Drops of God: TV Show Review

Apple TV+ Original Limited Series

Warning! Spoiler Alert!

SO DON’T START THIS SHOW while on maternity leave. Watching characters swirl, sip, and savor wine in French vineyards so ripe that you can taste the sunshine in the grapes is enough to ask your wide-eyed bundle of joy if they’re ready for a whole food diet. France isn’t all you get in this lusciously slow drama about daughter Camille (Fleur Geffrier) of a world-renowned French sommelier, who finds herself pitted in a competition for her inheritance against her father’s protégé (Tomohisa Yamashita). It’s deliciously international, its own unique blend of television, as protégé Issei hails from Japan, and we also get some Italy as well.

Camille is a wine savant, trained by her famous father Alexandre Léger in the art of the senses to be able to identify most things purely by smell. However, they have a falling out when her father pushes her training too far, leaving her unable to drink wine without her body experiencing extreme visceral reactions like nose bleeds. Issei is the son of an old and esteemed family in Japan who run a lucrative diamond business. He is immediately endearing, doesn’t suffer fools, and is graciously humble. Next to Camille’s sometimes impetuous and juvenile decision-making, he’s quite easy to root for, especially as he navigates his family’s disapproval of his wine passion. However, his mother may have her own reasons for so vehemently discouraging him from competing when Issei is named as a possible heir to the fortune of his late mentor Léger. Camille and Issei face of in three challenges to test how well they know the essence of wine (and points for viewers who will likely be able to guess the answer to the last riddle :D).

This show takes its time to develop the characters and their back stories. At first I was impatient for Camille and Issei to have more dialogue, since it’s not a high stakes contest without a bit of mud-slinging—but thankfully when the pair do finally get screen time together, they quickly make up for lost ground and establish a complex and meaningful relationship. I did find that Camille’s aversion to drinking to the point of manifesting physical symptoms to be too easily resolved though. Two side characters, Lorenzo (Luca Terracciano) and Miyabi (Kyoko Takenaka), who aid Camille in her quest to beat Issei, also stole the show at times with their effable charm. There are lots of great cultural immersion, exploration of traditions, and different views of wine and the sometimes snobbish hierarchy that can make or break the livelihoods of enologists (wine makers).

The scenery is stunning, gorgeous people abound, and there’s a satisfying conclusion. All in all, a wonderful way to spend an afternoon imagining yourself relaxing and enjoying life in the French countryside. For those longing for more, this TV show was inspired by the Manga series written by Tadashi Agi and Shu Okimoto.

Head to the beach with Changeling Sisters and Afterlife Chronicles Paperbacks!

SUMMERTIME has kicked off. When it comes to chilling outside with a good story, you can't beat a solid book in your hands, which is why I'm excited to share the following Paperback release schedule: 

Year of the Snake (Changeling Sisters #5) 

Now available on major eBook retailers in both Paperback and eBook, such as:

Amazon.com

Barnes and Noble

Afterlife Chronicles News

The Tribe of Ishmael (Book #1) and The Staff of Aaron (Book #2) will both be available as paperbacks and eBooks on major eBook retailors July 1st. 

Keep an eye here for continued Paperback expansion throughout the year. 

His Dark Materials: TV Season Review

 

His Dark Materials

Season 1 Review

Where to Stream: Max

*WARNING! Season Spoilers below*

THE GOLDEN COMPASS (Also titled THE NORTHERN LIGHTS) by Philip Pullman was such a beloved, magical book of my childhood. The image of a little girl riding a large armored polar bear surrounded by the unforgiving stars and tundra of the far North has stayed with me forever, as have its unforgettable characters: our bold and indomitable heroine Lyra, her soul daemon Pan who likes to take the form of an adorable little ermine, aforementioned bear king bad ass Iorek Byrnison, and Lyra’s childhood friend Roger are just a few of my favs (plus Lord Asriel’s daemon Stelmaria because hello snow leopard cool).  The other memorable scene is when Lyra spies on the scholars at Jordan College and sees her supposed uncle, Lord Asriel, stun his audience with a photograph of an otherworldly city flickering in the Northern Lights, framed by Dust.

A bit more special than the type we sweep off the floor, this Dust, Lyra soon discovers, is the subject of a brewing war between rebel minds like Asriel and the ruling Magisterium, this world’s version of an all-powerful Catholic Church, who believe Dust to be the incarnation of Sin accumulating over time and corrupting us all, especially since Dust is photographed appearing on adults, not children. This particular interest in the relationship between children, their daemons (physical incarnations of a person’s soul that takes its final shape at puberty), and Dust sends Lyra on a journey to the North of her dreams, where a mysterious woman is running experiments on kidnapped kids under the guise of freeing them from Sin once and for all. Lyra soon captures attention of the Gyptians (a river-roving nomadic group who have suffered the bulk of these kidnappings), the armored bears, the witches (whose daemons can travel large distances from them), and the aeronaut Lee Scrosby, especially as it becomes evident that Lyra is a Chosen One, with the incredibly rare ability to read the alethiometer, a compass-like instrument moved by Dust that tells the truth to any question asked.

