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Awix (3310 KP) rated La derniere vague (The Last Wave) in TV
Aug 8, 2020
Le goings-on spooky in the south of France: a mysterious, apparently sentient cloud which may or may not embody nature's vengeance on civilisation abducts a group of surfers for five hours and then returns them, with strange powers. (Not that the media takes any notice of any of this.) This provides everyone in town with un beaucoup lovely chance to work through all their various personal issues before the end of the last episode.
Comes across a bit like a mid-table Stephen King novel, or possibly just a very glossy soap opera with a guest appearance by Giant Space Monster Dogorah. Fairly engaging stuff, though unlikely to feel terribly original to the clued-up viewer; passes the time nicely without demanding your full attention. Avoids too many explanations (they're clearly hoping for a second season), which could be irritating, but the end-of-series cliffhanger is okay.
Comes across a bit like a mid-table Stephen King novel, or possibly just a very glossy soap opera with a guest appearance by Giant Space Monster Dogorah. Fairly engaging stuff, though unlikely to feel terribly original to the clued-up viewer; passes the time nicely without demanding your full attention. Avoids too many explanations (they're clearly hoping for a second season), which could be irritating, but the end-of-series cliffhanger is okay.
Seduced by Shark Shifters III: Tom's Turn
10.0
Rate It
Book
Tom Whitmore’s feelings for Logan White began the first day he saw him back in middle school, but...
Adult Paranormal Romance Erotica
Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated The Wrong Stars in Books
Aug 26, 2018 (Updated Aug 26, 2018)
Diversity (2 more)
World-building
Amazing alien species
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
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
Unmasked: A Memoir
Book
“You have the luck of Croesus on stilts (as my Auntie Vi would have said) if you’ve had the sort...
tapestry100 (306 KP) rated The Queen of the Night in Books
Aug 2, 2017
I'm not really sure what to say about Alexander Chee's novel The Queen of the Night other than it is magnificent. A sprawling, epic tale that put me in mind of Arthur Golden's Memoirs of a Geisha, we follow Paris Opera sensation Lilliet Berne as she recounts her life from her humble beginnings as an orphaned American child, who tried to make her way to Europe to the only family she new of after the death of her family and ended up being swept up by one circumstance after another into the spectacle that was the Second French Empire. We follow her life from her time with a traveling circus, to becoming a prostitute in one of Paris' more prestigious whorehouses, to her time as a dresser for Empress Eugénie de Montijo at the Tuileries, until she finally makes her debut at the French Opera. Through this tale, she is trying to discover who might know of her secrets, as each time she took on a new role, she also cast off her old life and name and reinvented herself at each turn, trying to finally free herself from her own past and come into the life that she wants for herself.
Chee seems to have thoroughly researched his setting for Lillet's journey, and his writing is strong and precise. Lilliet's life is quite an adventure, but it never seems to be dull, and I never felt like I was wishing that her tale would hurry along. I listened to the audio version, and Lisa Flanagan's narration is spot on; she truly became the voice of Lilliet for me. The only thing that I added to my own listening of the book that I think could possibly benefit other readers is that I listened to selections of the operas and other musical pieces that are mentioned in the book, to add that next level of enjoyment to the story.
Chee is an extraordinary storyteller and I'll definitely be reading more by him in the future.
Chee seems to have thoroughly researched his setting for Lillet's journey, and his writing is strong and precise. Lilliet's life is quite an adventure, but it never seems to be dull, and I never felt like I was wishing that her tale would hurry along. I listened to the audio version, and Lisa Flanagan's narration is spot on; she truly became the voice of Lilliet for me. The only thing that I added to my own listening of the book that I think could possibly benefit other readers is that I listened to selections of the operas and other musical pieces that are mentioned in the book, to add that next level of enjoyment to the story.
Chee is an extraordinary storyteller and I'll definitely be reading more by him in the future.
