Synecdoche, New York (New York Yanılsamaları) itibaren içinde LIT biçim

Vlad Zorin vladzorin — Definitely long, but worthwhile. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a meaty book.

Necati Aycicek necatiaycicek — An interesting and complex little book, excellent in highlighting why we do what we do, and what drives us to love and to hate. It's about people and culture and language and manipulation. It's very rich, and it certainly merits a second reading. I do love that two of the principle characters are engineers, and there are a number of engineering-types in the periphery. Then get wound up in their little engineering problems to the point where they overlook the bizarre human drama around them. I wonder why that spoke to me?

Sela Kong sela10octo9110 — Originally published on The Librarian Next Door: Sophie Mercer thought things couldn’t get any worse. First, she discovered that the Council was secretly raising demons to use as weapons, then the Casnoffs turned on her and her father, stripping away her powers and trying to kill them both. Though Sophie manages to escape – not knowing the fate of her father, her boyfriend Archer, or her fiance Cal – she’s brought to the doorstep of the Brannick’s, a family of Prodigium hunters. But even after more surprises and discoveries, Sophie is still stuck. Both the Brannicks and the Casnoffs think she is the key to the impending war between the Prodigium and their enemies, but without her powers, she’s not much use to either side. Sophie must venture back to Hex Hall to find the one spell that will help her. Then all she’ll have to do is battle an army of demons and save the world. No problem – right? Spell Bound is the third and final book in Rachel Hawkins’ Hex Hall series and after much anticipation and a year-long wait, Spell Bound concluded Sophie’s story in a dramatic way. The book picks up right where Demonglass left off and flies through the story at a relentless pace. I felt like I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough because there was always something on the next page that I just had to get to. I kept reminding myself to slow down and enjoy the story, especially since I knew it was going to be the last book. I was thrilled to discover that most of my theories, formulated after reading Demonglass, turned out to be true (I was RIGHT! Ha!), but Hawkins still managed to include a few twists and surprises. While I didn’t ever doubt that Sophie and Company would triumph in the end, I liked that I didn’t always know how it was going to happen. Of course, Spell Bound is filled with Sophie’s trademark sarcastic humor and snark, which helps keep the book from feeling too serious, though the characters still felt sufficiently in danger at the right moments. There are also a few new intriguing characters introduced throughout the novel and with well-confirmed rumors of a spin-off novel coming in the future, I’m confident we’ll be seeing some of these people again. (In fact, I can think of a few stories, as either prequels or sequels, that I’d like to read.) Once again, Sophie is our narrator and at the center of all the action. She’s still the Sophie we know and love from the previous books, but she’s stronger now. Even without her magic, she shows signs of having grown up and it’s clear that she’s willing to take on this fight that she’s inherited, to do the right thing and help save the people she loves. She even manages to cope remarkably well with the revelations that come at her over the course of the book and I especially loved how she comes to terms with her magic and learns to accept and control it. I would have liked to see Sophie try to fight without her magic for a little while longer (and, for that matter, I did feel that Elodie’s “help” was a bit of a cheat that negated the missing magic problem), but overall, it’s clear that she really has come a long well since her first mistakes in Hex Hall. I do have a few quibbles about Spell Bound, most notably that the pace of the novel meant the ending and the “climactic” ending felt rushed. I think Hawkins should have drawn the story out more, built up the tension and the danger so that the payoff was greater. There were also some decisions Hawkins made as an author that I didn’t like, even if they made sense for a particular character. The resolution of Sophie’s love triangle with Cal and Archer was a bit of a letdown (and if you have read the book, you know there’s a pretty obvious reason why) and it did seem as if Hawkins took the easy route with some of the plot points. I was left feeling like I wanted more, to somehow make Spell Bound more complete. I’m sad to see Sophie’s story finished and I feel like there are still so many more stories still waiting to be told. Fans of Rachel Hawkins and the Hex Hall series will no doubt love her entertaining and fast-paced conclusion to the series. Spell Bound may not be perfect, but it is enjoyable, funny and satisfying, with a story that both concludes Sophie’s adventures and leaves enough questions unanswered to keep readers imagining what could happen next. If you’ve read either of the first two books in the series, do not miss the final chapter of Sophie’s wild ride.