Unapologetic Reviews

I listened to the abridged audiobook version of the story. Martha, that is, Freema Agyeman read it. Like I said before, she does a very good job of reading these audiobooks. The story is among the most original book stories I've read for Doctor Who. It takes place on a starship called the "Brilliant". It has space pirates, time loops, the good old wibbly-wobbly, so it uses the potential of a Doctor Who story very well. I kept listening to it through the day, as it's full of twists and turns that will keep you wanting to go on with the story. The story didn't feel incomplete, as with some of the audiobooks. It has a good pace and flow. There are several characters that I liked in the story. Mrs Wingsworth was a bit annoying at first, but she turned out all right. The space pirates were a bit of a surprise, but I could see the point of their characters. Overall, I recommend this story for everyone. Maybe even people who just like a good sci-fi story, as it has plent...

I listened to the abridged audiobook version of the story. It was read by Debbie Chazen, who plays Foon Van Hoff in the Christmas special "Voyage of the Damned". It was a nice job, nothing disturbing. The story takes place in a small English village, and centres around the wishing well in the middle. Strange stories and events surround the old well, and the Doctor decides to investigate with Martha. My problem with the story was that it reminded me too much of several other stories, most noticeably Doctor Who: The Art of Destruction and Doctor Who: Forever Autumn . They all take place in or near a small village, with something lurking under the ground. There is the old mind control involved, which is such a reoccurring theme, it's getting boring. Seriously, authors, think of something new. So this story gets points deducted for being unoriginal. There are some nice action scenes, but the ending feels abrupt. It may be because of the abridged version, but if it is, then t...

Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de (Solve the Mystery after Dinner) is a detective drama. I found it similar to Meitante no Okite  in that the endings of the episodes are not very satisfying. If you compare them to Western detective stories, then there the perp is always evil, with evil intentions. Here that's not always the case. Actually, I often found myself sad for the killer, wishing they wouldn't have done it, that they found another way. I even cried at the end a few times. Another reason why it reminded me of  Meitante no Okite  was that it's also not a completely serious drama. While at times it's moving, you also get moments of hilarity and utter ridiculousness. In a way those things keep it from becoming too serious. The episodes all follow a pattern, which does characterise detective dramas as a whole in the world. If you just think about Poirot and his customary reveal, then you realise that having a pattern is not that strange after all. The dram...

I listened to the audiobook version of this story. This is the first one that I listened to, and was ready by Martha, that is, Freema Agyeman. I thought her reading style and her voice were very good. She did the parts of the Doctor well, and in character. The story takes place on an alien planet. It's ironically called "Sunday". The Doctor once said that on Sunday nothing happens, but here many things did. The story wasn't all that fabulous to me. While it was interesting, and not boring at all, it was slightly predictable. Though towards the end I did have a moment of classic; "Now how will they survive this?" It just made me wish that it wouldn't obviously be mind control again. I don't think I gave away anything with that. The supporting cast are nice. I especially liked Candice, who was one of those people who actively help the Doctor, and are even effective. Kind of made me wish they took her along for the ride. Overall, it...

The second establishment of the series didn't disappoint. It was exciting and full of twists and turns. In the previous book there weren't that many supernatural elements, that are usually part of a fantasy. Towards the end there were more, but most of the characters didn't come across anything especially strange. In this book, those elements become more and more. What I loved about the book was partly that. The supernatural just popped up, and came about unexpectedly most of the time. There were several mysteries, and story lines that kept me turning the page. What I didn't like was that sometimes the action started to lag. There are people who like all those little details that some writers, especially those who can't write a book under 600 pages, put into their narratives. However, to me, these were sometimes too many. I remember two instances, where I just couldn't take it anymore, and started to skip a few pages. Probably the most unnecessary part was when ...

Hitchens is always brilliant. Even when I don't agree with him, he's still brilliant. It saddens me to think that he's no longer alive, because I always thought that had we meet, I would have had the pleasure of talking to someone who was my intellectual superior. It's so rare for me to meet such a person. Now on to the book. It's kind of short, but very precise, and to the point. It really doesn't need to be longer. I never knew much about Mother Teresa, though her policy on contraceptives and abortion greatly troubled me. I have also seen some footage before of her mission in Calcutta, and I have wondered why it's not in better condition, if she gets so much money. This books revealed it all to me, and as I am usually weary of religious charities, it just proved my suspicions. I recommend the book for everyone, not just as reading something on one subject, but also as a great example of why we should go after the truth of things ourselves, and not trust ev...

