The Dark Side - Homeland Season 2 Episode 5 REVIEW

This week's episode served up another series of unexpected twists and turns - how will Brody get out of this one? 

Find out after the jump! 

Misfits Returns!

So - here they are, listed in order: my Top 10 'Misfits' episodes so far! What are your thoughts? How many of these do you agree with? Share your thoughts below! 

Whedon explains why he's voting for Romney

Just kidding. But I can't express how overjoyed I was watching this - I've been keeping up with the presidential debate (Obama all the way, baby!) and Joss says pretty much everything that needs to be said on the subject.

So yeah, I'm pro-Barack. If it were Joss running for President, however, that would be a completely different story!

Check out the full YouTube vid here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TiXUF9xbTo&feature=youtu.be

The End for Carrie? - Homeland Season 2 Episode 3 REVIEW

Has Carrie reached the end of her rope? Is Brody buckling under the strain of his lies? Find out after the jump! 

Shane Returns!!? - Walking Dead Season 3 Episode 2 REVIEW

What begins as a fairly low key episode descends into mayhem and delivers a great final act! What is it about this week's episode that had me reminiscing about season 2? Find out after the jump!

Fear the Dark: Justin Cronin's 'The Twelve'

When I say I've been waiting for this book for the longest time, it's only a slight exaggeration. It feels like a lifetime since I finished reading The Passage, the first novel of Cronin's vampire saga - a lifetime since I said 'see you later' to Amy, Peter, Alicia, Sara and the others. 

But now it's here. And it was certainly worth the wait, as Cronin has crafted another devastatingly bleak yet moving novel that manages to combine the best aspects of mainstream fiction with vampire tropes to create something rather powerful. 

The novel picks up a few years after the end of The Passage - we're still in a post-apocalyptic America destroyed by some of the most vicious vampires imaginable (Edward Cullen this is not), and our gang are trying to destroy 'The Twelve', a dozen death row inmates who began the spread of the vampire virus following a series of experiments gone wrong.

I would highly recommend you read The Passage before venturing into The Twelve - although it's possible to pick up on the plot quite quickly, the richness of the world and an understanding of the characters' histories are best understood with the memory of the first book in mind. 

All in all it was a gripping read that kept me engaged throughout. Now there's the agonising wait until the final installment, The City of Mirrors, is released in two years' time.

Praise for Cromwell - Mantel bags her second Booker

Hilary Mantel's mantelpiece must be groaning under the weight of her accolades - she recently collected her second Man Booker Prize for her novel Bring up the Bodies, sequel to her critical and commercial success, Wolf Hall.

Now I have to admit that I was all over the book when it was released (I bought it and started reading it the day it came out), but I nearly fell off my chair when I heard the news. Mantel deserves every praise coming her way, but I was a little amazed that they gave her the award, only because I had assumed that the fact it was a sequel would earn the book an instant disqualification with the Judges. Looks like they proved me wrong! 

Both books have drawn significant attention for the way they provide a sympathetic portrayal of Thomas Cromwell, one of Henry VIII's chief officials, supposed mastermind of the break with Rome and the dissolution of the Catholic monasteries in the mid-sixteenth century.

I recommend that if you haven't yet read them go out and grab them now (although do pay before you leave the store, folks, I'm not recommending theft!).