Book Review || As You Wish

As You Wish 
Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride 
Cary Elwes {with Joe Layden}

Published 14 Oct, 2014

Touchstone, Hardcover, 245p. (inc. b&w/col. photos, index)
ISBN: 978-1-4767-6402-3 

Standing on the stage for the twenty-fifth anniversary of The Princess Bride, I felt an almost overwhelming sense of gratitude and nostalgia.  It was a remarkable night and it brought back vivid memories of being part of what appears to have become a cult classic film about pirates and princesses, giants and jesters, cliffs of insanity, and of course rodents of unusual size.

It truly was as fun to make the movie as it is to watch, from getting to work on William Goldman's brilliant screenplay to being directed by the inimitable Rob Reiner.  It is not an exaggeration to say that most days on set were exhilarating, from wrestling Andre the Giant, to the impossibility of playing mostly dead with Billy Crystal cracking jokes above me, to choreographing the Greatest Sword Fight in Modern Times with Mandy Patinkin, to being part of the Kiss That Left All the Others Behind with Robin Wright.

In this book I've gathered many more behind-the-scenes stories and hopefully answers to many of the questions we've all received over the years from fans.  Additionally, Robin, Billy, Rob, and Mandy, as well as Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn, Fred Savage, Chris Sarandon, Carol Kane, Norman Lear, and William Goldman graciously share their own memories and stories from making this treasured film.

If you'd like to know a little bit more about the making of The Princess Bride as seen through the eyes of a young actor who got much more than he bargained for, along with the rest of this brilliant cast, then all I can say is . . . as you wish.

 

I had been eyeing off this memoir ever since I saw a book review by Jo ReadsBooks {WATCH HERE}.  I had no idea that this was even a thing, and since I've been watching the movie since the late 80's, this was a must have.  Then, way back in April, I found it!  Yes, I came across it by accident at Big W while visiting family on the coast.  I was searching for something else - and there it was.  Just sitting on a stand looking at me.  One lone copy of 80's fantasy perfection. Of course I had to buy it.  It was in hardcover!!!!   

Now before I even get into my thoughts on the book I just want to spend a minute gushing about the gorgeous cover art - and the surprise poster on the reverse side of the dust jacket (I wasn't expecting that and want to find a copy of it online so I can print it out as I don't want to damage the dust jacket).  And that cover photo of Cary as Wesley, in his Dread Pirate Roberts disguise, is so iconic... and yes, Wesley does look like a blonde Erroll Flynn.

However, once I started to read the book I found myself going back in time.  Ah, the 80's... scrunchies, bubble skirts, Molly Ringwald and school holidays.  This book brings back so many memories.  This was no more evident that when I came to the parts dealing with Andre the Giant as I can remember sitting on the floor beside my grandfather's chair, watching Andre wrestling on TV.  As I said, this book has a huge nostalgia thing happening.

I think because of the memories it evoked, I would have loved this book even if it had been badly written, but the behind the scenes memories, snippets from other cast members - and if I'm honest, I could 'hear' Cary's voice as I was reading this! - made As You Wish a real trip down memory lane and I loved it.

His writing style was easy going, and made the book a very fast read for me as I devoured it.  There are pictures, but not nearly as many behind the scenes shots as I'd like, and I was a little disappointed at the paper quality as I thought this would have been much nicer on a glossy paper.  However, those are my pet peeves, and the only reason that I didn't give this a 5 star rating.

So while not an autobiography by any means, this memoir is a must if you want to get a well written behind the scenes look of the filming of The Princess Bride - or you just love Cary Elwes.  If that is the case, then I'd urge you to run and grab a copy of this book (or download the audiobook).

Definitely one for the fans ;-D

Until next time,

All Souls Review - Part 3: The Book of Life

The Book of Life 
All Souls Trilogy, Book 3
Deborah Harkness

Published: 2014

Headline, Trade, 
ISBN:

After traveling through time in "Shadow of Night," the second book in Deborah Harkness's enchanting series, historian and witch Diana Bishop and vampire scientist Matthew Clairmont return to the present to face new crises and old enemies. At Matthew's ancestral home at Sept-Tours, they reunite with the cast of characters from "A Discovery of Witches"--with one significant exception. But the real threat to their future has yet to be revealed, and when it is, the search for Ashmole 782 and its missing pages takes on even more urgency. In the trilogy's final volume, Harkness deepens her themes of power and passion, family and caring, past deeds and their present consequences. In ancestral homes and university laboratories, using ancient knowledge and modern science, from the hills of the Auvergne to the palaces of Venice and beyond, the couple at last learn what the witches discovered so many centuries ago.

