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Sophia (Bookwyrming Thoughts) (530 KP) rated Unbreakable (The Legion, #1) in Books
Jan 23, 2020
Obviously choosing to dissect Kami Garcia's solo series as my next audiobook victim was a bad idea... a very bad idea...
Basically, I'm saying I give up on Kami Garcia. No offense, but after my horrid experience with the first couple of books of her <i>Beautiful Creatures</i> series she wrote with Margaret Stohl and then <i>Unbreakable</i>, I'm not sure I want to read another of her books (aside from maybe reading <i>Dangerous Creatures</i>).
<i>Unbreakable</i> sort of has a good idea – emphasis on sort of. Garcia's first debut solo novel follows Kennedy Waters, a girl who doesn't actually believe in ghosts until she finds her mother dead. Shortly after, a ghost makes an attempt to kill her as well, and is stopped by Lukas and Jared Lockhart, two brothers who are part of a centuries-old secret society made up of five members trying to stop a demon released by their ancestors hundreds of years ago. However, Kennedy isn't entirely too sure about whether or not she really belongs with this secret society called the Legion of the Black Dove.
For a person who doesn't watch <i>Supernatural</i> much, it's really weird when I get though, oh... 33 pages, that I realize a book is almost an exact carbon copy of the few episodes I watched.
For instance, there are two brothers in <i>Supernatural</i> and there are two brothers in <i>Unbreakable</i>. Are Sam and his brother identical? No.... not that I'm aware, which is only a small difference between the two books. Brother Pair 1 (<i>Supernatural</i>) and Brother Pair 2 (Unbreakable) apparently hunt demons for a living. At least, that's what I think Pair 1 did – correct me if I'm wrong, avid fans who are bound to be more accurate than me.
Oh, and there's a demon hunting around for a certain person... or a certain group of people. I'm pretty sure there was a demon hunting Brother Pair 1 for quite awhile in the episodes I actually watched (give me a break. I was bored. <i>Supernatural</i> just seemed interesting). Fun fact: possession involved in both TV show and book.
The mere fact that <i>Unbreakable</i> matched the few episodes (I believe they were reruns) I watched didn't bother me too much – it was a potential love triangle between Kennedy, Jared, and Lukas that eventually drove me up the wall. If Garcia isn't careful enough, the tension between Jared and Lukas could eventually set the book on fire – Lukas spends a good part of his time between fighting vengeful spirits and other things rubbing something that Jared did wrong in his face. It gets bad enough that both brothers reach the point of throttling each other's throats and Kennedy going between them and stopping them.
I felt like I was watching a scene from a <i>Twilight</i> (I'm starting to appreciate this series). <i>Lux</i> (because I totally snuck a few peeks in the third one), and pretty much any other book that has a love triangle in which 66% of them nearly start a brawl while the rest of the 33% pretty much yells, "STOP!"
By then, I was definitely not sticking around for five to go down to four just because of a mistake.
I did, however, like the world of Legion. It's certainly not a life I would want, but I definitely enjoyed the basic idea behind the series, Candice Accola's narration of <i>Unbreakable</i>, and the sound effects used in the audiobook.
<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/dnf-audiobook-review-unbreakable-by-kami-garcia/" target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
Basically, I'm saying I give up on Kami Garcia. No offense, but after my horrid experience with the first couple of books of her <i>Beautiful Creatures</i> series she wrote with Margaret Stohl and then <i>Unbreakable</i>, I'm not sure I want to read another of her books (aside from maybe reading <i>Dangerous Creatures</i>).
<i>Unbreakable</i> sort of has a good idea – emphasis on sort of. Garcia's first debut solo novel follows Kennedy Waters, a girl who doesn't actually believe in ghosts until she finds her mother dead. Shortly after, a ghost makes an attempt to kill her as well, and is stopped by Lukas and Jared Lockhart, two brothers who are part of a centuries-old secret society made up of five members trying to stop a demon released by their ancestors hundreds of years ago. However, Kennedy isn't entirely too sure about whether or not she really belongs with this secret society called the Legion of the Black Dove.
For a person who doesn't watch <i>Supernatural</i> much, it's really weird when I get though, oh... 33 pages, that I realize a book is almost an exact carbon copy of the few episodes I watched.
For instance, there are two brothers in <i>Supernatural</i> and there are two brothers in <i>Unbreakable</i>. Are Sam and his brother identical? No.... not that I'm aware, which is only a small difference between the two books. Brother Pair 1 (<i>Supernatural</i>) and Brother Pair 2 (Unbreakable) apparently hunt demons for a living. At least, that's what I think Pair 1 did – correct me if I'm wrong, avid fans who are bound to be more accurate than me.
