Search
Videoshop - Video Editor
Photo & Video and Productivity
App
Videoshop is an easy video editor with fast editing tools, filters and many other effects for...
Zuky the BookBum (15 KP) rated Two Days Gone (Ryan DeMarco Mystery #1) in Books
Mar 15, 2018
Also read my review here: http://bookbum.weebly.com/book-reviews/two-days-gone-by-randall-silvis
NOW AVAILABLE!
<i><b>But doesnt every guilty man hide his deeds behind his words and hide his thoughts behind his smile?</i></b>
This was perfectly set up to be a great novel, but unfortunately, like so many novel nowadays, it instead failed to excite and thrill me, and in the end, turned into an extremely mediocre read.
It wasnt until around 70% of the way through this book that I realised how dislikable DeMarco, our supposed hero, was. His anger and grief was completely understandable after the loss of his wife and child, but I felt he was unnecessarily unkind to his peers and overly passive aggressive in general. <spoiler>Plus can we talk about how much of a shitty cop he was? Getting into a car with a bleeding out dead body to chase an armed, highly fragile man and not alerting anyone? <b>Murdering</b> the main suspect on a case just because he could? Only in fiction.</spoiler>However, out of our two main characters, I was happy to read more about DeMarco than Thomas. I found Thomas PoV to be slow and a little pointless. Again, I understood his anguish and shame etc, but I guess I just couldnt connect to his character and summon up the right emotions to care about his story that much.
This was a slow read for me, but I kept pushing through it because: 1) it wasnt <i>that</i> bad and 2) I was led to believe, by some other reviews, that an amazing twist was going to be revealed. <i>Unfortunately,</i> we got the amazing twist and my reaction was more of an oh than a whoa!! <spoiler>I guess I wanted to the book to feel more realistic, I wanted some innate human darkness to be the cause of the murders, I didnt want a book about revenge.</spoiler> The plot, overall, wasnt too bad, there were some exciting moments, but for the most part this could only just hold my interest.
<i>Two Days Gone</i> didnt grab my attention well enough for me to rate it anything higher than 3 stars. It was an average story, with average characters and an average plot twist. Its a shame because had high hopes for this one, but nevermind, you win some, you lose some. I see Amazon have specified this as a Ryan DeMarco novel so Im assuming we may be seeing a series come out from Silvis, but I wont be keeping up with it.
Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.
NOW AVAILABLE!
<i><b>But doesnt every guilty man hide his deeds behind his words and hide his thoughts behind his smile?</i></b>
This was perfectly set up to be a great novel, but unfortunately, like so many novel nowadays, it instead failed to excite and thrill me, and in the end, turned into an extremely mediocre read.
It wasnt until around 70% of the way through this book that I realised how dislikable DeMarco, our supposed hero, was. His anger and grief was completely understandable after the loss of his wife and child, but I felt he was unnecessarily unkind to his peers and overly passive aggressive in general. <spoiler>Plus can we talk about how much of a shitty cop he was? Getting into a car with a bleeding out dead body to chase an armed, highly fragile man and not alerting anyone? <b>Murdering</b> the main suspect on a case just because he could? Only in fiction.</spoiler>However, out of our two main characters, I was happy to read more about DeMarco than Thomas. I found Thomas PoV to be slow and a little pointless. Again, I understood his anguish and shame etc, but I guess I just couldnt connect to his character and summon up the right emotions to care about his story that much.
This was a slow read for me, but I kept pushing through it because: 1) it wasnt <i>that</i> bad and 2) I was led to believe, by some other reviews, that an amazing twist was going to be revealed. <i>Unfortunately,</i> we got the amazing twist and my reaction was more of an oh than a whoa!! <spoiler>I guess I wanted to the book to feel more realistic, I wanted some innate human darkness to be the cause of the murders, I didnt want a book about revenge.</spoiler> The plot, overall, wasnt too bad, there were some exciting moments, but for the most part this could only just hold my interest.
<i>Two Days Gone</i> didnt grab my attention well enough for me to rate it anything higher than 3 stars. It was an average story, with average characters and an average plot twist. Its a shame because had high hopes for this one, but nevermind, you win some, you lose some. I see Amazon have specified this as a Ryan DeMarco novel so Im assuming we may be seeing a series come out from Silvis, but I wont be keeping up with it.
Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.
Charlie Cobra Reviews (1840 KP) rated Smart Wi-Fi LED Light Bulb in Tech
Sep 19, 2021
Easily turn on/off light bulb anywhere you have wi-fi through app. (2 more)
Control light bulb by voice using Alexa, Google assistant or Cortana.
Set light bulb to automatic conditions like weather, time, or device status.
Will sometimes go back to setup mode where it just keeps flashing and you have to connect or setup again. (2 more)
You have to have the switch turned on for it to be online or else you cannot turn the bulb on/off through app.
Confusing packaging.
Convenient, But How Convenient Really?
The Merkury Innovations Smart Wi-Fi LED Bulb (Dimmable*White/A19 Bulb) is made to replace your traditional light bulb where you can now control, dim and schedule your lights by app (geeni app) from anywhere you have your smart phone. The one I purchased was the 9W=60W, brightness 800 lumens, A19 bulb. The smart wi-fi bulb can be controlled from anywhere with wi-fi access by the app, voice or can even be set to a pre-set schedule and can easily share access with other family members. The life of the bulb based on 3 hours a day is 22.8 years.
So the other day I was at my grandmother's house with my Dad. The family has been doing some renovations over there and I saw my Aunt messing with a lamp and her phone. She told me she had bought one of those smart light bulbs and that she could use an app on her phone to control it. I have seen commercials for different similar products like the smart A/C thermostat and thought it was pretty cool. So I decided next time I was at the store to have a look at them and see if there was something affordable and not too expensive to give it a try and that's how I found this product.
