Soviet in the US: Regina Spector

   Regina Spector                                       
A veteran of New York's anti-folk scene, songwriter Regina Spektor makes quirky, highly eclectic, but always personal music. Born and raised in Moscow until age nine, Spektor listened to her father's bootleg tapes of Western pop and rock as a young child and also learned to play piano. She and her family moved from Russia to the Bronx, where she was immersed in American culture (at the time, hers was the first Russian family in the borough in 20 years). Eventually, Spektor and her family became part of a community that balanced her Russian Jewish roots with her new home's culture. Meanwhile, she continued to practice piano anywhere she could, including at her synagogue, until her family got a piano of their own. 



Bio by Pandora

I recently discovered this fabulous artist while listening to Moldy Peaches radio on Pandora. I was immediately intoxicated by the sound of her voice and her enchanting piano skills. Now I’m not usually a piano solo person by this turns the instrument into a symphony of passion. Her earliest stuff is quirky and alterative typical of a young woman experiencing a new country. Her second album Soviet Kitsch is edgy and expressive focusing on her background and the perceptions of the American public. This early albums remind me of other talented young artist such as Lily Allen, Kate Nash and Florence Welch.  

As she matures so does her music. She begins experimenting with deeper subjects such as religion and human nature in Begin To Hope and her newest album Far. Although she is from a strongly religious family Specter spotlights the drawbacks of blind faith as well as the danger of being closed minded, whether in the name of god or the name of science. 

However my favourite of her songs, Laughing With (God) advocates for organized religion or at lest sounds like it at first. I am agnostic but I do not believe in avoiding something that is beautiful because it involves God. Don’t spin this the wrong way laughing with in no way a church hymen. She praises the power of faith in time of hardship in the chorus.

No one laughs at God in a hospital

No one laughs at God in a war

No one's laughing at God

When they're starving or freezing or so very poor  

Yet in the next line the she points out the lunacy of that same faith with,

God could be funny


When told he'll give you money if you just pray the right way


And when presented like a genie who does magic like Houdini


Or grants wishes like Jiminy Cricket and Santa Claus


God can be so hilarious.

Some of her songs like Laughing With, Samson, and Blue Lips have a bluesy timeless feeling, in the style of jazz legends such as Billie Holiday.  Others have a new age style that is uniquely Spektor. These later albums remind me of the best of the Lennon and McCartney, blackbird, hey Jude, across the universe, golden slumbers, and Eleanor Rigby.

Minerva

Bringing Up Baby: the Story of a Girl, a Boy, a Leopard, and an Intercostal Clavicle

I personally am a little miffed at how easily people dismiss black and white movies as being dull and overly complicated. These people should be tied to the floor for an hour and a half and made to watch Bringing up Baby. The only thing hard to understand about this movie is due to the speed at which the characters talk. It's just not possible for any movie involving a ditzy socialite and absent-minded professor, a yippy dog, a leopard, and an intercostal clavicle to be dull. 

What’s odd about this movie is that when it came out it got rubbish reviews Paramount called it a "catastrophe". They even ended their contract with Katharine Hepburn. Yet Bringing up baby is one of the most loved classic films of all time. The only reasonable exclamation I can come up with is that it must have been ahead of its time. After all the film industry was just closing the door on the age silent movies, the fast passed, witty dialog must have been too much for them. 

  

My favourite thing about watching this movie, beyond the funny dialog, clever characters, and outrageous plot twists is seeing Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn without the typecasting. Hepburn is known for her strong feminist roles. You see her playing characters such as righteous and independent Red from Philadelphia Story. Grant is known for his dashing matinee star roles. You're more likely to see him playing the mysterious man in black or a charming but settled family man.  

In Bringing Up Baby Grant plays a nerdy zoologist. He sports a pair of thick-rimmed glasses that has the same effect as superman's specs for hiding his stunning good looks. Unlike his character in his girl Friday Grant stubbles over his words and gets tongue-tied whenever Hepburn's character shows up one the scene.

