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The Weaver's Daughter
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Weaver’s Daughter is about loyalties and traditions. What will happen when a daughter keeps her loyalties with her father and want to be loyal to her brother as well. Well, things get a bit dicey when Henry Stockton returns.

Kate struggles with wanting to keep her loyalties to her past or they at least bind her to the past. Her father is a weaver and Kate try and prove to her father and the others that she wants to help with wool. Her brother Charles has chosen to work at Stockton Mill.

We are shown what it like for the time period and the history during Weavers vs Mill owners are tested. Weavers are trying to save their job and livelihoods and mill owners are trying to provide and work with the progress of the coming future.

Henry seems drawn to Miss Dearborne. Will Miss Dearborne come around or will she fight for what in the past. She is seemed like torn between loyalties to her father and brother. She will have to make a choice.

There are tensions with Miss Dearborne father and Henry Stockton? Old man Stockton has tensions with Weavers or at least with the Dearbornes. When someone kills Henry grandfather, who did it and why.

Mr. Dearbone seem to think that Old man Stockton's grandson will be the same as his grandfather? Mr. Dearborne tells his daughter to stay away from Stockton Mill and the Stocktons. Kate seems to keep entering Stockton property and is found out. Find out why and you will need to read it and find out the ending.
  
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BookInspector (124 KP) rated 44 Tiny Secrets in Books

Sep 24, 2020 (Updated Jan 26, 2021)  
44 Tiny Secrets
44 Tiny Secrets
Sylvia Bishop | 2020 | Children, Fiction & Poetry
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The protagonist in this book is Betsy, and this book is told from a single perspective. Betsy’s parents are very well known pianists, hoping that Betsy inherited their talent but no matter how much she tries, she can not play the piano well. I feel very sorry for Betsy, she is so eager to please her parents, and she stresses out so much when she fails. 😦 I really didn’t like Betsy’s mother, she seems heartless and blind, seeking a trophy child rather than a real child with its fears and flaws.

The narrative feels pretty slow, to be honest. I think the whole idea was not fully utilised. The book concentrated more on pleasing and inner thoughts, missing what children really like, funny situations, the more of them, the better. 😀 That is why this book has a little depressing atmosphere.

The writing style was enjoyable, and I liked the way the book was designed. It is quite spaced out, and the colourful illustrations are superb. The chapters were too long for my liking and I did feel a little bored. The ending rounded the story nicely, but I hope in the next part of series there will be more surprises and adventures.

So, to conclude, it is a story about a wish to please and impress. Some of the characters annoyed me with their high expectations, but sometimes that is what adults do to children not even realising it. I liked what this story has to offer, but I was expecting more… But it is only my humble opinion, please do give this book a go, and I hope you will like it more.
  
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
Spider-Man: Far From Home (2019)
2019 | Action, Sci-Fi
Better than Spider-Verse
Now, this is a great Spider-Man movie!

So, ever since I was a kid, in the 70s, I've always wanted to see a Spider-Man movie featuring Mysterio. I mean, what better villain than the one who creates movie special-effects? However, I did know that the effects available weren't good enough to pull it off. I also knew they would eventually get there. It took a long time, but it was well worth the wait. This is what I wanted since I'm a kid. They pulled it off.

Tom Holland brings the usual to the role, which is perfect. I do love Jon Favreau's Happy, and he brings a lot of the humor to the film. In a way though, I wish Spider-Man was Spider-Man & not Iron-Spider-Man. I wish he was on his own, you know what I mean? But it's okay. It doesn't get in the way of the entertainment. And yes, this film is entertaining. There is no slow-down during this film. It's constantly moving. Not like Endgame, which only gets going at the end. Yes, this film is better than Endgame. It's better than Home Coming. And it's better than Spider-Verse.

Jake Gyllenhaal is great as Mysterio. I like the other co-stars too. The teachers are funny as hell. The Hawaiian kid is funny. MJ is okay. And Flash Thompson, well....he sucks. But anyway, the others are good.

And to finish off my review, I have to say, the secret cameo during the mid-credits made me jump with joy. Shocking to say the least. This is a definite must see!
  
Hidden Realm (Legends of Lightning #1)
Hidden Realm (Legends of Lightning #1)
T.R. Slauf | 2021 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
HIDDEN REALM is the first book in the Legends of Lightning series, and I was really looking forward to it.

