Round 2 of my book review roundup from last year!

Redshirts by John Scalzi

This was one of my favourite books last year. As I said in my giveaway, I think it’s a Must Read for every Star Trek fan. It’s (obviously) about the redshirts on a ship who notice disturbing things happen on away missions. I don’t really want to say much more beyond that. If like the sound of the book, go read it!

Redshirts is currently $10.19 on Amazon.com and £7.19 on Amazon.co.uk.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman

I had American Gods on my bookshelf for ages, but never got around to reading it. There’s something about Neil Gaiman’s style of writing that I don’t like. His stories are great, but it’s the way that they’re written that somehow doesn’t resonate with me. I loved the concept of American Gods though. It follows Shadow, a just released convict, who’s recruited by the mysterious man Mr Wednesday. You slowly learn America has gods: beings that are created because of people who worship them. Initially this meant the gods of old (like Egyptian/Norse/etc), but in the modern world that means gods of technology, of TV, of trains. It’s a great idea and it was fun discovering the different gods and their stories.

American Gods is currently $11.53 on Amazon.com and £6.29 on Amazon.co.uk.

The Lady is A Vamp by Lynsay Sands

I always enjoy Lynsay Sands’s Argeneaus books. They’re not the usual take on vampires (it’s Atlantean nanotechonology that causes immortality) and they always tend to be funny and romantic. This book takes on a bit more serious note when a man kidnaps Jeanne Louise Argeneau to convince her to turn his dying daughter. It was a interesting read, but not as fun as Sands books normally are.

The Lady is A Vamp is currently $7.99 on Amazon.com and £4.99 on Amazon.co.uk.

The Darkest Surrender by Gena Showalter

This is the 8th book in the Lords of the Underworld series. It’s about Strider, the Keeper of Defeat, and Kaia, a harpy. I’ve really enjoyed the previous books, but I struggled massively with this one. I had a similar problem with one of the earlier books as well and it turns out that in both books the heroine was a harpy… The book does set up some interesting stuff for future characters; I can’t wait to see Kane’s and William’s stories!

The Darkest Surrender is currently $7.99 on Amazon.com and £5.99 on Amazon.co.uk.

How To Marry A Millionaire Vampire/Vamps In The City by Kerrelyn Sparks

I came across this series while trying to find new books, only to find it already has 13 books! And they’re fun. They remind me a lot of Lynsay Sands’ series. I have to say though I hate the name of the first book. Yes, he’s a millionaire vampire, but that’s barely got anything to do with the story. It’s about Roman Draganesti who accidentally loses a fang and needs a dentist, only to discover the dentist at the clinic he goes to is on the run from the maffia. The second book is about a vampire reality TV show. It’s ridiculous, but a whole lot of fun.

How To Marry A Millionaire Vampire is $7.99 on Amazon.com and £5.24 on Amazon.co.uk, Vamps In The City is $7.99 on Amazon.com and £7.99 on Amazon.co.uk.

I had heard about Defiance a while ago, but this is the first proper trailer I’ve seen of it. The idea is interesting: it’s an upcoming scifi TV show on Syfy AND an upcoming MMO video game which was created alongside the TV show. I’m super excited to see how that turns out!

Here’s the first full length trailer:

I like the look of this! The acting doesn’t look fantastic, but the style and world look quite interesting. The series is set in the near future after Earth has declared ceasefire with the Votan, a collection of seven alien species seeking a new home after their solar system was destroyed. The Wikipedia page goes into more detail of the different alien species (well, 5 out of the seven at the time of writing this), each with their own unique facial/body features and even their own language (they’ve got the linguist that created the Dothraki language for Game of Thrones).

What do you think of the trailer? Something you’ll end up watching? Defiance is set to premiere on the Syfy channel on Monday April 15th.

As I’ve said many times this week already, I’m planning to write more reviews instead of doing these massive roundups. Fingers crossed that this is last one for a while! I only managed to write 1 review from the 13 books I read between July and December 2012 (read it here: Ashes of Honour by Seanan McGuire) which means I now have to do reviews for 12 books… So I’m splitting it up into two posts: 6 book reviews today, 6 book reviews tomorrow.

The Name of The Wind/The Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

I had heard a lot of great things about The Name of The Wind and I can’t believe how long I had it on my shelf until I finally read it. I loved loved loved it. It’s beautifully written and one of the best fantasy stories I’ve ever read. I love the story within a story structure; the book opens with a small town young innkeeper who we learn is “Kvothe”, an infamous and mysterious magician/assassin/warrior/kingslayer trying to hide from his past. After being discovered and convinced by the storyteller Chronicler, Kvothe decides to tell his life story, insisting it will last 3 days (one day for each book).

