Review: Frankenstein

Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Very spooky. Gave me many nightmares. I'm only going to call this book "the modern prometheus" from now on. I liked the framed narrative. I liked how there was a framed narrative inside a framed narrative at some parts when the monster was speaking. I liked all the stuff that was typical of romantic era writers, like descriptions of sublime nature and people from other cultures and the warnings about science going too far. I like how the monster was shown to be so intelligent and persuasive and have superhuman strength and speed. You really felt bad for him because it seems as though he could have done as much good as his creator had caused him to do evil. Even though the story was from Victor's perspective so it was constantly trying to make the monster look bad, you eventually came to the realization that Victor is really in the wrong. He shouldn't have just let his creature loose without becoming like a father to it or something. He didn't even give the monster a name. He really has no one to blame but himself for the death of his entire family.

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This is what happens when George picks out a Book for you to read

Oh wow. I haven't posted in like.... what? 2 months? 
Hopefully that little post from Misha was enough to keep you from unfollowing. 

I would've posted.... but school is extremely busy this year and I barely have time for anything now. 

Anyway, today we will talk about a book I read. This book was suggested to me by George who told me not to read it at school because it's basically a 'banned book'. 

Satanism is a religion too!! Satanists have killed way less people than Christians so why would you ban the Satanic Bible and not the Holy Bible? Sure, there are far less Satanists than Christians in the world but that's only because Christians would go around killing people back in the day if they didn't accept the Christian faith. 

The Satanic Bible only talks about Laveyist Satanism (there are other types of Satanism and just like with any other religion, its followers disagree sometimes on what to believe in.) 

Now, without further delay, here's my book review on The Satanic Bible by Anton Szandor Lavey (the Great Szandor/The Black Pope).



 

No, this is not called a 'Satanic Star'. It's the symbol of Baphomet!!

               The Satanic Bible by Anton Szandor Lavey                     
I would recommend this book to everyone who is interested in New age, paganism, Wiccan beliefs, and superstitious stuff like that. Anton Szandor Lavey really did his research on many religions from around the world so if you're just generally interested in things like that you should read it. Just be warned that when it talks about religions other than Satanism and Christianity, it's not always accurate. Overall, it's good to read books like this because they can show you a different point of view. 

There were a lot of alarmingly true observations and concepts that Anton Lavey talked about in this book and you really have to read it to understand his ideas but I'll do my best to explain them. 

For example, Anton Lavey says that Satanism is not about 'evil'. It's not about killing people or being a horrible person to others. It is simply about respecting yourself, respecting others who deserve to be respected, and not feeling guilt. Guilt ruins a person's chance at happiness and Satanism is trying to get you as far away from feeling guilt as possible. According to Lavey, Christianity does a wonderful job at making its followers feel guilt. It makes you confess your sins and be kind to people who don't deserve kindness. Christianity tells you to turn the other cheek when you are slapped and to treat others the way you want to be treated while Satanism speaks about self-preservation. In other words, Satanism says that if someone is extremely cruel to you, you do NOT have to be nice to them. Christianity promotes extreme modesty white Satanism tells you to strengthen your ego and think highly of yourself and be proud of who you are. If you are not kind to yourself, if you do not love yourself and have a strong ego, then how can you be kind to anyone else and show them love and compassion? Christianity tells you to be guilty about every little wrong thing you may do and generally does not make you love yourself. 

Christianity says to treat others well regardless of how they treat you, but Satanism understands that not all love is good and not all hate is bad and realizes that self-love is important and not everyone deserves kindness.

Next, in the Holy Bible it says that God made mankind special and better than other animals. In the Satanic Bible, one of the 'nine Satanic statements' is this:

"Satan represents man as just another animal, sometimes better, more often worse than those who walk on all fours, who, because of his 'Divine spiritual and intellectual development' has become the most vicious animal of all!"

This tells us that animals are innocent. In fact, in Satanism it is forbidden to harm animals because they can't speak up for themselves and they are closer to nature with a better understanding of natural instincts. There are exceptions to this rule of not killing animals however. Because Satanism speaks of self-preservation, you can kill an animal if it's trying to kill you (which is rare) or if you are starving, you can kill an animal to eat. Satanism also says to never harm children because they are a lot like animals and little children see the world a lot like animals do before the people around them tell them how they should be and they grow up. 

