The Hobbit and Fantasy

Lord of the Rings... The Hobbit. Even if you are not a fantasy enthusiast, you definitely still know of these novels. I've always had a belief in my head of what I've thought of the J. R. R. Tolkien novels. I am a fan of fantasy, but never personally found The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit to be all that interesting. Even though it is fair to say a lot, if not the majority, of today's fantasy foundation can be rooted back to Tolkien's works. But it is perhaps because of that fact that somewhat turned me off from the series. After growing up with so many different unique takes on the fantasy genre, almost every aspect of the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings books comes off as very generic and cliche. While almost every piece of fantasy has orcs, elves, wizards, dwarves, etc, they all just came off as 'nothing special' to me in Tolkien's work. I struggled multiple times to watch the Lord of the Rings films, as they just couldn't seem to interest me. The length of each movie made it feel like a chore to try and watch them and remained engaged. When I was a young teenager, I also attempted to read the annotated Hobbit. I got through one or two chapters before I felt I couldn't read anymore. It just seemed flat overall. Perhaps it was growing up as an avid video gamer, with fantasy games at my fingertips that warped my perception of the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. I could freely explore these amazing game worlds rich with unique twists on fantasy that has had decades to evolve from Tolkien's take on fantasy. However, going back to the Hobbit now, I am willing to give it another chance. It managed to grab me this time as opposed to my first attempt at reading. Maybe it's because I'm more mature and my attention span can last longer, I don't know, but it seems more interesting and engaging this time. I'm more willing to look past the generic and cliche stuff because the characters themselves have a lot of personality, which is always what really drives a story forward.

Vampires

Vampires....this subject is interesting to say the least. I am a big fan of monsters- classic horror creatures and so on. But I have a hard time deciding where I stand on the current state of vampires. The concept is definitely cool. Near immortal beings that feast on blood. Big fangs. They are just cool, intimidating, and in a lot of situations, scary. It is very clear that modern vampire stories are essentially for female audiences though. They are like gothic chick flicks. Everything revolves around desperate relationship issues. It's almost awkward for me to read. The focus has in some ways shifted away from real horror and envoking feelings of fear in favor of just being gothic romance for a modern audience. Oldschool vampires are definitely cheesy, on the flip side. When it comes to vampires, for me, I really enjoy the monstrous bat-like vampires. Much more animalistic. Same goes with warewolves, really. I love the big monstrous ones, as oposed to the dorky hairy-man type of warewolves. The novel, Interview with a Vampire, is quite an interesting one though. I do like the dark interpretation of the story. I remember seeing the movie as well when I was younger, and it had that dark vibe to it that I always accociated with horror. It was somewhat perverse though, but I guess that is really just the norm when it comes to vampires.

Zombies, Mass Effect: Acsension

This week deals with Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. This is an interesting novel for a number of reasons. It is somewhat hard to judge how I feel about this book. The original novel of Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austin, is a book that I would lack interest in and unlikely read. This type of novel is simply not engaging to me. The subject matter is not my cup of tea, involving the overly complicated yet very minor relationships each character has with one another. There issues with each other just does not peak my interest in what is essentially a love story with high class characters in this society. BUT... on the other hand, this novel has zombies. Now right away you would think this would actually peak my interest and get me into the novel. I mean, they're zombies after all, and along with zombies always comes over the top violence that is morally acceptable. However, this is really not the case. I still lack real interest in the novel. Zombies aren't enough for me to really enjoy it, so to speak. While there are zombies, the story is still essentially the same. It still can't hold my interest and keep me entertained. It would be like trying to add some kind of seasoning to a food you don't like. It might change the dish slightly, but you still won't like what you are eating. Simply incorporating something like zombies into what is the same basic story doesn't really change how I feel about it.

Over the past week I also listened to the entirety of an audio book for a novel called Mass Effect: Ascension. This sci-fi novel is the second novel based on the video game, Mass Effect. This is the type of book I really enjoy: novels based within the universes of various video games, usually science fiction. Being based on something I already enjoy, my interest is always peaked when reading these novels, seeing how they are interwoven with the storylines of the video games, and catching other nods to the games in the little details. This particular novel I quite enjoyed because of how it eluded to potential tidbits that will appear in the soon to be released next game in the series, Mass Effect 2. Overal though, I prefered the original Mass Effect novel, Mass Effect: Revelation.

Frankentsein

I will first say that the story of Frankenstein has become so familiar, widespread, altered, and in a way mainstream that the story itself has somewhat lost its appeal and its uniqueness. If I had no prior knowledge of the story of Frankenstein's monster, the novel probably would have had more of a moving reaction, evoking more interest and emotion from me. I have also previously watched movies such as Bride of Frankenstein prior to reading the novel, which I personally felt were underwhelming films that left more to be desired. Because of this my interest in Frankenstein was so-so. The way in which the novel is written was also quite wordy and somewhat hard to concentrate as I read it, making it harder still to enjoy the novel and Frankenstein property. However, I will say that there is a surprising amount of depth to the characters and motives. The characters are sympathetic and have a lot of emotion which is the best part of the novel. Particularly the motives of the monster and its emotions as the story progresses. This was the most interesting aspect as I read through the story. It all came together for me when the monster was seen mourning at Frankenstein's body after he passes away. That was the moment that sticks in my mind the most because of the monster's reasoning and sorrow. In a way I almost felt that everything that transpired throughout the novel between the monster and Frankenstein was justified in this scene. If not justified, at least resolved in a sympathetic matter. I wouldn't consider them at peace by any means. Frankenstein did die in unrest after all, attempting to track down his monster. Though the monster is still alive, he is clearly troubled by the culmination of everything he's been through up until this point. It's almost as if the monster has accepted the misery of his existance, and knowing the fate of his creator, is prepared to accept his own sad fate. It's this emotional relatioinship that really keeps the novel going in my opinion, moreso than the simple concept of Frankenstein creating the living being that is his monster.