London

Yesterday, I finished the book London by Edward Rutherfurd. The book was really good and is definelately a recommended read. The story, in similar fashion to Sarum, is the tale of several families living in London through the centuries. In a way it is a collection of several shorter stories from different periods in London's history, where the protagonists are all ancestors of each other. Since the history of London is shorter than the history of Salisbury Plains, the jumps in years between chapters weren't as big in this novel, sometimes the same character would appear in two or even three subsequent chapters. I really like this, since it made the reader able to connect more to the different characters. The stories told were all very interesting, teaching you something about history as well as being interesting, and often containing surprising plot twists and endings. So this is a book I recommend for other readers, don't be intimidated by it's length (1300 pages), since every chapter is sort of a stand-alone story.

I have also been reading more of the Preacher. Finished volume 4 and 5 yesterday, and need to buy the last 4 volumes soon.

Preacher Vol. 4: Ancient History,does not continue the plot started in the first three volumes, but instead goes back in time to tell the story of four of the characters you have already met, but not learned too much about, in the preceding three volumes. Saint of Killers tells the story of the Saint of Killers, who he was and how he became the Saint. Written as a western, it has more than it's own share of action and violence, as well as the appereance of the devil and several scenes set in hell. Very entertaining. The Story of You-Know-Who tells the story of Arseface, the son of a cop first set on Jesse's trail, his teenage rebellion and his failed suicide attempt. By shooting himself in the head, but surviving, Arseface ends up with a mutilated face, hence his nickname. The Good Ol' Boys is a very funny action-movie parody, containing two-dimentional cliche characters right out of bad action movies. The whole story is hilarious and so out of place within the larger plot, I was laughing a lot when reading it. The volume itself doen not add much to the Preacher story, but contains three interesting stories about minor characters, all in all I liked it. of course it fits into Preacher in the way that you never know what to expect when opening a new issue.

The next book, Preacher Vol. 5: Dixie Fried, we return to the story of Jesse Custer and his mission to make God stand up to his responibilities. In an attempt to unlock the screts locked up with Genesis in his brain, he travels to New Orleans to try some old-fashioned voodoo. This does not go totally according to plan as they run into a group who Cassidy has met earlier. In an earlier visit to New Orleans, Cassidy meets a fellow vampire, who after becoming bitten reads every book he can find about vampirism and sets out to cope them, word for word. This pisses Cassidy off, who himself liead a life nothing like that you read in vampire books. Cassidy sets out to change his fellow vampire, but things does not go according to plan. This issue also brings a lot of character development. You learn a lot more about the main character, and their relationship starts to change after certain events, like Cassidy telling Tulip he is in love with her. At the end of the volume you have the feeling the characters you have come to love might be a bit different that you thought.

Both volumes are excellent reads, offering interesting stories and good artwork. Ancient History, the fourth volume, is actually drawn bu other people than Steve Dillon, who does the artwork in the rest of Preacher. The result is good though, and it works in a good way. The different artwork gives a kind of different feel to the stories, which are different from the rest of Preacher from the start. In many ways they feel like spin-off stories off the real story.

Well, I've said this before and I'll say it again. Buy the Preacher, or borrow it or get a hold off it in some way.... Whatever you do, make sure to read it. It is a very good story.

Until next time

cya