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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated The Brotherhood of Olympus and the Deadliest Game (Book 1) in Books
Jun 7, 2018
(This review can be found on my blog at <a href="http://themisadventuresofatwentysomething.blogspot.co.uk">The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl</a>).
I really, really thought the synopsis of The Brotherhood of Olympus and the Deadliest Game by Guy T. Simpson Jr. sounded very interesting. This was a book that I knew I would have to read. Luckily, I was able to read it, and it was very interesting!
The Fraiser boys lose their favourite uncle in car crash on Friday the thirteenth. After the accident, weird things start happening so the boys consult a spirit board. Is the spirit board helping the boys or is it actually evil? Also, Drake learns through a dream that he is destined to be a king and a leader. Will Drake live long enough to see that day?
I think the author picked a fantastic title for his book!! A lot of people consider a spirit board a game, so I believe this is where the deadliest game bit comes in.
I'm not overly keen on the cover of this book. I mean, it fits the book as it's a photo of the Fraiser boys wither their uncle Wally, but it's just too plain for my liking. However, this could just be a personal thing since I'm a harsh judge of covers.
The world building was done fantastically well!! The setting (1978-1979) was quite believable. I wasn't around at that time, but although there's not really many references about it being the late 70's besides the chapter telling you. I could imagine myself being part of this whole story!
The pacing was really good. Each chapter was full of action and suspense, and I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next. The chapters flow into each other, and not once did I find myself bored whilst reading this story.
For a middle grade read, I'd say that there were some words that might be hard for younger kids to understand, and to be honest, there were some big words I didn't understand. Context clues are important sometimes to figure out what words mean in the story. I did feel that the two younger brothers spoke as if they were much older than eight and ten. There is mild swearing so it's not bad at all when it comes to bad language.
All the characters were well formed and each had their own unique personality which definitely shown through during the story. Martin is the oldest boy, and it's obvious by how much he looks after his younger brothers. Mark is the second oldest, followed by Drake who is the brainy one in the family. Dennis is ten and Albert is 8. As I said in the previous paragraph, the two youngest boys came across as being older then they actually were especially Dennis. However, besides that, they were all believable characters, and I'm sure we all have at least one friend who has one of the boys' personality.
I did feel that the last chapter in the book was a bit repetitive of what the story already told us. I didn't really learn anything I didn't know from the last chapter besides a mention of Wally. However, overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this story as it is very well-written. Oh, and I must say that I really enjoyed enjoy individual drawing at the beginning of each chapter!
I'd recommend this book to those aged 12+.
(I was provided a free ebook copy of this title from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review).
I really, really thought the synopsis of The Brotherhood of Olympus and the Deadliest Game by Guy T. Simpson Jr. sounded very interesting. This was a book that I knew I would have to read. Luckily, I was able to read it, and it was very interesting!
The Fraiser boys lose their favourite uncle in car crash on Friday the thirteenth. After the accident, weird things start happening so the boys consult a spirit board. Is the spirit board helping the boys or is it actually evil? Also, Drake learns through a dream that he is destined to be a king and a leader. Will Drake live long enough to see that day?
I think the author picked a fantastic title for his book!! A lot of people consider a spirit board a game, so I believe this is where the deadliest game bit comes in.
I'm not overly keen on the cover of this book. I mean, it fits the book as it's a photo of the Fraiser boys wither their uncle Wally, but it's just too plain for my liking. However, this could just be a personal thing since I'm a harsh judge of covers.
The world building was done fantastically well!! The setting (1978-1979) was quite believable. I wasn't around at that time, but although there's not really many references about it being the late 70's besides the chapter telling you. I could imagine myself being part of this whole story!
The pacing was really good. Each chapter was full of action and suspense, and I couldn't wait to find out what would happen next. The chapters flow into each other, and not once did I find myself bored whilst reading this story.
For a middle grade read, I'd say that there were some words that might be hard for younger kids to understand, and to be honest, there were some big words I didn't understand. Context clues are important sometimes to figure out what words mean in the story. I did feel that the two younger brothers spoke as if they were much older than eight and ten. There is mild swearing so it's not bad at all when it comes to bad language.
All the characters were well formed and each had their own unique personality which definitely shown through during the story. Martin is the oldest boy, and it's obvious by how much he looks after his younger brothers. Mark is the second oldest, followed by Drake who is the brainy one in the family. Dennis is ten and Albert is 8. As I said in the previous paragraph, the two youngest boys came across as being older then they actually were especially Dennis. However, besides that, they were all believable characters, and I'm sure we all have at least one friend who has one of the boys' personality.
I did feel that the last chapter in the book was a bit repetitive of what the story already told us. I didn't really learn anything I didn't know from the last chapter besides a mention of Wally. However, overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this story as it is very well-written. Oh, and I must say that I really enjoyed enjoy individual drawing at the beginning of each chapter!
I'd recommend this book to those aged 12+.
(I was provided a free ebook copy of this title from the author in exchange for a fair and honest review).
