Wolf of the Plains by Conn Iggulden

"A multitude of rulers is not a good thing,
Let there be one ruler, one king"

“Homer; The Iliad”

That is indeed a very powerful statement from The Iliad; taking cues from this statement is a book written about enigmatic founder and ruler of the largest contiguous empire in the history of mankind; none other than Genghis Khan himself.

Despite all the grandiose war campaigns and conquests made throughout his life, it surprises me to see that even the Great Khan himself came from a harsh and strained beginning. A boy casted out from life of brotherhood together with his family after his father's unfortunate end. Death tinged with complot by ruler of another ancient empire to keep the tribes separate and at war with each other.

Temujin (as The Khan was known before he took the title of the Khan) was forced to live in exile together with his abandoned family and had to eke his living based on his wits and survival instincts alone.

He not only managed to survive but also emboldened his move and secure alliances with the loose tribes across the wilderness as he arranged his final check piece and head towards his arch nemesis; The Empire of China.

Though this book is about Temujin/Genghis Khan during his younger days, this book is well written as it encompassed life and perspectives of people around him as well.

The next book in this Genghis series is called "Lords of The Bow".

Personal rating: 7 out of 10

Cons:
1) None that I can think of.

Pros:
1) True-like description of Temujin/Genghis Khan and the people around him.
2) Learnt that it takes a whole lot of sacrifices to achieve such greatness as Genghis.
3) Another lesson in life. War is never a great thing. Both the winner and the vanquished suffer the same amount of torture in their claim to victory.

Memnon by Scott Oden

War, war and more wars... it is not surprising that we live in an environment of constant warfare from ancient time onwards. In this book simply entitled "MEMNON", we're introduced to yet another valiant hero whose deeds and bravado have unfortunately been eclipsed by the mercurial conqueror called Alexander the Great.

In fact, little is known of this Memnon fellow... that is until a mysterious old lady and his loyal Egyptian servant (Harmouthes) engaged a scribe (Ariston) to pen down the life story of this great man.

In this book, we're introduced to the life and tribulations of Memnon from his early years to his encounter with Alexander the Great. The storyline is written from both sides of the coin. That is, from the narrator and also the hero's point of view. This is indeed a thick book, thus, details are not unnecessarily truncated to make way for brevity of facts. Heroes are made and unmade in the course of history and I can't help but to pity the fate that fell on such a great man... man who deserve the honour amongst the great ancient fallen heroes.

War is indeed brutal and Scott really made it a point to describe the harsh reality of ancient warfare especially in man-to-man combat that made me cringe just by imagining the sort of wound inflicted on both the winner and the vanquished.

This is indeed a book not for the weak hearted. However, there are of course some element of love and feelings infused on the layers upon layers of mortal humans. Inescapable facets of life as usual.

Thus, I would recommend this book to the people who intend to understand more about ancient warfare and how it affects the life’s of those within and around it. As it is obvious that war does not affect only the losing party but also the winner in the tugs-of-war of life.

Personal rating: 7 out of 10

Cons:
1) Can be a bit draggy at times especially on the midpart of the novel

Pros:
1) Descriptions of war can be brutal and lifelike.
2) We're introduced to yet another hero of the ancient times; with a lot of details to boot.
3) Lessons in life. War is never a great thing. Both the winner and the vanquished suffer the same amount of torture in their claim to victory.

The Tower by Valerio Massimo Manfredi

In this novel, we're brought face to face with the root of all EVVVVIIILLL... nyek nyek nyek... sorry, got carried away trying to sound "evil-lish" :-P let's restart... ahemm..

In this novel, we're brought face-to-face with the root of all EVIL. The EVIL which shall not be named (reminds me of Harry Potter) and which has rooted ITSELF on the face of planet Earth since the beginning of time. The kind of EVIL which can kill with just the shrill sound of its voice and with an armada of headless army called Blemmyae to protect its final bastion.

Like any other EVIL-LISH novel, there will be a band of homo sapiens trying to decipher the signs and to neutralise this reign of terror and there will also be another band trying to tap into the limitless potential of Evil to his/her own agenda (in this case, this Evil entity moves around quite a lot).

The storyline started more than 2000years ago when a legion of Romans were sent to the extreme end of the African desert in attempt to find the fabled "last Paradise on Earth" when they accidentally stumbled upon THE TOWER of EVIL. The whole legion were wiped out except one haruspex saved by the sistrum.

Fast forwarded few millennia and we have our motley crew of heroes trying to destroy The Tower, gathering friends/foes, getting chased by bad guys, found treasures, fell in love and got laid BUT did they destroyed The Tower and its legion of doom? You'll have to read to find out :-)

Anyway, in my opinion, this is definitely NOT one of the star books written by Valerio (FYI, he is the author of Alexander series adapted into silver screen starred by bad boy Colin Farrell). In fact, I find that the plot is bland without any eye-lifting or page turning actions. It feels as if Valerio wrote this book as a precursor to a film script.

