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Sarah (7800 KP) created a post

Jan 18, 2021 (Updated Jan 18, 2021)  
(Posting this separately as it covers as a review for 3 films @The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) , @The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002) and @The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) )
Film(s) #11 on the 100 Movies Bucket List: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Film 11 is actually the three films that make up the Lord of the Rings trilogy: Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers and Return of the King. Whilst I can entirely understand featuring the trilogy as a whole, especially as they were filmed back to back and follow the same continuing storyline, however as a watcher this is a tad frustrating. The extended editions of these films, which I own of course, come in at a hefty runtime of just under 12 hours and this means a marathon of a film screening. But gripes about the runtime aside, this trilogy is still every bit the epic I remember it being when they were first released nearly 20 years ago.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy is based by JRR Tolkien’s book of the same name that follows Frodo (Elijah Wood), a hobbit who must journey to the darkest lands of Mordor to destroy a powerful ring before it falls into the hands of the evil lord Sauron. Throughout Frodo’s journey across Middle Earth, he is accompanied by a 9 strong fellowship: hobbits Sam (Sean Astin), Merry (Dominic Monaghan) and Pippin (Billy Boyd); men Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) and Boromir (Sean Bean); elf Legolas (Orlando Bloom), wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) and dwarf Gimli (John Rhys-Davies). All of whom must also face their own battles in the war to defeat Sauron.

At the time these films were released between 2001 and 2003, we’d never seen filmmaking taken to such extremes and I’d argue that aside from the later Hobbit film trilogy (the less said about those the better), we still haven’t seen anything like it in the decades since. To film these back to back over 15 months with a immense cast, sets and filming locations across New Zealand is no mean feat and watching these back you can really appreciate the sheer amount of work that has gone into these films. The cinematography is stunning and really highlights the beautiful scenery of New Zealand, and the CGI for it’s time was beyond impressive. The motion capture technology used for Andy Serkis’ portrayal of Gollum was incredible and like nothing we’d seen before. All of this paired with Howard Shore’s hugely memorable and iconic score makes for a superb bit of filmmaking.

What makes director Peter Jackson’s take on Lord of the Rings so engaging is the story and the fact that there’s nothing in the main plot that is unnecessary. Jackson had removed all of the erroneous side plots from the book (think Tom Bombadil) yet kept the main thread of the story intact, which effortlessly weaves serious fantasy and war with some rather light hearted and funny moments. While I would normally be an advocate of books over their film counterparts, I happily make an exception for the Lord of the Rings. The films are definitely better than the book. They’re also helped by a stellar cast, from seasoned veterans like Ian McKellen and Christopher Lee (Saruman), to relative newcomers at the time like Viggo Mortensen, who has by far a standout performance, who all do their part to make this trilogy come alive.

This isn’t to say that the trilogy is flawless. Whilst the films look good for their age, some of the special effects haven’t aged quite as well as you’d expect and there are some that are looking decidedly ragged around the edges – Treebeard in Fangorn forest is but one example. The casting of Orlando Bloom was also a questionable one. His acting skills are limited at best and while he is meant to be playing a rather emotionless elf, his performance is very poor compared the rest of the elvish actors. He probably isn’t helped by the fact that Legolas has been given some rather ridiculous and farfetched acrobatics that just look quite silly. And then there’s Éowyn, who is possibly one of the most irritating characters of all, her doe eyed fawning over Aragorn completely overruling the tough, feisty woman she’s trying to be. Finally I’d also question about whether the extended editions are truly necessary, which I appreciate does make me a bit of a hypocrite seen as I own them. They might include scenes we’d never seen in the theatrical releases, but I’d argue that none of these ads particularly much to the overall story.

However despite these flaws, the Lord of the Rings trilogy is undeniably an epic masterclass in filmmaking from Peter Jackson and these are 3 films that you won’t forget in a hurry. It can only be 10/10.
     
