The Vampire Diaries Season Three, Episode Twenty: Do Not Go Gentle

 

Esther in Rebekah's body shows up and hands Klaus the fake stake.  He unceremoniously throws it into the fire and declares that they are leaving Mystic Falls with Elena.  She begs for the opportunity to go the dance and Klaus rightly rejects the idea.  It's was nice to see a thousand year old vampire act like a thousand year old vampire.  She manages to convince Klaus to attend the dance by telling him that Caroline will be there.

In the gym, Caroline is preparing for the dance when Tyler shows up.  She is happy to see him but worried about Klaus finding out that the sire bond is broken.  Apparently, Tyler is jealous about Klaus' interest in Caroline and intends to make himself seen, though Caroline assures him that he has no need to be jealous.  His big plan is to pretend that he is still sired.

Caroline then has a heart to heart with Matt and she is worried about all the time he is spending with the ever so precious with Elena.  It seems that she is worried that Matt will have his heart broken but Matt assures her that he is just Elena's friend. 

Continuing to spread wisdom, Caroline also has a chat with Elena.  It seems that Elena has planned to go the dance as a girl team with Caroline and Bonnie.  It sees that Bonnie has invited Jamie and so Elena has to change her plans.  Caroline suggests that she invite Stefan because she is purely on team Stefan.  Elena is unsure but in the end she decides to ask Stefan to the dance.  I understand that Caroline is a vampire but team Stefan really?  I never thought I would say this, but how about team Elena?  Stefan just spent the summer running around murdering people but supposedly he is Elena's true love?  I hate the way that violence is so quickly forgotten simply because a vampire is the one that is doing it.

Esther changes back to her body, leaving Rebekah in a coffin.  She asks Alaric for his ring but he is resistant because he sees that as his one protection against death.  Finally, Alaric consents and melts down his ring to make the stake indestructible. Without the spell, the stake would burn after only killing one vampires, and it's Ester's plan to make sure that all of her children die. Alaric is sure that the plan is perfect and that Damon will never figure out that something is up.

At the dance everyone is having a good time, until Damon shows up to tell Elena and Stefan that something has gone wrong with Alaric.  Elena gets called outside and there she meets Esther.  Esther asks her to come with her but Elena says no, until Esther makes it clear that she can either come willingly or come against her will.  Elena sends Jeremy inside to get Damon and Stefan and then leaves with Esther.  When Damon and Stefan come outside they realize that the area around the school has been salted and they cannot leave.

Inside the gym, Klaus makes his appearance and he interrupts Caroline and Tyler who are dancing together.  Though Tyler wants to say no, he steps back so that Klaus can dance with Caroline.  Klaus tells Caroline that he is leaving and that he would ask her to come with him, but suspects that she would say no.  He makes it clear that her small town life and small town boyfriend will not be enough to make her happy.  He suggests that in 50 years, or 100 years they will meet again and be together.  Klaus then attempts to leave and realizes that he is trapped on the school property.

The Secret Circle, Season 1, Episode 20: Traitor

Last episode, Cassie’s grandmother, Jane (also known as She Who Has Common Sense, the only one in the whole of Chants Harbour) died so we begin with a funeral (and presumably a town wide mourning for such a dramatic reduction in their average IQ). Cassie gets to be slow motion and tragic – but she’s an angsty multi-tasker so also gets to talk about Diana’s new status as fellow Blackwell spawn (and Cassie’s half-sister)

It seems Blackwell has blamed the death on witch hunters – which is causing Jake to run around screaming angry frets, Faye to flirt with Jake (classy, Faye, real classy) and Dawn to try and manipulate John to get her power back (also classy). To continue the classy, Faye and Jake use magic to steal Dawn’s (Faye’s mother) happy pills (ah, respectful treatment of depression right there, it seems).

 And Adam comforts Cassie (not like that, you dirty people) which leads to Cassie kissing him – because, of course, she’s still in love with him. This causes a string of apologies from Cassie. Cassie also flares at John for having Diana (but he claim it was after Amelia and John split up) and reaffirms her determination to kill the witch hunters.

