Book Review- Artemis Fowl: The Last Guardian (2012)

The 8th and final book of the Artemis Fowl series. I know Eoin Colfer has said this before about books 3 and 6, but this time he really means it. Based on the pattern we've seen from the other books, this one should be another Opal book, right?
Right. Opal's past self is still wandering around after the events of The Time Paradox, and intends to break her present self out of prison. The present Opal uses her past self to gain an incredible amount of magical power, and gains access to two keys buried under Fowl Manor. One contains an army of Fairy spirits, and the other unleashes Armageddon on the surface world. She's unlocked the first key, and she's close to unlocking the second. Almost all the characters make a last stand here: Artemis, Holly, Butler, Mulch, and even Foaly all play a part in this last installment of the series.
The Good:
The Last Guardian makes up for the 6th and 7th books, which in my opinion weren't as good as the first five. The book launches you into the action very quickly, a lot like books 3, 4, and 5. The ending was very strong and Colfer succeeded in manipulating the reader's emotions in a way that no other author could do. Colfer made a very improbable plotline seem realistic, which can be very hard to pull off. Fast-paced, with good action scenes. I liked that for once Artemis had no idea what to do. Colfer did a very good job showing the reader just how far Artemis had come from book one.

The Bad:
Although the beginning and the end of the book were very good, the middle was a little boring. Opal was a little too comical and not quite villainous enough. Honestly, I was sick of Opal Koboi by book 6. Colfer overused Opal throughout the series. You didn't hear a lot from N01, and Minerva didn't make an appearance, something I had really been hoping for. Colfer kind of forgot about her, I guess.
The Rating:
4 stars. Pretty good as an independent novel, and excellent for a series finale. Recommended to those that have read the other books

Music Review- The Open Door by Evanescence (2006)

Release Date: September 2006
Length: 54:15
Genre: Metal
Label: Wind Up Records
Producer: Dave Fortman

This album took three years for Evanescence to make, mainly because one of their members had a stroke and because of lead guitarist Ben Moody's departure due to creative differences.
The Open Door kicks off with "Sweet Sacrifice," a Grammy-nominated song that I honestly thought was better than most of the songs off of Fallen. It continues the good start with "Call Me When You're Sober," which was supposed to be based on the story of Little Red Riding Hood. It starts to lag with "Weight of the World," a pretty good song but not nearly as good as the first two. The next couple of tracks fall into the standard repetitive formula that Evanescence frequently used in Fallen, but picks up again with "Snow White Queen" and "Lacrymosa," a song that plays the Mozart score in the background while layering it with their own melodies. Probably the best song on the album, but the cd lags again with four very average songs, "Like You," "Lose Control," "The Only One," and "Your Star." But it picks up again just in time for the end of the album with two more good songs, "All That I'm Living For" and "Good Enough," a song driven only by the piano and vocals.
The Good:
The Open Door is a lot like Fallen, but fuller and with more thoughtful lyrics. Amy Lee isn't constantly moaning about failed relationships, and she isn't always angry either. Ben Moody's departure from the band didn't hurt their sound one bit. Overall a better effort than their previous release.
The Bad:
About half of the album's songs sound too much like they could have been from Fallen. There's still some of that failed relationship stuff in here, and some of the chorus lines are very boring.
The Rating:
3.5 stars. Half of the album was a huge improvement, but the other half weighed it down a lot.

