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Movie Metropolis (309 KP) rated World War Z (2013) in Movies
Jun 11, 2019
Brad Pitt has become one of Hollywood’s best loved actors over the years and it isn’t difficult to see why. His chiselled good looks, slick blonde hair and quiet confidence have all ensured he is never short of work. Here, he teams up with director Marc Forster who helmed the disappointing James Bond sequel, Quantum of Solace, in the latest zombie film to hit the screens; World War Z, but is it any good?
Pitt plays Gerry Lane, a former UN investigator who has chosen the quiet life and retired early to spend more time with his wife and children. Whilst taking his wife Karin and two daughters Rachel and Constance out in the car, they become stuck in heavy traffic which marks the start of the mayhem. From then on this 116 minute thrill ride puts the viewer on the edge of their seat more times than an Alton Towers rollercoaster.
After fleeing the hordes of ridiculously fast and ridiculously terrifying undead, Lane and his family board a US aircraft carrier where they are told they will be safe; however, as always, there is a price to pay. Gerry must start work once again to try and find the epicentre of the zombie virus – otherwise, the entire world will be lost. From here, Gerry’s mission is to travel across the globe trying to find what it is that has infected nearly 100% of the planet’s population.
What plays out could be described as a formulaic horror film, but it is so much more than that. Whilst it’s true that there isn’t enough character development, in fact there is only 5 minutes of it right at the beginning, director Marc Forster has cleverly allowed the audience to make up their own minds about the family’s back story and whether we care if they survive or not.
World War Z is not a film for the faint hearted, and whilst blood and guts are quite sparse for a movie with a 15 certificate, there are some truly terrifying moments, many of which will have your heart pumping through your chest.
There are scenes here that really get the adrenaline flowing, one of which involving a stowaway zombie onboard a commercial jet will leave you biting your lip, grabbing your seat and looking through your fingers in shock, horror and intense excitement. It’s safe to say I came away with very bitten fingernails.
Special effects are on par with some of the better blockbusters of the last couple of years. They aren’t as in your face as those in Transformers, nor as lacklustre as the CGI in I am Legend, they are right in the middle and because the effect is used incredibly subtly, you don’t notice when extras stop playing the zombies and the animators take over.
However, it is in the acting that this film really succeeds. Pitt is fantastic as Gerry Lane, his quiet sense of confidence never turns into arrogance as he fights for survival and this will hold the character in high esteem with audiences. He doesn’t pretend to be an action hero, heck, he even makes the kind of mistakes that any human would do if they were under pressure, and thankfully he does all of this beautifully; his characterisation is absolute perfection. The rest of his family are also excellent, Abigail Hargrove and Sterling Jerins who play Rachel and Constance respectively are very good indeed; you truly believe they are missing their father and cannot wait to see him return. The rest of the cast do very well with the limited roles they have, but let’s not forget that this is a Brad Pitt one-man show and he is more than up to the job.
Unfortunately, the cinematography really lets the film down. There is far too much handy-cam in the first 30 minutes, something which I hate. Directors often use it to sustain a sense of alarm and terror, but Marc Forster has used it to such an extent here that it made me feel physically sick. Moreover, whilst the story is solid, it is nothing more than that, and often the plot takes a back seat to the impressive action pieces meaning that the film seems to go through the motions of 10 minutes plot, 10 action, and so on.
Overall, World War Z is a very impressive film. The sheer scale of the virus means that Marc Forster has utilised some beautiful scenery from across the globe. Whilst it may be slightly too long for a zombie film at just under 2 hours, and have a distinct lack of character development; the impressive story, brilliant acting and very good special effects help lift it above the norm. This is a ride better than any rollercoaster, and is 100% worth the increasingly expensive price of a cinema admission ticket.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2013/06/22/world-war-z-review-2013/
Pitt plays Gerry Lane, a former UN investigator who has chosen the quiet life and retired early to spend more time with his wife and children. Whilst taking his wife Karin and two daughters Rachel and Constance out in the car, they become stuck in heavy traffic which marks the start of the mayhem. From then on this 116 minute thrill ride puts the viewer on the edge of their seat more times than an Alton Towers rollercoaster.
After fleeing the hordes of ridiculously fast and ridiculously terrifying undead, Lane and his family board a US aircraft carrier where they are told they will be safe; however, as always, there is a price to pay. Gerry must start work once again to try and find the epicentre of the zombie virus – otherwise, the entire world will be lost. From here, Gerry’s mission is to travel across the globe trying to find what it is that has infected nearly 100% of the planet’s population.
What plays out could be described as a formulaic horror film, but it is so much more than that. Whilst it’s true that there isn’t enough character development, in fact there is only 5 minutes of it right at the beginning, director Marc Forster has cleverly allowed the audience to make up their own minds about the family’s back story and whether we care if they survive or not.
World War Z is not a film for the faint hearted, and whilst blood and guts are quite sparse for a movie with a 15 certificate, there are some truly terrifying moments, many of which will have your heart pumping through your chest.
There are scenes here that really get the adrenaline flowing, one of which involving a stowaway zombie onboard a commercial jet will leave you biting your lip, grabbing your seat and looking through your fingers in shock, horror and intense excitement. It’s safe to say I came away with very bitten fingernails.
Special effects are on par with some of the better blockbusters of the last couple of years. They aren’t as in your face as those in Transformers, nor as lacklustre as the CGI in I am Legend, they are right in the middle and because the effect is used incredibly subtly, you don’t notice when extras stop playing the zombies and the animators take over.
However, it is in the acting that this film really succeeds. Pitt is fantastic as Gerry Lane, his quiet sense of confidence never turns into arrogance as he fights for survival and this will hold the character in high esteem with audiences. He doesn’t pretend to be an action hero, heck, he even makes the kind of mistakes that any human would do if they were under pressure, and thankfully he does all of this beautifully; his characterisation is absolute perfection. The rest of his family are also excellent, Abigail Hargrove and Sterling Jerins who play Rachel and Constance respectively are very good indeed; you truly believe they are missing their father and cannot wait to see him return. The rest of the cast do very well with the limited roles they have, but let’s not forget that this is a Brad Pitt one-man show and he is more than up to the job.
Unfortunately, the cinematography really lets the film down. There is far too much handy-cam in the first 30 minutes, something which I hate. Directors often use it to sustain a sense of alarm and terror, but Marc Forster has used it to such an extent here that it made me feel physically sick. Moreover, whilst the story is solid, it is nothing more than that, and often the plot takes a back seat to the impressive action pieces meaning that the film seems to go through the motions of 10 minutes plot, 10 action, and so on.
Overall, World War Z is a very impressive film. The sheer scale of the virus means that Marc Forster has utilised some beautiful scenery from across the globe. Whilst it may be slightly too long for a zombie film at just under 2 hours, and have a distinct lack of character development; the impressive story, brilliant acting and very good special effects help lift it above the norm. This is a ride better than any rollercoaster, and is 100% worth the increasingly expensive price of a cinema admission ticket.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2013/06/22/world-war-z-review-2013/
Movie Metropolis (309 KP) rated Pacific Rim (2013) in Movies
Jun 11, 2019
“Today, we are cancelling the apocalypse” barks Idris Elba’s Stacker Pentecost in the trailer for Pacific Rim, but it’s over 90 minutes in when you finally hear him utter that attention grabbing phrase in a movie so big, it will make your head spin. But is it worth the migraine?
In short, the answer is yes. Director Guillermo del Toro has created a monster movie that utilises themes from many other ‘classic’ films, giving it an old fashioned feel, whilst still making it incredibly fresh and unique.
The story is simple, but don’t let it fool you into thinking it’ll be a one dimensional ride from A to B, Pacific Rim is much more than that, it’s a big blockbuster most definitely, but it also gets the subtleties right; it has a heart. We begin with a Shakespearean narration by Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnan) who tells us about a war breaking out between humans and the Kaiju, a race of monsters from deep within the Pacific Ocean, and the only way to beat them is to bring in the heavy metal. Enter the Jaeger program, a series of gigantic robots built across the world to defend Earth against the terrifying creatures.
Whilst piloting a Jaeger, you are connected with a co-pilot who can see memories in a ‘drift’, a kind of telepathy which can be deadly for those around you if you ‘chase the rabbit’ and trap yourself in a memory which has caused distress. After all, you’re piloting a giant robot with laser beams, swords and over 100 diesel engines in some cases.
Hunnan’s character Raleigh is distraught after an incident with a Kaiju, so much so that he leaves the program and thinks he will never have to return. Unfortunately, he is very wrong and after five years he is back and, to cut a long story short, is teamed up with a rookie pilot in the shape of Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) to put an end to the forthcoming invasion.
