Fable: Edge of the World (Fable #3) By: Christie Golden

Fable Edge of the World

Fable: Edge of the World (Fable #3) By: Christie Golden

Plot:

It’s been almost a decade since the events of Fable 3, when the Hero vanquished the threat across the sea and claimed his throne. As king he led Albion to an era of unprecedented peace and prosperity. But on the night of his wedding to his new queen, ominous word arrives: The darkness has returned.   Beyond a harrowing mountain pass, the exotic desert country Samarkand has been overrun by shadowy forces. Within the walls of its capital city, a mysterious usurper known only as the Empress has seized control. To protect his realm, the king must lead his most trusted allies into a strange land unknown to outsiders. As they forge ahead along Samarkand’s ancient Great Road, populated by undead terrors and fantastic creatures once believed to be the stuff of legend, the king is drawn ever closer to his greatest challenge yet.   But soon Albion is engulfed in a war of its own. As the darkness spreads, town by town, a treacherous force has infiltrated the queen’s circle. Now the fate of all that is good rests with a faint flicker of hope . . . that somewhere, somehow, heroes still do exist.

Review:

When I was done with this book I threw it across the room. Currently I’m debating whether or not to burn it or rip it apart. I don’t do that to books. Even books I hate, I don’t deface or destroy. I’m making an exception for this piece of shit.

I love the Fable games 1, 2, and 3. I also loved the first two Fable books. I was actually surprised how much I enjoyed them because books based on TV shows or movies or games can really be hit or miss. These were great books in a world I loved.

Not this one, though. (To be fair it had nothing to do with the quality of writing and was all about the story.) The story was just one big giant build up to their next game. The game that is just some pimped out Kinect piece of shit. It isn’t a normal Fable game. They haven’t come out with a normal Fable game since the 3rd. I love the Fable world, but I’m not just going to buy everything with the name slapped on it.

This story picks up about ten years after Fable 3 ends. The king has a new wife and on his wedding days finds out that the darkness is rising in another part of the world. Naturally he must raise an army and go defeat it because the darkness is some evil shit.

He leaves his young, inexperienced, wife in control, but it’s ok he taught her everything she could possibly need to know. Nope. He left two people he trusted with her, however since she’s the highest power, and a newb, things do not go well on the home front. Reaver shows up, and with his usual cunning, takes over.

It’s ok because the king is kicking ass and taking names. Not. Pretty much all the people he takes with him die, except the big names. The book ends with Albion in turmoil, the queen a prisoner in her own castle, the two advisors on the run marked as traitors, the king captured, and the few surviving people in retreat.

The end. That’s it. Buy our stupid fucking game to find out what happens next.

Yeah, I don’t think so.

I am hugely disappointed in this novel and wish I hadn’t just assumed that it was going to be like the two books before it. It’s not like I had expectations going in because it’s a series. So angry right now. Thinking fire might be the way to go.

1/5 (only because 0 isn’t an option)

Frankie & Alice (2010)

Frankie and Alice

Frankie & Alice (2010)

Director:

Geoffrey Sax

Starring:

Halle Berry

Stellan Skarsgård

Plot:

A drama centered on a go-go dancer with multiple personality disorder who struggles to remain her true self and begins working with a psychotherapist to uncover the mystery of the inner ghosts that haunt her.

Review:

I like a good dissociative identity disorder movie. When you’ve got a good actor/actress they can really do a lot with the roll.

Halle Berry was fine, but I thought they focused too heavily on camera shots to tell the difference between the personalities. Whenever she was about to be Alice they would zoom in on her eyebrow because it would get all regal. She did a good southern accent when she was Alice and for the most part it was always clear, they didn’t need to focus on the eyebrow. The voice she had when she was Genius was a bit creepy, but very distinctive, so they really didn’t need to make the camera all fuzzy because she was nearsighted.

Frankie & Alice was an interesting movie, she was nowhere near as fucked up as Sybil, but she was a bit more wild than Eve/Jane. I don’t know if I could go further than calling it interesting, though.

