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Absolution (The Protectors #1)
Absolution (The Protectors #1)
Sloane Kennedy | 2016 | LGBTQ+, Romance
10
10.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Absolution (The Protectors #1) by Sloane Kennedy
Absolution is the first book in The Protectors series by Sloane Kennedy. We meet Jonas, who appears to be a young artist without a care in the world. But then we find out that Mace is looking to kill him, and for reasons that don't appear to match the artist we see. And then along comes Cole, an ex-navy man desperate to find out what happened to his sister, and the only one who can tell him is Jonas. These three are intrinsically bound together as the story takes on more twists and turns than a bowl of spaghetti.

This was a fast-paced story with never a dull moment. Jonas, Cole, and Mace, all round each other out and soften those rough edges that life has given them. I have to say that I loved the cameos of Ronan, and can't wait for his story. I may or may not have shed a few tears towards the end of this book, but I'll never tell for sure ;)

A dark story that is enthralling reading. Fiction really doesn't get much better than this. Absolutely recommended by me.

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

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
40x40

David McK (3929 KP) rated 300 in Books

Jan 28, 2019  
3
300
6
6.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
As with most comics/graphic novels-into-movies I've read, I'll admit that I saw the movie (quite a few years back) before reading this.

Essentially a comic-book-brought-to-screen, the movie iteself was incredibly violent (but enjoyable), with ridiculous amoutns of blood and body parts splattered across the screen, and with more nudity than I was expecting alongside the whole sub-plot of King Leonidas wife getting the Spartans to march.

An entire sub-plot that is not in the source material at all.

I also have to say that the violence in this - while still there - is actually toned down quite a bit from what I was expecting, with several of the panels virtually lifted from the pages and put on to the screen.

The story, for anyone who doesn't already know, is centred around King Leonidas' view of Thermopylae - or 'The Hot Gates' - , a narrow pass defended by the 300 Spartans of the title (plus miscellaneous other Greeks, although you'd be forgive for thinking they weren't there the way this, and the legend, is told!) to the death, and which was immortalised by the poet Simodides as follows on an epigram placed on theri burial mound:

"Go tell the Spartans, you who passeth by,
That here, obedient to their laws, we lie."

(see: http://www.poetryatlas.com/poetry/poem/1458/go-tell-the-spartans.html)
  
Dragon's Gold
Dragon's Gold
2015 | Fantasy, Medieval, Mythology
Great Components (4 more)
Easy to learn to play
Quick Turns
Fast Decision Making
Card Placement Strategy
Shields could be bigger (1 more)
Hard to tell difference between silver and gold in certain lighting
Fast Paced Fun
Players: 2-4

Components: The gems are very good quality of either some sort of plastic or acrylic. They are colored very well except for the silver and gold which can be hard to tell apart depending on how the light hits them. There are limited amounts of each color for different reasons. The cards are nice and the artwork is decent enough but nothing I found to be out of the ordinary that struck me as amazing. The real focus isn't on the cards anyway but the gems.
Easy to Learn: Rules are quite simple. Players will lay down cards until a dragon is defeated. (The strength of the cards is more than the dragon's) then all players involved have a minute to split the loot or no one gets anything. Certain objectives depending on the game being played will make for end game scoring strategies. The mage and thief cards allow for extra bonuses especially when played together.
Quick Turns: Splitting loot only takes a minute keeping the game moving along fairly quickly.
Shields: I feel like the Shields could have been a little taller or something.
  
Mia and Nattie One Great Team!
Mia and Nattie One Great Team!
Marlene M. Bell | 2020 | Children
8
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Have you ever loved an animal so much you considered it your best friend? Did you talk to it and tell it all your problems? I know I did. Marlene M. Bell does a fantastic job bringing to life the very best of our pet-loving memories, and she does it in such an enchanting way!

  I was drawn into this cute story from the very first page. You can tell that the author and illustrator worked well together by the way each illustration shows the emotions on the page, and in this case, they were memory-invoking for me. I loved Mia’s attitude and caring nature. She never gave up or lost hope for Nattie. Instead, Mia time and time again persevered in the face of defeat. She truly showed how much she cared about Nattie’s well-being.

<b>“MIA HAD TO COME UP WITH A PLAN.
MIA COULDN’T BREAK NATTIE’S HEART.”</b>

  I also enjoyed the progression of the story and how Marlene M. Bell developed the story in an easy-flowing way that any age could understand. Her word choices were not too basic that older children would not enjoy the story (I mean I enjoyed it), yet they were still simple enough that even very young kids would enjoy this book too. Especially if you make sounds