Category: reviews

Review: The Fifth Season

Laura Highcove

My Review of The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

My summary: In a world where some people (called oroenes) can control the earth but are reviled for it, we follow three characters: A child, shunned by her parents and sent to the Fulcrum to learn to control her powers. A young woman is sent by the Fulcrum to train under a more powerful orogene. And a middle aged woman whose youngest child has just been killed by her husband who found out that child had the reviled power and then ran off with their daughter, just as the world has been split apart bringing a devastating Fifth Season.

Why I picked up this book: I’ve heard tons of great things about it, including it winning a Hugo. I’ve had several friends who throughly enjoyed it.

What I knew going in: Very little. I actually didn’t even read the back-cover copy. I bought it based on reputation alone.

My response: Overall I liked it, however it left much less of an impression than I was expecting. The biggest thing that stuck with me was the voice, which I liked so much I wish I could emulate it. Much of the book is written in second person, which also took a little getting used to. I very much like the ‘magic’ system and the feel of the world. Everything came very neatly and satisfyingly together in the end. The best thing I can say about it, however, is that it is very well written.

Will I pick up the next book?: I bought the trilogy together. I’m working very slowly through the second book because I’m not sure how attached I am to the actual characters. I think I’m more interested in seeing what the setting and the mysteries are going to do next. Unlike Rothfuss’ Name of the Wind series, however, I care enough about the characters to keep going. I just don’t have any overwhelming urge to sit down with it.

Review: The Last Jedi

Laura Highcove

This review has spoilers. It’s been a month since I saw the movie, but I never got around to putting up this review, so we’re probably outside the time when I need to warn about spoilers, but here it is all the same.

I loved this movie. I thought it was entertaining and well-written. Did it have problems? Sure, but I walked out of the theater excited about what I had seen. The resistance is on the run from the First Order. I was not expecting that to be the plot of the entire movie like it was, but it ended up working out.

Rae is off doing her own thing, trying to get Luke on board, learning about the force, and in general having a surprising (but not that surprising) amount of skill considering her lack of training. In fact, I was really happy with how they had her basically get completely duped by prune head (I am bad with names.), due to her lack of training.

And Rae’s brush with the ‘dark side’ on the island really lead me to believe that maybe we would get off this stupid ‘light side’ ‘dark side’ crap and realize that the force should be balanced in a single person as opposed to there having to be a good person and a bad person to balance them out. I bet that would piss off the die-hard star wars fans though.

Finn gallivanted off with our new character, Rose, sewing the seeds of hope back into the minds of tiny children. This ended up being the only thing the two of them accomplished considering everything else they did turned out to not matter.

Poe got a character arc. Which is good, because he seemed rather ancillary for the first movie. I’m happy with the lessons he learned, even though they basically came out of Purple-hair straight up not telling Poe what the plan was. There could be the argument that she was trying to teach him a lesson after Leia demoted him for being reckless, and not just that if she had told him, everyone would’ve sat around on their hands waiting for the plan (ie, not telling him was just a plot device).

Someone who had seen the movie before-hand told me there was some humor in it that was completely unexpected for a Star Wars movie. It certainly caught me by surprise, but by half-way through the movie I realized that all of the comedy was completely necessary or else the movie would’ve been crushed by it’s own weight. This is Star Wars, the emotions and expectations for it are high. I feel if they’d tried to play it straight, it would’ve become a parody of itself.

And I like how well this movie played with expectations. From expecting Finn, Rose, and Poe to be successful, to the Codebreaker betrayer, as well as the connection between Rae and Kylo. And every time another bad thing happened, whatever popped up to save them had been foreshadowed well beforehand.

And oh man, taking a ship to warp speed through a fleet. Even the anime-style-see-this-shot-from-three-angles did not ruin the majesty of that.

Overall score: 5/5 because not only did I enjoy it, it blew my mind and inspired my own writing.

