Doctor Who: The Drosten's Curse, by: A.L. Kennedy

I don't even know where to begin with this one.  I finished it over a day ago but I am torn on how to review it.  I enjoyed it because it is another Doctor Who story.  Made even better because it is another Doctor story that stars the Fourth Doctor, whom I kind of adore.  My only issue with it is it was weird to follow.  Not hard to follow, just weird.  It had a very Douglas Adams feel to the way the story was told.  Not a bad thing, I love The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy but something about this book's style of story telling rubbed me funny. With that said I still enjoyed it. I still got to go on a new adventure with my beloved Fourth Doctor. I give it 3 stars.

There are some spoilers in the below.  Just a warning. 


There are quite a few characters to follow and the point of view changes frequently.  My favorites were of course The Doctor and Bryony.  She is the "companion" in this story and she is very likable.  She is a beautiful strong woman who doesn't just accept her fate.  She wants to be in control of her life, understand the world around her...oh and go on an adventure.  Although at the moment she is stuck in a dead end job with a horrible boss.  The other "companion" is Putta.  He is a clumsy, awkward, red head who is absolutely in love with Bryony but too shy to say anything.  He also happens to be an alien but a good guy not the one trying to destroy the world.  The Bah-Sokar is the big baddie.  It can control minds, create things out of nothing, and is perpetually hungry.  It isn't in control of its wants/needs which makes it so dangerous.  

It actually was quite a fun adventure.  A mind controlling alien who sucks the life out of people, how very terrifying.  I felt terrible for Mrs. Fetch.  She was completely at the creature's mercy but having her alive showed the creature meant well, it had learned love and happiness.  It gave her an extended life, riches and grandchildren that she never had.  Unfortunately it also took many of her memories...the ones that made her sad along with killing many many people at her golf resort because it was "hungry".  The Doctor is his usual know it all alien self.  He is witty and sarcastic and sometimes a bit rude but that is why we love him.  He sees the potential in Bryony , even in Putta although he is a bit harder on him.  He was written quite well.  I could hear the fourth doctor speaking when I read his lines.

The grandchildren to me are one of the creepiest manifestations.  Yes the mind control is scary and the ground "eating" people isn't fun but creepy kids are the worst.  They seem like normal mischievous twin children but when the form out of walls, grow from the ground and attack people in water, I just feel like that is a nightmare waiting to happen.  But even they aren't the creepiest of this kids.  The one that gave me the worst chills was Paul Cluny Junior, aka Zandor.  He became the Jewel at the Heart of the Universe...he became the controller of the Bah-Sokar and he was 1000% evil.  His seething hatred for everyone, including his parents was unnerving.  He wanted to destroy everything and bend the world to his whims.  There was nothing good about him.  

Of course the Doctor succeeds and is able to defeat this horrible human.  With the Doctor's help, The Bah-Sokar realizes it prefers love over hatred and dethrones this bad egg.  And the creature being a good "egg" now, restores everyone.  It was a very Disney ending.  "Just this once, everybody lives."  Well except Paul...he didn't get a second chance.  Bryony and Putta get a happily ever after and the Doctor gains some new friends.  I did like how the Bah-Sokar has been spreading its eggs across the Earth.  They will lie in dormant until another Julia Fetch can awaken them.  So to prevent another disaster The Doctor gives his new friends the mission of collecting them all.  Talk about an adventure...even if it is bound to the Earth. 

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books to give my honest review.

Oh, say it isn't so!!! I guess all GREAT things must come to an end...

So it was announced the other day that ANOTHER one of my fav shows is entering into its last season.  It isn't a fantasy, horror, or drama.  It is a science-y show.  It is MythBusters.  It is the show that kept my love of all things science alive.  I've watched it loyally since 2003 when it first aired.  I can't believe this will be it.  I will have to get my Myth fix in reruns!!! 