I actually listened to the better half of this book. I was busy with baking and other stuff, so I ended up listening to the audiobook. Therefore, I may not have caught all the details. This book finally breaks away from the "going to the games" format. I was actually glad for that, as it was getting a bit boring. It's hard to talk about the book without going into spoilers, but if someone read the second one, then it was obvious that there was going to be a war. The war is rather realistic, and unapologetic about it. People die. By the hundreds sometimes. Both sides do things that are cruel. I felt that was a very strong point of this book, that people get hurt, die, and sometimes those you care about. Towards the end the endgame was done really well. It showed us a glimpse of the world that I'm sure we all wanted to see, without breaking away from the main point of the story. I kept talking in my previous book reviews for the series about the genre, dystopia. The end...

The second installation of The Hunger Games trilogy is just as fast paced as the first one. It's the right speed for the young reader of today. The story picks up a little after the end of the previous book. Some flashback is unavoidable. We learn how Katniss' life changed after becoming a victor, and how she has to face that nothing will ever be the same again. She goes on the tour that was mentioned in the first book, but we don't see a lot of it. I did wish that part wasn't so glossed over. Of course, the threat of President Snow hangs over everything. Without revealing too much, life only gets harder for everyone. I did have a feeling about District 13, and I'm just going to say that it was justified. Katniss is 17. I have forgotten that, until Collins reminds me. She does develop more as the story progresses, but she is still not an adult at the end. Children that grow up too fast sometimes find it hard to grow up all the way, and she's no different. Though...

I have to say in advance that besides being a lover of the sci-fi genre, I also happen to love the original version. I thought the plot was very original, and the world interesting. Who can forget the hooker with three breasts? What disturbed me even before seeing it was that it wasn't 3D. I know I said the same thing about Batman, but in this day and age anything that is sci-fi or action should be in 3D in my opinion. It is what saves cinemas. It was first colour, then widescreen, surround sound, now 3D. The basics of the story stayed true to the original. It's still about a guy who doesn't know which memory is real or not. There was a hooker with three breasts. However, don't expect him to go to Mars, because he doesn't. The movie is still exciting, still full of action. It is mostly action, very little actual story. That lacked to me.  The change of planet was a bit odd. I won't be giving too much away when I reveal that it's on Earth because ...

I listened to this book as an audiobook. The story is about the Doctor trying to help people on a planet about to be eaten by a sort of space monster. It reminded me of how the Doctor and the monsters are never too far from each other. He genuinely wants to help, but of course, he ends up in a pickle. There are robots, talking wending machines and sunbeds. It's a rather fun story, but there are two things that bothered me about it. One was that in the beginning, when he arrives, the people are already preparing to leave. It may be the audiobook's fault, but it feels kind of strange that he stays. Not un-Doctor like, but clearly he is not wanted. The other thing is the ending, which made me ask; "Why didn't they do that in the first place?" It felt like the author wrote himself into a corner, and used the plan B to get out of it. However, it was such a plan B, that to any reasonable person it would have been plan A. The story is read by Will Thorp, who p...

I confess, I started the book because of the hype. I also wanted to read a big fantasy series. It also helped that I could get all five books at a discount. The fact that it's the first part of a series can be felt from the very beginning. The pace is often agonizingly slow. However, every little detail feels important, so even I, who tends to skip a few paragraphs, read every word. The way the story is told is very interesting as well, as it's third person limited. It would limit the scope a lot, if it wasn't told through the eyes of several people. It also shows a lot of planning as the author would have had to pick the main characters well ahead. The characters are very interesting. They are all grand personalities, not a dull person around. They are, however, not alike. They are different. You may not like them all. They are also not on the same side, which makes things even more interesting. I personally didn't like Sansa, but in the end I could still feel sorry fo...

