MONSTER BLOOD TATTOO Review

Normally I'm pretty certain about how I should go about reviewing a book, but in regards to Monster Blood Tattoo (Book One: Foundling), I'm on new ground. How so? Watch this to find out.



Now, if that hasn't confused you, just take a moment to think about what I've just said. Books aren't supposed to look like this unless they're written by J. R. R. Tolkien, the map and lore legend of the literary world. I'm seriously impressed. Actually, I was completely taken by surprise by MBT and I'm not afraid to admit it.

Exhibit A

The story, the world, the characters, all combined to suck me into a vortex of monsters, vinegar waves, and the plight of a boy with a girl's name (Exhibit A).

But that's not all. Oh no.


Exhibit B is a 102-page glossary of terms unique to The Half-Continent--a number not including the appendices depicting different "types" of people on The Half-Continent, various ships, the calendar system, and a highly detailed "exploded" map of The Half-Continent broken into six sections, among other things.

Exhibit B

I was very happy to have the glossary and the appendices, if only to assure myself that I guessed right about the definitions and to reassure my mind that the book actually happened. Plus, I really love visual aids.

When I bought this book on sale for waaaaay less than the amount it was meant to be sold for, I didn't know what I had in my hands. I admired the title and the cover, read the jacket and decided it would be interesting, but I had no idea just how interesting I'd find it. I have a book buying addiction, remember?

Now that I've read Book One: Foundling, I must read the others. I feel like a wit* is compelling me to do so.

I guess I know what I'm going to do with my recently acquired gift cards to bookstores.

Until next time...


*A wit is a type of lahzar whose powers are felt rather than seen, unlike the fulgars. Another name for one is a neuroticrith ("holder of a distorted mind"). Wits control the invisible bioelectrical field using the surgically introduced organs definitive of the lahzars. They are mostly monster hunters by profession.

(See what I mean? That glossary is fantastic! My definition is just a tiny summary of the one in the book.  The actual definition of a wit is nearly two pages long!)

Hey Y'all. How's it Going?

I missed RTW and the Friday Fives post this week. I feel lost. I need to make up for it somehow, but the only thing I can think of is to write this. So...yeah.

I was being all monitory today and took a gander at my stats for the ole bloggy blog, and somehow, some enterprising individual found me through searching "aragorn return of the king." It made my heart all warm while making my head spin.

How in the world did they find me using that search criteria? I'm not complaining, since I find it extremely flattering that I could be connected to Tolkien in any way, no matter how minuscule, but still. It's a puzzle. And I don't like leaving puzzles unsolved. It makes me itchy.

However, due to the fact that I don't have much time to invest in ferreting out the answer (if there is one), I'm going to have to be content with not knowing. No matter how much it irks me.

I'm off to read The Scorpio Races in hopes of finishing it today so I can focus on those research papers sitting menacingly in both corners of my mind.

*looks askance at papers* *papers crack knuckles*

Yep. I'm going to have so much fun this coming week. Someone shoot me now.

Sharing Saturday #3 (I think)

Since I just love sharing things--big, small; important, benign; funny, boring--I thought I'd spread the joy of Saturday in the EDM310 lab with y'all. Normally I get at least one or two students, during the five hour window of time, who have questions and assignment needs to be met.

However, it's one of those slow Saturdays (sometimes preferable if I'm not in a great mood) and I've had multitudes of time to watch YouTube videos. I watched The Aristocats, and now I can't stop humming "everybody, everybody, everybody wants to be a cat!"

But--and hold on to your hats folks--I found something even better. "Blasphemy!" I hear some say. Well, here's my proof.





Yes. That is Lord of the Rings in animated form. I know this may not come as such a big shock or seem like a big deal to some of you, but finding another way to get my Tolkien fix is probably the best thing that's happened all week. That's including getting a haircut. (Although if you are my sister and you're reading this, the haircut is awesome. You did a fantastic job!)

