So, after finishing The Enchantress: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, by Michael Scott on August 9, I picked up Looking for Alaska, by John Green. I started this one on August 9 and finished it on August 31. One of my colleagues at work brought in a bunch of books she read and was finished with, and recommended this one. I read one of John Green's other books, The Fault in Our Stars, way back in January of 2014 and loved it. There was a movie out recently based on a book by John Green called Paper Towns, and I think that I thought this book was that movie, but it wasn't.
Looking for Alaska tells the story of Miles, an unpopular high school student in Florida who decides he wants to go away to boarding school in Alabama - the boarding school his father attended. Miles' parents throw him a going away party, and his fear that no one will show up basically comes true. So, he goes off to Alabama to seek the "Great Perhaps." What is the "Great Perhaps," you might ask? Well it is a famous last word of poet Francois Rabelais. Miles is obsessed with famous last words.
He arrives at school, where it is hot and humid with no air conditioning anywhere, and meets his new roommate, Chip, aka the Colonel. Miles quickly gets a nickname of his own "Pudge", and a hazing (that goes a little too far) at the hands of the local rich kids, known as the Weekday Warriors. They are at Culver Creek (aka "The Creek") during the week, then they go home during the weekends. The Colonel and his merry band of trickster friends take Miles in and go about showing him the ropes at The Creek. The band of tricksters quickly become Miles' friends.
One of this band of tricksters is a girl named Alaska. You'll learn how she got that name if you read the book. Alaska is an enigma, a breath of fresh air, a train-wreck you can't avert your eyes from, a huge ball of energy, a hard nut to crack, a moody and unpredictable girl, and she steals Miles' heart without even trying. Miles, the Colonel, Alaska, and the merry band of tricksters drink, smoke, make out, and plan elaborate pranks during their time at the Creek.
The final exam: What is the most important question human beings must answer? Choose your question wisely, and then examine how Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity attempt to answer it.
"I hope that poor bastard lives the rest of the school year," the Colonel said as we jogged home through the rain, "because I'm sure starting to enjoy that class. What's your most important question?"
After thirty seconds of running, I was already winded. "What happens...to us...when we die?"
"Christ, Pudge, if you don't stop running, you're going to find out." He slowed to a walk. "My question is: Why do good people get rotten lots in life? Holy shit, is that Alaska?"
She was running at us full speed, and she was screaming, but I couldn't hear her over the pounding rain until she was so close to us that I could see her spit flying.
"The fuckers flooded my room. They ruined like a hundred of my books! Goddamned pissant Weekday Warrior shit. Colonel, they poked a hole in the gutter and connected a plastic tube from the gutter down through my back window into my room! The whole place is soaking wet. My copy of The General in His Labyrinth is absolutely ruined."
"That's pretty good," The Colonel said, like an artist admiring another's work.
"Hey!" she shouted.
"Sorry. Don't worry, dude," he said. "God will punish the wicked. And before He does, we will."
Thus begins the planning of the prank to end all pranks.
"I've got an idea," she said. "It's great. What we need is a pre-prank that coincides with an attack on Kevin [one of the Weekday Warriors] and his minions," she said.
I was sitting on the bed, reading the textbook in preparation for my American history exam the next day.
"A pre-prank?" I asked.
"A prank designed to lull the administration into a false sense of security," the Colonel answered, annoyed by the distraction. "After the pre-prank, the Eagle will think the junior class has done its prank and won't be waiting for it when it actually comes." Every year, the junior and senior classes pulled off a prank at some point in the year - usually something lame, like Roman candles in the dorm circle at five in the morning on a Sunday.
"Is there always a pre-prank?" I asked.
"No, you idiot," the Colonel said. "If there was always a pre-prank, then the Eagle would expect two pranks. The last time a pre-prank was used--hmm. Oh right: 1987. When the pre-prank was cutting off electricity to campus, and then the actual prank was putting five hundred live crickets in the heating ducts of the classrooms. Sometimes you can still hear the chirping."
