Gato Island

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19 February 23:46

 

My hands this morning were almost miraculously healed! Aloe Vera is the shit for real! They were still red of course, but I could move them and touch them without them hurting or stretching the skin. My face is still a tomato, but definitely doesn’t hurt.

We got to sleep in a bit today, the boat to Gato Island didn’t leave until 11am. I had such high expectations of Gato, and they weren’t quite really met to be honest.

The boat ride was 40 minutes and before even getting on the boat, I was feeling a little bit off. Probably exhaustion. Three dives yesterday probably did that. Feeling off is fine, because that is gone once you’re in the water. But scuba diving is tough. Putting on a super tight wetsuit is not easy, it’s squeezing everything. Gearing up, putting on the weight belt which then pushes on your stomach. Making sure everything is in order, being a little bit anxious before jumping in. Everything around scuba diving is hard. Even the boat ride can be bad, even in perfect conditions as we’ve had this whole week so far. But once you descend, everything is fine. There is nothing else then what’s in front of you.

The hype around Gato Island was of course concerning the tunnel/cave diving and the reef sharks. We weren’t allowed to go inside the cave since we didn’t have 50 logged dives yet (as a safety measurement from the dive center which I totally respect) and that was disappointing. The second disappointing thing was the visibility. It was so bad. We couldn’t see the bottom and not even the instructor who went first. Eventually we found the bottom and down there the visibility was much better, but still so much worse than all the previous dives. Outside the cave, was all about the macro diving. And we did see some really cool stuff honestly. On the first dive, the coolest thing we saw was definitely the sleeping white tipped reef sharks. And they were big, like 2m? Lying on the bottom of a cave, opening and closing their mouths to breathe. There were two caves and like 2-3 in each. The first cave was under a rock formation that I had to swim through, it was scary but I saw the sharks and it was so cool. Mikael actually swam around the formation on the other side and unfortunately missed the sharks. But, lucky us, there was another cave right on the other side where more sharks slept. I got really close and it was so incredible.

Huge nudibranch

White tipped reef sharks sleeping in a cave

Shark sighting

Other things we saw was electric clam, huge nudibranchs, lots of soft corals, a fish with a big horn, clownfish of course. The electric clam was really amazing. It sat inside a crevice and there were literally visible pulsing lights coming off of it, like how?! Nature is amazing!

We had our safety stop in the middle of the turbid water which was a new experience for me I think. Probably not, but so far on this trip we haven’t really done the safety stop in mid water. But it was fine.

The surface interval was great. The BBQ was incredible like yesterday, but I still felt a little bit off and wasn’t too excited about jumping in again due to the low visibility. It was an okay dive and we did see cool stuff, but both of us had troubles with our buoyancy and I think Mikael was very nervous about the visibility because he consumed a lot of air and both dives were really short, only 44 and 36 minutes. That was fine by me though. I agree that it was not perfect diving conditions, at least when we have been spoiled with much better conditions on all of our dives together.

The second dive was really scary going down. We saw nothing and our divemaster disappeared in front of us. So they had to shine their lights up towards us so we could see where they were. But like before, the bottom was much better. As soon we reached the bottom, our divemaster showed us a coral on which so many pygmy horses lived. I can’t believe they are that tiny! Holy cow! So cute!

The rest of the dive we actually didn’t see anything too exciting. Just the normal Filippino things.

Boat ride back, cleaning equipment, writing logbook and then dinner with a German guy at the only vegetarian place on the island where they also had live music and fire show. Definitely the most popular restaurant close by. Also super good food! And cheap. For all three of us (including 5 deserts and four main courses) the total ended up being 410 SEK. Crazy!

We signed up for a dive tomorrow at a new dive site at 14:00. But we’ll see how we feel. I was feeling better after the two dives, but that’s when Mikael caught whatever I had had. 5 dives on 3 days is intense so a day of resting tomorrow might not be too bad, but one dive close by could be fine. We’ll see.

