Top 5 Wednesday: Top 5 Least Favorite Books in Your Favorite Series

This week's Top 5 Wednesday is our Top 5 Least Favorite Books in Our Favorite Series. This is a fun one. When I first started thinking about this, I didn't think I would have many. In my favorite of favorite series, it's hard for me to find a least favorite book. But then I started thinking a little more and came up with some books in series that I loved, or really liked, or liked, that weren't my favorites. So here are my Top 5 Least Favorite Books in My Favorite Series...

 

5. Revelations (Elysium Chronicles Book 2) by J.A. Souders: I wouldn't categorize this as my favorite book series of all time, but I really did enjoy the first book in this series. This second book was just not fun for me. The reason that I didn't like it was because the main character turned into such a whiny brat. I could not stand her in this book. She conveniently got amnesia, so she didn't remember anything that happened in the first book, and she would snap at people when they asked her about it. There was also this weird, almost love triangle that I thought was going on that I just didn't really like. The third book still hasn't released in this series yet, which is kind of crazy since book 2 came out in 2013. The third book is supposed to come out July of 2016, but man that is a long wait. This whole series does have beautiful covers though. This book just really suffers from second book syndrome to me.

4. The Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw (League of Princes Book 3) by Christopher Healy: I love this series sooooo much. I really don't hate any of the books in it, but this last and final book wasn't my favorite of the series. That may have just been because it's the last book and I didn't want this series to end. I do remember not liking how the princes and princesses were split up and how a lot of the story was told from the Princess Group. The Princes were my favorite to read about, so I really just wanted more time with them. If you are looking for a great middle grade series, check this one out. It is Fan-Freaking-Tastic!

 

3. Reborn (Altered #3) by Jennifer Rush: This is part of an underrated series that I love so much. This one might make my least favorite list because I didn't want the series to end. I also remember that this one didn't really live up to being the finale of a series. It was told in Nick's POV, and I do love Nick, but the original group was kind of out of the picture for the whole book. When I think of an end to a series, I want the whole group together fighting and uncovering one last BIG secret. I really hope for more from this series, I would definitely jump for joy if that ever happened. I recommend this series to anyone looking for a bit of action adventure in their reading life.

2. Breaking Dawn (Twilight Saga #4) by Stephenie Meyer: It's been sooooo long since I reread this book. I think I only read it right after it came out, and I haven't reread it since. This one wasn't awful, but it definitely wasn't my favorite. I think part of the reason was because it was the last book and I didn't really want the series to end. The other reason, probably the biggest reason, was that I just thought that whole Renesmee/imprinting situation was just soooo weird.

1. Rot & Ruin (Benny Imura Book 1) by Jonathan Maberry: This one wasn't a bad book, it was just the weakest book in the series for me. After this book, the series got so much stronger and became one of my favorite series. I didn't really enjoy the whole feel sorry for the zombies approach and how Tom wouldn't kill them because they used to be people. I'm just of the opinion that once a person gets zombiefied they're gone, and their corpse is just that, a corpse. It just makes sense to me to kill the zombies when you see them, so they don't spread the infection to anyone else. I just think this awesome series has a weak first book. If you've read Rot & Ruin and have not wanted to continue with the series because you just thought it was alright, I can promise the series gets so much more epic after this one. Don't give up and keep on reading!

So that's it, my Top 5 Least Favorite Books in My Favorite Series. What are your picks? If you want to join in on the Top 5 Wednesday fun, you totally should. Each Wednesday is a new fun topic to consider and discuss. Check out all the other Top 5 Wednesday-ers Here!

Random Tuesday: What Did I Think Of Black Sails

No The 100 review because it hasn't come back from hiatus yet, so you get this! I usually don't have anything book related to post on Tuesdays, so it's kind of like my free-for-all day. I can post nothing, which is what I usually do, or lately, I've been using Tuesday's to post reviews for what I'm bingeing on TV or Netflix. So while I might not post something every Tuesday, sometimes I'll surprise you with something.
This Tuesday I want to talk about a show that I just watched the first season of. This past week, I watched Season 1 of Black Sails, which is a STARZ Original Series.

