Unapologetic Reviews

Cinder is a sci-fi retelling of Cinderella. Sort of. What always bothered me about Cinderella's story, and also apparently many of the people who created their own versions of it; was that she doesn't meet him until the ball, doesn't even talk two sentences with him during it, and marries a complete stranger in the end because he's the handsome prince. So this version does correct that as well. It still has the wicked stepmother, and sister. It's also not unheard of that the younger sister is nice to Cinderella. The author also kept some of the elements of the story, like the chores, the sleeping where she works, the leaving of the shoe on the steps. However, this Cinderella doesn't just take it all and hope that her kindness will free her from her sad life. In fact, she doesn't expect it to. She knows that only she can save herself, and she's no pushover. She is her own fairy godmother. Of course, she still falls in love with the Prince. However,...

I started the series unsure of whether I want to read it or not. I love sci-fi, and I'm working on my own story, so I like to read something that can give me inspiration. I turned to this short story hoping to get a taste for the book to follow. It did give me that. I found the characters interesting even in this piece. They were living in a world that is like and unlike our own. I find it important in a story set in the future to have people still be people. Sometimes in worlds like Star Trek, they seem superhuman. The family in this story was real, with all the hang-ups of real people. I found Cinder interesting, though a bit out of her element, but that is understandable. She didn't really have a personality at this point, but that can be because of the amnesia. The twist at the end was good, and made me more interested in this world. I'm sure it'll come up later in the story and it makes me curious as to what will happen. Overall, as a short story it was interesting...

This is a crime novel. It has aspects of romance, but not very pronounced. There is a mystery behind the novel, which is the identity of the original author. While reading it, I noticed that whoever wrote it, has a good knowledge of close combat, less of guns. Is probably male. He's not very good at writing romance though. That was one problem I found with the novel. The romance is very forced. In the TV series, the romance comes about slowly, and seems like a natural progression of their relationship. Here it seems sudden, and almost like it's not a part of the whole narrative. The famed sex scene was okay, though I'm not a good measure of its quality nowadays. The crime part was pretty good. A bit slow going at times, but the mystery was interesting, and while you don't realise the solution on the fifth page, it is solvable. The number of deaths is not ridiculously high as in the case with some crime stories. The depiction of the action is good, and understandable for...

This Doctor Who book was not so original in its storyline, but it gets brownie points for still making it exciting. Seriously, I should some day count how many stories have alien possession in them. However, in this case while it was a major part of the story, it wasn't the only thing going on. The appearance of the Sontarans was a surprise, since I didn't read the synopsis. It added an interesting twist to the story. Some central characters were Sontarans, and they weren't portrayed in a completely negative light, which was nice. The author captured the species well, though the resolution to the conflict between the leader and his subordinate felt odd and a bit out of place. I suppose the author wanted to add something of Sontaran culture into the whole thing. Our main positive characters were humans again. The family running the local hotel were well-rounded, not one-dimensional. What I did find strange was the computer thing with Vienna. It just didn't seem like some...

In some ways this is a typical Dan Brown book, and a typical Robert Langdon, but it's also a bit different. It was typical in that the pace is fast and there is an awful lot of running. The whole thing happens in about 24-30 hours. Robert is again running with a woman around Italy, while being helped along by symbols and the occasional helper. People aren't all that they seem, which is usual as well, but they all seem to be really smart. It seems like Robert can't get your average Jane to tag along, who wouldn't know a thing about anything beyond the latest fashion in shoes. Maybe next time Dan Brown should have someone like that along for the ride, just to keep things interesting. What is also typical about the book is all the detailed descriptions. They are really nice and it's interesting to get to know the history of the places they are running through, however, there is a point where it gets to much. Almost at the end there's a chase, and there's a bit ...