Fairy Tale Spotlight: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland [Book Review]

[Some spoilers included. The ending is also spoiled.]

Well, I had to get to this sooner or later. Face it, with a blog called "Fairy Tale Spotlight," I am surprised I didn't read it a lot earlier. But I did eventually get around to it. I always intended to do it, but with all these Oz books, I've been keeping pretty busy.

"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" is a book written by Lewis Carroll (also known as Charles Dodgson), and it was published in 1865. The story relates the story of Alice who goes on a nonsensical journey into a fairyland assumed to be called Wonderland.

The story feels much like a dream. Alice feels like she is in a dream where everything makes little sense, yet she only gets frustrated by them. I've had dreams like this. Dreams put you into a sort of state that shield you from caring too much about out of place or weird things. From the moment this story begins, that's what this book feels like, and by the end of it, you find that it is in fact a dream. And that's the major spoil I warned about at the beginning.

So it is a dream done correctly. The world of Wonderland is actually a product of a little girl's wild imagination. The final chapter of this book is actually powerfully written in this respect, but there is a bit more context to it that needs to be addressed.

The thing about this book is... It's really a story about the author who was madly and even a bit creepily in love with the main character's namesake. Without this context, the book is completely meaningless and perfectly nonsensical to the point of being worthless. I didn't want to say it, but it's just true.

On it's own, it's still entertaining. It feels rather relaxing, as if you are just leaving the real world behind. There are no real worries in Wonderland. Nothing really matters. Everyone is too mad for there to be any concern. Even the Queen was too distracted to really cause her any trouble.

And I did love all of the characters. There are too many to properly mention, but I will mention a few:

1: My favorite is the Cheshire Cat. I think he may have represented the author. He was extremely charming and enjoyable. I got the impression that he was actually not as mad as he led her to believe.

2: There was a mouse towards the beginning of the book that was offended by everything Alice told him. This cracked me up. I'd love to own an offended pet mouse!

3: Bill the lizard was hilariously written. He seemed like a good and sensible character which contracted with all the mad ones. But instead of crazy, he was just a dullard that nothing ever went right for. Lewis Carroll constantly gave him the short end of the stick and turned it into comic mastery.

4: The Mad Hatter was fine, but the sleepy dormouse was better. He was too cute for me to pass up.

I recommend "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland." It is a timeless classic with some rather creepy yet interesting facts that lie behind the veil. But don't read it if you're expecting anything coherent. After all, it's just a dream.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Job [Book Review]

"Job" is the eighteenth book of the "Holy Bible," and it was apparently written by Moses?! Really?! Did he really write this book?! The problem is that all the other books of Moses are written like trash, and this one is on par with Shakespeare. I'll be honest that I am not really convinced.

So, yes. This is one of the books I made my own book about. I do consider the very beginning to be comedically written. It comes across as a Grimm story that evolves into a debate. The idea of it is this: Job, a righteous man, loses everything, and his friends accuse him of having sinned. Along the way, Job mentioned someone called the Redeemer, which his friends did not hear but God certainly did. The crux of the whole story, for me, lies in the mentioning of the Redeemer.

Another fascinating aspect of this book is that is shows God and Lucifer... just hanging out. They are sitting together and having a completely civil conversation. This denotes that they are not actually at war with one another; they just disagree. Nevertheless, God holds all the cards and has to give Lucifer permission to do this. It rather breaks conventions to see them this way, but it is the truth.

When God begins talking to Job towards the end of the book, a couple creatures, namely the Behemoth and the Leviathan, are mentioned. Very mysterious and cool. These sound like creatures like dinosaurs and dragons. I was told that this book is likely the oldest book in the "Holy Bible." Imagine what sorts of creatures may have existed back then. It's cool to think about.

Once again, I can hardly believe that Moses wrote this. It's insanely well written and poetic as hell. The debate is what it is. It is long and, at some points, a bit dry, but the fact that Job seemed to be aware of a man that would not be born for centuries is fascinating. I recommend the book.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Land of the Giants: Flight of Fear [Book Review]

Ever heard of the TV show "Land of the Giants"? It was a science fiction about a group of people who crash land on a planet of giants. It ran from 1968 to 1970, and I am a huge fan of it. The show was developed by Irwin Allen, the same guy who gave us "Lost in Space," but, in my opinion, this show is much better. Imagine my surprise when I found out a set of novels had been written to expand out the lore of the show. I found one, and I read it.

