TAKEN 3 (TAK3N) TRAILER

It's that time again when sequels are made just for money and just lose the plot, Taken is one of those sequels. The first was thrilling, the sequel was almost up to par, and now with the release of the first official trailer for Taken 3, we get to see who's 'taken' this time... plot twist nobody does unless you consider the death of Lennie which I suppose counts as 'taken'. At one point I thought I was watching a remake of The Fugitive, but nether the less I will still watch this final instalment in the Taken trilogy, it will be interesting to see how the conclude the trilogy. Taken 3 stars Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Jenssen, Forest Whitaker, Dougray Scott, Sam Spruell, and Andrew Howard.

Ex-government operative Bryan Mills finds his life is shattered when he's falsely accused of a murder that hits close to home. As he's pursued by a savvy police inspector, Mills employs his particular set of skills to track the real killer and exact his unique brand of justice.

JAYMES YOUNG - WHAT SHOULD I DO & I'LL BE GOOD

Jaymes Young is having a pretty busy month with the release of three songs that coincide with the release of his EP, which includes of Habits Of My Heart, Come Back For Me, What Should I Do, I'll Be Good, and the stripped version of Moondust. I'm personally loving the vibe of these new tracks, which of course are on a continuous repeat, so stop what you're doing and listen to this EP!

LEGEND OF KORRA TRAILER | BOOK FOUR

The trailer for the final season, also known as book four, has been released and the fans have become ecstatic that the Legend Of Korra gets a three year time jump, which I'm also excited about too! That would make the main characters now in their early to mid twenties, so it will be interesting to find out how much they've developed, character wise, over the past three years. Just by watching the trailer I can tell this is going to be an epic season, along with the surprise announcement towards the end that there will be a beloved character from Avatar: The Last Airbender making an appearance! Have you guessed who it is yet? No? Then watch the trailer to find out!

Avatar Korra fights to keep Republic City safe from the evil forces of both the physical and spiritual worlds.

MEN, WOMEN & CHILDREN TRAILER #2

The second trailer for Men, Women & Children was released earlier this week, with this trailer we get more insight about the characters in the film. It stars, Jennifer Garner, Adam Sandler, Ansel Elgort, Will Peltz, Judy Greer, and Kaitlyn Dever.

A look at the sexual frustrations that young teenagers and adults face in today's world.

LOW DOWN TRAILER

As most of you know I've been following the Fanning's career for years and I was quite surprised to see a trailer for Elle Fanning's new film Low Down, one that I've heard next to nothing about. From what I can gather the movie takes place throughout the years of jazz pianist Joe Albany's life and with such an exceptional and talented cast this can only mean Low Down will be marvellous to see. Low Down stars Elle Fanning, Lena Headey, Peter Dinklage, John Hawkes, Glenn Close, Burn Gorman, Caleb Landry Jones, and Taryn Manning.

A look at the life of pianist Joe Albany from the perspective of his young daughter, as she watches him contend with his drug addiction during the 1960s and '70s jazz scene.

The Giver by Lois Lowry

Ever since I saw the trailer for the film adaptation of The Giver, I knew I wanted to see it, but the one thing I didn't know was that it would be based on a best selling book. So I eventually went to get myself a copy of the book.

Jonas has spent every year of his life going through the different stages of the Ceremony, an event that takes place every December. Jonas will be joining the Twelves, which is the most nerve wrecking stage as the Elders assign you to your career. However Jonas gets assigned to the rarest career of all, the Receiver of Memory, the Elders selected Jonas for the most honourable assignment, one that has deadly secrets no one wants to admit.

I must say it took me about half of the book, which was probably 100 pages in, to actually feel somewhat connected to the storyline. Butt it wasn't until after the Ceremony that intrigued me and of course by then I was starting to fly through the pages.