The film borrows heavily from other similar-minded movies like Cloverfield and Transformers and there’s even a subtle nod to Jurassic Park, see if you can spot it, but yet del Toro always manages to make the film feel new, exciting and exceptionally fresh. Never before have we seen all of these regularly used components together, and it adds an interesting new dynamic to a film which could’ve been run of the mill.
Acting is a mixed bag; Idris Elba is excellent in his role as Pentecost and shows why he is like catnip to directors at the moment. Rinko Kikuchi is understated in her large role but plays the character well; we feel her innocence before her ‘drift virginity’ is taken. There is also one scene involving a younger version of Mori which is by far the most poignant in the entire film. For comic relief, of which there is a surprising amount in a film about the destruction of the globe, we have a del Toro staple, Ron Perlman, who plays a black market dealer roped in to help the cause and locate a Kaiju brain. Rob Kazinsky (True Blood) and Charlie Day (Horrible Bosses) also star, with the latter providing some of the films best lines.
The special effects are truly exceptional, in films this big there can sometimes be a few shoddy scenes to cut costs in the hope that audiences don’t notice but not here; everything is stunning – from the computer generated Jaegers and the computer generated Kaiju, to the CGI recreations of Hong Kong and other destinations across the globe, it truly is beautiful to watch. Couple this with an absolutely mind-blowing soundtrack and each frame has either a tantalising musical score or a piece of eye-popping visual.
However, after an initially exciting opening, we are treated to a first-act lull from which the film takes a good 30 minutes to recover from, this being the most disappointing thing in the entire movie. The lull is used to good effect though, as we learn more about the lead characters and the Jaeger program itself, but 30 minutes in a 2 hour film is a little too long to wait for the action to restart.
Overall, Pacific Rim is everything a big summer blockbuster should be, it has beautiful special effects, excellent performances and a decent story mixed with a superb soundtrack. We’ve seen it all before, but in separate films, so to put everything together was a brave move on behalf of del Toro and it works brilliantly. It’s a little too long and the first-act lull is disappointing, but in the end it all ties together nicely as pure popcorn entertainment.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2013/07/13/pacific-rim-review-2013/
In short, the answer is yes. Director Guillermo del Toro has created a monster movie that utilises themes from many other ‘classic’ films, giving it an old fashioned feel, whilst still making it incredibly fresh and unique.
The story is simple, but don’t let it fool you into thinking it’ll be a one dimensional ride from A to B, Pacific Rim is much more than that, it’s a big blockbuster most definitely, but it also gets the subtleties right; it has a heart. We begin with a Shakespearean narration by Raleigh Becket (Charlie Hunnan) who tells us about a war breaking out between humans and the Kaiju, a race of monsters from deep within the Pacific Ocean, and the only way to beat them is to bring in the heavy metal. Enter the Jaeger program, a series of gigantic robots built across the world to defend Earth against the terrifying creatures.
Whilst piloting a Jaeger, you are connected with a co-pilot who can see memories in a ‘drift’, a kind of telepathy which can be deadly for those around you if you ‘chase the rabbit’ and trap yourself in a memory which has caused distress. After all, you’re piloting a giant robot with laser beams, swords and over 100 diesel engines in some cases.
Hunnan’s character Raleigh is distraught after an incident with a Kaiju, so much so that he leaves the program and thinks he will never have to return. Unfortunately, he is very wrong and after five years he is back and, to cut a long story short, is teamed up with a rookie pilot in the shape of Mako Mori (Rinko Kikuchi) to put an end to the forthcoming invasion.
The film borrows heavily from other similar-minded movies like Cloverfield and Transformers and there’s even a subtle nod to Jurassic Park, see if you can spot it, but yet del Toro always manages to make the film feel new, exciting and exceptionally fresh. Never before have we seen all of these regularly used components together, and it adds an interesting new dynamic to a film which could’ve been run of the mill.
Acting is a mixed bag; Idris Elba is excellent in his role as Pentecost and shows why he is like catnip to directors at the moment. Rinko Kikuchi is understated in her large role but plays the character well; we feel her innocence before her ‘drift virginity’ is taken. There is also one scene involving a younger version of Mori which is by far the most poignant in the entire film. For comic relief, of which there is a surprising amount in a film about the destruction of the globe, we have a del Toro staple, Ron Perlman, who plays a black market dealer roped in to help the cause and locate a Kaiju brain. Rob Kazinsky (True Blood) and Charlie Day (Horrible Bosses) also star, with the latter providing some of the films best lines.
The special effects are truly exceptional, in films this big there can sometimes be a few shoddy scenes to cut costs in the hope that audiences don’t notice but not here; everything is stunning – from the computer generated Jaegers and the computer generated Kaiju, to the CGI recreations of Hong Kong and other destinations across the globe, it truly is beautiful to watch. Couple this with an absolutely mind-blowing soundtrack and each frame has either a tantalising musical score or a piece of eye-popping visual.
However, after an initially exciting opening, we are treated to a first-act lull from which the film takes a good 30 minutes to recover from, this being the most disappointing thing in the entire movie. The lull is used to good effect though, as we learn more about the lead characters and the Jaeger program itself, but 30 minutes in a 2 hour film is a little too long to wait for the action to restart.
Overall, Pacific Rim is everything a big summer blockbuster should be, it has beautiful special effects, excellent performances and a decent story mixed with a superb soundtrack. We’ve seen it all before, but in separate films, so to put everything together was a brave move on behalf of del Toro and it works brilliantly. It’s a little too long and the first-act lull is disappointing, but in the end it all ties together nicely as pure popcorn entertainment.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2013/07/13/pacific-rim-review-2013/
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Sprawlopolis in Tabletop Games
Jun 12, 2019
One of the best parts of the board gaming experience is finding a fun group of people with whom to play! Sometimes, though, coordinating a game night is easier said than done. We all must occasionally forego the group experience and face the world as the Lonely Only. But fear not! The world of solo-play is a vast and exciting realm! What follows is a chronicle of my journey into the solo-playing world – notes on gameplay, mechanics, rules, difficulty, and overall experience with solo variations of commonly multiplayer games! I hope this will provide some insight as you continue to grow your collection, or explore your already owned games!
If you had the chance to design a city, how would you do it? Would you have a park on every block for some nice greenery, or do you think a large commercial district will bring in more people? What about housing – would people live right in the heart of the city, or would they live more on the outskirts? The day has finally come where those decisions are up to you! Well, mostly. You’ve been hired to help design the ultimate city! The city officials have given you some specific requirements, but beyond that, the plans are up to you! Can you meet their needs while also maximizing your space? It’s time to put your skills to the test and build the best city ever!
Sprawlopolis is a cooperative card placement game of only 18 cards. Given 3 random scoring conditions, you must draw and play cards into the city to fulfill those requirements. Meet or exceed their score, and you win the game! Fail to do so, and you have not succeeded in building the city up to specifications. Be careful how you decide to place your cards, however, because depending on the scoring conditions in play, certain placements could result in negative points at the end of the game. Working together, you and your team must decide which cards to play at what time to ensure that the requirements are all met. Solo play is identical to cooperative play, except that you just always have a hand of 3 cards from which to play. The score to beat each game is dependent on the scoring conditions, so this game isn’t just another beat-your-own-high-score game – you actually have a specific number in mind.
For a game with only 18 cards, there is a lot of variability in Sprawlopolis. I have yet to play 2 identical games. The layout of each card is unique, as are all of the scoring conditions, so the possibilities are endless… almost! I also enjoy playing this game solo because it requires a decent amount of strategy. Three things factor into your final score (the scoring conditions, block groupings, and roads) and it is impossible to succeed by focusing on only one of them. Your strategy is always changing based on the cards in your hand, and you really have to think about how to best utilize each card for maximum end-game points. Depending on when and where you play a card, it could change the entire city so you have to be thinking about the big picture, literally! And a neat thing about Sprawlopolis is that you can overlap cards. So maybe a card you played earlier is not really ideal anymore, given your current hand, so you can just cover up either a portion of it or the entire card!
The hardest thing about Sprawlopolis for me is that certain combinations of scoring conditions can be difficult to complete. One may give you points for a certain type of city block, but then another may take away as many, or more, points for that same type of city block. Or one gives you points for certain roads, but all roads result in negative points during end-game scoring. Since the scoring conditions are chosen randomly, there’s not really a way to negate this unless you just re-draw those cards. You usually can’t just look at a scoring condition combination and know if it will be difficult or not either – you just have to try it. I’m not saying they’re impossible necessarily, just harder to successfully complete.
