Zuky the BookBum (15 KP) rated The Witchfinder's Sister in Books
Mar 15, 2018
<i>The Witchfinder’s Sister</i> is based on true life witch hunter Matthew Hopkins that grew to fame during the English Civil War around East Anglia, hunting and killing “witches”. This book isn’t non-fiction, it’s fiction based around non-fiction! I love these sorts of books that create their own stories from something that was very much real. Not only does it make for good reading, they also bring in some true history facts, so you’re being educated on the subject as you read.
High praise goes to Underdown for this novel. I feel like historical fiction can be hard genre to get right, and considering this is a <i>debut</i> novel, I’m amazed at how well put together and beautiful this has turned out to be! I love reading historical fiction, every once in awhile, and this is the sort of book that keeps my love for the genre burning.
The writing in this novel was haunting and beautiful. Nine times out of ten, it was exactly as you would have imagined the 17th Century to be, but I felt there were a few slips that made the book feel modern. For example, would a lady in 1645 say the phrase <i><b>“shitting herself”</b></i>? Correct me if I’m wrong, but that feels like a reasonably modern phrase to me.
I loved our main character, Alice. Me and my mum were talking about historical fiction novels and how we find it hard to understand why women make the decisions they make in these books, because we’re so used to having some equality and independence. But I noted that in this book, even though Alice is inferior to her brother and his counterparts, she is still a risk taker; going against her brother's wishes & sneaking around. I liked that she was strong and a little rebellious, it was so much easier to connect with her because of this.
On the other hand. I <i>hated</i> Matthew. He was a despicable character. I can rarely hate a character in a book, even if I’m supposed to. I tend to find the good in them at some point, or have some sort of sympathy for them, but I absolutely despised Matthew. Well done to Underdown for creating such a hate-inducing character. It’s quite a hard feat, but she managed it perfectly. The same goes for Mary Phillips.
The tension was built so well in this novel, you could feel the mystery growing and growing with every page and I loved it! Though the story moved reasonably slowly, the book was still absolutely riveting and I found it extremely hard to put down when I knew it was time to get some rest.
I am so, so excited to read more from Underdown. This was an amazingly well put together and researched.
<i>Thanks to Netgalley and Penguin Books UK for giving me the opportunity to read this in exchange for an honest review.</i>
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Lottie disney bookworm (1056 KP) rated Let It Go: A Frozen Twisted Tale in Books
Aug 20, 2019
I did it again! A new shiny twisted tale came out and I let it jump to the top of my TBR pile! I’m weak!
Let It Go is the latest instalment in the twisted tale’s series and explores how Anna and Elsa’s story would play out if a magical accident caused the two sisters to be cursed.
As always, Jen Calonita writes this very well: drip feeding us information by opening the novel on eighteen-year-old Elsa shadowing her parents’ royal duties and preparing to become a leader when she comes of age.
It is quite refreshing for the reader to meet the King and Queen of Arendelle: they didn’t have much depth in the movie but Jen Calonita presents an intimidating yet loving King with his kind and gentle Queen. They are both, however, marred by a melancholy which even Elsa cannot fathom; the Queen in particular has an air of sadness around her and has a habit of taking mysterious day trips, always alone.
Elsa is an adoring daughter and will clearly be a benevolent Queen as she follows in her father’s footsteps. She is, however, lonely and has always pined for someone of her own age for company: she has always wished for a sister. It isn’t until Elsa overhears an argument between her parents that she begins to question the life around her.
Unlike other books in the twisted tale’s franchise we aren’t introduced to any new characters apart from the King and Queen. There are a few servants who have minor roles but no one who has a real impact upon the story. Instead, Let It Go focuses on all the characters we already love: I really liked how Jen Calonita included everybody, even the irritating Duke of Weselton. True to form though, the characters don’t meet quite as they did in the movie. Hans and Olaf meet Elsa first whereas Anna and Kristoff are acquaintances in Anna’s “cursed” life. In truth I preferred Anna and Kristoff’s relationship in this novel as it seemed more realistic, with Kristoff being irritated by Anna’s stubbornness and incessant chatter.
Like I mentioned, Calonita isn’t forthcoming with information regarding the curse and it is only with the help of a certain troll that we learn the details of how Elsa and Anna were parted as well as the severity of the curse that has been placed upon them: if they come too close to each other Elsa’s powers will freeze Anna.
I did appreciate how Calonita didn’t just settle for a storyline that the girls had to be kept apart to avoid further accidents and the impossible, heat-wrenching decision for their parents is beautifully written. I also liked how the curse came about due to the sheer love between the sisters and specifically, Elsa’s defiance to lose their special bond and friendship.
In fact, I loved how the twist is all about the sister’s love for each other: the red herring of true love’s kiss is not even considered.
