The Tech

Posted by cat2002116 on July 30, 2020
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The Tech

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review).

Okay, so…I’d ideally give this book 2.5 out of 5 stars. The blurb was really intriguing and I actually really love the cover.

The biggest problem I think I had with this book was that I was given far too much information on the one hand…and on the other hand, I didn’t have nearly enough. For instance, there was way too much information given about the personal life of an assassin who only appeared a handful of times (that he liked young(er) American girls, but that had nothing to do with his actions in the book), but on the other hand, Alexander supposedly had problems with being too blunt with her supervisors. This was told to me in the text, not shown through her interactions with said supervisors.

There were various asides that were quite interesting, such as Mike dealing with Aisha and the group of people who later became known as the Cabal. However, lots of information was held back: unnecessarily so, in my opinion. Even by the end of the book, I had no clear idea of just how many people were involved in the Cabal, or who they were and what their end goals were.

While, at first, I found it hard to engage with the secondary characters, I did eventually get to know them. I liked Nancy and Mike the best, although I wasn’t really given the chance to get to know them as much as I would have liked.

I did get confused as to why so much information was being hidden from people by, well, everyone. For instance, Alexander didn’t want her Russian heritage to be known-why? And Mike’s hiding of Aisha made no sense and, in many ways, just seemed to make things so much harder for the team, as he was giving information in such a roundabout way.

I did appreciate the fact that all of the cases were connected in some way, as that did add another layer to everything that was going on. However, certain events seemed to just be ignored. Such as when the suspects in custody were killed. It really didn’t feel belieable that there was no fallout from what had happened.

Ultimately, there was a lot of potential in this book and most of Alexander’s team were well developed characters. However, there was too much going on. Way too much unnecessary information given and characters making choices that made no real sense. I would read a sequel to this book, as I’m honestly curious to see the fallout from what was revealed at the end of this book. However, there was no foreshadowing for the end, which made the whole ‘reveal’ senseless.

Standalone

Posted by cat2002116 on July 10, 2020
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Standalone

(I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review).

For a long time, I’ve enjoyed horror. Slasher movies, psychological horror…gore or not. So when I originally read the blurb of this book, I was immediately intrigued with the idea.

I felt this book came across more as a snippet into a world. It was good to be thrown into the action almost straight away with Jenkins and his job. However, because there was very little background or information about his past, I was completely thrown about what was going on. In the book, I only had the word of the characters that something was wrong with the jobs they’d gone on. As a reader, nothing seemed out of the ordinary with what I understood was going on.

I was intrigued by the different versions of the ghost/hologram that the four main villains/bad guys had apparently met and who had recruited them, but I did feel like I missed an awful lot of world building and character development. There were hints of a history in Castle and depth to his character, but I was left with one major question: Just how did these people get convinced to murder everyone?

I liked the whole idea of the multiverse and that it was a lot bigger than Jenkins initially realised. Martin and the presenter were intriguing characters, from what I saw of them, though I was a bit lost about exactly what the presenter’s role was.

The short story at the end of the book was another interesting glimpse into the world and it raised a really interesting question. However, I did feel that there were some contradictions during the course of the father’s interactions with his daughter. But I found it really thought-provoking to see how things might progress if a father took his child’s pain so she didn’t have to experience it.

This book could have been expanded and been a lot longer, with other missions and jobs shown. There was a lot of gore in the book, as promised, which provided for some good visuals. I just think that this was a very short book for a very wide universe, or multiverse.

Altered Carbon

Posted by cat2002116 on March 8, 2020
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After having watched the first season, I was quite eager to read the book and get to know the characters better through the original medium.

Reading the introduction by the author, I had a clear idea in my head of who Kovacs was. An idea that was immediately contradicted with the first chapter of the book. That was interesting, though. It made me think about how people view themselves differently to how those around view them.

Even by the end of the book, I couldn’t say whether I liked or hated Kovacs. He was certainly a character with a lot of depth to him. However, he was the only one I really got to know. Seeing the others through his eyes coloured my perceptions of them a lot.