Overall, I think Sprawlopolis is a neat game. It’s fast and easy to learn, yet strategic enough to keep you coming back for more games. I like to use it as a nice light filler game between some bigger games, or I just like to play it if I’ve got a quick 15 minutes to spare! Sprawlopolis is a fun game to play with a group, and it’s also a fun game to play solo. In my arsenal of solo games, it’s definitely one on standby.
https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2019/02/11/solo-chronicles-sprawlopolis/
If you had the chance to design a city, how would you do it? Would you have a park on every block for some nice greenery, or do you think a large commercial district will bring in more people? What about housing – would people live right in the heart of the city, or would they live more on the outskirts? The day has finally come where those decisions are up to you! Well, mostly. You’ve been hired to help design the ultimate city! The city officials have given you some specific requirements, but beyond that, the plans are up to you! Can you meet their needs while also maximizing your space? It’s time to put your skills to the test and build the best city ever!
Sprawlopolis is a cooperative card placement game of only 18 cards. Given 3 random scoring conditions, you must draw and play cards into the city to fulfill those requirements. Meet or exceed their score, and you win the game! Fail to do so, and you have not succeeded in building the city up to specifications. Be careful how you decide to place your cards, however, because depending on the scoring conditions in play, certain placements could result in negative points at the end of the game. Working together, you and your team must decide which cards to play at what time to ensure that the requirements are all met. Solo play is identical to cooperative play, except that you just always have a hand of 3 cards from which to play. The score to beat each game is dependent on the scoring conditions, so this game isn’t just another beat-your-own-high-score game – you actually have a specific number in mind.
For a game with only 18 cards, there is a lot of variability in Sprawlopolis. I have yet to play 2 identical games. The layout of each card is unique, as are all of the scoring conditions, so the possibilities are endless… almost! I also enjoy playing this game solo because it requires a decent amount of strategy. Three things factor into your final score (the scoring conditions, block groupings, and roads) and it is impossible to succeed by focusing on only one of them. Your strategy is always changing based on the cards in your hand, and you really have to think about how to best utilize each card for maximum end-game points. Depending on when and where you play a card, it could change the entire city so you have to be thinking about the big picture, literally! And a neat thing about Sprawlopolis is that you can overlap cards. So maybe a card you played earlier is not really ideal anymore, given your current hand, so you can just cover up either a portion of it or the entire card!
The hardest thing about Sprawlopolis for me is that certain combinations of scoring conditions can be difficult to complete. One may give you points for a certain type of city block, but then another may take away as many, or more, points for that same type of city block. Or one gives you points for certain roads, but all roads result in negative points during end-game scoring. Since the scoring conditions are chosen randomly, there’s not really a way to negate this unless you just re-draw those cards. You usually can’t just look at a scoring condition combination and know if it will be difficult or not either – you just have to try it. I’m not saying they’re impossible necessarily, just harder to successfully complete.
Overall, I think Sprawlopolis is a neat game. It’s fast and easy to learn, yet strategic enough to keep you coming back for more games. I like to use it as a nice light filler game between some bigger games, or I just like to play it if I’ve got a quick 15 minutes to spare! Sprawlopolis is a fun game to play with a group, and it’s also a fun game to play solo. In my arsenal of solo games, it’s definitely one on standby.
https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2019/02/11/solo-chronicles-sprawlopolis/
Kyera (8 KP) rated Lord Of Shadows in Books
Jan 31, 2018
Lord of Shadows is the second book in the Dark Artifices trilogy by Cassandra Clare. The book is fantastically written and follows our main characters as they deal with the aftermath of Lady Midnight. Be sure that you read Lady Midnight before delving into this book as there will be many spoilers.
The storylines come together and diverge beautifully in this story, allowing each character to shine. Even though Julian and Emma are the main characters, we get to spend more time with the other Blackthorns, Kit, Cristina, Diana and the others. Each character grows over the course of the novel and we get to know them better. My heart goes out to Dru because although she has her family, she doesn’t have a best friend or someone to truly talk to – like Julian and Emma or Ty and Livvy. She clearly longs for that connection, or to at least be included more by her family and I think many can relate to that.
I loved getting to know Ty and Livvy more because they have such a unique and precious bond. It was also great to see Kit join in with their adventures, even though he is not new to the Shadow World he is new to being a Shadowhunter. They made him feel like part of the family and he understood Ty immediately in a way that most outsiders don’t take the time to. He fits in perfectly with them and I couldn’t wait to see how they would grow as a trio throughout the novel.
Mark has come into his own in this novel – the events he went through in Lady Midnight and with the Wild Hunt changed him, made him less sure of himself. Since he has been back with his family, he is learning to trust again and view himself as a Shadowhunter. He must reconcile his feelings about Kieran with the faerie’s betrayal in Lady Midnight, become more responsible and hopefully take some of the burdens off Julian.
Emma is dealing with the aftermath of discovering who killed her parents and why. As that pursuit has fueled her for the last five years, it’s a strange transition for her. It doesn’t help that her relationship with Julian is as complicated as ever. The two are battling with their emotions and letting it affect them as parabatai. The characters that Cassie has created are so real that you hurt when they hurt and just wish for a happy ending for all of them.
It was fantastic to see the cameos from some of the beloved characters we know from the other Shadowhunter Chronicles series. I personally miss them and always wonder what they’re up to now, how their lives are and what shenanigans they’re embroiled in. Cassie does not disappoint and the cameos were lengthy and detailed enough that I feel satisfied (although of course, I would be happy with several spin-off books chronicling their adventures).
Lord of Shadows takes our heroes outside of Los Angeles, which was brilliant because it allowed Cassie to continue to build and artfully illustrate her world. My favourite new location was Faerie, which we have visited before in the books but was allowed to flourish in this novel. The land was described in greater detail and the Fae themselves were given more depth. Previously, we witnessed interactions between the Seelie Queen and the Nephilim, but now we were able to learn more about the Unseelie.
I didn’t feel that there were any pacing issues in this story – the stories were interwoven with one another masterfully and action was interspersed with storytelling and world building elements. Each action made by the characters purposefully brought us down a road that while we won’t understand fully yet, you can sense the plot points are being introduced and will be fully realized in Queen of Air and Darkness. There are elements that feel like foreshadowing, but we won’t understand them until the series has concluded.
The final chapter was a rollercoaster that brought together several storylines and found all our characters together – but nothing played out as expected. Cassie is skilled at subverting our expectations and yet not leaving us unsatisfied with the conclusion. While I cannot believe some of the things that happened over the course of the novel, I appreciate the beauty of the plot and story, while not feeling like the book left me with a torturous cliffhanger.
I’ve mentioned it before, but Cassie’s books continue to get better and Lord of Shadows was fantastic. I highly recommend reading this book (after Lady Midnight, of course, and perhaps the rest of the Shadowhunter Chronicles as well) because in my humble opinion you will not regret it. I am absolutely in love with the book and utterly destroyed that we have to wait until 2019 to read the conclusion.
The storylines come together and diverge beautifully in this story, allowing each character to shine. Even though Julian and Emma are the main characters, we get to spend more time with the other Blackthorns, Kit, Cristina, Diana and the others. Each character grows over the course of the novel and we get to know them better. My heart goes out to Dru because although she has her family, she doesn’t have a best friend or someone to truly talk to – like Julian and Emma or Ty and Livvy. She clearly longs for that connection, or to at least be included more by her family and I think many can relate to that.
I loved getting to know Ty and Livvy more because they have such a unique and precious bond. It was also great to see Kit join in with their adventures, even though he is not new to the Shadow World he is new to being a Shadowhunter. They made him feel like part of the family and he understood Ty immediately in a way that most outsiders don’t take the time to. He fits in perfectly with them and I couldn’t wait to see how they would grow as a trio throughout the novel.
Mark has come into his own in this novel – the events he went through in Lady Midnight and with the Wild Hunt changed him, made him less sure of himself. Since he has been back with his family, he is learning to trust again and view himself as a Shadowhunter. He must reconcile his feelings about Kieran with the faerie’s betrayal in Lady Midnight, become more responsible and hopefully take some of the burdens off Julian.
Emma is dealing with the aftermath of discovering who killed her parents and why. As that pursuit has fueled her for the last five years, it’s a strange transition for her. It doesn’t help that her relationship with Julian is as complicated as ever. The two are battling with their emotions and letting it affect them as parabatai. The characters that Cassie has created are so real that you hurt when they hurt and just wish for a happy ending for all of them.
