We'll Finally Get Scott Lynch's "Republic of Thieves"

We've waited. And waited. And waited some more.... 

And no, the day is not here... yet.

But finally we know when it's coming! 

The most brilliant author in the world at the moment, Scott Lynch, finally brought us the release date for the third book about the Gentlemen Bastards. The Republic of Thieves had been eagerly awaited for years... And due to a lot of different reasons the rumors surrounding the book and its release has been both many, inconsistent and false. But finally Lynch himself declared that the book would be published October 8th 2013, and that the only thing that could prevent that would be obliteration of the planet Earth. And since we all survived 2012 I see no future apocalypse coming any time soon...

If you've got no idea why this is such a big deal for me and a whole lot of others across the world, I should probably mention that the books about the Gentlemen Bastards are probably my favorite books in the entire world, at least so far... And that says a lot actually, as I've read a quite substancial amount of books considering the fact that I'm only nineteen years old.

Amazon about: The Lies of Locke Lamora

In a distant world, orphan Locke Lamora is sold into a crew of thieves and con artists. Soon his natural gifts make him an underworld celebrity, leader of the flamboyantly larcenous Gentleman Bastards. But there is someone who covets Locke's talents, his success, his very life, forcing him to put everything on the line to protect himself. Set in a fantastic city pulsing with the lives of decadent nobles and daring thieves, here is a story of adventure, loyalty, and survival that is one part Robin Hood, one part Ocean’s Eleven, and entirely enthralling.…

(full description here...)

Amazon about: Red Seas Under Red Skies

Like its roguish protagonists, Lynch's colorful sequel to 2006's The Lies of Locke Lamora is charming, unpredictable and fast on its feet and stands surprisingly well on its own given its convoluted plot. Initially poised to rob the Sinspire, the notoriously thief-proof casino where the penalty for cheating is death, Locke and his partner, Jean, are unwillingly sidetracked into joining and then leading a pirate crew, swindling their way across the sea as they had previously done on land. 

(full description here...)

If you haven't read them I strongly suggest you do. If you'r into fantasy or not it won't matter, as this is just a really good story that anyone (of any age or gender) can find something to love about it. Locke Lamora is probably one of the most interesting and original characters ever to appear in a book... Hurry to get to know him so that we can wait for the next book together!

The Republic of Thieves - release date October 8th

Sources:
Lynch Industries
Gollancz
The Little Red Rewiever
Amazon
Science Fiction and Fantasy

Troy (2004) - Review

When: March 11th

What format did I watch: DVD

Review: This was my third re-watch of the movie, and it was still as good as I remembered. It just feels epic from the moment it starts until the very last minute. King Agamemnon wants to rule the entire world, king Priam wants peace, prince Hector wants to watch his son grow old, Helen of Sparta wants to be free, prince Paris wants love, king Menelaus wants revenge, and the fierce warrior Achilles .. he only wants to be remembered. Together they form the perfect storyline that immediately draws you in. However, when watching this movie I never quite know who to root for. There truly is no good guy or bad guy here, only two opposite sides in a war. This is quite possibly the best and most "objective" war-movie I've seen so far. And it also shows that in war there truly are no winners, only losers. War is always brutal and horrific, never glorious or honorable.

Drawbacks: Well... you must be bored with me if I once again say that I can't think of any? But when I decide to watch a movie I've almost always done quite a lot of research on beforehand. So most of the time I kind of know that the movie I'm about to watch will be good. This one is one of those. I even liked it so much it inspired me to write about the city of Troy for my history assignment two years ago...

Why you should watch it: It has got some epic battle sequences! Achilles and Hector... say no more. But what I like best is that we, as an audience, grow to care for almost all of the main characters. By the end of the movie you feel like you know them. With so many characters and so much happening all the time that in itself is a huge accomplishment. The story of the events taking place in Troy 1190 years b.c. is the mother of all stories. I can understand why...

Rating: 10/10 - AMAZING

Argo (2012) - Review

When: March 7th

What format did I watch: Cinema

Review: When the trailer for this first came out I must admit I didn't find it particularly fascinating or interesting... But then it started to gain massive attention and eventually ended up as the big winner of this year's Oscar for Best Picture. So when a friend of mine suddenly called me asking if I wanted to go see this I instantly said yes. Im so happy I did! Even though all the actions is based on a true story, which by the way I normally don't like, Argo managed to make me forget just that. I totally felt like this was well thought through and extremely exciting! I never thought that "everything will go perfectly and they'll all live happily ever after". I couldn't be sure exactly how this was going to end, and I hate it when that happens, but that also tells me I'm watching a really good movie. And when it surprised me by turning out to be so exciting in places that I literally held my breath from time to time I suddenly understood how it earned it's Oscar...

