(pb; 2014: book sequel to the 2011 film Rise of the Planet of the Apes and prequel to the film/movie tie-in novel Dawn of the Planet of Apes, by Alex Irvine)
From the back cover:
"Caesar and his followers have escaped the clutches of man, fighting their way across the Golden Gate Bridge and taking refuge in the vast redwood forest known as Muir Woods. There they hope to establish a home, far from the humans who so horribly abused them.
"But mankind has far worse things to worry about.
"The 'Simian Flu' has begun to strike down unsuspecting innocents throughout San Francisco. What began as isolated cases quickly become a full-on epidemic. There are those who blame the apes, and would like to take revenge, while others hunt Caesar and his troop for their own insidious reasons. Either way the result will be the same. . ."
Review:
Firestorm is a cinematically streamlined, smart, humane and entertaining novel that links Rise and Dawn. Its pace never lags, it shares two main characters (Gary Oldman's Dreyfus and Andy Serkis's Caesar) with Dawn (as well as other supporting characters), while making plot-pertinent mentions of James Franco's Will Rodman from Rise. Not only that, its tone is consistent with its bookending films and its ending is satisfactory.
Good summer blockbuster read, this.
(hb; 1963; translated from French by Xan Fielding)
Review:
In the year 2500, human astronaut Ulysse Mérou and his two fellow scientist/astronauts discover and investigate an Earthlike planet at another end of the universe (a "region of space where the supergigantic star Betelgeuse - or Alpha Orionis, as our astronomers called it, reigned supreme. . . about three hundred light-years distant from [Earth]").
What they discover is more than an Earth-turned-on-its-evolutionary-head world - and that's just the beginning of the shocks, many of which are different than the cinematic versions that were spawned from this novel.
Apes is a solid, tightly-written short read that makes its seemingly implausible premise not only plausible, but almost inevitable, within the confines of Boulle's landmark science fiction logic.
Worthwhile read, this.
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Planet was released stateside as a film on April 3, 1968.
Charlton Heston played Colonel George Taylor [the film equivalent of Ulysse Mérou]. Roddy McDowall played Cornelius. Kim Hunter played Dr. Zira. Linda Harrison played Nova.
Maurice Evans played Dr. Zaius - Minister of Science. James Whitmore played President of the Assembly. Robert Gunner played Landon. Lou Wagner played Lucius.
Franklin J. Schaffner directed the film from a script co-authored by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling.
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Sequels followed: Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970); Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971); Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972); Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973).
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In 1974, a fourteen-episode television series, Planet of the Apes aired stateside.
A year later, an animated television series, Return to the Planet of the Apes, aired stateside - it ran for thirteen episodes before getting cancelled.
In 1981, a live-action television movie, Back to the Planet of the Apes - actually two episodes of the 1974 series (Planet of the Apes) edited together - aired on American television.
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A theatrical remake of the original film, Planet of the Apes, was released stateside on July 27, 2001.
Mark Wahlberg played Captain Leo Davidson. Evan Parke played Gunnar. Helena Bonham Carter played Ari. Estella Warren played Daena. Lisa Marie played Nova.
Tim Roth played Thade. An uncredited Charlton Heston, in a species role reversal, played "Zaius - Thade's Father".
Michael Clarke Duncan played Attar. Paul Giamatti played Limbo. Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa played Krull.
Kris Kristofferson played Karubi. David Warner played Sandar. Erick Avari played Tival. Anne Ramsay played Lt. Col. Grace Alexander. Michael Jace played Major Frank Santos.
Famous cinematic make-up artist Rick Baker played "Old Ape #2". An uncredited Jesse Kristofferson, son of Kris Kristofferson, played a "Starving Human".
Tim Burton directed the film, from a script by William Broyles Jr., Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal.
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Rise of the Planet of the Apes - a prequel to the original Planet of the Apes - is scheduled for stateside release on August 5, 2011.
James Franco played Will Rodman. Andy Serkis played Caesar. Freida Pinto played Caroline. John Lithgow played Charles Rodman.
Brian Cox played John Landon. Tom Felton played Dodge Landon.
David Hewlett played Hunsiker. Tyler Labine played Franklin. Sonja Bennett played "Woman on Street". Chelah Horsdal played Irena.
Rupert Wyatt directed the film, from a screenplay co-authored by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver.
(pb; 2003: first book in the Inkheart trilogy. Translated from the German by Anthea Bell)
From the back cover:
"One cruel night, Meggie's father reads aloud from Inkheart, and an evil ruler named Capricorn escapes the boundaries of fiction and lands in their living room. Suddenly, Meggie is smack in the middle of the kind of adventure she has only read about in books. Somehow, Meggie must learn to harness the magic that has conjured this nightmare. Only she can change the course of the story that has changed her life forever."
Review:
The first book of the Inkheart trilogy is heartfelt, frisky (it has numerous lightly sarcastic moments), family friendly and near-impossible to put down. Funke never lets up on the action, and the characters (from plucky twelve-year old Meggie Folchart to the knife-wielding Basta).
Inkheart's ending, like the rest of the book, is smart and fleet-footed, with a few predictable (but sequel-necessary) elements. Not quite a cliff-hanger, it made me want to read the next book, Inkspell.
This is a worthy read for fans of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series and Eoin Colfer's Artemis Fowl series.
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Inkheart graced the silver screen on January 23, 2009. Iain Softley directed the film from a script by David Lindsay-Abaire.
Brendan Fraser played Mo "Silvertongue" Folchart. Andy Serkis played Capricorn. Eliza Bennett played Meggie Folchart. Paul Bettany played Dustfinger. Jim Broadbent played Fenoglio. Helen Mirren played Elinor Loredan.
Jamie Foreman played Basta. Leslie Sharp played Mortola (aka, "the Magpie"). Rafi Gavron played Farid. Marnix Van Den Broeke played The Shadow.
