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Fierce Fighters Predators: Nature's Toughest Go Head to Head--Includes a Poster & 20 Animal Stickers!
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Fierce Fighters Predators put the most dominant predators in the world into hypothetical fights and...
animal science natural history kids children's children's nonfiction nonfiction
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Witch in Books
Aug 21, 2022
148 of 230
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Witch
By Finbar Hawkins
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Set in the 17th century, a breathtaking debut, and a potential prize-winner, about the power of women, witchcraft, fury, revenge and the ties that bind us.
After witnessing the brutal murder of her mother by witch-hunters, Evey vows to avenge her and track down the killers. Fury burns in her bright and strong. But she has promised her mother that she will keep Dill, her little sister, safe.
As the lust for blood and retribution rises to fever pitch, will Evey keep true to the bonds of sisterhood and to the magick that is her destiny?
I can’t work out how I honestly feel about this book. It was odd bits I enjoyed and bits I couldn’t settle with. It was written really well but something is pulling at me to make me unsure. That possibly means no sense to anyone but me. I think I may come back and reread it at another time and see if I see it any differently. If you like folksy witchy books then I think you will like the feel of this story of a young girls journey to getting revenge and finding her inner witch.
Kindle
Witch
By Finbar Hawkins
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Set in the 17th century, a breathtaking debut, and a potential prize-winner, about the power of women, witchcraft, fury, revenge and the ties that bind us.
After witnessing the brutal murder of her mother by witch-hunters, Evey vows to avenge her and track down the killers. Fury burns in her bright and strong. But she has promised her mother that she will keep Dill, her little sister, safe.
As the lust for blood and retribution rises to fever pitch, will Evey keep true to the bonds of sisterhood and to the magick that is her destiny?
I can’t work out how I honestly feel about this book. It was odd bits I enjoyed and bits I couldn’t settle with. It was written really well but something is pulling at me to make me unsure. That possibly means no sense to anyone but me. I think I may come back and reread it at another time and see if I see it any differently. If you like folksy witchy books then I think you will like the feel of this story of a young girls journey to getting revenge and finding her inner witch.
Movie Metropolis (309 KP) rated Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013) in Movies
Jun 11, 2019
2013 is the year of the fairy-tale and the year of the witch, or so it looks that way from what seems to be a never-ending bombardment of films related to the two age-old topics. This year sees the release of Bryan Singer’s Jack the Giant Slayer as well as Sam Raimi’s Oz: The Great & the Powerful and whilst the latter has opened to mixed reviews, it is Bryan Singer’s effort which really looks like it’ll sparkle.
Sat between these two behemoths is the critical and somewhat commercial failure, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, but is it as bad as the reviews would have you believe? Let’s find out.
The fairy-tale of Hansel & Gretel is as well-known as Jack & the Beanstalk and to some extent the story in the Wizard of Oz, but films of this classic have been limited to low-budget television movies because finding the audience for such a difficult genre is not to be underestimated.
Here however, Tommy Wirkola directs his first English-language film with some degrees of success, though, a few niggling factors stop it from being the success it could’ve been. In a darker tale than perhaps we’re used to with a story such as this, Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton star as Hansel & Gretel respectively and for the most part, fulfil their roles well as they battle numerous dark witches in a plot which never really gets to grips with the genre it is trying to be.
Herein lays the problem, do you direct the fairy-tale genre as a family comedy or as something a little darker? Clearly director Wirkola has had his work cut out to find the balance between the two and the result is confusing, he has ended up with a 15 certificate which mixes comedy with a bloodbath that wouldn’t look out of place in a Quentin Tarantino picture; it really is that over-the-top. The use of swear-words also feels out of place, like they’re there just to shock rather than add anything to the film’s narrative.
Hansel & Gretel have grown up deciding to kill witches after they were left abandoned in the woods by their father. To cut a long story short, they are captured by a witch and forced to work for her; whilst doing this, Hansel develops ‘sugar sickness’ (diabetes) from all the candy he is forced to consume and must inject himself often. After killing said witch, they flee and the story begins; with them being hired to kill witches who have stolen children from a small town to allow them to become immune to fire; their major weakness.
It’s an interesting take on the story and Famke Janssen plays the wicked grand witch brilliantly, she manages to be both endearing and rightly terrifying in the same scene, though this is helped with the prosthetics used to alter her face. The other actors, including the main two are a little uninspired, especially Arterton who looks positively bored with the work she’s been given. In saying that, Renner isn’t much better and the majority of the film suffers as a result. In fact, you’ll probably be rooting for Janssen’s Muriel to succeed in her evil plot.
