The cover of Cherie Priest's Hugo Award nominated steampunk novel "Boneshaker" looks very similar to that of Scott Westerfeld's highly entertaining young adult steampunk novel "Leviathan". In both cases, there is a somewhat sepia-toned/ washed out portrait picture of the protagonist wearing old-aviator style headgear with goggles. 
In the case of Boneshaker, I discovered that the character is not wearing aviator goggles, but a contraption consisting of polarized glass that allows the wearer to see an otherwise invisible gas. This gas, called The Blight, kills people. Then, it reanimates them. Yes...zombies. In Seattle. In the 1860s. Awesome concept.
I have reached half-way through the book. The basic premise of the story is introduced very early on, but the various characters are introduced into the story gradually, giving each one enough room to develop, while the story maintains a steady pace. Now, at the half-way point, with all the characters in the main 'theatre of war' (for want of a better term), the author suddenly seems to be at a loss as to how to move the story forward. I am hoping this is only a temporary hiccup and will be followed by a build up towards the 3rd Act.
Ms Priest has written 3 more standalone stories set in the same "Clockwork Century" universe, although apparently the other 3 have not reached the critical highs of Boneshaker. More on this, once I have finished the book.

I am hooked onto Downton Abbey. I have been looking around for a good period film and was thinking to myself that we have had nothing since Gosford Park. By sheer coincidence, the writer of Gosford Park - Julian Fellowes - is the creator of Downton Abbey.

This is the story of a fictitious Earl and his family who live at the estate of Downton Abbey. The story opens in 1912, the day after the sinking of the Titanic. The first season ends with declaration of war and the start of World War I.

Season Two runs through the years of WWI and with 2 episodes to go, I assume will end in 1918.

The sets and production values are worthy of any big budget film. The acting is top class, with a raft of fresh new faces (new to non-British viewers, at least), anchored by Hugh Bonneville as the Earl of Grantham. International audiences may remember Hugh Bonneville as the good natured stockbroker Bernie from the Hugh Grant-Julia Roberts movie "Notting Hill".

I am writing about the earliest summer release last. 

The action set piece in the finale was one of the most audacious I have ever seen. Two cars dragging a giant safe through the streets of Rio, chased by police cars...serious cojones.

Not to mention, getting kicks out of watching Vin Diesel go mano-a-mano with Dwayne Johnson.

Gonna be tough to top this one with Fast Six.

Makes me wish I had included a category for Best Action Movie when I did my summer movie scorecard. But then, I don't think I would have had any other contenders. Real non-CGI action movies are becoming rarer and rarer. I still remember the suberb "Ronin" from 1998 directred John Frankenheimer.

I have to admit, with the follow-up episode (numbered 3, since the pilot was two back-to-back episodes), Terra Nova seems to have found its feet. 

It was nice to see the family behaving as one unit, rather than squabbling the way they were in the pilot. 

This episode was structured more like a stand-alone story, with an external threat in the form of the migratory pterosaurs that wreak havoc on the colony, until Dr. Shannon along with a colleague helps to find a solution.

Said colleague turns out to be an old flame, and obviously, this sets the foundation for some future conflict between Jim Shannon and Dr. Shannon.

Looking forward to episode 4.

Hmmm, a bit of a mixed bag. 

Unfortunately, good special effects are no longer enough to get an audience to like a show. So, the scenes of a future earth covered by haze, or of the Terra Nova station set 85 million years in the past are taken for granted. Especially, when we've all been told that Steven Speilberg is the executive producer.

The characters, at the moment, seem a bit two-dimensional. Commander Nathaniel Taylor (played by Stephen Lang) looks like he's in a repeat of his Avatar role. The Shannon family look like they have stepped out of a daytime soap...they have surprisingly good skin tone for a family that has been living in an ultra-polluted environment...and father Jim Shannon looks in great shape for a guy who has spent 5 years in a maximum security prison without a breather mask. So much attention to the special effects, so little attention to these basic plot points. Even the entire manner of their inclusion in the 10th pilgrimage to Terra Nova was unbelievable.

I have to admit, that the pilot did deliver on thrills and action. The dinosaurs are not as well rendered as in a proper feature film, but the producers cleverly manage that by not putting them on screen for too long or in full-on shots. However, the editing and the sound makes up for all that. The night-time slasher attack was particularly gripping.

I felt the other Spielberg TV production "Falling Skies" did a much better job of character development...clearly Robert Rodat, the creator of Falling Skies has far superior screen writing chops than the guys writing Terra Nova (Rodat wrote Saving Private Ryan...'nuff said).


Of course, all these complaints are not going to stop me from watching every episode of the show. Science fiction, dinosaurs, Stephen Lang, Steven Spielberg - all good enough to compensate bad scripts and irritating, ridiculously good looking characters.

During the summer I wrote about "Leviathan", the young adult steampunk novel from Scott Westerfeld. I have now started on the sequel "Behemoth". It picks up exactly where the first book left off, with the 2 young protagonists, Alek and Deryn (in disguise as a boy midshipman Dylan), flying off towards Constantinople in one of the British Air Service's living airships, named Leviathan.


The sequel is as much fun as the first book. Full of great chemistry between the characters, action set pieces and more insights into the fascinating world of Darwinists and Clankers, as Europe rushes headlong into conflict.

I have reached the part where the Leviathan has already arrived in Constantinople, the capital of the Ottoman empire, which is now in a tug of war between British and German interests. The Ottomans seem to lean towards the Clanker philosophy, as they too use giant mechanical constructs, but the Ottoman clankers are built to resemble the animals that they are replacing, like elephants, donkeys and buffaloes. The mysterious cargo of 3 eggs being carried by Charles Darwin's granddaughter in the cargo hold is going to play a key role in this story. 

Will write about this as soon as I am finished.

Finally finished the Hunger Games trilogy. A somewhat dark, but satisfying ending that felt reasonably realistic. The good guys win, but with terrible losses and some sacrifices. The bad guys lose, but as I suspected, President Snow is not the only bad guy who needs to be taken out. Katniss survives and unites with one of the 2 men in her life. The other one goes along another path with surprisingly no drama.
So, a surprisingly mature ending to a story that was irritatingly immature at various points of the plot, mostly reflecting Katniss' own immaturity. Perhaps, the ending mirrors the fact that Katniss comes of age by the end of the story, having to deal with the terrible events towards the story's conclusion.
Now, on to the movie adaptation. The buzz has suddenly gone very quiet with decidedly underwhelming clip that was released by the studio recently. I am sure they will be working on a kick-ass trailer now that dials up the action and romance.
Release date is 23rd March, 2012.