A Singularity

Changeless by Gail Carriger

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

While I liked this book better than the first I’m still not sure how I feel about the series overall. I’m not an avid romance reader but I’ve read series like this before and it strikes me as the type of series that likes to hopscotch between the romance genre and, in this case, the steampunk genre. Because it its constant jumping, I feel I’m not getting the enjoyment that I want out of the book.

I don’t want to say the book is bad. It isn’t. In this case I believe the problem is with the reader and his expectations rather than he book itself. I want a slightly more in-depth steampunk novel and instead I’m reading a Victorian science fiction romance adventure novel.

That being said I will read the third book because I both already own it and the ending to this book was a bit of an emotional cliffhanger which I’m curious to see how it is resolved. We’ll see if I continue reading after that.

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Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An amazing combination of adventure and intrigue slathered heavily with 80s pop culture and video game references, Ready Player one is a must read book for fans of video games of any age, as well as the movies and music of the 1980s.

Ready Player One is set is a dystopian future where most of humanity has retreated into a virtual reality world called The Oasis. When the world’s eccentric creator dies, he wills his fortune, and The Oasis, to the first person to find his easter egg hidden somewhere in the virtual world. The creator was well-known for being obsessed with video games and eighties pop culture and the clues he left suggested that knowing such things would make the egg easier to find but after years of searching, nobody had even found a definite clue. Enter our teenage protagonist, a poor child of The Oasis, who dedicated his life to studying the egg and through a small amount of luck, begins the hero’s journey to discover the secrets of The Oasis.

Evil corporations, intrigue, drama, romance, adventure, and tons of eights pop culture references, this book is a must read for any self-styled geek. I listened to the audio book version which had the extra bonus of being read by Wil Wheaton who adds a significant amount of inflection and emotion into the story. Overall I really enjoyed the book. I listened to it over the holidays including listening to it while falling asleep.

I highly recommend this book.

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Mr. Monster by Dan Wells

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The second in a trilogy, Mr. Monster exceeds its predecessor in many ways.

Picking up almost immediately where the first book left off, our protagonist is attempting to come to terms that he has unleashed a monster inside himself by killing off a demon. Which is when the murders start happening again and John Cleaver struggles with his inner self, Mr. Monster, over if, or how, he should hunt and kill this new serial killer in town.

My biggest problem with the last book was the introspective rationalization parts where the hero argues with himself over what he should do. In this book I found I had no problems with these parts and I think it is because the clash between the protagonist’s urges seems far more prominent. One area that the story did not excel at for me when compared to the first book was sickening/horrifying me. There was one scene in the first book towards the end that this novel just failed to replicate, although the story did manage to make me worry and feel for the protagonist (or those around him). I was just never intensely horrified.

Again, if you’re fascinated by sociopaths, serial killers, and don’t mind a bit of the supernatural, then I do suggest you read this book.

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I Don’t Want to Kill You by Dan Wells

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think this was my favorite of the John Cleaver series. It changes up the formula somewhat and we see more character growth overall. The finale has some rather sickening parts that was very reminiscent of the first book for me which helped me enjoy the book more.

I Don’t Want to Kill You is the third book in the John Cleaver series about a young man who deals with a growing urge to become a serial killer by hunting and killing supernatural begins that are killing off people in his home town. The third book picks up almost right where the second leaves off and changes up the formula enough to be new and interesting.

I’d recommend this book for fans of the series and people who like antiheroes or serial killers.

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Video Source

I really wasn’t expecting to find anyone willing to positively review this film. The fact that Movie Bob was willing to eat crow makes this a much watch for me, personally. I was willing to set aside my adult higher brain functionality to let my inner ten-year old run wild at this movie but it looks like both inner and outer parts of me are going to get a treat.

(http://youtu.be/kUXWlXK985U)

I’ve been posting more and more book trailers recently and I keep saying how amazed I am at their quality. The script by Mira Grant, video design by Lauren Panepinto, audio by Matt Schwenker. The dialog and voice acting are pure gold, of course. Having read the books I already knew it was Shaun talking simply because of the words. The entire trailer is perhaps not as compelling as our last book trailer from a cinematic standpoint, it more than makes up for with graphic design. I do have a soft spot for animated narration. Additionally this trailer doesn’t suffer from ‘now we have to tell you what these other people said’ montage that breaks the flow of almost any good real-time advertisement. Overall I think this might be my favorite book trailer, but I might also be biased due to loving the book series.

Double feature today. I was going through my Book Watch posts and realized I hadn’t posted my review of FEED by Mira Grant. Considering how much I raved about this book to my offline friends, I feel I’ve done a disservice not at least mention it here. The reviews below are non-spoiler reviews covering both FEED and the newest book in the Newsflesh series, DEADLINE. I highly recommend both.

