Sunday 25 May 2014

FILM REVIEW: X-MEN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST AND MY CURRENT READS

Hello, my wonderful, ever energetic readers. 
I'm sorry I wasn't able to do a weekly book review for the past three weeks because my Mid-Term Exam was going on and I didn't really read any books during that period because I was so busy catching up with my exam papers, but my Mid-Term Holiday just started so I think I would be able to do probably a twice-a-week review if only I could finish reading a book like really fast, which is possible for my reading speed.
For this post, I will be reviewing "X-Men: Days Of Future Past", which just recently released on March 23rd, which is also 2 days ago. I actually just watched it one day after its release, which is on March 24th, which is also a Saturday. Too be honest, I'm still fangirling about everything that practically happened in this film like Jennifer Lawrence (If you saw my Instagram page, you would notice I'm actually wearing a blue dress to support Jennifer Lawrence as Raven a.k.a Mystique in the film.) Furthermore, I'll also be showing you guys my current reads.
  Now, let's jump right in. 

(*Spoilers Alert! However, I will not be doing a brief summary on this film. You can check out the link below of the post for more information on this film.)

OFFICIAL FILM REVIEW:
+ The plot of the film was just so smart and really breathtaking. I really enjoyed the entire idea of the film like involving time-traveling and going back to the past to fix all those wrong-doings to save the present and the future. I think this film really taught all the viewers that everything you do has its own consequences and it may change the future in a good way or in a bad way, and it's really all about the choices you make to undone the future and change history forever.
+ First, I got to say Hugh Jackman as Logan a.k.a. Wolverine just made the entire audience at the very edge of their sits. Too be honest, I wasn't really a huge fan of Wolverine because he didn't really attracted my attention towards him even though he had played the main lead in most of the X-Men films, but after watching Hugh's performance in this film, I was like "Can I just have some more Wolverine scenes?" Because there weren't really much scenes about him and I just wished we could have seen more Wolverine-in-action. 
+ My two Charles Xavier a.k.a. Professor X James McAvoy , who reprised his role as the younger version of Charles Xavier, and Patrick Stewart , who played the older version of Charles Xavier and also in the original X-Men trilogy films. I have to say James McAvoy definitely nailed his role as the younger version of Charles Xavier like you would never expected Charles to be going through so much pain and suffering before becoming the well-known Professor X that every mutant and human in the world respects and admires. James McAvoy is really good at delivering emotional scenarios since this is about him battling his own demons and the evil brewing around him, so I think he did a FANTASTIC job. As for Patrick Stewart, I think his role is quite simple compared to James McAvoy, but that doesn't mean he didn't do anything. I think at that specific situation, when you know you're the last few species of your kind standing alive, there is this certain amount of fear and emotion inside, so I think that's what Sir Patrick Stewart delivered, like he's strong and calm on the surface and has all his faith towards the person he trusted the most--Logan, but still deep down, he has that fear that they may not have enough time to save them from extinction. So hands down to these both AMAZING actors portraying Professor X.  
+ I got a lot of good things to say about these two portraying the younger version and older version of Erik Lensherr a.k.a Magneto respectively: Michael Fassbender (younger version of Magneto) and Ian McKellen (older version of Magneto). First of all, I started fangirling over Michael Fassbender straight away after his appearance when they were breaking him out of the Pentagon. Before "X-Men: First Class", I never really given much thought to whatever Magneto really gone through, in the previous X-Men trilogy films because well first, he's a villain and second, his really ambitious; but after watching the first "X-Men: First Class" film with Michael portraying Erik Lensherr before he officially became Magneto really got me wondering the real reason why he became the villain he is in the previous X-Men trilogy films...(like he's that good)...And in "X-Men: Days of Future Past", he brought Erik Lensherr in a whole new direction or it's just Michael himself bringing his acting skills in a whole new level. There is this one specific scene in the film that really wrecked me because Michael's acting skills on emotional scenarios just really got to me. Too be honest, at some point of the film, I was really hoping they could just make a film about him with Michael portraying. Sir Ian McKellen, on the other hand, really got me wanting to watch those previous X-Men trilogy films with him as Magneto through out this film because I never thought he could make Magneto this bad-ass and at a very specific scene in the film just suddenly got really emotional. I just have to do this stand up ovation for the both of them.