I wasn’t very clear on exactly what an Envoy did. The book, despite the wide range offered by the stack technology, was very focused on Earth. I did find it interesting to see the disconnect between Kovacs and the sleeve he wore, though. Like when he felt like a passenger being controlled by the original occupant.

It was also good to see the relation between the sleeve and its occupant. Like how Kovacs wasn’t resistant to pain, due to the young female sleeve. Or needing a cigarette because his new sleeve was addicted.

I really liked seeing how the society on Earth had evolved due to the technology, even if I did only get hints of it. The waste of bodies, for instance. I couldn’t understand where all of the sleeves were coming from.

I also would have liked more background to Kovacs. I had so many questions about his history. His relationships. Family. He was an interesting character, but something about him felt unfinished.

This book was an intriguing read, with interesting technology and a main character I would like to see and learn more of. At the same time, it would be good to get a much wider view of the world and society.

Elantris

Posted by cat2002116 on March 8, 2020
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After reading Warbreaker, Brandon Sanderson became one of my favourite authors. Even so, it did take me a little while to finish this book. Not because it was hard to read, but I think part of me wanted to draw the book out for as long as possible.

The idea of Elantris was a really intriguing one. Raoden was a character I could relate to right from the start. He had a lot of good qualities that clearly aided him after he was turned.

I did also particularly like Sarene. And I liked her not because of what she did well, but because of what failed. What went wrong. She was clearly an imperfect character and that’s what made her so interesting.

The heroes of this book weren’t the only characters I liked. Hrathen was one I enjoyed learning about. In my opinion, he was a good example of a three-dimensional villain.

I liked being able to see some of the politics and intrigue; the way some of the characters didn’t agree with the King’s actions, but had to work behind the scenes to affect any change.

While, at first, Sarene’s act of an air headed princess did irritate me, it was good to see that it worked against her quite often. And that she had to make adjustments due to not being able to hold onto the act. Compared to her father, she was a much stronger person.

I did find it sad to read about the fate of the people of Elantris. I could definitely get behind Raoden’s actions to change things. I thought I was rooting for them to return to their former glory for a while, but the strength the people ultimately demonstrated made me feel I would have been happy if they’d just made do.

Like Warbreaker, this book is one I would very much enjoy reading again. And I would love to read more books set in the same world.

Fantasy Island

Posted by cat2002116 on March 8, 2020
Posted in: Movies, Reviews. Tagged: , .

Who wouldn’t want to live out their greatest fantasy? This movie’s trailer did a good job of setting the scene when it came to showing the feel of the island, from the idyllic atmosphere to how things started to go wrong.

I enjoyed the opportunity to get to know the characters through the course of the movie. It was good to learn more about their history and motivations. Even J.D. and Brax, who at first seemed typical party boys, had a much deeper history than it first seemed.

While I did expect the fantasies to take a dark turn, due to the trailer, I felt that it was still done in a way that worked, as a gradual buildup rather than everything turning sour straight away.

It was good to see glimpses of the wider area of the island, though I would have liked a bit more detail of how it actually worked. At various times, the movie seemed to break its own rules.

I did find it harder to relate to Gwen’s fantasy; which I suppose did make sense, given what’s revealed later in the movie. However, I found it difficult to see any mothering instinct in her, despite her claim to have five years worth of memory.

As more was revealed about the characters and their backgrounds, I did start caring about what happened to them a lot more. But honestly, I couldn’t see how the island could ever be a sustainable thing. After all, people would talk. And eventually, it would either be overrun by people desperate to change their lives, or utterly destroyed.

I haven’t seen the series this movie is supposed to tie to, though, so it’s possible that these things do happen.

I did end up enjoying this movie. If you ignore the contradictions, it is entertaining and does have some good characters easy to relate to.

Smashed

Posted by cat2002116 on March 6, 2020
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I saw this book a while ago and was immediately intrigued by the cover, especially as it combined two of my favourite things: horror and manga.

