Book to Film Review: Cloud Atlas

About the film

Cloud Atlas is drama film that was released at the cinema in the UK on 22^nd February 2013. The film is based on the book of the same name by David Mitchell. Cloud Atlas is rated 15 and has a run time of 172 minutes.

Plot

Cloud Atlas is a film with many plots. The film follows six different storylines all set during a different time and in a different place – the earliest being the late nineteenth century in the South Pacific Ocean and the latest being on ‘Big Island’ set ‘106 winters after The Fall’ which is apparently the year 2321. In each story, Cloud Atlas reveals how past lives can affect the future and how everyone is intertwined at some point in their lives.

What I thought

Cloud Atlas was one of the films that I was most looking forward to seeing this year and I ended up seeing it only a few days after release at the cinema. Although I hadn’t read the book, and was told how confusing the plots were to follow, I didn’t care. I had to know what it was all about.

Cloud Atlas opens with a quite old man, Zachry, in the plot set in the furthest future. Here, we see him as a man with tattoos on his face, a long scar down one side and him telling a story about how the world works. It doesn’t take long before we are thrown into the late 1800s, seeing Adam Ewing, a lawyer, completing a business deal on the Chatham Islands and then on to another story, and then another, and another. I really loved how each of the different timelines was introduced, only getting a snippet of each before the film goes on to explain a different aspect of what is happening. Each of the timelines are introduced quickly and really well, letting the audience know what is going on without giving away too much.

As Cloud Atlas spans quite some time in the different timelines, the settings are all very different. We have scenes set on a ship in the middle of the ocean, we get early 1900s Cambridge and Edinburgh, we get 1970s America, present day UK, futuristic Korea and then a world so far ahead in the future that everything has changed. Although dubbed as a ‘unfilmable’ film, The Wachowskis do an absolutely remarkable job of fusing everything together. I really enjoyed the contrasts between each time, and most especially, the settings. My favourites were definitely during the late 1800s on the ship and the futuristic Korea, both of which couldn’t be more different. What I think this film gives is a stunning visual display of the world in its many forms, showing what has been and what could be.

As for performances, I am always a little weary of films with such a big ensemble, with so many big names after the likes of Movie 43 and New Year’s Eve. However, Cloud Atlas gets it just right. Tom Hanks, Halle Berry and Jim Sturgess star as the three cast members in every single sequence and what great jobs they all do as well. However, I will say that although each was good in every role they played, for me they all stood out in one particular one as well. Hanks excels as Zachry, a man living on ‘Big Island’ with his sister and niece. He lives in a place where language is different, a place where crazy cannibals run wild and somewhere with quite basic living conditions. Berry excels as Luisa Rey, a female journalist in the 1970s, struggling to find decent work and desperately wants to do as well as her father. Jim Sturgess plays Hae-Joo Chang in futuristic Korea, responsible for rescuing Sonmi~451, a cloned server girl. While his futuristic looks do help the role, Sturgess played a character I couldn’t take my eyes away from. Here though, his performance is only as good as it was because of Doona Bae who plays Sonmi~451. Their presence and chemistry on screen was explosive and this was by far my favourite timeline to watch.

Although I did have my favourites, each cast member was very believable in each role that they played. The make-up and costumes were so fantastic throughout that sometimes, it was quite hard to see who some of the actors were. Cloud Atlas challenges the idea that certain actors can only play certain roles and this film turns everything on its head. Yes, there are some stereotypes in there as well though. But, just when you think you know who everyone is going to be, you see a male actor as a woman, someone playing a character of a different race. Cloud Atlas is a film with one of the best make-up and costume set ups that I have seen in a long time, which only enhances the beauty of each setting.

While I was prepared to watch a really confusing film, I don’t think that’s what I went to see at all. Yes, for some people the six timelines may be a bit much but I don’t think they were hard to follow at all. As each timeline is set somewhere and sometime completely different to any of the others, they are clearly distinguished from one another. I found it extremely easy to remember which character came from which timeline and what was happening in each. However, I can see how this would be confusing if you were to read the book as there are no visuals to help you out. I thought that the way in which each timeline was eventually intertwined was great and it really helped to show what the film and the plot was really about – that Everything Is Connected. You really get a sense that every action you make can affect something else later on in life and it also makes you wonder what could have affected where you are today.