This is my first time buying a smart bulb so I didn't really know what to expect. Inside the box was just the light bulb and instructions. The instructions didn't seem to complicated, download the "geeni" app, create an account and password, login and then setup the bulb. There were 3 ways to setup the bulb, bluetooth, easy mode and backup AP mode. I was doing it by bluetooth but somehow wound up not being able to get it. So then I tried easy mode and still wasn't able to get it and that's when I saw the small print that says, "Note: Geeni can't connect to 5GHz networks." Once I connected to the right network everything went smoothly.
In the app on the "My Home" tab, it shows you which light bulbs you have connected. If they are off it will show a message that says "device offline". If on it will show an on/off button and will also show a "Quick Actions" link where you can control the brightness from 1% - 100%. via dimmer. The next tab in the app is the "Smart Scenes" tab, under the Tap-to-Run page you can control multiple devices with one tap or with voice assistance like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant or Microsoft Cortana. On the Automation page you can execute actions automatically, and setup them up by specifications based on weather conditions, device status or time. The next tab is the "Notification Center", and there are pages for Alarms, Home, and Alerts. The last tab is the "Profile" tab and is where you can set your name, find the help center, the settings tab and manage your home so you can organize your light bulbs by house hold.
Pro:
Easily turn on/off light bulb anywhere you have wi-fi through app.
Control light bulb by voice using Alexa, Google assistant or Cortana.
Set light bulb to automatic conditions like weather, time, or device status.
Con:
Will sometimes go back to setup mode where it just keeps flashing and you have to connect or setup again.
You have to have the switch turned on for it to be online or else you cannot turn the bulb on/off through app.
Confusing packaging.
Rating: 7/10
Conclusion:
I have to say that these light bulbs can be pretty convenient and an awesome way to setup some lights at home to turn on when it's dark to make people think you're home. It's also good for when you are getting home at night and want to turn on the lights so you don't walk into a pitch dark room. It's awesome to just use the app to dim the lights without having to get up or even turn them off when your sitting down about to watch a movie. When I purchased them there was a 3-pack that was more expensive then buying 3 bulbs separately and I couldn't understand why. In retrospect I think maybe those were non-dimmable which really doesn't make sense. So I would say shopping for light bulbs is already confusing enough and getting a smart bulb might just cause more headaches for some people. But if you're looking to try it out I got this bulb for under $10 at Wal-Mart and think they are pretty cool. I give the Merkury Innovations Smart Wi-Fi- LED bulb a 7/10.
So the other day I was at my grandmother's house with my Dad. The family has been doing some renovations over there and I saw my Aunt messing with a lamp and her phone. She told me she had bought one of those smart light bulbs and that she could use an app on her phone to control it. I have seen commercials for different similar products like the smart A/C thermostat and thought it was pretty cool. So I decided next time I was at the store to have a look at them and see if there was something affordable and not too expensive to give it a try and that's how I found this product.
This is my first time buying a smart bulb so I didn't really know what to expect. Inside the box was just the light bulb and instructions. The instructions didn't seem to complicated, download the "geeni" app, create an account and password, login and then setup the bulb. There were 3 ways to setup the bulb, bluetooth, easy mode and backup AP mode. I was doing it by bluetooth but somehow wound up not being able to get it. So then I tried easy mode and still wasn't able to get it and that's when I saw the small print that says, "Note: Geeni can't connect to 5GHz networks." Once I connected to the right network everything went smoothly.
In the app on the "My Home" tab, it shows you which light bulbs you have connected. If they are off it will show a message that says "device offline". If on it will show an on/off button and will also show a "Quick Actions" link where you can control the brightness from 1% - 100%. via dimmer. The next tab in the app is the "Smart Scenes" tab, under the Tap-to-Run page you can control multiple devices with one tap or with voice assistance like Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant or Microsoft Cortana. On the Automation page you can execute actions automatically, and setup them up by specifications based on weather conditions, device status or time. The next tab is the "Notification Center", and there are pages for Alarms, Home, and Alerts. The last tab is the "Profile" tab and is where you can set your name, find the help center, the settings tab and manage your home so you can organize your light bulbs by house hold.
Pro:
Easily turn on/off light bulb anywhere you have wi-fi through app.
Control light bulb by voice using Alexa, Google assistant or Cortana.
Set light bulb to automatic conditions like weather, time, or device status.
Con:
Will sometimes go back to setup mode where it just keeps flashing and you have to connect or setup again.
You have to have the switch turned on for it to be online or else you cannot turn the bulb on/off through app.
Confusing packaging.
Rating: 7/10
Conclusion:
I have to say that these light bulbs can be pretty convenient and an awesome way to setup some lights at home to turn on when it's dark to make people think you're home. It's also good for when you are getting home at night and want to turn on the lights so you don't walk into a pitch dark room. It's awesome to just use the app to dim the lights without having to get up or even turn them off when your sitting down about to watch a movie. When I purchased them there was a 3-pack that was more expensive then buying 3 bulbs separately and I couldn't understand why. In retrospect I think maybe those were non-dimmable which really doesn't make sense. So I would say shopping for light bulbs is already confusing enough and getting a smart bulb might just cause more headaches for some people. But if you're looking to try it out I got this bulb for under $10 at Wal-Mart and think they are pretty cool. I give the Merkury Innovations Smart Wi-Fi- LED bulb a 7/10.
Whatchareadin (174 KP) rated Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal in Books
May 10, 2018
Conor Grennan is an American traveling the world for one year. One of his planned stops on his journey is at Little Princes orphanage in Nepal. After this 3 months stay at the orphanage, he promises the children that he would return in one years time. Hardly did volunteers return to the orphanage, after they left. Conor was abe to keep his promise and after his return he set out on a true journey...to find the families of the children at Little Princes and other orphanages in the area. He set up a foundation in order to fund this necessary endeavor. Many of the children had been taken from their homes by child traffickers with the promise to provide a better life for the children Many of these parents had no idea where their children were and just as many children thought their parents were dead. Conor ended up staying in Nepal for the next three years helping reconnect Nepal's lost children with their families.