Hepburn plays a ditzy and lovesick socialite. She’s airy and outwardly seems stupid yet she is clever in a conniving yet admirable way. This is often the way with Howard Hawk’s main characters. It’s something I love about old movies; subtle strength is a single facet of the deep and relatable characters. Even in a screwball comedy like this the characters make an impression. 

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Emma Watson: Bit Flash

Do you remember this girl?

That's right it's 11-year-old Emma Watson playing Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

That was in 2001 and for the next nine years we got to watch her grow up. You may have noticed like I did during the Prisoner of Azkaban that Ms. Watson was becoming a particularly lovely young woman if not then it probably dawned on you during the Yule Ball in the Goblet of Fire. 

Watson is sporting more then just school robes nowadays, she’s all over the fashion scene. She’s the new face for Burberry UK. She's even headed up some lines of her own. Now, I am in no way a fashion aficionada, my wardrobe consist of jeans, t-shirts, and a few skirts. Ms. Watson's new calling never would have come to my attention if I hadn't seen her on the cover of teen Vogue while wandering through the magazine section of Barns n' Noble. I had time to waste so I picked it up and starting reading. it was impressive to say the least. It was flashy and rebellious, classical and refined. It had a classic cinema meets the 1980's feeling with a liberal dash of Great Britain.  

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Gorgeous!

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England goes Insane

You've all heard of Lady Gaga, how she flew to the top of the charts by being as outrageous as possible. You've heard about her clothes and how she never wears the same thing twice. You've heard about her high-pitched little voice, her bleach blond hair (more like yellow really), and her nonsensical lyrics.

But in the storeroom of insane female artists England's got her beat. The difference is the British Basket-cases have talent.

     Lily Allen                                        
With her omnivorous musical tastes and cheeky attitude, London-based pop singer/songwriter Lily Allen made a name for herself almost as soon as she released her demos on the Internet. The daughter of comedian Keith Allen, Lily spent most of her childhood bouncing from one school to another -- in fact, she attended 13 different schools between the ages of five and 15. This constant moving meant she didn't have much of a chance to make lasting friendships, so Allen entertained herself with books and, especially, music: she listened to everything from T. Rex, the Specials, and the Slitsto the Happy Mondays and drum'n'bass, and even ran away to see the Glastonbury Festival when she was 14. 

After she left school a year later, she realized that music was the only career for her. Allen concentrated on her songwriting and singing, developing a style that was equally sweet and bratty; late in 2005, she set up a MySpace page and posted demos of her songs, as both individual tracks and as part of two limited-edition "mixtapes" that also featured tracks by Dizzee Rascal, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Ludacris. The critical acclaim for her work fueled Allen's publicity, leading to tens of thousands of friends on MySpace, airplay on BBC Radio One, and a record deal with Regal/Parlophone before the end of 2005.  It's Not Me, It's You, which covered topics like drugs, fame, family, and society, arrived early in 2009, preceded by the single The Fear.

Artist bio by Pandora. 

      Kate Nash                                      
Like simpatico songwriter Lily Allen, Kate Nash launched her career on MySpace, where her piano-driven pop songs and lyrics (delivered in a distinctive London accent) found a number of listeners. One such listener was Lily Allen herself, who rose to fame with a similar style of pop music in 2006. The two began championing each other's music via their respective MySpace sites, and Nash soon found her own success with the platinum-selling Made of Bricks. 

Although born in Dublin on July 6, 1987, Nash moved to North West London as a child and grew up amidst British pop culture. She learned to play the piano at school and took an early interest in acting, but a rejection from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School dashed her hopes of a theater career. 


Following a foot injury that forced her to remain at home while the bones healed, Nash turned her focus to songwriting instead, looking for a diversion from the boredom that came with the recovery process. She booked herself a local gig to showcase the songs she had written while housebound; soon after, Nash uploaded home recordings of those compositions to MySpace. 


