Favorite New Shows of 2017

I don't know about you, but I can't believe we're already at the end of 2017. This year has gone by so quickly, with so much terrible stuff going on in the world. But we're not here to talk about that stuff, this post is a place to escape from some of the awful we are inundated with on a daily basis. Although, one of these shows in particular was hitting very close to home.

Below is a list of my favorite new shows that debuted in 2017, of the ones that I've been able to watch fully. There's so much TV now that it's impossible to watch everything! An interesting thing to note - all of these series have short seasons rather than the longer ones usually foisted upon broadcast network shows. I think the shorter seasons typically work much better as there isn't so much filler.

The Orville

I fully expected to hate this show. While I'm still not a big fan of Seth MacFarlane as the lead actor on the series, I've gotten used to him, and thankfully the show does a good job of giving side characters more focus in different episodes. They really tried to sell it as a kind of parody of Star Trek, but instead it's much more earnest than that, feeling more like Star Trek than the actual new Star Trek show (which I only have watched 1 episode of because I'm so sick of all these new online pay to watch systems, ugh). It's really creative while also feeling like something comfortable, all peppered in with little bits of humor that are more asides than anything else. If you haven't been sure whether to give it a try, I say do it. It's a lot of fun.

Big Little Lies

The mystery at the center of this series is what really drew me in. I didn't watch it while it first aired, but caught up and was able to binge it pretty quickly. It was nice to see a show featuring female leads, particularly ones that aren't always entirely likable, as it's just more realistic. I also have to admit that I figured out some of the central mystery early on and part of why I binged it so quickly was to see if I was right!

The Handmaid's Tale

I read this book some years ago, but I must admit that I don't really remember much about it. So I was a bit reluctant to watch the show, as I didn't really get too into the book version. However, because the show is able to expand on the world a bit more than the book did, it made the story of June aka Offred all the more poignant. It also feels so relevant to what's going on in the world today, that it felt a little too close to home at times.

Channel Zero: No End House

Technically this is an anthology series, so each season of Channel Zero features a completely new story. The first season was also pretty entertaining, but No End House was much better and just generally more entertaining while also being more creepy. Not to mention that the story is just well-done, with a clear arc for most of the characters. I think if you watch the first episode, you can't help but get drawn in. 

Honorable Mentions: The Gifted, Kevin (Probably) Saves the World (both shows I enjoy, but am not caught up on)

Still Unsure About: Legion (this show is a little too weird for me), Runaways (only watched 1 episode so far, so can't really judge yet, but seems like I will enjoy it)

I Wanted to Like You, But You Kinda Sucked: The Defenders (soooo boring, I don't know how I got through it), Inhumans (I barely got through the pilot before just giving up on this completely)

Any new shows you loved that I should check out? Let me know in the comments!

My Favorite New Shows of 2016
My Favorite New Shows of 2015
My Favorite New Shows of 2014
My Favorite New Shows of 2013
My Favorite New Shows of 2012
My Favorite New Shows of 2011

Favorite Books of 2017

It's that time of year, my fellow readers. Time for a list! Now I will say my usual caveat about my favorite books - they will tend toward the young adult novel variety, as those are just the types of books I tend to enjoy the most. I enjoy fantasy, but often the high fantasy is just too stuffy or bizarre for me to really like it (and also a gazillion pages long), and conversely I also like science fiction, but adult scifi tends to be a little too science-y. Though seriously, if you like some books in those genres that you think I would like, I am fully into trying them out.

Anyway, on to the list!

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

Synopsis: The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around—and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever. What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving? The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries—including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo’s dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? And if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?

Why it made the list: Laini Taylor has such a way with words, everything is so beautiful and creative and interesting, and her new book was no exception. Rather than focusing on one main character, she focused on two, jumping back and forth between their two stories. And just like her previous series, she creates a whole new world for the reader to get drawn in to. I also tend to really like books where I figure certain things out before the characters, as it always lends a certain sense of satisfaction, and that was something I had with this book! 

Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth

Synopsis: In a galaxy powered by the current, everyone has a gift. Cyra is the sister of the brutal tyrant who rules the Shotet people. Cyra’s current gift gives her pain and power — something her brother exploits, using her to torture his enemies. But Cyra is much more than just a blade in her brother’s hand: she is resilient, quick on her feet, and smarter than he knows. Akos is the son of a farmer and an oracle from the frozen nation-planet of Thuvhe. Protected by his unusual currentgift, Akos is generous in spirit, and his loyalty to his family is limitless. Once Akos and his brother are captured by enemy Shotet soldiers, Akos is desperate to get this brother out alive — no matter what the cost. Then Akos is thrust into Cyra's world, and the enmity between their countries and families seems insurmountable. Will they help each other to survive, or will they destroy one another?

Why it made the list: Another book taking place in a whole new world! This one kind of combines both fantasy and scifi, so I guess you could call it my catnip. It also features two lead characters that author Veronica Roth switches back and forth between. I found the story very engaging, and the main characters and their powers interesting. I really hope that the rest of the series lives up to this one, because I'm looking forward to it for sure.

One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus

Synopsis: Pay close attention and you might solve this. On Monday afternoon, five students at Bayview High walk into detention. Bronwyn, the brain, is Yale-bound and never breaks a rule. Addy, the beauty, is the picture-perfect homecoming princess. Nate, the criminal, is already on probation for dealing. Cooper, the athlete, is the all-star baseball pitcher. And Simon, the outcast, is the creator of Bayview High’s notorious gossip app. Only, Simon never makes it out of that classroom. Before the end of detention Simon's dead. And according to investigators, his death wasn’t an accident. On Monday, he died. But on Tuesday, he’d planned to post juicy reveals about all four of his high-profile classmates, which makes all four of them suspects in his murder. Or are they the perfect patsies for a killer who’s still on the loose? Everyone has secrets, right? What really matters is how far you would go to protect them.

