I have begun to read Fahrenheit 45, the famous novel centering around a dystopian society, in which books of all kinds are burned, and those who partake in reading them are labeled as insane. Anyone who possesses a book risks having their property burnt to the ground by "firemen," who, instead of stopping fires, create them. One such fireman, Guy Montag, seems to enjoy this task, saying that the work burnt a fiery smile on his face. Once he meets the somewhat odd 17 year old Clarisse McClellan does he realize that he is not truly happy. That something is missing in his life, and the lives of everyone else in society.

To avoid spoiling major plot details, I'll stop there, but I would like to give some insight into how I feel about the book so far.

Now, don't get me wrong here, the idea that Bradbury created is ingenious, and I do enjoy reading this book. But, I believe that there are quite a few holes in the writing, and that the story is not exactly clear. Bradbury, instead of focusing on explaining what is happening in the story, hones in on one small detail and attempts to create a metaphor out of that one thing. This would not be a problem if he did it every so often, and if it was better integrated into the actual story. Such an occurrence can be found on nearly every other page, and at points it seems as if Bradbury just threw in some sort of metaphor for the aesthetic. It is just too distracting when Guy is on a public subway thinking about being a child and trying to get sand into a sieve, when he suddenly comes up with the idea of reading the Bible to memorize every single verse (I wonder what happened to books being illegal?) and "Denham's Dentifrice," without any explanation as to where that phrase is coming from, suddenly and continuously repeats over and over and over every few lines. Then, Guy thinks about sand and goes into an psychotic spiel about lilies as he gets up and screams at the apparently disembodied Denham's dental detergent voice. I suppose he was expecting us to assume that it was a very annoying toothpaste commercial, and not Guy going insane. Moments worse than this are all over this book, where Bradbury throws some cryptic metaphor at the reader, dragging them away from what is actually happening in the scene, then going right back to the story, expecting the reader to follow every vague little detail.

Another thing that bothers me is Guy's character. He seems mentally unstable, and makes so many irresponsible decisions. He never seems to think about how his actions will impact him in the future, and this often seems to be the cause of his problems. But, this could also be to emphasize how screwed up their society is. If the characters aren't maniacs, they're naïve fools that are oblivious to all of their surroundings.

All in all, I find the concept of this book to be quite interesting, but I believe it could've been better executed.

First off, I absolutely adore this series. Rick Riordan somehow manages to successfully combine Ancient Grecian mythology, modern-day ideals and technology, along with plenty of wit and sarcasm to create these masterpieces. Recently, I have picked up The House of Hades (if you couldn't tell by the picture), this book being the fourth installment in Riordan's latest series, The Heroes of Olympus. The story is a direct continuation of The Mark of Athena, and occurs right after the events at the end of said book. 

Some spoilers may be contained below, so I would suggest you stop reading here if you'd rather to dive into this series with a clean slate:

The House of Hades follows two separate stories, following Percy and Annabeth as they traverse the perilous Tartarus, and Jason, Leo, Hazel, Nico and Frank while they travel across Europe in the Argo II. Both parties are attempting to get to the Doors of Death, so they can free it from it's shackles and get both Percy and Annabeth out of Tartarus alive. The group aboard the Argo II encounter various mythical beings and monsters, ranging from giant turtles and thieves, to the Goddess of snow, Khione. Percy and Annabeth, on the other hand, have to travel through the birthplace of monsters, where the taint of the acidic air weakens them with every step. Without supplies, and only the fiery water of the Phlegethon to keep them barely going. To avoid revealing any major events in the plot, I'll stop here.

But, all in all, I greatly enjoyed this book. Although I feel it's ending was a bit anti-climactic, and it didn't leave as much of a dramatic cliff-hangar as in The Mark of Athena, I loved learning about all of these intriguing Greek (and, I suppose, Roman) Myths, all while being caught in the troubles and tribulations of each and every character. I found it hard to put down the book once I was snagged.

Luckily for me, I picked this book up late, and the next book in the series has already been released. I must say, I can't wait to pick up the fifth book in the series, and plunge into the depth of the finale, The Blood of Olympus.