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BookInspector (124 KP) rated The Dark Net in Books
Sep 24, 2020
More reviews on https://bbookinspector.wordpress.com
After reading “Here and Gone” by Haylen Beck, I got very interested in the dark net, which is like a black market for everything, so, when I saw this book available for request, I did not hesitate. Another thing which intrigued me about this book, was its cover, I think it describes the mood of this book very accurately.
This novel has a wide variety of characters to choose from (see description), and every character had a story to tell, which made this book really rich and appealing to me. Lela was chosen as the main character of this novel. She was trying to uncover a secret enterprise, which does not leave any trace in the records, and is related to some nasty murders. I think that B. Percy chose her very wisely; she is very old fashion and hates technology, and only this kind of character can survive in this book. I really like when author allows more than one character to express themselves, and Percy didn’t disappoint me in this book with that.
The narrative of this techno-thriller was really dark and riveting, in some places really disturbing. I will admit that, like most of the people these days, I could not live a day without internet, but after reading this book, I started thinking that, this needs to change. Internet is way more powerful than we imagine, and that is kind of scary. This book has an interesting combination of genres; it is horror/sci-fi/thriller. It has real life problems mixed with fiction which makes it an interesting read, but some parts were over the top for me. Even though I love technology, I was slightly overwhelmed with all the terms used in this book, which sometimes felt like reading an IT textbook, and unfortunately my mind would just glide through that information.
This book is not for everyone, you need to know something about internet and have a strong stomach to enjoy it. It offers great action, plenty of twists and turns and is quite distressing. The chapters are quite short, so the reading experience is pleasant and the change of action and characters didn’t make me bored. I think that Percy done a great research for this book and I enjoyed the new things I got to learn about the dark net. The ending of this book was really interesting, and I think it rounded up the book really nicely. So, to conclude, I had an interesting reading experience, and if you like all things internet and are not scared of blood and murders, you might actually find this book really entertaining and enlightening.
Was given this book by publisher for honest review
After reading “Here and Gone” by Haylen Beck, I got very interested in the dark net, which is like a black market for everything, so, when I saw this book available for request, I did not hesitate. Another thing which intrigued me about this book, was its cover, I think it describes the mood of this book very accurately.
This novel has a wide variety of characters to choose from (see description), and every character had a story to tell, which made this book really rich and appealing to me. Lela was chosen as the main character of this novel. She was trying to uncover a secret enterprise, which does not leave any trace in the records, and is related to some nasty murders. I think that B. Percy chose her very wisely; she is very old fashion and hates technology, and only this kind of character can survive in this book. I really like when author allows more than one character to express themselves, and Percy didn’t disappoint me in this book with that.
The narrative of this techno-thriller was really dark and riveting, in some places really disturbing. I will admit that, like most of the people these days, I could not live a day without internet, but after reading this book, I started thinking that, this needs to change. Internet is way more powerful than we imagine, and that is kind of scary. This book has an interesting combination of genres; it is horror/sci-fi/thriller. It has real life problems mixed with fiction which makes it an interesting read, but some parts were over the top for me. Even though I love technology, I was slightly overwhelmed with all the terms used in this book, which sometimes felt like reading an IT textbook, and unfortunately my mind would just glide through that information.
This book is not for everyone, you need to know something about internet and have a strong stomach to enjoy it. It offers great action, plenty of twists and turns and is quite distressing. The chapters are quite short, so the reading experience is pleasant and the change of action and characters didn’t make me bored. I think that Percy done a great research for this book and I enjoyed the new things I got to learn about the dark net. The ending of this book was really interesting, and I think it rounded up the book really nicely. So, to conclude, I had an interesting reading experience, and if you like all things internet and are not scared of blood and murders, you might actually find this book really entertaining and enlightening.
Was given this book by publisher for honest review
Darren (1599 KP) rated 400 Days (2016) in Movies
Jun 20, 2019
Story: 400 Days starts with our four main characters Captain Theo (Routh), Emily (Lotz), Cole (Cook) and Bug (Feldman) being put in a social simulation for 400 days to show what it will be like to travel through space over long periods of time. We follow the four as they get put hiccups as the learn to manage them after losing connect to mission control early on but it is dealing with the psychological side of the mission that will test them the most.
When they open the hatch they find themselves questioning what happened but more worrying where they are now.
400 days really seems to be a film that is two different incomplete films, the first half is all psychological but when they leave the hatch it turns into a post-apocalyptic film that never really ends up being dealt with. Each side of the story works well as a single film but both don’t have enough time to really pull off what is really happen. As for the ending it is all left up to you what you think happens which doesn’t help and what happens to two of the character never really gets answered either. This has problems but really could have been great.
Actor Review
Caity Lotz: Emily is the medical officers who is also the former partner of Theo who has to make sure the crew remains sane over the course of the mission as well as keeping the medication up to date. Caity gives us a solid performance but really doesn’t get a chance shine.
Brandon Routh: Theo is the captain of the mission; he has to make the big decision with the information provided by his crew. He doesn’t want to be on the mission and has been on a four-day bender before the mission. Brandon continued to show why he is struggling to live up to the hype he once had early in his career.
Dane Cook: Cole is the engineer on the mission, he is easily the most unpopular on the crew and his cocky attitude leads him to become distant to the rest of the crew. Dane is another actor in this film who hasn’t made much of his career and even with this choice because he tries to do something different.
Ben Feldman: Bug is the brains of the crew making all the hard decisions and is clearly the smartest of the four crew members on the ship. He had to leave his young family behind for the mission which haunts him every day of the mission. Ben does a good job even if he does end up being a very generic character for the genre.
Support Cast: 400 days has a supporting you only see half way through the film but they end up being very generic.
Director Review: Matt Osterman – Matt brings us a great idea that doesn’t quite get pulled off effectively.
Mystery: 400 days keep you guessing what is actually happening to our characters.
Sci-Fi: 400 days puts our character in the experiment which would include space travel and a post-apocalyptic world.
Thriller: 400 days does keep us guessing from start to finish.
Settings: 400 days has two good settings the space ship which creates the isolation and the town the end up in that shocks.
Special Effects: 400 days uses the effects for certain moments but tries to keep everything need to the minimum.
Suggestion: 400 days is one to try, it does have a few flaws but you can see a couple of good points. (Try It)
Best Part: The ideas are good.
Worst Part: Not enough time for each story, both sides could have been short to increase the second one.
Believability: No
Chances of Tears: No
Chances of Sequel: No
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: No
Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes
Overall: Something Missing but good ideas being created.
https://moviesreview101.com/2015/11/02/400-days-2015/
When they open the hatch they find themselves questioning what happened but more worrying where they are now.
400 days really seems to be a film that is two different incomplete films, the first half is all psychological but when they leave the hatch it turns into a post-apocalyptic film that never really ends up being dealt with. Each side of the story works well as a single film but both don’t have enough time to really pull off what is really happen. As for the ending it is all left up to you what you think happens which doesn’t help and what happens to two of the character never really gets answered either. This has problems but really could have been great.
