It's the moment you've all (not actually) been waiting for - what did I think of the conclusion to Pierce Brown's Red Rising trilogy? Drumroll, please.
Book Review: Mechanical Failure
OK, so here's the deal with this book, guys. The first chapter tries too hard. Like, way too hard. It feels like that person at a party who makes really terrible jokes and then laughs far too much at them, while the rest of the room makes cricket noises. It's painfully awkward.Get through it.
Book Review: The Great Ordeal
FINALLY. FINALLY THIS BOOK HAS ARRIVED.For those of you who aren't rabid Bakker fans like myself, it's been five years since the previous book was released - an almost Martin-esque wait between novels. From what I gather, it had little to do with Bakker himself, as the manuscript has been written for some time. The decision was eventually made to split the third book of this second of three trilogies into two, and thus The Great Ordeal finally made it to print.
Book Review: Ex-Isle
I've been a fan of Peter Clines ever since he first blew my mind by putting superheroes and zombies in the same book. His books are witty, funny and good romps that I can tear through without having to invest too much time and energy. His latest addition to the Ex-Heroes series, Ex-Isle, delivers more of the same fun.
Book Review: The Providence of Fire
If you ever read this, Brian Staveley - thank you. Thank you for turning it up to 11 in The Providence of Fire.
Book Review: Harry Potter & The Cursed Child (Pt. I and II)
I remember the moment I started reading Harry Potter - as a child, I received Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone as a Christmas gift and tore through it within the next two days. Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban followed, and then I had caught up and had to wait for the next book. Each release was a huge celebration. I dressed as Hermione Granger for Halloween well before the movies came out. Harry Potter was my gateway drug to fantasy and science fiction.
Book Review: Golden Son
I have this theory I call "middle book syndrome," which basically states that the middle novel of a trilogy is inherently in danger of becoming nothing more than a set-up for the third book - that it will lack a proper plot of its own and become a dragging plod from start to finish. It's the mark of a good author to avoid this, but I'm always leery when I pick up the second book of a series.
Book Review: The Everything Box
I've never read any of Richard Kadrey's other work, but when I saw The Everything Box being compared to Christopher Moore's novels (which I love), I knew I would have to pick it up.Boy, I'm glad I did.
Book Review: Sleeping Giants
You know how sometimes you read the first chapter of a novel and you just know that you're going to love the whole book?I had that feeling with Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel.
Book Review: The Emperor's Blades
I have mixed feelings on The Emperor's Blades. I want to love it, I really do - but I can't bring myself to get past "like." On paper, this book looks like a perfect fit for my tastes, but in practice I found it somewhat lacking.
Book Review: Red Rising
What do you get when you cross Battle Royale and Ender's Game and then set them on Mars for good measure? Red Rising, that's what.
Review of Game of Thrones S6E4: Book of the Stranger
Remember when I said that S6E2: Home was probably Game of Thrones’ best episode to date?Yeeeah, I might be revising that opinion now.
Review of Game of Thrones S6E3: Oathbreaker
This week's episode wasn't firing on all cylinders the way last week's was, but it was still an okay episode overall.
Captain America: Civil War Takes on Another Adult Theme & Nails It
The Captain America movies have really impressed me. They went from being my least favorite of the Marvel mini-franchises to my favorite in the space of two movies (even though Cap is still not my favorite Avenger), and they've done it primarily through the incorporation of much more adult themes.
Review of Game of Thrones S6E2: Home
How do I feel about S6E2: Home? 10/10, would gladly watch again. This is easily the best single episode in several seasons.
Review of Game of Thrones S6E1: The Red Woman
The Day has finally arrived. The Day when book readers no longer have the smug superiority of knowing what happens. The Day where we officially have no basis to say whether the book or show is better. The Day where we have to address all the problems GRRM created in book five. Crap.
Book Review: The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School
Well, this was a weird one.See, for the first 1/3 of this novel, it's fairly typical YA boarding school fare: a minor mystery, a small group of enterprising young girls determined to solve it, quirky teachers, some small magics. Nothing terribly bad, but nothing terribly exciting or groundbreaking either. In fact, by the end of Pt. 1 of the book, I was ready to write it off as a yawn.
Book Review: A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab
I guess I'm getting into a bad habit of thinking books are standalones when they aren't. That was the case for City of Stairs (now with sequel City of Blades) and it's also the case for V.E. Schwab's earlier novel A Darker Shade of Magic. A Darker Shade ranked very highly on my list of top books read year, so when I finally discovered (in January) that a sequel was coming out (in February), I marked my calendar to purchase it.
Once Upon a Time's "Souls of the Departed" Lives Up to Hype
I'm often very bad about watching my TV shows within a reasonable amount of time. So despite the long mid-season break, I didn't watch "Souls of the Departed" until four days after it had aired. I'd already heard from several people that the episode was amazing, so the hype was building. Would the episode be able to live up to the rave reviews?
Book Review: The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu
You can't hear me, but if you could, you'd hear me sigh. I have conflicting feelings on this book. Let's start with the positive, shall we?