Anime review: "Genshiken Nidaime"

I have watched the original first few seasons of "Genshiken" six years ago. I forgot much of it, but I remember it was one of my favorite anime in that time. When I saw a new season is coming up, I was of course very interested and watched it as soon as I got the opportunity.

"Genshiken Nidaime" takes a year after the last part. All original cast has a role in this one, but more focus is those still in college and formally in Genshiken (Ogiue, Ohno, Sue, Kuchiki) and three new characters Hato, Yajima and Yoshitake. In the first episode it turns out that all member of the new Genshiken, except Kuchiki, are girls in love it BL (boy love), or "rotten girls"...

There is no point in going deeply in the plot of "Genshiken Nidaime" because it is not a series with real plot. "Genshiken" was always focused more on daily or school life of characters and their relationship. The difference between the previous seasons and this one is that here there is a big focus on subjects like boy love, cross-dressing and similar. "Genshiken" always touched similar topics, but not in such way. It didn't bothered me, but nor did I find it very compelling. There was a lot of talk about bullying and accepting different people.

A big focus is put on relationship between the new character Hato and Madarame, and his obsession with Kasukabe. There is a good scene and resolution between her and Madarame that I think all the old fans will like. I am sidestepping talking much about the character because there are few surprises and I don't want to reveal any spoilers.

As I said, I don't remember much about the original, but I think that visually it was even better than this one. "Genshiken Nidaime" has unattractive design and animation. Voice acting was good, but there was no other attractive music. I think the production was poor. Also, I don't remember the original having so much fanservice.

For conclusion... If you haven't watched the original "Genhiken" and you like daily life and otaku anime, you definitely need to watch it. As for "Genshiken Nidaime", it is for the fans who wants the continuity and they will find it good. But I think that even the most avid fans will find it poorer that the original.

Book review: "The Wise Man's Fear"

As usual, I got a book and couldn't stop until was finished, which means that this last one I was operating on 5-6 hours of sleep. Thankfully, the book is done now and it's weekend, so I can catch up with my sleeping.

"The Wise Man's Fear" is a second book of "The Kingkiller Chronicle", written by Patrick Rothfuss. First part, "The Name of the Wind", received in my opinion, slightly undeserved attention and praises. To be clear, I really like this book; it is really fun to read and it was obviously very well-liked by large and diverse audiences. On the other hand, I can find several books on my shelves only that are fun to read as much as tNotW: e.g. "Magician" by Raymond E. Feist, "The Lies of Locke Lamora" by Scott Lynch, "The Blade Itself" by Joe Abercrombie. All these are examples of really great books, with slightly poorer sequels, that in the end didn't leave much impact on general fantasy (well, except Feist, but not because he's so good, but because he doesn't want to stop). Judging by several reviews and comments I have read since the publishing of tNotW in 2007, you would expect this to be a new "Lord of the Rings" or "A Song of Ice and Fire". As I said, tNotW, and "The Kingkiller Chronicle" series by extension, is an enjoyable and good, but on completely different level compare to aforementioned. But let's not allow this to ruin the book for us...

Event in "The Wise Man's Fear" continue directly after those in its prequel. In the present (of the book), this means that we follow Kvothe, Chronicles and Bast in the inn, doing several chores and less important deeds, but mainly telling, writing and listening of the Kvothe's story during the second day. In the past, or better say, in Kvothe's story, he continues his education on the University, his musical performances in neighboring town of Imre, and also several his more or less shady or less regular activities (searching for the Chandrians and the Amyr, feuding with noble-born and pretentious Ambrose Jakis, hanging with Denna, and so on). This part takes first third of the book (with almost 1000 pages, tWMF is much longer than tNotW) and it is my favorite part of the book (at least in this reading). I just like the University as a setting and I was glad to see him return there at the end of this book, too. There are no much new characters or concepts here, but everything is explored in more details. We finally see the Archives in more details and up close, and it's good. We also learn more about Elodin, and it crazy as one would expect. The feud with Ambore escalates and reflects on other people, too. There was also some intense action, similar to the closing parts of tNotW.

