Sunday Post #143

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba the Caffeinated Book Reviewer

It's been a mixed week for reading and watching, but I did post a lot. I finished up the new Julie Mulhern mystery and reviewed it, and I also had my thoughts on Captain America Civil War. I finally saw it- and loved it. Stop by and let me know what you thought if you've seen it. 

I also discussed Game of Thrones and The 100. A busy week! Next week I'm going to talk about which House is my favorite on Game of Thrones (because lists and GoT go so well together), and will be wrapping up the final episode of The 100 as well. The new seasons of Bloodline and Mako Mermaids hit Netflix next Friday (May 27th) so I know what I'll be doing Friday night. 

I got a few books this week and I've won a few giveaways lately. I seem to be well stocked with books at the moment and several weren't even on my radar a few weeks ago. One of the dangers of visiting your favorite blogs- you find more stuff to read. A good problem to have though I would say. 




And I'm listening to...



PULP COVER OF THE WEEK: 



NEW ARRIVAL/ UPCOMING REVIEWS:




BOOKISH LINKS

Check out the May giveaway over at It Starts At Midnight.  

River City Reading talks the Best and Worst of BEA. 

Big spoiler news this week about Star Wars VIII. Details about a scene with Luke Skywalker and Rey and a fight scene. Go read it only if you don't mind spoilers. I think it sounds great. 

My ambient pick this week. 

Bookcover Spotlight #49

The Blue by Lucy Clarke was one of my favorite reads of last year and I've always liked this cover a lot.

Clouds in my Coffee

Clouds in my Coffee is the third Country Club Murders book by Julie Mulhern, and like the two previous books it's a fast paced, entertaining murder mystery. Ellison Russell is a recently widowed mother who lives on the high end in 1974 Kansas City and to say she's had a busy year would be an understatement. Having found a body in the country club pool, another under the bleachers at a game, and running over her husband with her car, you'd think she would be due a break. Well, not exactly.  This time around it's Ellison who appears to be the target as there are several attempts on her life. Who would want to kill her? Looks like the stakes just got a little higher.

I enjoyed this book every bit as much as the first two. Mulhern has a breezy style and a wry delivery- we share Ellison's exasperation and dry wit as she navigates the minefield of the country club set and her own family dramas. If anything her family plays a larger role in this one, as her aunt and sister both come to visit- and when the bohemian aunt and her acerbic mother don't see eye to eye, you know the sparks are going to fly. Relationships get more complicated, family secrets come to light, and the mystery feels more dangerous because it hits even closer to home this time.

The other thing that's entertaining is the romance. Ellison has two very enthusiastic suitors- Anarchy Jones the detective and Hunter Tafft the well connected lawyer. Her mother of course prefers Tafft who fits right into their social strata, and both are sincere and good men from what we can tell. Ellison of course is a recent widow and not ready to take the next step yet, and I like how the romance (or potential romance) is a slow burn here. Jones or Tafft? After three books I still can't pick one- I go back and forth. I think she's a little in love with Jones myself, but she's attracted to Tafft as well. Time will tell.

This is a series I'll buy as long as Mulhern wants to write them. Ellison is a great character, the 70's setting adds a unique touch and the stories are fun and breezy. I almost feel like I know Ellison's family at this point, they're quirky but familiar, and there's never a dull moment. Good stuff.

Paper Towns

I finally watched Paper Towns and thought I'd share my thoughts on it. I haven't read the book but the movie looked fun. And with Suicide Squad coming up I was mildly curious to see Cara Delavinge in a role prior to that. I thought the movie did a good job capturing the uncertainty and angst of the teenage years and the end of high school. Like most teen movies it was over the top and unrealistic- could the guys have been any more geeky- but for the most part it was good. I thought the movie was entertaining and funny at times and for the most part it worked.

I had a lot of freedom as a kid so I could relate to Margo's adventurousness. I did think Quentin was a bit naive or something for eighteen but maybe that's just me. The pranks were pretty elaborate and I didn't think that was very realistic (I mean breaking and entering someone's house? Seriously) I did like how as the night went on Quentin got more daring- as much as he was crushing on Margo it made sense to me that he would take more chances. And once Margo disappeared I'm not sure I buy them going on a thousand mile trip to find her- I can't see the parents going for that.



 I thought the guys were okay but the pace of the movie picked up immeasurably when Lacey and Angela joined the crew. They made the road trip fun and Lacey was probably the most interesting character to me. The pretty girl who is more than that and becomes friends with the guys based solely on their mutual affection for Margo. That worked for me.

