Mato Watermelon Watermelon itibaren Andulgari, West Bengal 743502, Hindistan itibaren Andulgari, West Bengal 743502, Hindistan

Almost every surfer I know has recommended this, so I finally read it. I've never really found a surf book I liked, but this was closest. I'm not sure if the author and I would have been surf buddies (he's 50, a longboarder, picks fights, and used to run drugs), but he's definitely a great story-teller. And his adventures traveling from Mexico to Costa Rica are a trip. He does a great job weaving in stories from his younger days, stories of his pot smuggling days, and stories of his journey to make a very good beach read. I loved hearing the stories of all the people he meets - half the expats down south are 'on the run' - and have great stories :) Aside from the good storytelling I felt there was depressing undertone to the book, as if the author was never quite satisfied with his life regardless of what happened to him. This makes sense I suppose given he's kinda having a midlife crisis - but it didn't amp me up with enthusiasm for life. But on the positive side, it did gave me a strong thirst to explore central america soon - and to go surfing :)

I just reread this for my book club, and came back to check what I had written here after my first read. This was all I had: This book was tremendous, David Gemmell is truly a brilliant fantasy writer. I owe the late David Gemmell an apology for such a half-assed review. While what I said was and still is true, it is a huge understatement considering this is one of my all-time favorite fantasy novels. I will now try to do it better justice this time around. First of all, the entire story, which is fairly grand in scope, takes place in one 400-page book. Think about how impressive that is considering how long-winded some fantasy authors are (Patrick Rothfuss) or how some endlessly serialize their works (Robert Jordan, who didn't even let death get in the way of serializing more of the The Wheel of Time series). The novel takes the trope of the farmboy-turned-chosen-one on its head, by having the titular protagonist, Druss, be an old veteran warrior -- whose back-story is only vaguely hinted at -- knowingly and intentionally marching to his death at the siege on Dros Delnoch. It also has a number of other interesting supporting characters, from Rek the baresark (Gemmell's word for berserker), to a group of mystical warrior monks known as The Thirty, to the lovable rogue Bowman. Equally important, the leader of the invading Nadir army, Ulric, is not a stereotypical, stock villain. More than once it is mentioned that he is only doing what the protagonists' ancestors did hundreds of years before, when they created the Drenai empire. Ulric also has his own sense of honor, and in one scene near the end, he laments how (view spoiler) he has been made into the evil villain, without his knowledge or consent. I could go on, but I'll say this, which is high praise in itself -- I reread the book in two sittings. The fact that I couldn't put it down on a second reading is pretty impressive to me. As a final aside, contemporary British fantasy author Joe Abercrombie, who seems to be a spiritual successor to David Gemmell, seems to channel the character of Druss the Legend in his character Logen "The Bloody Nine" Ninefingers.

I think this novel had a lot of potential, but Porizkova fumbled shortly after the first half. I quickly lost my concern for the main character, Jirina, who despite her constant mentions of 'Anna Karenina' and Mozart got dumber as the novel progressed. The author seems semi-obsessed with bodily functions. Someone was always pooping, vomiting, menstruating or doing something I don't want to read about over lunch. On a positive note, I think Porizkova‘s descriptions of go-sees and Paris seem realistic and I think her talents would be better spent on nonfiction works.