TV Shows - 3 Body Problem

Watched on Netflix
Season 1
Number of Episodes: 8
Length of Episode: 45-60 minutes each
IMBd: 7.7/10
RT Critic's Consensus: 78%
RT Audience Score: 80%
cag: 6

Premiered: 3/21/24 on Netflix

Characters: Five scientist/physicist friends, all brilliant, all very close.  The Chinese/English cop/bodyguard, The original Chinese young adult from the 60's Cultural revolution is followed from young girls and the beginning of all the trauma throughout the entire series.

My comments:  Absolutely awesome SciFi.  Top notch entertainment.  Comes from a book of the same name, written by a Chinese writer, set in China.  This television version switched the contemporary scenes to London, but kept a diverse set of characters and the 1960s parts still set in China.  Incredible cast, the relationships between the five main characters (spoiler:  only three are left "alive" at the end of season 1) seem real.  LOTS of characters, great sets, super well done.

Storyline from IMBd: Set against the backdrop of China's Cultural Revolution, a secret military project sends signals into space to establish contact with aliens. An alien civilization on the brink of destruction captures the signal and plans to invade Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, different camps start forming, planning to either welcome the superior beings and help them take over a world seen as corrupt, or to fight against the invasion. The result is a science fiction masterpiece of enormous scope and vision.

Poem: The Aliens Have Landed by Kenn Nesbitt

The Aliens Have Landed

The aliens have landed!
It’s distressing, but they’re here.
They piloted their flying saucer
through our atmosphere.

They landed like a meteor
engulfed in smoke and flame.
Then out they climbed immersed in slime
and burbled as they came.

Their hands are greasy tentacles.
Their heads are weird machines.
Their bodies look like cauliflower
and smell like dead sardines.

Their blood is liquid helium.
Their eyes are made of granite.
Their breath exudes the stench of foods
from some unearthly planet.

And if you want to see these
sickly, unattractive creatures,
you’ll find them working in your school;
they all got jobs as teachers!

                                    Kenn Nesbitt

56. Indentured Bride by Yamila Abraham

read on my iPhone: free AudibleEscape
narrated by Desiree Dunn
Unabridged audio (1:32)
2016
54 pgs.
Steamy SciFi/Alien Romance
Finished 3/21/2020
Goodreads rating: .3.41 - 199 ratings
My rating: 2

First line/s:  Tabitha cut the ridge of a saccus nut with her laser and then waited for her vision to stop blurring.  She separated the shell as carefully as she could with her trembling fingers.  Then she tried to nudge free the malleable core.  This is when things started going dark.  She closed her eyes and rocked gently in her seat.  If she tired to keep working she'd rupture the core.  She had to wait until the room stopped spinning.

My comments:  My favorites to choose of these free AudioEscape books are the books about aliens, I'm not sure why...and they're all pretty darn BAD.  I keep choosing to read them though.  This one was really just a short story, or perhaps a novella?  An hour and a half long, with the first hour introducing the characters, the setting, what's happened to earth, and a little about its alien invaders.  The protagonist is a slave who works 18 hours a day and also used as a medical guinea pig who has now been given the chance to become a concubine.  The last 20 to 25 minutes of the story is the steamy part, and the story would've been halfway decent without this in-depth explanation.  What really cracks me up is how many of these other galaxy aliens are physically constructed in the same ways as humans.  Maybe that's part of the reason I like Ice Planet Barbarians so much, there are at least a few outward dissimilarities that make it a little more believable.  I read this because it was short and alien-related.

Goodreads synopsis:  Cruel alien masters have oppressed Tabitha for the last ten years. An Alliance observer discovers that she’s been experimented on and pulls her from the slave colony. She’s going to be granted the privilege of becoming an indentured bride.
          Tabitha doesn’t see her new assignment as a privilege. Her duties seem pretty clear cut, and she knows what Hax-Rah aliens are like. The last thing she wants is to be stranded on a moon with one.
          Hex-Lord Jaxil took an isolated mission for a reason, and he never asked for a bride.
          A riveting and scintillating sci-fi romance novella by the author of Bride of the Keil Warriors!

