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David McK (3245 KP) rated The Reckoning (Matthew Hawkwood #6) in Books
Jun 5, 2022
I first picked up and read the first couple of entries in James McGee's Matthew Hawkwood series (that would be Ratcatcher and Resurrectionist) round about 2010 or thereabouts when I came across them in a local branch of The Works.
I enjoyed those two enough to later pick up the next three is the series (Rapscallion, Rebellion and The Blooding). Unfortunately, however, I found the series to be drifting further and further from what it originally was, finding the last of those in particular to be quite hard to get through.
So much so, in fact, that I almost completely forgot about the series as a whole, and wasn't even aware of the fact when the latest one (this) was released in 2017.
Roll forward another five years or so, and I'm not sure how, but I came across this one somewhere on Kindle. Thoguht I would give it another chance.
I'm glad to say that this is back to what I remember the earlier book sin the series being like; back set in England, back with Matthew Hawkwood being a Bow Street Runner and back to, well, being an enjoyable read rather than a slog!
Faith restored ...
I enjoyed those two enough to later pick up the next three is the series (Rapscallion, Rebellion and The Blooding). Unfortunately, however, I found the series to be drifting further and further from what it originally was, finding the last of those in particular to be quite hard to get through.
So much so, in fact, that I almost completely forgot about the series as a whole, and wasn't even aware of the fact when the latest one (this) was released in 2017.
Roll forward another five years or so, and I'm not sure how, but I came across this one somewhere on Kindle. Thoguht I would give it another chance.
I'm glad to say that this is back to what I remember the earlier book sin the series being like; back set in England, back with Matthew Hawkwood being a Bow Street Runner and back to, well, being an enjoyable read rather than a slog!
Faith restored ...
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Tidelands ( Fairmile book 1) in Books
May 8, 2022
79 of 230
Book
Tidelands ( Fairmile book 1)
By Philippa Gregory
⭐️⭐️⭐️
A country at war
A king beheaded
A woman with a dangerous secret
On Midsummer’s Eve, Alinor waits in the church graveyard, hoping to encounter the ghost of her missing husband and thus confirm his death. Until she can, she is neither maiden nor wife nor widow, living in a perilous limbo. Instead she meets James, a young man on the run. She shows him the secret ways across the treacherous marshy landscape of the Tidelands, not knowing she is leading a spy and an enemy into her life.
England is in the grip of a bloody civil war that reaches into the most remote parts of the kingdom. Alinor’s suspicious neighbors are watching each other for any sign that someone might be disloyal to the new parliament, and Alinor’s ambition and determination mark her as a woman who doesn’t follow the rules. They have always whispered about the sinister power of Alinor’s beauty, but the secrets they don’t know about her and James are far more damning. This is the time of witch-mania, and if the villagers discover the truth, they could take matters into their own hands.
This was my first Philippa Gregory book and I liked it but it didn’t wow me! I took a while to get into it and struggled a little for a while. I’m glad I stuck with it though and it did really pick up towards the end. I’m a fan of historical history reads so the era was right up my street. I must say the ending was just so sad and my heart actually wrenched for Allinor. I look forward to reading more.
Book
Tidelands ( Fairmile book 1)
By Philippa Gregory
⭐️⭐️⭐️
A country at war
A king beheaded
A woman with a dangerous secret
On Midsummer’s Eve, Alinor waits in the church graveyard, hoping to encounter the ghost of her missing husband and thus confirm his death. Until she can, she is neither maiden nor wife nor widow, living in a perilous limbo. Instead she meets James, a young man on the run. She shows him the secret ways across the treacherous marshy landscape of the Tidelands, not knowing she is leading a spy and an enemy into her life.
England is in the grip of a bloody civil war that reaches into the most remote parts of the kingdom. Alinor’s suspicious neighbors are watching each other for any sign that someone might be disloyal to the new parliament, and Alinor’s ambition and determination mark her as a woman who doesn’t follow the rules. They have always whispered about the sinister power of Alinor’s beauty, but the secrets they don’t know about her and James are far more damning. This is the time of witch-mania, and if the villagers discover the truth, they could take matters into their own hands.
This was my first Philippa Gregory book and I liked it but it didn’t wow me! I took a while to get into it and struggled a little for a while. I’m glad I stuck with it though and it did really pick up towards the end. I’m a fan of historical history reads so the era was right up my street. I must say the ending was just so sad and my heart actually wrenched for Allinor. I look forward to reading more.
David McK (3245 KP) rated Rebellion (Matthew Hawkwood, #4) in Books
Jan 30, 2019
The fourth book in James McGee's Matthew Hawkwood series of books, and over the course of the last two (in particular), the eponymous Bow Street Runner is getting further and further away from his usual haunts!
In this installment, Hawkwood actually spends the vast majority of it in the heart of Imperial France: in Paris itself, while Napoleon is away on his ill-fated Russian campaign. Again taking real historical facts as its basis, this novel concerns itself primarily with a conspiracy attempt to over-throw the regime: an event which, obviously, did not succeed.
If I'm honest, and to draw an anology between these books and the Star Wars films (which might seem strange, but bear with me!), the first couple of books in the series are like the original couple of films: full of danger, action and excitement. This one, unfortunately, is more like Episode I: seeming to be setting itself up for a broader story arc, and more concerned with politics than with action and excitement.
Worth a read? Yes, but if this was my introduction to the series as a whole - which can, by and large, be read independently as they only occassionally refer to earlier events - I wouldn't be going out of my way to look for any others in thes series, unlike if I had read any of the others first.
