TV Show Review - Arrow (Season 3)

In the aftermath of his victory, Season Three opens with The Arrow now a hero to the citizens of Starling. Crime is down, people feel safer, and Captain Lance even calls off the Anti-Vigilante Task Force. Basking in his success, Oliver believes he can finally have a private life and asks Felicity out on a date. But the second Oliver takes his eye off the ball, a deadly villain reappears in Starling, forcing Oliver to realize that he can never be Oliver Queen – not as long as the city needs The Arrow.

First episode date: October 8, 2014

Network: The CW

Good Points

- Since Arrow is practically stealing from the Batman mythos then use one of the better story lines involving Ra's al Ghul and they did.

- Effective tension built up from episode to episode making the show a must watch.

- Season 3 started out very strong but started to fizzle towards the end. 

Bad Points

- The flashbacks are pointless and draw away from the current story line.  Go back to the island already!

- Arrow's support group (other heroes) is getting too large and distracting.

-The finale seemed to be rushed by trying up all of the loose ends and also give Oliver Queen his Dark Knight Rising ending.

Final Word

Arrow season 1 & 2 (each 5 stars in my book) set the bar very high and season 3 was a step backwards.  The Arrow is a more interesting character when treated as a loner rather than part of team.  I am hoping CW gets back to basics and right the ship in season 4 or this will be the beginning of the end of a good series.  

                                                            My Rating

TV Show Review - Daredevil (Season 1)

Daredevil is a series created for Netflix by Drew Goddard, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and shares continuity with the films of the franchise.

Daredevil follows Matt Murdock, attorney by day and vigilante by night. Blinded in an accident as a child, Murdock uses his heightened senses as Daredevil, fighting crime on the streets of New York after the sun goes down. His efforts are not welcomed by powerful businessman Wilson Fisk and others whose interests collide with those of Daredevil. Though Murdock's day job portrays a man who believes in the criminal justice system, his alter ego suggests otherwise, as he takes the law into his own hands to protect his Hell's Kitchen neighborhood and the surrounding communities.

Creator: Drew Goddard

Stars: Charlie Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio, Deborah Ann Woll

First episode date: April 10, 2015

Network: Netflix

Good Points

- Grounded in reality.  More than any other TV superhero series Daredevil feels like in exists in the real world.  Generally, there are consequences to a character's actions.  When Daredevil takes a beating and there alot of beatings, he spends the next episode recovering from his wounds.   

- Vincent D'Onofrio's portrayal as Wilson Fisk (never called Kingpin) is the stand out performance.  He plays the character as quiet and measured but there is constant underlying rage that can surface at any time.  

- I also love that Daredevil is far from a polished hero.  He makes plenty of beginning of career mistakes and is far from being a skilled fighter. 

Bad Points

- Slow / uneven pacing at times.

- Not enough tension developed from episode to episode leading up to the finale.  Arrow, especially season 1 and 2, is great example of how to gradually build pressure on the main character that you were not really sure how he would survive it all.  Daredevil lacked this tension between the good guys and the bad guys.      

Final Word

Daredevil's first season establishes the building blocks to become an epic TV show.  While not quit on the level of Arrow, I liked it better than The Flash and it is definitely better than Agents of Shield.  I am really looking forward to season 2.   

                                                            My Rating

Book Review: Wormwood, Nevada

Author: David Oppegaard

Wormwood, Nevada is David Oppegaard’s second novel. His first novel, The Suicide Collectors, was an incredible and imaginative debut that was a very addictive read. This would be a tough act to follow and unfortunately this novel left me frustrated by the ending. The imagination and the willingness to push a story that so outstanding in The Suicide Collectors readily disappears during Wormwood, Nevada.

