On Ripples: A Review of Hourglass by Myra McEntire

This was a book that I tried because I kept seeing it everywhere, and having tried it I decided to read it entirely. That was a month ago, so technically it took two attempt to actually read this book. Nonetheless, I did really enjoy it.

Emerson Cole is used to seeing people from other times. She's not sure if they're hallucinations or ghosts--she just knows that she sees what no one else does, and that it makes her feel crazy. Her brother calls in Michael, a consultant from a place called The Hourglass, to help Em manage her ability. Emerson is surprised to learn that Michael is an attractive college student with a similar ability, and that he needs her help. Together, Emerson and Michael have the ability to save a life and restore the world...or possibly destroy it.

Positive Comments

 

The characters are well written. Emerson is tough and smart, but has her vulnerable points too. Her abilities make her feel isolated. When she finally finds a purpose for them, her determination and her courage make her unstoppable. We don't get to know Michael quite as well, but I did like what I saw as far as he's concerned. I liked his sense of honor and his willingness to make sacrifices. I liked the connection between Em and Michael, and while I felt the relationship building needed some work, I did find the overall tone to be romantic.

I both love and hate the plot. I love the teens-with-superpowers gimmick, I think Michael and Emerson's specific abilities are intriguing. I loved the idea of trying to alter a really unpleasant reality. I loved that the author brought up both the logical and moral implications of trying to change one's circumstances. Just because you can change things, doesn't mean that you should. The consequences of altering things are very real and unpredictable. And so forth.

Critical Comments

 

Okay, now I have to get into a tiny

Spoiler, Shield Your Eyes!

 

This turns into a time travel book, with our heroes going back in time to save a man's life. We are specifically told that this is okay, only because certain circumstance mean that they can effect what happened without creating a paradox. At this point, I got nervous as a reader, because I know very well that time travel books tend to be (by their very nature) riddled with plot holes. The author of this book does a pretty good job,  and avoids some of the common plot hole pitfalls, but then at the end she kind of ruins it. She tears open some holes and creates some time lines, and now I'm concerned about how she'll explain it all in future books.

End Spoiler.

Mainly, my issue is that the author has been deliberately vague about how the powers work and what the rules are. I'm concerned that things will either remain vague (which would be annoying) or that upon further explanation, things will stop making sense.

Recommendation

 

If you like light science fiction, with a touch of romance and a great deal of heart, I recommend this book. It's a well crafted and enjoyable YA novel. 4 stars.

Reading Penguin Goes to the Movies: Men In Black 3

The following is an approximation of an actual conversation that took place between the Reading Penguin and her fiance, after seeing the Men In Black 3 Trailer:

Josh: We have to see that.

Penguin: But it's going to be freaking stupid! It has TIME TRAVEL. Remember how you bitched about the time travel in Harry Potter 3? This will be like that, but with aliens! Which is so much worse!

Josh: We're going to see that.

Penguin: *Loud sigh* Fine. Okay. Whatever.

Josh: We have to watch the first two before we go.

Penguin: WHAT? Bull shit. No. I'm not doing it. I won't. Too much stupid. I can't-

Josh: We are watching them. I'm buying them, and we're watching them.

*Penguin looks for a weapon, finds only popcorn, and must therefor surrender. Reluctantly.*

And that is how I wound up going to see Men In Black 3 in theaters opening weekend. After watching the first two. Which means now my head is all full of aliens and secret government agencies that police aliens and freaking Will Smith, who is sort of sexy, and Tommy Lee Jones, who is so old it's kind of scary.

To clarify, as a kid, I really enjoyed the first Men In Black movie. I'm a geek. I like science fiction. What else can I say? The second one, however, was pretty bad, and I must have realized that even back then, because it left so little impression on me that watching it again was like watching it for the first time, and not in a good way. This reinforced forever the idea that sequels are usually BAD. But I digress....

Men In Black 3 was not a great movie, but it wasn't necessarily as awful as I expected. The basic plot, as shown in the trailer, is that a bad guy somehow goes back in time and kills Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones) before he was ever Agent J's partner. Agent J (Will Smith) inexplicably remembers Agent K and their entire partnership, but everyone around him does not. Still with me? Okay. So Agent J has to go back in time, to 1969, to keep Agent K from getting killed and to make sure the world is saved and has this special world protecting shield...thingy.

Here are some things that worked about it:

• Younger Agent K is played by a guy who does a remarkably good Tommy Lee Jones impression. There's a great dynamic between the characters of Agent J and Agent K that is maintained well in this movie--with fun, snappy dialogue and lots of humor.
• There's an alien named Griffin, who can predict an infinite number of possible futures. I really enjoyed that concept and the breadth that it added to the story. 