Cloud Atlas is one of the most visually stunning films I have seen in a long time but it also has the cast and plots to back this up. I can’t wait to get my own copy on DVD when it is released. 

The Edge of Never by J.A. Redmerski

About the book

The Edge of Never is a New Adult book by J.A. Redmerski. It is published by Harper on 14^th July and the book is 480 pages long. I received an e-copy for review through Net Galley.

Plot Synopsis

Since the death of her high school sweetheart, Camryn Bennett’s life has never been quite right. She’s not the same person she used to be, is definitely not interested in dating and doesn’t really have a lot of fun anymore. After one crazy night she can’t stop thinking about, Cam knows it is time for a change. Without a word to anyone, she heads off on a bus to a random place based on a baked potato. Although she doesn’t really have a clue what exactly she is doing, Cam feels much better for not being at home.

On her long and boring bus journey she meets Andrew, who is more like her than she can imagine. Although not wanting to even talk to him to begin with, he gets under her skin and offers her the chance of a lifetime… the opportunity to really know what it means to live. Instead of travelling on her own, Andrew joins her and they embark on an exciting road trip without a set plan. The attraction is burning between Cam and Andrew but both have secrets and pasts which could affect everything.

What I thought

Although New Adult is a new genre, this book had such a buzz about it and I had heard so many great things. For some reason though, I left it sitting on my Kindle for ages before I got round to reading it. Once I had started it though, I couldn’t put it down. I somehow managed to read the whole thing on my phone during a shift at work.

Twenty year old Camryn has had a hard life. Her boyfriend died in a car accident and then later, her brother was jailed for causing a car accident. Cam completely changed after these events and at the beginning of the book, she is very unsure about who she is. I can’t say that I liked the beginning of this book though. While it gives the opportunity to get to know Cam in her hometown and her friends, I don’t think it was needed. I think the beginning created an unneeded reason for Cam to run away as she already had enough of those. I would have loved for The Edge of Never to have begun with Cam sat on a bus, beginning her road trip.

Once away from her hometown and on her adventure, I absolutely loved Cam. She instantly became a different and much more interesting person to read about. She has a quick and witty personality and has some great lines as soon as she meets Andrew. At this point, instead of being solely narrated, Andrew gets his say as well which was something I liked. The reactions from each character about the other were so funny and made for a great read. What I wasn’t expecting from this book was for so much of it to be set in transportation. Cam and Andrew spend a hell of a long time either on a bus or in a car but it never got boring. Their personalities and conversations were entertaining and exciting.

Both characters have had some tough things going on in their lives but neither let it really get to them as much as I thought it would. Not that this is a bad thing. As Cam and Andrew head off on an adventure together, the book is about really getting to know yourself and being open to new experiences. I loved this aspect of the book as it was really inspirational. It also showed how one little thing like getting on a bus can change your whole life forever. It also shows not to dwell on the past too much or these wonderful things might not happen.

Together, Cam and Andrew are just as fantastic characters as they are separately. These two have sizzling chemistry and a hell of a lot of sexual tension between them. However, they are also super cute at times, goofing around and teasing each other but at all times, they are themselves and quite open. As they are on a road trip and spend a lot of time travelling, this gives the opportunity to really get to know these characters. We get to find out their hopes and dreams, what food they like and don’t as well as things like musical preference. I know some things sound silly but I think these are well thought out characters with a lot of depth.

As for the plot, you can probably already tell that I loved the road trip element to this book. There is much more to it than that though. As I already said, the book is about the characters really getting to know themselves as well as each other. Along the way, certain events change the way in which one of the characters thinks, or the way in which they see other people. I loved the excitement of not knowing where they would travel to next or what they would experience. As well as these two fantastic elements, The Edge of Never is extremely deep and heartfelt. There is so much passion and emotion put into this book and my own emotions were constantly changing throughout.