Paper Towns is worth seeing if you're not expecting too much. It's not a great movie but it's good enough. I thought the movie was fun and I'm glad I got to see it.

Captain America Civil War

Captain America Civil War is quite the movie. There's a lot packed into it and it really gets you thinking about the choices these characters make. To summarize in a nutshell, Captain america and Iron Man find themselves on opposite sides of an issue- should superheroes be regulated by the government? The issue comes up because of the civilian casualties that always seem to occur when the Avengers are in action- and things get exacerbated when the Winter Soldier is implicated in an attack. Cap stands by his friend Bucky/ Winter Soldier and also opposes the registration, while Iron Man supports the government plan.

This of course leads to Avenger vs Avenger. Are you #teamCap or #teamIronMan? Well you can make a pretty good argument for both, but before I go any further- this is a spoilery review so read at your own risk if you have not seen the movie yet. Okay so who's right? Well, it's complicated. Frankly I think the pro- registration / Iron Man side has a lot in its favor in the early going- it makes sense for these superpowered individuals to be held accountable, right? Well yeah- but invariably the government will overstep or make mistakes, and sure enough- that happens. In Tony's case he admits that he makes a big mistake towards the end- so I ended up feeling validated in my case for TeamCap.

So how's the movie? Great. That pretty much sums it up- I really think the Russo brothers are the ebst thing to happen to the Marvel movies. Not only did they knock Winter Soldier out of the park a few years ago, they nailed this one too. There are very few missteps here, and I liked that this one felt less bogged down in politics than Winter Soldier. For a movie as packed as this one, everyone gets a moment to shine too. I give them a lot of credit, they have a lot of balls to juggle and they drop very few.

The other thing that makes this work is the humor. At one point Bucky and Falcon are in a car and Bucky asks Falcon to move his seat up. Falcon says no and the next scene you see Bucky sliding over in the back to have more room. It's done well, and moments later when Cap and Sharon Carter kiss they both see it from the car- and the look on their faces when Cap sees them is priceless. In a movie full of explosions and stuff flying around, that may have been my favorite moment. It's nice seeing Cap and Bucky working together too- I'm glad this movie was able to mostly wrap up the Winter Soldier storyline even though not everything is resolved.

That was my biggest fear- when news broke a year or two ago that this movie would have almost all the Avengers in it (and with Tony practically a co- star) I was afraid the Winter Soldier arc would get short shrift. Somehow they managed to thread the needle and do both- give us Avengers 2.5 but still make it all about Winter Soldier. Kudos to the Russo's for pulling that off. The plot mostly works and the film is well paced given its 2 hour plus run time. Lots of people are saying this is the best Marvel movie, the best superhero movie- for my money, I agree.

So... how do the Avengers fare? Here's my take. In no particular order- I think Scarlet Witch is becoming one of my favorite Avengers, she's well played by Elizabeth Olsen. I like the grief she shows when she makes a mistake, I like her burgeoning relationship with Vision, and she just works. She's powerful too, making a huge difference at the airport fight. I thought Falcon punched above his weight in this one, he was all over the place and they obviously went to lengths to make him stand out. Vision was great in his scenes but was MIA at the airport fight- everyone was scrapping and changing opponents and he disappeared for a huge chunk of that battle. I know he's so powerful he could tip the scales easily, but they needed to do better at showing where he went.

Black Panther was good here and Chadwick Boseman has that role well in hand. He was regal but determined and is a great addition. Spider Man I was less impressed with- all the reviews are gushing over him but I was underwhelmed. I thought he was played up too much, taking out more experienced players sometimes too easily, and his airport fight moves were obviously CGI in a film that otherwise felt mostly realistic. Burt I'm not a huge Spider Man fan anyway so I don't see the appeal. I thought Iron Man was oddly ineffective in that fight- for someone with his power level he didn't seem to be a player.

So who am I missing? Oh, Ant Man. Nice touch when he was inside Iron Man's armor pulling wires and generally causing havoc. He was fun. I would have liked to see Bucky kick a little more butt but he did have some moments- the hallway fight scene where he and Cap were trying to escape in Germany was probably his moment to shine and he shows why he's the lethal assassin he is. Good stuff.

 So... tell me what you think. Who worked and who didn't for you? Did the airport battle live up to the hype? And are you TeamCap or TeamIronMan? Sound off in the comments.

