![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hawkwing_lbBooks 2011: 124-127
124. Sherwood Smith, Once A Princess.
Ebook. YA. Tolerably entertaining portal fantasy involving royalty from another world and handsome pirates. First book of two. Cliffhanger ending.
125. Walter Jon Williams, Deep State.
ARG thriller starring Dagmar from This Is Not A Game. Set partly in Turkey, partly on an RAF base in Cyprus: Williams makes the milieu feel right. Brilliant twisty story.
126. Susan R. Matthews, An Exchange of Hostages.
Out of print science fiction with a space operatic feel. Intriguingly grim, fascinatingly brutal, with an extremely well-drawn main character and solid prose chops. Recommended, if you can stomach reading about torture.
127. David Weber, A Beautiful Friendship.
YA set in the Honorverse. Not outstanding. Review forthcoming from Tor.com: I'll linky when it's live.
Film un-reviews
Way of the Warrior: Utterly forgettable Asian assassin Goes West, My Son, with a baby and a shitload of bad memories. The cinematography isn't brilliant, either.
Fair Game: Naomi West and Sean Penn star as Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson in this dramatisation of the Plame scandal. A well-cast, well-written, well-put-together film.
Attack the Block: Brilliant piece of low-budget science fiction. Aliens invade a block of London council flats, leading to showdowns with the local teenage hard boys, a nurse, and a couple of stoners. Excellent dialogue, tight writing, well shot, and a surprising amount of social criticism. And it passes the Bechdel Test in spirit, if not in fact. (I was distracted by the furry aliens with sharp teeth, okay?) Excellent.
Ironclad: After King John signs the Magna Carta, he hires a Scandinavian army to kill his barons and take back his absolute rights as king. A small band of warriors led by a baron and a Knight Templar seize Rochester castle with the intent of holding out until the archbishop of Canterbury can persuade the French to relieve them. A tense, brutal siege plays out to the final hours. Well written, well cast, well shot, with at least one strong female character - "I am not a sin," she tells the templar - and some fascinating bits of medieval siege warfare. Castle go BOOM! Excellent.
124. Sherwood Smith, Once A Princess.
Ebook. YA. Tolerably entertaining portal fantasy involving royalty from another world and handsome pirates. First book of two. Cliffhanger ending.
125. Walter Jon Williams, Deep State.
ARG thriller starring Dagmar from This Is Not A Game. Set partly in Turkey, partly on an RAF base in Cyprus: Williams makes the milieu feel right. Brilliant twisty story.
126. Susan R. Matthews, An Exchange of Hostages.
Out of print science fiction with a space operatic feel. Intriguingly grim, fascinatingly brutal, with an extremely well-drawn main character and solid prose chops. Recommended, if you can stomach reading about torture.
127. David Weber, A Beautiful Friendship.
YA set in the Honorverse. Not outstanding. Review forthcoming from Tor.com: I'll linky when it's live.
Film un-reviews
Way of the Warrior: Utterly forgettable Asian assassin Goes West, My Son, with a baby and a shitload of bad memories. The cinematography isn't brilliant, either.
Fair Game: Naomi West and Sean Penn star as Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson in this dramatisation of the Plame scandal. A well-cast, well-written, well-put-together film.
Attack the Block: Brilliant piece of low-budget science fiction. Aliens invade a block of London council flats, leading to showdowns with the local teenage hard boys, a nurse, and a couple of stoners. Excellent dialogue, tight writing, well shot, and a surprising amount of social criticism. And it passes the Bechdel Test in spirit, if not in fact. (I was distracted by the furry aliens with sharp teeth, okay?) Excellent.
Ironclad: After King John signs the Magna Carta, he hires a Scandinavian army to kill his barons and take back his absolute rights as king. A small band of warriors led by a baron and a Knight Templar seize Rochester castle with the intent of holding out until the archbishop of Canterbury can persuade the French to relieve them. A tense, brutal siege plays out to the final hours. Well written, well cast, well shot, with at least one strong female character - "I am not a sin," she tells the templar - and some fascinating bits of medieval siege warfare. Castle go BOOM! Excellent.
