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Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Shadow Lands ( The Warrior Chronicles 3) in Books
May 21, 2024
101 of 220
Kindle
Shadow Lands (The Warrior Chronicles 3)
By K.F. Breene
⭐️⭐️⭐️
In order to finally claim her title of Chosen and lead the Shadow People out of the Land of Mist, Shanti must make it through a century's old system to test her battle awareness, her fighting skill, and her ability to stay alive. She's about to enter The Trials, and she must do it alone.
Separated from Shanti on a dangerous island, Cayan must learn to use his mental skill while keeping his men safe from the people set out to kill them. But as more Inkna and Graygual flood the island, Cayan hears of a sinister force deep in the woods, rigging The Trials and killing any who venture too close.
It is now a race against time. The battle to become the Chosen has begun, and the victor is anything but decided.
Out of the 3 so far this one is the better of them. It had more story and the characters less annoying. I actually found myself liking it.
Kindle
Shadow Lands (The Warrior Chronicles 3)
By K.F. Breene
⭐️⭐️⭐️
In order to finally claim her title of Chosen and lead the Shadow People out of the Land of Mist, Shanti must make it through a century's old system to test her battle awareness, her fighting skill, and her ability to stay alive. She's about to enter The Trials, and she must do it alone.
Separated from Shanti on a dangerous island, Cayan must learn to use his mental skill while keeping his men safe from the people set out to kill them. But as more Inkna and Graygual flood the island, Cayan hears of a sinister force deep in the woods, rigging The Trials and killing any who venture too close.
It is now a race against time. The battle to become the Chosen has begun, and the victor is anything but decided.
Out of the 3 so far this one is the better of them. It had more story and the characters less annoying. I actually found myself liking it.
The Seers
Book
Shedding light unto the darkness overpowering the globe and all its elements, the Seers face a...
science fiction
ClareR (6054 KP) rated Fearless and Free: A Memoir by Josephine Baker in Books
Oct 14, 2025
Fearless and Free is a really interesting memoir, told through the interviews that journalist Marcel Sauvage had with Josephine Baker. And what a life she had!
Born in 1906, mixed race, Josephine made it from St. Louis to New York and then on to Paris - and she was still a teenager. She became famous in Paris for her banana dress in the Danse Sauvage, and she was also a jazz singer and an actress. During WW2 she was a spy, she loved animals, adopted children and donated to many causes.
This memoir ends in 1949, so we don’t get any details about her involvement in the Civil Rights movement, but we do see what happens when she travels home to the US - and it’s not good. Her reception is the complete opposite to the way she’s received in Europe.
When reading this, Josephine’s voice shines through. Her vivacious, fun, tenacious personality is there throughout, which does make up for the non-linear accounts.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
Born in 1906, mixed race, Josephine made it from St. Louis to New York and then on to Paris - and she was still a teenager. She became famous in Paris for her banana dress in the Danse Sauvage, and she was also a jazz singer and an actress. During WW2 she was a spy, she loved animals, adopted children and donated to many causes.
This memoir ends in 1949, so we don’t get any details about her involvement in the Civil Rights movement, but we do see what happens when she travels home to the US - and it’s not good. Her reception is the complete opposite to the way she’s received in Europe.
When reading this, Josephine’s voice shines through. Her vivacious, fun, tenacious personality is there throughout, which does make up for the non-linear accounts.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
ClareR (6054 KP) rated Our Evenings in Books
Nov 2, 2025
This is a beautifully written, thoroughly captivating read. I seem to have collected a number of Hollinghurst novels on my shelves and not read them - because I just knew I would love them. I did love Our Evenings, and now I need to get to it and read the others!
This is a coming of age story, and follows the life of Dave Win, a half Burmese actor. It starts when he wins a scholarship to a top boarding school. His widowed mother, a dressmaker, would never be able to afford to send him. The world is opened up to Dave - or is it?
This is a story of class, privilege, racism and Dave growing up to understand his homosexuality in a time where it was illegal. The contrast of his old school mate/ bully’s life of affluence and privilege as an MP, and his as a struggling actor (because of the lack of parts for mixed race actors) is stark.
It really is an excellent read and I’d recommend it wholeheartedly. I couldn’t, and didn’t want to, put it down.