To up the angst levels a little more, Diana asks her father (Charles) if she could be John’s daughter and it turns out, yes, she could be. But, as he points out – he was there when she was born and he raised her from birth – that makes Charles her father. Charles also demands she stays away from John Blackwell. Cassie and Diana have some more angst –  and Diana is less trustful of Blackwell

Faye and Jake are getting hot and heavy when they check the pills they found – and lo, there’s a crystal in there. They now have 5 crystals – they only need 1 more from Adam’s family. But it’s under a cloak and Adam’s grandfather is already dead (so probably good – the evil ones live, the dead die). Also, of course, Dawn’s crystal is already drained from all that pesky elder killing and will need recharging.

Adam goes searching with Melissa, the eternal servant, also giving Adam the chance to share his angst over the Cassie kiss with Melissa (upgraded to agony aunt). Thankfully, Melissa has brought booze. After a series of awful steps (no, really, we have conflating sleight of hand with magic and writing your uncloaking spell on the thing you have rendered invisible – SO YOU CANNOT READ IT. Oh and an uncloaking spell that reveals granddad’s porn collection). They find out that the crystal is at the school.

Recharging the crystal involves everyone but those 2 gathering at the Magic House (infinitely less cool than the Bat Cave and it’s more of a shack then a house) and more angst as Diana reveals John is her father. And the table eats one of the crystals – yes, eats it. In the words of Faye (who does have some of the best lines) “we just got out magicked in our own magic house!” And Jake finds ash and calls witch hunters – so the witches were out magicked by the anti-magic people

Jake decides the best plan is to speak to Isaac – a witch hunter – and negotiate with him for the crystal back since Isaac hates magic and disapproves of Eben (chief witch hunter) using magic and demons and stuff. Yeah I’m not even touching why speaking to the most anti-magic of the witch-hunters is the best plan to get their magic crystal back. They’re not going to tell John because of Diana’s new angst and the general suspicion caused by the revelation that John slept around. So instead meeting the witch hunters without telling anyone is so much more sensible.

Charmed Season Three

The major theme in season three was love and romance.  Now that Piper and her white lighter boyfriend Leo have determined that they do indeed love each other, Leo proposes.  Unfortunately, the powers that be do not believe that a White lighter and a witch should be together.  They decide that their love is meant to be and they attempt to get thwart the rules and get married anyway.  The course of life and love of course does not run smooth and several incidents occur which stop the marriage.  When they do finally have authorization for a ceremony, it is stopped when Prue's other half decides to break loose and in the process destroys Piper's wedding cake and takes off with a guy on a motorcycle. Piper has a huge fit and declares that she and Leo are not meant to be married.  Her ghost mother and human father talk to her and finally Piper consents and the wedding finally occurs with her dead grandmother officiating.  By the time these two finally got married, I had reached the point of not really caring anymore.

The other major romance of he season was between Phoebe and Cole the half human half demon.  Cole original appears in the lives of the Charmed ones to kill them.  He even travels back in time to try and thwart the birth of their great great great great grandmother but is stopped in time.  With each effort to kill the Charmed Ones, he becomes more conflicted because he is falling in love with Phoebe.  For her part, Phoebe knows that Cole is keeping something from her, but she cannot figure out what.  In the end she of course finds out about his demon heritage but cannot bring herself to vanquish him because she lurves him.  This means that she must lie to her sisters about vanquishing Cole.  Phoebe gets turned into a banshee because of the pain she feels at losing Cole and though he killed an innocent they decide they cannot live without each other.  Lord the angst.

Alyssa Milano, who played Phoebe and Julian McMahon who played Cole have absolutely zero chemistry between them. It was absolutely painful to watch any scene in which they declared their love or kissed.  At times I found myself closing my eyes.  This has to be some of the worst casting ever to make it to television.  Shannen Doherty and Julian McMahon, actually had much better chemistry. If that were not enough, having to deal with the oh, he's evil, no, he's good I swear, back and forth was tiring and at times outright boring.

