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<a href="https://awindowintobooks.wordpress.com">Full Review</a>
Vanished: True Tales of Mysterious Disappearances by Elizabeth MacLeod is a non-fiction book for middle grade readers. The book discusses six stories about mysterious disappearances in chronological order. It starts with the 17th-century in North Carolina with the settlement of Roanoke Island, and ends with a 1990 art heist from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Art Museum.

The author could have taken on a negative tone with the subject but instead MacLeod is enthusiastic. The upbeat tone draws the reader into each mystery. Each story is filled with interesting facts and information.With each story there are pictures within the design.

The design of the book is uncluttered, featuring sidebars and appropriate images. The design also includes historical photographs, maps, and posters. These visuals add to the overall effectiveness of the book.

Each story begins with a factionalize vignette, which provides some background information about the disappearance. The ending of each section could have ended with a more smooth conclusion instead of abruptly. The combination of MacLeod’s storytelling and the resources included at the back of the book are sure to engage.

I received this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated Cats (2019) in Movies

Dec 24, 2019  
Cats (2019)
Cats (2019)
2019 | Musical
Here's where I wrinkle my nose up at the Smashbomb scoring system - Cats isn't so much 'shoddy' as - well, it's such a particularly strange film that it's actually quite hard to tell whether it's any good or not. My instinct is to say not: a selection of character actors, comedians and musical theatre stars are CGI'd into human-animal hybrids like something out of The Island of Dr Moreau and hoof and yowl their way through a selection of TS Eliot's comic poems set to music. The plot does a good impression of being absolute gibberish, as the singing cat-people compete to get sent off to the bit of the sky that radio waves bounce off where they will receive a new life, while Idris Elba schemes to rig the contest. It's just weird.

Alternatively, this is a quasi-Lovecraftian surreal Arabesque which, fatally, fails to consider the difference between presentational and representational performance modes inherent in the transference of a narrative between theatrical and cinematic contexts. (i.e., people dressed as singing cats in a theatre can be beautiful and moving; people CGI'd into singing cats in a big-budget movie is more disturbing than anything else.) Jennifer Hudson's maximum-Streep, maximum-volume onslaught on 'Memory' made me want to hide under my seat.
  
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Mothergamer (1646 KP) rated the PlayStation 4 version of Dragon Quest Builders 2 in Video Games

Jul 29, 2019  
Dragon Quest Builders 2
Dragon Quest Builders 2
2018 | Action, Role-Playing
Fun Builds, Great Story
I love the game because it is done in a way that makes building fun and tells a great story. It also improved on issues that the first game had such as having to build your base when monsters would destroy it. They made the villagers more interactive with your builder so that they actually help you rebuild the base if it gets destroyed and will help build things on their own as well. The combat system is improved and you actually have a companion with you helping you fight. You can be as creative as you want with your own island and you can play co-op with friends which is a lot of fun. You can also share your builds with other people in the game via a notice board and can see their builds as well with the snapshot feature. You can take a picture of your builds and share it. It's interesting to see how creative everyone gets with their builds. The game is so much fun to play and time passes very quickly as you build, fight monsters, and follow the story. Overall, it is a great game that is fantastic for everyone.