In this installment, Hawkwood actually spends the vast majority of it in the heart of Imperial France: in Paris itself, while Napoleon is away on his ill-fated Russian campaign. Again taking real historical facts as its basis, this novel concerns itself primarily with a conspiracy attempt to over-throw the regime: an event which, obviously, did not succeed.
If I'm honest, and to draw an anology between these books and the Star Wars films (which might seem strange, but bear with me!), the first couple of books in the series are like the original couple of films: full of danger, action and excitement. This one, unfortunately, is more like Episode I: seeming to be setting itself up for a broader story arc, and more concerned with politics than with action and excitement.
Worth a read? Yes, but if this was my introduction to the series as a whole - which can, by and large, be read independently as they only occassionally refer to earlier events - I wouldn't be going out of my way to look for any others in thes series, unlike if I had read any of the others first.
Eye of the Sixties
Book
A man with a preternatural ability to find emerging artists, Richard Bellamy was one of the first...
Sean Farrell (9 KP) rated The Girl Before in Books
Mar 15, 2018
Another day, another thriller with the word "Girl" in the title. There isn't really much to differentiate this one from all the others. We have a small cast of characters whose fates are intertwined and whose stories take place in alternating timelines as one learns more about the other. First up chronologically is Emma, who moves into One Folgate Street with her boyfriend after experiencing a violent break-in at her previous flat. The new house is modern and immaculate but is part of a beta-test for a smart-home concept that comes with a very lengthy list of rules, some stranger than others. Next up is Jane, who has her own reasons for needing a fresh start in a new place. She finds herself living in One Folgate Street as well, after the tragic death of its previous tenant. Also interacting with the 2 "girls" is the architect who thought up the home's whole concept, whose intellect and good looks attract both of them to him, despite his odd and aloof demeanor. You can probably guess where the plot is headed from here. Jane has a few odd encounters and they lead her to begin wondering what exactly happened to Emma, whose timeline chronicles the events leading to her death. Who killed her, or was it just an accident? Secrets come out and there are a few decent twists leading up to the somewhat abrupt finale. It was all compelling enough to keep me reading, despite a few odd moments that almost felt like something out of an E.L. James "novel". Nothing here was especially new or exciting, except for perhaps the house itself, and the implications it brings up about privacy in our current hyper-connected age. Though one could make the case that even that part, and possibly most of the rest of this book, was a little too close to the so-bad-it's-good 1990's erotic thriller "Sliver". If you're bored there are far worse ways to pass the time, but otherwise I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to read this one.
Fun Town for Kids - Creative Play by Touch & Learn
Education and Games
App
Welcome to Fun Town! Come play on busy Main Street or visit its many shops - "a winning formula" -...
JT (287 KP) rated Street Kings (2008) in Movies
Mar 10, 2020
Street Kings follows the likes of Training Day and Harsh Crimes in dramatising the murky underworld of police corruption. In the hands of director David Ayer he’s scattered the narrative with gritty confetti. Pre John Wick, Keanu Reeves was still kicking ass and taking names – he is a shoot first ask questions later kind of guy – nothing new there then.
Reeves plays vodka-swilling undercover cop Tom Ludlow, who is still reeling from the death of his wife and has been implicated in the murder of an officer. Now he has to fight to clear his name with the help of Forest Whitaker.
Ayer is well suited to this genre having written the scripts for Training Day, End of Watch and Harsh Times, so he understands the complexities of the genre in order to deliver a fast paced story. Intercutting the action at the right times.
Of course corruption is not uncommon in fiction and there is always a group of officers hell bent on covering up as much as they can and disposing of as many people as they need to.
The introduction of Hugh Laurie as Captain James Biggs, a man who seems clean cut but is not to be trusted, is a solid addition, although I still seem him as the idiotic Prince Regent in the Blackadder series.
Reeves and Whitaker each turn in a decent performance and there is enough meat on the bone make this a intelligently paced thriller.
Reeves plays vodka-swilling undercover cop Tom Ludlow, who is still reeling from the death of his wife and has been implicated in the murder of an officer. Now he has to fight to clear his name with the help of Forest Whitaker.
Ayer is well suited to this genre having written the scripts for Training Day, End of Watch and Harsh Times, so he understands the complexities of the genre in order to deliver a fast paced story. Intercutting the action at the right times.
Of course corruption is not uncommon in fiction and there is always a group of officers hell bent on covering up as much as they can and disposing of as many people as they need to.
The introduction of Hugh Laurie as Captain James Biggs, a man who seems clean cut but is not to be trusted, is a solid addition, although I still seem him as the idiotic Prince Regent in the Blackadder series.
Reeves and Whitaker each turn in a decent performance and there is enough meat on the bone make this a intelligently paced thriller.
The Life of Mr Richard Savage
Samuel Johnson, Nicholas Seager and Lance Wilcox
Book
The Life of Mr Richard Savage was the first important book by an unknown Grub Street hack, Samuel...
PK
Paul Kossoff: All Right Now: The Guitars, the Gear, the Music
Book
Affectionately known as 'Koss', Paul Kossoff's playing touched people. It still does today, more...
The Search for the Perfect Pub: Looking for the Moon Under Water
Paul Moody and Robin D. Turner
Book
Inspired by George Orwell, Paul Moody and Robin Turner take a nostalgic road trip around Britain in...