It was fantastic to see the cameos from some of the beloved characters we know from the other Shadowhunter Chronicles series. I personally miss them and always wonder what they’re up to now, how their lives are and what shenanigans they’re embroiled in. Cassie does not disappoint and the cameos were lengthy and detailed enough that I feel satisfied (although of course, I would be happy with several spin-off books chronicling their adventures).
Lord of Shadows takes our heroes outside of Los Angeles, which was brilliant because it allowed Cassie to continue to build and artfully illustrate her world. My favourite new location was Faerie, which we have visited before in the books but was allowed to flourish in this novel. The land was described in greater detail and the Fae themselves were given more depth. Previously, we witnessed interactions between the Seelie Queen and the Nephilim, but now we were able to learn more about the Unseelie.
I didn’t feel that there were any pacing issues in this story – the stories were interwoven with one another masterfully and action was interspersed with storytelling and world building elements. Each action made by the characters purposefully brought us down a road that while we won’t understand fully yet, you can sense the plot points are being introduced and will be fully realized in Queen of Air and Darkness. There are elements that feel like foreshadowing, but we won’t understand them until the series has concluded.
The final chapter was a rollercoaster that brought together several storylines and found all our characters together – but nothing played out as expected. Cassie is skilled at subverting our expectations and yet not leaving us unsatisfied with the conclusion. While I cannot believe some of the things that happened over the course of the novel, I appreciate the beauty of the plot and story, while not feeling like the book left me with a torturous cliffhanger.
I’ve mentioned it before, but Cassie’s books continue to get better and Lord of Shadows was fantastic. I highly recommend reading this book (after Lady Midnight, of course, and perhaps the rest of the Shadowhunter Chronicles as well) because in my humble opinion you will not regret it. I am absolutely in love with the book and utterly destroyed that we have to wait until 2019 to read the conclusion.
Dana (24 KP) rated A Madness So Discreet in Books
Mar 23, 2018
I am going to start off with a trigger warning because if you are not comfortable reading books that have to do with insanity, sexual assault, or murder, you should not read this book. As much as I love it, I understand that it is not for everyone, so if you have any of these triggers, please, read at your own risk.
Okay, now to start the review. This book is incredibly dark, mainly because of the issues talked about in the previous paragraph. But in this darkness, there is a lot of hidden strength which is one of the reasons I am giving this book a 4.5 star review.
There will be some spoilers in this paragraph for the plot, so if you want to avoid those, skip to the paragraph that starts with "Now." The main character, Grace Mae, goes through a lot that happen before the book even starts. We, the audience, start off very confused in the middle of an asylum with a female character who does not seem like she is crazy. And that is for a good reason: because she is not. Grace has found herself pregnant without being wed in a time where this is the worst thing a woman can do, so her family ships her off to an asylum full of people who are both "normal" like her and also some people who actually need to be there. The first asylum she is in is a cruel place where she is still under the watchful eye of her father, the man who put her in this situation.
Though she is in a situation that is less than ideal, she is still able to find strength in everything she does. She is quite possibly the strongest character I have read about in a while because she has been through this trauma and is still able to act. She has been stuck in this horrible situation, both at home (in the end) and at both of the asylums, and she is still able to make a difference. I love how much agency Grace has. She knows she has to act because nobody else will. It is much like the horrible situation with her father, she knows she has to be the one to do something to save herself from him. She acts when others stand still because nobody acted on her behalf. This goes with the act of her killing the killer, because nobody else will.
Now, the other characters in the asylum and out are quite interesting as well. The doctor's sister is such a gem. She is so passionate and manipulative, but she actually cares for Grace and her brother, something we do not see much.
Elizabeth is so kind and caring, if a bit cooky, but she is able to understand and help Grace when other people would have only discounted her.
Nell was a very sad character. Knowing why she was in the asylum, even though she wasn't crazy, broke my heart, but she does things on her own terms without thinking about how other people perceive her.
Thornhollow was one of my favorite characters because he treated Grace as an equal. He has little to no empathy and relies on Grace to be that set of eyes for hi. He is aloof, but he knows he need help. He is driven to help others in their plights, we see that with the murdered girls and Grace. But my favorite thing is how much of an equal he sees Grace as. He does not see her as sick, but someone with a gift that can help people. I also love that there is absolutely no romance between him and Grace. It is so refreshing to see a balanced relationship without having them be romantic partners.
The director of the asylum in Ohio was amazing. She just wanted to help the patients do their best to get better. I appreciated it a lot.
Grace's father is a skeevy dirt bag and he got just what he deserved.
Grace is a protector, we see that both in the asylums, on the cases, and when she is worrying about her sister. And this is not a bad thing. At the trial, she braves her horrors to keep her sister safe, which is not something too many people do in books, or real life for that manner. She does not avoid, but attacks problems head on and once she finds something that is not just, she works her hardest to fight against that injustice.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I only took off half a star because there are some issues I have with the ending, but I loved it and it has become one of my favorites.
Okay, now to start the review. This book is incredibly dark, mainly because of the issues talked about in the previous paragraph. But in this darkness, there is a lot of hidden strength which is one of the reasons I am giving this book a 4.5 star review.
There will be some spoilers in this paragraph for the plot, so if you want to avoid those, skip to the paragraph that starts with "Now." The main character, Grace Mae, goes through a lot that happen before the book even starts. We, the audience, start off very confused in the middle of an asylum with a female character who does not seem like she is crazy. And that is for a good reason: because she is not. Grace has found herself pregnant without being wed in a time where this is the worst thing a woman can do, so her family ships her off to an asylum full of people who are both "normal" like her and also some people who actually need to be there. The first asylum she is in is a cruel place where she is still under the watchful eye of her father, the man who put her in this situation.
Though she is in a situation that is less than ideal, she is still able to find strength in everything she does. She is quite possibly the strongest character I have read about in a while because she has been through this trauma and is still able to act. She has been stuck in this horrible situation, both at home (in the end) and at both of the asylums, and she is still able to make a difference. I love how much agency Grace has. She knows she has to act because nobody else will. It is much like the horrible situation with her father, she knows she has to be the one to do something to save herself from him. She acts when others stand still because nobody acted on her behalf. This goes with the act of her killing the killer, because nobody else will.
Now, the other characters in the asylum and out are quite interesting as well. The doctor's sister is such a gem. She is so passionate and manipulative, but she actually cares for Grace and her brother, something we do not see much.
Elizabeth is so kind and caring, if a bit cooky, but she is able to understand and help Grace when other people would have only discounted her.
Nell was a very sad character. Knowing why she was in the asylum, even though she wasn't crazy, broke my heart, but she does things on her own terms without thinking about how other people perceive her.
Thornhollow was one of my favorite characters because he treated Grace as an equal. He has little to no empathy and relies on Grace to be that set of eyes for hi. He is aloof, but he knows he need help. He is driven to help others in their plights, we see that with the murdered girls and Grace. But my favorite thing is how much of an equal he sees Grace as. He does not see her as sick, but someone with a gift that can help people. I also love that there is absolutely no romance between him and Grace. It is so refreshing to see a balanced relationship without having them be romantic partners.
The director of the asylum in Ohio was amazing. She just wanted to help the patients do their best to get better. I appreciated it a lot.
Grace's father is a skeevy dirt bag and he got just what he deserved.
Grace is a protector, we see that both in the asylums, on the cases, and when she is worrying about her sister. And this is not a bad thing. At the trial, she braves her horrors to keep her sister safe, which is not something too many people do in books, or real life for that manner. She does not avoid, but attacks problems head on and once she finds something that is not just, she works her hardest to fight against that injustice.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I only took off half a star because there are some issues I have with the ending, but I loved it and it has become one of my favorites.
The nerdy birdie (67 KP) rated Girls' Night Out in Books
Jul 2, 2018
First & foremost thank you very much to Netgalley & Lake Union Publishing for allowing me to read a free arc of this book in exchange for an honest review ❤️??.
I MUST start off by saying that when I browse through Netgalley and choose which books I'd like to review I always go by the synopsis of the book and don't really pay attention to the cover or the author(s). I absolutely love a good thriller, so when I read what this book was about I couldn't hit the "request" button fast enough. When asked what appealed to me...I indicated the subject matter. How could I not relate to going on a trip with two of my best girlfriends? Sign me up! Then, since I am very new to this process, only joining as of May 30th, I was approved for a large amount of novels all at once and this one got lost somewhere in amongst the crowd. I read 15 books BEFORE this one, which would not have been the case had I taken a brief moment to contemplate where I had heard the two authors names Lisa Steinke & Liz Fenton before.
