Anyway, I have been reading a lot lately during my spare times and I recently just finished RE-Reading "Hush Hush", which is the first book in the Hush Hush series, and Beautiful Creatures, which is also the first book in the Caster Chronicles series, to join in the #BeautifulReRead read-a-thon to catch a glimpse of the first 5 sneak peak chapters of "Dangerous Creatures". However, I didn't have time to read it yet, but if I do, I will do another book review on it. All I know is that it's going to be a spin-off of Beautiful Creatures, but this time, it will be focusing on Link and Ridley instead of the two previous main characters: Ethan and Lena. I think Margaret Stohl and Kami Garcia, the authors for the Caster Chronicles series, really know what us readers wants. When I was reading the book for the first time, I was really shocked that it was so entertaining to read and it was really addictive because I don't really enjoy genres like this other than the "Harry Potter" series, but it was so good that I was really eager to get the sequel, which I did. However, I was really disappointed when the film adaption didn't really live up to the fan's expectations and it is impossible to get the sequel. I think the film adaption wasn't that bad, but it definitely wasn't anywhere close with the book. I think the key to make a good film adaption is literally not changing anything except for maybe the characters' features or age, but other than that, the director should have stuck with following the book. I mean, look at "The Hunger Games" or "Divergent", it's HUGE because that's what the fans wanted and expected. As for "Hush Hush", I actually attended a meeting in a convention centre last month to participate in a "Book Talk", which is like this meeting where all book bloggers and booktubers would attend to meet authors and just talk about books. Fortunately, I met a Singaporean Book Blogger named Mikayla. Surprisingly, she is a fan of my blog and she wanted me to do a book review on "Hush Hush", which I promised I would but never did. (Hi, Mikayla. If you're reading this post right now, I would do this book review after this, okay?!)
Speaking about books and film adaptions, this will be the first time I do a collaboration with a trailer reaction and a book review because somehow they're connected and this time will be a collaboration of X-Men Days of Future Past trailer reaction and the book review on Quantum Prophecy: The Awakening. The reason why I wanted to collaborate them is because Quantum Prophecy really reminded me a lot of X-Men. The existence of superheroes with superpowers fighting against super-villains with superpowers really reminded me of mutants fighting against humans. The awkward thing is that both the trailer and the book was so AMAZING, I decided to do a review on both of them.
Originally, I wanted to do a book review on "Dead Reckoning", which I started reading like a month ago, but the book was so BAD, I had to throw it into my Sacrifice pile, which is a corner in my room where all the bad books go. I didn't really get what story the authors was trying to write. I think the plot of the story was really sloppy and messy, it just takes a long time trying to figure out what the authors are actually trying to say and the characters in the book was...I don't know... boring. I had never read a book this bad before because the books that I got for last year and this year are all really inspiring and amazingly-written books, but I guess, "Dead Reckoning" would be my No. 1 "Most Terrible Book" in 2014.
Now, let's talk about my trailer reaction of X-Men Days of Future Past. I know most people would do it on YouTube but not me, I will do it in writing. You can click on the links to watch the videos on YouTube and below it would be my thoughts on it.
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (OFFICIAL TRAILER-HD)
Trailer Reaction: The first time I watched this trailer was on it's official release, which was on October 29, 2013. OH MY GOSH, my first reaction was like I NEED TO WATCH THIS MOVIE NOW! I'm a huge fan of all the actors and actresses in the film. I mean, we got Hugh Jackman for Wolverine, James McAvoy and Patrick Stewart as Professor X/ Charles Xavier, Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellen as Magneto/ Eric Lensherr, Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique/ Raven Darkholme, Halle Berry for Storm/ Ororo Munroe, Ellen Page as Kitty Pryde, Nicholas Hoult as Beast/ Hank McCoy and we got Shawn Ashmore as Iceman/ Bobby Drake. The most shocking thing when I was watching the trailer was that Peter Dinklage is going to portray the main antagonist of the film. I mean, SERIOUSLY?! I knew Peter through "Game of Thrones" where he portrays as Tyrion Lannister and he is one of my most favourite characters of all times. I wouldn't call Tyrion a villain because he really is a good guy deep under that drunken disguise so I'm pretty excited with him portraying a villain in the film. I mean, I've never watched him portraying a villain so if this movie becomes successful, which I know it will, this could prove that Peter really is a complex actor who can portray almost any characters. Other than that, I was really excited when I saw Fan Bing Bing as Blink even though it's just a brief moment in the trailer but I'm really excited. I literally screamed and jumped around my room once the trailer was over because it was really just...speechless...
