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Batman: Gotham After Midnight
Batman: Gotham After Midnight
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This novel contains 12 episodes of Batman stories, each full of action and crime and excitement. It includes Man-Bat, Axe-Man, Clayface, The Joker, Killer Croc, Catwoman, Scarecrow and the new villain, Midnight. At first, Batman is trying to figure out why his villains are suddenly changing their patterns. But then Midnight comes into the scene...

Batman becomes rather attached to a police officer, although Bruce Wayne has no success with her. But can he save her from this strange, crazy new murderer?

The detective side of this - especially toward the end, when Batman is close to discovering Midnight's identity - is fantastic. Full of suspense. Of course, his encounters with the enemies are great, too. I wasn't sure about his relationship with April, but I like how it all fit together in the end.

The inner monologue - and even the dialogue - wasn't great. The text that was chosen for this also wasn't the wisest. But the story got told and that's all that really matters in the end.

And Alfred... I love him! He's witty and smart, but also caring and wise when it comes to dealing with Batman. He often has to tell Batman to pull himself together and to stop being an idiot. I think he may be my favourite character.

The art was great and I liked the story, but the dodgy, clunky monologue was quite off-putting. Even so, it was an easy read still so it obviously wasn't that bad. I think I'll say 4 stars for this, though I may be being a little generous there.
  
Split (2016)
Split (2016)
2016 | Horror, Thriller
M. Night Shyamalan once again has audiences very excited for absolutely no reason. The trailer portrays an interesting psychological thriller of a man (James McAvoy) subjected to many different forms of consciousness, as the plot tells he is one of the first to openly portray over twenty different personalities.

He even takes on different physical characteristics down to a metabolic level as he switches from persona to persona. This combined with the character of a doctor (Betty Buckley) who is thrilled to perhaps have discovered the missing link to understanding the unused portion of the human mind, sounds like it makes for a great sci-fi thriller.

Unfortunately rather quickly the plot devolves after the disturbed man’s abduction of three teenage girls turns over the top hokey and stereotypical. Nothing can be said that will make up for the impending disappointment of viewers as yet again Mr. Shyamalan has an idea that sounds quite intriguing, yet falls completely flat and leaves viewers feeling as if they are the brunt of the joke.

As the psychotic killer develops into a character audiences could really be scared of, a turn for the worst happens when he is transformed by his own mind into an animal. Reaching beyond anything physically possible in a much staged way, he becomes a superhuman creature who rampages until he is caught.

Even with skilled acting at his disposal Shyamalan has managed to make another very poor quality film. At each step of the way, the suspense almost grabs you but is completely predictable. It’s too bad but this one earns
  
Tea for God
Tea for God
3D, Shooter
Tea for God is rouguelite, dungeon crawling shooter for PC VR that uses procedural generation and impossible spaces to create the game map as you play.
In ‘Tea for God’ you are on a quest to pay respects to the late ‘God Emperor’ who was killed by robots. To get to him you must travel through his high-tech palace which is, unfortunately still infested with the killer robots
The game uses VR room mapping and does not come with a ‘teleport’ option like a lot of other VR games which means that you physically have to walk around to move in game. This is where the Procedural generation comes in to play, the game knows the size of your play area and will generate the game map to fit. The use of impossible spaces means that a corridor can spiral around and you can find yourself in an area that couldn’t exist in normal reality which means that the game is easily playable in a small area. I only have a small area myself and have never walked into anything (except maybe the odd cat).
The controls are simple, to move you walk and you use the controls to shoot and pick up items. The game play is entering, there are a number of different robots of different sizes and weapon capabilities and they could be hiding around any corner.
The game is currently listed as being pre Alfa so should only get better. Tea for God is currently only available from the creators site ( https://void-room.itch.io/tea-for-god).
  
    Demi Lovato Stickers

    Demi Lovato Stickers

    Social Networking and Music

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    Demi Lovato’s official app gives you access to her STICKERS, TYPE WITH LIPSTICK and PHOTO BOOTH...

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Christine A. (965 KP) rated The Game in Books

Aug 4, 2020  
The Game
The Game
Linsey Miller | 2020 | Mystery, Thriller, Young Adult (YA)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review. The opinions are entirely my own, and any quotes are taken from the ARC and may be different in the final published copy.

The game is known by many names - Assassin, Tag, Human vs. Zombies. The ways to "kill" vary greatly - water gun, dart gun, steal a spoon, steal a rag, etc. The one constant is the concept of the game - people join a game in which someone is ordered to "kill" either a specific target or a different team. The winner is the one left standing.

The Game by Linsey Miller is a YA version of a 1982 movie, Tag: The Assininasion Game. In both, the game becomes deadly, when one of the players decides to "kill" the players in real life.

Miller moves the age group to High School seniors playing the yearly game before graduation. Lia has been following in her brother's shadow and knows Assassin is her opportunity to outshine her brother's record in the game. She has been planning this for years by following and gathering information about her classmates' schedules, hobbies, paths to school, etc. She makes the perfect fall guy for a killer who uses Lia's detailed notes to track down their targets.

Readers in middle school would enjoy the story. While enjoyable, the story felt short and would need "more" to attract older YA readers.

This 200-word review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 8/3/20.
  
Killer Chardonnay
Killer Chardonnay
Kate Lansing | 2020 | Mystery
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Poisoned Opening
Parker Valentine’s dream is coming true today with the opening of Vino Valentine in her hometown of Boulder, Colorado. However, her joy turns to worry when renowned local food and wine blogger Gaskel Brown shows up. He is notoriously hard to please, and his blog can make or break local restaurants. After sampling her chardonnay, Gaskel dies, and the police are quick to label it poison. Everyone is blaming Parker for the crime, and no one is coming to her store for fear they will be next. In order to save her dream, she has to find the killer. Can she do it?

Since I don’t drink wine, I almost passed on this debut, but I’m glad I picked it up. The book starts quickly, introducing us to characters while also setting the murder in motion. The pace continues to be strong with plenty of secrets and motives before we reach the climax, where everything fell into place. All the characters were also fantastic, with some good growth thanks to the subplots. The book is written in first person present tense, which is a bit unusual, but I quickly got used to it as I read. There are a handful of four-letter words, but they are worth noting mostly in passing. If the food descriptions make your mouth water, you’ll welcome the three recipes and wine pairings at the end. This book was aged to perfection, and I’m already looking forward to Parker’s next case.