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David McK (3935 KP) rated Midnight Falcon (The Rigante, #2) in Books

Sep 26, 2025  
Midnight Falcon (The Rigante, #2)
Midnight Falcon (The Rigante, #2)
David Gemmell | 1999 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
The second of David Gemmell's Rigante stories, this one is pretty much a direct follow-on from Sword in the Storm, but now following Connavar's illegitimate son Bane instead of Connavar himself.

As before, it's also very much a Scottish highlands / Rome type of deal, with Band initially driven out of his homeland and travelling to the city of Stone (very much 'our' Rome in its Julius Caesar heyday) where he becomes a Gladiator, all so he can get revenge on the man he believes has killed the love of his life (met after being driven out).

Of course, as a Gemmell work, it's not as simple as that, with the finale of this 'tying back' to the very beginning of the previous work.

As with pretty much all Gemmell, well worth a read.
  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated The Viking Queen (1967) in Movies

Mar 1, 2018 (Updated Mar 2, 2018)  
The Viking Queen (1967)
The Viking Queen (1967)
1967 | Action, Drama, International
5
6.0 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Wildly historically inaccurate, wholly absurd Hammer exploitation movie based on the events of the Iceni revolt led by Boudicca in 1st-century Britain. Roman governor (American) falls unconvincingly for Briton queen (Finnish); their imminent marriage promises to be bad for the business of the local merchants and their corrupt ally, a Roman general (Scottish), so a conflict is provoked, leading to rebellion...

Problems are mostly with the script, which appears to be only vaguely familiar with the concept of historical research, although a lot of the acting and staging is also pretty poor. Some usually reliable actors (Andrew Keir, Patrick Troughton) do the best they can with the material they're given. Probably best viewed as a high-camp piece of unintentional comedy. The widely-circulated story that one of the Roman actors can be seen wearing a wristwatch appears to be apocryphal.
  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated Tell It to the Bees (2019) in Movies

Jul 24, 2019 (Updated Jul 25, 2019)  
Tell It to the Bees (2019)
Tell It to the Bees (2019)
2019 | Drama, Romance
5
6.5 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Well-staged hats-and-ciggies period drama struggles to find anything new to say, or indeed to surprise or engage in any way. Much-put-upon single mum (Grainger) meets newly-arrived town doctor (Paquin) in a laborious cute-meet; what follows you can probably write for yourself, with the exception of a really weird climax involving bees (the bees are a sort of motif throughout, but it's still weird).

Reasonably good acting, although Paquin's attempt at a Scottish accent is not particularly easy on the ear. The problem is that the film is deeply predictable and not especially subtle (the girl-on-girl stuff is classily handled, though). I found it quite heavy going; the bit with the magic bees is a genuine 'You WHAT?' moment bafflingly at odds with the dour realism of much of the rest of the film.
  
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Eleanor (1463 KP) rated Dying Light (Logan McRae #2) in Books

Feb 6, 2020  
Dying Light (Logan McRae #2)
Dying Light (Logan McRae #2)
Stuart MacBride | 2006 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Thriller
8
8.3 (4 Ratings)
Book Rating
A successful return of this gritty Scottish police procedural.
I feel I could just copy a lot from my review of the first book in this series; Cold Granite. This was like tuning in to the second series of a program you liked and they haven’t changed much - thankfully. We still have a gloomy atmosphere but this time we are facing an arsonist and a dog killer so still horrific on the crime front. We have a police investigation, some internal politics and a bit of banter. All feels very BBC post 9pm drama and I loved listening to Steve Worsley’s narration in the audiobook version.

We do get a lot more of DI Steel in this book and this is welcome as she’s a vivid character. Can’t wait for the next season oh wait book I meant next book……….