Thursday, February 16, 2012

Newest Fandom

So anyone who knows me knows that I am a bookworm. I love reading. My favorite genres are fantasy and sci-fi (yes I am one of those people who carries around super-thick geeky fantasy books and reads them at every possible moment, what of it?).

That being said, lots of my friends have the same tastes in books as I do.

Which lead me to my newest series obsession.

My friend Mira is really into this thing called steampunk. It's kinda hard to explain but basically it's like steam-powered victorian era. It's a combination of fantasy and sci-fi and there are a surprisingly large amount of books that can be classified as steampunk.

This book series is one of them.

It's called Leviathan (that's the title of the first book and the title of the series) and OH MY GOSH IT'S SO AMAZING! Here are the book covers

So first off, the plot is awesome. Basically it's the start of World War One. One of the main characters, Alek, is the son of that archduke who's murder was the catalyst for the war (there are some historical facts in the books). The other main character, Deryn, is a girl disguised as a guy so she can join the air force. Both Alek and Deryn find themselves aboard the airship Leviathan, and they have a bunch of adventures and stuff while traveling.

Wow...that sounded cheesy, but I don't know how else to put it...

Second, there are pictures in the book! Basically, in the past, lots of books had pictures - illustrations, really (there is a difference) - and some of the illustrators were even more famous than the authors themselves. Scott Westerfeld, the author of this series, decided to include illustrations in the Leviathan books too (for whatever reason). And they are so pretty! Here are some

 The two above didn't actually appear in any of the books, but they're by the same illustrator. Alek is on the left, with Deryn on the right.

That's a picture that appears in Behemoth, the second book in the series.

So yeah, I'm completely obsessed. Anyone who knows me understands that I'm not super girly. I become girly when reading this book. I actually squealed from delight the entire way through. That's how obsessed I am, that's how happy it makes me. If any of you have time and like a great read, you should try this series. It is fantastic (much better than Hunger Games). I love it so much.

Monday, February 6, 2012

A Depressing Outlook on a New Semester

The beginning of the second week of second term started today. Aside from the fact that the school is disgustingly decorated in massive amounts of pink, red, and white hearts, which, sadly, I helped with, I decided that I should compare last term to this one.

I miss Mrs. Cardona. So much.

I replaced Comp, one of the most awesome classes in the entire school, with math. Math. Talk about a downer. And not only do I no longer have Mrs. Cardona, but my math teacher is actually slightly insane. I mean, from what I can tell, she's nice and a good teacher, but I mean, she's afraid that animals will murder her in her sleep. She told us that on the first day. Like I said, insane.

I also have science now, instead of French. I loved french class too. I loved just instantly switching from speaking English to speaking French the moment I passed through the door. I miss being in class with Meridith and Annie and Lauren and Natasha. I miss M. Tuura. Again, my new teacher is great, but it's not the same....

So yeah, there's my totally depressing outlook for the rest of the school year. I know I'm going into it with a bad mind frame, but I mean I loved every single class last semester, and I loved all of the subjects. Now I have my two least favorite subjects (I don't mind them, but they're not my favorite) and I don't get to see my favorite teachers any more. Wouldn't you be a little down too? Don't say know because I know that that's a lie.

Now, back to pretending like I'm enjoying doing my homework (ha, right).