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Hazel (1853 KP) rated Word Nerd in Books

May 25, 2017  
Word Nerd
Word Nerd
Susin Nielsen | 2016 | Children
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
For Scrabble Lovers
This eBook was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Canadian author Susin Nielsen continues to entertain children with her latest novel Word Nerd. Similarly with characters from previous novels, the pre-teen Ambrose is a bit of a misfit. With a deathly peanut allergy and an over protective parent who travels from job to job, Ambrose never manages to make any friends. Now settled in Vancouver, Ambrose is the happiest he has ever been. He is homeschooled away from all the bullies, has made a friend and found a passion in Scrabble. However, he has to keep all of this secret from his mother.

Ambrose is a funny, intelligent narrator who draws the reader in from the very first line: “The day I almost died…” Like many children who do not fit in with peers at school, Ambrose’s passions lie within less conventional past times, i.e. playing Scrabble. Able to quickly pull out several words from a jumble of letters – emphasized by the anagram chapter headings – he is overjoyed to learn of a nearby Scrabble club and knows just the person to accompany him.

Cosmo is a character that younger readers may struggle to come to terms with. An ex-convict and recovering drug addict, Cosmo also enjoys playing Scrabble and is persuaded by his annoying neighbour – Ambrose – to go to the club. An unconventional friendship sparks between the two of them, both unintentionally helping the other out. Cosmo encourages Ambrose to stand up to the bullies, whereas having a child around keeps Cosmo away from the things that resulted in a prison sentence. Despite the positives in this relationship, Ambrose’s mother believes Cosmo to be completely untrustworthy.

Although Ambrose and Cosmo are the main characters in Word Nerd, Ambrose’s mother maintains an important role. Having lost her husband suddenly and unexpectedly, she must have been terrified to learn of Ambrose’s peanut allergy. In order to prevent her son from leaving her as well, she has become overprotective and controlling, denying Ambrose the right to live his own life.

Some readers may have experienced similar situations either at school or with their parents. Word Nerd, whilst being a form of entertainment, explains the potential reasons behind these scenarios, helping children to understand what may be occurring in their lives. It also highlights the dangers of drug addictions and crime, but also suggests that people can change their ways.

Word Nerd, whilst voiced by a twelve year old, is more appropriate for readers in their teens. Ambrose is very mature at such a young age, and the book contains subjects of drugs and violence as well as mild sexual references. What Susin Nielsen has produced is an amusing story with a powerful message. Both entertaining and insightful, Word Nerd is perhaps Nielsen’s best novel yet.
  
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Hazel (1853 KP) rated Word Nerd in Books

Dec 7, 2018  
Word Nerd
Word Nerd
Susin Nielsen | 2016 | Children
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
<i>This eBook was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review </i>

Canadian author Susin Nielsen continues to entertain children with her latest novel<i> Word Nerd</i>. Similarly with characters from previous novels, the pre-teen Ambrose is a bit of a misfit. With a deathly peanut allergy and an over protective parent who travels from job to job, Ambrose never manages to make any friends. Now settled in Vancouver, Ambrose is the happiest he has ever been. He is homeschooled away from all the bullies, has made a friend and found a passion in Scrabble. However, he has to keep all of this secret from his mother.

Ambrose is a funny, intelligent narrator who draws the reader in from the very first line: “The day I almost died…” Like many children who do not fit in with peers at school, Ambrose’s passions lie within less conventional past times, i.e. playing Scrabble. Able to quickly pull out several words from a jumble of letters – emphasized by the anagram chapter headings – he is overjoyed to learn of a nearby Scrabble club and knows just the person to accompany him.

Cosmo is a character that younger readers may struggle to come to terms with. An ex-convict and recovering drug addict, Cosmo also enjoys playing Scrabble and is persuaded by his annoying neighbour – Ambrose – to go to the club. An unconventional friendship sparks between the two of them, both unintentionally helping the other out. Cosmo encourages Ambrose to stand up to the bullies, whereas having a child around keeps Cosmo away from the things that resulted in a prison sentence. Despite the positives in this relationship, Ambrose’s mother believes Cosmo to be completely untrustworthy.

Although Ambrose and Cosmo are the main characters in <i>Word Nerd</i>, Ambrose’s mother maintains an important role. Having lost her husband suddenly and unexpectedly, she must have been terrified to learn of Ambrose’s peanut allergy. In order to prevent her son from leaving her as well, she has become overprotective and controlling, denying Ambrose the right to live his own life.