Thankfully, the special effects are very good, although I was expecting a little more witch-on-witch action, a la Harry Potter. Atli Orvarsson’s score is excellent and a real highlight of the film. The music in the brilliant opening credits is fantastic.
Overall, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is a solid but uninspiring adaptation of a fairy-tale which was never meant for the big screen. Director Tommy Wirkola has obviously tried very hard to create a film which caters for most palates and whilst the score, special effects and acting from Famke Janssen are all top notch, the confusing mish-mash of genres and hammy acting from Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton stop it being anything more than a forgettable action flick. After all, when your lead characters look like they can’t be bothered, you’ve got a serious problem.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2013/03/02/hansel-gretel-witch-hunters-review-2013/
Sat between these two behemoths is the critical and somewhat commercial failure, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, but is it as bad as the reviews would have you believe? Let’s find out.
The fairy-tale of Hansel & Gretel is as well-known as Jack & the Beanstalk and to some extent the story in the Wizard of Oz, but films of this classic have been limited to low-budget television movies because finding the audience for such a difficult genre is not to be underestimated.
Here however, Tommy Wirkola directs his first English-language film with some degrees of success, though, a few niggling factors stop it from being the success it could’ve been. In a darker tale than perhaps we’re used to with a story such as this, Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton star as Hansel & Gretel respectively and for the most part, fulfil their roles well as they battle numerous dark witches in a plot which never really gets to grips with the genre it is trying to be.
Herein lays the problem, do you direct the fairy-tale genre as a family comedy or as something a little darker? Clearly director Wirkola has had his work cut out to find the balance between the two and the result is confusing, he has ended up with a 15 certificate which mixes comedy with a bloodbath that wouldn’t look out of place in a Quentin Tarantino picture; it really is that over-the-top. The use of swear-words also feels out of place, like they’re there just to shock rather than add anything to the film’s narrative.
Hansel & Gretel have grown up deciding to kill witches after they were left abandoned in the woods by their father. To cut a long story short, they are captured by a witch and forced to work for her; whilst doing this, Hansel develops ‘sugar sickness’ (diabetes) from all the candy he is forced to consume and must inject himself often. After killing said witch, they flee and the story begins; with them being hired to kill witches who have stolen children from a small town to allow them to become immune to fire; their major weakness.
It’s an interesting take on the story and Famke Janssen plays the wicked grand witch brilliantly, she manages to be both endearing and rightly terrifying in the same scene, though this is helped with the prosthetics used to alter her face. The other actors, including the main two are a little uninspired, especially Arterton who looks positively bored with the work she’s been given. In saying that, Renner isn’t much better and the majority of the film suffers as a result. In fact, you’ll probably be rooting for Janssen’s Muriel to succeed in her evil plot.
Thankfully, the special effects are very good, although I was expecting a little more witch-on-witch action, a la Harry Potter. Atli Orvarsson’s score is excellent and a real highlight of the film. The music in the brilliant opening credits is fantastic.
Overall, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is a solid but uninspiring adaptation of a fairy-tale which was never meant for the big screen. Director Tommy Wirkola has obviously tried very hard to create a film which caters for most palates and whilst the score, special effects and acting from Famke Janssen are all top notch, the confusing mish-mash of genres and hammy acting from Jeremy Renner and Gemma Arterton stop it being anything more than a forgettable action flick. After all, when your lead characters look like they can’t be bothered, you’ve got a serious problem.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2013/03/02/hansel-gretel-witch-hunters-review-2013/
Louise (64 KP) rated Izombie: Volume 1: Dead to the World in Books
Jul 2, 2018
I first heard about this book from Elena reads books and was instantly intrigued!This book sounded fun, I haven’t read much about zombies and also just wanted to read more comics/graphic novels. It was totally fascinating from the start and definitely different.
Gwen appears to be you average everyday person at the start, other than working as a gravedigger she is normal, except she’s not! She is a zombie! but not your stereotypical zombie – she doesn’t walk around groaning, her face and body are not decaying. As long as she eats one brain per month she will not turn full zombie. However eating brains comes at a cost, first of all the brain has to be pretty fresh (hence being a gravedigger), she obviously can’t get caught, they taste bad….oh and she gets stuck with the deceased’s memories for a period of time. The last brain she ate was from a young family man who was killed by a serial killer. Gwen takes it upon herself to investigate why the man was murdered. Also there are a group of female vampires who don’t kill their victims they just feed little and often from men that attend paint balling in the woods. However there is always one that can’t play by the rules and is starting to attract attention from these ancient monster hunters.
