Camelot

So Starz has deiced to try its hand at the King Arthur legend. There are a couple episodes out already but I can say I have a good feel of things so far.

First off I want to punch Arthur, he is this very wimpy looking blond boy who still is very confused as to what he should be doing. They establish in the first episode that while he was trained and raised by a great philosopher he basically thinks with his dick. Which I want to know how he gets women when he is so damn scrawny. I feel like I could snap in in two and I am not that big myself.

Merlin appears to do jack shit so far. He basically gets pissed that Arthur hasnt completely stepped up to the king plate.

On the other hand Morgan is delicious. Bitch is evil and she knows it and she is fine with that. Not to mention that she commands a room. Her parts are my favorite so far and I am kind of hoping that take this long enough she gets to kill Arthur, because I am totally on board for that part.

I am entertained that they brought Gawain in as a character. (Those of us that had to read medieval literature in high school remember him and his beyond boring quest for something, and there was a girdle.) Frankly after having to read that story again this past summer I am intrigued to see what they are going to do with the "holiest" of the kings.

The thing about this series is, we have seen it. I mean I love the King Arthur legend but I have seen every version. This is like the first thing you write about as a fantasy author. I mean at this very moment there is a Merlin show on SyFy that frankly also blows. And yes we all love First Knight because Richard Gere, but frankly my personal favorite as always been Sam Neil in the original Merlin mini series. The point is I am bored, they are not pulling anything interesting out of their hats and at this point you at least have to try to entertain me, I mean at least Disney fucked with the whole story so they could have a girl Arthur.

Fun side fact: The British royal family has been naming boy Arthur for generations, but every single one dies before becoming King. Simmer on that.

Book Review: To Catch a Wolf by Susan Krinard

The lead is a cripple. There I said it. The lead female of this story is a cripple, until about a hundred pages from the end. But yeah. I was pretty impressed. I have to say that pulling the cripple card out of the hat was not something I was expecting, and I can pretty much call everything.

This is a period piece and takes place in the late 1800s in Denver. Athena is a lady of the town, but is confined to her chair after an accident as a child placed here there. Morgan is a werewolf that spent time in prison and then a long time as the wolf in the woods. Morgan then ended up in a traveling circus. They meet, there are class issues, and stupidity.

I was annoyed by this story. Mostly because it seems like it should have been shorter. The story rushes towards conflict, then back tracks, then makes new conflict, then side steps. I stayed up late reading this book because I figured that eventually it would slow down and then finish, but it didn't. I just read another of Krinard's books and I am beginning to think that she gave herself a page number goal and kept writing until she hit it. The characters are simply dragged through so much is so little time.

I though I was going to like this author because she does period werewolf pieces but the length and junk in the books are not acceptable.

Book Review: Immortal Sea by Virginia Kantra

I started this series a while back when the first couple of books came to my library. The basic over arching plot follows "children of the sea" which includes selkies and finfolk. They are a dying breed of people because pollution has caused the ocean to suffer greatly. The entire series takes place on an island in Maine called Worlds End which to me screams "weird shit happens here." The first book there was a female selkie that is in love with the human sheriff of the down, and they battle some demon for some reason I forget that one. The second book the human sheriff's selkie brother gets a lady preggers after a one night stand and then a demon tries to kill the baby thinking its some prophesy baby. The third one was the sister of the two previous males turns out to be a selkie too and she and the selkie king get it on.

This book was the first of the stories to introduce a none selkie character. The lead, Morgan, is a finfolk which means a water shape shifter. Anyway we go back to roughly the plot of book two but with a time lapse. Morgan has sex with Elizabeth in the Netherlands about fifteeen years ago. She of course got preggers but because he never spoke to her again was never able to tell him about it. Liz has now moved to World's End to be the doctor there after her husband died. Morgan is visiting for the birth of book two character's baby and run into his son. From there its mostly Morgan trying to find time to talk to Liz and Zach about the fact of what they are.

There is a demon involved but only at the very end. So much of the book is dedicated to deal with Morgan's lack of emotions and Liz's attempts to deal with him and yet remain a responsible mother. I was pretty far into the book before I felt any tension. Of the series I still feel like the second book was my favorite. This one fell a bit flat. Morgan is extremely one dimensional and Liz is a bit on the boring side the entire time. I really never felt the passion.

I will say that I am intrigued because the next book is going to include a "child of air" or angel as a main character. Oh yeah demons are "children of fire" and fairies are "children of forest" or is it wood. Whatever. Anyway the next book is going to branch out a bit more from the rigid rules the series has held so far.

Final word is pick up the series in order first before going right to this one. All previous characters come up and it could be confusing.