Time to hit the bed with my aloe vera socks hands again. Goodnight

Monad and Kimud Shoal

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18 February 18:23

A day of rest did wonders, because three dives today was no biggie at all! The boat left at 6am today, we got assigned a Divemaster who led us through one dive at Monad Shoal and two at Kimud Shoal. The focus of today was sharks! At Monad, it is possible to see tiger sharks, which apparently is the most aggressive of all sharks (I thought it was bull, but no). Unfortunately, we finished that dive only having seen a white tipped reef shark. We saw a shark at three separate times but I’m pretty sure it was the same. One scary thing that happened was that my air valve was not open fully, so halfway into the dive, I actually couldn’t get enough air, but the divemaster helped me in one second and just like that, my 20 bar turned to 110. That was a bit scary! Seeing the shark, not at all! It was only like 1,5m maybe? But it was swimming around very fast.

Other than the shark, we didn’t get to see so much there. Monad Shoal is basically a big sunken island and it’s mostly sand bottom. Of course, there are a bunch of beautiful fish, starfish but it’s the big things that are really cool. We sat down on the bottom every now and then and looked out towards the blue at 22m or something, but the tiger never came. Such shame! But we have a week left, we will have more chances of seeing it!

Our next stop was Kimud Shaol. The thresher shark haven! No stress getting in, which was nice for once. The first dive, we saw a lot of sharks. Maybe not as many as two days ago and the visibility was slightly worse. But it is still so cool seeing them swimming around with their long tails. They truly are something to see! The second dive was only 48 minutes long, compared to the first one of 55 and when Mikael and I were the first two of our group of six to ascend to the surface, the crew on the closest boat looked at me and asked if I was okay. Yes, of course, why wouldn’t I be? Then they told me I was bleeding. And I really was, like a lot! I’m not sure what happened, but it must have been something with my sinuses. And the more I thought about it, I realized that it might have been something with the long stride off the boat, I think my mask went up hard on my nose when I jumped in. So for the next dive at Kimud, the third of the day, I was told to do a spin jump, it was much better and not as hard on the mask. No blood! Good thing there are only thresher sharks at Kimud, hehe!

On the third dive we didn’t see as many sharks at all. Maybe only like 10? So we focused on the small critters. The fish are so colorful and if you look closely at the soft corals, there can be so many tiny fishes there. We saw a baby moray, some nudibranchs, stonefish, pufferfish, some really cool anemones. In general, a really cool dive as well. But we were a bit disappointed that the whale shark from yesterday was nowhere to be seen today. That would have been epic!

We did see some other cool stuff on the surface though. Get ready for this: how about a big flock of dolphins jumping straight towards our boat while we were going to the first dive site? Or a blue marlin casually hanging out by the surface when we were chilling and waiting for a proper surface interval before doing our first dive at the second dive site? Or jumping thresher sharks while waiting for our third dive while having an amazing bbq onboard? Or flyfish while going back to the island? So many jumping animals, haha! And then there was the jumping eagle ray two days ago.

One, not so awesome thing, is that the sunburn from yesterday, is infinitely worse today. My face is almost purple and my hands are completely destroyed. They are swollen, they burn intensely and as soon as I move them, it feels like my skin is on fire and about to crack. The hotel receptionist and her Swedish boyfriend who lives here permanently and works from home, are so kind though, helping me mix fresh aloe to heal and trying to find out what we can do about it. The service here at Blue Coral is truly amazing! Let’s hope it is true that the second day of a sunburn is the worst and that tomorrow will be better, otherwise I’m not sure I really look forward to spending a day on the boat, diving at Gato Island but not being able to use my hands. Like just imagine squeezing them through that tight wetsuit? Or handling your gear? Or gearing up? It stings just thinking about it. Mikael also burned his hands, but not as bad as me fortunately. We will see how it goes. With a burn this bad, I’m not sure the second day is the worst…

Exploring on land

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17 February 21:21

 

We felt so well-rested when we woke up this morning. Slept in until 8 (after 10h of sleep), had a slow breakfast and packed for the day. We were going on an adventure!

On the most beautiful day so far.

And on the most sweaty day so far.

I don’t know if it was the new reef friendly sunscreen we bought, but wow, we both were dripping with sweat after slowly strolling along the sandy roads. We reached the end of “our” beach, where we live and then we had to dive in. It was refreshing, but probably because it was 30 degrees. Bounty Beach, the beach in the south, is just one long beach and the main beach of the island. There are so many dive centers along this road, which is just sand lined with a small stonewall basically. At least on Gili Trawangan, the road was laid with stones. This is just sand. When we reached a third of the island we turned west and walked through the local areas. Wow. I don’t know if it made me appreciate my 82sqm big apartment full of stuff, but this was definitely something else. Just below the row of dive centers and small resorts, there truly lives the locals. So very friendly, kids saying hello, asking for our names and what we are doing and so on. So many kids running around playing.

