Monday, November 1, 2010

Guguguguguguguo

Hi blogger, it's been a hectic weekend, which is why I haven't been posting recently :/

Our school's bookstore is huge and reminds me of a store you might see in Diagon Alley, it's all elegant wood, grand staircase and books stacked on top of each other for pillars. Though I imagine there isn't a comic book section in Dervish and Banges, we do have one since we're an art school with a comic book major.

On a recent jaunt to the bookstore I picked up History of the West Wing by Sun Jiayu and Guo Guo, I just flipped through it before immediately deciding to grab it. It was just too pretty, and I find historical China to be fascinating, so this book was looking to be a winner. I dove into it as soon as I got back to the dorm and finished it about an hour later. I won't really go into much of the plot but you can get a synopsis here.

Wow, the story is just- kind of like a roller coaster you can't get off, it is just too quick. It's hard to tell where one clear thought ends and another begins because they jump around so much that I had a headache keeping up. The characters are also flat, boring and lack any chemistry on the page.

If I have any cheers for History of the West Wing it's that it is absolutely gorgeous, but in my opinion pretty art can't make up for a badly told story. The whole thing is in color and includes some extra illustrations at the end, but I'd rather they used those extra pages to help the story rather than LOOK AT THESE PRETTY CHARACTERS

Overall, Art gets and A+ and Story gets a thumbs down. I'd recommend flipping through this at your local Borders but I kind of wish I had my $13 back.

7 comments:

  1. Don't you hate that when you buy a book and it's a disappointment?

    I can name so many book series that made me cry a river of tears. Lies of Locke Lamora, Song of Fire and Ice, The Accidental Sorcerer. All are such disappointing series ;_;

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  2. aw darn i hate when that happens. Sometimes i'm just a loser and read the whole thing at the bookstore before deciding to buy it so this doesn't happen ;;;

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  3. I don't even buy books (library girl!) and I always hate it when I pick up a dud. Sometimes the dud only reveals its dudness 50 pages in (i.e. TWEEST) which makes me raaaage.

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  4. Darn, I wish judging books by their cover really worked... but anyway, your school's bookstore sounds great :)

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  5. It is a shame when you pick up a book that sucks. I remember giving into the Dan Brown hype and wow, was I ever disappointed. I usually ask people about certain books before I decide to read them >_>

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  6. DAT DRESS though. Wow.

    Post some scans ?

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  7. Even if it was literary gold, I wouldn't give money to Yen Press after how badly they screwed up Spice and Wolf...

    If you like manga that pulls inspiration from historical settings, you may want to check out Emma: A Victorian Romance or Red River.

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