Three Movies on the Horizon

I love movies, I'll admit. Even when they're not based on books, I enjoy watching movies. With only 3 months left in this year, I thought I'd highlight some of the ones I'm definitely looking forward too at the end of 2014.

#1 - The Book of Life (17 October, 2014)

Rating: PG

Genre: Romance

Summary:

Set in a fantastical, colorful world, The Book of Life is the story of a young man who must face his greatest fears and follow his heart in order to rewrite his destiny. Filled with love, laughter, music and suspense, this big adventure for the whole family will warm the hearts of audiences as it reminds everyone of the importance of honoring the past while embracing the future. (copyright foxmovies.com)

Produced by: 20th Century Fox

A cute little movie that highlights the Dia de los Muertos (literally Day of the Dead), a Mexican holiday that celebrates the life and death of beloved family members. While Movie Insider has an additional note of it being "a Romeo and Juliet style romance set on the Day of the Dead", I think the movie will be a cute piece to go see and it's always exciting to see relatively unusual (at least for the main stream holidays celebrated in America) holiday.

#2 - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 (21 November, 2014)

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Thriller/Action/Adventure

Summary: Against all odds, Katniss Everdeen has survived the Hunger Games twice, but even
though she's made it out of the bloody arena alive, she's still not safe. The Capitol is angry. The Capitol wants revenge. President Snow makes it clear that no one is safe either -- not Katniss's family, not her friends and not the people of District 12.

Producer: Lionsgate Films

Fairly certain most people are anticipating this movie. Having read the books, I have to say there are still some things in the differences between the books and movies that rub me the wrong way. The omission of Madge and the significance of the Mockingjay pin for example. Still, the movie adaptations have proven to be fast paced and keeping with a fair amount of emotion and the story-line so there's not a lot of cause to complain. (I mean have you seen Haymitch and Cinna?)  Despite a bit of shaky camera work, I'm excited to see this movie, even if I have to wait to see the end of the series in a year.

#3 - The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies (17 December, 2014)
Rating: Pending (Most likely will be PG-13 like the previous two installments)
Genre: Action/Adventure

Summary: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies brings to an epic conclusion the adventures of Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), Thorin Oakenshield (Richard Armitage) and the Company of Dwarves. Having reclaimed their homeland from the Dragon Smaug, the Company has unwittingly unleashed a deadly force into the world. Enraged, Smaug rains his fiery wrath down upon the defenseless men, women and children of Lake-town. Obsessed above all else with his reclaimed treasure, Thorin sacrifices friendship and honor to hoard it as Bilbo’s frantic attempts to make him see reason drive the Hobbit towards a desperate and dangerous choice. But there are even greater dangers ahead. Unseen by any but the Wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen), the great enemy Sauron has sent forth legions of Orcs in a stealth attack upon the Lonely Mountain. As darkness converges on their escalating conflict, the races of Dwarves, Elves and Men must decide – unite or be destroyed. Bilbo finds himself fighting for his life and the lives of his friends in the epic Battle of the Five Armies, as the future of Middle-earth hangs in the balance. (from warnerbrothers.com)
Producer: Warner Brothers

Our unlikely little hero, Bilbo Baggins, has truly found himself in a pickle this time. When we left the Desolation of Smaug, Smaug had just taken off from the Lonely Mountain to go after Bree and the people there. A rather large "oops-i-daisy" for our daring dwarf band and their little hobbit thief on the part of letting him wake up and escape. Anyways, the exciting conclusion to our second Tolkien trilogy focuses around the 'battle of five armies'. Given that this is just a small chapter in the original book, I look forward to seeing how it's worked out.

Now where's my Silmarillion movie?

What movies are you looking forward to in the next three months? Share your opinions on these and more in the comments below!

Review: The Walled City by Ryan Graudin

Description

There are three rules in the Walled City: Run fast. Trust no one. Always carry your knife. Right now, my life depends completely on the first. Run, run, run.

Jin, Mei Yee, and Dai all live in the Walled City, a lawless labyrinth run by crime lords and overrun by street gangs. Teens there traffic drugs or work in brothels--or, like Jin, hide under the radar. But when Dai offers Jin a chance to find her lost sister, Mei Yee, she begins a breathtaking race against the clock to escape the Walled City itself.