Oh, and there's a demon hunting around for a certain person... or a certain group of people. I'm pretty sure there was a demon hunting Brother Pair 1 for quite awhile in the episodes I actually watched (give me a break. I was bored. <i>Supernatural</i> just seemed interesting). Fun fact: possession involved in both TV show and book.
The mere fact that <i>Unbreakable</i> matched the few episodes (I believe they were reruns) I watched didn't bother me too much – it was a potential love triangle between Kennedy, Jared, and Lukas that eventually drove me up the wall. If Garcia isn't careful enough, the tension between Jared and Lukas could eventually set the book on fire – Lukas spends a good part of his time between fighting vengeful spirits and other things rubbing something that Jared did wrong in his face. It gets bad enough that both brothers reach the point of throttling each other's throats and Kennedy going between them and stopping them.
I felt like I was watching a scene from a <i>Twilight</i> (I'm starting to appreciate this series). <i>Lux</i> (because I totally snuck a few peeks in the third one), and pretty much any other book that has a love triangle in which 66% of them nearly start a brawl while the rest of the 33% pretty much yells, "STOP!"
By then, I was definitely not sticking around for five to go down to four just because of a mistake.
I did, however, like the world of Legion. It's certainly not a life I would want, but I definitely enjoyed the basic idea behind the series, Candice Accola's narration of <i>Unbreakable</i>, and the sound effects used in the audiobook.
<a href="https://bookwyrmingthoughts.com/dnf-audiobook-review-unbreakable-by-kami-garcia/" target="_blank">This review was originally posted on Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
Ross (3282 KP) rated The Black Shriving in Books
Oct 30, 2017
The action continues straight on from where the Path of Flames left off. The story follows Tiron and Audsley's journey after they step through the mysterious portal, Asho and Kethe's journey into the mountains to investigate the second Black Gate, and Tharok's attempts to unite the kragh tribes and make an assault on the humans.
The story rarely dips in terms of excitement but does start to follow a number of different paths and take on different paces. While there is exciting action as Asho and Kethe take on the demon hordes, there are moments of tense political debate and planning, and Audsley's exploration of Starkadr is of a different thrilling pace altogether.
More of the greater plot is starting to be revealed as the humans banished from Ennoia start to plot their return to the world and the kragh start to plot their assault on that very same world.
The story really developed over this book with different threads and plots forming and diverging, different aspects of the magic and mysticism of the world being explored and revealed, the very religion of the world being challenged and I am looking forward to seeing how these come together later on.
The story rarely dips in terms of excitement but does start to follow a number of different paths and take on different paces. While there is exciting action as Asho and Kethe take on the demon hordes, there are moments of tense political debate and planning, and Audsley's exploration of Starkadr is of a different thrilling pace altogether.
More of the greater plot is starting to be revealed as the humans banished from Ennoia start to plot their return to the world and the kragh start to plot their assault on that very same world.
The story really developed over this book with different threads and plots forming and diverging, different aspects of the magic and mysticism of the world being explored and revealed, the very religion of the world being challenged and I am looking forward to seeing how these come together later on.
Alison Pink (7 KP) rated City of Ashes (The Mortal Instruments, #2) in Books
Jan 15, 2018
In the second installment of the Mortal Instruments series Clare weaves a tale of love and betrayal and I loved every second of it! This book picks up where the first left off...Clary's mother is still in a coma in a NY hospital. Clary is desperate to get her back, but she has been plunged headfirst into the world of Shadowhunters. Luke is still trying to protect her & Jace is still smolderingly sexy.
Valentine is still lurking in every shadow that surrounds Jace & Clary. He is slowly working his way into their lives. The climax of the book is a HUGE battle on Valentine's ship in the East River which pits some of the Clave against Valentine's demon army. Of course the consequences of the battle impact all involved, none as much as Simon, Clary, & Jace...a love triangle that may just outmatch that between Edward, Bella, & Jacob.
I have to say the ending leaves you hanging in such a way that if you don't already have Book 3 on your shelf, you will feel the compelling urge to go hunt it down & devour it before you even leave the bookstore. Fortunately for me, it is on my shelf & is calling my name!
Valentine is still lurking in every shadow that surrounds Jace & Clary. He is slowly working his way into their lives. The climax of the book is a HUGE battle on Valentine's ship in the East River which pits some of the Clave against Valentine's demon army. Of course the consequences of the battle impact all involved, none as much as Simon, Clary, & Jace...a love triangle that may just outmatch that between Edward, Bella, & Jacob.
