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Cumberland (1142 KP) rated Pale in Books

Oct 28, 2018

Pale

Chris Wooding | 2012 | Children, Young Adult (YA)

6.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

It's an okay read

The premise behind this book was really interesting. That combined with the fact that it is such a short read made me decide to give it a chance. Over all it wasn't bad, however it does itself a disservice by being so short. This could have easily been a 200 page book, so at only 67 pages it feels as if parts are missing. I was never able to connect with the main character, and his relationship with others seemed forced. He was a jerk at the beginning of the book, and he didn't change enough to redeem himself. The main theme of this book is discrimination, but just like everything else the book failed to truly convey it in a meaningful way within its short chapters.

Kudos

CKD (37 KP) rated Kiss Carlo in Books

Dec 7, 2018

South Philly, 1949. Main character is Nicky Castone, who is orphaned and lives with aunt (Jo), uncle (Dom) and cousins. He drives Cab No. 4 for the Palazzini Cab Company (owned by his uncle Dom). Dom is in a feud with his brother, Mike. Nicky is engaged to Peachy but he is missing something so at the age of 30, he decides to follow his dream of acting and gets a job at Borelli's Theater. Within the cab company is a Western Union telegraph office where Hortense Mooney works. Nicky and Hortense find themselves impersonating a Italian officer and an attache to Eleanor Roosevelt.

As is typical of any Adriana Trigiani book, the characters are richly developed and you feel like you know them. I highly recommend this, and all of her books.

Kudos

Merissa (13643 KP) rated Birthrights (The Awakening Trilogy #1) in Books

Dec 17, 2018

This is the story of Caislyn and Jax, two very different women with attitude!

Jax has run away from an abusive relationship and started a new life. She considers herself wholly human in a world where the 'paranormal' exists.

Caislyn is a witch whose parents are missing and the world, including her lawyer, presume dead although she refuses to believe this.

Throw them together and what have you got? A fast-paced, punchy book that made me laugh with their humour and search along with them for answers. Vampires are "alive and kicking" in this book but are not, for once, in the hot seat but more a back seat driver which makes a nice change.

Will definitely be getting the second and third books in this series.

Kudos

Awix (3310 KP) rated Ikarie XB-1 (1963) in Movies

Jun 23, 2019 (Updated Jun 23, 2019)

Ikarie XB-1 (1963)

1963 | Sci-Fi

6.0

(1 Ratings)

Movie Rating

One of those movies which has clearly been influential but remains relatively little-seen, certainly in the original version. XB-1 and its crew (mostly good-looking young people, a few rugged old character actors, and a fairly dreadful robot prop) blast off for Alpha Centauri but must come to terms with the strains of long-haul spaceflight and various dangers (radiation, dangerous derelicts, and so on).

Arguably the missing link between Forbidden Planet and 2001: A Space Odyssey (yes, that's a bold claim), with a strange mixture of pulp SF tropes but also downbeat psychological realism. Notably good and interesting sets, photography, and a memorable avant-garde musical score too. The story is a bit episodic and not exactly pacey, but the rest of the film makes up for this.

Kudos

Barry Newman (204 KP) rated Snowpiercer (2013) in Movies

Feb 1, 2020

Snowpiercer (2013)

2013 | Sci-Fi

7.9

(59 Ratings)

Movie Rating

A film that had a very interesting sounding concept that could have been potentially explored really well in something exciting and challenging was unfortunately a massively wasted opportunity . Sadly I just found the film boring and uninspired and I got really fed up with looking at endless scenes of train carriage and snowy landscapes. The film had a great cast but managed to squander them and nobody puts in a particularly memorable performance. They must have blown the budget on the cast as the special effects also looked cheap and unrealistic . I don’t know if I’m missing something here as it has a reasonable imdb score but when I keep finding myself reaching for my phone to play with instead of looking at the screen you know something ain’t right.