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Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Martial magic ( society 13) in Books
May 11, 2023
59 of 235
Kindle
Martial Magic ( Society 13)
By Mason Sabre
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In this world, the Humans rule … everyone else must fall in-line. An instalment in the Society Series. Crystal’s magic was fading, but Jason needed her for one last job. When Crystal closed her school for the day, she never expected to be woken to a wolf in the middle of the night. Someone had given away her seeker status, and now, Jason needed her more than ever … But at what cost? Her magical pot of power is already at an all time low. One more mission, one more drain, and she’d become nothing. Except … Jason … something is different, something more than she ever expected to find, and now the unlikely must trust each other. It’s the only way they’ll survive.
Another fab book in this series! We are now finding more characters and their stories. Nice to have a little visit with Cade too. This is just another case of crossed so working together and how horrid humans really are!
Kindle
Martial Magic ( Society 13)
By Mason Sabre
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
In this world, the Humans rule … everyone else must fall in-line. An instalment in the Society Series. Crystal’s magic was fading, but Jason needed her for one last job. When Crystal closed her school for the day, she never expected to be woken to a wolf in the middle of the night. Someone had given away her seeker status, and now, Jason needed her more than ever … But at what cost? Her magical pot of power is already at an all time low. One more mission, one more drain, and she’d become nothing. Except … Jason … something is different, something more than she ever expected to find, and now the unlikely must trust each other. It’s the only way they’ll survive.
Another fab book in this series! We are now finding more characters and their stories. Nice to have a little visit with Cade too. This is just another case of crossed so working together and how horrid humans really are!
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Morgan Sheppard (968 KP) created a post
Feb 19, 2024
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2432 KP) rated Big Bend in Books
Jun 25, 2025
Finding Crime in the Vastness of Big Bend
A reporter has gone missing in Big Bend down in Texas, and Jack is asked to help find him. However, when Jack arrives, he finds some auditors have arrived to monitor everything going on in the park. And when out searching for the reporter, Jack finds someone else out there. The results of that encounter are tragic. What is happening in the vastness of this park’s wilderness?
It is always nice to revisit Jack and the supporting characters we’ve met along the way. Yes, Ev is involved as well. There is a plot point that will be hard for fans of the series. Overall, the plot bites off a bit too much and so a few of the connections feel forced and rushed. Likewise, a few of the minor players fade into the background and are hard to keep straight. The writing is still magical, and I love how the location came to life. I’m hoping we get more books with Jack soon.
It is always nice to revisit Jack and the supporting characters we’ve met along the way. Yes, Ev is involved as well. There is a plot point that will be hard for fans of the series. Overall, the plot bites off a bit too much and so a few of the connections feel forced and rushed. Likewise, a few of the minor players fade into the background and are hard to keep straight. The writing is still magical, and I love how the location came to life. I’m hoping we get more books with Jack soon.
Ross (3284 KP) rated Dark Forge (Masters & Mages #2) in Books
Jan 30, 2019
Another slog of a book but with a good overall plot
*** I received a free advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ***
Dark Forge follows on from Cold Iron and sees the hero, Aranthur, travelling through the desert-lands battling against "The Pure", a group of magikal fundamentalists that believe access to the world's magik should be restricted to those of noble birth.
As a rare treat, the book starts with a lengthy prologue telling of a group of mercenaries working for the Pure attempting to storm an ancient site and gain ownership of a magical artefact. A few dozen pages break from Aranthur was welcome and this was an exciting part of the story. As with the first book, the narrative style is something of a barrier to me, all the mundane details of clothing, horses, weapons are expounded ad nauseum, but when something important happens, or some new magik is used suddenly it's all very vague and hand-wavey.
That brings us back to Aranthur. We pick up with him and his crew acting as messengers for the General's army, relaying messages back and forth across the divisions of the forces. At times this changes to acting as advance scouts, other times running messages through the middle of battles. Given the rest of the story is told from Aranthur's PoV alone, this means we can see a great deal of the action through his eyes.
At long last we are treated to something of an inventory from Aranthur, as he goes over the magik he currently knows and their purpose. This felt like a brilliant improvement over book 1, where he just did a magik thing somehow. However this is short lived as over the course of the book odd words are used, with little explanation (and always in italics, suggesting they are important words but for the life of me I couldn't remember what most of them were).
