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Merissa (12822 KP) rated Courage (The Dreughan #1) in Books

Oct 30, 2018

Courage (The Dreughan #1)

Lena North | 2015 | Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)

10.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Courage (The Dreughan #1) by Lena North

Courage is the first book in the Dreughan series, which I bought after reading and loving Seaborn.

What can I say about this? First of all, Vilda is the absolute star of the show - which is only right being as it is her book! She is a very mature character, for all her physical age is young. Just think back to medieval times, and consider they married at fourteen, and then things will make more sense. I loved how Sannah and Troy were there for her, even more so when we heard the reasons for that. As for the Dreughan crew, I loved all of them. Absolutely and utterly.

This is a great story, intricate enough to keep an adult happy whilst still being action packed enough to keep the younger readers engrossed. This is the first book in a trilogy, so don't expect everything to be wrapped up in this book. This IS the only book with Vilda as the main focus though, which just makes the other books just as interesting as this one.

If I am being 100% honest here, I will say there were a couple of errors in this book. Just words misspelt, but still, the writing was so good I am more than happy to overlook those as they definitely didn't impact my enjoyment of the story at all.

I have gone from this book straight into Reason. I am LOVING this series, and can't recommend it highly enough. Absolutely fantastic.

* Verified Purchase ~ July 2018. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!

Kudos

Mike75 (5 KP) rated Zombicide: Invader in Tabletop Games

Jan 19, 2020

Zombicide: Invader

2019 | Action, Science Fiction, Zombie / Survivalist

8.7

(3 Ratings)

Tabletop Game Rating

Mechanics (1 more)

Component Quality

Best Version of Zombicide

CMON really hits their stride in the Zombicide series with Zombicide: Invader. The original Zombicide was a good start but had some rough rules, as many early offerings on Kickstarter often do. Over the years, CMON has matured the series, refining the rules and making plenty of gameplay improvements with follow on editions, including a medieval/fantasy themed Black Plague editions, and now the sci-fi themed Invader.

Invader shows off the maturity of the Zombicide series with well balanced fights against hordes of aliens (who might be alien zombies, though this seems a little unclear). This game uses the nice plastic boards to track each survivors stats, as was introduced in Black Plague. New rule tweaks in Invader allow a survivor to concentrate fire on larger targets, reducing some of the unwinnable situations that sometimes dogged earlier editions. Overall the scenarios and gameplay mechanics all seem well crafted to create tense and rewarding game sessions.

As with all CMON games, there is a wide variety of expansions and characters. There are the usual cameo/homage characters drawn from pop culture and real life. There are also a number of interesting variant Abominations to increase the challenge and variety, as well as several expansions. I bought into the Kickstarter, and Zombicide: Invader may be the first Kickstarter game I've ever gotten where I've actually played through all the expansions.

Overall, a great game from CMON. Zombicide: Invader is lots of fun, and this latest edition makes me very optimistic about their upcoming Zombicide 2nd Edition and the Night of the Living Dead Editions.

Kudos

Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Onward (2020) in Movies

Feb 23, 2020

Onward (2020)

2020 | Adventure, Animation, Comedy

8.1

(48 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

The magicians at PIXAR have returned with the new animated film “Onward”. The film stars Chris Pratt as Barley and Tom Holland as his younger brother Ian. The two brothers live with their mother Laurel (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), following the loss of their father before Ian was even born.

This has resulted in Ian being unsure of himself as on his 16th Birthday he still lacks confidence, cannot drive, and is embarrassed by his over the top brother.

The fact that both Ian and Barley are Elves who live in a modern world filled with mythical creatures is what makes this such an interesting premise.

When a gift is revealed that will be able to give Ian and Barley a chance to temporarily reunite with their father to give them both the closure they seek, the duo are forced to take on an epic adventure in a race against time.

Naturally the impulsive Barley and the cautious Ian must overcome many obstacles both physical and emotional along the way as they bond and face a myriad of creatures in a race against time to complete their quest.

The film is an enjoyable enough tale and the cast is very strong. The biggest Issue I had is that the plot is fairly linear and may not have enough twists and variation to sustain an older audience during the full run time.

Thankfully there is some amazing animation to go with the great cast and the abundance of Medieval gags in a modern setting make this one that the entire family could enjoy and hopefully will start a new franchise for the studio.
4 stars out of 5