Theser are all along Bounty Beach, the beach in the south:

After buying some water, we thought we should go up north, but with our Birkenstocks, and the extreme heat, we only reached halfway up the island (about 1km north from where we live) before we turned back. It was time for lunch anyway. North Beach can wait for another day.

Downtown:

We were very thorough with sunscreen today, yet we both burned really bad. Both of our hands are scorched, his neck is dead (even after wearing a hat all day). We both also have Birkenstock burn. I wonder how these marks will feel tomorrow when we are trying to get our wetsuits on, haha! The sun is strong here. Good thing we are diving most days!

The highway

Lunch at Angelina’s again, the imagination is running strong here, haha! And then signed up for tomorrow’s dives and then some hanging out at the hotel room trying to pack and get everything in order for tomorrow’s dives. Won’t spoil it, but it will be epic! I hope.

We spent a little while on the beach by the dive center where me, Mikael and Tina got congratulatory shots from our instructor for passing our courses. Tina only got one, but Mikael and I got two each for advanced and Nitrox. They were good and not very strong.

For dinner we went to Amihan, a Mediterranean restaurant next door to Angelina’s but up on the cliff. It was not too special and a bit pricey, but kinda fancy and nice looking.

THRESHER SHARKS / Day two of AOW

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16 February 20:22

These past four days have been so intense that I can barely keep my eyes open at 19:00. Being tired has never meant anything before today, haha. I don’t recognize myself. But what four days it has been! First traveling to the other side of the world. Then two dives yesterday and three today, might have been a bit too much.

Our alarms went off at 5am this morning, we got takeaway breakfast at 5:30 and were at the dive center not more than five minutes later. The boats left at 6am, two going to Kimod Shoal, the feeding stations of the thresher sharks. The boat ride took about 45 minutes. I was a bit tired, but couldn’t manage to eat any breakfast. But it was all fine. It was still early. We geared up on the boat when we neared and when it was our turn to long stride in from the boat, I realized that my BCD was too big, the crew had accidently given me a M instead of XS, which was of course my responsibility to check right when we boarded. Oh well.

The first dive was our deep dive, we were going down to 30m and would do a couple of exercises down there. We hadn’t been down in the water before long before our instructor showed us the sign for shark. The first thresher shark was clearly visible, maybe 15-20m away. Can’t really say how big it was, but like all the other ones, probably a grown up one, 3-4m perhaps? It was so cool! And not scary at all. It looked so cute! Unfortunately, since this was a course dive, we weren’t allowed to bring any cameras so we have no photos from this dive. So if you can’t wait to see our photos, google it for now, they look funny and majestic at the same time with their long fins. Their eyes are so big and cartoon-y, they always swim with their mouths open.

The first exercise was to write on the board what color we saw on a scale, just so we would be aware of color distortions at that depth. Then we pointed at the board and right number sequence and touched our nose to show that we didn’t have oxygen narcosis. While we were down there, a couple of sharks passively swam past and it was just so cool! We had dived off a reef wall and had a 200 m drop below us. It was definitely dark, even in 40+m visibility. Light disappears fast. I thought it was a little bit harder to breathe down there, but it felt normal fairly fast. Being down at that depth was more scary than seeing the sharks, for sure!

The rest of the dive was just cruising around until we “ran out” of air. At 70 bar, we started swimming towards the mooring line to make our 5m 3min stop and by the time we got there, I had only 50 bar, which is the reserve. I actually got a little bit panicked, even if I knew it was only 3 minutes until I could surface, I felt like the air was running out. But of course, that was only my brain playing tricks on me. But scary nonetheless. And it didn’t help that we were so many divers at the same time on that mooring line making our safety stop in quite the current.

We surfaced and swam to our boat and when I came aboard, I was so exhausted and didn’t feel like diving any more. And we had two more! But that feeling changed after the second dive!

During the surface interval, some people saw a thresher shark jumping. Apparently they do that and can jump pretty high! I missed it and only saw the splash afterward. BUT, right before we got back to Malapascua, I saw an eagle ray jumping out of the water. That was so cool!