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (OFFICIAL TRAILER 2-HD)
Trailer Reaction: Again, I watched it on the day it was released, which was on March 24, 2014. I just watched a recording of myself watching it because I wanted to post it on my blog, but my face reaction was just so hilarious and I cried when the trailer was over, so you know how emotional I was and I showed it to my friends, and they all went crazy for awhile so I decided to keep it from saving myself from embarrassment. Anyway, if you watched the trailer, you would notice that we're about to see this darker side in all the characters when they were younger. I think James McAvoy is such a great actor for the younger-self of Charles Xavier because he really showed us this never-before-seen, more rebellious side of Professor X instead of the 'true gentleman' Professor X. I think the collaboration between Patrick Stewart and James McAvoy is very important for the film because they are basically the key and the glue for the entire X-Men films. Another mutant that I'm so eager to watch has got to be Eric Lensherr a.k.a Magneto. We didn't really got the chance to see Michael Fassbender as the younger version of Magneto in the first official trailer, it was just brief moments, but this second one was more focused onto both the younger and older Magneto. Honestly,I'm more focused on Ian McKellen and Michael Fassbender portraying as Magneto. I think Michael did a great job in X-Men: First Class as the upcoming Magneto, maybe because he knew Ian McKellen did an AMAZING job portraying Magneto or maybe because he is originally an amazing actor himself. I'm more excited to watch Wolverine convincing the younger version of Magneto to join forces with the younger version of Professor X even though their older-selves had already join forces together to protect the mutant species because I think it would be a very tough situation for Wolverine. We know that they aren't really friends anymore and they stand on different grounds, but I think despite all the disagreements, they do have one similar goal which is to protect the mutant species from extinction, so I think they are going to cooperate with each other, but maybe a few arguments or fighting scenes but that's what really keep the film even more interesting. And RAVEN!!! I got so much to say about her. I think Jennifer Lawrence is really fit to portray characters like this, like she could be emotional in one scene and kicking someone else's ass in another. I got a little over excited when Raven appeared, like when she shape-shifted into a soldier to blend into her environment and kicking everybody's butt at the next. I'm also really excited to watch that scene where Eric and Raven looked straight into each other's eyes like COME ONE, it's so obvious you guys like each other. NEW ENEMIES! ARTIFICIAL BLACK ROBOTS! FIGHTING SCENES! PEOPLE RUNNING AWAY, SCREAMING FOR THEIR LIVES! MAGNETO AND PROFESSOR X MEET! ELLEN PAGE! It's just so AWESOME! I think that's what I really expected from X-Men, but it just gets better.
X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST (OFFICIAL TRAILER 3-HD)
Trailer Reaction: I was really excited when this trailer came out on April 15, 2014, which was like 4 days ago. First of all, I was really excited that we finally got a chance to see all the united mutants using all their powers to save themselves. I think Hugh Jackman portrayed Wolverine really well, like the scenes where he had to convince and recruit all the younger version of the most powerful mutants in the world. There were a lot of action scenes in this final trailer like we finally got a chance to see Evan Peters as Pietro Maximoff a.k.a Quicksilver slowing down the time or maybe it's just him being really fast in slow motion. We also got a chance to see Magneto lifting the entire stadium off the ground with his powers: I was Mind-Blown during that scene. We also got a chance to see and hear Peter talking or proposing an idea of creating a new type of technology and weapons to destroy every single mutant in this world.