I have to say the ending leaves you hanging in such a way that if you don't already have Book 3 on your shelf, you will feel the compelling urge to go hunt it down & devour it before you even leave the bookstore. Fortunately for me, it is on my shelf & is calling my name!
Lou Grande (148 KP) rated Tau (2018) in Movies
Jul 5, 2018
I had heard little whispers about this movie before it came out, comparing it to Upgrade (2018), only less gory. First of all, it was nothing like that, but it was very good. The premise is interesting--a young woman is kidnapped and held for experimentation by a sociopathic computer genius, who has created an AI named Tau to run his house. Only he's kept Tau in the dark about a lot of stuff. Like that there's more than just the house and other humans exist. I think lately, movies have skewed more towards negative depictions of AI, but Tau is actually rather positive. Without revealing anything, both Julia (the kidnapee) and Tau learn things about themselves and each other. The whole film brings up the question of what it is to be a person, how much empathy we can grant to non-human sentience, and what it means to be a prisoner.
Very good, and visually appealing as well. I loved the way Tau "looked," but there were times when the CG got a little shaky. Nothing unexpected for a movie with this kind of budget. If you enjoyed Dean Koontz's "Demon Seed" or the film adaptation, I think you'll like this.
Very good, and visually appealing as well. I loved the way Tau "looked," but there were times when the CG got a little shaky. Nothing unexpected for a movie with this kind of budget. If you enjoyed Dean Koontz's "Demon Seed" or the film adaptation, I think you'll like this.
Karica Truebenbach (156 KP) rated The Exorcist (1973) in Movies
Sep 27, 2018
A classic for a reason
This movie has everything a horror fan could want. Demons, possession, the never-not-scary backward walking down the staircase, and of course, head spinning. This story of a girl possessed and slowly being devoured by a demon is my favorite kind of horror because it doesn't make you scared for a second. It makes you scared for years. The kind of story where you feel like it could really happen so you go home and check your closets, under the beds, and your kids' foreheads for triple sixes.
Compared to what we have now, the visual aspect of the movie is not the cleanest, but that doesn't detract from the awesome makeup and other effects. Reagan's slow descent into hell is reflected in her appearance as her teeth blacken and her skin rots with lesions. She does something in the movie that still makes my skin crawl (crucifix scene, ugh) but that's how I can tell that the movie hit its mark, if I can think on it years later and still get the creeps. This is definitely something to add to your Halloween collection if you haven't already.
Compared to what we have now, the visual aspect of the movie is not the cleanest, but that doesn't detract from the awesome makeup and other effects. Reagan's slow descent into hell is reflected in her appearance as her teeth blacken and her skin rots with lesions. She does something in the movie that still makes my skin crawl (crucifix scene, ugh) but that's how I can tell that the movie hit its mark, if I can think on it years later and still get the creeps. This is definitely something to add to your Halloween collection if you haven't already.
Dianne Robbins (1738 KP) rated Amityville: The Awakening (2017) in Movies
Jan 27, 2019
Not much (2 more)
Stays within the Amityville realm
Shows footage from DeFeo's crimes and mentions the Amityville history/"haunting"
Slow and drags on (8 more)
Boring
Tense in a teen angst way
Poor character relationships
One-dimensional characters
Vague plotlines
Visually too dark to see most action
Unoriginal
Flat acting
Drags on and on and on and blah.
If you expect a family to move into the Amityville house where DeFeo murdered his family in the 1970s and be haunted or possessed by a ghost, demon, poltergeist, etc., you are 100% correct. That premise could be interesting but unfortunately, this film falls short. It is tense because of the relationships between the characters and not from suspense. It's pretty boring and relies on a few jump scares and flashes of horror. The storyline is unoriginal and poorly done. The lighting is so dark that it's difficult to see the last 30 minutes of the action. You might as well be listening to an old-fashioned radio show or horror podcast instead. This movie is problematic from beginning to end. There are much better films out there with a similar premise so unless you're extremely bored and like to torture yourself, avoid this one.
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated The Grudge (2020) in Movies
Sep 21, 2020
Thankfully doesn't skimp out on the gore (some real solicitously nasty, gushy butchery on display - it's far and away the star of the show) but misses out on nearly everything else that made this concept so watchable. A bunch of people sitting around and sulking about stupid bullshit the entire time, who gives a rat's ass? Doesn't help that the demon design is pure crap and not a single actor - save for the always superlative Lin Shaye (who is seriously one of the best new horror actors in the game right now) - even wants to be here to begin with; and it shows in these fucking intolerably drab performances. The structure is actually kind of neat, though it peddles all but nothing. In fact the whole product has a clever method of execution but shits the bed on actually doing anything with it. Also its unintentionally funny in the worst possible way, these tropes are so tired (blink and you miss them predictable jump 'scares', dumbass characters, competent but uninspired visuals, morose and generic police procedural elements being poorly mixed into a much more interesting horror story, etc.) beyond belief. Barely 93 minutes and feels like forever, has okay moments but *not* worth the sit.
