
The Last Kingdom (The Saxon Stories #1)
Book
This is the story of the making of England in the 9th and 10th centuries, the years in which King...

The Glass Sentence (The Mapmakers Trilogy #1)
Book
She has only seen the world through maps. She had no idea they were so dangerous. Boston, 1891....
alternate universe time travel

The Golden Specific (The Mapmakers Trilogy #2)
Book
The eagerly-awaited sequel to the best-selling The Glass Sentence -- a historical, fantastical...
alternate universe time travel

The Great Believers
Book
“A page turner...An absorbing and emotionally riveting story about what it’s like to live during...
Historical Fiction

The Witch Elm: A Novel
Book
Named a best book of the fall by Vogue, Entertainment Weekly, Elle, PopSugar, The Millions, and...

David McK (3600 KP) rated The Northman (2022) in Movies
May 18, 2022
Been quite a bit of hype for it over here in Northern Ireland (perhaps because some of it was filmed here), which might explain why the showing I went to was absolutely jam packed - the most people I've seen in a screen since even before Covid times.
Unfortunately, and for me, the film also fell rather 'flat': I actually spent more time scanning the background to see if I could spot any familiar faces (and locations) than concentrating on the (slow, plodding) action unfolding in the foreground.
It's no secret that the plot owes much to the Icelandic sagas that inspired 'Hamlet' (or, in more modern terms, 'The Lion King'), with Alexander Skarsgard Viking protagonist on a mission of revenge against his uncle, who killed his father and stole his mother.
Perhaps that is why I (and most of those I saw this with) weren't all that impressed: basically, we've all seen it before! Well, that, and the fact the the finale felt like something out of 'Revenge of the Sith' ...
(We were also all in agreement that it would have been better if the more supernatural elements of the story had been toned down).
All this is not to say that it's a bad film, per se: just not at all what we were expecting or had been sold on by the trailers.

The Bletchley Riddle
Steve Sheinkin and Ruta Sepetys
Book
A stunning collaboration between award-winning and bestselling authors Ruta Sepetys and Steve...

Die With Glory
Games and Entertainment
App
Die with Glory is an epic adventure game where your goal is to die in glorious fashion. You must...
Re-Enacting the Past: Heritage, Materiality and Performance
Book
What is re-enactment and how does it relate to heritage? Re-enactments are a ubiquitous part of...