The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

A Spoiler Free Review

The Summoning was definitely a book. It wasn't slow but it also wasn't the best thing ever. It was just kind of there... like, literally the tension in the book starts around the 75% mark aaand then it just ends abruptly. I'm sitting here thinking I've got 10 more pages left in this book and I'm going to finish before bed only to have less than a page. I'm not confused by this, just kind of like "what?"

I didn't not enjoy The Summoning. It was alright. I probably would have actually enjoyed it when I was younger. Right now, though, it's a just kind of "meh" book. Armstrong's writing definitely gets better later on in her career, but that just isn't here. Chloe is definitely no Elena.

Speaking of Chloe (the main character, if you weren't already aware), she is a blank slate. It's lamp-shaded at one point, even. Chloe is self-aware about her lack of actual personality. While it does allow the reader to kind of map their own personality onto Chloe, it really doesn't help flavor the story. There are points where Chloe is clever, but those are few and far between. She's also a complete novice at her powers, not even knowing she had them until, ya know, the inciting incident. I'm not real sure what to think of her, really.

The side characters aren't really fleshed out much better. Liz is barely there, Rae is vaguely puppy-ish, Simon's hard to get an actual read on, and Derek reminds me some of Clay Danvers from Armstrong's Women of the Otherworld series. A little. Tori gets a little more characterization, but it's through a mother-daughter spat thing that happens later in the book... basically no one really has an actual personality, in my opinion. I really hope that changes later in the series. Yes, I do intend to continue on.

Like I said, not really a stunning piece of work, but not entirely bad, either. The Summoning didn't really offend me and I do have hopes Darkest Powers will get better. I do enjoy Armstrong's other work, the world of which is clearly getting ground work in this series. (EDIT) And of course I do my research after posting this... The Summoning was apparently published around the same time as Personal Demon and Living with the Dead. So, yeah, still really hoping Darkest Powers gets better than this first outing, cuz I know Armstrong does better than this.

Beneath the Surface by John Hargrove

Beneath the Surface: Killer Whales, SeaWorld, and the Truth Beyond Blackfish by John Hargrove
A Spoiler Free Review

Originally Posted on GoodReads: 8-26-22

I knew I was going to finish this book within a couple days and started planning my review, as I often do, ahead of time. I realized this would be difficult for me to review in my usual style. First, because it is a non-fiction book and I haven’t ever given an actual review to a non-fiction book before. Second, the subject matter is a little controversial for some people. Third, I’m not sure exactly what to say about it, like, I’m afraid of misrepresenting it.

Beneath the Surface is a good book. That’s the big takeaway. I think it’s a moving story, especially if you’re into orcas. I didn’t exactly have a good time reading it, but at the same time, I did. I would definitely recommend reading it, especially in conjunction with watching Blackfish. I’m always a fan of more context and Beneath the Surface definitely provides additional context.

Speaking of context, here’s some of mine: I’ve pretty much been primed to be receptive to the the messages of Beneath the Surface and Blackfish since I was young. Free Willy was staple viewing in my household and I still think about it at random to this day. I remember watching footage of Keiko (the whale from Free Willy) when he was being moved from his theme park home to the massive aquarium they built to hopefully reintroduce him into the wild. I have loved orcas for as much of my life as I can remember. That said, I have never, nor will ever, visit a SeaWorld park. I have too much love for orcas to see them as anything other than complex beings.

So yeah, reading Beneath the Surface wasn’t exactly a joy, but it was, I think, a good look inside both SeaWorld and the mindset of the trainers who work for them. I really didn’t find any information Mr. Hargrove wrote about super revelatory, but then, I’ve known about the way they train animals (orcas included, obviously) for years, not to mention the ways “Big Business” treats their “assets”… so yeah. That’s what I’ve got. It’s good. Give it a read.

In Other News

Currently Reading: Curse the Dawn by Karen Chance and The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

Currently Watching: Project Runway and Supernatural

Currently Playing: Pokemon Legends: Arceus

Midnight's Daughter by Karen Chance

A Spoiler-Free Reread Review

Originally Posted in GoodReads: 8-24-22
 

So apparently I thought Midnight’s Daughter was super chaotic the last time I read it (2018). It really isn’t. Dory does bounce from location to location, but it’s not like there aren’t long stretches between where she isn’t in the middle of some fracas. I also thought Midnight’s Daughter was better served by reading it all at once instead of peace-meal… I still mostly stand by this, but reading it peace-meal this time didn’t throw up any issues for me. Actually made me focus on the sections I was reading as opposed to making it all blur together in a confused jumble.

Dhampir are one of those supernatural entities you almost never hear about. Like, to the point people are surprised they exist at all. See The Twilight Saga, for example. Renesmee, for all the drama surrounding her, is probably the most famous dhampir, though she is never named as such. Anyway, because dhampir are so rare and because I’m a big vampire nerd, that’s probably what originally drew me to read Midnight’s Daughter back in my early 20s. Well, that and this semi-weird idea I had to try at least one book from every author in the library… but that was a different time.

I’m pretty sure I started reading the Dory trilogy of books before I read the Cassie books. Dory is awesome. She’s the kind of femme fatale character I was really into reading and still really like to see. We need more capable female characters whose flaws aren’t rooted in some kind of male-adjacent trauma. Dory is very much her own person with her own set of semi-debilitating flaws. I mean, technically Dory’s issues are Daddy related, but they also have a lot more to do with what she is rather than who wronged her in the past.

Getting a look at Mircea from a completely different perspective is fun. We get to see him more in his role as family leader and protector and less in a sexual connotation. His dynamic with Dory is interesting, hinting at some stuff we get down the line but that I won’t go into here. He’s definitely the put-upon father figure who really just wants the best for his little girl despite her really not wanting anything to do with him.

Gotta do a quick Dory vs Cassie here. Dory has been around a lot longer and seen a lot more and therefore actually knows things. And if she doesn’t know things, she seeks out the information. Cassie has been very sheltered, is only 18, and doesn’t seem to know how to pick up a book to find the information she needs. Cassie floats from situation to situation with Pritkin doing the research heavy lifting and not letting her help, apparently. This sort of thing really stands out in the narration. We get a lot more info about the world we’ve stepped into with Dory’s first book than we ever did with Cassie’s first three.

Dracula isn’t really interesting as a villain in this. He’s definitely not the suave, debonair, Bella Lugosi type but neither the Nosferatu type. He lurks about in the background for about half the book before showing himself to definitely be insane before basically fucking off again for a good chunk of the novel. I honestly think Mircea made a mistake changing this brother. Drac is clearly unstable and probably would have shown that in life, as well. But we know from Cassie’s books that young Mircea didn’t exactly have the best judgement when bringing people over so… yeah. Drac shows himself to be kinda racist in Dory’s case and he has that “do what I want even if it’s impossible or you die” thing going on.