Many times when we do volunteer work whether it is within our own country or abroad, we go into it thinking how much good we are going to do for someone else. What really is the case is that the volunteer is the one who ends up benefiting the most. Hearts and minds are forever changed. We implore our friends and family to help with the cause we are involved in and pray that we are making a difference. I have never met anyone who has not had their lives impacted by volunteer work.
Conor is no exception. He has made friends with these children, learned something new about a different culture and has taught us all something new with this book. Little Princes, has touched my heart and I'm eager to know how the children of Nepal are doing now after all of the help that Conor has brought to the region. You can find out more about Conor's work visit http://www.nextgenerationnepal.org/
Many times when we do volunteer work whether it is within our own country or abroad, we go into it thinking how much good we are going to do for someone else. What really is the case is that the volunteer is the one who ends up benefiting the most. Hearts and minds are forever changed. We implore our friends and family to help with the cause we are involved in and pray that we are making a difference. I have never met anyone who has not had their lives impacted by volunteer work.
Conor is no exception. He has made friends with these children, learned something new about a different culture and has taught us all something new with this book. Little Princes, has touched my heart and I'm eager to know how the children of Nepal are doing now after all of the help that Conor has brought to the region. You can find out more about Conor's work visit http://www.nextgenerationnepal.org/
Sophia (Bookwyrming Thoughts) (530 KP) rated Tabula Rasa (Tabula Rasa, #1) in Books
Jan 23, 2020
I was extremely curious about Tabula Rasa when I found out what it meant (Latin: Scraped Tablet. AKA, a newborn basically.) I also thought it would be a really interesting read I mean, girl has a tragic past, and is basically a lab rat in a procedure to erase those memories. Oh, and what's even more intriguing? Most of the "rats" are delinquents. I suppose from a delinquent's view, one would want to erase memories. Better than sitting in juvie, right? :p
It's certainly a cause for curiosity. I mean, we're reading the story from a possible criminal! I know I shouldn't be excited, but can you blame me? I've never actually read a story from a delinquent! ^o^
Not to burst any exciting bubbles bubbling up, but truth is, Sarah, our main character, isn't. That was highly disappointing when I found out. Instead, I found out she was some idol of sorts in New York, famous for uncovering a scam. Um... not too exciting. Plus, she seems much too fearless. I could have sworn she wasn't afraid of death even throughout the entire book. If there's one question I want to ask Sarah, it's "Are you even afraid of anything?"
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uGUfnIbJtyY/U5yh6n3z6iI/AAAAAAAADe4/BU4P9O2rlTg/s1600/giphy+(12).gif"; border="0">
During the earlier parts of the book though, I sort of wanted to just toss Tabula Rasa aside and mark it as DNF. It felt a little too creepy, and confusing. The creepy part probably worked to an advantage, seeing how the surgery was quite detailed. *shudders*
<blockquote>Improvising seems familiar. Like it's my style.</blockquote>
Now the confusing part, that was just randomly thrown in. And I mean the quote. Not me randomly throwing the word confusing around and about. Sarah's going to a tool closet and putting things in her pocket. I'm not sure that's improvising. She's not making anything from what I read, aside from noticing a door. Does noticing a door count as improvising?
The romance between Thomas and Sarah. Really odd. Just... really odd. I felt like Thomas was trying a bit too hard on being funny at the beginning. Later he tends to be more "relaxed" and the humor felt more natural. But for a hacker with a father formerly in the Russian Intelligence Agency do they call it RIA? Thomas just seems too carefree. It was as though hacking just isn't... him. I suppose a new career is on the horizons for said character.
I did learn some new things though. I'm done with truth serums. What's with authors after Veronica Roth throwing serums around? They're popping up in so many places. O_o Oh, and apparently it actually snows in Hawaii. In the mountains. Wait, there are mountains in Hawaii? MIND = BLOWN.
<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_L4F_cUFsRc/U5yiXj5ftDI/AAAAAAAADfA/n9f9CgNd_H4/s1600/giphy+(13).gif"; border="0" height="179" width="320">
The Bourne Identity? I haven't read it myself, even though that sounds really familiar. Divergent? I'm not too sure. Even the folks of Dauntless are afraid of something. I guess the former's more of a bull's eye with Tabula Rasa than the latter. Tabula Rasa reminded me more of Nikita, Au Revoir Crazy European Chick, and apparently something else I can't remember with all the action and secret plots/schemes (it has something to do with operations).
------------------------
Advanced review copy provided by EgmontUSA for review
Original Review posted at <a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/2014/09/arc-review-tabula-rasa-by-kristen-lippert-martin.html">Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
<a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cG5gfBqJVzk/VA5BIojjZ9I/AAAAAAAAD1g/7srLUfpAGEU/s1600/banner.png"; /></a>
It's certainly a cause for curiosity. I mean, we're reading the story from a possible criminal! I know I shouldn't be excited, but can you blame me? I've never actually read a story from a delinquent! ^o^
Not to burst any exciting bubbles bubbling up, but truth is, Sarah, our main character, isn't. That was highly disappointing when I found out. Instead, I found out she was some idol of sorts in New York, famous for uncovering a scam. Um... not too exciting. Plus, she seems much too fearless. I could have sworn she wasn't afraid of death even throughout the entire book. If there's one question I want to ask Sarah, it's "Are you even afraid of anything?"
<img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uGUfnIbJtyY/U5yh6n3z6iI/AAAAAAAADe4/BU4P9O2rlTg/s1600/giphy+(12).gif"; border="0">
During the earlier parts of the book though, I sort of wanted to just toss Tabula Rasa aside and mark it as DNF. It felt a little too creepy, and confusing. The creepy part probably worked to an advantage, seeing how the surgery was quite detailed. *shudders*
<blockquote>Improvising seems familiar. Like it's my style.</blockquote>
Now the confusing part, that was just randomly thrown in. And I mean the quote. Not me randomly throwing the word confusing around and about. Sarah's going to a tool closet and putting things in her pocket. I'm not sure that's improvising. She's not making anything from what I read, aside from noticing a door. Does noticing a door count as improvising?