The second dive was a “drift dive” so we practiced the negative descent, when you enter the water without air in your BCD so you sink directly to get away from the current on the surface. The current wasn’t so bad today, but we still did everything like it was. Compared to our first dive on Gili Trawangan (Halik’s Reef), this was like a fun dive. Halik’s reef was STRONG current where you just drifted with the current.

A course dive among thresher sharks at 20m was incredible! It might have been the best dive we’ve ever done! I think I lost count of the sharks after around 6. And that was early into the dive. Many were probably the same ones, but still. They just casually swam around all of us divers, looking goofy and cute. I had one fairly big one swimming straight towards me but steering off course quickly like 3-4m in front of me. It’s incredible how fast they are and how clumsy we are underwater. SO WOW! After forty-something minutes of a very pleasant dive and countless thresher sharks, it was time to end the dive. WOW!

I felt better on the boat but still not in the mood to eat. Although the third dive didn’t feel like an impossibility. We had time to eat lunch at Angelina’s again. After not feeling like eating anything at all, that tagliatelle ragu did seem rather alluring.

At 13:30, we met up at the dive center for a briefing of the last dive of this advanced open water certification: the underwater navigational dive. I was dreading this the most. Navigating underwater with a compass. I failed to understand on land (although I completely understand how a compass works and how to think when swimming a square). But it turned out to be easy underwater. I did surprisingly well and almost made a perfect square (if only my visual reference navigation was a little bit better and I didn’t swim towards the wrong rock formation to end the square, haha).

A bit of chilling at the hotel, taking pictures of the sunset from our balcony and then went to Kokay Maldites Beach Resort for dinner. Same beach as our other favorite restaurant. It seems like that’s where most restaurants are.

First day of AOW/Nitrox

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15 February 19:37

 

We gave ourselves no time to rest for this and I’m starting to think that our 30 year old bodies can’t really handle it. It feels unfamiliar. But we survived today. I wonder how tomorrow will go. Or the day after tomorrow.

We woke up to clear blue sky and had the most amazing view from our balcony. Breakfast was okay, but we had to stress it through to make it to the dive center at 8am. It was already 26C this morning and I started to question bringing a 5mm wetsuit. I was afraid that we would get heatstroke from just going to the dive sites.

The Thresher Shark Divers PADI dive center lies approximately 1 minute walk from the hotel. Super convenient. As usual when diving, we signed so many papers and met with our fellow course taker from China. We were told that we were going to do to two dives straight after each other; Peak Performance Boyancy at Laplight dive site and Underwater Naturalist at Dakit-Dakit. A refresher dive was included in the first one where we filled our masks with water and cleared it but also when we lost our regulator and how to find it and start breathing again. Easy peasy! That was the one part our instructor was impressed with. We wanted to do the refresher part but once in the water it felt so natural again. We were a bit spoiled at Blue Marlin on Gili Trawangan though where the Fun Dives were all prepared by the staff, so coming to this advanced course and not really knowing how to set up the gear was embarrassing. But we are alive so we did everything correctly at least, haha!

At the briefing before boarding the tiny boat, we got to know what we were going to do, and it felt easy enough. I understand why an advanced course starts with the buoyancy part, but buoyancy is tough, especially when you are performing specific tasks and trying to do it expertly. We all did okay, but I had some serious issues with staying neutrally buoyant vertically upside down. I just flew back up to the surface. No controlled breathing could have been stronger than that force. I am guessing that my new, extremely buoyant wetsuit had something to do with it. I don’t know how many times I had to retry. After a while, the instructor picked up another weight and put on my cylinder. It was better, but I still floated to the top at the end of the minute, Oh well.

Mikael did great on all parts except swimming through the square without touching. It’s hard to know if you’re completely horizontal or not. We did 4 one minute buoyancy positions: horizontal, vertical upright, vertical facing down and buddha. I don’t know how people manages the last one with the fins trying to reach the surface all the time. But I passed somehow, I think. Then was the square we had to swim through without touching and pushing things off the bottom with our regulator by controlling our breaths. It was a frustrating first dive.

The next dive was straight after but at another dive site. A bit bumpy but not too bad. Once we were there we were changing tubes to new ones and I started feeling really bad. I have had some seriously bad boat trips, but I’ve never thrown up before. I know that it feels better once you’re in the water, but I didn’t really want to rush getting that regulator in my mouth. Ugh! But once we were down it was all good.

