Batman and Psychology: Review

Going into this book I had high expectations, and was excited about the idea and intentions of it; it really was a cool idea for a book. Unfortunately the book didn’t reach my expectations and kind of disappointed me. The points the author would try to make would get off topic, and overall I was not convinced that the author was a reliable source of information. I loved seeing the character studies, especially The Riddler and Harley Quinn (the favorites). I feel a lot more knowledgeable about the Batman universes, and especially about the different Robins and who they were. Super short review, but that’s really all I have to say about it.

Black Panther: Movie Review

SPOILERS

One of the best MCU movies up to date! Little things like the Wakanda forever arm gestures added so much to the production. The actors were truly amazing, and played their characters perfectly. I honestly had no expectations going into this movie, and it was so much better than I imagined. Shuri is such a spirit animal, a beautiful teenage princess with the mind of a technological genius. T’Challa is pretty high up there with my favorite superheroes now, the others being Spider-man, dead pool, daredevil, and Batman. Martin Freeman was brilliant in his larger role in the MCU, he definitely added to the overall plot rather than having no purpose. The story arch of Killmonger made him a sympathetic villain, and the audience always love those (Loki is still better than him though)! I didn’t get bored once sitting in the theater, I constantly wanted more scenes and was sad when the movie finished. I recommend the Kendrick Lamar album that was inspired by this movie, I love it. Last thing, it was exciting that T’Challa could finally reveal Wakanda is not a third world country, I wonder what that’s going to bring to the overall MCU plot line.

 

Batman: Nightwalker: Review

SPOILERS

This novel was fast paced and addicting, not going to lie. The only major problem I had with the book was the changes to the traditional Bruce Wayne’s life story: Bruce got his train to fight by going to the gym, he was best friends with Harvey Dent, Madeleine Wallace is not a character in any of the comics and neither is Dianne. The love Bruce and Madeleine supposedly felt felt forced to me, and I didn’t think is was necessary for there to be a love interest in this book.  The other frustrating aspect of the novel was that batman was not in it; Bruce Wayne was, but not batman. The title of the book should have been Bruce Wayne: Nightwalker. I wish that the author had included a known villain into to plot somehow, that would have spiced things up a bit. I loved how Bruce was introduced to Gordon at the end, and a strong bond of friendship was formed. Marie Lu was also brilliant about the way she wrote Bruce and Alfred’s relationship, I loved it.

Hamlet: Review

No Spoilers

Very quick broad review for everyone! Th plot in Hamlet was the greatest thing imaginable, how does one even come up with this stuff? It was interesting and engaging and fast paced. The problem I have with this is the shakespearian writing style, it’s difficult to understand, and takes twice as long to read just to comprehend what the writer is trying to get across. I know that’s the whole point of Shakespeare, but that doesn’t mean it is not frustrating! The tragic plot line for Ophelia was too unrealistic (compared to everything else) and I thought more could have been done with the character. My last thought while reading the play was poor Horatio, he has to deal with everything now. This is truly the greatest tragedy of them all.

The Maze Runner: Death Cure: Movie Review

SPOILERS

The plot of the movie was pointless, uninteresting, and completely irrelevant to the series. The movie strayed so far from the book and was completely unrelated to the original plot, it was no wonder it was awful. The only thing this movie had going for it was Dylan O’Brien. There were unnecessary long moments of characters staring at each other that it got boring and had moments where a scene would stay on the screen too long. The way some scene’s were shot made the plot unrealistic, such as Teresa’s death (she definitely could have saved herself and jumped onto the helicopter the way the scene was shot, it was like she wanted to die). I will admit it did make me sad when Newt died, but I think that’s because the scene made me remember the death of Newt in the book, not necessarily because I cared about the character on screen. This movie should have chosen a different route, and was unfortunately not a very good ending to this movie trilogy.

Ahsoka: Review

SPOILERS

This book was amazing! Ahsoka makes me love Star Wars even more than before. I loved that the book involved the Sixth Brother, and that was the challenged Ahsoka overcame to achieve her white lightsabers. I loved how the Inquisitor popped up in the epilogue, which gets readers ready for Star Wars: Rebels, if they chose to watch it. My heart died every time Ahsoka mentioned her old master, Anakin; she didn’t know he was Darth Vader and for some reason that upset me so much more. I loved seeing Ahsoka interact with Senator Organa, and got a little view on how he was raising Leia. I loved that the author added the part when Ahsoka came up with her code name Fulcrum. On top of all of that I didn’t see any plot holes in the novel, but the beginning was a bit slow. The Imperialist Pilar really ticked me off, but that was supposed to be the reaction. I loved how R2-D2 still had Ahsoka’s back, and that he was included in the novel in general. It was inspiring when Ahsoka had that moment of enlightenment when she realizes she has to find the middle ground to be successful in her new mission. I loved this novel so much!