After the first third, Kvothe finally sees some of the wide world (but in better circumstances than before). He ends in Vintas, as romantic-adviser for a man richer that some kings. This part is also good: mingling with unsuspecting noble class, opposing conspiracies and learning more about the world. This part is somewhat abruptly changed to woodland military excursion. This is the place where I realized that Kvothe reminds me of Miles Vorkosigan in "The Warrior's Apprentice". They are both young guys in their late teens, ending in control of some military unit and pulling it with only their cockiness and cleverness. After that we have our first lengthy encounter with magic, when Kvothe ends in fairly land. Then follows a part of the book that I didn't really like, the training with Ademi mercenaries... It IS nicely written, stressing out the differences between cultures, but for some reason I didn't fall for it.

The ending of the book provides us with several conclusions of plots started previously. We see how Kvothe first became famous and how this fame showed its ugly sides for the first time. Also, it is hard to again become a regular pupil that every teacher can boss around, when for short time ago you held an ear of powerful people. This is also where things are becoming dark, which is confirmed by Kvothe in present, when he breaks his story for the second day, leaving the dark parts for tomorrow.

tWMF continues the biographic style started in first part. It is still good book, with the same style, but in some parts in not as good as the original. First, there are several parts of setting and plot that came as total surprise. This is usually good, but I expect such things to have some foreshadowing. It doesn't have to be obvious in first reading, but reader should be able to find the backing for it, otherwise it feels like the writer only later decided to include it in the book. This is in my opinion the worst flaw of "The Sword of Truth" series; on the other hand, Jordan foreshadows events in later books of WoT marvelously. Second, there were some bad decisions with pacing. In several places (most obvious were the trial and the trip to Vintas) events were practically skipped and this felt like cheating.

On the other hand, I like those several stories that were told: the story, inside a story, inside a story, inside a book... Worldbuilding was exceptional as in previous book, revealing new elements of setting, but not giving all details, leaving reader to question for more. Reading for very fun and there is much humor in it.

Looks like Rothfuss was listening for reader's feedback very closely. One of often objection was lack of important female characters in tNotW. In tWMF this is remedied with several female characters with much more presence. Also, there is much sex in this book, comparing to previous where there was none. But it is not explicit, more implied.

For conclusion, let's say that Patrick Rothfuss tried a bit more ambitious book with this one. He failed in some parts, but succeeding in most, so "The Wise Man's Fear" is almost good as "The Name of The Wind". Those who liked the first part will like this one also. It reminds open whether the last part of the trilogy will be able to achieve everything promised (since I don't see how he will be able to put all this fame and notoriety into one book), but my hopes are high.

P.S. It looks like waiting for "The Doors of Stone" will be a long one....

Book review: "The Desert Spear" by Peter V. Brett

Last weekend I finished reading "The Desert Spear", a sequel to "The Painted Man" by Peter V. Brett. I was thinking about rereading TPM before TDS, but I wasn't really in a mood for that, so I decided to do a reread when last book gets published. This turned out to be a mistake, before I forgot how fun was TPM and was then pleasantly surprised by TDS, even though I think the pleasure would be even bigger if I haven't spent lots of time trying to remember details from TPM.

"The Desert Spear" came out last year, but there wasn't a paperback edition available to me, so I waited until now. Even when I was reading TPM, I knew that reviews were good but not brilliant. I think this is a fair assessment:  "Demon Cycle" books are not the best or most original or best written fantasy series on the market, but they are very fun to read. So don't expect a new "Lord of the Rings"; but expect a good fantasy book with rich characters and exciting plot, set in not-so-wide but nicely build world.

TDS is a sequel, but it starts with events even before the ones in TPM. Although this is not unique, it is not so common occurrence in fantasy books of this caliber. First part of book is told from point of view of Jardir. He didn't have much appearance in prequel, although his role had very impact. He was also described as something like a bad guy. Now we have simultaneously events from present (of the book), after the events in TPM, and from Jardir's past, which start few years before TPM (since he is older that Arlen, main character of TPM).