The setup of the Community was so sterile and controlling, the fact that the Community choses everything for you, that you don't get a say in the matter really irritated me. For instance the 'family unit' setup is so stiff, Jonas' Mother and Father were both assigned to each other as partners to raise a family which includes Jonas and his sister Lily. However all the children in the Community are adopted and again are assigned to their family unit, all these assignments must be applied for and accepted by the hierarchy of the Community. I'm quite surprised that the children of the Community weren't interested about finding their birth parents, though I guess any information about them would be classified or they'd have some sort of full on rebellion on hand.

I'm glad Jonas figured out that there was something sinister going on behind the scenes while he was doing his training, the fact that the Receiver can ask for anything he or she wants is a good way to source out information. Though I think the ending could of been considerably better as it was suddenly thrown upon us and then just stopped with a very flatlined ending, so I have mixed feelings about the whole point of the story.

The only likeable characters were the Giver and Lily, both were humorous and spoke their mind, unlike Jonas who only ever wanted to please his parents and obey every rule he was given, I guess he only ever wanted acceptance. I felt that Asher and Fiona were only ever background characters who were essentially forgotten towards the end as both had made their own paths who couldn't fathom the changes that Jonas was going through.

I really didn't like Jonas' Mother, she felt cold and unloving towards him and Lily and was more like an overseer in their household. Though Jonas' Father didn't have some great qualities especially around the children meant he was more likeable, though he did hide a dark secret that eventually made Jonas question everything he was made to believe. So in the end both his parents were deceiving him from the truth about their Community, a factor that forced Jonas to make a very difficult but certain decision that would change everything they had ever known.

One thing I did not realise is that The Giver is part of a quartet, a four book series, so I'm not sure I'll be reading the rest of the series as the sequels continue with new characters. Overall I think this is a good book for younger readers which is the current target audience, I think its due to the characters being twelve and under that maybe I couldn't relate as well as I should have. I would definitely recommend to readers of Divergent as both have their similarities.

***

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You can get The Giver online or at your nearest available bookstore.
I brought my copy from Asda.

PAPER TOWNS CAST FEMALE LEAD

The Hollywood Reporter has announced that the female lead has finally been cast in John Green's book to movie adaptation Paper Towns, its the one and only it girl of the moment Cara Delevingne.

Fault's Nat Wolff is playing the male lead in the film, which will be directed by Jake Schreier (Robot & Frank). 

Towns follows a teen named Quentin (Wolff) who has had a crush on his neighbor Margo (Delevingne) since they were kids, but they grew apart as they got older. When Margo recruits him for some acts of rebellion and revenge, he finds himself getting close to her again only to lose her when she suddenly disappears. 

Paper Towns reunites several players from Fault, including screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber and Temple Hill's Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen, who are back to produce.

What do you think of the casting? I'm interested to hear Delevingne's American accent, as not all actors can master the accent. I suppose I should better start reading the book as before you'll know it the film will be out!

Heir Of Fire by Sarah J. Maas

I've never sped through a series as much as I've sped through this one, so as soon I had finished Crown Of Midnight I was relieved to find out the next sequel, Heir Of Fire, was due to be released in a few days time. I must say, even though I've probably mentioned before, the covers for this series are absolutely amazing and I think whoever designs them need to be awarded for how visually stunning they truly are, especially my UK editions, how I wished they made them in hardback over here!

In this instalment we find that Celaena has already been in Wendlyn for a couple of weeks and has since been scouting Prince Galan's palace, though still contemplating on how to handle the situation she's been tasked to do by the King. But Celaena isn't the only one scouting in Wendlyn as it turns out she has been summoned by Queen Maeve, the Fae Queen and her long distant aunt, who's sent Prince Rowan to retrieve Celaena. Celaena will have to face her fears to unleash her true self in order to defeat the King and find the answers she is looking for, but the most lingering question of all is which persona will she chose in order to take down the his kingdom. Will she be Celaena Sardothien, the worlds most lethal assassin and potential Kingslayer, or Aelin Galathynius the heir to Terrasen who's returned to take back her kingdom thats rightfully hers to rule.

