Interstellar

For those who have not seen the movie, this review contains spoilers so proceed with caution. My recommendation: go see it.

The Earth of Christopher Nolan's Interstellar looks like the dust bowl in the 1930s. The majority of the population has regressed to an agrarian society with no government or military. Everyone turning to farming is unsustainable because a blight is causing crop after crop to die out. At the opening of the movie, it seems only corn remains of all the crops we're used to consuming. The Earth is in the beginning stage of worldwide famine.

Our hero, Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), is a single dad and farmer trying to take care of his two children. His daughter, 10-year-old Murph, is troubled by a distortion in her bedroom where dust falls in a strange pattern. Cooper realizes they are coordinates and finds what remains of NASA. He is recruited to pilot a mission to find a new Earth. Years prior, scientists discovered a wormhole that allowed them to send probes to find a potential new Earth. Multiple scientists followed those probes, transmitted their findings back, leaving the team with three potential planets (referred to by the name of the scientist).

Cooper's father-in-law, Donald (John Lithgow), seems to represent people right now. For me, that connection made me able to relate to the film more than I would've otherwise. In the film, Donald talks about his youth and how there were innovations all the time (my mind went to the frequency of iPhone releases) and hot dogs at baseball games.

I liked the robots TARS and CASE. I thought it was clever that their personalities could be adjusted by percentage, such as 90% honesty and 75% humor. In the beginning, I admit I thought they would end up like the Alien androids and betray the humans. After seeing the whole movie, it is clear that would have generated excessive conflict.

The first planet the team visits has a time dilation which causes 7 years to pass on Earth for every hour they are on the planet ("Miller"). I immediately thought of the concepts introduced in the Ender Quartet prior to the discovery of instantaneous travel. Although in Orson Scott Card's world, the time dilation occurs during space travel as opposed to being on a planet influenced by a strong gravitational pull. It was a tragic moment for Cooper when he realizes that Murph has become his age in the time he was on that planet.

While visiting the next planet "Mann", the film provides an interesting case study of two characters who do "evil" for different reasons.

• Back on Earth, Professor Brand (Michael Caine) reveals that he never thought they could save the people of Earth by figuring out how to launch a space station into space from Earth with the entire population on board (Plan A). He thought the only viable option were the frozen fertilized embryos to grow and start a new colony on the new planet (Plan B). This dooms the people remaining on Earth, but allows for the the continuation of the species.
• On "Mann", Dr. Mann (Matt Damon) fabricated data to get them to rescue him because he did not want to die. All the other scientists that found planets that were not viable accepted their fate and went "quietly into the night" but Dr. Mann decided he did not want to die, and maybe wanted the glory of discovering humanity's salvation. This is just evil: selfish and unforgiving.

I liked this film. I did not like how it ended, but I understand why it did. Having Murph grow up to be the savior of the species because of the information Cooper was able to relay back to her was satisfying. The idea of Cooper seeing his daughter die of old age was a real bummer, especially since Murph wanted to be surrounded by her descendants and shooed him away (again, I understand why but I don't have to like it).

The part that I really didn't like was Cooper and TARS stealing a plane to get back to Brand (Anne Hathaway) and CASE on "Edmunds" where we see Brand burying Dr. Edmunds while setting up for the first colonists. Brand was in love with Edmunds so it's weird to me that he is dead and Cooper is expecting to arrive on "Edmunds" before Brand dies to confess his love. Or I could be wrong and he is going there to try to stop Brand from executing Plan B because she is unaware that Plan A is going to succeed. It is a very blah ending.

Kindle Unlimited

Have you heard about Amazon's new service: kindleunlimited? Of course you have. It currently offers access to 700,000 books (500 of which are public domain) and 2,000 audiobooks for $9.99/month. It also provides a complimentary 3-month Audible membership (existing members get 3 credits).

Reviews of this service generally don't talk about if it's a good idea and instead ask: is it worth the cost? Jeff Jones wrote this great review that, in my opinion, answers that question. He discusses the three factors to determine if "Netflix for books" is right for you. Per month, (1) how many books do you read? (2) how much do you spend on books? and (3) are books you want included?

All of the reviews I have posted to this blog, with the exception of Double Life, I read with the 30-day free trial Amazon is offering. That gives us 6 books (two 1-stars, three 3-stars, and one 4-star). For the moment, as I shift my reviewing focus, I am not going to continue my subscription. In the future if I continue to read 6 or more books a month, I think $9.99 will be money well-spent. But for the average consumer, as Jeff Jones indicates in his review, it is not yet worth it.