Not entirely sure how I feel about the effects of Fey Wine. Like, I really enjoy the flashbacks of Dory’s life we get because of it, but… I dunno. It seems a bit weird to infuse wine with magic. Or maybe it’s just something about the grapes in Faerie. That’s never explained. The flashbacks were definitely a highlight on this reread.

The Fey themselves are definitely more of a serious threat in this book than they were in Cassie’s books. They’ve got formidable powers and actually seem to know what they’re doing… seem to, don’t actually because they got confused about Claire… who turns or to be more of a semi-flighty badass than is originally stated by Dory. Also, if you just read the Dory books, you get the impression that the Fey are pretty much elves, which is not the impression left by the Cassie books, where they’re much more diverse.

So yes, overall, Midnight’s Daughter is very good and does leave an impression of chaos behind. I attribute this to the giant, sprawling, and, at times, confusing fight scene at the end coupled with Mircea’s info-dump. However, the rest of the book is less chaotic and somewhat nuanced. I really, really enjoyed it on this, my third reread.

My 2018 Review is posted below. It's muuuuuch shorter than this one.

A Spoiler Free Reread Review

Originally Posted on Good Reads November 2018

Such, such chaos. Well plotted enough to have everything come together with a nice bow at the end, but it’s mostly chaos. I think a good portion of it is relatively realistic, in terms of said chaos. Dory tend to fly by the seat of her pants from one crazy situation to another with little to no time to rest in between so the random and not-so-random stuff that keeps happening tends to bleed into the next thing. Kind of like actual life... only with vampires and trolls and magical food. This book is definitely not one that should be read — like I did this time around — peace-meal as it just keeps dragging you along from one thing to the next. There aren’t really any good stopping points along the way and so it’s just better read through all at once like binging a show on Netflix.

In Other News

Currently Reading: The Day of the Dead by Karen Chance and Beneath the Surface: Killer Whales, SeaWorld, and the Truth Beyond Blackfish by John Hargrove with Howard Chua-Eoan

Currently Watching: Project Runway

Currently Playing: Pokemon Legends: Arceus (Finishing my Pokedex slowly but surely)

The Princess Bride by William Goldman

A Slightly Spoilery First Read but Kind of Reread Review

I have been a fan of The Princess Bride since I was about 12. It really is the perfect movie for a fantasy obsessed 12 year old. Had I known at the time that the movie was an adaptation, I definitely would have read The Princess Bride a lot sooner. That said, I’m also not a fan of wading through tacked-on introductions… so I just didn’t. Well, the 30th anniversary intro, I didn’t. The 25 anniversary intro was actually fun to read and contextualized the abridged bit of the book. I really wish Kindle had a “skip intro” button. Lol. I also did not read the Buttercup’s Baby portion at the end of the book. The rest of The Princess Bride was fantastic, though.

I was surprised how much of the book was just plopped into the movie, actually. I’m used to my adaptations being straight up bad or cutting whole swaths of the book to fit the movie’s runtime and/or revised story. There were a lot more similarities between The Princess Bride book and movie than there are differences.

The big difference I noticed was the Death Zoo Humperdink apparently had. I’m not surprised at its exclusion from the movie, really. It was largely unnecessary, in my opinion. After all, we didn’t see Humperdink actually do any of the supposed hunting he was so good at. Literally could have just had the level Westley was kept on and left it at that.

I enjoyed getting backstory on both Inigo and Fezzik. I’m largely unsurprised we got nothing on Vizzini. He shall forever remain the man felled by Iocane Powder and little else. My absolute favorite part of both book and movie is, like, 99% unchanged between them. I could hear Billy Crystal and Carol Kane’s voices in my head as I read the Miracle Max scene. It was prefect.

I’m really not sure there’s much else to say that’s not my gushing about how much I loved both book and movie. It’s interesting to do this adaptation thing backward. I’ve got several series in my backlog that I’m basically doing the same with, but I doubt any will come anywhere close to The Princess Bride. Definitely give these a read and a watch if you’ve somehow missed them. They’re fantastic.

Favorite Line

"The beef-witted featherbrained rattleskulled clodpated dim-domed noodle-noggined sapheaded lunk-knobbed boys." - Buttercup

In Other News

Currently Reading: Midnight's Daughter by Karen Chance and Beneath the Surface: Killer Whales, SeaWorld, and the Truth Beyond Blackfish by John Hargove

Currently Watching: Motherland and Project Runway

Netflix's The Sandman

 A Semi-Spoilery Series Overview

Overall, The Sandman is a fantastic show. The casting was spot on. The music is awesome. The story lines were engaging. Highly recommend watching if you are any kind of fantasy fan. Or heck, even if you're not. It's a fun ride.

I have been a fan of Neil Gaiman's work ever since I first read Neverwhere at some point in my teens. I haven't had a chance to read The Sandman comics, but they have been on my radar and my reading list for years. I'm not sure how good of an adaptation this show is, but it's definitely worth a watch on its own merits.

So, being a fan of Gaiman's and comics (mostly the shows and movies based on them, to be completely honest) in general, I had at least a passing familiarity with some of the characters going into The Sandman. I kind of vaguely knew about Dream and was far more familiar with Death from some cosplay stuff and images I'd seen floating around online. I had watched the first couple episodes of Lucifer when they first came out, but never got into the show. Honestly, I was most familiar with Constantine from the Keanu Reeves movie, the Constantine TV show, and a smattering of DC's animated content. I thought all these roles were filled wonderfully by the actors in The Sandman. My favorites were Constantine (I am a big fan of Jenna Coleman's) and Death. I thought Dream was actually kind of vampiric in the ways he was styled. Very much reminded me of Stephanie Meyer's Edward Cullen (specifically Robert Pattinson's portrayal) and, at one point, Anne Rice's Lestat. Probably his paleness and that popped collar coat he had going on.

Other characters I enjoyed were Lucienne, Gault, and Fiddler's Green. I pegged Fiddler's Green from the moment he showed up. After all, you can't just have Stephen Fry playing some eccentric recluse. I quite liked Unity Kincaid. Honestly, I could take or leave the BnB crew. They were all bits of eccentric flavor that mostly served to showcase Rose's powers. Patton Oswald as Matthew was a delight.

The first big story line was fun. I always enjoy the quests to find missing items of importance. That said, in comparison to the second story line of the season, it fades into the background. I very much enjoyed seeing Jenna Coleman play Constantine. That episode was pretty awesome, honestly. It was nice to see some of the power behind Dream's tools. David Thewlis' character really needed some actual therapy, in my opinion, rather than to just be locked up. I'm also not sure how that diner ended up in a semi-time loop sort of thing. I just didn't feel like it was well explained or really conveyed as to what was going on. Also not sure what I would have done better so... yeah. It was probably my personal low point.