I'm now watching this instead of Disney movies. There's also The Hobbit animated movie on YouTube as well. The Internet will never cease to impress me. At least not today.

Friday Fives: Authors of Legend

Paper Hangover does a fantastic job of getting my brain juices flowing even though by the end of the week I'm pretty much useless. I don't know what that says about my writing, but I think that when my brain sees the Friday Five prompt, it gets its second wind.

This week, I'm going to try and keep things simple. For one thing, I'm tired and I have a few articles to write and an interview to transcribe, but for another, sometimes I feel like an author's body of work speaks for itself and anything I may try to say is just extraneous flapping of the gums. Or in this case, flailing of the fingers.

1. Garth Nix

2. J.K. Rowling

3. J. R. R. Tolkien

4. Edgar Rice Burroughs

5. Jorge Luis Borges

Now, I know there are a few in that list that you were likely expecting me to say, but that there are also a few that some of you may not have anticipated. I like to do that every once in a while. Just to keep y'all on your toes.

It wouldn't be a Friday Five post without a little dash of Harry Potter magic, so of course Jo Rowling is on there. I've already discussed, I believe, my fascination with Garth Nix's Abhorsen series and his writing style. Tolkien is never far from my heart. No really, I have one of his books near me at all times. It's kind of freaky actually. I don't even plan it. Right now I can see The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún.

As for Mr. Burroughs, he has been a favorite of mine since childhood. My great-grandfather collected his books--the stories of Tarzan, Mars, Venus, Pellucidar, and other various fantastical worlds--and when he died, my grandmother continued the tradition. Whenever I would go over to her house, I'd pick out one of Burroughs' books, and since they aren't very long, I'd finish it before I left. She says she's going to give me her entire collection one day. The thought makes me all warm inside, because, although it's not necessarily what we might call a literary tradition in the sense we know it to mean, it is a tradition of literature to me.

Mr. Borges, though, now he's a newcomer to my author shrine. I only met him through his collection of short stories, Labyrinths, almost a year ago. It was for a 400 level class and immediately upon reading the first story, I fell in love with his writing style. It is almost impossible for me to explain it, and if you haven't read anything by Borges, I know you wouldn't understand even if I tried. What the heck. I can try.

Borges writes so thoroughly that I feel as if he knew that one day I would be reading his words. It's like he's speaking directly to his audience, without speaking directly to them. This isn't working.

"I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library." - Jorge Luis Borges, "Poema de los Dones"

That is Borges. It's not the best that I could show, but it's just so hard to choose that I had to just pick at random. Anyway, happy Friday! Until next time...read some Borges!

Friday Fives: Banned Books

1. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
(Actually, the entire series. But I'm just listing it once.) I LOVE these books. Absolutely, one hundred percent, cannot live without them in my life. I know y'all probably hear this all the time from other fans, but my life would not have been the same without Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger to keep me company, along with all of the other memorable characters within the wizarding world.

2. The Hunger Games
Fabulously frightening. The first time I read it, I found myself forgetting to breath in places along the story because it just felt so real.







3. Brave New World
What's not to love? I can see how this book could freak people out, but it doesn't give them the right to "ban" it. Heck, it freaked me out, but I didn't stop reading it. You have to be willing to see everything in order to make your own decisions; other people can't make those for you.















4. The Call of the Wild
This book, and other London stories, instilled in me a fierce love of nature and the elements. The natural world is unforgiving and primitive, but capable of great beauty and enlightenment. London captures those qualities perfectly, and it amazes me that someone could object to such wonderful prose and exploration of humanity.




5. The Lord of the Rings
I often talk about how much I love LOTR, and I do, I really do, but I think that the thing I love the most is J.R.R. Tolkien's attention to detail and language. His other books and poems (I'm currently trying to digest The Silmarillion) show just how much he cared about getting things right, no matter how many words he had to use to do it. Some people find his works to be tedious, but I derive a sense of immense pleasure from reading his densely explained works.