Ink of Blood

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The Lost Art

Posted by cat2002116 on August 27, 2018
Posted in: Books, Reviews. Tagged: books, reviews. Leave a comment

The Lost Art

(This review may contain spoilers).

I remember purchasing this book originally a number of years ago, but I didn’t get round to reading it straight away.

I felt like I was missing a big chunk of the story, especially in regards to Va’s and Elenya’s relationship. While I did find Elenya a really interesting character, Va seemed to more react to what happened to him for a lot of the book. I didn’t really get a good handle on what motivated and drove him; and even by the end of the book, I couldn’t really decide if I liked him or not.

I did like Benzamir’s character, but there wasn’t nearly enough information about his real motivations. And while he hinted at there being danger for the people travelling with him if they got involved, I didn’t get any real sense of danger or urgency while I was reading this book. Even when characters were being attacked, there didn’t seem to be any real danger. Benzamir’s command of technology meant they were easily able to escape and I was disappointed by how slow this book moved.

It really wasn’t clear what kind of setting this book had. I assumed at first it was in a more fantasy world, but as the book moved on, it became more clear that that wasn’t the case. I found both Said and Wahir to be interesting characters. Alessandra didn’t really have enough detail shown about her for me to feel so concerned about her as a character.

It was clear that the world in this book was a large and far-reaching one and I thought it was good to see some semblance of culture and language problems. However, those did seem to go away when it came to Solomon. And as for Solomon, I was convinced he and Benzamir were from the same people; and it added to my confusion as the storylines began to converge.

When the action started up, it made the book more interesting and engaging. However, that was towards the end of the book and it was a long time before I got any kind of answers. I would have liked to see more depth and background to the characters and more in the way of action earlier in the book.

Witchfall

Posted by cat2002116 on August 25, 2018
Posted in: Books, Reviews. Tagged: books, reviews. Leave a comment

Witchfall

(This review may contain spoilers).

I wavered a bit at how many stars to give this book. In the end, I think 3.5 stars is about accurate, as I did enjoy the book and found it really easy to read, but I didn’t like it quite as much as the first book.

One of the strongest parts of this book, I felt, was the intrigue and tension felt in the English Court. If I’m honest, I was actually a little bit disappointed not to see more of Queen Mary in this book. I couldn’t help but feel a small amount of sympathy for her, even though she was clearly a tyrant. Unlike Elizabeth, there didn’t seem to be anyone who really cared about Mary or who was on her side.

There was also a lot of tension in this book that kept me reading throughout, but I would have liked more focus on the personal growth of the characters and less on the romance and inevitable love triangle Meg ended up experiencing. Her constant switching and questioning of her feelings for Alejandro made my head spin, as there were times she seemed fully accepting of her love for him…and others when her feelings seemed so much more negative.

I did feel there was some glossing over of some of the elements that could have been more interesting, such as Meg’s power not being as strong.

I didn’t really like Elizabeth so much in this book. While I could understand she was very much at the mercy of her sister, I felt she abused her power over her servants. Of course, it did fit with the historical figure of Queen Elizabeth…but I really ended up with a strong dislike for how she treated Meg by the end of the book.

While I did find Richard to be an interesting character, he would have had a lot more depth to him if I could have seen him interacting with some of the other characters than Meg and John Dee. His abrupt about-change in regards to Meg really didn’t feel realistic…especially given his entirely disrespectful actions in grabbing her shortly after their first meeting because he was ‘just looking’.

I would like to read the third book in this trilogy, as I did find this book a tense read, apart from the forced romances/love interests.

Warbreaker

Posted by cat2002116 on August 24, 2018
Posted in: Books, Reviews. Tagged: books, reviews. Leave a comment

Warbreaker

(This review may contain spoilers).

It’s been a long time since a book held me captive enough to find it nearly impossible to keep reading and I didn’t realise how much I’d missed that until now.

I found it really easy to fall into the world portrayed in this book. While there were villains in the piece, I liked the fact that most of them had enough depth that they came across as more human than not. And right from the start, I was questioning the rumours that had risen about Hallandren. It was nice to see so many role reversals in this book…and two main female characters who were so different from each other and yet still very strong each in her own right.

I did find the usage of the Awakening a bit confusing and even by the end of the book, I still wasn’t quite sure how it worked. Of course, some of the information was gleaned from what other characters said; and that wasn’t always accurate, whether due to ignorance or other, more sinister reasons.

