The Amazing Spider-Man, and the Amazing People Around Him

On June 16, 2014June 27, 2014 By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science Fiction2 Comments

I recently, belatedly and quite impulsively decided to go see The Amazing Spider-Man 2, mostly because it was hot out, I figured the theatre would be cold, and nothing else playing looked appealing. From those basically nonexistent expectations, I was pleasantly surprised by just how much I liked this movie–and I keep liking it better the more I think about it! Some spoilers to follow (though the chief spoiler hit news stands in 1973, so it may be past its expiration date…)

The movie opens with life a bit rocky for Peter (Spider-Man) Parker (Andrew Garfield). His relationship with Gwen (Emma Stone) is “complicated,” he has unanswered questions about his deceased parents, and Oscorp, of course, is probably up to something they shouldn’t be. So it seems like a good thing when childhood friend Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan) comes back to New York to take over the company…until Harry tells Peter that he’s dying of a genetic disease, and believes only Spider-Man’s blood can help him. Meanwhile, Oscorp employee Max Dillon (Jamie Foxx) has an unfortunate accident involving electric eels, and morphs into Electro, a creature with power over electricity and a grudge against Spider-Man.

Firstly, there is a lot that is just fun in this movie. I’ve thought Andrew Garfield was wonderful ever since The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and here we see a real gift for making awkwardness seem adorable and somehow charming. And then he puts the suit on and is witty and clever, while still feeling like the same person. We get some great back-and-forths between Peter and Aunt May (Sally Field), Peter and Gwen, Spider-Man and various insane mega-villains… Continue reading “The Amazing Spider-Man, and the Amazing People Around Him” →

Rapunzel in Her…Satellite?

On May 12, 2014May 9, 2014 By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science Fiction, Young Adult8 Comments

The long-awaited Cress by Marissa Meyer finally reached me from the library! And still in time for Once Upon a Time. 🙂 Technically it’s sci fi, not fantasy…but it’s a fairy tale retelling, so I’m saying it counts. Cress is the third book in The Lunar Chronicles (read about the first two here) so spoilers may follow for the earlier books.

Cress picks up right after Scarlet, and continues the story of Cinder and her friends. We also get our new title character, Cress, who we saw only briefly in the earlier books. Cress has spent the past several years trapped in a satellite orbiting the Earth, forced to use her brilliant computer skills to spy on behalf of the Lunar queen. She manages to make contact with Cinder–but a rescue attempt goes horribly wrong, ending with Wolf badly wounded, Scarlet abducted, and Cress and Thorne crash-landing into the Sahara Desert. Meanwhile, Prince Kai’s plans to marry the Lunar queen in a desperate attempt to avert war are moving ahead all too quickly.

There are a lot of plot threads going on here, but Meyer manages to move very adeptly between different characters, giving us time with all of them. I would have liked a little more time with Scarlet (because I love Scarlet!), but completely understand that something had to go in this already-long book.

It’s okay that I didn’t get much Scarlet because I loved Cress too. She is naive and idealistic and a little bit awkward, because after all, she spent years locked away alone in a satellite. She’s so thrilled by everything on Earth, seeing so much beauty in ordinary things. I loved Cress’ growth through the book, gaining more insight and understanding as she interacts with more people.

And Cress and Thorne are just so much fun! I really enjoyed the romance in Scarlet and this one is just as good, while being completely different. Thorne has been putting on this heroic rogue persona, which everyone else sees through…but Cress is isolated and naive and develops a major crush on him. The evolution of Cress’ feelings about Thorne as she gets to know him as a real person is just lovely.

And Thorne…is neither as heroic as Cress thought he was, or as bad as he pretends to be. He’s a lot like Han Solo, circa A New Hope…except possibly a Han Solo who watched Star Wars and knows exactly what image he’s trying to present, without being entirely sure himself that he would come back to help blow up the Death Star (sorry, spoiler…) Anyway–such a great character, and these two may be my favorite romantic couple for this year.

