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Gareth von Kallenbach (971 KP) rated Rango (2011) in Movies
Aug 7, 2019
Y’all want to know what Rango is about? Have a seat by the camp fire and I’ll tell ya. The chameleon that would one day be known as Rango (voiced by Johnny Depp) begins the movie as a pet, traveling across the desert with a human family in their SUV. However, fate or perhaps the Spirit of the West (voiced by Timothy Olyphant) has other plans for him. Soon he is separated from his human family and he meets a wise armadillo named Roadkill (voiced by Alfred Molina) who tells him about the Spirit of the West, fate and, more importantly to him, where to find water.
Fans of Johnny Depp will recognize an amazing reference, tribute if you will, to the 1998 movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas that starred the actor. On his way to the nearest town where he can get some water, he meets one of the locals, a young lady lizard named Beans (voiced by Isla Fisher) who offers him a ride to the edge of town, a town aptly named Dirt. As he tries to fit in with the locals he realizes that he can reinvent himself here, so he gives himself the name Rango but thanks to a lie that he told to the guys in the saloon he soon finds himself in a showdown with one of the meanest gangs in town. Through a very funny turn of events he not only survives but becomes the town hero. In honor of his victory the Mayor (voiced by Ned Beatty) offers him the job of sheriff which Rango gladly accepts.
Soon after, the limited water supply in town disappears and it is up to Rango (along with some quirky townfolk) to solve the mystery and save Dirt. Along his journey, Rango eventually comes to a point where he must decide what kind of lizard he wants to be, a hero of the people or a person who just plays one. Will he make the right choices? Will he find the water? Will he save the town? See the movie to find out the answers to these questions and more.
I have seen many family movies that were very entertaining for the kids but extremely boring for the adults. Luckily Rangois not one of those movies. Not only does the movie have a very talented voice cast, it also has entertaining action that enhances the story instead of over-powering or taking away from it. The visuals were so realistic that at times I almost forgot it was an animated film and it has plenty of humor to make the audience laugh, regardless of age.
At the end of the movie as we all were heading towards the exit I overhead a person saying to their friends how the movie actually felt like the old westerns that they had watched growing up and I found myself agreeing. The story unfolded with a natural flow, beautiful scenery and wild west action that kept the audience engaged from start to finish.
Fans of Johnny Depp will recognize an amazing reference, tribute if you will, to the 1998 movie Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas that starred the actor. On his way to the nearest town where he can get some water, he meets one of the locals, a young lady lizard named Beans (voiced by Isla Fisher) who offers him a ride to the edge of town, a town aptly named Dirt. As he tries to fit in with the locals he realizes that he can reinvent himself here, so he gives himself the name Rango but thanks to a lie that he told to the guys in the saloon he soon finds himself in a showdown with one of the meanest gangs in town. Through a very funny turn of events he not only survives but becomes the town hero. In honor of his victory the Mayor (voiced by Ned Beatty) offers him the job of sheriff which Rango gladly accepts.
Soon after, the limited water supply in town disappears and it is up to Rango (along with some quirky townfolk) to solve the mystery and save Dirt. Along his journey, Rango eventually comes to a point where he must decide what kind of lizard he wants to be, a hero of the people or a person who just plays one. Will he make the right choices? Will he find the water? Will he save the town? See the movie to find out the answers to these questions and more.
I have seen many family movies that were very entertaining for the kids but extremely boring for the adults. Luckily Rangois not one of those movies. Not only does the movie have a very talented voice cast, it also has entertaining action that enhances the story instead of over-powering or taking away from it. The visuals were so realistic that at times I almost forgot it was an animated film and it has plenty of humor to make the audience laugh, regardless of age.
At the end of the movie as we all were heading towards the exit I overhead a person saying to their friends how the movie actually felt like the old westerns that they had watched growing up and I found myself agreeing. The story unfolded with a natural flow, beautiful scenery and wild west action that kept the audience engaged from start to finish.
Digger Games for Kids and Toddlers : discover the world of excavators ! FREE game
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Discover the world of the Queen's Thief New York Times-bestselling author Megan Whalen Turner's...
Lee (2222 KP) rated Wolfwalkers (2020) in Movies
Oct 12, 2020
Wolfwalkers is the latest animated offering from Irish based studio, Cartoon Saloon. I’m actually ashamed to say that before watching Wolfwalkers, I was pretty unfamiliar with their previous Irish folklore offerings - The Secret of Kells (2009) and Song of the Sea (2014) - but having seen this latest animated feature, it’s a mistake that I will be looking to correct as quickly as possible.
