Captain Tuttle’s #CBR4 Review #48 – A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin

Ok, Book 5 and the most recent one.  No one seems to know when Book 6 (The Winds of Winter, ooh, ominous) is coming.  Everyone’s still scattered to the four winds: Jon Snow’s still in charge at the wall, but some people aren’t happy about that; Bran Stark (one of Ned’s younger ones, the one that was paralyzed by Jamie Lannister) is North of the Wall, being led by some creature (and I have theories about who that may be); the horrible Boltons are in the north-Winterfelly areas, being horrible (poor Jayne Poole); Theon Greyjoy has been through quite a bit, most of it deserved; Davos is alive and still working for Stannis; people want to go looking for little Rickon Stark (the baby) who may be hiding on an island somewhere; Cersei’s still in King’s Landing, paying penance for (some of) her bad deeds; Jamie’s working his redemption arc in the Riverlands; Tyrion’s back in the west with a potential Targaryen; Arya’s still in Braavos, learning to be faceless; Daenerys is having trouble with slaves, dragons, and a Dornish prince.

I’m sure there’s more, but I keep losing track. According to Wikipedia, this book is told from the point of view of 18 people. For comparison’s sake, the first book was told from the point of view of eight.

We’re left off with a number of cliffhangers, so we’re now stuck for as long as it takes. And from what I’m told, it might take a while. Martin’s teased us with a couple of chapters, just to keep us on tenterhooks. And there we shall remain.

Captain Tuttle’s #CBR4 Review #47 – A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin

Book 4 – the War of the Kings is pretty much over, since pretty much all the “kings” are dead. Stannis is still alive, but he’s gone North to help out Jon Snow, the new Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch.  He’s made it back from north of the Wall, without most of his troops, who were decimated by the White Walkers (who aren’t very nice).

Our main characters are scattered all over Westeros and the East, everyone running away from or after pretty much everyone else. Most people want to kill the other ones, even some of the ones that are already dead (after a fashion). This is the book where I started to really lose track of everyone – not only because everyone was so scattered, but because Martin keeps adding more and more characters. He may have deleted some (I won’t say killed, see above), but it’s not a case of 1-out, 1-in here. In fact, some thought to be long dead may be alive, and may be making their way back to Westeros.

See? It hardly makes sense, and yet it’s still freaking compelling storytelling.

 

Captain Tuttle’s #CBR4 Review #46 – A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin

Oh lordy, these books just keep getting longer and more complicated. I know there are lists of the whos and the whats in the back of each book, but even that runs into dozens of pages and there’s really no way to keep track. I have no idea how Martin does it. Or if he does it.

The war of the kings is still going on, although there aren’t as many kings as there were at the start. The civil war is destroying the whole country, but none of the “kings” seems to give a crap. Mance Rayder is in the North, and “the king beyond the wall,” so I guess that’s one more king. Oh, and Daenerys is trying to work her way back to Westeros and claim her crown. Seriously, what’s so special about this place that everyone wants to rule it?

Jamie Lannister was a captive of the Starks, and Catelyn strikes a deal to trade him for her daughters. That doesn’t sit well with her son Rob, as well as a bunch of other people. Regardless, Jamie heads toward King’s Landing in the custody of Brienne of Tarth. He’s not great company, but as they travel, they come to grudgingly respect each other. And there’s so much more. There’s the Brotherhood Without Banners, which gets interesting later. There’s Harrenhal, which is awful. Oh, and there’s the Red Wedding.

This book marked a massive turning point in the series. It was already clear that Martin has no mercy – not for women, children, or noble people. I was so pissed when it ended, for a number of reasons. But, of course, there was the next book.

 

Captain Tuttle’s #CBR4 Review #45 – A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

Oh yes, the kings, they do clash. Not just Robert’s son Joffrey (don’t get me started) and Ned Stark’s son Rob. Oh no.  There are Robert’s brothers: Stannis, the rigid, conservative, weirdo who rules some islands or something; and Renly, whose claim to the throne makes no sense at all. Oh, and then there’s Balon Greyjoy, some random who rules some other islands.  His son Theon was raised (hostaged?) by Ned Stark after Ned and Robert squished Balon’s rebellion.