Actor Review
Caity Lotz: Emily is the medical officers who is also the former partner of Theo who has to make sure the crew remains sane over the course of the mission as well as keeping the medication up to date. Caity gives us a solid performance but really doesn’t get a chance shine.
Brandon Routh: Theo is the captain of the mission; he has to make the big decision with the information provided by his crew. He doesn’t want to be on the mission and has been on a four-day bender before the mission. Brandon continued to show why he is struggling to live up to the hype he once had early in his career.
Dane Cook: Cole is the engineer on the mission, he is easily the most unpopular on the crew and his cocky attitude leads him to become distant to the rest of the crew. Dane is another actor in this film who hasn’t made much of his career and even with this choice because he tries to do something different.
Ben Feldman: Bug is the brains of the crew making all the hard decisions and is clearly the smartest of the four crew members on the ship. He had to leave his young family behind for the mission which haunts him every day of the mission. Ben does a good job even if he does end up being a very generic character for the genre.
Support Cast: 400 days has a supporting you only see half way through the film but they end up being very generic.
Director Review: Matt Osterman – Matt brings us a great idea that doesn’t quite get pulled off effectively.
Mystery: 400 days keep you guessing what is actually happening to our characters.
Sci-Fi: 400 days puts our character in the experiment which would include space travel and a post-apocalyptic world.
Thriller: 400 days does keep us guessing from start to finish.
Settings: 400 days has two good settings the space ship which creates the isolation and the town the end up in that shocks.
Special Effects: 400 days uses the effects for certain moments but tries to keep everything need to the minimum.
Suggestion: 400 days is one to try, it does have a few flaws but you can see a couple of good points. (Try It)
Best Part: The ideas are good.
Worst Part: Not enough time for each story, both sides could have been short to increase the second one.
Believability: No
Chances of Tears: No
Chances of Sequel: No
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: No
Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes
Overall: Something Missing but good ideas being created.
https://moviesreview101.com/2015/11/02/400-days-2015/
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Escape Room (2019) in Movies
Jun 22, 2019 (Updated Sep 25, 2019)
TL;DR - I'm never doing an escape room ever again, and potentially never going anywhere that begins with a mysterious invitation.
The film opens, somewhat strangely, with some of the last scenes of the movie. I'm not sure whether this helped the film along or not. We already knew what to expect before going in so starting with the intrigue of the invitations probably would have worked just as well, it did at least ease you in to what you'd be getting from the rest of the film.
I was a little disappointed that we didn't get an intro to all of the characters. Admittedly six intro pieces would have made the beginning of the story drag but it felt a little odd to have the other three thrown in with no context. On the plus side you are able to infer some things about their back story as we go through the film, but I don't quite see the logic behind who they included and excluded.
Drama, mystery, sci-fi, thriller... that's how IMDb classified Escape Room, and this is why I don't know why we bother pigeon holing films. It's definitely a thriller and can loosely fit into the horror genre (I only say loosely because of it's lack of gore) but to claim any of the others is a stretch.
In what was probably a rather average film I was glad to see some pieces that impressed me. Amanda (Deborah Ann Woll) has a flashback during one of their escapes and the transition was seamless. Woll's performance overall was probably the best, she goes from vulnerable to woman of action and in each scene she creates something that I found incredibly believable.
Tyler Labine is one of my favourite "hidden" gems of the movie world so I was excited to see he was part of this. My excitement was short lived though as his character wasn't given much opportunity to shine as his story is largely overlooked until the very last minute.
One of the issues I have at the cinema is that I suffer from mild motion sickness, generally I'm okay but on occasion the weirdest things can set it off. This film gave me a near heart attack when it entered the pool room, you can see it during the trailer, the room is basically upside down but that combined with the camera shots meant I had to keep looking at my feet for fear of either passing out or throwing up on my fellow cinema goers.
The idea behind the film had a lot of potential and up to a certain point I was enjoying what was happening... but that ending. My brain suddenly stopped and went "huh, Belko Experiment." I'm not generally a watcher of horror type films but from the comments I've seen online Escape Room is similar to a lot of things already out there. What I know is that it's predictable. Probably more so because of the way the film starts, the premise of an escape room, and the trailer. It does have some things up its sleeve though.
For someone who is easily scared out of their skin I didn't have a problem watching this (apart from that pool room scene), a lot of the really jumpy bits I'd already seen before going into the film. Until the memory of this film is washed away by several dozen other films I will not be setting foot in an escape room, and they should probably look at suing the film for lose of revenue.
What you should do
It's an entertaining film and if thrillers/horrors are your sort of thing then you should give it a go.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
Needless to say there is basically nothing I want from this movie apart from the little piece of sanity and rational thinking it stole from me.
The film opens, somewhat strangely, with some of the last scenes of the movie. I'm not sure whether this helped the film along or not. We already knew what to expect before going in so starting with the intrigue of the invitations probably would have worked just as well, it did at least ease you in to what you'd be getting from the rest of the film.
I was a little disappointed that we didn't get an intro to all of the characters. Admittedly six intro pieces would have made the beginning of the story drag but it felt a little odd to have the other three thrown in with no context. On the plus side you are able to infer some things about their back story as we go through the film, but I don't quite see the logic behind who they included and excluded.
Drama, mystery, sci-fi, thriller... that's how IMDb classified Escape Room, and this is why I don't know why we bother pigeon holing films. It's definitely a thriller and can loosely fit into the horror genre (I only say loosely because of it's lack of gore) but to claim any of the others is a stretch.
In what was probably a rather average film I was glad to see some pieces that impressed me. Amanda (Deborah Ann Woll) has a flashback during one of their escapes and the transition was seamless. Woll's performance overall was probably the best, she goes from vulnerable to woman of action and in each scene she creates something that I found incredibly believable.
Tyler Labine is one of my favourite "hidden" gems of the movie world so I was excited to see he was part of this. My excitement was short lived though as his character wasn't given much opportunity to shine as his story is largely overlooked until the very last minute.
One of the issues I have at the cinema is that I suffer from mild motion sickness, generally I'm okay but on occasion the weirdest things can set it off. This film gave me a near heart attack when it entered the pool room, you can see it during the trailer, the room is basically upside down but that combined with the camera shots meant I had to keep looking at my feet for fear of either passing out or throwing up on my fellow cinema goers.
The idea behind the film had a lot of potential and up to a certain point I was enjoying what was happening... but that ending. My brain suddenly stopped and went "huh, Belko Experiment." I'm not generally a watcher of horror type films but from the comments I've seen online Escape Room is similar to a lot of things already out there. What I know is that it's predictable. Probably more so because of the way the film starts, the premise of an escape room, and the trailer. It does have some things up its sleeve though.
For someone who is easily scared out of their skin I didn't have a problem watching this (apart from that pool room scene), a lot of the really jumpy bits I'd already seen before going into the film. Until the memory of this film is washed away by several dozen other films I will not be setting foot in an escape room, and they should probably look at suing the film for lose of revenue.