Summary

The story begins with a married couple, Tyler and Anna Mayfield, moving across the country from Lincoln, Nebraska to Wormwood, Nevada. They are going to stay with Tyler’s Aunt, Bernie, for the summer in order to save money and hopefully find some direction in life. Tyler and Anna met in college (University of Nebraska, Go Big Red!) and after graduating their lives have not gone the way they it would. Neither has found satisfaction with their careers, but Anna, a former Miss Nebraska, has taken it pretty after the limelight has faded. They believe that a change of scenery will help them plan for the next step in their lives.

Wormwood, Nevada is your typical small town but stuck out in the middle of desert. Tyler quickly adapts to the small town lifestyle but Anna struggles with the boredom. Things are about to change in Wormwood and get alittle more exciting. While they are sitting in the local bar a meteorite crashes outside leaving a crater in the parking lot of a Mexican restaurant. Soon after some strange events start occurring such as Tyler starts seeing strange little grey creatures, Anna has disturbing nightmares and the owner of the Mexican restaurant starts a vigil by sitting next to meteorite with a sign says The End Is Near. 

Review

So, the story is building nicely at this point but then it just continues this way until the ending. Mr. Oppegaard does a nice job of building his characters and setting the mood for his story. He builds a believable small town atmosphere in Wormwood from the small town sheriff to the depressed insurance salesman. But the story just meanders forward until the ending. He never picks a direction in which to move the story.

The ending is probably the biggest weakness of the novel, it is just ho-hum when it should have been jaw-dropping. I really enjoyed the ending of The Suicide Collectors but the ending of Wormwood, Nevada just left me flat.

The only other quibble I had with the novel was on the personal side. Since the characters are from Lincoln, Nebraska and went to the University of Nebraska there is much discussion about Husker football. My wife and I used to live Nebraska and are huge Husker fans. One passage in the book mentions how the Huskers beat Texas at the Homecoming game. Huh? I don’t remember that. Any good Nebraskan understands the heartbreak losses that the Huskers have suffered at the hands of Texas over the years so this was surprise. So I went and looked it up and the last time Texas lost to Nebraska in Lincoln was 1933. Ouch.

Last Word

Whereas The Suicide Collectors was a cracklin’ good sci-fi story, Wormwood, Nevada is only mediocre. This is a shame because Mr. Oppegaard had two solid acts but he was unable to develop a solid ending and the story just kinda fizzled. 

                                                            My Rating

Book Review: Boneshaker

Author: Cherie Priest

Boneshaker has been high on my TBR (to be read) list ever since I first heard about and saw the awesome cover art by Jon Foster. On the day it arrived in bookstores I ran out after work and snatched the last copy in the store. This is the first novel I have read by Cherie Priest, even though I still have Fathom sitting near the top of one of my book stacks. I heard someone describe this novel as a Steampunk meets The Night of the Living Dead and this a pretty apt description.

One aspect to Steampunk is take history and change certain aspects. The neat thing about Boneshaker is that it is set America, instead of England, and since I am somewhat of history buff I was able to recognize some of the differences. The year is 1880 and the Civil War has been raging for 18 years. England has entered the side of Confederacy and this caused the additional time. I am curious what to Abe Lincoln?

Summary

The novel takes place in Seattle, WA, which has not been admitted in the United States and is still run by local governments. Ms. Priest does a wise thing in her Author’s Notes chapter in explaining all the changes she made to Seattle before she got flooded with a tom of emails. Her Seattle has a larger population and many of the landmarks were built much earlier in her timeline.

The story centers on Briar Wilkes and her son, Ezekiel. Briar is infamous in Seattle as the widow of Dr. Leviticus Blue. Dr. Blue was an inventor who won a contract from the Russians to build a digging known as the Boneshaker. When he made his first test run with the machine it caused disastrous results to the city. The Boneshaker caused the collapse of several banks killing many people and unleashing a gas known as the Blight. The citizens soon discovered that exposure to the Blight essentially turns them in zombies. In response to the disaster the inner city is walled off from the outskirts in order contain the Blight gas.

To add to Briar’s misery, she is also the daughter of Maynard Wilkes. Maynard is considered to legend in some circles and a tyrant in other circles. Needless to say, Briar and Ezekiel are ostracized from society.

