The Stars My Destination

This novel, probably one of the best, or my personal favorite novel of the semester.  The story follows a man named Gully Foyle who is the last survivor of a merchant ship that was attacked in the war of the outer satellites. After seeing another ship the Vorga, off in the distance he signals for aid but the ship passes by him by. Gully then finds a way to crudely repair the ships engine then sets off on an epic quest for sweet revenge.  There are two main reasons why I loved this. One, the main character doesn't take crap from anyone, a vindictive character is a great character in my opinion.  The other being the setting.  The feeling of the age of exploration reborn in the stars has always fascinated me.  The dangerous unknown combined with a sense of lawlessness in an adventure never gets old.  This story as well as others similar to this tend to make me consider the future of the human race, and what our lives are destined to become.

Anansi Boys

This is a novel written by Neil Gaiman.  The story is about a young timid man who  is preparing to get married.  While preparing for the wedding he is interrupted by news of his father's death in Florida.  While in Florida for the funeral he is told that his father was actually Anansi, a west African spider god.  I really enjoyed this story mainly for introducing African mythology which I previously knew nothing about.  Gaiman also does a great job of describing situations and just overall has an enticing writing style.  Although I have yet to complete the novel I definitely plan to as soon as possible.  The use of mythologies that I am not familiar with gave me a refreshing new look at the fantasy genre and reinvigorated my interest in it.