What you should do
It's an entertaining film and if thrillers/horrors are your sort of thing then you should give it a go.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
Needless to say there is basically nothing I want from this movie apart from the little piece of sanity and rational thinking it stole from me.
Hazel (1853 KP) rated Summer Days and Summer Nights: Twelve Summer Romances in Books
May 25, 2017
A mixed bag
This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
Stephanie Perkins, the best selling author of Anna and the French Kiss has compiled a second anthology of short stories. Twelve selected tales have been included from a variety of young adult authors including: Libba Bray, Veronica Roth, Cassandra Clare and Jennifer E. Smith. For those that have read Perkins’ previous anthology, My True Love Gave To Me, the concept is the same. Twelve love stories set in, as the title, Summer Days and Summer Nights, strongly suggests, the summer.
What can be expected from all the stories in this collection is that they fit snuggly into the Romance genre of young adult fiction. The way the authors decided to tackle this, however, was up to their own interpretations. Thus, the final outcome is a selection of works that fall into a variety of categories: fantasy, contemporary, LGBT, horror, sci-fi etc.
As a result there are a number of different character types and storylines, suggesting that there is bound to be something for everyone. There are lovey-dovey stories, heart-wrenching stories, exciting action stories, implying that there will be at least one you will favour, and hopefully make purchase worthwhile.
It is not merely love that can be found between these pages, so if you are, like me, not overly impressed with teenage love stories, there are other themes to focus on. Many of the main characters are nearing the end of their schooling and thinking about the future: college, perhaps. Readers discover, and possibly relate to, their hopes, doubts and fears of what is to come. Yet while these thoughts are buzzing in their heads they are also trying to enjoy their summers, some with summer jobs, others hanging out with friends. Alongside all of this are darker issues of depression, cancer and parents divorcing; events that many teenagers unfortunately have to deal with. So, throughout all the make-ups and break-ups, there is so much more going on under the surface.
It is always difficult to decide what age range “Young Adult” refers to. Some may assume it is anyone in their teens, however in the case of Summer Days and Summer Nights I would label it a book for older teenagers, those of similar ages to the characters depicted: sixteen to nineteen. This is due to the slightly adult themes of a few of the stories and the amount of swearing many of the authors resort to.
Unfortunately for me, I did not find a perfect story within this collection. There were some I enjoyed more than others; likewise there were some I was not keen on at all. It is for this reason I have only given a rating of three stars. I do not want to put prospective readers off however as this is merely a case of personal preferences and not a true reflection of the authors’ exceptional writing skills.
Stephanie Perkins, the best selling author of Anna and the French Kiss has compiled a second anthology of short stories. Twelve selected tales have been included from a variety of young adult authors including: Libba Bray, Veronica Roth, Cassandra Clare and Jennifer E. Smith. For those that have read Perkins’ previous anthology, My True Love Gave To Me, the concept is the same. Twelve love stories set in, as the title, Summer Days and Summer Nights, strongly suggests, the summer.
What can be expected from all the stories in this collection is that they fit snuggly into the Romance genre of young adult fiction. The way the authors decided to tackle this, however, was up to their own interpretations. Thus, the final outcome is a selection of works that fall into a variety of categories: fantasy, contemporary, LGBT, horror, sci-fi etc.
As a result there are a number of different character types and storylines, suggesting that there is bound to be something for everyone. There are lovey-dovey stories, heart-wrenching stories, exciting action stories, implying that there will be at least one you will favour, and hopefully make purchase worthwhile.
It is not merely love that can be found between these pages, so if you are, like me, not overly impressed with teenage love stories, there are other themes to focus on. Many of the main characters are nearing the end of their schooling and thinking about the future: college, perhaps. Readers discover, and possibly relate to, their hopes, doubts and fears of what is to come. Yet while these thoughts are buzzing in their heads they are also trying to enjoy their summers, some with summer jobs, others hanging out with friends. Alongside all of this are darker issues of depression, cancer and parents divorcing; events that many teenagers unfortunately have to deal with. So, throughout all the make-ups and break-ups, there is so much more going on under the surface.
It is always difficult to decide what age range “Young Adult” refers to. Some may assume it is anyone in their teens, however in the case of Summer Days and Summer Nights I would label it a book for older teenagers, those of similar ages to the characters depicted: sixteen to nineteen. This is due to the slightly adult themes of a few of the stories and the amount of swearing many of the authors resort to.
Unfortunately for me, I did not find a perfect story within this collection. There were some I enjoyed more than others; likewise there were some I was not keen on at all. It is for this reason I have only given a rating of three stars. I do not want to put prospective readers off however as this is merely a case of personal preferences and not a true reflection of the authors’ exceptional writing skills.
Kirk Bage (1775 KP) rated Alita: Battle Angel (2019) in Movies
Jan 22, 2021
Robert Rodriguez is not a good director. He isn’t an especially good writer or producer either. This is the guy responsible for four Spy Kids films, that start below average and downgrade exponentially into excruciatingly awful. What he is pretty good at is ideas, and seeing the potential of something visually arresting and exciting. That is what led to the success of Sin City, arguably his best effort to date, because he saw how the comic book creations of Frank Miller could become live action and he made it happen.
Alita: Battle Angel is a similar deal. This time Yukito Kishiro’s early 90s manga creation is the inspiration. With James Cameron as producer, and the considerable talents of Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly and Mahershala Ali onboard, it would have been pretty hard for even Rodriguez to mess this up entirely. Although at times he does seem to try, mostly by doing too much and making certain sections too busy and too confusingly cross-genre, like he is frantically trying to colour within the lines whilst using every felt-tip in the pack. A habit that means every now and again something great happens, but you may have missed it in all the background noise.
Compare this film, that just falls short of qualifying for my Bad Movie Triple Bill list, to Spielberg’s superior yet similarly busy Ready Player One. Both involve high concept future realities that are very tech and AI driven. Both make extensive use of CGI and vivid colour palettes. Both are frenetic and demand an audience pays attention in order to fully appreciate the storyline. The difference is that one zig-zags back and forth in tone and momentum, and one is razor sharp in moving us from one idea to the next on a perfect learning curve towards a satisfying climax and conclusion. Guess which one is which? This is why Spielberg is Spielberg and Rodriguez is… a hack.
That said, Alita as a character and concept is charming, and you do therefore find yourself at least wanting to discover her story. The action scenes are also quite electric, and the visuals are often breath-taking. But the whole is less than the sum of the parts here, and we are left with something that can only really exist in the same box as dozens of admirable sci-fi B-movies aimed at teenagers, such as The Maze Runner, Mortal Engines and The City of Ember. It also continues to prove the point alongside Ghost in the Shell and Speed Racer that Anime / Manga into live action is a very tricky business.