+ Another reason to watch this film is of course to watch this bad-ass actress, Jennifer Lawrence portraying this kick-ass character, Raven a.k.a Mystique. You probably have watched her in "The Hunger Games" film series as the main protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, but forget all of that. Jennifer Lawrence definitely dropped the whole Katniss personality and went diving into the Mystique personality and she nailed it. She was able to portray the more emotional side of Mystique that were never seen before in the previous "X-Men" trilogy films and you'll never know she actually went through all those pain and suffering too to get to the villain that she was in the "X-Men" trilogy films. I mean, I always wanted to know Mystique's background story and how she met Magneto and joined forces with him, and this film definitely tells some part of how she became the person she is today. Speaking of Magneto, I really enjoyed the chemistry they had throughout the film, not that they kissed or anything, but I feel the both of them (Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence) had such great chemistry throughout the film, but you can't help but wonder sometimes that they will definitely get rid of each other to get whatever they want, but that's what makes their personalities so similar. The relationship between Raven and Charles Xavier was even more emotional compared to her and Erik, but that's what really make the film even more interesting. I think, even though they stand on different grounds and fighting in opposite purposes, but deep down, they still need each other like most of the siblings do. Overall, I got to say I have never loved Mystique this much until Jennifer Lawrence came by and swooped us of our feet.
+ I have never seen a more braver person than Ellen Page, who came out a lesbian just a few months ago, and she nailed the role of Kitty Pryde a.k.a Shadowcat right into the wall like literally she could walked right through walls. I think her role is very simple, but Ellen Page was able to portray this even more complex and diverse character of Kitty Pryde and we had never seen this side of her, like she grew from this teenager mutant who had the ability to walk through walls to this brave young woman who takes her mutant abilities to a whole new level and gained a new power to control the past and to change the future. 
+ Like I said in my "X-Men: Days of Future Past Trailer Reactions", I really don't know what to expect with Peter Dinklage portraying the main antagonist, Bolivar Trask, but he definitely did a great job in this film. Even though, Trask doesn't show that cruel side of him on the surface, but below it all, he's actually a cold-blooded animal who experiments on mutants to create the perfect weapon called the Sentinels and he doesn't even feel guilty or anything about creating an extinction of the mutant species, and that's what really makes Peter's acting performance so good. Like, you can't really hate him or love him, it just makes you feel lots of emotions inside of you. 
Another actor that I would like to give an applause to has got to be Nicholas Hoult portraying Hank McCoy a.k.a. Beast. I don't really have much to say about his character, but I really enjoyed his acting performance in the film. I think, Hank is still struggling to control himself as Beast, but he's definitely learning how to, and that emotional journey throughout the film of realization that mutants can't really be accepted as part of the community and it just breaks all the audiences heart. With Fan Bing Bing as Clarice Ferguson a.k.a Blink was just another perfection of the film. I have never seen a Chinese actress portraying such a strong character this well other than Li Bing Bing, but she did such a FANTASTIC job in this film, and I'm definitely looking forward to watch her in the sequel. I'm also looking forward to watch Evan Peters portraying Pietro Maximoff a.k.a Quicksilver in the sequel. However, I'm not sure if Evan will be reprising his role or even Quicksilver will be reprised in the sequel.

