Does anyone not know what this book is about? Well, if not, it’s about a bunch of school boys who get stranded on a deserted island when their plane crashes. All of the adults on the plane (mainly pilot, crew, etc.) get killed, and it’s up to the kids to fend for themselves and to attempt to get rescued. Ralph is elected as chief, but things soon start to go wrong when the hunters start thinking that hunting is more important than keeping a fire for a smoke signal going. This leads to a great division between the group of boys, a clash of society vs barbarianism if you will. Things keep going downhill, and the hunters have formed their own (terrifying) tribe, which will leads to some terrifying events on the island.

I first read this book back in grade nine. I remember loving it – it had such a huge impact on me, for a number of reasons. I was a lot more impressionable at that age. I had no idea what the story was about, so it completely surprised me. And I was a lot closer in age to the kids in the book, so I think I could empathize with them a little bit better. So this time around, I found it a little bit disappointing. I knew what to expect, so it didn’t hold that shock value to the same extent (a little bit, but I’ll get back to that point later). I’m not nearly as impressionable now (or at least I would like to believe), and I really can’t empathize with any of the characters. It just reminds me of how much books can affect you differently at different times in your life. It’s making me wonder if I would hate the same books now that I did when I first read them in high school. Hmm.

Anyway, shock value! I still found a little bit of it there – I think perhaps parts of it had faded in my memory, so those instances still shocked me. Like the killing of Simon. Heck, like the scene of Simon with the pig’s head. Creepy! Or the hunting of Ralph. But it wasn’t as intense this time around because there were other things that totally stuck out in my mind – like the death of Piggy and the breaking of the conch. It wasn’t such an intense one-shock-after-another experience.

Because it wasn’t such an intense experience this time around, I found it a teensy bit disappointing this time. But because of my experience the first time around, I would still consider this to be a favourite of mine.

What I really did like this time around was seeing the character development, seeing how being stranded on a deserted island had an effect on certain characters. I didn’t remember Ralph’s lapsing ability to be a leader, and that was fascinating. I loved seeing what was happening to Simon. And the boys who turned savage… well, I wouldn’t say that I loved it, but I couldn’t turn away from it. It was like a train wreck…

The Bottom Line: I think this is something everyone should read at least once. It’s scary, but it gives a glimpse of (terribly horrifying) possibilities, and it’s a great piece in the debate as to whether humans are inherently good or evil.

This is the third collection in the Sandman comic book series by Neil Gaiman. It has four stories in it that are all completely independent of each other, without much of anything tying them together. Even Morpheus himself wasn’t in all of them, though his sister Death was in the last one.

In the first story, an imprisoned Muse is forced to give inspiration to a struggling writer. In the second, a cat tells of a dream she had. The fourth one brings Shakespeare back into the series, where he and his play troupe perform A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Auberon, Titania and a large host of fey. The fourth and final story tells of a shape-shifter who longs for death.

I have to say that I liked this collection a lot less than the previous two. Since each of the comics were standalones, it didn’t really give much time to really get into a story, and you didn’t get any character development. The only thing that was really really good were the illustrations in the comics.

The Bottom Line: Not as impressed with this as the others. It was okay, but not really super exciting. I really hope the rest in the series get better again.

As a follow up to last weeks list, I had been planning on a list of my all-time most loved characters. Then I was thinking about how there are so many that I love, that I maybe should split it up into all-time most loved female characters and all-time most loved male characters. But then I got distracted by another topic, and so I think my all-time most loved characters lists must be put off a few weeks.

In honour of watching the first two of the Lord of the Rings trilogy this past weekend, I think today’s list would be well suited to witches, wizards and warlocks that I love (in no particular order). They are not all good – the “bad” ones sometimes hold much more interest for me. So this will be a mix of both the good and the bad, and why I love them.

1. Gandalf. Originally appeared in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Originally Published 1937. If I were ever on a mission quest thing, I would want Gandalf to be there to guide me and help me out. That’s all there is to it.
2. Severus Snape. Originally appeared in J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. Originally Published 1997. I was a Snape fan right from the beginning. I loved that it was so hard to tell whether he was good or bad, and that there was so much going on with his character that was impossible to completely figure out.
3. Morgan le Fay. From Arthurian Legend. As much as I hate Guinevere and Lancelot, I love Morgan (or Morgaine, depending on what you’re reading). I love that she can be depicted as both good and bad, depending on exactly what you’re reading. But no matter what, she’s never a simpering female character, which is pretty darn awesome.
4. Howl. From Diana Wynne Jones’ Howl’s Moving Castle. Originally Published 1986. I positively love how completely and utterly overdramatic he is – it completely cracks me up. His overdramaticism makes this book worth rereading again and again..
5. Owen Palmer. From Shanna Swendson’s Enchanted, Inc (and sequels). Originally Published 2005. One of the few romantic leads that I actually enjoy who is magical. He is a super powerful wizard who is utterly charming and not only doesn’t realize how awesome he is, but he also is totally oblivious to a lot of what is going on around him that doesn’t involve stopping the bad guy.
6. Magnus Bane. From Cassandra Clare’s Mortal Instruments Trilogy. First book in the series originally published 2007. A truly powerful warlock who insists on wearing rainbow leather pants? Yes please!
7. The White Witch (Jadis of Charn). Originally appeared in C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Originally Published 1950. She is possibly the epitome of evil witches in my mind, and was probably one of the first that I came across in books when I was a kid. I actually prefer her in The Magician’s Nephew than in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, because it’s so much fun seeing how she reacts to OUR world.
8. Three Witches. From Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Originally written in early 1600′s. Goodness! I don’t even know where to start with these ones. Suffice it to say, they are my all-time favourite Shakespearean characters.
9. Grand High Witch. From Roald Dahl’s The Witches. Originally Published 1983. This book used to scare me as a kid. This and the movie, oh! Angelica Huston gave me nightmares in this role. I love Dahl’s vision of witches – bald, no toes, always wearing gloves… some of his characteristics are so different than typical witches that it definitely makes them stand out. And the fact that the Grand High Witch is the most terrifying of all?
10. Medea. From Greek Mythology. Medea used her knowledge of potions and such to help Jason get the Golden Fleece. After they were married, but he betrayed her and she took her revenge on him. While I find it infuriating when some characters will do anything to get what they want, I don’t mind it so much with Medea, probably because she manages to do parts of it with magic. I think the fact that she stands up for herself (in a horribly maleficent sort of way) when she is wronged by other people is what appeals to me about her.

I’ve no doubt that I’m missing some important ones here, but these are the ones that I always think of when I think about awesome witches, wizards and warlocks. No, actually I’m lying. I could’ve filled at least half of the list with characters from the Harry Potter series, but really wanted to limit it to one character from each thing listed. Anyway! Do you have any favourites?