Several movie reviews: "Forgetting Sarah Marshall", "Cowboys & Aliens", "Bad Teacher", "The Lovely Bones"

In past weeks I watched several movies that I didn't have the time or was lazy to review. With this post I am making a compromise with myself and I will write a paragraph for each movie.

"Forgetting Sarah Marshall" is a light romantic comedy starring Jason Segel (never heard of him), Mila Kunis and Kristen Bell. Peter (Segel), after being left by his long-time girlfriend Sarah (Bell) decides to go to Hawaii to forget her. Unfortunately, she is also there, with her boyfriend, to make things worse. What follows is a typical for this kind of movies: fights, some romance, meeting crazy locals, some dirty scenes... All in all, I was very satisfied with this movie: jokes were very good, no shameful moment and it features a very good in-movie song. A recommendation for those who like romantic comedies.

"Cowboys & Aliens" was expected to be a hit of this summer, but I would skip this movie. Maybe if you are younger than 10 this movie could work for you. It features Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford, although I don't count this as a plus. I can't say much about this movie because I wasn't really concentrating on it and I left before the end.

"Bad Teacher" is on the other hand a straightforward comedy, starring Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake and Jason Segel (ha, I didn't notice before). I don't usually like Diaz, but she was actually good in this movie. She plays a young woman who, after being dumped by her fiancée, is forced to work in high-school. She is not very likeable: she likes men only because of money, she curses, smokes pot, steals from students... What you expect is that she changes toward the end and becomes a nice person. Well, this is only partially true. I liked this movie and I think it is a good evening watch for those who can stomach a teen-comedy.

"The Lovely Bones" is a hit from few years ago. It is a story of young girl who gets killed by a perverted serial killer. Instead going to Heaven, she gets stuck somewhere between because she is not ready to leave yet. So she follow the life of her family (dad is Mark Wahlberg and mum Rachel Weisz), her sister, her almost-boyfriend and her killer (Stanley Tucci) for few more years. It is a slow, hard movie, something between thriller and fantasy. I didn't like it after watching it whole. Thriller parts were OK, but there are better such movies (like "Zodiac Killer" I watched few months ago). Fantasy parts were mostly confusing, overlong and ultimately unnecessary. I ending was something of anticlimax. Even though I didn't like the end, I would recommend it to everybody who can concentrate for two hours.

Book review: "Riddle-Master" Patricia A. McKillip

I am not really sure how my attention was drawn to "The Riddle-Master of Hed" trilogy by Patricia A. McKillip, but I was under impression of this book being something of a fundamental of fantasy literature, kind of "Lord of the Rings". I actually felt a little embarrassed for not reading it; I consider myself a well-versed in fantasy, and here I was, not even aware of such a classical piece. Media can sometimes be such a seducer, true?

I bought an omnibus edition, called simply "Riddle-Master: The Complete Trilogy". It contains all three books: "The Riddle-Master of Hed", "The Heir of Sea and Fire" and "Harpist in the Wind". The books start with Morgon, a young ruler of smallest kingdom of the land, island of Hed, full of farmers and famous for its beer. Morgon became a land-heir (ruler of kingdom with special connection to the land) very recently, after the death of his parents a year ago. Before that Morgon was (which is very uncommon for people of Hed) a student of college in Caithnard, greatest place of art of riddling. After they (they being Morgon, and his sister Tristan and brother Eliard) are visited by Deth, a harpist for High One (something of reclusive over-ruler), they learn that Moron won a hand of Raedlerle of An, daughter of a King of a powerful kingdom of An. Morgon decides to take his previously unknown prize, since he met Raedlerle before, while attending college. But while on way there, accompanied by Deth, he gets attacked by mysterious shapechangers and loses his memory. After regaining it, he starts a journey toward High One's mountain planning to ask him about the shapechangers, who are starting to become a real threat. On way there, he meets the others land-rulers and learns about secret behind the stars on his forehead.

Second book brings a radical change in perspective, since it is told from point of Readlerle, a character that was only briefly mentioned in previous book. We follow her as she searches for explanation about Morgons disappearance (first book ends in a cliffhanger, so we don't know anything about Morgon and his fate) and later for Morgon himself, as rumors about him start to fill the land. As searching brings to more distant places, she also starts to find new things about herself, especially her own strange power, which frightens her.

In third book we are back to Morgon's POV. We follow him and Raedlerle as they are first running from, and later fighting, their enemies, who include shapechangers, but other, too. Also, they discover that some of their dead enemies and allies are not as dead as they believed. But the biggest discovery will be about High One...