EMP by Orion Enzo Gaudio

This book was brought to my attention by Kindle Unlimited.

I have realized I need to make better choices other than it was released on Kindle less than 30 days ago as my filter for selecting books to review. I should have glanced at the reviews other Amazon customers had left, but I've found in the past when reviewers praise a new book it is often too kind and therefore unreliable. So I only looked at the plot and it looked like something I might enjoy. And while it is an interesting idea, it's also something that has already been done and not executed in a creative way. So it's a lesson learned for me and this is another 1 star.

This book does not have a traditional plot, it is more of an introduction to a world in the wake of a nuclear apocalypse (which is very similar to Jericho). There are four situations and none of them cross paths or have any impact on each other. The book meanders through different circumstances in order to establish a world instead of a plot:

• First there is General Sutherland and Special Agent Rodgers who are looking to establish a new world order in the United States with bunkers designated by district numbers. The districts are very The Hunger Games except they correlate to U.S. Government departments.
• Then you've got Nick who is taken in by survivalist Mike who has anticipated and been ready for this to happen. They head to his cabin, in a remote area, to wait for things to calm down. Mike teaches Nick to be a survivalist.
• Next there is Sandra and her farm (which remind me of Hershel's farm from The Walking Dead). She quickly decides that she will help refugees that find her farm, with the help of Nathan and Manuel, by growing as much food as she can and allowing folks to stay.
• Finally we have our chaotic evil (think Raiders in the Super-Duper Mart in Fallout 3) with leader, Anthony, and his crew Rick, Ned, and Fred. They immediately take possession of a super store and make it theirs, warning people away with their weapons. In this book they exhibit no redeemable qualities.

I did not like this book. It reads more like an encyclopedia of entries about the world than a story. It also seems to be Gaudio's second so maybe I'll give him another shot. But this book is not worth a read.

Visit Amazon's Orion Enzo Gaudio page for more information about the author and how to purchase his books.

A Shift in the Water by Patricia D. Eddy

This book was brought to my attention by Kindle Unlimited.

I don't look up authors before I start reading their book. I wait until I have read enough of the book to start the review. And I have to admit I was scandalized when I learned that Patricia Eddy writes paranormal romance and erotica. A quick glance at her books confirmed I was reading one of her paranormal romances (which which was my aim) and after learning that, it seemed like only then the more racy passages of the novel started to show themselves. Her style reminds me of Anne Bishop's Black Jewels series.

The story alternates between Cade Bowman, alpha werewolf, and Mara Taylor, unaware water elemental, until they meet and continues the third person limited with both of them. Cade and his pack are attacked by Katerina, fire elemental and sister of Mara. Cade is kidnapped and charmed so he is unable to shift. Katerina announces her motivation for wanting him dead: as a child, she witnessed Cade's father kill her mother. Being stuck as the wolf causes Cade to forget all aspects of his human life and become more wolf than human. This goes on for several months until he manages to escape and he meets up with Mara.

Concurrently, Mara is making peace with coming to the end of her life (she's dying because she's not exercising her element of which she is unaware of). She takes a final vacation at her favorite hotel on the island where Cade is being held captive. Cade finds her, in his wolf form, and hides in her car. Mara doesn't realize he is there until she gets home, far away from where Katerina can easily pick up his trail. Mara nurses the wolf back to health, unknowingly using her water element to slowly break the charm on Cade, which also makes her feel better because she is exercising her element.

Once the charm is broken, Mara and Cade start a romance which brings a familiar theme from other depictions of werewolves where Cade imprints Mara as his mate. But Mara is hesitant because she doesn't believe she is a water elemental and is still convinced she is going to die. The two lovers also have to deal with the fate of Cade's pack and the pressing danger of Katerina looking to kill Cade, and likely Mara for helping him.

I liked this book. I like the elemental mechanics. The werewolves were pretty standard in their behaviors and rituals and I'm partial to werewolves so I'll just say it went a long way with me. I think the author made the plot (Cade vs. Katerina) secondary to the developing relationship/romance between Cade and Mara, and after reading the sample of book 2 (A Shift in the Air) I see now these books are going to focus more on the story that comes of developing relationships. Which isn't bad but I enjoy books more with a primary focus on the action, and a secondary focus on the romance.

Visit Patricia D. Eddy's site for more information about the author and how to purchase her books.