Well, I finally went to Kamakura today. I was going to go to Sanuki (which apparently in tourist terms means Takamatsu and NOT Sanuki itself... because Sanuki is the old Japan name for the city and Takamatsu is the New Japan prefectural system that was once part of Sanuki along with Sanuki city itself...

Anyway, I got lost in the sleepy sleepy town of Sanuki, (In which case, I STILL have no idea what to write for the Nabiki arc, which is entirely set in Sanuki/Takamatsu... I have ideas, but not enough research and not enough plot for it to work) which had nothing in it but... things I can't read because no one speaks a lick of English, and I wasted four whold hours in that trip becuase I kept falling asleep in the train and missing my stops....

After Sanuki I went to Kamakura, which from most people who read Rendezvous, was the town in Sagami that I set the entire fanfic in.

I got off at Kamakura station and got tourist maps and tourist information off the information counter (a must for any tourist, right?)... then I walked around 700m (around a 30 minute walk for me) from the station towards Sagami Bay, which again, from most people who read my fic know that that's where I placed Rose Brier... after which I walked BACK towards the stations, taking smaller roads to the Zeniarai Benten Shrine (The money washing shrine) where Nodoka was supposed to meet up with Ranma and Nabiki when she was visiting for the New Year. The Zeniarai Benzaiten Shrine was SPECTACULAR, and Unique... however if long treks up steep slopes turn you away, there might be difficulty reaching it. (I have pictures... will upload it when I have time... when I get back to the Philippines).

I then walked all the way from Zeniarai Bentzaiten through Genjiyama Park towards Kuzuharaokaininja Shrine. (Which is not part of rend, but seeing I walked through it anyway, is part of this...) And I also took a picture of Hino Toshimoto's grave, also not a part of Rend, but was included in today's walking list... thus is written down. After that ... and I do not suggest doing this just before the sun sets or if you have terrible directions, and if you are alone (as it is a hiking trip through treess), and marginally, if you don't know Japanese (I was lucky, I asked directions from someone who knew English pretty well, and we were both going towards the same direction anyway)... I walked towards Tokeiji temple, which unfortunately closes as 5, and I arrived there at 5:30PM ( had I reversed this entire trek... started at Kitakamakura walked through Genjiyama passed Zeniarai Benten and walked towards Sagami Bay, I would have been able to see everything before five, and the walk would have all been down hill... alas, it was not meant to be... especially since all the tourist maps and all tourist information centers are in Kamakura station and not in Kitakamakura station in the first place.

Finally, (as I said) my last stop was the Tokeiji temple, which was where Ifuku took refuge along with Omokage. I have realized that the walking in my fic was all a bit off. It took me roughly two and a half hours (by walking) to get from Sagami Bay towards Tokeiji Temple, which was brisk walking, but also slow going since I was doing touristy things (like dipping all of my yen in the spring water and taking lots of obscure pictures so I can upload it)

SO honestly, I think the entire trek from Sagami to Tokeiji would have taken one hour and a half to two hours by brisk walking. And in Ranma 1/2 speed, probably half the time it took me to get there. Pictures will be uploaded soon ;p (I have to let you guys see the Zeniarai benten shrine)

Anyway... anyone know ANYBODY in Sanuki? Takamatsu? ANy tourist guides in Takamatsu and Sanuki that you guys know?

I am so enamored with the entire Dark Jewels trilogy that I had to buy myself a copy of the Japanese Invisible ring since I liked the covers, and they have a tendency to draw in the middle of books here. So I wanted a copy.

Two cities and ten bookstores later I realized that knowing "Kono hon ga, arimasu ka?" (Japanese for: do you have a copy of this book?) was not going to cut it. It's either it is because it had so low ratings in Japan, or there are only so much translated books that Japanese people buy, or they're more into manga. Gah, I wish they had translated Dark Jewels trilogy instead of the Invisible Ring. So that all of her books are here, (and probably would have had better reception here if that was what they sold here.) Girls are big fans of this type of fantasy here anyway.


THe point of this post is... after searching for 9 days in ALL the bookstores I've been to, I decided to heed EVERYONE's advice and order it on Amazon.com, where they are selling the book for the grand prize of a second hand copy for 1YEN (that's the cheapest book I've ever bought EVER) and whose shipping costs (Y350/book) was quite more than the book itself.

I now have to call my hotel room in Osaka to tell them that yes, I am planning to be in the Hotel by the sixteenth and that I have a shipment of something coming over by tomorrow, and could they please recieve it. (As shipment here in Japan is QUITE fast... I ordered a book tonight and it would be coming today or tomorrow.... haha)

Anyway... I am hoping I get my book in Japanese (yes, even though I can't read it)I am planning to learn it someday...)

