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Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated the PlayStation 4 version of Assassin's Creed: Origins in Video Games

Nov 18, 2019

Assassin's Creed: Origins

2017 | Action/Adventure

8.1

(33 Ratings)

Video Game Rating

Currently working my way through this, about 70% complete and totally invested in Bayek and his story of revenge for the death of his son.

The game has a really large open world and it can take forever to get from one side of Egypt to the other, even on a mount, so it's really great to have the vantage points spread out throughout the map.

This is my first proper foray into the Assassin's Creed games as I could never really get into previous games.

I'm looking forward to playing more on the PS4

Kudos

Nomad Deluxe: Wandering with a Purpose

Herbert Ypma

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Nomad Deluxe reawakens the deep-seated desire to escape to the most distant reaches of the globe....

Beyond the Grave (The 39 Clues, #4)

Jude Watson

6.0 (2 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Betrayed by their cousins, abandoned by their uncle, and with only the slimmest hint to guide them,...

FlyVPN-Proxy&Unlimited VPN

Utilities and Productivity

(0 Ratings) Rate It

App

Change your real IP address, reduce network latency - 40+ countries and increasing servers -...

Africa News TV

News and Entertainment

(0 Ratings) Rate It

App

Probably the easiest way to stay up-to-date on news and events across Africa. Watch headline news...

Kristy H (1252 KP) rated The Book of Two Ways in Books

Oct 15, 2020

An interesting premise whose story is somewhat lost in the (many) details

When Dawn Edelstein survives a horrifying plane crash, it causes her to rethink her life and her marriage. She sees two paths she could have taken: her current one, married to her scientist husband, Brian, and mother to their daughter, Meret. In this life, she is a death doula, helping her clients at the end of their lives. She and Brian are also struggling, dealing with the unhappiness and infidelity in their marriage. In the other path, she's back in Egypt, picking up on a life she could have led, if her mother had not fallen ill when she was in graduate school: working as an Egyptologist and uncovering artifacts with Wyatt, an archaeologist, and the first love of her life. As the two paths unfold, Dawn's various choices and long-buried secrets do as well.

"For someone who makes a living through death, I haven't given a lot of thought to my own."

I love Jodi Picoult and her books, and I count many of them among my favorites. I was intrigued by this story, but overall, this book wasn't for me. I always appreciate when an author does their research for a book, but there was so very much Egypt (from Dawn) and various scientific concepts (via Brian) in this book. Some will really enjoy this and if these were topics I was more interested in, I probably would have too. But I read this book while was I was working endless days, and I just wanted to lose myself in a story and not read pages upon pages about ancient Egypt or so much scientific theory about multiverses. It was a lot.

When the novel focused on the characters, I was more in. Dawn is an intriguing protagonist--she's not always going to make choices that the rest of us might agree with. She takes a long hard long at her life--her regrets, her past love, her marriage, and more. I don't want to give too much away, but the various paths concept is an interesting one, for sure. I enjoyed both of them--especially Dawn's work as a death doula in her Boston life and then her relationship with Wyatt (who seemed very enigmatic--I could see why she was drawn to him) in Egypt.

No matter what, Picoult does what she does best--give us a fascinating look at love, marriage, and loss. She makes us think and question what we might do in Dawn's position. There are some twists and surprises thrown in along the way. I skimmed some of the Egypt stuff (I'm sorry!) and might have forgiven it all together, except then she gave me an up-in-the-air ending. After all that reading and reading! Sigh. No resolution endings seem to be a theme lately. And not one I'm a fan of, either. So, with that, a 3-star read for me. But I'll read Picoult's next book eagerly, as always.

Kudos

David McK (3649 KP) rated The Last Camel Died at Noon (Amelia Peabody, #6) in Books

Jan 30, 2019

Book number 6 in Elizabeth Peter's Amelia Peabody (think female Victorian Indiana Jones) series, which sees Amelia, her husband Radcliffe and son Ramses back in the dusty climes of Egypt following their adventures in the previous ([b: The Deeds of the Disturber|32139|The Deeds of the Disturber (Amelia Peabody, #5)|Elizabeth Peters|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388887764s/32139.jpg|2176252]).

I have to say, though, that the plot of this one is more-than-slightly reminiscent of [a: H Rider Haggard|4633123|H. Rider Haggard|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1298296700p2/4633123.jpg]'s [b: King Solomon's Mines|108914|In Search of King Solomon's Mines|Tahir Shah|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348655880s/108914.jpg|4188], pretty much just swapping the African setting and characters of that novel for the dusty climes of Egypt - a similarity that Emerson, in a bit of meta-fiction, himself complains about.

Throw in a dash of [b: She|5203|She's Come Undone|Wally Lamb|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1408313457s/5203.jpg|1003370] (also by H Rider Haggard) with a soupcon of intrigue and more entertaining byplay between the Emerson's (with Ramses his usual precocious self), and the result is another entertaining read in the series.