Fast forward sixteen years, Ezekiel is a rebellious young man who decides to take a quick trip into inner Seattle to find evidence in order to clear his family name. Only a couple of problems, most of Seattle is infested with hungry zombies and the small areas that are controlled by live people is governed by a crazy scientist, Dr. Minnericht. Of course, when Briar discovers that her son has gone exploring inside Seattle, she also makes her way into the city looking for him. For this point forward the story is a harrowing adventure of exploring the underbelly of a dilapidated city while running from the zombies.

Review

This was not the story I expected when I first saw this book. First and foremost is about survival and secondly it is about family. The Seattle that Ms. Priest created felt like a real place instead of just a prop. She slowly painted the picture of her city as the story moved along creating a fully realized three dimensional place. The constant tension felt by the group of people still living in the city is caused by the ever present threat of a zombie attack combine with the control exerted upon them by Dr. Minnericht. Again, Ms. Priest does an excellent job of portraying desperate people living in desperate times and have learned to cherish the small things in life. The atmosphere created in her novel is incredible and by far the strength of it.

The only real weakness of the novel is the characters are not fully developed. The main characters seem alittle two dimensional and I wish there was more focus in developing both Briar and Ezekiel. If I had felt more compassion towards these characters then easily would have one of the best novels of the years.

Last Word

Overall this was a great book and highly enjoyable. I understand there is two planned sequels but neither will take place in the same city or possibly involve the same characters. Which is a shame because this the type of story that deserves to continue to live on in future volumes. 

                                                           My Rating

Book Review: The Alchemy of Stone

Author: Ekaterina Sedia

The Alchemy of Stone is Ekaterina Sedia’s third novel and has received some very high marks, including a starred review from Publishers Weekly. Personally, the cover art is what really drew my attention to this book in the first place. In fact, the novel has been reissued with new cover art and I almost picked it up again at the bookstore. Unfortunately, it is rare that the art actually lives up to the story inside the novel itself.

Summary

The Alchemy of Stone takes in a fictional steam punk type of city which is run by two factions, the Mechanics and the Alchemists. Ruling over the two parties is a Duke. While the Mechanics and the Alchemists can be voted into and out of office, the Duke’s rule remains constant. At the beginning of the novel the Mechanics have swept into power and plan to make significant changes within the city itself. Ms. Sedia’s world that she created is uniquely fascinating but very little of it was explored. The reader has very little to exposure to the politics between the Mechanics and the Alchemists, which is the cause of all the major events that place in this novel.

Review

The title, The Alchemy of Stone, refers to a mission given to the main character, Mattie, by the gargoyles. The gargoyles are the keepers and builders of the city but they are dying off. They ask Mattie to find a way to prevent them from turning into stone. Mattie’s exploration into this subject leads her several into several interesting side characters which include, the Soul-Smoker, Sebastian and Niobe. My favorite of these was the Soul-Smoker, whose responsibly was to suck the souls of the dead into himself. The side effect is that he had hundreds of people living inside of him and they all want to talk to him.

I instantly fell in love with Mattie. I really have a thing robot type of characters in novels and movies. I am not sure why that is but I have been fascinated by robots since I was kid. Mattie is actually an intelligent automaton who was built by a genius mechanic known as Loharri. Mattie started out as a simple automaton whose only responsibility was to clean and cook. Eventually Mattie moves beyond these household chores and takes up learning a trade, alchemy. Loharri agrees to allow Mattie to have some freedom which includes her moving into her own apartment. But Loharri still maintains control over Mattie by keeping her key. Mattie must be wound every now and then or she will just stop working.

The relationship between Loharri and Mattie is the major theme running through the book. Mattie is constantly looking for ways to gain access to the key so that she can live independently. Loharri doesn’t want to give up his control over Mattie or she will stop visiting him as he had been cruel to her in the past. The dynamic between the two is far from a healthy relationship, akin to a mentally abusive spouse attempting to separate herself from her husband.

