Review

The Flash Season 3 (2014-?)

The Flash Season 3 (2014-?)

Network:

CW

Creator:

Greg Berlanti

Geoff Johns

Andrew Kreisberg

Starring:

Grant Gustin

Candice Patton

Danielle Panabaker

Plot:

After being struck by lightning, Barry Allen wakes up from his coma to discover he’s been given the power of super speed, becoming the Flash, fighting crime in Central City.

Review:

For the first half of the season I watched episodes about a week or so after they aired on my DVR, then we got rid of cable and I had to watch them online on CWs website. Eventually I couldn’t take that anymore and I decided to wait until they were up on Netflix.

I don’t know if it was the waiting in between episodes or maybe watching shows like Silicon Valley and Westworld that made me unable to really get back into enjoying The Flash. It was cheesy, but took itself way too seriously, and the story felt like the same thing they’ve been telling over and over. Plus the whole Iris is going to die thing felt like it was dragged on forever and I just wanted it to be over and didn’t care what happened.

I dropped Arrow earlier in the season because I wasn’t enjoying it anymore, I know everyone else thinks it’s a return to the glory days, but I just didn’t like it. I think, and this makes me sad to say, I think I’m going to drop The Flash too. That leaves me with just DC Legends of Tomorrow because I dropped Supergirl after the first episode of the second season.

Maybe I’ll watch the crossovers. Not sure. Is this the end of an era for me?

3/5

White Hot (Hidden Legacy #2) By: Ilona Andrews

Horrible cover

White Hot (Hidden Legacy #2) By: Ilona Andrews

Plot:

Nevada Baylor has a unique and secret skill—she knows when people are lying—and she’s used that magic (along with plain, hard work) to keep her colorful and close-knit family’s detective agency afloat. But her new case pits her against the shadowy forces that almost destroyed the city of Houston once before, bringing Nevada back into contact with Connor “Mad” Rogan.

Rogan is a billionaire Prime—the highest rank of magic user—and as unreadable as ever, despite Nevada’s “talent.” But there’s no hiding the sparks between them. Now that the stakes are even higher, both professionally and personally, and their foes are unimaginably powerful, Rogan and Nevada will find that nothing burns like ice . . .

Review:

Oh my god!!! Ahhhhh!!!! Why is it over already? Why? Arghhhhhhhhhhh

I’m going to try and pull myself together, but I’m finding it difficult. When White Hot came out I decided to re-read Burn For Me again since it had been a few months. It actually came out way back in 2014 but due to a missed deadline and a packed scheduled the sequel, White Hot didn’t get released until May 30th 2017. That’s a pretty big gap, especially for Ilona Andrews, because of that the third book, Wildfire, is coming out in July. So I don’t have long to wait, which is nice, but still I’m already thinking about re-reading them both all over again.

I really, really like this world. I like the magic system, love Nevada, and I really love the supporting cast. Mad Rogan grew on me, though, he’s still the weakest part, in my opinion. He’s getting fleshed out, but I’m kind of getting tired of the supreme badass thing. He’s a not as cool Curran, which is the main dude in her Kate Daniels series. Maybe given a few more books he’ll really grow on me, but this is currently only planned as a trilogy so who knows.

Man, I really hope this is more than three books. I really love the characters and world a lot and don’t know if I’ll be done with them after three books. We’ll see. I vaguely remember Ilona Andrews saying they’d write more books whether Avon, their publisher, published them or not. I’ll have to go back and find where I read that to make sure it’s not just wishful thinking.

Once again, I’m sorry, Ilona Andrews book reviews for me are pretty horrible. For whatever reason reading their books is like taking a hit of cocaine, or so I imagine, and I just can’t think of anything other than holy fucking shit that was awesome!

5/5

The Rosetta Man By: Claire McCague

The Rosetta Man By: Claire McCague

Plot:

Wanted: Translator for first contact. Immediate opening. Danger pay allowance

Estlin Hume lives in Twin Butte, Alberta surrounded by a horde of affectionate squirrels. His involuntary squirrel-attracting talent leaves him evicted, expelled, fired and near penniless until two aliens arrive and adopt him as their translator. Yanked around the world at the center of the first contact crisis, Estlin finds his new employers incomprehensible. As he faces the ultimate language barrier, unsympathetic military forces converging in the South Pacific keep threatening to shoot the messenger. The question on everyone’s mind is why are the aliens here? But Estlin’s starting to think we’ll happily blow ourselves up in the process of finding that out.


