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David McK (3251 KP) rated Now You See Me (2013) in Movies

Feb 6, 2022

Twisty turny mystery thriller about a quartet of stage magicians, who use their skills and talents to perform a trio of impressive and highly publicised crimes (robbing a bank, draining the account of corrupt individuals etc and redistributing their targets wealth), all the time being chased by both an FBI agent and a magician debunker (ummm ... two separate people, just to be clear).

It's flashy stuff, with little in the way of substance, however, and an ending you can see coming from about a 1/3rd of the way through.

Still might watch the sequel, though!

Kudos

The Bandersnatch (199 KP) rated The High Lord (Black Magician Trilogy, #3) in Books

Nov 7, 2019

Contains spoilers, click to show

Released in 2003 The High Lord is the penultimate ending to Sonea's story......starting a year after beating a bully in a fight. Sonea has received the respect she deserves but still faces the challenge of her guardian and the High Lord of the guild Akkarin. After being Surprised by Akkarin with a book on Black Magic Sonea is pulled into learning black magic and attempting to protect the city and the country from a group known as the Icani. After going through hell and being thrown out of the guild and being exiled the pair return and aid their fellow magicians in the attack......resulting in may magicians dead including Akkarin and Sonea pregnant with his child.

My opinion of this book was that of a decent conclusion to a good storyline. I do think however that the love storyline between Sonea and Akkarin is a little cliché. Otherwise It was a decent book. I have to admit the fighting between magicians would make a decent movie montage.

Born in Kew, Melbourne Australia on October 23rd 1969 Trudi Canavan spent her formative years being extremely creative in the suburb of Ferntree Gully. Canavan decided to become a professional artist and went to the Melbourne college of Decoration achieving an advanced certificate in promotional display as well as an award for the highest aggregate mark in art subjects in 1988.

During the early 1990's Canavan worked for the Australian magazine Aurealis (a magazine for Australian science-fiction and fantasy work) as well as starting her own business The Telltale art which specialised in graphical design services. By working for Aurealis Canavan was able to write in her spare time.

In 1999 Canavan managed to win the Aurealis award for best fantasy short story with whispers of the mist children and cementing her work further with the release of the Magicians Guild in 2001 (book one of The Black Magician trilogy) the successive books The Novice (2002) and The Black Magician (2003) brought Canavan both widespread acclaim and nominations for both the Aurealis best Fantasy novel and Best Novel Ditmar Category. All three books ended up in the top ten Science Fiction books for Australia.

Canavan's second Trilogy Age of Five was also well received with the first book reaching No3 in the Sunday Times hardback fiction best sellers list and staying in the top ten for six weeks. Canavan went on to write a prequel/sequel to the black magician trilogy known as the magicians apprentice in 2009 this was followed by the traitor spy trilogy which was released between 2010 and 2012. Trudi Canavan now holds a vast array of written works under her belt which can be split into three book series and a group of short stories.

My opinion of Trudi Canavan is that she is a very dedicated writer. Excellent with detail and writing a strong character and story. I definitely respect her work ethic since she is both a writer and a graphic designer. I definitely would love to talk with her and have a discussion about books and writing in general. She is up there with Prof J. R. R. Tolkien, George R. R. Martin and Lewis Carroll in my books.

And there you have it a book for all the ages, definitely under the banner of Quality reading, I am positive this trilogy could end up being the NEXT it thing if they were ever made into a Movie Trilogy.

Kudos

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2103 KP) rated Bartholomew and the Oobleck in Books

Mar 9, 2018

King Derwin of Didd is tired of the same old four things coming down from the sky, so he decides to get his magicians to create something new – Oobleck. However, his page Bartholomew things something is dangerous about it. Is he correct?

One of Dr. Seuss’s older books, it can be long and isn’t told in his typical rhyme. Still shows his creativity, however, and there are some good lessons worked into the story without preaching as well. Fun for older kids and adults looking for a longer picture book.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2015/02/book-review-bartholomew-and-oobleck-by.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.