The starting part; the flow of the storyline; the heroes and the baddies aka actors & actresses; the ending part are written in such a way that you can feel like you're watching a movie or soon to be adapted into a movie. This, in my opinion doesn’t augur well for a book written by such an accomplished writer.

Read at your own peril for Blemmyae is lurking everywhere... nyek nyek nyek...

Personal rating: 5 out of 10

Cons:
1) The plots are weak and too "script-ish"
2) No page turning actions or attention grabbing moments (except for getting laid part :-P)
3) Definitely not one of best books by Valerio

Pros:
1) Learnt few more items on Roman/Etruscan history

Snuff by Chuck Palahniuk

In this novel by Chuck Palahniuk entitled "SNUFF" (meaning either as powder tobacco or extinguish), we're introduced lock, stock and barrel into the world wide web of porn. At first glance, this thin looking book sounded sinisterly like a porn book (what else :-P) with promise of explicit remarks and equally explicit description of human couplings. In short, sex book ala Penthouse, Hustler or Playboy. But the truth is far from assumption mentioned above.

It’s about 600 gang-bangers wanna-be congregating in an area for a grand bang-bang party and/or grand send-off for one of the most famous porn star; Cassie Wright (now aging and past the peak of her career). She wanted this to be the last and the most memorable ever. Surpassing even the fellow gang-bang record holder Annabel Chong... however, things are not as easy as it seems because there's 1 person out of these crowd of hot rods who wanted to kill her. Readers will have to get ready to play 4 different roles in this book told from the perspectives of Mr. 72, Mr. 137, Mr. 600 and Sheila; and it is indeed a fun-filled read with equally surprising ending.

This book has a lot of statements and descriptions noted ubiquitously as "TRUE FACT" which had me scratching my head and had to Google to verify its validity. The following are some of the examples:

1) Hugh Hefner bought mausoleum niche next to Marilyn Monroe because he wanted to spend eternity lying next to the most beautiful women who had ever lived.
2) Eric Flemming died on set of High Jungle when his canoe overturned in Amazon River and piranhas finished the job while camera is rolling.

Not forgetting porn term like "pop shot" as another method of birth control; which means "the male performer achieves orgasm inside the female performer without wearing a condom. After he withdraws, the female performer contracts her pelvic floor with enough force to forcefully expel the ejaculate from her vaginal orifice".

To wrap it all up, this is a highly entertaining book with loads of info and pleasure infused into these 197 pages. However, do not expect this book to be adapted into silver screen (unless they wanted to adapt it into indie film such as “BOOGIE NIGHTS”) or Man’s Booker prize material.

Personal rating: 8 out of 10

Cons:
1) None that I can think of.

Pros:
1) A lot of little known trivia facts; which I assume to be true.
2) Highly entertaining read with rare insight into the world of porn; including trials and tribulations faced by the porn actors and actresses.

Demon Of The Air by Simon Levack

I bought this book after I watched Mel Gibson's movie entitled Apocalypto. As far as I know, Aztec or Latin American civilisations are rarely taken into context when it comes to fiction writing. In fact, so rare that I bought this book just out of curiosity as:

1) It is based on Aztec civilisation
2) I'm piqued to find out more about the Aztecs
3) This book won the Debut Dagger Award (FYI, it's a crime novel writing award)

Details of the Aztecs are worth mentioning here. I managed to find out quite a lot of new stuff but the investigation part is quite a sore.
This novel is supposedly about Aztec civilisation with some Sherlock Holmes investigation infused into it.

Our hero in this novel is called Yaotl (don't ask me how to pronounce the name :-P). Yaotl was escorting one sacrificial victim to his doom when his victim mumbled prophecy and leaped to his death before being actually sacrificed on the altar of God.

Yaotl was then called by Emperor Montezuma to start investigating into those prophesy and uncover the meaning to his dream of mysterious strangers appearing in the East. Naturally, things are not as simple as what it seems. Our hero is pitted with all kinds of challenges along the way.

Perhaps it's just me because I find it hard to link criminal investigation with Aztec civilisation at the same time. It’s like 2 different dishes being thrown into one pot. As such, I don't intend to buy the sequel entitled "Shadow of the Lords"

Personal rating: 5 out of 10

Cons:
1) I can't digest the investigation mixed with Aztec part. Does not appeal to me

Pros:
1) Good description of the Aztec's way of life (hence the 5 points given for this novel)

Brethren by Robyn Young

Truth to be told, I was a bit skeptical when I picked this book up amongst the rack displaying all other established authors. Even the opening acknowledgement from the author is quite humbling in the sense that she thanked the reader before anyone else.

So, I decided to flip to the first few pages and immediately I was hooked to it. It was an abrupt but firm decision. I knew I had to have this book home with me ASAP.

As shown in the cover, this book is about the Knights of the Templar in the eve of the Last Crusade in which Western powers have secured their respective bastions in the Holy Land.

