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Amy Curtis (49 KP) rated The Woman in the Window in Books

Dec 7, 2018

Interesting (1 more)

Different

Phenominal!

Contains spoilers, click to show

I cannot recommend this book enough. I found it really easy to read and one that I didn't want to put down. It follows the story of Dr. Anna Fox who suffers from Agraphobia. I found that interesting on its own because it's not a very well know disorder. I think this is one of the things that drew me to the book because I once dealt with a customer who had Agraphobia and I didn't know what it was. It is focalised through Anna and you learn about her day to day life. As she is unable to leave the house, she spies on her neighbours watching their lives instead of living her own. A new family move across the road and she instantly takes an interest in them particularly when the mother pays her a visit and they drink a lot of wine and play chess. One day when spying on the neighbours, she sees the mother get killed. This novel takes you on a rollercoaster as Anna uncovers what happened to her. There are some classic elements of a thriller in this book but I don't think I truly knew what I had got myself into. When reading at work, all I kept saying to my colleagues is "I can't cope with this book, everytime I think I know what's going to happen, there's another twist or turn." The novel itself is written very well and it leaves you constantly questions what real and what's not and what's true and what's false. I really couldn't recommend this book enough.

Kudos

Marylegs (44 KP) rated The Goddess and the Thief in Books

Aug 14, 2019

The Goddess and the Thief is a work of fiction based in Victorian England and briefly at the beginning in Lahore, India. It tells the story of Alice Willoughby, who after living all her life in India with Her father Charles, is moved to England to live in the care of her Aunt Mercy whilst her father returns to Lahore were is works for the English residency as a surgeon. Her Aunt Mercy works as a spiritual medium and after events including the death of Alices father and the introduction of the enigmatic Lucian Tillsbury, Alices aunt endeavours for her to join the clairvoyant profession. All events lead to dramatic and catastrophic events for Alice.

Considering all the elements such as; gothic Victorian era, Hindu mythology, intrigue, drama and the paranormal I feel I should have liked this book more than I did. There is nothing particular wrong with the book, it works well and is written fine with no obvious errors that I have observed in other books. I just wasnt my style of book. I have read other reviews that have liken Essie Foxs writing style as similar to Sarah Waters, who I have read previously and also not found to my taste. Perhaps if books written in the style of Sarah Waters is your cup of tea you may appreciate this tale more. Having said this the inclusion of the Hindu mythology was really interesting and differently added a lot to the story development. There are twists and turns along the way and this is by no means a bad book as said just not to my taste.

Kudos

LeftSideCut (3778 KP) rated X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) in Movies

Aug 5, 2019

The X-Men film we deserve

After a line of underwhelming X-Men feature films, Day of Future Past is an absolute belter, and compliments the excellent First Class as a sequel.

After becoming familiar with the characters throughout the X-Men and X2, it broke my heart when the third film failed to deliver the goods, as it seems like we wouldn't see a lot of the same actors again, especially after First Class introduced all new faces for some familiar characters.
When it was announced that DOFP would include both casts, I was so genuinely excited.
And rightly so.

This is the FOX-X-men equivalent of Infinity War. All of these characters coming together to stop a threat that fans have wanted to see on the big screen since day one - The Sentinels.
The bleak future painted is truly horrifying, as mutants are on the edge of extinction after being hunted down.
Throw is a little time travel to stop this future from ever coming to pass, and we are set with Wolverine in the 70s, with the cast of First Class.
It's a great move, and makes for a really fun setting, with high stakes to boot.
The action is plentiful and thrilling (especially the future-set fight near the end - hard to watch at times), and it's a real throwback to hear the original score from the original trilogy.

It ticks all the boxes as it plays on nostalgia, whilst giving us something new simultaneously.

It's a real treat for X-Men fans, and was for a short while, my favourite entry in the franchise (then Logan came along...)