Mockingjay Part 1 Review Plus Other Updates

By the way, there aren't any major spoilers for Mockingjay Part 1 in this blog post. I don't really even need to say that because 1. No one reads this blog and 2. Even if you are reading this, you have probably either seen Mockingjay or read the book.

Anyway, I saw The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 yesterday. I can't say that I enjoyed it, but that's not the point. It was an incredible movie, maybe my favourite Hunger Games movie so far. As always, this review is going to be short because I dislike writing reviews. I will say that Jennifer Lawrence was amazing in this film, as always, and the movie made me cry. I was worried that this movie would not be as good as the first two. Mockingjay was my least favourite book in the trilogy because the middle of the book dragged on a bit. I was really worried when I heard that they were going to be splitting the last book in two. Now that I've seen Mockingjay Part 1, I'm not as worried. It actually works quite well to have it split in two. The pacing felt right to me, but I've heard that some people disagree. I actually felt that the first two movies were too short. So, anyway, I'm excited for the final film. I'm hoping they don't ruin it. I'm not too worried, though.

As for other things, I am now caught up with Elementary. I finished the second series and have watched all episodes of the third series that are out so far. I also finished watching How to Get Away with Murder. THAT ENDING, THOUGH. I still can't get over it.

As for books, I finished reading Blue Lily, Lily Blue. After finishing it, it occurred to me that the Raven Cycle is so underrated. By me. It had never really occurred to me before how much I love it. I knew that I liked it, but I didn't really realize that it's actually one of the best young adult series I have ever read. I realized that it has very few flaws, and in my opinion, no large flaws at all. I often have problems with certain books. It's usually the characters (too boring, too good, too evil) or the plot (too slow, too fast, too normal) or the writing style (too short, too long, too confusing). But there isn't anything that really annoys me about the Raven Cycle. I sincerely apologize to the Raven Cycle and to Maggie Stiefvater for under-appreciating this series. I need to read the Scorpio Races.

I also read Clariel by Garth Nix which as the prequel to the Old Kingdom series, AKA, the best epic fantasy series ever. I liked the book, up until the very end when I started to love it. I've decided that Garth Nix is good at endings. Sometimes the endings of books leave me feeling unsatisfied *cough* Blood of Olympus *cough*. But Garth Nix never does this (unless of course the book ends on a cliffhanger, like the sixth book in the Keys to the Kingdom series). The ending of Clariel and the ending of Lord Sunday are two of my favourite endings of all time. They both kind of left me sitting there in shock with my mouth open. Maybe I should do a blog post on my favourite book endings.

Fandom Crush Quiz 2

A while ago I took the fandom crush quiz on thefandom.net. I decided to take it again. Here are my results.

Boys:

Girls:

My Opinion: The Top 25 Awesomest Characters #10

I've written nine "Top 25 Favourite Characters" lists before, as it changes often. Here are the links to my first nine:

My Opinion: The Top 25 Awesomest Book Characters

My Opinion: The Top 25 Awesomest Book Characters #2

My Opinion: The Top 25 Awesomest Book Characters #3

My Opinion: The Top 25 Awesomest Characters #4

My Opinion: The Top 25 Awesomest Characters #5

My Opinion: The Top 25 Awesomest Characters #6

My Opinion: The Top 25 Awesomest Characters #7

 My Opinion: The Top 25 Awesomest Characters #8

My Opinion: The Top 25 Awesomest Characters #9

25. Tris Prior from Divergent
24. Blue Sargent from The Raven Cycle
23. Clariel from The Old Kingdom Series
22. Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano from The Heroes of Olympus
21. Neville Longbottom from Harry Potter
20. Liesiel from The Book Thief
19. Sabriel from The Old Kingdom Series
18. Katsa from Graceling
17. Guinevere from BBC Merlin
16. Donna Noble from Doctor Who
15. Martha Jones from Doctor Who
14. Will Herondale from The Infernal Devices
13. Annabeth Chase from The Heroes of Olympus
12. Amy Pond from Doctor Who
11. Adelina from The Young Elites
10. Sherlock Holmes from Elementary
9. Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games
8. Rose Tyler from Doctor Who
7. Joan Watson from Elementary
6. Merlin from BBC Merlin
5. Albus Dumbledore from Harry Potter
4. Clara Oswald from Doctor Who
3. Hermione Granger from Harry Potter
2. Sherlock Holmes from BBC Sherlock
1. The Doctor from Doctor Who

Book Awards and Updates

Both the Goodreads and Epic Reads annual book awards are happening right now. I voted for The Young Elites in the Science Fiction and Fantasy category and The Iron Trial in the Children's category on Goodreads. I haven't read any contemporary fiction published this year so I can't vote in that category. What can I say? I've been a fantasy mood. For the past six months. I nominated several books in the Epic Reads Book Shimmy Awards including:

• Clariel (which I haven't read yet, but I know it's going to be awesome)
• Blue Lily, Lily Blue (Which I am currently reading)
• The Young Elites
• City of Heavenly Fire
• Ruin and Rising
• Cress

Anyway, I am probably going to do my own book awards for no reason other than that I like talking to myself.

In other news, I have been watching Elementary and How to Get Away with Murder which are both awesome. I want to watch Orphan Black and Teen Wolf.

I finished reading The Young Elites which I really enjoyed. It is my favourite book that I have read so far published in 2014, but Clariel might top it. I read Crown of Midnight (the second book in the Throne of Glass series) and Unravel me (the second book in the Shatter Me series). Both sequels were much better than the first books in the series'. I am currently reading Blue Lily, Lily Blue, the third book in the Raven Cycle.