The Official Movie Poster of "X-Men: Days of Future Past". This film is already on cinemas and theaters so be sure to go watch this film and give your comment on the comment section below. You can follow their Twitter page (@XMenMovies) for more updates and information on this film. You can also #XMenDaysOfFuturePast on Twitter, I'm currently retweeting and favourite every tweets with this hashtag trend of "X-Men: Days of Future Past". 
The official teaser poster for Wolverine, who is portrayed by none-other-than Hugh Jackman. There were many official posters of Wolverine that were released, but I just adore this one so I decided to choose this poster of Wolverine. You can follow Hugh Jackman on Twitter: @RealHughJackman for more information on Wolverine and of course updates of  Hugh himself.
My Two Charles Xavier/ Professor X: Patrick Stewart (left) portrayed the older version of Charles Xavier in "X-Men: Days of Future Past" and the original "X-Men" trilogy films. You can follow him on his Twitter page: @SirPatStew for more information and updates on his character. James McAvoy (right) portrayed the younger version of Charles Xavier in "X-Men: First Class" and of course 'X-Men: Days of Future Past".
The official teaser poster of Erik Lensherr a.k.a Magneto in the combination of the older version and the younger version of himself: Michael Fassbender portrayed the younger version of Magneto in "X-Men: First Class" and reprised his role again as Magneto in "X-Men: Days of Future Past" alongside Sir Ian McKellen to portray the older version of Magneto in "X-Men: Days of Future Past" and the original "X-Men" trilogy films. You can follow Sir Ian McKellen on his Twitter Page: @IanMcKellen for more updates and more information on Magneto and the talent behind him. 
I just can't get enough of these two. Michael Fassbender (who portrayed the younger version of Magneto) and Sir Ian McKellen (who portrayed the older version of Magneto) was just so BAD-ASS in the film. I just wish there were more.
You do have to excuse me for putting up this image of Michael Fassbender. I just can't stop FANGIRLING over him after watching "X-Men: Days of Future Past". If you already watched this film, you will know why. (He just killed it.)
Jennifer Lawrence in blue or it's just her portraying Raven a.k.a Mystique in 'X-Men: First Class" and "X-Men: Days of Future Past". #JenniferLawrence and I will retweet your tweets too. She's just so good in the films.
Jennifer Lawrence being Jennifer Lawrence (LOL) except she's portraying Raven. You can find this specific scene of Raven in "X-Men: Days of Future Past".
The bravest and the most talented actress in the whole wide world, Ellen Page portrayed the character of Kitty Pryde a.k.a Shadowcat in "X-Men: Days of Future Past". However, she took Kitty Pryde into a whole new level and direction compared to the original "X-Men" trilogy films. (You will never see it coming.) You can also follow her on her Twitter page: @EllenPage
Peter Dinklage is probably one of the most talented actors of all times. You may know him as Tyrion Lannister in "Game of Thrones". He also portrayed the main antagonist, Bolivar Trask, in "X-Men: Days of Future Past". 
Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy a.k.a Beast before transformation. There were just too many pictures of him as Beast so i could only find one decent picture of him in his character and this is the only one. You can follow him on his Twitter page: @NicholasHoult for more information and update on his character and of course himself.
Fan Bing Bing portrayed Clarice Ferguson a.k.a Blink in "X-Men: Days of Future Past" and I can't wait to see her again in the sequel, "X-Men: Apocalypse", which will be released on March 27, 2016 if there isn't any last minute changes. (I just love her costume and her hairstyle in this film.)
I also can't wait to see Evan Peters as Pietro Maximoff a.k.a Quicksilver in the sequel. He's just such a fun and energetic character that I love to see more in the future. 

Most of all, us fans must give all our love and gratitude to this guy's existence because he created the most AMAZING characters (I do mean Superheroes) and comic books (With Superheroes in it). You can follow Stan Lee on his Twitter page: @TheRealStanLee for more SUPERHEROES adventures.
EXPECTATIONS FOR THE SEQUEL:
* More Kitty Pryde/ Shadowcat scenes.
* More Blink, Quicksilver, Ororo Munroe a.k.a Storm (Halle Berry) , Bobby Drake a.k.a Iceman (Shawn Ashmore), Bishop (Omar Sy) , Peter Rasputin a.k.a Colossus (Daniel Cudmore) , Alex Summers a.k.a Havok (Lucas Till) in-action scenes.  
* MAGNETO'S RETURN!
* More Raven and Charles Xavier scenes.

CONCLUSION:
I rate this film a 4.8/5.
  I think this film is close to perfection. I just feel like the film was so good that you feel that it's just not enough. However, I fully understand that since it is a combination of the present and the future, so there were many scenes that were a little be rush and needs to be shorten. However, I'm definitely looking forward to the sequel, "X-Men: Apocalypse" that will be releasing in March 27, 2016, if there isn't any changes. All the cast members will be reprising their roles alongside some new cast members like Channing Tatum was recently cast as Gambit and they're still looking for new cast members to portray the younger version of Storm, Cyclops and Jean Grey. 
  Overall, this film is probably the BEST among all the other X-Men films that were ever made and be sure to check this film out in your nearest cinemas or theaters. 

