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Kristy H (1252 KP) rated This Is Where It Ends in Books
Feb 13, 2018
On a chilly day, the principal of Opportunity High School is giving a speech to her students, kicking off the new semester. The majority of the school is gathered in the auditorium, listening to her speak. As she finishes, they prepare to head to their next class, but the doors are stuck. Then, suddenly, someone begins to shoot.
The book is told from the viewpoint of a handful of kids (four) from Opportunity High and basically unfolds in less than a hour -- the time it takes for a horrific tragedy to fall upon their school and community. We hear from Sylvia and her twin brother Tomas. We also get the perspective of Autumn, Sylvia's best friend, who is struggling with the death of her mother and her abusive father, all the while watching her brother, Tyler, an Opportunity High dropout, drift away from her. Finally, we see things from Claire's perspective; a member of the track team - Claire is outside practicing when the tragedy begins, but worried about her brother Matt, who is inside.
I read this book in a few hours - its short time span makes it terrifying and you want to speed through to find out what happens to these kids. It's an all too horrifying and realistic account of what can happen with school shootings (and beware, some of the descriptions can be very graphic). The interwoven stories of the kids do a good job of telling the story and portraying the strong bond of family and friendship that can exist -- especially at the hyper-sensitive stage of high school, where everything truly does seem like life or death sometimes.
There's an added LGBT angle to this story, which is a nice twist, as it's very natural to the book. The kids' tales, overall, seem true to their voices, but some of the writing is stilted and tough to read (not from the subject matter, but the way it's written). The author overuses the play on words with "opportunity" far too much - it would have been better to just let the story play itself out. We get the parallels - no need to spell them out (over and over and over) for us.
Still, this is a powerful book - it's heartbreakingly lovely, really, and will leave you hoping and praying that no more children *ever* have to go through this experience. It's a worthy read, even if it leaves you hurting, but I would make sure you talk about it in detail with your teens. It's a tough subject matter that needs to be discussed.
(I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.)
The book is told from the viewpoint of a handful of kids (four) from Opportunity High and basically unfolds in less than a hour -- the time it takes for a horrific tragedy to fall upon their school and community. We hear from Sylvia and her twin brother Tomas. We also get the perspective of Autumn, Sylvia's best friend, who is struggling with the death of her mother and her abusive father, all the while watching her brother, Tyler, an Opportunity High dropout, drift away from her. Finally, we see things from Claire's perspective; a member of the track team - Claire is outside practicing when the tragedy begins, but worried about her brother Matt, who is inside.
I read this book in a few hours - its short time span makes it terrifying and you want to speed through to find out what happens to these kids. It's an all too horrifying and realistic account of what can happen with school shootings (and beware, some of the descriptions can be very graphic). The interwoven stories of the kids do a good job of telling the story and portraying the strong bond of family and friendship that can exist -- especially at the hyper-sensitive stage of high school, where everything truly does seem like life or death sometimes.
There's an added LGBT angle to this story, which is a nice twist, as it's very natural to the book. The kids' tales, overall, seem true to their voices, but some of the writing is stilted and tough to read (not from the subject matter, but the way it's written). The author overuses the play on words with "opportunity" far too much - it would have been better to just let the story play itself out. We get the parallels - no need to spell them out (over and over and over) for us.
Still, this is a powerful book - it's heartbreakingly lovely, really, and will leave you hoping and praying that no more children *ever* have to go through this experience. It's a worthy read, even if it leaves you hurting, but I would make sure you talk about it in detail with your teens. It's a tough subject matter that needs to be discussed.
(I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.)
LilyLovesIndie (123 KP) rated Skylark (Skylark, #1) in Books
Nov 5, 2018
Read the latest version of this review over on Ramble Media here http://www.ramblemedia.com/?p=20184
I have received this book through the Goodreads First Read Giveaway and I am very grateful for being given the opportunity to read and review.
