|
|
Content by Jeremy Patrick...
Commentateur n° : 29,598
Votes Utiles:
1
|
|
|
Reviews Written by
Jeremy Patrick-Justice (Toronto, ON Canada)
|
Reviewer Rank:
29598 |
Page : 1 | 2
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jhaeman's Reviews, Sep 30 2009
The House That Jack Built is, as you might manage to guess from the title, about a house built by Captain Jack Harkness. Except, it's no ordinary house: it's the place where some sort of time-travelling, paradox-eating, other-dimensional alien entity-thingies have set up shop and retroactively altered the timeline to make the house into an always-has-been site of horror and murder. As with a lot of Torchwood books, the ultimate cause of whatever is happening (aliens! aliens! aliens!) is usually secondary to the happening itself--in this case, the Poltergeist/Shining experiences of a new couple moving into the house. The author, Guy Adams, has a great grasp on the characters, a unique style of intercutting scenes so they pick up a little before the end of the previous scene (but from a different perspective), and a penchant for creating creepy goings-on. My favorite part of the book was the introduction of a new character, Alexander Martin, a stranded alien whom Jack recruits to be the fill-in doctor since Owen bit it. Alexander is a rascible, louche old man with an eye for the ladies--in other words, he's what Jack would be like if Jack were 80 years old and cranky. Suffice it to say, Alexander is a great character whom I would love to see again. Bottom line: another strong entry in the Torchwood series of novels.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jhaeman's Review, Aug 15 2009
Everyone Says Hello was one of the first Torchwood audio books. Read by Burn Gorman (Owen), it's the story of a strange phenomenon: all over Cardiff, people stop living their lives and begin introducing themselves to each other and telling each other their life's stories, usually leading with the most mundane details. Things escalate from there, until Cardiff reaches an almost apocalyptic state, overrun with zombie-like people who insist on either converting or killing everyone else.
This is a long story (2 and 1/2 hours) compared to the 45-minute audio plays the BBC recently released, and frankly I think it would have come across better in the shorter format. The central idea behind this story (people acting creepily friendly) very quickly grows tiresome and repetitive. Way too much time is spent on forgettable side characters. The story picks up a little bit near the very end, when there's some action, excitement, and general running-around. I've liked some of what Dan Abnett has done on Torchwood, but this story just lacked real drama, humor, or enough of a hook to keep the story going for such a long time.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Torchwood: Another Life
|
de Peter Anghelides
Édition : Hardcover |
| Price: CDN$ 11.39 |
|
| Availability: Not in stock; order now and we'll deliver when available |
|
|
|
|
|
Jhaeman's Review, Jun 6 2009
Owen is the featured character in this one, as he finds himself intrigued by an online virtual world where he comes across an old girlfriend from six years back that he decides to look up in real life. Of course, there's also an alien spaceship trapped in Cardiff Bay that's causing massive flooding and the need to track down its body-hopping pilot. I thought the book was pretty well written and has a pretty dark tone, but something about it just didn't quite grab me. It was fun to see one of Owen's old flames (though, as usual in novels like this, things don't turn out well) and the subtle hints about Ianto being up to something in the basement.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Jhaeman's Reviews, Jun 6 2009
What a fun book! My favorite Torchwood novel so far, Skypoint is # 8 in the series and (unbeknownst to me when purchased) is set somewhere in the middle of season two (i.e., some major spoilers abound). Something preternaturally fast that can move through walls is haunting an apartment building in Cardiff, and it's not Rift-related. The book is fast-paced and engaging, with a focus on Owen (I'm starting to realize that the person prominently featured on the cover is not necessarily prominently featured in the novel). The Torchwood series of media tie-in novels are right up there with Babylon 5 and Star Wars in terms of quality, and far exceed the average Buffy, Lost, or Star Trek book.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jhaeman's Review, Jun 6 2009
Pack Animals is my least favorite Torchwood book so far, but even then it's not really all bad. The main plot is the problem: a troubled young man finds a piece of alien tech called a Vandrogonite Visualiser and uses it to bring to life monsters from the rift as reflected in a series of Magic: The Gathering-type cards he creates. The idea that real monsters would spring to life from a collectible card game would probably have been a fine plot on Buffy during the first or second season (imagine Ethan Rayne playing yet another trick on Sunnydale), but it's just too . . . silly for a Torchwood plot: I don't want to see Jack riding around on a unicorn or Tosh using the cards to summon a killer clown.
