Book Review: Eve of Man by Giovanna Fletcher & Tom Fletcher

Now I have POV by Mcfly suck in my head.

She survived against all odds. The first girl born in fifty years. They called her EVE.

On the first day, no one really noticed. All those babies wrapped in blue blankets--not a pink one in sight. On the third day, people were scared--a statistic-defying abundance of blue. Not just entire hospitals, not only entire countries, but the entire world. Boys. Only boys.

Until Eve. The only girl born in fifty years. The savior of mankind. Kept protected, towering above a ruined world under a glass dome of safety until she is ready to renew the human race.

But when the time comes to find a suitor, Eve and Bram--a young man whose job is to prepare Eve for this moment--begin to question the plan they've known all along. Eve doesn't only want safety, and she doesn't only want protection. She wants the truth. She wants freedom.

I wasn't sure about this novel going in, I am a fan of Mcfly and therefore Tom Fletcher, but not sure if songwriting translates to prose. This was another Sci-fi by people famous for things outside of their known writing mediums that I did like. It's not perfect but its decent first attempt at YA Prose.

This is another novel with a lack of females being born. This is always the way Dystopia go along, I've only come across one Dystopian st where all the males died out. Probably never going to be a thing since more women and fewer men have in the past been able to build up the population and Afitical sperm is apparently on the way. This one goes for girls just not being born anymore which brings up questions as to why.

LGBTQ+ people aren't really talked about, apparently, there are brief references that I missed. I had a moment where I thought wouldn't it be cool if there were a trans character, but no, just appears to be a cis boy pretending to be a girl and falling in love with eyes. This is the first book in a series so it might be explored more in the sequels. The two protagonists that have been sheltered in different ways and romantic relationships do seem not to be significant in this world anymore. It's interesting to think about what would Transness be like in a world like this, but it is probably best left for a trans writer to tackle anyway. Sexism and Toxic Masculinity are present in this world, so gender roles are there. I'm not sure what it's trying to say about them, it does seem to more about the power this company has over Eve and the other women with XX chromosome havers being so rare. It could be going somewhere with gender and sex. I could write an essay on this, however, it would more my own thoughts than what is actually present in this book. Best to move on to more of the actual text.

The audiobook has two narrators to match the POVs in this book. It works well. I do like and feel for the characters.

Overall, I give this book 4/5 stars for Rusty Metal. This is a near-future Dystopia and that will sadly never not be relvant. I think I will read the next in the series if I come across it. Anyway, I need to review my books as I read them.

Read: 6/6/2019 to 7/6/2019
Reviewed: 26/06/2019 - 16/03/2020
Narrator/s: Charlotte Ritchie and Josh Dylan
Medium: Audiobook
Published Date: 18th June 2019
Publisher: Listening Library
Source: Library
Content Warning for Book: I'm not sure, but memory says: Sexism; Sexual Assualt referenced; Child Abuse;

Book Review: The Pact by Amy Heydenrych

This book has discussions of potentially triggering things, This book is not descriptive (a few scenes of violence, not in great detail compared to other books), I will be discussing those things in this review. Highlight to reveal content warnings.
Content Warnings: sexual Assault mentioned; Sexual Harassment; Sexual Manipulation; Bullying, Adult bullying; Mild Violence; Murder; Death; Bloody Death, Bad B

What if a prank leads to nothing?

What if a prank leads to murder?

When Freya arrives at her dream job with the city's hottest start-up, she can't wait to begin a new and exciting life, including dating her new colleague Jay.

However, Nicole, Jay's ex and fellow employee, seems intent on making her life a misery. After a big deadline, where Nicole continually picks on her, Freya snaps and tells Jay about the bullying and together they concoct a revenge prank. The next morning, Nicole is found dead in her apartment . . .

Is this just a prank gone wrong? Or does Freya know someone who is capable of murder - and could she be next?

This book was not what I expected. I was really excited by the idea of a Pact, but it was not much of a pact. There's no real pact, I got so excited, but a pact takes at least two consenting adults. The title comes from different pacts, but it was let down. I got so excited for the title, it just wasn't what I was hoping for.  Now, that I've lowed your expectations now for a fair review. It's not the book's fault that I had hoped for something else.

There is a lot of characters introduced, some that have very little effect of the plot, so the emphasis seems obvious misdirect. We have two POV characters, Isla a crime Journalist and Freya a newly graduated Computer Programmer who has just got her dream job but things go wrong quickly when her boss decides to bully her over some guy. The POV jumps time a lot, everything is framed in terms of the murder which works pretty well.

