Liking - "Gotham" - DC Comics TV Series (2014)

I find I'm quite liking Gotham, the DC Comics TV series about the early years of Batman, post the murder of his parents, but prior to becoming the Batman.  The primary character is a young Jim Gordon (Commissioner Gordon in the 1960's TV series and the comics) and his semi-corrupt partner Bullock, with Gordon new to a corrupt police force in Gotham City.
I was surprised how dark the series was, though - darker than Arrow, and much darker than the other new DC Comics series "The Flash".  I like it, but it might be a shocker to young viewers.

The show is great for those new to the Batman lore, and those versed in Batman history.  There are lots of glimpses into the future (e.g. Catwoman, Riddler, Penguin) that show up in major or minor ways (Penguin is certainly the most visible, and portrayed excellently by Robin Lord Taylor, who is nicknamed "Penguin" immediately, though hasn't adopted the name, or identity yet.

The Bruce Wayne/Batman storyline is always in the background and shows a serious and stoic Bruce studying documents and trying to understand what happened to his parents, Wayne Enterprises and Gotham.

I haven't been reading any of the "Behind the scenes" stuff, but I am suspecting that Bruce will not really show up as Batman until the series is done (like Superman in Smallville).  The power of the series comes from the stumbling along, learning what is going on and becoming who they are fated to be, not necessarily in the ascendance of Batman.  Part of Batman's success is the oddity of his rogues' gallery - that is what is being built here.

Finished (E-Reader) - "Edge of Eternity" - Ken Follett (3rd in Century Trilogy)

I have read all three books in Ken Follett's "Century Trilogy", the most recent being "Edge of Eternity".  These books are not typically what I seek out, but I thoroughly enjoyed all three of them.
I "accidentally" ran across Follett's "Pillars of the Earth" series, as I had known Follett from his WWII spy novels.  That was the first historical fiction-type book I ran across and I found it difficult to put down.

The Century Trilogy runs the gamut from the Russian Civil war () to WWII to the 1960's.  In each era, there are family members in several key countries, so their is a link backward through time (or forward, depending upon which book you are looking from), but the stories are independent, and no requirement to be up to date on each book is necessary to enjoy the others.

The "Edge of Eternity" is the most recent book in both publication and historical period.  The key storylines are East Germany during the building of the Wall,  Kennedy's White House and Kruschev's Kremlin during the Cuban missile crisis, the civil rights activities in both Washington and Alabama and the Vietnam war.

Follett's strengths is to portray the issues from the perspectives of both sides of the conflict(s), reminding the reader of what they would have known at that point in time and what their motivations were.  The issues come alive, almost as if they are being relived and maintain an appropriate sense of urgency.  As a novel, it is excellent, though I suppose as a true history it does slant in the Western direction (e.g. the Wall is evil, Communism is flawed...  the hardline East German police are portrayed as thugs - I don't disagree, but I suspect there is a viewpoint from that era that they were heroically protecting the motherland).

All in all, a captivating series, really worth the time to read.

   

Awaiting the new series - Gotham and The Flash

Going to be a nice fall - Gotham (watched the preview) and The Flash (watched the 1st episode online) both look interesting.  Add a renewed Arrow and Agents of SHIELD and there's lots of shows to watch at the moment.

"House of Cards" - TV Series (Netflix)

Really liked the first 2 seasons of House of Cards.  However, binge-watching loses something here, as it seems to affect the timing of events.

Each episode was intriguing, but it appeared that lots of time elapsed between the end of one and the start of the next - would not have "felt" odd if watched weekly, seemed "loud" given the binge watching.

Greatly awaiting the 3rd season....

Have accessed the UK version of "House of Cards" upon which the U.S. version is based.  Haven't watched yet, though.

Finished (E-Reader): California by Edan Lepucki

 Am about 3/4 of the way through California by Edan Lepucki.  I've been reading a bunch of dystopian novels over the past few years, as my daughter has an interest in them (e.g. Hunger Games, Maze Runner, Divergent).

I, like everyone else, is reading California because it is published by a company that Amazon is refusing to sell on their site.  Stephen Colbert advertised this book and pointed to several non-Amazon sites where it could be ordered - a very successful, though inadvertent, sales increase for Lepucki's book - over 60,000 pre-orders.

California is set in the near future, there hasn't been anyting as dramatic as a nuclear war, but Lepucki has extended climate change, income disparity and post-911 security fears and extrapolated all a few years into the future.  Our current social supports have eroded, severe weather and flues have decimated much of the U.S. population, and the wealthy have retreated to walled cities.

The main characters live in the post-world, basically alone, squatting in an abandoned shed.  Life isn't terrible, they do see a travelling trader, so are able to get some "old world" stuff, and living in California, they haven't been experiencing severe winters.  However, without the internet, without power, and without fuel, there really isn't much news around - they couldn't pinpoint what's going on elsewhere, and have a very 1700's level of locality - the know their neighbourhood, but not much beyond.

I'm quite enjoying the book and look forward to the final quarter.  Given the nature of the book, having a corporate giant (Amazon) making it difficult for the little guy to survive seems most fitting.

Update:  Finished the book.  Still like it, but like all of the dystopian novels and comics I've read, the big reveal is early - finding out how the new world is different than "our" world, and how it came to be.  The rest of the story about the characters and what happens to them becomes secondary.  The book resolved reasonably, but I found the idea to be greater than the character-driven part of the story.