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LeftSideCut (3776 KP) rated American Horror Story - Season 1 in TV

Aug 29, 2019 (Updated Sep 17, 2019)

The start of something weird and (sometimes) wonderful

I recently convinced my partner to watch Game of Thrones (she loved it in case you were worried) and the deal was, when we were done with GoT, we would watch one of her favourite shows - American Horror Story.

As we sat down to watch the first season (often referred to as Murder House) of this anthology style series, I wasn't too sure what to expect, but I ended up really enjoying our time with the Harmons.

The season has a suitably creepy tone throughout, and a plot line that keeps you in the dark with what happens throughout, and a pretty impressive amount of violence and horror effects.

The huge positive about this show though is obviously the ensemble cast.
Evan Peters, Taissa Farmiga, Frances Conroy, and Jessica Lange in particular all carve in some really memorable parts to the overall series.
Sarah Paulson doesn't star too much in season 1, but her short time is a nice taster for the important roles she will play moving forwards.

The overall tone can be campy and hammy at times, but that balance throughout Murder House is pretty good.
We ended up watching the whole season in a couple of nights, and I'm glad that I let AHS into my viewing life 👍

Kudos

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2532 KP) rated A Chorus Lineup in Books

Jul 31, 2020

Competitions Are Murder

The high school show choir Paige Marshall has been coaching has been invited to the national finals in Nashville. She expects that only complication will be the career making audition back home in Chicago she’s been invited to in the middle of the competition. But that’s before someone sabotages all the team’s costumes and band instruments. Then a murder takes place. Can Paige figure out what is going on?

It's been years since I read the first two books in this series, but I was soon back in Paige’s world thanks to reminders in the text about what had happened before. Some of them do get spoilery, so keep that in mind if you are interested in the series. Thanks to the references, I was able to fully appreciate the character growth in the regulars we saw here. The new characters were just as strong. The plot was good and kept me guessing. I was surprised by a sub-plot that took over in the final quarter, completely slowing down the momentum. But we are then flung back into the mystery for a climax that had me turning pages while it successfully wrapped everything up. It also wrapped up these characters’ arcs, so fans of this series will be able to walk away satisfied with the time we’ve spent with them.

Kudos

Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2532 KP) rated The Study of Secrets in Books

May 27, 2020

Sabbatical with Murder

Lila Maclean has been taking a fall semester sabbatical, staying with family friend Bibi Callahan while finishing up her book on mystery author Isabella Dare. She’s become friends with the people in Bibi’s life, so she is delighted to join them one night for a book discussion of the first Isabella Dare mystery. The night, which starts as fun and laughs, ends in tragedy when one of the women is murdered. Bibi asks Lila to figure out what is going on, but the present seems to be fed by secrets from the past. Which one of them lead to murder?

After the way the previous book in the series ended, I couldn’t wait to dive in and see what would happen next. I was well rewarded. The mystery starts quickly and is strong with some twists I didn’t expect and a logical climax. The timeline was a bit squishy, but it didn’t impact the story itself – this is just a personal pet peeve. The characters are strong, making us care about the story and the outcome. A sub-plot involving Lila’s personal life felt a bit rushed, but I still liked how it ended. This book is set during the Christmas season, and those elements added a fun, festive nature to the story. The charming characters and engrossing plot made the pages fly by all too quickly.