To continue on with my story...I was ready to select my next book to read last night and came across
" Girls' Night Out" somewhere in the middle of my shelf and thought to myself, " Awesome...Download!" It wasn't until I was flipping through the beginning pages ( you know, the ones that are usually passed by and disregarded until you find page 1 or " prologue.") when I saw other books listed by these co-authors. There in plain sight was " The Status of All Things," one of my favorite books of all time! My review of this book clearly indicates " definitely in my top 20 books of all time" and it's categorized in my favorites folder on goodreads! Total fan-girl moment!!!!! Kate was one of my favorite characters, I saw so much of myself in her! So...before I review this new book I must also insist that if you're reading this to please also pick up their other book " The Status of All Things" which I have already recommended to every single one of my friends. It is about a girl in her thirties that is obsessed with social media ( who isn't?) who is able to keep changing her life & the lives of those around her based on her Facebook status updates! It reminds me of Lauren Oliver's "Before I Fall" meets "The Butterfly Effect" movie. End rant, sorry! But read it ?
Now onto my review of " A Girls' Night Out!" Whew! The suspense was almost too much to bear in this one! Just imagine...you go on a much needed vaca to a beautiful island with two of your best girl friends and one of them disappears!!! Yes, you wake up and she's gone..one friend can't remember because she was so intoxicated and the other basically left her to fend for herself and went home with some random bartender. Which one would you rather be? The missing? The drunk? The sexaholic? Not very good friends if you ask me.
I started reading around 9 pm and read for so long that I fell asleep with my kindle on my face, woke up at 4 am and read some more, and couldn't put it down all day today! I ate breakfast, lunch and dinner all the while flip, flip, flipping through the pages and devouring every word! It was like this book was my oxygen and I needed it to survive.
I had myself talked into various scenarios because I so desperately wanted to figure out what was going on! At one point I thought that Marco was a setup from the beginning, a plant to take Ashley away and cause problems for her marriage. Payback time? Then I thought that Lauren had drugged Natalie and done something to Ashley herself. I also thought that Ben, Jason & Natalie were in on something together against Ashley because they all wanted the money from the business. I also thought Marco wasn't even real and maybe someone that both girls made up to get away with murder! Man does my head hurt! This book gave me whiplash ?? I won't give away any spoilers or endings but what I will say is that when they showed up at the morgue to identify the body my heart was pounding like I was right there with them. Please don't let it be her.
How can these two best friends perfect two completely different genres? I don't know, but they did! A great team! Can't wait to read ALL of their other books! Another one to add to my favorites shelf.
I MUST start off by saying that when I browse through Netgalley and choose which books I'd like to review I always go by the synopsis of the book and don't really pay attention to the cover or the author(s). I absolutely love a good thriller, so when I read what this book was about I couldn't hit the "request" button fast enough. When asked what appealed to me...I indicated the subject matter. How could I not relate to going on a trip with two of my best girlfriends? Sign me up! Then, since I am very new to this process, only joining as of May 30th, I was approved for a large amount of novels all at once and this one got lost somewhere in amongst the crowd. I read 15 books BEFORE this one, which would not have been the case had I taken a brief moment to contemplate where I had heard the two authors names Lisa Steinke & Liz Fenton before.
To continue on with my story...I was ready to select my next book to read last night and came across
" Girls' Night Out" somewhere in the middle of my shelf and thought to myself, " Awesome...Download!" It wasn't until I was flipping through the beginning pages ( you know, the ones that are usually passed by and disregarded until you find page 1 or " prologue.") when I saw other books listed by these co-authors. There in plain sight was " The Status of All Things," one of my favorite books of all time! My review of this book clearly indicates " definitely in my top 20 books of all time" and it's categorized in my favorites folder on goodreads! Total fan-girl moment!!!!! Kate was one of my favorite characters, I saw so much of myself in her! So...before I review this new book I must also insist that if you're reading this to please also pick up their other book " The Status of All Things" which I have already recommended to every single one of my friends. It is about a girl in her thirties that is obsessed with social media ( who isn't?) who is able to keep changing her life & the lives of those around her based on her Facebook status updates! It reminds me of Lauren Oliver's "Before I Fall" meets "The Butterfly Effect" movie. End rant, sorry! But read it ?
Now onto my review of " A Girls' Night Out!" Whew! The suspense was almost too much to bear in this one! Just imagine...you go on a much needed vaca to a beautiful island with two of your best girl friends and one of them disappears!!! Yes, you wake up and she's gone..one friend can't remember because she was so intoxicated and the other basically left her to fend for herself and went home with some random bartender. Which one would you rather be? The missing? The drunk? The sexaholic? Not very good friends if you ask me.
I started reading around 9 pm and read for so long that I fell asleep with my kindle on my face, woke up at 4 am and read some more, and couldn't put it down all day today! I ate breakfast, lunch and dinner all the while flip, flip, flipping through the pages and devouring every word! It was like this book was my oxygen and I needed it to survive.
I had myself talked into various scenarios because I so desperately wanted to figure out what was going on! At one point I thought that Marco was a setup from the beginning, a plant to take Ashley away and cause problems for her marriage. Payback time? Then I thought that Lauren had drugged Natalie and done something to Ashley herself. I also thought that Ben, Jason & Natalie were in on something together against Ashley because they all wanted the money from the business. I also thought Marco wasn't even real and maybe someone that both girls made up to get away with murder! Man does my head hurt! This book gave me whiplash ?? I won't give away any spoilers or endings but what I will say is that when they showed up at the morgue to identify the body my heart was pounding like I was right there with them. Please don't let it be her.
How can these two best friends perfect two completely different genres? I don't know, but they did! A great team! Can't wait to read ALL of their other books! Another one to add to my favorites shelf.
Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated Never Forgotten (Never Forgotten, #1) in Books
Aug 23, 2018
''All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another. - Anatole France''
How can one day go so very wrong? One minute Meara Quinn is making plans for how she will spend the Summer before her senior year and the next she's finding out that her mother's cancer has returned and they are moving away from the only home she's ever known.
Now she is in a new country, taking care of her mother, living with grandparents she never met, meeting new friends at school and a guy she really likes and having weird visions of a father who was absent her entire life. There is a secret of who Meara is, and everyone seems to know this except her.
Meara is determined to find out the secrets that will change her life forever.
Review:
The beginning of this book in unbelievably good! Amazing intro and perfect character development. I loved how you could feel with Meara all the time, and go through with her while she leans about her mum's sickness and the movement to another country. It is very realistically described, and we manage to see this all through the eyes of a troubled teenager. And the descriptions of the scenes? Ahhh, just see for yourselves:
''The room was a deep purple and accented with an eclectic blend of antiques and comfortable furnishings. It was the kind of room that made a person long to grab a book and cozy into the oversized couch for a several hours.''
Thought, sometimes, there would be things that didn't make sense to me:
''The guy who delivered the pizza forgot plates and napkins. So, we just opened the box and dug in.''
Which delivery place on Earth, for God's sake, delivers plates and napkins? Is this an American thing? If I order pizza, I expect to dig into it with all my fingers, get really messy, and then lick them in the end. Just saying…
There were many twists and turns, mostly little ones in this first book, but the middle of the book gets really slow paced. For a moment, I thought this might be an unpleasant read, but it turned out to just be a calm before the storm, where the biggest twist happens right before the end, and it leaves us wanting more - therefore, the second book. Nicely done, Kelly Risser, nicely done!
Meara is an amazing girl, and we follow her story. She finds out her mum's cancer is back again, and they have to move from USA to Canada. For a teenage girl, that is a huge change. I loved the way she coped with it, even though, at the beginning she made me quite agitated - her mum is dying, and her thought are - life is unfair, why do I have to move to another country, and change schools and lose my friends? It made me incredibly angry, but as much as I don't want to admit it, those are the exact thoughts a teen would have in such moments. We don’t really tend to think about how our parents feel until we get older and wiser, do we?
I liked Meara, apart her irritating personality at times. She is a typical teenage girl, and many girls, me included, can relate to her so well! She is a good person, and she cares about the people around her.
I loved Evan - he is just the sweetest person / boyfriend a girl can have. I honestly wish I had a boyfriend like him when I was 13-years-old. He made sandwiches, and they watched a movie in the car because it was raining, and he would come to Meara's house with flowers, and offer to help out with the chores? He is the cutest person ever.
''He was about six foot tall with wavy, black hair that curled over his ears. Tanned skin, lean muscles, and strong hands that ended in long, graceful fingers.''