What Black Sails is About: Black Sails is supposed to be a prequel to the novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. It focuses on Captain Flint and his search for the treasure laden ship called the Urca. It also focuses on the pirate paradise of New Providence Island and Eleanor Guthrie, who is trying to run this island. It's about the Golden Age of Piracy and how those pirates really lived. Black Sails incorporates some real pirates of history like Anne Bonny, "Calico" Jack Rackham, and Charles Vane, alongside some fictional ones like John Silver. This is a show about Pirates that Disney could never tell.

Backstory For Wanting to Watch Black Sails, Or How It Came on My Radar: This is a two part answer. Part 1 has already been discussed on at least one blog post, but it's the simple fact that I love Pirates. Ever since I watched Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, I just got very interested in the people and the life. I did my senior project on pirates and had a lot of fun researching and learning pirate facts. I'm very much one of those people that has romanticized the Golden Age of Piracy.

Part 2 comes from my love of the show The 100. In Season 3, they introduced a cool character named Roan, who's played by Zach McGowan. I then found out that Zack McGowan was well known for playing Charles Vane on the show Black Sails. 

Roan/Prince of Azgeda on The 100

Jack Rackham, Charles Vane, and Anne Bonny on Black Sails 

So Parts 1 and 2  came together and I requested Season 1 from my library and got to watch it. THE END.

I will say, it was a weird experience in a way watching it from my library, because I only had the DVD for a limited time. I felt like I had to rush through it so I could return it. I might not have gotten to savor the show like I wanted or had that feeling of being able to watch it on my own time.

Review of Black Sails Season 1: It was alright. I didn't love it as much as I thought I would. Not saying I hated it, but it didn't inspire me to sing sea shanties all day. When I was watching the extras on the DVD, after I'd watched all the Season 1 episodes, I think I might have discovered why I didn't absolutely love it. The show's goal was not to romanticize the pirate way of life, but show them as the individuals they were and how they really lived. I think that was my big problem. I love the romanticized version of the pirate. The guys who are bad, but not too bad, who's main goal is to live a life free at sea and search for all kinds of treasures. The pirates in Black Sails were not nice guys. That was pretty obvious from the opening scene of the first episode, where they boarded a ship and killed almost everyone on board for the loot. I guess I just wanted another kind of Jack Sparrow who's adventures I'd get to follow around.

This show was also very mature. Lots and Lots of sex, nudity, and gore. Do not watch this show with your family, because it just turns into a super awkward experience. At times, the sex and nudity were excessive. But I mean, that is the kind of life pirates led. Port towns such as New Providence Island were filled with taverns, and prostitution is one of the oldest professions. Black Sails focused on a lot of the unsavory way of life. It showed some male nudity too, which was surprising, because usually males are off limits while females show everything and anything. So yay for fairness there.

I liked most of the characters. My favorites were probably Billy Bones, Jack Rackham, and Charles Vane. 

There was one character that got on my nerves a couple of times and that was Eleanor Guthrie. She's supposed to be the strong woman on the show, so probably as a girl, it's awful for me to not like her, but I just didn't understand her. She was once involved with Charles Vane, but now she's in love with a prostitute in the brothel. It seemed like she kind of hated Charles Vane, but then she goes back to him and has sex with him?? I was just very confused by her. She kind of reminded me of Lexa from The 100, and I'm not the biggest Lexa fan either sooo...

John Silver was also a character I had mixed feelings for. I could never trust him plus he had a kind of manic gaze. The hairstyle was a little distracting also. He did have his funny moments though.

This was a very pretty show to watch with all the backgrounds and cinematography. I also really loved the soundtrack for the show. Such cool music that really did capture that pirate feeling.

Black Sails was not exactly what I wanted in the end. I found it interesting, but I wanted that more romanticized, fun version of pirates. Real life pirates just aren't as fun to me, in large part I think that's because they are murderers and criminals. I'll probably watch the second season, because I am interested enough to continue with it. I really like the inclusion of real, historical pirate figures in the show. I could do without all the nudity and sex. Not exactly the pirate's life I wanted to see, but it was still kind of cool. My feelings are just mixed on this, very mixed.