Anna and the French Kiss: Review

SPOILERS

I loved reading this novel! It was an adorable read, a fast read, and an easy read. A problem I had with the overall plot is that it starts with a Etienne in a long strong relationship with Ellie, and if he easily fell out of  love with her to be with Anna, what’s stopping that from happening again in the future? It may be because Ellie changed, but aren’t people in relationships supposed to  be able to work through problems like that? On a different note, I did love the subtle moments of jealously whenever Anna mentioned Toph or when she started dating Dave. I would have enjoyed to see an actually make-up session with Anna’s best friend Bridgette, rather than Anna just mailing something to her, but at least that plot had a resolution! I love that Anna wants to be a movie critic, I feel like she’s a relatable character that way. It was also a nice touch that she came to feel at home in France, and learned how to deal with huge changes.

First Came Forever: Review

**Spoilers**

The novel didn’t seem very realistic to me personally, way too happy at moments, and way too tragic in others; but it still had its moments. The protagonist, Erica, began as a quiet nice nerdy girl, but when she moved to America became outgoing all of a sudden: talking to boys, going to parties (and a gay club), and trying out for track. A way the novel was unrealistic was in the amount of males going after Erica, she was presented as an average girl in the beginning, but by the middle everyone was drooling over her. In reality would a guy like Tyler actually all of a sudden open up and change that much in so little time? Erica didn’t even ask Tyler anything, he just opened right up. The novel addressed peer pressure in the beginning with Eric drinking not because she wanted to, but because her friends were. Also, the Ricky gay drama felt resolved too easily, I wanted to see more about how Ricky was emotionally dealing with hiding his true feelings, rather then a couple of paragraphs and then he was fine. The insecurities of his situation just did not feel real. I loved the trio: Erica, Ricky, and Danny. Their friendship was something each character could fall back on, and they were able to depend on one another. I feel like there was a plot hole in where Erica was getting all the money to travel everywhere; all those plane tickets must have cost a fortune. I wish I could travel that much. By the middle, I had wished she’d given up on Sasha and ended up with Danny, or even Tyler. I wasn’t attached to Sasha and the relationship honestly didn’t feel worth it. I still don’t know where Sasha stood on gay rights, and if he was kind of against them, then that should have been a definite no from Erica. The novel also didn’t really resolve Danny’s feelings towards Erica, he never told her and they never went away. We don’t know what happened. I loved Erica’s passion for running and track, it was a nice constant throughout the novel. The ending felt like a laugh in the face towards the readers, we went through an entire book for this relationship, only for the main love interest to be presumed dead, while Erica is pregnant. Hopefully Sasha ends up alive in the sequel to have the baby with Erica. The story felt stereotypical to me, until the end; that was tragic. Overall all this novel gave me a feeling of nostalgia for the LUX series (one of my favorites) by Jennifer L. Armentrout.

Almost Midnight: Review

These two story stories were so cute!! Personally I loved Kindred Spirits more than Midnights, but both amazed me!

Midnights

I loved how Rainbow Rowell began with a short snippet of the present midnight, enough to leave a cliffhanger, and then travels through all the previous New Year midnights with Noel and Mags. Some parts were slow for me, or not completely mind-blowing so I gave this short story a four out of five stars in rating. I thought it was suspenseful, and even a little frustrating, every time Noel would look at Mags right before midnight but then a different girl would kiss him. It was clear he wanted to kiss Mags but didn’t know how she would feel about it. Real need did not arise in Noel until they had been separated because of college, and I loved how he could not stand being without his other half.

Kindred Spirits

This is one of my most favorite pieces by Rainbow Rowell! I love it when I get to read about a true fan of something and experience my life in theirs. I love how Gabe is closed off from Elena in the beginning and she has to earn his friendship. When she realizes that they go to school together, and Gabe gets embarrassed I thought the drama was so juicy and I loved how Elena went out of her way to make sure she was kind to him and have him forgive whatever she had done wrong in the past. AND Star Wars!! This short story was just amazing.

A Clash of Kings: Review

No Spoilers, a general review

“A man does not fly like a bird, but one foot moves and then another and one day a man is there” – Jaqen H’ghar

I love reading these books! After watching the tv series, it’s nice to know more about the source of the materials, and grab details I didn’t have the opportunity to know before. I love the multiple point of views and the way the characters interact with one another. Some things in the book are different than the show, but overall I enjoy both in their decisions. I love how the ending leads me to want to read A Storm of Swords at this moment, and the route the book takes to get me to that point. I feel like I’ve become closer to the characters in the book, rather than the tv show. Anyways, I really enjoyed reading this!