While I didn’t like the beginning of The Edge of Never, I absolutely loved it afterwards. It was funny, heart-breaking, passionate and exciting all at the same time. 

Film Review: Side Effects

About the film

Side Effects is a psychological thriller film that was released at the cinema in the UK on 8^th March. The film is rated 15 and has a run time of 106 minutes.

Plot

After looking forward to the day for years, Emily Taylor’s husband is finally released from prison. However, soon after he returns home, she becomes extremely depressed and suffers with emotional episodes. After a suicide attempt by driving her car into a brick wall, Jonathan Banks becomes her psychiatrist. After trying her on numerous medications, he prescribes and experimental new drug called Ablixa, of which he is part of a study for. Ablixa puts Emily into a sleepwalking state though and while this is happening, she stabs her husband numerous times, killing him.

Emily claims innocence due to not remembering what she did and Jonathan’s life is crumbling around him. As he prescribed an experimental drug, he is getting most of the blame. Instead of being found guilty, Emily is admitted into a hospital for mental health and it seems as though that is the end of it all. With his life in a mess, Jonathan cannot accept the answers he has and goes searching for what really happened in order to put things right.

What I thought

As soon as I saw the trailer for this film, I wanted to see it immediately. Although I don’t really like Jude Law that much, his role looked great and then there was the added bonus of Channing Tatum. Also, I get sick of watching the same rom-coms or action films at the cinema and this one looked really different.

Roony Mara plays Emily, the female protagonist of the film. She begins by being excited about her husband’s return home but it doesn’t last for long. Mara does a wonderful job of throwing her emotions all over the place. As someone diagnosed with severe depression, the range of drugs she takes alters her mood and she goes from crying to extremely happy from one minute to the next. Although and unknown actress to me, I think Mara did a fantastic job as Emily and she was so believable. Emily is a dark and mysterious character, leaving me thinking that there was a lot more to her than we could see. I loved watching her character develop throughout the film.

Male protagonist, Dr. Jonathan Banks is played by Jude Law, an actor who I normally cannot stand. However, I loved him in this film and it makes me want to give him another chance. Banks is a likeable character, although somewhat too into his own life at times. He clearly loves his job and wants his patients to get better. He does take on the job as a consultant for Ablixa though, a drug he knows little about and begins prescribing it to his patients. He takes the job due to needing more money and gets paid handsomely for it. The first half of the film is spent with Banks genuinely trying to make Emily better and doing what he thinks is best for her.

The second half of the film takes a huge twist though. After the murder of Emily’s husband, everything changes. Emily herself begins to change (maybe too quickly) and Banks’ life is a big, crazy mess because of the trial. Not wanting to be blamed for what happened and wanting his life back, Banks sets out to reveal the truth, even if he isn’t sure about what that is. From this point, Law turns Banks into a slightly crazy but determined character. Gone are the niceties and he becomes much darker, which I liked. This whole film revolves around people’s personalities and how quickly they can be to change, depending on the circumstances in which they are in.  

Side Effects has quite a strange pacing. While it has a long, slow build up to the real story, there is a still a lot that happens. Emily tries to kill herself, then kills her husband and then all hell breaks loose. Once the murder happens, the whole film is turned on its head and it gets to be far more exciting. What I really loved about Side Effects was its complexity. New characters are introduced and they have much more to do with the plot than you could imagine. There are secrets and lies being told within the world of prescription drugs and who controls what. Although there is a lot of talk about therapy and medication, this aspect of the film is never confusing and everything has been made easy to understand, which I appreciated. This plot could have gotten lost in the overuse of medical terms and jargon.

With an exceptionally thought out plot, twists you cannot even begin to guess about along with a wonderful cast and script, this has been one of my favourite films of the year so far.

