As written earlier I’m really looking forward to the next Wheel of Time book that was supposed to be released later this year. Now Tor has announced it and I’m on the fence; should I be angry or annoyed like I guess a lot of people will be or should I be happy that we’re actually getting 3 three books over 2 years instead? My initial thought was leaning towards being quite annoyed, but after reading Brandon Sanderson’s blog post about how the decision came to be I’m now feeling that I should be happy and probably will be. But a lot of people, including me, could have told them that it would be impossible to wrap up most of the plot threads in one volume, Jordan started way too many of them for that.
BSG ending – not impressed
March 22nd, 2009 by Christian KullanderA while back I wrote about season four of Battlestar Galactica, since then the season improved a lot and I’ve really enjoyed most of the eps of the last half. I watched the last episode earlier today though and I was not impressed with the ending. The first half was good, the showdown between the fleet and the Cylons was intense and put together really well but starting with Cavil blowing off the back of his skull things went down the drain. The ending seemed way too rushed, the religious aspect took over almost completely and the flash-forward of 150 000 years into our present seemed more like a really bad episode of The Twilight Zone than one of the most important episodes of one of my favorite TV shows. Did like the Ron Moore cameo though.
Battlestar Galactica has still been one of the best TV shows ever, but this crappy ending did not satisfy me at all. In the “Last Frakkin Special” it seems like the writers/Ron Moore had troubles coming up with an ending and I think that’s what we saw clear signs of in this last episode. I don’t think another season would have helped at all, but a quicker pace in the beginning of season 4 would have been a good start. I mean, how would the fractured leadership of the people within the fleet that usually argued about everything (or for that matter the people themselves) just agree with one man’s wish to give up all of their tech and go tribal? I’m not saying that I could have come up with a better ending myself, I probably couldn’t have, but as a scifi fan in general this one did not meet the expectations that have been built up for 4 years of great television (and scifi) storytelling.
Wheel of Time re-read on Tor.com
March 12th, 2009 by Christian KullanderAre you a fan of the Wheel of Time series? Are you looking forward to the final installment? No time to re-read the old books until then? Then you’re like me and will most probably really appreciate the really nice summaries and commentary by Leigh Butler (of WoT FAQ fame) over on tor.com.
It’s been a while since my last complete re-read, I think it was before The Path of Daggers, so after reading the posts on the first two books I’m amazed once again by how much actually happens so early in the series! It’s sad that the pace slowed down as much as it later did, it seems like things might get way to rushed in the final book. Looking forward to it anyway though!
Oh and BTW, sorry about not posting the review on The Dreaming Void, in short it was pretty good but I was a little bit disappointed as I felt it was a bit too much of a filler inbetween the first and last book of the trilogy. I really did enjoy the fantasy parts that takes place within the void though, I was a bit sceptical while reading the first book but they soon took off and continued to be great all the way through The Dreaming Void.
“The Dreaming Void” has arrived
October 5th, 2008 by Christian KullanderPeter F Hamilton’s latest beast of a book has arrived. After a quick dinner I’ll sink my teeth into it and I will most probably keep reading way past bedtime. 
The first book in the trilogy was great so I have high hopes for this installment even though it seems that Ozzie won’t be in this one either. Will post a review when I’m done!
More free books from Tor!
September 17th, 2008 by Christian KullanderIt’s been a while since the new tor.com site was launched and the free books stopped flowing but now they’re back! Head on over to their site to register and get a copy of the two new books released!
I’ve been reading a few of the ones released before the launch using MobiReader on my Nokia phone and it’s quite nice to always have something available to read.
“Flood” by Stephen Baxter
July 27th, 2008 by Christian Kullander
Flood by Stephen Baxter is not what you would first expect. I expected something a bit like Kim Stanley Robinson’s Science in the Capital books and that is not quite what you get when read Flood, it’s a bit more sci-fi than that.
One of the most intriguing aspects of his story is the back-story of the leading characters. They start out as hostages living through a several year long hellish existence at the hand of their captors. After being saved we then follow them and their friends and families around the globe as the flooding starts wreaking havoc on life as we know it. Baxter’s depiction on how major cities of the world are affected is detailed and really gets you involved in the story, at least if you are familiar with them. The later chapters showing how the next generation treats the transformed world as something normal, already adapting to it, and showing almost no interest in stories of what it used to be like is almost scary.
Apart from some near-future tech which seems to be within our reach we unfortunately get to know very little about the really science fictiony stuff in the story . We’ll have to wait for the coming sequel Ark for that part of the story I guess. Looking forward to it myself!
I’ve been a Baxter fan for quite some time and looks like I’ll continue to be one; Flood gets a rating of 4 stars out of 5 from me.
Tor.com and free books
July 18th, 2008 by Christian KullanderThe latest newsletter about the upcoming new tor.com site of course included a link to a new book but for you who might have missed out there’s a nice little announcement included as well:
” Once the full Tor.com site opens on Sunday, July 20, we’ll be making all the books in this program briefly available one last time, so be sure to stop by for our launch!”
Looking forward to see the new site and of course I’ll check if there were any books available before I signed up.
Battlestar Galactica Season 4 sucks?
May 9th, 2008 by Christian KullanderOr doesn’t it? I’m currently feeling that it does suck, there are some moments of greatness, but on the whole it seems like not much has happened since the first episode of the season.
Chris McQuillan over at Sci-Fi Heaven has summarized what’s wrong with BSG this season in a really nice post; Has Battlestar Galactica lost its way?
While BSG has dropped the ball I must say that I’ve really enjoyed watching Lost this season, the last episode Cabin Fever was great!
“Iron Man”
May 6th, 2008 by Christian Kullander
Iron Man rocks! Best movie based in the Marvel universe so far, perhaps even the best movie based on any comic! Robert Downey Jr does a really good job portraying Tony Stark, far better than I dared hope. His playboy antics in the beginning of the movie is a lot of fun to watch and it’s a very nice introduction to the character. He also makes Stark’s change of character after spending a few months in a dark cave frantically working on the first version of the Iron Man suit seem quite plausible.
The only problem I had was that it really didn’t seem like he stayed there for as long as we were told, I feel that this part could have been improved by adding a short scene or two that better illustrated the length of the stay. A bit annoying, although also amusing, was the repeated stupid jokes about his “helpers”, ie the industrial robots on wheels. The fire extinguiser gag was quite funny but I would have liked to see the other ones cut. When I think about it the ice problem was a bit silly as well, at least the way it was used in the movie.
The visual effects were if not perfect at least very close, I never had the “nice computer rendering but it sure looks fake” feeling that I get when watching the Spider Man movies. I’m really looking forward to both a sequel and hopefully a nice extended special edition on DVD. Oh, I almost forgot, make sure that you stay during the end credits – there’s a very nice bonus scene afterwards!
Iron Man currently has a 8.4 rating on IMDb, and I’ve seen quite a few positive reviews and blog posts. Wil Wheaton thinks it’s awesome and there’s a really nice review at io9. Other blog reviews or opions can be found at SF Signal and The Movie Blog, and here’s some info on the sequel.
My rating is 4.5 stars out of 5. It’s not often I watch the same movie twice while it’s still in theaters, but I’m actually considering going to see it again!
New Iron Man trailer
February 29th, 2008 by Christian KullanderThe latest trailer for Iron Man is great! Go here or watch the embedded version below.