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Ecologies of Engaged Scholarship: Stories from Activist Academics

Miguel A. Guajardo

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Book

Story and auto-ethnography are study methods based on decolonizing and liberating research...

Hazel (2934 KP) rated Knife Edge in Books

Aug 29, 2020

Knife Edge

Simon Mayo | 2020 | Crime, Thriller

6.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

I was really looking forward to reading this having been a fan of Simon Mayo for many years in his other guise as a radio DJ so was quite disappointed that it didn't really do it for me.

The start was brilliant and had me hooked but it just went a bit "bleh" for me in the middle and although the ending was as good as the start, it just didn't make up for the middle because by that time I had lost a lot of interest and just carried on reading because I hate not finishing books. The characters were interesting but not particularly memorable enough to connect with me so I didn't really care what happened to them either way. The themes and plot of this book are up to date and you can certainly see them playing out in the real world unfortunately but it felt a little over complicated at times.

As usual, I am likely to be in the minority on this one as there have been many 4 and 5 star reviews given; maybe I was having a bad week! so I suggest you give a go for yourself. I have to say that this won't put me off reading Simon's books in the future purely based on the start and end of this particular book.

Thank you to Random House UK, Transworld Publishers via NetGalley for my copy in return for an unbiased review.

Kudos

The Great Labour Unrest: Rank-and-File Movements and Political Change in the Durham Coalfield

Lewis H. Mates

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The Great Labour Unrest examines the struggle between liberals, socialists and revolutionary...

Jesters_folly (230 KP) rated The Dark Tower (2017) in Movies

Dec 2, 2020

The Dark Tower (2017)

2017 | Horror, Sci-Fi, Western

5.6

(68 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Contains spoilers, click to show

Ahh, the Dark Tower, Stephen King's epic tale that spans 8 core books and crosses over with almost everything he has ever written as well as some he hasn't (unofficially of course). A Saga that has inspired many and disappointed a few (well I'm told the end of book 7 is self indulgent, I'm only at book 4 and that was a while ago). Anway, the Dark Tower books are epic and so they try to put all this epicness in to a hour and a half film and when you consider that IT is only one book and that took 2 films with another possibly on the way and the Stand is only one book and has a hole mini series you can imagine that there is a bit of editing of the source material.
The Dark Tower bring three of the characters from the books; Roland, the gunslinger, Jake, a boy from our world and the Man in Black aka Walter. Unlike the books the film focus' mainly on Jake, a boy who is having dreams about Roland and Walter and who is being hunted by Walter's forces.
The story line is loosely based on the books as Roland hunts the Man in Black across not only his own world but ours as well and attempts to kill him in revenge for his father's death whilst Walter is attempting to destroy the Dark Tower and bring darkness to all the worlds.
Interestingly, although there are many nods and easter eggs to Kings other works, the film version of The Dark Tower is linked more to the Shining and Doctor Sleep than IT or the Stand as it gives Jake 'The Shine' and makes it an integral part of the plot.
As long as you're not expecting too much of the books 'The Dark Tower' is quite a good film, it has a slightly more Sci-Fi feel that the books and the final battle would feel at home in most first person shooter games but, when seen either as it's own thing or possibly as a tie in to the two shining films it's quite a good action film.