The Rendition Experience

Now I have literally only just discovered that this book is also a film!! Impressed, it has the same name and is directed by Terence Young. It came out in 1979 so this book is a little older.

This is a good story!! I couldnt put it down on the way back from Reading. The time it was written in isn't even noticeable I thought it was a new book haha that's how timeless it is.

It's about Eliabeth Roffe a 23 year old young heiress to a giant Pharmaceutical and cosmetics company owned and ran by her father Sam Roffe and controlled by her extended relatives and their families.

In places this was hard to follow, there were so many threads to keep track of different family members having their own domestic problems each so very unique and all wanting the same outcome... let the company shares go public. Now Elizabeth doesnt do this she becomes suspicious about her fathers death (dont worry i havent spoiled it) is someone in the family trying to take down the company?? This is a completely family run company with no outside stock holders or board members so the story follows Elizabeth on her journey of being her fathers little girl to the most powerful member of the company. And buy does she do it well!! She's strong, beautiful and intelligent. You get to see her grow from being a child to a woman and all that she went through, you can empathise with her every step of the way.

The book starts with another character Rhys Williams who was Sam Roffe's closest aide and the only person allowed at board meetings who isnt family. He is a mysterious and yet completely raw character, who seems to be shaped by the presence of Elizabeth's character.

The family itself is amazingly well written, you have Helene Roffe a domineering, terrifying ambitious woman who is sadistic and cruel especially with her long suffering husband. You have Sir Alec Nichols born from his mother who was a Roffe and is an a reknown MP in England married to the most spoilt little girl whom he completely adores, and will do absolutely anything for and because of her. You have Simonetta Roffe a beautiful aggressive italien married to the italien male tart Ivo who is playing the field and managing two families!! And finally you have Anna Roffe frail, daydreamer married the love of her life Walther Gassner who is a movie star in his looks and personality but did he marry for love or for money??

There's so much in this book I cant even start to describe it. You're just going to have to read it I'm sorry :). I will leave you with a quote from the book I think it's a good one.

"Never let a friendly fox into your hen-house, one day he's going to get hungry"

Oh and this book shows you how the same can be true with friendly foxes amongst their own.

This story was a joint venture between the two above authors of which both you may have heard of they are quite reknown. They weren't for me authors I would normally choose, I am not sure why I think I like to stay with a particular author until someone recommends something else or I get bored. In this case I just wanted to get away from murder and gorey killings, investigations with cops etc... hmmm I couldnt be more wrong.

The story starts in the tibetan mountains, two travellers who aren't revealed to you are heading up the mountains to visit the monks temple. It obviously has more detail than that but the way it was written and how the story was described helped me visualise it in such a way that it made me want to find out who these characters were. So I bought it!

It's a slow starter this book but as you read on you do realise that this is necessary because further into the book just turns into chaos, the story line unfolds at such a rate after the first half that it's breathtaking. And sometimes not in a good way, there were a number of times I gasped out loud at this book too.

One of the main characters is Special Agent Pendergast, he's a strange leading man in this story not your typical tall dark hero but mysterious, quiet, almost smug with others as he has superior intellect with blonde hair and blue eyes (he sounds like bond doesnt he) but for me he did not have the suave attractiveness of a typical 'bond' like character, he was understated almost and with no romantic interests as it were in the story. This is complimented by the darkness inside him that's revealed later on in the book, this story gives you a window into the human soul and what it would be like to be completely free and ruled by evil. N0w I found this strange but in a good way a refreshing way, this story wasnt about love it is about sacrifice, darkness and the disgustingness of human nature that contains a few bright lights within it.

It's quite a mystical story but very much a murder mystery too. In fairness I am finding this book hard to describe because the plot is so intertwined if I say anything too much I will spoil it for anyone that may want to read it.

There are other stories with the main characters in Pendergast and his ward Constance Green, I will have to read more just so I can discover the relationship between these two strangest of characters.

This time I am to talk about Japanese manga books. I have been a fan of the Lone Wolf and Cub movies for a while and I started buying this manga for my fiancé. It has become a tradition with every celebration he gets one of these. It wasn’t till last month when I had a book break that I started reading these little manga books in between my regular books.

Yamada Asaemon is not really the Shogun’s executioner unlike what the name may suggest. Technically he is the sword tester. He is a Ronin but he works for the Shogunate on a regular basis. He is already a brilliant swordsmaster but in order to start his career as the sword tester, he needs to cut through a living body. This living body was his own father who ordered Asaemon to cut through him to get the feel for it and become the best. Only the first story and it already goes into extreme Japanese mental-ness.

