Friday, March 11, 2011

Winter Is Coming - Game of Thrones series

I'm a huge fan of George R. R. Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series and this spring HBO is starting a series based on these books. Here's the official poster for this new show starting April 17th. Sean Bean will be playing the part of Eddard Stark.

Unfortunately, I don't have HBO so I will have to wait until they are released in DVD which is what I do with True Blood. At least this way, I can watch the entire season as I want and not have to wait each week for a new episode. The downside...I have a year's wait until the next season.

HBO Game of Thrones

George R. R. Martin



The IMDB trailer is a better.


The books and the order they should be read:

I highly recommend this fantasy series if you've never tried them. Just a word of warning - Martin is not afraid to put his character's through hell. If you're looking for Happy Ever Afters or are squeamish, then you will probably not like these books. They are action packed, violent, and emotional roller coaster reads with twisted characters and numerous adult situations. Don't be discouraged by the size of the books either.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Beautiful Creatures


Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Book cover blurb:

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.


My thoughts:

This book had a great deal of chatter on the book blogs when it came out last year, so I decided to give it a try when the opportunity arose. It was an entertaining, fast read. Definitely could see the Stephen King influence with the winter dance scene. A little too Carrie-ish on that for my taste…just without the blood. I found a few other things equally as predictable as that scene, but I won’t list since they would be considered spoilers.

I was surprised I went through 563 pages in four days. (That’s pretty quick for me.) This probably could have been cut down without some of what I consider the filler stuff that really didn’t have much bearing to the story. This seems to be par for the course for me with young adult books. (Probably because I’m not a teenager.) Anyway, it held my attention despite having some predicable parts and characters. I’d read the next book in the series.

3 stars