Underwater Naturalists is supposed to make us aware of what we are diving with, so it was basically just a fun dive at Dakit-Dakit sanctuary with artificial reefs where the instructor pointed at things and we were supposed to tell her if it was a plant, vertebrae or invertebrates. Easy enough once you got the hang of it. We saw some really cool things! Huge bat fish, stone fish, can fish (I think? It looked like a box and swam backwards). I don’t know the words for everything, but there were lots of cool small things. Except the starfish, they were huge! Both blue ones but also light brown ones with white spots.

On this dive, it started to get cold. Even with the 5mm full wetsuit. It was not too bad, but I felt sorry for Tina who only had a 2,5mm shorty. Poor woman!

After the dive I felt so tired. I love diving. But today was rough! My mask was too tight and I got a piercing headache on the leftside of my forehead, I threw up, all the heavy gear, after not sleeping too well in a room that was way too much AC’d. Not too much good food eaten in the past days.

We asked for advice for lunch and went to an Italian restaurant, easy food. And super good! Angelina’s right on the “main” beach where the ferry comes through. Quickly though, because we had to be back at the dive center for the dry part of the Nitrox course where we learn how to analyze and dive with higher concentrations of oxygen. It basically lowers the risk of nitrogen toxicity, but you have to be super aware of how deep you can go with different percentages of oxygen. With our dive computers it won’t be hard. But it’s good to know why we have these limitations and what could happen.

It started raining after that, the blue sky gone and we went back to the hotel for a nap before heading out to dinner. We woke up, feeling weird and decided to stay in and skip dinner. Filled out our dive logs and will now go to bed. Because at 6am, the boat leaves tomorrow morning for two dives with sharks!

9 modes of transportation

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14 February 23:20

 

We have arrived somewhere warm where we can hear the ocean from our hotel room, but honestly, we have no idea what this place looks like. But I’m pretty sure it feels like a paradise! We can’t wait to see what Malapascua looks like in daylight.

Traveling from the small big town of Gothenburg is bad. It’s an embarrassment to say that we have an international airport. Which is why, Mikael and I for the third time together goes all the way down to Copenhagen, Denmark to flee Sweden.

Let’s say that our day started at 8am Swedish time. At home. Excited for what’s to come. Mikael’s mom will borrow the car while we are away so we drove to the Central Station to meet up with her. Transportation mode number 1.

Öresundståget, mode number 2, the train going between Gothenburg and Copenhagen took us to Lund where we had to switch due to delays or something. Arrived a bit late to the airport, but still with plenty of time to work some more. Too bad the project I’m working in doesn’t take a vacation just because I am.

Transportation mode number 3 was the first flight to Doha. 6 hours short. Managed to squeeze in some reading, a little nap, food and that’s it.

I’ve never been to Doha’s international airport before, but it was big! So big that we had to take the electric metro to our gate. Number 4.

Gender neutral changing sign in Qatar.

 

The layover was a total of 3 hours, perfect! We barely had time to sit down. From the gate was number 5, the bus to the actual flight which was some distance away.

The last flight from Doha to Cebu was 9 hours. And I am surprised to say this, but we seriously slept through almost the whole flight! How is that even possible? We woke up in perfect timing with breakfast/dinner and had a very pleasant flight. Except that Mikael dropped one of his earplugs during the first nap, but actually managed to get it back from the guy sitting behind us. And also, for some stupid reason, when we were descending, my nose spontaneously decided to start bursting out blood. Not super convenient and no tissues very close at hand, no stewardess’ who could help. Insane. We did managed to find some eventually, but by then there was blood, haha! I really hope this doesn’t affect our upcoming dives tomorrow.

Okay, number 6, that was the taxi that drove us all the way from Cebu to Port Maya, a small harbor up north from where the ferry to Malapascua leaves. When we received the confirmation from the hotel about the taxi/boat, they had written Bremm. I corrected them, yet was still not surprised when the name on the paper read Alexandra Been. I have to admit though, Been is a first!

Okay, so we had finally arrived in our destination country, woho! But still many hours away from checking in, tired like never before. Similarities with Bali: there are no countryside roads, they are all lined with buildings, small shops and eateries. The cities blend together. And the traffic. WOW! So much traffic. But we reached the harbor after 3,5 hours which was not so bad. The driver was driving like a boss, probably a little stressed out because he had the boat crew calling him asking him where he was. It turned out that they had waited for us for 2 hours. Not our fault though.