Charlie Cobra Reviews (1840 KP) rated The Order in TV
Jul 6, 2020 (Updated Jul 6, 2020)
Don't Call Them Witches - 7/10
The Order is a 2019 supernatural horror/drama tv series created by Dennis Heaton and a team of writers including: Dennis Heaton, Shelley Eriksen, Rachel Langer, Jennica Harper, Penny Gummerson and Jason Filiatrault. The show was produced by Nomadic Pictures with producers Petros Danabassis, Jay Daniel Beechinor, and Morris Chapdelaine and released on Netflix in March. The shows stars Jake Manley, Sarah Grey, Matt Frewer, and Max Martini.
Thrust into a world of magic and monsters (werewolves), Jack Morten (Jake Manley) must pledge himself to a secret society so that he can avenge the death of his mother by their leader, Edward Coventry (Max Martini). His only family is his grandfather, "Pops" (Matt Frewer), the genius behind their plan for him to infiltrate the order and learn what he can to bring them down from the inside. Things go from bad to worse as he uncovers The Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose are practitioners of magic and someone or something is killing their pledges on campus. And more complications arise as he becomes enamoured with a higher ranking member Alyssa Drake (Sarah Grey) and a group of Knights whose mission is to stop evil magic users.
The Order is a decent show. I liked it alot but it was hard for me to get behind. It definitely has a lot of flaws and I can see a lot of people (like critics) tearing this show apart. That being said, I can't believe it has 100% on rotten tomatoes at this point or that it has been renewed for a second season. It was pretty slow building to me especially because I thought it was only going to be a secret society type show like the movie The Skulls but with a werewolf angle to it. I was very surprised when it was more about a magic secret society and later had a werewolf element to it. What I really didn't care for so much was the love theme to it that made me want to compare it to Twilight. You'll know what I'm talking about if you give it a chance. I really wanted to give this show a 6. There was a lot to hate in this show but it did get better towards the end. One thing the dialogue was full of cussing, which I didn't mind at all but it felt very amateurish. It made me laugh a lot but it also made me feel like the writers were in high school still. And I believe it's the main reason for the TV-MA rating. Which is another complaint I had. I don't think that for a rated TV-MA show, particularly a horror one, did they have enough violence, blood or gore. It felt very watered down to me in those respects. To me it seems like it was a cool idea, they had good actors who suffered from poor script and dialogue with a decent enough plot but a director(s) who were going for more of a Twilight vibe. As it gets farther into it did get better but barely got a 7 from me. As I write this I'm still contemplating whether to change my rating. It did do somethings quite well. They didn't mess up on the werewolves and even did them in a unique way and I appreciated the world building and
lore that they brought to them. Even the way they portrayed magic in the series was well done. I also generally liked the second half of the seasons' story arc and plot. I give this show a 7/10. I don't recommend it to anyone unless you were a big fan of the Twilight films or if you are just someone who watches anything with magic or werewolves.
Thrust into a world of magic and monsters (werewolves), Jack Morten (Jake Manley) must pledge himself to a secret society so that he can avenge the death of his mother by their leader, Edward Coventry (Max Martini). His only family is his grandfather, "Pops" (Matt Frewer), the genius behind their plan for him to infiltrate the order and learn what he can to bring them down from the inside. Things go from bad to worse as he uncovers The Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose are practitioners of magic and someone or something is killing their pledges on campus. And more complications arise as he becomes enamoured with a higher ranking member Alyssa Drake (Sarah Grey) and a group of Knights whose mission is to stop evil magic users.
The Order is a decent show. I liked it alot but it was hard for me to get behind. It definitely has a lot of flaws and I can see a lot of people (like critics) tearing this show apart. That being said, I can't believe it has 100% on rotten tomatoes at this point or that it has been renewed for a second season. It was pretty slow building to me especially because I thought it was only going to be a secret society type show like the movie The Skulls but with a werewolf angle to it. I was very surprised when it was more about a magic secret society and later had a werewolf element to it. What I really didn't care for so much was the love theme to it that made me want to compare it to Twilight. You'll know what I'm talking about if you give it a chance. I really wanted to give this show a 6. There was a lot to hate in this show but it did get better towards the end. One thing the dialogue was full of cussing, which I didn't mind at all but it felt very amateurish. It made me laugh a lot but it also made me feel like the writers were in high school still. And I believe it's the main reason for the TV-MA rating. Which is another complaint I had. I don't think that for a rated TV-MA show, particularly a horror one, did they have enough violence, blood or gore. It felt very watered down to me in those respects. To me it seems like it was a cool idea, they had good actors who suffered from poor script and dialogue with a decent enough plot but a director(s) who were going for more of a Twilight vibe. As it gets farther into it did get better but barely got a 7 from me. As I write this I'm still contemplating whether to change my rating. It did do somethings quite well. They didn't mess up on the werewolves and even did them in a unique way and I appreciated the world building and
lore that they brought to them. Even the way they portrayed magic in the series was well done. I also generally liked the second half of the seasons' story arc and plot. I give this show a 7/10. I don't recommend it to anyone unless you were a big fan of the Twilight films or if you are just someone who watches anything with magic or werewolves.
