The Chronicles Of Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew

Originally the 6th book… The Magician’s Nephew is now the 1st in the series. Based in the year 1900 in normal human year count, it tells of a young boy, Digory Kirk, went to live with his aunt and uncle because his dad was in India and his mother was terminally. When he was there, meets a girl who lives next door, Polly, and they soon find themselves walking through a secret passage which led to Digory’s uncle’s work place. Fortunately for his Uncle Andrew but unfortunately for them, Uncle Andrew wanted to use Digory and Polly for his “experiment”. Feeling that his uncle was a little eccentric, Digory tries to find a way out but Uncle Andrew manages to trick Polly into a trap where she picked up a yellow ring and disappeared. Now it was all up to Digory to bring her back. Uncle Andrew explains that Polly was sent to another world by the magic yellow ring and the only way for her to come back was for him to go after her bringing along two magic green rings which will enable safe return, or so he says. Having no choice, Digory goes after her. After a short while of what seemed like a water roller coaster ride, Digory comes out from a pool and finds himself in some kind of quiet woods, where he finds Polly. The woods was filled with many small pools of water. But instead of going straight back, Digory and Polly decided to check out what other worlds that the pools led to. They came to a place where it seemed that everyone there was frozen in some spell and at one end there was a bell which beckons anyone to ring it in order to awaken the be-spelled people. Being a curious little boy, Digory decides to ring the bell even though Polly told him not to. Then they find themselves in over their heads. They had awaken the evil witch who is extremely power crazy. As a last ditch to be rid of the witch, they decided to head back for home. Unfortunately, the witch managed to tag along and ended up in their world or rather “our” world. Needless to say she tried to make everyone bow to her supremacy but it only infuriated everyone. Digory and Polly new very well that they couldn’t just leave her in their world so they had no choice but to go back. This time their journey brought them to another place, a place that had just began to come alive. The creator of that land was a gigantic lion by the name of Azlan, and the place was Narnia. At the sight of the great lion, the witch fled and disappeared. With a lot of questions ringing in his mind, Digory went to seek advice from the great lion Azlan. When he met Azlan, he was sent to rectify his deed, the fact that he brought the evil witch to Narnia on it’s day of birth (Narnian Year 1). Digory was sent to retrieve a magic apple, from which a magical tree will grow and it will guard Narnia from the harm of the witch. When he got back triumphant from the task, he was given a reward by Azlan. A apple from the tree that grew from the apple he brought back. The apple was for his mother whom from eating the apple will recover from the sickness. After that, the were sent home. Digory and Polly never went back to Narnia because they decided to bury the rings for the fear that someone would use them for evil. However, Digory did plant the core of the apple that he gave his mother from where a tree grew. Although its fruit did not give healing powers, it was exceptionally tasty and nutritious. Many years later, the tree was struck down but Digory used the wood to construct a wardrobe…

Digital Fortress

Another masterpiece by Dan Brown. This time the characters are different from the previous two books. Instead of art and symbologies, the theme for this story is computer technologies and of course his usual favourite, codes and encryptions. It’s basically about some guy who managed to create an encryption code which cannot be cracked without the key and the NSA is trying to find the key “for the sake of national security”. But it turns out that there are more lies than truths beneath this whole mystery. I would say that this book has definitely more violence and more scandals than the previous two books. But I have to say… the characters are so stupid for an “intelligence agency” people… I mean I figured out the code way before they did… Maybe because it’s Chemistry… my least favourite subject and my weakest as well… Hahaha… Cheers…

Angels & Demons

Another great book by Dan Brown featuring Robert Langdon. It’s rather ironic that in The Da Vinci Code, Robert Langdon was helping the Church’s opposition but in this book he is helping the Church. And he has a new female lead… sorta like James Bond but with a higher IQ and less action… hahaha… This time, it’s about a professor/priest who discovered a way to prove the theory of big bang and how God plays part in it, fusing science and spirituality, who was murdered and one of his creation (anti-matter) was stolen and is now on the verge of explosion. Robert and Vittoria Vetra (the female lead, daughter of the professor/priest guy) go to Vetican City to find this anti-matter only to find a whole big scandal behind it. Comparing this book and the other I would say The Dan Vinci Code is slightly more interesting because of all the connection between artwork and Christianity and all that, but in this one it’s basically about the Illuminati (you know the one in the movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) and a poem. The phrase “Let angels guide you on your lofty quest” repeats over and over. But none-the-less… it’s still a good book… so read it… Cheers…