Number 7, we are finally getting close to our final destination! The commercial ferry stops going to Malapascua after 17:30 so we had to get a private one. Not sure if the normal ferries are of this size and type, but it was a fairly big boat, and from what I’ve seen, the most common type used over here. Like the dive boats in Indonesia, but bigger. The conditions were great, otherwise the coast guard wouldn’t have allowed the late night private ferry. Another family was on it, German, visiting family for a month. Imagine having family on Malapascua to visit?

The boat ride took approximately 30 min. It was warm, the breeze was perfect, the occasional ocean splatter. A little bumpy made worse by the pitch darkness. But that pitch black makes the stars really pop out! I can’t remember seeing such a starry night sky before. I even got some decent pictures with my phone. Mikael was too tired to get his real camera up on the balcony. But I hope it will be a sky clear of clouds other days too, because this was just wow!

Okay, next thing, the tide was low, so this “big” boat couldn’t get all the way onto the beach so an even smaller had to get us the final distance. Number 8. There are no cars on this island and the only way to get things to it is by boat. And small boats at that. I was mighty impressed when they tried to move the scooter from the bigger one to the much smaller one. Impressive!

Shortly thereafter comes the last piece of this super long puzzle, the walking, number 9. It was a full 20m from the boat to our hotel where we were greeted and shown to our room with sunset view from the enormous balcony.

 

To say that this was a long day might be an understatement. I’m not even sure how many days have passed since we dragged our luggage through a snowy Gothenburg. Door to door: 31,5 hours. Can’t say yet if it was worth it. But it feels like it! I think it’s around 30C right now, the waves are rolling in on the beach right beneath us, it’s humid and our AC works wonderfully well.

 

One thing though. NO INTERNET ACCES WHATSOEVER. We didn’t see where we could buy sim cards at the airport but thought it would be fine on the way or once we got to the hotel. 7 Eleven did not have sim cards. We didn’t yet ask the hotel manager if there are any for sale on this tiny 4,8sqkm island, but will do so tomorrow. And also, since we have the room furthest away from the lobby where the router is we assume, we don’t get any signal here. No one knows we are alive except my mom who at least knows we landed (when I briefly had WiFi for 5 minutes). That’s tomorrow’s problem. Otherwise, this will be an unconnected holiday with just focus on sharks and beautiful beaches.

 

HAPPY VALENTINES!

Review of “The Two Towers” by J.R.R. Tolkien

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Title: The Two Towers
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
Series: The Lord of the Rings #2
Narrator: Andy Serkis
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 20 hours 47 minutes
Published: 2021, HarperCollins (originally published 1954)
My Grade: 5 out of 5

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

Frodo and his Companions of the Ring have been beset by danger during their quest to prevent the Ruling Ring from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord by destroying it in the Cracks of Doom. They have lost the wizard, Gandalf, in a battle in the Mines of Moria. And Boromir, seduced by the power of the Ring, tried to seize it by force. While Frodo and Sam made their escape, the rest of the company was attacked by Orcs. Now they continue the journey alone down the great River Anduin—alone, that is, save for the mysterious creeping figure that follows wherever they go.

 

MY REVIEW

The Two Towers is as good as The Fellowship of the Ring. The story goes on seamlessly and focuses mainly on Merry/Pippin and Legolas/Aragorn/Gimli in the “fourth” book and only on Frodo and Sam in the fifth. I like that it was so separated. It made it easier to follow along in the story instead of focusing on trying to figure out which character this chapter is following.

The writing, worldbuilding and general feeling of the bok is the same. It feels real with descriptions and dialogue. And I was surprised at the humor. Gimli’s and Legolas counting contest at Helm’s Deep was in the book. Merry and Pippin greeting the rest of the company after the battle of Isengard an Gimli’s funny responses. That surprised me a lot.

This is the second book of a trilogy, which makes it the transport story. And it definitely is. But not for the reasons I remembered from when I was 12. The Ent Moot is not what is dragging this story out. The Council of Elrond is. I think that was at least four hours of the whole book. I kind of wish I would have paid more attention though, because a lot of ancient history was told there. But in general, things are constantly happening, even if the might be a little flat. Or perhaps even is a better word? Andy Serkis is so very passionate when he is narrating and it’s super intense at the fight with Shelob, but it’s over so fast. The same with the battle at Helm’s Deep. It’s over in no time. These battle scenes seems like a neccessity for the story and not something extraordinary that is visually beautiful as it was portrayed in the movies.