But then, there is Kieran… I know he is the bad boy, but I might be able to ship him and Meara together - maybe? We'll see… It's an unpopular opinion, but I actually want to see them together. Even though Evan is just the sweetest thing, and it would be horrible if Meara broke his heart.
I really enjoyed this book - maybe I enjoyed it the most from all the other Young-Adult paranormal books I've read. It was a great first beginning to a series, and I can't wait to dig in the rest of the series.
As a finale - I had to also include this quote from the book:
''Humans are spiteful creatures. They destroy more than they create. That is why I do not associate with them.''
How can one day go so very wrong? One minute Meara Quinn is making plans for how she will spend the Summer before her senior year and the next she's finding out that her mother's cancer has returned and they are moving away from the only home she's ever known.
Now she is in a new country, taking care of her mother, living with grandparents she never met, meeting new friends at school and a guy she really likes and having weird visions of a father who was absent her entire life. There is a secret of who Meara is, and everyone seems to know this except her.
Meara is determined to find out the secrets that will change her life forever.
Review:
The beginning of this book in unbelievably good! Amazing intro and perfect character development. I loved how you could feel with Meara all the time, and go through with her while she leans about her mum's sickness and the movement to another country. It is very realistically described, and we manage to see this all through the eyes of a troubled teenager. And the descriptions of the scenes? Ahhh, just see for yourselves:
''The room was a deep purple and accented with an eclectic blend of antiques and comfortable furnishings. It was the kind of room that made a person long to grab a book and cozy into the oversized couch for a several hours.''
Thought, sometimes, there would be things that didn't make sense to me:
''The guy who delivered the pizza forgot plates and napkins. So, we just opened the box and dug in.''
Which delivery place on Earth, for God's sake, delivers plates and napkins? Is this an American thing? If I order pizza, I expect to dig into it with all my fingers, get really messy, and then lick them in the end. Just saying…
There were many twists and turns, mostly little ones in this first book, but the middle of the book gets really slow paced. For a moment, I thought this might be an unpleasant read, but it turned out to just be a calm before the storm, where the biggest twist happens right before the end, and it leaves us wanting more - therefore, the second book. Nicely done, Kelly Risser, nicely done!
Meara is an amazing girl, and we follow her story. She finds out her mum's cancer is back again, and they have to move from USA to Canada. For a teenage girl, that is a huge change. I loved the way she coped with it, even though, at the beginning she made me quite agitated - her mum is dying, and her thought are - life is unfair, why do I have to move to another country, and change schools and lose my friends? It made me incredibly angry, but as much as I don't want to admit it, those are the exact thoughts a teen would have in such moments. We don’t really tend to think about how our parents feel until we get older and wiser, do we?
I liked Meara, apart her irritating personality at times. She is a typical teenage girl, and many girls, me included, can relate to her so well! She is a good person, and she cares about the people around her.
I loved Evan - he is just the sweetest person / boyfriend a girl can have. I honestly wish I had a boyfriend like him when I was 13-years-old. He made sandwiches, and they watched a movie in the car because it was raining, and he would come to Meara's house with flowers, and offer to help out with the chores? He is the cutest person ever.
''He was about six foot tall with wavy, black hair that curled over his ears. Tanned skin, lean muscles, and strong hands that ended in long, graceful fingers.''
But then, there is Kieran… I know he is the bad boy, but I might be able to ship him and Meara together - maybe? We'll see… It's an unpopular opinion, but I actually want to see them together. Even though Evan is just the sweetest thing, and it would be horrible if Meara broke his heart.
I really enjoyed this book - maybe I enjoyed it the most from all the other Young-Adult paranormal books I've read. It was a great first beginning to a series, and I can't wait to dig in the rest of the series.
As a finale - I had to also include this quote from the book:
''Humans are spiteful creatures. They destroy more than they create. That is why I do not associate with them.''
Jordan Binkerd (567 KP) rated Mercy Kill (X-Wing #10) in Books
Aug 15, 2019 (Updated Aug 20, 2019)
Note: this review is transposted from my personal review blog, and so was originally written several years ago. I figured if I reposted it here, someone might actually read it….
NOTE: This novel is no longer canon following Disney’s acquisition of Star Wars. That’s not to say it isn’t good, just that it belongs to the old Canon - I prefer to think of it as an alternate universe.
Do you remember fondly the Star Wars novels of the 90s? Are you into Star Wars but a newcomer to the Expanded Universe? Do you enjoy your Star Wars with an undertone of comedy, so long as a certain floppy-eared terror is nowhere in sight? If so, X-WING: MERCY KILL may be a good book for you to check out.
Unlike most of the books being released set in the “modern” era of the Star Wars universe (44 ABY–i.e., 44 Years post-Episode IV), MERCY KILL lets you jump right in, more or less without knowing the situation to that point. A lot of the others you could read cold, but they wouldn’t make much sense. MERCY KILL, however, has little to do with the ongoing plot of the Expanded Universe. It’s rooted in recent events, but the setup is very simple and easily grasped. It would pay to know the characters from the X-Wing novels of the 90s, but even that is not really necessary. You could check out three or four articles on Wookiepedia and be fine–I did, just to refresh my memory.
So….here’s what you need to know. In the 90s, they published a series of comics and then novels based around Rogue Squadron, led by Wedge Antilles and a number of the X-Wing pilots from the films along with some new faces. These comics and the first four novels were written by Michael Stackpole, but after the fourth he dropped out for a while citing other commitments he had to work on. So they hired in Aaron Allston to continue the series. Allston decided to let the Rogues go off on their own adventures while he created a new team for his novels–Wraith Squadron, a team of X-Wing pilots who would work equally well as a ground-based commando team. The result was a cross between The A-Team and The Dirty Dozen, with some aerial action thrown in. For the purposes of this new novel, notable characters included Garik “Face” Loran, a child star turned soldier and the eventual commander of the Wraiths; and Voort “Piggy” SaBinring, a genetically-modified Gamorrean. There are a few other returning faces, but these were the better developed and you can probably get by just knowing them.
The Star Wars publishing event of the early 2000s was the New Jedi Order series, in which a race of extra-galactic aliens called the Yuuzhan Vong invaded the Galaxy Far, Far Away and sought to subjugate its people. They almost did it, and they changed the way Star Wars novels worked in the process. Characters–MAIN CHARACTERS–died. Chewbacca, Han and Leia’s youngest son Anakin Solo, and countless others fell to the military might of the invaders. There have been other upheavals since, most notably a second Galactic Civil War when Han and Leia’s oldest son Jacen Solo fell to the Dark Side. In the aftermath of that war, a conspiracy was formed to take over both the Galactic Alliance and the Empire and merge them together once again, recapturing the glory of the height of the Old Empire. This conspiracy failed, but it may not have been completely rooted out…..
In this book, Garik Loran is called out of retirement by the head of the Alliance military. He wants Loran to quietly look into rumors that an up-and-coming officer may have been connected to the Lecerson Conspiracy. Wraith Squadron is back in business! The resulting adventure is a fun trip, dealing both in nostalgia for those of us who read the adventures of the original Wraiths long ago and in action that newer fans can get into, all the while serving up Allston’s signature undertone of humor mixed with heart. I heartily recommend it. The one caveat I will mention for fans of the original books is that there is comparatively little aerial combat in this book. The plot doesn’t call for it, and I certainly didn’t really miss it too much, but some may be disappointed by that.
If you want more reading suggestions, the X-Wing: Rogue Squadron comics and X-Wing novels are quite good. If you wanted to enhance your experience with this book, I would have you read at least the novels, but you may not have the patience for all nine of the previous books. If not, I won’t hold it against you.
Content-wise, they keep the Star Wars novels pretty PG. Mild language, mild violence, mild innuendos…..nothing to worry about.
Original post: https://jordanbinkerd.wordpress.com/2013/03/12/review-star-wars-x-wing-mercy-kill-by-aaron-allston/
NOTE: This novel is no longer canon following Disney’s acquisition of Star Wars. That’s not to say it isn’t good, just that it belongs to the old Canon - I prefer to think of it as an alternate universe.
Do you remember fondly the Star Wars novels of the 90s? Are you into Star Wars but a newcomer to the Expanded Universe? Do you enjoy your Star Wars with an undertone of comedy, so long as a certain floppy-eared terror is nowhere in sight? If so, X-WING: MERCY KILL may be a good book for you to check out.
Unlike most of the books being released set in the “modern” era of the Star Wars universe (44 ABY–i.e., 44 Years post-Episode IV), MERCY KILL lets you jump right in, more or less without knowing the situation to that point. A lot of the others you could read cold, but they wouldn’t make much sense. MERCY KILL, however, has little to do with the ongoing plot of the Expanded Universe. It’s rooted in recent events, but the setup is very simple and easily grasped. It would pay to know the characters from the X-Wing novels of the 90s, but even that is not really necessary. You could check out three or four articles on Wookiepedia and be fine–I did, just to refresh my memory.