There were so many different types of character/monsters in this book, we had zombies (obvs)Ghosts, Vampires and even a WereTerrier which I thought was kind of cute. This is a more of a fluffy zombie book and totally different from the walking dead. I liked all the individual characters but there wasn’t a lot of development and I think this was because there was too much trying to happen in one volume. We had the story of Gwen, it would then jump to the Vampires and then to the hunters, which made the plot line a bit disjointed. Some of the characters….Mainly Dixie was portrayed as being self-centred, all she thinks about is herself and Gwen is unable to rely on her even though she is her best friend. All the females in the book all seemed to have perfect bodies… I wish they just made some females different shapes and sizes. I really liked the art style and colours that were used to set the tone of the book. This was a great introduction to the story and I will be continuing on with the second volume.
Also there is a series on Netflix adaptation that is loosely based on the comic, I might start watching it as my partner has watched it and said it’s alright. Have you watched izombie? whats your thoughts on it?
Overall I rated this 3.75 out of 5 stars
Gwen appears to be you average everyday person at the start, other than working as a gravedigger she is normal, except she’s not! She is a zombie! but not your stereotypical zombie – she doesn’t walk around groaning, her face and body are not decaying. As long as she eats one brain per month she will not turn full zombie. However eating brains comes at a cost, first of all the brain has to be pretty fresh (hence being a gravedigger), she obviously can’t get caught, they taste bad….oh and she gets stuck with the deceased’s memories for a period of time. The last brain she ate was from a young family man who was killed by a serial killer. Gwen takes it upon herself to investigate why the man was murdered. Also there are a group of female vampires who don’t kill their victims they just feed little and often from men that attend paint balling in the woods. However there is always one that can’t play by the rules and is starting to attract attention from these ancient monster hunters.
There were so many different types of character/monsters in this book, we had zombies (obvs)Ghosts, Vampires and even a WereTerrier which I thought was kind of cute. This is a more of a fluffy zombie book and totally different from the walking dead. I liked all the individual characters but there wasn’t a lot of development and I think this was because there was too much trying to happen in one volume. We had the story of Gwen, it would then jump to the Vampires and then to the hunters, which made the plot line a bit disjointed. Some of the characters….Mainly Dixie was portrayed as being self-centred, all she thinks about is herself and Gwen is unable to rely on her even though she is her best friend. All the females in the book all seemed to have perfect bodies… I wish they just made some females different shapes and sizes. I really liked the art style and colours that were used to set the tone of the book. This was a great introduction to the story and I will be continuing on with the second volume.
Also there is a series on Netflix adaptation that is loosely based on the comic, I might start watching it as my partner has watched it and said it’s alright. Have you watched izombie? whats your thoughts on it?
Overall I rated this 3.75 out of 5 stars
Christine A. (965 KP) rated The Curse of Oak Island: The Story of the World's Longest Treasure Hunt in Books
Nov 14, 2018
I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review.
My family and I have never missed an episode of the History Channel's series "The Curse of Oak Island". For 5 seasons, we have cheered along with and rooted for Rick, Marty, Craig, Dan, Dave, and the rest of the team of treasure hunters. We have favorite "characters" and discuss the show well after the episode has ended. We are looking forward to November 13, 2018, the season premiere date of season 6.
Each episode contains history, theories, and current attempts on the island. "The Curse of Oak Island: The Story of the WorldÕs Longest Treasure Hunt" by Randall Sullivan drilled deeper than the show has. Yes, pun intended. The show frequently repeats information but I found the book to be more direct and contains detailed information that spans the history of treasure hunting on Oak Island. It is an in-depth, well researched study that is able to answer questions and explain the details of what is mentioned in the show's narrative. It also answers questions you did not know you had. It is a wonderful companion for those who have watched the show or for those who want to start watching the upcoming season without watching the prior ones.
My family and I have never missed an episode of the History Channel's series "The Curse of Oak Island". For 5 seasons, we have cheered along with and rooted for Rick, Marty, Craig, Dan, Dave, and the rest of the team of treasure hunters. We have favorite "characters" and discuss the show well after the episode has ended. We are looking forward to November 13, 2018, the season premiere date of season 6.
