Category: Reviews

Book Review – Star Trek: First Frontier

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science Fiction1 Comment

Not too long ago I mentioned rereading my favorite Star Trek novel, First Frontier by Diane Carey and Dr. James I. Kirkland. I’ve mentioned it once or twice around here, but I’ve never done a proper review. So I think it’s time!

The book begins with the Enterprise taking an experimental flight into a blue giant, hitting a time warp and cosmic string in the process (just run with me on this). When they emerge, they find the universe inexplicably changed—the Federation has disappeared, the Klingon and Romulan Empires are pounding each other into mutual oblivion, and the Earth is a pristine wilderness where the dinosaurs never died and humanity never evolved. Kirk has to lead his crew into the deep past to stop alien saboteurs who disrupted the timeline.

The funny thing about this book is that the premise sounds preposterous. I tried to write it as reasonably as I could, but I know it probably sounds preposterous—except it works. When you actually read it, all the concepts are treated seriously and presented plausibly and none of it’s a joke. Not even when Kirk remarks that he’s going to restore the timeline  if he has to kill the dinosaurs himself. Yeah, that’s kind of a joke, but it’s born out of frustration and tension and it’s real. Continue reading “Book Review – Star Trek: First Frontier” →

Book Review: Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee

On By cherylmahoneyIn Historical Fiction, Reviews2 Comments

I don’t usually pick up the latest sensation in books, but I couldn’t resist Go Set a Watchman, the new manuscript from Harper Lee. Especially after The New York Times ran a good half-dozen articles about it! I love To Kill a Mockingbird (though I admit it’s been several years since I read it) and after all the hoopla and mystery around this one, I was pretty curious. And in the end…I have to highly recommend To Kill a Mockingbird.

Go Set a Watchman tells the story of Jean-Louise Finch, twenty-six and visiting her hometown of Maycomb, Alabama after living in New York. In between childhood reminiscences, she discovers a disturbing trend towards racism in her childhood friend and boyfriend Hank (also called Henry), and even more alarmingly, in her sainted father Atticus.

That’s a really bad plot description—but to be honest, it’s not much of a plot. For a good quarter of the book I had no idea where this was going (I mean, apart from what I’d read in those NY Times articles), and once it gets into the meat of things, it’s largely Jean-Louise freaking out…only to never really come to a meaningful resolution on the primary issues. Continue reading “Book Review: Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee” →

Book Review: The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus)

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Reviews, Young Adult1 Comment

After reading the Roman-set Mark of the Thief, I was happy to turn to another Roman-inspired book…and one I had more confidence in!  The Mark of Athena is Book 3 in Rick Riordan’s Heroes of Olympus series, modern demigods who have to save the world from monsters and villainous gods.  I enjoyed and reviewed the first two books (The Lost Hero and The Son of Neptune) and was happy to find the third book equally satisfying.  Some spoilers to follow for the first two books…

This third book opens with the Percy/Annabeth reunion I felt cheated of in Book 2, so that was a good way to begin the story!  The Greek and Roman heroes of the first two books are finally united here, to set off in their flying ship, the Argo II, towards the ancient lands of Rome and Greece.  This will be the battleground to try to stop the waking of Gaea, a very unmotherly Mother Earth who wants to destroy humanity.  Obstacles come thick and fast, from tensions within the group and from monsters at every turn. Continue reading “Book Review: The Mark of Athena (Heroes of Olympus)” →

Book Review: Mark of the Thief

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Juvenile, ReviewsLeave a comment

I loved Jennifer Nielson’s False Prince (and liked its two sequels reasonably well), so I really wanted to love Mark of the Thief.  And from that, you already know it didn’t go all that well, right?  There were a lot of good things in here–but somehow I could never quite get into this book.

The story is centered on Nic, a slave in a Roman mine a few centuries after Julius Caesar.  Nic is sent into a secret chamber deep in the ground to seek Caesar’s bulla, a kind of amulet.  Not unlike Aladdin, Nic manages to take possession of the bulla himself, and finds that it grants powerful but unpredictable magic.  Soon Nic has a price on his head, with powerful Romans from the Emperor down chasing him, and the fate of the Roman Empire at stake.

Ancient Rome is an era I enjoy, and I like the concept of a scrappy, defiant slave seizing power and freedom.  There’s lots of conspiracy and mystery in here, with neither Nic nor the reader always sure who can be trusted.  We also get a cool griffin, a tough girl Nic gradually builds a relationship with, and plenty of displays of magic.  Because also, magic in ancient Rome?  Very cool.

So.  Where did I run into a problem?  It never quite felt like ancient Rome.  Continue reading “Book Review: Mark of the Thief” →

Movie Review: V for Vendetta

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews2 Comments

v_for_vendetta_ver4I didn’t quite get around to rewatching V for Vendetta last Guy Fawkes Day (November 5th), and have been meaning to watch it in a vague way ever since. I finally did recently for a movie night with friends—and I think a good time was had by all!

V for Vendetta is set somewhere in the future, when England is run by an oppressive government that has sacrificed freedom, dissent and civil liberties in the name of safety, unity and strength. Onto this scene stalks V (Hugo Weaving), a cloaked figure in a Guy Fawkes mask, incredibly erudite and possibly mad, who at midnight on November 5th blows up the Old Bailey (with fireworks and the 1812 Overture), then broadcasts a message to the nation explaining his intentions: to oppose the oppressive government and demonstrate the power of the individual by blowing up the Houses of Parliament on November 5th, one year away. Evey (Natalie Portman) crosses paths with V by accident and is drawn into his world, literally and philosophically, while Chief Inspector Finch (Stephen Rea) tries to find “the terrorist code name V,” but stumbles on pieces of a much bigger puzzle about power, corruption and the pervasive influence of fear.

This is a hard movie to summarize! Complex and multilayered, even small pieces turn out to be important or to have immense impact. The movie also features Stephen Fry as Gordon, a flamboyant talk show comedian; John Hurt as the terrifying Chancellor Sutler, who draws from both Hitler and Big Brother (making a mind-breaking reversal of his long-ago role as Winston in 1984); awesome stylized fight sequences; a heart-breaking lesbian love story; a host of incredibly brilliant quotes; and did I mention the best explosions ever? Continue reading “Movie Review: V for Vendetta” →