"It’s a good idea to avoid people who take themselves too seriously."

I finally finished my October pick! A week ago or so, but still. 


The Gates: Prereading

Once I finally got into this book, I really enjoyed it. I felt like the characters were pretty well developed, and I liked how Samuel Johnson was the protagonist of the book. I think it made the book more entertaining to have a child trying to stop the "Great Malevolence" from opening the Gates of Hell and coming to Earth than having an adult do it.

I did think that the novel started out very slowly. The long footnotes, although entertaining, were distracting from the story and every time I saw one that took up half a page, I became discouraged and would put the book down after a couple of minutes. The set up was a little much, and too many people thought Samuel was crazy at first. Although that's probably the most realistic situation, I don't think it needed to be half the book.

I liked Nurd, and I thought his character was well developed. I liked that he didn't want to be an evil demon, and that he and Samuel became friends. I also thought it was a nice bit of revenge for Nurd to stop the Great Malevolence from coming through, and for him to use Samuel's dad's car to do so. 

Honestly though, it took me too long to read this for me to remember much else. I'll give this one a 3/5 for being slow at the beginning, but for improving in the second half. There is a sequel (or two...) but I don't think I'll be reading them any time soon. Sorry, Samuel Johnson.

--Ashley

October Pick: The Gates

And now, time for my October pick!

Title: The Gates
Author: John Connolly
Year Published: 2009


Synopsis: A strange novel for strange young people. Young Samuel Johnson and his dachshund Boswell are trying to show initiative by trick-or-treating a full three days before Halloween. Which is how they come to witness strange goings-on at 666 Crowley Avenue. The Abernathys don't mean any harm by their flirtation with Satanism. But it just happens to coincide with a malfunction in the Large Hadron Collider that creates a gap in the universe. A gap in which there is a pair of enormous gates. The gates to Hell. And there are some pretty terrifying beings just itching to get out ...Can Samuel persuade anyone to take this seriously? Can he harness the power of science to save the world as we know it?


Why?: I was walking through Barnes & Noble looking for a book to read, and I came across this one. It sounded interesting, and it is also focused around Halloween. Since it's October, I think a Halloween book is very fitting!


Expectations: I expect this book to be very... strange. I don't think anything will make much sense (the Large Hadron Collider is a part of it, after all). I do expect to be very entertained though, as I think Connolly will incorporate random things into a humorous story that actually makes sense. I've never actually read anything by Connolly though, so I could be sadly mistaken.


Judging a book by its cover: The cover has two gates that kind of look like the devil, as well as a boy and his dog. I assume the boy is Samuel Johnson, and I think that he will find the gates of Hell. Also, since the gates are surrounded by a town, I assume the gates of Hell open up in the middle of Samuel's neighborhood.




--Ashley