As in the previous two books, there are some nice fairy tale tie-ins. Cress, of course, is Rapunzel, from being trapped in her satellite to having her name be inspired by a variety of lettuce. She also has very long hair that’s cut when she leaves her “tower,” and her “prince” goes blind at the same time. I love how Meyer puts a sci fi twist on fairy tale elements throughout this series!

Cress has a lot of action and a lot of excitement and a lot of movement forward in the brewing revolution against the Lunar queen. But there are very few conclusions, and I find myself more anxious for Book Four than I was for Book Three. Because Cress and Thorne have not really figured their romance out, and the revolution has not come to a boil, and this book left me desperately curious about Book Four’s title character, Princess Winter.

So now I have to sadly wait until next year for the concluding volume. But at least I can be happy that this series has gone through three out of four books without losing steam and, very possibly, getting better with every installment. Making me so very hopeful for the final one!

Author’s Site: http://www.marissameyer.com/

Other reviews:
Reading Is Fun Again
Pandora’s Books
Consumed By Books
And…there are many more! Tell me about yours and I’ll add a link. 🙂

Buy it here: Cress

From Beijing to France, with Cyborgs and Lunars

On April 21, 2014April 16, 2014 By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science Fiction, Young Adult9 Comments

I’m waiting in line at the library for Cress, the third book in the Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. Waiting turned out to be a good thing…because it gave me time to reread the first two books, Cinder and Scarlet. You can click the links for my original reviews, but I thought I’d do a quick re-read review too! (Some spoilers to follow for Cinder) These are sci fi, but since they retell fairy tales, I’m still counting them for Once Upon a Time.

The Lunar Chronicles are set a vague but significant distance in the future. Earth has formed itself into seven countries, all at peace–but in an uneasy truce with the Lunar Colony, ruled by the cruel Queen Levana. Lunars possess magic-like abilities to manipulate the minds of others, and no one is more powerful than Queen Levana.

Cinder is a teenage girl living in New Beijing, a gifted mechanic–and a cyborg. Despised by society and her adoptive mother, her best friend is Iko, a robot with an overactive personality chip. Her path crosses that of Prince Kai, shortly before the annual ball (can we see where this is going?) At the same time, life begins to spiral out of control for both of them–Cinder’s sister is deathly ill with the letumosis plague, Cinder begins to find out startling revelations about her own past, and the death of Kai’s father forces him to take the lead in dangerous political dealings with Queen Levana.

My favorite thing about Cinder may be that she is just so level-headed. I never understood Cinderella’s relationships in the original story, but I love how Meyer has reimagined things for Cinder. She has no choice but to stay with her adoptive mother, because as a cyborg she’s legally property. Cinder is fiercely loyal to her kind younger sister, and her robot friend, so we know she cares about people…but she doesn’t fall immediately under Kai’s spell. Oh, there’s a crush going on…but she keeps perspective about it all. It feels like how someone might legitimately feel about a near-stranger they’re attracted to.

I love a Cinderella who would rather run away and start her own life than go to some ball and dance with a cute prince. Not that she wouldn’t like to dance with the cute prince, but she has priorities!

Oddly enough, much as I love the not-ridiculously-fast romance, it backfires to a certain extent in that I don’t find myself especially rooting for Cinder and Kai as a romantic couple. Cinder gave us the very beginning of a romance for them…and I hope subsequent books will give us more so I can get more invested in them as a pair.

My other favorite part is Cinder’s amazing cyborg abilities–from the relatively mundane, like having a cabinet in her calf, to the really awesome like being able to detect lying. They’re woven throughout the book in a very cool way.

Scarlet picks up right where Cinder left off. Cinder is now a fugitive from both Queen Levana and the Earth authorities, and winds up joining forces with the dashing Captain Thorne. In his stolen spaceship, they’re on the trail of information about the missing Lunar heir, Princess Selene. The trail takes them to France, to intersect with our other heroine of the book, Scarlet. Scarlet is desperate to find her grandmother, who vanished two weeks previously. She meets Wolf, a street fighter who fluctuates between gentle and fierce, who may have a clue to her grandmother’s abduction. Although she doesn’t really trust him, Wolf is her only help, and they set out together for Paris.