For more information on "X-Men: Days of Future Past", you can check out this link below:
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-Men:_Days_of_Future_Past)

I'm currently reading the "Divergent" trilogy by Veronica Roth. I just bought the "Divergent: Official Illustrated Movie Companion" two days ago and just felt like reading the entire trilogy again. And yes! Even "Allegiant". I will be doing a brief series review on them on my blog very soon.

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 on Twitter (@NicoleWong1998), Instagram (CameraStyleMe), Pinterest (Nicolette 'Nicole' Wong) and Tumblr account (NicoleTheGirlNextDoor). I also recently just signed up for GoodRead. You can search my name (Nicole Wong) to follow me there.

 That's all for now. Thank you for reading this post and I'll see you soon. 
  

















Saturday 3 May 2014

MY "FALLEN" FILM ADAPTION HYPE AND MY OFFICIAL THIRD BOOK REVIEW: INTERWORLD

Hello again, my favourite blog readers!
  First of all, it has been exactly 2 weeks (14 days) since I last blogged about a book review and it's on "Quantum Prophecy: The Awakening". I know I've mentioned that I would be getting the sequel, "Quantum Prophecy: The Gathering", very soon since I really enjoyed the first book. However, I have been really busy lately with my studies and I didn't get a chance to go to my local bookstore to get all the books that I want. (Trust me, I have a lot of books in my #MustPurchasedList than you can imagine!) 
  Before I start my book review on "InterWorld", which I actually finished reading couple of weeks ago, I actually read on Twitter that the "Fallen" movie production had officially wrapped up and they just released the first image of "Fallen" featuring the main protagonist, Lucinda 'Luce' Price (Addison Timlin) , the Fallen Angel, Daniel Grigori (Jeremy Irvine) and also another Fallen Angel, Cameron 'Cam' Briel (Harrison Gilbertson). The "Fallen" series consists of four novels: Fallen, Torment, Passion and Rapture. Unfortunately, I haven't read the rest of the sequels to "Fallen" because I bought "Fallen" alongside with "Hush Hush" and I completely fell in love with "Hush Hush", and "Fallen" was kind of like a cure to my book hangover from "Hush Hush". However, I did enjoyed the first book and now I have the intention on getting the entire series, and hopefully I could marathon them and write a book review on them, very soon. 
"Fallen" is a Young-Adult Fantasy and Romance Novel, written by the #1 New York Times Bestseller, Lauren Kate. It was first published on December 8, 2009. The film adaption of "Fallen" will be released in 2015. You can join in the #FallenMovie trend on Twitter.
The phenomenal Lauren Kate, who is the author of the "Fallen" series. If you have Twitter, you can follow her on Twitter by clicking on this link: (@laurenkatebooks) to know more about her and more information on the upcoming "Fallen" film adaption. You can also follow her on Instagram: (laurenkatebooks) She has been posting many pictures about the film adaption of "Fallen".
The beautiful 22 year-old American actress, Addison Timlin. She is best known for her portrayal as Sasha Bingham in Season 4 of Californication. She will play the lead role in the "Fallen" film adaption as Lucinda 'Luce' Price. You can also follow her on Twitter by clicking on this link: (@Addijay) to know more about her and her portrayal in the "Fallen" film adaption.
The 24 year-old English actor, Jeremy Irvine, is best known for his role as Albert Narracott in the epic War film, "War Horse". He would be portraying as Daniel Grigori in the "Fallen" film adaption.

