Posts Tagged: Review

Review

Review of Prometheus, directed by Ridley Scott

By Aidan Moher June 14th, 2012
Prometheus, directed by Ridley Scott

Spoiler-free thoughts:

As someone who only watched the original Alien films for the first time earlier this year (yep, it’s true), I didn’t go into Prometheus with nearly so much investment or expectations as many of the other people clutter my twitter feed and Facebook wall. The day after the film was released, I was somewhat dismayed to see so many people poo-pooing the movie on twitter; despite a decent critical reception, fans seemed unimpressed by Ridley Scott’s return to Science Fiction and the Alien universe. Still, I went into the film last night without any exposure to trailers or any media (I didn’t even know Charlize Theron was in it!) and tried to throw preconceptions aside before I settled in my seat. Two hours later, I left the theatre feeling somewhat dirty, guilty for enjoying the film so much, despite its flaws, and wondering if I’d be shunned by the twitter-verse.

As an ensemble cast, I felt that the characters work (though they ain’t no Ripley and Newt), drawing obvious inspiration from the first two Alien films. It’s a shockingly beautiful film that deserves to be seen in theatres. All told, Prometheus is an enjoyable, gory, flawed film that crumbles under the weight of its predecessors (ascendents?) and utterly falls apart if you start to analyze the plot at anything higher than the book report of a fifth grader, but, if you cast that aside, there’s a lot to like. At least that’s what I choose to believe.

The fun begins after the jump. Watch for rambling, incoherent spoilers, or you shall be rolled over by a spaceship! Read More »

Review

Review of Blue Remembered Earth by Alastair Reynolds

By Justin Landon June 5th, 2012
Blue Remembered Earth by Alistair Reynolds

Blue Remembered Earth

By Alastair Reynolds
Hardcover
Pages: 512 pages
Publisher: Ace
Release Date: 06/05/12
ISBN: 0441020712

EXCERPT

Blue Remembered Earth. Great title, isn’t it? The evocative image of leaving Earth behind, only to remember its color in the blackness of space. It’s an image that resonates on a visceral level. It also perfectly describes the nature of the technological period imagined — the moment when Earth no longer becomes the center of humanity. Vast in scope and dense with character development and world building, Alastair Reynold’s newest novel is a return to Utopian science fiction whose story isn’t about the darker side of humanity, but the boundaries of our collective horizons.

Set one hundred and fifty years in the future, Africa has become the dominant technological and economic power. Crime, war, disease, and poverty have been banished to history courtesy of mandatory implants that curb and/or correct deviant behavior. While humanity has colonized the nearby planets, Earth remains the center of attention with known(ish) physics underpinning the whole operation.

Geoffrey Akinya is heir to the corporate super power that makes much of it possible. He’s also a loner, living on the family estate and conducting experiments on the endangered elephant population that lives there. When his grandmother and company founder, Eunice, dies, Geoffrey’s more entrepreneurial cousins task him to ensure the family’s name remains unblemished after mysterious assets come to light.

Entitled rich kids, a black sheep, an artist, the old guy, and a few insensitive assholes.

It’s really as simple as that. Blue Remembered Earth is a classic quest novel. One clue leads to the next, leads to the next, leads to an eventual big reveal that opens up a host of new possibilities for future novels. Given this standard narrative structure, Reynolds’s novel places a premium on thematic exploration, characterizations, and world building. The degree to which he does it makes the novel a rousing success despite a plot that’s as inventive as hyperdrive.
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Videogames

Diablo III Review Round-up

By Aidan Moher May 17th, 2012
Diablo III Review Round-up

I was hoping to post some Diablo III impressions today. Instead, my entire experience with the game can be summed up with a simple meme. Actually, scratch that, I can log in, but my character (a monk) is booted from the server and unable to log back in. The 30 minutes I’ve spent with the game have come over 12-15 different sessions. Frustrating, and I’m not alone (but, unlike some trolls on the Internet, I have many other ways to occupy my time instead of stewing over a videogame.) So, in lieu of my own impressions, here’s a round-up of some of the review of Diablo III from around the web.

Diablo 3 screenshotMike Anderiesz, The Guardian:

Once in the game, it’s clear that the new 3D engine has been put to work on rendering a level of detail we haven’t seen in the series before. Superb lighting effects make even Act 1’s formulaic dungeons seem more atmospheric, but once you reach Act 2’s Caldeum and beyond, more spectacular locations and draw distances emerge. Enemies may have a tendency to swarm mindlessly towards you, but they come in large numbers and reasonable variety.