The parts of the book I found the most interesting were when Siri was trying to navigate her way through the court, learning about politics and how to use the power she now wielded. I did find myself liking the God King, though I hadn’t expected to when he was first talked about.

It’s very hard to pick out a favourite character in this book, as most of them either went through some kind of growth that had me rooting for them by the end…or they were so engaging throughout, I found myself drawn to them straight from the start. Despite how he saw himself (and the religion surrounding him), Lightsong was actually a good example of both. I found myself laughing outright at some of the interactions he had with Blushweaver.

While I understand it wasn’t necessarily possible in this book, I would have liked to see a bit more from Nightblood. The sword itself became a really intriguing character throughout the book and I enjoyed its little asides to Vasher, along with the fact that it was really quite innocent and childlike when not in use.

I really enjoyed this book and I found the characters easy to empathise with and the world a really engaging one. I would really like to see more of the world and the characters in future books.

Ender’s Game

Posted by cat2002116 on August 23, 2018
Posted in: Books, Reviews, Uncategorized. Tagged: books, reviews. Leave a comment

Ender's Game

(This review may contain spoilers).

This might be one of the only book-to-movie adaptations where I actually enjoyed the movie more than the book.

I really liked the idea behind this book, even though I knew how it would end from having seen the movie. It was really nice to see some glimpses of the world all around them and a bit about the society and the limit set on the children.

While I did find Ender an easy character to empathise with and understand, it was harder to empathise with his siblings, even Valentine. The main reason for that, I felt, was that there was too much telling and not showing. For instance, with Peter and Valentine creating entirely new identities that were supposed to cause a lot of controversy – and yet there was absolutely nothing shown about what those identities were actually saying and what other people had picked up from them.

It didn’t really feel like there was a lot of threat from the aliens and even though there was a lot of urgency in how fast Ender was pushed, it felt more like the teachers were trying to break him into pieces than mould him. I actually did find that the ending was very anticlimactic for what it was.

I would have liked a bit more made of the hints of depth to Peter. It would have been more interesting to see parts of the story from his perspective, rather than Valentine’s – who came across as a much worse character than she’d first been shown.

I did like the use of the battle rooms and it was interesting to see how the children worked together and how they had to cope with being forced into battle simulations. I liked seeing them all finding ways of beating each army, but it really wasn’t clear how many armies there were in total.

I would have liked to see more of the secondary characters, such as Dink and Petra. There wasn’t really a lot of foreshadowing and by the end of the book, I was disappointed not to see much of anything revealed about the aliens. The Fairyland aspect was really intriguing, but there was little setup to the end reveal.

I don’t think I’ll read the next books in this series – which is a shame, because I had really high expectations when I started reading.

The Maze Runner

Posted by cat2002116 on August 21, 2018
Posted in: Books, Reviews. Tagged: books, reviews. Leave a comment

The Maze Runner Books

(This review may contain spoilers).

I bought this book quite a while back, after having watched and thoroughly enjoyed the movies, but it’s taken me a while to get round to reading it.

I did really enjoy this book. Even though I had a broader sense of knowledge about what was going on, due to having seen the movies, it was easy to engage with the Gladers and how the memory loss affected them in their society. I really liked seeing how they’d formed a sufficient community and even though Thomas was clearly the main character, there was enough detail about the other characters that I felt like I’d got to know them too.

I found it really easy to empathise with Thomas in this book and it was really good to see how he attempted to adapt to life in the Glade. Chuck alternated between annoying and endearing; just like a little brother.

I liked being able to see the depth to the book characters that the film hadn’t been able to show. However, by the end of the book, I kind of went off Alby; and I disliked Gally right from the start.

Another character I wasn’t especially sold on was Teresa. I would have liked more background and depth to her rather than just the stereotypical, ‘Thomas feels drawn to her for some reason’. I did really like both Newt and Minho and I especially liked seeing how they both interacted with Thomas.

It was a little more difficult to get a handle on the Maze; which made sense, as it was supposed to be constantly shifting and changing. As this was expanded upon in the book, I was disappointed to realise that the film makers had allowed much of the depth to the maze to fall by the wayside.

One of the strongest descriptions in this book was the Grievers. The maze was the unknown danger, while the Grievers were a physical manifestation, even though there was still a lot of mystery surrounding them.

