Michael Phillips

I just finished a spectacular little book of poetry and prose, Apocrypha by Catherynne M. Valente.

Her writing is so disturbingly beautiful, telling of the sorrows of fairy tale witches, struggles between wicked stepmother and daughter, tragic heroes and even the birth of language itself. Apocrypha is just another example of Valente’s brilliant ability to paint gorgeously surreal pictures with the written word.

Well, I finally did it, I finally completely finished Dune. I successfully hated it from beginning to end. Honestly, my problem isn’t with the story per se, but the prose just killed me, the use of “Presently, he said,” or “He swallowed with a dry throat,” over and over again. It’s just such a flatly written book.

Maybe at 15, a virgin to sci-fi and life in-general I’d have found it brilliant, but at 28 (as of 12/31/08), it just didn’t do anything for me.

An excellent fantasy, dark, funny and beautiful.

The Labyrinth is very difficult to describe in a little review. It’s a dark and twisted fairy-tale. It’s a bizarre love story of sorts. It’s strange and beautiful. Ultimately, it’s a surreal journey into madness and a fascinating look into the futility of human existence. Valente’s prose are absolutely gorgeous, she perfectly captures the essence of insanity as her heroine walks endlessly through The Labyrinth, not knowing if escape is possible and desperately afraid to hope for such.

It’s a brilliant novel, one of the best I’ve read in awhile.

A spectacular novel written in the language of nightmares.

Unlike Lucas' debacles, Wicked is an excellent "origins" tale.