This is a coming of age story, and follows the life of Dave Win, a half Burmese actor. It starts when he wins a scholarship to a top boarding school. His widowed mother, a dressmaker, would never be able to afford to send him. The world is opened up to Dave - or is it?
This is a story of class, privilege, racism and Dave growing up to understand his homosexuality in a time where it was illegal. The contrast of his old school mate/ bully’s life of affluence and privilege as an MP, and his as a struggling actor (because of the lack of parts for mixed race actors) is stark.
It really is an excellent read and I’d recommend it wholeheartedly. I couldn’t, and didn’t want to, put it down.
Broken Fates (Severed Flames #3)
10.0
Rate It
Book
Queen. Savior. Sacrifice. The realms are fracturing—and Vale Tenebris stands at the center of...
Fantasy Romance Reverse Harem Why Choose
Night Reader Reviews (683 KP) rated Rediscovering the Earth in Books
Feb 4, 2020
Honest Review for Free Copy of Book
Rediscovering the Earth by Michal Hall was a very quick read with a powerful message. This is a book full of both despair and hope that deserves to be read multiple times. It reminds me slightly of Voice of the Elders by Greg Ripley (the first book review I wrote).
The Earth is dying, humans and animals are going extinct quickly, and it is our fault. Humans have let our pride destroy our planet. Our belief that we can control everything and that we are better than even each other has destroyed our connection with other humans. Our pride, wars, and so-called technological advances have polluted the air and water, making it poisonous to humans, plants, and animals alike. In seeing plants and animals as inferior humans have selfishly destroyed entier ecosystems an wiped out species. Within one-hundred years or so humans will be completely gone as well.
This is where The Federation steps in. As a highly evolved alien race, they offer to help pull the human race back from the brink of extinction and at first, humans foolishly deny this help. Thankfully one man by the name of Carl, who is nothing special himself, takes it upon himself to advocate for the entire race. After many years of deliberation on the subject, The Federation decides to help. Even with their help, it takes around twenty years before any major difference is noticed and much longer before most of the damage is reversed. As humans learn a culture of love, humility, and connection to the Earth The Federation hopes humans will one day be able to join them.
Using a work of fiction to bring a serious problem to light is a wonderful idea and may help alert more people to the problem. Telling how help is almost denied because of how selfish and prideful humans are is a slap in the face that we would face destruction before the change. The book is a bit on the repetitive side, which is always disappointing but even more so with shorter books such as this one. I understand the repetitiveness is to drive home the point but it still could have been better. Also, I wish it was more detailed on how Earth went from being in so much trouble to be safe. It seems to make a large time jump in that area and I would have liked to see more of the transformative process.
There is nothing in this book that would be inappropriate for anyone. However, anyone younger than a middle schooler probably would not understand the powerful message in this book, and some middle school students might even miss it. Adults and those that truly love the Earth will enjoy this book and see it as hope. Others who are not as aware of our situation might see it as a wake-up call. I rate this book 3 out of 4. The book brilliantly delivers a very important message. Without holding anything back it shows just how much trouble the world is in but offers hope through change. I hope millions of people across the world get to read this book.
https://nightreaderreviews.blogspot.com
https://facebook.com/nightreaderreviews
https://smashbomb.com/nightreader
The Earth is dying, humans and animals are going extinct quickly, and it is our fault. Humans have let our pride destroy our planet. Our belief that we can control everything and that we are better than even each other has destroyed our connection with other humans. Our pride, wars, and so-called technological advances have polluted the air and water, making it poisonous to humans, plants, and animals alike. In seeing plants and animals as inferior humans have selfishly destroyed entier ecosystems an wiped out species. Within one-hundred years or so humans will be completely gone as well.
This is where The Federation steps in. As a highly evolved alien race, they offer to help pull the human race back from the brink of extinction and at first, humans foolishly deny this help. Thankfully one man by the name of Carl, who is nothing special himself, takes it upon himself to advocate for the entire race. After many years of deliberation on the subject, The Federation decides to help. Even with their help, it takes around twenty years before any major difference is noticed and much longer before most of the damage is reversed. As humans learn a culture of love, humility, and connection to the Earth The Federation hopes humans will one day be able to join them.