I thought the Rose Walker story line was much more interesting. I liked the concept of the Dream Vortex, though the explanation as to "What's it for/Why's it happen" was definitely rushed and just kind of dumped on the viewer by Fiddler's Green. The serial killers were delightful characters, ya know, once you put aside the whole serial killer thing. The Corinthian was an interesting villain, even if I didn't find him at all terrifying. Honestly, Jed's foster care situation was much worse. That's probably due to my personal awareness of how true to life Jed's situation was. The foster care system in the US is VERY broken and this kind of thing actually happens to people so... yeah... Jed's whole thing with his foster parents was more terrifying than The Corinthian. On a brighter note, I hope we get to see what happens with Lyta's baby.

My favorite episode is definitely episode 6: The Sound of Her Wings. I enjoyed getting Death's perspective on humanity and the meetings with Hob. This was also the episode where Dream's look made me go "Lestat" at one point even though he resembles none of the actors who've played that character previously. My boyfriend really enjoyed episode 4: Hope in Hell. The battle of wits between Dream and Lucifer was definitely a highlight.

So yeah, definitely go give The Sandman a watch if you haven't already.

Artemis Fowl Series Overview

Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer

A Mostly Spoiler Free Overview of the Series

 

I find the Artemis Fowl series a bit hard to categorize. I remember enjoying the first four books as a teenager but never got around to reading the rest of the series until now. I honestly can't say that the series is amazing, though it is, at least original. Sci-fi-is fairies aren't a dime a dozen, after all. It was fun getting to know the characters and their world, for the most part. It is also quite clear that 30-something is not the intended age range for the Artemis Fowl series. I was rolling my eyes at some of the jokes and honestly felt talked down to at times. If I were to recommend an age-range for these, it would probably be the Junior High set.

The main batch of characters -- Artemis, Holly, Mulch, Butler, Foaly, and Opal -- were all fleshed out quite well. I enjoyed all of them at certain points, though, if you've read my reviews, you will know that I have a disdain for Butler's apparent body-guarding "skills." Artemis' character progression was believable and gradual enough to work for me. The less said about his alter ego in The Atlantis Complex, the better. Holly, Foaly, and Mulch were pretty steady throughout the series, which I expect considering they're in at least their 80s. Fairy aging might be different than human aging, but a well-adjusted adult is still not going to change that much over the course of a few years. Butler, as I've said before, is a crap bodyguard, but he's essential to the series. Artemis did need someone to do the physical stuff after all. And finally, Opal Koboi. Hooo boy does Opal need some serious, actual therapy. That said, I did enjoy having an uncomplicated, almost completely insane villain.

The secondary characters were alright, though honestly the rest of them were relegated to the background pretty quickly. I definitely did not enjoy most of the interim antagonists, can't even recall their names off the top of my head. I'm not really sure why we had to have them in the first place, but they exist. I did like Commander Julius Root, for the short time we had him. He was very stereotypical of a hard on the outside but a cinnamon roll in the middle police captain that seems to make their way into these things. I guess I would have liked him to stick around, but I feel like he would have been just a background character, like Kelp, there at the end so it's probably a good thing he was taken out early. Myles and Beckett Fowl were cute and largely served to soften Artemis some. Artemis Fowl Sr. and Angeline Fowl were just kind of there as very background guides for Artemis' continued growth through the series and, of course, motivation in those first three books. Lastly, Juliet Butler had some semi-complex character growth. She figured out what she actually wanted to do with her life (masked wrestling) and then promptly discards it to bodyguard the Fowl twins? I'm confused, but hey, if that's apparently what she wants, more power to her.

I did also enjoy the fairy upgrade we got. By that, I mean that the fairies are a borderline sci-fi alien species as opposed to the stereotypical stuck in medieval ways kind of species. I also liked the diversity of them. We've got elves, sprites, trolls, dwarfs, goblins, and centaurs, each with their own characteristics. It's not often we get more than just elves and dwarfs. Speaking of dwarfs, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about getting a new ability for them every book. They seem to be ever-evolving where the rest of the fairies are just kind of mini-humans with a tiny bit of magic. Not even sure what most of fairy society uses magic for. Holly always seems to be using it for healing and shielding, but most of fairy society is underground just going about their business so they don't need magic, really. Much shrugging. I'm still wondering how tall centaurs get, given that the other fairy species (aside from Trolls) seem to top out at around three feet.

Finally, I want to talk a bit about Colfer's environmental message. It's really obvious that Colfer is pro-environmentalism. I second that view, for what it's worth. However, I do think Colfer slams the reader over the head with it at least once a book. I get it, I do, get the kids onboard with the pro-environment message as soon as you can. Not sure how much in-depth detail really needed to be added, though. I know my brain kind of glazed over when Artemis' glider was described in The Last Guardian, for example. I'm also pretty sure I ranted about the Extinctionists in The Time Paradox, too. They were definitely "on stage" for a lot longer than I thought was needed. But yeah, Colfer definitely has a strong pro-environment message that's ridiculously hard to miss. To be clear, I'm not knocking the inclusion of the message, I'm just not feeling HOW it was included. That said, it's also clear that Colfer is hopeful for us. His path for humanity in The Last Guardian shows that.

Yeah, overall, I think Artemis Fowl is pretty good. Worth a read, at least. In my personal opinion, one could definitely skip over a few books. They pertinent plot points are summed up in the following books, so you don't have to kill any brain cells actually slogging through them. I would personally skip The Eternity Code, The Time Paradox, and The Atlantis Complex on reread... assuming I ever get the urge to reread this series.

Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian by Eoin Colfer

A Spoiler Free Review

Originally Posted on GoodReads: August 9, 2022

Well color me suitably impressed. Or as impressed as I can get with a young adult novel that is also the finale of a series. Artemis Fowl has been up and down, but the end is definitely up, for which I am immensely happy.

I’m still salty about The Atlantis Complex. Like, literally the dumbest mental illness/plot point. Pretty much waved away here at the beginning. Also not very happy to see Dr. Jerbil Argon back. Just… ugh. Didn’t like him in The Opal Deception, still don’t like him here. Luckily, it’s only in order to assure everyone that Artemis is indeed cured of the annoying plot device so he can continue on being the hero.

I was very glad to have Opal back in the villain chair. There was no way she was going to be locked in that Atlantis prison for the rest of the series. I am a tad torn as to the way she managed to escape, but that’s the version of me that is more into alternate timelines than exploding universes. That said, I did wonder how they were going to deal with two Opals in the same time and it was handled as best as one could hope. I’m also glad the Opal clone, Nopal, was dealt with. I’d honestly forgotten Nopal existed, so it was a bit of a surprise when she showed back up.