To me, the books sucked. They were written in the seventies and the author in the introduction clearly states how she was impressed by "The Lord of Rings" so much that it directed to toward writing fantasy. This is clearly in her writing because she really managed to emulate the sense of LotR and still be completely different from it. When I say sense of LotR, I mean about that atmosphere to nobility, a thing that I tend to associate to either older or poorer works. Let's take ASoIaF for example: it is certainly epic, and it contains occasional great nobility, but its prominent characteristic is grittiness; its characters are in no way chivalrous. You won't see that in LotR; people there are either heroes (large or small), noble, courteous and strong, or villains, foul-mouthed and cowardly. For more examples, WoT tends toward that, while MBotF completely inverts it; "Sword of Truth" by Goodking tends to that, but the books are terrible. I am not saying it is bad or it is good; it's just one style and it is just part of book. Anyway, McKillip succeeds in copying this style of LotR, but unfortunately fails in making books as interesting or intense.

There are several things that bothered me. First, I was irritated by characters, Morgon, Readlerle, Lysa... Always taking a easier route would quickly lead to the Dark Side, but I would nice to be that they sometimes do the smart thing instead the perfectly noble thing and clinging to impossible ideals. I mean, it's nice when someone sticks with his believes, but sometimes it is just obvious they will have to make some compromises (except when they are shounen-heroes) so why not do the smart thing and adapt quickly instead of dragging to whole book. E.g. Rand from WoT at first doesn't like One Power, but it obvious that he will be forced to use it. So even though he struggles against it and is reluctant about it, in the end he does accept it as a part of himself and learns to live with it. Secondly, they don't do much in this book; I think that good two thirds of these books consist of traveling. Things do get interesting when they actually start to do something (for example, defense of Lungold), but they are soon interrupted by another trip. Thirdly, I couldn't completely understand McKillip's writing. I don't know if that is because English is not my first language (although I read it more than Croatian, by the way) or she just has such way of writing, but I was often find myself confused by the events. Things do get explained later, but even after reading whole omnibus, I can't say I completely understand what happened. This also happened often with Erikson, but somehow I believe that with him this is intentional; here I believe reason is the lack of skill. This doesn't mean that McKillip is poor writer; even though I am a poor judge for this, I found her writing very beautiful. Also, for a book called "Riddle-Master", full of riddling and people who pride themselves on it, it would be nice to hear at least one riddle...

When I learned that "Harpist in the Wind" won a Hugo award, my opinion of it was something like of a Picasso's painting: experts and people with taste are able to appreciate it and discuss it strengths and details, but most of people would have to take their word for it being a masterpiece. So, "Riddle-Master" can be beautifully written, it can have strong metaphors or pictures, but I don't believe it will be so appreciated by general audience (by this I mean fantasy-literature audience). The fact that is not really omnipresent on web at least partially affirms my opinion. On audience that I think could appreciate this book would be the kids; I would have liked this book when I was 10, when I adored "The Hobbit".

Movie review: "Perfume: The Story of a Murderer"

It passed some 10 day since I watched this movie, so it's starting to get smudged in my memory. I planned to watch this movie for some time, although the reason is a bit unclear even to me. Few years ago I read a great book, "Jitterbug Perfume" by Tom Robbins. The book is fantasy-comedy-philosophy-etc mix that is very enjoyable and I would recommend it to all, especially those with great imagination. Anyway, I thought (or better to say, I hoped) that this movie has something to do with the book. It doesn't, but the movie is nevertheless worth a watch.

"Perfume: The Story of a Murderer" is a story about life of Jean-Baptiste Grenouille (played by to me unknown Ben Whishaw). At the beginning of the movie we are shown the preparations for his execution, with ragged masses of 18th century Paris screaming for his blood. Then we are flashbacked trough his life. He was born in unenviable circumstances. He lived first in orphanage and then was sold as worker in tannery. His prominent feature is his extraordinary and superior sense of smell. On the other hand, he lacks any moral or emphatic constraint and posses only basic animal instincts of survival. And his only wish if to explore new scents, whether considered good or bad. We will follow his life in this exploration and later in his search for mythical ultimate perfume (which include murder, as you can guess from the title).

First, this is very "realistic" movie. By this I mean it shows the dirty and ugly part of human life. And this life was quite ugly in 18th century. Rats, dirt, not washing, working in practical slavery, and so on. Secondly, this is very violent movie. Grenouille is not picky with means of attaining elements for his perfumes. And it looks like he carries a bad luck for anybody who associates with him. Thirdly, this is a very strange movie. Contrary to all this violence, sex and dirtiness, it is very peaceful and pastoral movie. Grenouille doesn't talk much and most of the explanations during the movie are given by narrator (voice of John Hurt). Fourthly: it is very funny movie. Grim and bizarre humor, but funny nevertheless.

We also have few stars in the movie. I recognized Alan Rickman, and now on IMDB, I found that Dustin Hoffman also has important role, although I didn't notice him. The acting is, of course, great.

"Perfume" looks to me like one of those movies you either love or hate. And I somehow think that for most people it will be the hate choice. But for those who like bizarre, history and are patient, I think this is a great movie.

Book review: "Shadowrise" by Tad Williams

Interesting, I just noticed that on front cover, then name of the author if larger that the name of the book. This is also true for first two parts. If I was an ignorant buyer (ignorant about Tad Williams and this books, not in general way), I don't think I would buy it. It gives an impression that the publisher is trying to sell the book based more on author's previous fame than on the quality of the book itself. Fortunately, this is not completely true.