So….here’s what you need to know. In the 90s, they published a series of comics and then novels based around Rogue Squadron, led by Wedge Antilles and a number of the X-Wing pilots from the films along with some new faces. These comics and the first four novels were written by Michael Stackpole, but after the fourth he dropped out for a while citing other commitments he had to work on. So they hired in Aaron Allston to continue the series. Allston decided to let the Rogues go off on their own adventures while he created a new team for his novels–Wraith Squadron, a team of X-Wing pilots who would work equally well as a ground-based commando team. The result was a cross between The A-Team and The Dirty Dozen, with some aerial action thrown in. For the purposes of this new novel, notable characters included Garik “Face” Loran, a child star turned soldier and the eventual commander of the Wraiths; and Voort “Piggy” SaBinring, a genetically-modified Gamorrean. There are a few other returning faces, but these were the better developed and you can probably get by just knowing them.
The Star Wars publishing event of the early 2000s was the New Jedi Order series, in which a race of extra-galactic aliens called the Yuuzhan Vong invaded the Galaxy Far, Far Away and sought to subjugate its people. They almost did it, and they changed the way Star Wars novels worked in the process. Characters–MAIN CHARACTERS–died. Chewbacca, Han and Leia’s youngest son Anakin Solo, and countless others fell to the military might of the invaders. There have been other upheavals since, most notably a second Galactic Civil War when Han and Leia’s oldest son Jacen Solo fell to the Dark Side. In the aftermath of that war, a conspiracy was formed to take over both the Galactic Alliance and the Empire and merge them together once again, recapturing the glory of the height of the Old Empire. This conspiracy failed, but it may not have been completely rooted out…..
In this book, Garik Loran is called out of retirement by the head of the Alliance military. He wants Loran to quietly look into rumors that an up-and-coming officer may have been connected to the Lecerson Conspiracy. Wraith Squadron is back in business! The resulting adventure is a fun trip, dealing both in nostalgia for those of us who read the adventures of the original Wraiths long ago and in action that newer fans can get into, all the while serving up Allston’s signature undertone of humor mixed with heart. I heartily recommend it. The one caveat I will mention for fans of the original books is that there is comparatively little aerial combat in this book. The plot doesn’t call for it, and I certainly didn’t really miss it too much, but some may be disappointed by that.
If you want more reading suggestions, the X-Wing: Rogue Squadron comics and X-Wing novels are quite good. If you wanted to enhance your experience with this book, I would have you read at least the novels, but you may not have the patience for all nine of the previous books. If not, I won’t hold it against you.
Content-wise, they keep the Star Wars novels pretty PG. Mild language, mild violence, mild innuendos…..nothing to worry about.
Original post: https://jordanbinkerd.wordpress.com/2013/03/12/review-star-wars-x-wing-mercy-kill-by-aaron-allston/
Movie Metropolis (309 KP) rated Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) in Movies
Oct 31, 2019
It might sound like we’re damning Terminator: Dark Fate with faint praise by declaring it the best Terminator sequel since T2, however that seems to be the way many Hollywood franchises are going nowadays.
After all, last year’s Halloween sequel was declared the best one yet simply because it retconned the events of its mostly dreadful predecessors and blasted them out of existence. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was declared (by us anyway) the very best sequel the franchise has ever gotten, but The Lost World and Jurassic Park III were hardly critical darlings.
The similarities between the Terminator and Jurassic franchises don’t end there though. You see, in an effort to reboot the flagging sci-fi series, Deadpool director Tim Miller has been brought in with the legend that is James Cameron returning to the franchise in a producing role, similar to how Steven Spielberg still produces the Jurassic movies to this day.
Yes, it appears that ignoring poor sequels allows film-makers to go back to the good old days, rather than trying to shoehorn poor sequel after poor sequel until audiences stop turning up at the cinema. That’s what has happened with the Terminator franchise. Following James Cameron’s incredible first two films, the sequels that followed ranged from dreadful to downright shambolic. But is Dark Fate actually good? Or just better than what came before it?
Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton returning to the role that defined her career) and a hybrid cyborg human, Grace (Mackenzie Davis) must protect a young girl (Natalia Reyes) from a newly modified liquid Terminator from the future.
Seeing Linda Hamilton return to such an iconic role after almost 30 years is a real highlight over the course of the film and she slots back into Sarah Connor’s shoes particularly well. She gets a few clunky one-liners but manages to stop them from sounding too ridiculous.
Elsewhere, Mackenzie Davis is absolutely cracking as Grace, a human-cyborg sent from the future. She’s full of heart and the script allows her to develop more of a personality than we’re used to from this franchise. Grace is a nicely fleshed out character with enough backstory to allow the audience to care for wellbeing.
Of course, Terminator fans are here to see Arnie and although his screen time is more limited than we’d like, it’s nice to see both him and Hamilton squaring up against each other again. We won’t spoil the plot devices used to bring about his return to the series, but they’re very well integrated and don’t feel as clunky as you might expect.
Set piece after set piece after set piece is thrown at the audience… but each one is so inventive that the probability of you getting bored is very slim indeed
Unfortunately, Natalia Reyes’ Dani is a little more wooden compared to her on-screen co-stars. There’s nothing particularly wrong with her character, but she’s merely there as a plot device and doesn’t really get to do much. It’s no easy feat to go up against Sarah Connor and the T-800 and while she tries her best, she falls a little short.
When it comes to action, Dark Fate pulls no punches. Set piece after set piece after set piece is thrown at the audience in an almost Fast & Furious-like way, but each one is so inventive that the probability of you getting bored is very slim indeed. The film starts with a very nicely choreographed chase on a freeway, culminating in a tense showdown at a power plant.
Dotted in between these rollercoaster moments however are some touching moments and well-timed comedy. While not on a level with Miller’s Deadpool, there are a couple of instances that raised a chuckle from the audience, though most of them involved Arnold Schwarzenegger and his deadpan line delivery.
Terminator: Dark Fate - Official Trailer (2019) - Paramount Pictures - YouTube
The CGI is mostly successful, though the lack of practical effects like those we saw in the film’s predecessors does lend an unnaturally glossy and artificial look to not only the Terminators themselves, but some of the landscapes. This is a bit of a shame as CGI body doubles are all too evident from time-to-time, but never does it pull you out of the film completely.
Overall, Terminator: Dark Fate is indeed the best sequel since T2. This is a film that successfully reboots a franchise that had been flagging for decades and is one of the year’s best action flicks. Not only does it bring back two of cinema’s most iconic characters, it places them in a film which is nicely shot, reasonably well-written and absolutely thrilling from start to finish. Now, if only the same winning formula could be applied to the Alien series, James Cameron may able to sleep soundly at night.
After all, last year’s Halloween sequel was declared the best one yet simply because it retconned the events of its mostly dreadful predecessors and blasted them out of existence. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom was declared (by us anyway) the very best sequel the franchise has ever gotten, but The Lost World and Jurassic Park III were hardly critical darlings.
The similarities between the Terminator and Jurassic franchises don’t end there though. You see, in an effort to reboot the flagging sci-fi series, Deadpool director Tim Miller has been brought in with the legend that is James Cameron returning to the franchise in a producing role, similar to how Steven Spielberg still produces the Jurassic movies to this day.
Yes, it appears that ignoring poor sequels allows film-makers to go back to the good old days, rather than trying to shoehorn poor sequel after poor sequel until audiences stop turning up at the cinema. That’s what has happened with the Terminator franchise. Following James Cameron’s incredible first two films, the sequels that followed ranged from dreadful to downright shambolic. But is Dark Fate actually good? Or just better than what came before it?
Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton returning to the role that defined her career) and a hybrid cyborg human, Grace (Mackenzie Davis) must protect a young girl (Natalia Reyes) from a newly modified liquid Terminator from the future.
Seeing Linda Hamilton return to such an iconic role after almost 30 years is a real highlight over the course of the film and she slots back into Sarah Connor’s shoes particularly well. She gets a few clunky one-liners but manages to stop them from sounding too ridiculous.
Elsewhere, Mackenzie Davis is absolutely cracking as Grace, a human-cyborg sent from the future. She’s full of heart and the script allows her to develop more of a personality than we’re used to from this franchise. Grace is a nicely fleshed out character with enough backstory to allow the audience to care for wellbeing.
