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Phil Leader (619 KP) rated The Court of the Air (Jackelian, #1) in Books

Nov 11, 2019  
The Court of the Air (Jackelian, #1)
The Court of the Air (Jackelian, #1)
Stephen Hunt | 2007
9
7.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
The land of Jackals is under threat. Ancient foes are threatening its people and its borders. Who can save the land?

Molly Templar is an orphan scratching a living in a poor house. But someone wants her very badly - badly enough to kill anyone who gets in the way. But who would want a poor orphan girl and why?

Oliver Brooks is an outcast. He was lost for two years in the feymist when he was younger. He must have been changed but shows no signs, he appears to be completely normal. But he still needs to report to the authorities regularly and lives in virtual house arrest with his uncle. Until his uncle is killed and Oliver barely escapes.

So begins The Court Of The Air, a stupendous rolling epic set in the strange land of Jackals, a place which is sort of like Victorian England but is also completely different. There are guns and airships, bombs and politicians aplenty. There is also magic and gods stalk the shadows of the world. Sentient steam driven robots have their own country and their own religion.

This is one of those immersive novels. Nothing is explained as it is seen from the viewpoint of the main characters, and they don't need to explain their own world to themselves. This might deter some readers because although there are some familiar concepts many are new or reworked in subtly different ways so that assumptions are dangerous. Personally I enjoy being thrown into the deep end and having to work at understanding the world of the author. I was definitely in my element.

Hunt has an amazing imagination. He is like the curator of a museum of wonders, allowing quick glimpses at the shiny trinkets before twitching aside the curtain to the rather more sinister exhibits he keeps in the basement. He also has a prose style that is frequently poetic and full of brilliant metaphor and simile. One of my favourites was describing a camera as having its nose pointing sadly downwards. And the writing is dense, very dense. I took my time over this book because it was worth it to extract every nuance and vibe conveyed by the words on the page.

The plot is sprawling and convoluted. Oliver and Molly are the main characters but there are others on all sides of the conflict and very little is as it seems or black and white. The first half of the book concerns Molly and Oliver being separately pursued as various aspects of Jackals' geography and politics are revealed (and the political systems are a hoot). Once we find out what is going on the pursued then must try to confront and thwart the danger, not only to them but to their country and the world.

The threads finally come together in a cataclysmic ending. The plot does unravel a little as everything happens at once and there are plenty of clever twists. There is a certain about of deus ex machina in the ending but I would rather that than a tedious few pages of exposition. The good guys win. The bad guys are vanquished. And it's all very entertaining.

Now I do accept that it is a challenging read and some people will not take to it so I can't recommend it without saying, read an excerpt first. If you like reading it (even if you don't as yet understand what half of it means) then read all of it. You will not be disappointed.

Rated: Some violence
  
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Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015) in Movies

Jun 19, 2019  
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
2015 | Mystery
7
8.0 (76 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
When it was delayed from a planned October 2014 release to be placed against “50 Shades of Grey”, many worried that the new film “Kingsman: The Secret Service” was being relegated to nothing more than counter-programming by the studio. Thankfully the film is a hyper kinetic romp that gives audiences a new approach to the traditional spy film genre with a tongue in cheek approach.

The film revolves around a secret group of agents who take their operational names from the Knights of the Round Table. The organization was started by wealthy clothiers of London to make the world a better place, and since they operate outside the influence or control of any government, they have maintained a small but effective operational force for decades.

Following the loss of an operative, Galahad (Collin Firth), struggles to come to grips with being partially to blame for the death of his friend and trainee. Years later, Galahad recruits the son of the deceased agent, Eggsy (Taron Egerton), to train and join the ranks of The Kingsman. His working class upbringing rubs some of his more posh fellow trainees the wrong way, but Eggsy’s past scholastic and military skills are evident as he takes on the challenges of his highly-competitive and dangerous training.

At the same time, billionaire tech mogul Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson), is hatching a diabolical plan to cull the population of the world to make those that are left more manageable and under his control. Facing a race against time to literally save the word, the Kingsman, new and old, must battle an army to save the day.

While the plot of the film follows what the James Bond series have long established, an evil person with an army of deadly henchmen under their control bent on destroying/conquering the world, this film takes it in a new direction. The action is fast and frantic but despite the R rated violence is never as gory or overly gratuitous as one may expect. The blood is actually restrained to smaller red spots and a splash here or there which is interesting given the large number of slicing, impalings, close range gunshots, and bladed weapons deployed in the film.

The plot does at times seem absurd and naturally there are tons of questions like why they would use their two new recruits rather than calling in more experienced agents in their current crisis for help. All that aside, the film has a wink-and-a- smile attitude as it unfolds, almost as if they were trying to tell the audience to just accept that parts of it will play as a parody on the genre so just sit back and enjoy the ride.

In the end the film has enough action and interesting characters to make it a fun, if flawed, romp and the cast is interesting enough that I am already hoping for future adventures for the Kingsman.

http://sknr.net/2015/02/13/kingsman-secret-service/