Using a work of fiction to bring a serious problem to light is a wonderful idea and may help alert more people to the problem. Telling how help is almost denied because of how selfish and prideful humans are is a slap in the face that we would face destruction before the change. The book is a bit on the repetitive side, which is always disappointing but even more so with shorter books such as this one. I understand the repetitiveness is to drive home the point but it still could have been better. Also, I wish it was more detailed on how Earth went from being in so much trouble to be safe. It seems to make a large time jump in that area and I would have liked to see more of the transformative process.
There is nothing in this book that would be inappropriate for anyone. However, anyone younger than a middle schooler probably would not understand the powerful message in this book, and some middle school students might even miss it. Adults and those that truly love the Earth will enjoy this book and see it as hope. Others who are not as aware of our situation might see it as a wake-up call. I rate this book 3 out of 4. The book brilliantly delivers a very important message. Without holding anything back it shows just how much trouble the world is in but offers hope through change. I hope millions of people across the world get to read this book.
https://nightreaderreviews.blogspot.com
https://facebook.com/nightreaderreviews
https://smashbomb.com/nightreader
Flight Alert : Impossible Landings Flight Simulator by Fun Games For Free
Games and Entertainment
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Feel like a HERO! face dangerous situations, land safely and save everyone! + Immersive scenarios:...
Endless Frontier Saga - RPG
Games
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Endless Frontier is the best in idle role playing games for commanding your army of knights in a...
BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated The Great Race (1965) in Movies
Jul 6, 2018
A fun throwback to 1920's Silent Film Farces
In a tribute to films of a bygone era, Director Blake Edwards pays homage to silent film farces of the 1920's - even dedicating this film to "Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy" - with the slapstick comedy THE GREAT RACE - and succeeds, mostly.
Reteaming Tony Curtis (as the brave, virtuous and good "The Great Leslie") and Jack Lemmon (as the sinister, dastardly and evil "Professor Fate"), The Great Race is great fun watching these two cartoon characters spar and parry with each other throughout the course of this 2 hour and 40 minute farce.
Lemmon, in particular, relishes in dual roles as the menacing Fate, always dressed in black, twirling his mustache and coming up with scheme after scheme to derail Leslie (think the Coyote in the RoadRunner cartoons). His overacting and hammyness in the character is perfect for the tone that this film has set. And his maniacal laugh is one to remember - unless you are remembering the childlike guffaws of the other character Lemmon portrays, the doppelganger of Fate, Crown Prince Frederick. Both these characters are fun to watch and Fate, especially, plays well against his bumbling assistant and foil, "Max", played in utter buffoonishness by the great Peter Falk.
Joining Curtis for the "good guys" is Natalie Wood as Suffragette and Newspaper
Reporter Maggie DuBois (obviously tailored after real life Suffragette and Newspaper Reporter Nellie Bly). It is said that Curtis and Wood did not get along on set (they had worked together in 2 other films and grew to dislike each other), but their on-screen chemistry cannot be ignored and they are fun together. As is the great Keenan Wynn as Leslie's mechanic and friend Hezekiah Sturdy.
But it is not the characters that makes this film go it is the set pieces and frenetic pacing that Director Edwards put before us. From thrilling chase scenes to a Western barroom brawl, to a trip through a blizzard with a polar bear to the "largest pie fight ever put on screen", this film delivers the goods in a wholesome, 1960's way that makes me truly say...
"They don't make 'em like this anymore".
8 out 10 stars and you can take that to the Bank (ofMarquis)
Reteaming Tony Curtis (as the brave, virtuous and good "The Great Leslie") and Jack Lemmon (as the sinister, dastardly and evil "Professor Fate"), The Great Race is great fun watching these two cartoon characters spar and parry with each other throughout the course of this 2 hour and 40 minute farce.
Lemmon, in particular, relishes in dual roles as the menacing Fate, always dressed in black, twirling his mustache and coming up with scheme after scheme to derail Leslie (think the Coyote in the RoadRunner cartoons). His overacting and hammyness in the character is perfect for the tone that this film has set. And his maniacal laugh is one to remember - unless you are remembering the childlike guffaws of the other character Lemmon portrays, the doppelganger of Fate, Crown Prince Frederick. Both these characters are fun to watch and Fate, especially, plays well against his bumbling assistant and foil, "Max", played in utter buffoonishness by the great Peter Falk.