Artist bio by Pandora. 

      Florence Welch                             
The bluesy South London crooner Florence Mary Leontine Welch, better known as Florence and the Machine writes songs that occupy the same confessional territory of gossip-loving, genre-bending contemporaries like Amy Winehouse, Kate Nash, Adele, and Lily Allen, blending murder, mayhem, sweetness, and light into an intoxicating brew that earned the young artist considerable buzz in 2007. Managed by the Camden-based DJ duo the Queens of Noize, Florence and the Machine -- usually featuring Welch accompanied by a single guitar player and occasional drummer -- released their debut single, "Kiss with a Fist," on the Moshi Moshi label in June 2008, followed by the critically acclaimed full-length Lungs in summer 2009. 


Artist bio by Pandora. 


Sometimes bluesy and political, sometimes random and poetical, these girls know how to spin lyrics. Both revolutionary and classical, England's got some outstanding representation in the music department.

Minerva

David Tennant: A Tragedy

SPOILERS: This article contains spoilers for seasons 1 through 4 1/2 of Doctor Who.

If you were female and a whovian between 2006 and 2010 then you probably had a crush on a certain striking Scotsman by the name of David Tennant, better know as Doctor #10. For many of us David was our first proper Doctor. Chris jumped in and out of our lives in a single season Tennant became a part of our lives. So when he announced that he was leaving the show, some of cried, some of us didn’t know what to say, some of us thought it was a hoax. But eventually 2009 turned in to 2010 and we had to say good-bye to our lonely doctor. “I don’t want to go” Tennant says. His voice cracks and we see all his pain swell up behind those deep brown eyes. No doctor has gone out this way, alone and in pain with the truth on his lips. Yet it is the most fitting end for this doctor, because Tennant’s Doctor is a tragedy.

At the end of season one he appears on the screen with a smile. That first year is his golden year. He and Rose had the perfect partnership. They fight monster, save planets or just muck about. He falls in love, finds a place on earth, and has Christmas dinner. Then suddenly Rose is gone. That moment at the end of season two where they stand in the same place at the same moment but are so far from one another is one of the most poignant moments on television. Billy cries. She’s devastated, brokenhearted but David looks shattered. After that moment the carefree smile he sports is a lie. he die’s a little as he says goodbye. He’s changed, he’s not the doctor anymore.

He meets Martha who reminds him who the Doctor. But they are not going to let him off that easy. No matter what he does he is reminded of what he’s doing wrong. Every time someone dies he blames himself. When he tries to run away, become human, he is called back. At last he is thrown a scrap of hope the words “you are not alone”. For a time lord survived the war, to have someone like him who know the pain and responsibility of a timelord, that would give him some relief. But that hope dies in his arms. After this he doesn’t smile. Martha leaves and he doesn’t stop her. He is alone.

Then comes Donna, she accepts nothing from him. She just wants to see the universe. They have fun, for a while. He finds a potential companion in a girl cloned from his cells. He learns to call her daughter, but she sacrificed herself for him. he blames himself. He doesn’t fight anymore he believes the he is to blame for the pain of people near to him. When Rose come back he gives everything she wants but pushes her away for him. He is forced to wipe Donna’s memories even as she pleads for him to let her stay.

For his last five episodes the doctor refuses to open up to anyone. he wallows in his loneliness becoming darker and darker until he is unrecognizable. When Wilf hands him a gun and tells to kill, we are no longer sure he will refuse. Yet he remains our doctor till the end giving his life to save Wilf. In that he never failed. He was always a hero and we love him. When he utters his last words you can’t help but say “we don’t want you to go David”.

But in the end he is rewarded. As the golden energy clears the shattered tragic form of David Tennant has been replaced with Matt Smith. Smith is young and vibrant. He tousles his hair and kisses his legs. He takes in the chaos around him and smiles as he jumps into action. Geronimo!

