Search

Search only in certain items:

of 235
Kindle
King of Flames ( The Masks of Under 1)
By Kathryn Ann Kingsley
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Everything about my life has been pretty normal working as a forensic autopsy technician. Until the day I woke up with a mysterious symbol tattooed on my arm.

Suddenly normal no longer existed. The barrier between Earth and a world called Under, dissolved...

Now I’m trapped with dozens of other people. Held prisoner by the creators of myths and legends, where the realm is ruled by two masked kings who want to turn us into creatures like them.

But even though I didn’t choose to be here, this new world manages to pull me deeper, affecting me differently than other humans. Unfortunately King Edu, also known as the King of Flames, notices this and I’m now considered a threat.

If I want to survive King Edu and the dangers of Under, I need to escape. The only problem is, there’s another masked king who seems to have an interest in me. Aon, the King of Shadows, wants me here in this world, and he wants me alive.

I just need to figure out why.

This was just so different to anything I’ve read. It was a whole new world of dark and twisty! Really liked the characters and story. Can’t wait to see where it goes.
  
Wrath of the Triple Goddess
Wrath of the Triple Goddess
Rick Riordan | 2024 | Children
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Pet Sitting at Halloween
It’s October, and things are been quiet for a few weeks now. While Percy has enjoyed the down time, he is worried about needing to get two more recommendation letters to get into college. So he has mixed emotions when he is contacted by Hecate. She is planning to travel to enjoy all the Halloween festivities around the world and needs someone to pet sit. Of course, when those pets are a polecat and a hellhound, both of whom used to be human, things aren’t as easy as they appear. Especially when they escape. Can Percy and his friends track them down before Hecate returns? And what about repairing her mansion?

Like the first of these recent releases, I found the book a little low stakes and a little slow to start. Not to say that Percy didn’t face death. And once things got going, I was hooked on the story, wanting to know how Percy would prevail. I love Percy, Annabeth, and Grover, so getting to spend time with them was great, and I liked the updates on the others we got. I also appreciated how Percy left the new characters we met here. As always, there are plenty of laughs, which I really enjoyed. Fans will enjoy this book. I’ll definitely be back for the next book.
  
TO
The One Safe Place
8
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
<i>I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.</i>

Review of an uncorrected bound manuscript.
<i>The One Safe Place</i> is a gripping tale by Tania Unsworth aimed at older children, although completely enjoyable by teens and adults too. Written in the third person and set in the not so distant future, we follow Devin’s story.

In the future the climate has changed, the temperature has risen and rain is very rare. The opening scene reveals Devin, a young boy, on a farm, digging a grave to bury his grandfather who has recently died (presumably of old age and not something sinister). Devin, now alone, decides to head to the city, a place he has never visited, in order to find some help for the farm. The problem is he has never once left the farm and knows nothing of the real world. Here he meets Kit, a young girl on her own living on the roof of a building, and decides to tag along with her. But then they meet Roman who promises them a safe home. Although skeptical, they decide to trust him and thus they arrive at the <i>Gabriel H. Penn Home For Childhood</i>. The place is amazing and has everything a child could want: toys, games, clothes, individual bedrooms, a swimming pool, and most importantly, food and drink. So why are all the other children walking around in limbo, uninterested in everything around them?

Devin, with the help of his friends, and his synesthesia, soon discovers and pieces together what is wrong about the home. The pace picks up as they plan their escape leading to the exciting ending.

<i>The One Safe Place</i> is a book young readers will love. Well what child would not love a book where the children outsmart the adults?
  
Harold &amp; Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008)
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008)
2008 | Comedy
7
5.9 (7 Ratings)
Movie Rating
It has been four years since Harold and Kumar embarked on their munchies induced quest for White Castle hamburgers. The resulting chaos and mayhem that resulted led to solid box office and DVD sales and spawned the sequel “Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay”.

The film picks up at the conclusion of the last film and finds Harold (John Cho), planning a trip to Amsterdam with his friend Kumar (Kal Penn), in order to surprise his new girlfriend Maria (Paula Garces). Kumar is thrilled at the idea of the trip fueled in large part due to Amsterdam’s very tolerant attitude towards drugs.

As they prepare to board their plane, the duo meet Kumar’s old girlfriend Vanessa (Danneel Harris), who is about to marry a powerful and conservative Texan named Colton (Eric Winter), who has designs on being the President someday.

Unwilling to let on that he still holds a torch for Vanessa, Kumar attempts to get high during the flight and ends up getting himself and Harold mistaken for terrorists. Before the duo know what has hit them they have run afoul of Homeland Security agent Ron Fox (Rob Corddry), and are sharing a cell in Guantanamo Bay.

Desperate to escape their plight, the duo soon find themselves on the lam with Fox and the nations law enforcement officials in hot pursuit.

Harold and Kumar hope to make it to Texas in order to seek help from Colton as Harold thinks that due to their friendship and his connections he can get the duo out of their predicament. Kumar is all for this as not only is it the best way to get out of their situation but he secretly thinks he can get Vanessa to come back to him before it is too late.

Along the way the duo look to find help from their bizarre friends, and run into all manner of obstacles ranging from the Klan, Rednecks, and Neil Patrick Harris in a very funny cameo, and countless other bizarre people and situations.

The film is crude but if you were a fan of the last film, you will likely find this film very funny. The chemistry between Cho and Penn is good and it is fun to see the misadventures of the two best friends and hear them argue amongst themselves over their plight. Harold being the more level headed of the two is furious over the irresponsible Kumar and how he got them into this situation, but he is willing to stand by his friend to a point, which results in one of the fun moments in the film when the duo end up in a brothel in Texas.

Penn and Cho also seem to be having a good time playing the characters and despite the abundance of crude and drug related humor, there are some genuinely funny moments in the film and it is better than the first film in the series.

Those expecting a deep plot and characters will be disappointed, but if you came into this film looking for those elements, then you must have gotten into Kumar’s stash. That being said, take the film for what it is, and enjoyable if light piece of comedy, and you are likely to be glad that you are along for the ride.
  
Pretties (Uglies, #2)
Pretties (Uglies, #2)
Scott Westerfeld | 2005 | Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
8
8.2 (17 Ratings)
Book Rating
I found the second book in the Uglies trilogy to be an excellent pick-up from the first book. I was very curious about the subculture of the Pretties when I read the first book, and this one opens up right in the middle of it, thick with the new vocabulary of the Pretties, with words such as bubbly, bogus, surge, pretty-making, fashion-missing, spinning, criminal, etc. At first, I liked being immersed in the world of the pretties, a mixture of familiar and foreign aspects, but it quickly became very apparent how much of the Pretties were complete air-heads! Being shallow is the social norm, and if anyone even attempts to have a little depth, the authorities are quick to step in. I admit, being a Pretty is not completely unattractive, what with an improved immune system and perfect skin, teeth, and eyesight. The focus of the book was mainly on escaping the Pretty society with more development of the world of Uglies, Pretties, and Specials. I found the discovery of the reservation that the Pretties maintained to study Pre-Rusty civilization very interesting and a great way to reveal how deeply people are being controlled by the authorities. She made an excellent observation about the Smokies, that even though they lived in the wild and lived similarly to both Pre-Rusty and Rusty civilization, they still had not completely escaped from the influence of the Pretty / Ugly society because of the devices they depended on and how their mindset has changed in regards to violence and caring for the earth.
Even though I had no doubt that Tally would be turned into a Special in the end, I can't help wondering how the people in charge think they can keep a leash on her, since it has become very apparent that she will always try to escape. I look forward to the final book in the Trilogy, Specials.