Books
Iron Flame
Yarrow once against tells a compelling story that is in need of some depth. The constant repetition from the previous book and ideas/lines from commercially successful movies makes this a parrot call to what it could have been.
Fantasy
Books
Fourth Wing
An interesting book that I enjoyed reading and was a nice change to the magic of dragons and how humans interact with them. The layers of character building and expectation does have a bit of "Girls rule the world" and the protagonist has a large case of Deus Ex Machina.
Books
Ordination
I am going to call this the surprise of the year. I expected this book to so different from what it was and could not have more wrong. Allister is a great character as are most of the main characters. This book's biggest issue for me is the lack of coherent world
Books
Dune Messiah
This book does not continue where I thought it would and wasn't the story I expected. The first book ending with a great fight, I expected to talk more about the jihad that was constantly mentioned in that book.
TV
Raised by Wolves
Travis Fimmel is honestly a completely underrated actor. He dives into his roles so far that you can't see him as anything else. His performance is what stands with me more than anything else in this show other than the weird Android having babies that are snakes. Like I said, its a weird show.
Books
Elantris
I have never had a book so plainly and overtly tell you the end of the book so early in the book. Brandon Sanderson tells a great political story with characters that are full of life, but lack a non-cliched constant direction.
Books
Prince of Thorns
This book is interesting, but the amount of narration from the main character is almost confusing and makes it interesting, but damn is he whiny and arrogant. There is a really interesting blend of lost technology and mysticism.
Books
Game of Thrones (TV and Books)
The story is wonderful. Very full, rich, and deep of background. The descriptions of the politics and the back and forth is so twisty and turning that some of the scenes are still talked about as the biggest surprises around, for instance: The Red Wedding, Death of Sean Bean, and others.
Movies
Mortal Kombat (2021)
Cheesy. Just like it was in the 90s and it is intentionally supposed to be that way and that is ok. If you have played any of the current video games or seen videos of them, you know that there is a fountain of blood and comic gore. This movie is right in line with that.
Books
Witcher Series: Last Wish, Sword of Destiny, and Blood Elves
A great continuation of the Witcher series. Expanding on the relationships, settings, and politics. From assassin's, mages, and kings, it will for sure feel like a season of Game of Thrones. This book is worth the read if you have played the games or watched the show.
Movies
Monster Hunter
What an awful movie. Like I knew it was going to be bad, but there are some decent stars in it, but dear God they have to be broke to do this movie. Overall, the injuries the characters sustain have no lasting effect, apparently a minigun and a .50 Cal machine gun do NO DAMAGE to monsters.
Books
Dune
This books is a great expansion to what was a fantastic movie. I really appreciate when a movie stays true to a book. The story is well thought out and what would naturally be filler or world building, I felt it wasn't so bad that I wanted to skip ahead. I felt like I wanted to know more.