Picture Book: Field Trip to the Moon by John Hare

A Wordless Picture Book
Illustrated by the author

2019, Margaret Ferguson Books, Holiday House

HC $17.99

40 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.24 - 348 ratings

My rating:  5
Endpapers: Bright Goldenrod

1^st line/s:  None, it's wordless!

My comments: Clever, cute, quick story.  A little boy, and artist with his crayons, gets left by mistake on the Moon.  After his schoolbus/spaceship leaves, little grey men come to the surface and make friens with him.  They each take a different crayon, and hide with them when the schoolbus/spaceship returns for the boy.  He's left with only the gray crayon...which he uses to draw his new friends onto his pad on the return trip to earth.

Goodreads: It's field trip day, and students are excited to travel on their yellow spaceship bus from their space station to the moon.
\          Climb aboard the spaceship bus for a fantastic field trip adventure to the moon. Once they land, students debark and set out with their teacher to explore. They jump over trenches and see craters and mountains on the moon's surface and even Earth in the faraway distance. One student takes a break to draw some pictures, falls asleep, and wakes up to discover that the rest of the class and the spaceship are gone. How the student passes the time waiting to be rescued makes for a funny and unexpected adventure that will enchant children all over the galaxy.

Ice Planet Barbarians and Icehome Series by Ruby Dixon

#1 in a huge series called "A Sci Fi Alien Romance" :)
94th read in 2019
Listened to Audio via Chirp
read by Hollie Jackson & Mason Lloyd
Unabridged audio (5:51)
2015 self published?
188 pgs.
Adult Erotica SciFi
Finished 10/3/2019
Goodreads rating:  3.90 - 11,575 ratings
My rating: 4  Steam 4/4
Setting:  An ice planet far, far away....

First line/s: "Up until yesterday, I, Georgie Carruthers, never believed in aliens."

My comments:  How can you NOT read a book with a title like this?  And OMG, I'm totally embarrassed to say how much I loved it.  Science fiction, outer space, aliens, and a whole lot of really steamy x-rated "romance."  I couldn't put it down.  Incredibly superficial, but who cares?  I'm rating it a 4 because it's so embarrassing to rate a book like this a 5!
Goodreads synopsis:  
You'd think being abducted by aliens would be the worst thing that could happen to me. And you'd be wrong. Because now, the aliens are having ship trouble, and they've left their cargo of human women - including me - on an ice planet.
          And the only native inhabitant I've met? He's big, horned, blue, and really, really has a thing for me...

#2:  Barbarian Alien
:Liz and Raahosh
111th read in 2019
Unabridged audio (6:27) by the same readers as before
211 pgs.
Published in 2015
Goodreads:  3.96 - 7831 ratings

My comments:  I can't really say that I like the protagonist, Liz - she has a really raunchy sense of humor and it's a type of raunchy that I don't really like.  Very steamy for most of the book, and I do enjoy this very weird series.  This is the first one I've read in the Amazon Romance $6.95 a month deal - which I can't believe I'm trying out!  Me, romance!  This is a 3-4-5...3 for characters and 5 for steaminess, lol!
Goodreads Synopsis:
          Twelve humans are left stranded on a wintry alien planet. I’m one of them. Yay, me.
          In order to survive, we have to take on a symbiont that wants to rewire our bodies to live in this brutal place. I like to call it a cootie. And my cootie’s a jerk, because it also thinks I’m the mate to the biggest, surliest alien of the group.
          BARBARIAN ALIEN is a sequel to ICE PLANET BARBARIANS. You do not have to read both in order to understand the plot, but the story will be richer if you do!

#3 Barbarian Lover
Kira and Aehako
116th read in 2019
Unabridged audio (5:47 with the same two original narrators)
191 pgs.
2015
Goodread ratings:  4.02 - 6469 ratings

My comments:  My favorite in the series so far, I like both Kira and Aehako a whole lot, and their adventure together is pretty cool.  Same amount of smut as the first two I've read, but enough interesting substance as well.  I'm really surprised at how much the author is keeping these characters interesting, and that I'm still enjoying them, this setting, this world, and all the descriptive language surround aroused body parts~
Goodreads synopsis:  As one of the few humans stranded on the ice planet, I should be happy that I have a new home. Human women are treasured here, and one alien in particular has made it clear that he wants me. It's hard to push away the sexy, flirtatious Aehako, when all I want to do is grab him by his horns and insist he take me to his furs.
          But I've got a terrible secret - the aliens who abducted me are back, and thanks to the translator in my ear, they can find me. My presence here endangers everyone... but can I give up my new life and the man I want more than anything?

