Teen Wolf, Season 5, Episode 6: Required Reading

Scott is attacked by one of the Dread Doctors while in the middle of an asthma attack (I think Scott did have Asthma before he became a werewolf) to be rescued by Malia and Melissa (might an medical care) before they run to a lift.

Apparently this is a consequence of reading that book.

Now to the night-time sports ground full of holes. Either they’ve been attacked by weremoles or lots more chimera have been buried.

And Stiles and Malia tell Sheriff Stilinski about the Chimera. Poor Sheriff Stilinski. Stiles is also feeling 8 kinds of fugly about Donovan who they realise is also a Chimera. Who they also realise was a Chimera. Sheriff Stilinski also disapproves of the terrible name “dread doctors.”

Stiles realises the Dread Doctors went to a whole lot of effort to get these teenagers –including a jailbreak, so why these kids?

Parrish continues to train Lydia how to fight. And flirting, of course. Interrupted by Lydia having Dread Doctor’s memories.

Theo and Scott are on the look out for more mysterious chimera – people acting strange (remember Theo is the bad guy. Also they’re looking for people acting strange in Beacon Hills). And the whole gang gathers for a Dread Doctor’s book club though side effects may include hallucinations and killing sprees. Still an easier book to read than some I have

We also learn that Lydia’s mother doesn’t remember her Kanima experience because of the Dread Doctor’s memory shenanigans. Lydia also tell them she thinks the Doctors may have messed with her.

The read, it doesn’t seem to be very riveting read. 0.5 fang I think. Stiles is also still trying to hide the whole Donovan death thing from super-sensed Malia. But then she’s trying to hide her recent Desert Wolf vision as well.

In the end they all end up falling asleep rather than reading (0.5 fangs, definitely), except Theo who is evil. Kira also talks in Japanese in her sleep – which Theo records.

School the next day for more paranoia, memory musings and electricity shenanigans. And a whole lot of worry about random students being chimera. I don’t think evil teachers openly revelling in their students leaving their oh-so-difficult course are Chimera but she should be eaten anyway.

Immortal Ever After (Argeneau #18) by Lynsay Sands

Valerie Moyer has been kidnapped and locked in a cage for ten days.  She stopped eating the food after realising that its full of drugs.  Having not eaten in four days and her energy almost completely drained, Valerie is about to engage in the fight of her life in her bid to escape and hopefully free the rest of the women who are being held captive.  What Valerie doesn't want to admit is that the people who kidnapped her are not mortal like she is.  Fortunately for Valerie, the immortal hunters are on the case.  When Anders first sees Valerie, he instinctively tries to control her and read her mind and is stunned to find that he cannot, which makes Valerie his lifemate.  Anders is an immortal just like the beings who kidnapped Valerie and so to win her heart, he will have to convince her that not all immortals are the same.

Anders has popped up in a few books in this series thus far.  It's about time he got a lifemate of his own.  I was really hoping that Anders's story would be huge because he has always been such a mysterious character.  I am glad that I learned his origin story but feel that other than his surly nature, I still don't really feel like I really know him.  He's sort of a blank slate and could really be anyone.  

Valerie as a lifemate is a huge relief, considering the last few in this series. Valerie actually manages to save herself twice and is not pleased at the very idea that Anders might see her as a damsel in distress.  I love that Valerie helped Leigh deliver while stopping occasionally to knock out an immortal with a hanger.  That scene really got me giggling.  Valerie is educated and while she has some issues with her body, she's not constantly harping on it the way that some of Sands female love interests have recently. All in all, Valerie is a big step up.

That being said, there are some issues.  Valerie was kidnapped off the street, forcefully fed on and kept in a cage for ten days. Sands says that Valerie has nightmares because of it and that is certainly natural but the character herself didn't actually feel like she was going through PTSD.  One cannot be held against one's will, drugged and abused and not have some kind of emotional trauma.  I suppose with a HEA looming, Sands felt it better to move onto Valerie getting the hots for Anders and moving the story along.  Unfortunately, this made the story feel sort of off to me. 

Falling Skies, Season 5, Episode 5: Non-Essential Personnel

We have some humans desperately sheltering in a barricaded building with injured to look after, surrounded by Skitters and no supplies. A woman, Isabella, thinks the need to leave since it’s not a great situation. When she and some of the people make a run for it they are almost caught by Skitters – and are saved by Pope and Anthony.

They recruit the survivors into his little gang, Anthony pointing out people he considers liabilities who can’t fight- they’re driven out. One of them, Isabella, points out she’s a nurse, useful – but she doesn’t get to bring the other “liabilities” with her.