Why it made the list: This book is basically like Clue meets The Breakfast Club. No, nothing fantastical in this one, just a straight up mystery focusing on a group of high school kids caught up in a murder, where you aren't sure who could have done it between them, though with the revelations that slowly happen, it seems like one of them has to be involved somehow. Very fun and quick read.

Lockwood & Co. Series by Jonathan Stroud

Synopsis: When the dead come back to haunt the living, Lockwood & Co. step in... For more than fifty years, the country has been affected by a horrifying epidemic of ghosts. A number of Psychic Investigations Agencies have sprung up to destroy the dangerous apparitions. Lucy Carlyle, a talented young agent, arrives in London hoping for a notable career. Instead she finds herself joining the smallest, most ramshackle agency in the city, run by the charismatic Anthony Lockwood. When one of their cases goes horribly wrong, Lockwood & Co. have one last chance of redemption. Unfortunately this involves spending the night in one of the most haunted houses in England, and trying to escape alive. Set in a city stalked by spectres, the Lockwood & Co. series is full of suspense, humor and truly terrifying ghosts. Your nights will never be the same again...

Why it made the list: Now, to be perfectly honest, I read the first book in this series last year. However, I didn't get super in to the rest of it until this year, so I'm just giving the whole thing a shoutout now. As he did in the Bartimaeus series, Jonathan Stroud does a great job of setting up a world that is just slightly different from our own, all while mixing in a good dose of humor. The series starts out seeming like it will just kind of be a case-by-case series, but eventually things start to come together into a bigger story that all comes to a head in the last book. Quick, creepy, funny, and fun, and nice to have a female lead character in Lucy.

Other books I enjoyed this year, but wouldn't call my favorites: Warcross by Marie Lu, The Dreadful Tale of Prosper Redding by Alexandra Bracken, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black, Falling Kingdoms and Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes

You can check out all of the books I’ve read on my Goodreads page, but let me know if you’ve had any favorites from this year that I should check out!

Favorite Books of 2016

Favorite Books of 2015
Favorite Books of 2014
Favorite Books of 2013
Favorite Books of 2012

Supernatural 13x09 "The Bad Place"

As I expected, in tonight's mid-season finale we got to see what Jack has been up to while off on his own. He's tracked down a dreamwalker to try to find apocalypse world. Look, I'm just going to cut to the chase here, they try to make us think that Jack is doing something bad and trying to find Lucifer, but really he's just trying to help the Winchesters find their mom. The angels are trying to find Jack, so they kill the dreamwalker Jack uses in the opening scene in order to find out where he's going next.

The Winchesters finally catch wind of where Jack might be after they get a call from Jody telling them of the dead dreamwalker with the girlfriend who saw Jack talking to him earlier. They find evidence that Jack will be heading to another dreamwalker named Kaia, and wouldn't you know it, that's exactly where Jack is heading!

The brothers manage to catch up to them right as Jack is breaking Kaia out of some kind of rehab center, as she has been using drugs to keep herself from dreaming, because apparently the only place she dreamwalks to is some awful bad place with monsters who hurt her in real life if she gets hurt by them in the dream world. ANYway, Kaia manages to get away when there was some confusion about Jack's intentions, but once Sam, but mostly Dean, hears about Jack's true intentions of finding Mary, they're all on board to help him.

Of course, the angels have also managed to track down Kaia, and want to use her to lure Jack to them, as they want him to, like, save them or something. Team Free Will, minus Castiel who is still off with Lucifer or something, track them down and with Jack's help are able to defeat one of the angels, but the other gets away. Kaia doesn't really want to help her wouldbe saviors, but Dean gets all intense and points a gun at her, demanding that she help them find their mom. Oh Dean.

They start to head off to some special place that will help make the dreamwalking more powerful, but get stopped by the angel turning up again, only this time she has some back up. They run off into this junkyard, which happens to have a handy huge rotting ship they can hide out in. Sam spray paints some anti-angel symbols, but the angels gather together and start slowly breaking the symbols.

Kaia finally agrees to help them try to escape to another world. At first, she can only see her bad place, but Jack manages to get her to find the apocalypse world. They track down Mary again there, but then Kaia starts jumping back to her bad place, and keeps popping back and forth between the two. Eventually it leads to her and Jack opening up a new rift, which also manages to kill all of the angels downstairs. BUT it also sends everyone to different places. It seems like Kaia is still in our world, Jack manages to get to Mary, but Sam and Dean are sent off to the bad place, where there are apparently huge lizard monsters?

And also, meanwhile, side story time here. Patience Turner, who we met a few episodes back, is struggling to keep it together in her real life, eventually revealing to her dad that her visions haven't stopped, and she has to help people with them. With that, she heads off to Jody's place.

Random Thoughts:

- A LOT of expository dialogue in this episode. Sheesh. Oh Kaia you're here after overdosing and blah blah. Oh Kaia we angels did all kinds of stuff to find you blah blah.

- They're also doing a lot of this close up shot in focus with the back person in focus as well, trying to be all fancy.

- Has the show jumped the shark with giant lizard monsters? When I saw the boys walking in a huge footprint I was like what the heck are we in Sliders now?

- Of course now we must wonder how they will all get back home, but shouldn't there be a rift doorway in each one somewhere? Thought those had to be purposefully closed, and the one in our world is still open, so...

- One thinks that perhaps some of these otherworld monsters might be coming into our world, no?

Quotes:

Kaia: That door was triple locked.
Jack: Was it?

Jack: You. Castiel. You're my family.
Dean: Yes we are.

Kaia: I'm not white, rich, blonde. No one's going to fight for me.

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