Death Watch

"Death Watch," Ari Berk, is a fantastic novel on death and what it means to live.
       Lichport is a town where the dead outnumber the living.  Amos Umber used to be the town's Undertaker, putting the spirits of the dead to rest and keeping the fragile peace between the world.  Amos Umber went missing while working a year ago, though, and his disappearance has haunted his son, Silas.  Moving into his uncle's house in Lichport, Silas stalks the old, abandoned streets looking for clues to his fathers appearance.  But Silas is no child and the more time he spends looking for his lost father is less time he has to figure out the real problem in Lichport, the one that's got everyone on their toes; a lonely ghost locked in a house, an insane man looking for blood, and the ship wicked that's hovering just beyond the horizon.

You know what's going on forty pages after Silas steps over the threshold and into his uncle's house.  Well, you know the basic premise of what's going to happen, but still.  That's a hundred pages into a (I want to say) 500 page book? Eh.  Could be better.
     Also, Silas is a spoiled brat.  All he thinks about is his 'girlfriend' and his father's disappearance.  Okay, so, maybe he's not a spoiled brat.  But he's pretty self-absorbed.  He is a basically good person and he's selfless when he can see past his own problem.  When Mr. Peale dies he's still wrapped up in his father and he has to do the final rites.  Hello?  Quit worrying.  There's a time for everything.  Eventually, though, I do believe that he learns his lesson.  It's always nice to see a character grow after reading an absurdly long novel.  In my mind, he was cutting an impressive figure by the end, but that might just be my perception and my obsession of good beating evil, good personalities over bad personalities.
     I'm not saying that it's a bad book, though. It's one of those books that can carrying on no matter what mood the protagonist is in.  There isn't a dreadful amount of dialogue; the descriptions of things outweigh the dialogue by far.  The amount of description is like that of C.S. Lewis's, in literary nature, of course.  I've heard some people describe the Narnia books as wordy, and if you can't handle those I don't believe that "Death Watch" is for you.
      But, lo, the descriptions describe something wonderful.  The ghostly worlds jump of the page.  It's phenomenal.  The town of Lichport is as real as any town on the map, sometimes more real.  The closed in lanes of the Narrows; the playground;  the cramped, chaotic, and serene sight of that graveyard that's on the hill that I've gone and forgotten the name of; and (one of my favorite parts) the tea house and the alehouse where the spirits go to forget that they ever lived.  They all played like a little movie in my head, and I believe that I would recognize those places if I ever stumbled across them.
       Also, I love books about death.  I know that's extraordinarily morbid, but I do. Books that bring up theories about what happens to you after you die, books that speculate what the meaning of death is.  This is a book that does both, with an added question: What is death if you've never really lived at all  The question is sort of buried within the many pages, but I agree with it wholeheartedly, or, at least, as much as one can agree with a question.  The book also brings up another interesting concept (yes, this one also has to do with death); the memory of the dead.
       Not the memory of the spirits, but how people remember them.  Silas's mother's grandfather decided not to die, so he's basically a 'zombie' or a corpse with a will.  No, he does not try to eat anyone's brains, sorry for the disappointment.  Mainly, he sleeps.  But, all that aside, Silas's mother's grandfather is a good example of the books theme "Remember the dead," because Silas's mother is afraid of her grandfather. She doesn't want to remember him.  In fact, she moves so she doesn't have to remember him anymore.  This could be in part because he's a corpse, but it also could be a metaphor, and not just about death.  A lot of people are afraid to remember things that are painful to them.
      Also, in the spirit world, spirits try to remember things too.  I think that those souls 'have lost something but have given up on looking for it' but I don't have the book in front of me so I can't check up on the correct wording.  But these souls lost something in their life, and now, upon their death, they've given up looking, but they're still stuck. This could be another metaphor, but about people who are living.
     So, really, the book isn't all about death.  It's about the living and how death affects them.  It has multiple levels, which makes for an enthralling read.  All in all, Silas Umber's story isn't half bad, not half bad at all.  Now, if only he can stay alive long enough to give us more of them.

The Mortal Instruments Trilogy

"The Mortal Instruments Trilogy" by Cassandra Clare is comprised of five books but only the first three are worth mentioning:

        City of Bones:  Clary Fray was in the night club Pandemonium when she watched three teenagers dispose of another being.  Now Clary's mother has been taken prisoner by a strange beast and she's found out that her mother has been having her memories erased by a warlock who lives in TriBeCa.  What?  Secrets and dreams are coming apart at the seams, and Clary's having trouble standing on her own two feet when a mysterious group called the Shadowhunters (prickly, pretty Isabelle; prickly and shy Alec; and prickly, egotistical and f-i-n-e Jace) come to help her fight the demons that are creeping up on all sides.

