Movie Review: G.I. Joe: Retaliation

This weekend I paid to see G.I. Joe: Retaliation in theaters.  I have mixed feelings over this movie.  If I separate myself from it and view it as it’s own separate movie (and not a sequel to Rise of the Cobra), then I mostly enjoyed it.  If I view it as a sequel (and this is how I went into the theater expecting), then I am thoroughly upset!

I expected this to be a sequel.  So when the movie started and there were a bunch of new characters, I started questioning where Ripcord, Baroness, and Scarlett were.  But I was comforted at least by the fact that Duke (played by the delicious Channing Tatum) was still in this movie.  The new characters were not bad – the new girl Lady Jaye, played by Adianne Palicki was very pretty.  And new eye candy D.J. Controna as Flint was a nice addition.  And of course Dwayne Johnson (aka The Rock) always adds some nice muscle to the movie.  But here comes the rant, and if you have not seen the movie, beware, there are MAJOR spoilers in this rant!

I really enjoyed the relationship that was developed between Duke and Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson).  And I’ve fallen in love with Duke.  And come on…Duke IS G.I. Joe.  Boy scout. Handsome. Loyal. What do they do??? THEY KILL HIM!  Are you serious?  I spent the rest of the fricken movie expecting a “wait, I’m not dead! I’m going to save the day” moment.  But it never came.  And what’s worse, is they killed him off in like the first 20 minutes of the movie!!!  And they didn’t really slow down to accept it.  He just got blown up, that’s sad, let’s grab his dog tags, and then keep moving. There wasn’t even a funeral!! 

I just read an interview with the screenwriters of the movie, and they said that that is what the whole movie is about.  Revenging Duke’s death.  REALLY?  That is not what I got at all.  That didn’t come across to me at all throughout that movie because I felt like Duke’s death was just so glossed over.  And honestly, ALL of the Joes supposedly got wiped out, so it seemed more like a survival movie to me than a revenge movie.  So I guess that’s supposed to imply to us that Ripcord and Scarlet got killed too?  I’m so frustrated.  What the hell?  Why???  They really couldn’t have come up with another story line?  There was plenty to go on there.  With those same characters.  It’s stupid.  I wish they would have just made it a spin off basically, and never even put Duke in the movie.  Then I could take the movie and say that it was pretty decent.  But this was dumb.  And I was hoping to read that it was perhaps because Channing Tatum wanted out of the series, but that didn’t sound like it at all.  It was just want the movie “needed”.  Ugh.

But I did read during this interview that apparently in the original animated movie they were going to kill Duke also.  But I guess Hasbro got serious backlash when they killed Optimus Prime, so they were worried they’d get backlash with killing Duke, so they just put him in a coma.  Well, I would have taken a coma over flat out killing him.  And never really getting to say goodbye?  That is dumb. At least if you’re going to kill him, you better do it right.  He better be saving a LOT of lives (not just Flint) and he better get a proper send off (which he didn’t) and it better be for a good reason (revenge story? which did not come across in the movie).

So now we don’t have the gorgeous Channing Tatum to look at anymore.  We have the Rock.  Not that I don’t like the Dwayne Johnson, I do, but I think everyone can agree that he’s no Channing Tatum.  Even after reading that interview, I am still not quite sure the reasoning of killing him off – why not just leave him out, like they did Ripcord and Scarlet, and then it’s just implied that they all died when the Joes were wiped out, but I could live in blissful denial that Duke died.   Because honestly, it probably cost them an arm and a leg to have Channing Tatum in the movie for 20 minutes to be killed and on the poster.  And part of the reason they didn’t have Joesph Gordon Levitt as Cobra again is because he was behind the mask the entire time and it wasn’t financially smart to pay him for that.  But it was financially smart to pay Channing Tatum to die 20 minutes in to the movie?

Is anyone else upset about this?

Another thing I didn’t like was how many bad guys were in it.  It was hard to keep everyone straight and who was doing what. There was Cobra, Firefly and Zartan.  But Zartan was impersonating the President, so that was hard to keep track of.  I don’t know, I think I’m so frustrated about killing Duke, that I just had a hard time enjoying the rest of the movie.