"Land of the Giants: Flight of Fear" is an authorized novel written by Carl Henry Rathjen and published 1969 during the run of the show. The version I found was a very clean hardback book, and I think my eyes sparkled a bit when I first held it in my hands. I nerded out a bit. There was even a little "69¢" sticker on the front.

Was the book good? Well... yes! It is like an episode of the show I never got to see. The author seems to seriously understand each character in the show and how they interact with one another. You see, the characters in "Land of the Giants" are very unique. Steve, the captain, is often viewed as the true hero of the show, someone whom you know you can trust. His opposite would be Fitzhugh who fills the role as the cowardly type who always tries to get out of doing work. Carl understands what makes these characters tick, and he represents all of them well.

Oddly, the book is so much like the show that I could actually see in my mind how they would show it happening with the special effects at the time. And you must understand that the show had top-notch special effects. Nothing done in the book couldn't have happened in the show. It was like reading about an episode that was never produced.

Most of the giants in this universe are sociopaths and evil. They made that clear in the show. But there are exceptions. Medical doctors tend to be good, the same as in this book. That was something canon in the show. As bad as it is, it is not a show without hope.

Another interesting thing about this world of giants is how similar it is to ours. Of course, it was more of a 60's version of us, although they are on the tail end of government overreach. A lot of people in this world are living in a very calm, orderly policed state. There are a few rebels but not really enough to change anything. Most giants have just come to accept it.

The book also did something I did not see much in the show: They flew their ship! (The ship is called 703.) It was a major theme of the book, and it was fun to read about. The ship was mostly stationary in the show, acting as merely a shelter for the passengers and crew.

So, yes! I did enjoy this book! If I had to force a criticism, I really have to say that the chapter titles of this book are the most generic ones I have ever seen. They are titles that I think every writer feels compelled to use when writing a book but have to force them out just to get something original. Even I have thought of just about every one of these titles many times. To name a few: "Necessary Risks," "Plan of Action," "Desperate Measures," "Difficult Decision." Understand that these titles are not necessarily bad, but they are crazy generic and common.

I totally recommend this book and the show that goes along with it, however finding a copy of it may prove difficult. Most of the novels for this show are just too rare to find. I did, however, find another one, and I'll be sure to let you know what I think of it when I get around to reading it. Cheers!

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Captain Salt in Oz [Book Review]

[This blog spoils major parts of a book nobody reads anymore.]

"Captain Salt in Oz" is the thirtieth book of the Oz series created by L. Frank Baum. It was written by Ruth Plumly Thomson and published way back in 1936. It is also the very first book in the Oz series that entirely does not take place in Oz proper... sort of. I'll explain that in a bit.

This book is actually the sequel to another fine book by Ruth that I reviewed called "Pirates in Oz." It follows the further adventures of Captain Samuel Salt, King Ato, and Roger the Read Bird. Captain Salt, no longer a pirate, has since been dubbed the Royal Discoverer and Explorer of Oz, and that is exactly what this book is about.

It tells of the adventures of Salt as he sails his ship, the Crescent Moon, out into the Nonestic Ocean in search of new lands to annex to be thenceforth under the benevolent rule of Ozma of Oz. Yes, Oz turns imperialistic at this stage in the series, and the three sailors are entirely onboard with it, pun intended.

The bulk of the book details the voyagers as they find new and interesting places in Fairyland with the intention to plant the Oz flag there and commit them to the rulership of Ozma. For this reason, my earlier statement about the story never taking place in Oz might not be completely true. If you consider these places properly annexed, then the title does make sense. One could say that Captain Salt is always in Oz as long as he places the flag down when he gets there... but I suppose it's still debatable.

Now, most of the story is this straightforward plot, but there is a secondary story happening right under your nose that is much more subtle, and that has to do with the character Tazander Tazah, Tandy for short. Tandy was the son of a king and a son of a king's son, and he was due to become the ruler of a mysterious land called Ozamaland. Strangely, the boy is kidnapped and sent to be disposed of by a race of savages called Leopard Men, but by coincident, they get exterminated by a freak tidal wave (which possibly occurred during the story "Speedy in Oz," but there is no way to confirm this.)

