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American Gods
American Gods
Neil Gaiman | 2005 | Fiction & Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy
14 of 230
Book
American Gods ( American Gods book 1)
By Neil Gaiman

After three years in prison, Shadow has done his time. But as the days, then the hours, then the hours, then the seconds until his release tick away, he can feel a storm building. Two days before he gets out, his wife Laura dies in a mysterious car crash, in apparently adulterous circumstances. Dazed, Shadow travels home, only to encounter the bizarre Mr Wednesday claiming to be a refugee from a distant war, a former god and the king of America. Together they embark on a very strange journey across the States, along the way solving the murders which have occurred every winter in one small American town. But they are being pursued by someone with whom Shadow must make his peace... Disturbing, gripping and profoundly strange, Neil Gaiman's epic new novel sees him on the road to finding the soul of America.

This is one book that has always intimidated me it’s one of those that you so want to read but not sure you’ll get it! Well I’m glad I finally got round to it as I loved it. I have to admit I watched the tv series first but it didn’t take anything away from reading the book. It was exactly what I expected although I had a few very strange dreams while reading it. Definitely recommend especially if like me you’re a bit apprehensive.
  
The Scout (Legends Of Pern Coen: Fated #2)
The Scout (Legends Of Pern Coen: Fated #2)
Hannah E. Carey | 2023 | Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
THE SCOUT is the second book in the Legends of Pern Coen: Fated series and we continue with Bran and Seren's story. OH. MY. WORD!!! There is no middle book dip with this story! Instead, there are twists aplenty and an ending that will leave you gasping. It is SO good!

Bran and Seren are a wonderful couple and I love how their story progresses. I won't be sharing any spoilers, don't worry, but I will say that a lot goes on for them - some good, some not so good. Domhnall is still hanging around and going down in my estimation more and more. As for Aengus, my guess was correct but he is being played and it is breaking my heart. Alannah, I had such high hopes for but it seems she has been corrupted by Fianna. What will the future hold for Bran and Seren, as well as Alannah and Aengus?

This story will take you along, leading you on a merry dance as you read through the pages, completely immersed in the story. It is a very emotional read, especially that ending. I honestly can't wait for the third and final instalment. Absolutely fantastic and HIGHLY recommended by me.

** same worded review will appear elsewhere **

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
May 23, 2023
  
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Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated If Beale Street Could Talk (2018) in Movies

Jun 22, 2019 (Updated Sep 25, 2019)  
 If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)
If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)
2018 | Crime, Drama, Romance
Oh man, here's another one where I wonder what I missed. I just don't see what a lot of other people see in this one.

Fairly early on I thought to myself that there seems to be a lot going on but nothing happening. My opinion didn't waver much from there.

The music was wonderful but even so it felt like it was oddly misplaced in here. I found myself actively nothing it because it didn't feel right for the setting.

When we come to the acting I found it a bit hit and miss. The only performance that really blew me away was Regina King, she's a consistently good actress and this role has already won her a lot of supporting actress critics awards. I honestly think she's very deserving of the Oscar too. I haven't seen Roma yet (it's on the list, I'm getting to it!) to compare, but Vice and The Favourite don't hold up to the standard of King's acting in this.

A lot of If Beale Street Could Talk felt like it was being artsy for the sake of it. There was a fairly long scene where we see Fonny working a bit of wood. I really couldn't see any need for it to be there, certainly not in that form. It was one of many bits that didn't seem to have much relevance. I'm a little undecided on... well... a lot of things. The voiceovers, the characters that pop up outside the main cast...

All in all it felt like there were too many things it was trying to be. A romance, a crime drama, a discourse on racial inequality? It left me with more questions than answers.

What you should do

Here we are again. I probably wouldn't recommend this to anyone, but yet again I'm in the minority.

Movie thing you wish you could take home

I'm afraid that I was too bewildered by what was going on to pay attention to any of the things I might want... if invisible fridges really are functional though I'd be interested in one.
  
