As a die hard fan of the original V I had mixed feelings about the newest reboot of it. The original was definitely EVENT television, and the reveal that the Visitors were actually lizards in human skin was pretty shocking at the time.

This time around, we know all that, so what could a new series have to offer? Well the premise is the same: ominous alien ships hover over major cities world wide with the aliens offering peace and a better world. Where it differs is that while these aliens are not telling the truth much as in the original, we still don't know what it is they want. As a previous poster mentioned it suffers from the "Lost" syndrome. Or for that matter, the "X-Files" syndrome. Unless the new show plans to go a totally different route from the original, we already KNOW what they want, so there really is no need to keep us guessing and dragging things out over several seasons. Just get to it!

But the new changes are intriguing. That the aliens have been on Earth for quite awhile, and we do not know who they are and we can't trust anyone. Yes, shades of X-Files and Battlestar Galactica, but both were excellent shows and no shame in borrowing a few things from them. The acting is superb, especially Elizabeth Mitchell and Morena Baccarin as Erika and Anna respectively. I won't reveal anything of the plot, but expect a showdown between those two strong characters at some future point if/when season 2 starts.

Another thing I like about the new season is that the Aliens actually are alien. In the original, they were basically just bad people (similar to Nazi's). This time around there actually does seem to be a totally alien culture that on the surface seems human, but in fact seems almost insectile.

Definitely a show worth investing your time in.

While the astrology parts confused me, this was a very good novel about Nero and Agrippina (and Poppea). Nero came across as believable and fits in with what historians have written about him. Agrippina's characterization less so, but still enjoyable to read. I suspect she was a lot less gullable than the author makes her out to be.

Shocking at the time, most of the images in this book are not so shocking now. But for a superstar of Madonna's stature to appear in this book, at the time, was truly an event of epic preportions and Madonna surely made a good deal of money from it. The only sad thing about this was that the controversy overshadowed one of her best albums: Erotica. Love her or hate her, Madonna certainly pushed some buttons back in 1992 and took a very bold chance that stars of today would never take. Kudos to her for that.

I always enjoy Yarbro's St Germain novels. They are so rich in historical detail and they always make me want to read up on the era they are set in. This one is no exception, except I found the whole story full of plot holes it distracted me from the novel as a whole. There seemed to be no purpose to any of the murders or attacks that took place that I had to wonder why even bother writing the book at all. Nothing was explained and while I don't mind ambiguous endings, this one just left me scratching my head.

Marie Antoinette was one of my favourite movies of 2006. Why it got such mixed reviews I will never understand. If you are looking for an historical drama about the events leading up to the French Revolution, you won't find it here. What you find is the story of a young girl hopelessly out of her depth at a foreign court just trying to fit in. So she indulges herself in fashion, food and petty palace intrigues. Marie Antoinette is totally isolated from the world in the royal zoo that is Versailles. She has not interest in the outside world because that is not her job. Her job is to produce an heir for the French throne, and that is it. When the Revolution finally comes, she is understandably bewildered.

The casting of the movie is inspired. While I am not a big fan of Kirsten Dunst, she does a remarkable job in the title role. Rip Torn and Asia Argento are excellent as Louis XV and Madame du Barry. The rest of the cast play their roles well.

I will admit the soundtrack was a bit jarring at first. You don't really expect to hear 80's pop music in a costume drama. But it wasn't used exclusively, and when it was used, it was approptriate such as the rave scene.

Despit it's flaws (and there were a few) I found myself intrigued by the novel. I thought the Christmas Carol mythology worked well in the story and enjoyed the new take on it. I disliked the protagonist immensely until I realized she was supposed to be the "Scrooge" character of the story. She isn't meant to be likeable and her actions in the novel (pushing people away continually) illustrate how she will end up like Scrooge, lonely and bitter at the end of her life. One character even calls her Winnifred Scrooge, just in case the reader misses the point.

The main problem with having a main character appear unlikable is that you have to have the secondary characters appear sympathetic. While colourful and interesting, the characters of Allegra, John, Jenkins, Rasia and even Kat Jenkins aren't that appealing so it is really no wonder Winnie can be quite rude to them at times. The only real likeable character in the novel is Irv, and even Winnie treats him horribly at times.

The revealing of the "mystery" was quite interesting I thought and I liked the little historical details, but I thought it was kind of rushed. I would have liked to have read more about the interaction of Winnie and Gervasa.

If you enjoyed MacGuire's other books, you may want to give this one a pass because I didn't think it was his best. But it was an interesting divergence from his usual genre.

I enjoyed Contest. It was fast paced and fun to read. The reader definitely has to ascribe to the "suspension of disbelief" theory though. At least the author makes no bones about that in his interview at the end of the edition I read.

But aside from the "Oh, I don't think so" moments in the book, I cared about the characters and found my self rooting for them.

I read the authors first book "May Not Appear Exactly as Shown" and loved it from the first page. I was not disappointed in his second novel. Not only was I hooked from the first page, I was hooked at each new chapter and introduction of new characters. What is their story? Even though you only get a snapshot of each characters circumstances, it is enough to make you want more.

In a way, this book is like a stroll through your local park, mall, street, whatever. You hear snippets of other people's conversation and might wonder what they are talking about. With this book, you get a bit more of each person's story, but not the whole picture, which leaves you aching to turn the page and hope some characters make a return visit so you can learn more about them. And I do want to know more. What happens to Claudia, Katie and her grandfather, Rawnie, and even William (his appearance in the book totally startled me). Can't wait for the second book.

One other thing I very much liked was that this book was set in my city, Hamilton. I can now understand what citizens of New York, Paris or London feel when they read a book set in their hometowns. It gave me an extra "connect" to the characters knowing they are walking the same streets I have. Many of the establishments mentioned in the book, I have been too. I also learned some things about my city that I didn't know. Who knew we had wild swans? I had heard rumours, but didn't believe them. But I asked my aunt, who walks her dog in the same park Kate and her grandfather go to, and they are there. How wonderful.

I highly recommend this book.

Rarely do I bother to come online at Amazon to warn people away from a book, but I had to this time. I am a big fan of vampire novels, and this one sounded very promising. Alien vampires who have been stranded on earth for centuries, and develop their own moral codes on how to deal with "food" ie humans. Then along comes first contact with their ancestors in the form of a crash landing on the moon. The moral delimma of whether they should risk the human race to establish contact, and add to that some humans have an agenda of their own.

All this makes for a possibly exciting book, and in the hands of a better author, that could have happened. All that really happened was I had to force myself to finish the book. The writing was very shoddy and lazy. Many characters acted completely "out-of-character". One minute they held one point of view, the next chapter it changes without explanation as to why, then in the next chapter they were back to their old point of view, and on and on, back and forth. Very confusing to a reader.

Not a well written book. And it is too bad, really. The idea had such promise.

I rather enjoyed this book much more than I thought I would. I remember following the news of the hostage crisis as it was happening, and was intrigued enough to want to learn more, and this book does it for me.

Nedkov writes a very gripping tale, and it is well written. Reading the book, you get the feel of the horrible conditions inside the House of Culture. You can almost smell the stink of fear. He also intersperses the blow by blow description of the hostage situation, with chapters about Chechnya and it's history to give a more rounded story. While he doesn't sympathize with the terrorists, he understands some of their motives.

I highly recommend this book.