Blood Magick by Suzan Harden - Book Review

Vampires and Witches and Sex. Oh my!

Alright, what a fun book. I bumped into this author online and she was very helpful with her advice, friendly. So I went to her website and picked this up for my Kindle PC. I figured I'd give it a glance over. To be honest I'm not super into sexy vampire stuff, but thought I might try to expand my palette since the author seemed so genuine. I'm glad I did.

The story plays out as a mystery tale, who dunnit? It has vampires, vampire lords, witches, human allies, covens and even a werewolf.

The thing I was surprised about was the sex, I didn't know going in that it was going to have erotic elements. I can't remember ever reading any erotic novels, so I can't say how the sex scenes hold up comparatively. As a newb I'd say they were great, they pushed the story forward well and weren't too over the top. Not that I think sex scenes need to be integrated into the plot or character so much, heck I wouldn't mind if a story had tons of sex scenes unrelated to the story. Keeps it interesting.

I'd recommend this to anyone looking to get into sexy vampire stuff, seems like a good starting point. This book is part of a series, so if you are looking for a new series to dive into go ahead and check this one out. The next one looks to have zombies!

Here's a link to the author's website:
http://suzanharden.com/suzan-harden-books.html

Falling Free - Book Review

4 arms!

Falling Free by Lois McMaster Bujold is easily one of the best science fiction stories ever written. I read it at least once a year if not more.

The basic set up of the book is that a galactic corporation has created a race of 4 armed people, with no legs, who are built to function exclusively in zero gravity environments. Themes of love, slavery and freedom permeate throughout the story.

I can't speak too much about it without giving away too much. It's an 'idea' story with strong characters, so giving away the ideas it is based on can ruin the experience.

I recommend this one for ANYONE AND EVERYONE. It is very approachable even for people who aren't that interested in science fiction. I recently loaned my beat up copy to a friend who reads mostly nonfiction broken up by the occasional best seller, she loved it. I can't think of any group of readers that might be disappointed in this one. Many of my favorite books do not have such a broad appeal, science fiction can be that way sometimes, but this book does not suffer from that.

Starred Up - Review

Tough and damaged

Wow. This is one of the most brutally honest performances I've ever seen, from the entire case. The entire tone is so nerve wracking it had me amped up, a strange emotional response I do not often get from a film.

It's a prison drama, which is apparently a genre of Brittish film and includes the likes of Scum and Bronson.

This one revolves around the transfer of a young inmate from the juvenile system to the adult prison system. He is transferred to the same prison his father currently resides in, a fellow convict. What follows is one of the most intense father and son bonding episodes ever put to film. A truly great achievement.

As for who I would recommend this film for, I'm just not sure. It's a tough call really. It's not that fun of a movie, not to say I didn't like it, but it can be a tough watch. Also the English is very low class Brittish with lots of rapid slang. It can be hard to understand. Anyone into prison drama and more artistic styled movies would be into this. It's definitely not a mainstream choice. The movie leaves you feeling optimistic, which is great. It could have went so much darker, glad it didn't.

Now that the summer movie season is over I'll be doing more book reviews. I have a list of a few dozen that need my attention. Movies aren't the only story medium you know!