Minerva  

Hannah Spearitt and Andrew Lee Potts

If you've ever watched the fantastic brilliant show Primeval chances are you immediately fell in love with the relationship between Conner Temple and Abby Maitland. What you may not know is that Hannah Spearritt and Andrew-Lee Potts are actually engaged. I don't usually go in for celebrity stalking but they are absolutely the sweetest most charming couple in the history of celebrities. There’s no huge age gap, drug problem, or old scandals involved so you’re not likely to see them in the tabloids. But they are young, sexy, and the most adorable thing you've ever seen. Them being together puts a small damper on my Andrew fantasies but how can I envy them when they look this cute together. If you want to see more photos of Hannah and Andrew follow this link.

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Minerva Loves the USA (network)

I'm not a total anti-patriot there are a lot of things about the United States of America I respect. That however is beside the point.  The point is that I  do in fact love the USA network. It for fills a demand for unrubbish TV between the end of July and the beginning of November, when there is a severe lack of quality BBC programs of any kind. For those of you who are wondering why this is it is because of a serious misjudgment on the part of the BBC producers who decided that the appropriate number of episodes for a TV season was thirteen. Why would they think this, you ask. The only logical reason I can come up with is that they are the minions of Satan and they enjoy the agonized screams of tortured fans. 

Anyhow, not only does USA for fill a need but their shows are actually pretty darn entertaining. I have never watched a show that came out specifically for the USA network that I did not enjoy. They’re light fluffy and consumer driven but they have jokes that make me laugh and characters that make me smile, every time. They remind me of the old 1960 sitcoms; Gilligan’s island, Hogan’s Heroes, Bewitched. They never strove to have any lasting affect on the audience just to entertain. Yet if you get caught humming a theme song even thirty years after you stop watching the show there’s good chance it has something to do with a 3-Hour Tour.

I started watching Psych three years ago, mainly because of Shawn’s mutual love of fruit and 80’s movies. Then one of my friends convinced me to watch Monk. Thus began the slippery slop into addiction. After that came Royal Pains, White Collar, and Covert Affairs.

If you have five hours a week to waste watching fluffy television give it a try, but be careful ones you give in you’ll never get away.

Minerva

UPDATE: Leverage gets a new Family Member

Aunt Tara

Midway through season two (Due to Gina’s her pregnancy) Sophie temporarily leaves the show but she’s not leaving her team without a mother figure. Sophie finds a replacement in Tara Cole, a fellow grifter who owes Sophie a favour or two. At first the team is wary of the new member. No one really knows what to make of her or what she aspects of them. Throughout the season we get to know Tara and learn that she is as clever a grifter as Sophie and well worth the teams trust. By the time Sophie gets back Tara has been accepted in to the family. I like to call her Aunt Tara!  Hope we see you soon auntie.

Minerva

The Brothers Bloom: A Con Caper

I have a weakness for con capers; Leverage, White Collar, Music Man, the Lady Eve and Silvia Scarlet. I’ve even watched The Sting. I just can’t help falling head over heals for the fast talking gentlemen thief.

When it’s Indie film with parallels to classic literature, well for me that’s honey.

I saw trailers for The Brothers Bloom on PBS when it came out in cinema. Unfortunately they decided it was only popular enough to release in important places and I guess Fairbanks Alaska didn’t qualify.

So, I waited five months and bought it for $9.99 at a gas station.

This movie is an epic! there is no other way to describe it. It tells the story of to bothers who have reached the pinnacle of the con game. The oldest Steven creates elaborate cons and his younger brother Bloom plays them out. They’ve been living this way since they were kids growing up in foster care and its gotten to the point where Bloom can no longer tell what is real and what is part of Stevens story. This worries him and he wants out. Steven talks him in to one last job, swindling two million out of lonely eccentric heiress named Penelope.