However I did find this one very slow to begin with that I almost put it down, but as I kept reading it certainly picked up the pace. But it was only towards the end when I flew through the pages, every page kept me hooked and once I eventually got to the end I wanted more. So Heir Of Fire has left me thinking of how long I have to wait and I'm especially looking forward to the title and cover revelation, again another readers struggle waiting for sequels.

I like how with every book Celaena is slowly maturing and thinking of others for once, something that she has not done in a long while. Of course the mature factor has to do with the fact that she's getting older every two books, as she turns nineteen in Heir Of Fire and before we know it she'll have turned twenty by the end of this series. Celaena definitely struggles with the responsibilities she's been tasked with and often contemplates of other ways out of her duties, even resulting in her downfall.

We also got a few new characters, Aedion, Celaena's cousin, Manon a Blackbeak witch, Sorcha a healer, and Rowan a full blooded Fae. Now I must say I really liked Aedion and Rowan as some new additions to the story and who's perspective I loved reading from, but I found Manon's part a bit lack lustre. I found her story so boring at times I wish I could of skipped her parts, but I'm guessing she's going to be a major player in the game soon so I couldn't really miss any of the vital details. I also felt that Sorscha was just added just so Dorian could have some company, but her role does spark something at the end, so maybe it wasn't that pointless after all.

The fact that theres always death in these books mean that everyone is mortal, something none can come back from, there are so many books from this genre that have one or two deaths. But I swear this is constantly like Game Of Thrones, no I haven't the books just the TV series, the point being you never know who will be safe, that no one is ever safe in any world.

SPOILERS below...

So we found out from Queen Maeve that the King of Adarlan can use the Wyrdstone collars on the living or dead, and with the power he demonstrates he could easily conjure an army. So I was thinking about an earlier scene, we heard that the king had ordered the slaughter of the slaves at Calaculla and Endovier. Now the King has got thousands of dead slaves to dispose, and he loves testing out his new experiments, well now that he knows his Wyrdstone collars work I'm guessing he's going to use all this dead weight as his own personal army.

Now that Celaena is heading back to Rifthold I'm looking forward to her reunion with Arobynn, he will truly feel her wrath descended upon him, though I do feel he will have a few tricks up in his sleeve, so I wouldn't consider him out of the picture just yet.

I could not absolutely believe what happened to Dorian at the end, whenever he ever gets taken down I hope there are no casualties but Celaena and the others are going to have to do it soon before he rots himself from the inside before its too late to ever come back from.

And one more thing before I sign off from the spoiler/theory department, Celaena said to Rowan she's going to call in as many favours in as she can, so as you can probably guess I think we're going to see all of the characters from The Assassins Blade combine forces with Celaena to fight through this war and settle it once and for all.

****

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You can get Heir Of Fire online or at your nearest available bookstore.
I brought my copy from Amazon.

THE 5TH WAVE CAST ANNOUNCEMENT

The Hollywood Reporter have revealed that Zackary Arthur will play the role of Sammy in The 5th Wave book to movie adaptation along with Chloe Grace Moretz taking the lead role as Sammy's older sister Cassie.

The role is central to the story because Moretz's character's main motivation is to rescue her sibling.

16-year-old Cassie Sullivan tries to survive in a world devastated by the waves of an alien invasion that has already decimated the population and knocked mankind back to the Stone Age.

Other roles have been previously announced, though not all main roles have yet been claimed, so far Nick Robinson has been cast as Ben Parrish, Cassie's crush, Alex Roe as Evan Walker, Cassie's friend and protector, Maika Monroe as Ringer, Ben's teammate, Liev Schreiber has not disclosed which role he has secured though many believe he will be Colonel Vosch.

MOCKINGJAY PART ONE TRAILER #1

Everyone in the The Hungers Games fandom has been counting down to this day ever since the announcement was made a week ago. So finally the time has come and the first official trailer for Mockingjay: Part One has now been made available to watch, after a few teasers have been surfacing we now have the full thing! I certainly cannot wait for the next few trailers to appear and of course the movie itself!

Katniss Everdeen reluctantly becomes the symbol of a mass rebellion against the autocratic Capitol.