And let’s not forget Daenerys Targaryen, recently widowed and the mother of three baby dragons (just go with it). And the guys at the wall in the North (the last thing beyond civilization and whatever scary things are up there) head over the wall to deal with the scary wildlings and whatnot.

After Ned is murdered, his elder daughter (Sansa) is pretty much trapped with the Lannisters, and his younger daughter Arya escaped with the help of a Night’s Watch man and pretending to be a boy. Ned’s widow Catelyn gets involved in the war, and trying to work some diplomacy between all the putative kings. That doesn’t work out, and she ends up on the run with Brienne, a really big chick.  Theon Greyjoy turns against the Starks and takes Winterfell, mostly because his sister is more a man than he is.

Anyway, when this book ends, Stannis tries to take King’s Landing, but is outsmarted by Tyrion Lannister and most of his army (navy) is wiped out (again, Tyrion kicks ass, and is totally shit on by everyone but Jamie and kinda Sansa). Daenerys wanders the desert and then burns the shit out of Quarth, Jon Snow goes undercover, and I’m sure there’s a bunch more stuff.  I think I’m going to have to re-read all of these before the next book comes out.

Captain Tuttle’s #CBR4 Review #44 – A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

Oh boy, where to start?  This epic saga is epic and sagacious (yeah, I know, just humour me).  We’ve got the Starks in the North, with Ned and the gang being all kinds of noble and cool, including his bastard (his?) John Snow.  Ned’s friends with the king of all the lands, fatass Robert, who’s married to a not-nice lady named Cersei, who’s fucking her twin Jaime. All of the king’s kids are actually Jaime’s, but no one seems to notice or care that they look nothing like him.

Ned gets dragged to work for the king, and brings his daughters with him for some ridiculous reason. Ned’s not stupid, but he’s so freaking honest and noble that it makes him do so very many stupid things. His elder daughter is a vapid tween who cares for nothing but boys and clothes (and is betrothed to the heir apparent, little bitch Joffrey); his other daughter is a total badass who knows which end of a sword to stick people with. Oh, and I almost forgot Tyrion Lannister. What was I thinking? One of the best characters across literature, not just this genre stuff.  I also almost forgot about the Targaryens, brother and sister who may or may not be heir to the throne of Westeros. She gets basically sold to a barbarian by her nasty brother (seems like a lot of the royals in this series are a bunch of loonies). Long horse rides and dragons may be involved.

There is no way to encompass everything that happens in this book (and the subsequent books) – no. freaking. way. That’s why it’s taking Martin so long to write these bastards. One thing that I like, that I’m sure makes his job easier, is that each chapter is written from a different character’s point of view.  I think he could work on a character, figure out his/her through-line, and write a good chunk of the book without having to worry about continuity. At least that’s how I’d approach it.

Anyway, this book ends with Ned’s beheading; civil war; stuff at the wall up North (long story, scary stuff up north, maybe the end of civilization, all kinds of crap); dragons being born; things in the Aerie; and with Ned’s son being declared “King in the North.” I’m just glad that I found this series way after the first 5 books had been published, because I needed to dive right into the next one.

Amurph11’s #CBR4 Review #26-29 – Song of Ice and Fire Books #2-5

Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death.” -A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R. R. Martin

(I am reviewing all four remaining of books of George R. R. Martin’s series, so spoilers abound. You’ve been warned). 

There’s a reason I chose this quote to open with, and that is that midway through the Song of Ice and Fire series, I started feeling quite a bit like a man of the Night’s Watch. I had signed on for something that seemingly had no end, and which, though it had it a few bright spots of humor and sexiness (hey thanks, Ygritte!), was most often a cold, depressing slog with no out.

I did alright through Clash of Kings. I had seen the second season of Game of Thrones, and though the second book diverges from the TV version much more than the first, there were no surprises that actively dismayed me. And then I read Storm of Swords, and despite some genuinely shocking developments, for the most part it seemed like my favorite characters were well on their way to a satisfying, if bloody, ending.

And then came the fucking Red Wedding, and I remembered what books I was reading.