#4 Barbarian Mine
Harlow & Rukh
#117th read in 2019
Unabridged audio (5:36)
182 pgs.
2015
Goodreads:  4.10 - 6223 ratings

My comments:  Harlow and Rukh live by themselves many miles away from the rest of the tribe, by the sea.  Rukh has never lived with the rest of the tribe and thinks of them as "the bad people."  This is the book where the babies start being born, and it is Harlow's baby that is born first, tiny and sickly.  she is  constantly concerned that Rukh will want to return to their solitary lifestyle.  Good story, the series is so incredibly addicting.  And I'm not even sure why!
Goodreads Synopsis:  The ice planet has given me a second lease on life, so I'm thrilled to be here. Sure, there's no cheeseburgers, but I'm healthy and ready to be a productive member of the small tribe.
          What I didn't anticipate? That there'd be a savage stranger waiting nearby, watching me. And when he takes me captive, the unthinkable happens... I resonate to him.
          Resonance means mating, and children... but I don't know if this guy's ever been around anyone before. He's truly a barbarian in all ways, right down to clubbing me over the head and claiming me as his own.
          So why is it that I crave his touch and hunger for more?

#5 Barbarian's Prize
Tiffany & Salukh
#126 in 2019
Unabridged audio (6:05)
238 pgs.
2016
GR:  4.02 - 4998 ratings
Finished 12/14/2019
My Comments:  Not as good as the rest, perhaps I'm getting tired of them?  Or is it that I'm not crazy about the female protagonist?  The book does end with the final female finally resonating - that should be the next one, and I bet it will be a good one, because they hate each other at the onset....
Goodreads Synopsis: It’s hard being the most popular girl on the ice planet. The alien men are falling all over themselves to impress me in the hopes that I’ll take them to my furs. But they don’t know my secrets – none of them do. And they don’t realize that behind my smile, I just wish they’d go away.
          I don’t want any of them. I want someone else – someone with a gorgeous blue body, big horns, and the most intense gaze ever. He’s the only one that knows the truth. Maybe with him, I can work through my fears of the past…. but I’m pretty sure he wants more than just friendship.
          He wants forever, and I’m not sure I can give it

#6 Barbarian's Mate
Josie & Haeden
#87 in 2020
Unabridged audio
207 pgs.
2016
GR:  4.06 - 5848 ratings
Finished 5/31/2020
My Comments:  It was nice to return to the land of the ice planet.  Josie, the female protagonist in this one, was so irritating for the first half of the book...  As soon as she finally resonated, she couldn't wait to find her mate, then went hunting high and low to each and every male resident no matter their age or appearance.  However, the one she resonated with she absolutely hated.  Not sure why.  And with all the words and rehashing it was still difficult to understand why.  So frustrating.  Oh well.  Ruby Dixon seems to be an incredibly prolific writer.
Goodreads Synopsis: 'Resonance' is supposed to be a dream - that's when your soulmate is chosen for you. And everyone on the ice planet has hooked up with a big, hunky soulmate of their own... except me. So do I want a mate? Heck yeah. More than anything, all I've ever wanted is to be loved by someone.
          Except that the soulmate chosen for me? My least favorite person on the darn ice planet. Haeden's the most cranky, disapproving, unpleasant, overbearing male alien... so why is it that my body sings when he gets close? Why is he working so hard to prove to me that he's not as awful as I think he is?
          I hate him... don't I?

READING ORDER:  

Note:  There seem to be different orders.  I'm changing this to align with Goodreads.  Those read are in italics.