Later she tries to convince Pope that she just did it to try and get them indebted to her – presenting herself as ruthless and selfish and knowing people only did what they could to get something back. Pope also tells her about his happy kidnapping.

He’s good at multi-tasking because while doing this he’s also taunting Tom and making him play hide and seek for Hal (kind of proving his point that Tom is willing to completely drop the mission for the sake of his family, but not anyone else’s). Pope continues to convince us he’s completely lost any grasp of humanity or decency. Anyway he cut Hal so nurse Isabella treats him and Hal tries to convince her not to join the dark side

Tom runs into the guys who were kicked out of Pope’s camp who update him on Pope and his numbers. He also knows Isabella isn’t a nurse. An increasingly more berserk Pope beats up Hal and almost kills him trying to get him to admit that Tom has caused many people to die. Of course he doesn’t.

They also get attacked by a super-skitter that wounds one of them – so Pope kills the injured guy. Yet he still has followers who agree with this. But Isabella isn’t a fool, she’s raided Pope’s supplies and is ready to run. Now Hal has to convince her to take him with her and risk her life for a man she’s just met. Of course she does.

Tom has some more alien ex-wife hallucinations. Honestly it’s a choice between Pope or Tom, humanity doesn’t deserve to be saved. Because if Tom dies the WHOLE WORLD IS DOOOOMED because without him the Espheni will win and destroy them all

Humanity needs Tom to survive? Yes definitely doesn’t deserve to live.

The Strain, Season 2, Episode 3: Fort Defiance

Bolivar is moving the Master’s resting mud – and he and his minions are slaughtering a few cops along the way. Eichorst and Bolivar go to see Palmer, much to Marchand’s surprise and nerves. Eichorst isn’t impressed at how close Abraham got to Palmer so he’s now having Bolivar play bodyguard and minder. And he doesn’t get to say no.

It does give Palmer chance to question Bolivar about how much of his personality remains while he’s a vampire – apparently most of it.

Marchand is a good judge of character and is not thrilled with them working with Eichorst and Bolivar – Palmer admits they’re pretty bad but wants to shield her.

Meanwhile Nora and Ethan celebrate a breakthrough – their plaguey thing does kill vampires. A little too well – the vampire dies so quickly it will hardly have chance to infect others.

Abraham has his own project – killing a vampire and bottling some goo and worms. He boils the worms, processes them and then drips the white goo into his eyes. As we’ve seen with Palmer, vampire goo can greatly increase vitality and health without being infectious.

When Nora finds him he is unconscious and bleeding through his eyes – she uses CPR on him and manages to rouse him. He deflects and questions and, later is clearly much healthier. He continues to deflect her and Nora adamantly refuses to be stonewalled in such a fashion – she deserves better. He confesses to her that he consumes the worms to maintain his health – the implication being this isn’t the first time. He points out he’s 94 years old and in very good health because of the worms.

She looks pretty horrified but he’s clear that he will do whatever it takes to face the Master – he won’t “fade as a weak old man.” Nora thanks him for telling her and walks away.

Vasily and Dutch continue their plan of securing an ever widening area – including creating warning posters and planning to seal the subway with explosions – to stop new people entering Manhattan and being infected. Explosions make Vasily and Dutch hot

And Zach has disappeared. I supposed I should pretend to care. They find him before he finds his vampiric mother (he intended to walk the dark streets looking for her. This kid has a good chance to be an object lesson in survival of the fittest). While looking for Zach, Dutch sees a “missing” poster for Nikki – her ex and room mate.

Vasily and Dutch go to plan destroying the station – but Vasily does say he’ll help Dutch find Nikki for “closure.” Which means going to Nikki’s mother who is the one posting the posters – she hasn’t seen Nikki but she takes the chance to say what a terribad person Dutch is who completely destroyed her daughter, sucking the life from her.

In tears Dutch leaves to Vasily who comforts her and kisses her and they have sex in the van.

Ephraim decides to show Zach their plague plan. Zach continues to refer to the vampires as humans. We get some parent angst from Ephraim and then Zach decides to destroy all their work so Ephraim does the parental thing and drags him close to their imprisoned vampire so he can see how nasty and deadly it is. Forcing him to see what his mother is before Nora intervenes in this stellar parenting.

Which leaves Ephraim to drink and taunt his imprisoned vampire so he can try and taunt the Master. He promises to kill himself and his son before they become vampires. Oh Ephraim, promises, promises.

Led Astray by Kelley Armstrong

This is a collection of short stories by Kelley Armstrong, drawing upon her various worlds as well as several stand alones.

