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.