Book Review: A Darker Shade of Magic

Hello, welcome back to my shelf!

In celebration of the third book in V.E. Schwab's A Darker Shade of Magic releasing in less than a week and Valentine's Day, I thought I would re-post my review of the first book and relive how much a loved it.

I picked this book up having read This Savage Song . I loved TSS for it's characters and narrative as well as Schwab's ability to create a visual and visceral world. I don't usually backread (read something that isn't new, particularly a series), but I was SO glad I did. Kell and Lila were fantastic characters and Victoria(aka V.E.) created an awesome fantasy London for them to live in. Anyone who doesn't want to live in Red London is crazy! ;)

1 star For the adorable and charming Kell. He was easy to fall in love with. I'd say he has the whimsy of the 10th doctor with the swagger of Once's Hook. And something else I can't place my thumb on. He was such an interesting character.

2 stars The idea of 4 Londons was awesome and I cannot wait to see where the rest of the series takes us.

3 stars Every little vignette makes you question things. You wonder what might be important that you're missing and find yourself picking up what otherwise might have been a throwaway line. I cannot wait to see where the pirate-esque Lila ends up. 

4 & 5 stars This story was such an original idea to me. And I really enjoyed how caught up in the world I became. I decided to spend November 2016 reading Fantasy books (at the time YA, but this turned out not to be YA) as that's my weak area. They can be a little overwhelming and I have a hard time remembering characters, places, and other fantasy items. But not with DSoM. I was able to remember everyone, clearly picture the world, and found myself completely immersed. I loved how things surprised me as much as I loved that there were some thing I suspected early on. 

London is always a neat place for a story to happen and I really look forward to the next 2 books.*

Stay tuned to see what else I put on my shelf!

*Originally posted to Goodreads.  

British Studies: Day 11

Today was another adventurous day.  Having still been jazzed up from meeting Daniel Radcliffe and sipping cider at The World's End yesterday, we today traveled to the Tottenham Road stop for a tour of the library at the British Museum.  Like many of the tours this month, we saw a behind the scenes element that normal tours cannot.  Our tourguide was Stephanie Clark, an energetic speaker and rather impressive figure.  The archive collection here is massive, taking up the whole space of the museum below and Stephanie keeps track of it all herself.  For 7 years she has worked here with no catalogue when she arrived and having no official one at present.  There are all sorts of archives here- finance, staff, trustee, building, and reading room.  There are 8 collecting departments but only the one archivist.  

The majority of her records of are trustee records with minutes from meetings.  These, she says, provide a sense of the era and are therefore important to keep in their bound volumes- for easy storage and finding.  Stephanie's department receives a total of some 30-40 emails a week that may come from legal services, those interested in family history, or anotehr special interest.  Of the trustee minutes, she tells us that there are dates of importance as well as page numbers, giving the item its own organization.  Some volumes have been tossed (due to the lack of use or concern for space) by previous directors.  The volumes include letters from the meetings, subject points most likely, as well as letter books that accompany them.  Today there are no staff records to be kept due to confidentiality laws.  

Of the building plans, she shows us an example from the 1830-1920 collection.  A trasncription from Aaron Hayes' previous work.  These include sketches of a sheep and a man.  In 1920 there were some records not kept.  There are some 1500 photos in the collection that relate to archives.  These are delivers to their respective departments, which aides the finding of materials requested.  She then showed us a (bomb)shell from 1941 and its related photos of their destruction.  In 1854, the museum highered its first photographer, Roger Fenton, in a time of pre-electricity.  The photos she showed were purchased at auction in 1980.  In 1881 they had a zoology/botany section, later moved to the Natural History Museum, which included an Irish Deer.  We viewed the images from a viewing device which made the 8 see the image in a 3D prespective as well as o see details of the previous version of the museum.  These were very cool.  Rather than focus on preservation of materisl, they have microfilm copies of all written works and building records.  They also have some impressive drafts from Smirke's architecture of the museum's outside.  Their round reading room is often take for special displays, so we did not get ot see it.  What I did get to see downstairs was far more special- a signature and reqiuest form from one Bram Stoker.  THE Bram Stoker.  Rumour has it that his Dracula and the British Museum are connected, though Stephanie was unsure how.