I've never been happier that I decided to buy tickets to their live show!  At least I'll get to see it LIVE before they are off the air.  I only hope...pray...that it doesn't get canceled like the Craig Ferguson show did because of "lack of interest".  How can you NOT be interested in Craig Ferguson...he's freaking hilarious!  Anyways, I'm crossing every appendage I have in hopes that the live show will go on here in NOLA. 

My point is this show ending makes me sad.  As knowledgeable as I am about all things science, I obviously don't know everything (yet).  I've learned so many things from this show.  Some of it is applicable in daily life and some isn't but I still KNOW it because of them. 

For instance, the way germs spread.  I think that episode scarred me.  Yea we all know sick people are walking petri dishes but to see it spread on everything, YUCK!  That even if a Myth is disproved, blowing things up is always the most fun.  It's not science unless you singe an eye brow....or arm hair...or any hair on your body for that matter.  Duck Tape can be used for ANYTHING, including making a f**king workable cannon!  Having a tattoo in and MRI will not rip your skin off (possible irritation but nothing will explode).  Watching Thermite burn is so cool...volatile but soooo cool.  You can't "bend" the trajectory of a bullet like in Wanted.  It would take a lot of mirrors to create a death-ray and although its really pretty it doesn't really work.  Buster is a really good sport.  And just so many other things it is impossible to list them all here. 

I hate that such a fun science-y show is leaving our airways.  But like I said all good things must come to an end.  I guess we all knew something was up when the build team was "let go" last year. And although I ADORE Kari, Grant and Tory...Jamie and Adam hold a special place in my little science heart (you know the part of my heart that likes to see things blown up, because reasons).  I can't wait to see what crazy Myths make up the final season but I am sad to know it is coming to an end.  Fourteen years is a good run for any show but I guess it is time to say farewell.  Seriously though, I feel like I am saying goodbye to my favorite science teacher(s), *le sigh*. 

"Remember kids, the only difference between screwing around and science 

is writing it down" ~ Adam Savage

The Leftovers - Season 2, Episode 2 - A Matter of Geography

Oh don't mind me, my brain is just leaking out of my ear.  Seriously...again?  At least I got one kind of answer, sort of...Again, its good...I'll still watch it but good GOD what is happening!?!?  I'm not going to review every episode but I had to do this one.

SPOILERS

So we flash back to our favorite f**ked up family and how they ended up in Miracle.  YAY!  I like explanations.  And while I knew Kevin was off his rocker, I didn't realize how off his rocker he was.  He went and dug up crazy lady and PURPOSEFULLY got pulled over with her rotting corpse in the back of his truck.  He of course is the luckiest mofo on the planet because not only did he not go to jail because they hated her anyways but when he told Nora about his semi-criminal act and she said okay no biggie, I love you.  What?!? 

Then she is offered a stupid amount of money to sell her home, over 3 mil, because multiple people "departed" there...morbid much.  They get to miracle where people are on waiting lists to get in and they just so happen to rent a house...ONLINE.  Alas, the house they rented burned to the ground...hmmm I wonder if it was by the crazy firefighter dude???  Nora goes all crazy white girl and buys a house for auction....for basically what she got for her house.  Kevin is acting like a nutter which shouldn't surprise me but geesh.

He's seeing "ghosts"...ya know Patti.  But she seems so real and she wants to be acknowledged.  He thinks he's going the route of his dad and just ignores it.  When she slams his head into their new stove, its concerning.  Is he hurting himself or is she real?!!?!?

So it looked like we weren't going to see what they did during the quake because it was fading to back as Kevin fell asleep.  And then BAM he is at at the reservoir.  How the f**k did he get there without Nora noticing?!?!  Why is he tied to a f**king cinder-block??? Did he try to kill himself???  So he just happens to appear at the reservoir when the teenagers disappeared during the earth quake.  And then crazy Patti just happens to appear to him at that point with an "uh oh".  Really?!?!  What is happening???

The preview for next week (or the rest of the season) looks intense.  Did I see preacher man in a stocks?!?!?!  Are they gonna kill him?  How did creepy dad get shot?  Did they find Kevin at the reservoir?  Why are the looney toons from New York showing up in Texas? 

