Day: May 28, 2012

Movie Review: Battleship (2012)

Battleship (2012)

3.5 out of 4 stars

Terry and I caught this movie at the theater over Memorial Day weekend.  Fitting, since it resurrected the USS Missouri from a mothballed battleship museum to our last stand against an imminent alien invasion.  You’ve got to see it to believe it, and hang on for the ride.

The tie-in to the classic Hasbro board game came late in the movie, and was refreshingly subtle and well thought out.

Great early summer fun on a Sunday afternoon.  Next week, Prometheus (and I saw an even more enticing trailer for that Ridley Scot film yesterday as well).

Book Review: Throne of the Crescent Moon by Ahmed (4 Stars)

Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed

4 out of 5 stars

Read in May 2012

I liked Throne of the Crescent Moon a lot. I loved the characters. I liked the setting, although the world building relied on references to Earth-like locations in our own Middle East, including the cultures and legends that thrive therein.

The magic found in this world contained some supernatural elements: an Angel-touched shapechanger; something similar to a demon helping an undead (or reanimated) man create ghuls (vaguely like zombies but different) using pain, torture, etc. (blood magic or necromancy); some alchemy; some aura-like internal magic; and, an invocation style magic wielded by the main character.

A murder mystery with apocalyptic consequences. Lots of action sequences kept me turning the pages. And as much as our young dervish might strive mightily for stark black and white choices, all of the characters find themselves compromising their principles and morals for the greater good and survival.

I can’t wait for the next installment in the Crescent Moon Kingdoms series.

Book Review: Insurgent by Roth

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I eagerly awaited the arrival of Insurgent. I devoured Divergent last fall in hours, unusual in that I normally read two to three books simultaneously over the course of a week or so. I put all my other reads on hold when I picked up Divergent. I almost repeated the process with Insurgent, reading half of the book one weekend and finishing it the next. Quick and easy reading, but a bit disappointing turn in the plot at the end left me with an aftertaste I still can’t rinse out of my mind.

I gave Insurgent four stars here at GoodReads, but I will most likely settle on a 3.5 star rating on my personal objective scale. Parts of the book brought tears to my eyes, but they did not outweigh the moments of frustration I felt with Tris. She personifies recklessness in the extreme.

I’m trying to avoid spoilers, so I won’t express the specific reasons for my distaste or displeasure with the final revelation in the last few paragraphs of the book. I may have to go back and re-categorize this novel, and place Insurgent on completely different shelves.

If there is a sequel, and I haven’t gone looking to determine if there will be one, I hope more background is provided to justify the premise revealed at the end. Too many questions, and not the ones I expected to be answered; just a whole barrel of new ones on top of the old ones.

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