Unapologetic Reviews

I really loved City of Glass by Cassandra Clare . 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 thi...

I really enjoyed City of Bones by Cassandra Clare. 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 reali...

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 c...

I've listened to the abridged audiobook version of Doctor Who: The Resurrection Casket by Justin Richards . 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 ...

I listened to the audiobook version of Doctor Who : The Stone Rose by Jacqueline Rayner . 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 m...

Jotei is an adult drama. It has themes of sex, prostitution, yakuza and political corruption. For the non-Japanese viewer it's especially interesting as it gives us a glimpse of the Japanese way of thinking about sex and virginity. In a way it's a modern geisha story and sometimes made me think of the geisha books I've read. It's a story that can be most understood and appreciated by women. The main reason why I recommend it most for women is because the story is told as narrated by the main protagonist, a woman named Tachibana Ayaka. It is through her eyes that we see the problems she faces on her road to becoming a "Jotei"; an empress. A Jotei is a woman who is very important in the nightlife of Ginza , the main entertainment district of Tokyo . She starts out as a regular girl who looses her mother at 18 and is left alone. She then learns that her father is still alive and left them to become a powerful person. She decides to become powerful herself a...

If you don't drink wine or alcohol, I don't recommend watching Kami no Shizuku . This is the kind of story where you learn a lot on a subject, in this case wine, mostly French wines . It does drive you to drink, though do be careful, it's easy to overindulge in wine while watching it. The story itself is interesting as well. Kanzaki Shizuku is the son of a famous wine critique , but he doesn't drink wine for an emotional reason. When his father dies, he has compete with Tomine Issei, who is also a wine critique adopted by his father shortly before he passed away. The competition is made up of seven riddles written by the father that all lead to a wine. The one who gets the most right gains the wine collection worth 2 billion yen. Though Shizuku doesn't want the money, he ends up competing anyway in order to learn more about the father he never understood while alive. Issei is not really interested in the money either, he wants to surpass the old man. Kanz...