Unfortunately, my enthusiasm for the book didn’t continue all the way through to the conclusion as the second half seemed to mirror the film a lot. Don’t get me wrong I absolutely loved the little references to the film all the way through the book, as I do with all the twisted tales. However, towards the end Let It Go felt like it was just writing out the movie, with a few characters in different locations. For this reason, I did feel the ending was a little lacklustre.
Overall Let It Go is an enjoyable, easy read. Anna’s flashbacks provide an insight into the childhood of the princesses that we don’t get in the film and my favourite, Olaf, plays a more important role than that of dismembered tour guide. For me, the second half of the book was not as gripping and more of a retelling of the film but it is still a good addition to the twisted tale franchise.
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Merissa (13878 KP) rated Crimson (The Silver #3) in Books
Feb 21, 2020
I love how these stories are all so different and yet there is both a common theme and common characters. Yes, Jaze and Nikki are here, plus Jet and Taye, but the emphasis is really on Kaynan and Grace. Kaynan has changed and not just be becoming a wolf. He is no longer the troubled addict he was and he will do everything he can to protect Grace and his family. The plot thickens when it appears Colleen is also alive but it is just a ploy to get him back inside the lab?
This is yet another action-packed book that will keep you turning the pages. Jet is as charming yet stoic as ever but I think Kaynan has put a crack in some of his walls. A great addition to the series and definitely recommended by me, just so long as you read it as a series!
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
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Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Nobody's Fool (2018) in Movies
Sep 25, 2019
Tiffany Haddish had grown on me after Night School a couple of months ago, I'm not convinced that this one is helping my opinion at all though. She's my favourite part of this film though along with Frank for the most part.
Danica's job plays a big part in the sub plot of this one and it reminds me a lot of How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days. Only in that it actually made sense and more than a little effort had been put into the execution.
Until about the halfway point I was enjoying the movie, but damn it if Danica wasn't a complete bitch. I wasn't exactly a fan at the beginning but it went swiftly downhill. She's got plenty of things that you should be able to identify with, but absolutely none that you want to. She's a surprisingly dislikeable character. It was honestly refreshing to have Frank tell her to f*** off. In most movies that situation is glossed over and given a narrative that is a bit more palatable.
A lot of us can identify with the perils of online dating, so for the briefest moment you can feel the pain she's going through. Charlie is a hideous culmination of experiences. I'm sure we all noticed something that made us a little queasy to see. There's definitely a good drinking game in there somewhere.
While my dislike of this film evened out for a while it was reinforced with that ending. It really made me hate Frank just a little bit, and want to actively boo the screen.
As a last note on the film I'd like to say that I love seeing Whoopi Goldberg again. She's in some of my favourite films and it was great having her back in such a funny role. Keep an eye out for her scene with Tanya at her house, best bit of the whole film.
What you should do
There are better romcoms out there to see. I'd suggest Think Like A Man or How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days instead.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
Despite my feelings for Danica she does have fantastic taste in sofas and I'd love one of those pink ones to curl up in.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Journey of the Emperor in Tabletop Games
Jun 13, 2019
We were very excited to receive this game from Laboratory H for preview before they began their Kickstarter campaign. We love games with an Asian influence, and it seemed to have touches and inspirations from Tokaido, another favorite of ours. What we received is its own beast with great art and components.
So like I alluded to in my intro, you play a party planner drafting the best path cards to build the most killer journeys for your Emperor. You are dealt a hand of path cards – big, beautiful cards – that can feature different combinations of Journey Start, Journey End, animals, and lanterns icons. To assist you in focusing your strategy, you are also dealt four Emperor’s Favorites cards, from which you will keep two and discard the others. From the large stack of remaining path cards you reveal six as an offer and the game can begin.
On your turn you will be drafting cards from the offer, playing cards from your hand, and trying to complete objectives for points on your Emperor’s Favorites and Journey Start and End cards. These cards have scoring conditions printed on them to help tailor your play. So a Journey End card could have a picture of a flower on it (as all Start and End cards do) with a scoring condition of 3 points for every tiger icon on this completed Journey (I want to call this a “scoring panel” for this review to make it easier). So then you want to concentrate on getting as many tiger icons into this Journey to score tons of points. Or perhaps a Journey Start card will have a different flower, and state that you get 21 points for every set of tiger, dragon, and turtle icons. Either way, you now have a goal to achieve and you spend the game trying to amass the most points from these scoring opportunities and those found on your Emperor’s Favorites cards, which have similar scoring iconography. Most points at game end wins!
