Lost Stars (Journey to Star Wars- The Force Awakens) By: Claudia Gray

lost-stars

Lost Stars (Journey to Star Wars- The Force Awakens) By: Claudia Gray

Plot:

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

Eight years after the fall of the Old Republic, the Galactic Empire now reigns over the known galaxy. Resistance to the Empire has been all but silenced. Only a few courageous leaders such as Bail Organa of Alderaan still dare to openly oppose Emperor Palpatine.

After years of defiance, the many worlds at the edge of the Outer Rim have surrendered. With each planet’s conquest, the Empire’s might grows stronger.

The latest to fall under the Emperor’s control is the isolated mountain planet Jelucan, whose citizens hope for a more prosperous future even as the Imperial Starfleet gathers overhead…

Review:

Wow was not expecting this when I picked up a young adult Star Wars novel. I’d heard good things, but I still didn’t expect to have a book that so capably portrayed both sides of a conflict. Gray showed how two people raised on the same planet with different ideals could look at the same things and come to different conclusions. It didn’t make one better than the other either. Yes one ended up on the “right” side, but you could see clearly why the other was still on the “wrong” it was very well written.

From the start I suspected that the ending would be sad and when I got to the halfway point I thought it was pretty much guaranteed but I ended up being pleasantly surprised. I wish there’d been a bit more, but the ending was touching.

Very happy with this book and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who’s a Star Wars fan, no matter what the age.

5/5

The Magnificent Seven (2016)

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The Magnificent Seven (2016)

Director:

Antoine Fuqua

Starring:

Denzel Washington

Chris Pratt

Ethan Hawke

Vincent D’Onofrio

Plot:

Seven gunmen in the old west gradually come together to help a poor village against savage thieves.

Review:

Oh my god what the hell was Vincent D’Onofrio doing with his voice? It was painful anytime he spoke.

I really wanted to watch this movie. Even after hearing that the movie got bad reviews, I held on hope because I really liked the trailer. I really need to stop doing that.

Chris Pratt nailed the look, but didn’t get the voice for me. Denzel Washington was fine and so was Ethan Hawke, but they didn’t make up for the films short comings.

The movie was too clean for a western, as in the appearance of the film, not the actual people and setting. It just seemed too digital, I guess.

The movie ended up being about how a group of seven relative strangers could work together seamlessly without any preparation, they just knew what the other would do as if my magic. They forged a psychic link that could be surpassed by nothing, well…

2.5/5

One Fell Sweep (Innkeeper Chronicles #30 By: Ilona Andrews

one-fell-sweep

One Fell Sweep (Innkeeper Chronicles #30 By: Ilona Andrews

Plot:

Dina DeMille may run the nicest Bed and Breakfast in Red Deer, Texas, but she caters to a very particular kind of guest… the kind that no one on Earth is supposed to know about. Guests like a former intergalactic tyrant with an impressive bounty on her head, the Lord Marshal of a powerful vampire clan, and a displaced-and-superhot werewolf; so don’t stand too close, or you may be collateral damage.

But what passes for Dina’s normal life is about to be thrown into chaos. First, she must rescue her long-distant older sister, Maud, who’s been exiled with her family to a planet that functions as the most lawless penal colony since Botany Bay. Then she agrees to help a guest whose last chance at saving his civilization could bring death and disaster to all Dina holds dear. Now Gertrude Hunt is under siege by a clan of assassins. To keep her guests safe and to find her missing parents, Dina will risk everything, even if she has to pay the ultimate price. Though Sean may have something to say about that!

Review:

The Innkeeper Chronicles is posted piece by piece on Ilona Andrew’s blog and this was the first one I read that way. It’s probably the last too if I can resist. I love Andrews books and I really love this series, however reading a book that slowly piece by piece is excruciating and I’m not sure if I could handle it again.

Thankfully once the books are complete they release them on kindle and anyone not able to take the blog route can just buy it and enjoy it like normal. Once I could I pre-ordered and with my Christmas vacation time I read this like a normal Ilona Andrews book, meaning I stayed up until almost four in the morning and I’m eternally thankful that my husband was home that week and I didn’t have to wake up with our daughter.

In book form the story has been edited and little things were added, not really enough to make someone who read on the blog feel cheated, but enough to tighten up the story and make it feel more polished. I don’t completely remember the ending on the blog, but the ending in the book really set up the next and it’s going to be difficult (impossible) for me not to read it online again.

I love Dina and the person she is. She’s nice and caring and even though she’s surrounded by excellent fighters she still brings a lot to the table in a battle situation. Sean is a wounded soul that you just want to cuddle and he hasn’t fallen into the much used trope of feeling he’s unworthy of love. There was a lot of character development for both of them and we got to meet more family which was awesome.

This is really such an awesome treat of a series and I feel so blessed that Andrews keeps writing more.

5/5

The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (2004)

the-librarian-quest-for-the-spear

The Librarian: Quest for the Spear (2004)

Director:

Peter Winther

Starring:

Noah Wyle

Sonya Walger

Bob Newhart

Jane Curtin

Plot:

Flynn, an over 30 “professional student,” is banned from more classes, since he already has 22 degrees. Unexpectedly hired by a mysterious library, he’s soon pursuing a stolen artifact from…

Review:

I like this movie because it starts off a franchise that I really enjoy, though I do think the idea is better than the actual execution sometimes. At the very least it’s an awesome movie to have playing in the background while you’re doing something else, though I highly recommend watching it at least once.

Flynn, Noah Wyle, is ridiculously smart but he’s not so far on that side of things that he’s unaware of his own social faults. He’s not even that socially awkward, like sometimes happens with intellectual characters, he’s just not as willing to have meaningless conversation and I think that works great for his character.

It doesn’t even bother me that he’s got a new girl in each movie, I think mainly because they don’t really try and force a whole love angle it’s more of a I’m attracted to you let’s see what happens thing.

Like the movie, love the series, definitely give it a try if you like Indiana Jones.

3.5/5

The Force Awakens (Star Wars Novelizations #7) By: Alan Dean Foster

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The Force Awakens (Star Wars Novelizations #7) By: Alan Dean Foster

Plot:

Set years after Return of the Jedi, this stunning action-packed adventure rockets us back into the world of Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, C-3PO, R2-D2,and Luke Skywalker, while introducing a host of exciting new characters, including Rey, Finn, BB-8 and Kylo Ren.
Darth Vader may have been redeemed and the Emperor vanquished, but peace can be fleeting, and evil does not easily relent. Yet the simple belief in good can still empower ordinary individuals to rise and meet the greatest challenges.
So return to that galaxy far, far away, and prepare yourself for what happens when the Force awakens…

Review:

I’ve had this for a while but for whatever reason never got around to reading it. After watching Rogue One I’ve been filled with an extreme desire for anything Star Wars so I finally picked this up.

First off it was a lot easier to read than Life Debt, it did jump around from character point of views a few times without a clear indicator, but it wasn’t in first person so I fell into it a lot faster. There were several scenes that I thought were better than the movie, though a few the movie did better as well.

I really enjoyed seeing inside the characters heads and I got a better sense of their character and motivations than just from watching the movie. I really like Rey better than before after reading this. Some of the info about Finn contradicted what was already told in Before the Awakening. He wasn’t as adept at weapons as he came off in that book. I got to see more about Ren as well, though I still don’t think he’s a very scary villain, especially after that scene with Vader in Rogue One.

I thought the novelization was a good read, definitely if you liked the movie, but I’m concerned if what I learned will transfer forward. That doesn’t appear to always be the case, but Disney could want things to be more cohesive so we’ll see.

4/5