OH MY GOD. There's a Ranma and Akane festival in Japan on October 11, 2009. I found the flyer at a shop in Shibuya (which I can't read because I left my sister at home who serves as my level 1 translator) anwyay... I'll post a picture when I get home to my scanner, but the website page is at:

http://ranafes.web.fc2.com/

I was apprehensive about this book since the blurb showed that it was the sequel of characters from The Invisible Ring. A Grayhaven and a Queen from Keeler, and out of all of the books coming out of the series, The Invisible Ring, though shed light on the spell Jeanelle weaved during Queen of the Darkness was more of a romance story set in a fantasy. It was predictable and it held my interest solely because it was a book in the series that has become my best loved series.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this was indeed a sequel set after Tangled Webs, and though it does contain a healthy dose of the Grayhavens and the Gray Lady's Territory, it also involved a good measure of Jeanelle, Daemon and Seatan (not much of Lucivar and Surreal has taken a vacation after starring in One entire book and two Short stories). This book also managed to tell the readers what happened to Terrielle (sp?) after the purge of the Blood that happened in Book 3 while showing the dynamics of a marriage between The Sadist and Witch as well as the dance between father and sons (as always, the books are strongly about family ties, a reason why I enjoy reading her books so much and a reason why it definitely pulls heart strings.


I'm so very happy with the book and hope, as always that there would be more, but if it was meant as a last hurrah for the entire series, The Shadow Queen has done well in its goal of tying both the prologue and the series together.

Quincey Morris, another paranormal investigation book with the basic premise that Quincey, a great-great-great (with lots of many greats in between) grandson of one of the hunters of Dracula is continuing practicing hunting around in the supernatural community for more than just vampires.

As a story, Black Woman is rich in everything, witches, loup-garous, voodoo and Salem. The first book revolves around the principle of descendants (long lines of them). As I mentioned, Quncey is a descendant of one of the hunters, the main antagonist came from a long line of black witches from the Salem Witch Trials and the victim, another long line of witches from the Salem witch trials.

Unlike most other paranormal investigations, it's not told in the first person, which took some time for me to get used to. There was more than one vein in the story, and more than one protagonist that I was looking the case over. You even read all the gory details of what's happening in the other side, because the story is not reader blind, with a hint(and yes the second book is already out) of who we will be contending with on the next book. Sometimes, not the thing you want to look for when reading a mystery.... because then the book is mostly a cops and robber book, how Quincy, Libby and the other characters (like the FBI who deserves a seat in the starring role too) fight the bad guys, and mostly the occult, how they work... and not trying to find out who exactly the criminal is. A paranormal cops and robbers type of book. Unusual for my type of reading material.

It is a relief that there are some characters in books nowadays that can be just friends on paper like Libby and Morris. Mostly, characters end up just being head-over-heels each other after the first few books. Then again, there han't been a 'first-few-books' yet, but it seemed clear that Libby and Quincy were strictly working on a friendship basis. (Although I'm not sure if Libby will be appearing in any more books... but... the next villain would probably warrant Morris consulting her.)

Well anyway, I'm going to give myself some time before I get the next book.

I finally finished reading something other than a pharmacology book.

At Grave's end is the third of Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress Series where Cat, a half-vampire half-human vampire slayer (because that's mostly what dhampires end up doing in the book world), who in the last book (spoilers for those who haven't read Book 2) married Bones through what seems to be a political move to save them.

I thought that after book 2, book 3 was possibly going to be a stagnant book. The entire Bones issue was resolved already so there wasn't anything to do there plot wise. Cat already knew mostly who her father was and just needed to go after him (which obviously, and was one of the things that was brought about by this book. And most of the things left to be written out in the series was either too predictable or too good to be true.

Spoliers up.
Of course since the book has mostly spiraled into a romance, pretty much all endings were anticipated and Bones has turned out to be... too... powerful for my tastes. And while, again, there seems to be nothing new in the remdering of this book, I still enjoyed reading it. (Yes, I'm easy to please, apparently the predictability... you obviously don't believe ANYONE significant is going to get hurt... and Bones' all too powerful powers wasn't a turn off until I finished reading it... okay maybe the predictability got me the first few seconds)

When I started reading the series, I seriously suspected it was going to sound like some quasi-futuristic book, what with the mirror phoning and the handprint scanning through the doors. The author does explain most of this as magic but though it's explained that way, I still have trouble imagining that any magical race would read such a scientific thing as a handprint rather than a magical aura... but that's just the nitpicker in me.

The Chronicles of Elantara settle around the story of the Chosen, Kaylin, it mostly revolves around three things 1) storytelling, 2) children 3) and a past most often bitterly revisited and quite frustratingly shady. I was teary eyed with book 3 because it had so much emotion in it, but I think that was what the author wanted to get across in the first place.