I was really curious about the final installment of the Batman trilogy. On the one hand, I was interested in how they could end it. If you are familiar with the old movies, then you may know that those were sort of designed to never end. They also got worse and worse. On the other hand, I had been satisfied by the previous movies, and wanted to see the same level of achievement. When talking about this movie, probably for the rest of history, people will not be able to bypass what happened at a midnight screening in Colorado. The events are tragic, but when looking at the list of injured and dead, something un-understandable jumped out at me. How come there were small children and babies at a midnight screening of an admittedly violent movie? I really have no idea what they were doing there. Moving on, it did affect my viewing of the movie. I watched it at a mall, in the afternoon. I did have a bit of a bad feeling about watching it in a theatre. When someone s...

I listened to this as an audiobook. Forever Autumn , as can be seen by the cover, is a Halloween story. I did wish I had kept it to Halloween, but I'm going through the books in publication order, and this was next. The story itself reflects the mood of Halloween very well. There are cats, bats, a weird tree, fog, all the things that make Halloween a fun time. At times, it was genuinely frightening as well. Will Thorpe reads the story, who played Toby Zed in "The Impossible Planet"/"The Satan Pit". He does a great job of it, and does justice to the characters. I recommend reading it for Halloween, and then the atmosphere will be perfect.

I have to confess, I'm a huge fan of superheroes. Let me explain why. I come from a family of readers. My mum could read at the age of five, and she read War and Peace  by eight. I went to school at the age of six, but I struggled in the beginning with reading. Then, I got my first comic book. It was black and white, and it had a little-known character called the Phantom, who lived in a rainforest probably somewhere in Africa. He was an environmental superhero, saving animals, punishing polluters. Comic books got me into reading and superheroes, for which I will always be grateful. My favourite character has always been Spider-Man. On the one hand, because he's human. Superman is great, but he's a Kryptonian, with his own personal body-armour skin. On the other hand, because even though Spider-Man is a scientist, and a photographer, he's still an average guy with money problems. He's not like Bruce Wayne, who gets to live in a big mansion, and has no worries a...

I started to read an online version of this before I saw the movie. I didn't like it a lot. Partly, because I'm not a fan of first person, and practically detest present tense. I just don't get why anyone would do that. Though I suppose, in this case the author really wanted to use first person to get us in Katniss' head, and used the present tense to make us wonder if she was just going to die at any moment. It still disturbed me. Another thing that is a problem with the writing is that it's not all that descriptive. It reads more like a script for a movie, than a novel. I watched the movie, because everyone was talking about it on Facebook, and I was bored, nothing on TV, and I work in an office above a cinema. So after work one day I just bought a ticket. I didn't know what to expect from it. I'm a fan of dystopias in general, but it has to be done well. I actually wrote a review of the movie . It has been a while, but I found myself thinki...

I first heard about this book from some friends, who didn't like it. Now I'm not the kind of person who rejects or likes a book just because the friends do. I like the Cassandra Clare books, I like the concept in them and find them exciting. Some people I know hate them. Some friends adore The Hunger Games . I like the story, but the style of writing I have a problem with. Still read them, and wrote reviews. I hate Twilight . Seriously. I read some of the books, and hated them. I know people who loved them. So I read stuff from this book. Now English is not my first language, but my fiction has better language than some of the quotes I read. It was also discussed in a group where some people actually do live in a BDSM relationship. For people who love this book, this is NOT BDSM. I've read BDSM written by people who actually live it. I even researched it and online role played it. THIS IS NOT BDSM. A good dom doesn't do these. There are safe words. There is a...

I listened to the audiobook. I actually like this one, which was a relief, since The Art of Destruction , which I listened to before, wasn't all that good. The story is about a planet, Laylora, where things are going horribly wrong. The deeper meaning of the story is that when a foreign element is introduced into an ecological system, things go haywire most of the time. The plot is a bit predictable, but it is a lot of fun. The action scenes are exciting, and there is a real sense of danger for the Doctor and Rose. It's read by Shaun Dingwall, who played Pete Tyler in the series. He does do a really good job of it, and has a nice, easy-to-listen-to reading. It is kind of funny to note that this is the last Rose story, and it's told by Rose's father. Two characters are memorable in the story. One is Rez, the human man who arrived to Laylora on an escape pod. He is forever trying to fit in, and most of the villagers are supportive. His presence and how the others on the p...