Feed by Mira Grant

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Easily one of the most entertaining books I have ever read.

The tag line is fun and confusing at the exact same time: A book about blogging, politics, and zombies. Of course it is much more than that. Mira Grant gives us a glimpse into a future where blogging has become a legitimate journalistic endeavor and threat of a biological plague which reduces people to mindless zombies keeps everybody well cloistered behind bio-hazard sealed doors and finger pricking locks. Yet in this future, America still lives, and it still needs a President, so campaigning must continue.

I waited to read this book because the premise sounded so far-fetched until a friend loaned me a copy. It is a stark reminder that any premise, no matter how odd or ridiculous sounding, can be made into a good story.

Deadline by Mira Grant

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Date Started: June 1s, 2011
Date Ended: June 4th, 2011

DEADLINE is the sequel to FEED, the book about Politics, Blogging, and Zombies. DEADLINE is not about Politics, Blogging, and Zombies. It is about Conspiracies, Zombies, and Blogging. The second novel in a trilogy, DEADLINE once again introduces us to a post-apocalyptic future where humanity survives, in fear, of a zombie plague. Where FEED introduced us to the world and it’s politics, giving us a glimpse into conspiracies that run a zombie infested America, DEADLINE jumps right into the conspiracy and hauls the reading along for the ride.

Where DEADLINE suffers, its suffers in being both the sequel to FEED and the second novel in a trilogy. The novelty of the world has worn off and we’re left with the characters and plot to drive the story. The plot is somewhat ham-stringed by the book’s status and the fact that the slow reveals of parts of the conspiracy were not as compelling as the further questions they raised. However, the characters, their insight, dialog, and interaction, manage to keep DEADLINE sailing smoothly in the compelling read sea.

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Interested in the books but not quiet sure if it is for you? Mira Grant, otherwise known as Seanan McGuire, keeps a live journal. During the month leading up to the release of DEADLINE, she posted a series of flash/short fiction set in the Newsflesh world. It is intended to be read after FEED but there are no actual spoilers. You can follow this tag to find them all but you have to scroll down to the first post, titled T-minus 29 Days to DEADLINE.

Fables: Witches by Bill Willingham

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Excellent story and well deserving of the Hugo nomination it is up for. I was particularly pleased to see more focus on the witches/magical characters of the regular Fable cast as that group has always interested me.

Fables: Rose Red by Bill Willingham

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A fun read. I devoured it quickly. After the 11th graphic novel, I was worried Fables wouldn’t be able to recover the grand stories it had managed to tell under its original premise but this, combined with the prior graphic novel, proves the Fables story has plenty yet to tell.

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I’m not sure what I am supposed to tell you here. There has been a lot of talk about the movie Sucker Punch. I’ve heard glowing reviews from friends, bitter numbers from critics, and helter skelter from the internet. All of this was second-hand. I didn’t even really elicit these snatches of commentary before going to see the film but here is what I can say.

I very much enjoyed it.

With that out-of-the-way let me provide some context and clarity as to why everybody is so confused and sharply divided about this film. It’s marketing department pulled a fast one on us. They showed us the glitter, the special effects, we all went ‘oooh’, then gave us a teaser of what the premise was: hot women in an insane asylum and we let our imaginations run wild.

And honestly we did exactly what the marketers thought we would. We assumed a pretty but light action flick with fetishistic costumes. Instead what we got was a film that explored from a female perspective the struggle for freedom of choice in one’s life under an inherently overwhelming force.

(continue reading…)

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Date Started: Mar 5, 2011
Date Finished: Mar 7, 2011

A powerful trilogy was written here and I fear that its classification as young adult might keep it’s depth and story hidden from the world. I know this isn’t true as this series’ name is on everybody’s lips but my first reaction after finishing this novel was how I needed to shout its worth to the world. Sadly I was trapped on a plane so I began to write a full review of the series, which will be available at this address in the near future, containing spoilers.

It should say something that I finished this book in two days. Yes it is a young adult novel and somewhat short but I ate up every word whenever I could sneak in some time. The only novels I have read this voraciously in awhile have been Feed, The Dresden Files, the Legacy of the Aldenata, and the Harry Potter series and I will now be quick to add this series to the list.

This book picks up right where it’s predecessor leaves off, and weaves the wild and believable adventure of our sixteen year old heroine during a revolution of the remaining humans on earth. The book is an emotional roller coaster but I mean that in the best possible way.

Real.

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Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Date Started: Feb 27, 2011
Date Finished: Mar 5, 2011

Far more gripping than its predecessor, Catching Fire is probably this best title for this book ever. Not only does it allude to key plot points from the first book, and its own story, but the tale itself metaphorically catches fire, making it very hard to put down. The ending itself leaves you no choice but to find and read its sequel, Mocking Jay.

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