1. Ice Planet Barbarians (Georgie/Vektal)
2. Barbarian Alien (Liz/Raahosh)
3. Barbarian Lover (Kira/Aehako)
4. Barbarian Mine (Harlow/Rukh)
5. Barbarian's Prize (Tiffany/Salukh)
6. Barbarian's Mate (Josie/Haeden)
7. Barbarian's Touch (Lila/Rokan)
8. Barbarian's Taming (Maddie/Hassen)
9. Barbarian's Heart (Stacy/Pashov)
10. Barbarian's Hope (Asha/Hemalo)
11. Barbarian's Choice (Farli/Mardok)
12. Barbarian's Redemption (Elly/Bek)
13. Barbarian's Lady (Kate/Harrec)
14. Barbarian's Rescue (Summer/Warrek)
15. Barbarian's Tease (Brooke/Taushen)
16. Barbarian's Beloved (Ariana/Zolaya)
17. Barbarian's Seduction (Marlene/Zennek)
18. Barbarian's Treasure

Icehome Series by Ruby Dixon

1.  Lauren's Barbarian, 2017

2.  Veronica's Dragon, 2018

3.  Willa's Beast

4.  Gail's Family

5.  Angie's Gladiator

6.  Hannah's Hero

7.  Devi's Distraction

8.  Nadine's Champion

9.  Callie's Catastrophe

10.  Penny's Protector

Twas the Night Before No-Poison Day   

11.  Mari's Mistake

12.  Raven's Return

13.  Bridget's Bane

73. The Others by Jeremy Robinson

read on my Audible
read by R. C. Bray
Unabridged audio (10:15)
2018 Breakneck Media
314 pgs.
Adult SciFi
Finished  August 6, 2018
Goodreads rating:  3.92 - 801 ratings
My rating:  3
Setting:  Contemporary AZ & NM

First line/s:  " 'You know I don't like coming here, Harry.' Sheriff Godin dusted off his hat, despite its being clean.  'Especially for something like this.  Even more so at this time of night.'"

My comments:  About 40% of this book, maybe more, was horrible gunfighting, hi tech gun fighting.  Yuck.  But the other half was full of building relationships and thought-provoking interpretation of aliens and nano bits that burrow into people's heads (making them capable of all sorts of high technology).  Set in Arizona and New Mexico, driving through the desert in all sorts of crazy vehicles, we accompany a ragtag group of people that are trying to discover the secrets of "the others" who have inhabited the earth secretly for a couple of millennium. I liked that part a lot.  And, believe it or not, this book was full of one man's love for family and kids.

Goodreads synopsis:  UFOs and alien abductions remain one of the most hotly debated and mysterious subjects of the twenty-first century. In the decades since 1960, with reports of strange encounters on the rise, thirteen million people have gone missing worldwide and never been found. The Others takes a fast-paced, unique, and moving look at the phenomenon that has fueled Jeremy Robinson's imagination since several sightings, strange happenings, and visits with renowned UFO investigator, and family friend, Raymond Fowler.

TO SAVE A MISSING GIRL...
          Dan Delgado is a private investigator. When it comes to finding cheating spouses, corporate thieves, or runaway teenagers, he's unenthusiastic, and unmatched. As a former San Francisco detective, he misses more meaningful work, but he hasn't had the heart for it since his wife's death five years prior. That is, until a phone call from a distraught mother. An illegal immigrant who can't go to the police puts him on the hunt for a missing little girl.
          By the time he reaches the mother's small home, she's missing, too. The circumstances are strange, but when a team of heavily armed mercenaries arrive, Delgado is convinced there is more going on than a simple kidnapping.
          Joined by his elderly assistant, a gun-toting pastor, and a UFO enthusiast Uber driver, Delgado follows the clues west, to Colorado City, a town cleaved in two by the 37th parallel, also known as the UFO Highway. In a town infamous for fundamentalist Mormon cult activity, they uncover evidence of a massive child-trafficking ring, whose ringleaders might not be human.
          Delgado and crew are plunged into a dangerous world of corporate competition, UFO lore, and government cover-ups. While they hunt for answers, they're pursued across the Southwest by high-tech mercs, brainwashed cults, and beings whose true identity has been concealed since 1947.