What makes the Song of Ice and Fire series such a great read is Martin’s refusal to play along the same lines of most mainstream fantasy writers. He refuses, rightly, to make any promises to his readers. Good characters, interesting characters, even villains you assume are going to survive like cockroaches at the Apocalypse (looking at you, Joff) – none are safe from his savagery. It is this element of surprise, this genuine representation of a world where honor is an undervalued currency and power is a slippery prize, that makes the books so entrancing. It’s also what makes them such a pain in the ass to read all at once. Much hubbub has been made of George R. R. Martin’s inconsistent production schedule, but there’s one upside to the sizable gaps: longtime readers didn’t have to suffer through the jaded, world-weary bitterness that results when you try to read all of his books at once.

The end of Storm of Swords was the last straw for me. I finished it right before a weekend trip. I had been fully intending on downloading the next book for the trip, but after the infamous Red Wedding I left it behind, vowing to take an extended break from this series.

This break lasted until the Monday I got back. Because, obviously.

As a result of this what I’ve decided to call Game of Thrones Fatigue, it’s taken me several months to gather the courage to review all four books (the first was reviewed here). For fear of relapsing and being hospitalized from Game of Thrones exhaustion, I’ve decided to review them all in a chunk.

So, loins girded? Let’s do this thing.

A Clash of Kings is, to me, the strongest of his five books so far. It tells a story that is compact and powerful, with a clear ending and a clear beginning. You don’t get the sense that it is filler; instead, though many of the characters are left in ambiguous places physically, emotionally, you feel that they have made a journey. The best example of this trajectory is Arya, who starts out spunky but still very much a little girl, and in the process of outliving father figure after father figure (including, you know, her own father), ends up becoming something else entirely. She’s not a little girl anymore, she’s certainly not a grown woman (keep your Britney Spears jokes out of here), but she’s not an adolescent either – to survive, she has had to become nobody.

Tyrion has a similar character progression, but in the opposite direction – he goes from being an amusing side character to being a leader. He goes from nobody to somebody, which makes it all the more affecting in the next book, when he goes back to being nobody in the eyes of his family and his kingdom.

If A Clash of Kings is where characters and situations are more fully fleshed out, A Storm of Swords is where we really find ourselves in the shit – and, at the end of the book, where that shit officially hits the fan (to those of you who think Eddard Stark’s death marked the shit-fan collision, let me just say, to quote Ygritte – “you know nothing, Jon Snow”).

Despite it’s grim ending, Storm of Swords is still a strong entry. For one thing, it sees significantly features one of my favorite characters, Davos Seaworth – the only honorable man left in the Seven Kingdoms, but with none of the accompanying dumbshittery of Eddard Stark. For another, it features the epic road trip of Jamie and Brienne, BFFs forever. I have been a Jamie fan since the beginning, notwithstanding his attempted child murder, and it is in the third book of the series that he truly comes into his own, displaying an appealing complexity that cuts through the armor of even stalwart Brienne.

Father north, Jon Snow turns out to be much more fun Beyond the Wall. The introduction of Mance Rayder and Ygritte do wonders for his character, which heretofore seemed bland at best. Unfortunately, the same is not true for Bran. Though he’s a compelling character, Jojen is no Ygritte (in case I haven’t made it clear, I have a big crush on Ygritte), so his story plods along about as fast as Hodor is plodding through all that snow.

The real heartbreak of Storm of Swords though, is the downfall of Tyrion Lannister. The fact that Tyrion would survive was never in doubt, but the end of this book introduced us to Bitter Tyrion, who I still love, but a little less than I loved Sarcastic But With Good Intentions Tyrion. It was another, subtler example of Martin turning the tables on his fans’ expectations; we expected against all odds that Tyrion would reconcile with his father, that Shae really does love him, because that it what we are usually fed in pop culture – our hero, conquering large odds to find happiness. But happiness in Westeros is not something you find; it’s something you enjoy for brief moments in between violence and tragedy. It’s a brief spring in the middle of a very long winter.

The grimness of the story does not exactly improve in Feast for Crows, but it does give us some interesting side stories to chew on. As regular readers will know, Martin’s 5th and 6th book were meant to be one book. As a result, the books are split down the lines of character stories, with some showing up for one and entirely absent from the next. It’s an understandable method, but makes it difficult to keep up with the myriad stories that are happening within and around each other.  The first part of Feast of Crows is centered around Cersei, with Jamie far away in the Riverlands, on a quest to recapture his lost honor. It’s a relief when Jamie reappears, not just because I’m a Jamie fangirl, but because Martin has done for him what he hasn’t yet managed to do for his sister: provide a complex range of emotions and motivations for her. Cersei is never anything more than villainous – though we are told she loves her children, and that she her anger comes from her second-class treatment as a woman, we are rarely shown it (until a brief moment in the fifth book, which is not quite enough to restore her to my good graces in Jamie-like fashion).