Bloom, Penelope, Steven

The second part of the movie is played out like a good old-fashioned international con caper. During this section Penelope and Bloom fall in love and ends with Penelope telling bloom that she wants to spend the rest of her life with him. In a normal movie this would be the end of the story but this is a far from normal movie.

The third part of the movie is much darker. The brothers head to Russia in order to lose Penelope. Through the second part of the movie they lightly reference Old Russian and Greek tragedies. I’m not a huge fan of tragedies and Russian novels tend to be a little to dark for me but I understood enough of the references to have some idea of an ending still the ending caught me by surprise. I understood the foreshadowing but I didn’t think they would actually go that far.

Ones you’ve watched it go back and watch it you’ll be astounded at how much symbolism and foreshadow is woven the lighter parts of the story. Near the end of the movie Diamond Dog, the brothers sinister ex-guardian mentions Stevens love of symbolism “Red for temptation, white for salvation.” he says as he admires Stevens con. When you re-watch the movie note the use of red and white throughout the movie.

This director has a gift for the delicate ate of crafting a story. Like Stevens cons every tiny thing has a deeper meaning. I’ve watched it five times, ones with commentary and I’m still noticing new things.

Steven, Bloom, Bang bang

By far the best part of this movie, better then the dialog or the symbolism is the clothing. The movie is set in the modern day but it feels like it was made in the 1930’s. This may have something to do with the beautiful old world cities they set the move in but I think it has more to do with the clothes. They are not period exactly but they’re defiantly not modern. It’s mix of formal European clothing and a classy vintage sense of style you just don’t see any more. It also has a lot to do with the hats. So much can be portrayed through a hat. If you wear a hat tilted over your eyes it says something about your character. If you wear it snugly on the top of your head it means you’re a strait forward no nonsense type of person. If you wear a wide brimmed hat at the back of your head that mean you’re an easy-going optimistic type. The acting world lost a valuable tool when they stopped wearing hats, just my opinion.

Minerva

Leverage Rocks the World!

Leverage is my #1 favorite American program still on the air! If that sounds like scant praise understand that it’s got to be pretty darn good in for an American program to catch my attention at all. The only American program to top it is Firefly which if one of the best programs in the history of television American or otherwise. So now that you get how great it is let me introduce you to leverage!

Leverage a modern day Robin Hood. A 20^th century A-team. (although that last one might better apply to Burn Notice) as Nate puts it:

         “The rich and powerful take what they want…

                  We steal it back for you.”

Leverage starts with a team of criminals who are thrown together for a single job. Nate, an ex-insurance investigator is hired to keep track of them. The job goes south when they learn that their client has lied to them and worst of all he refuses to pay them. Needless to say they get back at him in dramatic fashion. When they finish they meet in the park to split the profits of their game. As they hold their fat check each realizes that not only have they never before made so much money on a con but they’ve never had this much fun. With that the leverage team is formed.

Nate

Sophie

Eliot

Hardison

Parker

The best thing about Leverage is the team. It functions as a dysfunctional family unit more then a criminal group. Nate and Sophie play the mum and dad. The rest have a hard time operating without them. Parker the thief with asperser like social skills is the baby. Everyone on the team coddles her and protects her from slip-ups. Eliot is the older brother taking care of his team the only way he knows how, with his fists. Harrison is the brainy middle child eager for any attention he can get from the rest of the team. Everyone in the audience can sympathize or at lest empathize with the characters and their universal struggle to fit into the world.

This show is clean old-fashioned family fun the likes of which we haven’t seen on television for a long time. It's not an Emmy winner but it's always light and entertaining. Like I said good fun.


Note: Since I rarely watch TV show without some connection to Doctor Who, no matter how obscure, here's one for Leverage. Gina Bellman who plays Sophie on leverage also played Jane Christie on Moffat's Coupling. Moffat is the head writer for Doctor Who. 

