Iron and Magic


Iron and Magic (The Iron Covenant #1) By: Ilona Andrews

Plot:

No day is ordinary in a world where Technology and Magic compete for supremacy…But no matter which force is winning, in the apocalypse, a sword will always work.

Hugh d’Ambray, Preceptor of the Iron Dogs, Warlord of the Builder of Towers, served only one man. Now his immortal, nearly omnipotent master has cast him aside. Hugh is a shadow of the warrior he was, but when he learns that the Iron Dogs, soldiers who would follow him anywhere, are being hunted down and murdered, he must make a choice: to fade away or to be the leader he was born to be. Hugh knows he must carve a new place for himself and his people, but they have no money, no shelter, and no food, and the necromancers are coming. Fast.

Elara Harper is a creature who should not exist. Her enemies call her Abomination; her people call her White Lady. Tasked with their protection, she’s trapped between the magical heavyweights about to collide and plunge the state of Kentucky into a war that humans have no power to stop. Desperate to shield her people and their simple way of life, she would accept help from the devil himself—and Hugh d’Ambray might qualify.

Hugh needs a base, Elara needs soldiers. Both are infamous for betraying their allies, so how can they create a believable alliance to meet the challenge of their enemies?

As the prophet says: “It is better to marry than to burn.”

Hugh and Elara may do both.

Review:

“Iron and Magic” takes place in the Kate Daniels universe, but Kate and most of the people in her books are hardly in this. There is a small bit with the Bouda clan alphas, and Kate is mentioned several times as well as Roland, but this story is about Hugh and Elara.

Before this story, just based on what we already knew about him, I wasn’t a fan of Hugh. Honestly, I was looking forward to this book because it’s Ilona Andrews, but I wasn’t in a hurry to read it because I didn’t care about him. He’s blood thirsty and seemed evil from what we’d seen in Kate’s series, I’m also tired of the whole taking a villain and making him not bad anymore. However, by the time I was finished with this book I’d had a complete change of heart. I can’t help but love a broken badass.

Elara is still a mystery, her powers and history are only hinted at in this story never given too much detail. She seems to be possessed by some kind of god? Or maybe she is a god? She’s super powerful but can be wounded and killed, her people can pray to her, and apparently she’s terrifying in her powerful form. She loves her people and wants to take care of them and so she marries Hugh because he can provide protection she can’t.

The couple fight constantly and Elara is forever withholding information that Hugh needs to do his job. She second guesses him, puts roadblocks in his way, and is very much like his nickname for her, harpy. I was not a fan, there’s being strong because you have to be and then there’s just being stupid. I understand that she’s having issues trusting him, but come on, she married him, she signed a contract, she had to trust him to do all of that, but she was one of the biggest obstacles in the story.

Hugh does his own withholding, but it didn’t feel like the same level. He was a pretty massive baby about some things, though. Honestly, they’re both super flawed and deserve each other, but Elara’s flaws bothered me more.

There’s definitely a spark of romance between the two and there’s a pretty hot sex scene that happens right after an intense fight with an army of tough bad guys. I guess being a healer means that Hugh doesn’t need as much sleep as a normal person.

Lots of unanswered questions about Hugh and Elara have me interested in what happens next but I’m glad that it’s only going to be three books. Hopefully, it’s not a trilogy like the Hidden Legacy series was a trilogy where we don’t get a proper ending with the third book.

4.5/5

The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet


The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet (Wayfarers #1) By: Becky Chambers

Plot:

A rollicking space adventure with a lot of heart

When Rosemary Harper joins the crew of the Wayfarer, she isn’t expecting much. The patched-up ship has seen better days, but it offers her everything she could possibly want: a spot to call home, a chance to explore the far-off corners of the galaxy, and some distance from her past.

And nothing could be further from what she’s known than the crew of the Wayfarer.