I finished reading this book last weekend, but I was quite busy after the vacation, so I didn't have the time to really devote myself to writing its review. Now is Saturday, so I finally can.

This is Tad Williams' third major work. First was "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" tetralogy (initially planned as trilogy, similarly to "Shadowmarch" series) and I read it. It is a very good epic fantasy series. I wouldn't say it is a masterpiece, but I would recommend it to every fantasy fan because it doesn't have any big flaws, it has an interesting setting and it's a very fun read. Second one is "Otherland" series, something of a cyberpunk or science fiction which I haven't read, although it has good reviews. I actually planed to read it last year, but other things got priority priority, so it lost its place in schedule. Other than that Williams wrote several standalone novels, of which I read only "The War of the Flowers", a very unique fantasy with setting I would compare to China Miévile's "Perdido Street Station", although not so good; but good nevertheless.

"Shadowmarch" series, which started with novel with the same name, was return to classic fantasy a la "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn". But it was even more than that. I don't know how much it was on purpose, but if someone else wrote this book, Tad Williams would be able to sue him for plagiary with no problems. We have very similar setting: pseudo-Medieval kingdoms with sever hundred years of more or less unchanging history and technological level, one Church and so on. We have elves that were once on better terms with humans, but now they have retreated behind a barrier. We even have small gnomish people that occasionally interact with humans. Characters are also very similar. Main character in both series is teen boy with red hair living on court. Then there is a friendly court-doctor who privately deals with more mystic forces. Even the plot starts in the same way: unrest and succession after disappearance of king.

But after the same start, "Shadowmarch" starts to diverge. It introduces new elements of setting, new characters; plots takes different turns... When you get to the second book, "Shadowplay", it is a curious combination of known and unknown. All in all, this series is somewhat tough to recommend. There is many better fantasy series out there, with more originality, more tension, better characters and so on. But on the other hand, it is in no way bad, just mediocre. So, if you read haven't read "Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" I would advise you to start there. If you already had and liked it, you can give "Shadowmarch" a chance when you don't have anything better to read. If you didn't like MSaT, don't even try this.

And if you read first two books, "Shadowmarch" and "Shadowplay", I think you will like "Shadowrise" because it was best so far. I am only sorry that I didn't do a reread before reading it. I remembered all the characters in general way, but I forgot some specifics of their circumstances, since I read "Shadowplay" only once.

We have several POVs. Princ Barrick is on a quest in fairyland, although he is not even sure why or what he has to do. He is almost alone (except a raven Skurn), with no weapons or equipment, and he is definitely lost there. All he knows is that he has to bring a mirror elven general Yasammez gave him to elven King, to have a hope of saving humanity. He will not have a nice trip, but at least he will learn more about the reasons fairies attacked his kingdom. He will also find some sources of power that he never dreamed of attaining. His sister, Princess Briony has finally finished her journey and is now safe in the court of neighboring and friendly kingdom of Syan. At least this is what she believes at first; she will learn that she is not so save after all, and that Princess can't afford to have any friend. But she will also find strength to stop being just a victim and to try to do something for her kingdom. Captain Vansen, after sudden parting with Princ Barrick is now in Funderling Town under Shadowmarch castle. Together with Chert Blue-Quartz, doctor Chaven and other Funderlings he will try to defend the Funderling Town and Shadowmarch from underground invasion of Quars. He will also find a chance for at least temporary truce, only if he succeeds meeting with Quar General. Above them, in Shadowmarch castle, poet Matt Tinwright is have much smaller aspirations: he is trying to survive between serving regent Hendon Tolly, taking care of his missing mistress Elan and spying for former minister Avin Brone.  On the other side of the world, but slowly traveling to Shadowmarch, we will follow Pinimmon Vash, a Prime-Minister to Autarch Sulepis of Xis. Although having almost infinite power, he is like a fly to his Emperor, a living god. Even more, Pinimmon, minister to several Autarch before, will learn that the current one in nothing like his predecessors. He will also learn that he can't understand King Olin, who travels as prisoner toward his kingdom, where he will be used as mean for some unknown purpose. Somewhere behind them is young Qinnitan, abducted by mysterious Vo, who is bringing her to Autarch. But Qinnitan will do everything to escape for this fate.

In this book don't expect any sudden changes in style, setting or atmosphere compared to previous books. But expect a nice reading in familiar circumstances. There are not any boring parts. Plot develops naturally, and even though is sometimes predictable, it still introduces enough surprises to be interesting. We have everything: an important journey, court politics, religion and magic mix, history, occasional comical scenes... Characters behave in believable ways and still develop. Most interesting part to me was gradual revelations of this world's history and mythology, especially how it was seen from different races.

In the end, best thing to say about "Shadowrise" that is was very fun to read. I recommend it to all who read first two parts and liked it; they won't be disappointed.