X-MEN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST "OPENING BATTLE" CLIP
Clip Reaction: Woopie! We finally got a chance to see Fan Bing Bing or Blink in action, creating portals to teleport, not just for herself but for anyone who isn't her enemy. And Ellen Page was just so Awesome as Kitty Pryde. She was running, walking through walls and helping Bishop walking through walls. The scene where Colossus transformed his skin into steel and Sunspot using his solar-powered superpowers to defeat the enemy was just...it literally got me on the edge of my sit...and Iceman or Bobby was so freaking cool. He was sliding on ice, freezing the enemies. Like, could this movie be any better than all mutants joining forces with each other, defeating the enemies. It's just going to be so AWESOME!
Overall, I think X-Men: Days of Future Past is going to be Movie of the Year of 2014. There is just so much to expect from this film because it's a collaboration of both older and younger versions of themselves. The film is about mutants getting united, defeating the enemy in the future and the past, and protecting the mutant species from extinction. But what I really think, is that this is about their future-selves trying to mend the past and create a more prosper future from themselves. This literally is going to change the world and the race of the mutants forever. THIS IS GOING TO BE A BATTLE FOR THEIR LIVES!
For more information on "X-Men:Days of Future Past", you can check on this link: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men:_Days_of_Future_Past)
For more updates on the film, you can visit their official page: ( http://www.x-menmovies.com/), like them on Facebook: ( https://www.facebook.com/xmenmovies), follow them on Twitter: (https://twitter.com/xmenmovies), Instagram: ( http://instagram.com/xmenmovies) or Tumblr: (http://xmenmovies.tumblr.com/) If you have a Google account, do +1 X-Men on Google Plus.
Now that the TRAILER REACTION is done. I shall proceed onto my next second book review. This second book review would be on "Quantum Prophecy: The Awakening" or also known as "The New Heroes". (*Quantum Prophecy is actually the title for the US.)
A brief summary that was provided from the book:
"Ten years go, almost all of the world's superhumans-heroes and villains alike-disappeared.// Billionaire Max Dalton, former leader of The High Command and one of the very few remaining superhumans, has retired from active duty and refuses to speak of what happened. It seems that the age of the superhumans is over.// But two teenage boys-Colin Wagner and Danny Cooper-are about to uncover the shocking truth behind the superhumans' disappearance. And that truth will change the world forever."*Spoiler Alert (If you haven't read the book, scroll below the picture section, you will find the review there.)
The story started out ten years prior to the main story with a battle among superheroes and supervillains that inhabited the western world. There was this gigantic tank built and driven by Ragnarok, one of the main antagonist during that time, that was on its way to New York City. Thinking it would destroy the city and harming millions of innocent people, the superheroes united and fought their way and gave all their best shot at destroying the tank. However,one of the heroes named Quantum had a brief vision and told Paragon, also a hero but he doesn't have any superhuman powers, that a boy with super strength would come to him, much to Paragon's confusion. And that they're going to lose this war.