There is definitely an audience out there for this movie, and I dare say at some point I will be tempted to give it another watch. What is definitely worth watching however, is how James Cameron uses this as a stepping stone to perfecting virtual humans on the big screen. I am sure everyone involved learned a lot in that respect, so all is far from lost.
Alita: Battle Angel is a similar deal. This time Yukito Kishiro’s early 90s manga creation is the inspiration. With James Cameron as producer, and the considerable talents of Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly and Mahershala Ali onboard, it would have been pretty hard for even Rodriguez to mess this up entirely. Although at times he does seem to try, mostly by doing too much and making certain sections too busy and too confusingly cross-genre, like he is frantically trying to colour within the lines whilst using every felt-tip in the pack. A habit that means every now and again something great happens, but you may have missed it in all the background noise.
Compare this film, that just falls short of qualifying for my Bad Movie Triple Bill list, to Spielberg’s superior yet similarly busy Ready Player One. Both involve high concept future realities that are very tech and AI driven. Both make extensive use of CGI and vivid colour palettes. Both are frenetic and demand an audience pays attention in order to fully appreciate the storyline. The difference is that one zig-zags back and forth in tone and momentum, and one is razor sharp in moving us from one idea to the next on a perfect learning curve towards a satisfying climax and conclusion. Guess which one is which? This is why Spielberg is Spielberg and Rodriguez is… a hack.
That said, Alita as a character and concept is charming, and you do therefore find yourself at least wanting to discover her story. The action scenes are also quite electric, and the visuals are often breath-taking. But the whole is less than the sum of the parts here, and we are left with something that can only really exist in the same box as dozens of admirable sci-fi B-movies aimed at teenagers, such as The Maze Runner, Mortal Engines and The City of Ember. It also continues to prove the point alongside Ghost in the Shell and Speed Racer that Anime / Manga into live action is a very tricky business.
There is definitely an audience out there for this movie, and I dare say at some point I will be tempted to give it another watch. What is definitely worth watching however, is how James Cameron uses this as a stepping stone to perfecting virtual humans on the big screen. I am sure everyone involved learned a lot in that respect, so all is far from lost.
Hazel (1853 KP) rated Summer Days and Summer Nights: Twelve Summer Romances in Books
Dec 17, 2018
<i>This ARC was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review </i>
Stephanie Perkins, the best selling author of <i>Anna and the French Kiss</i> has compiled a second anthology of short stories. Twelve selected tales have been included from a variety of young adult authors including: Libba Bray, Veronica Roth, Cassandra Clare and Jennifer E. Smith. For those that have read Perkins’ previous anthology, <i>My True Love Gave To Me</i>, the concept is the same. Twelve love stories set in, as the title, <i>Summer Days and Summer Nights</i>, strongly suggests, the summer.
What can be expected from all the stories in this collection is that they fit snuggly into the Romance genre of young adult fiction. The way the authors decided to tackle this, however, was up to their own interpretations. Thus, the final outcome is a selection of works that fall into a variety of categories: fantasy, contemporary, LGBT, horror, sci-fi etc.
As a result there are a number of different character types and storylines, suggesting that there is bound to be something for everyone. There are lovey-dovey stories, heart-wrenching stories, exciting action stories, implying that there will be at least one you will favour, and hopefully make purchase worthwhile.
It is not merely love that can be found between these pages, so if you are, like me, not overly impressed with teenage love stories, there are other themes to focus on. Many of the main characters are nearing the end of their schooling and thinking about the future: college, perhaps. Readers discover, and possibly relate to, their hopes, doubts and fears of what is to come. Yet while these thoughts are buzzing in their heads they are also trying to enjoy their summers, some with summer jobs, others hanging out with friends. Alongside all of this are darker issues of depression, cancer and parents divorcing; events that many teenagers unfortunately have to deal with. So, throughout all the make-ups and break-ups, there is so much more going on under the surface.
It is always difficult to decide what age range “Young Adult” refers to. Some may assume it is anyone in their teens, however in the case of <i>Summer Days and Summer Nights</i> I would label it a book for older teenagers, those of similar ages to the characters depicted: sixteen to nineteen. This is due to the slightly adult themes of a few of the stories and the amount of swearing many of the authors resort to.
Unfortunately for me, I did not find a perfect story within this collection. There were some I enjoyed more than others; likewise there were some I was not keen on at all. It is for this reason I have only given a rating of three stars. I do not want to put prospective readers off however as this is merely a case of personal preferences and not a true reflection of the authors’ exceptional writing skills.
Stephanie Perkins, the best selling author of <i>Anna and the French Kiss</i> has compiled a second anthology of short stories. Twelve selected tales have been included from a variety of young adult authors including: Libba Bray, Veronica Roth, Cassandra Clare and Jennifer E. Smith. For those that have read Perkins’ previous anthology, <i>My True Love Gave To Me</i>, the concept is the same. Twelve love stories set in, as the title, <i>Summer Days and Summer Nights</i>, strongly suggests, the summer.
What can be expected from all the stories in this collection is that they fit snuggly into the Romance genre of young adult fiction. The way the authors decided to tackle this, however, was up to their own interpretations. Thus, the final outcome is a selection of works that fall into a variety of categories: fantasy, contemporary, LGBT, horror, sci-fi etc.
As a result there are a number of different character types and storylines, suggesting that there is bound to be something for everyone. There are lovey-dovey stories, heart-wrenching stories, exciting action stories, implying that there will be at least one you will favour, and hopefully make purchase worthwhile.
It is not merely love that can be found between these pages, so if you are, like me, not overly impressed with teenage love stories, there are other themes to focus on. Many of the main characters are nearing the end of their schooling and thinking about the future: college, perhaps. Readers discover, and possibly relate to, their hopes, doubts and fears of what is to come. Yet while these thoughts are buzzing in their heads they are also trying to enjoy their summers, some with summer jobs, others hanging out with friends. Alongside all of this are darker issues of depression, cancer and parents divorcing; events that many teenagers unfortunately have to deal with. So, throughout all the make-ups and break-ups, there is so much more going on under the surface.
It is always difficult to decide what age range “Young Adult” refers to. Some may assume it is anyone in their teens, however in the case of <i>Summer Days and Summer Nights</i> I would label it a book for older teenagers, those of similar ages to the characters depicted: sixteen to nineteen. This is due to the slightly adult themes of a few of the stories and the amount of swearing many of the authors resort to.
Unfortunately for me, I did not find a perfect story within this collection. There were some I enjoyed more than others; likewise there were some I was not keen on at all. It is for this reason I have only given a rating of three stars. I do not want to put prospective readers off however as this is merely a case of personal preferences and not a true reflection of the authors’ exceptional writing skills.
Neil Goddard (3 KP) rated Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) in Movies
Feb 27, 2020
No Actors Required
Contains spoilers, click to show
I have a theory about movies that are 100% CGI; when someone isn’t a great actor and they are required only to supply a voice and they still aren’t very good, it really stands out.