The TV series captures the wonderfully fantastic imagery of the book and is able to dive much more personally into the complex world Pullman has created than the movie—the cast is perfectly lovely, which is quite a feat when the movie had the likes of Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman, and Ian McKellen. Ruth Wilson particularly stands out as she assumes the immensely difficult role of Marisa Coulter, chief antagonist, a woman who is brutally ruthless toward her enemies but genuinely caring for her daughter; she dances the line of the Magisterium while it serves her agenda but does not suffer fools. “We cut out your daemon, not your brain,” she snaps in a particularly vicious mood toward the subject of one of her experiments at Bolvangar, the delivery so spot-on that it’s horrifyingly funny. Indeed, the whole sequence at Bolvangar was extremely well-done. As a child, I remember the part that wounded me the most was Roger’s fate, but this time around as a parent, seeing what was happening at Bolvangar and experiencing Ma Costa’s pain hit the hardest for me.

The witches in this be like mad-skilled—would not go up against them in a fight! And we can Lin-Manuel Miranda as the aeronaut Lee Scoresby—now Sam Elliot, pretty perfect, but I found Miranda just as light-heartedly entertaining and love his dynamic with his very patient hare daemon who always has to be the voice of reason. He always brings a genuine passion to every role he plays, and you can tell he’s having a fun time doing it. Plus, I see we’re going to get Andrew Scott (an amazing Moriarty in Sherlock) as Will’s father John Parry and am really looking forward to Season 2—granted, The Golden Compass was the hands-down favorite book of His Dark Materials trilogy for me, but I’m willing to give The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass depictions a chance (please cut down Mary Malone’s scenes pretty please and more of the angelic duo Balthamos and Baruch).

The biggest change is the introduction of Will in Season 1, possibly to ease the heartbreak of what befalls Roger (sob!), which is interesting—his scenes felt like filler to me, but at least a lot of backstory is out of the way to now focus on Lyra and Will’s relationship in the strange new world they find themselves in.

This is a series that is wild, fantastical, and will challenge core beliefs around authority while still staying grounded and heart-warming in the little moments between complicated, morally gray characters who are all just trying to make sense of an immense universe that expands and humbles in more ways than could ever be imagined. Truly a classic in the same vein of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, two of my faves. Heartily recommended to jump on this journey with Lyra, Pan, and their truth-reading alethiometer to the North and beyond!

Here is a trailer below:

Maya and the Three: TV Show Review

 
Netflix Limited TV Series – 1 Season (hopefully with more to come!)

*Warning! Minor spoilers*

 

CURIOUS to dive into more of the Mesoamerican mythos behind Year of the Snake (Changeling Sisters #5)? Don’t miss Jorge R. Gutierrez’s rich tapestry intertwining legends from the Aztec, Maya, Inca and even Caribbean culture, all effortlessly depicting distinct civilizations who must overcome their differences to defeat a power-hungry god of death.

Maya (voiced by Zoe Saldana) grows up a princess of the great city of Teca. Her father and brothers are Jaguar warriors, believed to be the prophesized warriors who will one day defeat the gods of the underworld—Lord Mictlan and Lady Micte, influenced by legends of Mictecacihuatl and Mictlantecuhtli, who ruled over the Aztec nine-level underworld Mictlān. In this story, Lord Mictlan is the God of War, a cunning and terrifying vision as voiced by Alfred Molina. On the day of Maya’s coronation, the party is crashed by Zatz, Prince of Bats (played by Diego Luna, so all good), who bears the message from the underworld that Maya’s real mother is none other than Lady Micte, the goddess of death herself, and she was only allowed to live to the notable age of fifteen so she could be sacrificed and increase Lord Mictlan’s power.

Stunned and seeking answers, Maya uncovers the truth of the prophecy that it was her all along destinated to face the Underworld—and not with her brothers, but with three warriors from each of the other kingdoms. She sets off to recruit outcast Chimi (Brooklyn Ninety-Nine’s Stephanie Beatriz), bumbling magician with a power greater than he knows (Allen Maldonado), and adorable giant warrior with a heart of gold Picchu (Gabriel Iglesias), who are each reluctant to help Teca. Along the way they are menaced by various deities of Mictlan, one of which, Zatz, proves to be more sympathetic the greater Mictlan’s cruelty toward even his own grows.

Oh, and Maya rides Chiapa the royal family jaguar who is simply the best.

It is truly amazing the heights animation has climbed to, and the distinctive kingdoms brought to life with a masterful use of geometric shapes and colors creates a gorgeously complex world in which to lose yourself. The story is deep, complex, with enough action to keep you on the edge of your seat every episode, and all the little nods to various legends are exciting to pick out. Vucub, God of Jungle Creatures, may possibly be based on Seven-Macaw (Vucub-Caquix) from Maya mythology, a bird demon defeated by the Maya Hero Twins in one of the only surviving written documents of the time, the Popol Vuh. Bats, of course, like Zatz, continue to play an important role, as notably they are part of the challenges the Hero Twins face in the Maya underworld Xibalba. The level of detail in world-building such as the distinctive orange cempasúchil (marigold flower) known for helping the dead remember to find their way back to the land of the living are a feast for the senses.