Captain Salt rescues Tandy and incorporates him into his ship as a cabin boy. As it turns out, he is quite the artist, so he is given the responsibility of drawing a map and drawings of all the things they find on their voyage. It is not until the end of the story that you find out some very strange things about what really happened to Tandy. These events are so peculiar that I actually worry about the effects it can have on my blog account. I suppose I'll just try and explain it in as subtlest a way as I can.

In Ozamaland, there was a group of elitists who were conspiring with a nearby country to overthrow the entire land. (This group and the group that was helping them will be named later in an excerpt.) This group hires a thug magician to make off with the prince, promising him 1/10th of Ozamaland for his trouble, but once he completes this mission, they blow him off.

The one in charge of the whole group actually plans to do the same to the others and take the entire land for himself, but for the time, he still intents to evenly divvy out the land among his fellow conspirators. The blame for the missing prince will fall on the aunts who were supposed to take care of Tandy, and they will ultimately be accused of the conspiracy that the elites committed.

Tandy was entirely ignorant of all these details, although he thought that his aunts might be responsible. He did not actually know for sure. But through the help of Captain Salt and the others, he is delivered back to Ozamaland, much to the surprise and chagrin of the men who turned against him. Tandy's reappearance was enough to expose everything, and the elites were driven out of power.

The latter plot was delivered very subtlety, despite having one awkward chapter where they out rightly show the elites blurting out their plan to one another (exposition through dialog done badly.) The nuances of this plot were pretty well delivered, and I was a bit startled by it, to say the least.

I do recommend "Captain Salt of Oz" for those who love a good sea-sailing adventure. It not not, perhaps, the best Oz book written by Ruth Plumly Thomason, but it is far from her worse. I will leave you with an interesting excerpt found within the last chapter of the book. Enjoy.

Next, Tandy explained how Ozamaland was now a province and under the general rule and protection of Ozma of Oz, how settlers from that famous fairyland would soon arrive to help them build new cities and towns, tame the wild jungles of the interior, and repel the dangerous invasions of the Greys.

Here Chunum rose to declare he himself would be responsible for peace along the border between Amaland and Ozamaland, that the Greys had long desired to be friends with the Whites, but trouble had been stirred up by the Ozamandarins so they might have the credit of protecting the country. Then Tandy spoke again of all the advantages that would be enjoyed from their association with the Kingdom of Oz.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Esther [Book Review]

[The main points of this book are spoiled.] 

"Esther" is the seventeenth book of the "Holy Bible," and it was written by Mordecai. This is a very short book. It is also the second book that is titled after a woman. Unlike with Ruth, however, Esther is not really the main character of the story. She is, albeit a fascinating one, but I would say the author of the book, that being Mordecai, was a bit more interesting.

Oddly, this book lacks much of the spiritual aspects of the previous books. It is more a simple story of something that happened. A Persian king did not like his queen so he got rid of her and ended up choosing a Jewish woman as a replacement. That was Esther, by the way.

Now Esther had been taken care of by Mordecai who was something of an activist for his time. He was a proud member of the Jewish race, and at the time, the Jews who were living among the Persians were being persecuted due to the actions of a man named Haman. Haman actually convinced the king to slaughter all the Jews at an upcoming date.

Now, Esther did not know about this until Mordecai had told her, and so she used her charm and loveliness to appeal to the king so that the order would be rescinded, and that Haman would be put to death for his actions against Mordecai and the Jews. That was really the book in a nutshell.

The story is charming. I did enjoy reading it. The only complaint is that it just sort of comes and goes. I'm sure a lot of Christians will find a deeper meaning in this book, but for me it was just a bump in the road, a little history lesson and that's all. I did particularly like how if the king did not raise his scepter when you approached him, that would probably mean that you were to die... even if you were his wife. A raised scepter meant that you were favored by him. That was a nice touch that helped me understand the king.

