This week i read The Andromeda Strain by Michael Chrichton. It is about a mysterious virus that kills everything in its path. The militray has accidentally unleashed it on the world population. They were investigating means of biological warfare when they released it. Luckily, the scientists of america have anticipated this, and an elite team of scientists has been assembled to deal with this. There is also the matter of a man who survived the virus and is on the loose. I can tell that there will be problems on the way to the cure, or else this book would be boring. i look forward to reading about the suspense, tension, and terror that ensues.

This week I read Ithaka by Adele Geras and The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown.

I did not like Ithaka at all. It was too similar to Troy as i have said before, and unlike i had hoped the stories did not deviate in the similarity of their endings, both containing similar ideas of sadness and destruction. I would give this book a 4 because if i had read it without having ead the other, i might have liked it, but instead i didn't like it.

I really liked The Lost Symbol, however. Dan Brown is a very good, suspenseful writer, and he's also a very seducing conspiracy theoryist. In this book, his theories are about the origins of Washington D.C., and a society called the Masons. He also incorporates about the science of thought, and the idea that minds and thoughts can cause reactions. So far I've liked all of his books because they incorporate totally outlandish elements, symbols, and things, yet they all seem to fit together perfectly and seemlessly. He also always makes you wonder what will happen next, because he does not always tell his characters revelations when they have them, and the characters are almost always in danger. This one does not disappoint. I give it a 9.

This week i was reading Ithaka by Adele Geras. It is very similar to Troy, another book by Geras. They both take place in Ancient Greece. They both involve the members of the royal household. They both concern love, and death and the Trojan War. The characters in both see gods. At some points the books just seem so similar that it is sickening. I'm sure that if i had read them at the same time i would have hated both. I can only hope that as the book progresses, it deviates from its similarity to Troy, and in doing so become more enjoyable to me. 

This past week, I finished the books Brisingr by Christopher Paolini and Troy by Adele Geras. They were both good books.

I would give Brisingr a seven. Although I enjoyed the mythology of this other world, the book was too long and they spent too much time waiting for things to happen. I think that this whole four book series could be condensed into two books that would only have to be as long as a regular one would have.

I would give Troy a nine. It is a book that takes place during the Trojan War, but that is quasi-background. It is really about the trials on the inhabitants of the royal household, whether its the stable boy, the wife of the king's son, or that woman's handmaid. In this book, the gods play a large part, as it is Ancient Greece, and appear to everyone, making people fall in love, explaining the plans for the war, and protecting people, yet no one remembers that the gods were there. It is a mish-mosh of stories, yet somehow these stories all fit together to form a complete and interesting tale I loved to read.