LoganCrews (2861 KP) rated Phantoms (1998) in Movies
Sep 21, 2020
Peter O'Toole was the bomb in 𝘗𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘴, yo. Features elements of a horror movie but fails to actually make a horror movie out of them - spends most of its runtime focusing on the bracing thrills of walking around slowly and looking at stuff, and the heart-clenching horrors of sitting in some lab talking about chemicals and stuff. Dean Koontz is the Dan Brown of horror, ineptly weaving together such laughably idiotic historical appeals (forced to be played straight) for people who don't know they aren't cultured and then doing nothing with them. Also Rose McGowan is either genuinely crap here or she just doesn't care. The sci-fi violence/gore is honestly quite vicious and damn cool for what this is, and there is a noticeable amount of enjoyable stupidity to be had (terrified Affleck pleading for his life to a golden retriever, O'Toole screaming about how some ancient extraterrestrial-demon shapeshifting oil killed the dinosaurs, etc) but it's too slapdash for its own good. Gets right into it then takes multiple breaks to sit on its ass, not awful but also not worth any sort of time, tbh. The Blob for those thirsty for cardboard vapidity. *Please* just watch 𝘝𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 7𝘵𝘩 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵 instead.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth (1992) in Movies
May 27, 2020 (Updated Aug 2, 2020)
Second Hellraiser sequel and the first no-two-ways-about-it lousy one. Chief bondage demon Pinhead has been stripped of the limitations constraining his unpleasant recreational activities, which he likes, but also turned into a piece of interior decoration, which he doesn't. He endeavours to get himself released while a plucky young journalist tries to figure out why people keep turning up skinned or lacerated by flying chains.
A Hellraiser movie made with an American sensibility and for a mainstream American audience - one almost gets the sense the writers think they're making a Nightmare on Elm Street movie. The first half, with Pinhead stuck in a pillar, is not too bad, but they have to let him out eventually at which point the film's IQ and sense of restraint both vanish. Too much lazy gore and silly action (rubbish Cenobites wandering around New York City fighting the police). Doug Bradley just about saves the movie from being completely worthless, as he manages to chew the scenery even while being part of it; Terry Farrell was better in Star Trek. The occasional interesting idea or image but the film's main achievement is making the first two look better than they actually are.
A Hellraiser movie made with an American sensibility and for a mainstream American audience - one almost gets the sense the writers think they're making a Nightmare on Elm Street movie. The first half, with Pinhead stuck in a pillar, is not too bad, but they have to let him out eventually at which point the film's IQ and sense of restraint both vanish. Too much lazy gore and silly action (rubbish Cenobites wandering around New York City fighting the police). Doug Bradley just about saves the movie from being completely worthless, as he manages to chew the scenery even while being part of it; Terry Farrell was better in Star Trek. The occasional interesting idea or image but the film's main achievement is making the first two look better than they actually are.
Merissa (11543 KP) rated Black Water Magic (Teagan Blackwater #1) in Books
Feb 24, 2021 (Updated Aug 3, 2023)
BLACK WATER MAGIC is the first book in the Teagan Blackwater series, and it starts with the magical murder of Nola as Teagan lazes around in post-coital bliss. Now Teagan is on the back foot as she tries to figure out her new role, gain the respect of the magical community, solve a murder, and break a curse.
I enjoyed this book from start to finish, with the different characters and their secrets. It is only the first book in the series, so I expected there to be parts of world-building, back-story, etc. I can't say as I particularly liked Colby, ignoring the fact that he's a Viking Demi Demon!
The tropes of gay best friend and being naïve are a bit overdone for my liking, but it works for this story. I really can't wait until Teagan grows into her powers though, and fights on an equal footing.
A smooth pace, well-written, and with a great storyline, this is definitely recommended by me.
* 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!
Feb 24, 2021
I enjoyed this book from start to finish, with the different characters and their secrets. It is only the first book in the series, so I expected there to be parts of world-building, back-story, etc. I can't say as I particularly liked Colby, ignoring the fact that he's a Viking Demi Demon!
The tropes of gay best friend and being naïve are a bit overdone for my liking, but it works for this story. I really can't wait until Teagan grows into her powers though, and fights on an equal footing.
A smooth pace, well-written, and with a great storyline, this is definitely recommended by me.
* 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!
Feb 24, 2021