Review: Oathbringer

Laura Highcove

Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson

My basic summary: In a world plagued by regular hurricane-like storms and made mostly of stone, our intrepid heroes (Established in the first two books) continue on their path to try and reform the Knights Radiant. This book focuses on Dalinar and his purposely hidden back-story as he leads the charge with the Knights Radiant, tries to bring together the monarchs of the world, and figure out who he is, all while exploring a ancient city none of them understands. Then they find out who they’re really fighting.

Why I picked up this book: It was written by Brandon Sanderson.

What I knew going in: I knew Oathbringer was going to focus on Dalinar.

My response: Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Because of its length, I had to read this book over a much longer time period than I usually read books, and as such I think I had far more time to mull over what I was reading before I was finished. This resulted in my stepping back and seeing the writing more than with other books. (Well I suppose it could also be that this book was more poorly written and thus more transparent, but I’d rather liken it to my being more aware of writing instead.)

There were certainly some plot choices where they left me scratching my head, and others that made perfect sense. As always, the climax pulled everything together pretty perfectly. And I am so happy with where Adolin’s story arc is going. I was really worried about him after the end of Words of Radiance.

Also, because these books are so large, I made sure to mark places I wanted to go back to before I left them because I don’t see a world in which I have time to read these monsters more than once. Though most of these were for picking apart his writing at a later date.

Sanderson also did some beautiful things regarding depression and ones view of themselves in this book that brought me to tears. Nothing heavy-handed, but just a reminder that we humans always feel so alone and yet there are other people out there who have experienced what you have.

Will I pick up the next book: While I know it will be at least two years, yes. And I am following details about it closely. (Though truthfully, I am following details about most all of his books and their release schedule.)

Review: Jade City by Fonda Lee

Laura Highcove

Jade City by Fonda Lee

My summary:

On an island nation where jade (the stone) gives magical powers to those sensitive to it, clans fight for territory, honor, and jade. Lan inherits the position of Pillar (Leader-man of his clan) from an ailing grandfather who has dementia and doesn’t want to let go. He’s supported by his brother Hilo, who is his Horn (Lead fighty-man for the clan) and a hot-head. His sister Shae comes back after time spent abroad (which was not looked on favorably by the family) and refuses to get involved in the clan and wear her jade. Lan struggles to earn respect in his position, and then he finds out his Weather Man (Business-man for the clan) may be conversing with an enemy clan.

Why I picked up this book:

Truthfully? I saw enough ads for it. And I read this which got me involved in the story around the book as well.

What I knew going in:

Asian style story involving family, honor, and magic. Which, let’s be honest, is all on the front cover.

My response:

Overall a good read, though nothing mind blowing. I gave it three stars. It has a steep learning curve (ie: There is a *lot* of vocabulary to learn.) and it took a while to get used to that, added to the fact that people can be referred to by first or last name. It has all the feel of a culture where family is *everything* and honor fills in whatever gaps are left.

I stopped to think about my favorite character in Jade City and in my mind I said: “Well I love Anden, and Lan, oh and Shae, and I really like Hilo …isn’t that like, all the main characters?”

As per usual, I love seeing strong relationships between characters and them being loyal to each other. There were enough un-reasonable people around to keep things interesting, but even the “bad guys” aren’t just bad. They’re all real characters and have legit motivations for what they’re doing, which I appreciate.

Will I pick up the next book:

I’m not waiting on bated breath, but I will if I see it.

king arthur the legend of the sword

Review: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and King Arthur The Legend of the Sword

Laura Highcove 2 Comments

A week after it came out, my husband and I went to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2. I enjoyed the first GotG and I’ve seen most movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and enjoyed all of them. Two days later we went to see King Arthur because I’ve been a fan of the Arthur myth since BBC’s Merlin and, truth be told, the trailers looked awesome.

As I have had the fortune of watching a myriad of movies in my lifetime, I have learned the lesson to judge something based on what it’s supposed to be. In reference to movies, that means you don’t go into an Adam Sandler movie expecting Oscar bait. With that in mind, I didn’t think GotGv2 was a good movie and I think King Arthur was.