This is a stunning book, following the plight of sixteen year old Lark who is trying to escape from the oppression and danger of 'the City'.
Firstly, I have to admit, that when I first opened this book and began to read I was worried about whether the pace and dynamic start would be sustained throughout. The book starts with a bang, and without spoiling it, the pace doesn't slow one bit as you continue through the story. The story develops naturally, with a good speed that leaves you enough 'time' to absorb the events, but doesn't dilly dally over the delivery of the plot. I honestly could not put this book down, it was gripping from start to finish.
A further great fact about this book is how believable it is. I read a lot of young adult fiction, purely because sometimes you just need an escape from your own world and I'm yet to find a genre that delivers that on tap as easily as this one. The dystopian society, hidden worlds behind a wall, 'shadow men' and all the other delicate additions make this world, whilst truly terrifying at times, entirely believable. In fact, I had nightmares one night about the shadow people!
The romance between Lark and Oren, and Lark and Kris and the way these relationships develop is fantastically written. Lark is a great character, very likeable (to me at least) as I can understand how she feels and relate to her. The fact she is so naive and unaware of the motives of Kris, and to an extent Oren, is a very endearing quality, and her development, helped by these two potential romances, is very well written and again, as with the rest of the book, very believable.
In conclusion, Spooner has creatively and imaginatively breathed new life into this much loved genre, creating a new heroine, dilemma and romances. I could spend hours talking about how wonderful I found this book, and how much I'm already looking forward to reading the rest of the series, but I would be wasting the time you could be spending hitting the 'to read' button and going and buying it from somewhere. Honestly, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It's a true breath of fresh air in this genre, clearing the way for more new authors like Spooner to share their creative brilliance. And on that note, what are you still doing reading me? Go read the book and see for yourself!
I have received this book through the Goodreads First Read Giveaway and I am very grateful for being given the opportunity to read and review.
This is a stunning book, following the plight of sixteen year old Lark who is trying to escape from the oppression and danger of 'the City'.
Firstly, I have to admit, that when I first opened this book and began to read I was worried about whether the pace and dynamic start would be sustained throughout. The book starts with a bang, and without spoiling it, the pace doesn't slow one bit as you continue through the story. The story develops naturally, with a good speed that leaves you enough 'time' to absorb the events, but doesn't dilly dally over the delivery of the plot. I honestly could not put this book down, it was gripping from start to finish.
A further great fact about this book is how believable it is. I read a lot of young adult fiction, purely because sometimes you just need an escape from your own world and I'm yet to find a genre that delivers that on tap as easily as this one. The dystopian society, hidden worlds behind a wall, 'shadow men' and all the other delicate additions make this world, whilst truly terrifying at times, entirely believable. In fact, I had nightmares one night about the shadow people!
The romance between Lark and Oren, and Lark and Kris and the way these relationships develop is fantastically written. Lark is a great character, very likeable (to me at least) as I can understand how she feels and relate to her. The fact she is so naive and unaware of the motives of Kris, and to an extent Oren, is a very endearing quality, and her development, helped by these two potential romances, is very well written and again, as with the rest of the book, very believable.
In conclusion, Spooner has creatively and imaginatively breathed new life into this much loved genre, creating a new heroine, dilemma and romances. I could spend hours talking about how wonderful I found this book, and how much I'm already looking forward to reading the rest of the series, but I would be wasting the time you could be spending hitting the 'to read' button and going and buying it from somewhere. Honestly, I cannot recommend this book highly enough. It's a true breath of fresh air in this genre, clearing the way for more new authors like Spooner to share their creative brilliance. And on that note, what are you still doing reading me? Go read the book and see for yourself!