Harrison Gilbertson is the 20 year-old Australian actor, who would be portraying Cameron 'Cam' Briel in the "Fallen" film adaption. This is the link to his Twitter account page if you want to follow him: (@GilbertsonReal)

  Now, let's proceed on to my third official book review on "InterWorld" by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves. First of all, I got to say I am a HUGE FAN of Neil Gaiman's writing. My first and most favourite Neil Gaiman book is "Coraline". I fell completely in love with it; I love the story line that involves this small tiny door that actually separates two very different worlds and I really love Coraline, who is the main protagonist of the story. I remembered when I first read this book, I felt completely drawn by it because I kind of had that Coraline attitude like we always disobey and rebel against our parents' wills and we just never listen to anyone's advice until it's too late and damage has already been caused. There was also a few moments of creepiness and chilliness, but that's what really drew me into the book even more. However, for Michael Reaves, I haven't read anything by him yet, but if I could find one, I would totally go for it because I did find this book interesting.

A brief synopsis that was provided at the back of the book:
"AN ASTOUNDING TALE OF ADVENTURE, DANGER, MAGIC, SCIENCE, FRIENDSHIP, SPACESHIPS, AND, OH YEAH, THE BATTLE TO SAVE ALL THE PEOPLE IN ALL THE WORLDS IN ALL POSSIBLE DIMENSIONS.//JOEY HARKER ISN'T A HERO.// In fact, he's the kind of guy who gets lost in his own house.// But one day, Joey gets really lost. He walks straight out of his world and into another dimension.// Joey's walk between worlds makes him prey to armies of magic and science, both determined to harness Joey's power to travel between the dimensions. The only thing standing in their way is Joey--or, more precisely, an army of Joeys, all from different dimensions and all determined to save the worlds.// Now Joey must make a choice: return to the life he knows or join the battle to the end."
* Spoilers Alert! (If you haven't read the book and didn't want to be spoiled, please scroll below the picture sections, the full book review would be there.)
  Before reading the story, there was a small authors' note: "This is a work of fiction. Still, given an infinite number of possible worlds, it must be true on one of them. And if a story set in an infinite number of possible universe is true in one of them, then it must be true in all of them. So maybe it's not as fictional as we think.

PART 1 (CHAPTER 1-8):
 Joey Harker, who is an average high school student living in Greenville, has trouble finding his way around his own house, let alone the town. On a field trip set by his Social Studies teacher, Mr. Dimas, Joey was paired with Ted Russell and Rowena Danvers. On his way on finding their way back home, Joey finds himself lost in the city. He then enters a strange fog and when he emerges, everything has changed: All the cars are brightly coloured, the police cars flashing green and yellow, instead of blue and red. He, then, goes back home and discovered that he no longer exists anymore, instead a girl named Josephine lives there. He ran outside and bumped into a man wearing a mirrored mask called Jay. Before Jay could explain anything, three men, standing on floating silver disks and wearing grey outfits, are trying to catch Joey using silver nets. Joey ran, unintentionally entering the fog and Walked again. 
  Afraid of going back home, where he doesn't exist and belonged to, Joey decided to ask help from Mr. Dimas. Mr. Dimas was shocked to see Joey and told him that he had drowned last year and that he himself had pulled Joey's dead body out of the river. Out of the blue, a woman appeared in the room and bewitched Joey into following her. The woman, later on, introduced herself as Lady Indigo and was joined by two other men; Scarabus, who has all these mystical tattoos all over his body and Neville, a man with transparent skin. They captured Joey and boarded a flying ship called the "Lacrimae Mundi".
  The ship teleported them to a sort of hyperspace called "Nowhere-At-All". Lady Indigo revealed that they are heading towards a place called HEX Prime. Before they could reach their destination, Jay arrived and helped Joey escaped, getting injured in the process. Joey opened a portal to the "In-Between", a multi-dimensional world, where only Walkers and MDLF (Multi-Dimensional Life Forms or also known as Mudluffs) beings can enter. The "In-Between" is a shortcut for travelling from world to world. Joey and Jay exited the "In-Between" and arrived on a desert. There, Jay explained to Joey how he is a part of an organization called "InterWorld" and their job is to keep the Altiverse balanced by stopping the scientific force, Binary, from making worlds too scientific, while also stopping magical force, HEX, from making worlds too magical. Jay also said that Joey has the ability to "Walk", or go into the "In-Between" and other dimensions quickly and effectively.
  A mudluff, which looked like a bubble and has the ability to communicate using colours, appeared to be trapped. As Joey tries to free the mudluff, a giant serpent appeared, biting Jay. The mudluff successfully killed the serpent, but Jay was already dying. Before he dies, he gave Joey the direction to Base Town, where "InterWorld" HQ is. With his dying breath, he showed Joey a mathematical equation that will lead him to Base Town: {IW}:=Ω/∞ ("InterWorld" is Omega over Infinity). The mudluff became attached to Joey after he saved it, and Joey named it "Hue". Joey went to HQ and learned that all Walkers are all copies of himself from different Earths. 