Some readers may have experienced similar situations either at school or with their parents. Word Nerd, whilst being a form of entertainment, explains the potential reasons behind these scenarios, helping children to understand what may be occurring in their lives. It also highlights the dangers of drug addictions and crime, but also suggests that people can change their ways.

<i>Word Nerd</i>, whilst voiced by a twelve year old, is more appropriate for readers in their teens. Ambrose is very mature at such a young age, and the book contains subjects of drugs and violence as well as mild sexual references. What Susin Nielsen has produced is an amusing story with a powerful message. Both entertaining and insightful, <i>Word Nerd</i> is perhaps Nielsen’s best novel yet.
  
The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 Years Old
The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 Years Old
Hendrik Groen, Hester Velmans | 2016 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
<i>This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review </i>

Think <i>Adrian Plass</i> but with octogenarians and this is the result. <i>The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 ¼ Years Old</i> is a years long journal beginning on 1st January 2013. Hendrik hates old people, an unfortunate predicament as he live in a home for the elderly. He set himself the task of writing a daily account about the “life of the inmates of a care home in North Amsterdam,” with the purpose of it being read after his death by readers, or “inmates” who wish to know what to expect in their old age.

Whether the contents of this diary are true or exaggerated does not matter, as what it produces is a laugh-out-loud story, a pleasure to read. From cake in the fish tank, to complaints about leaky nether regions, Hendrik provides a brutally honest account of the highs and lows of being an OAP.

<i>The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 ¼ Years Old</i> encompasses a selection of unique and presumably real characters. Readers are bound to discover someone who reminds them of an elderly relative, or even themselves! There is the diabetic, rude, gin loving Evert – Henrdik’s best friend of many years – who is never without a witty comeback for the bossy, self-important director of the home. On the other hand, levelheaded Eefje, who Hendrik is rather fond of, shows a completely different view of elderly mentality. Despite the stereotypes associated with care home patients, Hendrik and friends still have as much fun as possible; after all, they may be Old but not Dead.

Speaking of dead, Hendrik makes a number of jokes and references to euthanasia, which may seem like poor taste to some readers. However, when all the friends around you are literally living the final years of their lives, why not joke about it instead of worry? Naturally there are sad diary entries about the inevitable deaths of his contemporaries throughout the year, but Hendrik does not let it get him down for long. Hendrik and his close friends make the most of the time they have left, and if that involves speeding along the roads of Amsterdam on their souped-up mobility scooters, then that is exactly what they will do.

<i>The Secret Diary of Hendrik Groen, 83 ¼ Years Old</i> is a gem of a book and comes highly recommended to readers of all ages. Hendrik ‘s effortlessly funny, sarcastic remarks stress what the average citizen is too polite to voice. Once you begin it is hard to put down. Unfortunately a year is not long enough and you will end up wanting more. Whatever the future holds for us, let’s hope we become someone like Hendrik Groen.
  
IC
Imperfect Chemistry (Imperfect, #1)
Mary Frame | 2014
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
<b><i>Imperfect Chemistry</i> might be one of those few New Adult romance novels that I actually really enjoyed...</b>

In the first of Mary Frame's <i>Imperfect</i> series, Lucy London has to come up with an experiment testing how emotions work as a pathogen – a nearly impossible feat since she never had a normal childhood in the first place. She's an absolute genius – in college since thirteen and has a doctorate at twenty or twenty-one.

From the very beginning, <b>Lucy is introduced to us as someone who sounds like a textbook and speaks in tones that are formal.</b> The whole <a title="Out of the Cave by Cotton E. Davis" href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/review-out-of-the-cave-by-cotton-e-davis/"; target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">textbook aspect doesn't backfire</a> here – it's pretty much expected from someone who's been in college for awhile. In the process of trying to come up with a hypothesis for her experiment, Lucy tries to become as normal as possible. I personally thought <b>Lucy is absolutely adorable in her attempts to become "normal."</b> She has a desire to run away around those who cry because she has no clue what to do and the whole "solve heartbreak with PJs and ice cream" experience she has with Taylor Swift quotes mixed in with her usual technicalities.