And when it comes to comparing the movie with the book, which is impossible when reading the book 20 years after the successful movie came out, the scenes described in the book gives so much more background. It puts perspective unto scenes in the movie that I wasn’t aware of before. It is also scary how accurate and exact some scenes are. It’s almost ridiculous. I wonder what people thought when reading this before Peter Jackson came into the picture. One major difference though is Frodo’s acting towards Gollum. He is not being nice and understanding at all towards the creature and is not as naive as he is portrayed in the film.

It is a transport book, for sure, but still so excellently written and narrated. 5 out of 5 possible!

Review of “The Well of Ascension” by Brandon Sanderson

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Title: The Well of Ascension
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Series: Mistborn #2
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 578
Published: 2007, Tor Books
My Grade: 5 out of 5

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION

“Description contains spoilers for previous book in the series”

The impossible has been accomplished. The Lord Ruler—the man who claimed to be god incarnate and brutally ruled the world for a thousand years—has been vanquished. But Kelsier, the hero who masterminded that triumph, is dead too, and now the awesome task of building a new world has been left to his young protégé, Vin, the former street urchin who is now the most powerful Mistborn in the land, and to the idealistic young nobleman she loves.

As Kelsier’s protégé and slayer of the Lord Ruler she is now venerated by a budding new religion, a distinction that makes her intensely uncomfortable. Even more worrying, the mists have begun behaving strangely since the Lord Ruler died, and seem to harbor a strange vaporous entity that haunts her.

Stopping assassins may keep Vin’s Mistborn skills sharp, but it’s the least of her problems. Luthadel, the largest city of the former empire, doesn’t run itself, and Vin and the other members of Kelsier’s crew, who lead the revolution, must learn a whole new set of practical and political skills to help. It certainly won’t get easier with three armies – one of them composed of ferocious giants – now vying to conquer the city, and no sign of the Lord Ruler’s hidden cache of atium, the rarest and most powerful allomantic metal.

As the siege of Luthadel tightens, an ancient legend seems to offer a glimmer of hope. But even if it really exists, no one knows where to find the Well of Ascension or what manner of power it bestows.

 

MY REVIEW

The Well of Ascension was different in so many ways from The Final Empire. Well, not in writing really, it is the amazing same, not when it comes to world building either. But content-wise, focus of the story and pace differ a lot.

After finishing The Final Empire and that incredible ending, I just had to know what happened next. Yes, you learned what happened next, them trying to figure out how to rule a kingdom while being under siege from not one, not two, but three armies. What disappointed me a little bit honestly, was that we didn’t get to learn anything of the lord ruler. The first 90% of the book was all about politics, not much action. Things still happened, the story went on, it was easy to follow (not like some other fantasy that focuses on politics, George RR Martin for example). It was captivating and on a good enough level of complicated. One thing Sanderson managed to keep interesting was situations where you as a reader could be certain of the outcome, but somehow he managed to make the opposite and super u likely outcome seem logical. It’s like he’s manipulating us with his writing. It’s amazing!

Sure, war is something happening, but as soon as that 90% part of the story was over, it was like a new book. Those last pages and how it all ended. It was even worse than the ending of The Final Empire. The ending made you rethink the whole first book. That’s a feat!

I cannot say anything else than that Sanderson is my new favorite author. This was the second book of a trilogy, the pace is supposed to be naturally slower. But it builds up suspense, you never know which direction the story is going which the ending clearly show. For a “journey” mid book, it’s good. It’s really good! Easy 5 out of 5. Please read this series if you haven’t already! It kind of feels like I’m the last one to find out about this amazing author, haha!

Review of “The Final Empire” by Brandon Sanderson

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Title: The Final Empire
Author: Brandon Sanderson
Series: Mistborn #1
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 537
Published: 2006, Tor Books
My Grade: 5 out of 5

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION

For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the “Sliver of Infinity,” reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler’s most hellish prison. Kelsier “snapped” and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark.

