Cruel Beauty – Rosamund Hodge

Rating:

Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve liked a book this much.

“Cruel Beauty” by Rosamund Hodge is a variation of Beauty and the Beast, with a little Labyrinth thrown in. The story centers around Nyx Triskelion, one of a set of twins. Ever since she was born, she knew her fate was to marry the Demon Lord because her father had made a deal with him. He gets daughters and one of them has to become his wife on her seventeenth birthday. Nyx’s twin sister, the favorite daughter, was coddled and loved her whole life, whereas Nyx was raised and trained to kill her future husband and save her land from his tyrannical rule. This has made her cold and hard, a perfect match to the Demon Lord Ignafex. On her quest in the Demon Lord’s house, she meets Shade, a shadow being who both helps and hinders her and, as it so happens, looks just like her demon husband. Her plan begins to derail when she starts having feelings for both Ignafex and Shade. However, to save Shade, she must destroy Ignafex. How will things end when her heart is being pulled in two different directions?

Fantastically, I say.

I absolutely loved the way Hodge interprets the Beauty and the Beast storyline. Even though I knew how it would end (BATB books always end with a happy ending somehow), somehow it still came as a surprise. I loved the mythical stories thrown into the mix as it added a little twist to the story. Nyx is not only Beauty, she’s also Pandora. I love it when authors pull from many different sources. I also love that Nyx is a little more feisty than traditional Beauties. The first thing she tries to do is to kill Ignafex. Her spirit doesn’t mellow out as the story goes on. She still has the same moxie at the end that she had at the beginning. She just fell in love.

I also found myself absolutely loving Ignafex. While he wasn’t an animal-like Beast, he still had bestial qualities. Being the Demon Lord, his responsibility was to control the demons that plagued the world while also creating deals. Kinda like Rumplestiltskin from “Once Upon a Time.” However, Ignafex’s deals are not always what they seem. Nyx’s father had made the deal for his wife to become pregnant with twins, but never specified that she had to survive to see them. Ignafex isn’t necessarily a bad person. He is as much a prisoner of his fate as Nyx and Shade. I grew to pity him and found myself crushing on him like Nyx was.

The only issue I had with this story, which isn’t surprising, is that I saw one of the twists coming from almost the beginning. That’s not to say that my twist-deducing skills are that good, it was just that obvious. However, I did not think this detracted from the story. The ending was still satisfying, as was the character development.

If you like Beauty and the Beast stories, you won’t regret reading this one. It’s phenomenally well written, and you’ll find yourself loving the Jareth-like Ignafex. Trust me, you want to read this.

 

 

You can read “Cruel Beauty” by Rosamund Hodge here.

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Ready Player One (Movie) – 2018

Rating:

Before I start getting yelled at for giving this movie 4 stars, I just want to say that I am writing this review as if the movie version is not based off of a novel. I will refer to the novel, but if this was a comparison post between the movie and the book, the rating would be much different and this post much longer.

Ready Player One was directed by Steven Spielberg. The main actors were ones you may have seen, but are mostly “up and coming” besides Simon Pegg and T.J. Miller (who was actually doing a live show, attended by my cousin, in my city as I was watching this movie). T.J. Miller might not be well known to some, but he has done voicework for a lot cartoons I have watched.

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The Greatest Showman

Rating:

Let me begin this by explaining one thing about myself. I am a theater geek, particularly for “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Lestat.” I’m friends with actors, I used to go to the Broadway Annual Flea Market each year when I lived in NJ, I’ve seen “Phantom” about six times on Broadway. I’m a geek.

So when I say “The Greatest Showman” is amazing, I mean it. Once I heard it was a musical, I needed to see it. I was slightly skeptical, because I was so far from a fan of Hugh Jackman’s performance in “Les Miserables.” I hated his performance. Still, I needed to see the movie.

I did not get the chance to see it in theaters, which bummed me out, but it takes time and money to go to the movies, and I don’t like to go out a lot. So my first exposure to the movie was hearing the songs play on Adele’s Pandora station (of all places). The first song I heard was “This Is Me,” which I thought was okay. I mean, now that I’ve heard it more I love it, but at the time it was not my favorite (which could also be attributed to the fact that I listen to Adele Pandora at work, so I couldn’t hear the whole song). Then someone on Facebook posted a video clip of “Never Enough,” and I was hooked.