Minerva

Alice in the Acid Age

Andrew-Lee Potts

WARNING: I have an unhealthy obsession for this show or more specifically for this man. There may be some gushy fangirl ranting in this article.

Alice is the second sci-fi (syfy for you conformists) miniseries directed by Nick Willing. Alice has the added bonus of also being written by him. The first was a science fiction style adaption of L. Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz entitled Tin Man. This series is also exceedingly good, but I’m here to talk about Alice. Anyway, Tin Man won an Emmy and got exemplary reviews on the premier. So two years later they ask Willing to pull another masterpiece out of the hat and he did with a contemporary version of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.  

Alice is set in the modern day and ten year old Alice is now twenty year old Alice. She is living somewhere in the US, runs a karate dojo, and has dark brown hair. She is dating an Englishman who presents her with a ring in the fist half-hour of the two-part miniseries. When she rejects him he slips the ring into her pocket and disappears. She discovers the ring and runs after him. She catches up with him in time to see him abducted by some suit wearing men and a van. Enter mysterious man clad in white (a.k.a white rabbit). He says some cryptic things then demands she give him the ring. She refuses. They struggle. She drops the ring. He grabs it and runs off. She chases him, trips, falls through a looking glass and lands in the revamped wonderland.

Alice’s wonderland bears a remarkable resemblance to the 1960’s and the mad hatter is now a charming and devious teashop owner with a thing for Alice. The queen of hearts keeps the rabble in check but siphoning feeling from humans she’s abducted from the real world through the looking glass and converting them to drugs.

Now, here’s the glitch the key to operating the looking glass is the ring of wonderland and the white rabbit didn’t see Alice pop the ring out of the box before she dropped it. So Alice has got the ring and the queen has got Alice’s boyfriend, who she has decided she has feeling for after all. What follows is a story of action and romance all filmed in a tripping 60’s fashion that was meant for Alice in Wonderland.

Minerva

Persia vs. Farsala

I’ve mentioned how much I enjoy mythology in modern fiction and although Celtic mythology is my favourite area of mythology lets head east. The focus of this article is the Farsala Series written by one of my favourite authors, Hilari Bell. The series is set in the fictional land of Farsala. Although Farsala is made up it bears a remarkable resemblance to ancient Persia. The first book in the series entitled fall of the kingdom is told along side The Tragedy of Rostam. The next two books are paralleled to a new epic written in the same style.

I have thoroughly enjoyed everything written by this author. She has a gift for writing all sides of the story in both a realistic and sympathetic way without biases. Even the spoiled “shebitch” as she is often called becomes a likable character by the end of the series. In another of her series Bell turns a Robin Hood type bandit into a power hunger usurper and then back into a misguided revolutionary over the course of three books without seeming shallow or artificial.

The Farsala trilogy follows the live of three young people of different classes during the invasion of the Farsala by the Hrum Empire. (In earth history Hrum would translate to Rome).

Soraya is the overindulged daughter of the commander of the Farsalan army. She is sentenced to be sacrificed due to a religious prophesy created by her fathers enemies. As part of ruling class Sonora has an uncaring air of superiority over the other two characters. She looks down on everyone even those of her own class that she feels are unworthy. She is closed-minded and arrogant. This starts to change when her father sends her into hiding with a peasant family in the dessert to avoid her death sentence. However she does not suddenly become a likable character, the evolution happens over the course of the trilogy. It begins as she gets to know the family she lives and the Bedouin like Suud who live in the desert. 


Her story while under appreciated (at lest by me) in the reading stage is an amazing example of character development. I can’t explain it very well here because of how amazingly subtle and realistic it feels. There is no epiphany where she suddenly sees the error of her ways, but by the end of the series she is barely recognizable as the character she was introduced as. I started Fall of a Kingdom with an immediate dislike for her character but about midway through Rise of a Hero I was rushing through the other chapters in order to get back to her story.