Joining Curtis for the "good guys" is Natalie Wood as Suffragette and Newspaper
Reporter Maggie DuBois (obviously tailored after real life Suffragette and Newspaper Reporter Nellie Bly). It is said that Curtis and Wood did not get along on set (they had worked together in 2 other films and grew to dislike each other), but their on-screen chemistry cannot be ignored and they are fun together. As is the great Keenan Wynn as Leslie's mechanic and friend Hezekiah Sturdy.
But it is not the characters that makes this film go it is the set pieces and frenetic pacing that Director Edwards put before us. From thrilling chase scenes to a Western barroom brawl, to a trip through a blizzard with a polar bear to the "largest pie fight ever put on screen", this film delivers the goods in a wholesome, 1960's way that makes me truly say...
"They don't make 'em like this anymore".
8 out 10 stars and you can take that to the Bank (ofMarquis)
YA female Top Gun ... in space
*** Disclosure - I received a free advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ***
Sanderson's new series is a foray into proper sci-fi, but written for the Young Adult market (which should not be read as a bad thing, just something of a warning that for once any white middle-aged men might have to put some effort into thinking about how the main character might feel. Similar to his super-hero Steelheart series (also outwith his Cosmere univers), the story follows a young person who has had a hard life, has a dream to be something and has put every effort into learning the knowledge needed to achieve that, and just need a little luck to go their way. Sadly, Spensa is the daughter of renowned "coward" Chaser, a fighter pilot who fled the thick of battle against The Krell (a mysterious alien race who regularly attack the surface of the planet that has become the human race's last stand) and was shot down for his desertion. Spensa has to battle against all the odds to get a place on the flight training scheme and work hard to stay there.
The action sequences are decent and regularly spaced throughout the book, both in the simulator training scenes and the actual battle sequences.
The plot itself is fairly typical, and more or less the plot of the Hot Shots film, but in space. There was a tremendous amount of mystery surrounding aspects of the world the human race come to inhabit, and their alien attackers, which was rather clumsily all blurted out in a nonsense bit of exposition in the final 3 pages or so.
As with a lot of sci-fi, Sanderson gets quite bogged down in the made-up science and technology that might exist in the future and this, alongside some of the dialogue, was a little too geeky for my tastes (the use of Jerkface as an insult was cringeworthy the first time but is then used throughout the book).
All in all, a well told sci-fi tale that could easily be picked up by the YA audience but likewise should appeal to older sci-fi readers as well.
Sanderson's new series is a foray into proper sci-fi, but written for the Young Adult market (which should not be read as a bad thing, just something of a warning that for once any white middle-aged men might have to put some effort into thinking about how the main character might feel. Similar to his super-hero Steelheart series (also outwith his Cosmere univers), the story follows a young person who has had a hard life, has a dream to be something and has put every effort into learning the knowledge needed to achieve that, and just need a little luck to go their way. Sadly, Spensa is the daughter of renowned "coward" Chaser, a fighter pilot who fled the thick of battle against The Krell (a mysterious alien race who regularly attack the surface of the planet that has become the human race's last stand) and was shot down for his desertion. Spensa has to battle against all the odds to get a place on the flight training scheme and work hard to stay there.
The action sequences are decent and regularly spaced throughout the book, both in the simulator training scenes and the actual battle sequences.
The plot itself is fairly typical, and more or less the plot of the Hot Shots film, but in space. There was a tremendous amount of mystery surrounding aspects of the world the human race come to inhabit, and their alien attackers, which was rather clumsily all blurted out in a nonsense bit of exposition in the final 3 pages or so.
As with a lot of sci-fi, Sanderson gets quite bogged down in the made-up science and technology that might exist in the future and this, alongside some of the dialogue, was a little too geeky for my tastes (the use of Jerkface as an insult was cringeworthy the first time but is then used throughout the book).
All in all, a well told sci-fi tale that could easily be picked up by the YA audience but likewise should appeal to older sci-fi readers as well.