You'll learn all about the prank planning, the prank itself, (parts of it were hilarious) and a host of other things, including a goose biting someone in the ass. John Green is great at developing his characters and inviting you into their lives, their thoughts, and their worlds. You can feel as if you really know these people, and you can envision the scenes he writes. The book reminds me a little of the Breakfast Club (circa 1985). If you've seen that movie, and you read this book, you'll see what I mean (hopefully). If you haven't seen that movie, it's worth a watch. The theme song seems to fit this book too - Don't You Forget About Me.
So, after finishing Grey, by E. L. James on July 21, I picked up and started the last book in the Alchemyst series, The Enchantress: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, by Michael Scott, on July 28. I finished this one on August 9. If I thought the shit hit the fan in the Warlock, and every other of the Alchemyst books, I can definitively say that a whole lot of big shit hit a gigantic fan in The Enchantress. As per usual, The Enchantress picked up where The Warlock left off. I wish I could tell you everything that happened in this book, but I don't want to spoil it. If you are interested at all in knowing what happened, I suggest you pick up the book(s) and read them.
The situation in San Francisco is desperate for Perenelle and Nicholas - they are almost out of time since they don't have the whole codex and can't make their immortality potion. They are desperate to help in any way they can, and throw themselves into harm's way along with Billy the Kid, Machiavelli, Mars, Hel, Odin, Prometheus, The Morrigan, the gigantic spider, and many other Elders and Next Generation.
The frenzy by the Dark Elders to take over earth as we know it is reaching a fever pitch and they are doing anything and everything in their power to make things go their way. Those on the other side are doing everything they can to stop that from happening. The group on Alcatraz is fighting a deadly menagerie of monsters, the group elsewhere is fighting an evil and scheming menagerie of Elders and Dark Elders.
Mars, Odin, and Hel prepared to make their final stand in the corridors of Alcatraz.
"There are just too many of them!" Mars shouted. The Elder was standing in a corridor facing down a host of gray Moss People. Short and stunted, their skin the texture of tree bark, they were covered in thick moss, and although they were armed with only wooden swords and spears, their weapons were deadly. Mars's armor was scratched and torn, and he was bleeding from a score of minor wounds.
Behind and to his left, he heard Odin grunt and knew the one-eyed Elder had sustained another wound. He was facing off with a dozen filthy vetala.
"There is no shame in running away to live and fight another day," Odin grunted in the lost language of Danu Talis.
Behind them, propped against a wall, lay Hel. She had managed to drive back a hairy minotaur with her long metal whip, but not before its horns had opened a deep gash in her side and along her left arm. "Running would be good," she grunted, "if we had somewhere to run to."
Niten and Prometheus were fighting their own battle against Spartoi, crocodile-like monsters animated by Bastet and Quetzacolcoatl.
Prometheus's huge sword smashed into the Drakon warrior, crushing its shield to a twisted ruin. Its spiked club screamed as it ran along the length of the Elder's sword, and Prometheus lashed out with his metal-clad foot, stamping down hard on the creature's bare toes.
The Spartoi hissed, golden eyes bulging in shock, and Prometheus stepped forward, reversed the sword and brought the heavy pommel down hard on its head. It slumped back on top of the others, blocking them. The other creatures clawed at it, dragging it out of the way, allowing another to push through.
"You will pay for that...," the Spartoi began, and then Prometheus's metal-gloved hand shot out, grabbed it by the snout and rapped it over the skull with the pommel of his sword, He flung the lizard back into its companions and all six went sprawling. "This isn't too bad," the Elder laughed. "I'm starting to enjoy myself."
The foggy air curled and suddenly four spears arced out of the night. Prometheus's huge sword flashed and twisted. He managed to chop two of the wickedly barbed spears out of the air, sending their broken halves spinning off into the night.
Loyalties are called into question, identities are revealed, and peoples' true characters are revealed - and nothing is as you expect.
The book wraps up decently - I thought there could be at least one more chapter to go into a little more detail about what happened to the characters, but it was good enough. I had several "what the hell" moments when things were revealed or when things happened that I just couldn't believe.
All in all, this was a great book & series. Scott has a talent for describing details and really painting a visual picture. I really could visualize everything and everyone and every place in these books. He did an amazing job of melding the real and the fantasy and creating a compelling, unpredictable saga that any aged reader can enjoy (young adult on up). Two thumbs up from me!
