Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (5000)

Content

Eleanor Luhar (47 KP) rated Seizure (Virals, #2) in Books

Jun 24, 2019

Seizure (Virals, #2)

Kathy Reichs | 2011 | Fiction & Poetry

9.0

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

The second book in the Virals series by Kathy Reichs, Seizure, follows Tory, Ben, Shelton and Hi through their next insanely tough adventure. New characters and threats are introduced, and a certain character re-visited.

Even longer than the first book at a whopping 491 pages, Seizure an look a little daunting at first. However, the length makes it perfect for dozens of unexpected twists and hurdles for the Virals to overcome. The Prologue sets the book off to an interesting start, and connections are made throughout the story.

Relatively different to Virals, the group's aim in this sequel is to prevent LIRI from being shut down, and keep Loggerhead available for them to visit. They put together dozens of clues to every unsolved mystery they come across, but I personally found the consequences a little too consequential and hard to believe and their ideas to be rather far-fetched at times. But hey, that's what adventure books are all about, right?

Again, similar typos to before were found, and the writing style is obviously as straight-forward most of the time. Despite being so unbelievable throughout, everything is very cleverly planned and put together. It's an exciting read that brings out both fear and joy for the group of Virals. I'm also going to give this Virals book 3.5/4 stars out of 5.

Read my review of the first book here: https://bookmarkedreading.wordpress.com/2015/09/09/book-review-virals/

Kudos

Lenard (726 KP) rated Dora and the Lost City of Gold (2019) in Movies

Sep 2, 2019 (Updated Sep 2, 2019)

Eugenio Derbez (0 more)

Backpack, backpack, backpack, backpack

In the era of reboots, legacyquels, and reimaginings, films require a balance between innovation and "the original" product. Dora and the Lost City of Gold is such an undertaking as a adaptation of a popular children's show. The filmmakers had an objective to make a feature film while not alienating fans of the original Dora the Explorer. I believe that the team (who also worked on the previous two Muppets movies) did a good job. They found ways to have Dora speak to the audience (like on her show), have Backpack and Map speak, introduce Spanish words and phrases (the point of the show), and Boots and Swiper ("Swiper, no swiping.") were integral characters, all of which would have detracted from the film if done improperly. At the same time, the writers and director had to have a story that would sustain a 90-minute movie and leave little left to, pardon the pun, explore. The search for a lost city of gold and a race between archaelogists and treasure hunters satisfied that objective, a little Young Indiana Jones adventure mixed with National Treasure. The biggest liability in the whole film was Eugenio Derbez and his slapstick comedic style never fit the tone of the film. Luckily, Michael Pena can debilitate him with a styling monologue. Now that Dora has ended her adventure in the jungle, she can study the harshest environment known to man: high school in an anthropological dissertation.