Saturday, October 22, 2011

The Radleys

by Rose Fung
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i scooped up The Radleys along with a number of other Sci-Fi, Horror & Fantasy books the other day, knowing that it will be something like The Addams Family rather than uhm errr... Twilight.

The artistic impression i got from the cover of the book is great. And i was convinced the moment i turned to the first few pages. A short passage reads:

Your instincts are wrong. Animals rely on instincts for their daily survival, but we are not beasts. We are not lions or sharks or vultures. We are civilised and civilisation only works if instincts are suppressed. So, do your bit for society and ignore those dark desires inside you.

The Abstainer's Handbook (second edition), p.54

And then, i became even more convinced when the back cover says:

Meet the Radleys: An entire family in identity crisis.

Much from the back cover's pieces of quirky descriptions are suggesting that the Radleys are, indeed, vampires. Signs include that Rowan, the elder of the two children never sleeps, wears factor 60 sunblock and Peter the father has a permanent headache and he's being so thirsty.

Oh well, i'm pretty sure that at some point of our lives we experience being thrown into states of confusion, to some extent bothered by inner conflicts, contradicting our beliefs and at times not being able to behave as who we truly are. And worse yet, not knowing who we truly are. No, not anymore. And at the worst, letting it get the best of us. And this is exactly what has happened to the Radleys - i'll talk about it in a short while.

The first chapter introduces the Radleys and where they cosily reside in a subtly hilarious way. i love the way the author did it. The fact that Rowan is born insomniac and could hardly sleep at night after getting drunk for six times (dosage as recommended by the Night Nurse) cracked me up. He's well known as a freak at school. Frail boy he's, except for home he's not getting around anywhere without being ridiculed at. His sister Clara's sick, so sick. Of course, all these that were and happening are not without valid reasons.

The Radleys have a horrible secret. Actually, it's not that horrible and devastating if Rowan and Clara have ever been told of the truth. Their parents, Peter and Helen never did kept the children informed of their true vampire identity. It's an irony, but they wanted the children to live as normal children - children who do normal things, eat like normal and go to school like normal - which, is not the case. Who the hell would believe that Rowan and Clara were doing well at school? Helen did. It's only a delusion though, one, that follows after Helen and Peter's decision to become abstainers since many, many years ago. Or, was it decades ago?

The Radleys are of pure blood vampires in their line. It was hard. Abstaining from blood was hard even for the parents themselves. Peter contemplated to tell the children but Helen held firmly against it. Every little successes that yielded from them living normally registered as Helen's motivation to keep the family clean and away from blood. Was that a wise choice? Would you resort to square one - to your primal instincts - which happens to be wholly against your rational, judgemental decision of never again to succumb to your horrid instincts?

i, still, wonder. Fortunately, this is a story. A story that has a happy ending.
Otherwise, what would happen if someone were to live in denial forever - until death comes knocking at the door?
Tuesday, September 20, 2011

Catches from Kinokuniya

by Rose Fung
Posted in

That's it. I'm officially broke.

'Twas a super duper productive day - in pursuit of the ~Romance~ in finding books - as i've finally gotten my hands on Wicked Lovely (the exact cover i wanted), after searching high and low at numerous book stores which is both frustrating and tiring. i completed my collection, yay! *jumps for joy*

~Note~
Well, in today's digital world, i might as well just sit comfortably in front of my Fujitsu notebook... Click. Click. Click. N say, Voila! Proceed to sitting at home and wait for my precious books to arrive by post. Welllll, in today's digital world, there is certainly no. more. Romance. in doing the things you used to do. Let alone buying books and having to go through the Search for it. And by Search, i mean, strictly, a manual process. Geddit?

Owait... i just mentioned "frustrating and tiring"... So romance carries risk. And that's why it's romance, anyway - being part of it. Nothing to do with sadism though, folks.


The loveliest book i've ever had. Hardcover & leather bound.
i can't contain my excitement. LOL.

From the first picture, if you'd notice that there's one book which doesn't fit into the atmosphere (my current obsession for dark stories).
Maggie bought it - A Countess Below Stairs by Eva Ibbotson.
Maggie bought a book! *gasp*
Sunday, September 18, 2011

Scar Night

by Rose Fung
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This is sure going take a hell of time, i told Maggie. She grabbed the book, flipped to the Prologue and read the first lines. i grinned while studying her reaction. A very brief pause there is, before we both broke out into laughter.

