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Sean Farrell (9 KP) rated No Good Men Among the Living: America, the Taliban, and the War through Afghan Eyes in Books

Mar 15, 2018

Wow. I certainly knew that the situation in Afghanistan was dire, but it's eye-opening to see just how dire. And it's also eye-opening to see just how much the United States has contributed to that. It's not that the US went in with the intention of making life there miserable, and it's not that many Afghanis themselves aren't also at fault, but it is stunning just how much those that the US put in charge of things seemed to lack any basic knowledge of how the country worked and how the people would react to various ideas. This book describes life in the country from it's pre-Russian invasion days through the present by both reporting its history, and by following the stories of 3 very different citizens; a pro-US warlord, a member of the Taliban, and a housewife. Their experiences can alternate between harrowing and shocking, but remain pretty universally distressing. It's hard not to get angry throughout this book as the amount of human cruelty and stupidity on display can become too much to handle. And in the end, it does live up to its title, as it ably demonstrates that there is no one involved without some blame to bear.

Kudos

Sarah (7798 KP) rated The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) in Movies

Feb 11, 2018

Totally unnecessary

What have we done to deserve yet another Cloverfield film? The first one was a surprise hit, but all these sequels/spin offs or whatever you want to call them are doing is cheapening the original.

This has a great cast, who are sadly very mis-used. The majority of the characters are undeveloped and those that aren't have slightly vague and irrational motivations. The sfx are okay although i think some of the physical props and costumes could have been better. The main issue with this film though is the plot. It is a little bit ridiculous and very confused. It uses alternate dimensions and realities as a general explanation for a load of weird things going on, which is such a poor justification and doesn't work. It seems to throw in as many sci-fi film cliches as it possibly can along with some oddly placed humour.

And the link to Cloverfield itself is there, albeit inferred until right at the end. And it doesn't quite go so far as explaining how this fits with the original film timeline wise and just isn't necessary. This is yet another stunning example of a completely pointless sequel/spin off.

Kudos

Sawyer (231 KP) Feb 11, 2018

i really liked 10 cloverfield lane but yea i do think this new one was not good at all

Kudos

Phil Leader (619 KP) rated Tongues of Serpents (Temeraire #6) in Books

Nov 27, 2019

Tongues of Serpents (Temeraire #6)

Naomi Novik | 2010 | Science Fiction/Fantasy

8.0

(3 Ratings)

Book Rating

On paper this book ticks all the boxes for one that I should like: Alternate history, historical setting and dragons.

Unfortunately the reality for me fell well short fo what I felt could be acheived. This is the first book by Novik I have read and perhaps starting at number 6 means I am missing something, but this just failed to gel.

The concept of the dragons being a reality and influencing history was one that was easy to grasp but so very little was done with it. The dragons themselves are quite dull - far from the spectacular beast of legend they have little interesting to do and virtually no personality. There is also not a great deal of plot strung out very thinly involving a chase across Australia, but it takes so long to get going and the chase is repettitive and didn't capture my imagination.

There are some sparks of good ideas here - the smuggling, the political issues in Sydney (caused by the governer - a certain Captain Bligh) - but they end up undeveloped and drowned by the plodding narrative which doesn't seem to want to examine anything that doesn't involve the dragons.

The central idea may have promise in other books of the series, just not this one. Sorry Naomi