And here are the Bullshit Moments:

• Time travel is not easy to write, Slick. You pretty much need a brain that works in perfect flowchart fashion and keeps track of an infinite number of small details in order to not create inexplicable plot holes. AND you have to add limits and rules to the time travel so your characters won't be able to use it for every stupid problem, which will ruin the tension of your book/movie. AND you open up a can of worms in terms of philosophical questions. This movie? Yep, there's plot holes. There was a time when there should have been two Will Smiths but there was only one Will Smith, which by their own world building was WRONG. There are huge, unexplained questions about who remembers what and why they remember it and how that effects the time stream. It's just not good.
• A character warns Agent J that 1969 is not going to be a friendly place for a black man. Predictably, it isn't, and he has some run ins with a few cops early on. Later in the movie, we see another black character in a position of great power, on the launch site of the rocket bound for the moon, telling a bunch of people what to do. No explanation as to how he got into that seat of power. No comment on whether it's unusual. Nothing. It's just there. If the movie had not played up the racism angle earlier, I wouldn't have noticed it--but because they did, it becomes one more unexplained detail that bothers me. 
• This movie made the 1960s look about as stereotypically 1960s as it possibly could. Everyone had Jackie O hair and go-go boots. Josh commented later that it would be like showing the 1990s with every single person wearing wind pants and bowl cuts. It looks like a costume party, not the real deal.

And that, in a nut shell, is my impression of Men in Black 3. While I can easily see this being my least favorite summer movie, it wasn't necessarily painful to watch. If you do happen to be a huge fan of the Men in Black franchise, knock yourself out. Otherwise...go see Avengers. Seriously. 

A Couple of Reviews: Time Travel!

Welcome to A Couple of Reviews, by Penguin Egg Production! This is an idea that Josh, my wonderful fiance and sometimes proofreader, decided we should embark on. The basic idea is that we watch and review two dissimilar movies that happen to have one unifying factor--be it a theme, an actor, or whatever. It's a fun way for us to discus the movies we inflict on one another enjoy together. For our first video we reviewed The Time Traveler's Wife and Terminator. Enjoy!




To anyone artistic out there, our blip.tv channel requires a title card! Special love and brownie points (and possibly a small prize) will go out to the follower that comes up with something we love. It must say "Penguin Egg Productions" and can have any clever associated drawings. Please direct ideas to cmspencer8@yahoo.com. Happy Reading (and drawing).

Dragonflies Stuck In My Head

I believe that, for anyone who reads a lot, their are certain books that just implant themselves in your mind and heart. Books that, once read are never forgotten. Books that you find yourself thinking about and relating to years after you initially read them. For me, Diana Gabaldon's Outlander books (particularly the first trilogy) are like that. There is something so touching, so expansive, and so purely entertaining about Clair and Jamie Fraser's story that I simply can't get it out of my mind.

After finishing Outlander I immediately wrote a review detailing how surprised I was that I enjoyed such a weighty piece of historical fiction. It isn't just the romance, although for me that's certainly part of it. It's the adventure, violence, history, turmoil, and attention to detail that make it stand out. I said all of this, to anyone who would listen. But I never reviewed Dragonfly in Amber, though I certainly enjoyed it almost as much. The reason for this is simple. Dragonfly in Amber makes me sad. I think that when I finished it the first time I was way too emotional to write about it objectively.

For this reread, I actually decided to listen to the audible edition . There's nothing like being read to, and since I am familiar with the story, it's alright for me to multitask a bit--cooking, doing laundry, shelving books at work--without fear of missing anything.

OBLIGATORY SPOILER WARNING: The book starts out with Clair, twenty odd years after the end of Outlander, in the 1960s in Scotland with her daughter Brianna. Clair's purpose in traveling to Scotland is twofold: she wants to explain to Brianna the truth about her father and tell the story of her long ago adventures in time travel, and she wants to find out what happened to the men she knew who fought at Culloden in 1745. My initial thought was, why tell the story this way? Why would Gabaldon show her hand so early, letting her readers know right off the bat that 1) Clair and Jamie were unable to prevent the Scottish rising, as was their stated intent at the end of Outlander, and 2) Clair ultimately ends up leaving Jamie and returning to her own time, thus obliterating whatever happily ever after they appeared to have at the end of Outlander. Why tell the end of the story first? I guess it's because in this case suspense is not the point. Tragedy is the point.

Clair tells her story to Brianna and Roger (a historian), beginning with a journey to France. There Jamie attempts to befriend Charles Stuart and prevent him from starting the Scottish rising. Although we already know the basic outcome of this, the story remains entertaining because of the strong voice that Claire presents as a narrator. Her varied and interesting life is at times amusing, and of course at other times heart breaking. Eventually we follow Claire and Jamie back to Scotland, to war, and to their goodbye.

The characters are the soul of the story, and much could be said about them. I was already attached to Claire and Jamie, and certainly they go through a lot in this book. They develop as individuals and as a couple. But I was particularly intrigued by Brianna, due to the strange circumstances of her origins and her upbringing. The focus of this book isn't on her, only delivering hints of her personality, but I enjoyed her presence all the same. Roger's presence in the story is equally interesting.

The biggest drawback of these books, for me at least, it the length. You have to be willing to invest a lot of time, and the plot doesn't exactly move at lightning speed. Yet there isn't too much wasted space. The details, even those that seem irrelevant, add to the richness of the story. As much as I enjoy all of that detail though, it took me three weeks to get through this book the first time, and only slightly less time to get through it again.

I had forgotten that the book ends on something of a cliffhanger, though a positive one. One of the things I loved about Outlander was that it ended with a sense of cautious hope for the future, rather than a sugary sweet happily ever after. This book does much the same thing, delivering a solid ending with a strong hint of more to come.

This book will always stand out to me as the book that made me cry the most. While I tend to get weepy at books, I rarely launch into full sobbing, but I did with this book. Any book that can draw you in that deeply is an undeniable success. 5 stars.