Book: The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

I came across this fantasy novel in the Ft. Lauderdale airport and decided to buy it because it was the cheapest sci-fi book I could find, in addition to the fact that I thought it sounded like it might have potential.

The book starts of fairly slowly, causing me to fear I had made a mistake, but this was for good reason. The world we're dropped into has a type of magic that depends on the spectrum of light that a person can absorb and manipulate, with each color having its own characteristics. In addition to this, fifteen years before the start of the book we find out that a massive civil war wreaked devastation throughout the lands due to the fact that two Prisms, beings capable of using the entire color spectrum at will with no danger, existed simultaneously. The semi-governmental body, the Chromeria, deals with hunting down magic users that go crazy, as well as training new mages to use their skills, thus making them important to all of the existing nations. It is here that the Prism serves its role amongst the most devious envoys of the nations and where the story begins.

Once we move beyond these topics, though, the story takes off as it delivers delightful character development and intriguing plot twists. We've got a rebel king, magical abominations, deceit, assassinations, war, love, and mystery. A great package that delivers a satisfying story in this first installment as we find the characters, and the world, reacting to new situations and paying for their actions in the past.

Definitely worth reading if you want some exciting entertainment.

Good Rating

Movie: Cronos (1993)

I stumbled across this movie a few weeks ago and was so intrigued by its title that I finally read the brief synopsis of its story. I found myself pleasantly surprised because not only was it supposedly a new take on the vampire genre, but it had been made by "acclaimed filmmaker Guillermo del Toro"; surely it would satisfy and delight.

The movie begins slowly and while some might have issue with this, I did not, waiting almost eagerly for us to dive into the story. Shortly enough the old pawn shop owner, tipped if by Mr. Sketchy, discovers the device that prolongs life, in addition to its other side effects. It turns out that a rich business man and his nephew(Ron Perlman speaking Spanish!), are looking for the device for their own reasons. While the plot does pick up pace slightly, the movie seemingly plods along as our shop owner discovers, to his horror, his new found taste for blood and the efforts the "evil" duo will go to in order to secure the device.

In the background we have the shop owner's granddaughter looking on in silence for the entirety of the movie, though she does a commendable job of conveying emotions despite this and is probably the sole reason why the shop owner survives in the end.

The movie seemed to have in interesting premise and potential but at the end I was left with feelings of confusion, disappointment, and annoyance.

The below rating does not signify that the movie was bad, simply that certain issues prevented me from being satisfied with it despite the novelty of its story or the quality of its actors.

WTF Rating

Movie: Pelt (2010)

This movie starts off like a typical horror flick with horny idiotic guys and slutty girls, so it's pretty clear where we're headed as they start driving towards their climbing excursion, and doom. In the vein of Wrong Turn, the group falls afoul of a hillbilly, though this one likes to skin trespassers for some reason. Having not had any expectations at the start of watching, I was surprised to find the occasional comedic moment give me a chuckle, raising this movie's status to the rank of mildly entertaining.

Yes, the couple having sex gets attacked first, along with the "nymphomaniac"(Didn't I mention that?), and yes the black guy does die(Why was he wearing a blue onesie for almost the whole movie?), but the group manages to succeed in killing their enemy leaving one to escape to freedom. Generally an O.K. movie for the genre, but if you've seen others, then you've almost certainly seen everything this movie has to offer and so you won't be surprised by the "survivor" getting gutted by a hillbilly trap in the car.

Meh Rating