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Detroit: Become Human
Detroit: Become Human
2018 | Action/Adventure
Best story of the year (3 more)
Incredible voice acting
So many different possibilities
Amazing replayability
There were a couple of very slow missions (0 more)
An almost perfect game let down by 1 or 2 slow parts
Wow what a game. I have to say straight away that game of the year this year shouldn't be a thing. There are so many incredible games out this year. Red dead redemption 2 and God of war are incredible games and 1 of them to me will end up being game of the year but if it was based on story alone then this would win easy.

The concept has always intrigued me. The whole idea of there being androids then they develop a consciousness and gaining free will. I can see our world going there and this showed that world perfectly. Throughout the world you can find magazines and I found myself reading these and being in awe at how accurate they are. They all felt they could each be a plot to an episode of black mirror. Everything from there being less babies born because people are having sex with androids more to music concerts not being a thing due to VR. There were a lot of political, racism, slavery and abuse messages throughout the game which felt very relevant.

The gameplay was great. It felt like an interactive movie with quick time events that actually mattered. There was genuine fear for these characters since any could die. There was a certain mission that was extremely slow paced and I got bored a little but luckily that was the only part. I fell in love with the characters and their relationships towards humans and other androids. The choices given to me felt like I was making my own personal story. Acting was incredible and it was graphically beautiful. The expressions were incredible.

The flowchart at the end of each mission a welcome addition. You are able to see all the many paths you could take without seeing what they actually were. You could see the complex mind of David cage behind this chart and it looked incredible. This got me very excited to go back in the future to try out the different paths and see what happens.

This is another incredible exclusive for ps4 and it should not be missed. A beautiful score and complex writing make this a game that leaves you thinking weeks after finishing and I look forward to another playthrough and maybe even another game in this world.
  
Dearly Deleted
Dearly Deleted
Sarah E. Burr | 2023 | Mystery
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Killing at Christmas
Winnie Lark is staying in Copper Bay for Christmas, in fact, she’s playing host to her family. She’s nervous about her strained relationship with her parents and all of them fitting in her cottage. But before they even arrive, another murder happens in town. Her friend Owen is hosting a bestselling mystery author at his bookstore, but after the signing, Owen finds a dead body behind his store. Can Winnie save his reputation?

This book doesn’t waste any time before jumping into the mystery, and it kept me guessing until we reached the end, which took me by surprise. I fell in love with the characters in the first book, and that continued here. I also liked seeing how naturally Winnie’s relationship with her brother has developed. I did feel one sub-plot got a little short changed, but I did like how it was resolved. The Christmas setting is fun, and there are some great scenes in the second half of the book. If you can work this book in before Christmas, you’ll be rewarded. But no matter what time of the year you read it, you’ll be glad you did.
  
Sharp Objects
Sharp Objects
Gillian Flynn | 2007 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.3 (29 Ratings)
Book Rating
When Camille Preaker is sent back to her hometown of Wind Gap, Missouri to cover the murder of one young girl and the disappearance of a second. It's not an assignment she's not looking forward to. She barely speaks to her mother who was never very good at mothering. And she has a half sister who might ass well be a stranger. Returning to Wind Gap is not only difficult because of the relationships with her family buy also because her younger sister. Marion died here when she was just thirteen. Fresh out of a psych ward, will this assignment put her back there?

This book on audio really held my attention. Two young girls are murdered in a small town. No one is sure who could possibly be doing this. The local police are convinced its an outsider, the Detective from the big city thinks its a local, and one of the friends of the dead girls, is convinced he saw a woman dragging her into the woods. Will the police find the killer before another little girl goes missing? Will Camille be able to spend this time in her hometown and complete her job or will it send her back over the edge?

I found myself staying in my car a little longer no matter where I was going while I had this book on audio. I've had the book on my TBR for a very long time. I was so glad I finally got a chance to get it off my list. If you haven't read it, I suggest you pick up a copy right away.
  
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Moonlight (Dark Guardian, #1)
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I still don't really know how I feel about this one. While it wasn't terrible like i was expecting it to be, it wasn't anything special either. It seemed like just another typical young adult werewolf novel.

What I did enjoy about this novel was the style. I actually enjoyed Hawthorne's style compared to many young adult writers. Her dialogues were realistic even if her character were so stereotypical for a young adult novel.

What really irritated was having to continuously read about Kayla's parents dying. I understand that it was a huge part of the plot, but it only needs to brought up so many times when it isn't moving the plot forward. It comes to a point when you need to stop kicking the dead horse.

Another point that irritated me was how out of no where, suddenly Kayla and Lucas were so in love with each other. I can understand that Kayla was attracted to him, but to bring in the whole one true love thing was a bit much. I actually liked the concept that the Shifters found their mates young in life. I felt that it may give some young readers delusions about relationships.

I also felt like Hawthorne rushed so many things, such as Kayla becoming a Dark Guardian. I felt like Hawthorne could have fleshed the end out much more. Despite this, I still want to read the second one just to see what happens with the rest of the pack.
  
The Bees
The Bees
Laline Paull | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry
9
8.4 (7 Ratings)
Book Rating
I was cautiously optimistic about this book, because I'd heard good things about it, but really? Bees? An entire book from the viewpoint of a worker bee? Even fictionalized, how much material is there really to work with?

SO MUCH.

My fears were completely ungrounded because this book is AMAZING. Flora 717 is a sanitation bee, tasked with taking dead bodies out of the hive, cleaning up wax cells after new bees have hatched, and other duties to keep the hive clean. Somewhat extraordinarily, it is discovered that she can produce the liquid needed to feed bee larva, and is taken to serve in the nursery for a bit, where she starts to develop a mind of her own.

As Flora develops new abilities and works her way through the ranks of the hive, we start to learn that something in the governing of the hive is not quite what it should be. Something is wrong. But the strictly enforced castes and other outside factors, like weather and predators, delay Flora's quest to ferret it out.

Between lying wasps, conniving spiders, and a conspiracy within the ranks of her own hive, Flora bounces from danger to danger trying to protect what she loves in an engrossing story of bravery and sacrifice.

I absolutely loved this book. I especially liked that anywhere possible, actual bee behavior was described and used to further the plot. This is definitely one of my favorite reads this year!

You can find all my reviews at http://goddessinthestacks.com
  
Army of Thieves (2021)
Army of Thieves (2021)
2021 | Action, Comedy, Crime, Horror, Thriller
4
6.3 (6 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Not going to sit and bash the bad points and big up what it does well but this is a film that wasn't needed. There was talk in the past to make a film with Tom Cruises character in Tropic Thunder as the lead and thankfully it wasn't made as they saw sense, the character as good as he was and memorable was because less is more. The screen time he got was well used and all lines hit the mark. Now moving back to Army of Thieves, the makers decided to make a prequel to Army of the Dead using the safe cracker character as he was 1 of the better points of that film but again was better due to limited screen time and there was enough about him in that film for what was required. Army of Thirves tries to use something that fits for 15 - 20 mins and stretch it out for a 127 minute film. It also wouldn't have been so bad if there was more to the film but it was the same thing 3 times over so after the 1st safe break you can switch off as that's all you're pretty much getting. It had some good set pieces and Matthias Schweighöfer did a pretty good job with a pretty thin on the ground character. Usually I would give this film an average review as it did enough to keep me entertained but due to the repetitiveness of the story and reminding me it was like Sucker Punch. Sorry but in this case less isn't more.