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Merissa (13358 KP) rated Rook (Bridge & Sword: Awakenings #1) in Books
Sep 18, 2017
Rook (Bridge & Sword: Awakenings #1) by J.C. Andrijeski
Rook has a very interesting premise, with a dystopian world setting. The main character in this is Alyson, or Allie. She is a normal human, and has the tests and the tattoo to prove it. However, this doesn't stop her from being kidnapped by someone, who turns out to be a seer. Not only that but other factions are after her too.
All of this is simple enough to follow, but the book itself becomes quite confusing. You see, Alyson is the Bridge... except, just what this is, is never fully explained. Apart from the fact that she may bring about a further apocalypse that is. The seers don't see the future (that I could tell), but are able to 'see' things differently. However, there are factions within factions within the seers.
Revik plays a major role in this book too. I think he is supposed to also be the love interest, but that didn't work at all for me. There was no communication from him to help Allie find her way in this crazy new world in which she finds herself. Not only that, but when something happens between the two of them, and Allie (and the reader) is left in the dark, not only does he NOT explain anything, but he forbids anyone else to speak of it too! And THEN he gets pissy when she does something 'wrong', but once again, won't tell her what. Not only that, but it is physically painful for these two to be near each other.
Throw in clones, pyramids, and Tibetan monks - sorry, I mean seers - and you get an idea of this book. The description in the book says it is "A psychic end of the world story with romance, a cyberpunk flair and apocalyptic, metaphysical leanings akin to the Matrix." Personally, I don't quite see that, but to each their own.
This book is a Marmite book for me - I can see some people loving it, some people hating it. As for me, I enjoyed it, but I'm not interested in this world or the characters to go any further with it.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
All of this is simple enough to follow, but the book itself becomes quite confusing. You see, Alyson is the Bridge... except, just what this is, is never fully explained. Apart from the fact that she may bring about a further apocalypse that is. The seers don't see the future (that I could tell), but are able to 'see' things differently. However, there are factions within factions within the seers.
Revik plays a major role in this book too. I think he is supposed to also be the love interest, but that didn't work at all for me. There was no communication from him to help Allie find her way in this crazy new world in which she finds herself. Not only that, but when something happens between the two of them, and Allie (and the reader) is left in the dark, not only does he NOT explain anything, but he forbids anyone else to speak of it too! And THEN he gets pissy when she does something 'wrong', but once again, won't tell her what. Not only that, but it is physically painful for these two to be near each other.
Throw in clones, pyramids, and Tibetan monks - sorry, I mean seers - and you get an idea of this book. The description in the book says it is "A psychic end of the world story with romance, a cyberpunk flair and apocalyptic, metaphysical leanings akin to the Matrix." Personally, I don't quite see that, but to each their own.
This book is a Marmite book for me - I can see some people loving it, some people hating it. As for me, I enjoyed it, but I'm not interested in this world or the characters to go any further with it.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Cynthia Armistead (17 KP) rated Wolf Who Rules (Elfhome, #2) in Books
Mar 1, 2018
What a tease! To come SO close to dealing with polyamory, then skip back!
I guess it's just been too long since I read <i>Tinker</i>, but I don't really remember any hints of polyamory there at all. In this book, though, it's made very clear that elven society has found monogamy to be an unreasonable model for people who normally live thousands of years. Anybody who hasn't read Tinker shouldn't read this review, because there are spoilers for that book - but hey, that's to be expected in the review for a sequel. Just knowing that certain characters live and marry is a spoiler!
Anyway, Tinker may be an elf now, but she was raised as a human, and apparently the half-elven quasi-nursemaid Tooloo who has always been part of her life either doesn't know about the difference in societal expectations, or never saw fit to mention it. That isn't so surprising, as Tooloo is depicted as several tacos short of a combo plate. But why, when some of the elves (especially Stormsong) are shown to be familiar with human culture, haven't any of them anticipated this as a source of trouble in Tinker and Wolf's marriage? Why doesn't anybody ever just sit down and say, "Look, honey, the rulers only choose guards with whom they get along well, and with opposite-sex guards, that can mean getting along with sexually. Your new husband has had sex with all of his female bodyguards in the past, and it's expected that you'll eventually take your own male Sekasha as lovers, too. Deal." (I'm not even starting on how very heteronormative everything is. You're telling me there's all that lucious pretty and thousands of years in which to experiment, and nobody ever crosses those streams, so to speak? Yeah, right.) There's a perfect opening for such a speech in the book, a point when the need for it is made very, very obvious--but I suppose having it all out in the open would remove a source of conflict.
Why are so many authors so bloody timid about laying things out like that, about showing healthy communication between people? Yes, we can imagine the most amazing advances in technology, and societies very different from our current ones, but by Goddess we must continue to show people screwing up their relationships in exactly the same way as in Shakespeare's day or nobody could relate to them!