She's <b>very much like David in <i><a title="The Sorcerer's Apprentice" href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/movie-review-the-sorcerers-apprentice/"; target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Sorcerer's Apprentice</a></i></b> – they're both socially awkward, and Lucy definitely has her <b>moments in the book where her extremely awkward side comes out.</b> Lucy just has other moments where <b>her attempt to become normal is cute, hilarious, and funny</b> – it's just a lot of fun reading how she becomes more social, experiences emotions, and makes some friends at her university instead of wallowing away in loneliness.

<b>The romance in <i>Imperfect Chemistry</i> went hand in hand with the overall plot of the story</b> – Lucy's experiment isn't exactly on love, but <b>Frame factors in the romance nicely.</b> Jensen and Lucy certainly don't banter or have a <a title="Read Sophia's Confessions of a Queen B* review" href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/blog-tour-confessions-of-a-queen-b-by-crista-mchugh-review-and-giveaway/"; target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">very entertaining relationship like Alexis and Brett do</a>, but they have an <b>in-depth relationship rather than the whole "finally notice each other and think the other is hot, have sex, live happily ever after" or the whole emotional baggage consisting of running away from the past.</b>

I think it's just Lucy in general – she's simply too adorable for words.

<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/review-imperfect-chemistry-by-mary-frame/"; target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
  
Back in the Motherland by Leonard Cohen
Back in the Motherland by Leonard Cohen
2011 | Rock
1.0 (1 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I’d always quite liked Leonard Cohen, but when he died we’d just started making this record and that sent me into a deep Cohen shaped hole. It also came at a time where I felt quite lost as a songwriter and we were still trying to figure out what we wanted to do with this record. “That was about eighteen months ago and he really helped me to rediscover my voice I think. He reminded me how important it is to be yourself - to be cynical, to be dark, to try and be sexy, to put all of yourself into what you do, to be idiosyncratic, unique and personal in your approach to songwriting. I was in the midst of trying to write about quite universal themes and attempt to be as universal as possible and I think I maybe lost my way a bit, but he helped me to rediscover things. “He’s just so clever as well. If you’ve got a broken heart the second verse in ‘Take This Waltz’ is so good, I love how he can take a really simple sentence, switch out one word and completely flip the meaning; “There's a concert hall in Vienna where your mouth had a thousand reviews”, that’s so evocative and he does that all the time. For this record it got me into the habit of writing entire songs before the music, I’d write an entire lyric before I had any melody, which is actually what I used to do when I was eighteen. Then I could try and focus on trying to be funny, cynical and as honest and personal as possible. “I guess it’s like the difference between a book and a film isn’t it? People often ask me why I don’t like poetry or read it and it’s because I find it really hard to bring it to life, I’d much rather listen. A lot of my friends say ‘you’re so obsessed with lyrics, why aren’t you interested in poetry?’ but for me they don’t really come to life off the page. Leonard Cohen is a poet, but its poetry set to music and he brings it to life. For me, he’s more relatable and easier to connect with than Bob Dylan, you know what he’s talking about, but he does it in a very clever way. “I chose this song because I had a broken heart when he died. I was almost listening to it as poetry more than a song and actually it’s not my favourite song of his, but in the second and third verses, he talks about people being sentenced to death by the blues and it’s really evocative. I’m sure I wrote ‘Young American’ because of him, that was the first song I wrote for the record and that was lyrics first and then put to music, because of verses like that. I was trying to be naked in my approach to lyrics"

Source
  
The Last Song
The Last Song
Nicholas Sparks | 2009 | Fiction & Poetry
10
7.8 (12 Ratings)
Book Rating
My Summary: Ronnie does not want to spend the summer with her dad. Her dad left them three years ago, and she hasn’t really forgiven him for it. She hated him for it so much, that she refused to take his calls, quit playing the piano, and never read the letters he sent her. What is she going to do all summer stuck with a dad she hates in a small town with nothing but sand on every side of her, no clubs, no friends…

When she finds Will, the cutest volley-ball players slash aquarium volunteer in her back yard helping her protect un-hatched sea turtles from being eaten by raccoons, she judged him as not-her-type. She doesn’t expect to find a friend in a jock-rich-perfect-family boy, nor does she expect that this will be the best—most exciting, most scary, most fun, most painful—summer of her lifetime.