I did like having Bruce Willis in it though, that was a nice touch.  But again, I’d rather have Channing Tatum in it.  I’m not sure what the female audience will be now because there are just a bunch of old guys in it now.

I’m interested to see how everyone else feels about this movie.  Let me know your thoughts.

Book Reivew: Goddess Interrupted

Goddess Interrupted
by  Aimee Carter
Date Read:  4/13/2013
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ 

 I think I would actually give this book 3.5 stars if I could. But it doesn’t quite meet 4 star potential, so I have to lean towards 3. This book pretty much suffered from middle book syndrome.

I had pretty high expectations for this book – the summary sounded fricken awesome! Kate comes back from her 6 month vacation in Greece, and Henry is distancing himself. But the Titan lord, Cronus (a.k.a. Kronos), is waking up and when Henry is captured, it’s up to Kate to save him – but it means requesting the help of the one person she never wants to meet – Persephone. Doesn’t that sound amazing? But it actually let me down, which is why it is only getting 3.5 stars.

This book was soo slow!!! It mostly centered on Kate’s whining. Henry was distancing himself, and she kept throwing herself a pity party. THE ENTIRE BOOK. We weren’t entirely sure why Henry was pulling away – which was also frustrating for me. But all she did was complain and second guess herself – talk about insecure! Geez. And so many characters would try to pull her out of it, but she just wanted to miserable, and it was so annoying as a reader. I almost didn’t care about her anymore.

The fact that Cronus was coming back to life though is exciting. I always love a good God vs. Titan war! Heehee. And Persephone actually surprised me. She was a little annoying at first, but she kinda grew on me and she ended up being a decent person. I appreciated that. And I never really believed that she would ever get back with Henry – because she had chosen to leave that life. It was interesting to get her perspective on things. Overall I liked her.

The journey through the Underworld was a little slow. I think Henry got captured around page 60, and then until about page 170 they were traveling through the Underworld. The book is a quick read, but the pacing of this book wasn’t quite as good as the first book. But like I said, it is mainly just setting up the next book.

One thing I did like though was that I believed Kate and Henry’s fight toward the end. Though I wasn’t sure why Henry was acting the way he was, I’ve always believed he loved Kate and it pissed me off that she was so insecure about it. So their fight was very real to me. It didn’t feel forced, which I thought it would since she had such a pity party for herself the entire book.

The battle of the book actually ended around page 200, so that meant there were 100 pages of resolution! Actually, it was just another 100 pages leading you up to the next book. I think it was all necessary, but it was definitely slow. But at least it lead up to a crazy cliffhanger. I’m really glad I received the next book from Edelweiss so I don’t have to sit on that cliffhanger.

Poor Kate has been betrayed by quite a few people she trusted, but it makes the Gods look more like their actual myth. I’m enjoying the series, I just wish this book had more going on, because it was a real let down after the summary. Still entertaining and I really want to read the next book, but I was expecting this to be a lot better. And maybe if Kate didn’t fight with Henry like every time they were together or throw herself a pity party every time she had inner monologue, it would have been a lot better. But I found myself wanting to tear my hair my hair out through a good portion of the book because she was so insecure – you’re a fricken Greek Goddess, get over it.

Hopefully the next one isn’t as disappointing as this one. But the overall story arc was still interesting with Cronus and Calliope’s betrayal still in effect from the first book. Just muddle through and then the ending gets better and should lead in to a better third book – I hope.

Book Review: The Goddess Hunt

The Goddess Hunt
by  Aimee Carter
Date Read:  4/10/2013
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★
I think anyone who is reading this series should definitely read this before they read Goddess Interrupted. I'm not sure if it is going to play a part in the next book or not, but the fact that she pissed off Walter (Zeus) seems like it is going to be important.


It also strengthens where she stands.  Where she stands with Henry and where she stands on her feelings about the Gods in general.  I liked this because it showed that the Gods aren't the wonderful people they were portrayed in The Goddess Test.  So that was nice, because they were a little bit closer to the true myths, where the Gods were actually fairly mean and petty.

I also liked getting Henry's POV.  And I liked that he was there to keep her safe, but also kept to his promise that he would let her have privacy for her 6 months away.  He's loyal but protective. And he is allowing her to help him change and see things in a different light.  I really do like him.