What I got was a fantasy with elements of Brothers Grimm and all their original fairy tales. Now, it DOES say it is dark, so please pay attention to that if you have any triggers.

Esther is content (as far as she seems possible to be) with her life, but it takes a strange turn when she starts to manifest injuries from her dreams. She does a minimum amount of digging and decides to pack up her life and travel to a different realm.

There is a LOT of violence and rape is inferred on what felt like every page. Due to this, the impact of it lessened with each repeat. The emotional connection with the main characters was also lacking for me. I felt more for one of the supporting characters when his family died than I did for Esther or Oisin.

Just a quick heads up - prepare yourself for whiplash as Esther's emotions change course on a dime.

There is a lot of potential to this story with plenty of intrigue and twists to keep your attention. It does need tightening up in places, but on the whole, it was a good read. I am engaged enough to want to know what happens to Esther and Oisin now.

** same worded review will appear elsewhere **

* 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
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
Mystic Vale
Mystic Vale
2016 | Card Game, Fantasy
The Land needs you, Druid! It is plagued, barren, in need of revitalization and only your Circle can cure it and bring vivacity back to our home. Earn as many VP crystal shards as you can to defeat the other Druids and re-beautify us!

DISCLAIMER: This review focuses on vanilla Mystic Vale. We have most of the expansions in our collections, and we may do reviews on them and how they change the experience. If we do, we will either update this review or link to the expansion reviews here. -T

Okay, so the last part of my intro doesn’t quite make thematic sense, but this is a competitive game. A really good competitive game where there really isn’t a ton of direct player interaction, so if you enjoy merely messing with your opponents’ plans and just seeming like an annoying bee sting, read on.

I will also get this out of the way early: this is my first Card Crafting Game and the first of its type (that I know of, anyway). The concept is explained in the next paragraph. There are now others, but this is the grand-daddy. I was skeptical at first and was late to hop on the bandwagon here, but when I did I was really blown away. You have your own deck of cards that is exactly the same as your opponents’ decks, with a different colored back. Throw those cards into the provided clear sleeves, set up the other decks from which you will be purchasing upgrade cards, and you are setup.

The game mechanics are familiar, where you are pushing your luck to flip over cards from your deck to create a hand of cards… or bust and do nothing. Using the symbols on these cards allows you purchase cards from the current offering grid. Once you have purchased your new card(s) you must put them in the sleeves along with your starting cards to improve those starting cards! How can we do this, you ask? THE CARDS ARE SEE-THROUGH PLASTIC CARDS. Some starting cards are completely blank, and so adding to them drastically increases their value. This is a twist on the old deck building mechanic where you are no longer adding cards to make your deck more plentiful, but you are improving the sleeved cards you already have.

The art on the cards you are purchasing from the offer are printed in a way where information is split into three areas – top, middle, and bottom. So, you may have a starting card that gives you one icon worth of purchasing power with art on the top section. You grab a card to add to that another purchasing icon, with art on the bottom section. Now the next time this card comes up in your hand it is worth two icons to spend on further cards. Simple, right? Well, there are several types of purchasing icons (stars, leaves, paws, etc), not just one general icon. Some cards will furnish you with the other icons that you can use to purchase Vale cards (see photo below). These are powerful cards that can provide VPs and other actions to propel you to victory.

There’s so much in this game, even with just the vanilla base cards, that I just cannot explain everything here. So I won’t. If you have questions, do let me know. Speaking of the base game, here’s what you get.

A box. The box is decent size and will accommodate an expansion. I believe it is supposed to handle more than one, but in my experience, I wasn’t able to fit a whole lot in there with the provided insert. So I made my own. The VP tokens are great. The plastic cards are really great, but they have a strange (or familiar if you have played games like Gloom) smell to them that takes a bit to get used to smelling. Also, the cards come with a protective cling-film layer that will eventually start peeling off. These are used to facilitate printing on the plastic, and can be kept on or taken off – your preference. I’ll tell you what though. The art on this game is absolutely stellar. I really haven’t seen much better on a game, so I definitely am keeping my protective film on mine. The sleeves are decent, but I have had a few blowouts from usage. The game comes with more sleeves than is necessary, so I am hoping I never run out.

