Firefight

Firefight by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

MY HEART. IT IS IN ITTY BITTY PIECES.

The more I read of Sanderson, the more I love him. Seriously. He has a way of weaving a story so well that you’re completely sucked in before you know it. Only when you look back do you see how he’s managed to bring everything together. The clues finally fit.

Needless to say, this was a stunning sequel to an awesome series. Even though I’m emotionally drained, it was amazing. I honestly wasn’t sure how much I was going to enjoy it, simply because of the absence of my favorite character, Steelheart himself. (I was rather devastated that he had to die. It’s my darn villain fetish kicking in again.) But I was pleasantly surprised in the character development of this installment, which made it just as enjoyable as the first. I also loved learning more about Calamity and the powers/weaknesses of the Epics. A few more pieces of the puzzle have fallen into place, which will no doubt reveal an ending of larger-than-life proportion.

I cannot wait to get my hot little hands on the next one.

Battle of the Five Armies

Apparently I wrote this post right after the latest Hobbit movie came out and forgot to actually put it on here. Dork. A little late, but here are my thoughts right after seeing the movie:

Husband and I decided to attend an impromptu showing The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies over the weekend, and now my heart is in itty bitty pieces.

Okay, so it’s a myriad of emotions, but tears of pain are amongst them. Yes, it was totally over the top. (Seriously, what was up with Legolas and the falling bridge? I know he’s an elf and all, but STAHP.) Lots of battle scenes that were trying too hard to be epic. Super Special Awesome Dramatic Music to make one have all the feels.

And I still loved it.

Epic Thranduil is epic.

My favorite part was probably seeing so much of Thranduil in action. (Or, as my friend put it, “Thrandy and his Swag Stag.”) Dude’s made of win, what can I say? I shed bitter tears for the losses we suffered. I cheered for the moments of glory. I’m probably just a big sucker for anything with elves.

I confess that it’s been 15+ years since I read the book, so while I know they botched the story a lot, I don’t remember enough to know exactly how they botched it. Thus I was content to sit back and just enjoy the pretty. If you’re looking for a die-hard, true as can possibly be to the original version of the book…well, this isn’t it. If you want to see a lot of awesome fight scenes and Thranduil looking all regal and such, this is the movie for you.