Review: The Immortal (Christopher Pike)

The ancient artifact was cursed.

The Immortal, by Christopher Pike, is a young adult thriller that focuses on the lives of two female high school graduates who meet unfortunate fates. Josie is on vacation in Greece with her best friend, Helen, and her father, a Hollywood screenwriter working on a screenplay for a science fiction film. While visiting Mykonos, they tour the sacred island of Delos, considered the birthplace of Apollo, Greek god of truth, prophecy, healing and the sun.

Josie accidentally stumbles upon an ancient artifact that resembles a Greek goddess. She immediately takes the statue with her for safe-keeping when she leaves the island. Nevertheless, trouble follows her when she and a guy she likes fall ill to unknown causes. Then, Josie sees visions of an immortal goddess who is falsely accused of murdering her best friend. The goddess' punishment is living the life of a mortal inside Josie's body! When the truth is finally unveiled, Josie must save her friends before her time on Earth is finished.

This was a very good plot with a surprising twist at the end. While I wished no one had died, it does have a happy ending from a justice perspective. The audience for this type of novel is adolescents (ages 13-19) who are new to thrillers and want to explore fantasy fiction.

It was a pleasure to read more books by Christopher Pike. In my childhood, I was hooked on young adult thrillers by big-name writers such as him and R.L. Stine. I figured it was time to revisit their great works and highlight my favorites. In the near future, I will cover The Last Vampire trilogy and few more Pike Books (Remember Me, Fall into Darkness, See You Later, and so forth) on this website. I never imagined how much Pike, Stine and Elrod have been such a major influence in my life. Their works are one of the primary reasons why I created this paranormal blog.

Stay tuned for more novels by Christopher Pike in the near future!

Review: Destined for an Early Grave (Night Huntress #4)

Her deadly dreams leave her in grave danger.

Destined for an Early Grave, by Jeaniene Frost, is the fourth novel in the Night Huntress series. Bones and Cat take a vacation after they defeated an ancient Master vampire and her rogue undead army. During their honeymoon, Cat experiences mysterious dreams where she has visions of a vampire named Gregor who claims she is her rightful husband. Nicknamed the Dreamsnatcher, he can physically lure away unsuspecting persons in their dreams. Worse, he is more powerful than Bones and knows the truth about Cat's past.

Gregor won't stop the visions and threats until Cat is officially his again. As Cat battles between the vampire who haunts her nightmares and the one who holds her heart, she must make a decision that may cost her her humanity. If it can break the power Gregor has over her, then she will need all the power she can summon to win her freedom. The only way is to become one of the most feared in the supernatural world.

This series keeps getting better and better! This is officially the climax where readers will discover Cat's true abilities and destiny as a vampire hunter. She asks Bones to turn her into a vampire, but a surprise awaits her when she becomes a unique being that no one knew could possibly exist.

I won't spoil the plot any further, but it was certainly surprising to witness Cat question why does she cling to her humanity? To serve as a daily reminder of her duty to take down the rogue undead? She meets a foe much stronger than she can bargain for. Her "blood bond" marriage with Bones is also put to the test when they must learn how to trust each other. The stakes are high for Cat to make an ultimate decision on her future, but readers will be pleased with the novel's ending.

Stay tuned for the next novel in the Night Huntress series, First Drop of Crimson. This spin-off book focuses on Spade's (Bones' best friend) love life.

Review: Fate/Zero (2011-2012)

When the curtain falls, who will emerge victorious is anyone's guess... And what "victorious" truly means, is even more questionable.

Fate/Zero (2011-2012) is a Japanese fantasy anime that takes place 10 years before the events of Fate/Stay Night (2006). This series chronicles the events of the Fourth Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City. It contains 26 episodes (two seasons).

The battle for the Holy Grail continues after three inconclusive winners, with more lives lost and more secrets revealed. The Holy Grail War is a contest in which seven mages summon seven Heroic Spirits throughout history to compete for the power of the "Holy Grail," which can grant the winner's true desire. Founded by the Einzbern, Makiri, and Tosaka families centuries ago, the Einzbern family is determined to achieve success after three consecutive failures. As a result, they have elected to bring the hated magus killer, Kiritsugu Emiya, into their ranks, despite his methods and reputation as a skilled mercenary who employs whatever he can use to accomplish his goals.

In his youth, Kiritsugu wanted to become a hero who could save everyone. He has long since abandoned this ideal upon realizing that saving one person comes at the cost of another's life. For the sake of humanity, he will ruthlessly destroy anything and anyone who threatens the peace of others. However, Kiritsugu finds himself deeply torn between the love he has found for his new family and what he must do to obtain the Holy Grail. Meanwhile, Kiritsugu's greatest opponent appears in the form of Kirei Kotomine, a mysterious priest who cannot find any sense of fulfillment in his life and targets Kiritsugu as the possible answer to the emptiness he feels.

It is a known fact that I have a disdain for prequels. First, it disrupts the flow of the storyline when you have to remember (and possibly re-watch) a show you haven't seen in nearly five or more years. Second, prequels sometimes don't outshine the original debut show. Third, they are sometimes unnecessary to produce. In Fate/Zero, viewers witness the events that led up to Fate/stay night. We also see a different side to Saber, the (only) female Heroic figure protagonist, and how she met Kiritsugu. We also get to see Kiritsugu's backstory in the second arc.

Did the producers have to make this show? Yes and no. While I learned about the origins of the Holy Grail War, I felt bored and indifferent when it ended In some ways, evil prevails because there is no conclusive winner. Besides the occasional battle scenes, you have Heroic figures talking philosophical jabs at each other. The good side is the OST music was pretty good, especially the debut song,"Sora wa Takaku Kaze wa Utau (Up on the Sky, the Wind Sings)" by Haruna Luna. Overall, I will only recommend this show to avid Fate/stay-night fans. Anyone else should skip the prequel and watch Fate/stay-night.

I will update this blog post with the music videos soon.

Opening Theme: "oath sign" by LiSA

Ending Theme: "MEMORIA" by Aoi Eir