Book review: "The Desert Spear" by Peter V. Brett

Last weekend I finished reading "The Desert Spear", a sequel to "The Painted Man" by Peter V. Brett. I was thinking about rereading TPM before TDS, but I wasn't really in a mood for that, so I decided to do a reread when last book gets published. This turned out to be a mistake, before I forgot how fun was TPM and was then pleasantly surprised by TDS, even though I think the pleasure would be even bigger if I haven't spent lots of time trying to remember details from TPM.

"The Desert Spear" came out last year, but there wasn't a paperback edition available to me, so I waited until now. Even when I was reading TPM, I knew that reviews were good but not brilliant. I think this is a fair assessment:  "Demon Cycle" books are not the best or most original or best written fantasy series on the market, but they are very fun to read. So don't expect a new "Lord of the Rings"; but expect a good fantasy book with rich characters and exciting plot, set in not-so-wide but nicely build world.

TDS is a sequel, but it starts with events even before the ones in TPM. Although this is not unique, it is not so common occurrence in fantasy books of this caliber. First part of book is told from point of view of Jardir. He didn't have much appearance in prequel, although his role had very impact. He was also described as something like a bad guy. Now we have simultaneously events from present (of the book), after the events in TPM, and from Jardir's past, which start few years before TPM (since he is older that Arlen, main character of TPM).

We are told about Jardir childhood and growing up in Fort Krasia, one of Free cities (I don't know why I though there are seven of them). Krasnians and their society were introduced in TPM, but here we have a much detailed and wider description of it. It is somewhat based on Islam culture: language, relationship between men and women, belief that death in fight guarantees you place in Heaven, etc. I must say that this is one of least likable societies I have read about. TPM wasn't one of the books that clearly differentiate people on good and bad: there were demons, who were the enemies, but it was their nature. Humans, the good guys, are not in any way all good, clean and decent: they are stupid, dirty, rapists, villains... So, when we got POV from Krasnian society, which was depicted somewhat badly in last book, I expected a turn, where they are shown to have redeeming qualities that are invisible from the outside. Surprisingly, this was not the case: even though Krasnians are not evil per se, or without any qualities, they are still described as stupid, wasteful, fanatic, without consideration and believing in their natural superiority. What is even more miserable is that this assessment is probably true for many societies in past, and even in present. And Jardir is a perfect specimen of his society. He believes himself as smart (and he is compared to some of his fellow citizen), but he doesn't even have the capability to understand how easily he is being manipulated. He did something awful to his best friend (actually, to many of this best friends), but even when he know that what he did was wrong, he excuse himself that is was his right and duty to do it. But in the end, he induces more pity than anger from reader.

His part of the book takes at third of the book, and it last until the events from his past start to concur with the present. Then we have addition of other characters, Leesha and Rojer, know to us from TPM. With them we have a direct continuation of events from the first book, an aftermath of battle of Cutter's Hollow, now known as Deliverer's Hollow. We have depiction of how everybody except two of them start to regards Arlen as new Deliverer, even though he denies it. We also have a closer description of politics in Free cities. There is one new and old character: Reena. She had a small part at the beginning of TPM; now she gets upgraded to a real main character. Interesting thing is that her plot doesn't have much importance in the course of the book. It is strange that author would invest so much in one pretty unimportant character, but her part was in no way dull. From one side it describes in detail life in one small part of the world, and from the other side goes deeply in characterization of few in no way ideal characters.

Things get much more intense later when Arlen gets his POV, after quite long time, and main characters start to mingle. It is always interesting to see the contrast between how character sees himself and how other characters see him. And we have a lot of this in TDS. Also, the clash of cultures is always fun to read. Arlen POVs are very interesting to read, not so much because of his plot, which is very intense in its own right, but because we have one character that we got very acquainted in first book, but then he got very much changed, and this change was seen only from third persons. He often remembers earlier Arlen and it very compelling when you can compare them, because they are in the same time very different and very similar.

All parts of book are very interesting and very fun to read. TPM was stretched over probably more than fifteen years; TDS, after retelling this whole period from point of a completely new character, concentrates on period of maybe three month. Even though the plot is interesting, it is action plot about clash of cultures, something familiar from other books or movies. What are unique to this book are its characters and their description from several different sources.

I also has to mention one more aspect. Even though the demon aspect of this setting doesn't have much coverage in this book, few short pages mean a lot. For first time we have point of view of a demon and we learn something about their way of thinking. This few passages succeeded in making me even more interested in this setting. Also, a nice touch was the indication that this is actually postapocalyptic setting in alternate future of Earth (books about war-machines).

Also, although I can't be sure without the reread of TPM, I think that Brett's writing style got improved in this book, which also adds to enjoyment of this book. Just a few technical details: book has around 750 pages. It also has a preview of the last book, called "The Daylight War", which is announced for 2012.

All in all, "The Desert Spear" is a very good book in its own right, and even better as sequel to "The Painted Man". Not dull in any moment, and with supreme characterization, it will be a good read to every reader who even remotely liked "The Painted Man". If you read the first book, don't miss this one.