The way Colfer did Berserkers was interesting. Very few fantasy authors that I’ve read treat Berserkers as anything more than rage machines, so to see them more as a military unit was pleasant. It was also interesting to see how the Berserkers had to overcome the difficulty of disparate hosts. I liked it. It was amusing at times. Also, ya know, always fun to have that mind-controlled loved-ones trope show up.

I even enjoyed the aside focused on Foaly and Caballine. At the beginning of that, I was sure I was going to be annoyed with it, as the action had been following Artemis, Holly, and Butler up to that point. However, it was actually nice to have a little break from them to follow Foaly around and actually get to know Caballine a bit. I liked her a lot.

The story as a whole was mostly paced well. There were points where I was rolling my eyes a bit, but not enough to completely break my immersion. Everyone was also in character, which was very nice. Also, no mention of the Holly/Artemis romance. Good riddance. I don't think it's strictly necessary to have your male and female leads be in some kind of romantic relationship. It's often shoehorned in, as it was here. Getting rid of it in favor of the platonic relationship is much better and definitely more valid for these characters.

There is a point at which the world basically explodes. It’s more of a technology explodes kind of deal. For everyone, humans and fairies alike. Colfer is apparently convinced humans would have been rocked back to the stone age by this. He says as much. I disagree. I think there’s enough non-tech and tech that was developed before the five year cutoff that we would by no means be back in the stone age. Back to the 90s, maybe, but definitely not stone age. Also, have a very big beef with how he says humanity recovered from this catastrophe. Like, it’s nice to think we’d go all solar and wind powered, but we were mostly gas powered before any of the tech got going. Doubt we’d bounce back in environmentally friendly ways, to be honest. I don’t have that much faith in humanity. But hey, it’s Colfer’s universe.

I’m also honestly not sure how much more I can say without spoiling things. Part of the fun is the play-by-play of the adventure. I am glad it ended as it did, though I’m a tad tired of sacrifices being undone. That’s definitely all I’ll say on that, though, as giving away the ending is definitely a spoiler. Anyway, I am very, very glad the series ended on a high note.

In Other News

I will be doing a Series Overview for Artemis Fowl, but it will probably take me a little while to do so. This post will also be the last of my daily posts for a good long while. I've been posting all my reviews for 2022 (and 2021 due to when I started The Women of the Otherworld/The Otherworld) and we're now all caught up. All subsequent reviews will be posted when I finish reading and/or watching whatever I'll be reviewing.

Currently reading: The Princess Bride by William Goldman and Midnight's Daughter by Karen Chance

Currently watching: The Sandman and The Umbrella Academy

As a rather personal side note: Please, please, please be patient, polite, and flexible when dealing with your service professionals, no matter which service they're providing you. We're all overworked and understaffed and would really appreciate some understanding on the part of the consumer. We're also STILL dealing with product shortages and variable product availability, so please keep that in mind.

Embrace the Night by Karen Chance

A Spoiler Free Reread Review

Originally Posted on GoodReads: August 6, 2022

I really quite enjoyed Embrace the Night. It was slower paced without so much action going on. Allowed the story, and Cassie, to breathe for once. She's not running around, or being forced to run around, at random. I think settling into her role as Pythia and getting to grips with her powers is really good for Cassie. That said, the tension is largely kept up by the time-sensitive issue lurking around in the background and largely driving the plot.

Speaking of... the geis is still gross. Do not like. Do not like its resolution. Not really sure why the resolution had to be exactly what it was aside from getting Mircea and Cassie to actually consummate whatever their relationship is. And that's all I'm gonna say about that due to spoilers.

So let's see... we got Pritkin backstory in both story and time-travel form. Appears he's always had trouble actually listening when people tell him things. Jumps to some lovely wrong conclusions and sticks to his guns to an annoying level, rejecting information that conflicts with his preconceived notions. I'm not a fan of this and hopefully he changes in this aspect. Cuz like, how're you gonna keep Cassie safe if you can't seem to parse what information is given to you about things you know little about?

Cassie knows how to use a weapon! I understand she has this reliance on guns due to their lovely speed factor, but she's really bad at aiming and doesn't seem to be getting any better... but surprise! She did have some training with swords when she was younger and actually manages to hold her won against Pritkin for a bit during training. Hope she keeps that up and maybe starts carrying one as a backup or something. Better than continually hiding behind or under things all the time while chaos rages around you. Plus, helpful for time traveling shenanigans. I really can't explain how happy I was to find out about this previously unknown skill. I want more.

I liked the background we got on Cassie's post/pre-Tony activities. Tammi and the kids serve as some nice world-building. After all, not everyone is born a Mage or a Vampire or whatever. I like to know what other types of magical being are out there and how they're dealt with by the magical community at large, even if it's rather horrible. Probably some setup for later down the line, too. Does not seem like that story-line is at all resolved.

Much like the Rosier/Saleh stuff. I really want to know what exactly crawled up Rosier's butt cuz we didn't really get an actual explanation. Saleh was interesting. Want to see more of him, I think. Djinn are pretty interesting creatures, so I'm also interested in seeing how Chance fleshes them out... hopefully, anyway. Apparently, despite semi-wide use in fantasy literature, djinn are a hot button topic for certain Muslims so... I dunno. I just found that out with the release of the Ms. Marvel show over on Disney+. Which you should totally watch, cuz it's fun, but I digress.

Apollo, Apollo, Apollo... I disliked his character pretty much from the get go. He did that thing where he's like "Yes, I shall teach you, but first, do this thing that requires use of things I'm not teaching you right now." Red flag. But also, he's a god so, par for the course, right? I thought so and then... spoilers happened. So that's fun. If you read Embrace the Night, you'll know.

Speaking of, there's a big Ouroboros thing going on in Embrace the Night. It's semi-interesting. Amazing how many things seem to use the Ouroboros as a logo but it's not obvious because it got simplified to an unrecognizable point... yeah. Kind of also has stuff to do with the geis due to the way it was placed. Or at least, that's what I thought was going to happen... but yeah, not quite.

Man, it's really hard to keep spoilers out of this review. There's so much that happens despite the lack of chaotic battles. It's really quite nice to settle down and just get to the overall story rather than having Cassie running for her life or someone else's every couple of pages.