Walker introduce.... Ink Slingers

Towards the end of last month, the lovely people at Walker Books introduced a new Tumblr blog - 'Ink Slingers.' If you're wondering about the name, it is another word for author in the thesaurus (A pretty cool fact, I know!). 

Not only does the blog have all kinds of awesome news and fun posts about great books but there is also a way to get involved yourself. Walker want Ink Slingers to be a community. You can ask questions about books or even ask an author a question, write a review or write something about a book. If you're interested in getting involved, head over to http://www.ink-slingers.co.uk/submit where you can send in your thoughts.

So far, you can find some pretty awesome posts about Cassandra Clare and the City of Bones film as well as posts about What Really Happened in Peru, which is the first book in The Bane Chronicles. I know most of us are massive fans of the world Cassandra Clare created so be sure to check it out. 

Ink Slingers can be found at: http://www.ink-slingers.co.uk/

With All My Soul by Rachel Vincent

About the book

With All My Soul is the seventh and final book in the Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent. The book was released on 5^th April by Mira Ink and it is 336 pages long.

Plot Synopsis

Ever since Kaylee Cavanaugh came into her banshee powers, screaming for the souls of the dead, her life has been hell. Kaylee recently died and is now undead, still being forced to do normal things like going to school and deal with her ex-boyfriend. Now, she’s had enough of being hounded by hellions from the Netherworld and wants a life as normal and peaceful as it can get, considering she’s already dead.

Everyone Kaylee knows and loves is in danger because the hellion Avari will not stop until he has has. She must figure out a way to save everyone without giving up the one thing she needs most – her soul.

What I thought

This series has been one of my favourites in the young adult genre and I’m now really sad to be seeing it end. After following Kaylee and her friends for 6 books up until this point, I couldn’t wait to see how everything ended for them all. As this is the last book in the series, there may be spoilers for the previous books.

Kaylee has spent most of her time as a banshee escaping from the hellion of greed, Avari. For some reason, he wants her and her soul to torment for the rest of time and won’t stop until he has what he wants. This means him hurting many of her close friends and family, with them all fighting to stay alive a lot of the time. No matter what they try though, Avari seems unstoppable. This final book focuses on Kaylee trying to find a way to protect all of her friends without their being any more casualties. Due to the nature of the plot, it is extremely exciting. There is plenty going on in each chapter and so many twists and turns.

Throughout the whole series, I have loved Kaylee as a character and the protagonist. Even though she has been through so much, including dying herself, she is never selfish. Kaylee is always on the lookout for her friends and family, wanting to do what she thinks is best to keep them safe and out of harm’s way. While this doesn’t always go down too well, I loved her determination and strength to get things done. This aspect of Kaylee also shows just how much her friends and family mean to her. She has done some pretty crazy things to keep them alive.

Due to Avari threatening everyone around her, just to get what he wants, Kaylee definitely sees red in this book. While she has been strong willed and determined up until now, I have never seen her so angry and hell-bent on making things right. The anger absolutely pours out of her and I thought it made her a better character. Speaking of anger, while Avari is the hellion of greed, we get to meet Ira in this book who is the hellion of wrath. He takes great pleasure in Kaylee’s new anger and uses it against her at times. He is also so much creepier than Avari in my eyes due to some of the things he does. Urgh is all I can say about him.

With All My Soul has a fantastic mix of excitement and emotion. Rachel Vincent has done a wonderful job with the whole series but this book is by far my favourite even though it is the last book. Within this one, there are so many loose ends tied up and questions answered. Vincent has made sure that this book is one hell of an emotional ride. Just when you think you know what is going to happen – BAM – a big shock comes in. I laughed at certain parts, I was angry with Kaylee for a large chunk of the book and I also had a little cry as well.

I couldn’t put this book down and cannot recommend the series highly enough! 

Barely Breathing by Rebecca Donovan

About the book

Barely Breathing is the second book in The Breathing Series by Rebecca Donovan. The book was published by Penguin on 28^th February and it is 592 pages long.

