National Novel Writing Month has begun! Everyone who wants to try it, the goal is to write a 50,000 word story in a month- which is about 1,667 words a day. It's a very cool challenge because it pushes you to keep writing when you feel like your book is turning out badly (probably isn't anyway). I'm already writing a story, obviously, so my goal's to write another 50,000 words or finish the book, whichever comes first. I'm pretty sure that'll be the latter, but whatever. I just thought I'd let you all know!
I'm double testing for my next two belts in taekwondo this Saturday. 
Testing happens every ten weeks, so I'm pretty excited. I'm at yellow, the third belt, so I'm aiming for green, the fifth.
And heeeeeeere... we go! I am trying to shorten these up by the way, for those who are scared off by how long they are.
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots: 10
Grand Theft Auto IV: 10
LittleBigPlanet: 9.5
BioShock: 9.5
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves: 9.5
inFamous: 9.0
Killzone 2: 9.0
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune: 9.0
Dead Space: 9.0
Resident Evil 5: 8.5
Valkyria Chronicles: 8.5
Resistance: Fall of Man: 8.5
Resistance 2: 9.0
Batman: Arkham Asylum: 9.0
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling: 9.0
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling: 9.0
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling: 10
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling: 9.5
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien: 8.5
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien: 9.0
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien: 10
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien: 10
Eragon by Christopher Paolini: 8.5
Eldest by Christopher Paolini: 9.0
Brisingr by Christopher Paolini: 9.0
The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger by Stephen King: 8.0
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King: 9.5
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands by Stephen King: 9.5
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman: 9.0
The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman: 9.5
The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman: 10
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer: 8.5
Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer: 8.0
Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer: 9.0
A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket: 7.0
A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket: 7.5
A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket: 7.5
A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snicket: 7.0
A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Austere Academy by Lemony Snicket: 8.0
A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Ersatz Elevator by Lemony Snicket: 8.5
The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud: 9.0
The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud: 8.5
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew: 7.5
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe: 9.0
Artemis Fowl, a book series by Irishman Eoin Colfer, deserves more fame than it gets in my opinion. The writing of the series is fantastic, it's hilarious, the fairy (and human) technology is cool, new, and exciting in each book, and the characters and story are well-developed.
This holds true for the fourth book in the series, Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception, in which the teenage main character, the titular Artemis Fowl, goes to face off against the evil Opal Koboi from book two, who has been rescued from the prison she's been kept in. However, because of the last book he doesn't remember that fairies exist, so a lot of the book is focused on him and his badass Butlergettingtheir memories back. Holly Short, meanwhile, a fairy that's fighting on Artemis's side (they were enemies before) is trying to stop Opal from framing her and taking over not only the underground fairy world, but the human one as well. Her plan involves helping an Italian guy discover the fairy world so that the two groups will meet and war will break out, giving Opal the opportunity to take control.
No more story spoiling. As per usual, Eoin Colfer delivers an excellent story blending unique fantasy with reality, with fun, often laugh-out-loudfunny characters (Mulch Diggums, a flatulent dwarf, is particularly humorous). Artemis's character development seems to start over from square one, as in how he was in book one, but we quickly learn that when he gets his memory back, he starts understanding how to care for others. After all, Artemis was originally a millionnaire teenage criminal mastermind trying to steal from the fairies in book one.
The high points of the story come when we get interaction between Artemis and Holly, who somehow have sexual tension, despite being human and fairy. Some others include every time Mulch talks, sinceI don't think I've laughed at a character more often than him in any series (except maybe Ron of Harry Potter fame),Butler beating up some crazy monsters, and when fairies attach jet packs to their backs.Aside from some awesome action scenes, like a giant troll battle halfway through, Colfer's storytelling and wit propel the book forward very quickly to keep the reader engrossed along with these sequences.
Since book three almost closed the gap on continuing the series, one would think that this one would be a bit corny by finding a loophole to exploit for the author to keep writing. Fortunately, the book never feels this cheap because all of the characters are as strong as they were in Eternity Code (book three), if not stronger. The set pieces are a bit familiar, but the plot twists and turns so much that it's hard to notice.
However, the book is far from flawless. Opal is evil, even diabolical, to be sure, but she's also extremely annoying. I was kind of glad that, after Arctic Incident (book two) she didn't show up in Eternity Code, but Colfer felt like bringing her back again, which, to me, was a bad call. She has some strong evil schemes, but her whining gets annoying, and a fairly large portion of the story is told from her perspective.
Another thing that bugged me is that Colfer seemed to try a little too hard to make sure this book didn't feel as cheap as it very well could have. The plot does feel like it's a rather necessary part of the story, so itwas unnecessary for him to go into pages and pages of repeating how Artemis is getting his memory back, provingthere's more story to tell, and that this book isn't a cash-in. I believed that the first time I heard it, so there's a section in there that dragged on me, in which Artemis told everyone in creation how he was going to re-learn what he knew before (although the boredom was broken up nicely by the troll fight). Or at least, it felt repetitive- even if it wasn't all that much so, it could've been condensed a lot.
This could also be because Colfer wanted to write a long book, possibly to try to make it more expensive, and possibly because it seems a lot of authors like todo that. I think it's around the same length as book three, but didn't need to be- it could've been more like book one or two in length and been better off. Either way, it took longer to explain than it needed to, and the worst plot points of the series so far were brought back into play here.
I consider the book an improvement over book two, but not quite up to the awesomeness of books one and three. I think I attribute this to Colfer bringing back book two characters but also improving his writing prowess, which is a bit of a toss-up. Nevertheless, the story is well-told and action packed, so I would highly suggest it.
8.5 out of 10: Great