Wolfwalkers is set in Kilkenny, Ireland (which is also the home of Cartoon Saloon!) during the 17th century. Robyn (Honor Kneafsey) has moved from Yorkshire with her father, Bill (Sean Bean) to the walled town, where Bill has been tasked by the rather menacing Lord Protector (Simon McBurney) to clear the surrounding forest of wolves. Once the forest is clear, the woodsmen can fell the trees and the farmers can start working the land.
There are signs everywhere, throughout the town and pinned to trees in the forest, showing a snarling wolf with a red cross drawn over it. A wolf attack on some woodsmen early on shows us just how dangerous the wolves are, and also introduces us to the Wolfwalkers that walk among them. With blazing eyes and fiery red hair, the Wolfwalkers are able to communicate with and control the wolves, calling them off their attacks on the humans. They also appear to possess magical healing abilities, using them to heal a wolf scratch on the chest of one of the men.
Robyn has dreams of following in her father’s footsteps and becoming a hunter as she practices her crossbow skills. So rather than work all day in the scullery, she decides to slip past the guards at the outer gate (no children are allowed beyond the town walls) and secretly follow her father out into the forest, watching him as he sets traps for the wolves. When she comes face to face with a wolf, it’s much smaller and a lot cuter than the ones we’ve seen before, and Robyn learns that it is, in fact, a young Wolfwalker named Mebh.
Robyn forms a bond with Mebh and discovers that when the Wolfwalkers sleep, they assume the body of a wolf, leaving their human body to sleep until they return in order to wake it up. Mebh is worried because her mother has been asleep for some time and her wolf form has not yet returned. Robyn learns that the Wolfwalkers are simply trying to defend the animals from the modern world that is encroaching on their forest and Robyn vows to help find her mother. A difficult task when the Lord Protector has given her father 2 days to clear the forest of wolves, and he isn’t listening to his daughter as she pleads with him to stop.
I found Wolfwalkers to be simply wonderful, with a captivating story full of twist and turns for both kids and adults to enjoy. It’s beautiful to look at too, utilising a watercolour style with rough pencil sketches visible in most of the characters and scenery only adding to its visual appeal. I was completely taken by surprise and just couldn’t fault it.
Wolfwalkers is set in Kilkenny, Ireland (which is also the home of Cartoon Saloon!) during the 17th century. Robyn (Honor Kneafsey) has moved from Yorkshire with her father, Bill (Sean Bean) to the walled town, where Bill has been tasked by the rather menacing Lord Protector (Simon McBurney) to clear the surrounding forest of wolves. Once the forest is clear, the woodsmen can fell the trees and the farmers can start working the land.
There are signs everywhere, throughout the town and pinned to trees in the forest, showing a snarling wolf with a red cross drawn over it. A wolf attack on some woodsmen early on shows us just how dangerous the wolves are, and also introduces us to the Wolfwalkers that walk among them. With blazing eyes and fiery red hair, the Wolfwalkers are able to communicate with and control the wolves, calling them off their attacks on the humans. They also appear to possess magical healing abilities, using them to heal a wolf scratch on the chest of one of the men.
Robyn has dreams of following in her father’s footsteps and becoming a hunter as she practices her crossbow skills. So rather than work all day in the scullery, she decides to slip past the guards at the outer gate (no children are allowed beyond the town walls) and secretly follow her father out into the forest, watching him as he sets traps for the wolves. When she comes face to face with a wolf, it’s much smaller and a lot cuter than the ones we’ve seen before, and Robyn learns that it is, in fact, a young Wolfwalker named Mebh.
Robyn forms a bond with Mebh and discovers that when the Wolfwalkers sleep, they assume the body of a wolf, leaving their human body to sleep until they return in order to wake it up. Mebh is worried because her mother has been asleep for some time and her wolf form has not yet returned. Robyn learns that the Wolfwalkers are simply trying to defend the animals from the modern world that is encroaching on their forest and Robyn vows to help find her mother. A difficult task when the Lord Protector has given her father 2 days to clear the forest of wolves, and he isn’t listening to his daughter as she pleads with him to stop.
I found Wolfwalkers to be simply wonderful, with a captivating story full of twist and turns for both kids and adults to enjoy. It’s beautiful to look at too, utilising a watercolour style with rough pencil sketches visible in most of the characters and scenery only adding to its visual appeal. I was completely taken by surprise and just couldn’t fault it.
