Book #5 in the Mercy Thompson series.
Another fantastic entry in this series. Lots of stuff happens here, we learn more about the pack and its internal dramas/rules/etc., about Samuel, about the fae. I couldn’t put it down!
I’m super into these, I’m into the related Charles/Anna books, I’ve read her more “medieval”-type fantasty as well (here or here or here). I just think everything Briggs writes is fantastic.
Fourth in a series.
Definitely in my top five current fantasy series (along with the Patricia Briggs’Mercy Thompson books and the almost-completed Robert Jordan Wheel of Time books…I’d have have to walk to a different room to look at a different bookshelf to pin down the rest…).
This has a lot of the good stuff of the previous three books, as well as widening the list of characters I cared about, filling in some of the folks who were broader strokes in books past (Shamus in particular). There continues to be a LOT about blood magic that we don’t really know its longlasting effects. Lots of great fighting (magic and otherwise). And a freakalicious ending that is NOT going to keep me patient until the next one comes out in November (YAY SO SOON!).
Allie and Zayvion continue to have a sexy yet more than that relationship. The imagery describing Zayvion in a certain fight at a certain point in this book…is just so so cool. And I do dearly love Stone. (FYI you can knit your own Stone should you wish to. Although in the books he is a LOT BIGGER than that.)
Soooo hilariously cheesetastic. One of those movies where you’re laughing at stuff that the movie seems to want you to take seriously but it’s such bad dialogue that there’s just no way to hold your giggles in. Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes had particularly cheesalicious hilarious lines.
The 3D didn’t look that great to me and honestly during really fast action scenes = it loses all effectiveness.
The only two not horribly ridiculous things about this movie?
a) Sam Worthington. Nom. So earnest.
b) Mads Mikkelson. Nommity nom nom. I have been a fan of his since he played Tristan in that also-not-very-good, but better-than-this 2004 King Arthur movie (Clive Owen / Keira Knightley)–but most of you probably know him as one of the villains in the last two James Bond movies. He’s fantastic. Dear US Movie Producers, GIVE HIM MORE WORK. KTHXBAI.
Bought:
So! Much! Fun!
There were only two things I didn’t like about this movie:
1) the casting of Nicolas Cage; and
2) the way Nicolas Cage played the dad like some kinda pervy pedophile instead of a dad out for justice. This part would have been done soooo much better by, say, the likes of Bruce Willis of 10 years ago. Or Michael Keaton. Or Jason Bateman.
But other than that I LOVED it. Despite the fact that all you want to do after watching it is call people lots of nasty names and get in some rowdy fights.
For the most part, this was a pretty good, interesting movie with a great noir-ish look and feel and some eventful plot twists. Ewan McGregor and Olivia Williams were great, Jim Belushi was surprisingly good. The cinematography was lovely: lots of moody lighting, fog, lights off in the distance, and spooky roads/paths. Liked the way the v. last scene was filmed a lot.
On the other hand, Kim Cattrall cannot maintain a British accent for more than a few words and her performance was really, really subpar. Either her character should have been changed to being an American or that role should have been recast.
I would argue that if a book needs multiple typefaces, either the writer hasn’t done her job or the reader isn’t being trusted.
-Jessica Francis Kane, on Kingsolver’s “Lacuna”
Bought:
Really funny. A must see if you are a Tracy Jordan fan; Bruce Willis suffers a bit in comparison. And dang he is looking old (seems much older here than in Die Hard 4, although that’s partly the character).
I didn’t love it quite as much as my Dad, (I felt like there were times when you could tell Kevin Smith only did the directing, and not the writing, it was missing a bit of his usual charm) but it was definitely worth the $11.
I’ve always been a sucker for the epistolary, whether fiction or not (as here).
These are really quite lovely, however, in their own right. Poets with great command of language, imagery, sensory. Their friendship grows across the page and their words become quite magical as they get to the nitty gritty of their lives.
Lovely, and sometimes, sad to read. I can’t remember where I saw this book recommended now, but I’m so glad I did.
Really makes you want to do nothing else but curl up with collections of their poems and get to know them even better.