Book Review || Very Good Lives

Very Good Lives

The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination

J.K. Rowling

Published: April, 2015

Little, Brown & Company, Hardcover, 80p.
ISBN: 978-1-4087-0678-7

When J.K. Rowling was invited to deliver the commencement address at Harvard University, she chose to speak to the graduating class about two topics very close to her heart: the benefits of failure and the importance of imagination.  Having the courage to fail, she said, is as vital to a good life as any conventional measure of success; imagining ourselves into the place of another - particularly someone less fortunate than ourselves - is a uniquely human quality to be nurtured at all costs.

The stories Rowling shared and the provocative questions she asked of those young graduates have since inspired countless others to consider what it means to live a 'good life'.  Now in print for the first time, her words serve as both a comfort and a call to arms for anyone - of any age - who finds themselves at a turning point.  IN daring to take a risk, and perhaps fail, and by harnessing the power of our imaginations, we can all begin to live less cautiously and, in doing so, become more open to the opportunities life has to offer.

Review: Cast in Shadow

Cast in Shadow
Chronicles of Elantra, Book 1
Michelle Sagara

Published: 2005

Harlequin LUNA, paperback, 309p.
ISBN: 0-733-57274-X

Seven years ago Kaylin fled the crime-riddled streets of Nightshade, knowing that something was after her. Children were being murdered — and all had the same odd markings that mysteriously appeared on her own skin.… Since then, she’s learned to read, she’s learned to fight and she’s become one of the vaunted Hawks who patrol and police the City of Elantra. Alongside the winged Aerians and the immortal Barrani, she’s made a place for herself, far from the mean streets of her birth. But children are once again dying, and a dark and familiar pattern is emerging. Kaylin is ordered back into Nightshade with a partner she knows she can’t trust, a Dragon lord for a companion and a device to contain her powers — powers that no other human has. Her task is simple — find the killer, stop the murders…and survive the attentions of those who claim to be her allies! Something is stirring again…

With the release of the 10th book in the series, CAST IN FLAMES, due for release on July 29, 2014, I thought it appropriate to review the book that started it all...

Private Kaylin Neya is a damaged soul who we first meet just before she attacks the man she holds responsible for the pain from her former life in the fiefs.  Corporal Severn Handred is also tormented by past choices, and despite enduring Kaylin's rage, he is determined to once again risk her hate to save her from a killer from their past.

This story is so enthralling and sucks you in as you follow Kaylin and her painful journey as she revisits the past she thought she'd finally escaped.  Sagara's world building is delightful and so well done that you don't even question why a dragon has mood eyes, or that a Leontine is in charge of office.  Aerians?  Sure, them too.  The use of mythologies that were specifically adapted for this series was so well done and very convincing that you almost have to stop yourself from checking the encyclopaedia for the definition of being a 'chosen' one.

With bursts of humor and action, Sagara seems to have a knack for knowing just when to pull back and tug at your heartstrings, then have you laughing 30 seconds late.  The first book in the Chronicle of Elantra series, I would recommend Cast in Shadow to anyone who loves a great story sprinkled with images out of mythology, love and forgiveness.

Book Review: A Shiver of Light

A Shiver of Light 

Merry Gentry, Book 9

LKH

Released: 03 June, 2014
ePub copy used for review

I am Princess Meredith NicEssus. Legal name Meredith Gentry, because “Princess” looks so pretentious on a driver’s license. I was the first faerie princess born on American soil, but I wouldn’t be the only one for much longer...

Merry Gentry, ex–private detective, now full-time princess, knew she was descended from fertility goddesses, but when she learned she was about to have triplets, she began to understand what that might mean. Infertility has plagued the high ranks of faerie for centuries. Now nobles of both courts of faerie are coming to court Merry and her men, at their home in exile in the Western Lands of Los Angeles, because they will do anything to have babies of their own.