SERENA TRAILER #1

The first official trailer for Serena has debuted which stars Jennifer Lawrence, Bradley Cooper, Rhys Ifans, Toby Jones, and Blake Ritson. This was originally filmed in 2012 slated for a 2013 release but after some post production problems, mostly dubbing, it was eventually pushed back due to Lawrence's unavailability, by being high in demand.

In Depression-era North Carolina, the future of George Pemberton's timber empire becomes complicated when it is learned that his wife, Serena, cannot bear children.

The Queen Of The Tearling by Erika Johansen

I think at this point now everyone has heard of The Queen Of The Tearling due to it being announced at the beginning of this year Emma Watson would star as the titular character, as well as executive producer along with the crew of the Harry Potter franchise. The Queen Of The Tearling is a trilogy piece, though the author, Erika Johansen, could essentially add on another trilogy or even prequels or future novels told from the descendants or fan favourite characters should it gain an already greater success.

For a debut novel, I'd say the writing is up to par with a lot of already influential and established authors, who have taken an even longer time to get where they are. The fact that a film adaptation is in the works really says something when the novel hadn't even been released yet, so the studio have a lot of faith with this trilogy. I would definitely recommend The Queen Of The Tearling to the fans of Game Of Thrones and Throne Of Glass. Though I must point out that some of the material within the novel is explicit, so if your comfortable with reading about some heavy scenes and language then this book is for you!

Kelsea Raleigh has spent her entire life secluded in the forest, living in a little cottage with her foster parents Carlin and Barty Glynn. Both of her foster parents were selectively chosen for their individual skills to help mould Kelsea into a person who can wield these skills when she reaches her nineteenth birthday. When the day comes Kelsea will be escorted by the Queen's Guard, as she is the last living heir in Tearling fit for the royal throne, a throne she has known about her entire life which she has ultimately been training for. With a bounty on Kelsea's head since the day she was born she must reach her throne before her enemies come to end her.

The beginning did seem rather slow but as usual I kept pushing myself until I got to the hundred page mark, which is where things got pretty interesting, so if you end up having the same problem just keep pushing on through.

I found that the more I read the more I was warming up to Kelsea, she always went through the many different scenarios that could play out if she made the wrong choice, a choice that could effectively ruin her kingdom. The fact that Kelsea stood by her decisions and forced them by any means necessary meant that she would not for a minute be told what to do, she didn't want to become her mother, Queen Elyssa, who ruined their kingdom into turmoil.

I also really liked that we had some historical passage at the beginning of each chapter, these passages reference to Kelsea's ruling. Thus meaning that she will make a great Queen, a True Queen, one that will forever change the ways of her kingdom.

I did find Kelsea's infatuation with The Fetch rather annoying because she really didn't know him at all and that she's constantly thinking over the conversation they had, but I won't say anymore or I'll ruin it for you. I really liked Kelsea's relationship with the Queen's Guard and of course Lazarus, however I had to remain weary of some characters because of a traitor that laid in their midst.

The character development in the first book alone was beautiful done, Kelsea went from being defenceless to becoming a warrior who tested her limits, a banished girl who became a leader. Kelsea gained everyone's trust and loyalty, the fact that Lazarus was amused by her since the moment they met but now totally respects her really says something.

At first I was confused with the P.O.V switchover but then as I kept reading it was easy to tell who's perspective I was reading from, the P.O.V's ranged from Kelsea, to the Red Queen, to The Fetch, to complete strangers. It was really interesting reading from the Red Queen's perspective as she is the neighbouring Queen who wrecks havoc among her kingdom that her own people are afraid of her. But to be honest she only seemed to be interested in the slave trade and how that would effect the economy and how it would reflect badly on her, not the makings of a true Queen.

Kelsea's decision to honour her foster parents really touched me when she announced to the public that she would now be referred as Queen Glynn, Kelsea Raleigh Glynn. So as you can expect I now cannot wait for such a long time for the as of yet untitled sequel.


SPOILERS below...