Review: Nearly Gone (Nearly #1) by Elle Cosimano

Title: Nearly Gone (Nearly #1)

Author: Elle Cosimano

Published by: Kathy Dawson Books/Penguin Group

Released: 2014

Summary: Nearly's one hope of getting out of Sunny View Trailer Park is winning her school's chemistry scholarship. Nearly is a smart girl, and her brain is her ticket out. Then kids start getting attacked and killed, kids with a connection to Nearly. Clues pop up in the Personal Ads of the paper, ads Nearly reads religiously. It's up to her to catch the killer before it's too late.

My Thoughts: This is an interesting mystery that resides in an average book. I was very excited when I started, but figured out quickly that it wasn't going to be a book I would love.

My main problem with this story is Nearly, I don't like her. There are those smart, educated kinds of people in the world that think they are better than everybody else, Nearly was one of those people. I can't stand those people. And while Nearly was book smart, I really questioned her common sense. Nearly is also not very nice to her Mom and puts a lot of blame on her. Nearly's dad took off when she was younger, never to be seen again, and her Mom is kind of forced to become a stripper at a club to make ends meet. Nearly doesn't blame her dad though, but looks down on her mom because of what she does. I don't think that's fair, and if Nearly really is driven to get out of her current situation, she could have tried to get a part time job instead of making excuses about her tutoring schedule. Instead she depends on other people to drive her around, pay for her stuff, and she's constantly taking money from her Mom's tip jar to keep up her newspaper habit. I can't feel sorry for such a mean girl who takes advantage of so many people, yet continues to pass herself off as a victim.

The mystery did keep me guessing, I'll give it that, but I was frustrated by Nearly's actions. At the end of the story, Nearly is talking about how a friend's parents blame her, and I was like, Yes Yes Yes they should blame you Nearly. But Nearly brushes it off and says some people just need someone to blame, suggesting that everything that happened is in no part a result of her own actions. The frustration was real. Nearly does go to the police at first, but tells them really nothing, and then never contacts them again. She doesn't tell them about the ads in the paper or any other clues that could help the police. Then she decides that the police just want to blame her, so she's done with the police. I think the killer could have been caught a whole lot sooner if Nearly had common sense and let the police handle it. Because Nearly's whole journey to catch the killer ended up with a lot more dead people. She didn't make a good detective at all.

Also, I found there was no real point to Nearly's special ability. It makes her prickly, and then just serves to mess things up further in the story.

I found Nearly Gone to be an okay read, but I did have a lot of frustrations with it. I don't like Nearly. It might be close to say that I hated Nearly. When I don't like the main character of a story, it's really hard for me to like the book. The mystery was decent, so I'll give it that.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 3/5

Good Mystery, Annoying Nearly

Reading Right Now! (58)

What I'm Reading Right Now! is...

Currently

The Dark Days Club (Lady Helen #1) by Alison Goodman

I'm about 24% of the way through this (on page 125 or something) and it's a massive tome.

So I pretty much stuck with my plan from last week and finished The Cage by Megan Shepherd before hopping into this. I'm glad that I stuck through with that plan, because reading this and The Cage at the same time probably wouldn't have worked out. This book is set in Regency England circa 1812 and revolves around our main character Helen who has just been presented to society upon her 18th birthday. Helen's parents both died, it was rumored that her mother was a traitor to England, and she's been raised by her Aunt and Uncle. Her Uncle is not very nice. Helen's life so far, has been filled with dress appointments, invitations to parties, and working on getting her married off. Pretty normal stuff for a genteel lady of her time. The synopsis mentions demons, and I haven't gotten to that part yet. 

I'm really enjoying this book, but it is a slower paced one so far. Reading the goodreads reviews, some people were really put off by that and didn't like it because of that, but I don't mind the pace of it. One of my guilty pleasures are Regency Romances, so I just love the feel of that time period. This book feels so authentic in it's Regency time and it's fun being in that world, but I can't wait until the demons come into play. Helen is already starting to discover that there is a little something different about her. So I'm excited to continue on with this one.

My What I'm Considering Reading Next Pile. Or maybe again contemplating reading two books at once and picking from these selections to do just that.