In the end, Stephanie has a job for life.  She took a task that had no organization and made a system that requires inquires through her.  There is no browsing done prior to the completed request, so she must retrieve it amongst some areas that seem to have no classificatin.  The index downstiars is aphabetical, with ticket numbers, and mostly grey boxes.  There does not seem to be a devised plan for digitalization because, due to the content f the collection, many photos are taken with poor quality so that they are not published elsewhere.  The items cannot, therefore, be used for digitalization.  Stephanie has a major in history with a masters in archive and management.  She says the realm can be tough and there have been a lot of changes in the last ten years(post-graduation) but there are still tradiational channels and she had the qualification over experience when highered.  She said to do her job one needs to have cataloguing, records, conservation, and preservation experience.  

In the afternoon, I finally made it to London's Hard Rock Cafe.  I am a bit obsessed at this point.  I hae a background as a classic rock/college dj.  The Hard Rock gives me an opportunity to see some iconicperformance  pieces.  Queen and The Beatles were there, amongst a vault of items, so I was not dissappointed.  Tonight, I must pack and book tickets for travel during mini break.  Tomorrow I am viewing the Houses of Parliament and venturing on Baker Street for research.  Wish me luck at a Benedict Cumbebatch sighting ;)

British Studies: Day 2

Today had much to do and, now, not enough time to write about it.  So here are the highlights.

St. Paul's is just as gorgeous as I remember.  The gold guilded insides are just as impressive as the massive dome- not to mention the hight of it from inside.  At 11am, I attended their mass and was able to enjoy the boys choir accompanied by the church's orchestra and men's choir.  I have never seen so many deacons in one room.  The procession was formal, and familiar, and really worth seeing.  As far as the route to St. Paul's, we sat on the top decker of the double decker bus and J & C, new mates, and myself decided we HAD to return to make purchases at the sweet shop.  

I'm headed to mass, but not before a photo opp!

At 2pm, I attended a tour of "Mayhem" and War by a professor of the history department.  And know his history he does.  Our route was to cross by the river, come up by the London Eye(where we sat in the sun and received stories of the plague), past Parliament(where we sat in the shade and talked about Richard and the Evil Prince John, as well as William the Conquerer) then by Westminster, saw a few guards(not the guards, they weren't there.  So look forward to a picture of me in their place..)  We went down a street that had been set up for the royal baby- which isn't here yet, but soon- and eventually ended up in Trafalgar Square.  The tour was great- Prof. Wiest really knew his history- wars, political figures, monuments, and buildings.  It was a nice four hour stroll amongst my new home.

By the end of the night, myself, GOP, and JG went to Liverpool Street.  Don't go alone, try to bring a strong man/woman if you can.   The men try to push you into their Indian restaurants(verbally) and, for me at least, it was really nerve wracking and uncomfortable.  One of the guys followed us on four crosswalks(a square) until we threw ourselves in the one adjacent to(but not) his.  The food was fine, I liked the spiced(mild) chicken.  From there we proceeded to The White Hart, a pub known for Jack the Ripper's planning.  The alleyway next to it even looks as though it were a potential murder lane.  The pub was friendly and told us what they knew.  They too had good cider.  Here I learned that J2 has worked with Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman.  I almost died.  Not only did this girl become my hero earlier when she shouted "No!"(flailing her arms) when men tried to push food on us after having just had food, but then she told me about her work as their Dramatoligist- a person who does research into dramatic time periods within the archives of the library.  I am loving learning about the people I am with.

And once more, I shall love my bed.  Hello midnight, we meet again.

British Studies: Day 1

This is Harry, pre-flight, in protest of my packing.(He's right, it was too hot to pack!)

Coming to London is like falling down a rabbit hole, likely where Lewis Carroll got the idea for his writing actually.  In one day I did more than I could have imagined.

In the morning, we met in the courtyard for orientation.  From there we made our first venture into King's College.(Mum and Paul, if you're reading this, I am going to try really hard to get your shirts you asked for, but the shoppe is only open Mon-Fri. 10-4:30.)  We sat in our class and the tour schedule was discussed.  I am very happy to be going to St. Paul's for mass tomorrow, not because I am overly religious but because I am curious how the English do mass.  Monday will be great too because we are having a reception for the BSP students.  Wednesday will be too because I am uber stoked for Oxford, the Bodleian, and the Alice shoppe.  Amongst everything else, of which is also great.  Anyways, here we also discussed our blogs(tada!) and research projects, of which I pondered all day and may have come up with an idea by the evening.

My flat, in the middle of the street.