Plot Synopsis

Set 6 months after the first book, Reason to Breathe, Emma Thomas is slowly getting over the terrible ordeal she went through. The physical abuse she suffered at the hands of her Aunt Carol is now public knowledge and Emma can no longer hide from those around her. However, her life is far from normal as she suffers constantly from nightmares, never being able to forget what happened to her. With graduation not far away, Emma’s estranged mother wants to form a relationship again which sees Emma move in with her. Unfortunately though, Emma’s mother has her own problems and together, they must deal with the events of the past if they are ever going to get on again.

What I thought

As soon as I finished the first book in this series, Reason to Breathe, I ordered this one. Reason to Breathe ends on a massive cliff-hanger and I just couldn’t wait to find out what happened next to Emma. As this book is set 6 months later, Emma is slowly getting over what her Aunt did to her. Her life is in a bit of a mess and she now lives with best friend Sara and her family. What I liked about this book was the fact that it deals with the aftermath of previous events. Emma is forced to deal with her feelings and to realise that her life isn’t nearly as bad as what it used to be.

However, after having such a hard life up until this point, I did think that moving back in with her alcoholic mother was a terrible idea. Without this kind of plot though, there wouldn’t have been much story I guess. Emma’s mother, Rachel had been in touch in the last book and had appeared to have changed. Even though everyone warns her against it, Emma wants to give Rachel a second chance and at least try to get to know her better. Even after people have treated her terribly, Emma tries to see the best in people and does believe in second chances. Although I did think the plot was a bit far-fetched after the last book, I did like seeing the relationship between Emma and Rachel progress. It was interesting to see the two interact with each other after being apart for so long.

Rachel was a character I hated though, nearly as much as Emma’s Aunt Carol. Rachel is the most needy and desperate woman I have ever read about. She acts like a teenager, cries when she doesn’t get her own way and then turns to the drink as well. While I thought that getting to know Rachel would mean understanding Emma better, this was not the case. Emma and Rachel are absolutely nothing alike and Emma quickly begins to realise this. Although I disliked Rachel, she brought in another big part of the book – Jonathan, who is the younger man she’s dating. Jonathan is closer to Emma’s age than Rachel’s and they become friends. Emma and Jonathan also share being unable to sleep at night due to their pasts so it was nice for Emma to finally have someone she felt like she could talk to.

With all of this going on, Emma is still dating Evan and still best friends with Sara. I absolutely loved both of these characters and was glad to see them still central to the plot. As much as I enjoyed these characters though, I didn’t like the way that Emma treat them at times. Yes, she had a lot going on with other aspects of her life but she treat Evan like crap at times and he had done nothing but be there for her and support her through everything. I also though he put up with way too much too and I would have liked to have seen him with more of a backbone.

Overall, I didn’t like this book nearly as much as the first instalment of the series. I felt as though the plot was too much and certain characters annoyed me throughout. Barely Breathing was also not as emotional as I didn’t connect with the plot as well as I maybe could have done. I do still want to read the next in the series though. 

Waiting on Wednesday

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event, hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Just for Fins by Tera Lynn Childs

When Lily Sanderson decided to remain Crown Princess Waterlily of the mermaid kingdom Thalassinia, she knew she couldn’t just coast along in the current. But since she’s spent the last couple of years on land—with gorgeous human Quince by her side—Lily’s not sure she has the fins to lead a kingdom. Even her maddeningly pretentious cousin Dosinia seems to know more about ruling than she does.

But Lily has to dive in deep to keep her promise to Tellin, her mer bond in name only, whose kingdom is suffering in the changing ocean climate. Lily knows this is a seven seas–sized problem: from sea animals dying to oil spills and threats to humans. They’ll need to create some serious waves to make the mer community aware and get it to join together to make things right. Even if that means facing one of the iciest queens in the mer kingdoms.

Just when Lily thinks her double life on land and sea can’t get any more complicated, an ancient mer law might separate Lily and Quince after all. It feels as if the pair is up against a solid tsunami wave!

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Templar Publishing 
• Date released: 1 Jun 2013