Review | 'The Forsaken'

The Forsaken by Lisa M. Stasse
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Forsaken is a completely misleading book. Going into it, I thought I would be flying through action and adventure and coming-of-age, but none of those were really experienced. I did, however, like the fast-pacing and storytelling. I would have liked to actually explore the psychological concept of 'violent tendencies.' The characterization was a bit poor, save for a few characters. The ending was anticlimactic. The writing, however, is what saved the book (in some manner) for me; it was interesting and kept me flipping the pages, despite some poor world-building and character development. Hopefully the sequel is much more of a satisfaction than this one.

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Review | 'Daughter of Smoke and Bone'

Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book was beautiful. Simply beautiful.

My journey with Daughter of Smoke & Bone began in 2011, when I first heard of the book. I picked it up upon its release but soon after abandoned it, because I couldn't get into it. I bought it this summer in Portland at Powell's Books and found myself engrossed in it a few days ago as I started it once more. I made my way past the sort-of-boring introductory chapters and thrust into the fantastically-woven story of Karou, Akiva, and the war between the chimaerae and seraph. With the question looming "Who is The Daughter of Smoke and Bone?" throughout the story, I held onto two theories, and interestingly, one of them came true. Although I did predict the ending, that didn't make it any less impactful. I loved the exploration of subplots and the romance of the story and the way the writing tied everything together so well. The ending was a fantastic bow on top to a story already gifted enough.


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Film Review | 'Warm Bodies'

Warm Bodies
97 min.
Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, Dave Franco, Analeigh Tipton
Directed by Jonathan Levine
4 out of 5 stars | A-

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I, along with my friend Stefanie, was lucky enough to catch an advance pre-screening of this film back in December, and, writing this, I regret not having immediately written my review upon getting home and having the film fresh in my mind. But let's see what I can do here.

Warm Bodies is the film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Isaac Marion, and I went into the film not having read the book and not knowing much about the story other than the fact that it revolved around zombies and the relationship between one particular zombie (Hoult) and a human girl (Palmer). Teresa Palmer plays Julie, the daughter of a revolution leader, who has devoted her life to serving her father in their quest to rid the world of 'corpses' (the term they use for zombies), as well as maintain a relationship with her boyfriend, Perry (Franco). Then we have R, the zombie, who is a part of a human v. zombie fight, and kills Perry, eating his brains and acquiring his memories. He then falls in love with Julie, weaving Perry's memories of her with his own, and the rest of the film follows their relationship building as they attempt to conceal themselves from harm, as well as their discovering that their relationship could change the zombies forever.

I definitely wasn't expecting the film to be as short as it was, and the time really flew by. The film opens with narration by R, and we spend a large chunk of time with R and Julie on an abandoned airplane, but this time is spent giving the audience great insight on the beginning of their relationship. Levine even sneaked in a little Twilight throwback: there's a shot in which R receives a memory from Perry's brain, in which he and Julie are lying in a meadow having a dramatic conversation. Oh, Summit Entertainment, must me return to those roots? But, yes, apart from the obligatory world-building, the film sped by, packed with a ton of action and great lines from both Hoult and Palmer.

The acting in this film was fantastic. I had seen Teresa Palmer in I Am Number Four, and I had seen Nicholas Hoult in X-Men: First Class, and I wasn't expecting much from the duo, but they really showed me what they had, and it was a lot. Palmer plays this character who audiences probably wouldn't like under any other circumstance, or if she was played by any other actress, but Palmer is able to portray Julie's vulnerability, but not without losing tough of her toughness. Hoult plays a sensitive zombie who's also quite humorous, and it really shows. Nothing is forced on Hoult's part, which makes for an easy job for the viewers.The supporting cast is also really fantastic in this film, namely Analeigh Tipton and Dave Franco. Although in it for a short period of time, Franco really shines through with his performance as good-guy-gone-hard-headed Perry, and he makes his character's transformation stunningly believable. Tipton, though, is probably the highlight of the supporting cast, just as she was with Crazy, Stupid, Love. Her character seemed quite trivial, but she returns for a massive part in the end of the story, and Tipton initiated so much laughter in that final 20-30 minutes that I believe it was equivalent to the amount of laughter Palmer and Hoult accumulated throughout the span of the entire film. Huge props to Analeigh Tipton for being able to execute lines so well.

The direction, writing, and flow of the story for the film was fantastic as well. The ending didn't seem cheesy or unnecessary or unexpected, and I liked how Julie and R's relationship was tied up very well, although it was quite strange to see Hoult's character go from zombie to human so quickly after watching him thirst for brains the entire film.

The message the film relays, though, is crystal clear: something along the lines of certain people, or perhaps love and friendship, bringing out the best in people, even the worst of people. Or, perhaps, even the monsters.