Each episode contains history, theories, and current attempts on the island. "The Curse of Oak Island: The Story of the WorldÕs Longest Treasure Hunt" by Randall Sullivan drilled deeper than the show has. Yes, pun intended. The show frequently repeats information but I found the book to be more direct and contains detailed information that spans the history of treasure hunting on Oak Island. It is an in-depth, well researched study that is able to answer questions and explain the details of what is mentioned in the show's narrative. It also answers questions you did not know you had. It is a wonderful companion for those who have watched the show or for those who want to start watching the upcoming season without watching the prior ones.
David McK (3425 KP) rated Predator: If It Bleeds in Books
Jan 30, 2019
Towards the end of 2017/at the start of 2018 I picked up both this and [b: Aliens: Bug Hunt|31416104|Aliens Bug Hunt|Jonathan Maberry|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1474300660s/31416104.jpg|52265710], as I'd always had a soft spot for both those films.
Both as sci-fi anthologies; both are based around their respective properties.
I read the latter first, and (truth be told) wasn't overly impressed: while there were some good stories amongst those included, none really stood out all that much.
As a result, I put off reading this until I worked my way through some 'proper' novels, and only came back to this relatively recently.
Thankfully, of the two anthologies, I found this to be the better (despite a somewhat ropey start). I think that may be due to the central conceit of the Predators: as (effectively) alien Big Game hunters, that allows these stories to be set at any point throughout human history, not 'tied down' to the future as the Alien stories are.
That's a concept put into full use in this, with stories that run the gamut from the traditional sci-fi setting of the future, to the American Civil War, to the Wild West, to feudal Japan, to present-day Third World countries and to pretty much every point in-between!
Both as sci-fi anthologies; both are based around their respective properties.
I read the latter first, and (truth be told) wasn't overly impressed: while there were some good stories amongst those included, none really stood out all that much.
As a result, I put off reading this until I worked my way through some 'proper' novels, and only came back to this relatively recently.
Thankfully, of the two anthologies, I found this to be the better (despite a somewhat ropey start). I think that may be due to the central conceit of the Predators: as (effectively) alien Big Game hunters, that allows these stories to be set at any point throughout human history, not 'tied down' to the future as the Alien stories are.
That's a concept put into full use in this, with stories that run the gamut from the traditional sci-fi setting of the future, to the American Civil War, to the Wild West, to feudal Japan, to present-day Third World countries and to pretty much every point in-between!
Merissa (12069 KP) rated Silver (The Silver #1) in Books
Feb 11, 2020
This book is written from Jaze's perspective and it gives you a real insight into how he is feeling about losing his dad and moving to a new town. As soon as he moves there he realises that something is wrong - the amount of silver in the school metal detectors might have been a clue! He meets the pack that are already living there in an unforgettable manner. He finds a friend in Brock and 'the girl next door', Nikki, who just happens to have Hunters as parents. This all helps Jaze as he tries to look after his mom, tries to come to terms with his dad's death and the betrayal of who he knows was involved.
This story was extremely well written, the characters all had depth and there was a lot to the story itself. For once there was no Inst-Love but friendship actually came first. Yes Jaze was attracted to Nikki but proved that you don't always have to act on it straight away and it just might be a plan to get to know her first! The friendships that he makes with Brock and Mouse are quiet but loyal and an absolutely perfect foil for the action of the Packs. I loved the way the story unfolded and am definitely looking forward to the rest of the series.
This story was extremely well written, the characters all had depth and there was a lot to the story itself. For once there was no Inst-Love but friendship actually came first. Yes Jaze was attracted to Nikki but proved that you don't always have to act on it straight away and it just might be a plan to get to know her first! The friendships that he makes with Brock and Mouse are quiet but loyal and an absolutely perfect foil for the action of the Packs. I loved the way the story unfolded and am definitely looking forward to the rest of the series.
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Across the Ussuri Kray: Travels in the Sikhote-Alin Mountains
Vladimir K. Arsenyev, Jonathan C. Slaght and Ivan Yegorchev
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In Russia's Far East sits the wild Ussuri Kray, a region known for its remote highlands and rugged...
Warframe: Plains of Eidolon
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Welcome to the Plains of Eidolon. Sentients once fought on this battleground in an attempt to...
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