David McK (3425 KP) rated A Little Rebellion (Crimson Worlds #3) in Books
Jan 30, 2019
Like the previous two entries in [a:Jay Allan|6477659|Jay Allan|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png]'s 'Crimson Worlds' series, this is probably more accurately called space opera than science fiction: set in a distant future where man has colonised the stars, this concerns itself with an act of rebellion, an act whereby the colony world's of the Alliance are seeking the gain their freedom from the autocratic rule of the latter.
Cue divided loyalties of Eric Cain and his compatriats in both the Marines and the Fleet ...
I found this to be an OKish read: it did keep me reading and turning the (electronic) pages, but it never really sucked me in all that much, never really hooked me enough to go looking for any further entries in the series. Don't get me wrong, I may read them if I come across them, just not actively search them out ...
Cue divided loyalties of Eric Cain and his compatriats in both the Marines and the Fleet ...
I found this to be an OKish read: it did keep me reading and turning the (electronic) pages, but it never really sucked me in all that much, never really hooked me enough to go looking for any further entries in the series. Don't get me wrong, I may read them if I come across them, just not actively search them out ...
David McK (3425 KP) rated Death Troopers (Star Wars) in Books
Jan 30, 2019
Take a classic Space Opera saga (Star Wars), add a soupcon of horror (Aliens), and a large dose of Zombies (Resident Evil), and what do you have?
This book.
The plot? An Imperial prison barge breaks down, and then comes across a seemingly abandoned Star Destroyer out in the wastes of space. It transpires that the Destroyer is not abandoned after all, and that it had been carrying out bio-weapon experiments ...
Definitely felt like the author was (heavily) inspired by the Resident Evil games/films: the Zombies are such not as the living dead back-to-life of Romero, but as a result of a engineered virus. The Aliens link I mentioned comes in on the 'set-on-prison-<s>planet</s>barge' setting, and I'm also not entirely sure why he felt the need to drop Han Solo and Chewbacca into the mix, unless that was just so you would know it is a Star Wars novel?
Not the best Extended Universe book.
This book.
The plot? An Imperial prison barge breaks down, and then comes across a seemingly abandoned Star Destroyer out in the wastes of space. It transpires that the Destroyer is not abandoned after all, and that it had been carrying out bio-weapon experiments ...
Definitely felt like the author was (heavily) inspired by the Resident Evil games/films: the Zombies are such not as the living dead back-to-life of Romero, but as a result of a engineered virus. The Aliens link I mentioned comes in on the 'set-on-prison-<s>planet</s>barge' setting, and I'm also not entirely sure why he felt the need to drop Han Solo and Chewbacca into the mix, unless that was just so you would know it is a Star Wars novel?
Not the best Extended Universe book.
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Aeronauts (2019) in Movies
Nov 9, 2019 (Updated Nov 9, 2019)
Not-really-based-on-fact balloon-centric drama turns out to be predictably lightweight. A meteorologist (historical character) and a female balloon pilot (fictitious) embark on an expedition into the sky to see if the weather can predicted.
Two people get into a balloon; they go up, they come back down again. There is a bit of jeopardy along the way, and moments which may give people with a fear of heights a funny turn, but it all feels oddly low-octane and polite. The film is given extra ballast by extended flashbacks to what led them up to this point, but this is quite ordinary bonnet opera stuff. You do wonder what kind of film this is meant to be: not enough depth for a genuine drama, not enough action for an adventure. Works hard to tick all the diversity boxes, naturally. Looks great and the score is impressive, but I came out wondering what the point of it was.
Two people get into a balloon; they go up, they come back down again. There is a bit of jeopardy along the way, and moments which may give people with a fear of heights a funny turn, but it all feels oddly low-octane and polite. The film is given extra ballast by extended flashbacks to what led them up to this point, but this is quite ordinary bonnet opera stuff. You do wonder what kind of film this is meant to be: not enough depth for a genuine drama, not enough action for an adventure. Works hard to tick all the diversity boxes, naturally. Looks great and the score is impressive, but I came out wondering what the point of it was.
This is the Story of a Happy Marriage
Book
This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage is an irresistible blend of literature and memoir revealing...