My Review: I’m not really sure where to start here, other than I am so utterly pleased with The Last Song, I cannot begin to find words to describe it.

Ronnie, Jonah (her brother), Her dad Steve, Will… all the characters really, were such real characters. I felt everything they felt, I laughed when they laughed, and I (nearly) cried when they cried.

I hate it when books suffer from "happy-land syndrome—" where everything works out just too perfectly that it seems silly. The Last Song seemed to work perfectly, but it didn’t have that plot-manipulated feel to it. It didn’t feel like Sparks was just trying to move the story along and causing things to line up too perfectly to be realistic—it felt like the story was writing itself, and it was perfect. The pacing didn’t feel rushed or slow. It was not a thriller, but I did find myself sitting on the edge of my seat dying to find out what happens. I read it through in two or three days (which is fast for me right now, what with school the way it is!). There are twists, there are surprises—some beautiful, some painful, but all wonderful.

The writing was contemporary. It was easy reading and it wasn’t Dostoevsky, but it wasn’t bad either. The humor was light and witty and sarcastic, sometimes laugh out loud, and more times than I can count my sister would look up from her homework and say “Haley. What is so funny?” The perspective alternated between several different characters, but it wasn’t disorientating. It was all from third person perspective, but I still felt like I could get inside the character’s head.

The end was perfect. That’s all I can really say about it because any information would totally ruin the story. All the loose ends were tied, all the questions were answered, and the ending was open to the future but closed in a wonderful conclusion. Suffice to say I grinned so wide I couldn’t see, and my cheeks are still sore.
 
Audio Review: Let’s just say that I almost gave up reading The Last Song when I started listening to the audio. Pepper Binkley read Ronnie’s perspective and had a high pitched voice, she read a little too fast (which is rare. Most of the time readers are way too slow), there was no differentiating between voices of characters so you couldn’t tell who was talking, and she seemed up tight and nervous. Scott Sowers read the various men’s perspectives, and he read alright. He was a little slow and his voice took some getting used to but he was otherwise ok. I did get too frustrated to get far in the audio book though. I ended up quitting and reading the paperback. I recommend reading The Last Song over listening to it.

Content: blissfully clean. There was romance between Will and Ronnie, but no sex. It wasn’t needed, either. I feel like the fact that they didn’t sleep together added to the book rather than took away from it. It was also clean of foul language. There was some mention of God and the Bible, but never did it feel like Sparks was preaching.

Recommendation: Ages 14+
  
The Robber Knight
The Robber Knight
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
When you are fighting for the freedom of your people, falling in love with your enemy is not a great idea. Or is it? Ayla has to defend her castle and her people all on her own, with nobody to help her but a dark warrior she hates with all her heart.

Sir Reuben, the dreaded robber knight, has long been Ayla’s deadliest enemy. He has prayed on her and her people ever since her father fell ill, and she swore he would hang for his crimes. Now they are both trapped in her castle as the army of a far greater enemy approaches, and they have only one chance: stand together, or fall.

This book wasn’t bad, honestly. I’m a huge fan of historical fiction, and it had been awhile since I’ve read a medieval love story, so that was a nice change of pace.

The author is a historian, so there are a lot of little things in this book that you don’t see in a lot of other historical romance books. For instance,you can’t pull out arrows because there are often barbs attached to cause fatal wounds if pulled out. I did like learning about all of these facts. But sometimes Thier lets the historian in him gets the best of him, but more on that later.

Lady Ayla was a pretty interesting character. Headstrong and wise for her years, she is very noble and progressive. She has all of the makings for a great leader– with the exception of knowledge. I loved how kind and committed she was to her people and I love the fact that she has some spunk. I mean, if I’m getting robbed in the forest by this random stranger, then I hope I would swear him out too (of course, if I could beat him up and get away, then that’s even better, but Ayla doesn’t have much self-defense skills). But there were many times that she was annoying, like her insistence on being near battles, even before she started treating the sick. And how she tried to manage Sir Isenbard during battle. She had called on him for help because he was an experienced knight, and now she was questioning his commands and strategies in the heat of battle!