After we met an amazing man, named Dr. Doug Mackaman, and some others in charge/involved with BSP we snagged lunch and broke into our tour groups.  Initially, I didn't  have one because the online site said it was closed, but it had space.  So, we did a historic pub tour.  When it ended, we were way down on Fleet Street and given the right to wander.  So six of us(myself included) did just that.  We started backwards, beginning at a pub near where the tour ended(I forgot the name of this one).  The half pints are wonderful, for about 2 pounds you can purchase a half pint- considering our target goal of a taste testing, this was perfect.  So we drank here, chatted and got to know one another, and took in the new feeling.  Our group was comprised of five women and one man, whom we librarians-to-be borrowed from the finance group.  I won't list their names because right now I just know firsts- so it'd be A, C, D, M, & TWH(who I know from becoming Facebook friends).  Anyways...

Next was perhaps the best pub of the bunch: Ye Olde Chesire Cheese.  If you enter the building, there is a bar to the right, a dinner area ahead, and stairs to the below.  "Mind Your Head", they say, and you should.  Unless you are short like me and this doesn't apply.  At the bottom, we were waiting for one of our members at the restroom and got a chuckle out of the men who were way  too tall for the stairs.  When one of their group exited the restroom, he too bopped his head and, well, you really had to be there.  Overall there was a joke exchanged about looking for a horse, directed at a man dressed like a jockey( which later, as it turned out, was a friend of his party) and a hearty "welcome to England." Entering the cellar, we found the pub part.  While waiting at the bar, we asked some locals what they preferred and they pointed us to a delicious cider.  As we sat and drank, we not only took a group photo but we got another chuckle at the group- members of a stag party.  

The next pub was The Black Friar, which I recognized the name from Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere.  It was an oddly shaped place, with tons of outside seating(all taken due to the unusually gorgeous weather).  We sat inside and this time I had some chips and sampled a Golden Summer, I think was the name.  My waiter asked about my visit upon hearing my accent in ordering at the counter.  This is becoming a little funny  joke: when I tell someone I am from Maine, they look puzzled and shake their head no, and I then tell them it is on the East Coast and almost Canada.  This works.  I kind of like it.  I discovered a lot today about varying mentalities of Americans, of which are not all pleasant, but our group has not personally had any bad situations.  We were a curious and friendly bunch and struck up many good conversations on our way.

After Black Friar, we wandered over to Trafalgar Square for Pride in London.  While it made me cringe to see Trafalgar so littered with plastic and beer bottles, the energetic vibes of the attendees was electric.  We danced here for a while, received awesome stickers with readings such as "Some Guys Marry Guys, Get Over it!" and "Some People Are Gay, Get Over It!"  Here we learned an important terminology: equal.  Rather than Gay Pride, they say Equal Pride and that's fantastic, preferable.  So, our group decided to adopt it and spread it on elsewhere.  

Our trip ended (almost) at the Sherlock Holmes Pub.  I decided I would go back there because this is where I got my idea to look into research.  They had several documents from the Arthur Conan Doyle books and several scripts of the films behind protective glass(of which I want to photography when it is not as busy) and contemplate how the libraries , pubs, and museum come together to reserve and promote these works- of which I imagine have some amount of funding for upkeep- and provide such joy to fans.  The men's room hallway had a picture of Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock.  It was wonderful.  I intend to keep an ear out and actively seek Sherlock Holmes pieces to try to figure out a research question and thesis statement- my big assignment for this class.  Right now it might be c=something about how his works fueled a genre that keeps Public Libraries burning.  In the libraries I have worked at in the past, of the Public ones, mystery novels and action types were the most checked out; Sherlock Holmes fits into both.  It's a rough theory, but Lewis Carroll and J.K. Rowling may have plenty of people talking about them already.


Tomorrow is a busy day again, and I will share it in the evening, for now I think I will gain some sleep- I didn't realize how much there was to take in within 8 hours.  

British Studies: Prequel

Whelp folks, it's official.  I currently live in London!  What a dream come true!  At least for a month.  Class won't kick off until tomorrow, at which point I will start sharing England/Euro tales, but today through yesterday had a few of its own to mention.

One thing to note if you haven't read my blog before, family or classmate alike, for confidentiality and my own personal life I abbreviate names to initials.  It takes a little getting use to, but the way I figure you wouldn't be able to keep them all separated anyways.  Unless you're me.

