Finished my book

The Silver Eagle: A Novel of the Forgotten Legion by Ben Kane
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

i great sequel to the first, i believe Ben's writing has improved...

By the time you get to the second book you finally have an okay connection with the characters and are able to relate in a way. Most of this book is about the long journey south, further and further away from Rome. it seems hopeless until the last few pages that Romulus will ever see Rome again. Good battle scenes in this book but i wish they were more in depth, I realize there were several battle scenes and if they were all in depth the book would be way too long, but still...

Other things I didn't like about this book:
-The lack of suspense and hooks
-The descriptions of everything
-The painfully long recap
-And the time jumps

I found it way to easy to just set aside for a week or two because nothing was grabbing my interest and compelling me to read on. The story and plot is not bad, its just not fast paced i suppose.

I also did not like how Ben just described events I really wanted to watch unfold (like battle scenes!). It was like reading a text book at times as he just 'told' you what happened form a birds eye view, you didn't 'live' through it with the character.

Time jumps really annoy me too, I understand that its almost impossible to live through a whole mans life in three books without time jumps (although Iggulden did it well!) but turning the page and seeing 'nine months later' or 'three years later' so many times consecutively annoys me.

Its definitely good enough to continue the series, as I have stated too already, now that a character connection has _finally_ been made, I am enjoying the series. definitely worth a read if Ancient Rome is your thing.









War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

the back cover of this book doesn't lie. it is a powerful, gripping book about friendship and loyalty. told through the eyes of a horse it brought me back to my favorite childhood book Black Beauty. there was satisfying amount of action and i really appreciated the historical context.

i found this book to be a bit slow at times, it had been on my too read list for a few months before i actually pick it up in order to read it before seeing the movie (the movie in my opinion did this book little justice) my interest was originally sparked after seeing previews of the west end/broadway show where they used life sized puppets for the characters. i'll be brutally honest, i fell asleep reading this book (and i lost my page and place, how annoying) its an easy read, but its also one i had to force my self through. yet, the inspiration was always evident and the plot did move through out _most_ of the book. its one i am happy to keep on my shelves.

if you are looking for a fast paced, action packed, page turning book than this may not be for you. although if you are looking for a rememberable, heart wrenching, inspirational, sweet, happy ending story, (and you like horses) you may really enjoy this book.







Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It was a good sequel to the first book, a lot of creativity is evident in the way the plot unfolds Collins has a great imagination. being a 'teen' book i found the writing not as high quality as i like. the story is great, the writing level not so much. but its definitely a good read, if you likes the first one i think you will really enjoy the second.

Collins does a very good job connecting the reader to the characters which i firmly believe is one of the most crucial elements in any book, and the most crucial element in a piece of fiction. when you care about the characters you care what happens to the characters and therefore become so engaged in the story you cant put the book down. this is what I felt reading Catching Fire.

Everything in this book is top notch, I rate it 4 stars because of the writing quality. i found myself having to re-read paragraphs to really understand, and with so many important characters running around (24 tributes that include the two main characters, than the mentors, family, and lovers of the main characters, and a couple others) the people get jumbled and I found that sometimes I had to flip back a few pages to remember who these people were and what districts they are from.

all in all a highly recommended read, I've already acquired the third and final book int he trilogy and cant wait to read it.






The Forgotten Legion by Ben Kane

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is a ‘complicated’ five star rating for this book. Ben tells a good story with a unique point of view not seen in many books set in this time period. The story has an obvious plot and the book is well organized. My main concern and issue about this book was that little effort was put into creating a connection between the characters and the reader, in my opinion this is a fatal mistake. If the reader does not care about the characters the reader wont care what happens to the characters and wont really enjoy the book. This rating is complicated because Conn Iggulden’s books are 5 stars hands down, and Ben’s book didn’t come near Conn’s in quality but it was still a great read, worthy of 5 stars only because of the plethora of books worthy of 3 or 4 stars under Ben’s book. The plot didn’t really pick up until the end, the last four chapters had me unable to put the book down, the rest of the book kind of dragged on. I do appreciate the length of the book, 525 pages, but he could of put more into those pages…

Another thing I didn’t really like about the book was that you had to use the provided glossary in the back. I love that Ben used Latin words just as the Romans would of used and he used them in the same context as the Romans, but he used them too much. I didn’t like reading a chapter only to have to stop at this unknown Latin word and have to flip to the back of the book to find the meaning. Sometimes I would have to flip back three or four times a chapter. Five or six Latin words would be ideal but seven pages of Latin words in the glossary is a bit much.

All in all I will be reading the second book in this series and then the third. Its good enough to continue the series.






Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I read this book as requirement for part of my art class; I found it a surprisingly easy read. It talks of the challenges todays artists face, it addresses every negative aspect that comes with being an artists, and makes you relies, whether your an artist or not, that you as an individual are full of self doubt. The author uses plenty of helpful examples to prove his point that people (artists especially) are consistently telling themselves their not good enough, some one else’s art is always better, and then the artists are made to believe there frauds. There art isn’t even art. This is not true of course. I found it surprising that David explained the stages and emotion of doubt, failure, and trial and error with such accuracy and detail, David brings you into a realization of yourself, gives you ways to manipulate your brain to seeing your strengths (we all have them believe it or not), and he encourages you all the way to make art. There are definitely lessons to be learned here.

The only reason I did not give this book five stars was because I really had to force my self to finish it. There are plenty of books I would of rather been reading, "Art and Fear" as well written as it is, becomes repetitive in some areas and more than once a chapter was just plain boring. I highly recommend this book to any artist; photographer, sculptor, painter, sower, quilter, basket weaver, and every craft in-between doer, if you’re a master or beginner at your craft, read the book.

Khan: Empire of Silver: A Novel of the Khan Empire by Conn Iggulden

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


great sequel to the previous three books, i was a bit worried that book 4 wouldn't be as good as the others due to death of the main character in book 3 but i was pleasantly surprised with the content of book 4.

Iggulden keeps his quality of writing top notch with epic battles, politics, imagery, well developed characters, and a good solid pace. excellent read. Khan has found a place on my list of favorite books ever :)

up next on my list is "The Forgotten Legion" by Ben Kane. I chose this book because he (Ben Kane) appeared on Conn Iggulden's forum, and he seemed to be a bit popular, so I thought I would give his books a try. I checked out his website, he has a series based on ancient Rome (my favorite) and a new series coming out about Hannibal, so I chose the first book in his Rome series, I’ll see how I like it. After reading Conn’s ‘Emperor’ series based on ancient Rome, this book will have high standards to stand up to.