This was obviously a very short read because it's a novella, so if you're reading this series, you should definitely check this out.  Pretty happy with it overall.

Book Review: The Goddess Test

The Goddess Test
by  Aimee Carter
Date Read:  4/10/2013
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★

I actually enjoyed this book. I wasn't sure if I was going to - a young Hades? Gods don't go by their Greek names? It all seemed a bit strange at first, but once I got going, it wasn't bad - I actually enjoyed it.

The first thing was that Hades was actually called Henry in this world. And he was YOUNG. He looked about the age of 22 years old - and every other time I've seen pictures of the 3 major Gods (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades), they are middle aged looking. So it was hard, but after a few chapters, it wasn't that bad since he actually went by Henry instead.

Kate was a decent main character. She was a little whiny at times about her mother - boy was she attached at the hip to her - but it was also sweet to see such a loving mother/daughter relationship. Other than that, I liked watching her face obstacles and how she overcame them. And she stuck up for herself. I liked her.

I ended up liking Hades (Henry) too. He was sweet, but not overly so. He was a little distant through a portion of the book, but I liked it because he was overly swooning over her. It was a little more realistic. And though he's got that kind of brooding, tortured past, he wasn't annoying and it didn't make him be obnoxious to other people. Though, I like my tortured, sarcastic boys, it was nice for a change, because it seems all the guy characters in books now are about the same.

The pacing of this book was perfect. It was so refreshing to have such a short book to read. So many books nowadays think they have to be 400-500 pages. Why?? All it does is drag things out. This was paced great. We got just enough at the beginning to understand her past and set things up. And then the middle was perfect, and the ending perfect. It was just paced so well. And had a beginning, middle and end. It's sad that having an END to a story is an exception these days. And this book spanned a period of 6 months, but Carter glossed over a lot of it just explaining in a few paragraphs what happened over those few months. I really appreciated that.

There were a few plot twists in this. Most of them I was not surprised by. But when the council was finally revealed, one was shocking to me. But I don't care if I was able to predict many of the plot twists. That doesn't make it a bad book.

Overall this was a very easy read - it's short and was written where everything read very easily and quickly. And I thought it was a unique take on the Greek myths. I've really enjoyed the Percy Jackson series which are based around Greek myth also. This book just acted like some of the myths got twisted from what really happened - which honestly, myths are like playing the telephone game - things get mixed up quickly. So it's actually believable to me that some actual events (if the Gods are real like they are in this book) would get twisted every generation it is told.

So I know some people were frustrated that this wasn't true to the actual Greek mythology, who cares? It's believable. And the most important thing is that it is introducing people to Greek mythology - and once they've been introduced, perhaps they take a class in college to learn more about it. This is the exact same thing as Disney and other animated movies changing the ending of so many classic tales so they have a happy ending (think Anastasia and The Huntchback of Notre Dame for example). Yes, we know it has a completely different ending than the true story or the book, but the point is it is getting people INTERESTED. And once they're interested, they will research the true story. That's all it's about. And really that's all that matters. It's a fictional book people! Just enjoy it for the story.

I look forward to seeing what happens next.

Book Review: The Last Academy

The Last Academy
by  Anne Applegate
Date Read:  4/7/2013
Rating:  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 

I received this through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I surprisingly LOVED this book. It first started with the cover. It's hauntingly beautiful. And then I read the description and I was very excited when I got approved for it through Netgalley. However, I was disappointed that the version they sent me didn't have the awesome cover!

Ok, well, it is hard for me to review this book because I enjoyed it so much. I was so engrossed in the story, it's hard for me to pinpoint what I loved so much. It just all worked really well.

It's also hard for me to write up a summary of this story without plot spoilers. Basically, it is about Camden, a freshman heading off to a new boarding school. She makes some new friends there and then one goes missing. She has to find out what happened.

First, I really enjoyed the main character, Camden. Though she was younger than I thought (at 14 years old and a freshman), her voice was a lot of fun. She was sweet, but didn't take crap, and she had a little sarcasm and said some pretty funny things.

The book was a little bit slow at the beginning. It took a little while to establish some things. But about 25% in it started picking up. I was always a little confused one what was going on though. There were some scenes that seemed a little strange, but it all came together in the end.

