Hidden (Fire and Iceland #1)
8.0
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After a breathtaking journey through Iceland, Vanessa Evanston finishes her dream vacation with her...
Paranormal Romance
The Rise of Magicks (Chronicles of The One #3)
5.5
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After the sickness known as the Doom destroyed civilization, magick has become commonplace, and...
Angel's Ink (The Asylum Tales, #1)
8.5
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Buyer beware . . . Looking for a tattoo—and maybe a little something extra: a burst of good...
Sanyare: The Last Descendant
9.0
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Raised in a realm where humans are no better than slaves, Rie has struggled for decades to earn a...
Into the Fire (Book Two of the Hel's Crucible Duology)
7.0
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Dennis L McKiernan conjures his unparalleled storytelling powers with the fantastic saga of the War...
Stolen Crown (Book #6)
4.0
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For more Than a hundred years, a bitter dispute over how the High King had been selected simmered in...
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Of Shadow and Elves ( Of Goblin Kings 2) in Books
Oct 13, 2023
Kindle
Of Shadows and Elves ( Of Goblin Kings 2)
By Emma Hamm
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Freya couldn't have known she would destroy the entire faerie court by beating the Goblin King. All she wanted was her sister back, not to imprison the king. But with her sister refusing to return home, Freya is left trapped in her own mess. She has to fix what she broke or the faerie realm will get infinitely more dangerous.
Bring the Goblin King back. Save the people she harmed. And do her best to avoid the temptation of falling into the Goblin King's arms. Considering the Goblin King is locked away in a magical prison, at least one of her goals may be impossible to achieve...
...unless she's willing to go through hardships unnumbered.
I needed this it was all magic and fantasy with kings queens hero’s and villains plus a few goblin creatures thrown in. It followed on from book one seamlessly and was a fun read. Freya is a sweet hero who has to reach deep in this one to go against her own nature all for her goblin king.
Phil Leader (619 KP) rated The Wrath of Siren (The Truth Teller #2) in Books
Nov 29, 2019
The evil druid Siren has unleashed his Troll army and is laying the other realm to waste leaving the elves and dwarves to make a last desperate stand. But what they really need is the Truth Teller, will she ignore the warnings and come to help?
This second book in the series carried on Chambers' tale to entice younger readers into reading fantasy stories. This installment is a little darker in tone, as might be expected as war sweeps across the land, but as usual there are touches of humour to lighten the tone. Charlotte's usage of neologisms and idioms to her bemused companions from the other world are always good ('It's doing my head in' and 'this is well creepy' for example). Plus we have the bonus of Elderfield seeing our world (and the chaos that ensues).
Siren makes a fairly convincing opponent, suitable nasty without becoming too pantomime. He's nasty work but not irrational, simply wanting to take over his world and if that involves a little death and destruction so much the better.
The tone is probably a shade darker than the first book, simply because there is a war rather than an individual journey and so a lot more people are threatened. But this is still firmly on the light side of fantasy with nothing particularly distressing.
My only negative point (and the only thing stopping this getting 5 stars) is that Siren's defeat is never really explained, it just happens. This is disappointing only from the point of view that it would perhaps have been nice to have a bit of closure. It has to be said that classic fantasy has its fair share of 'with one bound the heroes win against the odds' endings - look at The Lord of the Rings or The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. In the end the story is what matters, not what is in the end of the story and this is still a fantastic read.
Once again Chambers has set out to produce a modern day introduction to fantasy for young adult eyes and once again he has achieved this and in spades. Very much looking forward to the next book in the series.
Gareth von Kallenbach (971 KP) rated The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) in Movies
Aug 6, 2019
audiences that large scale fantasy could be done right on film with The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. And
now the final trek through middle earth is here with the third and final film in the Hobbit series.
Picking up at the climatic conclusion of 2013’s The Desolation of Smaug, The Battle of the Five Armies is
less about the journey and more about the war between the various armies of middles earth over the
massive riches in the mountain home they journeyed to reclaim. After the exciting beginning that serves
to tie up the previous film and sets to table for this one, we begin to see the brotherhood between the
dwarfs, a wizard, a few elves and a Hobbit that focuses on the bonds of friendship and loyalty. This
builds on itself as it leads to the climactic battle of the five armies. The battle is on the grand scale you
would come to expect from these middle earth films, only at times this battle seems to rely on a bit too
much CGI and thus almost plays out cartoonish. Granted, this is a fantasy world were Dwarfs, Elves and
Men are fighting Orcs so it is really not that hard to suspend disbelief in the first place. Thus the film is
entertaining in its own right as it wraps up one trilogy and bridges to another.
This bridge is what surprised me most. We received a bit more insight to some of the higher beings and
their understanding that villain in the Lord of the Rings trilogy is slowly returning to power. These
sequences are entertaining and great for fan service, but they seem to be handled a bit to simply as it
makes us wonder, if they knew this dark figure was alive, why did they wait so long (The Lord of the
Rings Trilogy) to do something about it. Still, it is nice to see the story wrapped up into one complete
adventure that viewer could connect all the way through.
In the end, those fans of the books and previous films will be pleased with the action, pace and way this
film wraps everything up. Other than the sequence of Bilbo’s interaction with Smaug in the last film, The
Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies is the best film in the Hobbit Series.