Walkabout Thoughts

Title: The Root: A Nove of the Wrath & Athenaeum Author: Na' Amen Gobert Tilahun Genre: Urban, Modern Fantasy Synopsis: This story takes place in two different realms Zebub and San Francisco, there is something going on in both areas. Hungering Darkness waiting to devour all creation is attacking the Zebub where we find Lil a holder apprentice, in San Francisco, we find Erik a former child star with a scandal that ended his acting career. Both find out about the power they have hidden in them and how they act to take on this darkness. Review: This is a great book, I really enjoyed how the author used each chapter to use a character's voice and POV for what was going on, I am reminded of Theodora Goss' The Alchemist Daughter in some ways of this. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a good story with well-rounded characters that are not flat. I enjoy books that have great characters and the antagonists in this book are ju...

Movie: Mary and the Witch's Flower Genere: Animation, Fantasy Netflix What can be said about this charming movie, then if Studio Ghibli were to close then this studio (Studio Ponoc) would be the heir apparent. The style is fantastic and a great family movie, the art, and the animation have the very essence of Hayo Miyazaki in every frame. Synopsis: Mary Smith just moved into a new town with her great Aunt as most of the families are on holiday there are very few children she can play with. Mary is a good girl who wants to help, even though she has the heart, the skill is very lacking. With all the accidents she causes. She comes upon a strange flower that unlocks an adventure that she would hardly forget. The characters of Mary, Aunt Margret, Peter and the antagonists are all well fleshed out. You learn about them later on in the movie and their motivations are hardly pure. Not one character felt flat or two dimensional or even lacking in a personality, if t...

Movie: Star Wars: The Last Jedi Gener: Sci-fi, Space Opera. To clarify I have been a fan of the series for the majority of my life, read most of the books and invested several years into the lore of Star Wars. What gets me it seems like they ignored the rich lore this universe has, even if they stated everything after Return of the Jedi was no longer canon. It left me with more questions than answers, who the heck was Snook, why was he after Skywalker, where does he fit in the Sith or was he a Dark Jedi? He was to be the big bad, but they killed them off in the second movie.  Then there is Kylo Ren (Ben Solo) he is nowhere as menacing as Vader, more like a Darth Riven wannabe without the full aspect of the dark side of the force. This is what I hate about the movie the most, you have great character development on the heroes but the villains, not so much. Snook and Kylo Ren are what I call lackluster villains, they could have been so much more to make the struggle...

Title: The Devouring: A Billy Boyle WWII mystery. Genere: Mystery, Noir, WWII Author: James R Benn Synopsis: Billy Boyle is at it again this time in a neutral (but not so neutral) Switzerland. Billy and Kaz must find out what is going on when there is not one but two murders in Bern. Filled with intrigue and espionage. The age-old motive, greed. Nazis, murder, and gold in the alps is a good way to summarize this wonderful example of Noir. Review: This being the first Billy Boyle novel I read, it did not feel like other books in which you would have to have read the others to get an idea of what is going on. I like that, where I can pick up and read where I want and not feel lost. So if you want great detective book, this is one of the best I have read in a long time. If you love noir like me, then this is a great read and I will be looking for more Billy Boyle novels in the future. RATING: GO OUT AND READ IT!

Title: Terminal Alliance: Book One of the Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse Genere: Sci-fi Author: Jim C Hines Synopsis: The Crew of the EMC Pufferfish finds themselves in a heap of trouble after coming to the aid of a merchant ship. The captain is dead, 90% of the crew has gone mad and it is up to the cleaning crew to get to the bottom of all this. Lt. Mops and her band of space janitors go off on an adventure across the galaxy to cure the crew, find out what happened and in the process find out a secret that can jeopardize the Alliance that helped humanity after a virus mad humans go feral. Review: This book was fun to read, the characters and the alien races, the hijinx from the crew of the Pufferfish all to find out what made the rest of the crew go feral. Never in my mind would I have thought to make the heroes to be the cleaning crew, the janitors, after reading this book, why not, they have to clean up other peoples messes all the time. So why not let the...