Jiaan is the middle class representative for the story. He’s the bastard son of the commander, half brother of Sonora, and a squire in his father’s house. Jiaan is resigned, if not always content with the status quo. He has a strong idea of how the world works and strict moral code. His role in the first book is very small and he some time appears shallow and thick compared to his wittier and more strong-willed co-stars. His story is the more contemporary of the three and his character seems one-dimensional at first, but throughout the trilogy you notice bits of his character that contradict the generic hero format. Jiaan has a vice that is portrayed very well through series. He is racked with guilt over the loss of his first battle, which ended with the desecration of the Farsala army. He seeks to relieve that guilt by swearing to kill the person he feels is responsible. He revenge mission consumes him and eventually plays out with devastating consequences in the final book.

Now we come to my favourite character. Kavi represents the peasant class in Farsala. He’s a peddler and petty criminal with and mysterious past and a deep hatred for the ruling class. He believes strongly that the Farsala government is corrupt and he not afraid to voice his opinion so when he is captured by the Hrum and given a choice to spy for the Hrum or be sold into slavery you’d think this would be an easy decision. Still he holds out until he knows whether the Hrum would be a better overlord then the current rulers. By the time the Hrum finish describing their style of government both he and I are completely convinced that the Hrum were in fact better.

This I why I love this book not only does Ms Bell have the skill of technique to have one of her characters commit treason yet not dampen his character or turn him into the “bad guy”, but there are no obvious “bad guys” in the whole series. Both sides have problems as well as virtues. The right side depends completely on what side you’re on. To often in fiction the side the main character is fighting for is portrayed as the side of good with no downfalls and the opposing side is portrayed as savage barbarians. In the Farsala trilogy the cultures are just as layered and realistic as the characters. The lords of Farsala are pompous overlords with little respect for the people the rule, yet they have as a sense of honour and responsibility as strong if not stronger then the Hrum. The Hrum are as structured and free as any republic can be yet they keep slaves and wage war in far-off of country in order to expand their empire.

The basic theme of this book in my mind was that you shouldn’t make assumptions about someone until you’re sure you know them, but it also makes other true points like how easy it is to do something you will regret, how revenge gets you nowhere and the power of being able to let go.

Don’t get me wrong this isn’t some preachy moral story. It’s an epic adventure story with exciting battles, thrilling intrigue and supernatural happenings. Whether you pick up this book looking for an intriguing story of crumbling empires or just a good read you’re guaranteed a thoroughly satisfactory time of it.

Minerva

Merlin vs. Water

There's nothing I love more than when an author incorporates mythology into her narrative. Even better is when they know their stuff. When someone can be intelligent and creative without sounding arrogant or patronizing that is admirable indeed. In hounor of this talent I'd like to make a shout out to Kara Dalkey and her Water trilogy.

She starts her story in the lost city of Atlantis focusing on a mermyd or mermaid named Nia. The first book follows the typical fall of a kingdom story line, it is in the second book were things get interesting.

Before you read Reunion I suggest you read up on Merlin’s origin myth, in particular the story involving Merlin and the two dragons. If you do you’ll have lots of fun picking up the parallels between that story and the story of Corwin, a boy living in Post-Roman Empire Wales. His story collides with Nia when he finds a shell containing the last prince of Atlantis, whom Nia has sworn to protect. The story quickly intensifies when the king’s men steal the shell. I won’t continue but it’s a heck of a ride.

In the final book Corwin and Nia head back to Atlantis to defeat the bane of atlantics and the world, the sorcerer Ma’el. To do this they have to find the ancient sword of Atlantis, Eikis Calli Werr (try saying that aloud and see if you get the reference).

All in all this is and entertaining set of books to read and you’ll be surprised how fast they go by. The characters are interesting and the story is exciting. I had a lot of fun trying to figure out how the characters and places within Water would develop into the Arthurian tales we know so well. I tip my hat to you Ms. Darkey.

Minerva