Becs (244 KP) rated Death of a Salesman in Books
Oct 2, 2019
Wow. Death of a Salesman was a different style of a literary classic that I was honestly never expecting. It grabbed my emotions and pulled on my heartstrings. The plot contained a rollercoaster of events, and I’ll admit, there were a few times I was utterly confused and wanted to throw the book across the room. But towards the end of the ride, I was able to understand what each issue each of the characters had and what it meant to them.
Understanding the pain that Willy was going through. Understanding the issues Biff has with stealing from jobs. Understanding Happy’s need to sleep around. Bringing to light the issue of a salesman’s career and how the job market was going downhill. Death of a Salesman is worth a read or a couple of rereads!
Genre: Literary Classic, plays
Audience: Young Adult and Adults
Interests: Plays, salesmen, American Dreams, family-ties
Quality: The quality of Death of a Salesman is not one you can take lightly. There are moments throughout the play that a younger version of myself would never be able to understand until I experienced the real world for myself. Now, I understand what it’s like losing a job you hoped to have for the rest of your life. Becoming depressed to the point that you just don’t know what to do anymore regarding your family other than hoping that they can make ends meet when you’re gone.
Insights: Death of a Salesman shows that dreams are not always sunny beaches and sprinkles. But that it contains a dark side that will rip your happiness and everything you’ve lived for into a million tiny pieces that will never be able to be fixed again.
Favorite Quotes: “The jungle is dark but full of diamonds, Willy.”
“I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been.”
“I stopped in the middle of that building and I saw — the sky. I saw the things that I love in this world. The work and the food and time to sit and smoke. And I looked at the pen and said to myself, what the hell am I grabbing this for? Why am I trying to become what I don’t want to be? What am I doing in an office, making a contemptuous, begging fool of myself, when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am! Why can’t I say that, Willy?”
Aesthetics: I love how Arthur Miller shows the reader what it’s like in a world as a struggling family. Nonetheless, a struggling middle-aged man in the fifties who is battling depression and the loss of his career. It really shows the reader that anything can happen, that you could possibly lose your career. That you could possibly lose your home or even your loved ones. Anything can happen when life decides to wipe your slate and leave you with nothing in return. So the time we have now, we must cherish it. For we never know how much time we truly have.
“The only thing you’ve got in this world is what you can sell.”
Understanding the pain that Willy was going through. Understanding the issues Biff has with stealing from jobs. Understanding Happy’s need to sleep around. Bringing to light the issue of a salesman’s career and how the job market was going downhill. Death of a Salesman is worth a read or a couple of rereads!
Genre: Literary Classic, plays
Audience: Young Adult and Adults
Interests: Plays, salesmen, American Dreams, family-ties
Quality: The quality of Death of a Salesman is not one you can take lightly. There are moments throughout the play that a younger version of myself would never be able to understand until I experienced the real world for myself. Now, I understand what it’s like losing a job you hoped to have for the rest of your life. Becoming depressed to the point that you just don’t know what to do anymore regarding your family other than hoping that they can make ends meet when you’re gone.
Insights: Death of a Salesman shows that dreams are not always sunny beaches and sprinkles. But that it contains a dark side that will rip your happiness and everything you’ve lived for into a million tiny pieces that will never be able to be fixed again.
Favorite Quotes: “The jungle is dark but full of diamonds, Willy.”
“I realized what a ridiculous lie my whole life has been.”
“I stopped in the middle of that building and I saw — the sky. I saw the things that I love in this world. The work and the food and time to sit and smoke. And I looked at the pen and said to myself, what the hell am I grabbing this for? Why am I trying to become what I don’t want to be? What am I doing in an office, making a contemptuous, begging fool of myself, when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am! Why can’t I say that, Willy?”
Aesthetics: I love how Arthur Miller shows the reader what it’s like in a world as a struggling family. Nonetheless, a struggling middle-aged man in the fifties who is battling depression and the loss of his career. It really shows the reader that anything can happen, that you could possibly lose your career. That you could possibly lose your home or even your loved ones. Anything can happen when life decides to wipe your slate and leave you with nothing in return. So the time we have now, we must cherish it. For we never know how much time we truly have.
“The only thing you’ve got in this world is what you can sell.”
Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated Mayhem in Books
Oct 2, 2020
I am so happy to have the opportunity to be part of the blog tour for Mayhem by Estelle Laure. Thank you to the team at Wednesday Books, for sending me an e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
Estelle Laure, the author of This Raging Light and But Then I Came Back believes in love, magic, and the power of facing hard truths. She has a BA in Theatre Arts and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults, and she lives in Taos, New Mexico, with her family. Her work is translated widely around the world.
It's 1987 and Mayhem Brayburn has always known something's off about her and her mum, Roxy. Roxy is in constant physical pain, and Mayhem has an irresistible pull to water. She knows they aren't like the other people.
When one day, Mayhem's stepfather goes one step too far, her and Roxy escape to Santa Maria, California, the beach town that holds the answers to all of Mayhem's questions about who her mother is. There, she meets the kids who live with her aunt, and she opens the door to the magic that runs through the female lineage of the Brayburn family. The very magic Mayhem is next in line to inherit and which will change her life for good.
But when she is on a mission to search for a man that has been kidnapping girls from the beach, her life takes another dangerous turn and she needs to pay the price of vigilante justice and to ask herself whether revenge is worth the cost.
My Thoughts:
Mayhem by Estelle Laure is one of a kind. Entwined with mystery, magic with family heritage and revenge, this book is full of emotions.
The beginning of the book, although powerful, is very slow. It took me a little while to get into it, but as soon as I was hooked, it stayed amazing.
Mayhem is an interesting character. She holds a lot of emotions inside of her, all from past experiences that have shaped her character. Sad to say that most of her experiences were not good, and she holds the burden for it all. I can imagine how hard it must be to write a character as complicated as Mayhem, and I think Estelle Laure did and amazing job doing it.
I loved the kids as well - each of them different in their own way, battling their own demons and living through their bad experiences in the past. Some of these characters drastically change over the course of the book, which was unbelievable to me.
The magic aspect of this book was interesting, and for me, original. I have seen many reviews mentioning that this might not be true, and it is a very similar story to The Lost Boys. Since I haven't watched The Lost Boys, I am unable to comment on this part. Personally, I really enjoyed the magic concept with the water, the dependency on it and the family heritage part too.
If you are searching for a YA fantasy thriller, with rich characters and mysterious adventures, I think you will definitely enjoy this book.
Estelle Laure, the author of This Raging Light and But Then I Came Back believes in love, magic, and the power of facing hard truths. She has a BA in Theatre Arts and an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults, and she lives in Taos, New Mexico, with her family. Her work is translated widely around the world.
It's 1987 and Mayhem Brayburn has always known something's off about her and her mum, Roxy. Roxy is in constant physical pain, and Mayhem has an irresistible pull to water. She knows they aren't like the other people.
When one day, Mayhem's stepfather goes one step too far, her and Roxy escape to Santa Maria, California, the beach town that holds the answers to all of Mayhem's questions about who her mother is. There, she meets the kids who live with her aunt, and she opens the door to the magic that runs through the female lineage of the Brayburn family. The very magic Mayhem is next in line to inherit and which will change her life for good.
But when she is on a mission to search for a man that has been kidnapping girls from the beach, her life takes another dangerous turn and she needs to pay the price of vigilante justice and to ask herself whether revenge is worth the cost.
My Thoughts:
Mayhem by Estelle Laure is one of a kind. Entwined with mystery, magic with family heritage and revenge, this book is full of emotions.
The beginning of the book, although powerful, is very slow. It took me a little while to get into it, but as soon as I was hooked, it stayed amazing.
Mayhem is an interesting character. She holds a lot of emotions inside of her, all from past experiences that have shaped her character. Sad to say that most of her experiences were not good, and she holds the burden for it all. I can imagine how hard it must be to write a character as complicated as Mayhem, and I think Estelle Laure did and amazing job doing it.
I loved the kids as well - each of them different in their own way, battling their own demons and living through their bad experiences in the past. Some of these characters drastically change over the course of the book, which was unbelievable to me.
The magic aspect of this book was interesting, and for me, original. I have seen many reviews mentioning that this might not be true, and it is a very similar story to The Lost Boys. Since I haven't watched The Lost Boys, I am unable to comment on this part. Personally, I really enjoyed the magic concept with the water, the dependency on it and the family heritage part too.
If you are searching for a YA fantasy thriller, with rich characters and mysterious adventures, I think you will definitely enjoy this book.
