November 2004

Carter Beats the Devil, by Glen David Gold
On loan from Alissa. Loved the first part, but he lost me in the last 100 pages -- I was so much more interested in the development of the magic than I was with unraveling the "mystery" that was supposed to be getting solved in the final chapters. Definitely not as good as its magical counterpart, Kavalier and Clay. Grade: B-.

The Return of the King, by J.R.R. Tolkien
It really annoys me that the first thing that pops up on Amazon when you're looking for these books are the movies. Not just the movies on DVD and VHS, but the movie tie-ins. Aragon the King posters, for example. Remember how these were books before they were movies?

Ahem. Anyway. I loved these, as has been previously documented. They're amazing. Grade: Conventional models cannot contain my amazement. I spent the entire fall reading them, basically, and I am not sorry.