There are a lot of stories that draw from Kelley Armstrong’s various world series – and some of these I haven’t read. For me this was particularly a problem for the short stories based on the Cainsville series since I hadn’t read them. In some ways I think the order of the stories was off, if Devil May Care had come first rather than last, the world would have been much more explained and developed and, with that, I would have had more investment and understanding when reading The Screams of Dragons, Gabriel’s Gargoyles and The Hunt. But, if I had read Devil May Care       first, I don’t think the same sense of mystery and alienness would have pervaded these books.

Thematically and in terms of tone all of these are very good at invoke the other, the very otherworldy feel of the fae but all with a strong sense of subtlety. They are unseen and mysterious and it’s all a lot of look-out-the-corner-of-your-eye-or-you’ll miss it etherealness that really real worked. They were creepy, they were low key, they were subtle and they were about normal or seemingly normal people caught up in this mysterious place with its mysterious people who are just ever-so-slightly off. I think that wouldn’t have carried the same weight if I’d read Devil May Care first even though I enjoyed it more, since that book is very up front and clear about what Cainsville is and why. It would have destroyed the mystery and the eeriness. I do think I am missing out a lot by not recognising any of these characters and not appreciating any new angles it my bring

I also haven’t reads the Darkes Powers/Darkness Rising universe and I’m now both eager to read them and quite frustrated by having read this first.  Kat and Branded both seem to take familiar themes from The Otherworld universe but the world building goes in a very different direction – with the same supernatural creatures I know so well eventually leading to a complex and rich dystopia. In Kat we see the beginnings of this and Branded takes the extreme several years, perhaps centuries, afterwards. I’m a little frustrated in fact because I think I’d love to read this series but now I know where it’s heading I think I will miss much of the suspense of the characters facing the pending dystopia. I loved both stories not just for the world setting but also for the characters with Kat we saw strong female friendships, family and dedication and Branded showed a level of cunning and ruthlessness from a female protagonist that was absolutely applause worthy. It’s a terrible, dark, lethal world – and she does what she must to survive and thrive in excellent, terrifying fashion.

The main reason I was interested in this book was for those stories set in the Otherworld universe – I’ve read them all, I love this series and miss it now it was over, so it was nice to hark back to it. Though I have to say, in some ways, they clashed badly with the other stories in this book. The other stories have desperate, abused children, alien, cruel and downright creepy fae, several brutal dystopias and some downright disturbing standalones. Then we have the Otherworld stories which are a bit silly and great fun. I like them, but they’re theme bombs and derail the overall feel of the book

The Messengers, Season 1, Episode 13: Houston, We Have a Problem

Recap time! Introducing all the horsemen and the fact they’re going to use the shiny rock to break the 5^th seal and cause all kind of badness using drones to spread them far and wide. They also realise that the whole “you can’t kill a horseman” rule came from Rose who may not be the best source given the givens.

Since they need guidance, Joshua has a vision – the city the horseman are targeting is Houston (so they can kill the Messengers as well) and Vera’s long lost irrelevant son Michael is also involved. The vision also shows them all dying which I suppose is sad.

Of course such a big ominous announcement requires some tearful goodbye scenes: Raul to Nadia (who is taking Amy Satan-Spawn away) and Nadia calls Raul “dad.” Vera calls Alan to ask him to leave town and be safe – and to take Michael with him. She’s realised she can’t be distracted from her mission to save Michael (which shows a lot of growth of her character), she needs Alan to do it. First he needs to pick up professor Leo, Michael’s father.

To Michael’s parents who are now all tormented over the evil things the devil has made them do and they’ve realised the only way they can try to make it right is get Michael (or Brian as they call him) back to Vera – because a school aged kid being taken away from the only parents he’s ever known will definitely fix everything

Said kid overhears all this and isn’t hugely thrilled by this.

It looks like Lucifer is no longer on their side because he’s working with Ronnie, Erin’s ex-husband and Amy’s dad, to kill the Fairburns (Michael’s adoptive parents) and Michael because… because he’s the devil and he doesn’t need a reason.

Joshua’s also kind of worried about Amy Satan-Spawn and contemplates some holy child murder before she turns the ultimate power of supreme cuteness against him. Fear the power of little girl hugging you and saying how nice you are!

Erin says goodbye to Amy who is being taken away by Nadia to stay with her mother in Tulsa. She then tearfully hugs Joshua about letting her daughter go – and Rose, Horseman of Death, appears to use death woo-woo. Couldn’t she have done this earlier? I mean she was with the group for so long, she could have bumped off three or four of them!

Amusingly, Raul and Zahir talk and try to present the idea that this show is totally multi-religious because of the multi-religious Messengers (various stripes of Christianity, a Muslim (Zahir), Jew (Erin), Buddhist (Koa) and an atheist (Vera)) and kind of ignoring the whole blatant Judeo-Christian mythology all through. Oh Messengers, you tried.