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Ross (3284 KP) rated Rejoice in Books

Oct 18, 2018  
Rejoice
Rejoice
Steven Erikson | 2018 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Heavy-going treatise on man's reaction to alien interference
*** Disclosure - I received a free advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ***
I have been planning on reading Erikson's Malazan series for some time but have yet to take the plunge. Getting approval to read Erikson's new sci-fi book gave me the chance to experience his writing style without such a big commitment.
The book itself feels like a short sci-fi story where Canadian sci-fi author Samantha August is abducted by aliens and is shown how the alien race are helping the human race, in order to keep Earth safe for their future use. The aliens start to implement a number of changes in the planet, and other planets in the solar system, in order to protect the human race, and Earth itself, from their inbuilt self-destructive nature. Despite these improvements (no violence, drugs or alcohol, replenished food stocks and animal populations) the human race do what we do best - look past the surface benefits with suspicion to find the underlying threat and to use it to further our own selfish goals.
This short is then padded out with more in-depth insight from a large cast of characters - the leaders of a large number of countries, Murdoch-esque media oligarchs, and a range of former arms dealers and warlords. Their insights give the book a feel like World War Z, where the same story is told from a number of different viewpoints to give the varying angles and opinions. While this does add to the overall story (where Samantha's chapters focus on the high level changes and reactions, we are treated to some localised insights), most of these characters are pretty throwaway and don't really seem to have a distinct voice.
The book itself is very heavy-going, with very detailed in-depth analysis of the political, religious, ideological, economic and sociological issues being faced by the human race when such an intrusion, though a beneficial one, is experienced.
This is not a book one can pick up for short periods or read when tired, it really does take some effort to concentrate to get the most out of it.
While it was an interesting take on how such a good thing would likely be ruined by human nature, the narrative was quite detrimental to the overall piece.
  
NO
No One is Here Except All of Us
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Wow! I've been on a bit of a WWII kick lately with my books. This one was not at all what I expected.
This book tells the story of Lena, a your Romanian Jewish girl living in an all but forgotten village in rural Romania as WWII rages around them. The town decides to reinvent the world in hopes of keeping the war at bay. It works for a time, until a newly forbidden radio is discovered under the floor boards of a barn turned temple. Once the radio is again brought to life, the war crashes in around them. Lena's husband is kidnapped & the people who are left behind struggle to make sense of what is going on.
Lena take matters into her own hands & decides to set out with her 2 young sons to escape the war. They walk & walk losing more than they gain along the way. The help they find turns out to be unexpected. They take from Lena, but also in the end give her much in return.
It is amazing that they were in the middle of the war yet were able to avoid much of what other Jews were not so lucky to miss. Lena's life is not without great loss however, its just not the kind I expected to experience when I picked up this book.
The thing that sticks out most to me is that despite the horrors & loss Lena went through, she was able to come out on the other side better. This is not to say that you will get a fairy tale ending with this story though. Lena is not exactly happy as the book closes, but she is hopeful. And to her that is all she can ask.
  
Inside The Kremlin by Ravi Shankar
Inside The Kremlin by Ravi Shankar
(0 Ratings)
Album Favorite

"I chose a live album because you can hear where East meets West. It's obvious Ravi's known for his traditional music with Indian instruments. But with Inside The Kremlin he has the strings going. He's got a very orchestrated formality to mix in with his own Indian-tempered scale melodies. You can also hear the giant strings very clearly, so for me this is heaven. You've got the Indian modality mixed in with classical music. It's part of where we learned to orchestrate - where you can hear the sitars, for instance. It didn't take long for us to think, hey, this is how you put a cool guitar, strings or oboe piece together! Before that - and the same happened on Ocean Rain by Echo & The Bunnymen - it was the first time in a long time that we began to suss out this orchestration thing; it's not rocket science! I know the composers seem like they're physicists but if we can just take the melodies we can already play on the guitar and we put them on these classical instruments, that's orchestration, isn't it? We didn't have to be Mozart to do this. But in my case, this is where I began to figure some of these things out, certainly with Ocean Rain and Ravi Shankar. When I was in The Flaming Lips making the In A Priest Driven Ambulance album, it was very similar in that there was a guitar melody, but there were also strings doing it. That led to the beginnings of the orchestration in Mercury Rev as well as Flaming Lips. Listen to Ravi Shankar, and then listen to modern Bollywood - that's the Western or Hollywood side of Eastern music."