...HE MUST RISK THE WORLD

76. Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout

#1 Lux
listened on Audible
2011, Entangled Publishing
287 pgs.
YA SciFi/Dystopia
Finished 8/9/2018
Goodreads rating: 4.22 - 191,833 ratings
My rating:  2.5
Setting: Contemporary West Virginia

First line/s:  "I stared at the pile of boxes in my new bedroom, wishing the internet had been hooked up."

My comments:  What you see on the cover (any of the many) is pretty much what you get in the book.  Lots and lots of sexual tension and page after page of the same kind of banter and discourse.  The sci-fi and dystopian aspects, though interesting, were too much of a minor part of the story.  If I had a quarter for every time one of the characters asked, "are you okay," or "how are you feeling," I could purchase enough of these books to fill a whole shelf.  Felt somewhat like a Twilight wannabe, but not as well written, and I'm not even a big fan of the Twilight series.  The gal who read the book - I listened to it - had a breathy, ridiculous voice that turned me off completely other than the one she used for Deamon.  If the next book in the series was a 20-page summary, I would probably read it, but i think a full length novel would be just too painful.

Goodreads synopsis: Starting over sucks.
          When we moved to West Virginia right before my senior year, I'd pretty much resigned myself to thick accents, dodgy internet access, and a whole lot of boring.... until I spotted my hot neighbor, with his looming height and eerie green eyes. Things were looking up.
          And then he opened his mouth.
          Daemon is infuriating. Arrogant. Stab-worthy. We do not get along. At all. But when a stranger attacks me and Daemon literally freezes time with a wave of his hand, well, something...unexpected happens. 
          The hot alien living next door marks me.
          You heard me. Alien. Turns out Daemon and his sister have a galaxy of enemies wanting to steal their abilities, and Daemon's touch has me lit up like the Vegas Strip. The only way I'm getting out of this alive is by sticking close to Daemon until my alien mojo fades. 
          If I don't kill him first, that is.

MOVIE - Arrival

PG-13 (1:51)

Wide release 11/11/16

Viewed date at Park Place Mall on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016 after getting my hair cut.

RT Critic:  93  Audience:  83
Critic's Consensus:  Arrival delivers a must-see experience for fans of thinking person's sci-fi that anchors its heady themes with genuinely affecting emotion and a terrific performance from Amy Adams.

Cag:  5.5  I really loved it, superior movie, may change to a 6...

Directed by Denis Villeneuve

21 Laps Entertainment

Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forrest Whitacker

My comments:  Now that's a MOVIE!  Clever, believable science fiction where you slowly figure out what's going on, and the reality is much ... deeper ... than superficial.  I'll be thinking about this one for a long while yet.  It left me with a couple of small questions, that I'm sure I'm supposed to figure out on my own (sort of like the end of reading The Giver for the first time).

RT/ IMDb Summary:  When mysterious spacecrafts touch down across the globe, an elite team - lead by expert linguist Louise Banks - is brought together to investigate. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, Banks and the team race against time for answers - and to find them, she will take a chance that could threaten her life, and quite possibly humanity.

3. The Fifth Wave - Rick Yancey

#1 The Fifth Wave
read on my iPhone
2013 G. P. Putnam's Sons
457 pgs.
YA Dystopia/SciFi
Finished 1/30/16
Goodreads rating:  4.17
My rating: 4.5
Setting: Contemporary Ohio, after the world's been taken over by aliens

First line/s:  "Aliens are stupid.  I'm not talking about real aliens. The Others aren't stupid.  The Others are so far ahead of us, it's like comparing the smartest human to the dumbest dog.  No contest.  No, I'm talking about the aliens inside our own heads."

My comments:  This was definitely an edge-of-your-seat book, which I read in anticipation of the movie; this is one I wanted to read before I saw.  Entertaining.  Somewhat suspenseful.  Heavy.  And as much as part of me wants to run right out and see the movie - today - another part of me is definitely not ready.  I couldn't put it down, yet I didn't want to pick it up.  That's TRULY mixed feelings, about a book that really gets to you.  This one did. (When I ask myself why I gave it a 4.5 instead of a 5, I realize the violence factor was a little too much for me, which is what edged it down to the 4.5)

Goodreads synopsis:  After the 1st wave, only darkness remains. After the 2nd, only the lucky escape. And after the 3rd, only the unlucky survive. After the 4th wave, only one rule applies: trust no one.
          Now, it's the dawn of the 5th wave, and on a lonely stretch of highway, Cassie runs from Them. The beings who only look human, who roam the countryside killing anyone they see. Who have scattered Earth's last survivors. To stay alone is to stay alive, Cassie believes, until she meets Evan Walker. Beguiling and mysterious, Evan Walker may be Cassie's only hope for rescuing her brother--or even saving herself. But Cassie must choose: between trust and despair, between defiance and surrender, between life and death. To give up or to get up.