  

Option 1: Day 21 (The 100 #2) by Kass Morgan: If it hasn't already been clear from how much I talk about it, I am such a fan of the CW show adaptation of The 100. I put Book #3 on hold from my library, and it came in, so I need to read Book 2 in order to read Book 3. I don' t know how long I'll be able to keep Book 3, someone else could request it, and I'd be forced to give it up, so I feel like I need to read Books 2 and 3 soon, pronto, rapido. I enjoyed the first book when I read it. It was nothing like the show, but being different from the show probably made me like it more. Its like the same world and some of the same characters, but differences in how they act and who they are, if that makes sense. I really just want to finish the series. #BellarkeForever

Option 2: Hemlock Grove by Brian McGreevy: This one I really should be reading, because I'm supposed to be buddy reading it with my friend Ke-sha. On youtube she's https://www.youtube.com/user/theforsaken707 Ke-sha is already on page 100 and is well on her way to beating me. We want to read this together and then re-watch Season 1 on Netflix and then continue with Seasons 2 and 3 on Netflix. I've heard mixed things about this one, but in all honesty, the Netflix adaptation, Season 1 at least, was super weird. So yes, I need to get on the ball and read this so I don't fail on my buddy read.

Option 3: Unhinged (Splintered #2) by A.G. Howard: This is actually my TBR jar pick for what book I should read next. I read the first one last year, and just thought it was okay, but I want to finish the series. I have this weird thing about finishing what I've started (book series wise). I'm a little afraid because the main guy on this cover, Morpheus, was the guy that I really didn't like at all in the first book. He's going to really have to work to get any respect from me.

So that's what I'm Reading Right Now! and my rough plans for what to read next. What are you guys Reading Right Now! Tell me in the comments below because I love talking books. Talk at you later!

Review: Bad Glass by Richard E. Gropp

Title: Bad Glass

Author: Richard E. Gropp

Published by: Del Rey

Released: 2012

Summary: Something has happened in the city of Spokane. Weird rumors are flying of disappearances, strange animals, and visions too bizarre to be real. The military has quarantined the city and works to find out what's going on, releasing no real information to the public. Residents of the city have been evacuated, but some choose to stay.

Dean Walker comes into the city with a mission. He's dropped out of school and really doesn't want to work at his father's accounting firm. His real passion is photography, and he enters the city with a hope of making a name for himself, and exposing the truth of Spokane. What he finds there is hard to describe. Is becoming famous worth losing everything?

My Thoughts: What did I just read!?!? I don't think I've ever read something this strange before, with maybe the exception of The Marbury Lens by Andrew Smith. This story starts out normal enough, with our main character Dean making his way into the quarantined city of Spokane with the hope of exposing its secrets and becoming famous for his photographs. Dean is adopted by a group of people and becomes part of a makeshift family, where each person is broken and lost, harboring some sort of secret. The city slowly starts to sink its claws into Dean as the novel goes on. The reader is taken on Dean's slow descent into madness. You don't know what's real or hallucination, and you sure as heck don't know what's really going on in the city.

I just found this to be a strange, strange read. I enjoyed it and wanted to keep on reading, but at the same time, I was very confused by it. I wanted answers as to what was really happening, and the story really provided none.

One thing I would have loved is for Dean's photographs to have been included in the novel. Instead of descriptions of each photo, I would have loved to have visual representation of them. I also would have loved to know what really happened to Charlie and Sabine, and maybe Dean and Taylor too.

Bad Glass is a weird, confusing, and enjoyable read that is like nothing I've ever read before. If you're up for a little weirdness, than I encourage you to go check this one out.

BOOKCITEMENT LEVEL 3/5

Good, but very, very weird.