Don’t get me wrong, I was entertained by GotGv2 and I loved the scenery porn. (You can always get me with scenery porn.) And according to what I’ve seen, GotGv2 is being hailed as a pretty good movie, but when I compare it to what I’ve come to expect from Marvel …/shakes head.

When I watch a Marvel movie, I have come to expect good writing with strong themes and a solid plot. Also a nice tough of humor and style. The thing that let me down with GotGv2 is that the Guardians are supposed to be an amazing team/family (you can’t argue that family is not a theme of this movie) and yet they spend a majority of the movie unapologetically ribbing and the rest of the time being cringeworthily (I’m not sure that’s a word, but go with it.) mean to each other. Now I’m a fan of groups and relationships that have a healthy dose of insults thrown back and forth, but the problem I saw in this movie is that the team then did no real getting along and working together as a team.

There was a moment when Quill and Rocket were being idiots, switching drivers back and forth through the super awesome looking asteroid field. Groot fell on Quill for some reason and Quill picked Groot up, and tossed him over his shoulder (without looking or saying anything) to Drax, who caught and secured him. That is the type of teamwork of which this team is capable. That sense of knowing what needs to be done in a tense situation, and just doing it without need for communication. And that was the only example of it in the entire movie. Heck, the team wasn’t even all together at any point after Ego showed up until after the climax. (That’s not really a spoiler.)

No one acted like a family in any way in this movie, and they barely acted like a team. Yes, there was pretty scenery. Yes there were laughs. Yes there were cool awesome moments. But the theme, that family are the ones who are there for you, fell on it’s face and skidded off a cliff. As such, it was not a good movie in my opinion.

I walked into King Arthur knowing it was doing horribly in the box office, it had 27% on Rotten Tomatoes, and most reviews I’d read call it a ‘mess’, and I walked out having seen a good movie. King Arthur pulled me through the believable arc of Arthur and his uncle, with the other characters playing the roles they were supposed to. It had quick cuts and lots of spectacle, all seasoned with acceptable anachronisms. If this movie lacked, it was because Guy Ritchie wanted this to be a six movie series, and it shows in that some detail was just left out.

There is a montage at the beginning of the movie showing Arthur growing up. It it literally that, a series of quick cuts showing Arthur getting beaten up on the streets, learning to be smart, and growing stronger, that lasts only a few minutes so we can start the movie proper with him all grown up. I remember watching it and thinking: ‘Well this is ridiculously elegant, and most people won’t be able to follow it.’ and I feel like that’s what happened for the entire movie.

Let’s face it, I like this type of movie. The heavily stylized, very quirky, outside of the standard type of, movie. That doesn’t mean I think they’ve all been done well. The first 2/3 of Man from U.N.C.L.E. was beautiful, then that whole car chase ruined it and Jupiter Ascending needed another two hours at least (and a better lead actress …). But Speed Racer is my favorite movie of all time, I adore the recent Three Musketeers movie, and I am still pissed that they canceled Pushing Daises (not a movie, but same thing) Yet I know that most people don’t like this kind of movie. They continue to do poorly in the box office and get lousy reviews. And at the same time, I know I like it and that won’t ever change.

This article is not here to try and convince you that I’m right and you’re wrong about what kind of movies are good, (I gave up on that after Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them) but it is here so I can express my opinion. And frankly these types of things do keep popping up, so there are other people out there who like this style of media. Let me know if you happen to be one of those people. I’d love to hear your opinion on Kind Arthur or any other movie you think didn’t get the love it deserved.

My Most Recent Five-Star Read

Laura Highcove

I am rather sparse with my five-star ratings. I have to actually think to myself ‘I am so glad this book exists’ or ‘this book is so great’ to myself several times during the reading of the book for it to qualify for five stars. As such I don’t have a ton of them.