Top Songs:
1.Sweet Sacrifice
2.Call Me When You're Sober
3.Lacrymosa

Movie Review- The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

This is it. The movie people have been waiting for since The Dark Knight came out in 2008. And now that it's been out for three weeks, I finally decided to go watch it and write a review.
There was a lot of hype about this movie, especially when it started filming a year ago. Everyone was waiting for it, and when it finally came out... not everyone really cared. There are a couple of reasons for that, but I'll get around to that in a different post. But it failed to meet my expectations of shattering the opening weekend record Marvel's The Avengers set a couple of months ago. Does that mean it isn't as good as The Avengers? Not even close. But before I get into why it was so good, I'll give you a brief synopsis of the movie.
It's been 8 years since the end of The Dark Knight, when Harvey Dent went insane and died after killing five police officers. Since the time of his death, an act of law has been set to his name that keeps the mob bosses and the other people Harvey Dent put in jail imprisoned without peroll, and a holiday has been made in Gotham City called Harvey Dent Day. The masked vigilante called Batman hasn't been seen since the night of Dent's death. Bruce Wayne has become reclusive, leaving the business of Wayne Industries to Lucius Fox and staying in his house, allowing no one but his butler Alfred to see him. A 'cat' burglar named Selena Kyle robs Bruce Wayne, stealing fingerprints from his home and selling them to a businessman under the control of a masked mercenary known as Bane. Bane, an excommunicated member of the League of Shadows, has taken control of the League and comes to Gotham to fulfill Raz' Al Ghul's plan.
That's the most of the plotline I can give away without spoiling the movie, pretty much. Any more would probably ruin it for you.
The Good:
This movie was a tad long, at almost three hours, but the movie never lagged. In fact, it felt like the movie wasn't quite long enough. The effects of the movie were very well done, and the threat to Gotham City was plausible. The way Christopher Nolan tied in the plot with the events of the first and second movies was incredibly well done. Batman must conquer the fear he's developed of being involved as Batman in order to defeat Bane, and that brings back some of the fear he felt from when he was training under the League of Shadows in Batman Begins. This isn't a trilogy of loosely connected sequels. The first two are connected pretty well, but The Dark Knight Rises brings them together in a way that only Christopher Nolan could pull off. When the whole trilogy is watched in succession, you can see that these movies are one of the most stripped-down versions of the Hero Cycle you can get. That doesn't mean it's bad. This third movie wraps it up by making things even worse for Batman than they were in The Dark Knight, then almost literally bringing him down to Hell and bringing him back up. There's a theme throughout this film of rising and ascent that really moves the viewer.
The Bad:
There was very little bad about this movie. Bane's voice sounded a little funny, but who cares about that? I think Selena Kyle/Catwoman could have been a little more involved, but her role in the movie was pretty good anyway. I didn't really like that they didn't talk about The Joker at all, but I heard that Nolan did that out of respect to Heath Ledger, and I can understand that. I think the last half hour or so of the movie could have been wrapped up in a better way, but it was still fantastic.
The Rating:
When watching this movie after seeing the first two movies in the days before, I have to give this movie a full five stars. Not even a question. If any of those small issues I mentioned above had been fixed, it would have been six stars. It was a fantastic movie that was part of an even better film trilogy.

The only question I have is how they're going to connect Batman to the Justice League movie they're supposed to be making.

HIGHLY, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. Just remember that it's still a very dark movie. Not as dark as the previous one, but pretty darn close.

Book Review- Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson (1999)

I have to start this review with two things. First, it took three tries for me to finally read this book all the way through. Second, it's worth the amount of effort it takes.
Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen isn't a bestseller. It never was. The general public isn't nerdy enough to read this kind of fantasy. This takes the worldbuilding Tolkien did and steps it up several levels. The Malazan Empire is set in one of several continents: something very rare in an epic fantasy. Not even Tolkien had that much land covered. It covers five or six different plotlines and a cast of characters large enough to justify a three-page Dramatis Personae, basically a giant list of all the characters and their basic roles in the story. There's a background of gods and beings set in a history going back three hundred thousand years, the politics between the Empire, the unconquered cities, and the various gods and other powerful beings is mind-blowing.
Another thing to mention. This is the first novel by author Steven Erikson, a Canadian with a degree in Anthropology and Archaeology. He has the credentials, he has the worldbuilding skill, and he has the potential. But the problem with that is that he's working on his masterpiece series without any prior publishing experience. He has a TON of potential at this point and more skill than many experienced fantasy writers, but there are a couple areas that suffer greatly in his first novel.
But first, I'll try my best to do a summary of the book. The Malazan Empire has been fighting to conquer the continent Genabackis since before the death of the Emporer ten years ago at the hands of the current Empress, Laseen. After taking a major city called Pale, a group of the late Emporer's elite called the Bridgeburners are sent to one of the last major cities holding out against the Empire: Darujhistan. Joining them is Captain Ganoes Paran, the assistant to Lorn, Adjunct to the Empress. Investigating the slaughter of more than five hundred people, he is sent to uncover and kill a girl possessed by the God of Assassins. When Paran joins the Bridgeburners, the God of Luck Oponn plays his hand against the Assassin God and his master Shadowthrone. The key player in the game is Crokus, a thief living in Darujhistan. Meanwhile, Adjunct Lorn travels to an area outside the city, hoping to uncover a being that ruled in the days before gods and use it for the Empire's purposes.
There's a lot more than that, but I don't want to bore you with synopsis. Now, I mentioned earlier that there were several flaws Erikson had as a debuting author, and one of the big ones is characterization. He focuses so much on the plot that the characters lose a lot of their humanity, instead obeying the whims of the plotline. The motives of Shadowthrone and Oponn are largely unknown by the end of the book, and Paran switches sides several times on a whim. The other big thing that subtracts from the novel is that there are so many plotlines that it can often be very hard to follow. Hence the three tries needed to finish the book cover to cover.
But despite all this, the potential Erikson shows in this book is enough to keep me going. Despite all the flaws it was still a pretty good read, and the word of other readers that future books are much better helps as well. But this is NOT a book for everyone. Most people can't handle the number of plotlines and characters in Gardens of the Moon. But the fantasy geeks like me that are looking for something more extensive than the typical Brooks, Jordan, or Goodkind will love The Malazan Book of the Fallen. 
My rating: 3.5 stars as a fantasy geek,
                1 star as a casual reader
Seriously. If you aren't a serious fantasy nerd than DON'T TRY READING THIS BOOK.