Fun fact: Apparently, this book is set in the past. You see Freya is a Millennial at 22 but her thirty-something boss is not. Now there's some debate but that debate makes Freya Gen Z. Born between 1981 – 1996 is the given, some go straight to 1999, but someone whose Thirty is definitely Millennial. I don't how old Heydenrych but it makes me think she not Millennial because Millennials are very aware they are in their thirties now. We're so old. It was an odd line anyway. I get why it's there but doesn't fully work.

This book has a lot going on. The bullying in the work place, by someone who is senior to Freya if not her direct boss. Your boss bullying you in your dream job does seem like a nightmare. Bullying books usually lack stakes which obviously this one has stakes. It also deals with living with the trauma of sexual assault and the threat of sexual assault that women face in their daily lives.
Heyenrych talks about wanting to show the power and intensity of women friendships, but there's so much about being unminded by men that doesn't really feel like the focus. I feel like having both Isla and Freya have 50% doesn't work, I feel it has to one or the other. There's a lot of Heydenrych wants to say. Freya's friendships do not feel the focus. I wish they were, that was the sort of book I hoped this book to be.

The solution of this works fine, but one of the major leads up to giving the characters a solution feels very tacked on and unnecessary. I do have thoughts, but it feels too much of a spoiler to discuss it in a review. Maybe I add spoiler section on Goodreads.

Overall, I give this 3/5 stars for Lace Cuffles. I was slow getting into this book, I read several graphic novels and audiobooks during the time it took me to read it, then read the majority of it one day after reading 10 pages or so a day then with big breaks, so I know that can affect how a book reads. I would read Heydenrych again, which I think is the biggest sign of whether a book was worth reading.
Isla also has Attention Deficit Disorder, it is mention only once and see nothing in the text to support it but I don't have ADD so I might have missed things.

I got this book for review off NetGalley and it is being published by Zaffre on 28/11/2019.

Book Review: The Diabolic by S. J. Kincaid

Let's kill people instead of solving our personal issues.

A Diabolic is ruthless.  A Diabolic is powerful.  A Diabolic has a single task: Kill in order to protect the person you've been created for.

Nemesis is a Diabolic. Created to protect a galactic Senator’s daughter, Sidonia. The girl who is as much a sister as a master. There’s nothing Nemesis wouldn’t do to keep her safe.
But when the power-mad Emperor summons Sidonia to the galactic court as a hostage, there is only one way for Nemesis to protect Sidonia. She must become her; hide her true abilities and pretend to be human.

As the Empire begins to fracture and rebellion looms closer, Nemesis learns there is something stronger than her deadly force: the one thing she has been told she doesn’t have ­– humanity. And, amidst all the danger, action and intrigue, that might be the only thing that can save her, Sidonia and the entire Empire…

This books torches on a lot of stuff: problematic nature of monity, religion being wielded as a weapon and other fun triggering things.

Our main character is a killing machine, literally designed to be a biological entity that exists to destory threats of her charge.A lot of the novel deals with her humanity and whether she capable of loving someone else or if she has emotions at all.

The characters are okay. Lot of politician movements go on, so most characters have flaws and aspects that make them unlikable. I didn't really like any of them. Am I diabolic? The inclintate of like, but I never feel that invested. The relationships are done pretty well though, and there is a nice complex nature of characters. Nemesis makes a good protagonist.

The world building is done pretty well. With the royal family having such an euphansis and ignoring how science works, it feels very medievel while in space.  There is a religion where the comiso is god (makes sense compare to some other things). Some extreme jumps in logic in it, but those are common when it comes to religion. Gender roles do and don't existed in this novel, all the people with power are male, e.g. the emperor,  listed senators are male. Its not addressed as being a thing and there are powerful women, but more behind the scenes than in name.

Time for Rachel Verna points out something stupid (you decide if me pointing it out is stupid or the book is): Nemesis has no tear ducts...If I throw dirt in a Diabolic's eyes, wouldn't they be blind until they wash their eyes out manually? Why would anyone take away a fighter's defenses? I know it all about how she has no emotions, therefore she can't cry, but tear ducts have a biological function other than showing emotions. Also, crying can itself be a defence for girls/children. It just seems dumb to do in practice.

The plot is mostly politician moments with romance throw in. It does raises questions about the value of love. I probably have liked this better if it wasn't romantic love that was the emphasis. Convenient stuff happens for a certain character that would almost be impossible to predict properly.  Feels slightly rushed at the end, but was probably was the best ending place.

