Smashbomb

I've watched my fair share of Space Opera (Firefly, Dark Matter, Farscape, Star Trek, Star Wars - don't try to tell me those last two aren't Space Opera, THEY TOTALLY ARE) - but I haven't read much of it. I picked up The Wrong Stars mostly because reviews said it had a demisexual main character, rather than because it's a Space Opera. Regardless, I am SO GLAD I DID. The book is excellent.

First off, the diversity! Over the course of the story, we meet people who are, in no particular order, gay, bisexual, demisexual, asexual, transgender, and non-binary. The story is set 500 years after Earth sends out its first colony ships, and in that time, culture has evolved. Marriage is not common, but contractually-bound relationships exist. Promiscuity and non-monogamy aren't viewed any different than monogamy, and in the same way, the distinctions between gay, straight, and bi don't carry any negative connotations. It's not a complete utopia - it's still a capitalist society, and there is still scarcity - but socially, at least, it has definitely evolved a lot from the present!

Elena, one of our main characters, was a biologist sent out on one of the first colony ships. Stocked with seeds, crude replicators, and cryo-sleep pods, a small crew was sent out, in stasis, on a five-hundred year journey to a system with probable life-supporting planets. They were called Goldilocks ships, in the hope they'd find a planet that was "just right." What humanity didn't expect was that in the intervening five hundred years, they would make contact with an alien species and be given the means for true space travel via wormholes. Some of the ships arrived at their destinations to find human colonies already thriving on their target planets! Elena, however, found something quite different, and it's a very disconcerting difference. She is rescued by the motley crew of the White Raven, and they quickly get drawn into the mystery.

I really enjoyed the world-building and characterization in The Wrong Stars. The science of it made sense to me, but I'm not very versed in science, so I can't really say how realistic it is. It was at least pretty internally consistent. I'd like to learn more about how the AIs are created, though. Luckily, there is a sequel coming! The Dreaming Stars should be coming out this September, and I'm DEFINITELY going to read it.

If you like Dark Matter, Firefly, or Farscape, you should definitely read The Wrong Stars. There's a little bit of light romance threaded into the larger plot, and one fade-to-black sex scene. It's definitely not the focus of the book. There is some violence, but nothing incredibly graphic. I would put it at about the same maturity level as Star Trek.

You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com

Kudos

Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) in Movies

Jun 19, 2019

Director Michael Bay is back with “Transformers” The Last Knight”, and even before the Paramount logo could fade; Bay’s trademark fire and explosions light up the screen. This is a big indication of what is to come as from the start we are bombarded with fire, explosions, and lots of slow motion shots of people being thrown about.

The film stars Mark Wahlberg as Cade Yeager who continues to try to help the Autobots despite being declared illegal for their destructive war with the Decepticons which has left a path of human death and destruction in its wake.

While Cade runs afoul of the government, he reluctantly helps those in need including a young girl named Izabella (Isabela Moner), who also has a soft spot for the kind Autobots.

The two warring factions are in a race to find a mythical object that they believe will restore they damaged home world but of course, will lay waste to the Earth in the process. One would say ok with this storyline we have enough to work with. Unfortunately the film keeps cramming in plot points and subplots that do not really go anywhere. We are introduced to characters that appear important and then vanish for most of the film without contributing much of any significance. The audience is also bombarded with a barrage of chases, action sequences and of course; fiery explosions after another but without anything in the form of suspense or excitement.

Sir Anthony Hopkins appears and for a few moments I had hopes that the film would start to be more coherent and gain some focus, but thanks to his erratic and annoying character and even more annoying robotic butler, the film almost becomes unwatchable. It was like watching a two-plus hour FX reel for people with short attention spans. The dialogue is groan inducing even for an action film and it seems as if every character can only say Sh*t when they are frustrated or stressed.

I do not expect a great plot, acting, or writing for a film based on a popular toy series but we have seen much better examples in the prior films.

It seems that Bay is so content to simply let the very impressive visuals of the film carry the day and things such as a plot, character development, and a brisker run time simply got in the way of his desire to blow more things up and fill each shot with as many FX sequences as possible regardless of how annoying they were and if they were needed at all.

I am not a Michael Bay basher as has a solid track record of success and you know what you are getting with him. But if the franchise is to move forward, it will need an infusion of fresh ideas and creativity as this was borderline unwatchable at points. The fans and the franchise deserve much better than this effort.

http://sknr.net/2017/06/20/transformers-last-knight/