PART 2 (CHAPTER 9-13):
  He began an intense course of exercise while studying very advanced Science and Magic to prepare for his new role as a member of the "InterWorld". Many of the other Joeys initially resented Joey for causing Jay's death, but soon come around about him as his skills improved.
  After a few months of training and studying, Joey and four other Walkers (Jai, J/O, Josef, Jo and Jakon) went on a training mission to retrieve some signal beacons in a more Scientific Earth, but the earth they went turned out to be a "Shadow Realm" and is in fact a trap set by the same people who captured him earlier. Everyone in the team was captured by HEX, except Joey, who was saved by Hue. When Joey escaped back to HQ, the leader, an old man named Joe decided that Joey was not capable of working in "InterWorld" and wiped his memories of his life in "InterWorld". Joey returned home, where he thought nothing has happened, but felt like something was missing. After some time, while blowing bubbles with his little brother, Joey remembered Hue and every memory about Altiverse came back to him.

PART 3 (CHAPTER 14-21):
  With all those memories back, Joey bid his farewell to his mother, who suspected something fishy about him, Walked into the Altiverse again, and sets off to save his teammates.
  With Jay's words in his head and Hue's help, Joey found the airship, where his teammates were being held and landed safely on it. However, he was captured as well and was taken to meet Lord DogKnife, a large and hideous-looking goblin, who led the people who captures his teammates. Joey was then taken to the room, where his teammates were being held. A large cauldron is in the center of the room, built to capture their souls to power the ship. The HEX boil down Walkers to their raw essence, which is used as power supplies for their transdimensional spacecraft. Joey managed to move over to the cauldron and knocked it over, incinerating some of the guards in the room. He, then, moved over to untie his friends, who all try to find an exit so they could go to the engine room and shut the ship down. They, finally, found an exit and escaped to the engine room.
  The engine room was filled with souls from other Walkers, that was powering the ship. Joey and his teammates broke the jars containing them to shut the ship down. The engine exploded, and Joey and his teammates planned an escape from the "Nowhere-At-All". They talked of a gate in the "Nowhere-At-All" from which they could escape, but it was closing quickly. Joey decided he would not leave without Hue because it has saved his life multiple times.
  Many soldiers came into the destroyed engine room in an attempt to recapture Joey and his teammates, and Scarabus appeared to fight them. J/O, a cyborg Joey, stepped up and defeated Scarabus, and everyone went to find Lord DogKnife.
  DogKnife was in the room where Joey saw him earlier, captured by the souls and thus, rendered harmless. Joey found Hue and escaped with his teammates. They are about to escape when Lady Indigo appeared to face them. Joey distracted her from fighting her with some powder in his pocket, and Joey and his teammates successfully escaped through the gate when Joey remembered the mathematical equation that will take him home: {IW}:=Ω/∞.
  They returned to Base Town and to the Old Man, who did not congratulate them for their heroic work. Instead, he lectured them on all their wrongdoings in the Altiverse. However, he now said that Joey is allowed to stay without wiping out his memories. The story ended with the same group sets out on their next mission.
The first edition of "InterWorld" by New York Bestsellers, Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves, which was first published on June 26, 2007.

The Second Edition of "InterWorld" by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves. This is also the edition I bought for myself. 