We are told about Jardir childhood and growing up in Fort Krasia, one of Free cities (I don't know why I though there are seven of them). Krasnians and their society were introduced in TPM, but here we have a much detailed and wider description of it. It is somewhat based on Islam culture: language, relationship between men and women, belief that death in fight guarantees you place in Heaven, etc. I must say that this is one of least likable societies I have read about. TPM wasn't one of the books that clearly differentiate people on good and bad: there were demons, who were the enemies, but it was their nature. Humans, the good guys, are not in any way all good, clean and decent: they are stupid, dirty, rapists, villains... So, when we got POV from Krasnian society, which was depicted somewhat badly in last book, I expected a turn, where they are shown to have redeeming qualities that are invisible from the outside. Surprisingly, this was not the case: even though Krasnians are not evil per se, or without any qualities, they are still described as stupid, wasteful, fanatic, without consideration and believing in their natural superiority. What is even more miserable is that this assessment is probably true for many societies in past, and even in present. And Jardir is a perfect specimen of his society. He believes himself as smart (and he is compared to some of his fellow citizen), but he doesn't even have the capability to understand how easily he is being manipulated. He did something awful to his best friend (actually, to many of this best friends), but even when he know that what he did was wrong, he excuse himself that is was his right and duty to do it. But in the end, he induces more pity than anger from reader.

His part of the book takes at third of the book, and it last until the events from his past start to concur with the present. Then we have addition of other characters, Leesha and Rojer, know to us from TPM. With them we have a direct continuation of events from the first book, an aftermath of battle of Cutter's Hollow, now known as Deliverer's Hollow. We have depiction of how everybody except two of them start to regards Arlen as new Deliverer, even though he denies it. We also have a closer description of politics in Free cities. There is one new and old character: Reena. She had a small part at the beginning of TPM; now she gets upgraded to a real main character. Interesting thing is that her plot doesn't have much importance in the course of the book. It is strange that author would invest so much in one pretty unimportant character, but her part was in no way dull. From one side it describes in detail life in one small part of the world, and from the other side goes deeply in characterization of few in no way ideal characters.

Things get much more intense later when Arlen gets his POV, after quite long time, and main characters start to mingle. It is always interesting to see the contrast between how character sees himself and how other characters see him. And we have a lot of this in TDS. Also, the clash of cultures is always fun to read. Arlen POVs are very interesting to read, not so much because of his plot, which is very intense in its own right, but because we have one character that we got very acquainted in first book, but then he got very much changed, and this change was seen only from third persons. He often remembers earlier Arlen and it very compelling when you can compare them, because they are in the same time very different and very similar.

All parts of book are very interesting and very fun to read. TPM was stretched over probably more than fifteen years; TDS, after retelling this whole period from point of a completely new character, concentrates on period of maybe three month. Even though the plot is interesting, it is action plot about clash of cultures, something familiar from other books or movies. What are unique to this book are its characters and their description from several different sources.

I also has to mention one more aspect. Even though the demon aspect of this setting doesn't have much coverage in this book, few short pages mean a lot. For first time we have point of view of a demon and we learn something about their way of thinking. This few passages succeeded in making me even more interested in this setting. Also, a nice touch was the indication that this is actually postapocalyptic setting in alternate future of Earth (books about war-machines).

Also, although I can't be sure without the reread of TPM, I think that Brett's writing style got improved in this book, which also adds to enjoyment of this book. Just a few technical details: book has around 750 pages. It also has a preview of the last book, called "The Daylight War", which is announced for 2012.

All in all, "The Desert Spear" is a very good book in its own right, and even better as sequel to "The Painted Man". Not dull in any moment, and with supreme characterization, it will be a good read to every reader who even remotely liked "The Painted Man". If you read the first book, don't miss this one.