There’s so much I loved about these books. They’re beautifully written, have great characters (that actually grow) and a great story with an awesome world and magic system (the magic system is unique, based on what seems like almost realistic physic and chemistry principles). The story feels epic, even though we’re only following the life of one man. But what a life! I loved the juxtaposition of the young Kvothe and the older Kvothe telling the story; you just know so many things are going to happen to him to make him turn out that way.

The Name of The Wind is currently $11.56 on Amazon.com and £6.29 on Amazon.co.uk, The Wise Man’s Fear is currently $10.98 on Amazon.com and £6.29 on Amazon.co.uk.

Kingdom of Gods by N. K. Jemisin

The final volume of the Inheritance trilogy. It’s an interesting series; together the three books work as a cohesive whole, yet they can also be read by themselves and each is about a different set of characters. This concluding story is set a few decades after The Broken Kingdoms and is about Sieh, the godling of chidlhood. It’s again an amazing read; N.K. Jemisin has such an original and beautiful style.

Kingdom of Gods is currently $7.99 on Amazon.com and £5.99 on Amazon.co.uk.

Archangel by Sharon Shinn

This book is the first part of the Samaria series, about the angels and mortals who live side-by-side in the world of Samaria. Legend goes that Jovah created the angels to oversee Samaria, protect humans and answer their petitions. They can pray to Jovah through song, which grants them special abilities (like making it rain). Each year the Archangel and his consort, the Angelica, need to lead the Gloria, a mass prayer to Jovah (again through song) otherwise the god would destroy the world.

The book is about a new Archangel, Gabriel, who must convince the mortal Rachel to become his consort and prepare for the Gloria. It’s an interesting read and definitely a cool premise. I didn’t like the characters that much though, but as the other instalments won’t feature these two again, I’m going to continue with it. The only thing that bugged me though is there’s a sort of summary/description about the entire series on the first page of the book which contains I think a massive spoiler/twist. I first thought they spoilt the end of this book, but it doesn’t even happen in this one! I’m a bit peeved off by that, but to be honest I think there were enough clues that I might have figured it out myself anyway (as in: I’m not sure this twist is meant as a twist for the reader or just the characters).

Archangel is currently $7.99 on Amazon.com and £2.80 (secondhand) on Amazon.co.uk.

Stormlord’s Exile by Glenda Larke

This is the third and final book in the Watergivers trilogy. I remember having read this and enjoying it, but honestly I don’t remember much about the story. I’m sure it was a good end to the series, but well, obviously a bit forgettable.

Stormlord’s Exile is currently $7.99 on Amazon.com and £6.89 on Amazon.co.uk.

An Officer’s Duty by Jean Johnson

I loved the first part of this series and this second one is even better. The first book introduced us to Ia, a woman with incredible psychic abilities who saw a vision of how the world was to end in 200 years time and all the paths leading up to that event. She knows exactly what she needs to do and what she needs to convince others to do to make sure it doesn’t happen. Her powers aren’t perfect though and in this book she has to deal with the one thing that might disrupt her plans: a man whose future she can’t see.

If I have to admit it, this series is a bit over the top and unbelievable. Ia’s powers are ridiculous; she’s telekinetic, pyrokinetic, elektrokinetic, telepathic, postcognitive and precognitive. You’d think a story about someone as “perfect” as her wouldn’t work, but despite that though it’s a great read. I can’t wait to see where the next one takes us.

An Officer’s Duty is currently $7.99 on Amazon.com and £5.24 on Amazon.co.uk.

Time to announce the winners of my two Christmas Giveaways! There were some great comments left behind on both posts with your favourite musicals and favourite Christmas presents. I bet you’re all curious to hear who’s won…

The first giveaway winner will receive a Les Miserables Gift Pack, which includes the Les Mis movie soundtrack, a $25 Visa gift card, a t-shirt and a journal.

Drumroll, please! The winner is:

Rachel!

She left a comment behind about her favourite musical:

How can I only choose 1? I have 3 that immediately spring to mind – and they’re all slightly comedic ones rather than anything serious. So Who Wants to be a Millionaire from high Society and 2 from Singin’ In the Rain – Make ‘Em Laugh and Singin In the Rain. Given my faves are all comedic, really looking forward to how they are going to present Master of the House!

