The Last Days of the Spanish Republic
Book
Told for the first time in English, Paul Preston's new book tells the story of a preventable tragedy...
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated The 5th wave (2016) in Movies
Jun 19, 2019
In the new film “The 5th Wave” which is based on the book of the same name, Chloe Grace Moretz plays Cassie, a teen who has her entire life turned upside down by the arrival of a mysterious craft. A few days after the arrival of “the Others” as they are known, a pulse wipes out all electronics on the planet. This is soon followed by tsunamis and earthquakes as well as disease and death.
Cassie along with her father and brother find shelter but their community is soon disrupted by the arrival of the military who say that the invaders are now amongst them and posing as humans.
The military under the leadership of Colonel Vosch (Liev Schreiber) has a plan to train the children to spot and defeat the alien invaders thus setting in motion the main conflict of the film. The secondary story consists of Cassie attempting to reunite with her family and her relationship with a mysterious stranger named Evan (Alex Roe).
The film is clearly aimed at a young adult market and as such I was able to spot the big twist in the film a long ways off as the clues were blatantly obvious to me. That being said, the film is better than you might expect and being the first chapter in a trilogy of books does set up the possibilities of sequels.
The dialogue and acting is pretty groan inducing at times, but again, remember the target audience, the film should entertain and it is nice to see Moretz deliver a solid performance in what in many ways could have been a limited role.
While it is not going to make you forget “The Hunger Games” anytime soon, the film is still a decent escape for those willing to overlook the flaws.
http://sknr.net/2016/01/22/the-5th-wave/
Phil Leader (619 KP) rated Taylor's Plight (The Sanctum Series #3) in Books
Nov 26, 2019
This installment starts with a bang (quite literally) and just keeps going. The previous two books took a little while to lay the groundwork for both characters and plot but there is no need to do that here, especially as the story continues essentially from the end of the second book, Scarlet's Escape.
Once again someone is moving against the Sanctum, trying to stop their fight against terrorism, attacking their infrastructure in an attempt to bring down Scarlet, the computer intelligence that controls much of the Santum's functions.
Liam and the other pupils at Ernest College are also involved, and seemingly on a course to uncover the Sanctum's meddling at their school. But are they working towards the same cause, or against? As the two groups of students converge on the truth, the stakes have never been higher and the danger never more real.
This really is a fantastic read. From start to finish it grips the reader, drawing them along. The threads of Ernest and the Sanctum play off of each other, each giving a slightly different view of what is really going on. Most of the second half of the book is a breathless rush towards the final climax as the children on both sides uncover the truth. The phrase 'I couldn't put it down' is overused but is totally justified in this case.
Not everything in their world is safe and cosy and this is one of the great things about Cope's books. She is not afraid to put her characters through the mill, but they are always shown to be able to overcome adversity through quick wits and to come out stronger the other side. As usual the strong role models are well in evidence.
This is a book I would unhesitatingly recommend to any reader from about 9 upwards, although reading the first two books will be necessary to introduce the characters involved and the world of the Sanctum.
The Dead Ladies Project: Exiles, Expats, and Ex-Countries
Book
When Jessa Crispin was thirty, she burned her settled Chicago life to the ground and took off for...
When We Speak of Nothing
Book
"Some of the women walked so slow they were, like, floating. For real. Heads perfectly straight....
fiction
Fran Bow Chapter 1
Games
App
Fran Bow is a creepy adventure game that tells the story of Fran, a young girl struggling with a...
The Warrior's Way: Bodyguard with a Badge: Book 1: The Lawmen: Bullets and Brawn
Jenna Kernan and Elizabeth Heiter
Book
The Warrior's Way - Jenna Kernan Tribal police chief Jack Bear Den will do anything to stop...
War & War
George Szirtes and Laszlo Krasznahorkai
Book
Winner of the 2015 Man Booker International Prize War & War begins at a point of danger: on a dark...
Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Burned (Fever, #7) in Books
Sep 7, 2019
Back to Dani and Mac, Dani overreacts a little and jumps through several portals to escape Mac and then we get Mac's POV of what's just happened. She's trying to come to terms with what Dani did all those months ago and trying to figure out how to get Dani to talk to her.
We switch between POV's fairly regularly and get a few new characters to the series. Jada is a sidhe-seer hiding a secret and an Unseelie Princess makes an appearance.
We also get Christian's POV, too. As he's currently being held by the Crimson Hag, it's generally memories of his time growing up in Scotland and trying not to fully fall into the Unseelie Prince side of himself while he waits to be rescued.
That is also one of the main plotlines in this, getting Christian back from the Crimson Hag and they manage it but it takes a lot to get there.
And then we end on a cliff-hanger that has me wanting to go buy the next book right away.
Perfect Trouble
8.0
Rate It
Book
Jonah, who's always in trouble, lands in even deeper water when he meets Jinx, but suddenly trouble...