Touch the Dark by Karen Chance

A Spoiler Free Reread Review

Originally Posted on GoodReads: July 5, 2022

So Touch the Dark is quite good. It does have a lot of heavy-lifting to do in terms of world-building. I think it does that fairly well, though it is somewhat annoying at times *cough*Pritkin*cough*. There's also a good amount of setup for things that happen down the line because time travel[time travel (hide spoiler)] is definitely a thing in this series. Oh, did I mention this is a reread review? No? Oops. Anyway... I did enjoy Touch the Dark even if I did find certain bits frustrating and honestly, forgettable. What I mean by that is: I might not forget them as I go on to reread/finish reading the rest of the series, but I definitely forgot a good 99% of this book in the intervening years since my first read. Ultimately, info-dump-sexy-times is not my favorite thing and everything before that felt like just so much setup for other things.

As an avid reader of vampire books, I have to say I liked the bits of lore plunked down here. The scene in which Pritkin (and we as readers) get an education in how vampirism in this world works was somewhat annoying, if informative. I dislike characters who are ignorant and very couched in their ignorance to the point of calling everyone out about things they assume are going on as opposed to asking what's going on. I also find it interesting that mages apparently don't know jack about vampires despite apparently being large parts of the supernatural community. And finally, I'm not sure how I feel about all the famous historical vampires. I mean, I remembered Mircea and Cleopatra from my recent-ish reread of the Dorina books, but then there's the addition of Jack the Ripper, Rasputin, and Raphael... just kinda... okay, guess we're doing this now.

I found Cassie's overall non-knowledge of her powers and things to be interesting. Always fun when a character has to learn new gifts all by her lonesome. Her confusion matches our confusion, which isn't exactly reassuring as a reader... and that basically no one thinks to explain to her what could possibly be going on until rather late in the game is annoying. I wanted to shake everyone in the room, including Cassie. I felt she should have demanded to know what was going on immediately, but no, must get distracted by personal things that, again, don't pan out until info-dump time later. Of course I don't remember much about the rest of the series to know if that personal stuff ever pans out... other things do, I believe, but yeah... I don't remember a lot about what I'm getting into again...

Anyway, decent enough starter book for the series. Cassie's a good protagonist, I think. Her power set is interesting and not one that's seen often in fantasy novels. I'm definitely looking forward to rereading/finishing the rest of these.

The Third Magic by Molly Cochran

A Spoiler Free Review

Originally Posted on GoodReads: June 23, 2022

Well, that was definitely an ending... and kind of a beginning, I suppose. It's a cycle, after all. I think that's at least part of the point of The Third Magic. The cycle goes on and interrupting it in hopes of a continuation doesn't really have the best consequences for those involved. And then it goes and does that thing where we hit the reset button to basically undo everything... I mean, I choose to read it as an alternate timeline where Merlin didn't do "The Second Magic," but I gather from the other reviews I've read, I'm the only one.

The Third Magic features a pretty complete retelling of the Arthurian legend interspersed with the continuation of Arthur Blessing's story and Taliesin's education, apparently. It does contradict re-tellings and even events from the earlier books (mostly The Broken Sword); however, it's basically a retcon and doesn't actually affect the story that much. In fact, given that I personally disliked The Broken Sword and the retcons, one could probably just skip it. Everything's re-explained in a satisfactory enough manner, I think. There's also a complete swap of Morgan for Morgause in The Third Magic that just had me tilting my head every time she appeared. I kind of understand why, but at the same time I'm just like... those are two different people in Arthurian Legend and you've apparently decided to combine them and give them the lesser known one's name... because Orkney needed to be involved. Anyway, I digress.

Again in this trilogy, I wasn't super impressed with the "villain" of the piece. I think there probably should have just been focus on Arthur and his crisis of person-hood rather than throwing in Titus and Pinto, but apparently someone had to help restart the cycle so... "villains." However, Titus was at least more interesting than Aubrey and (view spoiler)[apparently Morgause reincarnated, wtf (hide spoiler)] so I'll forgive him being around. Pinto... Titus just needed someone to take care of him apparently. He didn't really do much other than cause a little chaos so... yeah.

My issue with the knights was still here. I understand they're from medieval times and it's fun to have them causing chaos because apparently medieval courts were just super rowdy all the time... but I'm still not convinced they would have been as annoyingly inept as they're portrayed. *shrug* Another just me thing, probably.

There's also a large focus on the whole Launcelot/Guenevere thing that annoys me every time I read it, whether it's supposedly true or else just rumors. I've never enjoyed this part of the story and revisiting it this time actually reminded me a lot of The Mists of Avalon so that's not great. I get it, it's the melodrama of it all, but that was actually something I liked about The Forever King and The Broken Sword. Mention it. Mention how it was basically the start of Arthur's downfall and move on. But no, gotta linger on it... a lot. *Insert rolling eyes here*

Anyway... overall The Third Magic was alright. I read it in basically three days, so it definitely had my attention and did clip along at a good pace. The ending wasn't exactly the best, but, like I said at the beginning of this review, gotta do the cycle thing. I completely understand why a bunch of people didn't think it was satisfying. Heck, I personally think this trilogy went through highs and lows and this one just happened to do both in one book. I just tend to talk about stuff that annoyed me because I don't want to spoil things for others.

Artemis Fowl

Here be spoilers for books and movie. You have been warned.

Alrighty so, this was the movie I originally had picked as my first movie review for this blog. Figured if I was going to reread/finish reading the Artemis Fowl series, I would subject myself to the movie as well. I knew it was going to be bad. I'd heard through the internet that it was bad but I hadn't looked at any reviews or anything. I also knew that "perceived fan wisdom" (to borrow a phrase from Verity! a Doctor Who Podcast) is often wrong. They were not wrong about this adaptation of Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer.

I cannot for the life of me figure out why Disney decided to change the plot to fundamentally. Was it to make Artemis more likeable? Was it to give him something to do? Was it to give Colin Farrell more screen-time? Whatever it was, Disney completely botched this one. Not only was the plot changed, but, as a result, Artemis himself was changed. Book Artemis would not have recognized his movie counterpart. Or, if he did, he would have been extremely dismissive of him. Movie Artemis is much more emotional, physically active, and not exactly less intelligent, but definitely not as focused through that intelligence. I honestly can't see Movie Artemis robbing a bank, for instance. He doesn't show any of the ingenuity Book Artemis does. He spends more time spouting off knowledge apparently gained from his father than figuring anything out for himself. And then he goes and baits Opal there at the end. Just straight up baits her. Book Artemis would never.