"The Silver Dream" by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves, however, this book was written by Michael Reaves and Mallory Reaves. It was published on April 23, 2013. This is the sequel to "Interworld"

OFFICIAL BOOK REVIEW:
+ It's really unusual for a story that involves crossing between worlds and having the combination of Science (more like Physics) and Magic. Even though, the crossing-between-worlds bares some similarities with "Coraline".
+ I also really enjoyed reading Joseph 'Joey' Harker's perspectives about his "Walking" experience and meeting his doppelgangers from many different worlds. He did bear some similarities with Colin Wagner from "Quantum Prophecy: The Awakening". Joey was definitely in a more emotional situation than Colin. Imagine yourself coming back to a place, where you have always called or known it as home and suddenly it became someone else's home and that you got practically no where to go. I really like how the authors put those feelings into the story to make it even more realistic like the scene where he comes home and discovered that someone else had already replaced him in his own family; That feeling of being abandoned and alone really got to me when I was reading that scene. 
- However, I was really disappointed that the story didn't really attract me the same way "Quantum Prophecy: The Awakening" did since one of my most favourite authors of all times was writing it. I felt the way of their interpretation of the book was really confusing. I didn't really get most of the things that was going on through out the book, it just got me really confused. And there were a lot of Physics involved in the book, which got me even more confused.
-There weren't a lot of fighting and action scenes in it than what I expected it to have. The fighting scene on the "Lacrimae Mundi" was just too brief and really boring. I wanted to skip the entire part because it just really bored me and there wasn't anything interesting in it, unlike "Quantum Prophecy: The Awakening".
- There were too many meaningless conversations. Through out the entire book, there was just too much BLAH...BLAH...BLAH! I was just thinking, "Why wouldn't they add more action scenes or maybe introduce more worlds?" The characters in the book was just...TALKING TOO MUCH...
-Not much well-developed characters, other than Jay and Joey. If they really wanted to introduce that many characters, at least write them like Jay. Maybe you don't want to write too many interesting information about the supporting characters so that it wouldn't over-shine the main protagonist, I get it! But the characters in the book was just too DULL.

EXPECTATIONS FOR THE SEQUEL:
*More fighting and action scenes that could actually keep us readers interested in.
*Introduce more well-develop new characters.
*More Joey-in-action scenes.

CONCLUSION:
I rate this book a 3.5/5.
  All I could say is that if you really enjoy Science-Fiction and Physics, you should definitely try this book out. However, I would rather recommend "Quantum Prophecy: The Awakening" if you really enjoy Mystery, Thriller and Science-Fiction. For a Neil Gaiman writing standard, this book definitely had disappointed me. The story was just not captivating enough to keep me addicted like what "Quantum Prophecy: The Awakening" did and it just kept me confused through out the entire story.
 Overall, I did enjoyed it on several occasions, but the story and the characters could have been better.

  A little reminder to all my book readers, I will be sitting for my Mid-Term exam for exactly 3 weeks so I would not be reading anything other than what my exam wants me to read. 
To know more about "Fallen", you can click on this link: (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallen_(Kate_novel))
You can also take a glimpse on the first image released by "Fallen" featuring Addison Timlin, Jeremy Irvine and Harrison Gilbertson: FIRST IMAGE RELEASED BY "FALLEN"

  Like usual, if you take a liking in both of my blogs (My Little Book Affairs and Le Blog de Nicole) do subscribe to both of them. You can also follow me on Twitter: (@NicoleWong1998), Instagram: (CameraStyleMe), Pinterest: (Nicolette 'Nicole' Wong) and on Tumblr: (NicoleTheGirlNextDoor).

Thanks for reading this and I'll see you in 3 weeks (hopefully).

Saturday 19 April 2014

FANDOMS COLLISION--TRAILER REACTION: X-MEN DAYS OF FUTURE PAST // BOOK REVIEW: QUANTUM PROPHECY THE AWAKENING

Hello again, my bookish fangirls and fanboys! I know it's been 21 days since I last posted a book review and I know I've been tweeting a lot about doing another, but I was just so caught up with school activities. Like, just for the past 3 weeks, I had a school project to finish, I also participated with a lot of sport games and I missed school like a lot so I have to spend some time trying to catch up with the syllables and finishing my homework, and that took me literally almost like a month. 
  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.

The US edition of "Quantum Prophecy: The Awakening" by Michael Caroll.

The UK edition of "The New Heroes: The Quantum Prophecy" by Michael Carroll.
The US edition of "Quantum Prophecy: The Gathering" by Michael Carroll. This is the sequel of "Quantum Prophecy: The Awakening".

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".

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