In this third season, the sisters powers begin to increase.  Piper now has the ability to vanquish and speed up molecules, while Phoebe can levitate.  Phoebe is the youngest Halliwell sister but despite being in her final year of college, she has actually regressed rather than matured.  Her character is absolutely infantalized.  This includes her famous pouty face, and a high pitched voice. They try to cover this infantialization by occasionally having Phoebe spout something she learned in class but it simply makes her appear like a little girl pretending to be a grown up, rather than having her be the adult woman that she is.

Review: Thread of Death by Jennifer Estep. Book 5.5 in the Elemental Assassins Series

 This is book "5.5" because it's a novella between book 5 and 6.

Normally I don’t like short stories or novellas, so I was in two minds about reading this book or, maybe, just maybe, moving on the next one. Or maybe reading it without reviewing it because I know my own personal dislike for the style would skew my opinion.

But I was really pleasantly surprised. This book worked – not only did it work but I’ll go so far as to say the series needed a short story at this point. After the last book, Gin had just defeated her arch-nemesis. This had been books and books in the making. The build up and the execution was also pretty involved and pretty epic.

Which leaves a problem of where to go from there. What do you do, introduce a new Arch-Nemisis? What, so soon? It looks contrived shouldn’t she have some time to live first. But then – can you write a full book about a “day in the life of Gin Blanco”? Maybe, but following up with that after the epic plot of Spider’s Revenge would be a bit of a climb down to say the least.

So we have the novella. And it’s just perfect for what the plot needs. We see Gin recovering, hints of some of the aftermath of what happened (including the fact that she isn’t physically healed and that the victims aren’t all mentally healed either – which is an important point that is often overlooked).

And of course, there are consequences to destabilising the corrupt city of Ashland’s criminal power structure. People are manoeuvring to get into the top spot that has now being vacated which will, no doubt, include much plotting and many deaths,.

And, of course, we see the foreshadow of a different world for Gin Blanco – one in which it is commonly known she is the Spider – and the assassin who took out the most powerful elemental in the city. Aside from the fact that anyone who takes out a crime boss is usually expected to step into their shoes and Gin has no intention of leaving her BBQ restaurant.

All in all, this book is just perfect for the series. We’re getting the new themes set in place, we’re establishing exactly where the city stands now. We have a reminder of what enemies she had who are still alive and an introduction to the new antagonists that are encroaching on the scene.

And we have some nicely written action to remind us just how much Gin kicks arse. We also see her using her magic more casually which I really hope is a sign of things to come – as it was definitely something that frustrated me inearlier books.

All in all, it’s a short story, but it’s what the series needed and essential to maintain the pacing of the series, I think. It's also well paced and developed - too many short stories I've read are either hurried or just don't have enough concrete plot for their existence - they have an idea and they try and stretch it out into an actual book. This got the balance perfectly.

I didn’t expect to like it, I read on the assumption that I wouldn’t enjoy it but needed to get through it in case any new information was revealed – it was a great surprise.

The International Day Againt Homophobia and Transphobia isn't a Marketing Tool

 

Often in the writing blogosphere we see various forms of Blog Hops and blog tours and similar promotions to draw attention to authors, their books and let readers connect with authors who may interest them.

One upcoming blog hop is Hop against Homophobia

This is a blog hop of authors of the M/M genre. It allows writers in the m/m genre to gain attention to their M/M books and offer M/M prizes. The site itself explains its purpose:

the purpose is to get readers to a) see your name b) see your books and c) have the option to follow your blog to get to know you as an author and to be kept up to date about your future work.

And to start it off they’re going to set things rolling on the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia

So, what is The International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia? Well, it’s pretty much exactly what it says. It is a day where we fight against the damage these bigotries do. It is a day when we look at the damage these bigotries do.

And let us never underestimate the power of this bigotry. There are still a horrendous number of countries out there where being GBLT is a crime. In some of them you will be tortured or executed. Others will imprison you for years and, of course, should you serve your sentence you face being returned to prison since, of course, people don’t stop being GBLT.

People are killed for being GBLT. People lose their jobs for being GBLT (often without any recourse in law). People lose their homes for being GBLT. People are denied any legal partnership rights for being GBLT, people are denied medical care for being GBLT, people are vilified and attacked and destroyed for being GBLT. People turn to drugs and alcohol because of anti-GBLT bigotry and countless GBLT people are driven to suicide every year by anti-GBLT bigotry.

