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Hercules (1997)
Hercules (1997)
1997 | Animation, Comedy, Fantasy
8
8.2 (75 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Vibrant colours, character development, good story, fun musical numbers (0 more)
Plot was a little light (0 more)
Zero to Hero
Contains spoilers, click to show
Disney's take on the Greek mythological Hero.
 Hercules (Tate Donovan), son of Zeus, was kidnapped as a baby by minions of Hades (James Woods) and is found and raised by mortals in a superman-esque kinda way.
Now a teenager, Hercules wants to know about his real parents. Along the way he needs to perform a rite of passage on Earth to prove himself worthy of living with the gods on Mount Olympus and dealing with his first true love With help from his plucky satyr sidekick, Philoctetes (Danny DeVito), who's along for the ride, Hercules must learn how to use his strength to become the hero he's needed to be.

This movie is very light hearted and has an array of characters you can appreciate, many vibrant colours manage to draw you in, great dialogue and banter between characters with a meaningful story.

My personal favourite Disney animation.
  
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Becs (244 KP) rated Blinding Night in Books

May 17, 2019  
Blinding Night
Blinding Night
Chantal Gadoury | 2018 | Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Rushed at parts and slow at others, but the story was there
My rating: ☆☆☆.5

I received the audiobook version of Blinding Night to read and review for my honest opinion.

I was very excited to read this as it was a retelling of my favorite Greek God and Goddess. I did enjoy it, but there were things that I was kind of so/so on. We'll get to that in a bit though.

Blinding Night follows Summer as she heads to Greece with her family for an expedition over summer vacation. Summer is not at all too happy about spending the entire summer months in a different country with her family while her friends were out having fun. But when Summer arrives in Greece, things take a twist of a turn.

She begins having visions and dreams of a shadowed figure and pomegranate seeds. Then the unthinkable happens, a tragic car accident. This is about the time when Summer meets Darce, a disguise of Hades. Darce then seduces Summer down into the Underworld because he believes she is the reincarnation of his long lost love Persephone. But they can't say anything because than Demeter who has been disguising herself as Summer's mother, will try to take her back. Which is not what we need, because that could lead to some very bad endings.

Characters:
Summer - the main character, a reincarnation of Persephone. Whines and complains a ton.
Darce - a disguise that Hades uses for when he's in the Human world. Supposed to be very dominant, brooding, and in charge, yet is not. Don't get me wrong, he was witty and seductive - which is honestly something I rather enjoy in the main man.
Morpheus - a very laid back character that I at first thought was more of a side character but he plays a very important role throughout the story.
Arae - sassy, snarky, the exact replica of a mean girl. Her snarky comments to the other gods had me cracking up!

Reasons why I rated it 3.5 stars:
1. The plot:
There were a lot of plot holes, at least that's what it felt like. Summer would do things that didn't make any sense and it just left me really confused over the entirety of the story. Some parts were rushed, while others were slow. It wasn't balanced as well as I'd hoped it was. When I imagined a modern retelling of Hades and Persephone, I figured it would have a bit of the dramatic, dark, and Gothic aura around the Underworld and Hades himself as is found in other retellings. Instead, I was left with sunshine and buttercups and just a small disappointed flare that raced through my body. Also, the part I enjoyed the most was the ending. That's when things actually started to get interesting. Chantal does not disappoint on cliffhangers, cause that was a surprise of a cliffhanger.

2. My enjoyment:
I really enjoyed the story as a whole and would reread again at a later date, but I just wish it was more fleshed out.

3. Character and story development:
There was hardly any character development and that made the story a bit dry. There was some story development but not as much that was needed. I found some parts to be rather boring because it lacked the spark of background that could have made this story so much better.

4. Grammar and spelling:
Since I listened to the audiobook version of the story, I can't say much for the grammar and spelling. I'm going to assume it's good and the way Chantal writes had me enthralled with the story.

5. The overall story:
The story wasn't at all what I imagined how the story was going to go. It was a good and very light story, but it lacked the intensity that comes when you read retellings of Greek gods and goddess'.

"Stories tend to get messed up all the time. It's like a classic game of telephone. Somewhere along the way, the truth is lost and the story becomes something entirely different."
  
TH
To Hell With Love
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I seriously do not even know what to say about this piece of work. It's a rare and special day when you run across a romance novel where the male protagonist is death/devil/Hades. They are personal favorites of mine. So you can imagine I snatched this one up as soon as I saw it. I am glad I only dished out $2 for it.

The plot is as thin as wet tissue and more boring than watching mud dry. Every page was obvious and expected, the obstruction between the protagonists was blaring, and it was just very...bland. I will give the author credit for knowing how to write and tell the story she wants to tell. However, I must deduct points for the lack of creativity. I wanted so much to be wowed or at least enjoy the novel, but instead I felt like this would be a the love story about death and his lady as written by a high school freshmen, still dewy eyed.
  
SS
Star Splitter
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Star Splitter by Matthew J Kirby was one of my favorite books I have read this year. My favorite character in this book would be Duncan, the ships captains sixteen year old son. I like the character due to him being a great friend with an amazing personality. I also love how him and the main character Jessica formed a friendship and how protective he was over her. My favorite part of the book was when they were together. I really loved the part when he saved her. I also loved all the other parts with them together which made the book interesting. This book was very well written kept me interested, and I loved the plot. I honestly had a hard time putting the book down. The author should write more books like this one.

Even though I loved this book and gave it a five out of five stars, the ending made me mad. I just don't like how it ended. It leaves many questions unanswered. Also, the back and forth between Jessica one and Jessica two got me very confused at times. One scene I disliked was when the two crew members talked about Jessica and her family behind her back. Also, the scene where her father killed the ships doctor was scary to me. Her dad's transfer was corrupted, which made him very violent. Another part I didn't like was the fact that Jessica's mother is the reason the ship was destroyed since she didn't leave Jessica's violent Dad locked up like she was supposed to. In my opinion, Jessica and her mother should have just left the ship alone and left her corrupted father behind. Jessica's relationship with her parents was bad from the start, but I imagine this made it even worse. Duncan also had a bad relationship with his dad, so I'm pretty sure them having that in common helped their relationship grow. In conclusion, I can definitely see myself rereading this book. If you love young adult science fiction with teleportation to another planet, you would love this book too.

Star Splitter was my favorite book read this year, so here's some fun facts about the book. Jessica refers to Carver 1061c as Hades, which I found hilarious and very fitting after everything that happened. Jessica's Mom was a geologist, and her dad a biological studying Hades surface. The rest you will just have to read to find out.