If you are interested in little stories like these, then it is a good recommendation. It is very short and easy to read and understand. Personally, I'm ready to move right along.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Nehemiah [Book Review]

"Nehemiah" is the sixteenth book of the "Holy Bible," and it is believed to have been written by Nehemiah himself. It is the direct sequel to "Ezra." This book deals less with the rebuilding of the House of God and more with Jerusalem itself.

Most of the book is written in the first person from the point of view of the then governor of Jerusalem, that being Nehemiah. He was placed in charge of rebuilding the mostly destroyed walls and doorways to the city and really just bringing order back to the place now that the Jews had been allowed to return.

This book is strangely relaxing to read. At this point, the Jews are so incredibly humbled that they seem much more subdued and willing to obey. They do still do evil, but Nehemiah is very good at taking care of sinners through direct force. He was a strong leader, and I liked him.

The building of the walls and doors went well, but it was not without its problems. The adversaries of the Jews did make threats about it. They were trying to make Nehemiah afraid of them. They were, of course, worried that the Jews would rebel if they had a fully rebuilt city, but that was actually not on the agenda. Despite there very noisy objections, the walls were built without any assault.

"Nehemiah" also has a very interesting day of thanksgiving which seriously sounded amazing. I would have loved to have seen it. Imagine an entire city all singing and crying out. I can imagine it would have been a moving thing to have witnessed. Even the description of it was strong and poetic. And they certainly had plenty to be thankful for, those ingrates.

The last part of the book was Nehemiah trying to keep the sinners under control. There were people trying to do work and sell stuff on the Sabbath. The governor was adamant that it all stop, and he did a great job at kicking these people on their asses.

I recommend the book of "Nehemiah!" Although some parts are a little boring, the book as a whole is a relaxing and well-written story about the rebuilding of a rightfully fallen kingdom.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Ezra [Book Review]

You know, I was kind of happy to have a short one after "Kings I" through "Chronicles II." That was a lot of depressing chapters to take in one after another. I needed a break. If you are really seriously paying attention to the "Holy Bible" while you read it, all the books up to this point are extremely annoying and depressing. It makes you wonder why God bothered with us at all. But I digress.

"Ezra" is the fifteenth book of the "Holy Bible," and it is traditionally believed to have been written by Ezra himself. He's a main character in the story as well, which I was happy to see. Substance-wise, the book only deals with one or two things before it closes up. I am a bit "meh" with my opinion of this book, and some of it comes from the initial disappointment that this book really had little to do with King Cyrus.

The basic concept of the book of "Ezra" is that now that Israel is owned and dominated by their enemies, it now seems safe to allow them to re-open their House of God. This whole thing was led by King Cyrus followed by his successor, Darius.

The Jews are allowed to return to their homeland and to worship God, although they are still entirely under the control of others. They are not what they had once been. Honestly, I was happy to hear that. After seeing what a complete mess they made of the very idea of a kingdom, I didn't want them to be in charge of a bowling alley.

The only snag that occurs in the book is that Ezra, who is assisting in the transition, finds out that many of the Jews have married strange women. This was actually the downfall of Solomon in an earlier book. He makes it clear that they have to separate from these women and confess all of their sins before they can be properly returned to their land. A whole system is then put into place to make sure this happens to all of the Jews, and then they can return.

The best thing about Ezra was that he personally found and read the laws given to Moses and entirely dedicated himself to them and to teach others of those laws. Unlike with most Jews, those laws actually meant something. Good for him!

I hate to say it, bit I found it very cathartic at seeing the Israelites humbled. They had been nothing but horrible, spoiled brats up to this book. I don't think they ever get better either. The book of "Ezra" itself feels more like a simple historical book. It is very light on any interesting narrative, but then again, it was only a 40 minute read. It wasn't so bad in that respect.

Still, I think there are probably going to be far better books to come, so I don't really recommend it unless you are a completionist. Time to move on!

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Fairy Tale Spotlight: Chronicles II [Book Review]

"Chronicles II" is the fourteenth book of the "Holy Bible, and it was written by Ezra. It is mostly a rehash of "Kings II," following the same path and talking about the same people. It does, however, go into a bit more detail and is better written, in my opinion. Nevertheless, it is what it is. This means that there is not much to say about the book other than a few things that stood out to me.