Killjoys, Season 1, Episode 6: One Blood

Dutch and Khylen are having tea in a very civilised tea house with Dutch making it clear from the beginning she’s not a child. She agrees to help Khylen one more time but she has provisos – she’s not killing anyone, he stays away from her team and she wants to know why he’s in the Quad.

Of course, he’s not willing to play that game (though he pretends regret) and, instead, tries to have the whole room filled with poison gas and she has to find something a man is smuggling before falling and in doing so save some of the people in the room. She grabs it and leaves, gasping for air – leaving bodies in her wake.

She returns to the ship for another recap on D’avin’s blocked memory and Dutch hinting at the relationship between D’avin and Pawter. And D’avin and Dutch flirt between D’avin thanking Dutch for her epic-too-damn-awesome acts last week

Thankfully John arrives then because this show does NOT need Dutch and D’avin in a relationship. Please don’t. They’ve got a Black Warrant – a competitive warrant against other Killjoys which John and Dutch think will be immense fun. It’s also chance for a big Killjoy reunion in Pree’s bar with lots of fun trash talk with Fancy. While they’re in the bar D’avin tries to get out of therapy with Pawter – so she agrees to use her Kreshi connections to try and find the doctor he’s looking for.

We also hear the urban legend of the mysterious level 6 – a supposed secret higher level of Killjoys.

Anyway the warrant is for a sniper who has been stealing company stuff known as “Big Joe”. And he’s a Killjoy – the youngest to become level 5 and the oldest to still have it. Not everyone’s happy to go after one of their own or believe the accusation against him – but Dutch has to duck out because Khylen has called for the case he killed people for. Inside is a chip that plugs into Dutch’s neck establishing a neural link – which is an awesome mental connection complete with hallucination data. It’s nifty – and it shows Kylen has a lot of knowledge about Big Joe and the ship he sold which no-one else does.

It also creates a link between her and Kylen which is a bad idea.

He has an unmarked ship for her to go to the stolen ship, alone, and bring back the device on it. She had agreed to help him if he left her team behind, she refuses to do so and her team are now on his radar.

Which means John and D’avin are investigating on their own and they creatively threaten a contact to get their own lead on where the ship is. That still leaves them a little lost without Dutch and an unwelcome Fancy drops in to offer them Dutch’s location in exchange for the location of the ship.

Defiance, Season 3, Episode 8: My Name is Datak and I Have Come to Kill You

Princes Bride reference! That’s got to be worth an extra fang already

We start with a flashback – to the Votan worlds when Datak was a child on Daribo the Castithan (and Indogene) home world. Child Datak postures in front of a mirror before his dad stops his kid playing with knives (though it seems less “hey kid you’ll hurt yourself” and more “you are not worthy of lethal weapons!”)

In the present and in Defiance, the Indogene spy Bebe (now disguised as a human) and his Irathient cohort see Datak being executed on the rack – they don’t intervene. He has a whole lot of men he hands out guns to.

In the Need Want, Amanda reminds us all she’s a nice person by finding kind things to say about Datak, while Nolan is less sympathetic. They’re also not impressed by Berlin leaving.

Which is when Bebe’s men attack the Need Want, in body armour and better armed they quickly take over, capturing Nolan and Amanda and separating the humans and Votans. Using a projector they pass on a deal from Rahm – drop the stasis net and the humans get to leave (while Amanda doubts his motives, there is some logic to it: Rahm doesn’t want to lose forces and wants to use Defiance as a base since it’s so defensible, which means he doesn’t want it destroyed). When Amanda refuses, Rahm orders the hostages be killed and Nolan, Amanda and Bebe kill them. Yes, Bebe is now ingratiated into Defiance.

Many hostages are, however, dead.

Bebe calls himself Chris Vackna and a mercenary passing through – and is happily recruited.

Nolan goes to Irisa who is now preparing to fight and feeling guilty about not killing Rahm even as Nolan apologises for being so harsh to her about not doing so before. He admits to dropping the fatherhood ball. Irisa joins the militia and Nolan says how proud he is of her – she doesn’t seem that impressed by this.

Amanda has one of her reassuring speeches for the town – which they place on lockdown to try and figure out how Rahm’s forces got in – that all civilians must stay inside while the militia hunts the streets, chasing sounds of gunfire as Rahm’s forces slaughter humans they find. T’evgin disapproves of this and hunts them – with his teeth. The humans he saves ask if he will kill them, referring to the stories, but he calls them “just stories.” Nolan and “Chris” arrive and the Indogene looks properly terrified. Nolan again tries to recruit T’evgin who still holds that it is not his fight.