The romance between Thomas and Sarah. Really odd. Just... really odd. I felt like Thomas was trying a bit too hard on being funny at the beginning. Later he tends to be more "relaxed" and the humor felt more natural. But for a hacker with a father formerly in the Russian Intelligence Agency do they call it RIA? Thomas just seems too carefree. It was as though hacking just isn't... him. I suppose a new career is on the horizons for said character.
I did learn some new things though. I'm done with truth serums. What's with authors after Veronica Roth throwing serums around? They're popping up in so many places. O_o Oh, and apparently it actually snows in Hawaii. In the mountains. Wait, there are mountains in Hawaii? MIND = BLOWN.
<img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_L4F_cUFsRc/U5yiXj5ftDI/AAAAAAAADfA/n9f9CgNd_H4/s1600/giphy+(13).gif"; border="0" height="179" width="320">
The Bourne Identity? I haven't read it myself, even though that sounds really familiar. Divergent? I'm not too sure. Even the folks of Dauntless are afraid of something. I guess the former's more of a bull's eye with Tabula Rasa than the latter. Tabula Rasa reminded me more of Nikita, Au Revoir Crazy European Chick, and apparently something else I can't remember with all the action and secret plots/schemes (it has something to do with operations).
------------------------
Advanced review copy provided by EgmontUSA for review
Original Review posted at <a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/2014/09/arc-review-tabula-rasa-by-kristen-lippert-martin.html">Bookwyrming Thoughts</a>
<a href="http://bookwyrming-thoughts.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cG5gfBqJVzk/VA5BIojjZ9I/AAAAAAAAD1g/7srLUfpAGEU/s1600/banner.png"; /></a>
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Dungeon Drop in Tabletop Games
Feb 15, 2022
Replayability is always something I consider when deciding whether or not to purchase a game. And as much as I like Unlock! puzzles or Exit games, the fact that they are a one-and-done play is a bummer. So when I was perusing the game store and saw a game that boasted essentially infinite possibilities, I was intrigued. The box was small, the artwork was cute, and the gameplay sounded unique, so I bought it. Is Dungeon Drop really infinitely replayable? Keep reading to decide for yourself.
Dungeon Drop is a game of set collection, area enclosure, and dexterity (to a degree) in which players take on the roles of dungeon-delving adventurers trying to gather treasure, defeat monsters, and complete quests. To setup for a game, each player is randomly dealt a Race card and a Class card – each with a special ability for use during the game. Turn Order tokens are distributed based on the Initiative on your Race card, starting with the lowest number. All players are dealt a Quest card that will dictate some end-game scoring for the player, and Quests are kept secret from opponents. Now it’s time to setup the dungeon. Separate all the Small cubes from the Larger ones – purely based on size, the color of the cube does not matter. All the Larger cubes are placed into the game box, for use later. The starting player will gather all of the Small cubes (plus the giant Dragon cube) and literally drop them onto the center of the table. The rulebook suggests dropping the cubes from a height of 6-12 inches, to ensure the cubes spread evenly across the table. And bam – there’s your dungeon.
The game is played over 3 rounds during which each player will take a turn. Turns are broken down into 3 steps: Explore, Act, and Loot. To Explore, the active player will take a set number of the Larger cubes from the game box (at random, without looking), and will add them to the dungeon by dropping them onto the table. The next step is to Act. Each Race and Class card has a special ability, and during this step you will choose to activate one of those abilities to use this turn. The final step is Loot, and this is where the crux of the gameplay is. The cubes of the dungeon consist of Treasure cubes, Monster cubes, and Pillar cubes. Pillar cubes are what form the ‘rooms’ of the dungeon. When it is your time to Loot, you will form a room by selecting 3 Pillar cubes. These cubes will essentially form a triangle, and the inside area of that triangle represents the room in which you are in. Once you form a room, you will collect all cubes from within that space – whether they be Treasure or Monster cubes. Treasure cubes go into your Stash and are saved for end-game scoring, and Monster cubes will deal Damage to your Hero. All Heroes have a finite amount of Health, and you can never collect a Monster cube that would cause you to lose your last Health point.
When you are done Looting, flip over your Turn Order token to indicate that your turn is done. When all players have completed their turns in the round, Turn Order tokens are redistributed based on Weight – the number of Treasure cubes each player possesses. The player with the least Treasure is considered the ‘lightest’ and receives the 1st Turn Order token for the new round, and the rest are distributed likewise. A new round will then begin, and the game continues until 3 complete rounds have been played. At that point, players will add up their points earned from Treasure cubes and their secret Quests. The player with the highest score is declared the winner!
In theory, this game is really awesome. Players can create unique rooms by selecting specific Pillars, and collect different combinations of cubes each turn. AND since each player drops more cubes into play each turn, the dungeon is constantly changing, with new cubes, and because the cubes may knock others around. In actual practice, though, this game is kind of frustrating to me. For starters, when dropping all the Small cubes to form the initial dungeon, be prepared for them to go everywhere. The rules say to drop from 6-12 inches, but that means that you’re going to get quite a huge play area going on. And for me, that means cubes flying off the table, knocking into player components, and just wreaking havoc in general. Phase Shift Games does sell a set of Dungeon Walls for use during this game – to help define the play area and keep the cubes from going rogue – but I just wonder why they aren’t included in every copy of the base game.
Another problem I have had in my plays of Dungeon Drop is that the layout of the dungeon is usually very limiting. For some reason, all my Pillar cubes will end up clumped together and severely affects what you can do on your turn. Yes, more cubes are being added by each player every turn, but the Pillars are what you use to create rooms – if they’re all too close together, you get small rooms, or basically all Treasure lays outside of any possible room configurations. The solution that I’ve come up with for this issue is to drop all Treasure and Monster cubes as described in the rules, but then ‘sprinkle’ the Pillar cubes across the play area. It just helps even things out and create a bigger playing field.
