Now, pretty much anyone who has an interest in popular culture is aware that the first Star Wars movie since 2005, The Force Awakens, was released on December 18th 2015. Full disclosure: while I consider myself a fan of Star Wars, I have only dabbled in the Extended Universe/Legends supplementary material. Like many, though, I was anxious to see what J.J. Abrams would make of Lucas’ legacy and booked my ticket to a showing on release day. In anticipation of the event, I did a fair amount of preparation. This blog post details my immersion in the world of Star Wars during the month of December. Out of respect for the three of you out there who have not yet seen The Force Awakens, I will place my thoughts on the movie/audiobook itself below the cut. The Rewatch Naturally, the main part of my pre Force Awakens preparation was a rewatch of the Star Wars movies released prior to Episode 7. I chose to do this following machete order. I urge you to check out the full link on why this order works, but in summary, you watch Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and then switch to the…
Those of you who follow my blog know that I generally review books and audiobooks, so this review is somewhat different. Today, ladies and gentlemen, I will be discussing LEGO Dimensions, the new video game from the folks at LEGO and Travellers’ Tales. My playing this game has seriously eaten into my reading time. For those of you who have never played a LEGO video game before, they are level-based humorous games in which you smash objects to create the solutions to puzzles. They are a lot of fun. You unlock in game rewards by collecting mini-kits, red and gold bricks and LEGO studs which you can exchange for new characters with different puzzle solving abilities and other new abilities to solve more puzzles to unlock even more stuff. Dimensions is rather different in that it’s the company’s first foray into the toys-to-live world meaning that you must fork over hard cash for real-world LEGO sets to unlock the characters and content in the game. The starter pack includes the game, the toypad. the bricks to build the Dimensions portal and the Batmobile and the mini figures of Gandalf from Lord of the Rings, Batman from DC Comics and Wyldstyle…
Oh my poor wallet. September seems to be one of the busiest months for new book releases and there are seven upcoming books about which I am super excited. Without further ado, here’s the list. Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas Having just finished Heir of Fire, I am impatient for Queen of Shadows, the next volume in the Throne of Glass series. Heir of Fire was for me the strongest so far in the series and left some very interesting storylines to be followed in the next book. I look forward to the confrontation between Celaena and Arobynn and to see how Dorian is affected by the events of Heir of Fire. Queen of Shadows is released on September 1st and I have preordered it on both Kindle and Audible formats. The Copper Gauntlet by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare Also released on September 1st is Holly Black’s and Cassandra Clare’s The Copper Gauntlet. This is the second in the Magisterium series, which, like Harry Potter, is set in a school for magic. Despite the comparison with Harry Potter, it’s the contrasts with that series that make the Magisterium so interesting. I did enjoy the Iron Trial, the…
July is quite a quiet month in terms of books about which I am excited. There are three new releases which I am anticipating. The first of these is Ian Drescher’s William Shakespeare’s The Clone Army Attacketh. This is the second in Doescher’s reimagining of the Star Wars prequels (the original trilogy has already been adapted.) Regular readers of my blog know how much I love these adaptations – they are witty, very clever and a lot of fun to read/listen to. I am very disappointed, however, that neither The Phantom of Menace or The Clone Army Attacketh are available in audiobook format. Random House Audio’s full cast productions of the original trilogy adaptations were nothing short of brilliant. I have contented myself to preorder The Clone Army Attacketh in Kindle format, which is released on July 7th. This month sees the publication of two novellas in series I am following. Pale Kings and Princes is the next novella in the Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy series by Cassandra Clare and guest authors. This one is co-authored by Robin Wasserman. I adore Clare’s Shadowhunter world and have been loving these novellas to tide me over in the wait for The…
There are three books being released in May about which I am very excited. Some good books to have ready for my vacation in a couple of weeks! The one about which I am most excited is A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas of Throne of Glass fame. This is a retelling of the classic fairytale Beauty and the Beast and tells the story of Feyre, a young woman who becomes entangled with the mysterious fey in order to save her loved ones. I understand this will be the start of a series of books as well. I’ve loved the Throne of Glass series and the five chapter sample which has been released has only served to whet my appetite. A Court of Thorns and Roses is released on May 5th 2015. I can’t wait! The next upcoming release I’m looking forward to is Keira Cass’s The Heir. This is a new story set 20 years after the events of The Selection and deals with the attempts of America and Maxon’s daughter to find her partner in a Selection of her own. I’m also really looking forward to this one. The One, the final book in…
