Category Archives: Review

Review: Deadhouse Landing (Path to Ascendancy Book 2) by Ian C. Esslemont

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Review: Deadhouse Landing (Path to Ascendancy Book 2) by Ian C. Esslemont

 

Shorter Review:

If you liked Dancer’s Lament then you will love Deadhouse Landing.  Featuring the same story-focused narrative, albeit delivered with broader brushstrokes, Esslemont delivers another engrossing tale of the early steps in Kellanved and Dancer’s ascent to legend and godhood.  Once again providing a fascinating glimpse at the hithertofore mysterious past of two of the more engrossing and enigmatic figures from the Malazan universe.  Equally important is that knowledge of the wider Malazan meta-narrative is not necessary to enjoy the book… although it does add a lot.

 

 

 

Longer Review:

Deadhouse Landing picks up the story of Dancer and Kellanved shortly after their disastrous attempt to wrestle power from the Protectress of Li-Heng.  Not souls to dwell on past mistakes or failures, they set their sights on a new challenge, the piratical isle of Malaz.  Admittedly this ambition is perhaps more to do with happenstance than an outright plan per se, but when has a plan ever survived contact with reality?  Especially when these two are involved.  So when faced with a small pirate kingdom, rising tensions with the neighbouring sea power Nap, and, let’s face it, Kellanved’s individual approach to reality, Dancer has his work cut out trying to fend off knives in the back, cutlasses in the side, and monstrous teeth in the shadows.

 

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Review: Wynonna Earp (2016 – )

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Wynonna Earp Poster

Review:  Wynonna Earp (2016 – )

 

Short Review:

A surprisingly entertaining supernatural, western-themed, weekly adventure show on SyFy.  Certainly an alternative to CW’s long running, more teen-focused Supernatural, but I fear it will not get the following or even half the longevity of its more established rival.  Worth checking out to see if it is your cup of tea.

 

Longer Review:

An adaptation of the limited comic series from Image Comics, Wynonna Earp diverges in a number of ways to appeal to a broader TV audience.   The unfortunate aspect of this is that due to Supernatural’s liberal borrowing from a multitude of sources and its long-established run, Earp feels a little derivative, despite being the earlier intellectual property.  Tonally the two shows are actually quite different, and certainly Earp is the more ‘adult’.  But in terms of production value, Earp has a long way to go, and unless there is a remarkable upsurge in its popularity, this show will never attract the kind of budget that will do it justice.

 

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Review: Captain America: Civil War (dir. Russo & Russo, 2016)

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Review: Captain America: Civil War (dir. Russo & Russo, 2016)

 

Short Review:

Better than Batman versus Superman Dawn of Justice… but that isn’t saying much.  A looong film filled to the brim with action and fight sequences.  Despite this there are moments of real humour and pathos, and it touches on some important and interesting themes.  All in all a good action movie in the Marvel franchise.

 

Longer Review:

One of my biggest complaints about the Marvel, and now the DC, movies is that they spend a lot of time setting up the next film in the franchise, rather than focusing on the film in front of them.  Basically, they are so obsessed with the big picture that they lose sight of the current story at hand.  While there was a little bit of that in this film (ok more than a little bit), it thankfully felt a lot more focussed on the story being told and wasn’t just adding elements to foreground the next step.  What was even better was that because the characters had been introduced and explored in previous films much of the story focussed on what was happening, rather than trying to shoehorn in more backstory and character history.    It did feel a lot like an Avenger’s film rather than a Captain America story, with the majority of the film falling on Chris Evan’s and Robert Downey Jr.’s shoulders.  But I have to admit that they handled the large ensemble cast pretty well, and although it was stuffed to the gills with characters and fights, there was a real story hiding in there behind the heavy-handed moral lessons, the biased narrative focus, and the occasional plot hole.

 

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Review: Fall of Light Book Two of the Kharkanas Trilogy by Steven Erikson

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Fall of Light

Review:  Fall of Light Book Two of the Kharkanas Trilogy by Steven Erikson

 

Shorter Review:

If you liked Forge of Darkness then you will like Fall of Light.  Same Shakespearean style and tone, although this time there are more elements of comic relief and respites from the darkness.  The civil war continues, the factions become more delineated and yet messier, and the War on Death gets some more attention.  What can I say?  It is a book two, so it follows on from Forge.

 

Longer Review:
(Spoilers for the first chapter, but no further)

With Forge of Darkness, Steven Erikson launched into the mythic history of the Tiste and began the story about the sundering of their civilisation and the creation of the distinct races.  Fall of Light continues this epic fantasy narrative by delving even deeper into the tensions that run rife in a civil war, and by exploring the various factions and how the individuals within those factions often have their own agendas.  It is always easy to see the grand sweeping movements that alter societies, but part of the focus of Fall is on how individuals actually shape and alter the course of history, almost without knowing it.  Some events seem inevitable, others can be changed, and the reader is in the privileged position to see how individual ambition, pride, and simple mistakes, cost the realm dear.

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Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (dir. Burr Steers, 2016)

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Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (dir. Burr Steers, 2016)

 

Short Review:

Silly, entertaining, ridiculous fun.  If you enjoy Austen’s novels and are also fond of zombie stories, then this will be perfect for you.  If you like your zombie stories post-apocalyptic, then look elsewhere.  If you like your Mr. Darcy with bursting britches and soaking wet, then you might also want to skip this.  Basically the clue is in the title.

 

Longer Review:

It is a truth universally acknowledged that there are certain people who love Jane Austen’s work, and those that… don’t.  However there are those that are familiar with Austen’s stories (either the novels themselves or the endless BBC period dramas and other filmic remakes) but find them a little pompous, dry, and tedious.  There are also those that find the serious, dystopian horror of modern zombie stories to be a little too horrific and violent.  Good news then, because if this describes you, then Pride and Prejudice and Zombies might be the very compromise you were looking for.