Kelsier recruited the underworld’s elite, the smartest and most trustworthy allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers, and all of whom relish a high-stakes challenge. Then Kelsier reveals his ultimate dream, not just the greatest heist in history, but the downfall of the divine despot.

But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel’s plan looks more like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she’s a half-Skaa orphan, but she’s lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets. She will have to learn trust if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.

 

MY REVIEW

I think I said this in my review of Elantris, but Sanderson is definitely one of my favorite authors! The main reason being his ability to come up with amazing and captivating stories that you really become a part of.

The Final Empire has: a great story arc, a new imaginative magic system, and a world you really find yourself in. I at least see very clearly everything that is happening. Even the fighting scenes which I usually only see blurs.

I wouldn’t say that Sanderson is using an easier way of writing, but his writing is easier to follow. I don’t miss details like I can do in other author’s style of writing (I will leave a small comparison to Robert Jordan here for example).

This book doesn’t leave you as the reader to think for yourself, which I think is a good thing. When I am really engulfed in a story, I don’t want to end up having to put the book aside to think about what certain things mean or not. I want a flow where I can continue to read and still be surprised when plot twists arise for example. And that’s how The Final Empire is. You can just continue to read in that flow and be completely inside the story.

The story is amazing. Something is always happening. Something good in the right direction, some setbacks, some more setbacks until you are questioning if things really are going to work out, which makes you understand why there are two more books in this trilogy. But then comes the ending. And you understand why there are two more books, but for other reasons than you previously thought.

Brandon Sanderson does it so well! The last part was so intensive that I couldn’t put the book down! I started The Well of Ascension straight after. 5 out of 5!

Review of “The Fellowship of the Ring” by J.R.R. Tolkien

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Title: The Fellowship of the Ring
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
Series: The Lord of the Rings #1
Narrator: Andy Serkis
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 22 hours 38 minutes
Published: 2021, HarperCollins (originally published 1954)
My Grade: 5 out of 5

GOODREADS’ DESCRIPTION

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit.

In a sleepy village in the Shire, young Frodo Baggins finds himself faced with an immense task, as his elderly cousin Bilbo entrusts the Ring to his care. Frodo must leave his home and make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ring and foil the Dark Lord in his evil purpose.

 

MY REVIEW

Wow! Is that enough for a review? I feel like it kind of is. But at the same time, no of course not. It has been years and years since I read the Sweidsh translation of The Fellowship of the Ring. I think I was 12 years old. Still not too bad to even try to read these ones at that age. But I was too young to truly appreciate them. I’m not sure how I would appreciate them now if I had read them properly, but I can say that I am the complete opposite of dissappointed after listening to them. I did the right choice in waiting until the Andy Serkis versions came out on audiobook platforms in Sweden. Because just wow!

I remember the long prologue and backstory of the hobbits. Serkis made it swoosh by. The history of hobbits was so interesting and it was impossible to zone out. Great start and the whole book was over in a flash!

As one who have seen the movies countless times, I can’t help but compare of course. They are so similar and Peter Jackson truly got the spirit of the story and did such an amazing job. And I see the brilliance of the movies even clearer now. He used the dialogue, quotes straight from the books and scenes that were exactly the same. But, there differences as well. I think every Lord of the Ring fan out there, no matter if they read the books or not, have heard of Tom Bombadill. What a weird character. And such a long part of the story. Another major difference is that in the book, everyone knows what’s going on from the very start. Information is not withheld from any characters for the sake of suspense which it does in the movie. Or newer books for that matter. It felt refreshing, even if the book was 70 years old.

Do I even need to say anything about the worldbuilding? It’s extraordinary. The world comes alive through thorough dialogue and extensive descriptions. Some parts are too long, like the council of Elrond. I think that one scene might have been four hours long? And I also think that Andy Serkis is a great reason for bringing all the characters even more alive than the storytelling itself. He reads all the characters with different voices and they sound so much alike to the actors in the movies. You can really tell when it’s Pippin who’s talking. I don’t have any memories of him reading Gollum as the movie voice though. Strange? Gollum is not a big part of this story though.

There are several scenes which are not really contributing to the story and I do understand why Jackson kept them out of the movie. But they do add some more worldbuilding. Not that it is actually needed, but it fills out.

Listening to The Fellowship of the Ring narrated by Andy Serkis was the best decision I could have made. Just wow! You should do it as well! 5 out of 5, easily!!