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Killers of the King: The Men Who Dared to Execute Charles I
Book
January, 1649. After seven years of fighting in the bloodiest war in Britain's history, Parliament...
Goldeneye: Where Bond Was Born: Ian Fleming's Jamaica
Book
The top 10 Sunday Times Bestseller. "Completely fascinating, authoritative and intriguing." (William...
Ascend (Trylle, #3)
9.3
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Book
Amanda Hocking's bestselling Trylle trilogy comes to its thrilling conclusion in Ascend. Wendy...
The Cabinet
Book
The US Constitution never established a presidential cabinet―the delegates to the Constitutional...
History
ClareR (5879 KP) rated The Silence In Between in Books
Dec 2, 2024
The Silence In Between is a dual timeline story. In 1961, Lisette takes her sick baby to a West Berlin hospital for treatment. She returns to her home in the East of the city to wash, change clothes and have some sleep, and the next morning she wakes to find the Wall has been erected overnight. She can’t go back for her baby. This traumatic event causes her to lose her voice - which takes her back to the war and the last time she lost her voice.
Lisette lived in Berlin with her mother, and during the last days of WW2, she experienced what many women did at the hands of the Russians. This is brutal, and explains a lot about why Lisette is the mother she is to her daughter Elly.
Elly knows that the only way to make her mother happy is to get the baby back - no matter the cost. She’s a brave, resourceful young woman, who takes death defying risks for her mother.
There’s a lot of hope in this book of survival and loss. Elly is a symbol of determination - she never gives up, and her family is at the heart of all her actions.
The two female characters, mother and daughter, are exceptional women. The history behind their lives has been well researched and is believable, and their story has stayed with me well after finishing this book.
Highly recommended.
Lisette lived in Berlin with her mother, and during the last days of WW2, she experienced what many women did at the hands of the Russians. This is brutal, and explains a lot about why Lisette is the mother she is to her daughter Elly.
Elly knows that the only way to make her mother happy is to get the baby back - no matter the cost. She’s a brave, resourceful young woman, who takes death defying risks for her mother.
There’s a lot of hope in this book of survival and loss. Elly is a symbol of determination - she never gives up, and her family is at the heart of all her actions.
The two female characters, mother and daughter, are exceptional women. The history behind their lives has been well researched and is believable, and their story has stayed with me well after finishing this book.
Highly recommended.
Marylegs (44 KP) rated Days of Blood and Starlight in Books
Aug 14, 2019
After reading the first installment in this series I was glad I already had this book at hand to carry on with straight away. I loved that it carried on without too much back tracking on the previous book. I like to just get going when the book is part of a series or trilogy. And again I enjoyed the style of writing and flow of the story. It was so easy to get caught up in and before I knew it I had read the book in two days.
This book has wholeheartedly lost the majority of the lightness and it delivers you right onto the front line, but thankfully Zuzana is still there to bring out some humour which provides a small but welcome relief from the seriousness of the part of the tale. But overall you feel the weight of this book (not literally, although it is pretty hefty) and I appreciate how much more difficult it is for a writer to portray such depth of conflict and war, it is much easier to make this happy and shining.
I will definitely be waiting patiently for the next book. Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it definitely progressed to being a riveting read towards the end. I did feel it was more of a set up to the next book. This is just my personal opinion and I find this with many second books when they are part of a trilogy. It is the next book I look forward to as it will round off the story and I am keen to find out what becomes of all the characters.
This book has wholeheartedly lost the majority of the lightness and it delivers you right onto the front line, but thankfully Zuzana is still there to bring out some humour which provides a small but welcome relief from the seriousness of the part of the tale. But overall you feel the weight of this book (not literally, although it is pretty hefty) and I appreciate how much more difficult it is for a writer to portray such depth of conflict and war, it is much easier to make this happy and shining.
I will definitely be waiting patiently for the next book. Whilst I thoroughly enjoyed this book and it definitely progressed to being a riveting read towards the end. I did feel it was more of a set up to the next book. This is just my personal opinion and I find this with many second books when they are part of a trilogy. It is the next book I look forward to as it will round off the story and I am keen to find out what becomes of all the characters.
The Uninvited
8.0
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Book
From the award-winning author of In the Shadow of Blackbirdscomes a stunning new novel a masterfully...
Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated Down and Out in Paris and London in Books
Sep 9, 2017
George Orwell, a man of many experiences
I adore George Orwell, not only is he an incredibly gifted writer, he's a cat with nine lives. From living in Burma to fighting in the Spanish Civil War, Orwell has a lived a life rich with experiences hence he is able to make observations many journalists cannot. In this case, Orwell lived in squalor and absolute poverty in both Paris and London, not out of choice mind, but because he had become destitute and extremely poor during his early 20s.
His life living with an extrovert Russian in Paris is vivid, describing real hunger, having had nothing to eat for several days. He ends up working in a few godforsaken squalid hotels in Paris as a dishwasher, with long hours just to make ends meet and quench his hunger. Eventually, after working with rats, he has no choice but to return to England (borrowing money) and finds that it isn't much different. The homeless shelters are basically prison cells, dark and dangerous, but a way to keep off the streets.
In the end, he attempts to give recommendations to what can be done to alleviate the plight of the poverty stricken. It is another interesting chapter of his short but eventful life.
His life living with an extrovert Russian in Paris is vivid, describing real hunger, having had nothing to eat for several days. He ends up working in a few godforsaken squalid hotels in Paris as a dishwasher, with long hours just to make ends meet and quench his hunger. Eventually, after working with rats, he has no choice but to return to England (borrowing money) and finds that it isn't much different. The homeless shelters are basically prison cells, dark and dangerous, but a way to keep off the streets.
In the end, he attempts to give recommendations to what can be done to alleviate the plight of the poverty stricken. It is another interesting chapter of his short but eventful life.
The Last Legionnaire
Book
Paul Fraser Collard's Jack Lark series continues with The Last Legionnaire, which sees Jack marching...
Nicholas Redmond (11 KP) rated Avengers: Endgame (2019) in Movies
May 16, 2019
Fantastic ending (2 more)
Great fan service
Character exploration best from any marvel film
Too much fan service at times (1 more)
Plot allows for problems in future
Excellent end with a couple of annoyances
Contains spoilers, click to show
I'm sure there have been many reviews of this film so I will do one myself. This film is the ultimate in fan service. 11 years, 22 films and a host of stick out moments are brought to this moment right here. It felt amazing watching this, midnight showing with infinity war double bill, knowing I was one of the first to watch it, in the UK anyway. Now the dust has settled it may not have been as fantastical as the first 3 days after but its still great.
The final act is non stop, as many people thought it would be, and I think that's how many people wanted it, including me. It made time for most of the big names, apart from maybe groot, and even has an A-Force moment, which is not to everyone's taste, but I enjoyed it. It concluded well, i think i was the only person in my screen not to cry, and was paced very well and was equally sublime, ridiculous and brutal, giving and ending suitable for the 3 main characters ending story arcs.
The first act, possibly my favourite part of the film, is a character driven piece, based around the aftermath, if you ignore the introduction/ending of infinity war in the first 20 or so minutes, of the snap. Chris Evan's, RDJ and Scarlet Johannson are excellent and it is probably the best acting seen in the entire series. The contrast in tones throughout this opening third is fantastic and could almost be compared with Logan in terms of melancholy, grief and hope.
Finally the middle third. For me this is were the film loses it's way a little. Time travel explanation is interesting but breaks it's own rules, the nudges and winks are a little much at times and humour for humours sake make this a bit of a trudge but still some excellent fan service at times.
All in all great film, kept from excellence by niggles and too much self awareness. Fitting end to a great saga.
The final act is non stop, as many people thought it would be, and I think that's how many people wanted it, including me. It made time for most of the big names, apart from maybe groot, and even has an A-Force moment, which is not to everyone's taste, but I enjoyed it. It concluded well, i think i was the only person in my screen not to cry, and was paced very well and was equally sublime, ridiculous and brutal, giving and ending suitable for the 3 main characters ending story arcs.
The first act, possibly my favourite part of the film, is a character driven piece, based around the aftermath, if you ignore the introduction/ending of infinity war in the first 20 or so minutes, of the snap. Chris Evan's, RDJ and Scarlet Johannson are excellent and it is probably the best acting seen in the entire series. The contrast in tones throughout this opening third is fantastic and could almost be compared with Logan in terms of melancholy, grief and hope.
Finally the middle third. For me this is were the film loses it's way a little. Time travel explanation is interesting but breaks it's own rules, the nudges and winks are a little much at times and humour for humours sake make this a bit of a trudge but still some excellent fan service at times.
All in all great film, kept from excellence by niggles and too much self awareness. Fitting end to a great saga.