In short, homophobia and transphobia are devastating forces out there and any campaign to battle them (Including this day) is vital and precious and very very important (though we can have debates about the effectiveness of individual days, that is a different discussion).

And these authors have decided to use this day to shill their books. They’re using this day about bigotry against GBLT people for marketing. Worse, not only are they appropriating this day for marketing, the actual purpose of the day they are using does not even remotely have to be involved

From the site itself:
- Talk about the International Day Against Homophobia in your May 17th blog entry (as little as just a mention – your choice).
--- Add the colorful Hop Against Homophobia image to your blog/website with a link to the official hop site:

There, you don’t have to actually do anything about homophobia or transphobia or talk about the day or what it actually aims for – don’t let silly things like that put you off. Don’t let the actual purpose of the day get in the way of your marketing. No, so long as you mention the name (all the better to appropriate it properly) and then you’ll get a giant anti-homophobia rainbow banner as well! Sure you don’t actually have to do anything about homophobia or transphobia, but you get the banner. I wonder if it comes with cookies?

Let me repeat this so we can be abundantly clear – no part of this blog hop requires acting or speaking against homophobia or transphobia, nor does it require being a GBLT member or ally (and no, being part of the M/M genre is not synonymous with allydom. Using us does not make you an ally, writing these books does not grant automatic status as a supporter - far from it). It is not about GBLT rights –it is about advertising, marketing and giving away free M/M stuff to attract more readers and followers

True Blood Season 5: Waiting Sucks - Sam/Luna

Review: Torment by Lauren Kate, Book 2 of the Fallen Series

Luce has just escaped a battle between the forces of Demons and Angels and has now been moved into hiding – even from her parents and friends. She is now at Shoreditch, an exclusive school in California, but also one with a secret – this is where Nephilim are sent to train, the children of Angels and Demons.

Separated from Daniel who is pursuing his own agenda he won’t tell her about (including a truce with their one time enemy, Cam), Luce is left to try and assimilate into this new setting with her supernatural classmates, all the while pursued and harried by enemies she knows nothing about (because no-one bothers to tell her) with unknown motives (to her anyway).

But she also seeks a connection with the past lives Daniel remembers but she has lost – through the use of the shadowy Announcers, she fumbles her way to try and find some knowledge of who she was and who she and Daniel were. And through that, she hopes to find exactly what their relationship is now.

This book is called Torment and I am sorely tempted to say it is named appropriately. I am so utterly frustrated by the way the book progressed, the general lack of story and the behaviour of the characters

The last book was very long and very slow. We had an awful lot of foreshadowing with Luce’s life in a reform school – it was mundane, there were clues but it was primarily an introduction. As I said in my last review, the book didn’t seem to start until the very closing pages – that’s when we had angels, demons and grand epic plot line actually started.

So I opened this book with a vague hope that we were now in the world of angels and demons and the plot would follow along those lines. Instead I find that Luce has been moved somewhere for her own safety. Another school. Yes, it’s a school with a special class for Nephilim (people with Angelic/Demonic blood) run by Angels and Demons but, ultimately, she’s in a school and we’re largely back to square 1. I think Daniel and Cam are out there doing interesting things – but Luce is at school, involved in a lot of school drama (making new friends, making new enemies and meeting a cute boy) but not doing much more than playing with the Announcers. All the desperate high school drama, a climax, then back to school again. And in this school she has plenty of time to think – and think she does. About Daniel and their “relationship” (sure, he remembers their past lives of love, she doesn’t. She’s known him for a few weeks – and most of that he was shunning her), about her relationship with her family and about her past lives. Endless reams of thinking – but none of it going anywhere, just circling monologues of angst.

Which brings me to the next element of this book I found immensely frustrating – everyone is mushrooming Luce. No, that’s wrong – “mushrooming” means keeping someone in the dark and feeding them shit. Luce doesn’t even get shit. She is ordered by her oh-so-loving boyfriend to remain on campus like a good girl. He doesn’t tell her why beyond “keep her safe” he refuses to fill her in on the enemies, he refuses to explain why they have enemies and what they want, he refuses to explain his truce with Cam, he refuses to explain what the difference between angels and demons actually is, he refuses to explain why he is the linchpin in the battle between Heaven and Hell, he refuses to explain why he’s having trouble choosing, he refuses to explain why she matters, her past lives, the beginning of their relationship – ANYTHING. She is given orders and dropped, ignorant, into this new place and just expected to obey.

