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With a Vengeance
With a Vengeance
4
4.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
All right. I've had enough. I'm DNF'ing this book. It's been 14 days and I'm just over half way through,which is ridiculous for me, paperback or e-book. If I'm into a book I get them done within a week. If not, it drags, like this one.

When I got this off Amazon, the description sounded like something right up my street, and it was for about the first 100 pages or so...but now it's gone on a wild tangent and I've just lost interest. It's no longer grabbing me and I'm fed up of trying. Hence my DNF.

Not for me.
  
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
1984 | Action, Adventure

"Number two would be The Temple of Doom, because when I was a kid I was obsessed with Raiders of the Lost Ark. It was, like, my favorite movie. As soon as I saw it I was like, “This movie is amazing.” I was so obsessed with it, and my parents… I don’t know if they knew there was Temple of Doom or if they just didn’t want me to see it because it was a little, like, edgier. Indiana Jones was my life. And then I remember at school one time someone said, “Oh, what about the other movie?” And the idea that there was another movie that I was unaware of was, like, nothing has been more of a shocking reveal since that day. And so I went and tracked down that movie, and what’s really amazing about that movie is it totally defies genre constraints. That movie is totally bonkers and totally sincere. It doesn’t really fit into any genre category. That’s what I always found so amazing and inspiring about that movie. It just seemed like this movie is so great, so any movie could be, like anything is possible. Because in this movie, people’s hearts are getting ripped out, and they’re closing up and then they’re still alive, and children are being enslaved by these sort of like ancient Indian mystical people, and they’re trying to find these stones that, put together, have powers, and there’s famine in the village, and they jump out of a plane on a raft, and everything is so turned up in that movie that it just — all the way down to the mine car race — it’s like one of the most awe-inspiring action or adventure movies I’ve ever seen. Yet it’s still totally grounded in the world of, like, this relatable character. I think that movie shows that a lot of other movies aren’t trying hard enough. Because, even the monkey brains part, it’s just such a memorable movie, it’s so bonkers, and yet it never feels like a joke, it always feels sincere. That to me was like, wow, you can do all these really fantastical elements in movies and you can still take them seriously and it works."

Source
  
The Forgotten Kingdom (The Lost Queen Trilogy #2)
The Forgotten Kingdom (The Lost Queen Trilogy #2)
Signe Pike | 2020 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
6.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Better than book 1
I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest review. The opinions are entirely my own, and any quotes are taken from the ARC and may be different in the final published copy.

The Forgotten Kingdom by Signe Pike is the 2nd novel in The Lost Queen Trilogy. To give a fair review, I read the first book, The Lost Queen.

This novel is told by 3 points of view, unlike the 1st novel, which had two. We continue to follow Langoureth and Lailoken and are introduced to Langoureth's daughter, Angharad.

The Forgotten Kingdom opens with Languoreth still locked in her chamber, awaiting news of her husband and son who have ridden to wage war with her brother, the love of her life, and the rest of the Dragon Warriors. While you could start reading the trilogy with this part, Pike beautifully sets up the world, allies, and enemies in book one. Reading it would give a clear understanding of the actions in book two.

Rarely does it happen, but I enjoyed this sequel more than book one. Pike's writing is detailed but not overly done. She built a vibrant world that is as magical as the characters within.

Unlike book one, the story could end after book 2, but with the introduction of Arthur to Merlin, who would want it to stop? Goodreads does not list a release date for book three.

This 200-word review was published on Philomathinphila.com on 9/24/20.
  
40x40

Connor Sheffield (293 KP) created a post

May 24, 2017  
Wonderland

Lost in a world of Hatters and Hares
Tea cups and tea pots
And different size chairs
Rabbits in waistcoats
Madness looms near
You're late young Alice
Sit down my dear
 
Curiouser and curiouser
And who would ever think
That a cake could make you grow
And a liquid could make you shrink!
 
Cats can smile
And vanish without a trace
Every creature can talk
Every flower has a face
This is the place
Where nothing is more exciting
Than a jolly caucus race!
 
Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum
They just want to have fun
They're two of a kind
Both have lost their minds
But then again...
We're all mad here
That's the way it should be
So come and join the party
Sit down and drink some tea!



- Connor J Sheffield


This is one of my happier poems. A lot of my poetry is dark and Gothic horror but I am trying to write more upbeat poetry and the first one I ever really wrote that wasn't horrifying or dark was this. Inspired, as if it isn't obvious, by Through The Looking Glass/Alice In Wonderland.
     
WF
Whistle for the Crows
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Whistle for the Crows was a very easy read that quickly took my attention and held it until I could not put the book down. Gothics are generally predictable, and although I don't think this one proved much differently, the characters and plot were interesting, plus I liked that it was a contemporary set in the sixties instead of further back.

Cathleen Lamb is the English protagonist who takes a job as a secretary and researcher to an elderly woman at an Irish castle. Six months previously she had lost her husband and infant daughter to a car accident, so she's looking for a change that will help ease the pain. Living in the castle with the woman's grown niece and nephews, all of whom are a strange and mysterious bunch who seem to be hiding the truth of the eldest son's death. Cathleen hears a strange cry one night and investigates, the beginning of the mystery she is soon drawn into. Without giving anything away, of course she finds herself in the midst of a love triangle with the two brothers, which was done in a way that was believable to the situation and didn't overwhelm the plot. The story was well-constructed and paced, so nothing felt unnecessary or out of place. I had great fun with the book, excepting the gypsy bashing that went on, and would recommend it to those who like Gothics and mysteries.
<i>3.5 to 4 stars</i>