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*** I received a free advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ***
I have read Adrian Tchakovsky's Shadows of the Apt series and loved it.
I recently read his Dogs of War and enjoyed it. However I think this has somewhat tainted Ironclads for me.
Ireonclads sees us again in the near-future where the UK (read as England which annoyed me, being Scottish) has gained independence from Europe and subsequently gone bust and been bought over by the USA. The USA is likewise invading or at war with much of the rest of the world. These wars are now fought mainly in corporate interest (but then what's new *cough gulf war cough*) with armies of poorly equipped government soldiers being dent in to conflict occasionally supported by corporate playboys (generally the heir to the corporate fortunes) in their massive armoured scion suits (hence iron-clad) where they are fully protected from pretty much everything. These playboys tend to be captured by each other and ransomed back to their families, guffawing at their japes all the way.
The story sees one small group of US soldiers sent in to deepest darkest Sweden to rescue one such playboy who got himself too far ahead of the army and appears to have gone missing but without ransom (without his scion suit).
Being a short (200 pages) book worked well for me, I felt any more scenes or narrative would have felt like padding and this was its natural length.
However, for me this book felt like the notes or background story to Dogs of War and has suffered from my having read the latter. That book notes that wars used to be fought with machines and robots but moves on to cybernetically enhanced animals. This book felt like a side story or introduction to the Dogs of War world and little more.
Other aspects of the story chimed with that of Dogs of War as well and showed the author to be a little short of ideas - living beings with their brains/bodies cybernetically enhanced, swarms of insects used to disrupt communications, the USA being a little bit invadey and corrupt etc.
While this is not my usual cup of tea, I have enjoyed other sci-fi and felt this was a little slapdash. I didn't like the narrative style, finding the blasé, informal tones of the army sergeant both jarring and poorly executed. And while I don't need to be spoon-fed the plot, I found some elements badly or barely explained (what DID the Finns do?!) and the major plot twist neither surprising nor worth the wait.
Tchaikovsky can describe a battle scene well and you get a feel for the whole battle as well as the key conflicts, so the action itself is fairly gripping at times. However, the finished article left me feeling a bit meh.
All in all I am glad I read this, but had expected better things from his sci-fi given Children of Time won the Arthur C Clarke award.
I have read Adrian Tchakovsky's Shadows of the Apt series and loved it.
I recently read his Dogs of War and enjoyed it. However I think this has somewhat tainted Ironclads for me.
Ireonclads sees us again in the near-future where the UK (read as England which annoyed me, being Scottish) has gained independence from Europe and subsequently gone bust and been bought over by the USA. The USA is likewise invading or at war with much of the rest of the world. These wars are now fought mainly in corporate interest (but then what's new *cough gulf war cough*) with armies of poorly equipped government soldiers being dent in to conflict occasionally supported by corporate playboys (generally the heir to the corporate fortunes) in their massive armoured scion suits (hence iron-clad) where they are fully protected from pretty much everything. These playboys tend to be captured by each other and ransomed back to their families, guffawing at their japes all the way.
The story sees one small group of US soldiers sent in to deepest darkest Sweden to rescue one such playboy who got himself too far ahead of the army and appears to have gone missing but without ransom (without his scion suit).
Being a short (200 pages) book worked well for me, I felt any more scenes or narrative would have felt like padding and this was its natural length.
However, for me this book felt like the notes or background story to Dogs of War and has suffered from my having read the latter. That book notes that wars used to be fought with machines and robots but moves on to cybernetically enhanced animals. This book felt like a side story or introduction to the Dogs of War world and little more.
Other aspects of the story chimed with that of Dogs of War as well and showed the author to be a little short of ideas - living beings with their brains/bodies cybernetically enhanced, swarms of insects used to disrupt communications, the USA being a little bit invadey and corrupt etc.
While this is not my usual cup of tea, I have enjoyed other sci-fi and felt this was a little slapdash. I didn't like the narrative style, finding the blasé, informal tones of the army sergeant both jarring and poorly executed. And while I don't need to be spoon-fed the plot, I found some elements badly or barely explained (what DID the Finns do?!) and the major plot twist neither surprising nor worth the wait.
Tchaikovsky can describe a battle scene well and you get a feel for the whole battle as well as the key conflicts, so the action itself is fairly gripping at times. However, the finished article left me feeling a bit meh.
