Search

Search only in certain items:

Dead Island: The Book
Dead Island: The Book
Mark Morris | 2011 | Horror
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Contains spoilers, click to show
Welcome to the paradise island of Banoi, a luxury, tropical island where you can relax and not worry about anything. That is until a mysterious epidemic started to spread, an epidemic that brings the dead back to life as flesh eating zombies.
Dead Island: The Book is the novelisation of the video game of the same name (Dead Island).
The first couple of chapters introduce us to the four main protagonists of the game: Sam B, Logan and Purna meet on the plane one the way to Banoi and Xian Mei is the receptionist who books them in to the hotel. The we are treated to the first of many scenes that will be familiar the anyone who has played the game, a concert with Sam B as the main act, followed up by a zombie outbreak.
The story follows the four main protagonists and the people they meet as they travel around the island in search for help, a cure or a way off the island. On their way they must work out who they can trust and how to deal with those they can't.
Dead Island the book almost follows the first game but not riptide so the ending is slightly different, there also seemed to be more guns but that may just be because the narrative is more compressed in the novel as there are a lot less side quests.
  
Moana (2016)
Moana (2016)
2016 | Adventure, Animation, Comedy
"You're Welcome" >>> "How Far I'll Go", I said what I said 🤷‍♂️

Another overly-familiar, word-for-word rehash of *all* the exact same clichés from the Disney Machine with no real profundity or nuance to back up the convention. I mean even the title character the movie is named after has about as much depth as a piece of blank construction paper. That being said however, this is - what I can only describe as - terminally cute. In spite of all its heavily trod Disney-fying and formulaic cheese it's just so damn irresistible: eye-watering in how visually breathtaking it is with a handful of lively bops from Lin-Manuel Miranda who - politics aside - rarely ever misses a beat in the musical department. Treads water (no pun intended) for the first part with all the parroting of like 10 other movies from the company practically verbatim until the charming Maui shows up, who still represents the same sorts of tropes but complete with a clever design gimmick via the moving tattoos and gargantuan, blocky proportions; plus come on he's voiced by Dwayne Johnson - you can't *not* love him. The last half hour is more or less a wondrous technical showcase for peddling this beautiful, paradise-like animation and let me tell you it's a sight to see. Very funny too. Should hate it but don't, well done. 𝘡𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘱𝘪𝘢 smokes it, though.
  
    iDream - Sleep Maker

    iDream - Sleep Maker

    Lifestyle and Travel

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    FREE for a limited time! iDream helps you sleep. Choose from a selection of relaxing, neutral...

    Cooking Fever

    Cooking Fever

    Games and Entertainment

    10.0 (1 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    Cook delicious meals and desserts from all over the world in this FREE addictive time-management...

    Star Girl

    Star Girl

    Games and Lifestyle

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    App

    It’s YOUR time to shine like a star! Live a whole new life filled with beauty, fashion, and...

A Dish to Die for
A Dish to Die for
Lucy Burdette | 2022 | Mystery
5
5.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Murder on a Neighboring Key
Even when you live in paradise, you need a break. That’s why Hayley Snow is taking a few hours with her friend Eric and their dogs and heading to a beach on one of the nearby islands. However, the day takes a sad turn when Hayley’s dog finds a dead body half buried in the sand. The man was G.G. Garcia, a Key West developer who had a bad reputation. The local police think there is something suspicious about his death, and Hayley gets pulled into the investigation. Will she figure out what really happened?

I’ve fallen in love with Key West thanks to this series, and I was happy to be back. Sadly, the mystery was very weak. Even the characters got frustrated by their lack of progress throughout the book. Plus, the victim was a little too evil, with a few things that felt thrown in just to make other characters feel virtuous. The book gets a little dark and edgy for a cozy as well. Finally, there’s a subplot that comes across as half-baked, the characters involved definitely deserved better. On the other hand, I really did enjoy the location and the series regulars. Nathan, Hayley’s husband, gets some good development thanks to a visit from his estranged father. If you are new to the series, this isn’t the book for you, but fans will enjoy catching up with the characters.
  
The Protector (William Falkland #2)
The Protector (William Falkland #2)
S.J. Deas | 2022
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is the second - and, to date, last - of S.J. Deas's William Falkland series (after The Royalist, at the end of which, and having discharged his investigative duties to Cromwell, William Falkland returned home in search of his wife and family.

As this starts, he has yet to find them.

It's into far into the novel before Cromwell again pulls Falkland into his orbit, offering his (and, by extension, Parliament's) help in discovering just what happened to Falkland's family and where they may be (perhaps in Oxford, the King's new capital?) as the First Civil War draws to a close - help that is, of course, contingent upon Falkland again carrying out an investigation for Cromwell: this time into just what happened to the sister of a prominent supporter of Parliament who has disappeared (abducted?): one Anne Agar, this sister of John Milton.

Yes, that John Milton. The author of Paradise Lost. Although that is never once mentioned here - I think (am nearly sure that) the setting here may be before he wrote that poem.

Once again, the narrative is told in the first-person view, with - once again - a warts-and-all picture given of life at the time, and with Falkland being both incredibly astute and incredibly blind at the same time! In other words, coming across as a 'real' person rather than as a literary construct.

I'm now going to go on record as saying: more, please!