Now, imagine you’re watching a film. I don’t know, maybe a bit creature epic, larger than life with whole cities being destroyed. The creature’s look amazing and the carnage they are wreaking is fabulous; buildings, helicopters, cars, all flying around the screen with a swish of a mighty reptilian tale. Now imagine that the actors, real people, not CGI, are, at best, bland and in some instances just outright terrible.
Annoying isn’t it?
It would lead one to believe that the film makers didn’t really put any stock in the human interactions, rather just gave a huge wad of cash to an SFX company and said, “Fill your boots, the more the merrier, make everything f---ing enormous!”
Godzilla (2014) was the second time Hollywood has attempted to make a film featuring Japan’s kaiju supremo and it was the first successful attempt from Hollywood, given that the 1998 Roland Emmerich attempt was basically Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) but with added daddy issues (Roland Emmerich’s trademark).
Gareth Edwards 2014 first entry in the MonsterVerse was a huge success, financially and artistically. We saw a Godzilla that was of a scale we’d always wanted, towering over buildings, a reptilian God and we’re just the ants trying to not get squished.
Godzilla: King of Monsters attempts to up the ante by throwing a dozen or so monsters at the story. “Godzilla fought two MUTO’s did he, well… hold my beer!” Yeah, we’ll hold your beer while you get Millie Bobby Brown to stand there teary eyed for most of the film (a waste), Vera Farmiga to go from bereaved workaholic, to eco-terrorist to pointless self-sacrifice (unfathomable), and for Kyle Chandler to… well, Christ knows what Kyle Chandler was doing, apart from spitting terrible dialogue badly and then standing/sitting/walking looking angry but unconvincingly. Bradley Whitford provided some nice comic relief, he does droll sarcasm immensely well, Charles Dance is underused (and then forgotten about) and Zhang Ziyi tries to out-Kyle-Chandler Kyle Chandler in the bland, borderline useless stakes.
Worse than any failing on the human emotion side of the story are the huge liberties they take with global travel, like, one of side of the world to the other in a very short space of time. I mean Godzilla can do it because of some tunnels under the sea that he uses, possible the ones used in the science-denying sci-fi car crash abomination The Core (2003), but for the humans to just pop to Venezuela or the Antarctic is unforgivable.
This kind of leaps of reality always leads me to lose interest in the events in a film and start thinking around the script. In a film where everything everyone says is of dire emergency or import and then we see them in another part of the world some time later, what have they been talking about for all that time. Have they been napping? If so, it’s hasn’t eased any of the pointless angry posturing. Have they been chatting about boring everyday stuff? There is no hint of a relationship between any of these people who are spending potentially their last moments on earth together with alarming regularity. The world is possible about to get destroyed and you are in direct harm’s way! Shut up and nut up.
Now, imagine you’re watching a film. I don’t know, maybe a bit creature epic, larger than life with whole cities being destroyed. The creature’s look amazing and the carnage they are wreaking is fabulous; buildings, helicopters, cars, all flying around the screen with a swish of a mighty reptilian tale. Now imagine that the actors, real people, not CGI, are, at best, bland and in some instances just outright terrible.
Annoying isn’t it?
It would lead one to believe that the film makers didn’t really put any stock in the human interactions, rather just gave a huge wad of cash to an SFX company and said, “Fill your boots, the more the merrier, make everything f---ing enormous!”
Godzilla (2014) was the second time Hollywood has attempted to make a film featuring Japan’s kaiju supremo and it was the first successful attempt from Hollywood, given that the 1998 Roland Emmerich attempt was basically Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) but with added daddy issues (Roland Emmerich’s trademark).
Gareth Edwards 2014 first entry in the MonsterVerse was a huge success, financially and artistically. We saw a Godzilla that was of a scale we’d always wanted, towering over buildings, a reptilian God and we’re just the ants trying to not get squished.
Godzilla: King of Monsters attempts to up the ante by throwing a dozen or so monsters at the story. “Godzilla fought two MUTO’s did he, well… hold my beer!” Yeah, we’ll hold your beer while you get Millie Bobby Brown to stand there teary eyed for most of the film (a waste), Vera Farmiga to go from bereaved workaholic, to eco-terrorist to pointless self-sacrifice (unfathomable), and for Kyle Chandler to… well, Christ knows what Kyle Chandler was doing, apart from spitting terrible dialogue badly and then standing/sitting/walking looking angry but unconvincingly. Bradley Whitford provided some nice comic relief, he does droll sarcasm immensely well, Charles Dance is underused (and then forgotten about) and Zhang Ziyi tries to out-Kyle-Chandler Kyle Chandler in the bland, borderline useless stakes.
Worse than any failing on the human emotion side of the story are the huge liberties they take with global travel, like, one of side of the world to the other in a very short space of time. I mean Godzilla can do it because of some tunnels under the sea that he uses, possible the ones used in the science-denying sci-fi car crash abomination The Core (2003), but for the humans to just pop to Venezuela or the Antarctic is unforgivable.
This kind of leaps of reality always leads me to lose interest in the events in a film and start thinking around the script. In a film where everything everyone says is of dire emergency or import and then we see them in another part of the world some time later, what have they been talking about for all that time. Have they been napping? If so, it’s hasn’t eased any of the pointless angry posturing. Have they been chatting about boring everyday stuff? There is no hint of a relationship between any of these people who are spending potentially their last moments on earth together with alarming regularity. The world is possible about to get destroyed and you are in direct harm’s way! Shut up and nut up.
Zuky the BookBum (15 KP) rated Gather the Daughters in Books
Mar 15, 2018
I was so interested in this one because it's ultimately about a cult. A cult who live on an island where very strict rules are put in place. Daughters are used to "comfort" their Father's during the night until their first bleed, then they get married off, Mothers are used for producing two children and housework. Sons help their Fathers in their jobs and Fathers rule the land.
On the island they have a Bible / religious text equivalent called Our Book and within the book there are the "Shalt Not's", for example "Thou shalt not disobey thy father", or "Thou shalt not touch a daughter who has bled until she enters her summer of fruition". Living on the island is simple if you don't question or break the rules.
For a woman to have a decent life on the island, there's only one piece of advice: have son's.
If you can't already see what I'm getting at from my short description above, then let me put this simply. <b>This is dark.</b> Gather the Daughters is a very ominous, disturbed and often times uncomfortable read.
Melamed's writing is stunning. The island she has created comes alive in your mind so easily with every description of the trees, the houses, the beach. The shadiness of the men, the melancholy of the woman, and the fear of the daughters can really be felt and you can almost touch the tension of what is looming, as it gets heavier and heavier with every turn of the page.
I loved the use of the four different characters to tell a story. To begin with, it is a little confusing - who is who? But you get used to it very quickly! Each of the girls we follow are so well developed, we climb inside their shoes and exist as they do for the length of their chapter. Personally, Rosie was my favourite character of them all, and she wasn't even one of the main ones! That just goes to show how well structured every single girl in this book was... when you feel you can love a side character over a main one.