All in all, I found this book an engaging read with a main character I could really care about. Despite having watched the next two movies, I plan to read the next books in this series, so I can see more of the world and the characters created by the author.

Unfriended: Dark Web

Posted by cat2002116 on August 14, 2018
Posted in: Movies, Reviews. Tagged: movies, reviews. Leave a comment

Unfriended Dark Web

(This review may contain spoilers).

I have seen the previous movie in this particular franchise and it was interesting to see the sequel have more of a real-world slant to it, though if I’m honest, there were parts of the movie that made it hard to suspend my disbelief.

I did think that the strongest character in this movie was Matias. I liked seeing his interactions with Amaya and their relationship provided a deeper level of conflict in this movie than just the horror.

I really liked Serena and Nari, but I didn’t really know how Dj Lexx fit in with the group. While the friends had clearly been brought together by something, there was very little detail about their shared history and why Damon was in London, while the rest of the characters seemed to live much closer to each other.

The feel of this movie was very tense and it was good to see the use of the technology. The River was suitably creepy, despite having the look of a fairly simple computer game.

I would have liked a bit more background on how Amaya fit into the group, as she seemed to be part of the friends, but was barely mentioned by any of the other characters.

I did like the fact that Mattias was trying to do the right thing, but I did feel that there were some poor choices made by the characters, especially when it came to not even trying to call for help. Something as simple as stepping out of the room with a cell phone could have been enough.

There was a slight relieving of tension with Charon IV for a little while, but as the movie rushed towards its conclusion, the tension was ramped up majorly.

I did really like the fact that there wasn’t a whole lot of gore, even though there was a lot of violence. This movie did a good job of following the ‘less is more’ route; and the videos that were found on the hard drive were extremely harrowing to watch.

I did think there was very little surprising about this movie. It followed the same formula as most recent horror movies and while the plot was full of tension and I cared about most of the characters, it isn’t a movie I would choose to watch again.

The Darkest Minds

Posted by cat2002116 on August 14, 2018
Posted in: Movies, Reviews. Tagged: movies, reviews. Leave a comment

The Darkest Minds

(This review may contain spoilers).

I liked the idea behind this storyline and I would have liked a bit more information about the background. The virus was such an important part of the present-day setting of the world, but I didn’t really get the idea that the virus had been such a huge event. While Ruby talked about the amount of children who had died, that didn’t feel particularly real to me as a viewer.

I haven’t read the book this movie is based on, so I can’t really speak to how accurately the movie followed the plot. I did like Ruby as a character, but her lack of knowledge about her abilities didn’t really fit in with the way she used them.

It was good that this movie focused a lot on the relationships between Ruby, Liam, Zu and Chubs, but I felt that a lot of the background information just fell by the wayside. When it came to the colours, there was too much telling rather than showing. And I would have liked a bit more information about how the Green abilities worked, considering there were times Chubs’ eyes glowed and times they didn’t, despite it being clear he was using his abilities then.

I liked the fact that there were more adult issues in this movie, such as segregation and the issue of consent. I did like Ruby and Liam’s relationship. I thought that it grew and evolved naturally and it was also nice to see Zu interacting with them. I would have liked to see more of both hers and Chubs’ pasts…and I thought it was sad how she had to keep her gloves on due to her abilities.

The movie wasn’t really clear on who the bad guys were meant to be. And while it could have been trying to show that neither side was good or bad, it didn’t really give much information or background at all. And a lot of the other characters didn’t have nearly as much depth to them.

I’d be interested in reading the book and finding out more information about the world, but as it stands, I didn’t really feel like this movie had a lot to make it stand out from the rest of the crowd. And while it did set itself up for a sequel, I didn’t have enough emotional stake in the over-arcing storyline to rush to watch more movies in the franchise.

The Meg

Posted by cat2002116 on August 14, 2018
Posted in: Movies, Reviews. Tagged: movies, reviews. Leave a comment

The Meg

(This review may contain spoilers).

I didn’t really have very high expectations going into this movie, which is probably why I actually found it more entertaining than I was expecting. Yes, the movie was fairly predictable, but I enjoyed it for what it was.

Jason Statham might well be one of my favourite actors and even though he seems to play the bad guy a lot, it was good to see him in the role of the ‘good guy’…at least for a change.

