4 Bite Size Reviews for your Friday

#158: Featuring Tress of the Emerald Sea, Furiosa, Butterfly in the Sky, and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

Hello my friends,

Today I want to share four bite size reviews - a book, a movie, a documentary, and an adaptation. Let’s get right to it!

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

Published 2023 | 475 pages | Fantasy

What a pleasant surprise this was! I immediately fell in love with Tress and her unique world. She lives on an island of the sea, but it’s a sea unlike any you’ve imagined. She leaves the comforts of home and family and embarks on an adventure with pirates, a dragon, and a wicked sorceress. Think The Princess Bride, only Buttercup doesn’t stay home waiting for Wesley, she goes looking for him.

I love this book. It is a wholesome and uplifting fairy tale for all ages and proves Sanderson has range that includes whimsical.

Furiosa

Mad Max Fury Road is one of my favorite movies of all time so I rushed to the theater for this origin story of Imperator Furiosa, the best character from that film. This movie was awesome and I loved it. The opening sequence was so intense that I forgot to breathe. Young Furiosa is taken from her home, “the green place,” and becomes a captive of Chris Hemsworth’s Dementus, a psychopath who will try and convince you he’s just a product of his environment.

The experiences that motivate Furiosa to take action in Fury Road are not explored to the degree that I was hoping for, and it’s a few shades darker than it’s predecessor, but this movie delivers a thrill ride that shouldn’t be missed.

Butterfly in the Sky

What a wonderful documentary. If you’re a child of the 90’s who grew up watching Reading Rainbow and wishing you could be one of the kid book reviewers, this documentary is for you. I watched this with my 9 year old son so he could understand what TV was like when I was a kid. My favorite part was Stephen Horelick demonstrating how he created the iconic sound that opens each episode. Check it out on Netflix.

The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar

I hate being negative so allow me to praise the short story first. My kids and I enjoyed reading about Henry Sugar and Imrat Kahn, the man who trained himself to see without his eyes. We had no idea where it was going as it kept telling stories within stories, but it had a satisfying ending and some humor along the way.

The adaptation is an Academy Award winning Wes Anderson short film that I’m convinced was made without children in mind. It struck us all as bizarre as the actors speed rushed through the dialogue, talking at the screen for 40 minutes straight. My easily entertained 7 year old begged us to turn it off several times.

While the sets and costumes were impressive, this left me hoping for a more straightforward adaptation someday.

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That’s all for this week! I’ll admit it’s been hard to make time for writing lately. Reading Sanderson is quite the commitment and my assignment at work is new and challenging. I’m coaching my son’s baseball team 3 evenings a week and I feel more tired than usual. When faced with the choice to nap or write, I’ve been choosing nap. Thanks for sticking around this summer and staying in touch. Your friendship and support means so much to me.

What have you been enjoying this summer? I’d love to hear.

— Kyle