The Da Vinci Code

Dan Brown is a genius… or at least I dare say… The details of the whole mystery is so well researched and written, it’s almost perfect. This is one book I cannot tell you the story because you HAVE to read it. Initially I thought it would be difficult to understand but I was wrong. Everything you need to know is explained in the book. The story gives you excitement and keeps you on the edge of your seat and the book glued to your hands and your eyes glued to the book!! One of my favourite books, definitely. Bravo!! Please… you’ve really got to read it if you haven’t yet!! Or maybe you would rather wait for the movie to come out. It will star Tom Hanks as the leading man Robert Langdon, Audrey Tautou (who starred in French movies Amelie and current A Very Long Engagement) plays eading lady Sophie Neveu and Jean Reno (who starred in one of my favourite movies Wasabi) plays Captain Bezu Fache, due to be released in 2006. But I still recommend you to read the book… Cheers!!

A Series Of Unfortunate Events – Book 11: The Grim Grotto

Count Olaf’s Diguise: None

Situation: The Baudelaires were saved by Captain Widdershins, captain of the Queequeg submarine and member of V.F.D. The mission of the Queequeg was to find the “Sugarbowl” which was in an unknown destination but they had to find it before Count Olaf does because that was the only thing standing in the way of Count Olaf and triumph over V.F.D. After much research, they decided to head towards the Gorgonian Grotto. But when they got there, the found that the place was infested with Medusoid Mycelium, the most poisonous fungus in the world. But it was too late, it had started to infect Sunny and it was a race against time to get back to the Queequag. When they got back, they got even more bad news. The were now captured by Count Olaf and time was running out for Sunny…

>Ending: For the first time, a good one

A Series Of Unfortunate Events – Book 10: The Slippery Slope

Count Olaf’s Disguise: None

Situation: The Baudelaires are now separated as Sunny was kidnapped by Count Olaf and taken up to V.F.D (Valley Of Four Drafts), while Violet and Klaus were left to die. But of course they manage to get out. But because of snow gnats (insects that sting), they had to take refuge in a cave, only to find out they were not alone. In the cave were a group of Snow Scouts were camping and one of the more prominent scouts was non other than Carmelita Spats the girl that had made the Baudelaires’ lives miserable during their time in Prufrock Preparatory School. They later meet a mysterious person within the group of scouts who turned out to be Quigley Quagmire, the third of the Quagmire triplets who was supposed to be killed in a fire. Their mission now is to rescue Sunny and find out where on earth was the V.F.D headquarters to seek refuge…

Ending: A bad one

A Series Of Unfortunate Events – Book 9: The Carnivorous Carnival

Count Olaf’s Diguise: None

Situation: In order to escape, the Baudelaire children had no choice but to hide in Count Olaf’s car trunk. Now they had arrived in Caligari Carnival. This is the home of Count Olaf’s resource to find everything he wanted, a gypsy named Madame Lulu. In order to find out more, the children dressed up like freaks so that they could work in Madame Lulu’s House Of Freaks. Violet and Klaus dressed up to be a two-headed person and Sunny was a wolf-baby. They later find out that they wee in over their heads because they were to be fed to lions as part of the new act in Caligari Carnival. In fact, Count Olaf already knew it was them and had planned this…

Ending: A bad one

A Series Of Unfortunate Events – Book 8: The Hostile Hospital

Count Olaf’s Disguise: Mattathias (The director of Heimlich Hospital)

Situation: The Baudelaire children are now on the run, wanted by almost everyone in the country. They hitch hike with a volunteer group V.F.D (Volunteers Fighting Disease) whom had the weirdest mottos like “No News Is Good News” and their way of fighting disease is singing and handing out heart-shaped balloons. When they get to Heimlich Hospital, they were stationed to work at the hospital’s library of records. They find out that there is actually a file about them and set out to find it. As it turns out, the file had been taken away, all except the last page, page 13 which hints of a survivor in a fire. However, Violet gets caught by Esme Squalor, Count Olafs girlfriend. She was given a fake name and set to have a cranioectomy, the world’s first ever. So Klaus and Sunny has to find a way to get her out…

Ending: A rather bad one