I liked trying to solve the mystery of what was going on. It's very different than the types of books that are really popular lately. No paranormal stuff - no vampires, werewolves, witches, etc. It kept me guessing what was really going on.

Though I had a suspicion toward the beginning of the book, it did a great job of keeping me guessing until the end. I think that's what I really enjoyed.

But I absolutely appreciated that this book had a beginning, middle, and end. I am pretty sure this will be a stand alone book, which is actually kind of refreshing lately. Everything nowadays seems to be a series. It's refreshing to have a story that can be told in one book. And this book had so much closure at the end. I actually teared up at the very end and I loved that we got everyone's story.

I really loved this book. I wish I could say more, but it's hard for me to put my finger on just what I loved. I think everything worked together to tell a great story. I think this is a great debut novel by Anne Appelgate - and I look forward to reading more novels from her in the future. 

Book Review: The Selection

The Selection
by  Kiera Cass
Date Read:  4/5/2013
Rating:  ★ ★ ★

Well that wasn't as good as I expected. But it also wasn't as bad as some of the reviews I've read.

The beginning was pretty rough. The dialog was really juvenile. I hated the way she talked sometimes. And it was hard to believe in some of the things the author tried to get across. I didn't feel like she was that low on the social ladder (caste). She tries to make you think she was low, but I don't know, it just wasn't established very well. And there was a lot of mention about sex at the beginning, but I don't understand the significance. It never became a part of the story...other than making you think that maybe Maxon was a rapist? It was stupid. I think that should have been completely written out.

I also hated her "I'm not pretty" act. Just be humble about it...but you don't need to deny it and tell people to shut up when they compliment you - especially when its the guy who loves you. I love it when my husband tells me I'm beautiful. Not because I'm stuck up and narcissistic, but because I love knowing that my husband is attracted to me. Just enjoy that he thinks you're pretty and say "thank you".

But about 35-40% through the book it started getting a lot better. The dialog got better. The story got better. The world was finally built. It's almost like she just wrote the book and then published it, without any editing - because I'm really surprised that a publisher would let that go out the way it was.

I found I was looking forward to finding out what happened. The story read really fast. I'm not sure how many pages this was as a printed book, but every time I looked down, I was like another 5% through the story.

The ending came quickly though. And I am still a little unclear about what the main conflict was. There really wasn't any. Well, I guess that's because I have no idea what these rebel attacks are about. Perhaps the big attack was supposed to be the big climax of the story...but it seems so out of place because the reader has no idea what is going on. I have no idea why they're attacking. No idea what they're looking for.

The ending also just kind of ended. Since I knew what the sequel was called, I kind of expected exactly where it would end. But there wasn't really a conclusion to the story. There were about 2 closing paragraphs. I don't like it when that happens in books. I want a little more closure. Though, I'm glad that there wasn't a cliffhanger, it still left something to be desired.

Ok, lets talk about that promotional tag line: "The Hunger Games meets the Bachelor". What?? How in the world do you compare this to The Hunger Games? First, I do not think you can even classify this as a dystopian novel. It's just mostly in the future, so things have changed a little, but this world is so very close to our world now, that I had a very hard time believing it was dystopian. Second, there is no fight to the death. No survival. So how is this being compared to The Hunger Games? Hmm, ok, there's a girl who goes through a lottery system...the event is semi-televised...there is a love triangle...sort of. Hmm. I don't buy it. And now the Bachelor. OK, yes, there are a bunch of women on a TV show vying for the love of one man. But I never really felt like this was a reality television show. And honestly, I never felt like anyone else had a chance anyway - so there was no jealousy or worry there. I had a hint of jealously on America's behalf after she had kissed him and then heard he kissed someone else. But that was it! C'mon. If a girl was really in that situation, she would be jealous. But America didn't go in wanting to love him, so I suppose that makes it different...but then can you compare it the Bachelor? I guess so. But there was no rose ceremony, and there really isn't a competition. If Maxon could break the rules, he would have chosen America a long time ago.

I'm not really sure what everyone means when they talk about drama surrounding the author. I'm curious, but at the same time, I wanted to read the book first to give it an honest review before I figured out what everyone was talking about.