Also, Satanism points out that a lot of Christians argue over what it means to be Christian. Do you really have to follow the Bible to be Christian? I know some people who haven't even read the Holy Bible and still call themselves Christian! Christians have changed a lot over time.  In fact, Lavey says that a lot of Christians who are beginning to promote loving yourself and indulgence over abstinence are actually Satanists without knowing it. Here is a quote from Anton Lavey himself:

"When a puppy reaches maturity it becomes a dog: when ice melts it is called water: when twelve months have been used up, we get a new calendar with the proper chronological name: when 'magic' becomes a scientific fact we refer to it as medicine, astronomy, etc. When one name is no longer appropriate for a given thing it is only logical to change it to a new one which better fits the subject. Why then do we not follow suit in the area of religion? Why continue to call a religion the same name when the tenets of that religion no longer fit the original one? Or, if the religion does preach the same things that it always has, but its followers practice nearly none of its teachings, why do they continue to call themselves by the name given to the followers of that religion?" ~ Anton Szandor Lavey, The Satanic Bible, pg 49-50, 1969. 

He talks about how some Christians aren't really Christians etc. One of the requirements for being a Satanist is that you HAVE to follow all the rules that the Satanic Bible says or not be a Satanist.  Not all of the Satanic Bible will appeal to everyone, but you may agree with some of the things that it says. Still, you can't be a Satanist unless you believe/agree with everything Lavey says in that book. 

Also, Lavey talks about how many Christians baptize their children when they are still young. This is not allowing your child to chose their religion. It's not letting them have the right to religious freedom. You shouldn't force your child to be Christian (or any other religion) when they are too young to understand what that even means. Satanism tells you to read up on many different religions and research them. If you decide you want to have a religion, you should compare many different religions before you pick one. Don't just pick one because other people tell you to or because you like it but haven't looked into other options. Satanism says, it's ok if you're not a Satanist. It's better to not be a Satanist than to call yourself a Satanist without following the Satanic Bible's rules. 

Some Christians even go so far as to say that Christianity is the 'one true faith' and that all other religions are false. How stupid is that? Especially if you are going to teach your kids that! Just tell your kids that if they want a religion, they have to KNOW about religions first and can't just chose a particular one without looking into others. 

See?! Satanism isn't all bad and Christianity isn't all good!!

Lastly, like all other religions, Satanism has some major flaws too. For example, Satanism promotes the killing of cruel people who have wronged you. In Satanism, you are not allowed to sacrifice children or animals, because they don't understand what is bad and what is good and they are innocent. But if an adult tries to kill you, by all means, show him no mercy and kill him (Satanism talking about self-preservation right there). Well, I guess its up to you to decide whether killing people for self-defence is ok or not. Would you rather get killed or kill the person who is trying to kill you? Satanism screams "KILL THE PERSON AS A SACRIFICE TO SATAN AND FOR SELF PRESERVATION...." 
(you can see why this is one of Satanism's many flaws.) 

Also, Satanism can be very superstitious just like Chrisitianity and a lot of other religions. There is a whole section in the Satanic bible taken up by spells, rituals, magic, etc. and don't even get me started on the '4 crown princes of hell' that they worship and the 'infernal names' of random gods they believe in. 

Satanism's two most sacred holidays are:
1. One's own birthday (this is teaching Satan's followers to love themselves)
2. All Hallow's Eve (Halloween) 
and the reason they love Halloween is very superstitious and strange and has something to do with spirits/ghosts or something?

In conclusion, all religions have something good about them and something bad but one does not simply insult one religion and defend another.... you don't do that.... that's not good. 

Christianity and Satanism both have a bad side and good side. 

If you are interested in finding out more about Satanism you should really check out the Satanic Bible by Anton Lavey along with his other books: The Satanic Rituals, The Satanic Witch, The Devil's Notebook and Satan Speaks.  

Too bad the Church of Satan hasn't made an epic Satanic boxed set with all of Anton Lavey's books in it. (Yes, the church of Satan exists. Check out their website if you want: http://www.churchofsatan.com/index.php 

Also, if you're interested in other branches of Satanism, check out this blog: http://enkiisacosmicheroe.blogspot.ca/

Well, that's all for today.


Bye, Everyone!!

Ave Satanas?!?!?! 

Book Review: GOG book 1: The Capture by Kathryn Lasky

Series title: Guardians of Ga'Hoole (GOG)

Book Title: The Capture 

Author: Kathryn Lasky 

Genre: Fantasy, Fiction 

I'm still in India and since I haven't done much recently (except for an interview with Hindustan Times and buying four chickens to keep as pets while I'm here), I thought I'd make a somewhat interesting post. My book reviews usually get me some extra views and since I've been reading a lot here I think I should write one. 

 2-star rating 

Time to get to the point. Though I didn't really like the story (the 2 star rating shows that), I would still recommend the series to people who really, really like fantasy (or owlz. I hate owlz.).

