Most Helpful Customer Reviews
|
|
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Crown: Ascension is a 340 page action packed quick read, October 22, 2005
Hannibal Tabu has taken the "head over heels in love" metaphor to new soaring heights with this superhuman-mortal romance and action tale. I really enjoyed taking in 8,000+ year old Tonya and 20-something James' love affair maybe because the fight scenes are so intertwined with how the story could end and Hannibal's characters are so intriguing. But maybe I really read the book to find out how Tonya still looks 22 after all is said and done. The Crown: Ascension is a great book. (...)
|
|
|
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Crown: Ascension - A *Long* Overdue Review, March 10, 2006
If you've already read the book, then odds are you've seen the name on the foreword. Clearly I'm biased.
But rest assured, gentle reader, I come by it honestly.
Now, in a burst of <strike>inspired laziness</strike> inspiration, I will quote liberally from said foreword to <strike>coughfillercough</strike> enhance this review:
The Crown is your standard-issue love story. Boy meets girl. Girl and Boy fall in love. Boy begins to float like an F-16 and sting like a meteor strike.
Well, not so much "standard issue" as "OMGOMG I gots to read this, STAT!"
Unless, of course, you have no soul and cold plutonium beats within your chest.
... there are many ways to take this story: as societal metaphor; as Hannibal's treatise on gender dynamics, as a portrayal of competent intelligent African (Note: and African American) characters; as the infinitesimal peak of an iceberg that will smash the world of literature into new and exciting pieces within a couple of years (Oops. Did I say too much?); hell, you could just come out and say this is kick-ass comic-book style action and you'd _still_ be right. It's all in the exegesis, baby.
It's all true; this book kicks behind on many levels.
Well now, class, have any of you ever heard the saying `Behind every great man is a woman kicking his ass'? What? Isn't that how it goes? Ok, then `Behind every great man is a greater woman'. Still not right? Hmm, then let's try this: think of a society where power is wielded by men but is held by women. The most immediate result of this would be that men are important not for who they are but for who they marry. Kings would only become king by marrying a queen.
Feminists, take note. Hannibal is on your side too :D
Let's digress momentarily with another saying "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Now, consider the king mentioned above. It would be kinda hard for him to be a brutal dictator when being in the doghouse means getting kicked out of the palace, isn't it? Perhaps we need to relearn some of the old ways.
Draw your own conclusions. While I have a ... significant amount of inside information to draw on, there's still plenty of thought-provoking stuff for those of you not in the inner circle.
But you'd like to know what it all means, right? No one can answer that question until they've read the book - like the Matrix! But I'll give it a go: every single character in The Crown, from the protagonists to the most vestigial of extras, is an aspect of the human psyche as a whole and Hannibal's in particular.
More insider trading from yours truly ...
Tonya is of course the essence of reaching beyond your grasp, the unattainable ideal that keeps us striving to do better. James is the down-to-earth ordinariness that we all succumb to or rage against, just as much of a motivator in its own way as high ideals. Damien Dare ... well, Dare is the id of course; the fight-or-flight survival imperative, the Nietzchian will to power, the dark half of your Manichean inner universe.
Conclusions I drew on my own. Your mileage may vary, but not too much.
And speaking of Damien Dare,
I love the character, can't you tell? Don't laugh, you will too. Any decent God-fearing person who reads this book would think it absolutely shameful that people could like Damien Dare, him being old, bored and here to hurt the innocent. Yet, to paraphrase Laurence Fishburne, the character is unstoppably readable. Deep down (in my case, not so deep), we can't help but identify with him.
Every man on this planet secretly wants to be Damien Dare - some of us just have a hard time admitting it. I have no such problem :D
But this is all getting a bit too literary, isn't it? All this character analysis and such is starting to get all highbrow and even - dare I say it - pretentious. I mean, this ain't exactly _War and Peace_, numsayin'; we've got immortals and other superhumans kicking each other's asses all over the world.
If you're still reading, then this is probably right up your alley. Sold!