Scar Night could be daunting to read. Alan Campbell described everything in painful detail rather than leaving it to our own imaginations - an extreme from Marr's style, i thought. It look me a good three weeks to finish reading. Steampunk isn't my kind of taste, but well, as curious as i can get, i want to dig whatever that's worth digging in this book.

Ok, what i liked about this book.

Three thousand years of faith built upon lies.
The first thing that sparked my interest is when the story took on a darker twist.
Put it this way, i was starting to get bored with Church, priests and yadaa yadaa... whatever their God of Chains Ulcis, along with his fearsome company of undead angels archons until i learnt that the people of Deepgate were actually cheated for a freaking three thousand years. This is badass. i began to anticipate - so what's the truth? What's really down there in the abyss? It isn't Ulcis down there, is it? However, my disappointment follows after this anticipation... Ulcis did existed! This could have been better, man.

i came to a liking of the author's creation of Deepgate City. The author's flair at painting details gave me a very lucid and realistic imagery of a city hung suspended by a network of chains over an abyss. One of a kind. Very original. One that lives in my head. i became attached to the buildings, metals, sceneries, and people with their lives and activities in Deepgate, and i can smell the fumes, the solemn mood that kept wafting about. At some point, i actually have a strong urge to pick up drawing so that i can illustrate Deepgate and the characters.

There is no glamour, i repeat, there is nothing shallow (glamorous) at all in this book.
Dill's father's but a shade of his ancient ancestors, and poor Dill's merely a shade of his father. The main protagonist Dill's an angel. He's a coward - an inadequate fellow. He's given a rusty chain mail and rough attire to wear and he's afraid of flying.
Carnival, a dangerous angel, wears scars all over her face and body...
Mr Nettle's a scrounger, too ugly to be regarded as a human, a primitive kind of personality.
Ulcis the God of Chains is an abomination, a fat God. All his undead temple archons are rotten and decaying creatures.
i wondered if this implies anything to the author's taste.

This is a World to remember.
Campbell's Scar Night didn't disturb me like how Marr's Ink Exchange did by stirring up powerful waves of emotions. For a change, it's a nice escapade. Aside the story, Deepgate itself leaves a solid impression. An experience, i would say.

Not sure if i'm willing to give Sci-Fi another go. ~_~

Meanwhile...


i'll deafened get this one! It's published days ago and yet available at the nearby bookstores so i guess i'll make a trip to Kinokuniya. :D It's going to be costly, uh hu...
Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Mission Accomplished!

by Rose Fung
'Twas Monday when i retrieved my Letter of Completion~ :P The feeling was so WOW cuz i made it, albeit the course was tough. i can feel the breeze of fresh air around my nose keke. Hardwork pays off~~~ Time to celebrate!
Friday, September 9, 2011

2011 Resolutions Review

by Rose Fung
1. Relive long gone old hobby of reading.

Proud to say i've got this one nailed. :P i've read more than 5 books compared to 0 since year 2001 haha. i also bought 5 new fictional books compared to 0 for the past 10 years. Maggie's gonna hate me for forcing her to go to the book store with me all the time.

2. Further explore the nooks and crannies of the 88-toothed monster, my otherwise best friend. Also, dedicating more time to it.

Ditto. Nailed 10 major scales. Done with Andrew Owen's arrangement of First Love (today, woot!). Learnt new chord progressions. :3 And... slightly improved piano "sigh" reading.

3. Save up for a 6-ft black glossy grand piano. This means no unnecessary splurging from now!

Hmm actually this seems unattainable in the short run haha. i'll have to wait until i started to work. :3

4. What about getting mom a designer handbag upon receiving my first post-graduate paycheck? :D

Same wise as above! :3 & Dad needs one too. Ok wait, Maggie too. -__- i'm gon broke.

5. Setting up my own standards. There's a saying that goes, if you're not content about yourself, then you should work at becoming who you'd be delightful to be.

This is hard. Nevertheless, i've gotten steps ahead. Socially speaking, yadaa yadaa... yups i'm much more assuaged after sticking to this resolve.
Saturday, August 27, 2011

On a whim

by Rose Fung
Posted in


New books! ^^ i've finally got my hands on Stieg Larsson's 2nd book. Yay! Couldn't find Melissa Marr's first book of the series - Wicked Lovely - tho. :( i'll only start reading Fragile Eternity once i get to buy Wicked Lovely.
Yes, i borrowed Ink Exchange and Scar Night from my cousin. :3
Thursday, August 25, 2011

Ink Exchange

by Rose Fung
Posted in


Beautiful while it lasts...