The short stories happen in the period of feudal japan portraying tales that would not be seen in your average history book (not so graphically). All the comics I have read so far have an impressive consideration to the historical details. Asaemon is flawless in respect to code of conduct and honour despite the dodgy nature of his work that sometimes requires him to execute criminals. He is a fierce advocate who happens to have a sword.

I felt very surprised in book 2 where he gets harassed by a woman whose brother he executed. The man he killed happened to be innocent and Asaemon goes on a big mission to ensure that the police only send people to be executed if there is clear proof that they are guilty because he does his work based on trust and he needs to be confident that they are guilty when he executes them despite them screaming innocence upon their death hour.
I’ve only read three so far. The fantastic drawings and the history lessons make the comics worthwhile but Asaemon is the cherry of coolness on my triple chocolate sundae.
V.

I am annoyed and impatient once more. I was going to patiently wait for Brisingr to come out in paperback and read it in a few months time. I had to travel back to my home country (Portugal) recently and encountered something called an Airport Edition. It is in paperback but has the same size as a hardback. Not being able to contain myself I thought to myself that it was close enough to the rest of the books already at home and bought it. When it comes to books, I do get the stupidity bug. I had to carry this 800-page book all around the airport and try to stuff it in my hand luggage. The worse thing is that being abroad (or travelling home even... it is just weird), I’m meant to do all sorts of things I would not normally do at home (U.K.) like going out and enjoying the beach and sunshine and surfing. Well, I started reading this book in the plane because I had finished the other one I wrote about earlier. I was happy when my mom arrived late at the airport because it meant I had more time to read. I even wished she had taken longer because I was half way through a chapter.
My surfing morning was botched because I was reading till 4.30 am and could not wake up before 11am the next day. Luckily there were no waves that morning...The following days I managed to survive on 4-5hours sleep. On the return journey, my fiancé was late too so I read the book till there were two chapters left and I got even more annoyed that the story was nowhere near finishing.
So (some of you might wonder), why was I annoyed? Because the book is part of a series of books called Inheritance. Brisingr is book number three and instead of finishing here, Mr Paolini decided three wasn’t enough so there will be a fourth book. And why is this reason for annoyance? It is very very annoying because he hasn’t written it yet and I want to read the rest of the story!

*Venting finished*... On to the book now!

I want to spot the immaturity in the style of such a young writer because it is not fair that one so young should have all the talent when others like me have none. I want to say that it is a puppy of a story amidst the big hounds of fantasy. Truth is, Inheritance is pretty much on the epic scale of story writing. The books have grown with the author and to me Christopher Paolini was Eragon when he wrote it. All the feelings are genuine and it is evident that he is living the story as he writes it.

Inheritance is about a land ruled by the immortal evil King Galbatorix. He is the last dragon rider as he killed all other dragon riders who opposed him. Eragon (a young farm boy) finds a dragon egg and it hatches for him. He becomes a threat to the king so he is pursued. He joins these rebels who oppose the king and fights alongside them. He also gets to learn how to be a true dragon rider. His ultimate goal is to defeat the King. This is my oversimplified synopsis.
Brisingr is the ancient word for fire in the book. The title becomes clear towards the end (I can’t believe I didn’t see it coming!). This book is more complex than the other two as it portrays the finesse of treading in the political world. The world of Algaesia is populated with humans of different tribes, dwarves (who tend to stick to their own business), elfs (who are cryptic, beautiful and cruel as they do not share the same concerns as the mortal races), Urgals and Kull (ram like biped creatures). In order to defeat King Galbatorix, there needs to be unity between all races and difficulty arises when there is trouble even within the races themselves.

In this book, Eragon faces some trials that do not require his physical strength to be resolved. He needs to be separated from Saphira (his dragon) for long periods of time which leaves him with a sense of loneliness and abandonment. The biggest test is the battle in his conscience as he suffers everyday from remembering all the souls he extinguished. It becomes a search for a philosophy through which he can live by that will prevent him from becoming power-crazed. Along with this inner search, he is also in a quest for a weapon (he lost his old sword - read the other books for more details :P) as no normal weapon can withstand his new elf like strength.

I really want to write more but what I want is to talk to someone who has read the book so that they don’t get angry with me for telling them everything that has happened. I’m tempted to re-read Eragon and Eldest. Maybe I will do just that and write about them.

V.