From Sissix, the exotic reptilian pilot, to Kizzy and Jenks, the chatty engineers who keep the ship running, to the noble captain Ashby, life aboard is chaotic and crazy—exactly what Rosemary wants. That is until the crew is offered the job of a lifetime tunneling wormholes through space to a distant planet. Sure, they’ll earn enough money to live comfortably for years, but risking her life wasn’t part of the job description.

The journey through the galaxy is full of excitement, adventure, and mishaps for the Wayfarer team. And along the way, Rosemary comes to realize that a crew is a family, and that family isn’t necessarily the worst thing in the universe… as long as you actually like them.

Review:

This was a nice change of pace, the universe was no more negative or positive than our own, which was nice. It painted a future that wasn’t dystopian that I enjoyed. There was a ton of detail put into the different races, the worlds, and the tech. It was very impressive, though, at times a bit more than I cared to know.

One of the things I appreciated was the diversity of the races and their cultures and norms. We met several difference races since the ship was multispecies and the differences and the attention to detail Chambers goes into was interesting.

The story was a bit lacking. Most of the book was details about tech and the different species and cultures within the universe and on the ship. We did have some character development but it followed the entire crew so it was spread thin. While I appreciated the details, there could have been a bit less and a bit more to the story. Basically the crew traveled from one place to another with little stops during that time and only a couple off minor incidents until the end.

I liked the characters and I would be interested in reading more, but the pacing was a bit slow so I’m hoping that future installments have a bit more happening or something more.

3.5/5

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Seasons 4 & 5


Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Seasons 4 & 5

Network:

ABC

Creator:

Maurissa Tancharoen

Jed Whedon

Joss Whedon

Starring:

Clark Gregg

Ming-Na Wen

Chloe Bennett

Ian De Caestecker

Elizabeth Henstridge

Henry Simmons

Natalia Cordova-Buckley

Jeff Ward

Plot:

The missions of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division.

Review:

I dropped Shield three episodes into season 4. Later I heard so many people talking about how amazing it was and how the last two seasons were the best and after watching several other superhero shows I decided to go back and give it another shot.

First off, I have to disagree about Season 4, it was very much more of the same for me. The virtual world they were in was interesting, but went on way too long. I never warmed up to the Ghostrider arc.

Season 4 overall, was alright, but didn’t do much for me. It just kept dragging out the relationship drama more and the big bad never seemed to be beat, but they were fighting it forever. It was draining. Just when you thought there was a resolution, they’d discover some new connection, or their “solution” would have all kinds of bad consequences.

Finally they beat it, take a breath, and then disappear. I was all prepared to drop Shield again, but the Season 4 finale had me deciding to try out at least the first episode of 5, which then had me watching the entire season.

Season 5 was, for me, when things finally got good. I love time travel, I love space, and Fitz, Iain De Caestecker, as a mercenary is something I never knew I needed in my life until now. The first half was fun, though, by the end it had gotten increasingly darker as more revelations about the future were made. They finally get back home and things just get horrible.

It was back to the constantly trying to fight an inevitable conclusion that finally wasn’t resolved until the last episode. It’s one thing to hint at something throughout a season, but having it basically be the focus for entire episodes is just draining. I just wanted it to be over. I wanted Fitz and Simmons, Elizabeth Henstridge, to be together and not fighting to survive the destruction of the world. I wanted Deke, Jeff Ward, to stop being a love sick puppy and go back to being a Dollar Store Starlord. I wanted Daisy, Chloe Bennett, to just be gone. And please, everyone, just get off of Yoyo, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, back. She made a hard decision that needed to be made and most of the team *cough* Daisy *cough* were being absolute hypocritical assholes about it.

The ending had me in tears. Not because Phil, Clark Gregg, was leaving, even though he’s one of the best characters, but because they fucking killed Fitz. But then, they didn’t. There’s a second one floating in space waiting for them to find him, because of course there is, but that’s honestly the only reason I’m going to watch the next season. I’m really hoping for a less world ending season and more of a focus on smaller things. Leave the world to the Avengers, please.