When it comes to components, I have to say that Dungeon Drop is pretty nice. The cards are oversized, sturdy, and easy to read. The artwork itself is cute and I just enjoy looking at it! The cubes are nice and chunky, and easily identifiable as to what type of cube they are. Again, I wish the Dungeon Walls were included in the base game, instead of being an up-sell, but overall the production quality of the game itself is pretty decent.
You can probably tell by my comments that I’m not really a huge fan of this game. The concept is cool, but in all actuality, it’s what makes this game frustrating for me. This game isn’t supposed to be a super serious game, and is supposed to be more lighthearted and silly. I think it hits the mark in that regard, but overall as a complete game, it falls a little flat for me. I might pull this one out if I need a filler/small party-type game during a game night, but it’s one that probably won’t be making it to my table too often. I wanted to like this game so badly, but it just doesn’t quite reach that level for me. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a stagnant 3 / 6.
Dungeon Drop is a game of set collection, area enclosure, and dexterity (to a degree) in which players take on the roles of dungeon-delving adventurers trying to gather treasure, defeat monsters, and complete quests. To setup for a game, each player is randomly dealt a Race card and a Class card – each with a special ability for use during the game. Turn Order tokens are distributed based on the Initiative on your Race card, starting with the lowest number. All players are dealt a Quest card that will dictate some end-game scoring for the player, and Quests are kept secret from opponents. Now it’s time to setup the dungeon. Separate all the Small cubes from the Larger ones – purely based on size, the color of the cube does not matter. All the Larger cubes are placed into the game box, for use later. The starting player will gather all of the Small cubes (plus the giant Dragon cube) and literally drop them onto the center of the table. The rulebook suggests dropping the cubes from a height of 6-12 inches, to ensure the cubes spread evenly across the table. And bam – there’s your dungeon.
The game is played over 3 rounds during which each player will take a turn. Turns are broken down into 3 steps: Explore, Act, and Loot. To Explore, the active player will take a set number of the Larger cubes from the game box (at random, without looking), and will add them to the dungeon by dropping them onto the table. The next step is to Act. Each Race and Class card has a special ability, and during this step you will choose to activate one of those abilities to use this turn. The final step is Loot, and this is where the crux of the gameplay is. The cubes of the dungeon consist of Treasure cubes, Monster cubes, and Pillar cubes. Pillar cubes are what form the ‘rooms’ of the dungeon. When it is your time to Loot, you will form a room by selecting 3 Pillar cubes. These cubes will essentially form a triangle, and the inside area of that triangle represents the room in which you are in. Once you form a room, you will collect all cubes from within that space – whether they be Treasure or Monster cubes. Treasure cubes go into your Stash and are saved for end-game scoring, and Monster cubes will deal Damage to your Hero. All Heroes have a finite amount of Health, and you can never collect a Monster cube that would cause you to lose your last Health point.
When you are done Looting, flip over your Turn Order token to indicate that your turn is done. When all players have completed their turns in the round, Turn Order tokens are redistributed based on Weight – the number of Treasure cubes each player possesses. The player with the least Treasure is considered the ‘lightest’ and receives the 1st Turn Order token for the new round, and the rest are distributed likewise. A new round will then begin, and the game continues until 3 complete rounds have been played. At that point, players will add up their points earned from Treasure cubes and their secret Quests. The player with the highest score is declared the winner!
In theory, this game is really awesome. Players can create unique rooms by selecting specific Pillars, and collect different combinations of cubes each turn. AND since each player drops more cubes into play each turn, the dungeon is constantly changing, with new cubes, and because the cubes may knock others around. In actual practice, though, this game is kind of frustrating to me. For starters, when dropping all the Small cubes to form the initial dungeon, be prepared for them to go everywhere. The rules say to drop from 6-12 inches, but that means that you’re going to get quite a huge play area going on. And for me, that means cubes flying off the table, knocking into player components, and just wreaking havoc in general. Phase Shift Games does sell a set of Dungeon Walls for use during this game – to help define the play area and keep the cubes from going rogue – but I just wonder why they aren’t included in every copy of the base game.
Another problem I have had in my plays of Dungeon Drop is that the layout of the dungeon is usually very limiting. For some reason, all my Pillar cubes will end up clumped together and severely affects what you can do on your turn. Yes, more cubes are being added by each player every turn, but the Pillars are what you use to create rooms – if they’re all too close together, you get small rooms, or basically all Treasure lays outside of any possible room configurations. The solution that I’ve come up with for this issue is to drop all Treasure and Monster cubes as described in the rules, but then ‘sprinkle’ the Pillar cubes across the play area. It just helps even things out and create a bigger playing field.
When it comes to components, I have to say that Dungeon Drop is pretty nice. The cards are oversized, sturdy, and easy to read. The artwork itself is cute and I just enjoy looking at it! The cubes are nice and chunky, and easily identifiable as to what type of cube they are. Again, I wish the Dungeon Walls were included in the base game, instead of being an up-sell, but overall the production quality of the game itself is pretty decent.
You can probably tell by my comments that I’m not really a huge fan of this game. The concept is cool, but in all actuality, it’s what makes this game frustrating for me. This game isn’t supposed to be a super serious game, and is supposed to be more lighthearted and silly. I think it hits the mark in that regard, but overall as a complete game, it falls a little flat for me. I might pull this one out if I need a filler/small party-type game during a game night, but it’s one that probably won’t be making it to my table too often. I wanted to like this game so badly, but it just doesn’t quite reach that level for me. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a stagnant 3 / 6.
Rachel (48 KP) rated Exonerated: A History of the Innocence Movement in Books
May 25, 2017
Such a Disappointment
I had very high hopes for this book, it is a fascinating subject, but sadly it did not live up to expectations at all.