The book is about a very young barn owl named Soren who falls out of his tree one day. No one saves him and he can't get back into his tree because he is an owlet and isn't old enough to know how to fly. He is snatched up by a big, evil owl who carries him to St. Aegolius Canyons where there is an academy for owlets. Soren is supposed to get training there to help the evil owlz who run St. Aegolius. Thousands of other captured owlets train there. They have no idea what exactly they are training for. They are forced to call each other by a number instead of a name. Soren is called 12-1. Soon, Soren meets an elf owl named Gylfie. Gylfie and Soren find out that St. Aegolius is trying to brainwash all the owlets with a process called moonblinking. The owlets would all become slaves. The academy is also trying to take over all the owl kingdoms. Gylfie and Soren have to escape the canyons and stop the bad owlz from ruling the world. The two owlets meet lots of other owlz (both evil and good).

My favourite character was Hortense (12-8). I won't say why.... that would give out a major spoiler.

Kathryn Lasky is actually an awesome author. The first book of the GOG series might have sucked but she has actually written many more books. When I first picked up 'The Capture', I thought the author's name sounded familiar. It turned out she had also written 'Jahanara: Princess of princesses' and 'Elizabeth I: Red Rose of the House of Tudor'. Both of these historical fiction books are in the Royal Diaries series, which is a series that attempts to describe the lives of several female historical figures with fiction. 

She has also written a lot of nonfiction and I think I'll read more of her books (I'll post reviews if they're worth posting reviews about). 

Bai. I hope you found this helpful if you were considering reading the GOG series ;D 

Note: I know some of you hate fantasy books D:  I promise I'll do some non-fantasy book reviews. I don't really like fantasy either.

now for the weird gif I put at the end of each book review:

Book review: Aztec by Gary Jennings

Frypania Book Review: Aztec by Gary Jennings 

In my opinion at least 

Ok, so if you've read this blog for some time, you'd probably know that I really like historical fictions books, especially Mesoamerican themed ones. This book was exactly that. It was a narrative of the Aztec empire at its height and of the spanish conquest. Of course, you can't trust a fiction book for facts, but this novel reads like a thriller and even though it's a bit long (754 pages) it's totally worth is, especially if you like history. 

First of all, I'm going to warn you that the book has a LOT of adult content. Not just violence but other stuff too....... just to let you know. If you're not prepared for it you may end up getting: !!!!!!!!

So watch out. 

The book's main character is named Mixtli (how sexylicious) 

He's Mexica and lives in some Mexica town, not in Tenochtitlan, but he does go to Tenochtitlan. 

The book is told from his point of view and he basically narrates his life to some random spanish people. 

He gets to be a pochtecatl (a merchant) and do cool stuff like go to the Mayan lands. It talks about his life during the spanish conquest and colonial time too. It talks about how his people were devastated by smallpox and all those diseases. That was sad...... 

Mixtli gets to meet people that had important roles in the spanish conquest (including cortes himself, you know, that fat guy with no life). He even meant Malintzin. Yes. So now you have to read it because you're dying of suspense. 

Don't forget that this book is part of a series, and that it is very rare of me to post a nice critique about a book instead of a mean one (lol like with this post on the school for good and evil)

Have fun reading it!!

Book Review: The School for Good and Evil by Soman Chainani

Book Review: The School for Good and Evil 
                                         

As you can see from the rating above, I did not like this book. This review will tell you about the book and why I did not like it. 

 Book title: The school for good and evil by Soman Chainani
Genre: Fantasy

The school for good and evil was a fantasy book about two schools, one for good, and one for evil. Every year the school master who ran both of the schools would kidnap pairs of students from villages all over the world. In every pair there would be an evil child and a good child. In this book, a girl who is very pretty named Sophie really wants to go to the good school because all who graduate it get to live happily ever after with a prince and be a princess. Sophie believed she could be a princess and she wanted her best friend, Agatha, to be in the school for evil. This was because Agatha was ugly and wanted to be a witch. However, when the two girls are kidnapped, Sophie ends up in the school for evil with a bunch of freaks and monsters and Agatha ends up in the school for good with princes, princesses, and fairies. They try to make the school master see that there was some kind of mistake but the school master says that there was no mistake. In the book, Sophie and Agatha eventually saw that they were in the right schools as their true nature got revealed.

My dislike of the book begins from the title and the cover. It gives too much of the story away.  

Next, I would like to say that the plot was stupid. It had no plot holes, but it was a really stupid plot. who wants to know about two stupid girls who go to some fantasy schools to becomes witches or princesses?! 

However, I would like to compliment Soman Chainani on the style of writing and the pace of the story. It was very engaging and the description was amazing. 

My favorite character from the book was Agatha because she was nice and smart unlike Sophie who was such a WAD. 

Read this book only if you like fantasies.