I have not been getting enough sleep lately, so today I told myself that I would go to bed by 10 p.m. Then I decided to make blueberry muffins. And crush Oreo's (had to write that correctly, the red squiggly line was bugging me into compliance) for truffles for that nice man who fixed my computer for free. All while listening to 80s music. It's 11:14 p.m. now, and obviously I'm not in bed yet. Whoops.
Finished Michael Scott's The Alchemyst today. It sure was a page-turner near the end ... because I couldn't wait for it to be over. This guy had a necromancer bring not only human zombies into the picture, but animal zombies, too, and I had to hold myself back from skimming it to find something more interesting to read. I really wish I had something nice to say, so I'm going to try the marriage saying.
Something Old: It was your classic hero story, a tried-and-true story line. To be honest, I have little to complain about when it comes to the story line. The twins bugged me, but that's about it. I loved how Scott swirled myths and legends into his story; it was interesting how everything connected.
Something New: These people used their auras to create magic, which was new for me, at least. I like that it was grounded in something real (some people don't, but I happen to believe in auras. I had a high school teacher who could see them). I'm a fan of believable magic in books. Yeah, I can stretch my mind and accept something totally off the wall, but it had better follow its own rules. Rule-breaking magic is totally unbelievable and I don't like it.
Something Borrowed: The elements...again, Scott? Isn't that what everyone has used? Magical energy comes through your aura, but the types of magic follow the elements. Then again, maybe that means the elements are reliable. Or maybe they're some literary archetype of some sort. Speaking of archetypes, I have to use this book in a presentation for my YA Lit class a week from tomorrow, and I'll be talking about the Seeker archetype. This book has some interesting developments, if looked at in that light. I'll get to that after my next marriage category.
Something Blue: I'm going to pretend this is a symbolic blue, meaning something sad. Did the book tear at my heartstrings? Umm...no. Not at all. It did make me want to live inside this tree it describes (a descendant of Yggdrasil), but that's only a slight tinge of imaginary sadness begotten of jealousy. I'm honestly trying to think of something remotely sad, but I'm coming up dry. Sorry.
... And a silver sixpence in her shoe. No money here; in fact, one character's wallet even gets sucked up in a void. The seeker archetype is when a character spends their time searching for something, some meaning in life or some higher form of existence. All characters are seekers in some way. In The Alchemyst, there are two main characters, Josh and Sophie, and they're twins. Scott makes this point perfectly clear, since he says it over and over again. Throughout the entire novel. It was annoying, to put it mildly. There are three stages to being a seeker, and by the end of the novel, Josh is one level lower than Sophie, which splits them up and makes Josh jealous. The first level is your basic research level. Second level is when they get some ambition about it all. Josh is to the point where he is ambitiously wishing for his magical powers to be "awakened," but they haven't gotten to doing that yet. Third level is when the seeker is transformed and starts searching for spiritual enlightenment or a higher plane. Sophie's magical powers have been awakened and she is learning to use them, placing her firmly on the third level.
Throughout the novel, Josh and Sophie's biggest motivator is a desire to take care of each other and protect each other. So Scott's move to separate them by giving Sophie powers and pushing her forward on the path and leaving Josh behind was some unexpected brilliance on his part. The story did not leave me hanging enough to push me on to the next book, and I'd rather not wade through Scott's writing anymore, so I won't be continuing with the series in my own, plentiful (cough cough) spare time.
11:38. Past time for bed. Good night, Michael Jackson and whoever is reading this.
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