This show is crazy but I have a feeling Kevin is important to whatever it is.  Possibly an epicenter or something.  He is a key, we just have to figure out to what. 

American Horror Story: Hotel - OMG!

I'm not even going to summarize it.  I'm just going to show you my reactions in gifs as the hour and a half premier progressed.  There is a SPOILER at the bottom, so don't read if you haven't watched it yet.

Yay, new season of AHS!!!!

And then it started...

 And yes I will watch the next one but this one may have scarred me.  I had sympathy butt hurt after that ONE scene.  I mean come on, it was a f**king metal unicorn horn...in the @$$hole!!!!!!!! Just...ow man...just ow... 

I only have more questions...that's so not fair!!!

So for some stupid reason I decided to keep watching The Leftovers.  It isn't a bad show but it is very dark.  By the end of last season I was still very WTF.  I had no idea what was going on but things got real weird, real fast.  So I figured Season 2 would still be weird but would answer some of the questions we all had.

The season opener gave me a migraine.  If you haven't watched it and still plan on watching it,
DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER!  You have been warned.  It came on Sunday...but I am being nice...
SPOILERS below.


So it started in 10,000BC or something (what?!?).  There was a cave woman.  I honest to God thought I started watching the wrong show.  So she's prego and has to tinkle, why do I need to know this?!!?!  Anyways she leaves her tribe in the cave and there is a flipping earthquake and they are all buried alive...well that sucks!  So b**ch goes into labor all alone and manages to birth the baby and not die, kudos cave chick.  Again, I am still like what am I watching?!!?!?  So she is starving and has to find food and gets bit by a snake (uh oh).  Her arm goes all gangrene and basically falls off and she dies with the infant clutched to her chest while laying near a water reserve, creek thing...jfc that's terrible!  Some other tribe lady finds the baby, gives dead mom a sad look and moves on.  Then we flash to present day Miracle, TX.  Ummmmm WTF?

Why am I in Miracle, TX?  Who are these new characters?!?!  What happened to the old characters?!?!?  What was with the flipping cave woman?!?!  What is happening?!?!  So apparently Miracle was the only place where people didn't "depart".  No one was "taken" so now its like a holy land.  Honestly, when they show the buses coming in with peeps and residents of the town selling "holy items" all I could think of was Fatima or Medjugorje.  Ya know, places where Mary appeared and then *BAM* its now a place where people pilgrimage from all over the world to be close to God or "healed" or whatever.  Don't get me wrong, I'd visit too out of sheer curiosity even if I wasn't a little religious. 

It all centers around this really sketch family.  The husband is a Fireman that burns down peoples houses (WTF?!?) and his daughter is rebelling a bit and almost a typical teen.  Mom seems normal, as is the brother and the whole fam goes to Baptist services.  Finally more than half way in, we get our preacher man (Christopher Eccleston) showing up in Miracle.  But he only has a small scene and he is shooshed by the current preacher from talking about the departure and his wife's "miracle" ...odd.  The sketch dad questions him like some interrogator...what is going on!?!?

So we are back at the house and sketch dad gets a pie left on the front porch and he's all suspicious that its poisoned or something (well if you didn't go around burning down people's houses maybe you wouldn't be so paranoid!).  He sees his new Neighbors (yay, its our "favorite" f**ked up family from Season 1).  So we have preacher man, along with Kevin, Nora, Jill & recently acquired baby randomly showing up in the same town in TX...can't be a coincidence...right?!?  (yes I know him and Nora are related but they aren't exactly BFFs) So sketch dad brings the possible POISONED pie to the new neighbors...(what a d**k!) and invites them for his B-day BBQ, odd.

BBQ is weird to say the least.  Kevin is awkward anyway and sketch dad is just not right so that's fun.  Apparently sketch dad was in prison for attempted murder and that's not an uncomfortable conversation, nope not at all.  So the kids in that home (boy and girl) are apparently twins.  Weird things always happen with twins.  I should know I am married to one and my BFFs are twins.