Good evening dear readers! I’m sorry I’ve not blogged for some while. I’ve been busy adjusting to my new graveyard schedule, and that’s going to go on for some while, so I may not be blogging regularly for some while. On the plus side, I did get through a few audiobooks – I will be publishing a reading roundup at some point soon in which I will discuss some of them. In any case, here are my most anticipated upcoming releases. Texts from Mittens: A Cat Who Has an Unlimited Data Plan written by Mitten with help from Angie Bailey. Strictly speaking, this isn’t an April release as it’s released on March 31 – deal with it. For those of you who haven’t met Mittens, he’s a tuxedo cat who maintains close communication with his caregiver via text. I follow Mittens on Facebook and he’s hilarious. He’s publishing a book of his collected texts and it promises to be a fun read. I preordered it on Kindle. William Shakespeare’s The Phantom of Menace. One of my top reads of 2014 was Ian Doescher’s adaptation of George Lucas’ Star Wars into Shakespearean language. Now it’s time for the prequels, the first of…
Now that it’s 2015, I would like to share some of my most anticipated books of 2015. Let’s get started! The first of these is Fairest: The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer. This is a prequel to the three books currently published and tells the backstory of series antagonist Queen Levana. For those of you who don’t know the Lunar Chronicles, they are sci-fi retellings of classic fairytales. The characters are kick ass, the world building is fantastic and they are a brilliant read. I’m really looking forward to Fairest, which is released on January 27th 2015. The final book in the series, Winter, is due for release in the autumn of 2015. I’m also excited for A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab. I loved Schwab’s Archived and the premise for this one sounds interesting – parallel universes, with certain people having the ability to travel between them. Sign me up! A Darker Shade of Magic is released on February 24th 2015. One book I’m surprised I’ve not seen on more Most Anticipated lists is The Skull Throne, the four book in Peter V. Brett’s Demon Cycle. I’ve loved the previous books in the series and find…
There are some critics who claim that fantasy literature is in some way a soft option; that in choosing to write in a more fantastical world, telling emotional character truths can take second place to worldbuilding. This post is my attempt to debunk that myth. There have been several scenes in fantasy literature which had me bawling like a baby. These aren’t necessarily death scenes, but simply beautiful writing illustrating the deep impact the situation has had on the character. Olver’s story in A Memory of Light, the last book of the Wheel of Time. This particular section was just so powerfully emotive. For those of you unfamiliar, Olver is a young orphan – around eight years old – in the Wheel of Time universe who was adopted by Mat Cauthon and his warband. Being brought up in a war camp, he exhibits a lot of his “uncle”’s enthusiasm for battle and the band has a hard time keeping him away from battle. In the particular scene that had me sobbing, Olver has become separated from his friends and is being attacked by bestial Trollocs as he desperately tried to hide. All of his bravado is stripped away and you…
Tomorrow I leave for a week’s vacation, including two long coach trips. More difficult than deciding what clothes to pack is deciding what books and audiobooks to download to my Kindle Fire for the trip. I only have 16GB on my Fire – next time I will go for 32GB at least! – and I’m not certain what internet access I will have during my trip. So I need to decide what books I’m likely to want to read/listen to over the next week. The first book I have chosen is, of course, Robin Hobb’s Fool’s Assassin. Having reread much of the Realm of the Elderlings series, I’m anxious to know what she has in store next for Fitz and the Fool. That’s the one I intend to start as soon as I board the coach. Before embarking on my reread of Robin Hobb’s works, I’d been listening to Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl. I will certainly continue that this trip if I get the chance. Continuing my cutesey romance change of scene from epic fantasy, I have also downloaded Stephanie Perkins’ Anna and the French Kiss. It’s supposed to be excellent and I look forward to that one. On August 26th…
[challenge-overview showempty=”yes”] As you may have seen from my reading roundup this week, I have set myself a significant reading challenge for the next three weeks. Before I set off on vacation on August 15th I hope to have reread part of Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings series. I hope to finish: Assassin’s Quest (848 pages/ 37 hrs and 39 mins audiobook) – I’m currently around a third of the way through this – Ship of Destiny (912 pages/33 hrs and 38 mins audiobook), Fool’s Errand (672 pages/24 hrs and 47 mins audiobook), Golden Fool (712 pages) and Fool’s Fate (936 pages). I will be mixing reading with listening to the audiobook, where one is available. I am attempting to read all this to be ready for the release of Fool’s Assassin. This is a significant challenge, and in order to complete it I’m going to hold myself responsible to you, dear readers of my blog. Instead of my usual twice or three times weekly blog posts, I will attempt to do short, daily posts with an update on where I’m at and a few quick thoughts on what I’ve read that day. There will almost certainly be spoilers…