First of all - sorry my dear cousin that i hijacked your bookshelf on Sunday, but this Ink Exchange really blew me off. i didn't know which book to choose over so many of yours but this one has got International Bestseller labelled on it and it looks so new... Anyway, i was prompted to read my first faerie story (if Enid Blyton doesn't count) upon reaching home with a bunch of new reads. :D

To sum things up, the book turns out to be amazing despite finding the author's writing style very new to me, a tad hazy and difficult to follow - given that i have not read Melissa Marr's first book - Wicked Lovely (anyway, it gives room for plentiful of imaginations and to put up with the haziness, the language is exotically beautiful you've just got to pick up the story's details to paint a clearer picture by figuring up on your own, by which they're mostly found in bits and pieces throughout).

Ink Exchange went beyond my expectation and i've got to say that hey, the story is so dark, this is totally my kind of thing. Leslie, Niall and Irial as the three central characters were anything but optimistic. It left me with a bunch of heartfelt pity for the three of them. Dark pasts, woes for the uncertainties, dilemmas and more... And hence, simply nothing shallow, they were given depths by the author, and i like the fact how their twisted fates would made them cross paths.

Leslie, the main girl.

1- She's all out on her own. When home seems no longer a home when it was at her home that robbed her of safety, of protection and warmth in her life, she's all to feel threatened when she had to hold up everything and go home as if nothing's wrong just because she wouldn't want her friends to know. i'd say she's strong to be able to harbour all these kind of horrible feelings and, out of despair, to seek for her mean of gaining control back into her life - by getting an ink on her back (tattoo).
2- The author's made it even tougher for her that she virtually knows nothing about the chaos revolving around the faery world. She's made the ignorant one by her protective best friend, and also by just about anyone around her. On her free will (however, unbeknownst to her that she'd chosen Irial's symbol), she ended up being bound to Irial, the King of the Dark Court, through the "Ink Exchange" to feed his deprived Court as a channel for negative emotions, which deteriorated both her health and sanity in exchange for what her initial resolve stood for - being safe, in control and protected of her life - all of which Irial can offer to her, plus his immense affection for her.

Niall, one of the two lead (faery) male leads.

1- He's seeing it all but forbidden to act. At his Queen's will (Leslie's best friend), he's commissioned to be by Leslie's side all the time to guard her from malefic faeries. He's able to see her, feel her, and following her all around to see what's happening to her life and even whisper to her softly by her ears and yet Leslie shall neither see nor feel Niall's presence and love, as per his Queen Aisllin's Order. This follows by his darker past with his former lord, Irial. He was well aware of the consequences to mortals who fell intoxicated to his touch. This means if he loves Leslie, he'd have to stay far from her, to avoid her from falling into the category of his regrets.
2- Torn between his innate self and absolute loyalty to his King and Queen, he's constantly at the edge of revealing himself to Leslie, a pitiful dilemma. A Summer Court houses different rules from the Dark Court which he formerly belongs to. Nevertheless, for centuries after he'd sworn his allegiance to Keenan, King of the Summer Court, he knows better than anyone not to meddle with the affairs of mortals when all the time it's too tempting for him to do so. It's a contradictory he's to fight and behave from his true self as a dark kind just like Irial, his former Lord. His sense of duty towards Lordship is excellent.

Irial's my favorite character.

1- You're taking about a uniquely created Dark faery Lord. He's wicked and glamorous for sure, exuding arrogance, darkness and more darkness you can ask for where ever he goes. i'm assured of why Leslie could never be apart from him. His dictatorship's not without mercy and sympathy. How do i put it - he's definitely got a soft spot, for detesting wars in his Court and cared for his fey. Yet, he executed well, with irresistible poise, on everything a Dark faery lord should do. The basis of his acts, his sacrifices for Leslie and his Court were just... comprehensible yet purely, murkily dark.
2- The ending of the story he pulled off - threw me off balance. He realises his love for Leslie (enough to let go of her) and Niall. He gave them both what he thought the best for them. He set free of Leslie, he promised Leslie he'd never undergo another Ink Exchange to stabilise his Dark Court because it'd ultimately hurt Leslie given that he'd have to hurt himself for another Ink Exchange. In the end, he made Niall succeed over his throne, and kept himself away from Leslie. Leslie, being a mortal, and while Irial loved her, he respected her choice to live like one, to be free from the faery world. In a way, Leslie is better off without Irial nor Niall. 
"Sometimes love means letting go when you want to hold on tighter." i always hated this kind of morale but i guess that makes the story sad and beautiful while it lasts.
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