Review

Series: N/A

Release Date: 4 November, 2014

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Genre: Young Adult

ISBN: 9780316405058

Edition: Advanced Reader eBook Edition

Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Review Written: 26 September, 2014

Feature and Follow Friday #17

 

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

This Week's Question:

Book character(s) you'd like to see with their own Twitter page - Suggested by A Great Read

Answer:

I think I'd like to see Lord Akeldama and Miss Sophronia Temminnick with their own twitter pages. Both are characters featured in the writings of Gail Carriger's works (Lord Akeldama first appears in the Parasol Protectorate series, then reappears in the Finishing School Series that focuses around Miss Temminnick). 

Given that Lord Akeldama is a very fop-ish kind of Vampire, I imagine his page would be quite a twitter with things like the latest hose in fashion or wig-powder. Probably a fair number of pretty boys too. 

For Miss Temminnick, I think her page would be one of general disuse, that is to say, she'd use it to check in on other people and rarely post herself. If she did it'd probably alternate between fashion (to throw people off of course) and gadgets she finds useful.

Book Tour: The Numarian Chronicles - Escapement by Ciara Knight

Synopsis book 1 - Escapement:

Ten years after the great war of 2185 the queen’s reign is threatened by uprisings and fear. In celebration of my sixteenth birthday it is my duty as princess to sacrifice a slave to be initiated into the ruling council, solidifying my mother’s empire. When my own erratic powers surface I’m captured and tried for treason. Slaves hate me, my mother wants me executed, and my only chance of survival rests in the hands of a young man, Ryder Arteres, whose sister I sentenced to death.

Synopsis book 2 - Pendulum:

Haunting memories.
Terrifying dreams.
Crippling lies.

Trapped in a world of deception, my sanity rests with the love of Ryder Arteres and our renegade friends. Six months of scouring the ocean floor in a rebel ship fleeing our homeland, delivers us to a possible alliance with the opportunistic European Council. Our only hope is to utilize our forbidden gifts to free our people from slavery, proving our worth. But when a trusted ally turns traitor and a new breed of the queen’s weaponry is revealed, I’m forced to face the terror of my past to save our crumbling future.

Synopsis book 3 - Balance:

Life on a war-ravaged Earth is a dying experience. Finally, after years of tyranny, the rebellion rises. Once I rescue my fiancé Ryder Arteres, I, and the rebel general, will fight to free our people. In a war where alliances shift and friends betray one another, will the final battle prove the truth of the prophecy the queen has so feared—her death—or will I lose everyone I love?

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/series/98444-the-neumarian-chronicles

Purchase:

--Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=neumarian%20chronicles

--B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/ciara-knight

AUTHOR BIO

Ciara Knight writes to ‘Defy the Dark’ with her young adult speculative fiction books. Her most recent Amazon best-seller, Escapement, book I of The Neuamrian Chronicles, released to acclaimed reviews securing a Night Owl Top Pick and five stars from InD’Tale Magazine.

When not writing, she enjoys reading all types of fiction. Some great literary influences in her life include Edgar Allen Poe, Shakespeare, Francine Rivers and J K Rowling.

Her first love, besides her family, reading, and writing, is travel. She’s backpacked through Europe, visited orphanages in China, and landed in a helicopter on a glacier in Alaska.

Author links:

http://www.ciaraknight.com/

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5127753.Ciara_Knight

https://www.facebook.com/Ciaraknightwrites

https://twitter.com/ciaratknight

Review

Series: The Numarian Chronicles #1

Release Date: 5 February, 2013

Publisher: Defy the Dark Publishing LLC 
Genre: Dystopia, Science Fiction, Young Adult

ASIN: B00BC1H1I0

Edition: eBook

Rating: ★★★☆☆

Review Written: 25 September, 2014

Lions, Tigers, and Banned Books, Oh my! Top 5 Banned Books Week Picks

Banned Books Week is not a new invention. Launched in 1982 as a response to a surge of challenges to titles in libraries, schools, and bookshops - Banned Books Week has developed into an annual event to educate students and celebrate our freedom to read. I can't list out all the books that are challenged or banned on my blog (it'd take too long), but you can check out the top 10 books from 2001-2013 here.

Without further ado, here are my Top 5 Banned Books containing both single books and series.

#5 - The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Reasons for challenges: Religious Overtones and unsuited for age group.