I guess it's just been too long since I read <i>Tinker</i>, but I don't really remember any hints of polyamory there at all. In this book, though, it's made very clear that elven society has found monogamy to be an unreasonable model for people who normally live thousands of years. Anybody who hasn't read Tinker shouldn't read this review, because there are spoilers for that book - but hey, that's to be expected in the review for a sequel. Just knowing that certain characters live and marry is a spoiler!
Anyway, Tinker may be an elf now, but she was raised as a human, and apparently the half-elven quasi-nursemaid Tooloo who has always been part of her life either doesn't know about the difference in societal expectations, or never saw fit to mention it. That isn't so surprising, as Tooloo is depicted as several tacos short of a combo plate. But why, when some of the elves (especially Stormsong) are shown to be familiar with human culture, haven't any of them anticipated this as a source of trouble in Tinker and Wolf's marriage? Why doesn't anybody ever just sit down and say, "Look, honey, the rulers only choose guards with whom they get along well, and with opposite-sex guards, that can mean getting along with sexually. Your new husband has had sex with all of his female bodyguards in the past, and it's expected that you'll eventually take your own male Sekasha as lovers, too. Deal." (I'm not even starting on how very heteronormative everything is. You're telling me there's all that lucious pretty and thousands of years in which to experiment, and nobody ever crosses those streams, so to speak? Yeah, right.) There's a perfect opening for such a speech in the book, a point when the need for it is made very, very obvious--but I suppose having it all out in the open would remove a source of conflict.
Why are so many authors so bloody timid about laying things out like that, about showing healthy communication between people? Yes, we can imagine the most amazing advances in technology, and societies very different from our current ones, but by Goddess we must continue to show people screwing up their relationships in exactly the same way as in Shakespeare's day or nobody could relate to them!
Darren (1599 KP) rated Out of the Shadows (2017) in Movies
Oct 24, 2019
Story: Out of the Shadows starts as we follow a paranormal investigation team looking to recruit the only known survivor Carter (Kellogg) to join them as they search the answers about what happened on his famous activity tape.
With the team in place the teams sets up the cameras around the asylum with team member Cynthia (Morrison) getting the first does of activity in a communication from her father, whom went missing in asylum with Carter’s team. Using her as bait the team record her time inside the asylum as they look to explain the unexplainable.
Thoughts on Out of the Shadows
Characters – Carter is the lone survivor from a previous encounter inside the asylum, he goes back but could have his own motivation for this. Cynthia is searching for her father who went missing but the rest of the characters are just another mix of the crew you would expect on a paranormal investigation team.
Performances – The performances across the board are not the best, the crew does feel like it could be a real documentary crew at times but then other times its just a group of actors trying to overreact to everything going on.
Story – The story does have a good twist, which is the only interesting part of the story, it is nearly 90 minutes investigating the shadows with too many characters to follow, it gets difficult to follow the characters in the dark for the most part and as for the reasoning behind everything well, it doesn’t seem to have one.
Horror – The horror is a lot of jumping at the camera or activity happening behind the camera, it isn’t scary but will give you a forced jump.
Settings – The film could easily have only had one setting, the asylum but going back to the motel makes it feel like the evil could escape which does try to make it stand out from just a haunted asylum movie.
Special Effects – The effects are what you would expect for a found footage film, they work without being ground breaking.
Scene of the Movie – Welcome to the Devil’s Toy Box.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The scares were too random.
Final Thoughts –This is a disappointing and mostly dull horror movie, the jumps are too random, the characters don’t make smart decisions and found footage only works in places.
Overall: Horror film to skip by the end.
With the team in place the teams sets up the cameras around the asylum with team member Cynthia (Morrison) getting the first does of activity in a communication from her father, whom went missing in asylum with Carter’s team. Using her as bait the team record her time inside the asylum as they look to explain the unexplainable.
Thoughts on Out of the Shadows
Characters – Carter is the lone survivor from a previous encounter inside the asylum, he goes back but could have his own motivation for this. Cynthia is searching for her father who went missing but the rest of the characters are just another mix of the crew you would expect on a paranormal investigation team.
Performances – The performances across the board are not the best, the crew does feel like it could be a real documentary crew at times but then other times its just a group of actors trying to overreact to everything going on.
Story – The story does have a good twist, which is the only interesting part of the story, it is nearly 90 minutes investigating the shadows with too many characters to follow, it gets difficult to follow the characters in the dark for the most part and as for the reasoning behind everything well, it doesn’t seem to have one.
Horror – The horror is a lot of jumping at the camera or activity happening behind the camera, it isn’t scary but will give you a forced jump.
Settings – The film could easily have only had one setting, the asylum but going back to the motel makes it feel like the evil could escape which does try to make it stand out from just a haunted asylum movie.
Special Effects – The effects are what you would expect for a found footage film, they work without being ground breaking.
Scene of the Movie – Welcome to the Devil’s Toy Box.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The scares were too random.
Final Thoughts –This is a disappointing and mostly dull horror movie, the jumps are too random, the characters don’t make smart decisions and found footage only works in places.
Overall: Horror film to skip by the end.
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