Fray, the second novel in the Unraveled Kingdom Series, fell short of the first novel in the series and my expectations. This novel continues where the other one left off. Now Sophie Balstrade no longer owns her charm/clothing shop and is set to be married to Theodor, the crown prince of the kingdom. They are set to make reforms to their nation’s feudal system of government, but are facing stiff opposition from the nobility who want to maintain the status quo.
Where this novel falls short for me is that it was overly long, and in some cases very dull. Mainly the middle part of the novel where Sophie and Theodor are traveling to Serafin for a meeting for trade among the Equitorial States was dry and often not very interesting. That’s not to say that there weren’t interesting parts in here, but much of that section should have been cut and edited down. I get the impression that the since trilogies are the order of the day in fantasy, the author and publisher wanted to make this a trilogy, but there doesn’t seem to be enough material here to make it a trilogy and keep it entertaining throughout. There also wasn’t much progression in Sophie’s and Theodor’s characters. In fact, Theodor seemed to be less interesting in this novel than he did in the first novel.
The pace of the novel picked up toward the end, and that part was more enjoyable. I’m invested enough to want to keep on reading to complete the trilogy, but with a bit less vigor than before.
I was a bit lukewarm about this novel when I first started reading it, and it took me a while to get into the story, but the more I read, the more I enjoyed this fantasy novel. My hesitation is probably that I like my fantasy novels that are a little more epic in nature with fighting and journeys and the like. This novel is lacking in those areas, but had its own appeal.
In Torn, the main characters is Sophie, a seamstress with magical abilities. She lives in a society where the nobility oppresses the common people. Revolution is fomenting, and one of the key figures is her brother, Kristos. When Sophie’s magical charms catch the attention of some of the nobility, she gets wrapped into their society and wants nothing to do with the revolution, even though she agrees with some elements of it in principle. Further complicating matters, she becomes romantically entangled with a duke. When her brother is kidnapped, she is coerced into helping the revolutionaries.
The novel was slow at first, and that was part of why I wasn’t so into it, but it built up in intrigue as it wore on. I wouldn’t exactly call it riveting, but it held my interest and had a fair bit of tension. There was even a sword fight or two, but it wasn’t particularly well described and not the strongpoint of the novel. What was a strongpoint was character development, and the ability to show merits on both sides of the opposing forces in this revolution. The natural tendency would be to side with the revolutionaries, but the nobility was presented in a sympathetic light as well, and there was a good dichotomy. This is a novel that I would recommend and I look forward to reading the next book in the series.
I had never read any of the Dune books nor had I seen any previous movie adaptations, so the story was completely new to me. I think because of that I was missing something by watching the movie. There was much that was unexplained that would be known by someone who read the books, but was lacking for someone without any previous knowledge of the story. Which is strange, given that the movie was overly long. There was certainly plenty of opportunity to fill in the Dune novice.
This movie was a mixed bag. There was some really slow and dull stretches of the movie, mixed in between parts that were either intriguing or were good action scenes. Instead of building to a crescendo, the movie waxed and wane. Just when I would start to lose interest during a slow part, something would happen that would keep me going. Overall, the story presented was interesting. There was good action and good effects. The world building was pretty good, but it could also be a snooze fest. I think the movie would have been better served had it been about a half hour shorter and had a better pace.
Much like the second Lord of the Rings movie, Dune just kind of ends with no resolution. I feel as if a movie should have some level of resolution, even if it’s part of a series. Overall, I would give the movie a slight thumbs up, but in this case, my thumb would only be pointing slightly upward—maybe like a thirty degree angle. And while I will watch the next movie in the series, I won’t be running out to the theater on opening weekend.
As far as novels of the apocalypse go (or perhaps the coming of an apocalypse), Snow definitely stands out. I had never read an apocalyptic horror novel where the bringers of doom come in the snow. Typically, I think of snow as serene and peaceful (at least when it first lays and hasn’t turned brown). Not this snow. In this novel, some sort of creatures or entities in the snow take possession of human bodies and kill everyone in their path. Whether these snow creatures are some type of aliens or supernatural entities, it is never revealed, but whatever they are, it certainly makes me think about snow in a whole new light.
When a flight is grounded, Todd Curry and three others foolishly decide to drive through a Midwest snowstorm to their destination. They reach a stranded hitchhiker who leads them to a town that has been under attack by these snow entities. After that, it’s a desperate fight for survival as they find other survivors and attempt to live through the night and escape this town, not knowing if this has spread to other towns.
Besides the innovative concept of the horror in this novel, it was also well written and laced with tension. The main protagonist is easily relatable. He is a flawed person who is desperate to make up for past mistakes and be with his son for Christmas. Any father can understand how that would drive someone to do foolish things, like drive through a massive snowstorm. The horror elements were strong, and overall this was an enjoyable novel.
When you’re on the twentieth installment (slight exaggeration) of a movie franchise, I’m not exactly expecting a masterpiece. I expect the movie to be cheesy and formulaic, but I don’t expect it to be a complete and utter trainwreck, yet Halloween Kills was just that. Cheesy and stupid doesn’t begin to describe this movie. It was at a whole another level of idiocy.
All of the survivors of the previous Halloween movies (besides the one that didn’t actually involve Michael Meyers) have banded together in Michael’s home town of Haddonfield. The lust to kill Michael Meyers has spread through Haddonfield like wildfire. Now, I would think that you might want to flee this unstoppable maniacal killer, but not Haddonfield. Instead they are driven into this insane frenzy to the point where they kill an innocent person. I’m not even sure what the point of this movie was. The most ridiculous part of a silly, pointless movie is near the end when Laurie Strode and Deputy Frank Hawkins reflect on how unstoppable Michael Meyers before he escapes an impossible situation and unleashes seven kinds of hell on his opposition. Perhaps even more ridiculous is that they rewrote the ending of the original Halloween in this movie.
If you are tempted to watch this movie, please don’t. It’s just not worth it.
I enjoyed the first Venom movie and appreciate the character in the current superhero landscape. Venom is a smart-alecky, violent, antihero, portrayed well by Tom Hardy. With my thorough disappointment in recent movies and television shows presented in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I was glad to have a change of pace with this movie. Although I generally liked this movie, it didn’t quite measure up to the first one. Venom was still Venom, but part of the novelty of the character was gone. There were still funny lines and good action, but Carnage was overacted by Woody Harrelson. It was of an over the top portrayal of the character. Also, there was no explanation of Frances Barrison, the other villain in the movie, of who she was and how she got her superpowers and how it fit in with these two characters.
It’s hard to pinpoint where this movie fell short of the original yet still felt enjoyable. For one thing, it wasn’t always easy to tell who was who when Venom and Carnage were fighting each other. There were things that I enjoyed about the movie. One of my favorite parts was after Venom separated from Eddie Brock, he went to a rave party and was the hit of the party and was able to conceal his identity since everyone there just thought he was wearing a costume. I also like the character of Dr. Dan Lewis, who brought some comic relief with his interactions with Venom. I would recommend this movie as a fun two hours, even if it doesn’t quite live up to the original.