A major failing for this book for me was that despite all being from one character's PoV, and we hear plenty of his thoughts and feelings, we are not privy to his experimentation with magik or some of his suspicions and theories (he suddenly in the heat of battle tries something he had been thinking about and it works - would have been so much more effective if there had been any hint of this previously). Similarly, so much of it is all metaphysical nonsense which I can't stand and can only see it as a cheap way out for an author as you don't have to explain things if they're all mystical.
The book reads like maybe the 5th in a series, where all the magical aspects and parts and peoples of the world have been solidly embedded, rather than book 2 where the world-building is being done almost real-time and there is something of a making-it-up-as-he-goes-along feel.
The overarching plot of the book is solid, and while I would have liked to see more traditional combat like the first book, and less magical/mystical stuff the action was plentiful and reasonably well told.
As with the first book, its only about 400 pages but felt like so much more to me, and it really was a bit of a slog at times.
I will finish this series with the conclusion when it is released but have enjoyed other series a lot more.
Dark Forge follows on from Cold Iron and sees the hero, Aranthur, travelling through the desert-lands battling against "The Pure", a group of magikal fundamentalists that believe access to the world's magik should be restricted to those of noble birth.
As a rare treat, the book starts with a lengthy prologue telling of a group of mercenaries working for the Pure attempting to storm an ancient site and gain ownership of a magical artefact. A few dozen pages break from Aranthur was welcome and this was an exciting part of the story. As with the first book, the narrative style is something of a barrier to me, all the mundane details of clothing, horses, weapons are expounded ad nauseum, but when something important happens, or some new magik is used suddenly it's all very vague and hand-wavey.
That brings us back to Aranthur. We pick up with him and his crew acting as messengers for the General's army, relaying messages back and forth across the divisions of the forces. At times this changes to acting as advance scouts, other times running messages through the middle of battles. Given the rest of the story is told from Aranthur's PoV alone, this means we can see a great deal of the action through his eyes.
At long last we are treated to something of an inventory from Aranthur, as he goes over the magik he currently knows and their purpose. This felt like a brilliant improvement over book 1, where he just did a magik thing somehow. However this is short lived as over the course of the book odd words are used, with little explanation (and always in italics, suggesting they are important words but for the life of me I couldn't remember what most of them were).
A major failing for this book for me was that despite all being from one character's PoV, and we hear plenty of his thoughts and feelings, we are not privy to his experimentation with magik or some of his suspicions and theories (he suddenly in the heat of battle tries something he had been thinking about and it works - would have been so much more effective if there had been any hint of this previously). Similarly, so much of it is all metaphysical nonsense which I can't stand and can only see it as a cheap way out for an author as you don't have to explain things if they're all mystical.
The book reads like maybe the 5th in a series, where all the magical aspects and parts and peoples of the world have been solidly embedded, rather than book 2 where the world-building is being done almost real-time and there is something of a making-it-up-as-he-goes-along feel.
The overarching plot of the book is solid, and while I would have liked to see more traditional combat like the first book, and less magical/mystical stuff the action was plentiful and reasonably well told.
As with the first book, its only about 400 pages but felt like so much more to me, and it really was a bit of a slog at times.
I will finish this series with the conclusion when it is released but have enjoyed other series a lot more.
The Platinum Raven and Other Novellas
Book
"The Platinum Raven and other novellas" by Rohan Quine is a paperback comprising a collection of...
Sarah (7800 KP) rated The True Adventures of Wolfboy (2021) in Movies
Mar 1, 2021
Nice but lacking in magic
The Adventures of Wolfboy, also known as The True Adventures of Wolfboy, is a 2021 coming of age style drama and the feature film debut from Czech director Martin Krejcí. It follows Paul, a teenager with a life changing physical condition called congenital hypertrichosis that causes an abnormal and excessive amount of hair growth across his entire body, as he journeys to meet his estranged mother.
Paul (Jaeden Martell) lives an isolated life with his father in New York, where he hides away from everyone and only ventures out under the cover of a woolly balaclava, despite his father’s (Chris Messina) attempts to coax him into accepting his condition and revealing himself to the world. After a failed trip out to the local carnival for his 13th birthday, Paul returns home to find a mysterious gift from his mother (Chloë Sevigny), who he’s never known as she left when he was a child. Following a confrontation with his father over his proposal to send him to a special school, Paul runs away from home in search of his estranged mother. Along the way, he meets a number of colourful characters including carnival owner Mr. Silk (John Turturro), complicated and friendly Aristiana (Sophie Giannamore) and the daring and roguish Rose (Eve Hewson).