2/5

12 Monkeys Season 4 (2015-2018)


12 Monkeys Season 4 (2015-2018)

Network:

SyFy

Creator:

Travis Fickett

Terry Matalas

Starring:

Aaron Stanford

Amanda Schull

Barbra Sukowa

Emily Hampshire

Todd Stashwick

Plot:

Follows the journey of a time traveler from the post-apocalyptic future who appears in present day on a mission to locate and eradicate the source of a deadly plague that will nearly destroy the human race.

Review:

After four seasons of everything going wrong that could I was a bit afraid of this season. What if it didn’t live up to the others? What if the ending sucked? What if they all died and the world ended?

Well, a lot of people died, lots of tears were shed, everything that could do wrong did, and yet I still loved the ending.

SPOILERS

It was a bit sappy, but I freaking love sappy, especially after all the bad that’s happened to everyone. I was kept guessing up until the last minute, made me really doubt whether or not things would be great or just alright. So glad they went with great.

In order to know if they followed everything exactly and didn’t break any of their own rules I’d have to go back and re-watch the whole series and probably make notes. A lot happened, tons of time travel, lots of rules, and I’m not the most critical of those things, so it’s possible they messed up somewhere. I don’t think they did and if they did it wasn’t hugely obvious so I’m willing to cut them so slack.

I love time travel so I’ll always give it a shot, 12 Monkeys is much darker than I usually like, but it’s got just enough light and hope to not be completely depressing. The main and side characters are great, not too good or bad, flawed but ultimately do the right thing. I really loved the series and I’m glad we got the final season we deserved.

5/5

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)


Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

Director:

Peyton Reed

Starring:

Paul Rudd

Evangeline Lily

Michael Peña

Michael Douglas

Michele Pfeiffer

Laurence Fishburne

Hannah John-Kamen

Plot:

As Scott Lang balances being both a Super Hero and a father, Hope van Dyne and Dr. Hank Pym present an urgent new mission that finds the Ant-Man fighting alongside The Wasp to uncover secrets from their past.

Review:

Clearly the person to see here is the Wasp, Evangeline Lily. Sure Ant-Man, Paul Rudd, is the known hero, but come on, Wasp is where it’s at. She kicks ass, keeps her cool in all situations, makes the right decisions, and is smart enough to keep up with her genius father. She is the total package.

Ant-Man who?

Oh yeah, Paul Rudd, America’s sweetheart, a man who is both hilarious and attractive (though sadly no ab scenes in this movie), the man my husband has a crush on, one of the titular characters of the movie. The hero that’s on a first name basis with Captain America, Cap, Steve Rogers. The adorable father or an impossibly precocious little girl.

Ant-Man.

Together the two work well. Wasp is the brain, Ant-Man the heart. I did feel that Ant-Man wasn’t as smart as he was in the first movie. He’s not an idiot, but he’s definitely outshone in the brains department and they didn’t really give him an opportunity to display his smarts.

Michael Peña had an opportunity to tell another story, which I loved and it was great to see the other side characters from the first movie have their moment. I love Hannah John-Kamen from Killjoys so I was happy to see her here.

SPOILERS!!!

What I liked most about the Ghost was that her ending is really unknown. Like Nebula from the Guardians of the Galaxy, she’s still alive and her future motivations are unclear. Is she going to return to being an assassin? Is she never going to be seen again? Is she going to be a hero now? We don’t know! It’s nice to not end the movie with killing the villain.

I do wish we’d had more of the beautiful and talented Michele Pfeiffer, and with that first end credit scene we have no idea what’s going to happen and if we’ll see her again. She has powers, she’s smart, who knows??

That first end credit scene…damn. I’m more excited than ever to see what happens next in the Marvel universe. They have been on a roll lately and while Ant-Man and the Wasp wasn’t amazing, probably not in my top five favorite Marvel movies, it’s still a solid addition to the series and brings me a female hero that I absolutely love.

4.5/5