The novel is written from 2 fronts. Will Campbell from the Templar and Amir Baybars from Mamluk's side. Both written on equal footings and also on their trials and tribulations to achieve their goals.

Will trying to become a Templar Knight while trying to secure the code of Anima Templi which will bring down the Templar institution if fell to wrong hands.

On Baybars' side, he had to overpower the inept administration and also bring together his people to drive the European invaders out from the Holy Land.

This is supposed to be a trilogy but each novel can stand quite well on its own without much linkage to the former or latter novels.

Next novel is entitled "Crusade" followed by "Requiem".

Personal rating: 8 out of 10 (really well written for a new author)

Cons:

1) None that I could think of.

Pros:

1) Really good descriptions of the fragile situations during the Holy War

2) Linkage between the two opposing parties and also their in-fighting are strong and story is very well developed.

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Today (dated 11 Aug 2009) at exactly 2115hrs, i booked the latest and most anticipated book launch from Random House at MPH Gurney. The book i ordered will be UK hardcover version and i can claim the book from 14 Sept 2009 onwards.

The book I'm talking about is none other than THE LOST SYMBOL by DAN BROWN... i know i haven't commented anything about Dan Brown but frankly speaking, i would put the reviews on-hold for the time being because 2 of his books have been adapted into silver screen (not exact adaptation though :-P) and there is no point commenting about something which many of us have seen countless times.

But i would try to find time to remove the sealed plastic bags (i sealed my books after i read them), scan the cover and review on the little known books by Dan Brown entitled:

1) Digital Fortress

2) Deception Point

Anyway, those are all side liners. The main things are:

1) I will get The Lost Symbol on time

2) I will read it day and night; I'll read it during break time at work; heck, I'll even read it in toilet.. hahaha... and i will review it on the dot.

Projected timeline between picking up the book and final book review would be 3days tops cos i still have to wake up in the morning to go to work :-)

A retro song pops into my head at 0145hrs (12 Aug 2009) as i penned down this article...

**I'm so excited.. i just can't hide it... i know i know i know.. but i think i like it...**

P/S: By the way, i bought the beige coloured cover as i like the key instead of the wax emblem

Next by Michael Crichton

Can man play God? Can we create beings? The outline of this novel touches on a very big perspective from moral standings up until scientific grounds.

That said; it is not an easy book to write and to read as it involves plots and counter plots along the way. Scientific jargon are minimised but not eliminated. Readers are plunged headlong into the twist and turns of genetic mishmash and law overtures akin to roller coaster ride.

As mentioned earlier, scope of this novel has far reaching consequences. It had us thinking about the need to patent genomes and genetic structures allegedly "discovered" by scientists.

It had us thinking on the moral superiority to create and destroy live scientific experiments bigger than lab rats. It had us thinking of the overall conscience of our role as human being in this very planet.

In fact, the gist of this book is to let us think about future consequences if we were to turn a blind eye on controversial experiments, on patenting of genes, on establishment of law and red tapes which will promote or hinder our scientific knowledge if improperly used and so on.

This is a readable and really fast paced book but more interesting read would be the prologue and post-notes. It had me go online few times to conduct searches on my own regarding validity of certain stories.

Personal rating: 7 out of 10 (fast paced book written by an established writer)

Cons:

1) Unavoidable jargon spattered along the novel (which is fine actually)

2) Scope of the novel is big and too general.

Pros:

1) Book which will get you thinking long after you've finished it

2) Informative post articles

Kiss the Girls by James Patterson

For a start, this book was published in 1995 and adapted into silver screen by 1997. I was really young during that time; hence I didn't get to read the book when it was launched :-P

My friend passed me this book which she received from someone else; hence the bad condition of the book :-

I've never seen the movie but I hope the adaptation would be as close as possible to the book because truth to be told, James Patterson did a very good job in criminal profiling. Descriptions of the criminals and their (notice the usage of plural term here) modus operandi are detailed and exhaustive from victim selection up till the hideout descriptions.

In this book, we're brought face-to-face with 2 competing psychopaths trying to establish their gruesome reputation with terrible after-effects. As reader, we're transformed into an unwilling accomplice as descriptions of crimes are told from the murderer's point of view; which is a rather refreshing turn for criminal novels.

As veteran book writer, James smartly spaced all the actions with sufficient breather in between. I can't seem to put the book down unless I've finished one whole chapter irrespective of the time and location; which explains the outright appeal of the book.

Ending part is too fast for my liking and the closure is equally abrupt. However, I can't pinpoint any flaw on such abrupt closure as long winded ones will spoil the overall flow of the storyline.

Personal rating: 7 out of 10 (veteran writer; no other comments necessary :-))

Cons:
1) Closure of the novel is too fast and abrupt for my liking

Pros:
1) Sufficient breather in between all the actions
2) Criminal profiling and very intense point-of-view descriptions on victim selection