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Goddess in the Stacks (553 KP) rated Above the Timberline in Books
May 22, 2019
I'm calling this a graphic novel because that's really what it is - it's not a comic, though. Each spread of pages is a mixture of text and oil painting - sometimes just a painting.
If it was just the text, it would be a very lackluster book. There are aspects of the story that are unexplained, and aspects that are explained only by the accompanying paintings. It's really the paintings that make this book unique. It's almost like - an adult picture book, I suppose. It actually reads more like someone found the series of paintings and constructed a story to support what they imagined was happening in the pictures.
Regardless, it's a unique experience. Manchess is a remarkable artist. The paintings are gorgeous, and the book does that thing where the text and art play around each other on the page, creating unique formatting that helps tell the story on its own, like when a full two-page spread of a painting has two lines of text to emphasize them.
Fascinating, beautiful book.
If it was just the text, it would be a very lackluster book. There are aspects of the story that are unexplained, and aspects that are explained only by the accompanying paintings. It's really the paintings that make this book unique. It's almost like - an adult picture book, I suppose. It actually reads more like someone found the series of paintings and constructed a story to support what they imagined was happening in the pictures.
Regardless, it's a unique experience. Manchess is a remarkable artist. The paintings are gorgeous, and the book does that thing where the text and art play around each other on the page, creating unique formatting that helps tell the story on its own, like when a full two-page spread of a painting has two lines of text to emphasize them.
Fascinating, beautiful book.
Rhubarbio (27 KP) rated King of New York in Tabletop Games
May 26, 2019
Easy to learn (3 more)
Dice rolls give multiple options
Provides a game board, where King of Tokyo is lacking
Expands on King of Tokyo, by providing additional features
Lovely dice roller
This game is the successor to King of Tokyo, a game is beloved by many. Whilst I liked King of Tokyo, it bugged me that there was no board for when monsters are outside of Tokyo...a minor point, perhaps, but that's why I like that King of New York has a board that features all monsters in different areas of NYC. Additionally, this game alters the dice and includes buildings, that can be destroyed to give health or other benefits...sometimes, destroying a building can hurt you too. This additional optionality to the game made this a must play for me and some friends for about a year. I can't say it's had great staying power beyond this, but I have kept the game to teach my son when he is old enough, as I'm sure he will enjoy it too.
Valerio (15 KP) rated John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019) in Movies
Jun 10, 2019
Keenu Reeves (3 more)
Dogs
Stunning fighting actions
Turn off your brain and enjoy
The most badass assassin the world have ever seen.
I've been introduced to the franchise when the second movie was released. I will review those later on. John Wick 3 was the first movie of the trilogy I watched in the cinema and what a brilliant experience. I'm not an action junkie but this movie is simply amazing. You can sit comfy, turn off your brain and enjoy the fun. The photography is just amazing, probably one of the best I ever seen in an action movie. The colours are vivid and NYC is just amazing. I will not write about the story because its a marginal part of this trilogy. They created a living and enjoyable world where you can lose yourself. The choreography and the fighting scenes are awesome and even if sometimes they can be too extreme (nearly funny to see) it will never be too much. Keenu Reeves. I really need to say anything else?
Joe Julians (221 KP) rated The Cloverfield Paradox (2018) in Movies
Feb 6, 2018
Solid performances (1 more)
Great effects
The Cloverfield link (1 more)
Muddled story
Not a long review for this one as I can't think of too much to say about it. There's a great movie here somewhere, the first half in particular sets up a solid space adventure that looks to really focus on the intriguing alternate reality concept it presents. But this ends up becoming muddled and not overly interesting. The cast are fne and the script has moments of greatness, but a lot of this is just a bit dull and not as gripping as it could have been.
As for the Cloverfield part, well it seems that this was never meant to have a connection at all. It seems all too apparent that all the links to the franchise were included later through reshoots and as such, it's all a muddled mess by the time the credits roll. It's a sometimes good space movie, but a pretty shoddy Cloverfield movie. Marketing wise though, the release of this was genuius. It's just a shame that hype vanishes once the movie concludes.