BMO Snaps - Adventure Time Photo Game
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It’s Adventure Time! Help BMO on an epic quest to save the Land of Ooo from hologram clones of...
Hadley (567 KP) rated The Institute in Books
Oct 24, 2019
Likable characters (1 more)
Paranormal
Sexualizing children (1 more)
Not a regular King story
At around 95 novels, Stephen King, who is one of the most well-known authors of our time, debuts a possible new novel series about psychic children. 'The Institute' mostly takes place in a hidden facility located in a wooded area of Maine,where readers follow a kidnapped child prodigy named Luke Ellis, and the government experiments that are inflicted on him to heighten his psychic powers.
So why is the government kidnapping children to conduct psychic research on them? At first, it may seem just that: psychic research, because psychic powers seem to be more powerful in young children than adults, but nothing is what it seems. As the boss of this Institute says to the children: " ' There's a war going on, and you have been called upon to serve your country.' " A few sentences later, and she explains it a little more in depth for Ellis: " ' This is not an arms race but a mind race, and if we lose, the consequences would be more than dire; they would be unimaginable. You may only be twelve, but you are a soldier in an undeclared war. The same is true of Kalisha and the others. Do you like it? Of course not. Draftees never do, and draftees sometimes need to be taught that there are consequences for not following orders. I believe you've already had one lesson in that regard. If you're as bright as your records say you are, perhaps you won't need another. If you do, however, you'll get it. This is not your home. This is not your school. You will not simply be given an extra chore or sent to the principal's office or given detention; you will be punished. Clear? ' "
King writes in a third-person point-of-view, which makes it a little disturbing that when any female character he introduces (including girls as young as 11-years-old) are usually introduced by their breast size. It's not uncommon for male writers to introduce female characters this way, but when most of them are children, it can be very off putting for readers. One scene, King makes Ellis notice that Kalisha has 'her hands on her mostly nonexistent hips,' then writes about the character Helen in the same scene: " Another door opened and Helen Simms appeared, clad - - - sort of - - - in what Luke believed were called babydoll pajamas. She had hips, plus other interesting equipment. " Both of these characters are only twelve-years-old.
Aside from the children, King also introduces an important character named Tim Jamieson. This character starts the novel off before readers meet Ellis; we learn that he is a former cop who is traveling to New York while taking odd jobs on his way there, including a night knocker job in DuPray, South Carolina (which becomes very important later on in the story) .
Avery, my personal favorite character in the book, is a ten-year-old who acts like a five-year-old, " The screamer was a little boy in Star Wars pajamas, hammering on doors with small fists that went up and down like pistons. Ten? Avery Dixon looked six, seven at most. The crotch and one leg of his pajama pants were wet and sticking to him. " Dixon and Kalisha are both in the Institute for telepathy. " 'You know so,' Kalisha said, and began to stroke the little boy's [Dixon] hair again. Like had a sense - - - maybe bullshit, maybe not - - - that a lot was going on between them. Inside traffic. " And quickly, the group of children become protective of Dixon, " 'But you need to take care of this one for as long as you can. When I think of Tony or Zeke or that bitch Winona hitting Avery, it makes me want to cry. ' " Kalisha confides in Ellis.
Kalisha, one of the other children that has been kidnapped, is another very likable character that seems to keep all of the other kids' spirits up by either keeping them out of trouble with advice or stopping small fights between them. Another kid named Nicky, the troublemaker of the group, is the stereo-typical bad boy. He gets involved in fistfights with the orderlies that work at the Institute, taking quite a bit of abuse in return. But eventually, the rebelliousness catches up with him, leading him to be moved from Front Half to the dreaded Back Half.
Readers later learn that Back Half is worse than Front Half. Most questions we may have about why the Institute is abusing these children are all answered when readers get to see into Back Half from Kalisha's point-of-view. But what is left unanswered is exactly how many children have been through the Institute? From the amount of children seen just in this story, the numbers could be in the hundreds of thousands!
But, as expected, the children come up with a plan to escape - - - with giving as little detail as possible, an orderlie at the Institute is helped by one of the children with a personal problem, and in return, this orderlie decides to help one of them escape and reveal everything that is the Institute. The instance the escape starts being discussed is when the book really picks up.