Drawbacks: I actually cant think of anything? And it would be too stupid if I have to sit and come up with something to pick on... I'm not saying it's perfect, I'm just saying I can't think of a reason not to like it?

Why you should watch it: I believe that what made this movie so particularly great was the fact that it actually made me, as an audience member, truly care for these people. That's a really hard thing to do... But somehow I felt like I kind of connected with the characters and truly cared about what would happen to them. The guy I was watching this with pointed out that neither of the actors were "overplaying" their character, like a lot of hollywood actors tend to do. All in all, strong characters, great actors and an awesome director. Run to the cinema as fast as you can!

Rating: 10/10 - AMAZING
(I don't have any reason not to...)

February Update - Poker, Kaizers and Oscars

And suddenly it's time for another monthly update!
I know it's technically March already, but this post took more time to write than I first thought...
For me February has been quite eventful actually. I even traveled to Stavanger not only once, but twice! So let's just get into it :)

Did you do anything exciting?
YES! A lot!
And to not make it too tiresome for you I'll just list some of this month's highlights:

- Poker-tournament where I got to meet a lot of new people!
- Got to know and become friends with a group of boys here in Bergen. They are awesome!
- Finally got to see Kaizers Orchestra live at their concert in Stavanger!
- Had my sister visiting me in Bergen for a whole week!
- Went to a christian youth-conference with great people and great concerts!
- Went to Stavanger to stay up all night and watch the Oscars live with my sister <3

Copyright: Bente (thebenteway.blogspot.com)

Funniest thing that happened?

(I'm awesome at drawing!)

Remember the boys I said I'd made friends with? The day after I'd met most of them for the first time we all were at that poker-tournament I also mentioned. (I'll come back to that soon...) But after that we all went home to one of the guys to actually play some more games! However, at approximately 2:00 a.m. we were all getting quite hungry, so we decided to drive into town to get some kebab. Classy! We must have been quite a sight as we were four guys and one girl sitting there a saturday night all dressed up in suits, shirts and even bow-ties and (for my sake) a skirt and high heals! Anyway... The most awesome moment actually occurred during the car-ride back to this guy's house. Imagine me and four guys crammed into a tiny car, and then add the sound of Taylor Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" suddenly blasting through the radio-speakers... And the hillarious thing? All four boys spontaneously and simultaneously starts to belt out the lyrics from the top of their lungs! First thing first... They're guys and that's freakin' Taylor Swift! And secondly... They knew all the lyrics! After that shocking moment where I realized what was actually happening I tried to sing along as well... but failed miserably as I could not stop laughing!

Best movies you've seen?
"Life of Pi" (reviewed here), "Silver Linings Playbook" (reviewed here), and the 1999-classic "Fight Club", an incredibly odd and yet massively intriguing film with a lot of fighting... even though that's oddly enough not at all what it's about. I'll have to re-watch it to be able to write a proper review, but I know it's one of the best films I've ever seen. Loved all three of them and recommend them highly!

Favorite edible thing?
I have recently been loving the white-and-blue Burn. The one that tastes like apple... I'm not a big fan of soda, but *this* is literally heaven in a bottle! Sadly it's very unhealthy, contains massive amounts of sugar and caffeine and is very expensive... I love it anyway.

Which songs have you listened to the most?
I've listened to a lot of music this month! Suddenly I decided to get updated on what the earth's population is actually listening to at the moment. That resulted in me buying more songs on iTunes than I initially planned... But right now there are actually a bunch of half-decent songs on the top-lists. Unbelievably! But because of this massive overload of newly discovered music I have a lot of favorites this month...

"Bleading Out" - Imagine Dragons
"I Knew You Were Trouble" - Taylor Swift
"My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark" - Fall Out Boy
"One Day / Reckoning Song" - Asaf Avidan & The Mojos
"Battle Scars" - Lupe Fiasco & Guy Sebastian
"I Feed You My Love" - Margareth Berger
"Running To The Sea" - Röyksopp & Susanne Sundfør

Favorite material things?
I finally decided to do something with the fact that I have to hold things up to my face to read them... So I got glasses! They took some getting used to, but now I love them!

Something that made you proud?
I made the worlds best Chinese wok one of the nights my sister was here...

What did you learn?
As I've mentioned several times by now, I joined a poker tournament. What I didn't say was that I'd never ever played (or even seen anyone play) poker before that night! I literally had to learn it by scratch when I came there... And during the first couple of rounds I had no idea what I was doing or how I should be playing so I lost round after round. Until suddenly I realized what I did that made me loose... When I stopped doing that, I actually started to win. A lot! I went as far as knocking several people out of the competition and unbelievably enough made it all the way to the finalist-table. I ended up in third place out of more than 35 players! It was awesome and completely exhausting and a great deal of fun!

What are you looking forward to?
My best friend in the whole world, Maria, is coming to visit me for a whole week around easter!
Can't wait <3