I liked Cinder, but I really liked Scarlet. Scarlet is fiery, impulsive, and even more fiercely loyal than Cinder. And unlike Cinder and Kai, I definitely got behind this romance. Yes, it’s fast–yes, it doesn’t always make sense–yes, I know all that…but it just works. Although I tend to like Brooding Heroes with Hearts of Gold (it’s a thing), so that may be a factor…

And a purely personal aspect that will probably not matter nearly as much to anyone but me–a big chunk of the book takes place in the Opera Garnier! It’s never identified by name, but trust me, it’s the Opera Garnier, former home of the Phantom of the Opera, and Meyer clearly researched the floor plan.

With broader appeal…much as I enjoyed Scarlet’s storyline, I also enjoyed Cinder’s storyline, which kicked into a higher gear in this installment–and how can I not love Captain Thorne, roguish and charming, if not quite as charming as he thinks he is. I have this thing about arrogant charmers too, so this book was just hitting all my favorite hero-types.

I have to say, I am even more excited for Cress now, which was kind of the point…that, and making sure I’d actually remember who everyone was when I picked up the new book! I also snagged on to a possible clue about Cress in the first book that I’m sure I didn’t spot on a first read, and I can’t wait to find out if my guess is right. 🙂

Let’s see…#15 in line, and with 27 copies circulating, that’s not so bad!

Don’t forget, you can win a signed copy of my fairy tale retelling, The Wanderers! Just put #WanderersGiveAway in your comment to enter. Ten days left!

Author’s Site: http://www.marissameyer.com/

Buy them here: Cinder and Scarlet

Star Wars: The Hand of Thrawn

On April 14, 2014April 9, 2014 By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Ruminations, Science Fiction6 Comments

I had an excellent time rereading The Thrawn Trilogy, Timothy Zahn’s landmark Star Wars novels, during the Sci Fi Experience this year. After that, I decided to finally go on and read his Hand of Thrawn Duet, Specter of the Past and Vision of the Future. (Warning: some spoilers to follow for the The Thrawn Trilogy.)

So why did I never read these before? Funny story about that…I actually used to own both of these books. I had the first one for quite a while but was waiting to read it until the second one came out in paperback. It finally did, I bought it, I started reading Specter of the Past…and I found out in three chapters or so that they apparently-returned-from-the-dead Thrawn was actually a fake. I was so disgusted that I stopped reading and gave both books away. After ten years or so, I felt I may have overreacted…

There was one thing I was right about though–these two books function like one really long book, with what feels like an almost arbitrary break between, so it’s no good reading one without the other, or trying to talk about them separately!

Ten years after The Thrawn Trilogy (and 15 years after Return of the Jedi), the Empire has been beaten back to a tiny fraction of its former strength. Supreme Commander Admiral Pellaeon believes they have no choice but to surrender to the New Republic. Unbeknownst to him, Grand Moff Disra has a plan afoot–he’s found a conman who can pose as Grand Admiral Thrawn, the brilliant tactician who nearly reversed the Empire’s fortunes before; and a member of the elite guard with enough tactical genius to support him.

Meanwhile, the New Republic is struggling to hold itself together, especially when revelations come out that an unidentified group of Bothans contributed to a world’s destruction (like Alderaan, but not) some 50 years ago. With many worlds demanding vengeance be taken on the entire species, and others using it as an excuse to fight their own battles, the New Republic is swiftly on the brink of civil war. Leia, Han and various friends try to put out fires and find answers at home. Luke does his own investigating, around the galaxy and using the Force, until he’s eventually drawn into a rescue mission of Mara Jade.

Looong plot! There’s a LOT happening, and I think that’s both the strength and the weakness of the books. So many cool things are going on–but so many things are going on! Zahn moves the point of view around with every different plot thread, so between the two books we spent time with Leia, Han, Luke and Mara (together and separate), Lando, Talon Karrde, two different mercenary female warriors (it’s complicated), Wedge Antilles of Rogue Squadron, General Bel Iblis, and no less than five separate groups of Imperials.