Movie review: "The Adjustment Bureau"

So much about my plan to catch up with writing while I am on vacation: I have five unfinished posts... But let's start with the movie review. "The Adjustment Bureau" is fairly new movie. I am not sure how I stumbled on it, but all I knew about it before watching was that it is some kind of mystery thriller.

David Norris (played by Matt Damon) is a young politician with big ambitions. After loosing the elections for Senate, he meets Elise (Emily Blunt) who inspires him to his best speech ever. Even after so short meeting he can't stop thinking about her, so when he bumps into her in bus after few months, he grabs the chance and gets her number. But when he gets off the bus and arrives to work, he finds everybody in the building frozen in time and some strange people doing some high-tech tests on them. He tries to run but they catch him; they introduce themselves as some kind of guardians of fate and order him to stop trying to meet Emily because that would be disaster for whole world. And worst of all, they confiscate the paper with her number, his only contact to her. But after a year, he again sees her in bus and now has to decide: whether to listen to those guardians or to temp the fate...

This is a serious movie which requires your full attention, but it rewards you for that. It is not unique concept (fate and its guardians), but neither is too common, and the movies explores the subject on high scale. Details of those guardians are slowly revealed during the movie (it all gets explained at the end) gives the movie a nice touch of science fiction/fantasy. There are no any big flaws in the plot and settings so you can freely concentrate on the movie. The movie also has the romance aspect, but it is mostly thriller. Characters and actors who play them are all good. Except Damon and Blunt as famous names, we also have Terrence Stamp.

Only flaw of the movie is that is has several long scenes where nothing happens, which are there to emphasize the mood, which could be a bit shorter. But this is not really a serious remark.

"The Adjustment Bureau" is serious and very good thriller for everybody; a bit of playing with SF/F gives it a nice touch. Definitely a recommendation.

Movie review: "Limitless"

Yesterday my girlfriend and I watched "Limitless" on DVD. I noticed this movie and its good reviews on IMDB so we decided to try it. It was presented as action thriller with touch of SF. We actually watched a second movie after that, but I have napped occasionally during the movie, so I will not write a port about it. It was "Sunshine", a slow space SF where group of astronauts are traveling toward the sun to reignite it, with no communication with Earth. It has a very slow beginning, but it gets much more intense later. So I didn't fall asleep because it was boring...

As I said, "Limitless" is an action thriller. It revolves around Eddie (Bradley Cooper), a not very successful writer. After his girlfriend lefts him, he bangs into his ex-brother-in-law, who gives him some drug for which he doesn't explain the effects, called NZT. It turns out that NZT enables person to use 100% of his brain, enabling Eddie to become completely aware of his surrounding, to remember every detail of his life, with bonus of extremely strong will and self-confidence. After Vern (ex-brother-in-law) gets murdered, a big stash of NZT ends in Eddie's hands. With it, Eddie completely changes his life: he finishes his book, gets his girlfriend back, starts a comet career in Wall Street. But of course, it turns out that Eddie is not the only one who knows about NZT.

The movie is very good from beginning to end. Initial description of Eddie's life, first encounter with NZT, advantages and troubles it merits him. Later, when other players start showing up, things only get better. It doesn't become too complex story, but something that could happen to everybody (in these circumstances). Much focus is put to Eddie's experience of drug's effects.

There is only one thing that got on my nerves, but it's not a flaw of the movie. It is more a flaw in humanity itself because it is completely believable that anybody would do something like this. I am talking about the fact that after getting a limited stash of such wonderful drug (well, not counting the effects), something I think most people would be willing to take, Eddie, who now has superb intelligence and will, doesn't do much to solve his problem of this limited stash. I mean, if I was to get something like this in my hands, first thing I would do would be securing the supply of it...

Technical side of the movie is quite good. There are not much special effects, but movie looks quite good. Actors also did a good job. Except Cooper, Robert De Niro is the only star in the movie.

"Limitless" is a very good movie for everybody. It has a fair amount of action, suspense and fun. A nice watch for anybody!

Book review: "The Steel Remains" by Richard K. Morgan

I've been reading positive reviews about "The Steel Remains" since it was out, so it has been in my wish list for a while. I've ordered it while I was rereading "Malazan Book of the Fallen" and it waited me for a month or two, and now it finally came its turn. Several years ago, while I had time to be a member if local library, I read one of Richard Morgan's hits, "Altered Carbon". I remember it as a good book, a SF action-thriller, but since I've read it only once, I don't remember much detail.

The sword on the cover has a cool mirror-effect

I loved this book literally from the first sentence:

"When a men you know to be of sound mind tells you his recently deceased mother has just tried to climb in his bedroom window and eat him, you only have two basic options."

What a great way to start a book. From the very start I was remind of Joe Abercrombie's "The First Law Trilogy". It has the familiar combination of grittiness and humor, only with Morgan it is bit more of grittiness and little less of humor. Nevertheless, it has that same feel of fantasy that deals with real people; people who are weak, dirty, curse a lot, but manage to surprise you more than not. So don't expect clear differentiation on good and bad...