I guess this book only gets a 4 stars because it wasn't entirely what I was expecting... and sometimes that's a good thing, your expectations are exceeded, but that wasn't the case for this one. It was a lot slower moving than I would have liked, there were panicky, heart racing moments, but not a lot of them, and I wasn't really satisfied with how everything ended. I don't want to say too much because of spoilers, but yes, not what I was hoping for.
Would I class this as sci-fi? No. As horror? No. As a thriller? No. For me, this felt more like a general fiction novel with some more disturbing aspects than many of the others in the genre have.
Overall, though, this is worth picking up to read. It's definitely uncomfortable to read at times and I did feel a little bit squirmish at what is implied throughout, but it's such a gorgeously written book and there are some excellent exciting moments. As this is Melamed's first book, I can see her going big places with more fiction in the future!
<i>P.S. If you don't feel comfortable reading books about incest / child sexual abuse please don't read this and then rate it 1 star because you found the subject matter difficult to read. That's just not fair.</i>
On the island they have a Bible / religious text equivalent called Our Book and within the book there are the "Shalt Not's", for example "Thou shalt not disobey thy father", or "Thou shalt not touch a daughter who has bled until she enters her summer of fruition". Living on the island is simple if you don't question or break the rules.
For a woman to have a decent life on the island, there's only one piece of advice: have son's.
If you can't already see what I'm getting at from my short description above, then let me put this simply. <b>This is dark.</b> Gather the Daughters is a very ominous, disturbed and often times uncomfortable read.
Melamed's writing is stunning. The island she has created comes alive in your mind so easily with every description of the trees, the houses, the beach. The shadiness of the men, the melancholy of the woman, and the fear of the daughters can really be felt and you can almost touch the tension of what is looming, as it gets heavier and heavier with every turn of the page.
I loved the use of the four different characters to tell a story. To begin with, it is a little confusing - who is who? But you get used to it very quickly! Each of the girls we follow are so well developed, we climb inside their shoes and exist as they do for the length of their chapter. Personally, Rosie was my favourite character of them all, and she wasn't even one of the main ones! That just goes to show how well structured every single girl in this book was... when you feel you can love a side character over a main one.
I guess this book only gets a 4 stars because it wasn't entirely what I was expecting... and sometimes that's a good thing, your expectations are exceeded, but that wasn't the case for this one. It was a lot slower moving than I would have liked, there were panicky, heart racing moments, but not a lot of them, and I wasn't really satisfied with how everything ended. I don't want to say too much because of spoilers, but yes, not what I was hoping for.
Would I class this as sci-fi? No. As horror? No. As a thriller? No. For me, this felt more like a general fiction novel with some more disturbing aspects than many of the others in the genre have.
Overall, though, this is worth picking up to read. It's definitely uncomfortable to read at times and I did feel a little bit squirmish at what is implied throughout, but it's such a gorgeously written book and there are some excellent exciting moments. As this is Melamed's first book, I can see her going big places with more fiction in the future!
<i>P.S. If you don't feel comfortable reading books about incest / child sexual abuse please don't read this and then rate it 1 star because you found the subject matter difficult to read. That's just not fair.</i>
Gareth von Kallenbach (977 KP) rated Cloud Atlas (2012) in Movies
Aug 7, 2019
While I am not familiar with the novel, I was not excited to review the film adaptation of David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas. Though the Screenplay was written and directed by the Wachowskis (The Matrix) and Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) I did not know exactly what I was getting into. The trailer shows it as an epic sci-fi film crossing the time and lives of several stories and how everything and everyone is connected. Needless to say my curiosity was piqued. But I was nervous because I knew it would take a grand effort to keep this epic and ambitious project from falling flat. And well, I can honestly say that I am not quite sure if the combined effort succeeded.
Allow me to explain. About an hour into the film I had a young film reviewer to my left and I noticed he started to nod his head in approval at each new developing story throughout the film. To my right was a friend of mine, I would consider as an average film viewer, who at this same time I could tell was counting the minutes till the lights came up but felt trapped with nowhere to go but forward. And for me, I can see both sides of these reactions.
The plot is comprised of a multi-narrative of six stories, each with a complete beginning, middle and end. These stories are told from different timelines following a group of souls throughout the ages to show how everything is woven together and the connection between them; From the 1849 slave trader, to a young composer in 1936 Britain, to a 1973 journalist attempting to uncover corruption of the big business ruling class, to a 2012 literary publisher who’s life becomes a daring escape from a geriatric home, to a 2144 Neo-Soul synthetic learning to become human, to a post-apocalyptic tribesman trying to save his world and family… Lost yet? Believe me you will want to focus during the first hour of this film as we are introduced to the sudden shift of timelines. All of the main actors appear as varying characters of significance in every narrative, each with different accents and types of language. It is a bit of an unexpected bother to keep everything straight at first, however if you pay attention it is fairly easy to follow. This first hour is where I feel the film becomes a make or break for those actively thinking about what they are watching and the average movie viewer who is just there to be entertained and see the new Tom Hanks (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) or Halle Berry (Perfect Stanger) movie. For those who make it through that first hour still engaged, the film moves along at a steady pace and provides everything from romance to action that keeps you guessing and intrigued at what is next to come.
The Wachowskis and Tykwer do an outstanding job of visually fleshing out each timeline in its own visual style, especially the futuristic ones, which subtlety organize each narrative for the viewer. Additionally, there are so many talented actors in this film and it is somewhat fascinating to try and pick them out throughout the film. It is almost like a giant game of Where’s Waldo on screen as the makeup and special effects artists do a fantastic job of making the actors fit each character in every timeline. In fact, during the fourth or fifth timeline a lady in my row asked her partner if the man on screen was Forrest Gump, which was surprising because Hanks was the easiest character to pick out among them all.
Tom Hanks delivers one of his better performances in years. We watch his character’s soul transition from a sinister and vile doctor to a tribesman making the righteous choice while struggling with that inkling of evil that is the devil within us all. It was refreshing to see Hanks play parts that were not just an “everyman” that he has played in recent years.
Halle Berry’s performance is mostly average in her parts with the exception of 1973 journalist role where she is the main protagonist. Hugo Weaving channels a bit of his Agent Smith role from The Matrix as he plays a villain throughout the timelines. Hugh Grant (Love Actually) makes unexpected soild appearances throughout the timelines. With Jim Sturgess (One Day), James D’Arcy (Mansfield Park) and Ben Whishaw (who is the new Q in the upcoming James Bond film Skyfall) rounding out the cast with a young contrast to the already heavy acting handled by the bigger names of this film. Each of these young actors hold’s their own against their older more notable counterparts. Whishaw’s performance as the lead in the 1936 composer role is especially noteworthy.
The other stand out performance in the film comes from Jim Broadbent best known in the states as Professor Slughorn in the Harry Potter Films. His performance in the 1936 composer and 2012 literary publisher are excellent. The Publisher story was my favorite timeline throughout the film. Not only did it deliver some much needed comic relief to an emotionally engaging and heavy film, but it also made me care the most about the elderly characters trying to escape the clutches of the geriatric prison of a nursing home. Unfortunately, other than the aforementioned comic relief this timeline seemed the most unnecessary to the overarching story at hand.
