Friday, January 18, 2008

Top 10 list

Top Ten List
Jim Butcher's White Night

10- Jim Butcher- Author of the Dresden files, he has a creative style with his mixture of jokes and mystical writing in the same sentences! He made Harry Dresden to be a mean but good-hearted detective determined to stop at nothing to help people and solve crimes. I also think he’s background influences his writing about fantasy ideas and stuff.

9- Harry Dresden- The main character of this book, he is a vampire-slaying detective who lives in Chicago. In this story his brother looks like the prime suspect for a series of murders that have occurred and he wants to prove that it wasn’t his brother. Also Harry although a detective has wizard-like magic that helps him solve cases most could not.

8- Chicago- A great setting for a unique story like this. They make Chicago to be a very dark and mysterious place in this book. A crime filled area, which makes this a great setting for this book. This area is filled with vampires that are unknown to most people but Harry can find them and use his magical abilities to discover the whereabouts of the vampires in Chicago.

7- White Court of vampires- A very interesting part of the story. His investigations intertwine him with these vampires and the vampires are what make this book awesome. He disturbs these vampires as he is investigating a murder and from then on they are in a big struggle. It causes much conflict and hardship for Harry to prevail in finding the murderer of the mystical crimes happening.

6- Elaine Lilian Mallory- Once the lover of Harry plays a significant role later in the book in Harry’s memories. She brings back the thought of pain to Harry when he is thinking about love. It also is reminded to Harry when he sees Anne’s death, which sparks a memory of Elaine. Clearly she played a significant role in other books of this series as well.

5- Detective Murphy- Detective Murphy throughout the whole book is helping Harry solve the murders and try to prove Thomas, Harry’s brother, is not guilty. She has seen lots of the things Harry has and is willing to help him at all costs to solve the murder. Not only does she do that but she helps him against the White Court of vampires that are restless to kill Harry.

4- The Murder Case- In the book, although there are many things that are happening. The central plot of this book is solving this series of strange murders that have been occurring to people that have spiritual powers. When all the evidence points to Thomas Dresden, Harry will stop at nothing not even the vampires to prove him innocent.

3- Molly Carpenter- This is Harry’s apprentice. She is very inexperienced but plays a significant role at the end of the book when they’ve just about solved the case. It seems as though she will be used in more books of this series because of being a round character. She is a little bit clumsy and mishandles some evidence but when she is very smart.

2- Magic- Throughout the entire book, some form of magic is being used. For example Harry uses detecting, tracking, etc… magic that helps him find things. Also the vampires use magic. I think this aspect of the book can be undermined by all the action that is occurring between Harry and the Vampires.

1- Fantasy and reality- Clearly there is a mixture between fantasy and reality in this book. The vampires and human traits of Harry are always found in the same situations. This helps us make a very clear connection with what’s happening in the book while at the same time we’re allowed to let our minds flow freely and imaginations give us pictures of what’s happening.


Monday, January 14, 2008

White Night: Reading Section 7

Post A
(348-404)

Resilient (372)- rebounding like elastic
Sigil (395)- a magical sign

"I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing, and it felt good." (404) I feel that this quote is a great ending quote. Although it doesn't really seem like a great ending it will start up another book in this series.

Post B

Ah… a good ending to a book. This is a great book and anyone reading my blog I think should read this book too. It’s full of suspense and action. You might think it’s boring at first but it’s just because you wouldn’t have read enough to know how great the book is. I’d encourage anyone to read this and his other series. I’m starting to read this series from the beginning with the first book in this series. Well clearly Jim Butcher is one of the best author’s I’ve read in a long time. As I’ve said in my past post this book has really opened my eyes to new genres of books, this is just the start to reading these unusual and mystical books. Well the quote in Post A of this section doesn’t have great meaning yet it really shows two things that I believe are important. The two things are: more human characteristics, and also a great way to allow a transition to a new book in this series. Well this is it for my postings on this book. I’d recommend borrowing or buying this book from a store or library, it’s great. I hope you find my postings useful to look at this book and get it.