While Cersei’s character gets thinner, Sansa’s fills out a bit. Her marriage to Tyrion was a non-starter in terms of character development – their short marriage said much more about Tyrion’s character than her own – but Petyr Baelish can make anyone interesting. Her progression from highborn to lowborn, from silly to shrewd is surprisingly affecting, to the point that I actually missed her in the next book.

The Wall is absent in this book, but Dorne fills in with the dull strategic content. The Dornish story line filled in some plot holes, and there are a lot of Dornish characters that I should theoretically find interesting, but there comes a point in a series of novels where one reaches critical mass with characters. To put it plainly, a lot more Starks are going to need to die before I can care about any of the Martells.

The most conspicuous absences were that of Daenerys and Tyrion, both of whom, thank God, return in A Dance with Dragons, as does Theon Greyjoy, who had been MIA for the past few novels. My top five of most affecting characters are as follows: Arya, Theon, Daenerys, Tyrion and there is no fifth (except maybe for Jaime, in a distant fifth based in large part of physical attraction). So it goes without saying that I liked this book, much meatier than the previous, and spending scads more time developing my favorite characters that even made up for what a drag Jon Snow has become as Lord Commander of the Wall. Though many of them are stuck in places I wouldn’t have chosen for them: Tyrion in a perpetual state of danger, Dany still trying to govern an ungovernable kingdom, Theon being abused by a Bolton, and Arya stuck in a weird Death House, it’s a relief to hang out with established characters vs. new or undeveloped ones. Nevertheless, though A Dance with Dragons ties up a lot of storylines, it also opens up quite a few of them as well – just when you thought the War of the Five Kings was ending, a couple more potential rulers get tossed into the mix. The gap between character stories was also quite jarring (I completely forgot Brienne existed for the last two books. I am still not entirely clear on whether or not she is dead, which probably means she is not). One the whole though, the fifth felt like the more complete novel than the fourth.

A Song of Ice and Fire is a daunting series, and sometimes a grim exercise. But its moments of transcendence (any moment with Daenerys), levity (any moment with Tyrion), poignancy (any moment with Theon), and pure heart (every moment with Arya) make it worth a go. At least that’s how I feel now. At the end of the fifth novel, I am clearly in too deep to give it up, despite the occasional throwing of the books across the room when they displease me, Cersei-style. A Dance with Dragons left me with a tiny flicker of hope that there might be light at the end of the tunnel, but I am still genuinely concerned that Martin won’t be able to get us there before his (and my) death. But, what can I say. In the dour words of Jon Snow – I took a vow.

Recommended for: Masochists.

Read When: You have absolutely nothing else on your reading or to-do list. Because once you start, everything else is getting deprioritized.

Listen With: This. It’ll make you feel better.

Amurph11’s #CBR4 Review #21, A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

“If I look back I am lost.”  – A Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin

I’m officially on the bandwagon, y’all.

I will make no pretense of book-snobbery here: I started reading the books because I started watching the show one rainy afternoon, proceeded to rip through both seasons in less than two weeks, and was too impatient to wait for the release of the third. The Song of Ice and Fire series was the inaugural purchase of my birthday Kindle, which I got on the condition that it would only be used for a) books whose authors don’t need the extra money for a hardback, and b) traveling. As you can imagine, that latter condition has flown entirely out the window. I have spent most of the past two weeks with my nose buried in an e-reader, because these books are awesome.

If you’ve seen the show, I don’t have to summarize the book for you because the 1st season hews very closely to the plot of the first book (the second season is another story). If you haven’t seen the show, than all you need to know about it is this: it’s an ensemble fantasy that revolves around the political machinations of a medieval-type society with engaging characters and a propensity towards the graphic. If you like that sort of thing, it’s unlikely that you will be able to put this series down.