Halfway through the introduction I realised just how dry it was going to be. I recognised the structure of it from my university essays. When an introduction includes a brief synopsis of the chapters to come it is obviously good to be more of an academic study than a book you can sit down and get lost in!
And so it continued. Far too much time is dedicated to very dry details. For example, 10 pages are dedicated to a conference held in 1998 called The National Conference on Wrongful Convictions and the Death Penalty. Obviously this is an extremely important cause but it could either have been explained in 2 - 3 pages maximum or a lot more details about the exoneree's could have been added. This is actually the problem through out the book. Details of the exoneration's are sparse, usually with as little detail as "he was exonerated by DNA".
When the author, rarely, tells the story of someone he really comes to life. He has a voice that can put across the suffering and circustance of a person in a very warm and interesting way. Had there been more of that writing it could have been a spectacular book.
As the book was about the Innocence Movement itself I was not expecting some true crime book but, had the dates and figures been interspersed with case studies it would have been great. It would have been nice to know exactly how someone was wrongfully imprisoned and how they were exonerated. Had this been the case I would have given a much higher rating.
The author himself calls this work a study. Unless this book is to be marketed solely for academic purposes, which I am sure it isn't, then it should not BE a study. It should be an accessible book for all people interested in the subject to enjoy.
The author is obviously very passionate about this subject - hence 2 stars instead of 1 - yet passion alone does not make a book good.
Halfway through the introduction I realised just how dry it was going to be. I recognised the structure of it from my university essays. When an introduction includes a brief synopsis of the chapters to come it is obviously good to be more of an academic study than a book you can sit down and get lost in!
And so it continued. Far too much time is dedicated to very dry details. For example, 10 pages are dedicated to a conference held in 1998 called The National Conference on Wrongful Convictions and the Death Penalty. Obviously this is an extremely important cause but it could either have been explained in 2 - 3 pages maximum or a lot more details about the exoneree's could have been added. This is actually the problem through out the book. Details of the exoneration's are sparse, usually with as little detail as "he was exonerated by DNA".
When the author, rarely, tells the story of someone he really comes to life. He has a voice that can put across the suffering and circustance of a person in a very warm and interesting way. Had there been more of that writing it could have been a spectacular book.
As the book was about the Innocence Movement itself I was not expecting some true crime book but, had the dates and figures been interspersed with case studies it would have been great. It would have been nice to know exactly how someone was wrongfully imprisoned and how they were exonerated. Had this been the case I would have given a much higher rating.
The author himself calls this work a study. Unless this book is to be marketed solely for academic purposes, which I am sure it isn't, then it should not BE a study. It should be an accessible book for all people interested in the subject to enjoy.
The author is obviously very passionate about this subject - hence 2 stars instead of 1 - yet passion alone does not make a book good.
Zuky the BookBum (15 KP) rated Death in Profile in Books
Mar 15, 2018
(I've changed this down to 3 stars from 4 stars cause think back, it wasn't actually that good, I just think I was really happy to find a Netgalley book that didn't bore me to death)
Firstly I'd like to thank Netgalley and Urbane Publications for giving me the opportunity to read this book.
Death in Profile is an excellent twist on modern crime drama novels. It's refreshing to find all the characters have a clear head with no underlying disturbances like we see with many other detective characters. While the plot for this novel is nothing too bold or different from other books out there, it still manages to feel unique.
I like how Sampson doesn't focus on simply one person throughout the book, but instead lets you in to each persons life in little snippets making you want to keep reading and find out more and more about each person. While Metcalfe and Willis are interesting as separate people I found their relationship juvenile, in all honesty. The way they went about each other was really rather unimaginable.
For me, the characters made this book fun and exciting because I didn't feel the plot was anything too incredibly amazing and I found the 'shock twist' a little... disappointing. I would have preferred the story to continue in the direction it was already heading by that point rather than the real outcome. I also found the last few pages of the book a bit pointless and it confused me slightly as to why it was included, I think it completely took away from the amazement you were supposed to feel about the outcome of the investigation into the serial killings.
Other than that and a few spelling mistakes here and there (which I couldn't keep note of due to there being no page numbers on the kindle), I actually did very much like this book and was reaching for it of a night time as well as during my travelling hours. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a crime drama without the troubled cop or gritty suspense. Definitely a fun and quick read.
Firstly I'd like to thank Netgalley and Urbane Publications for giving me the opportunity to read this book.
Death in Profile is an excellent twist on modern crime drama novels. It's refreshing to find all the characters have a clear head with no underlying disturbances like we see with many other detective characters. While the plot for this novel is nothing too bold or different from other books out there, it still manages to feel unique.
I like how Sampson doesn't focus on simply one person throughout the book, but instead lets you in to each persons life in little snippets making you want to keep reading and find out more and more about each person. While Metcalfe and Willis are interesting as separate people I found their relationship juvenile, in all honesty. The way they went about each other was really rather unimaginable.
For me, the characters made this book fun and exciting because I didn't feel the plot was anything too incredibly amazing and I found the 'shock twist' a little... disappointing. I would have preferred the story to continue in the direction it was already heading by that point rather than the real outcome. I also found the last few pages of the book a bit pointless and it confused me slightly as to why it was included, I think it completely took away from the amazement you were supposed to feel about the outcome of the investigation into the serial killings.
Other than that and a few spelling mistakes here and there (which I couldn't keep note of due to there being no page numbers on the kindle), I actually did very much like this book and was reaching for it of a night time as well as during my travelling hours. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants a crime drama without the troubled cop or gritty suspense. Definitely a fun and quick read.
Fred (860 KP) rated The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31 in Tabletop Games
Mar 7, 2018
Good game. Could be great with some house rule tweaking.
The Thing: Infected at Outpost 31 is a good game. It really gets the feel of John Carpenter's movie a far as the characters, the props & the look and layout of the outpost. That being said, the game has none of the suspense the movie has. But it can, with some house rules.