Anyway, twin girl has a seizure at the table and messes up the bday cake (yikes!)...poor baby.  So we end up with them eating the pie (pahahahaha, karma).  No one dies but shockingly enough even after the seizure they let girlfriend go off with her friends after dinner, hmmmm.  Sometime in the middle of the night we have an Earthquake (ahhh tying into the weirdo beginning).  Mom & dad realize baby girl never came home.  Dad and twin bro go to the reservoir, creek thing and find the friend's car....running...with the radio on...locked from the inside and EMPTY.  No trace of the three girls.  OMG the girls departed didn't they!?!?!?  The creek thing is dry and the fish are flopping...where the hell did all the water go?!?!  And roll credits.

I have more questions!  I have no answers!  I have a headache!  And I will keep watching because I apparently like to torture my brain. 

The Secrets of Blood and Bone ~ Rebecca Alexander

This is a sequel to The Secrets of Life and Death.  I said in my review of that book that I didn't know if it was one book or a series because the last one had enough closure but there was an opportunity for the story to continue.  I enjoyed this continuation.  I give it a solid four stars.  You can tell the story is more comfortable and detailed in this one.  There are more answers given but for each answer there are 10 new questions which keeps you reading, wanting to know what is happening to our favorite revenants.  Again you have to adjust between the two timelines.  We are following the present day with Jack, Sadie, Maggie & Felix along with the past but only Edward Kelley this time with some new acquaintances, Dee is mentioned but not with him. 


This starts off not long after the first one ends.  Jack is still running high on the blood Felix gave her and Sadie is still weak.  They are in a different town where Maggie's sister died under suspicious circumstances.  Jack is different but still Jack for the most part.  Things have changed quite a bit in a short period of time.  We are introduced to a new set of baddies.  Bathory is gone in the present but the Dannicks are there and they are frightening.  They are part of an ancient line of "hunters".  There is a wolf on the cover so I am not really giving anything away saying, holy moley there are Weres in this book and not the ones we think of care of movies.    These are 100% more disturbing.

I think if you enjoyed the first book, this one will be a welcomed continuation.  If you didn't read the first book, no worries, both can stand alone as they give enough backstory for you to follow.  But I think you should read the first one just so you can understand more of the internal battle Jack is having related to Felix and blood.  I would recommend it.  It is packed with supernatural happenings along with bits of historical fiction to grab your attention and keep it. 

**SPOILERS**

Something is off with Jack.  You realize this from the get go. Clearly she cares about Felix or she wouldn't have pushed him away.  She knows it is unfair for her to steal his love when she's only a borrowed timer and she doesn't want to be selfish.  She is still strong willed and efficient.  She cares deeply for Sadie and would do anything to help Maggie...including clearing out her sisters destroyed house after an untimely death.  She is conflicted.  Because of the blood she has these new sensations.  It is terrifying because we love her and she could be becoming a monster like Bathory.  She is so unstable she does stupid things like run off Felix and throw herself at one of the crazy Dannicks only to almost get raped.  She is losing a battle between who she is, who she was and who she wants to be.  It's all becoming blurred, leading up to one heck of a revelation.

Felix is ANNOYING.  He clearly cares for Jack but he still leaves her to do his "research".  This research that landed him in my hometown, NOLA.  It also led him to the bed of another woman.  I hated that.  I hated that he turned the first pretty face that literally threw herself at him.  Ugh, men!  He realizes in the end he still wants Jack no matter what but my level of frustration with him was off the charts.  Granted he does find out quite a bit of information.  Like that the stories of vampires are based on truths.  It is a type of living dead but not like the legends.  Its revenants that drink blood and "ascend" to another level.  There is hinting at demons again but nothing concrete. 

Sadie is still sick but shes a witch!  That's exciting.  She has power she just has to learn how to use it.  She is completely dependent on Jack, Maggie and Felix.  She died again but they got her back.  I hate that she is so weak because I've really grown to like her.  Her ability to protect herself from the hunt by using the forest is wonderful.  She just needs something (blood...?) so she won't be so vulnerable. 