Overall, I give this book for 4/5 stars for nano hair. I understand this was written as a standalone and works as one, but I am keen to see what the future holds for Nemesis and this world.

 I got this book for Review from Netgalley and its being published by Simon and Schuster UK Children's on 13 July 2017.

A Gay Villian in a Disney Film. How bold of you?

The Beauty and the Beast remake is officially bullshit. The set design and costumes look questionable in the trailer. The CGI looks better in the 25 year old film they remake. Also there's way too much of it, there are forest in real life, and if not why not just pirate the ones from the original. Hell, they original tigs that came out the first try might look better (some obscure B&B production reference). They is also no trace of the soundtrack in the trailer which makes me think one of the main cast can't actually sing, can they? If that thriller music bullshit in the film's actual score, then you gone fucked up. The one thing Beauty and the Beast did not needed mess with was it soundtrack.

Well, actually I think it would be nice to have the Beast's song 'If I Can't Love Her' in a film, that debuted in the musical. The Beast having his own song makes sense. The rest of the Beauty & Beast Broadway musical only songs can be left (this does not include Human Again as it can now be seen with the rest of the film. Also they will messed that up so badly). Besides that addition, the original scores and songs are masterpieces that stand legacy as the last music of the Great Howard Ashman (its his last complete work, he started work on Aladdin but sadly not much of anything made it into the final film, it just the way animated film process works at Disney).

Which is maybe why the gay thing should make you angrier than you already are. We're being promised a gay moment in the remake and its not Lumaire kissing Cogsworth's on lips instead of the checks like in the original scene after the Battle. I also love how almost everyone has been secretly shipping Lumaire and Cogsworth all this time (out of interest I tried to find Fanfiction, there's some but none of it looked good). Even if not a romantic couple, I like to imagine them still bickering past retirement by the sea.

No we getting a gay sidekick of the villain that was originally just for comic relief. Who ever came up with this idea is clearly not queer in anyway? You would think, but Bill Condon is gay man. Because even people who ship Le Fou and Gaston (these shippers exist because all ships exist on the internet because people are strange beautiful creatures) would not sing praises of someone making a villainous character. The Le Fou is sidekick but he does manage to do fuck-up shit by himself.  It's not creative. It almost every villain ever.

Disney is pack full of villain characters that read gay already, because they queer coded and Le Fou wasn't really one of them once you ignore the hero worshipping he does for Gaston (though, he is gay enough to start a musical number to cheer up Gaston, but that is stereotype). Ursula was model on a dragqueen (one of the reason she the best) and the male villains are majority queer-coded, even the ones that are sexually threatening to the main female character still sort of have this. (Jafar, why did you even care about Jasmine once you had the genie?) Disney is not the only one guilty of this, but guilty they are. There is tons of stuff about queer-coding online in general and with Disney in mind. They can probably explain it better than me.

The next thing is Le Fou is going to be in love with the straight Gaston (he could be autoromantic, but then that would leave everyone in the cold). They is no way that gonna be requited unless they have a complete overhaul of the characters and fuck that. Villains should have justifications for what they doing, but it doesn't need to be justifiable to the audience. I like having sociopathic villains who care about themselves. Maleficent was ruined by her film. She was the Mistress of Evil fighting some bad arse fairies, turned into a victim that faced up against idiots who couldn't look after a baby. Though, it would be amusing to see them fuck up Gaston by trying make him likable after having attempt to blackmail Belle into marrying him when he had no concern over where she had been the past few months. Even if you thought Belle's father was crazy, wouldn't you start to worry when no one had seen her over a month (I feel B&B has to happen over at least month, but no clear time line besides the seasons changing). She probably dead in the woods and Le Fou has died in the snow.

Le Fou blindly follows Gaston. That's just sad. Very sad. Why would anyone be happy about this? Having a gay villain in love with a straight person is not a watershed moment, it go fuck yourself  moment you queerbaiting arsehole, Bill Condon. The amount of self-gratitude in telling people about this before the movie has came out proves that it nothing but a marketing tool to get people who ain't going to see another CGI monster that Disney has thrown out. Even if actually Le Fou kisses another man, it means nothing because he a villain sidekick in a live-action remake. It's not a Disney animated film that I'm going to show my kids. It's not a main character. Its not a character we're meant to root for. It's the same bullshit that the queer community has been putting up for years. You don't get congratulate yourself till I see a Princess kiss another Princess. Not till the hero of the story is the one that out and proud. Disney specially is making coming of age stories, the stories of LGBTQA+ have these quality. You have to brave to be yourself, because even now people will torlant you, the way you were born, but they will still chip away at you with 'harmless' comments or do shit like this. This doesn't make me happy, it upsets me that you would do this and bring Howard Ashmen into this. A gay man who died of disease that was ignore until it was pandemic, until it start to effect straight people.