Taranis, King of Light and Illusion, is a more dangerous problem. He tried to seduce Merry and, failing that, raped her. He’s using the human courts to sue for visitation rights, claiming that one of the babies is his. And though Merry knows she was already pregnant when he took her, she can’t prove it.

To save herself and her babies from Taranis she will use the most dangerous powers in all of faerie: a god of death, a warrior known as the Darkness, the Killing Frost, and a king of nightmares. They are her lovers, and her dearest loves, and they will face down the might of the high courts of faerie—while trying to keep the war from spreading to innocent humans in Los Angeles, who are in danger of becoming collateral damage.

 

 

 

I'm not going to prattle on about this book as you've most likely read the rest of the books - mandatory if you're reading book 9 - and if you didn't like them, well you wouldn't be reading this review.  However, since I have been eagerly awaiting this book for more than 3 years I was in such a rush to motor through my E-copy, that I rushed headlong towards the long hoped for confrontation between Merry and Taranis and what do I get...LKH killed off someone else!  What the frack?!  

Okay, my above gripe is not really a negative.  I really did love this book.  Merry has her children {a scene I would loved to have read if it had of been included!} and all the fae are starting to gather around Merry and her Western mound.  There are a few new faces - the babies are so cute and scarily magical even at only a few days/weeks of age - and most of our old favourites pop up for a brief mention.  Queen Andais is more surpisingly saner in this book.  She's not as out of her gourd insane and bathing in the blood of the UnSeelie Courtas as she has done in previous books, but there is still a real hate-hate relationship between her and Merry that has the potential to blow up in future books.

Taranis is still as bat shit crazy and delusional as before, and he once again uses his power of Illusion against Merry and her men.  But this time, Merry has a real surpise waiting for him ;-D  {such a great way to get even in the Sidhe world}.  Then there is the confrontation between Merry and her uncle, King Taranis, that has been brewing for more than a few books and in the end it got totally overshadowed by the death of a well known and loved character.  Pushing Taranis' much anticipate and very much deserved dethroning into an almost footnote in the epilogue?  {my other WTF moment}  

 

Aisling and some of the her father's old guards are back, another one of Merry's guards are pregnant - much to the annoyance of the Seelie Court - and an unexpected oath throws the cat amongst the pidgeons as Andais demands her Ravens back.  Jonty and Co. are still with Merry however there is a situation in the Goblin mound that bears watching.

 

I can't tell you much more for fear of giving away some truly great scenes, but after having Merry Gentry withdrawals for such a long time, it was great to sink my teeth into the story.  As always, I can't wait for the next book.  This is truly a fabulous series and unlike Anita Blake, Merry hasn't done a complete 180° shift from the woman we were introduced to.  Her integrity has stayed the same, and she is as moral as possible when facing some of the most heartbreaking choices.  So as long as LKH keeps writing books in this series I'll keep buying them.

 

 

Review: Rule Breaker

Rule Breaker

Breeds, Books 29

Lora Leigh

Published: February 4, 2014

Hardcover: 448 pages
Berkley, Hardcover, 448p
ISBN: 978-0425-26545-1

Lion Breed and enforcer Rule Breaker has just a few rules he doesn’t break. Not for anything. Not for anyone—like never have sex with a woman outside his own breed, especially a human woman. Especially someone too helpless, too fun loving and too full of life to ever be able to protect herself, let alone help him to protect her.

If the damned animal inside him insists on a mate, then why pick her? A woman who is an easy target and who can be used as a weapon against him at any time.

But what he suspects is mating heat may not be that at all. Just his animal instincts rioting, pacing, irritated whenever he's away from her.

Okay, he can handle that.

What ensues is a fiery affair that breaks all the rules of mating heat and will eventually endanger his mate with the very rules designed to protect the Breeds—for she’s possibly been working against them…

I just love these Breed books!  I have been following the series since it all began at Ellora's Cave (oh so many years ago) with Callan & Merinus, and now, even though I'm not too keen on e-formats, I'm getting the eBook as soon as possible just so I can get my fix ;-D

Okay, so what can I tell you about Rule Breaker?... Well, we're still in the Navajo Nation, and only a few weeks seem to have passed since Stygian and Liza (aka Honor) mated. But, time is running out for our manipulation maestro, Jonas, in his hunt for the Breeds who may hold the key to saving his daughter, Amber.  In the desperate search for Gideon - who actually makes an appearance! - he's still digging into the rituals of the Navajo, trying to find out what happened to the four Breed children who disappeared 12 years ago.  Children who hold the answers that Jonas and Rachel so desperately need.