Thursday morning I promptly woke up at 6:30am.  My parents drove me to the Portland bus terminal, a move I was uneasy about until three days ago when I spoke with my cousin AP.  AP lives in California at present but comes home to Maine once, maybe twice a year.  To do this, she does through Boston's Logan Airport and shuttles up on a bus.  Being so experience(love you AP) she kindly gave me the information to assuage at least part of my travel jitters.  So, knowing the bus would drop me off at the correct terminal, I waved goodbye to my parents and began chatting with an old high school classmate(NB) whom also was headed to Logan.  NB is a current library graduate and was on his way to the ALA conference in Chicago.  Once we caught up, we settled in for Grown Ups, a comedy starring Adam Sandler and David Spade that I've been meaning to see.

Arriving at the terminal, I then proceeded to walk in the building.  And stand for several confused minutes.  When you first walk in, it is hard to pick a direction.  Until you process the signs.  Checking-in my 30lbs(yup, you read that right) I continued to the gate the attendant gave me.  From here, I went through security, which was uber simple, and on my way once more.  On my way, I noted  food places worth returning to that were not fast food joints.  Finding my gate, a rather small feat when compared to the JFK I would later navigate, I doubled back for lunch and coffee.  I hung out for a while, slowly getting my worried feeling back, and finally boarded in group 4.  I was very appreciative by the time the flight attendant offered a drink- hellooOoo ginger ale!  I sat next to a lovely couple.  As it turns out, they had been married about a week and were also on their way to New York.  From what I could tell, she is from Germany and he has either learned it or studied there.  Either way, they were super cute(not in a mushy sort of way!) and made for great small talk in the 45 minutes we had.

Landing at JFK, I made a new friend.  I don't know her last name, so I will call her KT.  We met looking for the same gate.  American Airlines at JFK is a ton times larger compared to Logan.  We walked and noted many stores(of which we later viewed while we passed the time) and food places(I ended up having pretzels with marinara!) and eventually settled in over a cervesa- KT is from the Dominican Republic was often switching between English and Spanish- for my benefit.  I know French better.  KT was a very driven woman.  At 27 she has had MA in business, is a manager at a bank, and works for a group called Amway.  She was headed to London as well, to see her sister.  Along the way, we met up with E(do not recall her last name at the moment) and GOP.  We played a game that everyone should try at some point.  Its called "Stop" and how you play is simple:

There are several categories- name, thing, color, fruit, country, & animal.  The point is that one person starts at A, a second person(to their left) says stop at some point as player one silently counts through letters.  Let's say we have "T".  You then have to think of each category for a T item.  You go until the "stopper" says.  Then you share what you wrote and get 100 points for an original answer and split the points if there is a duplicate.(ie., Tiger and Tiger would be 50pts and 50pts to the two players, etc)  This taught me a lot and passed a lot of necessary time- we were delayed from 7:40pm to 9:00pm boarding, which didn't fully leave until 10pm or later(I lost count as I was watching a movie On Demand.  Admission.)

It took me a while to fall asleep on the flight, also because they fed us(yay!) and then I had to wait for them to collect the tray.  I fell asleep to Cirque du Soliel's World's Away, which I had really wanted to see but the music in it was perfect.  I didn't wake for a while, but I don't think I slept long.  (Yet, I am still awake!  I have a tour at 4pm with my class and I look forward to food!)  When we arrived, we went to immigrations.  There my class information was taken into account and I was allowed to pass through and go chase down my generic black luggage bag.  Note: everyone has a black bag.  Before I leave, I will be buying something to distinguish my bag from the others.  Maybe a nice British flag bandana.  (I'd re-ware it!)  To get to the college, we (E & GOP and myself) hopped a taxi/rental car.  Luckily there wasn't an extra fee for our delay.  On the way, we went by Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Big Ben, and Parliament.  I am full of excitement.  I already changed my Facebook town ;D  Anyways, I am going to go milge and talk to you lot soon!

Fantastic Life of a Zombie Film Extra

What have I been up to, you wonder?  Well, I moved for the summer.  It is the first summer I have not had to work in 11 years.  While I do feel a little weird with so much time on my hands, I have plenty of friends that have been itching to see me and have been busy almost every day since returning home.  So far I have gone shopping in Freeport, ate grilled shrimp and asparagus, saw Star Trek Into Darkness(again), saw Now You See Me, drank way too much coffee, watched my friends in the YMCA Fitness Fest, and acted/held the boom mic for a zombie film.  

