Happy Sunday Funday and welcome to my second weekly update for Sci-Fi Month 2020! Sci-Fi Month is a month long celebration of all things sci-fi and it's hosted by Lisa @ Dear Geek Place and Imyril @ One More. (Image credit: Photo by Tithi Luadthong on 123RF.com with a quote from Seven Devils by Elizabeth May and Laura Lam). I've made some pretty good reading progress on my tbr and I've started to make a dent in my watchlist too. Keep reading to see what I've gotten up to since my post this this time last week:
My Sci-Fi Month Posts This Week:
What I Watched This Week:
I've been told to watch
Rise of the Planet of the Apes over and over but now 9 years after its release I've finally sat down to watch it. I'm pleasantly surprised by just how much I loved this. I don't know why I doubted Andy Serkis because he's just as amazing here as he's been in everything else. It was also delightful to see Tom Felton - that final confrontation between his character and Caesar is one of the best moments in the entire film. And he even gets that classic
Planet of the Apes line which was really cool, but you know part of me was hoping for a "my father will here about this".
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Project Power is a fun watch if you're looking to get your superhero fix. This Netflix movie certainly reminded me of why I like watching Jamie Fox and Joseph Gordon-Levitt so much. They are both great at what they do. I'm also very glad that this also introduced me to Dominique Fishback. I'm going to have to look into more of her work.
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I've now completed the entire first season of The Expanse and for the most part I really loved it, especially the second half. Like I said last week, I was really impressed by the first episode, but then I didn't like episodes 2 and 3 quite as much. However, by the 4th it really started to come back for me and by the 5th on I was practically hanging on to the edge of my seat. I was very invested in Alex, Amos, Jim, and Naomi. I'd say that Alex and Amos are my favorites so far. I wasn't as interested in Detective Miller to begin with. I usually like the noir-esque detective but he just grated on me at first, but as the season went on the character really grew on me. As for Chrisjen, I'd say she's still at the bottom of the list for me in comparison to everyone else. With how the season ended, I can't wait to see what happens next. I'm glad the first four season are on Amazon Prime Video right now! I'm also going to have to get caught up on the books soon.
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So far I've only watched episode 1 of the first season, but I'm already hooked. I can't wait to see where this series is going. I have so many questions and I need to know what happened to Mikkel and Erik, what happened the last time, and what was in that letter. I think this is going to be exactly my kind of mystery thriller sci-fi show. I was surprised to realize while I was watching just how many German words I could recognize - not enough to do me a whole lot of good in the long run though.
What I Finished Reading This Week (In Order):
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The Plague Forge (Dire Earth #3) by Jason M. Hough is such a good finale to a wonderful series. I was really hooked on the story and the characters. I'm glad I got to see them again because this series does such a great job of bringing everything together. I can't wait to read more from this author in the future and I'm looking forward to reading whatever he cares to write.
My review is also on Goodreads.
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Too Like the Lightning (Terra Ignota #1) by Ada Palmer is a difficult one for me to review. There's so much I enjoyed about unique series opener. It's very complex and full of big philosophical ideas. The author's choices when it comes to language in the far future set novel is personally one of my favorite parts of the book as a whole. The Prayer to the Reader at the beginning is a fantastic note on the style of what's coming and the reasoning behind it. Plus, this is one of the first traditionally published books I've had the opportunity to read that has come with content warnings directly from the author and I appreciated that quite a bit. The only real downfall of this novel for me is that aside from being quite dense it's also quite slow. It takes it a long time to get where it's going and even though I liked the language choices so much that also adds to that. I know that it's meant to make us feel like we're a long distance from the story in time, but in some parts that gap is too distant to connect with and become as hooked on the story as I was expecting to. In the end, though, I'd still say it's well worth the time and effort even if it didn't become quite what I was hoping it would. I'm still looking forward to continuing the series.
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This Mortal Coil (This Mortal Coil #1) by Emily Suvada is a book that I really wish was on my radar a lot earlier. I don't know how I missed it for so long really. I'm so glad I finally picked up this YA sci-fi dystopia now though and I'm glad to know that I don't have to wait for the rest of the series to be released. I know my review is not doing this justice at all, but you just have to try it because it is a fantastic debut. I think this is going to become a favorite series.
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Seven Surrenders (Terra Ignota #2) by Ada Palmer is a sequel that I definitely preferred to book one. I'm pretty sure a good part of that is being able to get into the swing of the style faster. I'm definitely looking forward to book three in the series now.
My review is also on Goodreads.
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I'm in the minority when it comes to The Passengers by John Marrs. It never quite worked for me. I like the concept of it but never became as invested in the characters as would have preferred. Also it dragged on too much for me as well. I wouldn't have minded if it were shorter and more tightly put together in certain elements. In the end, I think I would actually prefer to see this story adapted into a movie. By the way, this further solidified my never buying a self driving car thing.
My review is also on Goodreads.
Have you been taking part in Sci-Fi Month? Have you read or watched any of these? As always, thanks for visiting my blog and perhaps even commenting down below!
I love the Netflix show Dark! I'm jealous that you are getting to see it for the first time. it is so, so SO good. when you get to the episodes that don't seem to make any sense, keep watching! Everything (and i do mean everything) is explained down the road.
ReplyDeleteI've watched a little more and I'm really loving it. I can't wait to see more and get answers to the mystery!
DeleteI've heard a lot of things about Dark and I'm curious about it, but I think I need to be in the right mood for it.
ReplyDeleteAnd wow. It's been nine years since Rise of the Planet of the Apes came out. I feel a way.
It's amazing so far, Amber. It's definitely one where you have to be ready for it. It's a tense show! :)
DeleteI didn't realize they were as old as that until I got to them. It just doesn't seem right.