Of course, Terminator fans are here to see Arnie and although his screen time is more limited than we’d like, it’s nice to see both him and Hamilton squaring up against each other again. We won’t spoil the plot devices used to bring about his return to the series, but they’re very well integrated and don’t feel as clunky as you might expect.
Set piece after set piece after set piece is thrown at the audience… but each one is so inventive that the probability of you getting bored is very slim indeed
Unfortunately, Natalia Reyes’ Dani is a little more wooden compared to her on-screen co-stars. There’s nothing particularly wrong with her character, but she’s merely there as a plot device and doesn’t really get to do much. It’s no easy feat to go up against Sarah Connor and the T-800 and while she tries her best, she falls a little short.
When it comes to action, Dark Fate pulls no punches. Set piece after set piece after set piece is thrown at the audience in an almost Fast & Furious-like way, but each one is so inventive that the probability of you getting bored is very slim indeed. The film starts with a very nicely choreographed chase on a freeway, culminating in a tense showdown at a power plant.
Dotted in between these rollercoaster moments however are some touching moments and well-timed comedy. While not on a level with Miller’s Deadpool, there are a couple of instances that raised a chuckle from the audience, though most of them involved Arnold Schwarzenegger and his deadpan line delivery.
Terminator: Dark Fate - Official Trailer (2019) - Paramount Pictures - YouTube
The CGI is mostly successful, though the lack of practical effects like those we saw in the film’s predecessors does lend an unnaturally glossy and artificial look to not only the Terminators themselves, but some of the landscapes. This is a bit of a shame as CGI body doubles are all too evident from time-to-time, but never does it pull you out of the film completely.
Overall, Terminator: Dark Fate is indeed the best sequel since T2. This is a film that successfully reboots a franchise that had been flagging for decades and is one of the year’s best action flicks. Not only does it bring back two of cinema’s most iconic characters, it places them in a film which is nicely shot, reasonably well-written and absolutely thrilling from start to finish. Now, if only the same winning formula could be applied to the Alien series, James Cameron may able to sleep soundly at night.
Lee (2222 KP) rated Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) in Movies
Oct 25, 2019 (Updated Oct 27, 2019)
A worthy successor to Judgement Day
Terminator: Dark Fate is the sixth movie in a franchise which has now been around for 35 years. The first sequel, Judgement Day back in 1991, is widely regarded by many as one of the greatest movie sequels of all time and for me it still holds up as an incredible piece of movie entertainment to this day. Since then, the following sequels have all failed to live up to that high standard in my opinion and, despite some interesting ideas and execution, have been largely forgettable. For one thing, I don’t even remember if I’ve actually seen 2015 movie Genisys or not! Now though, with James Cameron back onboard with writing/producing duties and directed by Deadpool director Tim Miller, Dark Fate has been pitched as the natural successor to Judgement Day that we never got. The trailer certainly gave off that impression and, for the first time in years, I was actually excited about seeing a Terminator movie again.
Dark Fate gets its shock twist out of the way right off the bat, before launching into approximately 20 minutes of non-stop, heart pounding action as we are introduced to both the new Terminator and the protector sent from the future to try and prevent him. Straight away, Dark Fate certainly feels like the kind of Terminator movie we love, playing more like an homage at times in a similar way to how Star Wars: The Force Awakens felt like A New Hope. Wow, it's a promising start!
Our protector this time round is Grace (Mackenzie Davis), a human soldier who has received some cybernetic enhancements to her body. She has been sent back from an alternate future to the one portrayed in Judgement Day - that future is now dead, thanks to the efforts of Sarah and John Connor in that movie, along with Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-800. However, humans clearly can't stop meddling with AI technology and the result, some 40 years from now, is the birth of 'Legion'. Our world has subsequently been destroyed, humans are being hunted and killed, but the remaining survivors are fighting back hard.
Those survivors have sent Grace back to protect a young, unsuspecting Mexican woman named Dani (Natalia Reyes), a factory worker whose job is becoming redundant thanks to the introduction of robot automation(!). Her importance to the future of humanity isn't immediately made clear, but the fact that war is currently raging around her while she is both hunted and protected, is good enough reason for now. The Terminator hunter Dani is being chased by is a Rev 9 (played by Gabriel Luna), similar to the T1000 of Judgement Day in that it has a liquid skin, able to replicate any human it comes into contact with or transform its body into various sharp weapons. But also, with the added bonus of being able to separate that liquid skin from its metal endoskeleton, doubling down on the threat level and providing two very different Terminators to fight off at the same time.
But when all seems lost, a guardian angel in the form of Sarah Connors arrives on the scene, packing guns, rocket launchers and grenades and generally being a real badass. Turns out Sarah has spent the last twenty years or so hunting down any cyborgs that decide to venture into our time from the future and she joins forces with Grace in order to protect Dani at all costs. It's great to have Linda Hamilton back as Sarah Connor, and she is once again a strong and effective presence in the movie. Grace and Dani prove to be just as tough as Sarah though, both mentally and physically, but it's Mackenzie Davis that stands out for me as being particularly impressive. All 3 of them form a pretty formidable, badass trio as they go on the run to get as far away from the Terminator as possible.
It's no secret if you've seen the trailers that Arnie is back, and his arrival later in the movie introduces yet more nostalgia and a good injection of humour. His presence and purpose is explained well, feeling believable, not like a cheap cash-in, and it's great to have Arnie and Linda Hamilton back together as a team, even if it feel like a handing over of the baton to a new bunch of heroes.
The action builds to an impressive finale, continuing the homage to the original movies, but still managing to feel fresh and original, and for me Dark Fate definitely feels a worthy successor to Judgement Day. There's certainly a possibility of further sequels following this and while I had an absolute blast with this movie, part of me hopes that they'll leave well alone now and just end the series on a real high.
Dark Fate gets its shock twist out of the way right off the bat, before launching into approximately 20 minutes of non-stop, heart pounding action as we are introduced to both the new Terminator and the protector sent from the future to try and prevent him. Straight away, Dark Fate certainly feels like the kind of Terminator movie we love, playing more like an homage at times in a similar way to how Star Wars: The Force Awakens felt like A New Hope. Wow, it's a promising start!
Our protector this time round is Grace (Mackenzie Davis), a human soldier who has received some cybernetic enhancements to her body. She has been sent back from an alternate future to the one portrayed in Judgement Day - that future is now dead, thanks to the efforts of Sarah and John Connor in that movie, along with Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-800. However, humans clearly can't stop meddling with AI technology and the result, some 40 years from now, is the birth of 'Legion'. Our world has subsequently been destroyed, humans are being hunted and killed, but the remaining survivors are fighting back hard.
Those survivors have sent Grace back to protect a young, unsuspecting Mexican woman named Dani (Natalia Reyes), a factory worker whose job is becoming redundant thanks to the introduction of robot automation(!). Her importance to the future of humanity isn't immediately made clear, but the fact that war is currently raging around her while she is both hunted and protected, is good enough reason for now. The Terminator hunter Dani is being chased by is a Rev 9 (played by Gabriel Luna), similar to the T1000 of Judgement Day in that it has a liquid skin, able to replicate any human it comes into contact with or transform its body into various sharp weapons. But also, with the added bonus of being able to separate that liquid skin from its metal endoskeleton, doubling down on the threat level and providing two very different Terminators to fight off at the same time.
But when all seems lost, a guardian angel in the form of Sarah Connors arrives on the scene, packing guns, rocket launchers and grenades and generally being a real badass. Turns out Sarah has spent the last twenty years or so hunting down any cyborgs that decide to venture into our time from the future and she joins forces with Grace in order to protect Dani at all costs. It's great to have Linda Hamilton back as Sarah Connor, and she is once again a strong and effective presence in the movie. Grace and Dani prove to be just as tough as Sarah though, both mentally and physically, but it's Mackenzie Davis that stands out for me as being particularly impressive. All 3 of them form a pretty formidable, badass trio as they go on the run to get as far away from the Terminator as possible.
It's no secret if you've seen the trailers that Arnie is back, and his arrival later in the movie introduces yet more nostalgia and a good injection of humour. His presence and purpose is explained well, feeling believable, not like a cheap cash-in, and it's great to have Arnie and Linda Hamilton back together as a team, even if it feel like a handing over of the baton to a new bunch of heroes.
The action builds to an impressive finale, continuing the homage to the original movies, but still managing to feel fresh and original, and for me Dark Fate definitely feels a worthy successor to Judgement Day. There's certainly a possibility of further sequels following this and while I had an absolute blast with this movie, part of me hopes that they'll leave well alone now and just end the series on a real high.