Ah yes, zombie film.  A majestical time between May and June when students get together for five weeks to watch and study zombie films, learn filming/editing software, bang out a script, and then spend several tight-packed days filming.  All leading up to the showings this Thursday.  The last time this class was offered was two years ago, when I was taking a 300 literature class(May Term) called Detective Fiction.  Now that I have graduated UMF, it is being offered again.  Thankfully, my good friend ABAB(of yes, a four part name that sounds lovely) is taking it and needed a few extra hands.  So, I played a small bit as a hiker and was covered in blood.  It was a good time with my friends.  On the days I was not in the film, I discovered how fun it is to be the boom mic (human) stand.  And yes, I kept it out of the frame.  Easy to do when you closely read the writing on the mic and discovered that if you twist it and re-lock it, it will become really really tall.

So I am looking forward to Thursday, the editing occurs today and tomorrow and I am keeping away so that I will be uber surprised for the showing.  In the meantime, I am trying to iron out a kink with my school- the final straw before England.  I have (ermahgerd!) 16 days until I go to London.  I fly out to various airports June 27th.  I'm quite nervous.  Its not the flying, its the getting on the plane.  In the last year, I have taken so many trains and T stops that I have learned to calm down because I know what I am doing.  I can also verify this when I give my friends directions or explain how I did it.  The last time I flew, I was not in charge.  When I went to England for a high school trip(a too brief ten days) my teacher was in charge.  When I went to Florida for the Friday-Sunday class trip, also not in charge.  Now I head to England on a very tight schedule and it's all me.  Everyone tells me the signs are large enough to read and that I will have time, but I'm still concerned.  Once I get on the plane I will easily sleep- not only because of the jet-lag time-change, but because I have to hit the ground running from Heathrow at 7:45AM, board a train, and then go to orientation.  

Once I get there, everything will be hunky-dorey.  In the Facebook group, the librarian students are already anticipating the planning of several trips.  Cardiff(the home of the Doctor Who site tours), Loch Ness in Scotland, many tours within London.  I made a list for myself of the top five or six things I need to do.  In no particular order: 1) go to the Hardrock Cafe in London, 2)try to see a game at the London FIFA soccer stadium, 3) go to Platform 9 3/4 at king's Cross(they made it exist! trust me!) 4) HP Warner Brother's set/pros tour, 5) see Phantom of the Opera on West End, 6) see a play at the Globe Theatre.  And on and on.  Thankfully, there are many tours and trips provided within the class itself and we have weekends as well as a mini break to see the rest of things(of which there is much!)

There really isn't much to report besides the above.  I can tell you that I am reading Simon Pegg's autobiography(not just for dead people anymore!) Nerd Do Well.  Its very funny and I love his perspective for story telling.  He gives it his own twist, as one might expect.  I am hoping it tides me over until The World's End is released in August.  A very good read that any Pegg fan would enjoy.  Next up?  Richard Castle's newest Derrick Storm novel. ( He's not dead?!)  Again, hoping it tides me over until the fall when the next season of Castle airs.  

In other news...

Sci-Fi/Comics news:
     Pop over to slash film for many things, but mainly good comic book/insider articles.  This includes photos from the set of X-Men Days of Futures Past, which is shooting in Montreal, Canada at the moment.  I won't say who the fight photos are between, but I will say they're badass.  They also have articles about The Amazing Spiderman 2 and many rumours for Justice League.

     Man of Steel is still looking promising.  I love Zack Snyder's work in 300(which has a sequel out soon) and Watchmen.  I also really like Hans Zimmer and while I haven't had time to sit down with the soundtrack for Man of Steel(something I typically do after seeing the film) it should be lenty easy to do what with the ability to stream it from the site.  Again, I am intrigued.  I have been watching plenty of Smallville recently, I am at the tail end of season three, and still can't believe how much I love this show or how I could have ever walked away before the halfway point(season 5).  I also loved Brandon Routh as Superman, he has the perfect look for it and I love his sense of humour.  I think I need to rewatch that and then maybe create a blog post where I compare/contrast the three...
     

Monster Movies/TV news:
     Dracula, starring Jon Rheys Myers, comes out this fall.  It's looking like it could quickly becomes a new favourite.  When classic literature is given a contemporary spin and it works(see Sherlock & Once Upon a Times) it's brilliant and exciting!

     When an actor dies, sometimes their legacy(i.e. their grubby children) go bleak.  That being said, I hope Daniel Radcliffe's part in a Frankenstein adaptation can still happen in the near future.