Director Bill Condon on Howard Ashman: 'Specifically for him it was a metaphor for AIDS. He was cursed and this curse had brought sorrow on all those people who loved him and maybe there was a chance for a miracle and a way for the curse to be lifted. It was a very very concrete thing that he was doing.’ Where did you get this info from? Even if you read this in the film, why would you make the character called the Fool, gay as means of honouring him? Why would you do that to him? He wrote lyrics (apparently, dad was an inventor because he wanted to write an inventing song for him and that does sound cool), he did have massive effect on how the film turn out, he's key figure in the Disney Renaissance but that story was there. Several people mounded it. He was actually honoured in the 10th Adversary by the inclusion of Human Again, a song cut for the pacing of the song. His actual passion project was Aladdin which he never got to finish.

Also if the Beast is called Adam in the film then I going to find you and hit you over the head with creepy Mrs Potts and her monstrous offspring. Serious, what the fuck is up with the art direction in this film? Don't worry, Stephen Chbosky, I'm just going to make you eat copies of your slightly ablelist book instead. I know in studio films no one person is responsible, but I'm blaming you two for now because even if wasn't your idea, I have enough issue with yous not to feel guilty about it. Serious, director Bill Condon you should have stayed quiet till the film was out, then responded to people's criticism. Frankly, I think the only reason you brought Ashman into this is so people can't critize you for this. But your wrong but because I will criticize more now.

"And that’s what has its pay-off at the end, which I don’t want to give away. But it is a nice, exclusively gay moment in a Disney movie."
Gay for Disney or actually gay. Because here's the thing no gives a fuck about Le Fou at the end of Beauty and the Beast. What happened to him? Who cases after he had a pair of scissors in his arse...for FUCK SAKE, Condon you're gay how do you think this a good idea? I don't know what I expected of someone who directed two Twilight Films. Is it drugs? Is it mental health? Do gays past a certain time in media, forget what actual representation looks like? Do you know what Queerbaiting even is? Is still Queerbaiting when there's actual Gay on screen (apparently)? Why do middle-aged gay men kept doing stupid shit like this to us? Would Disney only agree if was Le Fou in a scene that could be easily cut for homophobic countries without issue? Is it between him and the guy who got arse lit on fire? Why makes this film even more unwatchable?
In summary, I don't think the film looks good and I have a long arse list as to why. The casting: Emma Watson is typecasting herself; the beast is 21 years old, not forty old looking 34 yr old; Josh Glad is not likable; Gaston has not been eating a dozen eggs since he was a lad and Mrs Potts face is at the side of teapot. One of those is a joke, guess which one. Maybe this Lumaire and Cogsworth will be good if I shut my eyes.

I will be probably dragged to this film, and I will hate watch it so I can I send a list of improvement Disney has to make for it to be a 'watershed moment'. (Condon, are aware of the phrase "past  the Watershed" as in the time children are expected not be watching tv so lets show the adult stuff now as in not appropriate for kids. If either way, bad use of words). Though, literally just give us a kiss between two good characters to start with. Doesn't have to be the protagonist. Like if you had Lumaire and Cogworths be a romantic couple, we would have been cool. Not the person whose name translated to the fool.

To be honest, I use to have fantasy about how I would do live-action version of B&B, but mostly mine would have been live action, not CGI to death. There are forests Disney. I know what European Forests look like. Built sets look cooler than computer ones. I can tell the difference and you have the money for both the cost of renting the space and the building of the an actual set. I know cause I've seen Pirates of the Caribbean. You built a dock twice. The cave with the treasure was a massive set. They could be hiding the cool sets, but those woods definitely are fake and terrible looking.

Okay, I need to stop before I point out that making main characters look horrifying is not a good way to make them likable. Throw Chip out the window, Emma Watson, before he steals your soul. Oh, wait I just did. Oops.

Farewell, I will write again next week where I discuss the Scottish notion to threaten violence with no real plan to do it even if given the opportunity. If think I swear a lot this post, remember that Howard Ashman wrote a song with lyric: "I'm a green mean mother from outer-space". Maybe that metaphour for AIDs too Condon and I mean just that song. The rest of the musical is clearly "Not to feed the plants". Ashman was very clear on that.  Now I'm going to Listen to a "A Friend like Me" and cry.