Beyond the Ice Limit

http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Ice-Limit-Gideon-Novel/dp/1455525863/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464347877&sr=8-1&keywords=beyond+the+ice+limit

Oh, man.  I’ve been waiting FIFTEEN years for this book!  The Ice Limit was one of Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child’s earlier books and while the story itself was thrilling, it ended on a massive cliffhanger I was dying for the resolution of.  And then I had to wait.  Fifteen years.  Worse still, they kept teasing it in their books.  Characters would be reading books called “Ice Limit 2” and “Ice Limit 3”.  They introduced surviving characters from the book into the larger continuity, and showed them working off-screen on the meteorite problem.  Those teases!

Well, the book was pretty good.  It certainly went in an unexpected direction and told a very creepy and horrifying story.  I would say it met my expectations and wasn’t disappointing.  I did originally think it was odd to do this story in the Gideon Crew series rather than with Pendergast, but it worked.  Still, I always hoped to see Pendergast dealing with the meteorite…

http://www.amazon.com/Bloodline-Star-Wars-Claudia-Gray/dp/0345511360/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1464348114&sr=8-1&keywords=star+wars+bloodline

Now I’m starting another book I’ve been dying to read, Star Wars Bloodline, the story that’s going to fill in some of the missing pieces between Return of the Jedi and Force Awakens.  Can’t wait to find out the history of the Resistance and the First Order!

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TV R.I.P.

Man, there were a lot of cancellations this week.  A lot of really great shows I’ll dearly miss, and some that were just cute but worth checking out.  I can’t image next season having the wherewithal to replace them properly.

Galavant.  Agent Carter.  The Muppets.  Heroes Reborn.  Castle.  The Grinder.

Crowded.  Grandfathered.  Undateable.  Truth Be Told.  Telenovela. Cooper Barrett.  Bordertown.  Angel From Hell.  Minority Report.  Second Chances.

I’ll miss Galvant and Agent Carter most of all…

At least I’ll have a long awaited prize to tide me over…. the sequel to The Ice Limit!  The original was published in 2001 and ended on the most tantalizing cliffhanger imaginable… and then I had to wait 15 damn years for the followup, but it’s finally here!

http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Ice-Limit-Gideon-Novel/dp/1455525863/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1463314073&sr=8-2&keywords=the+ice+limit

Ranking the Marvel Movies

(note: this is Marvel Cinematic Universe only)

I don’t have any major problems with any of these movies; none of them are bad.  Thirteen movies in and I’m still terribly excited about them.

1. AVENGERS: perfection. a masterful balancing act of story, character, action, humor…
2. AGE OF ULTRON: unfairly maligned, this movie does an amazing job of juggling far too many characters and stories. While not as strong or fun as the original, its shot better, has better action, and generally does all the little things better.
3. CIVIL WAR: unfairly overhyped, this movie does an amazing job of juggling far too many characters and stories. Spider-Man is great but utterly superfluous to the story.
4. WINTER SOLDIER: love that this is Avengers 1.5 with the greatest plot twist in the MCU.
5. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY: so much more fun than anyone would have thought possible.
6. THOR: a great introduction to the larger cosmic world and a great character.
7. CAPTAIN AMERICA: so glad this is a proper WWII period piece.
8. THOR DARK WORLD: rubbish villain, but everything else is great.
9. IRON MAN 3: I still kinda hate the Mandarin twist, but it’s a good movie otherwise.
10. IRON MAN 2: the villain is uninteresting, but the Avengers set up is fun.
11. IRON MAN: the only reason I rank this so low is because it’s all origin story which makes for tedious re-viewings.
12. ANT-MAN: a fun movie but it’s basically a remake of the first Iron Man movie.
13. INCREDIBLE HULK: not a bad movie, just not terribly interesting.

Game of Thrones

Well, I’m officially addicted.  I signed up for HBO Now in order to see GOT Season Six.  That damned free weekend got me hooked with the season premiere!  I’m even going back and re-watching the show from the start now… it’s like seeing it for the first time.  The first time I watched it I didn’t know the characters or the story and didn’t particularly care, but it’s definitely grown on me.   I did try reading the books, but they were just too drawn out.  The series took forever to get anywhere, but I’m dying to see how it all ends.