Inheritance. By Christopher Paolini

I’ve heard the expression that sometimes rereading a favorite book can be like visiting an old friend.  It can be comforting and relaxing.  This book is all those things for me, even though it is the first time I have read it.  I can’t explain it, but within the first couple of pages I was completely vested into this story and every page after that it had me asking for more.  It has been several years since I read the third book so it wasn't like I had a built up anticipation.  Inheritance is the fourth and final book in the Inheritance cycle written by Christopher Paolini.  Christopher was fifteen when he wrote the first draft of Eragon. (The first book)  Though not as complex as a song of fire and ice, this is a more traditional fantasy story.  The cycle is one part Harry Potter, one part Lord of the rings, and one part Star Wars.  As far as large fantasy stories go, this is a fairly easy read. This isn't just a story about over coming evil or the main bad guy, but it is also a coming of age story.  Its no surprise as the author grew up so does the main character Eragon.  As corny as it sounds, I'll miss these characters.  I'll miss the descriptions of the dragons and the close relationship between Eragon and Saphira as they discover the world together.  Though some of the major story arch's are predictable, the author tells them still in an entertaining manor and has some creative twists throughout.  All in all the author has created an interesting world without recreating Middle-Earth.  He created memorable creature and characters.  Characters that you could love, hate , and even sympathize with.  But each character wasn't just good or bad, there was a lot of gray.  He had a character that is obviously bad, make some compelling arguments.  I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoy's the fantasy genera and is looking for something a little less heavy..

The Avengers

Last night, Crystal and I had a much needed date night.  We had some great sushi at Little Tree in Royal Oak and then went and saw The Avengers.  This movie has been four years and five movies in the making.  It started with the movie Iron Man, followed by The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor, and Captain America.  The Avengers is the story of all four of those characters coming together to help protect the earth from Thor’s half-brother Loki and an invading and enslaving army of space monsters.  This movie is the definition of what summer blockbuster movie is supposed to be. It has big names, big explosions, over the top special effects, big fights, superheroes and self-deprecating humor. This will not win any awards for story, but then again what comic book movie will.  It is the epitome of escapist entertainment.  I was very entertained.  It is the type of movie you have to experience in the movie theater.  Though the 3D was pretty cool, I don’t know if it is a must see like Avatar was.  After several attempts at making a Hulk movie which were OK at best, the Avengers finally gives the Hulk his just do.  He was one of my favorite characters in the movie.  The humor in the movie was really good as well. I was surprised how funny it was. There are SO many quick one liners in the movie I’ll have the watch the movie a couple more times just to get them all.  All in all this was a great summer movie to just go have fun at.

Green Lantern: Secret Origin. By Geoff Johns

     Growing up, I never got into comic books.  I thought I liked the idea and some of the characters looked cool, but I never actually read a comic book.  I don’t know why, it might have been the way I thought my parents would react or I just didn’t know where to start. (my parents were very particular about what I watched and what I read growing up.)  But whatever the reason, I just never did.  I have always liked the comic based moves, whether they were batman, x-men, iron man and the rest of the latest Marvel comic movies.  But about a year ago the Green Lantern movie was released.  I kind of laughed at it thinking it looked cheezy and for as long as I had heard the green lantern character had been around, main stream culture didn’t now know who he was or what he was about, me included.  On a work trip last summer to pass some time, a coworker of mine and myself went to go see the movie.  To my surprise, I had a really good time.  I was shocked that I actually liked the movie and the character.  Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a great movie by any stretch of the imagination. But it was really fun and some of the superhero concepts were really fun and unique.

     Over the past year I found myself thinking more about this character and finally decided that I would try and pick up a modern retelling of the Green Lanterns origin story.  After some research I decide that I needed to start with Geoff Johns take on the Green Lantern with the Secret Origin compilation.  After I ordered the book from Amazon, I found out that Geoff Johns is originally from Detroit and went to Michigan State University. (I won’t hold that against him, GO BLUE!)  That was an extra bonus for me.  I went into reading this with some skepticism.  It is a comic after all and we are told they are for kids only.  As I started to read the story and looked at the art work, I was taken back and just how much of a story can be told without pages and pages of written word.  A small amount of dialog and two or three frames of art work could convey the same amount of information as several written pages.  I was shocked.  I forced myself to read and observe slowly so I could take in what both the writer and artist were trying to convey.  After I was finished, I wanted more.  I was really surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did.  Like most movies that are based on some type of source material, this was not the movie story line.  The character of Hal Jordan has many more internal struggles then the movie portrayed.  There are many more things going on in the origin story then the movie told.  If you are looking to get into comics, and don’t want to start with the standard Spiderman, Superman, Batman characters give Green Lantern a try, you just might enjoy it.