Mostly, though, I really did like Ayla. She defines the idea of nobility. With war inevitable, she’s willing to ride personally to the edges of her land to warn her subjects and she is always at the outskirts of battle to help care for the wounded. She invites everyone into the castle for their safety and rations herself as well as the others to conserve food. She’s even willing to corrupt herself to save her people.

Reuben is an excellent character as well, although it did take me awhile to like him. In the beginning he fell a little flat. It’s clear that he used to be a knight but something happened and now he robs people for his own greed. A near-death experience and being saved by Lady Ayla reawakens the humanity in him. And apparently also some depth.

In the beginning of the book he spends a lot of his time admiring his loot and laughing about his victims, who thought they had a right to steal from him. But that’s all he does. We have no real insight into his character or backstory until after he’s in Ayla’s care. Only then are there hints of a bad history where he had been arrested many times, been tortured, and had at one point been a member of respectable society. If it weren’t for the fact that I liked Ayla’a character and the plot so far, I probably would have stopped reading.

Thier is a writer who has really good potential in becoming a great romance writer, especially for historical fiction. The plots have some unique twists that are augmented by his knowledge of history and after Reuben’s character shaped up, he was an excellent love interest. But there is one huge problem with this story: the footnotes.

There are so many footnotes throughout most of the book that I feel like I’m reading a history textbook, which is not good when I usually read romance novels to take a break from homework. Not only are they distracting and unnecessary, but they are also rude and condescending. Sure, sometimes they were useful, like in explaining the references to the seven princes of hell. Another one was a pretty funny anecdote about how one of his readers had actually confirmed that lard burns and that burning arrows work because they had actually done it. There is also a lot of wit throughout the footnotes which is pretty amusing. But most of the time, they were annoying.

For instance, Robert Thier thought it was necessary to include a footnote about how witches were considered bad during medieval times. Seriously? Even if someone failed history, we know that witches are not considered fine, upstanding citizens. Or maybe he thinks all of us have been locked in our rooms with no books, internet or television for our entire lives and for the month of October we all miraculously fell into a coma so we couldn’t see the giant blow-up witch in the neighbor’s yard. And then we’d all wake up singing Christmas carols after the month long coma without a care in the world because this happens every year so we don’t know what a witch is. (I’m developing a conspiracy theory about how these strange comas was caused by witchcraft.)


Maybe Thier assumed that instead of us thinking Reuben was scared of witches when he wondered if Ayla was one, we just thought he was commenting on how much Ayla looked like Sandra Bullock.
And one of the footnotes was just plain offensive. Here is the line of text that the footnote is attached to: “Heel! Abominable villain! You dare defy me?” (page 74)

Now, here’s the footnote: “Sorry to disappoint the ladies, but this doesn’t refer to high heels. It is a medieval term for a very nasty person.”

Excuse me? Did you just assume that I thought it meant high heels and that would make me excited? What world do you live in?

Apparently he thinks “the ladies” are so dumb that we are incapable of taking context clues and we immediately think everything relates back to fashion. Maybe I didn’t know it meant “very nasty person”, but it’s pretty clear it’s a swear or insult of sometime, not a freaking Jimmy Choo. Does he just imagine us thinking high heel every time we hear the word?

“She broke his nose with the heel of her hand.” Oh. High heel!

“Heel, fido! I said heel!” Oh. High heel!

“It will take one or two days for your cut to heal.” Oh. High heel! (Because if he thinks we don’t understand the difference between uncomfortable footwear and an insult, then he probably thinks we can’t spell, either).

But hey, at least Robert Thier thinks women can memorize stuff, because the footnote links stop as the vocabulary is repeated instead of new terms being introduced.

Aside from the footnotes, I really do like this book, and I can’t wait to read the second part of it, which I’ll read soon. Thier still has a long way to go, but I think after he has more experience, he’ll write some great books.