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Review: Virtues of War by Bennett R. Coles (Titan Books, 2015)

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Virtues of War

Review: Virtues of War by Bennett R. Coles  (Titan Books, 2015)

 

Short Review:

Action packed military SF novel that is smart, well paced, and a blast to read. Coles’ characters are fascinating flawed heroes who are balancing their personal lives and ambitions with their duties as serving officers.  Given the plentiful action, it is surprisingly insightful and joins the ranks of great military SF like Haldeman’s Forever War and Heinlein’s Starship Troopers.

 

Longer Review:

Let’s face it, when it comes to literature I am more a fantasy fan than SF.  I might have studied SF, but my first love will always be fantasy.  So it came as something of a surprise how much I enjoyed this book.  Bennett R. Coles’ Virtues of War is one of those smart SF military fiction novels that dares to be read in two completely different ways.  On the one hand you could read it as a straight-up, gung ho, military SF action story and it doesn’t disappoint.  There are space battles, planet-side encounters, basically action aplenty.  Or, you could read it as a critique of expansionist military regimes, that still has sympathy and empathy for the men and women who serve in the armed forces.  I suppose, what I am trying to get at is that Coles breathes life into the old adage about ‘loving the soldier and hating the war’.  But, as with all attempts to illustrate concepts and bring them to life, it is more complicated than that, and Virtues is all the better for it.

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Review and Comments: Daredevil Season 2 (Netflix, 2016)

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Review and Comments:  Daredevil Season 2 (Netflix, 2016)

Short Review:

Good, but not as great as the first season.  It has more fights, explosions, and killing than Season One.  It has gone more to the supernatural side of Daredevil stories and lessened the realism significantly.  Still does some very clever things with theme and character, but has a more complicated narrative structure that occasionally wobbles and feels a little overfull.

 

Longer Review:

I loved Season One of Daredevil.  I thought it was a gritty, ‘realistic’, down-to-earth superhero show that made the incredible seem plausible, did interesting things with character, and focused on telling a good story.  It was thematically consistent, and, in terms of genre, kept its sights firmly on the street crime elements that gave it an authenticity and credibility.   Season Two didn’t quite hit the same notes for me.  Don’t get me wrong, it is still better than the vast majority of other superhero shows, but the first season was so good that this time around my expectations were perhaps a little too high.   Of course you can’t really hold the show responsible for not meeting every viewer’s expectations, but when the first season creates them, you really hope that the follow up at least meets them.  But there are some aspects that just didn’t work as well for me this time.

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Spoiler Free Review: The Fiends of Nightmaria (6th Bauchelain and Korbal Broach Novella) by Steve Erikson (Subterranean Press, 2016)

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Spoiler Free Review: The Fiends of Nightmaria (6th Bauchelain and Korbal Broach Novella) by Steve Erikson (Subterranean Press, 2016)

Short Review:

Bonkers, absurd, silly, fantasy comedy, this time poking fun at dungeon crawls and the often times ridiculous politics of genre fantasy novels… amongst the other usual targets.  Sharply written, but did I mention silly, absurd fun? Plus, the Subpress Edition has great artwork.

 

(Only Slightly) Longer Review:

The king is dead, long live King Bauchelain the First, crowned by the newly en-cassocked Grand Bishop Korbal Broach.  Both are, of course, ably assisted in the running of the Kingdom of Farrog by their slowly unravelling manservant, Emancipor Reese.

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Another Review: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (dir. Zack Snyder, 2016)

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Another Review: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (dir. Zack Snyder, 2016)
This one by me.

 

Short Review:

Not as bad as you have been led to believe, but not the greatest film ever. A Batman focused film that serves to make you hate Superman even more, launches the DC cinematic universe, and make you wish that they had just made a Wonder Woman film and left the men in tights at home.  It looks pretty though.

 

Longer Review:

If online reviews and reports are to be believed Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is one of the worst films ever made, is a travesty of modern film making, superhero films, and storytelling, and that the entire cast and crew would have been better staying in bed and drinking Mai Tais.  Nerds, geeks, comic fans, and film critics have been bizarrely united in their hatred and vitriol concerning this film.  Let me be among the first to say that I am shocked, shocked I tell you, to find out that sometimes things on the internet are exaggerated and that their reportage can lean toward hyperbole.  BvS will never be my favourite superhero film, but it wasn’t that bad and I have definitely seen far worse (Ghost Rider/Green Lantern/Batman and Robin/Man of Steel).  I know that I have already posted my friend’s review of the film, but clearly I think that my opinion is far more important.

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Spoiler Free Guest Review: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (dir. Zack Snyder, 2016)

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Spoiler Free Review: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (dir. Zack Snyder, 2016)
Guest Review by C Cooper

 

So three years after Man of Steel, and what feels like an eternity after announcing Batman vs Superman, the DC Universe has finally arrived.  I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this as I was distinctly underwhelmed by MoS and thought The Dark Knight Rises was dreadfully paced, overlong, and incomprehensible at times.  I also took a gamble by going with my wife whose only real exposure to Batman was watching me play Arkham Knight on the Xbox, and that Teri Hatcher and Dean Cain were the definitive Lois and Clark.  My expectations were pretty low for the film considering the negative press, but I hoped that the overwhelming hostility from critics was based on what they wanted the movie to be rather than how good it actually is.  The trailers hadn’t helped much either – could there be anything about the film not actually spoiled?  If this seems like an overlong preamble, all I can say is that it is pretty reflective of the movie.

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