King's writing of the abuse our characters sustain is very real (" When Stevie Whipple asked where he'd been and what was wrong, Luke just shook his head. He didn't want to talk about the tank. Not now, not ever. He supposed it was like being in a war. You got drafted, you went, but you didn't want to talk about what you'd seen, or what had happened to you there." ) The scene in which Ellis refuses to speak of is where the orderlie Zeke is trying to make Ellis confess that he is not only telekinesis, but also telepathic: "Zeke hauled him up by the hair. His white tunic was soaked. He looked fixedly at Luke. 'I'm going to put you down again, Luke. Again and again and again. I'll put you down until you drown and then we'll resuscitate you and drown you again and resuscitate you again. Last chance: what number am I thinking of?' "
King brings up a fictional belief that strikes fear in parents everywhere: children being kidnapped for government experiments. Readers witness Ellis' parents being killed, Kalisha being a surrogate mother to kids she barely knows, Nicky being beaten by adults when he refuses to get 'shots for dots,' night terrors, suicide, zap sticks and murder.
This book doesn't read like a regular King book; even with the paranormal aspects occurring in it, it doesn't add up to much. The horror aspect is more in the form of child abuse then paranormal moments. I would only recommend this book to fans of Netflix's 'Stranger Things' and Patterson's 'Maximum Ride.' I don't think I would read this again.
So why is the government kidnapping children to conduct psychic research on them? At first, it may seem just that: psychic research, because psychic powers seem to be more powerful in young children than adults, but nothing is what it seems. As the boss of this Institute says to the children: " ' There's a war going on, and you have been called upon to serve your country.' " A few sentences later, and she explains it a little more in depth for Ellis: " ' This is not an arms race but a mind race, and if we lose, the consequences would be more than dire; they would be unimaginable. You may only be twelve, but you are a soldier in an undeclared war. The same is true of Kalisha and the others. Do you like it? Of course not. Draftees never do, and draftees sometimes need to be taught that there are consequences for not following orders. I believe you've already had one lesson in that regard. If you're as bright as your records say you are, perhaps you won't need another. If you do, however, you'll get it. This is not your home. This is not your school. You will not simply be given an extra chore or sent to the principal's office or given detention; you will be punished. Clear? ' "
King writes in a third-person point-of-view, which makes it a little disturbing that when any female character he introduces (including girls as young as 11-years-old) are usually introduced by their breast size. It's not uncommon for male writers to introduce female characters this way, but when most of them are children, it can be very off putting for readers. One scene, King makes Ellis notice that Kalisha has 'her hands on her mostly nonexistent hips,' then writes about the character Helen in the same scene: " Another door opened and Helen Simms appeared, clad - - - sort of - - - in what Luke believed were called babydoll pajamas. She had hips, plus other interesting equipment. " Both of these characters are only twelve-years-old.
Aside from the children, King also introduces an important character named Tim Jamieson. This character starts the novel off before readers meet Ellis; we learn that he is a former cop who is traveling to New York while taking odd jobs on his way there, including a night knocker job in DuPray, South Carolina (which becomes very important later on in the story) .
Avery, my personal favorite character in the book, is a ten-year-old who acts like a five-year-old, " The screamer was a little boy in Star Wars pajamas, hammering on doors with small fists that went up and down like pistons. Ten? Avery Dixon looked six, seven at most. The crotch and one leg of his pajama pants were wet and sticking to him. " Dixon and Kalisha are both in the Institute for telepathy. " 'You know so,' Kalisha said, and began to stroke the little boy's [Dixon] hair again. Like had a sense - - - maybe bullshit, maybe not - - - that a lot was going on between them. Inside traffic. " And quickly, the group of children become protective of Dixon, " 'But you need to take care of this one for as long as you can. When I think of Tony or Zeke or that bitch Winona hitting Avery, it makes me want to cry. ' " Kalisha confides in Ellis.
Kalisha, one of the other children that has been kidnapped, is another very likable character that seems to keep all of the other kids' spirits up by either keeping them out of trouble with advice or stopping small fights between them. Another kid named Nicky, the troublemaker of the group, is the stereo-typical bad boy. He gets involved in fistfights with the orderlies that work at the Institute, taking quite a bit of abuse in return. But eventually, the rebelliousness catches up with him, leading him to be moved from Front Half to the dreaded Back Half.
Readers later learn that Back Half is worse than Front Half. Most questions we may have about why the Institute is abusing these children are all answered when readers get to see into Back Half from Kalisha's point-of-view. But what is left unanswered is exactly how many children have been through the Institute? From the amount of children seen just in this story, the numbers could be in the hundreds of thousands!
