Happy :)

I have to say I really enjoying the book Graceling.  I really like Katsa the main character.  I understand she is upset about her grace because she doesn't really get to live a "normal" life, but I think she is kick ass!  I am to the part of the book when Po is leaving and Katsa runs away from the king.  I am really looking forward to seeing what the king does/doesn't do with Katsa.  I love her and Po's little romance.  I think they compliment each other really well because they both have special gifts.  I think it is funny that Giddon is in love with Katsa and she had no clue!  I like the fact that Po kind of talked Katsa into being herself and not do whatever the king asks her to.  She needed to stand up for herself because she is the one who controls what she does and her own future.  I enjoy hearing Kristen Cashore talk about the different courtyards and extravagant scenery.  I wish I was there.  I do think Katsa had a right to be upset about Po not telling her about the partial mind reading, but after a while give him a break!  He can't help the fact that he is graced with something out of his control, just like Katsa herself.

Graceling: The beginning...

So far I have read to chapter nine in The Graceling.  I really like how Cashore brings us into the story.  I really like the main character Katsa.  She's a kick ass chick.. literally, but I think it is kind of cool that she was graced with awesome fighting skills.  She's an interesting girl who is looked at in a very fearful ways by others because of her behavior influenced from Randa the king.  The main reason why others are so scared is because she killed her cousin by punching him the face.  Many find her intimidating, until you look into her beautiful eyes, as others have said.  She has already kidnapped the grandfather Lienid, and now has, in my opinion, interest in a Lienid herself.  I think the part when Katsa and Po fight each other was cute because they were like enjoying it with there laughs in between each punch...I just had it pictured in my mind and it was funny!  I am looking forward to the upcoming events in her life.  Is she going to have a relationship with Po?  Get in trouble some how?  I am interested in finding out what all happens with the grandfather...

The After Thought

After reading the ending to the The Left Hand of Darkness, I feel somewhat bummed out.  Estraven and Genly Ai go through this amazing journey and then Estraven dies!  It was hard to hear because Genly Ai and Estraven had really grown to like, even love each other.  I thought it was really cool that Genly Ai taught Estraven and to mindspeak and he heard Estraven's brother, Arek.  I wonder why that happened?  The encounter with the black tenticle creature caught me off guard because at first your not sure if it would cause harm or not.  But, it was a nice feeling that after all they went through to make it to Karhide, they didnt get eaten by a big ugly black creature. After that encounter, Genly Ai and Estraven were welcomed into the couple villages not knowing who they were.  It was nice they offered them clothes, food, and a place to stay.  But only because the village people had no clue who they were at first.    I enjoyed in the book when they referenced the yin yang as the left hand of darkness.  It was a neat way of thinking about the title of the book and what Genly Ai meant by saying it.  "Light, dark.  Fear, courage.  Cold, warmth.  Female, male.  It is yourself, both and one, a shadow on snow".  That is an awesome way of explaining in their terms the yin yang.  I felt that Genly Ai telling the story to Estraven's son from his brother was an interesting twist that I wasnt expecting.  Overall good book, except for several confusing parts.  Im looking forward to reading Graceling.

The Journey Continues

So after reading pages 221-240 in The Left Hand of Darkness, It really got me thinking that if I were along for this journey what the scenery would actually look like.  Ursula Le Guin does a really nice job describing the setting in this book.  They are trying not only to survive vocanoes and ice but all the bad conditions such as ash from the volcano and the cold from the winter weather.  I mean come on, they "butt their heads on cliffs of ice in a cold dusk full of ashes!"  I felt bad when Estraven talks about Mr. Ai's condition in this cold torturous weather for him.  He talks about how his face was badly frostbitten.  It really seems like Estraven has a greater respect for Mr. Ai because of the way he describes how Ai has shown much strength and endurance through the journey.  Estraven states in his own log about how their lungs are raw from breathing in all the ash and fumes.  He talks about how Mr. Ai was "exausted and enraged" but even though he felt very ill and weak, he continues to progress forward.  I found it interesting how Mr. Ai describes women to Estraven.  Kind of funny!  Not only do they eat less and have children, and are less muscular, but are NOT stupid!  I am looking forward to seeing if they make their destination safely.

The adventure in many different ways...

After reading The Left Hand of Darkness (123-220), I have a new little outlook on how I feel about the book.  I have to say I had a real hard time enjoying the book in the beginning but now I have been enjoying the book a bit more.  I like a story with a lot of action that keeps me interested and until this section I just read , I wasn't really enjoying the reading.  I enjoy the two main characters Genly Ai and Estraven/Harth.  I think they both bring something interesting to the book.  I like that they are completely different characters and begin to understand each other a bit more.  I think it is so interesting that it shows both sides of their thoughts as a narrator, but at times got very confusing on who was talking.  I at times would be reading and thought it was one character, when actually it was the other one.  Something would not make sense and then I had to kind of think back what I had just read and that can get a bit annoying.  I now find it very cool that Genly Ai and Estraven are on similar thought processes, or at least for this moment in the book.  I am much more involved and excited to see what happens on their journey back to Karhide.  I like the fact that they have almost become somewhat friends and now look out for each other.  Estraven I think is really trying to provide and help Ai in surviving and making their way back, hopefully for all the right reasons, and not selfish ones.  The only other little complaint I have about The Left Hand of Darkness, is that many of the words are difficult and I don't understand the meanings.  Yes, some words can be looked up but many the sci-fi vocabulary can be very confusing.  Many of the names are so odd and sometimes similar, it at times left me wondering who that person was.