Double Exposure and The Queen-Seekers.

 Double Exposure by Brian Caswell.

I borrowed this book from the Robertson Library after flipping a few pages. I thought it would be interesting - and guess what? It really was worth the read. 

It tells the story about how a man lived a double life - as himself and his twin brother, for many, many years. He never realized he was doing it, and neither did the people around him did. He had been imagining everything up - even the existence of his parents, who were already dead. Was he hallucinating? No, he wasn't. It was trauma - trauma so severe that it changed his life - and the lives of others, forever.

This man's name was Cain, and he was average, a little normal, but caring all the same. When Cain was Cain, all was fine - but when Cain lived the life of his brother, Chris, he was an artistic streetwise genius - who took photography and art to a whole new level. 

Was Chris ever real? Yes, he was - but Chris died together with his parents together in a car crash many years ago. Cain had been the only one to live. He couldn't accept the fact that everyone around him had died. And basically, human beings have the ability to forget what really hurt them. Cain did just that. With this trauma, he began living the life of Chris, not realizing that Chris no longer existed - Chris, his twin brother; Chris, who had long been dead.

I was caught up in the intensity of the character's emotions, and how Cain affected the people that were around him. Two lives as Cain and Chris, two girls he had changed, and the entire society who hadn't realized that anything was wrong. Brian described sensations and feelings well enough - they weren't exactly complicated or bombastic words, but they felt real and believable. He must have did a lot of research in the art area as well, for a normal writer wouldn't have been able to describe photography and art processes with such defined details.

Yeah. Anyone who loves art or basically just wants to read a heart-wrenching story where human emotions are described soulfully (that fortunately still ends well - I was about to throw my pancakes to the wall) should pick this book up.

The Queen-Seekers by Eirlys Hunter.

It was only after I finished the book with a little disappointment that I realized that it was published by Scholastic - which most likely meant that the book was meant for a younger age-group. Still, at least that managed to tone down a little of the unsettled disappointment in me. I was probably just a little too grown-up to appreciate the child-like thoughts in the book itself.

The book is about Finn who has to solve a quest after entering a computer game. He has to find the pieces of a map, the lost treasure, and the lost heir to the crown after the nasty General has taken over. Sounds typical? Yes, the plot itself has already been overused. The reason why I borrowed the book in the first place was because I saw that it was about a computer game. I should have looked a little closer.

The characters and descriptions were a little bland, and the descriptions weren't as wealthy as I hoped it would be. Basically, once a story is set in an AU (alternate-universe), the writer could show off (in a way) his/her fantastic skills in descriptions about a fantasy setting - like what P.C Cast did in Brighid's Quest. However, the writer didn't do that for this book. Perhaps that was why it was for younger teens - because of its simplicity. Still, it was a little unnerving - I felt like I was reading about a world with a barrier. I couldn't seem to envision anything at all!

Well, it wasn't that bad of course. Some of the dialogue was humorous, and certain bits of the story were catchy and entertaining. The writer strictly kept to the fantasy genre, not mixing it up too much with any other story elements. I have seen books that contained mecha, fantasy, romance, and mysteries altogether - they were choking me up with it,  mind you. At least this writer stuck to what he/she wanted to focus on.

So.

Yeah.

I have to return these books tomorrow. Thank goodness for the library being so near the Foundation Year building - walking to the Central Library would be a total pain. Playing badminton last Friday with a couple of friends gave me a few strained muscles - mainly because I hadn't jumped and waved a badminton racket like a moron for many, many years.

Still, it was fun. 

Very fun indeed.

I shall write more about that next time. 

In the mean time, I shall sleep.