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As a guy recently out of college having studied astrophysics and computers, I can read, say, Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter, and enjoy them for the storytelling, and the imagery. But there's always that certain reserve, that that is not *my* world, and I would not want it to be. Logic and "magic", in that sense, cannot coexist, as they are by definition mutually exclusive. And as I embrace Logic, I at the same time distance myself from any story that claims a higher power than that, so that the "why" of the story's doings must be shrugged off.
How refreshing, then, to have discovered So You Want To Be a Wizard this past Tuesday, (and how ironic as well; while browsing in a used bookstore (used-book store, I should probably say) and reaching down to pick up a different book I was looking for, I accidentally picked up this one, was amused by the title, read the first few pages, and laughed to myself that I seemed to be in a recursive novel...)
Five days and four books later, I marvel that some of the most offhand and abstract thoughts I've had over the past few months are here on paper just as I had reasoned at them: First, that only a few months ago, I had jokingly mused to myself that the meaning of life is to fight the constant struggle against entropy, and second, to have later decided that this is inaccurate, since a world without entropy might as well already be at heat death; just as light is meaningless without darknees, or hot without cold, each of these pairs is still meaningless and lacks any "moral" significance without entropy to direct a gradient. To have entertained these thought so recently, and then stumble across both of them being expressed so vividly....
Well, for the first time in all my reading, these books describe a fantasy universe that I could be happy in; that I could willingly participate in without feeling that I was discarding my morality of logic and purpose. It seems fitting that just as Entropy provides the gradient between hot and cold, so should it provide the gradient between the personifications of good and evil.
And of course the terrific guest stars... from the first descriptions of Ed until his first line, my mind began to race with wondering what sort of personality would be conveyed by his speech, and the result was both completely unexpected and yet still perfectly fitting, so that I was convinced that a Master Shark would, of course, speak just like this. The guffaw-worthy non-sequiturs of Fred. And I must add that I would have considered it impossible for a successful story about two teenagers to benefit by the addition of a kid-sister character, but in this I have been proven wrong most mightily, and I think to myself again that it is, in a way, too bad that that world isn't real after all; going by the birthdate she mentioned, she'd be my age, and... :-)
How refreshing, then, to have discovered So You Want To Be a Wizard this past Tuesday, (and how ironic as well; while browsing in a used bookstore (used-book store, I should probably say) and reaching down to pick up a different book I was looking for, I accidentally picked up this one, was amused by the title, read the first few pages, and laughed to myself that I seemed to be in a recursive novel...)
Five days and four books later, I marvel that some of the most offhand and abstract thoughts I've had over the past few months are here on paper just as I had reasoned at them: First, that only a few months ago, I had jokingly mused to myself that the meaning of life is to fight the constant struggle against entropy, and second, to have later decided that this is inaccurate, since a world without entropy might as well already be at heat death; just as light is meaningless without darknees, or hot without cold, each of these pairs is still meaningless and lacks any "moral" significance without entropy to direct a gradient. To have entertained these thought so recently, and then stumble across both of them being expressed so vividly....
Well, for the first time in all my reading, these books describe a fantasy universe that I could be happy in; that I could willingly participate in without feeling that I was discarding my morality of logic and purpose. It seems fitting that just as Entropy provides the gradient between hot and cold, so should it provide the gradient between the personifications of good and evil.
And of course the terrific guest stars... from the first descriptions of Ed until his first line, my mind began to race with wondering what sort of personality would be conveyed by his speech, and the result was both completely unexpected and yet still perfectly fitting, so that I was convinced that a Master Shark would, of course, speak just like this. The guffaw-worthy non-sequiturs of Fred. And I must add that I would have considered it impossible for a successful story about two teenagers to benefit by the addition of a kid-sister character, but in this I have been proven wrong most mightily, and I think to myself again that it is, in a way, too bad that that world isn't real after all; going by the birthdate she mentioned, she'd be my age, and... :-)
) At any rate, what can I say? I am truly impressed.
You stole Rysade's Avie... oooooh..... (Sorry. that was my very veyr first reaction, and I like to put down my thoughts in order.)
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