The second giveaway winner will get a copy of Redshirts by John Scalzi.

And the winner is:

Elisa Nuckle!

Her comment was:

I got a spiffy ergonomic keyboard this year, and it’s been awesome for my wrists, which do trouble me sometimes. Also a new Kindle cover that is perfect. I hear great things about this book and have been meaning to pick it up. 🙂

Congrats, to both winners! Your prizes will be with you soon. Enjoy! For those of you that didn’t win, why not try out my latest giveaway for Babylon 5 DVDs?

I love the style of this short video; it almost feels like a video game:

It’s a slow, lazy Sunday for me. It’s a perfect day for catching up on TV, watching some of my favourite shows. What better way to celebrate such a day with an awesome TV show giveaway?

Babylon 5 remains my all time favourite scifi series (although Firefly comes a close second) and I’m happy to giveaway two DVDs to one lucky reader! The first one is The Gathering which is pretty much the pilot of the entire TV show, while the second one is The Lost Tales, the last/latest addition to the series (yeah, I’m still holding a tiny sliver of hope that JMS might one day continue).

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment behind with your favourite scifi story. You’ll also get a second entry if you’re following me on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway with the hashtag #missgeeky. The competition is open to everyone, but bear in mind that the DVDs are Region 2 and may not work outside of Europe. The giveaway will end on January 13th after which I’ll randomly draw a winner.

If you’ve read my previous posts you’ll know that one of my New Year’s resolutions is to write more reviews. I really should try and write a review for each game I’ve played, or at least round ups like this one (just a bit more often than every half a year though).

I think the main reason though of why I don’t write reviews for just one game is that I mainly play oldish games; I rarely play games that have just come out, preferring to wait until they’re the price I’m willing to pay for them. And then I just don’t get around writing about those games cause there’s no hurry in writing a review for something that came out ages ago…

Mass Effect 3

The Mass Effect 3 multiplayer is the number one reason why there aren’t more games on this list. I already put this game on my 2012 January – June list, but I had to mention it here again. The multiplayer is a lot of fun, especially when you’re playing with a group of friends. Since they’ve launched Bioware have put a lot of time into making the game even more addictive.

Back in October they introduced the new Challenge Awards which is pretty much a specialized in-game achievements system, with a ton of challenges tied to weapons, power and character usage. It made me actually want to play with different characters each time and try out different ways to combine weapons and powers. Plus in the 8 weeks leading up to Christmas they released a new character each week. And the only way to unlock new characters is to play more, earn credits and buy packs (which may or may not contain a character). Anyhow it’s turned out to be waaaaay more addictive than I initially expected it to be.

Mass Effect is currently £17 on Amazon.co.uk for both Xbox 360 and PS3.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

I played Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune earlier last year and wasn’t super impressed with it, mainly cause I was playing it 5 years after it came out. The story was fun though, so I was curious to see how its sequel would be. Uncharted 2 again has a fun story and it enjoyable to play, but… I can’t put my finger on just quite why, but there’s nothing in either of those games that makes me go “awesome awesome awesome best games ever”. Is it cause I’m just playing them some years after they came out or are these games just not for me?

Uncharted 2 is currently £16.98 on Amazon.co.uk.

Darksiders

This was the first game I played back in 2009 when I finally got myself a PS3. I actually didn’t like it all back then, mainly cause I sucked at the battles and kept on dying and dying. Fast forward to 3 years later when I tried it again cause the sequel was coming out, and turns out it’s a whole lot of fun. I really enjoyed the balance of puzzles, battles and item hunting, and love the design of the worlds and the characters.

Darksiders is currently £13.99 (PS3) and £14.99 (Xbox 360) on Amazon.co.uk.

Bioshock

I somehow had this idea that Bioshock was massively creepy and scary, which was why I was a bit hesitant to play it. Sometimes though you want to get that creepy, scary experience though, so I finally sat down to play it last month. And got hooked instantly. Turns out it isn’t even that creepy. The levels right at the start of the game are slightly creepy with dark corridors and creatures popping out at you, but as you progress that starts to lessen (although come to think about it: does it really start to lessen or are you just less likely to be creeped out?).

The game is set in the 1960s when your character crashes in the middle of the ocean and discovers Rapture, an almost-abandoned 1940s style underwater city. I loved the style of the game, and the story complements it completely. I definitely wish I had played it sooner.

Bioshock is currently £17.90 (PS3) and £24.99 (Xbox 360) on Amazon.co.uk.