Ten years later, three teenage boys-Colin Wagner, Danny Cooper and Brian McDonald-and rest of their classmates was assigned to write about what it would be like to be a superhero, a question recommended by Brian due to "The Mystery Day", the day where all the superhumans went missing prior to the battle ten years ago. On their way home, Brian's little sister, Susie, was almost hit by a bus while riding her bike, but Danny Cooper somehow foresaw it coming and rescued her in seconds of time, much to Colin and Brian's surprise. At home, he pondered over this incident and came to a conclusion that his best friend, Danny Cooper, may be a superhuman. On the night of "The Mystery Day", Colin decided to confront Danny about it and Danny finally revealed that his father was once known as Quantum and that he inherited his powers. When Colin got home and started hearing things from a far away distance, his parents too revealed that they were once known as Titan and Energy, and Colin too is a superhuman himself. Later that night, an enemy helicopter captured Colin, his parents, Danny and his father to America. Around the same time, a mysterious, heavily-guarded prisoner named Joseph was broken out of a top-secret prison in Nevada by a man named Victor Cross. During their flight to America, Danny's father was revealed to be a villain-in-disguised named Facade. In the airport, Colin was separated from his parents and was escorted into different routes with Danny. Fortunately, Colin was able to escape from his captors and followed his father's tip to find either Soloman Cord or Max Dalton, who are close friends with them. Since New York was too far and Colin didn't have any money to board a plane there, he decided to look for Soloman Cord, who was once known as Paragon, in Richmond, Virginia. Along the path of searching Soloman, he took refuge in a shelter and after a brief standoff, he befriended Razor, a 17 year-old bully from the shelter. He and Colin used a stolen car to escape from Cross' agents who were under-disguised as police. Colin found Soloman but, refusing to believe him, he shut his garage door. Colin rips it off, and Soloman remembered a bit of Quantom's prophecy: "He will be strong, that's how you will know." Colin and Razor met Soloman's wife and two daughters, one of which Colin falls for. Around that time, Danny and the others arrives at Victor Cross' base, where they are held captive with the newly awakened hero, Renata Soliz, who was once known as Diamond. Soloman took Colin to the base and they successfully invaded it. Soliz and Danny took out most of the guards and Colin gets captured. Danny runs in, seeing Colin being tested on similar to how he was. Victor Cross enters with Joseph, who reveals himself to be Danny's father (Paul Joseph Cooper), the real Quantum, and the other to be Facade stuck looking like Quantum. Danny takes a gun, and threatens to shoot. Joseph becomes grave and tells him to put it down. Danny replies there are no bullets inside, and Joseph says that doesn't matter. Danny then slaps him with the butt of his gun. He remembers when he threw a rock at the wall and it seemed to be moving slow but it exploded on the wall as blood spills onto the floor from Joseph's head. At the end, Soloman, Danny, Diamond and Colin all joined forces with each other in taking down Max Dalton, who had been the real culprit and the true mastermind behind the plot, and Victor Cross, who fled in the last minute to use a machine he built for himself. Dalton built a similar power-damped machine that was built by Ragnarok ten years ago, in hopes it would steal Danny, Colin and Diamond's superhuman powers to prevent Quantum's prophecy from happening. However, Danny was able to destroy it at the very last moment with a price of having his right arm amputated. The ending scene revealed that Danny remembered seeing his future-self with a right mechanical arm.
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| The US edition of "Quantum Prophecy: The Awakening" by Michael Caroll. |
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| The UK edition of "The New Heroes: The Quantum Prophecy" by Michael Carroll. |
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| The US edition of "Quantum Prophecy: The Gathering" by Michael Carroll. This is the sequel of "Quantum Prophecy: The Awakening". |
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| The UK edition of "The New Heroes: Sakkara" by Michael Carroll. This is the sequel of "The New Heroes: The Quantum Prophecy".
OFFICIAL BOOK REVIEW:
+ Great story line involving a new generation of superheroes and supervillains, even though it bares some similarities with X-Men.
+ Love the way how the characters cope with certain difficulties in their lives, especially how Colin and Danny deals with the developments of their superpowers in their normal daily lives and the twisted scheme planned behind both of them.
+ Colin definitely was the dark horse in the story, having enhanced strength and hearing proved more useful in stopping the power-damped machine and saving the innocents.
+ I love how Michael Carroll narrated each of thee characters' perspectives so well, let alone the heroes or the villains.
+ Colin reminded me a lot of Leo Valdez from "The Heroes of Olympus" series because he was really funny, like in his own personal perspective about certain things or people, especially during his conversation with Razor, on their way to Richmond, Virginia. That's what I really like about the book. Even though it's about a serious matter like saving the world and protecting the lives of their love ones, but Michael never forgets to remind us that even upcoming heroes like Danny and Colin are still teenagers and the way for them handling certain situations may sometimes be a little un-logical or irrational and irresponsible, but they are still teenagers so I think that's what keeps the book so realistic and you'll somehow find it sometimes related to you, in certain ways.