Main plot aside, the book has two really interesting subplots: first, an organization called Achenbrite which is actually one step ahead of Torchwood in understanding and manipulating the Rift; and second, an investigative journalist named David Brigstocke, who would make a great recurring character even if he gets dosed with Retcon at the end of every book. Oh, and did I mention that Jack and Ianto go on a date to the zoo? Very cute.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jhaeman's Review, April 29 2009
I've gotten hooked on Torchwood. I have no idea why everyone on the net didn't think very highly of the first season (which I'm about halfway through), but I love the darker, sexier, gorier tone of the show. A guy should follow his passions, so I picked up my first Torchwood novel, Something in the Water by Trevor Baxendale. I really like the handsome design of the books, small hardcovers with nice cover art--though I don't know why they put a blank page at the end of each of the book's 29 short chapters, which basically means over ten percent of the book is blank pages. But anyway, it was an enjoyable, fast-paced read that captured what I've seen of the show quite well. It has the usual "evil alien (are there any other kind on Torchwood?) has come to Earth to cause a ruckus" plot, but the "water hag" alien reproduces like something out of . . . well, the movie Alien. It's certainly a gory & gross book, though unfortunately without the sex and profanity of the show. I'll definitely pick up another one in the series to see what I think for a younger crowd.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jhaeman's Review, April 12 2009
For $ 1 in a clearance bin I found a signed copy of Richard John Neuhaus' famous 1986 book The Naked Public Square: Religion and Democracy in America (2d. ed.). This is one of those books I had seen cited hundreds of time in legal scholarship on religious freedom but hadn't actually read until now, though I enjoyed reading (and completely disagreeing with) Neuhaus' work in First Things until his recent death.
The central thesis of the book is that liberal democracies cannot survive with a "public square" (i.e., public debate and discourse about political and social issues) that is divorced from religion. According to Neuhaus, the shared conception of morality and values is what binds disparate people together and provides legitimacy to the results of the democratic process. In the absence of this shared morality, something else will step in to fill the void: the state as a totalitarian project.
I think what I like most about the book is that Neuhaus really strives to be fair. The book is not a polemic against liberalism and Neuhaus has a great sense of the internal debates that go on within liberalism, fundamentalism, and mainstream Christianity. The book is also deeper and more encompassing than you might think from citations made to it: it's as much a warning about the rise of the "new religious right" as it is about secularism.
It's definitely worth reading, even if you can't find it for a buck. The only disclaimer I'll make is that some chapters show an ugly anti-gay sentiment and (from my post-Cold War perspective) a surprising paranoia about Communism.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jhaeman's Review, Nov 17 2008
Go Ask Malice: A Slayer's Diary
Robert Joseph Levy (2006)
RATING: 5/5 Stakes
SETTING: Season Three
T.V. CHARACTER APPEARANCES: Faith, Kakistos
MAJOR ORIGINAL CHARACTERS: Diana Dormer (Watcher); Faith's Mother; George Lehane (Faith's Father); Kenny (psychic & boyfriend); Vanity Collins (social worker); Alex (imaginary friend/Slayer soul?)
BACK-OF-THE-BOOK SUMMARY: "Faith has always been a loner. Growing up in a broken home in South Boston, shuffled from relative to relative, her only companion was an imaginary friend named Alex, who helped her escape into a fantasy world of monsters and the supernatural, far from the real-life horrors of the waking world. Now, taken away from her mother by social services and shipped off to a foster home, Faith learns that some nightmares are all too real, that the inventions of her childhood really do haunt the night, hungry for blood. Enter Diana Dormer, a Harvard professor and representative of the Watchers Council who has come to tell Faith of her destiny, to train her, to prepare her for what is to come: Faith is the Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. But she's not alone. When Alex, her childhood companion, returns in her dreams, she warns Faith that someone else is coming to her, a force so deadly and unforgiving that it has inspired fear in the underworld for a thousand generations. Its name is Malice. As memory and fantasy begin to merge, Faith's two worlds collide, with cataclysmic results. A violent battle for the Slayer's soul is staged, winner take all. This is her story. . . ."