All in all I am glad I read this, but had expected better things from his sci-fi given Children of Time won the Arthur C Clarke award.
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Joe Elliott recommended Clash by The Clash in Music (curated)
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Robert Ben Garant recommended Reservoir Dogs (1992) in Movies (curated)
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Glen Banyard (13 KP) rated John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019) in Movies
Jun 9, 2019
Action scenes (1 more)
Dogs
Baba Yaga
The baba yaga returns in the stylish ultra violent John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum. The time span of the three movies is around 2 weeks, and opens within minutes of the events of Chapter 2.
While the two previous chapters have solely been in New York, Chapter 3 adds Casablanca, and introduces more back story to John Wick.
If you are going for John Wick, it;s not about the depth of the story, one of franchises biggest positives is the stylish and skillful action sequences, John Wick 3 delivers in droves.
The film sets up for a Chapter 4, leaving us wondering what the baba yaga is bringing to us next.
While the two previous chapters have solely been in New York, Chapter 3 adds Casablanca, and introduces more back story to John Wick.
If you are going for John Wick, it;s not about the depth of the story, one of franchises biggest positives is the stylish and skillful action sequences, John Wick 3 delivers in droves.
The film sets up for a Chapter 4, leaving us wondering what the baba yaga is bringing to us next.
![40x40](/uploads/profile_image/79b/0a23b2cd-fc5c-4402-b0f8-324ce4f9b79b.jpg?m=1535982268)
AT (1676 KP) rated Lady and the Tramp (2019) in Movies
Jan 4, 2020
Overall, the new Lady and the Tramp movie was cute. However, I didn't love that they completely recreated the Siamese cats. The were so classic to the old Disney animated version that it was sad to see them be so changed, assuming due to modern social issues. I wasn't nuts about the new cats or their new song. I also missed the puppies at the end of the animated movie! They also didn't have the Bloodhound get hit by the horses at the end of the live-action version. So some scenes were watered-down a bit, but all in all, the dogs were still cute and it was fun to see. I'm just personally still a bigger fan of the Disney animated version, I guess.
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Steve Gunn recommended Vive le Tour (1962) in Movies (curated)
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Will Oldham recommended Viridiana (1961) in Movies (curated)
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Lindsay (1706 KP) rated Twofer Murder in Books
Apr 9, 2019
Twofer Murder is a book done well. If you think one murder mystery was not enough for you. You will get two in this book. Lauren has now outdone herself with this one as you will see if you decide to get it and read.
The boys go on a fishing trip together. When they arrive they meet some new people in Scary, WV. They take two dogs with them. Tristan, Mac, Joshua, Murphy, JJ, David and two dogs are all together for a weekend.
Jessica, Archie, Sarah, Dallas, goes to the writer conference for that same weekend with a spider named Monique in Pennsylvania. Cameron joins the girls on their weekend when the Black Diamond shows up and Dallas calls David.
There appears some murder galore in this book. There are three victims. Will the boys solve the murders? There are twists and turns throughout the book. Will the girls solve their murders? Also, the book goes from one murder to the other. There are a total of thirteen parts all together.
Who could be the killers in the two murders, that take place in two different states? Tristan got his only little mystery as well. I love this book. There are some many mysteries going on that I believe you can get caught up in the book. Will Tristan find his missing cheese balls? Who has taken, Tristian's cheese balls? Will Tristan find the culprit of his missing cheese balls?
Sarah as her own little adventures. To find out what all these adventures are you will need to find out by reading the book.
The boys go on a fishing trip together. When they arrive they meet some new people in Scary, WV. They take two dogs with them. Tristan, Mac, Joshua, Murphy, JJ, David and two dogs are all together for a weekend.
Jessica, Archie, Sarah, Dallas, goes to the writer conference for that same weekend with a spider named Monique in Pennsylvania. Cameron joins the girls on their weekend when the Black Diamond shows up and Dallas calls David.
There appears some murder galore in this book. There are three victims. Will the boys solve the murders? There are twists and turns throughout the book. Will the girls solve their murders? Also, the book goes from one murder to the other. There are a total of thirteen parts all together.