I went to check goodreads, where I record how I feel about a book so I don’t have to remember. 😀 Off the top of my head I thought my last five star rated book was Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo, but it turns out it was Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron. Rachel Aaron is the author of the Eli Monpress series which was also five star rated by me a long while ago. At some point I was like ‘I remember this author, has she put anything out since then?’ and lo and behold she had. I just seem to jive with her writing style.

So far I only have read two authors who have multiple five-star rated books I’ve read, that is Rachel Aaron and, of course, Brandon Sanderson.

As a Reviewer

Laura Highcove

So about a half a year ago, I sat down and tried to figure out what it was I liked about the books, TV, and movies that I loved. It was a rather eye opening experience and ever since then my method of reviewing books that I don’t like has drastically changed.

The biggest step in this process came when I started reading A Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. I had finished The Name of the Wind with an overall …meh. I was torn because by all accounts that book was an amazing, raving success that will change the face of fantasy for years to come. So why didn’t I like it?

I got about a quarter of the way into A Wise Man’s Fear and realized with startling clarity, that I didn’t care about any of the characters. The world Rothfuss created was beautiful and deep, the magic system intricate and believable, and the writing smooth and poetic. But when I realized I didn’t care what happened to Kvothe, or any of his friends/allies, I put the book down as dnf.

Now, I find I can more easily decide to mark a book dnf because if what I enjoy in a book is not there, then there’s no reason for me to finish it. At the same time, I am aware that just because that book doesn’t have what I enjoy doesn’t mean it’s a bad book and it doesn’t mean the author is a hack (In fact I think Rothfuss is awesome, and I would love to meet him some day and/or read his next series.) it just means I didn’t like the book. I just wish more people could understand this concept.

Review: Final Fantasy XV

Laura Highcove

Or as I liked to call it: Bromance: the Road Trip

Story:

The Crowned Prince Noctis heads out on a road-trip with his personal guard/best friends to meet his fiance in order to get married. His car breaks down on the way and while it’s getting fixed they find out that his father has been murdered, his city occupied/destroyed and his fiance has gone into hiding. Noctis then goes on a cross countries road trip to get all of the artifact weapons, get the blessings of the world’s gods, and find the ring that will allow him to use a magic crystal to save the world from encroaching darkness and demons.

The story was interesting but not mind-blowing. At least it was better than the storyline in FFXII, which I basically don’t remember. However, I was sufficiently invested in the characters throughout the story. I even felt regret whenever I would go back to ‘present’ time to advance the storyline, so now that I’ve beaten the game I can just hang out in the past forever.


Who needs responsibility when you’re beautiful and sleeping on a chocobo?

Characters:

I liked all of the characters. I am a sucker for bromance, so I loved the main four, and there was a colorful cast of side characters throughout the story.

Clothing put me in a weird mood. Remembering back to X-II (That’s ten-2, not 12) I feel like whenever there are outfits and girls, the variations are sexy, plentiful, and etc. When I found out there were outfits in this game I thought there would be a little more than: you start with two outfits with two variations each and the only other one you get is storyline based. Sure, I loved ‘dressing up’ the car as well, but not quite the same thing. I would’ve liked a little less cleavage on Cindy and the Dragoon or a little more shirtless action for the boys. Equal opportunity nudity please.

Gamyplay:

The combat was a little too spectacle fighter, and not enough rpg for my immediate liking. I got the hang of it over time, but I never actually liked it. I also found the ascension grid …well not exactly complicated, but annoying? I had to play for quite a while before I figured out which spheres were beneficial to my play style.

I was also pretty astonished by the number of items I needed to get through fights. I think Ignis kinda sorta turned into a healer at some point, but not really? I kept waiting to get some sort of healing spell for myself, but no, I ended up chugging potions and elixirs at an alarming pace. Now I doubt I was playing the game as intended because there was some kind of “crouch” mechanic, but most of the time when I tried to crouch during a battle I would either jump forward instead of crouching, or the monster would come over and eat my face, so I gave up on it pretty quick. I probably also should’ve used the point warping more, but it’s hard to find a point warp while avoiding the baddies and you can’t move the camera in wait mode.

