkably self-aware, fully admitting that he's a coward and more than a little bit of a bastard, which softens the blow when time after time he does exactly what a character in a British soldier novel SHOULDN'T do. A couple of times i wished the bastard would grow some courage and do something heroic, but that usually passed to humor as he manipulated a situation to appear to be a hero. He is also a remarkably intelligent character, and his contempt for his foolish, arrogant, or stupid commanders forgives his amorality most of the time.

"Flashman" is also a remarkably fast-paced book, especially since Fraser has also written a very detailed (and historically accurate) book. The people Flashman meets were real people and the stuff he witnesses actually happened in real life. Something about this made the story even more exciting. A part of the shtick of the book is that Fraser is adapting the memoirs of the {fictional) Flashman, so Fraser occasionally has end notes clarifying or correcting Flashman's historical mistakes. It works remarkably well.

THere are a lot more books in this series, and I hope to read them all (although I have no idea how easy to obtain they are in the US). I really really liked this book.

Review: Fevre Dream

''Fevre Dream'' is an earlier book by one of my favorite authors, George R.R. Martin. It concerns the owner of a small steamboat company in 1857 named Abner Marsh. Abner's been having some bad luck, and at the start of the story he has only one ship still running. However, he is approached by a mysterious man named Joshua York. York wants to buy into a partnership with Abner, and together captain the greatest steamship ever. This is the titular ''Fevre Dream'', a ship covered in silver, mirrors and other finery. Part of the deal is that Joshua would be allowed to bring onboard several associates, and that they be unharrassed and unquestioned in their strange behavior. And it is strange: they have a tendency to talk in strange tongues, drink a horrible-tasting liquor, and never come out into the sun. Meanwhile, down in New Orleans a mysterious but evil creature named Damon Julian and his brood of followers are attempting to figure out where to go.

This is a pretty good vampire novel. Granted, I haven't read many vampire novels, but this one seemed to be pretty absent of the cliches of the genre. The vampires themselves are interesting, being living beings who are an entirely different species from humanity, with their own culture and behaviors. I also liked how Martin seemed to be as passionate about the workings of a Mississippi River steamship in the years before the Civil War as about the vampires. The setting is also perfect: characters are racist and mean, and the condition of white humans to black slaves is adressed and even used as a metaphor in the story (although perhaps a few too many times).

Really, the one problem I had with the story was how it constantly seemed to be about to resolve, with the protagonists defeating the evil Damon Julian, only to have that be yanked out of their grasp. It got a little exhasperating after awhile, and made it ahard to get enthusiastic about the heroes' plans.

All in all, however, it was a good and fine book, one that was well-written, interesting, and with interesting characters. I reccomend it.

Adventuring in Akaroa

So last Friday I decided to go to a place that was fairly nearby to Christchurch, but that I had never been to, mostly because I was never quite sure how one gets there. This was Akaroa, a town just south and east of Christchurch. I was initially debating between staying overnight there or just doing a daytrip. However, when I found a nice little daytour I decided to just go for the day.

We left from the Cathedral Square and drove out of town. On the way out I saw a used book store "specializing in Science Fiction." Oh course I went there the next day. Anyways, the driver told us lots of little facts about all of the towns and beaches we drove past. We stopped at a place called Little River to browse through a craft co-op, which had all kinds of locally produced art and crafts, as well as tourist stuff. After that we stopped a few times to take pictures of the landscape (which was really beautiful). As we drove into Akaroa, the driver gave us the history of the town. It was initially organized by a French whaler named Jean Langlois, who wanted to create a French settlement there. But the Brits got wise, and raised the Union Jack over the area just before the French settlers got there. But the French were allowed to settle there anyways, just under British authority.

The first place I went in Akaroa was the museum, which had outside it a sign with testimonials supposedly from former visitors. One of them, which I found amusing, claimed the Akaroa Museum was "better than Te Papa" (which, for those who've been following my blog will realize, is the National Museum of New Zealand and about ten times as big). It was a nice museum however, with a video on the history of Akaroa, a whole lot of artifacts from the Maori and French periods, a model French house, and an exhibit on the captain of the Endeavour, whose name escapes me, who was from Akaroa.

After the museum I wandered up and down the waterfront snapping pictures. At one point I saw what I thought were ducks or seagulls swimming around in the bay. When I got a little closer, I discovered that in fact they weren't ducks: they were geese! That was really cool.

A lot of the people on the bus planned tours to go see dolphins once they got to Akaroa. I unfortunately did not plan ahead so I could only meander about the docks. But it gave me more time to wander around. I got lunch at a famous fish and chip place: it was quite good, and like always they gave me enough chips for four people. I found it amusing how so many of the signs were in French, even though probably no one in Akaroa is a native speaker. People just showing their cultural heritage, I guess.

On the ride back we stopped at one place, a cheese factory. It was all right, and I even sampled the cheeses, but it was nothing special. After that it was basically a straight shot home, and even though I got a little nauseous, it was a fairly pleasant ride back.

Next I have a book review, and in a few days I'm going to Australia for 4 days! I'll be sure to update people about that.

Night out with IES

So Tuesday last week was the last official event of IES (there's this afternoon tea thing, but that's unofficial I think), which was our night out having dinner on the tram. We started out with a session where Eunice informed us about the process of going back, informing us about reverse culture shock, homesickness for New Zealand, and apathy of the people around us towards our experience abroad. I hope that that won't happen too much to me: I assume I may be somewhat upset that people might not be as interested in my experiences as I am, but I doubt that reverse culture shock will effect me too much (maybe a little, I will miss Christchurch).

After that we took shuttles downtown to the tram station, and got on the train. I ended up sitting with a guy named Jai, whom I hadn't really interacted with much on my trip, but who turned out to be really interesting. We talked about science fiction and Indian food a lot. The meal was delicious: it was a set 3-course meal where you could pick one of two or three options for each plate. I had BBQ chicken skewers for my appetizer, sesame salmon for my main course, and a really delicious chocolate cake with cinnamon cream and orange sauce for my dessert. It was really delicious. Going around on the train was nice, but the circuit we went on wasn't that big, so we ended up seeing the same things over and over again. But all in all it was a great experience