The first game I played, we had 6 players. We played the game wrong & had 3 infected. Even though we had too many infected, I was still able to pick all 3 infected. One I torched, 2 I got with the blood tests. Because the humans are able to talk about what cards are given to the captain with each mission, it's too easy to figure out the infected, unless the infected plays the game as a human & totally straight. Because of that, the game is boring as it was too easy for the humans to beat the missions & that it was a guarantee the game would get to the escape portion with no problem. During the game, the danger level didn't get past the third spot, so the danger never affected the missions. Far too easy for the humans. One friend, who was infected, played 2 sabotage cards & we easily figured out he was infected. The other 2 I guessed because of the way they acted. Not the way they acted in the game, just the way they acted. After the game, I suggested that we not be allowed to say what cards you give to the captain. I suggested we say either we can help with the mission or we cannot help. One friend disagreed & said it would be too easy for the infected to win the game by destroying 4 rooms or making 8 missions fail. I disagree.
Due to the arguments of my one friend, we decided it was up to the captain as to whether the cards were told during their missions. This doesn't work because only an infected would want to not have the cards said. As I mentioned, in the first game the danger level only moved up to the third spot. In the second game, we played with 8 players. The danger level only moved up once. Once! There is no suspense when the captain looks at his cards & says "No sabotage." because it's known the infected are playing the game as human, because they'll give themselves up otherwise. And once you're found out, you're left out for much of the game. I was infected in the second game. The first infected in fact. Every time I was chosen for a mission, it was with 3 or 4 player teams & would have been too easy to figure out I was the infected if I sabotaged the mission. So, I played the game straight to the end. It was only when my friend accused me of being infected & I gave up my "tell" that he was adamant I was infected. So again, it had nothing to do with the game, but rather reading my face.
So, basically, if you wanted, you could hand out the blood sample cards, accuse people of being infected, read their faces & guess who's infected without having to bother with the nonsense of the missions. Give the guesser 2 blood tests, because you're guaranteed to still be in danger level 1 & have 2 blood tests anyway. If the missions were exciting, I'd be all for it, but most of them aren't. It's just seeing who has the right cards, which with so many players, you're guaranteed to beat it.
And so, my suggestion of not being allowed to tell what cards you're given is one of the ways to fix this game. Yes, it may be easier for the infected to cause trouble, but without this change, there is no trouble, no sense of danger, no chance for the infected to win, unless they get lucky & get in on the escape. Without that chance of causing trouble, the game is monotonous & is just a big guess at the end. Another way I thought of fixing the game is throwing in a random card during a mission. Just draw an extra card, without looking at it, mix it in with other cards & then see what happens. That may seem unfair because then the mission may be too easily won (even more easily than they already are) & so I suggested another way. If a mission parameter is to have a choice of number of players, for example 4-5 players, then the captain can only choose a 4 player team & the 5th player would be a random card. This way, not every mission will have a random card drawn for it.
Anyway, I do like the game, but feel it could be made into a great game with some kind of tweak to fix this major problem.
The first game I played, we had 6 players. We played the game wrong & had 3 infected. Even though we had too many infected, I was still able to pick all 3 infected. One I torched, 2 I got with the blood tests. Because the humans are able to talk about what cards are given to the captain with each mission, it's too easy to figure out the infected, unless the infected plays the game as a human & totally straight. Because of that, the game is boring as it was too easy for the humans to beat the missions & that it was a guarantee the game would get to the escape portion with no problem. During the game, the danger level didn't get past the third spot, so the danger never affected the missions. Far too easy for the humans. One friend, who was infected, played 2 sabotage cards & we easily figured out he was infected. The other 2 I guessed because of the way they acted. Not the way they acted in the game, just the way they acted. After the game, I suggested that we not be allowed to say what cards you give to the captain. I suggested we say either we can help with the mission or we cannot help. One friend disagreed & said it would be too easy for the infected to win the game by destroying 4 rooms or making 8 missions fail. I disagree.
Due to the arguments of my one friend, we decided it was up to the captain as to whether the cards were told during their missions. This doesn't work because only an infected would want to not have the cards said. As I mentioned, in the first game the danger level only moved up to the third spot. In the second game, we played with 8 players. The danger level only moved up once. Once! There is no suspense when the captain looks at his cards & says "No sabotage." because it's known the infected are playing the game as human, because they'll give themselves up otherwise. And once you're found out, you're left out for much of the game. I was infected in the second game. The first infected in fact. Every time I was chosen for a mission, it was with 3 or 4 player teams & would have been too easy to figure out I was the infected if I sabotaged the mission. So, I played the game straight to the end. It was only when my friend accused me of being infected & I gave up my "tell" that he was adamant I was infected. So again, it had nothing to do with the game, but rather reading my face.
So, basically, if you wanted, you could hand out the blood sample cards, accuse people of being infected, read their faces & guess who's infected without having to bother with the nonsense of the missions. Give the guesser 2 blood tests, because you're guaranteed to still be in danger level 1 & have 2 blood tests anyway. If the missions were exciting, I'd be all for it, but most of them aren't. It's just seeing who has the right cards, which with so many players, you're guaranteed to beat it.
And so, my suggestion of not being allowed to tell what cards you're given is one of the ways to fix this game. Yes, it may be easier for the infected to cause trouble, but without this change, there is no trouble, no sense of danger, no chance for the infected to win, unless they get lucky & get in on the escape. Without that chance of causing trouble, the game is monotonous & is just a big guess at the end. Another way I thought of fixing the game is throwing in a random card during a mission. Just draw an extra card, without looking at it, mix it in with other cards & then see what happens. That may seem unfair because then the mission may be too easily won (even more easily than they already are) & so I suggested another way. If a mission parameter is to have a choice of number of players, for example 4-5 players, then the captain can only choose a 4 player team & the 5th player would be a random card. This way, not every mission will have a random card drawn for it.
