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The Figment Wars: Search for the Caretaker
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Figment Wars: Search for the Caretaker by David R. Lord is the second book but clearly it is not intended to be last of the Figment Wars series. Old friends are reunited and familiar foes are faced along side some new ones in this twisty, imaginative story. While it is not completely required I highly recommend reading The Figment Wars: Through the Portal before this one.

In the previous book Thomas, Isaac, and Emily defeated Torvik in the Realm of Imagination and watched him disappear into the Void, or so they thought. After returning home from their family vacation Thomas and Isaac get ready for the start of their school year and are introduced to their new headteacher Mr. Newman. To their surprise, the headteacher is someone they have already met and they quickly become concerned about his plans for the school. Thomas and Isaac decide that trying to find The Caretaker is probably their best bet and turn to the internet for information.

This brings them to the attention of The Society whose ultimate goal is to kill The Caretaker and destroy the Realm of Imagination in order to become extremely powerful and take over the world. This threat greatly trumps that of Mr. Newman, especially once one member of The Society, Magnus, gets a hold of an artifact giving his imagination full power in the Realm of Reality. Thomas and Isaac, along with Emily and Clark team up with Mr. Newman to put an end to the new threat and send the artifact back to the Realm of Imagination. This all goes according to plan until Magnus refuses to let go of the artifact.

What I liked best was that the old saying “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” plays a big role as two unlikely groups team-up. It is great to see a change of heart in some of the characters as the come to recognize new facts about their own existence. It was also wonderful to see how the Realm of Imagination was created. I was disappointed to see Isaac being left out at the end of the book but I feel like he may play a bigger role than expected in the next one. I was also surprised at how quickly Thomas’s parents let Thomas and Emily go, but that is normally the case with this type of book.

Just like the one before it this second Figment Wars book is geared towards the young adult age range. While this is such a broad group it is fitting as people of all ages will enjoy this book. I increased the rating of this book from the 3 out of 4 of its prequel to a rating of 4 out of 4. This book doesn't just take place in the same world(s) as the first one but directly continues after its end. The rules established in the first are also still followed even if it makes things difficult and inconvenient for some characters. I hope to have the chance to read book three.

https://nightreaderreviews.blogspot.com
  
Shazam! (2019)
Shazam! (2019)
2019 | Action, Sci-Fi
Growing up I was a regular viewer of the Shazam and Isis “Super Power Hour” on television. Back before the days of mega-budgeted Super Hero movies; we had to content ourselves with cartoons and low budget television offerings which did their best to capture the look and action of comic characters within the budget and technology limits they had to deal with.

Warner Bros. has brought their latest DC hero to the big screen with “Shazam!” and it looks to launch a new franchise for the studio and build on the success of “Wonder Woman” and “Aquaman” following some earlier disappointments with their planned hero franchise films.

The film follows the story of young Billy Batson (Asher Angel), who has grown up in and fled several Foster Homes after being lost at a Carnival years earlier and unable to find his mother. Billy has never stopped trying to find her and even takes extreme measures to try to find her that has gotten him in trouble with the law.

While trying to stick up for a family member at his latest Foster Home; Billy is forced to flee from some local goons and finds himself facing an ancient Wizard (Djimon Honsou; who tells him he will now have superior powers when he speaks his name as he is now a guardian against the forces of evil.

Billy does not believe this but upon uttering the name; he transforms into a powerful hero in adult form. Zach Levi plays the title hero and soon finds himself eager to test his new powers and his Super Hero obsessed Foster Brother is more than happy to mentor him and make all sorts of viral videos of his efforts and training.

Their efforts soon draw the attention of an evil individual (Mark Strong), who covets the power Billy has for himself as along with the Seven Deadly Sins; he looks to become an unstoppable force for evil and sets out to destroy all that stands in his way.

The film is aimed more for a younger audience as much of the humor is squarely focused on Middle School level jokes. There are more than a few references to “Big” along the way which does sum up a good portion of the backstory as when he is in hero form; the young boy without a family is a popular and dynamic adult.

In many ways this was one of the more odd aspects of the film. Billy is a dour and untrusting individual most of the time; however when he is hero form he is a jovial and goofy individual who acts like a teenager. I could see an increase in confidence but it is odd considering that they are the same person.

Levi is very energetic in the part and goes all in and he does a great job of conveying a kid in a man’s body. The biggest issue with the film is that there is mostly a lot of humor aimed at a much younger audience and large gaps with minimal action which made sitting through numerous childish antics a bit tedious at times.

Despite this; the film was entertaining and one of the better adaptions of a comic. The door is wide open for future adventures and I look forward to seeing what they come up with next.

http://sknr.net/2019/03/23/shazam/
  
Forever (Changers #4)
Forever (Changers #4)
T. Cooper, Allison Glock-Cooper | 2018 | Contemporary, LGBTQ+, Young Adult (YA)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Fun and amazing read (2 more)
Loads of representation
Easy to read
You can also find this review on my blog: bookingwayreads.wordpress.com

I received Forever (Changers Book 4) from LibraryThing to read and review. I have not read books 1 - 3 yet but this little novel is such a hidden gem! The beginning was basically a recap of what happened in the first three books and the authors do such an amazing job with the writing that I was able to read Forever (Changers Book 4) with no problem. So, just because this is the fourth book in the installment doesn't mean that you can't read it as a stand-alone as well.

There is LGBTQ+ representation along with ethnic representation throughout the entirety of the novel. This was seriously a jackpot of a book to get. I enjoyed every second of it and my attention was grabbed and never let go until I put the novel down. As I was reading, I couldn't and didn't want to stop reading. I ended up devouring it in a matter of a 3 day period.

I loved how this was a middle-school grade, young adult, contemporary fantasy but also had hints of sci-fi. Due to the fact that some people changed each year into new individuals. It makes me want to get books 1 - 3 and reread the entire series.

Reasons why I rated it 5 stars:
1. Amazing read!
2. Multiple of different representations.
3. My attention was maintained on the entirety of the novel.
4. Writing was well-done, no grammatical or spelling errors that I saw.