Top 5 Wednesday: Top 5 Books You DNF

This week's Top 5 Wednesday is the Top 5 Books You DNF (Did Not Finish). I feel like, maybe, this topic has been covered before, but I'll gladly do it again. I understand that there are only so many new ideas for topics and repeats are welcome. Plus new DNF books could have been added to lists since the first, original topic occurred. So, long story short, I'm doing the Top 5 Books I DNF.
I've mentioned this before and I'll mention it again, I very rarely DNF books. I don't like doing it. I know some people argue that why waste time on a book you don't like, but I feel like I've already wasted some time by starting it, and if I've already started it, I'm kind of committed to see how it ends. Plus, it could be one of those books that gets better the more you read of it, or just has a spectacular ending that I don't want to miss out on. Now, because of this thought process, I've read some real boring books, and even some books I've hated. Most times though, I don't regret powering through a book and not succumbing to the DNF mindset. I do have some books that qualify for this topic though, some of them come with conditions. So, here's my Top 5 Books I DNF...

Books that I had to stop reading for various reasons, but do plan on picking up again.

  

5. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler: I had to read this for a class that I was taking in college and I think that's what led to me DNF'ing this book. I'm not good at required reading. If I have to read it, it becomes a chore to read it. Especially if I have to finish it by a certain day or get to a certain page at a specific time. It's been like that for all of my required books really, unless I like the book so much that I have to finish it just for me. But I do want to eventually pick this one up again and read it all the way through. It's about race relations, the South, slavery, and time travel. I do think it will be an interesting read, whenever I get around to it.

4. The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan: I DNF this one for a couple of reasons. Most important reason was that it was a library book and it came up on the due date before I finished it. I didn't plan my time well while reading it. The second reason was that it just wasn't the type of book that I was wanting. I thought I'd be getting a more cute girl meets prince story, and the story I got didn't fit that image. I will pick it up again and finish it one day. It is still on my Goodreads currently reading shelf.

3. Nowhere But Here (Thunder Road #1) by Katie McGarry: This one is for pretty much the same reasons as #4. It was due back at the library before I could finish it, so I didn't plan my time well again. I also wasn't in love with this book while I was reading it, and I think that could just be the mood I was in at the time. It didn't capture me like I wanted it to and because of that, I was reading it super slowly and getting distracted by other stuff. I hope to get back to this one sooner though, because I have re-checked it out from the library. That's the cool thing you can do with library books, check them out again and again. Support your library people!!

Books that I gave up on just because I couldn't force myself through it. I wasn't enjoying the experience of the book and had to quit.

 

2. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: There is a lot of love for this classic book, but I just wasn't feeling it when I read it. I don't know if I'll try to read it again, I could, but I don't make any promises. This book was just too weird and whimsical for me to get into. I also am unsure about the author. I've kind of seen things that would suggest that he could have been a pedophile. I mean, there is no direct evidence to support my theory, but I do think it's a little weird that he liked to take photos of young girls dressed up and by themselves. I would think differently if he had based Alice on like his own daughter or something, but it just kind of makes me feel icky that he wasn't related to this little girl, but just liked to go and hang out with her as a 20+ year old guy. I know this is a classic story, but that's just my own opinion on maybe why I DNF this book.
1. The Fellowship of the Ring (Lord of the Rings Book 1) by J.R.R. Tolkien: I got about halfway through this one and just had to give up on it. I just got sooooo bored. I was already struggling through the first half and I just didn't want to put myself through the misery of reading the second half. There was just too much journeying and singing for me to really like it. I know this is probably blasphemy to DNF this book, but I just couldn't read any more of it.

So those are the Top 5 Books That I DNF. Which ones have you DNF'ed? Do you feel the same way as me about DNF'ing books? Let me know in the comments below, because I love talking books. If you want to join in on the Top 5 Wednesday fun, you totally should. Each Wednesday is a fun, new topic to think about and share, plus it's a nice addition to any blog or booktube channel. Check out all the other Top 5 Wednesday-ers Here!

What Did I Think Of: The 100: Season 3, Episode 8 -Terms and Conditions- (SPOILERS!)

Sorry for this belated review. The show took a break and I guess I decided to take a break too. I'm in that mourning, don't-know-what-to-do-with-myself period, of not having anything to look forward to or watch on Thursday nights. I don't think I have a lot to say about Episode 8 -Terms and Conditons- so I'll try to keep my thoughts concise. Try being the key word there, I could try and fail miserably. Let's see...