Story follows three main characters. Ringil is an ex-soldier, hero of last war, now fallen on lower branches of life. He's living in a small village, using remains of his glory to get drinks and room in local inn. You get first indication that Ringil was more than he is now when his mother, a member of one of most powerful noble families, comes to force him into finding their cousin, sold to slavery. Although he is reluctant of come back to capital, to people who betrayed him and life it disappointed him, his mother's wishes are hard to decline.

Two second main characters are Egar Dragonbane and Archeth. Egar is member of nomadic horse-warrior tribe Majak. In his youth he was a mercenary and also a war-hero. After returning to his tribe, he is now a rich leader, having everything that a man could wish for, but finds his life among almost-barbaric people too dull, especially compared to sophisticated life in neighboring Empire of Yhelteth. Archeth is one of most trusted advisors of Emperor of the same Empire, mainly because she is a last member of her race, advanced and long-living people of Kiriath. Her life will again become exciting as she is sent to investigate a strange attack on one of the coastal towns.

First, I liked the worldbuilding. Morgan has something of a Erikson's approach. He plunges you in the middle of a world and don't explain you much. You get brief references to the world throughout the book, and you do your best connected them to whole picture. For example, you get mentions of Lizard Folk and Kiriath, two inhuman races during the whole book, but even after reading it whole, you don't have a complete picture of who they really were and what happened to them. I like this approach because it gives you an impression of a solid world, one that has a life of its own. Also, I always like when fantasy mixes with SF; as with Erikson's K'Chain Che-Malle, so with Morgan's Kiriath.

Characters are great. Ringil is a main guy. At first he is described as just one old veteran, with one heroic act to single him from the mass. As book follows him to capital, you find out that he was, and still is, much more. He has one trait that forced him to abandon his rightful place as a son of powerful noble family: he is openly gay in a world that ostracizes homosexuality. And by ostracizing, I mean torture and death, except in case you happen to be rich and powerful. This hypocrisy, combined with what he considers a betrayal of his war efforts, left him disappointed in humanity, especially to higher classes. Egar is also great. He is a middle-aged warrior that had a touch of sophistication in big city capital and can't find his rest now when he is back to his people. And Acrheth is very interesting, since she is of different race. From her POV I think we get most facts about the world. Although that doesn't mean she is just an info-dump-machine.

Unfortunately, book is great only till last quarter or so. At one point, one all three main characters come together, it just starts to fall apart. Story is good until that point, but after it gets too predictable and uninteresting. It fails to give an impression of well-rounded conclusion and it lacks any exciting parts: it just falls into usual fantasy tropes. And worse than that, characters do the same. Egar, who is very insightful characters for the most of the book, becomes just a wise and friendly barbarian; Ringil a snarly but good commander and Archeth an elf. I was quite disappointed with this ending. But, considering how book was good until that point, and how good was worldbuilding, I have hopes for the sequel, "The Cold Commands", and plan to order it soon.

As I mentioned, I have read "Altered Carbon" only once, but I remember that main character's name was Takeshi Kovach. I wonder if name Takavach in "The Steel Remains" is a hidden reference to it?

The book has quite graphical description of violence and sex. I noticed on some user reviews that some people were offended with such detailed depiction of sex between two men. So if this really bothers you, maybe you should skip this book.

"The Steel Reamins" is one very innovating and gritty book, with exceptional worldbuilding and characters, but unfortunately with weak ending. Nevertheless, it is a great read for fans of darker fantasy, so I recommend it.

MBotF reread: "The Bonehunters" by Steven Erikson

After finishing "The Bonehunters" and starting with "Reaper's Gale", I have came up to two realizations. First, I haven't read those two books enough times. (this is probably true for "Toll the Hounds"). I know this because I am constantly coming across details I forgot or even didn't know at all. I expected that I will find some unknown facts or that I will see something in another light, considering that I have read almost whole series now, but I didn't expect such amount of that. I was sure that I have read these two books at least three times, but I am not so sure now. Second, all this rereading is starting to take its toll. I am not enjoying these book as much I should; at least partly, my objective changed from "rereading and enjoying" to "just finishing these damned book". Definitely, after finishing the series (I expect this to be in 6-8 weeks, considering that I need almost two weeks per book) I will have to take some rest from reading. I will watch some anime or something. On the other hand, my reading pile has never been larger: "The Crippled God", "Empire in Black and Gold" and "The Way of Kings". Wow. Soon there will be fourth book.

Now, to the book. After "House of Chains" and "Midnight Tides", whom I referred to as transitional books, we have arrived to Erikson a bit different that the first books. It is still everything that marked this series: complexity, style, characters... But everything is taken to extreme and over. This is most evident if first portion of book: (literary) every sub-chapter (I am referring to parts of chapter where we follow one point of view) is crazy. Hilarious, sarcastic, unbelieving, confusing, extreme in every way: crazy! Consider just first such sub-chapter: Iskaral Pust's audience with Shadowthrone. I can't begin to imagine what some casual reader, someone unknowing of MBotF, would think about it... And I said, this takes a good part of the book. In later stages, this extremity is a bit diluted, but still present.