Who could be the killers in the two murders, that take place in two different states? Tristan got his only little mystery as well. I love this book. There are some many mysteries going on that I believe you can get caught up in the book. Will Tristan find his missing cheese balls? Who has taken, Tristian's cheese balls? Will Tristan find the culprit of his missing cheese balls?
Sarah as her own little adventures. To find out what all these adventures are you will need to find out by reading the book.
![40x40](/uploads/profile_image/320/b7ca94d2-86ca-45be-93ba-602e9f96c320.jpg?m=1529336773)
Amanda (30 KP) rated Weekends with Daisy in Books
Jun 21, 2018
This is one of the best books that I've read in a while, to be honest. I was pleased with the lovely Daisy. There's a grouping of pictures in the middle of the book, so I paused to look at them when I came across them and was happy to see that Daisy had been matched with a little boy (their picture was included), but disappointed to have the ending ruined for me because at that point in the book, they were still wondering if Daisy was going to make it through the training.
It's one thing to say to lock a murderer or another inmate up forever and throw away the key, but it's another thing to have a name and a face to that story. Thinking of Keith still in jail for the crime that he committed so long ago really was scary. While obviously he needed to pay for what he had done, it is amazing to think that one decision had so many consequences. Fortunately for Keith, I believe that dogs like Daisy are a great outlet for people in his situation. With their need to pass the time doing something positive, I think training dogs for the disabled is an excellent way to help not only the inmates themselves, but the community around all of us.
I've always said that one day I wanted to train a service dog puppy, however, I will have to keep this in mind when I reach that point in my life. Being a weekend puppy raiser sounds hard as hell, but so fulfilling.
It's one thing to say to lock a murderer or another inmate up forever and throw away the key, but it's another thing to have a name and a face to that story. Thinking of Keith still in jail for the crime that he committed so long ago really was scary. While obviously he needed to pay for what he had done, it is amazing to think that one decision had so many consequences. Fortunately for Keith, I believe that dogs like Daisy are a great outlet for people in his situation. With their need to pass the time doing something positive, I think training dogs for the disabled is an excellent way to help not only the inmates themselves, but the community around all of us.
I've always said that one day I wanted to train a service dog puppy, however, I will have to keep this in mind when I reach that point in my life. Being a weekend puppy raiser sounds hard as hell, but so fulfilling.
![40x40](/uploads/profile_image/0a7/1a16271f-2229-41e1-8992-647ffe04e0a7.jpg?m=1522328231)
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2099 KP) rated Raiders of the Lost Bark in Books
Dec 4, 2019
Glamping with Dogs…and a Killer
Over the last few months, Mel has been the victim of Addison Rae. Addison is trying to become the premier gourmet pet chef in Laguna Beach, and she is using old letters from Mel’s mother to get Mel to make introductions. Addison’s latest gig is as the chef at a camping trip for dog owners and their pets, and Mel intends to get the letters over the course of the trip. However, before she can, Addison turns up dead. Mel knows she makes a great suspect, but can she find the really killer before her mother’s secret, and her motive, is exposed?
The books in this series are always fun, and this book is no exception. The mystery starts well and moves quickly as we get more suspects and motives to sort through before Mel finally figures things out. The dogs’ antics are always entertaining. The people can tend to be more caricature than full character here, but it works for the series and provides us with some laughs. Mel is real and helps ground things. Mel’s assistant Betty is also along for the ride in this book. She’s a hoot, but we get a bit too much of her here, and I grew tired of some of her antics at times. The brooch that Mel is feuding over with her cousin Caro continues to make things challenging here, and I’m anxious to find out what happens next in that saga. Readers who have pets will be interested in the two recipes at the end of the book. Pack your bags because this is a glamping trip not to miss.
The books in this series are always fun, and this book is no exception. The mystery starts well and moves quickly as we get more suspects and motives to sort through before Mel finally figures things out. The dogs’ antics are always entertaining. The people can tend to be more caricature than full character here, but it works for the series and provides us with some laughs. Mel is real and helps ground things. Mel’s assistant Betty is also along for the ride in this book. She’s a hoot, but we get a bit too much of her here, and I grew tired of some of her antics at times. The brooch that Mel is feuding over with her cousin Caro continues to make things challenging here, and I’m anxious to find out what happens next in that saga. Readers who have pets will be interested in the two recipes at the end of the book. Pack your bags because this is a glamping trip not to miss.