Bethany's Literature of Horror, Fantasy, and Sci-Fi Blog

For week 8, I read Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. This book was so much fun! I had a much easier time getting through this one than last week's "The Magicians". I found something to chuckle at almost every other page and the way that Gaiman weaves the stories of Anansi the African trickster God into his novel is very interesting. According to the book, all stories belong to Anansi. That was one way that Gaiman seems to kind of reinvent myths and make it relevant to the contemporary world.  Gaiman even gives some of the evolution of the tales, explanations of how some people sometimes think that Anansi is a rabbit, how Anansi’s tales became African American Br’er Rabbit tales. I really enjoyed the book and learned a little about mythology in the process. I do wonder though if someone who is actually from the Caribbean or from the African diaspora  would enjoy the novel as much as I did, having no knowledge of Anansi beforehand. Neil Gaiman is from En...

For week 7, I read the Magicians by Lev Grossman. This book took me a little longer to get through and at first, I wasn't sure why. I think that the reason I kept putting this book off and taking forever to finish it was because the main character, Quentin Coldwater is ridiculously negative! It was so bad that I started to feel his negativity affecting me even after I had stopped reading! I could imagine reading this book as a young high schooler and probably not realizing just how negative he was but as a more mature reader I found it to be quite obnoxious.  " If you will, for just one second, look at your life and see how perfect it is. Stop looking for the next secret door that is going to lead you to your real life. Stop waiting. This is it: there’s nothing else. It’s here, and you’d better decide to enjoy it or you’re going to be miserable wherever you go, for the rest of your life, forever.” “You can’t just decide to be happy.”...

For week six, I decided to read Terry Pratchett's short story  Troll Bridge.   The Hero's journey is definitely a prevalent device in this novel as it follows Cohen the Barbarian, now an old man and his horse. The journey starts off with Cohen planning to take on a Troll in hand to hand combat. He says that his father told him that if you've killed a troll you can take on anything. This was Cohen's call to adventure so that he could prove himself. Cohen plans to combat this troll in single hand combat with no aid from his horse or anything else. This is the refusal of supernatural aid. Crossing the first threshold would be when Cohen comes across the Troll called Mica at his bridge and gets ready to fight him but Mica brings his family to come and marvel at Cohen. Cohen then starts to feel conflicted about killing the troll. The belly of the whale proves much more difficult to identify in this story. If I had to guess, I'd say the belly of the whale is Cohen's r...

For this week I read Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor. This novel has been my favorite read so far in this course.  Part of it had to do with my fascination of the country of Nigeria and my curiosity about albinism but the story was very interesting and kept me engaged the whole time. The society of the Leopard People and the school of Hogwarts in Harry Potter have many similarities and it's definitely something that you pick up on while reading. It was very fun to learn about the Leopard People though because there was this introduction not only to magic and mystery but to Nigerian culture as well. I loved the excerpts from Fast Facts for Free Agents, it made me feel like I was learning along with Sunny. I related a lot to Sunny, especially the dynamic she seemed to have with her father. Her father obviously didn't hate her as Sunny assumed but he was much harder on her than her siblings. I wish that the author could have explored their relationship a little but more in the story...

For week four, I read the novel Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer. Throughout the entire novel Vandermeer is toying with the reader's psyche. This place called Area seems to be a type of nature reserve however we learn that this is the 12th expedition into this place because the previous teams couldn't seem to find answers. The deeper into Area X the scientists get, the more unnatural and unpredictable things become. It becomes hard to trust the characters because they continue to do things that don't really make sense like venturing off on their own or disappearing. Area X is a dangerous place with strange creatures and yet these scientists think that they can split up and do things on their own. As the readers, we understand that these women are some of the best in their respective fields so it makes us question their mental stability when these strange occurrences start happening. The characters in this book, especially the biologist, have this need to analyze and find exp...

A Wild Sheep Chase was definitely an interesting read! Although, I thought the story started off slow didn't understand why the book was called A Wild Sheep Chase , I soon couldn't stop reading it and it became very apparent why the book holds that title. Murakami is a very strange author. The way this book is laid out is very different from any other story I've ever read. I thought it was a strange choice to not name any of the characters throughout the entire story. I liked how every part introduced a new character that the narrator had to encounter. The sheep that the narrator ends up looking for is this paranormal-like being that takes on hosts in order to influence them. The novel has a constant theme of identity which is why I'm assuming Murakami didn't give any of the characters names. The sheep would take over characters and then their identity would be challenged if not taken. In the story, the Sheep Professor wonders how much of himself is him and how muc...

I absolutely adored Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire! I found the story so interesting, that after finishing the book, I went and watched the film as well. There were definitely some differences between the film and the novel, but overall I would say that the film was also very good. The idea of lust and sexuality when it comes to vampires is a very interesting topic, especially in the context if this book.  It seems that the main character Louis was homosexual when he was human but this is unclear in the novel and especially unclear in the film. It also seems more obvious that Lestat, the vampire who turned Louis, was bisexual when he was a human. I mention when they were human because from what I can gather from the novel, it seems that once one becomes a vampire there is no longer a need for sexual activity. Vampires lust more after blood or certain feelings but never really for sex. In the beginning, I found it interesting that Loui...