So those together with these games (Game Reviews: Janaury – June 2012) are all the games I played last year. 2013 is already off on a brilliant start: I’ve already play bits of Bioshock 2, Assassin’s Creed 3 and Darksiders 2. So what games have you played recently, dear readers?

I normally don’t like floral patterns, but today’s dress has one that is abstract enough for me to really like it. I love the elegant cut of the dress and the painted feel of the flowers. You can get it for £65 at Joy.

A new year, a new recurring blog series! In Coming Soon I’ll write about upcoming movies that I’m really interested in seeing. I kept loosing track of which movies were coming out when, which ones I wanted to see and then completely missing when they were in the cinema. What better way to keep track of those then here on my blog? So what movies are on your list for January?

Gangster Squad

I loved Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone in Crazy, Stupid, Love and it’s great to see them working together again. In Gangster Squad they’re joined by John Brolin, Nick Nolte and Sean Penn in a story set in 1940s Los Angeles. The style looks great and I think this could be a lot of fun.

Release Date: Thursday 10th January (UK)

Les Miserables

As I’ve said in previous blog posts, I can’t wait to see this! I love some of the songs from Les Mis and I’m super curious to see how they’ll work in a movie. I still haven’t actually seen the musical yet, but I’ll be getting tickets to it this month as one of my Christmas presents. The question remains what to watch first though: the musical or the movie?

Release Date: Friday 11th January (UK)

Django Unchained

It’s been almost 3 years since Inglourious Basterds, so high time for another Quentin Tarantino movie! Django Unchained looks awesome. It’s about Django (Jamie Foxx), a freed slave who travels across America with bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christopher Waltz) to rescue his wife (Kerry Washington) from an evil plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio).

Release Date: Friday 18th January (UK)

Lincoln

The West Wing + American History 101 = Lincoln. That’s how I’ve heard some people describe it, and if it has half the awesome monologues and dialogues from The West Wing I’m definitely in!

Release Date: Friday 25th January (UK)

Zero Dark Thirty

This is the only movie on this list that I’m not super interested in, but it’s one that’s rumoured to be nominated for quite some Oscars so I want to see it in the cinema. It’s directed by Kathryn Bigelow and is about the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

Release Date: Friday 25th January (UK)

Other Movies

And here’s a quick list of some other movies that are coming out in January:

• The Impossible – Tuesday 1st January
• Playing For Keeps – Tuesday 1st January
• The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D – Wednesday 9th January
• Monster Inc 3D – Friday 18th January
• Movie 43 – Friday 25th January
• The Last Stand – Friday 25th January

Happy New Year, everyone! I had a great New Year’s eve at a friend’s place, celebrating with board games, champagne and general awesomeness. I know I’m one day late with this blog post, but I still thought I should do a short post with some New Year’s resolutions.

1. Book Buying Ban: It turns out I’ve still got more than 100 books on my To Be Read “pile”, mainly cause last year I ended up buying quite a lot of second hand books. So this year: a book buying ban. For the next year I’m not allowed to buy any books of new series/authors. I am allowing myself to buy some books though: 12 books, all 12 of which need to be specified within the next week and need to be books of existing series.
2. Read 52 Books: Looking at my GoodReads stats of the past year, I only read a measly 26 books. Not too bad, but at that rate I’ll finish my TBR pile in 4 years… I also should put away the books I absolutely can not get into; maybe not necessarily get completely rid of them, but at least put them in a box to revisit in a few years time.
3. Watch 26 “Old” Movies: I’ve got some serious gaps in my movie history. There are some great movies out there, that I’ve managed to miss completely and I really should catch up on them. I tried doing a 52 movies list  a few years back, so I thought let’s make it a bit simpler this time around. I’ll do a blog post later this week which movies I’ll be doing.
4. Write more Book/Movie/Game Reviews: I read/watch/play quite a lot, way more than what I write about here on MissGeeky. I should do at least one proper review per week, and a roundup post at the end of each month covering whatever I couldn’t write about individually.
5. Work Out More: An obvious one. I started running again at the end of November, but with all the Christmas stuff and cold weather I kind of stopped with it. I should really try to run at least once a week. Plus I want to go trampolining again!
6. Blog more about recipes: I love some of the recipes I’ve been using lately, most of them tweaked in my own special way. Who wants to try out my katsu curry recipe?
7. Visit Seckington: I’ve been living in the UK for almost 6 years now and I still haven’t visited the town Seckington. Who’s up for a day trip?

Sounds doable, right? Did you make any NY’s resolutions? Let me know in the comments.