But, as expected, the children come up with a plan to escape - - - with giving as little detail as possible, an orderlie at the Institute is helped by one of the children with a personal problem, and in return, this orderlie decides to help one of them escape and reveal everything that is the Institute. The instance the escape starts being discussed is when the book really picks up.
King's writing of the abuse our characters sustain is very real (" When Stevie Whipple asked where he'd been and what was wrong, Luke just shook his head. He didn't want to talk about the tank. Not now, not ever. He supposed it was like being in a war. You got drafted, you went, but you didn't want to talk about what you'd seen, or what had happened to you there." ) The scene in which Ellis refuses to speak of is where the orderlie Zeke is trying to make Ellis confess that he is not only telekinesis, but also telepathic: "Zeke hauled him up by the hair. His white tunic was soaked. He looked fixedly at Luke. 'I'm going to put you down again, Luke. Again and again and again. I'll put you down until you drown and then we'll resuscitate you and drown you again and resuscitate you again. Last chance: what number am I thinking of?' "
King brings up a fictional belief that strikes fear in parents everywhere: children being kidnapped for government experiments. Readers witness Ellis' parents being killed, Kalisha being a surrogate mother to kids she barely knows, Nicky being beaten by adults when he refuses to get 'shots for dots,' night terrors, suicide, zap sticks and murder.
This book doesn't read like a regular King book; even with the paranormal aspects occurring in it, it doesn't add up to much. The horror aspect is more in the form of child abuse then paranormal moments. I would only recommend this book to fans of Netflix's 'Stranger Things' and Patterson's 'Maximum Ride.' I don't think I would read this again.
EmersonRose (320 KP) rated The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus #5) in Books
Nov 20, 2019
Alert! Before I begin this review, I need to let it be known that in the case of this particular book I may be a little biased, well maybe really biased! This is the tenth book I have read by this author and the last in the second series I have read. It is safe to say I love these books or else I would not have read this many.
Alright, now that that is out of the way, let me begin. This book is called Blood of Olympus, it is the fifth and final book in the Heroes of Olympus series (if you should ever desire to read these book, I would recommend starting with the Percy Jackson, and the Olympians series as this series is a sequel series. The author of this book is a writer by the name of Rick Riordan. This book is a young adult fantasy novel. It is the final chapter of the adventure of a group of seven young adults who happen to be demigods, modern day children of the ancient gods of Greece and Rome. This adventure, like many great adventures, is a race to save the world.
For me, the initial draw of the book was that it is a fantasy novel, which is one of my favorite genres, and its focus is on Greek Mythology, something of an obsession of mine. The mythology in these books may not always satisfy all mythology nerds because they do take liberties in how the myths are presented in order to showcase how they might have changed to fit in the modern day world. The way Riordan chooses to represent mythology is often fairly close to original stories, showing that he spends the time researching the myths, and they are clever, funny, and entertaining.
As I read the books, I found myself drawn to the relationships between the characters, not surprising as characters are a key draw for me in literature. By this point in the series, the relationships became especially interesting because you have known some of the characters for ten books now while others are just in their second or third book appearances. The central characters have grown into a substantial group that each have their own unique backgrounds, personalities, and even mythologies that create intriguing tension and bonds. Their bonds grow stronger as they work through new struggles and adventures with the added drama of them being a group of teenagers, which obviously means that there is a fair bit of romance involved as well.
For me personally to get into a story the most important aspect is to be very invested in61w3pqVMCZL._US230_ the characters. This does not mean I have to like them, but I do need to be completely invested in what happens to them. If the storyteller can do this, then I will most likely binge the entire thing whether book, movie, tv show, comic…. regardless whether or not the story is good or my normal cup of tea. This was definitely an initial draw in me reading this second series because I was already very invested in both Percy and Annabeth’s characters, who are among the main characters in this series and the main characters in the previous series. The majority of the characters in this book did capture my emotional investment, which kept me reading all five books, but there were a few I found lacking. Maybe I am the only one who felt this, but I thought that Riordan didn’t spend enough time on some of the new characters to pull me into their plots. Unfortunately, this is common in stories that feature such a large cast of main characters, had the time on each character been even plot points might not have been as successful and honestly, I might have been annoyed to not spend as much time on my favorites.