The first story was really quite creepy. While it really wasn’t a realistic story, it was rooted enough in reality that it made my skin crawl while I was reading it. After all, vampire bats really do exist. And there was something truly disturbing about the scene with the bats filling the sky.

I found the second story much harder to suspend my disbelief for. Even with seeing what Tsuguo had seen at the comedy show, it didn’t really make a lot of sense. There just wasn’t a clear explanation as to where the ghosts had come from.

I especially liked the story with the flood. I enjoyed the fact it held a bit of a mystery and that there was still something to wonder about towards the end.

The Earthbound story was very intriguing, even though it wasn’t clear how and why it had started. There was a sense of dread that just grew the more the story went on.

The three interconnected stories were a bit harder to follow. By the end of the third one, I was completely and utterly lost.

The guardian spirits story was quite a sad one, but it also showed a sense of obsession, I felt. After all, going back to her every time, despite what she was doing, just seemed like an incredibly bad choice.

I did find the book entertaining and the artwork and stories were easy to follow. I’m very interested in reading more books by this author in the near future.

Brahms: The Boy II

Posted by cat2002116 on March 5, 2020
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Having seen The Boy and considering the twist ending, I was very curious to see how the sequel would handle the story.

I honestly felt that this movie overly complicated things and completely contradicted the ending of the previous movie.

I really liked the family elements in this movie, the relationship between Jude and his parents. It made sense that both Jude and his mother were traumatised by the home invasion. It was good to see his parents trying to get him the help he needed, even while acknowledging that he wasn’t the only one affected.

I didn’t find this movie particularly scary. It was pretty predictable, in my opinion. I didn’t really feel ‘in on the joke’, which I suspect was the point of the movie showing the audience Brahms’ movements.

The first movie was cleverly done, but although I liked the family aspects in this one, I felt the supernatural elements ruined the feel of the original. And there was no clear explanation as to why the doll was suddenly supernatural. And the whole thing with Joseph just felt tacked on.

This movie works better as a standalone, but contradicts the first movie too much to work as a sequel.

The Invisible Man

Posted by cat2002116 on March 4, 2020
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The scariest things are always what you don’t see.

This movie starts out pretty harrowing right from the start. It’s easy to relate to Cecelia as she desperately tries to put her plan of escape into action. I found myself holding my breath as she checked continually to make sure Adrian was still asleep. And I came close to jumping out of my skin when she kicked over the dog’s bowl.

Having said that, because of the movie’s close focus on Cecelia, I found it difficult to see the other characters as people in their own right. They seemed to exist solely for the purpose of driving Cecelia’s story forward. There was little about their history with each other. With her. Cecelia talks about how strong her sister is. That she has to control everything. Yet very little of that is actually shown.

The feeling of isolation Cecelia experienced in the movie came across very clearly. I didn’t really feel she went through a satisfactory journey. The ending wasn’t entirely unexpected, but the path she took to get there didn’t really make a whole lot of sense.

The movie was intense to watch, but at the end, it felt like that was it. No real sense that the characters would continue past that point.

Something about the movie kind of just felt flat. I was looking forward to watching it, but it just didn’t resonate with me.

London Film and Comic Con Spring

Posted by cat2002116 on March 1, 2020
Posted in: Conventions. Tagged: .

I’ve been going to so many conventions, I figured that starting 2020, I’d start blogging about them.

I only attended LFCC Spring on the Saturday and went with my niece on the coach, getting up at 5am in order to get on the coach at 6.20am.

So we got to London, got to Kensington Olympia for 9.30am. The doors were opening at 9, so I figured we’d get there after the majority of people had got inside.

Well… That didn’t happen. It was after 10 before we even got inside the building. And then there were bag checks. Which we both passed, though I was asked who needed so much Pepsi Max. Believe me, by the end of the day, I needed all the energy I could get!