I listened to the audiobook version. This is so far the worst Doctor Who book I read / listened to. I keep forgetting about it too, so apparently my brain is trying to erase the memory. In the beginning, the way animals and all sorts of things were turning into gold and then moving was interesting, but when they were crawling around the caves it got quickly boring, and it couldn't recapture my interest. I wondered if it was just because I listened to it and not read it, but looking through the reviews I saw that other people had similar experiences with it. I didn't like Don Warrington's reading. For some reason his voice annoyed me, and I felt he couldn't capture the Doctor's way of speaking either. He was more successful with the African characters. The characters I can't remember at all. I remember that there was a guy and a woman that were running about, but nothing of them was committed into memory. Overall, I don't recommend this book. It can be given ...

I really loved this installment of the series. I can see how originally it must have been meant as a trilogy, like it said on the cover. The ending was really satisfactory and she could have closed it off here. However, in a way, this addition wasn't as good as the previous two. While I did enjoy it, but some aspects were obvious, and the end dragged. The big fight was hard to follow, and messy. The best thing about the story was probably getting to know a who city full of Shadowhunters. If they ever make this one into a movie, that is one thing I'd love to see. The sad part of the story was really sad, but it felt unnecessary. Clary had grown a bit, but not a lot. Wish she had matured a lot more by this point, but she did seem as clueless at times as she did in the first book. There it was understandable. At this point, it should not have been. Overall, it would have been a satisfying end to the series. I'm reluctant to go on, as I feel it can only go downhill at this poin...

I really enjoyed this book. I generally don't like teen books, but this has a style that is easy and fun to read. It also has a colourful world to explore. I've also reviewed the movie , which I didn't like as much as I did the book. I know there has been some drama with Cassandra Clare , but I don't really get it. I never read her fanfiction, because I only read Drarry, Snarry Harry Potter in the adult category. The world doesn't have much in the new category. These are all creatures that we've seen before, but I like the way they were put into one world, and how their interactions were built. Some people said the Shadowhunters are like the Slayers in Buffy, but they didn't have such a society, especially since normally there was just one. As a rule, I don't like romance, but I did like the couple in this. It wasn't too mooning over each other. It is a bit insta-love though. Thankfully, the romance doesn't get realised right away, so we have som...

Okay, just got back from The Hunger Games . I rather liked the movie. I'm not going to talk about the actors. No one made glaring mistakes and I haven't read the books, so can't compare. I'm going to discuss the movie style a bit, then the story itself. The handling of the camera and the general cinematography aspect was rather "fashionable". The shaking during the action and the lots of close-ups are all the rage nowadays. The shaking was a bit overdone. Especially in the beginning. Luckily a bit later it calmed down, because it sometimes makes me nauseous. The close-ups were good, just the right amount at the right moments. Especially because it wasn't 3D. You can't do so many close-ups in 3D nor shake the camera, because the mind can't keep up. The story was good. I knew to expect a dystopia. As a genre they are usually defined as portraying the worst of all possible worlds. They are also usually critiques of the present society. I coul...

I've listened to the audiobook version. The story is sort of interesting. Now the audiobook is abridged, so maybe it's better if I read the whole book, but I had some problems with it. On the one hand I felt that the parts on the planet were very hurried, while the part in space is a lot more detailed. It was also too much running about, and ended up not being all that interesting in the long run. Some elements of the steampunk aspect were nicely used, like when only steam was available or not, but otherwise it seemed a bit forced. The mystery element played out nicely, and the overall story was okay. It just wasn't as exciting as it could have been. The reading by David Tennant was brilliant as always. Even the way he emulated the steam coming out from the robots was effortless, and sounded genuine. The original characters didn't make much of an impact on me. Perhaps the ones that I could remember the most were Sally and Jimm. Though that is probably so ...

I listened to the audiobook version of this. I kind of wished I knew this took place in Ancient Rome, as a few months before listening to this I was actually in Rome. The story is one of my favourites so far in that it uses time travel. Most of the Doctor Who stories have the Doctor arrive somewhere, and then leave at the end, not really using the Timey-Wimey effect. This story has that, and to me, that makes it more interesting. We don't see as much of Ancient Rome as I would like to, but there is a great scene in the Colosseum. The resolution of the problem is well-thought-out, and I was really curious as to how it would turn out. It was rather a surprise, and I'm not surprised easily. The story is read out by David Tennant. While I've listened to several stories, I have to say, he is my favourite reader. Of course, he has intimate knowledge of the Doctor, but the was he plays with his voice and the different accents is masterful. Makes me want to seek out more of his aud...