REVIEW
The stylistic conceit behind Go Ask Malice is that it is the diary of Faith found in an archaeological expedition of Sunnydale after the end of Season Seven (though the last entry takes place just prior to Season Three). The concept works beautifully, as Faith has a strong first-person voice and seeing events from her perspective offers insight in to her character and background that would be much harder to achieve in normal third-person storytelling. The television show hinted that Faith had a troubled upbringing, but this book really fleshes it out as we encounter Faith's frequently-absent mother (who becomes a prostitute), her incarcerated father, her bouncing around foster homes, and more. We're also introduced to Faith's first Watcher, Professor Diana Dormer and learn much more about the backstory of Kakistos, the demon responsible for killing Dormer and driving Faith out of Boston. Kakistos was polished off in a single episode in Buffy (and probably wasn't handled very well), but here the demon has a nice menacing aura and build-up through prophetic dreams that Faith is having. The fact that the reader already knows that Kakistos kills Dormer lends a pall of impending tragedy over the book that works very well because the reader is constantly kept guessing as to how and when it'll happen.
Suffice it to say, Go Ask Malice is a very dark book--something the too-sacharine Buffy novel line desperately needed. If you only like happy endings or can't stand Faith, this isn't the book for you. Otherwise, I highly recommend it (and hope the author can get talked into writing some stories for the Buffy comic).
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Lost Slayer Bind-Up
|
de Christopher Golden
Édition : Mass Market Paperback |
| Price: CDN$ 9.89 |
|
| Availability: Usually ships in 3 to 5 weeks |
|
|
|
|
|
Jhaeman's Review, May 24 2008
The Lost Slayer
By Christopher Golden (Omnibus Edition, 2003)
RATING: 4/5 Stakes
SETTING: Season Four
T.V. CHARACTER APPEARANCES: Buffy, Willow, Xander, Anya, Oz, Giles, Olivia
MAJOR ORIGINAL CHARACTERS: Camazotz (bat demon), Lucy Hanover (ghostly Slayer), Clownface & Bulldog (vampires), Zotziloha (Camazotz's wife)
BACK-OF-THE-BOOK SUMMARY: "Buffy Summers's adjustment to life at U.C. Sunnydale has not gone smoothly. She feels awkward, insecure, and jealous that Willow's all over the college life. So when she is visited by a prophecy of impending danger, the timing couldn't be worse. There's plenty of evil afoot as it is: a unified troop of vampires has descended upon Sunnydale, and tension between Buffy and Willow gets in the way of demon hunting. Before long, a single moment of bad judgment catapults Buffy into an alternate future dimension where vampires reign supreme. Imprisoned in the body of her 24-year-old-self--and confronting friends and foes the likes of which she'd never imagined--the Slayer must uncover her past misstep and correct it, or risk facing a terrifying monster that she herself has created. . . ."
REVIEW
The Lost Slayer is an interesting and ambitious book, that takes place in two major time periods: the "real world" of Buffy Season Four and an alternate future five years later, where Giles has been turned into a Vampire King and Sunnydale and much of Southern California has fallen under his evil sway. Through some magics gone awry, Season Four Buffy inhabits the body of future Buffy, while the mind of future Buffy inhabits the mind of Season Four Buffy, leading to some interesting scenarios.
The alternate future is an interesting one, and includes much darker versions of Xander and Willow, along with some characters not otherwise present in the book like Parker, Harmony, Wesley, Spike, and Drusilla. The Season Four material is fairly well done, though it involves Buffy learning her usual lesson that it's okay for her to rely on her friends. The main bad guy--a bat demon/god of some type, and his hyped-up vampire cronies--are about average for a Buffy book. The overall tone of the novel is dark with some brutal, well-done action scenes (a scene where future Buffy kills another Slayer is nothing short of ghastly) and believable dialogue.