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Lee (2222 KP) rated Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019) in Movies
Jul 3, 2019
I think I was one of the few people that was ultimately disappointed by Spider-Man: Homecoming. After Spider-Man's impressive and thrilling introduction to the Marvel universe during Captain America: Civil War, I felt Homecoming to be somewhat lacking - set pieces that had already been shown in the trailer, bigger set pieces that were difficult to follow on screen and, to quote my review, "too much awkward teen, not enough action hero". I even used the phrase "superhero fatigue", which funnily enough is a phrase currently being bandied around by some for this next Spider-Man venture, Far From Home, particularly in the wake of the intense Avengers: Endgame earlier this year. So, let's just say I was cautiously optimistic heading in to see this movie.
We kick off with a brief introduction to what will dominate the rest of the movie - Nick Fury and Maria Hill arrive in Mexico, where "a cyclone with a face" has completely destroyed a small town. As this new threat returns to wreak even more havoc, a mysterious new hero arrives to face it square on in battle, dramatically declaring to the startled S.H.I.E.L.D agents, "you don't want any part of this". From there, we switch to a lighthearted wrap up of the devastating events surrounding Infinity War/Endgame, in the form of an amateur high school news report. Mourning the loss of fallen heroes (accompanied by Whitney Houston singing 'I Will Always Love You'!), the report goes on to explain how "The Blip" - the term many are using to describe the effects of the 5 year period where half of the population were wiped from existence. Having the population age 5 years while the returning half haven't aged at all naturally has humorous consequences when it comes to students and their school life, but essentially humanity has managed to move on and has learnt to deal with it. Someone who is struggling to move on though, particularly from the loss of mentor/surrogate father, Tony Stark, is young Peter Parker. Desperately in need of a summer vacation, and a break from being Spider-Man, Parker cannot wait to join the rest of his friends, and crucially MJ (Zendaya), on an upcoming school trip which will take them to various European destinations.
But there's no chance of any kind of break for Spider-Man just yet, as Nick Fury has other plans for him. Peter does the unthinkable though and ignores the many phone calls from Fury, until he eventually tracks him down for a face to face meeting in his Venice hotel room. Since the incident in Mexico, S.H.I.E.L.D have been working with the mysterious new hero, Quentin Beck, or 'Mysterio' as he has now been dubbed, and Peter (along with us) are now brought up to speed on the origins of Quentin and these new global threats. Quentin actually comes from an alternate Earth where these creatures, known as The Elementals (monstrous versions of wind, fire, water and air), were responsible for the destruction of not only his world but his entire family too. The most powerful Elemental, fire, is yet to appear on our Earth and Mysterio, along with the help of S.H.I.E.L.D and Spider-Man, need to locate and stop it before it becomes too powerful for them to defeat.
Peter isn't initially interested though, being more concerned about jeopardising his school trip and exposing his identity, not to mention ruining his chances of finally hooking up with MJ. So, the rest of the movie nicely splits itself between teen high school banter/comedy drama and international superhero action. Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) features prominently throughout the movie, helping to guide and mentor Peter in the absence of his old boss Tony Stark, and providing plenty of comic relief along the way too. He also passes onto Peter, a gift from Tony Stark - a pair of Jarvis-like talking shades called EDITH (Even Dead I'm The Hero!) - which initially act as a funny and poignant accessory for Peter, but proves to be a hugely important part of how the rest of the movie plays out.
Beyond that, I'm struggling to avoid spoilers. And there are a lot of them. If you're familiar with the comics though (and despite having some vague familiarity with them, I'd completely forgotten everything!), you'll be able to predict a lot of what comes next anyway. But, once again, I have to say how amazed I am that Marvel managed to produce trailers for this movie which not only mislead you into believing that you know exactly which direction this movie is heading in, but also feature scenes which aren't in the final movie! As a result, I found Far From Home to be a truly wonderful surprise, and even if you know how it's all going to play out, you should still manage to get a huge amount of enjoyment from seeing the masters of storytelling at work yet again. This movie gave me Endgame-level thrills and goose-bump moments, over and over again throughout. Visually, it's outstanding - with impressive action scenes and trippy sequences the likes of which we haven't seen since Doctor Strange. Jake Gyllenhaal is perfect as Mysterio too, really bringing the character to life, and by the end of it all I was just completely blown away. So when the mid credit sequence hit, opening up some shocking possibilities for future movies, I was almost hyperventilating with excitement!