Not every improvement pays off, however; there’s far too little destructible scenery and context-sensitive traps – such as falling chandeliers or rolling logs – sound like a great idea on paper but require such careful lining up of enemies you won’t be troubling with them after the first few attempts.

There’s improvement as well as innovation, particularly with the UI. With a permanent Portal spell to take you back to nearby towns and a much smarter way of choosing and comparing items, you can now focus on the important task of killing things.

[…]

So the key question remains, was Diablo 3 worth the 12-year wait? That depends on how you play it – for single players, it’s an entertaining and gorgeous-looking dungeon hack but it’s a bit short, extremely linear and hardly pushing any boundaries. Playing online (and Blizzard isn’t really giving us a choice) makes it a better balanced and more compelling challenge, with all the potential to be the kind of lifestyle substitute that Diablo’s legion of hunter-gatherer fans should relish.

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Review

Review of The King’s Blood by Daniel Abraham

By Aidan Moher May 8th, 2012
THE KING'S BLOOD by Daniel Abraham

The King’s Blood

By Daniel Abraham
Trade Paperback
Pages: 528 pages
Publisher: Orbit Books
Release Date: 05/22/12
ISBN: 0316080772

EXCERPT

When Abraham released The Dragon’s Path, the first volume of The Dagger and the Coin, it was something of a departure from the thoughtful and unique tetralogy that put him on the Fantasy map, The Long Price Quartet. This new series was Abraham’s attempt at stepping into the realm of more traditional Fantasy, drawing influence from a more Medieval Europe, rather than the asian-influenced setting of The Long Price Quartet. In some ways, it was a risk for Abraham to step away from such a unique setting, but, in hindsight, it allowed Abraham to open himself to a whole new range of readers who are looking for novels that draw inspiration from familiar elements and novels. Of The Dragon’s Path, I said:

[A]nticipation is always a double-edged sword. Abraham took many chances with The Long Price Quartet and formed a dedicated (if small) following for those novels and what he managed to accomplish. By moving to a more traditional world and a more tried-and-true premise, Abraham is sure to make wary some of those fans who appreciated the originality of The Long Price Quartet; at the same time, he’s blown open the doors for a new, wider audience and has written a more accessible novel that is sure to appeal to fans of Tad Williams, George R.R. Martin or Scott Lynch. Regardless of whether you’ve discovered Abraham previously, you can rest assured that The Dragon’s Path is a tremendous novel and Abraham deftly mixes the classic foundations of the genre with a sophistication expected of him and rarely found in the work of his compatriots. Look for this one to appear on my ‘Best of 2011′ list come year-end.

And, indeed, it did wind up on my Best of 2011 list at the end of the year. All of the superlatives I spouted about The Dragon’s Path continue to hold true for its sequel, The King’s Blood, and I’d even go so far as to say that it’s a superior book in most ways, solidifying The Dagger and the Coin as one of the most exciting Fantasy series currently being written. Read More »

Review

Review of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

By Aidan Moher March 28th, 2012
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games

By Suzanne Collins
Trade Paperback
Pages: 384 pages
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Release Date: 09/14/08
ISBN: 0439023483

EXCERPT

Oh, The Hunger Games. The first volume of Suzanne Collins’ world-beating trilogy first dropped onto my radar a few years ago, when the online sphere was abuzz with the release of Mockingjay. I battled the tide of popular influence for years, but with the recent release of the film, and needing a quick divergence from the doldrums of my current reading habits (do Robert Jordan’s books ever end?), I figured it was time to join the masses. I’m a slavering Harry Potter fan and can’t resist a good YA book, especially when they’re a national phenomenon (and don’t involve sparkling vampires), for long. I started The Hunger Games on a Saturday morning and, after a few grudging distractions and a night of sleep, I finished it Sunday afternoon. I turned the final page feeling thrilled and confused, satisfied and emotionally drained. And, ultimately, conflicted.

First off, I haven’t read Battle Royale, the 1999 novel by Koushun Takami, or watched the film, which shares strong similarities with The Hunger Games, so I can’t make comparisons there or suppose on how Collins might have been influenced. She says she had not read the novel or seen the film before beginning work on the series and I will take her word for it.
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