I would be lying if I were to say this was my favorite book in this series but I still greatly enjoyed it. Besides my problem with not feeling emotionally invested enough in some of the characters, I really do not have any other complaints about the book. It was successful in finishing this series story arc while having plenty of plot of its own. And it ended wrapping just about everything up so that I was satisfied, but open enough to still want more. If this were a regular series, the leftover cliffhangers would be dreadful! But Riordan writes series that capture over-arching plots but that connect to his other book series in this same world, so an ending like this simply promising more books about these characters in another series.
Overall I liked this book, if young adult fantasy is your genre, then I would definitely suggest looking at these books. They do what I require of my urban fantasy stories, mix magic into our real world enough that a part of me can almost believe it could be possible. Characters, world, and plot flowing together into an engaging story that obviously captured my interest enough to read ten and counting of these novels.
*This was a review I found while cleaning that I write a few years ago. I have since read two more Riordan novels and counting! I love the way Riordan writes and appreciate how he seems to continually grow as a writer, always tackling new issues and allowing his characters to have growth. Annabeth and Percy especially, they are two of my all-time favorite characters. I highly recommend reading his books!
Alright, now that that is out of the way, let me begin. This book is called Blood of Olympus, it is the fifth and final book in the Heroes of Olympus series (if you should ever desire to read these book, I would recommend starting with the Percy Jackson, and the Olympians series as this series is a sequel series. The author of this book is a writer by the name of Rick Riordan. This book is a young adult fantasy novel. It is the final chapter of the adventure of a group of seven young adults who happen to be demigods, modern day children of the ancient gods of Greece and Rome. This adventure, like many great adventures, is a race to save the world.
For me, the initial draw of the book was that it is a fantasy novel, which is one of my favorite genres, and its focus is on Greek Mythology, something of an obsession of mine. The mythology in these books may not always satisfy all mythology nerds because they do take liberties in how the myths are presented in order to showcase how they might have changed to fit in the modern day world. The way Riordan chooses to represent mythology is often fairly close to original stories, showing that he spends the time researching the myths, and they are clever, funny, and entertaining.
As I read the books, I found myself drawn to the relationships between the characters, not surprising as characters are a key draw for me in literature. By this point in the series, the relationships became especially interesting because you have known some of the characters for ten books now while others are just in their second or third book appearances. The central characters have grown into a substantial group that each have their own unique backgrounds, personalities, and even mythologies that create intriguing tension and bonds. Their bonds grow stronger as they work through new struggles and adventures with the added drama of them being a group of teenagers, which obviously means that there is a fair bit of romance involved as well.
For me personally to get into a story the most important aspect is to be very invested in61w3pqVMCZL._US230_ the characters. This does not mean I have to like them, but I do need to be completely invested in what happens to them. If the storyteller can do this, then I will most likely binge the entire thing whether book, movie, tv show, comic…. regardless whether or not the story is good or my normal cup of tea. This was definitely an initial draw in me reading this second series because I was already very invested in both Percy and Annabeth’s characters, who are among the main characters in this series and the main characters in the previous series. The majority of the characters in this book did capture my emotional investment, which kept me reading all five books, but there were a few I found lacking. Maybe I am the only one who felt this, but I thought that Riordan didn’t spend enough time on some of the new characters to pull me into their plots. Unfortunately, this is common in stories that feature such a large cast of main characters, had the time on each character been even plot points might not have been as successful and honestly, I might have been annoyed to not spend as much time on my favorites.
I would be lying if I were to say this was my favorite book in this series but I still greatly enjoyed it. Besides my problem with not feeling emotionally invested enough in some of the characters, I really do not have any other complaints about the book. It was successful in finishing this series story arc while having plenty of plot of its own. And it ended wrapping just about everything up so that I was satisfied, but open enough to still want more. If this were a regular series, the leftover cliffhangers would be dreadful! But Riordan writes series that capture over-arching plots but that connect to his other book series in this same world, so an ending like this simply promising more books about these characters in another series.
Overall I liked this book, if young adult fantasy is your genre, then I would definitely suggest looking at these books. They do what I require of my urban fantasy stories, mix magic into our real world enough that a part of me can almost believe it could be possible. Characters, world, and plot flowing together into an engaging story that obviously captured my interest enough to read ten and counting of these novels.
*This was a review I found while cleaning that I write a few years ago. I have since read two more Riordan novels and counting! I love the way Riordan writes and appreciate how he seems to continually grow as a writer, always tackling new issues and allowing his characters to have growth. Annabeth and Percy especially, they are two of my all-time favorite characters. I highly recommend reading his books!