As soon as me and my niece got inside, we picked up our diamond passes. I had those for Christopher Lambert and Mark Dacascos, while my niece had a diamond pass for Robert Englund.

My first interaction of the day was with Casper Zafer. He was so incredibly nice. He complimented my hair, which my sister had dyed for me Thursday night. He also wished me happy birthday for today, the 1st March. And he was my first photo of the day, too.

Casper played Finn in the Vampire Diaries and the Originals. So far, I have autographs from three of the original vampires and photos with two.

It’s worth noting that I had great experiences with all of the actors at this con. I’ve had actors who don’t acknowledge me at all and will even have a conversation with someone else while signing. But at this particular event, my favourite encounter was with Ivana Baquero, who played Eretria in the Shannara Chronicles and the main character in Pan’s Labyrinth.

I don’t tend to ask for quotes or character names on my autographs. The only thing I’ll ask for is personalisation. But when an actor chooses to add more than just my name and their signature, it means a lot. And Ivana included a quote from Eretria. And remembered me from the photo.

‘There can be only one.’

I loved Highlander, the movies and the TV series. And getting to meet Connor MacLeod’s actor was truly amazing. Probably shouldn’t have been grinning with my head about to be cut off, though.

This was the photo included in my diamond pass.

Mark Dacascos was one of the actors whose queue was a long one. I wanted to meet him primarily because of the television series The Crow. But also the movie Double Dragon.

He was talkative and engaging. Completely great with the fans.

There weren’t that many people getting photos with Robert Emms, which was quite surprising to me. I enjoyed his portrayal of Pythagoras in Atlantis and got to have a bit of a chat with him.

Tom Hopper, the Umbrella Academy. Yes, he is really that tall. Or maybe I’m just that short. I bought my niece an autograph from him as well. We got into a debate about Luther’s actions. Me and my niece, not me and Tom. She hates the character, while I just felt he was trying to do his best.

I got two extra autographs, one from Anna Shaffer and the other from MyAnna Buring. Both from The Witcher and both extremely great to meet.

By the time me and my niece had finished photos and autographs, there wasn’t much time for browsing. I’d missed out on the Brothers Trust stall, which I had wanted to look at. And our feet ached due to constantly going back and forth.

I did manage to get two books, both signed by their authors. My niece got quite a few items, with her final purchase being a Game of Thrones shirt ten minutes before closing.

The only real issues with the day were the delay going in and the photo times being randomly changed, a fact I discovered ten minutes before my first photo, which had only a five minute slot. But I did enjoy the day. Me and my niece got to spend it together. And despite multiple cancellations, we still got a lot of photos and autographs between us.

Maleficent 2 Movie Review

Posted by cat2002116 on March 1, 2020
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I’m back! It’s been a long time, I know.

So, Maleficent 2. Firstly, while the character of Prince Philip did eventually grow on me, it was difficult to see him as the same Philip from the first movie, due to him being played by a different actor. I also felt he didn’t really play a big role in this movie until the end. In the first movie, it was clear that he and Aurora didn’t really know each other, so it would have been good to get some idea of the growth of their relationship.

Maleficent was by far the most three-dimensional character in this movie, at least in my opinion. It was really great to see a bit more of her abilities and learn about the dark fey. And I really liked being able to see the differing opinions of her kind. Those who wanted peace and those vehemently opposed to it.

The visuals were stunning in this movie. I loved how the wings were shown on Maleficent and her kind. Seeing them all in flight was especially amazing. And I would have enjoyed seeing more of the individual dark fey, like the teacher. I particularly liked him.

I wasn’t really that fond of Aurora’s aunties. They were very flighty and didn’t seem to play much of a role until towards the end.

It was interesting to see the differing opinions on the Moorlands and how the humans didn’t really know what to make of Maleficent. It was very obvious who the bad guys were almost from the start.

I enjoyed this movie and did feel it stood up very well against the first one. If there’s a third movie made, I would love to see it focus more on the dark fey and how they integrate into society now they’re no longer hiding.