Overall though, I think this book gets a solid 3 stars. It was entertaining enough. I will read the sequel to see how it ends. I'm leaning towards her being with Maxon. And then Aspen can be with one of the sweet maids. Or even Marlee. Oh, that's something else I'm curious about - what is Marlee hiding? What's her secret??? 

Cassandra Clare announces "TLH", another Shadowhunter series

So I saw a post that Cassandra Clare just announced yet another Shadowhunter series dubbed "TLH" – no official title yet.  Wow.  Don’t get me wrong, I loved The Mortal Instruments (the first 3 books), and until the Epilogue, I loved The Infernal Devices.  But she had already announced a third series called The Dark Artifices.  And she announced The Bane Chronicles (okay, not really a series, because it’s just a few short stories that will be available as e-books, but still).  Isn’t that a lot of the Shadowhunter world?  I mean, I love the world, that why I’ve loved both series so far, but I kind of feel like she’s going to ruin it all because she’s going to keep milking it until people get annoyed and stop buying it.

But I really don’t think that’s what bothers me most.  What bothers me most is that it feels like she just gets bored with what she’s writing. Why else would you announce so many series at the same time?  She’s currently still writing City of Heavenly Fire, the final book in the second part of The Mortal Instruments series.  And she’s already announced The Dark Artifices (and already character names, etc). And she announced The Bane Chronicles a while back (and I believe they’re all going to be released this year).  And she’s also writing The Magisterium series with another author!  How does she have enough time in the day to write all of these?  Even if she had them planned, I wish she wouldn’t announce it.  Because now it just seems to me that she’s not focusing on what she’s currently writing, which means the story is going to suffer.  Perhaps that’s why the ending of Clockwork Princess was so awful.  She was already going on to the next thing and didn’t really think about the impact.  Sure, I read the post (and even posted it here) about her reasoning behind the Epilogue, but I still didn’t buy it even after reading it.  I just feel as an author, she should only be writing one or two things at a time. It’s already hard enough to release one book in a year.  But she’s writing so many things (which sure, probably are not all going to release at the same time), but she’s thinking about them, so if she’s ANYTHING like my husband, she’s writing notes and whatnot as thoughts pop into her mind about that new series – which then will take her focus away from what she’s writing.  Oh, and let’s not forget the other side projects she’s going like The Shadowhunter’s Codex and Shadowhunters and Downworlders.  I mean, really, how many projects does one author need going on at a time?

I don’t know how much of these I’ll read.  Obviously I will finish out The Mortal Insturments.  I want to see how it ends…again.  I’ve read books 4 and 5, so I’m not going to end it there.  And I really like Jace, so I’ll read just for him (though I really hated what happened to him in book 5).  But as far as The Dark Artifices and TLH go, I’m not sure.  I might be more likely to read TLH only because I think it will follow Will’s children’s generation.  But if his kids aren’t in it, then I probably won’t.  And The Dark Artifices sounds kind of cool because I think it will be somewhat fun to see Clary and Jace and Alec and Isabelle when they’re older pop into the story, even though they’re not the main characters.  But I’m not sure.  I’ll probably read some of The Bane Chronicles, depending on how expensive the ebooks are – I don’t like paying for ebooks, especially when they’re really short.  So we’ll see.

I’m just getting sick of her milking it.  I don’t want her to ruin a world I love.  She built a great world, great characters.  Just leave it alone now and let it stay being great.  Quit while you’re ahead.

 I know readers always wish that authors would continue writing in a world they’ve fallen in love with, or request more sequels be written – but honestly, they usually stop.  And for good reason.  You as a reader still love the series.  And after a couple weeks, you’ll find a new book, and forget the other world that you just read. And then all you do is look back on that book with fond memories.  Clare isn’t going to do that.  She’s going to lose fans because people get sick of the same world.  At least The Infernal Devices was unique because it was set in a completely different time period – so even though it was the same Shadowhunter world, the setting was very different.  But now she’s meshing all the generations, and nothing will be unique.  Learn from other authors.  Quit while you’re ahead and write something different.  The readers will still buy your books even if they’re not set in the Shadowhunter world.