The question remains, who is Kelsea's father? It seems that everyone wants to know and the people who do know are either sworn to secrecy or dead. But I do have one theory and another outlandish theory, so I'll start with the more plausible one. I think it may be Lazarus the Mace, it just a feeling I have as his character is still quite a mystery, though my other theory is The Fetch, but when I did read through a particular scene I had to cross him off the list unless it was a red herring. Also we've learnt that The Fetch is someone who is dead but still among the living and we know Thomas knows him, so who is this other mysterious character?

****

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You can get The Queen Of The Tearling online or at your nearest available bookstore.
I brought my copy from Amazon.

Crown Of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

So continuing weeks after Throne Of Glass Celaena has been obliging to the Kings requests, we start off where she is in the middle of her third mission. While Celaena's out and about on those missions she still has to come to terms with the fact that she has been tasked and chosen by Queen Elena to diminish this evil that is plaguing the glass castle before it further seeps into the world.

I must say Crown Of Midnight was well written compared to Throne Of Glass Sarah J. Maas definitely toned down the exclamation point department! There were so many twists and turns and yet again more betrayals and hurt for Celaena to deal with, I suppose there comes to a point in her life that she says enough is enough. Celaena awakens the animal within that has suppressed all her rage and seizes to gain control of the situation, only to push and hurt people closest to her.

Again we get to see the point of views from Celaena, Nehemia, Chaol, Dorian, and the King, which is something I love about this series we constantly get to see through the other characters eyes and see how they react to some situations. Whenever it switches between P.O.V I never once mistake who's perspective I'm reading from, which is something that is quite hard to do considering having to write about multiple characters, linking each scene together hoping that it will make sense to the reader.

SHIPS!

Well I think the ultimate Celaena ship was her and Sam but now thats never going to happen, but I'm crazy enough to have a theory that magic could potentially bring him back but I reckon that will be a no go, though you'll never know so I'm just putting it out there for the meantime. The next best ship is Celaena and Chaol, though I'm not sure what the ship name for that is, actually I don't know any ship names but bare with me. The reason I ship Celaena with Chaol is because he reminds me so much of Sam, though I have nothing else to say on that topic. I do have a feeling that Celaena will end up being with Prince Dorian at the end of the series, its just another sneaking suspicion I have.

SPOILERS below...

I know some people were shocked with the end revelation but I happened to see it from a mile off when reading The Assassain's Blade, so Crown Of Midnight confirmed my suspicions. I knew Celaena had a dark mysterious past that she kept hidden within herself which explained why so wanted to experience freedom of a 'normal girl' but what I did not see coming was that she was Fae, I mean I guessed she had some sort of special blood ties within her but reading about her transform that was the ultimate revelation for me. I. Did. Not. See. That. Coming. Which is why I gave it such a high rating over the previous two books.

*****

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You can get Crown Of Midnight online or at your nearest available bookstore.
I brought my copy from The Book People.

The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J. Maas

So I had initially held off reading the Throne Of Glass series because I had a feeling I wouldn't like it, but as usual the books I end up thinking I won't like I end up enjoying them more than I'd intentionally thought. It took me about a week to read The Assassin's Blade, I had trouble getting into that one the most, and it took me the whole weekend to read both Throne Of Glass and Crown Of Midnight, so a book a day.

The Assassin's Blade is a full bound book comprised of five short stories or as most people say novellas. The events that take place in The Assassin's Blade take place a year before Throne Of Glass, so we get to see Celaena Sardothien in action and follow her through her most adventurous journeys yet.

I made a point of reading The Assassin's Blade first instead of publication order, after all this is a prequel and I wanted to know as much as I could about Celaena Sardothien's backstory. Celaena starts off as a sixteen year old girl ready for any mission she is contracted to do, but something strikes a nerve in her and ruins a deal she was sent out to complete and seal. However due to Celaena disobeying orders she sent away to the Red Desert to serve her punishment, from then onwards we follow Celaena's journey to and from the Red Desert and also who she encounters along the way.