What is FRUSTRATING about this series is, although there is good worldbuilding (yes, I am ignoring my nitpicking over scientific handprints and magic reading handprints... it's two different branches of ... thought I tell you), I find myself having the most difficult of times reading this book. Mostly, it might be because Kaylin, the lead of the series, has such FLIGHTY thoughts, that she keeps interrupting when people are speaking that I don't even know what's the complete sentence until after I re-read the sentence. Sometimes, I don't even know who's talking (and yes, this happens to all the characters). And sometimes, because Severn knows Kaylin so well, they keep talking in glances which I can't read. There are more than a dozen instances in the book where Severn knows what Kaylin is thinking and she ends a sentence, before I understand it because Severn already does. Or because they understand each other, they don't need to explain to the rest of of the world. Then there are the times that the worldbuilding gets ahead of me and people explain the five races (because obviously I only understand human) and I have to re-read the paragraph because though the explanation makes sense to the characters, it doesn't make sense to me. Then there are the sentences that are otherwise readable but have small side comments (by the speaker himself) in the middle. Hence, there are times that I read a paragraph or a sentence more than three times to make sure I understood. Not to mention the fact that the girl side of me is utterly frustrated with the pace set for the entire Severn-Kaylin story. Sometimes, I even think there are more Nightshade than there is Severn.

Otherwise, the story is moving and finding out more about the races and the investigations that are handed to Kaylin is intriguing enough (which is the reason why I'm torturing myself with waiting for more books). All in all, I've read better books, but adore this none the less.

My Christmas read this year turned out to be Karen Chance's Dorina Basarab Chronicles. Dorina, Dory to her friends, is the half vampire half human daughter of Mircea (yes, it's a spin-off Cassandra Parker series for those who read it.) And if you're not weirded out by the fact that the main romance lead in one book is the father of the other, Dorina Basarab will get you past the fact that the next Karen Chance book is off in the middle of 2009. Dorina is a bit rougher than Cassandra, and I keep wondering when the two leads will meet even if Dorina doesn't want to do anything much for her father, but that's for another book. This book is mostly about learning about the Basarab family ties, including Uncle Vlad the impaler and the bookish Radu and the only vampire, because in this book, Mircea pits Dorina against Vlad who, if I'm not mistaken, is actually alive due to the changes in time dealt by the Priya. There is also a subplot involving the Fey because, yes, every Urban Fantasy female lead needs a love triangle or, at least, another dominant male to shake up the attraction between Dorina and the leading contender. I like the tension present between Louis-Cesare and Dorina, in fact, I like the way the deal with each other. I am looking forward to the next book in this series and am happy that one of the other leads in the Cassandra Parker series was given a history other than what Cassandra knows. I really like the characters and am picking up the next book, but then, this is another Cassandra Parker book anyway

The book I've been waiting for for a year has its ups downs and curveballs. Spoilers up ahead.

What I liked about this book is that there was action a whole lot of the way. A good deal of predictions came true, but not all of them. You get answers in this book, because obviously it's the final book in the series, unless someone higher up decides to milk it for all its worth and have a couple more in the future. But from the way the author wrote it out in the blod in the past, she was tired of writing of the series anyway, so yay for anita fans, probably more anita blake to churn out.

You get to answer in this book who gets to take the Unseelie sithen, you get the answer of will Frost come back. You get the answer of who killed Essus. For Doyle fans, there was an almost sex moment with him, interrupted viciously by a lot of talk between other people and Mistral's hurt feelings. I know, the world ends. NO the book didn't turn out like Mistral's Kiss, there was a lot of almost dying that it tended to get repetitive after a while.

I did not get to see more of Doyle's past, which was a bummer. Because all of the plot progression was crammed into one book and recap was crammed into chapter one. Honestly. You could not read chapter one if you wanted to. I would turn to fanfics except LKH has forbidden that avenue of entertainment due to weird fanfic world politics.

I need to read the entire series again, especially since I believe the entire Doyle-Merry thing was too rushed. Hey, I love the guy, just not the way it was executed. He was Merry's first guard, then in book two he didn't trust her, in book three he showed her grudging respect and wham bam in book five and six, they were in love and in seven they were cuddling. Honestly, it was strange to read the darkness in book 7 cuddling. Utterly strange but lovely because I liked him a lot anwyway.

I would have loved to see how this would have proceeded up to the point of birthing the twins but it's pouintless now. Unless we watch a series of murders and the guards scuttling around investigating, much like most paranormal series now, hwich I think was never the point of Meredith Gentry, even though she was a PI.

Meredith, Princess but never Queen.

*sigh* the world turns.