Book Reviews Overdue

My book reviews for April, May, and June will be combined at the end of this month. Sorry about how far behind I've fallen on things, but it's been a crazy, busy summer, what with all the preparation for returning to school this Fall. In fact, I do not think that I even read any books at all in May--Or, rather, I read plenty of books, but did not finish any of them in May. Look forward to reading my thoughts on "North and South", "The Wise Man's Fear", "At the Mountains of Madness", and more!

In the same way I have fallen woefully behind on my Doctor Who Reviews. To sum up:

• I absolutely loved everything about "The Doctor's Wife", it's definitely my favorite episode of Eleven's run so far, and provided the most uncontrived and honest emotional moment of the show (for me) since Ten had to wipe Donna Noble's memory. I love Neil Gaiman's way with words, and his fingerprints were all over this episode, in the best way possible. He made use of the characters so well, and with so many fantastic nods at classic episodes (Eye of Orion, anyone??), I wish he was a regular writer. And FINALLY an episode where the pacing was perfect.
• "The Rebel Flesh" was nowhere near as good, but I still thought it was a solid episode, very Classic-feeling with the many supporting characters and the running down long corridors, etc. It was also nice to see Rory get a chance to shine. If you've watched the film "Moon" this episode will probably remind you of it.
• "The Almost People" was generally enjoyable, although I felt that there were wayyy too many illogical consistencies. Such as, if all that is needed to destroy the Flesh is a whirr of the sonic screwdriver, why wasn't that done before the end of the episode? It felt like a bit of contrivance to create a self-sacrificial situation that was completely unnecessary. NICE twist to have Amy be a Flesh-creature all along, but I was a bit irritated by that too, because then that means that all the character development and maturity she's been getting this series . . . didn't really happen to her.
• I thought "A Good Man Goes to War" was merely okay, again due to massive logistics problems (why not shoot the Doctor the moment he reveals himself to the enormous crowd of people who want to kill him, etc). However, I did like the dangerous edge to the Doctor we got to see in this ep, and RORY. Rory was just utterly fantastic: fighting with a futuristic gun/Ancient Roman gladius combo, his adorable 'I was going to be cool!' reaction when he sees Amy with his daughter for the first time, and his super-cool pre-credits sequence. The revelation about River? Disappointing. It puts even more focus on her character, instead of less, and even steals the spotlight from Amy and Rory in a sense because now they can be known as River's parents instead of characters in their own right. I loved River Song in "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead"; now I just want her gone. I thought Amy was great in this episode too, and it was fun to see the Doctor's Gallifreyan crib (although why he decided to bring it with him on the TARDIS I have utterly no idea). The cliffhanger wasn't really interesting to me, so I have no problem waiting for the next episode, which is nice. If they had made the end of "The Pandorica Opens", for example, a mid-series cliffhanger, that would have been torture.

I'll try to post proper, full-length reviews later. I'm also planning on reviewing Series 2 of "Sherlock" when it airs; I am extremely excited for that show.

That's all for now, folks! My laptop's currently in the repair shop, but once I get it back I'll post up my book reviews; expect them sometime next week. In the meantime I'm devoting all my free time to dance, reading, writing, and attempting to sew a regency gown.