      City of Ashes:  Bodies of Downworlder children, drained with blood, have been found in dark, abandoned alleyways.  Idris and the Clave, the land and government of the Shadowhunters, has decided that its time to get involved, but it would be better if our heroes were left to their own devices because what they'll have to do to save the day won't be sanctioned by any book of regulations.  Clary's trapped in her own personal nightmare when she finds that she has more of a family than she ever could hope for -- if only her new-found familial ties didn't include him.  

      City of Glass:   Keep your friends close, your enemies closer, and your family closest of all, because if their hands are in yours they can't stab you in the back.  Breaking several laws, Clary breaks into Idris, the land of the Shadowhunters, enraging the highest magical law on this world or any other.  While hiding out from them in their own country, Clary finds several secrets that she never thought even existed.  But time's running out if she's to stop her own flesh and blood from destroying all she's come to love.  

Let me tell you, these books are wicked.  Yeah, sure, there might be a bit too much romance in some places, but the demon fighting it pretty awesome.  And the psychology behind it all!  It's really quite astounding.  The other two books in this 'Trilogy' (should it be called a 'quintet'?  because, clearly, there are five books) are worth nothing because a) they are simply ridiculous (Just how many times can a person come back from the dead?  Cassandra Clare's got a bit of James Patterson in her.) and b) we get it.  Clary has a boyfriend.  Thank you.  You can stop illustrating your point for us now.

       I really liked the diversity of the characters in this.  Simon, Clary's best friend, is the source of a good chunk of the problems for the group, but, generally, he's a good natured guy and I admire him for that.  He is also a voice of stability and reason among all of the craziness and magic, which is always good in a book like this that can get caught up in the thrill of its own mystique.  Jace is an egotistical maniac, and I think that it's been established that I have a soft spot for that sort.  Isabelle is the ultimate femine fatal, complete with a miniskirt and a sword.  Alec is a lost and a little needy, almost, until he realizes who he is and how he (and him telling the world who he is is one of the most fantastic moments in the whole trilogy). Magnus Bane is a riot, but his majesty is sort of kept under wraps for fear of throwing the whole story overboard.  Clary is the perfect contemporary fiction heroine, with her cell phone and subway map.  Not exactly the cast of 'Spud,' but pretty darn close.

      The villain of the series, Valentine, is intensely complicated, but that doesn't make him seem any more human.  One thing that I don't like about villains in general (like I have only one thing to complain about) is that they're larger than life, and that keeps them from being human.  We can connect with the main characters, the protagonists, but we never feel what the bad guy is feeling.  This is a technique used to make us hate the villain, which is necessary for the story to work, but it still can be sort of . . . impersonal.  How can I hate Valentine if I don't even know the person he is?  You have to just accept that the bad guy is a bad guy and move on in this story.  

      A strong point of this story, other than the wonderful cast of protagonists, is the setting.  Modern New York City with an underbelly full of demons.  To fight the demons, there is a system of police called 'Shadowhunters' run mainly by teenagers because they're the only ones who haven't died yet.  In between the two groups are the 'Downworlders';  werewolves, vampires, Faeries, and other miscellaneous half-demon scum.  It is fantastic.  

      The books, even though they talk about killing demons and your own family members preach about accepting people.  The Shadowhunters hate the Downworlders because the Shadowhunters are part angel and the Downworlders are part demon.  But to win, they must join together.  It's a nice sentiment.

     Final messages:  The books are messed up.  Messed up messed up.  Like, 'oh, is this my brother I'm kissing?!' messed up.  So . . . The books also have a quite bit of religion in them.  Magnus quotes the Bible, at one point, and the whole thing of angels vs. demons is religious, though the demons come from different dimensions, not from deep down under.  Also, Alec is gay.  I, personally, find that pretty awesome because it shows his inner strength and conveys a new way of someone being who they know they are.  

      "The City of Bones" is a movie that comes out on August 23, 2013.  The complete series is, in the order as listed, "The City of Bones," "The City of Ashes," "The City of Glass," "The City of Fallen Angels," and "The City of Lost Souls."  So. The last two books do have their own charms, by the way of you getting to see a side of the characters you didn't get to see in the other three books, but they are so not the best.  Especially not "The City of Fallen Angels."  Just sayin'.  

      Is it fine to tell a white lie for the safety and well being of a person that you love?  But when the lies collapse, the person you lied for might not be as well off as intended.  

This link is better than most book links:  www.mortalintruments.com  The illustrations of the characters are lame, though.  None of the people look like that, I swear.  

This is the link to the movie trailer, which I watch at least once a day: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1538403/   My favorite part is when Clary says "There's too many of them!"  and Jace says "Have a little faith," because Jace is so full of himself, it's rather amusing.  This is the cast list to the movie, which is cool; http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1538403/fullcredits    Magnus is awesome.