Flashing back to Kelley.  He is in Venice, researching something for his "boss" who happens to be a Dannick.  He needs a cure for a degenerative disease that is killing his bloodline.  Kelley of course bites off more than he can chew and realizes this "cure" is actually a curse, the curse of the Were.  But they don't literally transform, they still look human but they become obsessed with "The Hunt"...with murder.  They are crazed and savage, barely human when the full moon is out but with that "curse" comes extended life, youth and good health.  He almost dies, only to be saved by Bathory who wants him to "fix" her.  He hates her, knowing she drinks blood of children to remain animated.  But she saves him so he tries to help only to find out she isn't really herself anymore.  She is mostly Saraquel, the "Angel" he spoke to in book one.  It's a frightening revelation, basically she is possessed.

How does this tie in to the present?  Well he clearly gets the "cure" back to the Dannicks as they are the Weres of the present day.    Jack knows too much but is a survivor.  Sadie almost dies AGAIN but whew she doesn't.  And they all save a young boy form becoming a monster like the rest of his crazed family.  Felix professes his feelings for Jack (yay) and Jack does the same (double yay) but she is acting more and more strange.  She seems to be blacking out.  Then she talks to one of Felix's research contacts and learns there is ALWAYS a price for immortality.  A revenant that drinks blood doesn't "ascend" they are acquired by a demon.  Jack is now Saraquel and it's awful.  Felix knows and tries to help and Jack tries to commit suicide to protect those she loves.  I freaked when it ended...she jumped off a bridge into the Thames!!! 

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books to give my honest review.

Is it just because he looks like a Magician because I didn't see anything "Magical" so to say..?

Okay that sounds like I hated it.  I didn't, I actually enjoyed it but I didn't understand the reference at first.  Well unless its based on that book then I guess I kind of get it (now that I've seen it).  He looks like a magician and he has companions and what not.  Now this is based off of high level observations.  I'll go into more thoughts in the "Spoilers" as I don't want to give too much away.  But I will say I was impressed with the Doctor, I loved Clara (again) which is happy/yay/whoohoo because as I've said before the whole last season Danny story just made me not like her and of course there is Missy who is just so much fun...crazy but fun.  All in all I enjoyed the episode.  I think it was mostly an overview of the entire season to come as a lot was introduced but not much explained.  I don't know why people are hating on Capaldi so much.  I think he's a fantastic Doctor.  Some of his personality as the Time Lord is hard to deal with after 10 & 11 BUT he has that Classic, "I am a Time Lord, I know best, stupid ape (hahahaha)", attitude which is funny, well at least to me.  They were all a bit rude and quite scary at times but he has a harder face.  Almost like a dad who lets you know with a single look to quit your $hit or else you're in BIG trouble (Go to your room - hehehe).   But he as an actor has the ability to show you that the character still cares...you can't hate him...how can you hate him?!?  See below spoilers for my favorite quotes of the night.

**SPOILERS** for The Magician's Apprentice

We open with a War.  Not the time war but something bad with humans...maybe.  A little boy, trapped, needing help when a hero appears in a Blue Box.  Then the little $hit says his name is Davros and I just about lost my mind, as did The Doctor.  So there in lies the decision, leave Davros to die, changing TIME or save him because you are in fact a "Good Man".  We don't know what happens because we are suddenly with Clara and the planes have stopped moving mid-flight.  She was classic Clara, the Clara we meet with 11.  The one who is feisty and smart and a friend to the rogue Time Lord above all else. 

I love that UNIT contacts HER because they can't find the Doctor.  That right there tells you how much they feel he values his companions, right?!?  Our clever girl figures it out.  Figures out HOW to find him.  A TEXT message comes through "singing", Hey "Missy", like from the Season Finale.  I snorted, good stuff.  We get to see Missy again and all her shenanigans.  She is still a cracked out Mary Poppins but her less crazed side is showing.  She is worried about her oldest Frenemy.  He has sent her his last will (WTF?!?!).  Not to Clara but to her. Honestly though, she has the best one liners.  Really she does.  I giggle every time she is on the screen so I hope they keep her around for a bit. 