Female Character Edits

Top Ten Female Characters:

Top Six F/F Ships/Friendships:

Top Six Female Characters who are Unfairly Hated

Top Six Female Antagonists:

Top Eight Female Characters with the Best Character Growth:

Top Four Mother Characters:

Top Six Female Warriors:

Top Six Female Non-Warriors:

Top Six Female Hufflepuffs:

Top Six Female Slytherins:

Top Six Female Ravenclaws:

Top Six Female Gryffindors:

Top Eight Main Female Characters:

Top Eight Supporting Female Characters:

Top Six Non-White Female Characters:

Top Six Queer Female Characters (Canon and Not Canon):

Doctor Who Series 8: Death in Heaven

SPOILERS!!!!! Read at your own risk.

I did really enjoy this episode, but I was honestly a little bit disappointed. It just wasn't as good as some other Doctor Who finales. Maybe I thought it would be like my two favourite episodes of all time (Utopia/ The Sound of Drums/ Last of the Time Lords and The End of Time) which both had the Master. It was quite as good as those two episodes.

But, seriously, Michelle Gomez is awesome. She's totally not the reason I didn't like this finale as much as some of the others. I may even like her more than John Simm. In Doctor Who extra Steven Moffat basically said that Missy isn't dead and we should expect her to come back which is really exciting and I can't wait.

The main reason I didn't like the episode as much as some others was that the timing seemed a bit off. This seemed to be a big problem in the whole series.

I am really sad that Danny is gone for good. I really loved him. This episode did make me cry, and not many have actually done that, so there's that.

As for Clara, I believe she is going to be in the Christmas special. That may, however, be her last episode, which would make me really sad since she is my favourite companion. Some people have been saying that they want the next companion to be male, but I don't. I always like shows better when there are main characters of multiple genders. I just hope the next companion is awesome.

The Doctor was great in this episode. I love how he answered "Am I a good man?" I wonder what his catchphrase is. At this time it seems like it could be "Shut up." One question: Has Doctor Who been hinting that there will be a female Doctor after Peter Capaldi regenerates? It really seems like it. We got a female Master, and Clara keeps impersonating the Doctor (I really love her impersonation in this episode, by the way). I would be both really excited and really worried if there was a female Doctor. I would be excited, because it could be really awesome. But I would also be worried. While I love Missy, her version of the Master flirts with the Doctor much more than John Simm's version did. I'm worried that a female Doctor would be done in such a way that people think of her as a female version of the Doctor instead of just one regeneration of the Doctor. I'm worried that if the Doctor became female she would start falling in love with men. I do believe that the Doctor is bisexual, but he has fallen for women in the past way more than for men. If he became a woman, I have this sinking suspicion that she would suddenly fall in love with a male companion.

Anyway, here is my updated list of favourite episodes in series 8:

1. Dark Water/ Death in Heaven
2. Listen
3. Deep Breath
4. Flatline
5. Into the Dalek
6. Kill the Moon 
7. In the Forest of the Night
8. Mummy on the Orient Express
9. The Caretaker
10. Robot of Sherwood
11. Time Heist

The next episode is the Christmas special and it isn't that far away. I'm not the biggest fan of Christmas specials in general, though there are some large exceptions to this rule. I'm still excited, though. I hope that nothing bad happens to Clara. She deserves to be happy.

"Strong" Female Characters

I dislike the term "strong female character" because it makes it sound as if female characters should always be physically strong and stereotypically "male". Some people hear the term "strong female character" and they write a female character who can shoot a gun and punches guys in the face. The term really means a complex and interesting female character.

In my opinion, female characters should be treated in the same way as male characters. They should all be unique. Some can be physically strong, some can be physically weak. Some can be stereotypically "male", some can be stereotypically "female".

Every Fairytale Needs a Good Old-Fashioned Villain

Doctor Who Series 8: Dark Water

SPOILERS!!!!! Read at your own risk. Really. You do not want to get spoiled for this episode.

Wow! This episode was amazing. I can not wait a week for the second part. I was really, really hoping that Missy would be the Master but I thought I wouldn't get lucky. I did!!! I'm so excited about that. I unfortunately saw a spoiler about itbefore I watched the episode. I always see spoilers. 

The idea for the episode is really odd and it actually legitimately scared me. By "the idea" I mean the thing about what happens after a person dies. I wonder what Missy is trying to accomplish with the cybermen.

I was really surprised about Danny dying randomly in the beginning of the episode like that. I guess it was supposed to be surprising. I wonder if he's going to come back.

Then there was Clara and the Doctor. Most people are annoyed at Clara right now, and I am honestly a bit annoyed at her too. I wonder if there was something more going on in the volcano scene, though. The reason I say that is because of one line from the next time trailer: "I'm not Clara Oswald. Clara Oswald has never existed." I have no idea what that means. And then of course there is what Missy said at the end of In the Forest of the Night. "Clara. My Clara. I have chosen well." We had the big Missy/Master reveal in this episode, but there is something else coming. Something that has to do with Clara.

My theories on Clara? I have no idea. Seriously, I have no clue. Is she some kind of robot? A human version of the Master? I have no idea. Somehow, Missy chose Clara. Why and for what I have no idea. I guess we'll just have to wait a week.

The next episode is Death in Heaven. What is going on with Clara? What is going on with Danny? What is going on with Missy? What is going on???