While this seems easy and that there is no inherent strategy, let me introduce the wrinkle. You can only score points from completed journeys. Each completed journey has at least a Journey Start and Journey End card. These cards will be adjacent to each other to form a pathway through the cards. You may never add a path card to your journey between two existing cards, but they can be added to the edges of a journey – either at the beginning or the end. If you add to the beginning, you will completely cover up the Journey Start card’s scoring panel so that you can create an uninterrupted path. Herein lies the strategy. At what point do you take the plunge and cover up a scoring panel to add to your journey? Yes, you can get way more points by doing this, but in a 4-player game you only have EIGHT turns. So do you feel like you will be able to draft just the right cards to maximize your scoring or will you falter and not be able to complete a journey in time, thus forfeiting any points you could have scored? Oh, you clever game…
Components. This is a smaller card game. The Emperor’s Favorites cards are about the mini size you would find in OG Ticket to Ride. The path cards are much larger and similar to the tarot sized cards, if not even taller. Both are of great quality with the wonderful linen finish (that I’m learning is more polarizing than I originally thought, but I love it!). Our review copy came with a few scoring sheets to tally the final scores – which we didn’t use correctly but still arrived at the correct final scores. The art in this game is truly breathtaking. The details in the murals in just the backgrounds of the path cards are amazing, and the flowers and animals are really really incredible. If we had one small gripe about the art, it was mentioned that someone could not tell much of a difference between the tiger and the dragon icons on the path cards. I didn’t have much of a problem deciphering the difference, but they are very similar in color and style, so I can see how others may view this as an issue for them.
DISCLAIMER: These are preview copy components, and I do not know if the final components will be similar or different, or if the Kickstarter campaign will alter or add anything through stretch goals. That said, I am very satisfied with the components provided in this game.
This is a really good game. A lot more thinky than Tokaido (using a similar theme), and ultimately more enjoyable because you really feel you have control over your turns and aren’t just going for the best available at the time. You actually have to employ strategy here in order to be competitive. And although this is not a spiteful take-that game, you most certainly can foil your opponents’ plans indirectly by drafting their much-needed path cards. The art is amazing, the game is a great length, and you really want to keep playing. To me, that is the mark of a really good game. All that said, I would recommend this one if you are looking for a quick game that gives you all the good feelings of Tokaido but also scratches more of a gamer’s itch for actual strategy. Oh, and it’s absolutely beautiful.
Darren (1599 KP) rated In Fabric (2018) in Movies
Feb 29, 2020
Story: In Fabric starts as we meet divorced mother Sheila (Jean-Baptiste) who is seeing her son Vince (Ayeh) prepare for college with his muse Gwen (Christie) slowly taking over the house, Sheila is looking for love in the personal ads with her needing to by a brand-new dress.
Soon after wearing the dress for the first time, Sheila notices strange things happening around the house as the tensions between Shelia and Gwen continue to rise. Shelia’s life gets turned upside down, which only escalates the more she investigates the original model of the dress.
Thoughts on In Fabric
Characters – Sheila is a divorced single mother who works as a banker, she is trying to move on with her life, as her son is about to be moving on with his life, she is gets a new dress, which only starts to increase the troubles in her life. Gwen is the older woman dating Sheila’s teenage son, she is slowly taking over the house being very disturbing with the tension filled interaction with Sheila. Reg is on a stage-do which sees him get the dress to wear, he is preparing for his own wedding, starting to see his own life spiral out of control, with Babs being the wife-to-be that is still preparing the wedding.
Performances – Marianne Jean-Baptiste is great for her part of the film, this is mainly because the film is split into two stories with eh dress, Marianne has the first one and shows the struggles she would be experiencing. When it comes to the rest of the cast, it does feel too late into the movie to get truly invested in the second set of actors story.
Story – The story here follows two different people that come in contact with a mysterious dress that has its own abilities to ruin their lives, we are left to guess just what is causing the pain to happen and why this dress is acting the same way around people. This story is flat out weird to follow, mostly because we have two different stories that might well be connected, they are separate enough to leave us with different ideas for each family to deal with. The story doesn’t seem to give us enough answers about the dress itself and with on fleeting images of the store it came from, which only ends up leaving us feel like we could have had more from the story.
Comedy/Horror – The comedy in the film comes from just how outside the box the idea is, while the horror comes from seeing how the dress acts and what it causes to people’s lives.
Settings – The film tries to keep the locations down to everyday ones, be it the two homes, the store or the employment locations, it shows how the weird events of the characters lives happen without anything needing to come from outside the box.
Special Effects – The effects are used well through the film as they show different levels of damage being caused.
Scene of the Movie – The fight.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Not enough behind the mystery of the dress.
Final Thoughts – This is a horror that can be described with one key world, weird, it is filled with strange moments that only leave us with more questions than answers.
Overall: Very Strange.
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