As for the Cloverfield part, well it seems that this was never meant to have a connection at all. It seems all too apparent that all the links to the franchise were included later through reshoots and as such, it's all a muddled mess by the time the credits roll. It's a sometimes good space movie, but a pretty shoddy Cloverfield movie. Marketing wise though, the release of this was genuius. It's just a shame that hype vanishes once the movie concludes.
Merissa (13409 KP) rated Second Wind in Books
Mar 1, 2018
Second Wind by Aimee Nicole Walker
Second Wind is a feel good book, with plenty of sweetness, but without that sickly feeling you sometimes get with a sweetness overload.
Both men are wonderfully enough in their forties - which makes a nice change from twenty-somethings lol. However, through a series of memories, you find out about their youth, and the decisions they made, bringing you up to the current day. This is a complete story, without anything being missed out, but all necessary to the story.
This is a low-angst story that is very well written, with no editing or grammatical errors that disrupted my reading flow. The pacing was smooth, and all the characters were well fleshed out and completely believable. If you are looking for a sweet story about second chances, then I can definitely recommend this one.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Both men are wonderfully enough in their forties - which makes a nice change from twenty-somethings lol. However, through a series of memories, you find out about their youth, and the decisions they made, bringing you up to the current day. This is a complete story, without anything being missed out, but all necessary to the story.
This is a low-angst story that is very well written, with no editing or grammatical errors that disrupted my reading flow. The pacing was smooth, and all the characters were well fleshed out and completely believable. If you are looking for a sweet story about second chances, then I can definitely recommend this one.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Lucy L (0 KP) rated The Essex Serpent in Books
Mar 9, 2018
Intriguing gothic drama
I’d wanted to read this for a while based purely on the glorious cover. It was a very pleasant gothic Victorian novel with the very intriguing mysetery of the Fabled Essex serpent weaving it’s way through. However it’s main focus is the interactions between the main characters and the enormous impact that each has on the others lives over the course of a year, predominantly for the worse.
It is a beautifully written novel and the detail is gorgeous, but at times it felt slow with little to hold my attention. I found myself skimming ahead sometimes. The characters weren’t always relatable and I didn’t feel any great connection to any of them. The promises of the Essex serpent itself is handled well and used expertly to draw out everyone’s heightened fears feeding off their own misdeeds.
I would still recommend this book. Just maybe not for anyone looking for a rousing novel. However a calm afternoon with a pot of tea to yourself it’s worth giving it a go.
It is a beautifully written novel and the detail is gorgeous, but at times it felt slow with little to hold my attention. I found myself skimming ahead sometimes. The characters weren’t always relatable and I didn’t feel any great connection to any of them. The promises of the Essex serpent itself is handled well and used expertly to draw out everyone’s heightened fears feeding off their own misdeeds.
I would still recommend this book. Just maybe not for anyone looking for a rousing novel. However a calm afternoon with a pot of tea to yourself it’s worth giving it a go.
This was a strange book. But sometimes, strange is good. Different draws you in. And that is exactly what this book did. I read this book in one day, something I haven't really done in a while which speaks to it's ability to catch and keep my attention.
This is a book about love and magic, but not in the way you may think. The characters are all dealing with the stress of the disappearance of Roza, a mysterious woman who just showed up one day. They are all dealing with it in their own way, but are still struggling, most of the time separately.
I loved the magic in this book. It was very dark and mysterious and dangerous, but it wasn't overly mystical. It felt real and just so freaking great.
I am excited by Ruby's writing. I want to find more she has written to be able to get a feel for her writing style because it's something I admire!
Overall, I really enjoyed this book.
This is a book about love and magic, but not in the way you may think. The characters are all dealing with the stress of the disappearance of Roza, a mysterious woman who just showed up one day. They are all dealing with it in their own way, but are still struggling, most of the time separately.
I loved the magic in this book. It was very dark and mysterious and dangerous, but it wasn't overly mystical. It felt real and just so freaking great.
I am excited by Ruby's writing. I want to find more she has written to be able to get a feel for her writing style because it's something I admire!
Overall, I really enjoyed this book.