Anyway, I do like the game, but feel it could be made into a great game with some kind of tweak to fix this major problem.
Becs (244 KP) rated Garden of Ashes in Books
Apr 11, 2019
Overall - an amazing story (1 more)
Background was added
There were a few plot holes (1 more)
Something was lacking but I'm not sure what
Thrilling!
You can also find this review on my blog: bookingwayreads.wordpress.com
I received a copy of Garden of Ashes (book 2 of the Snow Spark series) to read and review for my honest opinion from The Parliament Press.
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Gore, Oppression, Violence, Discrimination
This little novel carried a good left hook. It picks up right where The Bone Roses left off and really delves into the background of a few characters. The story still is geared toward a mature audience, especially with Garden of Ashes so beware of more graphic scenes when reading.
Starting where we left off, Rags has been caught and is now on a train with Colton and Nigel to the Kingdom. More specifically, the Threshing Floor. This is not any place for a rustler, or really anybody for that matter. Just think cattle herding but with humans and loads of death. That's what you get when dealing with the Threshing Floor. The major problem with the non-bowing criminals who go in, they never come out and are never seen again.
Rags is given only two options - either bow to the Kingdom and Hyperion or face death. Using everything she has to survive, she is forced to play the twisted rigged game that the Kingdom has laid out. Luckily, she has the help of Henny and Colton, who both stand by her side helping shape her into the Kingdom's standards and also giving her opportunities to remain a rustler at heart.
The overall story had me reeled, but I also felt like something was lacking a tad bit. I have no idea what that bit that is missing is but you could just tell that the story was lacking in places. There was plot, as it continued on from book 1, and new characters were introduced with a small bit of background on them that eventually came to light later on down the road. Drama upon drama was interlaced into the story-line and really kept the reader engaged with the story as a whole.
Characters:
Rags - stubborn and yet sympathetic, able to get in and out of trouble, and very realistic.
Henny - the smol angry cinnamonroll we all thought was going to be the person to cause Rags' death has turned to be an ally. Maybe even a possible love interest to Rags?
Colton - still a sarcastic green-eyed red head as he was in book 1. He was there to help Rags stay out of trouble and seemed to become more friends with Rags then a possible love interest.
Hyperion - the complete a** of a king that wants everyone to worship him.
Sahrobi - Hyperion's sadistic murder loving daughter that honestly needs to be in a psych ward cause she got some problems!
Margo - Sahrobi's husband, as cruel and sadistic as Sahrobi also got some problems. Thank goodness he got his a** handed to him in the end.
Ethan and Ali - two slaves that Rags helps saves and cares for while in the Threshing Floor.
Rosemary - a slave that is in debt to the Kingdom, possible relation to Rags?
Reasons why I rated it 4 stars:
1. It was lacking something and I can't put my finger on it.
2. Grammar and spelling seemed to be great!
3. There were a few plot holes while reading, but that could be because I feel asleep during reading and lost where I was at.
4. There was background added to some of the characters, but there wasn't as much that really needed to be added.
5. The overall story was amazing and really added to the story that took place in The Bone Roses. I will defiantly be rereading!
"False hope is worse than no hope on a good day."
I received a copy of Garden of Ashes (book 2 of the Snow Spark series) to read and review for my honest opinion from The Parliament Press.
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Gore, Oppression, Violence, Discrimination
This little novel carried a good left hook. It picks up right where The Bone Roses left off and really delves into the background of a few characters. The story still is geared toward a mature audience, especially with Garden of Ashes so beware of more graphic scenes when reading.
Starting where we left off, Rags has been caught and is now on a train with Colton and Nigel to the Kingdom. More specifically, the Threshing Floor. This is not any place for a rustler, or really anybody for that matter. Just think cattle herding but with humans and loads of death. That's what you get when dealing with the Threshing Floor. The major problem with the non-bowing criminals who go in, they never come out and are never seen again.
Rags is given only two options - either bow to the Kingdom and Hyperion or face death. Using everything she has to survive, she is forced to play the twisted rigged game that the Kingdom has laid out. Luckily, she has the help of Henny and Colton, who both stand by her side helping shape her into the Kingdom's standards and also giving her opportunities to remain a rustler at heart.
The overall story had me reeled, but I also felt like something was lacking a tad bit. I have no idea what that bit that is missing is but you could just tell that the story was lacking in places. There was plot, as it continued on from book 1, and new characters were introduced with a small bit of background on them that eventually came to light later on down the road. Drama upon drama was interlaced into the story-line and really kept the reader engaged with the story as a whole.
Characters:
Rags - stubborn and yet sympathetic, able to get in and out of trouble, and very realistic.
Henny - the smol angry cinnamonroll we all thought was going to be the person to cause Rags' death has turned to be an ally. Maybe even a possible love interest to Rags?
Colton - still a sarcastic green-eyed red head as he was in book 1. He was there to help Rags stay out of trouble and seemed to become more friends with Rags then a possible love interest.
Hyperion - the complete a** of a king that wants everyone to worship him.
Sahrobi - Hyperion's sadistic murder loving daughter that honestly needs to be in a psych ward cause she got some problems!
Margo - Sahrobi's husband, as cruel and sadistic as Sahrobi also got some problems. Thank goodness he got his a** handed to him in the end.
Ethan and Ali - two slaves that Rags helps saves and cares for while in the Threshing Floor.
Rosemary - a slave that is in debt to the Kingdom, possible relation to Rags?
Reasons why I rated it 4 stars:
1. It was lacking something and I can't put my finger on it.
2. Grammar and spelling seemed to be great!
3. There were a few plot holes while reading, but that could be because I feel asleep during reading and lost where I was at.
4. There was background added to some of the characters, but there wasn't as much that really needed to be added.
5. The overall story was amazing and really added to the story that took place in The Bone Roses. I will defiantly be rereading!
"False hope is worse than no hope on a good day."