Of course throughout Celaena's journey I could see things coming from a mile off, though there was one thing I did not see coming and that was a really tough scene to read through. However there is still a question that lingers in the back of my mind about one thing that hasn't been brought to light in the next instalments. If you've already read The Assassin's Blade keep reading if not don't read the rest of this paragraph and move on to the next. Okay, so the question I really want answered is who killed Ben, Celaena's mentor, when Sam mentioned he could of possibly been set up by Arobynn I wondered why but I feel it is the same reason of what happened with Sam, Arobynn didn't like sharing his belongings or was it something more sinister?

Though I did find it particularly slow to begin with I was definitely on the edge of my seat towards the end, by which Celaena is now seventeen and making choices that will forever change the rest of her life. This made me want to read Throne Of Glass because I had to know what would happen to Celaena once I had grown attached to her character, (the fact that she's a kickass assassin and has time to read and has taste in clothes makes her feel so much more relatable than any other character I've read about), and how she would deal with being betrayed, considering she is the most lethal assassin in Adarlan.

Definitely recommend to the fans of The Hunger Games and the Grisha trilogy, Throne Of Glass is a six book series.

****

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You can get The Assassin's Blade online or at your nearest available bookstore.
I brought my copy from Amazon.

September Book Haul #1

I was looking through Amazon last week and found some really good bargains, so these were the books I got!

The Queen Of The Tearling by Erika Johansen

I've heard about this book ever since it was announced Emma Watson would be starring in the film adaptation with the same crew from the Harry Potter franchise. I'm not sure how many books are in this series, so I'm guessing it will be three to six books, like most series out there.

Solitaire by Alice Oseman

I heard about this book earlier this year on the UKYA Twitter chat, I believe the author wrote the book when she was seventeen or eighteen and has been compared to John Green. Oseman has a two book deal, however both books are stand-alones, so I can't wait to read an English set book for once, considering most are set in America or some magical land!

Hexed by Michelle Krys

This book in particular intrigued me as it is not what it seems, I've heard from a lot of book talks that this is quite a funny book, more along the lines of Mean Girls meets Hocus Pocus. So I'll see whether its as good as it claims to be!

Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

I've been wanting to expand my bookshelf with a new post apocalypse series so I decided to pick up the first instalment of the Monument 14 trilogy, which is about the weather taking an unexpected turn for worse and causing chaos for the world. Somehow through all that chaos fourteen kids survive the deadly hail storm and take refuge at their local supermarket, but without adults how will these kids cope.

The book takes place within twelve days, so we get to see how the kids survive as each day passes by, especially since the kids range in ages from sixteen to about six. This meant that there was a lot of tension between the big and little kids because of how they treated each other and dealt with heavy situations. I also really liked the fact that it included a map of the supermarket, so I could use it as a reference when the characters would mention a part of the store.

The beginning was quite difficult to get into because of all this new terminology I was given and to be honest I was kind of bored but I persevered and kept reading, which was an excellent choice because of how everything leads up to an ultimate decision and well... cliffhanger.

The main protagonist is Dean who is one of the older kids, however he is known for being a loner at his high school which he is determined to change by being involved in the decision making process by voicing his suggestions and concerns. Though at times I did find Dean to be quite annoying but it kind of subsided over the course of the book.

Sometimes I would forget about the existence of some characters and even merged some together, so I'm hoping they'll have more involvement in the upcoming books.

I was completely surprised when Astrid made her shocking reveal at the end, I was not expecting it at all. I wonder how that will play into the scheme of things over the next two instalments.

In all I think I will stick around with this trilogy as I really want to know whats going to happen with these characters in the next stages of their survival adventure.

****

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You can get Monument 14 online or at your nearest available bookstore.
I brought my copy from The Works.

JAYMES YOUNG - COME BACK FOR ME

Ever since I saw the announcement that Jaymes Young would be releasing a new song I've been counting down the days, because as you know I'm a fan and also his songs are amazing and something entirely different from what I'm used to listening to. Well earlier today Come Back For Me was realised via Jaymes Young's official soundcloud page, which is now playing through my laptop on repeat.