This review is long enough, but I wanted the reader to know that I hold this game in VERY high regard. It is well entrenched in my Top 10 list, and I don’t see it moving downward any time soon. The expansions definitely add a ton of replayability to it, but even as is, Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a revivified 21 / 24.

https://purplephoenixgames.wordpress.com/2019/03/15/mystic-vale-review/
  
Casino Royale (1967)
Casino Royale (1967)
1967 | Adventure, Comedy
It Gets Real Bad
Here’s what Rotten Tomatoes has to say because I couldn’t begin to tell you what this shit-show is about: “This James Bond spoof features the hero coming out of retirement to attempt to fix some problems for SMERSH, while a multitude of other subplots unwind about the central figure.” Yeah, even RT was having trouble trying to figure out what the hell was going on with the 1967 Casino Royale. How bad is it? Well, let’s just say I just finished reading a list of the Top 100 Worst Movies of All Time and I was very surprised to not see this movie on there.

Acting: 10
The movie was bad, but I honestly can’t say that the acting was. These professionals had a job to do and they did it…more or less. While there’s no one performance that really stood out for me, I can definitely remember thinking that no one shit the bed at least.

Beginning: 6
This movie is weird through and through and the beginning is no exception. I will say there was some mild interest after the first ten minutes. I knew it was going to be different than the previous Bond movies, but I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

Characters: 8
In addition to solid acting, the characters weren’t all that bad either. Sure James Bond was way more lame than the usual guy we had come to know and love over the previous few movies. But throw in characters like the aloof Evelyn Tremble (Peter Sellers) and you’ve got a fun cast of characters that at least try to keep things interesting.

Cinematography/Visuals: 5
Casino Royale is shot like they were given the lowest budget imaginable. Everything feels extremely cheap and done with little to no effort. It is a far cry from the previous Bond movies that give you groundbreaking shots and decent special effects. This movie’s visuals are mediocre at best.

Conflict: 6

Entertainment Value: 3
It’s never a good sign when I have to stop watching a movie at night and continue on in the morning. When it’s good enough, I will stay up no matter how tired I am. This movie was bad enough to put me right to sleep. I scored it a 3 because it reached a point where my interest was piqued in just how bad things were going to get.

Memorability: 8
It’s bad sure…but boy is it unforgettable bad. With all the craziness that ensued, they made sure you would remember it a long time after watching it. And you know what? There’s a fun respectability that comes with that.

Pace: 1

Plot: 2

Resolution: 6
The best part about the end? It was the end.

Overall: 55
I wanted to watch all the Bond movies, including the stinkers. Casino Royale is easily one of the stinkers. But, with movies as it is with everything, you can’t know where you’re going unless you see where you’ve been.
  
Sorrowland
Sorrowland
Rivers Solomon | 2021 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
You can also read my review at my blog - https://roamingthroughbooks.wordpress.com

Sorrowland is a genre-bending book which is like nothing I have ever read before and probably ever will again!

The story centres around Fern, an albino black teenage girl who gives birth to twins, Howling and Feral in the woods after escaping from a cult called Cainland. What follows is a mindboggling adventure surrounding her survival.

This is a coming of age story like no other – part sci-fi, part horror, part dystopian, part magical realism, this book defies genre. But amongst all the myriad of twists and turns this novel takes, what lies at the heart of it is a story about a girl who comes to understand her identity and rises above what has been spoken over her in her past.

During Fern’s journey of self-discovery the book examines themes such as racism, indoctrination, abuse and misogyny. There are many challenges in reading this book as we encounter a dystopian world that is disturbingly similar to our own exploring those who live on the fringe of society due to white domination. This not only includes Cainland, the cult set up by black people originally to challenge the white belief system, but also native American characters who quietly hold onto their truth in a far less bigoted and twisted way.

I love the big questions this book asks and the twisted paths it takes in asking them leading you into such unknown territories through the plot that you meet these issues head on in such different ways that you confront them anew and reexamine how you really feel about them and the impact that they have on our world.

Sorrowland is compelling and, although this would never be a genre I would normally read, I enjoyed the enigmatic nature of the evolving fantastical storyline and the constant surprises Rivers Solomon weaves into the plot. It is extremely well-written, with powerful characterisation, rich with poetic descriptions and intelligent themes.

However, the aims of the book seem to get a little muddled at times and I became confused about what Solomon wanted me to get out of the book. The story becomes so fast-paced and dense at times that this prevented me from taking a step back and truly immersing myself in the deeper themes of the novel.

This is a hard book to review. As I said, not something I would normally read, but the quality of the writing won me over. That said, I did not come away from the book feeling a sense of enjoyment, but instead, unsettled and disturbed by encountering a story of brutality with wild, savage characters and a frightening world where nothing is as it seems.