The other theme running through the novel is class prejudice. The Mechanics and the Alchemists would be considered the upper class with the common people considered the lower classes. The Mechanics think that they understand what is best for society and that the commoners must be pushed into doing their bidding. This way of governing does not go over all that well and eventually sparks a revolution. Of the plot threads this is the most interesting but the least explored.

In addition, Mattie is treated like a pet throughout the novel but I think this less effective analogy because the automatons are not intelligent and regulated to menially jobs. Once people come to know her, they change their attitudes but this does not correlate with other automatons.

The biggest issue had with this novel was the second act. The story started off and ended strong but the middle act just meandered all over the place. I was hoping that Ms. Sedia would explore the intriguing world that she crafted. Instead the focus remains solely on Mattie instead of turbulent events going on around her.

Final Word

The Alchemy of Stone is a thought provoking story that is not afraid to deal with some very tough issues. But I wish the author would have spent some more time building upon and developing the themes and the world she has so lovingly created. 

                                                           My Rating

Book Review: The Martian

Author: Andy Weir

Summary

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there.

After a darude sandstorm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive.

Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first.

But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills—and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit—he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?

Good Points

- An interesting premise. An Astronaut who is accidentally stranded on Mars and now must learn how to survive.

- Most of the time, the humor from the main character is laugh out funny.

- At times there is tension and a bit of nail biting during the story.

Bad Points

- It got to the point in story where I didn't want anything bad to happen or something to break down. Not because I feared for the main character but I knew I would have to read endless explanations on how he was fixing the issue at hand. If you get off on reading trouble shooting guides for fun then this will be the greatest story ever.

- Secondary characters are not fleshed out.

- The story did not capture the emotions of being deserted on a faraway planet and the depression of being isolated.

Final Word

If you ever dreamed of a MacGyver / Castaway mashup that takes place on Mars then this is the novel for you. Otherwise, too much technobabble dragged down what could have been a compelling story.

                                                            My Rating

Audio Book Review: Haze

Author: L. E. Modesitt, Jr.

Narrated by William Dufris

Audio Length: 10 hours and 32 minutes

This is the first novel that I read by L. E. Modesitt, Jr., which is amazing because it seems that he puts out a new novel every other week. The reason I have not read any of his other works is that most are part of a huge series that I have no hope of catching up. The reason I picked Haze is that it is a stand alone novel and for the cool cover art by Sparth. Unfortunately, the cover art is the best thing about the novel. Is it completely unreadable? No. It is just that this storyline has been so many times that it would take a spectacular storyline to develop something new and fresh. Haze falls way short of introducing something new or original.

Summary

Haze is your typical fish out of water story times two. The novel alternates between the main character’s current mission and him remembering back to previous assignment. Major Keir Roget is an agent for the Federation and he is usually sent undercover into potentially hostile places to assess threats against the Federation. The set up for this story is pretty decent. The Federation has discovered a planet that has a haze shielding that blocks all types of sensors. Roget is sent to the planet surface to discover what is behind the haze and if there some life forms behind it. Like I said, a great set up for a Sci-Fi story.

Review

Unfortunately from this point forward the story is relatively unremarkable. Roget discovers a human society with very advanced technology. He spends a lot of time talking to the habitants, walking around, taking in the sites and an inordinate amount in restaurants. Mr. Modesitt must have been hungry when he wrote this story because there are numerous passages describing the food selection on menus and what the characters are eating. Even kinda made me hungry at times. There is no real conflict between Roget and the citizens of Haze even though they are aware that the Federation has come to their planet in order to assume control of it. The world building is weak and not very imaginative. Basically there a few changes in way their government operates, the way they communicate among themselves, etc. But none of these are all that interesting. Essentially by the end of the novel I could care less if the Federation demolished this planet or not.