Source
  
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
Shooter
The latest in the highly-popular Call of Duty series has arrived and with

it comes a bold new direction for the series that mixes the familiar with

the new.

 

Infinite Warfare is set in the future but unlike the recent Advanced

Warfare, this is a future where space travel has become the norm and the

people of Earth find themselves in an ongoing battle with a Mars based

faction who have amassed a very large and powerful fleet of warships.

Players take on the role of Lt. Reyes who finds himself forced into

command when a surprise attack devastates much of the Earth’s forces and

at the mercy of the ruthless leader of the opposing forces (Kit

Harrington).

 

Like with last years Black Ops 3 players have a staging area and the

ability to select their weapon configurations for each mission. There is

also a Captain’s room where players can view newsreels and other items

should they want to take a break from the combat and explore.

 

Players can also select which missions to take based on the recommended

story missions or they can select side missions. In my first run through I

stuck mainly to suggested missions and was amazed at how fast I got to the

final battle, so those looking to prolong their solo campaign will want to

select some of the additional missions.

 

Mission play is what you would expect from Call of Duty with missions

mixing stealth and waves of enemies for players to mow down. This time out

several missions involve space combat as players will take on fighters and

enemy ships in their fighter plane which also allows for some interesting

missions where players will leave their ship to battle in Zero-G before

resuming the attack on foot.

 

Players also will have access to energy and ballistic weapons and can pick

up weapons and ammunition along the way.

 

Using futuristic grenades that cause gravity to disrupt as well as spider

like seekers is a nice touch as is the protective shield players can

deploy when the action becomes heated.

 

Multiplayer has always been the strong point of the series and Infinite

Warfare is no exception to this trend. There are fewer modes than in the

past, but the customization and rankings that players expect are still in

place. There are also the popular kill streak rewards that can turn the

tide of any battle.

 

Although some may not like the inclusion of jump packs in multiplayer, it

did not harm Advanced Warfare and the levels where fallen players float

away in Zero-G were also a very nice touch. I did briefly think I was

playing DOOM with some of the maps set on a planet exterior at first, but

soon found myself caught up in the action. Like with Black Ops 3, a

special weapon is on a timer and allows players to deploy a wide angle

machine gun called a “Claw” which mows down enemies with ease.

The maps like the solo portion of the game are highly detailed and

stunning to behold and the composition for the game has some very

compelling music. I played the game on an NVIDIA 960 then moved to a

NVIDIA 1060 Founders Edition card and found that the game looked and ran

amazingly well even on the highest settings.

 

The real treat of the game for me was the Zombie mode set at Spaceland, an

80s themed amusement park. The mode had plenty of 80s nostalgia as well as

an 80s soundtrack of hits from the era as well as a campy tone that

invoked the best of 80s horror films.

 

The detail level was so good that you can even take a ride on an

attraction, use some rides as weapons, and use tickets you gain to gain

power ups. For me it was simply the best initial Zombie offering of any

Call of Duty game ever.

 

In the end, Infinite Warfare offers one of the best campaigns in recent

years and blends old and new to create a Call of Duty experience that is

fresh yet familiar. Fans of the series should not be put off by the space

setting and should give the game a try as it is a very enjoyable and

winning combination that is as fun to play as it is great to look at.

http://sknr.net/2016/11/08/call-duty-infinite-warfare/