Arkadia

This whole episode was set in Arkadia and centered on Arkadia, and I was so happy about that. I'm tired of Polis. I've been finding that what's going on in Polis to be pretty boring. Hopefully that should change with the events that happened in Episode 7 mwahahahahaaa. Arkadia is kind of a semi-dangerous place, when compared to the overall outside world. The blockade that Lexa imposed has taken effect, where any Arker that crosses the border will be killed on sight. So, Arkadia is just getting wind of that development. And the Grounders have done a pretty good job of making them miserable by poisoning their water supply and them having no way to hunt food. So, I mean, Pike did a pretty messed up thing with killing a Grounder army and all, but the Grounders aren't innocent in this situation either. They are both making it hard for each other to survive and thrive. 

So, I was just really happy to be back in Arkadia.

Pike Vs. Kane

 VS  

This was probably the most interesting little bit of the episode. The battle of wills between Kane and Pike. Each wants to take the other one out, but they hope to do it subtly. I did question the numbers of Kane's resistance force, in that it wasn't very big. He has like 4 or 5 people who are really active in his resistance. It seems like he would need a little more influence and numbers to really overthrow Pike.

I enjoyed the twist and turns in Kane's over all plan. I thought it was going to go one way, but it was just a trick to surprise me with how it really turned out. Kane first led me to believe that Sinclair would tamper with the Humvee and stop Pike that way, but Sinclair being caught and imprisoned was all part of the plan in order to make the prison riot happen. Kane's real plan was to have the prison riot get all the guards to the prison and then be able to kidnap Pike, and hand deliver him to the Grounders as appeasement. Didn't work, but it was exciting watching it happen. Kane ends up getting captured and in the most heart-wrenching of moments, gets sentenced to death in order to set an example of what it means to go against Pike. I mean, I know somehow, Kane is going to get out alive, but there's always that chance that he could get hurt, and I don't want to see him die. When The 100 finally comes back, I'm excited to see how this all plays out.

Side Note: Kane is looking sooooo suspicious just reading that book in the mechanical hangar. Like, he's just asking to get caught. Don't worry, it's all part of the plan.

Jasper and Raven

So Raven and Jasper got to team up in this episode and I really liked it. They made a great team. Raven is on the hunt for Jaha's pill making machine which was confiscated by Abby, and is now kept in the Chancellor's office. Raven needs Jasper in order to figure out Monty's password for the locks. It was kind of sad remembering a time gone past when Jasper and Monty were the best friends. I think, maybe, Jasper is missing Monty. This little endeavor was also great because Raven kind of came to her senses because of Jasper. Jasper started questioning her about Finn, to see if she remembered anything about him. Jasper was with Abby when we realized Jaha had forgot his own son, so I think Jasper was testing the waters with Raven to see if she had forgot people she loved too. I think Jasper is weighing whether to take the pill or not. He wants to forget the pain of Maya's death, but he doesn't want to forget the good stuff about Maya. It was nice for Raven to realize ALIE was messing with her brain and for her to deny ALIE and Jaha the pill making machine.

GO TEAM GO!

Jaha and Ali?? (I'm scared)

So after ALIE and Jaha's plan goes awry with Raven and Jasper getting the pill machine back, we learn that ALIE can't interfere with her subjects free will. That's why Raven was able to resist her, because she's a strong person, has a strong mind, and is able to reject the pull of ALIE if she really wants to. ALIE has never had to cope with this kind of challenge before, because all her other inhabitants have always had no problem doing what she says. From the conversation ALIE and Jaha share about this development, I'm a little scared about what's going to happen next. Jaha seems to think that he can find a way to override a subject's free will when it comes to ALIE. What does that mean? Is there going to be more stuff in store for Raven? Will the City of Light inhabitants become robots with no minds of their own? It's not looking good folks. This just further cements Jaha's level of crazy and the wrongness of ALIE. I sense bad ALIE things in the future.

Missing People

This episode was absent of a few people. And most of the missing one's made sense. Clarke and Murphy were no shows because they're still stuck in Polis. Locked in Clarke's room after the whole Lexa's accidental death thing.

Octavia and Indra were also no shows because they are still on their way to Arkadia.

