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David McK (3600 KP) rated Dauntless (The Lost Fleet, #1) in Books

Jan 30, 2019

Dauntless (The Lost Fleet, #1)

Jack Campbell | 2006 | Science Fiction/Fantasy

8.0

(3 Ratings)

Book Rating

While I doubt this novel is going to win any awards for literature, I have to say that it is a good enough read: not brilliant, but not terrible either.

Written by a ex-navy man, it's easy to see the influnece of his career in the pages: this is 'real' science-fiction, not science-fantasy, with the space battles obeying the laws of physics as we know them. The plot outline is also somewhat remniscient of the new series of BattleStar Galactica, with a smaller rag-tag force being chased by a numerically superior foe. Ironically, this book was first released at around the same time as that series came on TV, with (in this edition) the author claiming that that WAS NOT an inspiration (in the interview at the end), as if he'd been thinking of BSG it woud've been the older series.

With the way the book opens I must also admit that, at first, I thought I'd missed something: the best corollary I can think of is as if the film Aliens (that's the one with the 'S') had started without the whole prologue of them finding Ripleys life pod: you'd be able to infer what had happened, but would be feeling a bit lost at first.

Kudos

Sara Cox (1845 KP) rated Plastic Sucks! You Can Make a Difference in Books

Jul 8, 2019

Plastic Sucks! You Can Make a Difference

Dougie Poynter | 2019 | Children, Education, Science & Mathematics

9.0

(1 Ratings)

Book Rating

Just wow! What an inspiring book. This book is aimed at young people and it is written perfectly for them. The language is set at just the right level. It tackles difficult aspects at a level kids will understand. It includes information boxes to explain some science, which are simplified yet accurate (I'm a science teacher and vouch for them 😉). The best part of this book, I think, is the part of ways you can swap plastics out in different rooms of your house. I am definitely inspired. I also liked the section that described the different types of plastics and how easy or difficult they are to recycle. However, I do feel that the cluster of interviews towards the end may seem a little tedious for the target audience. When, nearer the beginning of the book, the interviews were scattered I feel that children will be more likely to read them. I know it must be hard to have so many inspirational people that have so many amazing things to say and include them all, and they really did say some amazing things. I'm hoping I can get a copy of this for the school library as soon as!

What will you swap out?

Kudos

Sarah (7800 KP) rated Cube 2: Hypercube (2002) in Movies

Apr 5, 2020

A little too out there

The first Cube film for me was always an underrated low budget cult classic, and definitely a precursor for the likes of Saw etc. The original was a great idea with just enough maths and science to make it believable and not completely ridiculous. Sadly the same can’t be said about this sequel.

They’ve gone far too over the top on the science that whilst it does make some sense, it makes the whole idea of the cube a completely silly and ridiculous idea. And the ending itself as far as the cube goes is just laughably bizarre. There’s also the general plot and story, which seems to have left out all of the bits from the original that made it interesting - like the scary traps and numbered doors. Some of the characters are interesting, others are just carbon copies from the original or completely pointless and forgettable. You can tell they’ve got a bigger budget with the amount of CGI in this, it’s just a shame it’s rather poor and lacks the punch of the physical traps used in the original.

This is a rather sorry excuse for a sequel, and not one I’d recommend watching. The third film and prequel Cube Zero is a much better watch.