+ I really enjoyed the flow of the story. It's always unpredictable, either the characters background information, what really happened ten years ago or how that incident had affected the heroes and villains in the good and bad way, what I was really shocked about was literally Quantum's prophecy. I definitely wasn't expecting THAT to happen, but that's really how the story gets even more interesting.
+ It was really a smart thing to do by Michael. Instead of writing the entire incident that happened 10 years ago, why not breaking them apart and take several sequences out from it and connect it with the story that comes after.
+ Michael is really good at keeping us readers in the dark and always find a way to give us the most unexpected scenarios in the plot.
+ Characters like Max Dalton and Victor Cross are actually the most unpredictable. As a reader, you would feel whatever they are or were doing are actually for the right reasons, just how they did was wrong, but at some point of the story, you would actually wonder if they're really doing for the good or just for their own selfish reasons.
+ Facade is also a very interesting character, but his intentions are still a mystery. I'm still not sure if I want to rule him out as the bad guy. Like I said before, this book is filled with mystery and really unpredictable. You can't really trust anyone or anything that is going on in the story. Like, you expected this to happen, but it never will, it comes completely unexpected.
- I haven't read the second book yet, but I do hope they put more Danny scenes into it. I understand that the story's main characters are Danny and Colin, but I feel Michael should have wrote more about Danny's perspective and the happenings around him since most of his actions affects the future. Maybe Michael wants to keep him for other sequels, but I do wish more Danny. I just fell in love with him immediately his character appeared in the first chapter.
- Hopefully, the sequel will have more action-packs and fighting scenes instead of just having intense arguments or conversations because I really enjoyed the fighting scene at the end of this book. It really put me on the edge of my sit and the cliffhanger at the end just drove me to get the sequel even more.
EXPECTATIONS FOR THE SEQUEL:
*More Danny scenes.
*More action-packs and fighting scenes
*Should have more scenes involving Danny and Colin joining forces with each other.
CONCLUSION:
I rate this book 4/5.
This book definitely deserve this much points. The plot of the story was just like riding a roller-coaster of emotions; You feel all sorts of emotions through out the story: happy, angry, sad, shocked and confused, but never bored. The world that was built around them had a very dystopian feeling. Even though it sets in our world, but you still feel a little alien towards it. I think that's what keeps it so original and genuine despite the existence of superhuman in the real world. The development of the characters were really the main reason I'm so addicted towards it. It's really hard not to fall in love with Danny and Colin. They're such brave and strong teenagers despite the rough patches in front of them. As a teenager myself, I think they handled the tough situations very well.
However, through out the story, I was definitely expecting more of Danny since he is one of the main characters but this book was more focus on Colin, not that I'm complaining; Colin is really fun and entertaining to read, but hopefully the sequel will have more of Danny and them joining forces together to fend off the villains. I was also expecting more fire-power since I really enjoyed the fighting scene through out the book, but fingers-crossed, hopefully the sequel will have more of it.
Overall, it's a great book to read. If you like action-pack, thriller, mystery and sci-fi, I absolutely recommend this book. You're totally going to fall in love with it because I did and I still am. Unfortunately, I haven't got the sequel yet, but if I do, I'm going to read it straight away and do another book review on it.
To cure this book hangover, I decided to read "Interworld" by Neil Gailman and Michael Reeves. This book, too, is getting more and more addictive. I might do another book review on this, but definitely after "Hush Hush".
Like always, if you find my blogs, (My Little Book Affairs and Le Blog de Nicole), interesting, do subscribe them by clicking on the buttons beside my blog or you can also read it through your email just simply insert your email address on the column beside this blog. You can also follow me in Twitter (@NicoleWong1998), Instagram (CameraStyleMe), Pinterest (Nicolette 'Nicole' Wong) and Tumblr account (NicoleTheGirlNextDoor).
That's all for now. Thank you for reading this post and I'll see you soon.
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