"The Bonehunters" is one of my favorite books in series. First, we are back to Seven Cities, and as I said, I adore the long history of it. Second, there is a bunch of my favorite characters here:  Fiddler, Iskaral Pust, Kalam, Quick Ben, Malazan marines, Grub... Third, we have three culminations in this book: Y'Ghatan, G'Danisban and Malaz City. Fourth: each of those culminations, and especially the last one.

There are many plot-lines in this book, but lets' just consider a few important ones. Malazan 14th army is represented very well in the book, with several POVs. It can probably be said that this army is the main element of "The Bonehunters". It also have to be mention the existence of the monster-chapter, somewhere around the middle. It depicts the battle and aftermath of Y'Ghatan and it is long as several normal chapters. And also one of the best. The ending in Malaz City is also one of the most bitter one in the series, right behind the one of "Deadhouse Gates", near Aren (not counting the one in "Dust of Dreams", since I still don't know the consequences of it). Paran's plot is a good one, although he became a bit too-powerful character, so the outcome of his battles is always expected. Karsa's plot is a very interesting, especially the way it is viewed from Samar Dev's perspective (and she is also one great character).

The only POV I am not very satisfied with is Crokus'. First part of the their travels is OK, although with not much impact. But the event's toward the end of the book, encompassing "the green fall", are very confusing. I read this part at least three times and I consider myself well versed in MBotF, but this event still present total mystery. OK, I know what happened, although not very exactly, but the meaning of it is totally out of my range of reasoning.

But, except this little flaw, this book is a brilliant gem in Malazan Book of the Fallen series. For all fans that stick with the series, this book will be a great addition.

Movie review: "Season of the Witch"

Last weekend girlfriend and I decided to go to cinema, and between "13" and "Season of the Witch" we picked the later. I don't usually like Nicholas Cage's movies, but it turns out this wasn't so bad after all.

First scene of the movie is very realistic and violent scene of hanging and drowning of three witches. During night, one of them comes back to life and kills the priest responsible for it. Then we are switched to a completely different scenery. In this movie, Cage plays Behmen and Ron Perlman plays Felson. They are buddy-buddy pair of knights, fighting infidels in the Crusades. After a massacre of civilians, they are sickened by war, and especially by Church which preaches the war as just and holy. They dessert and start a journey to their homes, but they get caught eventually, in a town besieged by plague. In fact, whole country is plagued. They are offered freedom in exchange for transporting a young women accused of being a witch and a source of the plague, to a remote monastery. Disappointed by Church, they decline at first. But Behmen thinks girl innocent and abused by Church, so he decides to escort her, hoping she will get a fairer trail in the monastery. A company is assembled and thus the journey starts...

First part of the movie is nothing exceptional, but it is done decently good. Cage and Perlman make a funny pair (I was reminded of Gibson-Glover relationship from "Lethal Weapon" series) and they don't look stupid at it. Atrocities of the war and its consequences are shown very solid and convincing. But journey, the middle part of the movies is really good! We are shown some very confronting facts and everything is left to audience's imagination. You can't be sure what is really going on and who is good and who bad. Very mysterious! There are few especially good and intense scenes (the maze, the bridge and the wolves). Until the end you are left to wonder...

...And then comes the end which leaves nothing to imagination, which sucks. It is not a bad ending; it is very emotional and intense. But after all those psychological games that left me in guessing what's going on, they reveal it all. And final bad guy feels a bit stupid and unimaginative. I would prefer ending being left undecided and mysterious, and then this would be really great movie. The positive side would be that ending is surprising; I don't think many persons would guess it.

In the end, "Season of the Witch" is a nice movie, with somewhat spoiled ending. But definitely a nice way to spend an evening, especially if you like fantasy.

Movie review: "Shutter Island"

I did a stupid thing. I watched the last fifteen minutes of "Shutter Island" trough sleep. I wasn't actually sleeping, but I wasn't really awake. I was conscious enough to know what is going on, but not enough to fully appreciate it. It was not because of the movie (on the contrary, movie is very good), but I was lying under blanket with my girlfriend, it was very cozy and warm and I was sleepy. Those who watched the movie will understand how stupid my falling asleep was, and you who didn't will just have to take my word about it being a very stupid idea.

Although I don't plan to reveal any spoilers, conception of this movie is such, that less you know, the movie will be better. So think twice before reading this review.

Now, back to the movie... The movie starts with Teddy Daniels, US Marshall, meeting his new partner on a ferry to Shutter Island. Two of them are going there to investigate disappearance of a woman, patient of mental institution for violent criminals. This institution is actually the only building on the island and the ferry is only way from it. Immediately after arriving, they will start to suspect something is amiss: guards on the edge, cowed patients, sneaky doctors... But even their wildest imaginations will be far from the truth!