Artemis is not the only character changed for this adaptation. Commander Julius Root is now just Commander Root as she is played by Dame Judi Dench. I think Dame Dench does an adequate enough job as Root, but I really think she was cast to put another female in the cast. Speaking of which, Juliet Butler is now 12 instead of 16 and is otherwise pretty unchanged from how she was in Artemis Fowl. I do not, however, actually believe that she is as skilled at martial arts as she should be as she displays absolutely none of this in the movie. Opal Koboi has been reduced to Shadowy Villain We Never See The Face Of But Has A Permanent Voice Changer with more revolutionary sounding plans than just Book Opal's world domination thing. Cudgeon, instead of just being a government toady, is now under Opal's employ for some reason... and Butler... oh Butler... He commands absolutely none of the presence of his book counterpart aaand... Domovoi. Right out the gate, that thing that signals he's in trouble is just trotted out like it's completely normal to refer to him by his first name all the time. Which, in the movie-verse is true, but boy did it bug me every time someone said "Dom." He also shows off none of that Butler prowess, but does fail as a bodyguard at least twice that I decided to count. Second-to-last, Mr. Mulch Diggums. Apparently we couldn't just CG a character for this so instead Mulch is a giant dwarf. Okay, could have lived with that if the rest of the dwarfs had been similarly cast, but they weren't and so it because Mulch's thing apparently. Also, I wasn't sure how they were gonna do Mulch's digging and jaw unhinging thing but... in hindsight, the way they did the digging was fine, but that jaw animation was just weird. Oh, and Foaly was just kinda there.

I'm going to talk about Artemis Sr. separately from everyone else as he's really where the biggest changes are. First, Angeline Fowl has apparently died, so Artemis Sr. is a single father. He's apparently still doing criminal things, though the reasons have definitely shifted. Instead of teaching Artemis everything he knows about how to run a criminal empire, he's taught Artemis everything he knows about fairies. He's definitely more of a loving father than pre-Arctic Incident Book Artemis Sr. was. And then, of course, there's the whole thing about being kidnapped by Opal rather than the Russian Mafia thing... mmm... I didn't like the whole thing with Artemis Sr. and apparently Holly's dead father. Where in the world did that come from? Why could we not have just stuck to the book's plot and not had to shoe-horn that in?

Speaking of plot points... that Aculos. Just... why? Why could we not just have had Mr. Criminal Mastermind do what he did in the books and get ahold of THE BOOK and Holly in order to get the gold? Why did we have to bring in this deus ex machina? Part tech, part magic but apparently the source of all magic? I'm confused as to what the Aculos even is, let alone why it was important.

Speaking of magic... with the loss of a plot involving THE BOOK and kidnapping a fairy for the fairy gold, we lost the magic bit of the plot. No explanation of the rules of magic. No basement cell. No banging bed covering up Mulch's loud activity. No acorn in Holly's boot. Just a sudden "Cut off all magic in the house" so we can have a minute to fear for Butler's life. Like, literally, that was it. Magic reduced to some not-at-all-explained tech gadget in order to endanger Butler's life and then bring him back a minute later. Just... ugh. I'm frustrated at the movie.

However, there were somethings I did enjoy. The L.E.P. suits were pretty. Foaly's hair was nice. His horse-bits animation wasn't jarring. The tech looked alright. I always imagined fairy tech to be more organic looking, but I wasn't super disappointed with how it ended up looking. Their shuttles reminded me of Marvel's Quinjets. The troll looked okay, I guess. I never really thought of them as looking like they stepped out of a Harry Potter movie, though. I also have a question regarding the people who took custody of Mulch. Who were they supposed to be, exactly? Just an unexplained plot point so we could have Mulch basically narrate the story at certain points? Probably.

So, Artemis Fowl wasn't exactly a bad movie, I don't think. It was entertaining enough and I didn't feel the need to turn it off at any point. It was, however, a colossally bad adaptation.

A Star Is Born - 2018

Long story short: I hated this movie.

The Long Story In Which There Will Be Spoilers And Triggers:

So my boyfriend bought this movie on his XBox two days ago, presumably because he's on a Lady Gaga kick. And by that I mean he's been listening to "Hold My Hand" almost nonstop since it came out. I'm tired of listening to it, but that's beside the point. Anyway, he bought this movie and attempted to start watching it with me without telling me what we were about to watch. I grabbed the controller, found out, said no, and went to find something else to watch. Even explained that I had zero interest in watching A Star Is Born and he could watch it the next day while I was at work.

Next morning, he starts it up while we're eating breakfast. I say nothing because I've got about 20 minutes before I have to leave and it's whatever. Something to watch while I eat. I assume he'll finish the movie while I'm gone. He does not. He does watch some of it, but I come home later that evening and he switches from whatever he was watching back to A Star Is Born. Pauses it while I'm in the shower even though I told him he doesn't have to and I wish he wouldn't. I play OviPets after my shower with A Star Is Born playing in the background. He now owes me a Harry Potter movie because he essentially forced me to watch this stupid movie.

I mentioned previously that I had zero interest in watching A Star If Born. This is because A) I had zero interest when it first came out and B) I'd watched a YouTube video on the four versions a few months ago. You can find that video HERE if you're interested. Please do, it's a good video. I knew the basic story line from watching the video and it pretty much solidified that I had zero interest in ever seeing any version of A Star Is Born. I think my reasoning is pretty solid, especially having now seen the movie.

The plot of A Star Is Born (if you haven't seen it) is this: Jack is a pretty famous, drunk singer who stumbles upon a woman (Ally) in a drag bar he ends up in because he wants to be more drunk. Ally, it turns out, can fucking sing. He pretty much falls in love with her and her voice and takes her on tour with him. She gets "discovered" by some super awesome agent and ends up getting a career of her own. I managed to skip part of the movie here, but Jack and Ally get married. He continues with the drinking and some prescribed drug usage, she wins a Grammy. He drunkenly follows her on stage and pisses himself before basically passing out and getting sent to rehab. This apparently almost tanks Ally's career off-screen. When Jack gets back from rehab, Mr. Agent-Manager tells him to get the hell away from Ally before he self-destructs and drags her down with him. Jack ends up killing himself or ODing, it's ambiguous. Ally grieves. Ally sings a love song Jack wrote for her to an audience. It's all very depressing.

Now, my particular form of anxiety makes me think about things while I am attempting to fall asleep and this movie decided to stick around in my brain last night. I originally wrote a rant-y piece on my phone about how much I hate this movie and how the Grammy scene could have been avoided and how there's only one female character in the movie... yeah. It's actually kind of victim-blame-y and I'm not real sure how to classify drag queens so, I'm not going to repeat any of that here. It will suffice to say that I found A Star Is Born to be just the worst. Jack clearly has mental health issues -- and some physical ones -- that he drowns with liquor. I just don't know that we as an audience really needed to be along for that ride. Yes, it was sad, from a certain viewpoint. I'm over it.

