One Piece volumes 31-45

One Piece Volumes 31-45 by Eiichiro Oda, 3209 pages 15 books


Previously I had only focused on blogging about this series every ten books. But I realized that this tended to be mid story arc and really complicated the blog posts. So I am trying something new and blogging about one complete story arc called Water Seven.

Water Seven is an island famous for it shipwrights. It is here that the best ships get built, which is fortunate as the Going Merry is nearing the end of its usability. Luffy and his crew also realize that then need to find a competent carpenter to sail with them.

The Water Seven story arc reveals a lot of the back story behind Robin Nico and we get to see who Luffy's dad and grandpa are. In this arc we also see both crew members leaving and crew member(s) added. There is of course lots of fighting and action that is a must for all of these books.

I will have to be vague here to not give away any spoilers, so this might not entirely make sense. The one thing I am not sure I like, though it depends on how it is going to be used, is the featuring of new powers in the group.  These powers seem like evolutions of their previous skills. The reason I don't like this is because previously the members to the crew got by on teamwork and their perseverance. This ability to evolve into a stronger fighter seems like a cop out to allow more one on one fights and to permit stronger bad guys. I am not saying however that it is completely unfounded. The crew have been fighting since they began their journey and it does make sense that they should develop new skills for the new tougher people they are going to meet on the Grand Line, but it makes them lose some of that innocence or loveablity the crew has.

Either way I will keep reading to see what happens, the next arc is called Thriller Bark and I think I remember something about them heading for the underwater paradise of Fish-Man island...

A Clash of Kings

A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin, 761 pages

This is book two in A Song of Ice and Fire (sequel to A Game of Thrones). It's really hard to talk about what happens in this series, since so many people die and I don't want to spoil anything, but we'll suffice it to say that the plot is much more complicated than it was in the first book, with several characters making claims for the crown, almost all of them with some degree of legitimacy, whether it comes in the form of line of succession or love of the people. There are LOTS of battles going on here, as each king and his followers jostle for position. Martin doesn't hold back from his descriptions of battles, which are bloody, brutal, and amazingly detailed; one in particular hit me as something that I really want to see portrayed in the HBO series (which I haven't yet watched, being the purist, book-before-movie dork that I am).

The characters that were introduced in the first book are scattered throughout the Seven Kingdoms and beyond, and Martin has introduced a handful of new characters too. While the plot is confusing at times (and I've heard it gets only more confusing as the series continues), the characters are what I love. As a reader, I honestly have no idea what each one will do, though they're remarkably well-realized and easily distinguishable. I particularly like the sarcastic, humorous asides that take place throughout the book; they may seem out of place in a description like the one I've laid out here, but Martin places them well. Looking forward to book three.

Gemini

Gemini by Carol Cassella
341 Pages

Carol Cassella is known for her medical novels and Gemini again deals with medicine as the protagonist Charlotte Reese is taking care of a Jane Doe who is in a coma.  The book alternates between this story and the story of Raney and her relationship with Bo, a childhood friendship.  Eventually (and not unexpectedly) the two stories merge into one. 

In my opinion the book wasn't as good as Cassella's two previous works but still presented an enjoyable read.

The Way of Kings

The Way Of Kings by Brandon Sanderson              1007 pages

This is the first book of The Stormlight Archive.  I found this book a little bit confusing at times.  We follow several different characters through their stories although ultimately, they are all part of the overall story.  There is a huge war being waged between a group of ten kingdoms, all led ultimately by one king, but none of the armies, led by highprinces, are working together.  They are all fighting one enemy, the Parshendi.  Through one storyline, we follow Dalinar, leader of one of the armies, who is plagued by visions that he believes are trying to lead him to unite the kingdoms but also worries that he is simply going mad.  Another storyline follows Shallan, who is trying to restore her families’ status.  Her plan is to have Jasnah, the current king’s sister, take her as a student and thus, get the opportunity to steal something from her that Shallan believes will help her family.  Yet another storyline, and the one that takes up most of the book, follows Kaladin, currently a slave in one of the armies.  We see both his current story and his backstory, from the time he was a child to the explanation of how he became a slave.  Actually, I really only cared about Kaladin as a character, and his story.  I didn’t really have any interest in the rest of the book, except as how it related to Kaladin’s story since some of it explained the broader story going on around him.  Overall, I thought this was pretty good, but I have enjoyed other books by Sanderson more, including the Mistborn series, which is similar in genre.  However, I’m sure that most fans of epic fantasy will probably enjoy this book.

Branded By The Pink Triangle

Branded By The Pink Triangle  by Ken Setterington        
  155 pages

This is an account of the gay men who were persecuted and sent to concentration camps under the Nazi regime.  Written for children, the book tones down some of the suffering but seems to be a pretty accurate portrayal of some of the men’s lives.  The books gives a lot of general facts but also chronicles what happened to six different men, specifically.  Because the suffering of this group of people was largely ignored by the general community until recently, many people who survived didn’t feel comfortable coming forward after the war.  By the time the general public began acknowledging the tragedy in the homosexual community, many survivors had died from other causes, so many people’s stories were lost.  Overall, this was a good book that gave a lot of information.  Teen and preteen readers who want to know more about World War II and this aspect of the concentration camps will want to read this book.

Black Helicopters

Black Helicopters by Blythe Woolston     166 pages

This was an odd book and I’m not really sure that I liked it.  The story seems to be about Valley, whose family is paranoid about government conspiracies, specifically about black helicopters, which keep appearing, although the government does not acknowledge them.  The helicopters are responsible for killing Valley’s mother and she, her father, and her brother, are determined to prove their existence and blow up some people in the process.  Valley’s father dies and Valley and her brother, Bo, leave to seek safety elsewhere, but are still part of the movement to expose the truth.  The book skips back and forth between what’s happening right now and the story from Valley’s mother’s death through everything else leading up to now.  I really wanted more explanation about everything.  I’m sure that the starkness of the details was supposed to mimic Valley’s feelings or something along those lines, but I really didn’t enjoy it much and found it kind of confusing.  I probably wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, although teen fans of survivalist or conspiracy theory novels may like it.