But the one thing that I think caused me more annoyance than anything else were simply the load times. I mean I’m not entirely surprised because of the complexity of the world, but when driving around doing different quests, the downtime really added up.


I would go take bathroom breaks and come back and still have to wait.

Graphics:

This game is gorgeous to look at. Not just the characters and mob models, but the world itself is so seamlessly put together and…well just real-looking. I found myself in awe over and over again. Once I finally learned to put up with the camera being annoying to control (and way too close) and my disappointment over having to wait for Prompto to take pictures instead of being able to take them myself, I settled well into this world.

Overall, I enjoyed this game the most out of the Final Fantasies I’ve played, though I am really into the whole bromance thing and pretty graphics. I could take or leave the fighting system (though when I managed to get a link strike, that was rather cool) and the Ascension grid. The world was just so huge and interactive. It might even be that it feeling like it was just a step outside the real world really did a lot for it. We’ll just have to see if this is an upward tick in the Final Fantasy genre, or a dying gasp.


The graceful Prince Noctis

Review: Moana

Laura Highcove

I went to see Moana a few weeks after it came out. Disney’s been doing a good job with movies recently, but with the complete glut of movies, it’s hard to find time to get out to see them all.

Anyway, Moana is a story about a young girl who is next in line to be the chief of a tribe on a Hawaiian island. The tribe has everything they need, but Moana really want to be a sailor, only her father, the current chief, is super against it.

Moana’s grandmother encourages her by showing her that their tribe did once travel the waves, moving from island to island. Cue Moana heading out on her own to find a demi-god who needs to replace a magical stone.

Overall, a wonderful movie. I loved the whole thing (except for the crab) and the ending was spot on.

Meta talk: Hero’s Journey straight up. Also, really? Could you have been any more obvious that the pig is only there to sell stuffed animals?

Also, there is no love interest. That’s right, ladies and gentleman: this story has no love interest. Just a girl out there being awesome.

I was also pretty happy with how realistic the body types were (ignoring Maui, who is a demi-god). No unreasonably skinny waists in this movie. And yet you can’t argue that Moana isn’t attractive. I’m really hoping this trend will be continued.

Review: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Laura Highcove

So I went to see Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them over my Thanksgiving break. I could only give it 2/5 stars. (Warning: Spoilers Below)

I loved the actor who played Newt, but the character himself was horribly written. The only time he really shone as a character was when he was in his briefcase taking care of his animals.

I really enjoyed Jacob. While Newt ran around for the first part of the movie with no characterization or motivation, we saw Jacob’s personality and dreams.

I also loved seeing the inside of the briefcase and all of the mythological animals that were there. It wasn’t enough to carry the movie to the end, but it was entertaining.

Most of the rest of the movie was terrible.

First off, If owls just magically give school letters to kids from muggle households, then how do any wizarding children get passed over? Even if they can’t go to school because of stupid parents, the wizarding world should know about them.

Tina is nothing but incompetent and ineffectual. Even when I thought she might matter because Credence had met her before, (ignoring how that flashback was shoehorned in) it ended up not mattering at all.

Also, let’s not pretend that people didn’t die during the climax, you know, with the buildings collapsing all over the city. Then they all got a memory-wipe, which basically means people wouldn’t even remember their loved ones existed. (Hermione did it to her parents, remember?) This movie made me suddenly realize the discrepancy between wizards and muggles and the horror comes from the fact that this is the way the wizarding world is supposed to work. Magical mishaps happen. Maybe if you want to keep magic a secret, you shouldn’t be building your Ministries of Magic in the most populated cities in the world.

Overall, pretty disappointed. It had enough charming bits of the wizarding world I love so much sprinkled throughout, but I would probably not watch it again. I’m hoping that they’ll do a better job with the second movie, but I’m not holding out hope. If you’re a hardcore Harry Potter then go see it, otherwise, please don’t use this as your introduction to the wizarding world.