With the start of season two of Heroes, I suddenly realized that I had too much fun watching season one to do any reviews of it. Heroes is such a great show, wonderfully complex plots and all, that I just didn't think of it sooner.

Despite watching it from the very first episode. And thinking I needed to add it to this site.

Heroes is the story of previously ordinary people discovering that they have extraordinary powers. The theme throughout the first season is "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World". Claire is that cheerleader, and in a lot of ways she should be pretty easy to save. You see, her power is to heal herself from any injury... even death.

Is anything ever that simple? 

Many of the heroes mean to do well. Hiro, for example, can travel through time and space at will, and is determined to be a hero, and to prove himself to his father. Matt is a cop who can read minds. Peter can copy the powers of those he touches, and while he tries to use it for good, he fears that he will be the one to destroy New York City because he can't control all of the powers he has absorbed.

But of course there's the darker side. Most obvious is Sylar, who kills to gain the powers of others with these special abilities. He's not the only villian, but he's the most obvious one to his fellow heroes.

There's also a very secretive organization that is involved and trying to get in control.

The plots are incredibly complex, with many subplots. You never know who knows who or what the future, forseen by two different characters, will really turn out to be the way they have forseen?

The season finale of Heroes had me screaming in frustration at the television. It wasn't the best season ending I've ever seen, but if you didn't see it I really can't give it away. But I really, really wanted to chew a couple of the characters out for not being thorough enough. 

Dune is one of the great classics of science fiction. You may have seen one or another movie version, but reading the book is much better.

Arrakis is a desert world, the source of the spice, which is tremendously valuable, vital to the Empire, and House Atreides has just been transferred there. The Duke and his son Paul must learn to live on that difficult world, and win the trust of people who had to deal with the previous Duke, Harkonnen.

But for Paul there is something more, and he is accepted as a Messiah. Soon he is fully commited to his new world and its future.

You will probably enjoy the political intrigue throughout the novel as well as the personal relationships. There's so much that could be said of Dune, but most important is simply "read it". 

The Day the Magic Stopped is a collection of short stories based on a single theme. One day all the magic stops in a magical world.

The stories are full of disasters as magical palaces fall from the sky, illusions vanish, and the real world is all there is. But inevitably the magic returns and things have the chance to return to normal. Will they?

Most of the stories are a lot of fun. The different authors give very different perpectives. Sometimes you'll see it from the perspective of a theif, sometimes a knight, sometimes a magician. It's a lot of fun. 

Crystal Singer is the story of Killashandra Ree, music student. She has just discovered that she does not have the vocal talent to be come a Stellar, or top ranked performer. She wanders aimlessly until she gets involved in preventing an accident at the spaceport, with the help of a crystal singer.

Soon she is fascinated by the possibilities he presents. When he suffers from backlash relating to his choice of career, she decides to accompany him back to Ballybran, and apply to be a Crystal Singer herself.

I truly enjoy this novel. Ballybran is an unusual world with unusual requirements for its inhabitants. I've never been quite certain why EVERYONE wanting to live on Ballybran must have perfect pitch, a requirement for Singers, but whatever. Don't come crying to me with your recruitment problems, guys!

Aside from that one bit that drives me up the wall, it's a good read.