u/Oddyseus144

So I read book one about a year back, and while I loved the prologue and the world, the rest I really didn’t enjoy. There were two issues:

(1) The author seemed to go out of their way to make it as relentlessly depressing as possible. Toby loses her life, isolates herself from friends, refuses to see her daughter, goes back to her abusive ex… It’s just not enjoyable. If it was a series/character I’d already loved I could handle it probably, but as an introduction to both it was just too much.

(2) After the stellar prologue, the rest of the book essentially ignores everything set-up and it genuinely pissed me off—not often do books do that. 😅 Not only does Toby not even mention trying to find the guy who ruined her life (to the point I almost felt gaslighted that it even happened…), but her refusal to go see her daughter seemed ridiculous to me as a parent. I don’t care what the situation was, the FIRST thing I’d do is go find my child.

With all that said, it’s a long series that I do really want to enjoy as I’ve heard it gets very good later on. However, I don’t really feel like rereading a book I didn’t like, and I don’t really want to read book two (which I’ve heard is even worse), so can I skip forward to book three or four maybe? (Can I follow the story reasonably doing so?) Also, does the story become less relentless depression, and when does it actually address the stuff that went down in the prologue? (Or is the author just going to stretch it out as much as possible to create as much drama as possible?) Light spoilers are fine btw.

Currently doing a rewatch (haven’t watched through all the movies since I was a teen), and I’m on Thunderball. I remember it being decent my first watch years ago, but this time around I absolutely love it—even more than Goldfinger.

And the biggest reason…

Bond is such an absolute smartass in this one. (He has been before, but this movie has it far more) There’s just so much that Connery is doing to be funny, witty, and upping the sarcasm. I love it.

I’m curious though. Is Connery the biggest smartass of the bunch? Or is another one of the actors also pretty up there, I just don’t remember after so much time? I’m starting to realize on this rewatch that it’s my favorite part of the character.

I’m wanting to try out this famous series, however, when I read I also try really hard to avoid sexual assault stuff when possible. (Just a personal preference) I’ve heard there might be some of that in The Culture books, but in which books, how often it comes up, and how it is handled I don’t know much.

To clarify: small/distant references to rape as the result of war is usually fine—if it’s not done constantly over and over again. What I really don’t want is graphic descriptions, on-page stuff, or a big part of a MCs plot.

I’m on my yearly rewatch of all the alien and predator movies. Usually, I enjoy every movie. (Yes, even AVP: R, which despite its flaws has some enjoyment for me) Pretty much all a movie needs is a xeno or yautja and I’m sold. That said, I usually skip the worst movie in any of the franchises… The Predator.

This time I watched it though—it’d been a few years since I last saw it. And I just… WOW does this movie suck. I legitimately don’t understand how either. With the budget and potential. The movie is a literal train wreck, from start to finish. I’ve seen plenty of bad movies that never stood a chance (unknown director, low budget, etc.), but this might be the worst big budget blockbuster that I’ve ever seen. And THAT is saying something.

I can’t remember where, but I recall a fan talking online about the Assembly Cut, and a big point they made was that it felt a little less nihilistic than the theatrical. All of the added character moments—particularly Dillon’s speeches, extra presence, and dialogue—added a little more hope to a fairly bleak movie.

As a big fan of the Assembly Cut, I think I might agree—and it might be one of the things that I enjoy about it compared to the theatrical.

I’m curious everyone’s thoughts? Does the Assembly Cut have a slightly different tone? And what do you think of that?