I would recommend this book – purely because you will be changed by it and this is one of the most powerful gifts of literature – but it is not a comfortable read and would not suit everyone.

Thanks to the publishers and NetGalley for the ARe-copy in exchange for this honest review.
  
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Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated The Hummingbird Project (2018) in Movies

Jun 24, 2019 (Updated Sep 25, 2019)  
The Hummingbird Project (2018)
The Hummingbird Project (2018)
2018 | Drama, Thriller
The trailer for this offered a glimpse at something that looked intriguing but the final result wasn't quite as impactful as you might have imagined.

Vincent has the drive and cunning to launch a project that could make them millions, Anton is the brains to make it a success. In investment you have to be a step ahead of the competition, so the competition is where you'll get the best deal on the next big thing. When they both quit with immediate effect their boss is suspicious does everything to find out what they're up to. She eventually gets a break and is soon hot on their heels to come up with something bigger and better. The stakes are high and the game is dirty, but someone has to win.

The Hummingbird Project certainly didn't lack acting talent. While I've not seen much from Jesse Eisenberg apart from Lex Luthor in the DCEU I was impressed with what he gives in this, there are a lot of powerful moments as we get towards the end of the film and he treats them well. Alexander Skarsgård plays Anton, the awkward genius cousin who spends most of his time with his eyes glued to a computer screen. His role is heavy on physical acting rather than dialogue and it's very effective against the pushy characters around him.

The duo are pitted against their ex-boss, Eva Torres, beautifully brought to life as a ruthless villain by Salma Hayek. Hayek has the bitchy boss thing down and had she been talking at me with heavily threatening undertones I think I'd have just started crying.

I found the story easy to get along with, the script wasn't overly complicated which was nice considering it could have been with all the technical things going on. As the story overall is about them fulfilling their project it means that at several points we get reminders about what's going on, and that probably helps it because every so often they get out some plans and go "this is what we're doing and this is the problem" so you don't have to really remember much as we progress.

At points it seems like it's a little rushed, which is intriguing because it feels like it's longer than billed. I assumed that some scenes are included because they're a nod to the real-life story... but it isn't a real-life story... and that in itself should be the most confusing thing about this film. I genuinely went in thinking it was "history", but it's not history, so why did they bother making it? It's just not thrilling enough to hold up as a new story. If I'm honest, finding out it's fictional after thinking it was real has knocked off some star rating.

What you should do

There are much more thrilling tales out there for this sort of story, despite the good acting I would suggest seeing something else. Seeing something else would also preserve the beautiful image of Alexander Skarsgård from being tarnished.

Movie thing you wish you could take home

A multi-million dollar idea would be quite nice.
  
Borderlands 3: Bounty of Blood
Borderlands 3: Bounty of Blood
Action, Fighting, Shooter
The third DLC for Borderlands 3 has arrived and Bounty of Blood serves up more of the action, guns, and mayhem that fans of the series have become accustomed to.

Answering a call for a Bounty Hunter; the Vault Hunter(s) arrive on the planet of Gehenna which has been largely forgotten after being exploited by one of the big companies in years past.

The planet is a hybrid of the Old West and current Borderlands technology and is populated with all manner of dangerous creatures; many which resemble Dinosaurs.

Upon arriving at the town of Vestige’ players learn that the town is under attack by a vicious gang known as the “Devil Riders”. You are then tasked with eliminating the threat and taking down their leader to collect the Bounty.

Naturally there is much more in play as a larger threat is revealed and players will have to fight their way through various areas to get to the bottom of the mystery and save the day.

The game has lots of action and introduces many new characters while omitting appearances from any past characters in the series. There are abundant new weapons as one would expect in a Borderlands game and the Western theme offered up some great locales and visuals as well as some great music. The game has a narrator which adds a new dimension to the game as it is fun to hear how some of your actions become known as events such as the “Bathhouse Massacre” as an example.

The DLC did not seem as long as the past two did and did not seem as challenging as I was able to complete the campaign on my own and did not have any areas where I was challenged to complete.

There are side missions as well and some will present themselves after the game and credits end so players who want to continue to explore will have many opportunities to do so.

There are also new environmental weapons that players can use to cause destruction or briefly control enemies which adds a new dimension to the game.

Bounty of Blood is a solid and highly-enjoyable DLC for the game and I look forward to seeing what the next DLC offers up.

4 stars out of 5.