"Shutter Island" is very disturbing movie: atmosphere is dark and stormy and all people are very nervous. Especially patients, who look like they are in fear; some of them are deformed or show signs of physical abuse. Events in movie are taking place in fifties and scenes from WWII are very often, showing Teddy's coming to Dachau concentration camp. All this serves to make viewer a bit uncomfortable (it was a bit inappropriate to watch this movie from bed). Combine that with pictures of lobotomy, electro-shocks....

Cast is good; Teddy is played by Leonardo DiCaprio; movie also stars Ben Kingsley and Max von Sydow. Somewhere at the middle of the movie you start guessing what is going on. I had two theories, my girlfriend also two different ones; in the end, we were both very, very off. It is just this kind of the movie.

I liked this movie very much, but it is not for everybody. It is a serious and violent movie dealing with psychology, and it asks concentration from viewer.

Book review: "Daggerspell" by Katherine Kerr

"ENTER A FANTASTICAL WORLD WHERE EVEN DEATH ITSELF IS COWED BY THE POWERS OF PASSION AND HIGH MAGIC"

Key word in his paragraph is "passion"... If I noticed this before and gave it attention, I probably wouldn't buy this book. Few months ago I was browsing Amazon and looking for a new series I could start. WoT and MBoF are close to finish line and who knows when next ASoIaF book will come out... All other series I am currently reading are trilogies and quadrologies. I plan to start "The Stormlight Archive", but that's only one. So I am constantly in look for long epic series and have few candidates already: "The Second Apocalypse" by R. Scott Bakker (6 books; I read first two but own none), "Wars of Light and Shadow" by Janny Wurts (11 books), "Saga of Recluce" by L.E. Modesitt (16 books), "The Three Worlds Cycle" by Ian Irvine (14 books) and "Shadows of the Apt" by Adrian Tchaikovsky (at least 8 books). I prefer series that are near the end, so I don't have to wait long for next books.

"Deverry Cycle" by Katherine Kerr was one of such candidates. It has 15 books, all published. When I did the research (on Wikipedia), I found out that it was set in world based on Celts. It sounded quite the ordinary setting: barbaric humans, long-lived and rare elves, some dwarves and something like orcs. Also, short synopsis didn't sound very innovating. But the comments looked good and the name Katherine Kerr is quite famous in fantasy circles, so I decided to give it a try.

First I want to complain about the price! Smallish paperback edition I bough, 450 pages long, was priced at 13 GBP (20 USD). "Toll the Hounds", a brand-new top-seller book, in really good paperback edition 900 pages long cost the same when I bought it.

As you can assume from my complaints, I didn't like the book. It is a story about Jill, who after her mother's death starts to travel around with her dishonored father Cullyn, best fighter in the kingdom of Deverry. At the same time, Jill is being sought by sorcerer Nevyn, who wants to help her to discover her own magical skills and thus repay the debt he owns her from their prior lives. They will meet while helping Rhodry, a young noble who was connected with them in past lives, to break the rebellion in his mothers county.

Past lives have a large role here: in their first life Jill was Nevyn's fiancée whom he left because of his wish to learn dweomer (magic). She then ended tragically, being in incest relationship with her brother (now reborn as Cullyn), who because of her killed his best friend, past version of Rhodry. Nevyn never died because of his magical (or dweomer) vow to repair the evil he was root. This scenario played few times between first version and present Jill, always unfortunately.

Although the plot is not bad, it's too straightforward and simple. Also, it is the only one; there are no multiple plots, hidden meanings, sense of wondering what is going on.... There are few characters and you have no problem following them. You know who is who, what is going on, and it is not hard to guess what will happen next. As I said, world is based on Celts, but in advanced Dark Age: complex hierarchy between nobility, feudal system, no science, strong influence of church, constant feuding between nobles... Magic and other races are known only as terrible legends among humans. Only partly they are present in this book; I understand that they play much larger role in later books. World-building is nice and one of better parts of the book, but I am accustomed to much more complex worlds and setting. Also, Kerr's insisting on using Celts words is a bit off-putting.

Characters are what probably ruined this book for me. They are too simple and one-sided. All men in this book are occupied by only one thing: their honor. Including Nevyn, who is half a millennia old wizard and should definitely know better. Even while giving over to sin, they are lamenting inside how terrible persons they are and how they have no honor. And women... In one scene, Jill is "feeling like a slut" because she has sexual desire while object of her desire has smarter things to do (in this case fight). This is not a first book I have read where women are in inferior position, but this is the first book where everyone (including characters, narrators and the writer) are acting like this is OK.

While it is true there is passion in "Daggerspell", it is a passion that belongs in cheap love-stories. Main characters are having worst times of their lives and it leaves me completely indifferent - this is not a mark of a good book. Only surprising thing for me was Cullyin's conclusion.

This book was simply not good enough for me and I am sorry that I bought it. On the other hand, series is well known and sounds like it gets more complex later. So, if you like this book, I can only presume you will like sequels even more. On the other hand, I double I will continue reading this series; it belongs to category with "Sword of Truth" by Terry Goodkind, only other series I gave up. I don't recommend this book to fans of epic fantasy.