As it turns out, I like this sort of thing. I fell in love with the TV show the moment Arya ditched sewing lessons to pick up a bow and arrow and show up her younger brother – enough to keep up with the occasionally confusing plotlines and gratuitous objectification of women. Reading the books have been helpful on both fronts, managing to fill in a lot of those plot holes while employing at least 80% fewer prostitute fisting scenes (there’s a hole joke in there somewhere, but I’m not going to be the one to make it). In fact, this is one of those rare series that is probably best read in tandem with the television show it inspired; having a familiar face to connect with a character helps to keep track of all the names and their extraneous consonants (it also helps that the casting is so spot on – I wish Peter Dinklage were the star of all of my books).

Like many books of the genre, the strength of Martin’s writing lies not in prose, but plot (and seriously, the prose could use some work: apparently in Westeros water is only capable of “sluicing,” and the only sound a horse can make is to “whicker nervously.”). Interestingly, for a series with such a profusion of major characters, A Song of Ice and Fire follows the hero’s journey structure almost to the letter. The whole of the 1st book of Martin’s series serves as one big inciting incident, the best example of this being the Stark family. The Starks begin the novel entrenched in their lives at Winterfell, but over the course of the book, every single member of the family is irreparably changed, an upheaval that in turn affects every other character in the book. By the end of the novel we find ourselves in a very different world than the one we began – and that’s just the first act.

Luckily, despite being a fan of the hero’s journey as a plot structure, Martin is no fan of heroes in general. We enter his world as it teeters on the brink of chaos. The rules are ever-changing, and the only way to live in such a world is to keep up. The heroes, therefore, are not the honorable characters, but the nimble. Martin’s refusal to play by the rules in this regard forces us as readers to be nimble as well, which is what makes his books such a genuine pleasure to read.

Now, if you’ll excuse me – I’m already halfway through the second book.

Recommended for: The strong of stomach. And on a related note, the likely small population of people who love strong female characters but won’t be turned off by the period-appropriate-but-still-harrowing treatment of rape.

Read When: You’re at the beach. The overuse of the phrase “Winter is coming” will make you appreciate the weather all the more.

Listen with: The theme song of the show, obviously. That or bawdy drinking tunes about wenches.

Even Stevens’s #CBR4 review #9: Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

I feel like I might be the last person on Earth to read these books. I hadn’t even heard of the series prior to the television series being developed (I know, bad nerd!). After that, I resisted getting into it because it didn’t seem like my cup of tea and I didn’t want to be the one person who did not get the appeal of the hugely popular book and TV trend (::cough:: Girl With the Dragon Tattoo ::cough::). Thankfully, I found this book very satisfying and am excited to get into the rest of the books.

Now, I’ll admit that I cheated a bit here and watched the TV show first. Normally I don’t do that, but I was aware that that were approximately 800 characters in play and I do a lot better remembering names when I can put a face to them. So I read this book after watching the first season of the show, and I was impressed at how faithful the show was to the source material. In fact, that might be my only complaint here – the show was so detailed, it made it hard to get through the book because not much was left out. That’s my own fault, of course, and a very small complaint.

For those who are not familiar with this series, it is set in the fictional land of Westeros. Several years prior to the first book, there had been an uprising againt the “Mad King” and Robert Baratheon, with the aid of Ned Stark and many others, took over as King. There is much discontent throughout the land and many individuals and families conspire to further their own agendas, some even plotting to take the crown. I know that’s a very general description, but this book is dense and packed with characters and plots that would take pages just to describe.

What I love most about this book is the characterization. Fantasy is not always my genre, but this is a very grounded fantasy story and the characters shine more than anything. Martin develops clear and distinct voices for each of his characters, alternating voices each chapter, and really when you think about how many characters there are, that is quite a remarkable thing. He’s also good at getting to the core of human behavior – greed, lust, ambition, honor, naivete, innocence, it’s all there. He’s very deft at weaving these things naturally into the story, and it only strengthens a very interesting and compelling narrative.