Sarah (7800 KP) rated the PlayStation 4 version of LEGO Jurassic World in Video Games
Jun 11, 2018
Loads of fun
Having played Lego HP and been slightly frustrated about it, I hadn’t been expecting much from this. Especially as I didn’t realise that it contained all 4 films - I just thought it was the one for Jurassic World.
All I can say is I’m glad it has all 4 films. Although each film/level set is fairly short and doesn’t quite feature everything from the films, they’re still an awful lot of fun. I love the fact that it uses real dialogue from the films (sometimes randomly during a level which makes it even funnier) and the Lego versions of well known scenes are hilarious. The gameplay is a lot more action based and more interesting than the HP games, which makes it even more entertaining. My only criticism and this is being picky, is that the film plays down some of the darker elements especially of the first film. Whilst the lighter Lego alternative is pretty funny, part of me would have loved to see severed arms etc instead.
All I can say is I’m glad it has all 4 films. Although each film/level set is fairly short and doesn’t quite feature everything from the films, they’re still an awful lot of fun. I love the fact that it uses real dialogue from the films (sometimes randomly during a level which makes it even funnier) and the Lego versions of well known scenes are hilarious. The gameplay is a lot more action based and more interesting than the HP games, which makes it even more entertaining. My only criticism and this is being picky, is that the film plays down some of the darker elements especially of the first film. Whilst the lighter Lego alternative is pretty funny, part of me would have loved to see severed arms etc instead.
Gail (4 KP) rated Brant (Secrets #2) in Books
Jun 4, 2018
Brant by D.B James
Four Stars
Yes!!! This book was sooo good. I need my own personal Brant. Tessa was just perfect her personality was similar to a lot of my friends and even myself. She had it bad at the beginning of her adult life but she came out of it stronger but still afraid. Once we lose our fear that’s when we stop sensing the trouble. I hate the thought of women and sometimes men too going through abuse. Feeling like its your fault. Never really trusting another person again. Brant was just fabulous he treated Tessa like we all want to be treated. He sent thoughtful gifts and put his heart on the line without expecting her to do the same. The danger throughout the story wasn’t really big so it didn’t really effect how I viewed the story. The plot twist was funny even though it was meant to be serious. I am excited to se what else this author has to offer. The writing style was smooth and the chapters flowed together perfectly.
Four Stars
Yes!!! This book was sooo good. I need my own personal Brant. Tessa was just perfect her personality was similar to a lot of my friends and even myself. She had it bad at the beginning of her adult life but she came out of it stronger but still afraid. Once we lose our fear that’s when we stop sensing the trouble. I hate the thought of women and sometimes men too going through abuse. Feeling like its your fault. Never really trusting another person again. Brant was just fabulous he treated Tessa like we all want to be treated. He sent thoughtful gifts and put his heart on the line without expecting her to do the same. The danger throughout the story wasn’t really big so it didn’t really effect how I viewed the story. The plot twist was funny even though it was meant to be serious. I am excited to se what else this author has to offer. The writing style was smooth and the chapters flowed together perfectly.
Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated Who We Were Before in Books
Jun 6, 2018
The book was just okay. What I didn't like was that sometimes the book became too wordy. I skipped over most of the past between Edward and Zoe. I couldn't really connect to them for some reason. I hated Edward! He didn't really care about Zoe enough to find her. I just feel as if the author could have left out the chapters of how Edward and Zoe met and then how they got married and all that. Just explain it in the chapters as a quick flashback. It also bothered me that how Milo died wasn't mentioned until over halfway through the story. I wish that information could have been somewhere in the first 2 or 3 chapters.
I did like the plot. I have an (almost) 2 year old, so my heart was aching over the loss of Milo. Besides the chapters describing the past, the book was well written.
This is a quick read (although that could be because I skimmed some chapters), but it is a decent read. I'd recommend it.
I did like the plot. I have an (almost) 2 year old, so my heart was aching over the loss of Milo. Besides the chapters describing the past, the book was well written.
This is a quick read (although that could be because I skimmed some chapters), but it is a decent read. I'd recommend it.