I am over these stories of artists, or anyone really, getting tangled up in drink and drugs and ending up ODing or killing themselves. This is not what I want in my media. "Well that's real life. That's what happens. It's happened before." Yes, I am aware. I am very aware. It's happened recently enough with celebrities that I've looked up to. I still don't want it in my media. I'm allowed to be selective in what I consume, damnit. NOT TO MENTION this stigma about mental health problems. I understand that not everyone can or will get help and even that the help they do get doesn't translate into real life. But man, aren't there enough stories floating around out there about that exact issue? A Star Is Born is not the first or the last. It's better for my personal mental health if I don't dwell on these things like our "serious art" seems to want to. I'm not even sure these kinds of stories push people toward seeking the help they need... and I honestly don't know where I'm going with this, so I'm going to stop.

Uh, yeah. A Star Is Born is definitely not my thing. I resent my boyfriend for making me watch it. I plan to be much more firm in my decisions not to watch things I don't want to, cuz A Star Is Born is just stuck in my brain-pan now and I hate it.

On a much more serious note: If you do have mental health problems, please, please, please seek help. If not for yourself, do it for your loved ones.

The Broken Sword by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy

A Spoiler Free Review

Originally Posted on GoodReads: June 21, 2022

So The Broken Sword is a book I've had since I was in Junior High (I'm now 33). My copy is beat up and stained and one of two I still have from that time. It is also the sequel to my absolute favorite book The Forever King. That said, I don't think I've ever read the pair one right after the other, and boy, did that diminish my ranking of The Broken Sword. This reread was also my first time reading The Broken Sword with any kind of critical lens, so that also had something to do with it.

I was really looking forward to reading this series as a series, as I've relatively recently discovered The Third Magic existed. However, as a sequel, The Broken Sword doesn't actually hold up or even stack up against The Forever King. First and foremost, the addition of a boat load of new characters makes the story messy, in my opinion. The Forever King was able to weave the backstories of Hal, Taliesin, Saladin, Emily, and Arthur into the overall narrative without pulling you from the story itself. The Broken Sword doesn't manage to do this in a satisfying manner. In fact, toward the end there, it was downright annoying. The main thing that pulled me out toward the end was having the gods literally tell Thanatos that the "old gods" and the "dark gods" were one in the same and then having everyone else for the rest of the story referencing the "dark gods" as having won... which just had me rolling my eyes.

It's not that I didn't enjoy getting Kate and Zack and maybe even Aubrey's backstories, but having to shoehorn them into the rest of the narrative felt clumsy. Trying to recapture the magic of The Forever King and mostly failing because they just weren't integral enough to the rest of the plot. Nor were those backstories nearly as interesting as Saladin and Taliesin's.

My second big issue with the story is Aubrey/Thanatos, the main villain. First off, I don't believe that Saladin would have suddenly decided to appoint anyone his heir. It seemed really out of character for him. In fact, he seemed very out of character for his entire appearance in The Broken Sword. But hey, gotta give Aubrey a backstory that loops him into The Forever King and the mythology of both books somehow. Cue much shrugging and hand-waving. But honestly, my problem with Aubrey is that he's just boring. Like, Cochran and Murphy attempted to make him interesting and a little quirky, but it really didn't succeed. He felt like a caricature of a person rather than an actual threat. Lot of Rheged was more menacing as a villain and he was only a threat to past Arthur. Aaand then there was the whole thing with Morgan. She's one of the most enduring villains from Arthurian legend and probably the best known female villain period... and her truly most evil act is co-opted in this book by Thanatos. It's not through her power that she conceives Mordred, it's through his. This bugs me. A lot.

My last two issues are Portugal and the knights. Hal's whole thing in Portugal had me a) rolling my eyes and b) heading to Google to look up Faro. Antonia, though I know she's literally just a plot device to get Hal back to England, annoyed the heck out of me. She's barely a person and has one of the most stereotypical (and actually insulting) motivations you can give a female character. That was the rolling eyes bit. The Googling of Faro, Portugal, had me wanting to smack Cochran and Murphy. Faro, as it turns out, is actually a pretty big tourist destination here in 2022. I HIGHLY doubt it was a one-rental-car town as depicted in The Broken Sword back in 1997. Really, I'm annoyed on Faro's account. Misrepresentation of places annoys me. Always has. As for the knights: I know they're from medieval times. I know the behavior expected of them probably wasn't typical of how we behave now. I know they'd probably be pretty rowdy after having been pulled through the veil and set in a pub. I get all that. HOWEVER, they've also gotta be pretty smart. Maybe not book smart, but smarter than they were depicted in the modern parts of The Broken Sword. They definitely seemed to be less stupid back in their own time, that's for sure. This mix of characterization for them just bugs me.

Anyway, The Broken Sword definitely doesn't match The Forever King as far as storytelling goes. It's messy and the addition of all the new active characters really doesn't do the story any favors. Taliesin's whole thing with Mona was definitely a thing. Served the overall plot but wasn't super interesting, truth be told. I am also not sure how I feel about the very ending of the book... which I won't talk about, but yeah... Anway, again, I'm not sure I'll pick up The Broken Sword the next time I feel like reading The Forever King.

The Forever King by Molly Cochran and Warren Murphy

A Spoiler Free Reread Review

Originally Posted on GoodReads: June 9, 2022

I do believe The Forever King will forever be one of my favorite books. I first read it after my girl scout leader gifted it to me. I was maybe 12. I’ve read it several times since then and then made the mistake of lending it to my sister’s then-fiance. Never saw that copy again. Never forgot the story. Picked up another copy semi-recently just to have again. Finally reread it this June. Still love it.

I didn’t really appreciate the writing when I was younger, but I definitely do now. The world of The Forever King is rich and both realistic and fanciful. It has a can’t-put-it-down quality. Also a glimpse into Arthurian legend that most books don’t look at and was actually formative in my personal journey through Arthurian legend and fantasy in general.

I thought the flow of the story from the present to the distant past and back again was masterful. Never once felt like any part of the story dragged. The characters are wonderful, as well. Hal and Taliesin are rarely far from my personal thoughts, if I’m honest. Saladin was a wonderful villain, even if he does fulfill that Middle Eastern villain stereotype. At least his background justifies that. A background that properly fleshes him out, which is often rare for fantasy villains.

So yeah, overall, The Forever King is awesome. I highly recommend it to pretty much anyone, but those interested in fantasy and Arthurian legends in particular.

Thunderbird Falls by C.E. Murphy

A Spoiler Free Review

Originally Posted on GoodReads: June 8, 2022

Well, I spent most of this book really, really frustrated with just about everyone in it. Not a good sign. Also made the decision somewhere about halfway through to not continue with this series. I don’t enjoy internally (and in my notes) screaming at the characters. While I do think that the ending of this book will probably push Joanne onto a path I was screaming at her to get on, I don’t have that much faith that she will so… yeah.