Believe it or not, a complete stranger wants you to read a book by a person he's never met. You can take that as a testament to how good, how intelligent, how utterly fricking _cool_ The Crown is.
Hyperbole? Heck no; I stand by this 100%. Buy it.
PS
Want another reason? Even the pages smell nice!
PPS
"But, Chinedum, don't you have anything negative to say about the book? Surely it can't be "perfect."
It is too!
<small>ok ok, so i wish there were even more fight scenes. And that a certain character hadn't died. And that I got to see more of a certain hacker ... but then again, everybody would like to see more of her</small>.
It's perfect, damn your eyes!
*wanders off while continuing to rant incoherently*
|
|
|
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
You too will be enthralled by THE CROWN, April 24, 2006
I am a sucker for a story with a flying man in it
What does that have to do with The Crown: Ascension?
One thing,
There is a flying man in it
But I didnt know that when I purchased it
I purchased it from Amazon a while ago because I am a fan of Hannibal Tabu and his other Web Serial Faraway, availible at his site, the operative.net
I was enamored when it arrived. It took a few weeks before I could sit down and read it. I cracked it open in a diner while waiting for my eggs on a Sunday morning. I did not put it down for the rest of the day. I read until 3 am just to finish it.
I was thoroughly impressed.
The Plot: Theres this woman named Tonya who stopped aging at twenty. If you are lucky enough for her to fall in love with you then somehow her love passes super powers to you, and you can run super fast, lift heavy stuff, and best of all, you can FLY.
James is the lucky SOB who gets to fall in love with Tonya, and they unravel her past while kicking butt and taking names of forces that have plagues Tonya for years.
It is hard to discuss this book without gushing or telling you all the stuff to look out for. I will begin with the dialogue, it is solid, and the characters seem real. James is the everyman with a cool demeanor and a sense of humor. He wants to protect his woman despite her long lifespan and tendency to whip out magical spells and techno wizardry.
The situations are of course fantastic, in that, he keeps flying around the room sort of way which is why I love it so much. And they fight Yakuza for mystical objects, and there is a woman made of hair and I cant even get started on Damien Dare, who you will loathe, and love when you meet him. He is the other immortal who is a thorn in Tonya and James side and he is the most enigmatic bastard you will read about all year.
An intelligent piece of fiction with imaginative scenarios dripping with the type of verisimilitude that only nights of research can provide. Hannibal took time to craft this work and it shows in the page. It is a quick read, full of zeal and panache. The characters are earthy and realistic. The world of Tonya and James is inhabited by eclectic people with multiple motivations and fantastic designs that at times Tonya and James are the catalyst for, and other times they are simply along for the ride.
The book isnt for everyone, I mean, I would not suggest it to my mother, who just wouldnt get into the whole flying man thing, but everyone who sees flicks with me and listens to me when I talk television shows should pick this bad boy up.
For those who know and love the Sci-fi, Action movies, Kung Fu, espionage, secret societies, and mythical tales should definitely stop to read the book.
I would say that you could borrow mine but I want you to go to Amazon.com and buy it so Hannibal will get the cash, and then he will be compelled to slow down the Karaoke and world domination plans and write more.
I can not say enough how much I loved this book.
Did I mention that James flies?
Did I mention the part about him punching through the roof of a building at 900 mph like a human missile?
Did I mention Tonya is an immortal who also kicks major butt?
You will see more of that in book two where they hunt down some fanatic immortal hunters who want them dead.
I cant even begin to tell you how much I am in love with this book.
How much I know you will love it too.
I will sing ringing endorsements of this work of literary fiction from the rooftops as I am more than impressed by it, astounded, if you will.
It is not Shakespeare,
It is African Mythology wrapped in a Matrix coating, dipped in a super heroic candy shell.
It is a love story about the strength of the black woman, and the power she gives the black man
It is a metaphor for sexuality and gender role stereotypes
It is superpimptastic
And you will not forgive yourself for not checking it out
Seriously folks, buy the book.
|
|
|
|