The story of Uzziah gave me pause. He was a good king who gained a lot of power to himself for serving the Lord. He was easily able to win battles and such. As good as he was, he apparently lacked humility which is very important to God. Proudly, he walked into the house of God, and began burning incense. This is not his responsibility but that of the priests. When they asked him to get out, he got angry.

Stranding right there in front of everyone, he turned into a leper. Can you imagine what that would have looked like? This incident may have inspired a couple of scenes in the Indiana Jones films, like the scene with the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant. That's what it reminded me of.

Hezekiah brought about a revival of Israel, re-opening the house of God after it had been forsaken. He whipped the country back into shape and ended up being one of the best kings they ever had. But then right after him was Manasseh who was basically the worst they ever had.

Manasseh's description of king sounds like I am reading about the occult. He did it all. He even set up alters for what the Bible revers to as "the host of all of heaven." I looked up what that meant, and that basically means he was worshipping angels. I kind of all ready knew that, and it's good that the Bible actually says it. He does get humbled though and serves God in the end,

Josiah was like the last hurrah before Israel sort of just crashed and burned in a whimper. Everything in the last chapter is bad. It's just one giant decline as God turns away from his people. But at the very last moment, a man's name is mentioned which got me a bit stirred up. His name was Cyrus.

I only recommend "Chronicles II" if you need a bit more context for the "Kings" books. Otherwise, it is a bit like treading over old ground. Happy to move on from this one. I need something fresh.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Tron [Book Review]

"Tron" is a book written by Brian Daley, and it was published in 1982 as a means to promote the film of the same name. The book is an adaptation of the film which was an original story created by Steven Lisberger and Bonnie MacBird.

So, the movie Tron was one of two movies in my life that introduced me into the extraordinary world of science fiction, the other being The Black Hole. It all had to do with this other world that existed within the processes of a computer. Everything about this movie was ahead of its time. It used animation mixed with early CGI to create a "cyberscape" that still looks great to this day.

But there were some things about the movie that were a little hard to understand, even after watching it over 30 times. I figured it was a fine time to check and see if there was a book available. There was. It was old and dusty. Out of print since the 80's when it came out. But it was still intact and even included some full color photos of the movie right in the middle.

If you are interested in the movie, the book does heavily add extra context to it. And quite frankly, that is the reason to read the book. Why? Because the book entirely follows the movie almost word for word. It is a nearly perfect adaptation of the actual film, and this was likely due to pressure from the movies actual two authors.

But with the book "Tron," Brian Daley makes it very, very clear what and why everything is happening. He puts you in the minds of every single character. You will have a full and complete understanding of why everything happened in the movie. However, there are some very specific things I want to mention before I end this review:

1. Brian Daley has a bad habit of drawing out dialog scenes by pausing them constantly to explain why each character is saying the things they are saying. I've seen this done better in other books. Daley does it in an unfortunately sloppy manner, which frustrated me as I read the book.

2. One of my favorite characters from the movie, Bit, was notable for only saying, "Yes," or "No." This was done wonderfully well in the movie. However, Brian Daley constantly makes him say alternative words and even entire phrases that stand in for the simple replies. This was annoying and unnecessary. Although he does go into the mind of Bit, which was extremely welcome and even explained a scene from the movie that was a little confusing. A mixed bag, I suppose.

3. A deleted sex scene from the film was left in the book and written tastefully. The book is not an erotica. I liked the scene a lot and thought it added much to the book, where the deleted scene from the film really had to be chopped for good reason.

"Tron" by Brian Daley is a recommended read to those who enjoyed the film. If you have not seen the movie, it is much harder to recommend, but there is a chance you may still enjoy it as written. Although I do have some complaints, the author does do a decent job at its writing,

On a side note, I found out that this Brian Daley was the one who wrote the script for the original Star Wars audio drama. This audio drama is overwritten as heck, and I did not like it at all. So at the very least, this guy did something I liked, and that's good. Cheers.

Thank you for reading my blog! Did you enjoy it? Either way, you can comment below, or you can email me at tkwadeauthor@gmail.com. You can also visit my website at www.tkwade.com. Check out my books! Thanks!