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I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I didn’t think it was capable for the series to get better. Haskell is such a talented writer and story teller that the second installment not only expands on the first, it enriches it. In this novel, we are treated to more in-depth look at the world and mythology, which are both intricate and original.

Plus I absolutely love Rio. She is a solid character, it’s hard to not like her. She has such a strong, dynamic personality, and yet we are allowed to see the inner workings of her mind where her insecurities are evident.

A steady paced novel with an interesting world and entertaining characters, Sanyare is an immediate favorite that I tend to follow to its end.
  
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ArecRain (8 KP) rated The Bride Gift in Books

Jan 18, 2018  
TB
The Bride Gift
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This novel was a delightful surprise. I really wasn’t in the mood for historical romance, but after reading this, I am stuck in historical romance mode trying to recapture the feeling I received from this novel.

The plot isn’t anything new to historical romance: heroine is married to hero against her will in order to protect her from someone/something and she eventually falls for him. Definitely not anything new by a long shot, but the characters and writing are what made this story for me.

I love the hero and heroine. They felt unique compared to characters in other historical romance heroes/heroines. They were tangible with realistic thoughts and actions. The male wasn’t misogynistic and, while the female was hot headed, she wasn’t annoyingly stubborn. They worked well together and I adored them.
  
I was really hoping that I would like this graphic novel but honestly it just fell flat for me. The concept of it could have been amazing. From the description I thought it would have been more of a graphic novel and less like a picture book. You would have one to two pages of text and then a drawing. It was nothing that I was expecting.

Unfortunately, the stories weren't even that spectacular nor did the drawings make up for it. At one point, a drawing was in the middle of the story and "spoiled" the ending which was just bad placement.

The pictures were okay but really nothing special. It was nothing spectacular.

All in all, It was okay. I probably won't pick up another book from this author.

*I received this book from NetGalley.
  
TK
The Karamazov Brothers
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Back to the Classics Reading Challenge 2017
Category: Russian Classic

This book took me a little while to get into, but once I got through the first few chapters, I was hooked! This is a long, philosophically dense book, but do not let that deter you. It is anything, but boring, and it will make you think. The main conflict in the novel is Faith vs Doubt. The characters are so dynamic that I believed they were real people. Definitely take your time reading this one. I read it in two months, and there is so much to it that I want to read it again. I think I will read a different translation every time. I actually regret that I can't read it in Russian. I would love to experience this novel in it's original glory.
  
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David McK (3562 KP) rated Backwards (Red Dwarf #4) in Books

Jan 28, 2019 (Updated Sep 17, 2019)  
Backwards (Red Dwarf #4)
Backwards (Red Dwarf #4)
Rob Grant | 1996 | Humor & Comedy, Science Fiction/Fantasy
5
7.2 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
The third Red Dwarf book, picking up from where the previous entry ('Better Than Life) left off, with Dave Lister on earth in an alternate reality where time runs backwards.

More so than either of the previous two books, this novel has a plot all of its own, with that plot containing elements of the TV show on which it is based. Nowhere is this more obvious than in the final portion of the book, which takes the episode 'Gunmen of the Apocalypse' as it's basis. The novel also has a role to play for 'Ace' Rimmer, tracing how his life differed from Arnold Rimmer's back to a single event in his childhood.

Written by only one of the two authors responsible for the previous books, this is also not quite as funny as either of those books.
  
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David McK (3562 KP) rated Armada in Books

Jan 30, 2019  
A
Armada
John Stack | 2012
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
John Stack seems to have a knack for choosing unusual settings.

His previous novels - <i>Ship of Rome</i>, <i>Captain of Rome</i> and <i>Masters of Rome</i> all concerned the Roman navy during the first Punic war against Carthage. While this novel is not part of that series, it also has another unusual setting: this time, that of the Spanish Armada.

While it does have an unusual setting, it also shares some similarites with those other books: again, the main protaganist of the novel is an outsider, this time a loyal Recusant (or practising, secret, Catholic) in the English navy compared to the Greek captain in the Roman navy of the <i>Masters of the Sea</i> series. Again, a large chunk of it takes place on sea, rather than on land. Again, it is an enjoyable read.
  
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Deborah (162 KP) rated Tides of War in Books

Dec 21, 2018  
TO
Tides of War
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I found this novel took a while to get in to, when I did I quite enjoyed it, but I'm not sure it's something that's going to stay with me.

The novel takes place predominantly during the Peninsular War, following both some of the soldiers and seeing how those in England cope with the situation. There were quite a few characters and quite a lot going on; I did feel that we never really got deep enough into any of the characters to really know them - really, my favourite was Racket the dog! It was the sort of book where I wanted to see how it ended, but didn't care enough about the characters to feel much about what happened to them - I felt they wren't developed enough and had revealed enough to the reader to earn my sympathy
  
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018)
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (2018)
2018 | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Terry Gilliam emerges victorious from his epic battle to the death with Miguel Cervantes' famous novel. Not quite the movie he famously never finished making with Johnny Depp, nearly twenty years ago, but a subtly different tale of a film director finding himself entangled in different versions of the Quixote story and, perhaps, looking for redemption.

After a slow and rambling start the film eventually becomes a charming, funny, and occasionally thrilling and moving adaptation (sort of) of the book - if it's picaresque and episodic, that's the nature of Quixote. The knowing wit and intelligence of the novel survive too. Strong performances, visually very impressive - the fact the film exists at all is remarkable, let alone that it's this good. Very reminiscent of Gilliam's movies from the 1980s: hugely imaginative, narratively chaotic, very individual, and equally easy to like.