Movie Monday: Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3 was absolutely fantastic.  The change in directors does mean there's some difference in style.  Shane Black loves a bit of narration and has different taste in music than Jon Favreau.  (I missed the classic rock.)  But there doesn't seem to be any animosity in the changeover.  In fact, Favreau's role as bodyguard Happy Hogan was expanded.

But perhaps the biggest change in Iron Man 3 is that it's not all about Tony Stark.  (Although, in the end, it is.)

Much like Favreau, Don Cheadle gets a bigger part to play.  I'm am fully in favor of that, because Cheadle is terrific as Colonel Rhodes.  He's a good guy, but not a boring one.  And when given more screen time, Cheadle imbues Rhodey with enough of a sense of fun that you believe he and Tony Stark could be best friends.

And speaking of cast chemistry, Gwynth Paltrow continues to have tons with Robert Downey, Jr.  Her Pepper Potts is competent, compassionate, forgiving, but not a pushover.  She's firm and has zero time for b.s. from her boyfriend or monologuing villains.  I don't care how you feel about Paltrow; I can't imagine anyone else in the role.

Same goes for RDJ, who really plays up Tony's vulnerability after sacrificing himself in The Avengers.  He's faced tough situations before, but deliberately choosing to die really did a number on his psyche.  It leads to some great scenes when Tony teams up with a kid who can't keep his mouth shut around a real live superhero.

Of course, summer blockbusters and superhero films are all about the big fight scenes.  Iron Man 3 lives up to any expectations I had on that count.  The final battle is kinetic and visually delightful and still allows for some nice character beats.  I would've left the theater with a smile on my face even if the falling action wasn't just as terrific.

Iron Man fans, don't miss this one.  And, like all Marvel films, be sure to stay till after the credits.

Review: The Forever Knight

Books of the Bronze Knight, Book Four
By John Marco
Available now from DAW (Penguin)
Review copy courtesy of TLC Book Tours
Read my review of THE EYES OF GOD

THE FOREVER KNIGHT has been a long time coming.  The first three novels in the Books of the Bronze Knight series were out when I reviewed THE EYES OF GOD in 2008, my first year of blogging.  Given the wait, some might find it especially slim in comparison to the original trilogy.  But THE FOREVER KNIGHT is both a wonderful continuation of the series and a new beginning.  A wise move on John Marco's part, to draw in new readers.  I think THE FOREVER KNIGHT can be easily read by someone who is totally unaware there are earlier books.  (And, well, I still need to read the third book myself.)

Lukien is both the Bronze Knight and the Forever Knight.  He's nearly immortal and a talented warrior.  Perfect for a knight-errant.  But he has his weaknesses.  He's brittle and directionless, a hero without a cause.  Also, he has a gift for making the worst possible decisions.  At least his companion Cricket has the excuse of youth for her bad decisions.  I'm starting to think Lukien is not that smart.

THE FOREVER KNIGHT is a quick read.  Marco's keeps the story moving.  There are several different storylines in play, involving the fate of no less than two countries, but they're all intertwined.  The least involved story is that of Cricket, who wants to recover her memories, but it's pretty easy to guess that her memories of Akyre aren't totally uninvolved with everything else that is happening.  I do wish her character had been a little more deeply defined, but she's a nice foil to the jaded and overly confident Lukien.

The character of Malator, the spirit in Lukien's sword that keeps Lukien alive, is developed more in THE FOREVER KNIGHT.  He can be the typical cryptic mentor, but he's also got a sense of snark.  He also reveals a bit of a nasty streak of hypocrisy in Lukien, given how often Lukien treats Malator like a slave when he gets in a snit.

I mentioned the length of THE FOREVER KNIGHT before, and I'll say that I think it's the right length for this story.  It's a nice epic quest, with zombies and mad kings and good soldiers loyal to the wrong man.  It's an interesting direction to take the series and I'm curious to see what Marco will do with his Bronze Knight next.

Review: The 5th Wave

First in a trilogy
By Rick Yancey
Available now from Putnam Juvenile
Review copy

Sometimes the best books are the hardest to talk about.  I mean, I could go on for paragraphs about the structure of THE 5TH WAVE.  The book jumps from narrator to narrator.  The first hundred pages are spent with Cassie - short for Cassiopeia - and the book leaves her head as soon as she's in mortal danger.  Point of view is used to obscure who is an alien, a human, or if there's a difference.

I could talk about how there is a girl with two male love interests (sorta) and a boy with two female love interests (sorta) but none of that matters compared to how much the girl and boy love a little kid and want to protect him even when there's nothing left in the world but survival and saving the kid could mean dying.

I could talk about how this is top notch, classic horror science fiction, told beautifully.  That the book itself explores how literature, how we write and read and how that affects us, makes us human.  It's a binding experience.  How I see little touches of War of the Worlds and other classic "the aliens are here and they're gonna kill us" stories but that THE 5TH WAVE is so absorbing because it does it's own thing.  Sure, each of the waves are familiar, but combined they create the effect of a new invasion.  This invasion is as intimate as the Yeerks in the Animorphs and as impersonal as the Death Star firing on Alderaan.

Mostly, I think I could talk about how I need a sequel.  I don't know if there is going to be a sequel, I haven't checked, and the book certainly ends in a place that could be the end . . . but I want more.  Those who survive may not know it, but there is so much left in their world.  (Sorry for that awkward phrasing but I'm not giving away who lives and who dies!) (And a little research tells me it will be a trilogy - hooray!  Ignore everything I've ever said about wanting more standalone novels.)

I'm writing this review in February.  THE 5TH WAVE comes out in May and Penguin has already started some serious publicity efforts.  I'm sure by the time the book comes out and I post this review on my blog there will be a huge build-up of hype and backlash to that hype.  So just try to ignore all the hype, block out a few quiet hours for yourself, and read THE 5TH WAVE.  I know, you're saying it's nearly five hundred pages long and you're going to need more than a few hours, but this puppy flew by.  Mostly because I couldn't stop until I knew what happened.

Giveaway: $50 to Amazon!

I am giving away $50 voucher to Amazon courtesy of Appliances Online.  That's right!  And guess what?  This giveaway is going to be open to the UK as well as the US and Canada.  I just love being able to open up a giveaway to more of my readers.

Anyway, enter below using the Rafflecopter form.  Contest ends in a week.

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Review Preview: The Love Wars

By L. Alison Heller
Available May 7 from NAL Trade (Penguin)
Review copy

I am sorry guys.  I thought I had enough prepped on this week's reviews that I could just knock them out.  But I got a full-time job (yay!) and adjusting to waking up in the dark hours of the morning to drive across town is more difficult than I expected.

Part of the fun of THE LOVE WARS is that there's more emphasis on Molly Grant's job than I expected.  The romance subplot is secondary, maybe even tertiary.  It's all about Molly finding out what kind of lawyer she wants to be.  I also loved that THE LOVE WARS didn't humiliate her as some chick lit loves to do.  She embroils herself in a wacky scheme, but she manages to do so without breaking the law or otherwise setting herself up for a truly horrid fall.

But I have no idea what playing cards have to do with the price of beans in Cairo.