Martin wraps up a few storylines while setting up several more for future books. This was a lengthy book (clocking in at 675 pages), but totally engrossing and one of the best stories with the strongest characters I’ve read in quite a long time. I will be diving into the next volumes very soon.

xoxoxoe’s #CBR4 Review #18: The Door in the Wall, by Marguerite de Angeli

My eight year-old loves libraries, which thrills me to no end. Not only are her reading choices getting more adventurous as she reads more and more, but while she is picking out books I also peruse titles and pick out something to read to her — or to myself, that I may have missed. As I was checking out the Newbery section a title caught my eye, a book that was set in the Middle Ages, during the bubonic plague. Sounds more like my kind of book than a kid’s book, so I had to check it out. The Door in the Wall is a lovely little book by Marguerite de Angeli about a young boy named Robin set in England during the Middle Ages. The story takes place during the reign of Edward the III (1327-77), but that is as specific time-wise as de Angeli gets.

The protagonist, young Robin, is a bit of a brat at the beginning of the story, but if you consider his circumstances. At the age of ten he is deemed old enough to not be a child anymore. His parents arrange to ship him off to a friend’s, Sir Peter de Lindsay’s castle to begin his training as a knight. His father has been away for quite some time, fighting with the King against the Scots. His mother has gone to become a lady-in-waiting to the Queen, leaving Robin with their servants until someone comes to take him to his new home, while the plague is raging through London. But soon after his mother leaves, Robin contracts a serious illness that leaves him lame. Little by little he is left alone, as his servants either get the plague, or abandon him and London to escape it. His last remaining servant, Dame Ellen, is also struck down with the plague. Luckily for Robin, Brother Luke at the neighboring monastery, St. Mark’s, finds out about Ellen and comes to check on the boy and take him in.

This is pretty heavy stuff for a book aimed at 3rd grade and up. It may move a little slowly at first for today’s kids, who have been raised on sparkly vampires and Spongebob. It’s a bit like the classic The Secret Garden in terms of pacing. The action takes place in the 1300s, an era that may seem too far away to be interesting, but The Door in the Wall struck a chord. As I was reading I couldn’t help but think a bit of Bran from Game of Thrones, and some other current pop culture references, especially Artie and Quinn’s current storyline on Glee. It was nice to read an older novel (the book was published in 1949 and won the 1950 Newbery medal) and see such a positive story centered around a disabled character.

How many 10 year olds would cope as well as Robin with suddenly not being able to walk, or run, or play— or being told by their parents that their childhood was essentially over and that they were being shipped off to live in a stranger’s house? Robin may not immediately know what Brother Luke means when he tells him, “Thou hast only to follow the wall far enough and there will be a door in it,” but he soon comes to understand.

The Door in the Wall’s metaphor’s may be a little predictable, but it is far from an easy or predictable read. Robin and his two closest friends, Brother Luke and the minstrel John-go-in-the-Wynd, are forced to deal with many difficult issues: the plague, illness, dangerous travel, a castle siege. De Angeli does a nice job of depicting the daily life of the 14th century, and of the part of England Robin travels through,

“‘The weather was neither rainy nor fair, neither hot nor cold, but somewhere in between, as English weather is like to be,’ said the friar.”

 

 

The Door in the Wall may be a children’s book, but she doesn’t shy away from using some words that may require looking up: pease porridge, flambeaux, bannock. A glossary would have been useful. An added bonus are the beautiful illustrations by de Angeli, in color and black and white, that are found throughout the story.

It was interesting reading how Robin and everyone he encountered dealt with his illness/infirmity. The virus or illness that causes Robin to lose the use of his legs is never named, but it sounds a lot like polio. Robin, of course, hopes to recover use of his legs, and quickly. Brother Luke never shoots that idea down, but keeps introducing Robin to other goals he can achieve in the present. He helps him build his upper body strength by encouraging him to swim daily, as well as taking part in other activities that engage both his mind and body — woodcarving, archery, and learning to read and write.

Robin is never made to feel that his physical handicap is a burden or couldn’t be dealt with. He was able to travel, swim, and eventually becomes strong enough to both carve and use his own crutches. By the time that he has to accept that he may probably not recover the use of his legs he has already found so many ways to be useful and independent that it no longer seems as great a concern for him — his major worry is how his parents might react to the change in him since they had last seen each other. But readers can be assured that Robin’s story ends happily. The Door in the Wall is a nice trip into the past, as well as a look at how even the most daunting obstacles can be overcome if you are able to look at things from another angle, use a different approach.

 You can read more of my pop culture reviews on my blog, xoxoxo e

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