The other story involves Roget going undercover as water monitor to a religious community of St. George. A previous agent had died in accident while hiking. So Roget is being sent in to investigate. Again this involves a lot of time talking to the habitants, walking around taking in the sites and an inordinate amount in restaurants. The story is not really clear how this mission was supposed to force Roget to question the motives of the Federation and cause him to reconsider his current line of work. Personally, I saw no need of this story line except to fill pages for the main story that was taking place on Haze.

Even with all these issues I highly enjoyed the ending and the choices Roget made. I just wish that it would have come sooner in the novel. Then the last third of the novel could involved Roget living with decision and exploring further. It seems to me that by the story started to get fascinating is when it ended.

William Dufris is a veteran when comes to audiobook narrations. The only problem I has was that he had narrated the voice of Neb from Ken Scholes Lamentation and Canticle. So I kept thinking of Neb while I was listening to the story.

In many ways this novel was a disappointment as I believed it missed on so many notes. There are tiny bits of goodness but too much of it felt like filler to me. So, I guess the novel just left me in a haze (bad joke, sorry).

                                                            My Rating

Book Review: Bitter Angels

Author: C. L. Anderson

C. L. Anderson’s debut Sci-Fi novel, Bitter Angels, is one I have been looking forward to ever since the cover art was released. As I picked it up at the local bookstore it went on top of my To Be Read pile. As debut novels go this is better than most but there are some issues that I with story. The world-building was creative, the characters were interesting, the plot was flat out great but the dialogue was weak which in this type of story can hurt the overall story.

Summary

I really enjoyed the universe that Ms. Anderson has created. Governments are very concerned about wars and they do what they can in order to prevent a galaxy wide conflict from arising. Their most effective tools are the Guardians. Guardians are individuals who have various items installed into their bodies including a Companion. Think of a Companion as ghost machines that live inside your head and acts a computer, friend, stabilizer, etc. If the Companion is ever removed from a Guardian, it as if they are taking anyway a loved one and you feel their loss for a long time. Guardians are sent into systems to evaluate and determine if it needs to be considered a “hot spot”. If it is a system on the brink of war then a larger Guardian is brought in to sweep it and remove any chance of a wider conflict breaking out. The Guardians oath is, “Peace is my duty. Peace is what I am called to watch and expand. I hold close the knowledge that any death by my hand may start a war without end. Only peace creates life. Only life creates peace.”

Field commander Terese Drajeske is brought back out of retirement for an important mission. Her mentor, Bianca Fayette, was brutally murdered in the Erasmus System and Bianca has requested Terese to replace her because she is the only one who can succeed in the mission. The Guardians want to learn who killed Bianca and determine if the Erasmus System is to be considered a “hot spot”

The Erasmus System is controlled by the First Bloods. They are bunch of aristocrats that have maintained power with their very large family and have become very rich of their indentured servants. They keep control of the civil through the use of Clerks. The Clerks spy on people and if their position is critical enough, the individual has personal Clerk who reports their actions at all times. If someone is perceived as acting against the First Bloods then they are removed from society.

The chapters alternated between several of the characters but mainly focus on Field commander Terese Drajeske and Captain Amerand Jireu. Amerand is a Chief Security officer in the Erasmus System and his portions of the novel are were you learn about the society of this universe. Essentially, it is Big Bother on steroids.

Review

The plot is probably the strongest portion of the novel. The complexity of it reminded me of an Alastair Reynolds’ novel. There is overall conspiracy happening but the information dulled out in dribs and drabs and all is revealed in the end. In this way the novel was highly entertaining.

The weakness of the story was the dialogue. If you write a mystery, especially with intelligent characters, the dialogue needs to be crisp and well thought out. Many times I said to myself, “ask this” or “ask that”. In this type of story nothing drives a reader crazier than characters who have no curiosity about their situation. If the dialogue was stronger then it is likely this would have been one of my type five novels at the end of the year.

Overall, I did enjoy Bitter Angels and I am excited about any future novels from Ms. Anderson.

                                                           My Rating