The 100 3x15

One thing I'll say about The 100- the show is always moving. There is rarely a dull moment and that was certainly the case here, in the first of a two part finale. I can't believe we're at this point already- it seems like the season just started and here we are at the end. And what a ways we have come. I do think in some ways it's been a mixed season, primarily because of two things- the City of Light storyline and Bellamy's character arc. The COL story has never been my favorite and that remains the case- I think they're drawing too many threads together in a haphazard way- I mean does the AI aboard the Ark have to be related to the chieftains and this huge Grounder nation gets chipped in a matter of days- but discounting that, the other problem is of course Bellamy.

But maybe that's a topic for an end of season wrap up. For now let's dive into this one. Spoilers from here on out. The Clarke and Bellamy show are still trying to stop ALIE from taking everyone over and they decide, with a nice assist from Roan (yay he's back) to strike right at the center of her power- at Polis. Pretty gutsy. Meanwhile Raven and Monty continue to try to hack into ALIE and stop her with a "kill code" if they can. Things of course don't go well (shocker I know) and everyone ends up in a bad spot.

By the way I liked the scene where they say their goodbyes before heading out on their mission- did anyone else get the impression this might be a permanent goodbye for some of them? Anyway Clarke's crew get captured (because of course) and... Clarke gets tortured AND Abby hangs herself AND Pike gets shot... have I forgotten anything? Oh yeah Ontari gets whacked and is (apparently) dead. Those last few minutes were crazy. Although they did put ALIE on her back foot once or twice, so they don't completely suck. And someone shot Jaha- that's progress.

There was a lot to like here. Pike and Indra working together shocked Octavia, and I was half expecting her just to shoot him but the fact they have to work together is nice. Drama baby. Indra saves Kane? Murph and crew showing up just in time. Oh and the best line of the night goes to Murph when Bellamy tells him that Clarke is in trouble he wearily replies "Clarke's always in trouble." Yup.

Let's talk about Jasper a minute. He's chipped! And he stabs Monty in the stomach. Gah! For a minute there I thought Monty was a goner, but no he makes it to Raven. And poor Harper is left out there at Jasper's mercy. That made me nervous- Harper MUST SURVIVE. I kinda wish she would have shot Jasper. Speaking of whom, I think there has to be consequences if he survives this- after all yes he was punched a few times but it appears he took the chip willingly. If so he had to know he might be asked to hurt (or kill) his friends- that's a pretty selfish choice and I'm not sure where Jasper goes from here.

Roan doesn't get much time to do anything and gets shot. Will he pull through? Hopefully. He's not quite as assured in this role as he was as Charles Vane in Black Sails, but I'd still like him to stick around. Was that elevator fight brutal or what? Bellamy and Murph trying to survive and almost getting their ass handed to them- that was pretty intense. I was on the edge of my seat for that whole sequence. And the other great line goes to Jasper, who at one point is reciting a litany of all the casualties he blames on (mostly) Clarke. Is "death by Clarke" going to be a thing now?

This season has not been perfect by any means, in some ways I almost think it's a wasted season because of the silliness of Bellamy and the COL thing but these characters go through so much and they have a way of making you love them. This was a solid episode, no wasted moments, and a lot of other shows that plod along could take a lesson from The 100 and up their game.

Let's Talk About Maps

Last week as I was putting together my Cover Characteristics post on Maps, I got to thinking more about maps in fantasy books. Everyone knows you can't have a good epic fantasy without a map of the world, but you don't see them nearly as much in urban fantasy or most science fiction. And that's fine, because you don't usually need a map in those books I guess- but I think a good map adds so much to a story.

If I'm reading epic fantasy I can't tell you how many times I flip to the front of the book to consult the map. Can you imagine reading Lord of the Rings without the map? The world building and scope of the setting almost demand it. Plus it's fun to see the setting realized before your eyes in map form. So yeah it's a no brainer. The other time I like to see maps is in books with animal protagonists. Take The Warriors for example by Erin Hunter- those books about cats have a world map that's pretty simple but just detailed enough to bring their world to life a little more. You can check them out here.

Do urban fantasies ever have maps? Since UF tends to take place in the real world and/ or city environments, it might be fun to have a map of relevant areas. Same with science fiction. If a story takes place on a generation ship with multiple levels, or in a spaceport city on a far away colony, or a cyberpunk noir future, it seems like a map could only add to the story.

So... how do you feel about maps? Do you stare lovingly at a map of Middle Earth or your favorite world and wish you could go there? Share your favorite maps in the comments.