Taken as part of the highly popular Dystopian future setting, The Hunger Games focuses on the story of Katniss Everdeen, a young woman in a desolate version of what once was America, renamed Panem. Throughout the series, the reader's swept along with some of Katniss's very questionable choices, challenges of what a Utopian society looks like from the lower levels of society, and presents the idea of children killing children. It's a story of growth and how happy endings aren't always easy, definitely a good read.

#4 The Giver by Lois Lowry

Reason for challenge:  violent and sexual scenes, infanticide, euthanasia, and “sexual awakening.”

Perhaps one of the most well known Utopian/Dystopian novels around, The Giver introduces readers to the world where everything is 'the same'. There's no colours, no music, everything is regulated by the government. At the age of twelve you're given your life assignment and set to train for it, the very young and very old are 'sent elsewhere' to spare the needs of the community. It's not a very happy place, but emotions aren't exactly there to know any different. It's a challenging book, making the readers question everything about the books and one of perhaps the most influential things I read from the time I was in middle school onward.

#3 His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman

Reasons: political viewpoint, religious viewpoint, and violence

The world where the His Dark Materials trilogy takes place is a parallel world to our own, though with the key addition of Dæmons - a physical form of one's conscience. Originally Published as Northern Lights in Europe, the first book introduces readers to Lyra, a rebellious child left in the care of scholars while her parents go gallivanting around on their own thing. Mostly wild, Lyra seems to have a knack for getting herself into trouble. The series gets darker as it goes along, pulling in elements from this world and that, but don't let that stop you from reading it. This series is one of my favorites, set up as a fantasy world and I'll admit, I've always wondered what form my dæmon would have settled on.

#2  Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Reasons: Occultism/Satanism, offensive language, disrespect to adults, violence, and 'intense fantasy'

A fantastic tale of childhood imagination, the Bridge to Terabithia focuses on the friendship of Jess Aarons and Leslie Burke, two children who are a little off the beaten path of life. They create a vivid fantasy life outside of school to deal with many of their childhood fears and issues. However when a tragedy strikes, make sure you have tissues to deal with the fall out of things that happen. I love this book, and yes, it does make me cry every time I read it.

#1 Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling

Reasons: Occultism, Witchcraft, Violence, Anti-Family, Satanism

The story that built a generation, and yes I'm very much part of that generation. Undoubtedly one of the biggest hits in the past 30 years, Harry Potter is the incredibly coming of age story of a boy who comes from a impossible family life to becoming a man of his own making. Captivated in seven books and several not quite direct spin-offs, Harry Potter teaches the meaning of friendship, shows hardship, and even gives a bit of a historical lesson (if one squints and tries to read more in the lines). Definitely one of my favorite series to reread over and over.

Review: Lore: Tales of Myth and Legend Retold

Synopsis:

A collection of six folklore retellings that will twist your mind and claim your heart.

SHIMMER: A heartbroken boy rescues a mermaid… but is it too late to save her?

BETWEEN is about a girl, a genie, and a ton of bad decisions.

SUNSET MOON: Eloise doesn’t believe in Native American magic–until the dreamcatcher spiders spin her down an unknown path.

THE MAKER: An incapacitated young man bent on revenge builds a creature to do it for him.

A BEAUTIFUL MOURNING: The story of a Maya goddess torn between duty and love, and the ultimate sacrifice she must make to achieve true happiness.

THE BARRICADES: When a human girl risks everything to save the life of an Eternal prince, will their feelings for each other change the world they know, or tear it apart?

Review:

Series: N/A

Release Date: 21 March, 2014

Publisher: Sweet Biscuit Publishing, LLC
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Mythology

ASIN: B00J6064O6

Edition: eBook

Rating: ★★★★☆

Review Written: 19 September, 2014

Feature and Follow Friday #16

 

The Feature & Follow is hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee of Parajunkee’s View and Alison of Alison Can Read. Each host will have their own Feature Blog and this way it’ll allow us to show off more new blogs!

This Week's Question:

Blogger pet peeves? (Like when I've drafted an entire post, ready to publish it, and I see somewhere I've left out a html code... When I didn't even do my post in html) - Suggested byTake Me Away…

I guess my biggest peeve is clutter (ironic if you look at my blog I have nothing but clutter). I also dislike blogs that don't feature a contact page or a good tagging system. Ah and one final peeve is when I'm hosting a tour and it's written into the coding to make each section title it's own heading due to the nature of my blog layout, it puts it in a brown header box and that just bothers me inside the post. I tend to try and go in to remove that element if at all possible before posting.