I have to say, the first scene did a really good job of establishing tension and demonstrating what to expect from the rest of the movie. It was quite a refreshing change to see Jonas make a decision that was vastly difficult…but what seemed to ultimately be the right one, even though other people didn’t necessarily agree. And it was good to see he did continue to carry on the burden from that choice.

I thought the movie did a really good job of capturing both the beauty and the danger inherent in the water. There were some really great visuals from the start. I can’t really say that I understood much of the science behind the undiscovered ‘world’, but I appreciated the fact that it was explained.

There was a lot of chemistry between Jonas and Suyin and I felt their building relationship was the strongest in the movie. I was a bit disappointed not to see a lot more of Suyin and her daughter, as I felt that could have added more depth to the movie. I also would have liked a bit more background about the relationship between Jonas and Mac; and there weren’t too many emotional moments between Suyin and her father before the end of the movie.

There was a lot of action in this movie and it kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. I would have liked some more focus on some of the secondary characters and I did feel like some of the decisions made, by Morris especially, bordered on dangerously foolish.

I was engaged in this movie throughout and I would enjoy watching this movie again in the future. It was simple and good fun. I didn’t need to think too much and I cared about the characters and the danger they were in.

Ant-Man And The Wasp

Posted by cat2002116 on August 14, 2018
Posted in: Movies, Reviews. Tagged: movies, reviews. Leave a comment

Ant-Man And The Wasp

(This review may contain spoilers).

This was another movie I was really looking forward to watching. I didn’t quite get to it on opening weekend, but it was close enough.

I definitely wouldn’t say this was a movie that could stand on its own, given its links to the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I really liked seeing some of Scott and Cassie’s relationship, along with Scott’s interactions with his ex-wife and her new husband.

I really did like seeing the fallout from Civil War and it was pretty awesome to see the lengths Scott went to so he could do things with his daughter; and how he dragged Luis into it.

It was really good to see some of the nods to the comics, such as in regards to Goliath/Giant-Man. I also really liked that Ghost had a lot of of depth, even though, as a villain, she was rather weak.

While this movie didn’t have quite as much humour as the first one, there were some really good laugh out loud moments in this. And I really liked being able to see more of Hope’s relationship with her parents. It was nice to see glimpses of Janet interacting with both her husband and her daughter.

I also really liked the fact there was a lot of focus on Hope as a main character. It was really good to see that she was able to hold her own against Ghost and I loved seeing her and Scott fighting alongside each other.

I really liked the use of the technology, though I felt that the growing/shrinking was used to quite an extreme. I didn’t really understand the quantum realm and how everything worked with that, but I did think that, visually, it was absolutely fascinating.

There were a couple of extra scenes at the end of the credits, one of which tied very neatly into Infinity War.

All in all, this movie was a lot of fun to watch and I’d enjoy watching it a second time. It might not have been such a serious addition to the MCU, but it was definitely worth watching as part of the world; at least in my opinion.

Mission: Impossible – Fallout

Posted by cat2002116 on August 13, 2018
Posted in: Movies, Reviews. Tagged: movies, reviews. Leave a comment

Mission Impossible Fallout

(This review may contain spoilers).

Despite not enjoying the first movies in this franchise, by the time this movie came out, I was very much looking forward to it.

I did find this movie very engaging, even though I felt the trailer was a little misleading. I did like the elements of humour and there were a few good moments of foreshadowing scattered throughout. At the same time, however, I did find it difficult to suspend my disbelief occasionally, as the technology especially seemed far too fantastical.

I did feel that this movie was more focused on the action than the relationships between and depth of the characters. While I did really like Benji and Luther, there wasn’t nearly enough interaction between Ethan and Ilsa to make me think they had much of a relationship between the previous movie and this one; and the hints that Ethan’s love life was cursed just felt really over the top.

I was disappointed not to see anything of Jeremy Renner’s character from the previous two movies. After he’d seemed to become part of the group, it was like his character just fizzled out.

I did also feel like there was a lot of predictability in this. August wasn’t a very likable character and it felt like there wasn’t a lot of depth to him. There was a lot of tension throughout the movie, but the villains were just bad guys without coming across as people whose motivation I could understand.

If you’re familiar with the Mission: Impossible franchise, then I would say this movie is worth watching. But I personally didn’t feel like it had much to make it stand out from the crowd. And while the storyline could stand alone, I think you need to have at least a passing knowledge of the franchise for this movie.

I wouldn’t mind watching the movie again, but I wouldn’t rush to buy it on DVD.

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