3/5

iZombie (2015-?)

Pilot

iZombie (2015-?)

Network:

CW

Starring:

Rose McIver

Malcolm Goodwin

Rahul Kohli

Plot:

A medical student finds that being a zombie has its perks, which she uses to assist the police.

Review:

Not the biggest fan of zombies but I feel that I need to know my enemy so I watch them sometimes.

iZombie definitely wasn’t going for super 28 days later scary zombies, though I think there will be something like that in the future. They seemed to be going more towards the zombies are people too, direction. Not sure how I feel about that, though, they weren’t trying to hide that in the trailers so I wasn’t blindsided.

I’m not sure if I’m going to continue watching. I had no problem with the characters or the story, but nothing really grabbed me and gave me that feeling that I had to watch to find out what happens next. It seemed like a cute show, but that’s about it.

3/5

Kick (The Jenkins Cycle #1) By: John L. Monk

kick

Kick (The Jenkins Cycle #1) By: John L. Monk

Plot:

Dan Jenkins returns from death for a chance to live again. The vacated bodies of killers are his rides. Before he’s kicked out, he’ll need to stop his host from hurting anyone else. It’s one of the rules if he wants more rides. More rides means more movies and fishing trips, and more of those little apple pies they sell at gas stations and convenience stores, because they’re just that good. For a dead guy, it’s a pretty good gig…until someone changes the rules.

Review:

I could not predict this book at all. Sometimes that happens because the book is poorly written but that is so not the case in Kick. It was such an original idea that I had nothing to clue me in and yes I realize the TV show Quantum Leap has a similar premise, but Sam is nothing like Dan.

About two thirds of the way through I was afraid I was about to be disappointed, there had been a slow steady build up and I was scared it wasn’t going to be a big enough pay off. I wasn’t even sure how there could be a pay off. All my worries were for naught because it was everything I could have hoped for and more. I devoured the last twenty percent of this book and was amazed when I looked down to see I was at 97%.

This is not my usual book and I’m going to be honest and say the only reason I read it was because I’m familiar with the author. I’ve never met him in person, but I follow his blog and we’ve commented back and forth. To be clear he did not give me a copy of his book or even ask for a review. I purchased it a few months ago, before it was free, and then put off reading it because I was afraid I wouldn’t like it. When I finally started reading I was incredibly impressed with the quality of writing as well as the story and ended up being unable to put it down.

Anyway, Dan Jenkins was a great flawed character. He was lazy and put off doing his “job” so that he could do whatever he wanted and enjoy being “alive.” He had morals, though, and for the most part stuck with his self created rules. Of course when he didn’t it ended up biting him in the ass. He was a great character because he was so relatable. I could easily see myself acting the same way in the same situations.

The ending brought some closure for Dan as well as the reader, but it left enough up in the air that I’m curious to see what happens next. Will we ever find out more about the Great Wherever, ruled by the Great Whomever? Will Dan take some lessons to heart or continue being lazy and living other lives to the fullest? (I lean toward no on that one)

4.5/5

Maleficent (2014)

Maleficent

Maleficent (2014)

Director:

Robert Stromberg

Starring:

Angelina Jolie

Elle Fanning

Sharlto Copley

Plot:

A vengeful fairy is driven to curse an infant princess, only to discover that the child may be the one person who can restore peace to their troubled land.

Review:

I’ll be honest I was torn about this movie. It looked cool but I’m getting tired of making the bad guy understood. Sometimes bad guys are just bad, there’s no explanation.

There was some not so good CG and I thought the ending was a bit weak after a pretty cool fire fight, but, as much as I didn’t want to, I kind of like the movie.

I liked the look, I thought the message was a bit preachy. Man is evil and destroys nature. I really enjoyed the fairy tale feel, though, and because of that it’s getting a higher score than I would normally give it.

It has its problems but it’s not horrible. I probably won’t ever own it, but I’d watch it again.

3.25/5