We kick off with a brief introduction to what will dominate the rest of the movie - Nick Fury and Maria Hill arrive in Mexico, where "a cyclone with a face" has completely destroyed a small town. As this new threat returns to wreak even more havoc, a mysterious new hero arrives to face it square on in battle, dramatically declaring to the startled S.H.I.E.L.D agents, "you don't want any part of this". From there, we switch to a lighthearted wrap up of the devastating events surrounding Infinity War/Endgame, in the form of an amateur high school news report. Mourning the loss of fallen heroes (accompanied by Whitney Houston singing 'I Will Always Love You'!), the report goes on to explain how "The Blip" - the term many are using to describe the effects of the 5 year period where half of the population were wiped from existence. Having the population age 5 years while the returning half haven't aged at all naturally has humorous consequences when it comes to students and their school life, but essentially humanity has managed to move on and has learnt to deal with it. Someone who is struggling to move on though, particularly from the loss of mentor/surrogate father, Tony Stark, is young Peter Parker. Desperately in need of a summer vacation, and a break from being Spider-Man, Parker cannot wait to join the rest of his friends, and crucially MJ (Zendaya), on an upcoming school trip which will take them to various European destinations.
But there's no chance of any kind of break for Spider-Man just yet, as Nick Fury has other plans for him. Peter does the unthinkable though and ignores the many phone calls from Fury, until he eventually tracks him down for a face to face meeting in his Venice hotel room. Since the incident in Mexico, S.H.I.E.L.D have been working with the mysterious new hero, Quentin Beck, or 'Mysterio' as he has now been dubbed, and Peter (along with us) are now brought up to speed on the origins of Quentin and these new global threats. Quentin actually comes from an alternate Earth where these creatures, known as The Elementals (monstrous versions of wind, fire, water and air), were responsible for the destruction of not only his world but his entire family too. The most powerful Elemental, fire, is yet to appear on our Earth and Mysterio, along with the help of S.H.I.E.L.D and Spider-Man, need to locate and stop it before it becomes too powerful for them to defeat.
Peter isn't initially interested though, being more concerned about jeopardising his school trip and exposing his identity, not to mention ruining his chances of finally hooking up with MJ. So, the rest of the movie nicely splits itself between teen high school banter/comedy drama and international superhero action. Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) features prominently throughout the movie, helping to guide and mentor Peter in the absence of his old boss Tony Stark, and providing plenty of comic relief along the way too. He also passes onto Peter, a gift from Tony Stark - a pair of Jarvis-like talking shades called EDITH (Even Dead I'm The Hero!) - which initially act as a funny and poignant accessory for Peter, but proves to be a hugely important part of how the rest of the movie plays out.
Beyond that, I'm struggling to avoid spoilers. And there are a lot of them. If you're familiar with the comics though (and despite having some vague familiarity with them, I'd completely forgotten everything!), you'll be able to predict a lot of what comes next anyway. But, once again, I have to say how amazed I am that Marvel managed to produce trailers for this movie which not only mislead you into believing that you know exactly which direction this movie is heading in, but also feature scenes which aren't in the final movie! As a result, I found Far From Home to be a truly wonderful surprise, and even if you know how it's all going to play out, you should still manage to get a huge amount of enjoyment from seeing the masters of storytelling at work yet again. This movie gave me Endgame-level thrills and goose-bump moments, over and over again throughout. Visually, it's outstanding - with impressive action scenes and trippy sequences the likes of which we haven't seen since Doctor Strange. Jake Gyllenhaal is perfect as Mysterio too, really bringing the character to life, and by the end of it all I was just completely blown away. So when the mid credit sequence hit, opening up some shocking possibilities for future movies, I was almost hyperventilating with excitement!
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