A.J. Maguire

Tag: Series Review

  • Book Review – Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

    Why yes, I picked up this book after binge-watching the Netflix adaptation. I’ll take stories however I can get them.

    I will note, however, that I do not often choose to check out the book after seeing the story in some other media format. This is because my TBR pile is ever growing and there are so many tales in the universe already, I will never get to experience them all.

    I will not explain how the book differs from the adaptation. That verges on SPOILER to me, and we all know I hate spoilers.

    What I will say is that the adaptation sticks very closely to the core of the novel. And that, while I am still hunting for certain characters to make their appearance in the novels, I thoroughly enjoyed both the book AND the Netflix series. I haven’t read through the last two books yet, so my review is for the first novel only – Shadow and Bone.

    This is a graceful novel, with neat, clean prose and a vividly imagined world. Descriptions aren’t too heavy, and I would say it is safe for younger readers. Some of the politics from the Netflix series haven’t reached me yet, so I am curious when they will arrive.

    As a side note, I fell in love more with Mal in the book than I did in the Netflix series. That’s probably because I have long been a Ben Barnes fan and wanted desperately to see his character rise from the dark of his past and overcome it. But, well, given he is literally bound to shadows, he will tragically remain in the dark.

    So, of course, after reading the book I watched the first season again and fell in love with Mal appropriately. Even if the Ben Barnes fan in me whimpered to let him go.

    If you enjoy fantasy, I highly recommend this book.

    And the Netflix series.

    Do both. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

  • Series Review – Fringe

    I stumbled upon Fringe in Netflix and started watching it back in November because … Well … Because I was writing a science fiction that dealt with some strange occurrences. The show followed along similar lines as my writing so I was able to stay on track.

    (By similar I mean it was modern science fiction at play. Other than that the show has absolutely no resemblance to my story at all.)

    I fell in love with this show. The overarching story was beautiful. The relationships on the screen were deep and powerful.

    Since the series finale is already out I’ll go ahead and do a small spoiler and say that I enjoyed the love story. It was complicated, it had hiccups, and yet it wasn’t so paramount that it got cheesy.

    (Though I have to say that the episode when alternate Olivia gave birth had a moment of pure, heart-wrenching beauty in it. Thank you Seth Gable and Anna Torv for that.)

    But there was one character in particular who truly stole the show for me; Walter Bishop. John Noble’s portrayal of this broken man was both delightful and heartbreaking. He was both vulnerable and brilliant, and I spent half the time wishing I could be Astrid in the lab with him.

    There were a couple of things that made me twitch — the lack of Charlie at one point, and the smudging of the subplot for Massive Dynamic’s darker side at another — but on a whole I enjoyed this series. The series finale had a bittersweet taste, something I had come to expect from this story.

    So if you like science fiction then I happily suggest this show to you. It can get a little gory at places so I wouldn’t suggest trying to eat while you’re watching, but it’s well worth your time. Just save the popcorn for a safer show.