So, I finished reading the Secret of Ka by Christopher Pike. I’m both glad and mildly annoyed by that. Glad, because it got immensely better with time and annoyed because there are so many things that were left unanswered. It took until the the last third of the book, but it got very interesting very fast. If you have the patience for it, I recommend the read. However, there are a lot of loose ends and there is no sequel and one is not planned to my knowledge. This book begs for a sequel, is entirely set up for one, but it never materialized. The book was published 5 years ago, so chances aren’t amazing that Pike will ever get a sequel going either. It got moderately good reviews, and I can see why with the slow and lengthy start. I liked it, but I can’t decide if I loved it.
It was interesting, but it was not very realistic. Not the part where it’s full of Djinn and magic in general, but I’m not really swayed by the young blonde American girl falling for the exotic Turkish boy and obviously being so in love with him after a couple of days to be willing to die for him, especially when it’s his own choices that got him into a situation where that was even necessary. The main male character becomes entirely unlikeable through the book, though circumstances aren’t entirely his fault. The main female is very quick to jump to conclusions and is very impulsive.
The Djinn in the story are pretty nasty, basically getting to take over your soul if you go through with all 3 wishes. How it works, according to the story, is that your first wish is free, you must pay for the second wish in some way and the third wish turns you into the eternal slave of the djinn. Some of them even go so far as to fatally wound you in order to force you to use up your free wish to save your life.
For a bit of non-Wikipedia info on the Djinn, you can check out this link: http://www.britannica.com/topic/jinni
I’ve started reading Anne of Avonlea by Lucy Maud Montgomery. I first read Anne of Green Gables only a couple of months ago. I picked up a copy when I was in Prince Edward Island on my honeymoon. I had never read it before and was going to the place it was set, a Canadian classic that was completely unknown to me. Blasphemy, I know. I’m really not one for classics, I’ve tried with a few, but I tend to just not enjoy them. Anne of Green Gables is a wonderful exception. I loved it and found the character of Anne to be wonderfully charming. I devoured the book on the last couple days of my trip and on the plane ride home. If you haven’t read it yet, I recommend checking it out.
We didn’t actually go to any of the sites. The Village of Avonlea was shut down for the season and Green Gables was down to off-season hours, which consisted of not being open on the days that we were there. Silly me I assumed September, with all its beautiful fall colours, would still qualify as tourist season. Oh well, something to see next time I go.
So, for any that don’t know, Anne of Green Gables is about an orphan girl from Nova Scotia that is adopted by a brother and sister who live in the village of Avonlea on Prince Edward Island. Anne of Avonlea is the sequel, in which Anne is 16 and will be heading off to school, as well as working as a school teacher in the village for part of the book. I’m not far in yet, but I anticipate enjoying it if it’s as good as the first.