Also, out of my own curiosity, what's Emori doing? I assume that maybe she's trying to rescue Murphy, but it's been weird not getting a glimpse of what she's doing.

The only absence that doesn't make sense in this episode was Abby. She never once showed her face in an episode entirely dedicated to Arkadia. That was just weird. It was even weirder that it wasn't addressed at all. There's was no, oh Abby's busy in medical right now, or even Abby's asleep. And since Abby has such a soft spot for Kane, it was just weird not seeing her encouraging his resistance plan or even being there as he's led off in cuffs. No Abby was a bad move.

Bellamy

Oh Bellamy! I won't lie, I always love seeing his face in an episode. A lot of people have been anti-Bellamy this season, and I think that's because he's been given a rough, confusing, doesn't really make the most sense concerning his previous character development storyline to play. But I have never hated Bellamy. If you listen to what Bob has said in interviews or what Rothenberg has revealed in behind-the-episode information, I can understand where Bellamy's character is coming from. There's a great, big reason he doesn't trust the majority of the Grounders; it's because ever since he's been on the ground, they've been trying to kill him. I think the lack of screen time invested in showing us his arc, is really what's led to some anger about what's happening with Bellamy's character. 

Bellamy, in this episode, starts on his path to redemption. YAYY! I really liked his repeating line of how he does what he thinks is best for his people everyday. I mean, he really decides to change course after Kane gets sentenced to death. Bob Morley has been killing it with all his scenes this season! Such a good actor. So glad that the Bellamy he's always been will finally start to shine through again.

Random Thoughts: As a midseason finale, I'm just a little ehh about it. It was a really good episode, but when it comes to a midseason finale, I expect epicness and the worst cliffhanger of all cliffhangers. In a way, Lexa's death episode would have been a better midseason finale than this.

This is a completely me thing, a thing that I've spotted in a couple of the episodes that just really gets on my nerves, and I spotted it in this episode too. I just hate! the spinning camera trick. If you're gonna give me a spin, then just spin it the maximum of 2 times, don't keep it spinning again and again and again. Because that's all I'll notice after that, the stupid spinning camera, and how it takes away from whatever's going on in the scene. The first time I noticed the stupid spinning camera was when Clarke was facing Emerson, the camera just kept going around and around and around. This episode had the stupid, spinning camera when Kane was under arrest and right before Pike sentenced him to death. I hate that spinning camera. Please make it stop.

My last random thought is in relation to the ratings for Episode 8 and how they were down from 0.5 to 0.4, and that's just not acceptable. I know it's from this whole firestorm that has been Lexa's death. Honestly, I'm just sick of all the whiners who boycotted a show just because they didn't get their way. In my opinion, watching a show only for one character, makes you a fake fan. I watched The 100 before Lexa even showed her face, and I'll continue to watch it now that she's left. I don't want "fans" like that determining the fate of a show that I love. Fortunately, The 100 has been renewed for a fourth season, which makes me giddy with excitement! But seriously, I am soooo tired of those people that only watch it for Lexa. You take an awesome show, narrow it down to just a single person, and then revolt when that person goes. Fake, fake fans. I will not miss you. Hopefully the ratings will rebound, because it really is an awesome show. 

Also because of Lexagate, Rothenberg has lost a significant percent of his twitter followers. Now I don't really care about that, because I found his twitter to be a little annoying in the first place. I do think he played this game of taking the popularity of Clexa and baiting that audience with tweets that made it seem like a happy ending could happen. But, I also got annoyed with the media that focused on the Clexa relationship and ignored everything else. Recognize the show for what it truly is, awesome! It's about soooo much more than relationships. I know I say that as an admitted Bellarke shipper, but hey, Bellarke hasn't happened yet and I still watch the show. And if Bellamy died, my heart would hurt, but I wouldn't leave.

Episode Grade: B+

Good episode, but it fell a little flat in the midseason finale department. Yay for Bellamy's redemption finally starting to happen. Boo for the wait until March 31 for the next episode. Waiting is always the hardest part.

All The 100 images taken from http://screencapped.net/tv/the100/ gifs are taken from various sources through google images.