When I left the film and talked it over with my friend I was indifferent to the film. It was not great, it was not bad either. As my friend described it, it was a movie that was trying too hard. We agreed that somewhere in the six storylines there may be a great film, but we were not sure if we watched it.
However as the days have passed I have found myself thinking about the stories constantly. More specifically about how the main protagonist played by a different actor in each narrative has the same birthmark of a shooting star that in some way symbolizes some universal soul encompassing a new shell of a body in each timeline. Like some kind of reincarnation of that soul is fighting the same revolution throughout the ages against the powerful class and illusion of natural order. Additionally how each of the central characters found themselves connected with the main characters in the stories that preceded them through some kind of medium; whether it was by an old journal, or love letters, or a written story, or film, or message of hope. These subtle insights of growth and change for this main soul leaping into a new life in each timeline has caused me to examine our world and how we as people can be truly connected to one another not only today, but throughout the ages. I want to view the film again and am inspired to read the novel in some sort of effort to better understand these concepts.
Nevertheless as a film that is almost three hours long it does its best to be an epic sci-fi film and give something for everyone. And while it succeeds in many aspects of feel, it also falls short in aspects that are probably best accomplished in a literary form. As I said above, somewhere in the six storylines there may be a great film, but I am not sure if I watched it. Or maybe I am not intelligent enough to comprehend it. Because of that I can only give it an average score. Though I believe if you ask me after a second viewing, I may be inclined to raise it.
Allow me to explain. About an hour into the film I had a young film reviewer to my left and I noticed he started to nod his head in approval at each new developing story throughout the film. To my right was a friend of mine, I would consider as an average film viewer, who at this same time I could tell was counting the minutes till the lights came up but felt trapped with nowhere to go but forward. And for me, I can see both sides of these reactions.
The plot is comprised of a multi-narrative of six stories, each with a complete beginning, middle and end. These stories are told from different timelines following a group of souls throughout the ages to show how everything is woven together and the connection between them; From the 1849 slave trader, to a young composer in 1936 Britain, to a 1973 journalist attempting to uncover corruption of the big business ruling class, to a 2012 literary publisher who’s life becomes a daring escape from a geriatric home, to a 2144 Neo-Soul synthetic learning to become human, to a post-apocalyptic tribesman trying to save his world and family… Lost yet? Believe me you will want to focus during the first hour of this film as we are introduced to the sudden shift of timelines. All of the main actors appear as varying characters of significance in every narrative, each with different accents and types of language. It is a bit of an unexpected bother to keep everything straight at first, however if you pay attention it is fairly easy to follow. This first hour is where I feel the film becomes a make or break for those actively thinking about what they are watching and the average movie viewer who is just there to be entertained and see the new Tom Hanks (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close) or Halle Berry (Perfect Stanger) movie. For those who make it through that first hour still engaged, the film moves along at a steady pace and provides everything from romance to action that keeps you guessing and intrigued at what is next to come.
The Wachowskis and Tykwer do an outstanding job of visually fleshing out each timeline in its own visual style, especially the futuristic ones, which subtlety organize each narrative for the viewer. Additionally, there are so many talented actors in this film and it is somewhat fascinating to try and pick them out throughout the film. It is almost like a giant game of Where’s Waldo on screen as the makeup and special effects artists do a fantastic job of making the actors fit each character in every timeline. In fact, during the fourth or fifth timeline a lady in my row asked her partner if the man on screen was Forrest Gump, which was surprising because Hanks was the easiest character to pick out among them all.
Tom Hanks delivers one of his better performances in years. We watch his character’s soul transition from a sinister and vile doctor to a tribesman making the righteous choice while struggling with that inkling of evil that is the devil within us all. It was refreshing to see Hanks play parts that were not just an “everyman” that he has played in recent years.
Halle Berry’s performance is mostly average in her parts with the exception of 1973 journalist role where she is the main protagonist. Hugo Weaving channels a bit of his Agent Smith role from The Matrix as he plays a villain throughout the timelines. Hugh Grant (Love Actually) makes unexpected soild appearances throughout the timelines. With Jim Sturgess (One Day), James D’Arcy (Mansfield Park) and Ben Whishaw (who is the new Q in the upcoming James Bond film Skyfall) rounding out the cast with a young contrast to the already heavy acting handled by the bigger names of this film. Each of these young actors hold’s their own against their older more notable counterparts. Whishaw’s performance as the lead in the 1936 composer role is especially noteworthy.
The other stand out performance in the film comes from Jim Broadbent best known in the states as Professor Slughorn in the Harry Potter Films. His performance in the 1936 composer and 2012 literary publisher are excellent. The Publisher story was my favorite timeline throughout the film. Not only did it deliver some much needed comic relief to an emotionally engaging and heavy film, but it also made me care the most about the elderly characters trying to escape the clutches of the geriatric prison of a nursing home. Unfortunately, other than the aforementioned comic relief this timeline seemed the most unnecessary to the overarching story at hand.
When I left the film and talked it over with my friend I was indifferent to the film. It was not great, it was not bad either. As my friend described it, it was a movie that was trying too hard. We agreed that somewhere in the six storylines there may be a great film, but we were not sure if we watched it.
However as the days have passed I have found myself thinking about the stories constantly. More specifically about how the main protagonist played by a different actor in each narrative has the same birthmark of a shooting star that in some way symbolizes some universal soul encompassing a new shell of a body in each timeline. Like some kind of reincarnation of that soul is fighting the same revolution throughout the ages against the powerful class and illusion of natural order. Additionally how each of the central characters found themselves connected with the main characters in the stories that preceded them through some kind of medium; whether it was by an old journal, or love letters, or a written story, or film, or message of hope. These subtle insights of growth and change for this main soul leaping into a new life in each timeline has caused me to examine our world and how we as people can be truly connected to one another not only today, but throughout the ages. I want to view the film again and am inspired to read the novel in some sort of effort to better understand these concepts.
Nevertheless as a film that is almost three hours long it does its best to be an epic sci-fi film and give something for everyone. And while it succeeds in many aspects of feel, it also falls short in aspects that are probably best accomplished in a literary form. As I said above, somewhere in the six storylines there may be a great film, but I am not sure if I watched it. Or maybe I am not intelligent enough to comprehend it. Because of that I can only give it an average score. Though I believe if you ask me after a second viewing, I may be inclined to raise it.
graveyardgremlin (7194 KP) rated Unraveling (Unraveling, #1) in Books
Feb 15, 2019
Within the first ten pages of <i>Unraveling</i>, the main character, Janelle Tenner, dies from a runaway pick-up. A fellow student from her school, Ben Michaels, revives her and then runs off before she fully awakens. Convinced there's more than meets the eye with Ben, Janelle won't give up trying to figure out how and what he did to her and why she isn't dead, even facing her best friend's refusal to believe she died and Ben's denial of ever resurrecting her. As she pieces together that puzzle, Janelle plays detective on a case her F.B.I. agent father is working on, by rifling through top secret files and eavesdropping, that involves a mysterious countdown and people dying of radiation poisoning, which are somehow connected to the man behind the wheel of the vehicle that hit her and possibly even to Ben as well.