To Zahn’s credit, all of these people had interesting things going on, and I had surprisingly little trouble keeping it all straight. At the same time, I still felt like I was frequently being sidetracked from the couple of plotlines that I liked best, or from the characters I most wanted to see. I think I might have liked these two books better as one book with half the subplots.

However…these were still solidly engaging books. I did overreact about the fake Thrawn all those years ago. While I am still a little disappointed that it wasn’t the real Thrawn (such a cool villain!), the con turned out to be pretty brilliant too. I especially liked the way it sent all the other characters into a tailspin, second-guessing themselves because they think Thrawn is manipulating them. So some of the best aspects of Thrawn-as-villain still came through.

Luke had a particularly good thread here too, especially in the second book when he connects with Mara. Those two play off each other so nicely, and they both underwent powerful character growth in the second book. There’s some intriguing examinations of the Force as well, as they each explore their abilities and limitations.

The Thrawn Trilogy are probably the best Star Wars books I’ve ever read, and while The Hand of Thrawn didn’t manage to equal them, they’re still solid installments in the continuing saga. Now I just have to figure out what to read next! All the various sites about Star Wars books are surprisingly difficult to decipher, but I think the next one I want is Zahn’s Survivor’s Quest. Star Wars fans, feel free to weigh in on the subject! 🙂

Don’t forget, you can win a signed copy of my fairy tale retelling, The Wanderers! Just put #WanderersGiveAway in your comment to enter.

Other reviews:
Speculiction
Mathachew
From the Mind of Tatlock
Anyone else?

Buy them here: Specter of the Past and Vision of the Future

Stranded with the Romulans

On February 19, 2014February 15, 2014 By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science FictionLeave a comment

A couple years ago I bought five unread Star Trek novels at my library’s sale. I finally finished reading the last of them! The Romulan Way by Diane Duane and Peter Morwood was probably the most unusual of the bunch…though not, unfortunately, the best.

This is really two books in one, with alternating chapters. The main plot focuses on Arrhae, housekeeper in a Romulan noble house…and secretly a Federation spy. Her cover and her loyalties are thrown into question by the arrival of a captured Starfleet officer, a certain Leonard McCoy. Interspersed with Arrhae and McCoy’s story are chapters detailing the history of the Romulans–or the Rihannsu, in their own language.

I think this book is the Romulan answer to Spock’s World, also by Diane Duane. That book alternates an Enterprise story with stories from Vulcan’s history. However, while that history is (mostly) told as short stories with a mythical tone, the history here reads like something from a history text–and sometimes a rather dry one. It’s unfortunate, because there are clearly fantastic adventures of death and betrayal and the conquering of worlds…but it’s all told with a decidedly scholarly remove. I wound up skimming a lot of these sections.

Arrhae’s story was better, as I found her situation decidedly fascinating, and she was a very different character than we usually see in Starfleet. The political maneuverings of the Romulans, and the various plots underway by Starfleet, were confusing at times (Romulan names are hard to remember…) but I followed the gist of it and there were some exciting moments. This was originally published as an independent novel, then later rebranded as a sequel to Duane’s earlier novel, My Enemy, My Ally, with characters from that book showing up here–not having read it, that may have added some confusion.

McCoy, of course, I love, and he was in fine form here (writers have been known to stumble on him more than the others, I don’t know why). However–Kirk and Spock (and everyone else) never even put in a cameo, and McCoy all by himself is, well, only a third as much fun!

Star Trek books are in a way of niche appeal, though it’s a pretty big niche. I think this particular book is really for a niche within the niche. For a fan who loves the world of Star Trek, who loves knowing about the alien cultures, this is an amazing book. If you’re more about the characters (me), well, it wasn’t a bad book by any means–but I don’t think it’s staying on my bookshelf all the same. I’m much, much fonder of Duane’s other Dr. McCoy-focused book, Doctor’s Orders.

Authors’ sites: http://www.dianeduane.com/ and http://www.petermorwood.com/

Other reviews:
Trek Lit Reviews
The m0vie Blog
Anyone else?

Buy it here: The Romulan Way