Reviews by Raven

Well I was all prepared for something horribly crappy but instead I was pleasantly surprised. It’s not exactly a stellar story line with a stellar cast but I thoroughly enjoyed this even with the fakeness of it, the ridiculous amount of blood and the fact that the vampires seemed to have fresh blood on them at all times.
I loved the look of the vampires with their gnarly teeth and their fingernails, lovely details in my opinion. Plus the acting wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be either, another thing I wasn’t expecting.
Sure it wasn’t scary, it didn’t make me jump, cringe or shock me in anyway but for some reason I still found it entertaining, especially the ending. I think the ending was the maker or breaker for me and I wonder if a sequel is a possibility.

I think this is a classic example of why Eastern films shouldn’t be westernized even if it’s made in Asia somewhere by Asians. As an Eastern film, I would have been able to stomach it if it stayed with Eastern traditions and didn’t instead try to meld Western & Eastern culture because the whole way through it all I could think of was the idiot that came up with this idea obviously thought they were going to get a bigger market by killing a story that could have had some possibility however remote, if it had good actors, didn’t miss out on much needed detail, cleaned up it’s dialogue and didn’t gloss over what wasn’t there with big drawn out action sequences of course.
I think with something like this, there needs to be more of a back story for it to have any hope at all, even if it’s a slim chance of hope. The fact that they are considering a sequel makes me think the people who make those decisions are on drugs. Yes, that’s how stupid it was and yet I give it a 5 because 1. I watched the whole thing (amazingly) even though I was close to falling asleep and 2. I liked the dragon.
If you’re still tempted to watch it I’d suggest waiting till it was on free to air tv rather then paying for it.

Fantastic! I might be bias because I'm an Aussie who has hung around the places mentioned in the book and I loved the 90's but this book had me hooked by the first few pages.
By page three I had already laughed at some of it and by page six I had decided that I would have to read the rest of Jaivin's book after this one.
It's such a fun, fast paced novel that really packs a punch. The use of slang and innuendo's are hilarious and make for an even more entertaining read. It has a lot of sex, drugs and music and I think that's what so great about it, because even though it has aliens it represents the 90's subculture so well. Plus the Aussie slang makes it really refreshing, well for an Aussie, to read. I don't know how it would go over with someone outside of Australia though. You might want to get your hands on a slang dictionary just in case but I highly recommend it, given Jaivin's creative and amusing imagination.

Well I'm a tad disappointed, unfortunately. On one hand I loved the book because I love the series and the characters. The first part had me so hooked. The change of perspective in book/part 2 (Breaking dawn is done in three parts or three "books") was great and probably my most favourite part of the whole thing but there was something lacking come part 3.
Then there are some of the things that happened that I was not expecting. That had me stopping in disbelief, for the most part I found it hard to put down but unlike the other books in the series I found it easier to put down when I had to. At first I thought perhaps I was more disappointed from the book because the series had ended but after thinking on it for awhile I realise it's because of the book itself. For starters all the drama and intrigue seemed to be in the first half of the book or coming to a close at the end of part 2. Then there was waiting for something exceptional to happen with Bella. Sure something happened eventually but when it did I was left wondering "was that all?", which brings me to the last confrontation and well for all the build up and expectation I think it fell short.
I still love the book and enjoyed it as far as a good little read goes but it's nowhere near my favourite in the series. I think the best thing to do is, if you do read this book, to read it without high expectations (a bit hard for all the Twilight fans out there I'm sure).

I'm in two minds over this movie. First off, I'm an X Files fan so I may be bias. From an X Files fan stand point, I don't feel it would live up to expectations. Not only was it far from what I was expecting but it wasn't X File-ish enough for me. What I had read about it is that it could have been a stand alone movie and going by that it is a possibility except for certain parts of the story that eluded to other information. The thing is, if you could watch the series and be filled in enough to have those small bits of information make sense then it would have been ok (and not a stand alone at all, which it really wasn't anyway when it comes down to it), but I don't remember anything from the tv series having anything to do with the information mentioned, at all.
Now if you're not an X Files fan but, like a lot of people know what X Files is about (or have a vague idea), which is aliens, consipracy and science fiction, you're not going to get what you're expecting at all. You might still enjoy it though and I recommend going into see it but not thinking of the X Files at all.
My feel for it was that of a crime/mystery movie that could have done well as a non X Files related movie.