PICTURE BOOK - Mr. Wuffles - David Wiesner

Illustrated by the author
A Caldecott Honor Book

2013, Clarion

HC $17.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating: 4.01

My rating:3

Endpapers: solid gray

Title Page: spread across two pages - large black (and white) protagonist with each letter of the title done in a different color.

Illustrations:  Really great.  Watercolor & ink

1^st line/s: This is a wordless book.

My comments: I've got to admit, I had to read this book more than several times to figure out what I thought was going on.  It was wordless and I guess my imagination wasn't up to par.  I wasn't prepared for aliens from outer space....

Goodreads: A 2014 Caldecott Honor Book In a near wordless masterpiece that could only have been devised by David Wiesner, a cat named Mr. Wuffles doesn't care about toy mice or toy goldfish. He’s much more interested in playing with a little spaceship full of actual aliens—but the ship wasn't designed for this kind of rough treatment. Between motion sickness and damaged equipment, the aliens are in deep trouble.When the space visitors dodge the cat and take shelter behind the radiator to repair the damage, they make a host of insect friends. The result? A humorous exploration of cooperation between aliens and insects, and of the universal nature of communication involving symbols, “cave” paintings, and gestures of friendship

MOVIE - Cowboys and Aliens

There have always been aliens from afar...now or in the past....right?  Great storytelling!
Released 7-29-11
PG-13 (1:58)
RT:  cag:
Director:  Jon Favreau
Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Keith Carradine

Movie - Super 8

A modern-day Goonies.  Fun.
Released June 10, 2011
PG-13 (1:52)
Friday 8/26/11 at Crossroads - myself
RT:  82%  cag:  ditto: 82%
Director:  J. J. Abrams
Kyle Chandler, Elle Fanning, Ron Eldard

Five friends (let's say they're maybe in the 13-14 age range) are making a zombie movie.  One is the director, Joe, our protagonist, is the make-up artist, some are actors.  They enlist a cute classmate, Alice, who is too young to drive but who "borrows" her dad's car and drives them to an old railroad stations in the middle of the night to shoot a scene.  They get really excited as they hear a train approach, since it will give reality to their movie.  But what happens when the train gets right in front of them is unforeseen, and really scares them.  It crashes and derails, but there's something really mysterious going on, too.  It's unleashed some sort of mysterious presence that the Air Force is trying to cover up and recover, both.  Joe's father (Chandler) is the sheriff, the mother has been killed in an accident at the local mill.  It is 1979. 

By the end of the film there was a lot of destruction of the small Ohio town where this is set, but most of the storyline is engaging and the cast of young actors is great fun to watch.  I would ALMOST put this as a PG, but there is a lot of destructions, and one murder that makes me hesitate just a little.  It certainly kept me entertained for two hours on a Friday night!

It was filmed in West Virginia, and the soundtrack is great.

47. You'll Like It Here (Everybody Does) - Ruth White

Delacorte Press, 2011
HC $16.99
for:  middle grades
258 pgs.
Rating: 4

First Line:  "When I was in the third grade on the California coast, a crazy man came into my classroom one day and started waving a knife around.  He said he was an alien hunter."

Setting:  North Carolina, then an alternate, somewhat identical, universe


One-sentence summary:  The Blue family, Meggie, David, Mom, and Gramps, try to find a place where they can live a normal, happy family life (spoiler coming) since they had to flee from their own planet.