Review - Written in Red

Written in Red
A Novel of the Others, Book 1
Anne Bishop

Released: March 2013

ROC, Hardcover,  433p.
ISBN: 978-0-451-46496-5

Back cover:

As a cassandra sangue, or blood prophet, Meg Corbyn can see the future when her skin is cut - a gift that feels more alike a curse.  Meg's Controller keeps her enslaved so he can have full access to her visions.  But when she escapes, the only safe place Meg can hide is at the Lakeside Courtyard - a business district operated by the Others.

Shape-shifter Simon Wolfgard is reluctant to hire the stranger who inquires about the Human Liaison job.  First, he senses she's keeping a secret, and second, she doesn't smell like human prey.  Yet a stronger instinct propels hi to give Meg the job.  And when he learns the truth about Meg and that she's wanted by the government, he'll have to decide whether she's worth the fight between humans and the Others that will surely follow.

I enjoyed this book a great deal, although it did take me a while to shake off the YA fiction vibe I was getting from the book, but after I immersed myself in the story I was fine.

Meg Corbyn, our young heroine, is such an innocent woman.  Having escaped her cage, and unfamiliar with the ways of the world, she somehow manages to see the good in people.  Yet, to say she is totally naive would be a great disservice to her, as Meg's life (before escaping) was not all sunshine and roses.  At first, we find Meg quite skittish and wary where Simon and the Others of the Courtyard are concerned, yet there are glimpses of temper and backbone that hint to the woman she could become.  Meg's interactions with those in the Courtyard range from curiosity to fear, and with Simon it's often both at the same time.  

Simon Wolfgard, being the leader of the Courtyard, is a tough and dominant male who takes in this human waif for no other reason than he needs to fill the position - and doesn't want to employ a certain human.  He feels as though he's made a mistake almost as soon as he's hired Meg, but for some reason, he can't seem to fire her - or eat her - but that doesn't stop him from making a complete arse of himself at times ;-D  Although he is not the most demonstrative or emotional of characters, you get a real sense of his core beliefs.  

Written in Red is mainly told from Meg and Simon's POV, although the flow is occasionally interrupted by POV from Asia, Henry and the local police detective who is trying to forge good relations with the Others.  I loved the 'otherness' of the characters, and the way that there is definitely an us and them mentality.  The mysterious Tess is a real charmer - love the hair! - and Winter and her sisters have the potential to scare the pants off everyone.  I hope to see more of their true natures emerging in the coming books.  The ponies that help Meg deliver her parcels were a nice touch, especially when their true talents are revealed.

As a big Anne Bishop fan, I did notice some fleeting similarities between the characters in this book and those of her much loved other series, The Black Jewels.  No, seriously!   Just think about it...

•  Meg Corbyn/Jaenelle Angelline - both wounded souls who find themselves in a position of power and have to deal with deadly males.

•  Simon Wolfgard/Daemon Sadi - dominant men who both wield power without thought.  Dangerous.

•  Vlad Sanguinati/Lucivar Yaslana - the seconds.  Dangerous fighters who have a lighter side.

•  Tess/Surreal - deadly women who would kill you as soon as look at you.  Very protective of those they take under their wings.

I could go on, but if you've read the Black Jewels books, you'll see what I mean.

My only problem with Written in Red was Meg's nameless, faceless enemy.  We see agents of that enemy, but there is a disconnect between his/her role in the story and the way everyone else deals with the fallout.  Not a huge problem in the grand scheme of things, and will hopefully be addressed in the following books.

The style of writing used in Written in Red is very similar to Kelley Armstrong's YA trilogy - the one with the kids that run away from the mental facility (sorry, can't think of the name).  So if you enjoyed Armstrong's series, then you should love Meg and Simon's story.

UPDATE:  Book 2, Murder of Crows, is scheduled for publication in March 2014.  Yeah!