They get to where the Doctor has been laying low and he rides in on a flipping TANK playing the Doctor Who theme on a freaking Electric Guitar.  Seriously, how can you hate him?!?  Then he spots our leading ladies and starts playing "Pretty Woman"...OMG!  The little exchange with Clara was amazing as well.  She's teasing him about being nice and she says "which one of us is dying, hahaha" and he hugs her...he doesn't do hugs anymore...ahhhhhh. 

So creepy dude made of snakes (I feel like this creature may be evolving in my neighbors yard...with all the snakes, it is a possibility) takes him and his ladies prisoner much to the Doctor's dismay...he doesn't want them captured too!  I couldn't stop laughing at Missy in the holding cell.  She is so annoying to Clara but not in a mean way...its quite fun. 

I did NOT expect the planet to be invisible.  I get that we were trying to show Missy is still bat$hit crazy by opening the airlock.  I wasn't expecting them to be walking on nothing, only to find themselves walking on the surface of Skaro (what...What...WHAT?!?).  But, but Skaro was destroyed...right?!?! So the ladies are captured by Daleks, well $hit, and the T.A.R.D.I.S. is procured by the Daleks, double $hit.  And The Doctor is in a room with a dying Davros, WTF?!?  We watch in "horror" as Missy turns on Clara and is exterminated, which turns to Clara running and she is zapped as well.  Our "fearless" hero is losing it a bit as he watches two of his friends perish.  Now I don't think they are dead.  I think Missy did something with the Vortex Manipulators and they are now in the T.A.R.D.I.S.  But that is just my thoughts.  

Davros admits he has NO control over the Daleks, they do as the please.  We see flashes of a younger Doctor (Four) on Skaro trying to "fix" things.  It was from "Genesis of the Daleks" an episode, I thankfully watched not long before this one aired.  The line that gets you is this one, "Listen, if someone who knew the future pointed out a child to you and told you that that child would grow up totally evil, to be a ruthless dictator who would destroy millions of lives, could you then kill that child?" Flash to this Doctor back on an earlier Skaro pointing a "gun" at the young Davros.  Roll credits.  

Well, I don't believe he will kill him.  He isn't that type even when so destroyed because he's lost everything, he wouldn't do THAT but we shall see next week.  So I am thinking this title is about Davros.  He is the apprentice.  He took "power" as shown by the Doctor and created something awful, something that he admitted he has no control over.  His dying "wish" is to see the Doctor admit that compassion is a failure, his failure.  To take the blame for his companion's deaths and go back to the beginning and finish off young Davros so that the Daleks never exist (maybe, probably not).  Except that can't happen, it would cause a major paradox.  They are too entwined in history and future history to be wiped out of it.  The universe will find a way to fix it and that could be 1000 times worse that what is supposed to happen.  So we shall wait and see who "The Witch's Familiar" is referring to.  

Favorite Quotes/Happenings:
1.  Oh, don’t be disgusting, we’re Timelords, not animals. Try, nanobrain, to rise above the reproductive frenzy of your noisy little food chain, and contemplate friendship. ~ Missy
2. Missy "tickled" a Dalek
3.  Jane Austen – amazing writer, brilliant comic observer, and strictly among ourselves, a phenomenal kisser. ~ Clara
4. (in reference to Missy) It’s the wicked stepmother! Everyone hiss! ~ The Doctor
5. Is that supposed to frighten me? Snake nest in a dress? ~The Doctor 
6.  Doctor: Davros is my arch-enemy. Why would I want to talk to him?
     Missy: No, wait, hang on a minute! DAVROS is your arch-enemy now?
     Doctor: Hush!
     Missy: I’ll scratch his eye out.
7.  Doctor: Why have I ever let you live?
     Davros: Compassion, Doctor. It has always been your greatest indulgence. Let this be my final victory. Let me hear you say it, just once. “Compassion … is … wrong.”