 Review:

So recently I was looking at the Amazon Sci-Fi best seller list trying to find a new Sci-Fi book that actually paints the future in a bright light. I downloaded a few samples and this was one of them.

Holy cow I was not expecting this to grab me like it did. I hadn’t even finished the sample when I decided I would pay whatever the author was asking for to read the rest of the story. Thankfully, she didn’t want much, but I would have paid it. This story grabbed me and didn’t let go, rarely does this happen and I was not expecting it. I’m not sure if it was the fact that I’ve never read a first contact novel or that the story was just that compelling but since the author doesn’t seem to have written anything else I’ll have to find another first contact that doesn’t involve aliens killing us to try and judge.

The characters were interesting and the way events unfolded seemed very realistic. I loved the fact that it started in New Zealand and the setting wasn’t the normal US centric, though, it does say a lot about my country that I didn’t doubt the stupid stuff they did or how hostel they could be. The author was pretty generous and didn’t make them horrible so that was nice.

Loved this book but if I had one complaint it would be the ending. There was still so much unresolved, though, it wasn’t out of nowhere. I just wish there was more of an ending. I look forward to whatever else the author writes.

4.5/5

Anne with an E

Anne with an E

Network:

Netflix & CBC Television

Starring:

Amybeth McNulty

Geraldine James

R.H. Thomson

Plot:

The adventures of a young orphaned girl living in the late 19th century. Follow Anne as she learns to navigate her new life on Prince Edward Island, in this new take on L.M. Montgomery’s classic novels.

Review:

So back in the day I watched the CBC miniseries Anne of Green Gables, then Anne of Avonlea, and freaking loved them. I read the books, liked them not as much but still a lot. So when I saw that there was going to be a new series I was super excited.

This is nothing like the miniseries starring Megan Follows, but I’m fine with that. In fact I’m glad that they did their own thing and stuck more to the source material, it meant that after the first half hour or so I stopped trying to compare the two. It has been a while since I read the books so I could be wrong on that though.

Anne was just as odd as ever. I thought that the actors that played Marilla and Matthew were perfect and it was so easy to see how great an impact Anne made on their lives for the better. It was less obvious, even by the end, the impact they were making on Anne but I’m hoping that will show up in later seasons.

That’s honestly my major concern right now, will it be picked up for more seasons. I hope so, I want to see this story continue through this new lense and with these new actors.

4/5

Shadow Flare (Ruby Calloway #2) By: D.N. Erikson

Shadow Flare (Ruby Calloway #2) By: D.N. Erikson

Plot:

Magical cults are better left alone. Especially when they’ve got friends in high places.

When twenty-three bodies are discovered on the edge of the Fallout Zone, the FBI calls in Ruby Callaway and Colton Roark to investigate. From the powerful dark magic branded into the bodies, Ruby quickly determines those responsible: the Crusaders of Paradisum. Which is impossible, considering Ruby killed their Crusading Prophet, scattering the cult to the wind over a century ago.

But some people just don’t know when to stay dead – especially when they’ve made new friends in powerful places. And that’s a problem Ruby needs to fix.

Before it kills her first.

Review:

It took me a while to get into this book. Part of that is that I had two library books I had to read before I could read this and since they were cozy mysteries it took me a little while to shift gears. Part of it was also because it used a plot device I’m not overly fond of, it started off with an action scene and then flashed back twenty-four hours. Hawaii Five-0 does that a lot and it’s started to annoy me.

Anyway, by fifty-five percent into the book I was invested and interested again. I wish there was a bit more world building and a bit more detail. There was also a lot going on, with multiple life and death plots which made it slightly hard to keep up with what was going on and what action had to do with which plot.

All in all, it wasn’t as good as the first book, but I’m still invested in the series and looking forward to the third and final book.

3/5