All in all, this is one of the better Buffy novels that contains some nice surprises and tense scenes. It's definitely one worth picking up. [Note that this was originally released as a "serial novel" in four separate books; the version reviewed here is the "omnibus" one.]
Jhaeman's Buffy Reviews: http://www.geocities.com/jhaeman
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jhaeman's Reviews, Jun 19 2004
THE FAITH TRIALS, VOL. 1By James Laurence (2001), based on teleplays "Faith, Hope & Trick" by David Greenwalt, "Bad Girls" and "Revelations" by Douglas Petrie, and "Consequences" by Marti Noxon RATING: 3/5 Stakes SETTING: Season Three CAST APPEARANCES: Buffy, Faith, Xander, Willow, Oz, Giles, Angel, Cordelia, Joyce, Principal Snyder, Wesley, Kakistos, Gwendolyn Post, Scott Hope, Mr. Trick, Lagos, The Mayor, Deputy Mayor Allan Finch, Balthazar, Detective Stein BACK-OF-THE-BOOK SUMMARY: "Sometimes, it's gotta be a drag to be the Chosen One. Occasionally a girl would rather be at the mall, talking on the phone, or even doing homework than saving the world from unstoppable evil. Fortunately, Buffy Summers has always had a support system of friends and family to help her cope. But what if she hadn't? She might have been just like Faith. Faith, the 'shadow-shelf' Slayer, is strong, sexy, and willful. When she first arrives in Sunnydale, Watcher-less and fancy-free, Buffy has doubts about the tag-team approach to patrol. As times goes on, though, she learns to find the fun in synchronized slayage, and appreciates Faith's zest for life. . . . Until Faith's impulsive attitude toward her calling takes her one step too far, and her inability to cope with consequences eventually pushes her over the edge. . . ." REVIEW The first (and so far only) Buffy novelization centered on Faith, Volume One of the Faith Trials focuses on the rogue Slayer's adventures in Season Three. James Laurence, a newcomer to Buffy-authordom, provides a solid and straightforward adaptation of four episodes: "Faith, Hope & Trick", "Revelations", "Bad Girls", and "Consequences" (contrary to the book's cover, "Enemies" is not included, with "Revelations" as the surprise substitute). "Faith, Hope & Trick", as the title indicates, is the first appearance of Faith, Scott Hope, and Mr. Trick, and involves Faith's confrontation with Kakistos, the vampire who slew her former Watcher. A solid story, the best part of both the episode and the novelization is seeing Buffy's jealously over how quickly Faith moves in on Buffy's mom, friends, and even would-be boyfriend. A short prequel is added to the novelization, detailing Faith's arrival in Sunnydale, but it's not of any particular interest. After a similarly so-so original intermission, the book moves on to adapt "Revelations," which tells of evil Watcher Gwendolyn Post's pursuit of the Glove of Myhnegon. Laurence does a skillful adaptation of an episode that has plenty of humor, plenty of romance, and an important betrayal, as Faith loses (what else?) faith in someone she had trusted--this episode starts Faith on the downward spiral that makes a strong story arc for Season Three. "Bad Girls" features a rather silly major villain--an overweight, immobile bather named Balthazar. However, the episode is redeemed by great scenes with the Mayor and Laurence does a good job in the adaptation of making us feel the rush that Buffy and Faith get during slaying. For die-hard fans of the "rogue demon hunter," Bad Girls is also Wesley's first appearance. The final episode adapted, "Consequences", tells how Faith tried to set Buffy up for the accidental killing of the very-human Deputy Mayor in "Bad Girls". Giles and the other Scoobies see right through Faith's plan, but they're unable to redeem her and she decides to go seriously evil by allying herself with the Mayor. The episode is far more interesting than my description makes it sound. All in all, Volume One of the Faith Trials contains four solid stories, with smooth, straightforward adaptations by Laurence. Although the book doesn't contain very interesting original material, hardcore Faith fans shouldn't hesitate to pick it up. (c)(...)
|
|
|
|