The thing is, 80% of Luce’s angst (and, therefore, 80% of this book – because seriously, that’s all this book is, Luce endlessly angsting about her relationship with Daniel and related issues) cold be addressed if someone would talk to her. Or at very least if she could ask some questions and make them stick. She asks a few, but she accepts the brush off. She has been moved by near strangers to the other side of the country with zero contact with her friends and family for reasons no-one will explain, with consequences no-one will explain and she has to learn things no-one will explain. There is no reason presented why Luce needs to be kept so ignorant and all it does it cause further angst and misunderstanding on her part.

And this leads to the next thing that irritated me. Luce doesn’t object to all this! Even when her new teachers put her under house arrest she doesn’t start throwing things and demanding an explanation as to why she is there and who these people are and what the hell gives them the right to effectively hold her prisoner when no-one has explained a damn thing?! She asks questions and gets irritated with Daniel when he orders her to obey but she never pushes their refusal to answer.

But the truly irritating part of this is that she DOES disobey (yay!) but in the Spunkiest of ways. While someone is actively hunting her – she knows this because she’s seen it, let alone being told and the other girl at school who looks like her has been victimised TWICE – she STILL decides to wander off campus without telling anyone!

Blood Ties, Season 1, Episode 4: Gifted

We open with Vicki in a comic book shop reading Henry’s graphic novel  - and being bothered by creepy geek boys in a classic “zomg a woman in here” moments. But then Henry arrives and we get back to some proper flirting.

To the plot we find a mother (Celeste) and her daughter (Sarah) planning to move – the daughter doesn’t want to, has a temper tantrum and then we get a whole lot of shaking and some very bad CGI attacking the mother

At work Vicki is fighting a losing battle about being considered the “supernatural” detective – but gets a case to find Steve Jeffries. An elderly woman wants to find her son-in-law who was estranged from her now deceased and murdered daughter, leaving an orphaned daughter (Sarah) behind.

At the police station she learns more about the murder – an open door and wounds inflicted by claws and teeth. And that Vicki’s own run-away dad makes her rather testy about men who leave their families.

Sarah is currently living at the Cobb Academy – her boarding school for gifted children (she’s an artistic prodigy) and Vicki finds out that the relationship between Sarah and her father is fraught to say the least. She goes on to search their house (bringing Henry along for no apparent reason…) and finds a picture drawn by Sarah of a monster killing her mother – before her mother died.

On to the pathologist – still dragging Henry. The pathologist points out the body has been mauled by an animal that left no fur nor salvia. She points out the police ignore things that are strange and don’t fit (as Vicki used to). I really liked her – her eccentric thinking looks a little fantastic and silly, but when considering this is an actual world with supernatural creatures it shows just how no nonsense she is and how she, as a scientist, isn’t going to let her preconceptions cloud the evidence that is in front of her. I love her “if it existed… does it?” line to the picture of the creature she’s presented. Not shock or horror or doubt – just simple curiosity.

She finds the father, Steve, but he’s utterly uninterested and hostile to the idea of looking after Sarah. Returning to the school we learn that the monster is “buttercup” a stuffed toy and that Lauren, Her art teacher was worried about the art Sarah was producing. This leads to Cobb’s “gifted” students in their special room testing magical abilities – and Cobb manipulating Sarah into setting “buttercup” on Lauren – causing another load of shaking and bad GI attack.

Consulting with the father basically confirms everything – Sarah is telekinetic and Cobb is using her powers to kill people – and drive the father away. Still despite original reluctance (and us seeing more of Vicki’s father issues). On tom the school to reunite daddy and daughter with evil Mr. Cobb on the sidelines to manipulate some more poor CGI deaths before the ultra ultra twee ending. And Celluci arrests Mr. Cobb for – well, whatever it’s for I’d love to see the court case