Continuing to work my way through a list of Ancient Greece in 36 Historical novels, I hit #32, Christian Cameron's 2010 novel Tyrant: Funeral Games. This was actually the first time in the entire list where I was being asked to read volume three in a series, so of course I quickly read one and two.
Tyrant Mini-Review
This 2008 novel follows a Greek mercenary called Kinneas and his interactions with the Scythian people during the reign of Alexander the Great. The book was a lot of fun, showing a little known corner of the era.
Tyrant: Storm of Arrows Mini-Review
This 2009 novel follows Greek mercenary Kinneas and his battle with a Macedonian army led by one Alexander the Great's generals. A lot of action, as well as an interesting look at Alexander himself in the latter days of his reign.
Ok, so back to Funeral Games. The novel follows the children of the leads from the first two books as they navigate the collapsing Macedonian Empire after Alexander's death. Twins Satyrus and Melitta begin the novel around age twelve and allow the reader to examine how nobles from different cultures viewed gender, roles, and responsibilities against a backdrop of action, intrigue, and adventure. I think it's fair to say that this list very nicely led me to two great authors, Mary Renault and Christian Cameron.
So yesterday I went to see the new Shane Black film The Predator with my youngest daughter and my friend Ron. The three of us kind of nicely represented a lot of the incoming audience; first, I had seen most of the franchise leading up the film (sorry AVP: Requiem) and had played the various video games, read the comics, etc., Ron came into the film having never seen any of the previous franchise films, but simply as a fan of Shane Black's work and my youngest daughter had seen the original film a few years back and thought the trailer looked fun.
The movie itself was a little bumpy; what worked really worked (fun quips, nice rag-tag team of predator-fighters, some pretty great action sequences), but I found a number of plot points were sort of left dangling (not willing to go into specifics due to spoilers) and in the end I have to say it attempts to out laugh and out violence the original and at one level succeeds, but at another simply shows that more isn't necessarily always better.
A fun film to watch in theatres, but not sure if it is one I would own (currently I only own the original 87 film).
Funeral Games, Mary Renault's final novel, and the conclusion of her Alexander trilogy follows the aftermath of the death of the Macedonian King, and how quickly everything can fall apart without any plans for succession.
The story is bloodthirsty and often heartbreaking, following both those who lust for the power left in Alexander's wake and those thrust into positions of power with little but their wits to protect them. In previous novels Renault largely focused on male protagonists, but here she has his widows, mother, sister and cousin all feature prominently and although history clearly shows how his empire worked out after his death, I couldn't help but root for many of these characters.
A fascinating look at how quickly events can turn on just about anyone, Funeral Games was well worth the read, and will have me looking for other Renault books in the future.
So yesterday my friend Mike and I went to see the latest film in the Conjuring Universe The Nun, a film that works as a prequel to the series, but certainly requires viewers have seen the previous films or they will be spoiled.
The Nun is the fifth film in the series and although I wasn't quite as excited to see it as I was Annabelle Creation (mostly because I had seen other films by the director), in for a penny in for a pound as they say.
Set in 1952 the film follows Sister Irene (Taisa Farmiga) and Father Burke ( Demián Bichir) as they investigate a recent death at a convent in Romania. As can be expected in any type of horror film, there is a spooky old building, a number of jump scares and a sinister backstory for the duo to uncover.
In the end the film was a fun watch, but stand up as well as either of the main Conjuring Films or as well as Annabelle Creation (Still haven't seen the original Annabelle - maybe someday).
So if you're a fan of the series, check it out, otherwise perhaps check out some great classic Hammer films for a similar feel.