I honestly spent a good chunk of the book yelling at Joanne to slow down and do some research into the shit she was getting herself into. It’s not like she didn’t have time during the adventure. Not entirely sure what she spent that time actually doing, but it wasn’t research and it wasn’t sleeping… which she also had time to do but didn’t. Hanging a big ol’ lampshade on this there at the end didn’t make me feel any better about it, either. More research into the rituals and pretty much anything besides someone else looking up snakes for her would have made things a lot more palatable for me.

I also wasn’t a big fan of the coven. A coven welcoming a new member who has no idea what’s going on should be open to explaining themselves and this one was downright rude about Joanne’s lack of knowledge. I understand that a certain member had all the reasons to not be forthcoming, but… I’m just really put off by the whole coven at this point.

So yeah, I’ve decided I’m too frustrated with Joanne at this point, and the author as well, to continue with the series. I need more from my mythological mysteries than a stream of bam, bam, bam, oh hey it’s the villan, big power play to defeat them, ending bow.

In Other News

Today I finished an OviPets project: Dracomon

 

Dracomon is part of my "Child Digimon" registered project... which probably means nothing to you if you don't play OviPets. Basically, users make pets to look a certain way and have the option to register said pets into a Project so other users can't claim creations they did not make. Anyway, you can check all that out over on OviPets.

Artemis Fowl: The Atlantis Complex by Eoin Colfer

A Semi-Spoilery Review

Originally Posted on GoodReads: 8-1-22

Welp, Colfer opted for more “script padding” here. Spending a lot of time explaining things that were already quite plain and giving us a lot more insight into characters I’m pretty sure we didn’t need the insight into. This weird third-person limited but limited to whoever I want at any given moment mixed with third person omniscient with a wannabe in-universe narrator thing Colfer does is really not the best. It’s kind of like he’s trying to imitate Douglas Adams and failing. Don’t get me wrong, it’s alright at times, but at other times it’s super distracting and often times feels like he’s talking down to the reader. This writing style also completely leeches any sort of urgency out of the text. I am definitely not a fan.

Orion Fowl is the worst. I didn’t like the Artemis/Holly thing that started in The Time Paradox and I like it even less now. The age gap is still gross. Will always be gross. Orion’s ridiculously flowery language in Holly’s direction is gross. They need to just be friends and firmly stick to that. There’s zero reason for romance between them. Zero.

So, Butler… why the fuck didn’t he attempt to contact Juliet at any point BEFORE showing up at her wrestling match? Turnball’s entire Butler plan hinged on no one actually attempting to figure out what was going on by any other means than in person... and Artemis apparently straight up lying to Butler due to his paranoia. Still not entirely sure how that last bit managed to work out or how Turnball found out about it... but he got what he wanted, but again, this brings up Butler’s incompetence. If he’d maybe tried to ask Juliet for some details, there’s no way he’d have gone to Mexico. Just… ugh. This trope of people not talking to each other needs to fucking die. It's lazy. Especially when pasted onto a character like Butler. Butler is frequently shown to be checking out all the angles of attack and making sure exits are clear and being generally worried about anything involving Artemis being in a crowded area. But to basically NOT do any of his apparently usual prep work when it involves his sister... like, why? Oh, convenient plot development? Cool. Not cool. Not remotely cool. Annoying.

Turnball Root is… I don’t know. Interesting isn’t the right word, even if used sarcastically. He’s not stupid, either. I mean, he somehow figured out how to get the barest bit of magic and mix it with some previously unknown rune thing... He's unhinged, definitely. Not sure how I want to categorize him, but it’s definitely not up there with the great villains. I really don’t understand why anyone who ostensibly works for him does so. He’s condescending and just ridiculous. Not going to lie, I skipped his backstory with Leonor. I’m sure it was properly touching, but as I’m not a fan of the writing style of The Atlantis Complex… I just felt it was going to be eye-roll inducing, so I skipped it. I understand that. Colfer was attempting something different here with Turnball, but I really wasn’t invested and it fell pretty flat for me.

So, the Atlantis Complex as a mental illness is patently ridiculous and treated horribly. I understand that there were circumstances, but ultimately, it’s a plot device that I did not appreciate in the least. I did like that we weren’t privy as to what was going on with Artemis in the first part of the story, even if I was admittedly annoyed by it. However, that does not change the fact that a magical disease caused by remorse, of all things, is not great as a representation of mental illness. It actually kind of reminds me of J.K. Rowling’s short story “The Warlock’s Hairy Heart” from The Tales of Beadle the Bard in that remorse ultimately causes the warlock’s death. Also this representation of some form of Dissociative Identity Disorder is annoying at best and not actually how that works at all. Atlantis Complex just mixes a bunch of stuff together basically to sideline Artemis unless it's convenient. Did not enjoy.

Anyway, time to finish out this hit-and-miss series with The Last Guardian. Here’s hoping it’s less eye-roll inducing than this one. Crossing my fingers because I really want to ultimately come out positive on this series.

Favorite Line

"It was more expensive in the long term, but the politicians reasoned that by the time the long term came around, somebody else would be in office."

Urban Shaman by C.E. Murphy

A Spoiler Free Review

Originally Posted on GoodReads: May 31, 2022

I’m not gonna lie, Urban Shaman is not the greatest. It is, however, engaging and interesting. I enjoyed the story and the mixing of mythologies. I think it was done fairly well, which is a plus. The story did drag in places, but never so much as into a grinding halt.

I was distracted by the police at several junctions (junctures?). They didn’t seem to react like they were real police officers. It was very odd that they just went along with Joanne’s weirdness. Even supernatural police forces don’t just go along with whatever just because a well-liked officer (who was barely an officer) said to. Morrison was actually the person who kept breaking my immersion the most. At no point should he have not fired Joanne. At the very least he should have ordered a psyche eval.

It was also somewhat weird to be reading from the perspective of someone who has little to no idea the supernatural exists or that she even has powers. I had to remind myself a couple times that Joanne wasn’t the kind of supernatural heroine I’m used to reading. You know the type: ultra competent, ultra sure of herself, and ultra comfortable with her powers. This issue was a little off-putting in the beginning, but, like I said, had to remind myself that Joanne’s a newbie with no mentor. Still really not sure how she could see Marie from a plane… that was a big sticking point in the book and with me. There’s no way you can pick out individuals on the ground from a plane.

I feel like I should say something about Gary, but… nah. He was just kinda there when Joanne needed him. Much shrugging.

Uh… the rest of the story was… interesting, I think it the word I’ll settle on. It was fun for me getting another take on The Wild Hunt mythology. I’m always here for Faerie stuff. I liked the short look at shamanism, even if it’s definitely heavily reliant on western supernatural tropes. I could definitely be wrong on that, tho. Haven’t really decolonized my mythology bookshelf (or brain) enough to speak on that for sure.

Looking forward to the next one. Hope the writing gets better. I felt it was choppier than it should have been.