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David McK (3663 KP) rated Batman: Knightfall, Vol. 1 in Books

Jan 28, 2019

In large part the inspiration behind 2012's movie 'The Dark Knight Rises', what surprised me on reading this is just how faithfully that movie actually stuck to the events of this!

Oh, sure, there are differences: no Azrael or Robin (or, at least, not in his superhero mantle) in the movie, and a larger part for Catwoman/Selina Kyle, but more than just lip service is paid to the comic on which it is based: in particular, the bit about Bane's early life.

And, talking of Bane, the movie sticks an awful lot closer to him than the 1997 'Batman and Robin' version, or even the more recent Arkham series of games do.

The plot of the movie and comic should be pretty much common knowledge by now: Bane comes to Gotham, pushes Batman/Bruce Wayne to the edge and finally breaks his back in a 1-on-1 fight between the two.

In the words of Monty Python, however, 'I got better ... ' (albeit not by the end of this particular 'Knightfall' arc)

Kudos

Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated Redshirts in Books

Dec 23, 2018

Redshirts

John Scalzi | 2012 | Science Fiction/Fantasy

7.5

(4 Ratings)

Book Rating

Some books are surreal suspensions of disbelief. Some books just make you go "WHAT the FUCK" every couple of chapters when a new twist is revealed, and this is one of the latter. Just - what the FUCK.

Imagine your average sci-fi space opera TV show on cable television with hand-wavey science and half-assed special effects - take those characters and make them realize they're IN A TV SHOW. Let them realize all of their woes are due to shitty writing, and see what they do with that knowledge. THAT is this book, and it is crazy and hilarious and weird and eye-roll-inducing.

Between the time travel, the Box that does magic science behind the scenes so things work out on-screen, the Narrative taking control and making people say and do things they wouldn't otherwise do - this book is wacky and just full of what-the-fuckery. It's fun, though, and if you can keep yourself from groaning out loud every few pages, it's a pretty good read.

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

Kudos

Kelly (279 KP) rated The Protector in TV

Dec 18, 2018

The Protector

2018 | Fantasy, Sci-Fi

6.5

(13 Ratings)

TV Show Rating

The backdrop of Istanbul (1 more)

Relationships between the main characters.

A familiar story retold (0 more)

A Turkish superhero story

The story of the protector is one that we are familiar with: unlikely orphaned hero suddenly finds out that he was destined to defeat a big evil villain. A story, that over the years we have seen many times in many different ways. Somehow however, this did not bore me as much as it should. The backdrop of Istanbul made the plot line much more interesting to me (having no Turkish background and little knowledge of the country).

The characters were intriguing and I did genuinely care for them, as well as being interested in the love triangle that emerged between Hakan, Leyla and Zeynep. The female characters in the series were portrayed as strong women, which I particularly enjoyed. Hakan was goofy at times, but a likeable character overall. The immortal villain in the series could have been a bit more sinister, but this is just nitpicking.

Overall, I found the show really enjoyable, and hope that Netflix find the opportunity to make a sequel.

Kudos

David McK (3663 KP) rated Star Wars: Screaming Citadel in Books

Jun 30, 2019

This is a essentially a cross-over graphic novel, collecting issues 7-8 of Doctor Aphra, issues 31-32 of the 'main' Star Wars stories, and issue #1 (of 1) of The Screaming Citadel.

As such, the artwork doesn't always mesh, with the story feeling (to me) rather disjointed: here we have Luke teaming up with Dr Aphra (first introduced in the earlier run of these comics) to investigate the Screaming Citadel, where the queen of said Citadel only opens up her doors once a year to receive supplicants from all over the galaxy.

Why the team up? Because Dr Aphra has a Jedi Holocron, and Luke - at this point (pre Empire Strikes Back, remember!) is in lack of a teacher. And what does Dr Aphra get out of it? Knowledge.

What this then devolves into - for my money - is a pretty standard double and triple-cross tale, with Luke eventually learning that there are no short cuts to learning the ways of the Force, and with a set-up for a yet-to-be-followed-up-on sequel to the story.