The author did a great job setting up the story with a slow build that introduces Janelle's life, both at home and at school, along with any free time she may have, and accelerates once it hits the halfway point until it reaches the book's climactic ending. In particular, the development of her home life was interesting and had depth. She has a mother who's bi-polar and not "there" most of the time and a father who seemingly avoids dealing with the realities of his wife's mental illness by being a workaholic, so all the household responsibilities fall on Janelle's shoulders. She takes care of her family and does the majority of the cleaning, cooking, laundry, and most importantly of all, being a mother to her younger brother, Jared. She makes sure he does his homework, has meals, and gets to school on time. What's nice about their relationship is that he actually respects his sister and there isn't much in the way of petty arguments, which was refreshing. I liked the whole interrelationships of the core family: Janelle, Jared, and their father. They all loved each other, faults and all, and even adding in the situation that Janelle's mother is in, they felt like a genuine family. Adding to that, both Alex (Janelle's best friend and my favorite character) and Struz (her dad's partner/friend) were a part of the family too. If there was anything that stood out in the book for me, it was how people related to each other in it, for good or ill. I loved Alex and Janelle's friendship, again it was really authentic, and they were just that, best friends. No romantic agenda going on, no secret one-sided yearning, only true friendship where they looked out for one another.
Janelle herself was a strong character, but not so strong she never showed her feelings. She could be quick-tempered, but usually for good reason, she stood up for herself when necessary, and was sensible, so while she could be judgmental and at times conceited, those flaws made her realistic. Nobody's perfect. The experiences she's had to live through have molded her, so every action and reaction she made made perfect sense to who she is, whether it's flying off the handle or falling into pieces. While I can't say I ever totally liked her, I understood and respected her; there aren't many YA characters I can say that about. Every character in the book had their own identity, whether they had a small role to play or a bigger one, so there was no confusion to who they were. Ben, the mysterious "stoner", is of course the love interest. He could have been more fully fleshed out, but I still got a basic idea of who he was and he's at least a nice guy, which is a novel idea these days. The love story between Janelle and Ben felt like it could actually happen that way. The chemistry between the two was well-written so the magnetic attraction between them is palpable. I remember how it is to be a teenager (scary but true), and I hate to be such a broken record, but it felt realistic. Do I think it was love? No, not yet, but they have a connection and it's a start towards something serious.
The plot is intriguing and has a lot of good ideas that generally mesh well together. Each short chapter, some less than a page long, features numbers counting down to the big event that's at the core of the novel. I'm not going to go into details since it'd be too hard to do without giving anything away, but I will say that I enjoyed how the story was told and how it unfolded. While this is sci-fi, it's light on the 'sci' part and not everything is explained as well as it could be, but hopefully the sequel will tackle some of the bigger components. Most of my complaints are trivial: the ending was rushed for an almost 450 page book, there was a passing comment about AAA that wasn't right, the phrase 'junior detective' was used just a little too much, an info dump that would have worked better as dialogue, and a couple of other inconsistencies that hopefully were caught before the final copy was printed. However, I admit to some ire at an event that happened at the end, I just didn't feel there was any need for it plot-wise and thought it total overkill. That was unfortunate but overall I still enjoyed the book cover to cover. A solid four-star book that's a cut above the rest and left me looking forward to the sequel.
The author did a great job setting up the story with a slow build that introduces Janelle's life, both at home and at school, along with any free time she may have, and accelerates once it hits the halfway point until it reaches the book's climactic ending. In particular, the development of her home life was interesting and had depth. She has a mother who's bi-polar and not "there" most of the time and a father who seemingly avoids dealing with the realities of his wife's mental illness by being a workaholic, so all the household responsibilities fall on Janelle's shoulders. She takes care of her family and does the majority of the cleaning, cooking, laundry, and most importantly of all, being a mother to her younger brother, Jared. She makes sure he does his homework, has meals, and gets to school on time. What's nice about their relationship is that he actually respects his sister and there isn't much in the way of petty arguments, which was refreshing. I liked the whole interrelationships of the core family: Janelle, Jared, and their father. They all loved each other, faults and all, and even adding in the situation that Janelle's mother is in, they felt like a genuine family. Adding to that, both Alex (Janelle's best friend and my favorite character) and Struz (her dad's partner/friend) were a part of the family too. If there was anything that stood out in the book for me, it was how people related to each other in it, for good or ill. I loved Alex and Janelle's friendship, again it was really authentic, and they were just that, best friends. No romantic agenda going on, no secret one-sided yearning, only true friendship where they looked out for one another.
Janelle herself was a strong character, but not so strong she never showed her feelings. She could be quick-tempered, but usually for good reason, she stood up for herself when necessary, and was sensible, so while she could be judgmental and at times conceited, those flaws made her realistic. Nobody's perfect. The experiences she's had to live through have molded her, so every action and reaction she made made perfect sense to who she is, whether it's flying off the handle or falling into pieces. While I can't say I ever totally liked her, I understood and respected her; there aren't many YA characters I can say that about. Every character in the book had their own identity, whether they had a small role to play or a bigger one, so there was no confusion to who they were. Ben, the mysterious "stoner", is of course the love interest. He could have been more fully fleshed out, but I still got a basic idea of who he was and he's at least a nice guy, which is a novel idea these days. The love story between Janelle and Ben felt like it could actually happen that way. The chemistry between the two was well-written so the magnetic attraction between them is palpable. I remember how it is to be a teenager (scary but true), and I hate to be such a broken record, but it felt realistic. Do I think it was love? No, not yet, but they have a connection and it's a start towards something serious.
The plot is intriguing and has a lot of good ideas that generally mesh well together. Each short chapter, some less than a page long, features numbers counting down to the big event that's at the core of the novel. I'm not going to go into details since it'd be too hard to do without giving anything away, but I will say that I enjoyed how the story was told and how it unfolded. While this is sci-fi, it's light on the 'sci' part and not everything is explained as well as it could be, but hopefully the sequel will tackle some of the bigger components. Most of my complaints are trivial: the ending was rushed for an almost 450 page book, there was a passing comment about AAA that wasn't right, the phrase 'junior detective' was used just a little too much, an info dump that would have worked better as dialogue, and a couple of other inconsistencies that hopefully were caught before the final copy was printed. However, I admit to some ire at an event that happened at the end, I just didn't feel there was any need for it plot-wise and thought it total overkill. That was unfortunate but overall I still enjoyed the book cover to cover. A solid four-star book that's a cut above the rest and left me looking forward to the sequel.