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    Audiobus 2

    Audiobus 2

    Music and Utilities

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    AUDIOBUS 3 IS NOW AVAILABLE! Find out more at https://audiob.us With Audiobus, the revolutionary...

The Wolves of Winter
The Wolves of Winter
Tyrell Johnson | 2018 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I keep doing this. Reading books about pandemics during a pandemic, and then scaring the living daylights out of myself. Thank goodness I’d read Justin Cronin’s The Passage trilogy pre-Covid, because that would really have had me battening down the hatches!

This is about a different flu-like virus, but the mortality rate is far higher than Covid. And then nuclear bombs are also involved, so it’s a pretty full-on start to this remarkable book.

The sensible people move north. In this case, they move to the Yukon, where the virus is less virulent and people can hunt and trap their food. Lynn McBride lives here with what’s left of her family. They’ve carved out a life for themselves and live in relative safety in the barren, white landscape. But they can’t keep everyone away, and soothe outside world starts to encroach in the form of a loner called Jax, and a frankly scary group of people who are intent on seeing the end of the virus, no matter the human cost.

I loved the descriptions of the landscape - I do tend to love a book set in frozen landscapes (Arctic, Antarctic, just somewhere plain cold!), which is odd really, because I can’t think of a worse place to live. It’s a morbid fascination, I suppose. And the descriptions in this book of the cold, the landscape and the difficulties of living there are so evocative. People surviving against the odds always a winning theme.

It wasn’t until I sat down to write this, that I found out that the book was YA. Honestly, it hadn’t even crossed my mind. Ok, there’s no sex, but in my opinion it just seemed too cold anyway 🤷🏼‍♀️. The main protagonist is in her late teens, and there is a sexual assault and some shooting/ bloodshed. There’s a very cute dog though (also a winning formula for me).

So if you’re feeling brave and like a post-apocalyptic story, you may well fancy reading this. I do wonder if there will be a follow up, because I’d love to know what happens after the final page (it does seem open to that). I’d definitely read it!
  
    Two Dots

    Two Dots

    Games

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    Come play the brand new, addictive, free puzzle game- Two Dots! Join two brave dots as they...

    Hungry Shark World

    Hungry Shark World

    Games and Entertainment

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    The Sharks are back in the bigger and badder sequel to Hungry Shark Evolution! Control a shark in a...

    Go Rally

    Go Rally

    Games, Entertainment and Stickers

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    With loads of tracks, cars, a career mode, multiplayer time challenges and an awesome track creator,...

Sky Sharks (2020)
Sky Sharks (2020)
2020 | Comedy, Horror
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Fright Fest kicked off with a film that I absolutely had to see... Nazi zombies and flying sharks? No brainer.

A team of arctic explorers uncover an old Nazi lab that was developing ways to help them conquer the world. The team unwittingly let loose their two most powerful experiments that unleashes a swarm of flying sharks flown by unstoppable pilots.

Despite this having the word "sharks" in the title (and my love of shark films) I do have to be a buzzkill and say that this is not a shark film. I'd happily categorise it in zombie film territory, but the quality is way too good for this to be classified as a shark film. I don't want to take away from these fantastic flying finned devils though, they're brilliant and super happy looking.

It has the ridiculous ideas that make for an entertaining watch. but I can't help but think that a good budget actually had a negative effect. Once you get to a certain level of production value it goes against the nature of the story and "traditions".

With sky based villains you would obviously get something involving airplanes, but from the early action sequence I got heavy Sharknado 2 vibes. I don't want to ruin this bit for you so I'll just say that it's got the requisite amount of scientific impossibilities and graphic violence.

The CGI is a little hit and miss, the sharks are pretty good and I'm convinced have sneaky smiles on their faces, but the zombie aspects are a little ropey whenever they pop up.

When it comes to acting the cast deliver exactly what you'd expect from this sort of film, over the top when needed, dramatic in both serious and ridiculous ways, and I really hope that some of the female cast were appropriately compensated from some of their truly over the top scenes. You expect nudity because that's what these things do, but my goodness did they go to town with it.

Nazi scientists with extraordinary plans is a great storyline, you can take it in so many directions. I can't help but feel that Sky Sharks suffers from over complications. Discovery, accidental release followed by solution... that simple formula is cluttered with a lot of back story that could easily be cut back and made easier to follow, a fair amount seemed to have no purpose.

Even with all of this it's still something daft to enjoy, probably when drunk. I'm not sure if it's for zombie fans or shark fans, it doesn't quite fit in either classification properly but for those who want to free their brains from thinking then it's probably going to work for that.

Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2020/08/sky-sharks-movie-review.html
  
Paper Snow
Paper Snow
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Paper Snow by Azarius Boreaus was not what I expected at all. In fact, it was one of the few books that completely surprised me. The description on the back of the book is vague yet considering the book is fairly short it is understandable. It was hard to write a summary without giving too much away. That being said there is a lot packed into a short book but amazingly it did not feel rushed as the author was able to effectively get the point across.

23 – year old Noah wakes up with no idea as to exactly where he is or what happened to him. Everything is all white except for the garden that his bedroom opens up to. In the center of this garden is a giant baobab tree. At first, the only other person Noah sees is Coal, his doctor, but in the garden, he meets the people living in the other rooms surrounding the garden. It is by taking with the other people that Noah comes to know that all is not as it seems and why Coal is so interested in his dreams.

Noah learns that he possesses a special form of empathy, as does the others living in this facility, and that it allows him to communicate with plants. The others also teach him about the sleepers and how they are all prisoners in the facility. The people running the facility believes that Noah and the other prisoners have the ability to save humanity. Noah receives memories from the baobab tree’s broken branches and tells the tree he is listening by creating origami symbols to represent each memory. With the help of the tree, Noah is able to find strength in himself and help others to escape.

What I liked best is that the author highlights the deep connection the humans once had with nature wonderfully. The connection that the characters had with plants, animal, and each other were well explained. The first fifty pages were slow yet they promised interesting developments later on. It was difficult to stick with the book early on and I almost gave up on it. The jumping from Noah’s present to his memories, and then to the Arctic was rough at first but I was able to get used to it.

The target readers for this book would probably be around high school and older. The content is fine for younger audiences I just don’t think that it would be able to be understood very well. This book requires a reader to have an open mind as it deals with empaths, communicating with nature, reincarnation, and the ability that our beliefs can shape our physical world if strong enough. I rate this book 4 out of 4. Originally I was going to give it a lower rating but the further I got the more I saw the book for what it really is. I am not even sure if the author knows what they created of if this was just meant as a story. It was an amazing experience to read and something I was able to connect with.