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Sean Farrell (9 KP) rated The Martian in Books

Mar 15, 2018

The Martian

Andy Weir | 2014 | Science Fiction/Fantasy

8.9

(50 Ratings)

Book Rating

The idea of being stranded alone somewhere is certainly a terrifying one, and as such has been used countless times in literature (and film). Moving the location 140,000,000 miles from Earth adds a new twist to the tale though, and adds an increased sense of desperation. When astronaut Mark Watney finds himself trapped on Mars after an accident, he turns out to be more resilient and resourceful than many of us would, and goes about doing everything he can to ensure his survival and up his odds of rescue. Given that rescue is so far away, and the harsh Martian environment is so unforgiving, things don't always go his way. The series of setbacks he experiences keeps readers in suspense throughout the entire book. The story is told largely from the perspective of Mark dictating to his log, which gives it a casual tone, making Mark very likable, and keeping the technical bits easy to understand. As such, this is a fun read, that kept me on the edge of my seat. If the movie is anywhere near as good as the book, it should be one of the best of the year.

Kudos

ClareR (5864 KP) rated An Unwanted Guest in Books

Aug 10, 2018

An Unwanted Guest

Shari Lapena | 2018 | Crime, Mystery, Thriller

6.4

(5 Ratings)

Book Rating

A complete and utter mystery to me!

A group of people who have no prior knowledge of one another, end up stranded in the middle of nowhere in a hotel when some extreme weather comes in (snow and ice) and cuts them off. It also cuts off the electricity and phone lines (most conveniently!). Then people start dying under suspicious circumstances.
I honestly had no idea whatsoever who the murderer was. The perpetrator covered their tracks really well (although not so well that the crime scene investigators couldn't work it out pretty quickly at the end). I really enjoyed the character descriptions: there were those that were easy to empathise with and those that I thoroughly disliked.
This was very 'Agatha Christie', even down to the part where everyone is gathered in the same room by request of the investigator so that they could go through who they thought had 'dunnit'!
Very entertaining and I had fun trying to work out who the killer was and their reasons why (with no success whatsoever!).
Many thanks to The Pigeonhole, the publisher and the author who read along and commented on our comments!

Kudos

Tim McGuire (301 KP) rated Harbinger Down (2015) in Movies

Nov 13, 2019

Harbinger Down (2015)

2015 | Horror, Sci-Fi

8.5

(2 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Old Movie Revisited: Harbinger Down. Now if you're anything like me, you've spent a fair amount of time thinking, Man, they should remake The Thing with Lance Henriksen. Well those dreams have been answered in the form of Harbinger Down. Now sure there are differences, Instead of an Arctic outpost, they are on a cargo ship in the arctic... Instead of a ufo crashing to earth with a nasty alien on board, this one has a russian space capsule, crashing to earth contaminated with a space virus... And from there its pretty much the same... including the mimicking of the host... Shit even the ending is the same, sorta, a lone survivor stranded in the arctic. Now all that aside, it wasn't a bad little low budget flick, and c'mon it has the low budget movie God in it, Mr Lance Henrikson, remember how he wowed us all in Close Encounters of the Third Kind as the guy standing in the background. Its almost as incredible as Cliff Clavin being part of the Rebel Alliance, its true!! But that was a long, long time ago, in what seems like a galaxy far far away... Filmbufftim on FB