There's really no way to review this book without spoilers....I was glad I hadn't read the flap information too thoroughly so that I was somewhat surprised when I got to Chapter 4 for the big reveal.  Sure there were hints, but they were delicious ones. The Blue family has to flee their much-loved home in North Carolina and end up in an alternate universe, in a town called Fashion City,  which is heavily controlled and life is boring and there are no choices.  People survive by taking "Lotus", which keeps them tranquil and laid-back, unquestioning and unable to revolt.  "The Fathers" are responsible for everything - and they are to be unquestioned.  However, when Gramps is forced to go to "Vacation 65," from which no one returns, the family has to take quick and immediate action to find another place to live.

Utopia.  The Giver. Alternate universes.  Not a setting or storyline you'd expect from Ruth White. I liked it.

59. I Am Number 4 - Pittacus Lore (actually, James Frey, I think)

I've got a strong feeling this will be #1 in what might be called "The Lorien Legacies"
Harper, 2010
HC 17.99
for: YA
440 pages
Rating: mmmm...4? (there seems to be a theme going here)

There are a number of planets that sustain life in a smilar way as Earth - Lorien and Mogadore are two of them. Unfortunately, the very bad people of Mogadore sapped their planet of anything and everything they needed, so they attacked - and conquered - nearby peaceful Lorien. But nine young children and their guardians were able to escape. They escaped to the closest place that could sustain their life - Earth. Unfortunately, the Mogadorians are hunting each and every one of the nine. But because of a Lorien charm, they may only be killed in a specific order.

Number 4 is our protagonist. He is going by the name of John Smith. His guardian's name is Henri. They have never lived in one place very long, they flip around the country from one small town to another. "John" is now fifteen. They know that Number 3 has been killed, and that Number 3 will be the next target. So they leave Florida for a tiny town in Ohio; Paradise.

In all outward ways, Number 4 is your average American boy. But he has special powers, his legacies, that don't appear until after puberty. John's have begun to appear. And this boy, who has never been able to have friends, finds both a best bud and a girlfriend, while being antagonized by a local bully.

Science fiction, teen romance, interesting settings and characterization, a good dose of man't best friend, and a spectacular battle scene all combine to make this story a satisfying one for lovers of Harry Potter and the Hunger Games.

There's a movie coming out on February 18 (2011)! One of my newest favorite actor/hunks will be in it - Timothy Olyphant (who will play Henri), along with some interesting names - the young man, Alex Pettyfer, who will star in Beastly, Quinn from Glee, and the guy who played mercenary Martin Kearney in Lost. I'll be the first in line for this one!

MOVIE - Avatar

Awesome!
Released Dec. 18, 2009
PG-13 (2:30)
Viewed 1-10-10 (Cool Date) at Oro Valley Marketplace
with the Weinstein family
RT: 82% cag: 96%
Director: James Cameron

I was quite taken with this movie. It was spectacular. Watching it in 3-D alone was pretty amazing. The huge, brand new theater at Oro Valley Marketplace, although packed, was roomy and ultra-comfortable. Even the 3-D glasses were not a burden. The story! The SET! The whole premise.....other than the battle scenes, which I realize had to be included, were amazing. My palms were clenched and sweaty. The two and a half hours passed in a haze of sensations. I was totally wrapped up in the story and the scenery. Whew.

Jake Sully has returned from war a broken man...literally. He has no use of his legs and is in a wheelchair. His identical twin brother, a brilliant scientist, has died. So Jake takes over the extremely tricky job that his brother had been working on for years.

It is 2154. Earth is a mess, we have to go into outer space to find more viable ways to live. So the army and some sort of conglomerate have found a far-off planet that has riches in THEIR earth that our earth needs. However, it is a very alien planet. So some scientists, headed by Sigourney Weaver, have replicated the shells of the alien population using DNA from the scientist's bodies, so that the scientist's thoughts and actions can go into this.....avatar. But it's really a showdown between the scientists who want peaceful relations with the aliens and the military who want to take over with force. And the battle begins.

My friend, Ivan, hit the nail on the head - he says it's a modern western. It is. Only this time, it takes place in 2154 on Pandora, a planet far, far away and - -yay, yay, yay (SPOILER ALERT) the "indians" win!

Avatar is playing in Chandler at the IMAX theater. I MUST go see it there! ! ! ! !