That’s one thing you can certainly say about the movie’s soundtrack. It digs into your brain and sticks. I have had “Rewrite the Stars” in my head for over a week. I absolutely love the music, and am excited whenever one of the songs comes on at work.

The story was a very good one. Everyone loves a good underdog story, but P.T. Barnum didn’t seem to be an underdog to me. He was always determined to fulfill his dreams, and he did. I loved the love story between he and his wife Charity. She loved him despite the fact he was not her equal in rank and standing. She always made it clear that she would support and love him in anything he chose to do, no matter what. We need more love stories like that.

The main threat to their love story is Jenny Lind. At one point, Jenny kisses Barnum, though it was not reciprocated. The story gets back to Charity. When Barnum talks to her about it, she stated that she wasn’t upset at the kiss, she was upset that he didn’t trust her with a business dealing that led to them losing their house. I absolutely loved this, because she trusted her husband with a beautiful singer, but faltered when he hid the truth. Too often we see couples in movies broken up by kisses, even if the one party did not consent.

The actors were all superb. As I stated, I was worried about Jackman, since he seemed to sacrifice his singing for his acting in “Les Mis,” but that’s not so in “The Greatest Showman.” His singing is as good as his acting, and he did not sacrifice one for the other. I was pleasantly surprised by Zac Efron. I know he’s done musicals before, but they were all juvenile. He was definitely perfect for his role. All of the others performed as well as I had hoped they would. I was slightly saddened that Rebecca Fergusen did not do her own singing as Jenny Lind, but the woman who they picked to dub over was phenomenal.

I can’t really say anything bad about this movie. I loved the story, the acting, and the music. It has to be one of my favorite musicals. I’m absolutely addicted, and you will be too.

 

 

You can get “The Greatest Showman” here.

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“Wonder Woman” (2017)

Rating:

Hey guys! So, I decided to jump on the bandwagon and watch “Wonder Woman,” starring Gal Gadot and Chris Pine. Even though everyone said it was amazing, I went into it with a sense of reluctance, because, after all, it is a DC movie. Not only that, but it’s a female-led DC movie. I expected them to make her dependant on a man, make her sexy, and make a two-hour long movie catered to male fanboys.

Luckily, I was wrong.

“Wonder Woman” is the story of Princess Diana (not that one) of Themyscira, which is an island of Amazons. They specialize in fighting with spears, bows, and swords. Diana grew up hearing the story of how she was given life by Zeus after her mother created her out of clay. As the only child on the island, she is very precious, but she still wants to learn how to fight. Eventually, her aunt convinces her mother to let her train. She becomes a great warrior, but you can tell something is different about her. One day, she sees an airplane materialize in the sky and crash into the water around the island. She rescues the pilot Steve, played by Chris Pine. He tells her and the Amazons of the “war to end all wars,” World War I. Diana believes that this war is caused by the god Ares, and leaves with Steve to go kill Ares, armed with the sword “God Killer.” She meets Sir Patrick, played by David Thewlis of “Harry Potter” fame. He gives Diana and Steve permission to go to the front, where Diana believes the Germans are being influenced by Ares. To avoid spoilers, I’ll leave it at that. Trust me, you need to watch the movie. The twist is crazy.

I loved seeing Diana’s backstory. That is one thing that isn’t often touched upon in Marvel movies (at least, not to the extent of “Wonder Woman.”). Seeing her grow up and learn why she is the way she is, and why her convictions are so strong, makes me connect more with the character. I loved that they showed her as learned, with her having read books and knowing multiple languages. I love that she never needed anyone’s help (except the one point of using her companions as a springboard). She takes on Ares without any help. She’s strong, independent, and smart. And while her clothes are stated to be “indecent” (which, to be fair, they are by WWI standards), she isn’t sexualized. Her armor serves a purpose. For the first time, a female superhero was done correctly.

The only thing I had a little issue with is the casting of David Thewlis. He seemed awkward and ill-placed. While I understand why they cast him, I just couldn’t find his character believable. However, Gal Gadot’s performance made up for his by far.

If you want to have a good role model for your daughter (or son), watch this movie with them. If you want to see a very well-done female superhero movie, watch this. Hell, if you just want to watch a good movie, watch this. You won’t be disappointed.

 

 

You can watch or purchase “Wonder Woman” here.

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