As much as I enjoyed the cinematography and special effects on this movie I felt like there was something wrong. The story was good enough and the acting was fine but it was lacking. If it had of gone for a little bit longer but also had far more detail to it then I think I would have been happy but as it is the story felt like it could have been told in 20 minutes. My impression of it was that the cinematography and special effects was just being used to mask the fact that there really wasn’t much effort put into and that it was being stretched out. Basically it turned into visual candy for the senses rather then being anything remotely in depth.
Funnily enough I still found it really engrossing for what it was lacking and it was enough to make me want to read the book it was based on to see not only what they missed out on but also because I liked the story line.
Going by a child’s reaction though I don’t think this is really a winner for the young ones, granted it’s only one child’s reaction but seeing as he started to fidget half way through the movie and then left not long after I don’t think it’s possible to hide the fact of what was wrong with this movie from children by using big effects.
A shame really because it had a lot of potential

I think this is a great continuation from the first novel and although I love all three at times this would have to be my favourite. The fact that it offers a new experience for the slaves to be in makes it seem far more brutal and far more interesting. I think it helps to add more depth and then there is the introduction of a new character and the story being told from their perspective as well as Beauty’s. I quite like the new perspective and seeing as it is a different slave to what Beauty is (a different type of slave) I think it adds a better dimension compared to the first but only in so far that it helps add more dimension to Beauty’s character.
Then there is the introduction to Laurent (my favourite character) and seeing as these books are so short and it’s really only feeling like it’s getting to the heart of it just as it ends I always get a bit upset at the ending because of it’s abruptness. In saying that I think it’s an abruptness that’s needed to continue the slaves growth, but still I like the brutality, mainly because I’ve found it to be a more colourful novel and even more detailed then the first.

I can’t help comment/review this book from the perspective of someone who has read it before and has recently read it again.
As a whole I like to think of the trilogy like a flower. The first novel is the bud and then by the time you get to the end of the third novel it’s in full bloom.
Claiming starts of with innocent little Beauty being “awakened” by the Prince. I like how innocent Beauty is because as the reader you’re innocent to this new world she is introduced to as well, this being a fairy tale after all, and you get to warm up to it like she does as if this is the setting stage for what is to come. By the end of it Beauty is still innocent but she’s really only touched the surface and so has the book so the ending isn’t really all that surprising and I think the perfect prelude to the next one.
I highly recommend this for anyone into the SM genre or if you are an erotic lit reader but want some shock value then by all means read it. Mind you, if you’re narrow minded forget about it because the “shocks” (when I say shocks I mean for vanilla people) start right from the beginning and become more intense, imaginative and descriptive as Rice delves further into the psychological factors of it.

Yet again Meyer has written a book that I find quite painful to put down, it's too addictive for that. It's "science fiction for people who don't like science fiction" which is the perfect description and actually made me want to read it more in the beginning. Sure it's a story about alien invasion and it has aliens mentioned constantly through out but you get to a point where you don't really think about aliens because when it comes down to it this is really a story about humanity and human emotions then body snatchers, but then again it's very interwoven with body snatchers.
I love the characters in this story, they're such stronger characters to what I was expecting and the detail is great too. Sure it was a bit of a slow starter but mainly it's because it felt like the story was building up to something and by about the 50-75 page area you can't help but be swept up in it, utterly addicted and wanting to find out how two entities inside one body could possibly co-exist.
If you like a little bit of science fiction but don't want to read something saturated with it then I highly recommend this because the science fiction aspect of it is really just a back drop for an idea.

Recently I’ve been reading more books with mistakes and less detail which made this book such a relief to read. Not only was it well written, there weren’t any major mistakes (bravo to the editor) and it was quite descriptive without being overly done.
It’s set in a modern London but with a magical difference, magicians are the ones that run the country. Young children are given up by their parents to be apprenticed as magicians and then they go on to working in parliament or some other clerical job. This is what happens to Nathaniel, the main character, at a young age.
The story touches on subjects such as corruptness in government, hierarchy, prejudice and even has undertones of a totalitarian nature. A direction I found interesting and something of which could be daunting to it’s younger readers but thanks to it’s delivery and one particular character I think it could be easier to absorb, for younger readers that is, rather then confusing.
The character I’m referring to is Bartimaeus the djinni (Genie), quite a sardonic character who gives some comic relief and even a break from Nathaniel who I found to be quite an arrogant and aggravating character mainly because he is so blind to the bigger picture and is succumbing to the prejudice and corruption of the other magicians.
It was a bit disconcerting at first with Bartimaeus because it goes from being 3rd person to 1st person in a couple of paragraphs but eventually you’re able to get over that with the wisecracks and the footnotes. Footnotes are where Bartimaeus breaks off from the story telling and either informs or insults. It’s pretty amusing at times and I recommend reading all the footnotes.
Nathaniel’s part on the other hand is told via 3rd person and through out the story you go from both character’s point of view.
This is the first book in the trilogy but it could have been done as a stand alone novel with how it was written (no cliff-hanger ending). In fact if it wasn’t for wanting to know if Nathaniel succumbs to being a pompous prejudiced git like the other magicians or comes to his senses I’d probably not be interested in continuing on with the story.