Things happening this month

Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

Waiting for this one for ages the first book in the new Heroes of Olympus was so good and a welcome beginning to the sequel of one of the best YA series around. The book is told in the POV style and the first at least focused on the three main characters which I think is likely to be the case in this book. I preferred the one POV of Percy Jackson in the first series but the multiple POVs doesn’t suck. I’ll leave the review until I actually get my hands on the book, currently I am listening to Heat Rises but I suspect I’ll get to Son of Neptune later this month. I am fairly happy though I am going to like what I read especially after the first book of the new series.

Last Breath by Rachel Caine
This one comes out on the 1st of November and it is another on my big ones to watch. The Morganville Vampire series is one of the good ones it is fast paced funny and with some great dialogue. There have an interesting dynamic played between the vampires and humans in this strange experiment of Morganville.

So those are two awesome book series that you might want to check out.

In other news at the moment I am checking around for new job opportunities but times are hard for the world over let alone my locality. Sometimes it does come across as a bit desperate although that whole think of those worse off than you doesn’t work for me. That is life there will always be those worse off and those better off so I can’t see the point in comparing yourself to them. If you want to help those worse off or aspire to be better off that is understandable but this constant idea of comparing oneself with poor people in Africa or whatever isn’t helpful.

Sorry this was a rather rambling post.

TV, Books - Rooks and Castles

Rooks and Castles

So I'm a fan of Castle, no not just of Nathan Fillion in fact I hadn't caught Firefly until after watching the first season of Castle. I will freely admit he is a charismatic guy and the character of Richard Castle is enigmatic and totally that guy who you wished was your friend. For those who don't know Castle is the show about an eccentric and successful writer Richard Castle who uses his friendship with the Mayor to get a ride along with an elite NYC Detective Squad on which he is basing his new lead character.

The name of that character is Nikki Heat and hence queue up book titles with a heat theme. The crazy thing is that the novels by Richard Castle are available to us the viewers of Castle in a genius bit of cross marketing by ABC, also there are the graphic novels featuring Derrick Storm on the horizon by the sound of it.

UPDATE: As I've been slacking with my blogging I managed to catch a second Castle episode even though this was started after the first. This was a great episode really getting back to the 1st season vibe before we got serious and the all the will-they-won't-they stuff went a bit over board. Interesting that they went for the Marvel comics as an inspiration though given it is ABC which is a part of Disney which owns DC now.

I have also listened to the first Nikki Heat book by Richard Castle, and I have to say I loved it. I've seen some bad reviews of it but I feel that if you enjoy Castle and can stand reading as an enjoyable activity then go for it.

TV - US Shows INCOMING!!!

This week including Vampire Diaries and the new show Secret Circle (both based on books written by LJ Smith). Also Eureka is back with an episode as is Alphas (congrats to them on getting a second season). As a keen US show watcher I am happy to be getting back into the main season of TV. I'll give my thoughts on the new and returning shows as I get to check them out.

Just watched the True Blood Finale (SPOILERS SO BEWARE)

I expected so much more to be honest I prefer the previous week's episode far more. There were the cutesy moments between Jason and Jessica and the totally hot Jessica moment which was definitely an interesting form of fan service. I was bored of Marnie before and I was certainly bored watching it this episode. The Terry stuff might be interesting or it might be a pile of crap waiting to stink up next season, also that whole Andy and the Faerie thing is going to annoy me if I think about it.

Last time I spent so much time considering what the new season of True Blood will be like, this time I don't think I am going to expend anywhere near the same energy. Is Jessica still in it? Check. Well then I'm pretty good to go there will be Sookie going back and forth over her two undead love interests and Bill being all pensive and brooding though I will give it to them that this season they decided to give Bill his balls back.

So in the end this season of True Blood was like many shows I liked parts of it and didn't like the others but I definitely want to see it around next year and the year after that the show has sucked me in.

BOOKS BOOKS BOOKS - Some Releases this year

So we have already had some good releases this year with a new Sookie Stackhouse Novel and the much anticipated "A Dance with Dragons". However there are still more great books on the horizon this year and I will discuss a couple of them.

BLOODLINES by Richelle Mead

 

Rose Hathaway and the Vampire Academy series are a pretty big deal. This is the first spinoff from this series and it is being released later this month. I really enjoyed the Vampire Academy series all about a secret world of vampires, their protectors and their enemies. We learn about their schools were they train their young nobles and the half vampire protectors who will lay their life down to protect them.

Yes the series is a little girly perhaps but there is more than enough action to keep even the most opposed to chick lit happy, as well as that the politics and the lore of learning about the hidden vampire world.

I am especially looking forward to Bloodlines because although I really loved Vampire Academy I really didn't like Rose Hathaway the main character of the series but thankfully the people around her were so well imagined it was easy to stay in the series for their sake. Now I have a book were those characters are the main ones and Rose might appear in a few scenes so I'm more than happy.

SON OF NEPTUNE by Rick Riordan

Remember Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief probably one of the first YA fantasy books to follow on the heels of the popularity of Harry Potter in getting a big screen adaption. Things have gone a bit quiet on the movie releases front since then but the Percy Jackson series is a strong series as one of the few popular YA book series I have tracked down that is targeted primarily at boys.

This book will be released in October and I can't wait.

So these are two of the books I am looking forward to. Maybe next time I might discuss a couple more.

The London Riots

They are garnering attention around the world as everyone asks why. They started after the shooting of a young father in a police operation. When the police failed to give a statement at a peaceful protest organised by his family the peaceful protest turned into a riot. Things have spread far and wide since then not just London but also significant incidents in Birmingham and other sites in the Midlands.

This has sparked a lot of discussions over the cause, as in the underlying causes and not the shooting that initially sparked the first riot. Some argue that cuts in social spending are to blame, more point to the disenfranchisement of young people in inner London. Others use the tired old phrase (in my opinion) of it is all down to feral youths. Still others blame social networking.

I don’t have any solutions to offer other than concentrating on protecting people’s houses and property in terms of police numbers. I have heard some positive stories in the aftermath of the riot though, things like a group of local men banding together to protect their neighbourhood from the riots and of course the twitter led campaign for volunteers to come and help clean up London.

So I guess what I want to say is even though this stuff is terrible perhaps something good might come of it, which is all kinds of cheesy I know but still worth saying. On the other hand it might just give the government more excuses to cut back on our civil liberties. Stop and search, detention orders heck we even have on the horizon cameras to read our body language to see if we’re potential terrorists. When you took a step back and look at things you wonder how we got this out of control.

I just hope tonight proves to be the beginning of the end.