Now don’t be fooled by the TV-Y7 rating – this show deals with extremely dark themes and images that will be frightening for younger audiences. The aforementioned Mictlan really ramps up the fear factor in the final few episodes, and the series does not shy away from putting sacrifice, a very important foundation in many of these ancient cultures, at its core.

Did I mention Maya has two younger half-siblings Eagle and Jaguar who are *twins*? They’re only kiddos in this series, but given the great significance of Hero Twins in many Mesoamerican cultures, we can only hope this foreshadows a spin off season two to focus on their adventures!

Here is a trailer below:

 

 

Upcoming Hiatus

 Ah, that thing called life.

Soon I'm about to report to a new boss who demands a 24-7 work week, hourly check ins, and communicates in screams and coos. In addition to boss #1 who is now lethally mobile. 

So while I will be buried awhile in the dreaded "fourth trimester," I look forward to updating you all upon my return. 

Just think of all the stories that can come out of that :D 

In the meantime, here's what's ahead in the writing world. If you missed it, Year of the Snake (Changeling Sisters #5) recently dropped on all major ebook retailers everywhere! See you soon. 

Publishing Schedule: 

2021

The Changeling Sisters Series #1 - 4 is now available in Paperback through Amazon.com!

2024 - 2027

The Stars of Eden (Afterlife Chronicles Book III): The epic conclusion to the Afterlife Chronicles

Year of the Crow (Changeling Sisters #6): The unforgettable finale to the Changeling Sisters Series

Paperback Releases, All Books: Afterlife Chronicles, Year of the Snake (Changeling Sisters Series #5)

The Boys - Amazon TV Series Review

 

Warning! Minor Spoilers!

 

THE BOYS truly is the answer to superhero fatigue. While some movies like Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War took some interest in the sheer catastrophic toll all of these larger-than-life fights would take on society, The Boys forces you to stop and feel the sheer untouchability superhumans would have over us average mortals—then asks, what if they didn’t have the best intentions?

Again, we see a take of evil Superman in Justice League, but it just doesn’t hit home nearly as hard as Antony Starr’s impeccable depiction of The Boys’ equivalent Homelander—the charismatic virtually indestructible leader of the Seven—whose menace just feels so terrifying and real. In this not-too-distant America, a pharmaceutical company called Vought manufactures and markets superheroes, the most elite of which are held in worshipful adoration as members of the Seven—America’s top protectors against crime, flashing their sponsors’ products while stringing up the bad guys just in time for the cameras. Gawky, nerdy Hughie (Jack Quaid) is just one of the Seven’s legions of fans, convinced they can do no wrong—until one of them blows through his girlfriend at superhuman speed, leaving him showered in guts and reality.

For those of us who were Supernatural fans, the show is especially a treat because of the parade of familiar faces you’ll see over the course of three seasons as Hughie’s quest for vengeance takes him deeper into the dark side of the superhero franchise dominating the country along the likes of no-rules Billy Butcher (Karl Urban) and similarly disillusioned Seven member Starlight (Erin Moriarty). It’s as if creator Eric Kripke has found the platform he could take the kid gloves off and really go all-in with the gore, the WTF moments, and the unmasking of every character upheld on a pedestal (and when Jensen Ackles shows up as Solider Boy…there may have been fangirling #sorrynotsorry).

There have been some over-the-top moments that made my eyebrows disappear into my hairline (yeesh, like the twisted take on the Deep and his obsession with sea creatures), but from the beginning, the show is honest that there are very few lines it won’t cross (fair warning to the faint of heart).

With all the world-building and character back stories advancing steadily each season, I feel like the end of Season 3 has prepped Season 4 for a full-on sprint. The set up of Season 3 addresses the political scene of the USA today head-on with narratives around fake news, the lack of consequences for those in power, and the chilling polarizing rise of Us v. Them: there are those who are superior, those who are inferior, and middle ground is non-existent.

With just a few minor quibbles (some slow spots here and there; Stormfront’s initial characterization in Season 2 felt confusing with her true motivation reveal, and it seemed strange that someone as shrewd as Stan Edgar would have ever supported her joining the Seven), The Boys is a modern-day bingeworthy Game of Thrones that I’m heavily looking forward to, and can’t wait for the Season 4 release date! In the meantime, watch the teaser trailer here.

Year of the Snake (Changeling Sisters #5) Published!

A suspenseful, twisty geopolitical journey for shapeshifter fans dropping just in time for the holidays. You won't want to miss the penultimate installment in the Changeling Sisters Series. Now available on all major online eBook retailers: 

Apple, Kobo, Scribd, Smashwords, and more:

https://books2read.com/u/bMVjQ7

Amazon.com:

https://www.amazon.com/Year-Snake-Changeling-Sisters-Book-ebook/dp/B0CLJFL5XM