The Adventures of Wolfboy is undoubtedly a film for young adults or teenagers, meant as a coming of age, ‘accepting yourself’ type of road movie and in this it succeeds, although its message is rather more subtle than you’d expect. It expertly deals with the theme of loving yourself and others just as you are in a very low key manner, to the point where you almost miss the subtle hints at a character’s backstory (which is definitely true for Aristiana). For some this might be a problem, but a lot of films go out of their way to be heavy handed, virtually shoving a message down your throat so for me, I enjoyed the subtleties on display here. They’re helped by an unassuming performance from Jaeden Martell and charismatic turns from both Eve Hewson and Sophie Giannamore, who altogether with a story that doesn’t play out quite as predictably as first thought, make this an entertaining and heartwarming watch.
That said, despite the well meaning and heartwarming intentions, this film does falter. The title itself and the fairytale storyboard chapter titles throughout the film give this a magical sense of fantasy that just doesn’t quite materialise. I feel like it’s meant to be whimsical and adventurous, but the actual finished article falls short. It isn’t helped by John Turturro’s Mr Silk, who despite being the villain just comes across as weird rather than sinister, and what becomes of his character is a little lacklustre too. Generally if feels like it’s missing some ‘oomph’, a magical whimsical boost to turn this into something more than an average coming of age movie.
The Adventures of Wolfboy is a nice heartwarming film, and it’s refreshing to see a subtle take on a subject that has been done many times before. I just wished they’d have taken the magical and whimsical angle further, as this would have made it more than just average.
Paul (Jaeden Martell) lives an isolated life with his father in New York, where he hides away from everyone and only ventures out under the cover of a woolly balaclava, despite his father’s (Chris Messina) attempts to coax him into accepting his condition and revealing himself to the world. After a failed trip out to the local carnival for his 13th birthday, Paul returns home to find a mysterious gift from his mother (Chloë Sevigny), who he’s never known as she left when he was a child. Following a confrontation with his father over his proposal to send him to a special school, Paul runs away from home in search of his estranged mother. Along the way, he meets a number of colourful characters including carnival owner Mr. Silk (John Turturro), complicated and friendly Aristiana (Sophie Giannamore) and the daring and roguish Rose (Eve Hewson).
The Adventures of Wolfboy is undoubtedly a film for young adults or teenagers, meant as a coming of age, ‘accepting yourself’ type of road movie and in this it succeeds, although its message is rather more subtle than you’d expect. It expertly deals with the theme of loving yourself and others just as you are in a very low key manner, to the point where you almost miss the subtle hints at a character’s backstory (which is definitely true for Aristiana). For some this might be a problem, but a lot of films go out of their way to be heavy handed, virtually shoving a message down your throat so for me, I enjoyed the subtleties on display here. They’re helped by an unassuming performance from Jaeden Martell and charismatic turns from both Eve Hewson and Sophie Giannamore, who altogether with a story that doesn’t play out quite as predictably as first thought, make this an entertaining and heartwarming watch.
That said, despite the well meaning and heartwarming intentions, this film does falter. The title itself and the fairytale storyboard chapter titles throughout the film give this a magical sense of fantasy that just doesn’t quite materialise. I feel like it’s meant to be whimsical and adventurous, but the actual finished article falls short. It isn’t helped by John Turturro’s Mr Silk, who despite being the villain just comes across as weird rather than sinister, and what becomes of his character is a little lacklustre too. Generally if feels like it’s missing some ‘oomph’, a magical whimsical boost to turn this into something more than an average coming of age movie.
The Adventures of Wolfboy is a nice heartwarming film, and it’s refreshing to see a subtle take on a subject that has been done many times before. I just wished they’d have taken the magical and whimsical angle further, as this would have made it more than just average.
Attack the Light - Steven Universe Light RPG
Games and Entertainment
App
**Destructoid’s Best Mobile Game of 2015 Nominee** **Paste Magazine 10 Best Mobile Games of...
