Smashbomb

Search

Search results

All (4458)

Content

Bleak Expectations: The Complete Fifth Series

Mark Evans, Full Cast, Tom Allen and Anthony Head

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

The epic Victorian comedy returns with more of the remarkable adventures of Pip Bin as he battles...

Ruth Frampton (577 KP) rated Helix in Books

Jun 25, 2020

Helix

Mary Ting | 2019 | Young Adult (YA)

9.5

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

Change of style but still a good read.

In this instalment of the story, we hear from both main characters point of view and to begin with, this was quite disconcerting, however, with already having an emotional investment in the characters I carried on and found it really works. A rewrite of book one to also be in the style would be great or the next book making it clearer why the story is told in this way. In this volume I found the ending to be left in a very uncomfortable place, so if you don't like being left hanging, perhaps you should make sure book 3 is next to you before reading this one.
The character's adventures continue here, with the advancement of the back story as well as adding intriguing additional stories which drive the story forward well, keeping me engaged throughout.
I would recommend this as a good read for all. Just remember my warning about the ending.

Reviewed honestly after receiving a copy as ARC.

Kudos

The Art of Modeling Chocolate

Nadia Flecha Guazo

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

Who never played with clay, or even built puzzles or games? Who has never dreamed, even while awake,...

Grand Canyon: A History of a Natural Wonder and National Park

Don Lago

(0 Ratings) Rate It

Book

The Grand Canyon has long inspired deep emotions and responses. For the Native Americans who lived...

Jeremiah Zagar recommended Time Bandits (1981) in Movies (curated)

Time Bandits (1981)

1981 | Fantasy, Sci-Fi

7.7

(33 Ratings)

Movie Favorite

"I love Time Bandits, and it obviously fits into the kids’-adventure-fantasy stuff that I’m into. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen was actually the first film I ever saw in a theater when I was eight years old, and I was euphoric. After that I rented every Terry Gilliam movie. In Time Bandits, he mixes animation and live action, which is an important aesthetic element in the movies I make. When I was twenty I had a short at the London Film Festival, and I was there with my friend so we were traveling from party to party, drinking and eating, because we didn’t have any money. At one party we saw Terry Gilliam, and I started talking to this woman about seeing Baron Munchausen and how it made me want to make movies, and she said, “Well, my husband is Terry Gilliam, you should go say hello to him.” So I went over to him and said, “I just need you to know that I’m here because you made me want to make movies,” and he said, “I’m so sorry.”"

Source

Kudos

David McK (3713 KP) rated Death to the French in Books

Jul 26, 2021

A name that is probably more familiar - perhaps even all but synonymous - with his most famous literary creation, Horatio Hornblower.

Hornblower, however, is not the only of his creations that has their adventures set during the Napoleonic Wars: Rifleman Dodd is another.

He's also one that I was totally unfamiliar with, or with the fact that this creation (and story) inspired Bernard Cornwell's still-ongoing 'Sharpe' series - it's very easy, reading this, to see the similarities between the two creations!

This is set in Spain, round about the times of the Lines of Torres Vedras (1810 or thereabouts, I think), with Rifleman Dodd cut off from his company during a retreat and forced to spend several months behind enemy (French) lines as he tries to make his was back to his own company, sometimes with the (dubious) aid of Spanish (or was it Portuguese? ) Guerilla's and other times entirely on his own.

This also doesn't shy away from the full horrors of the war, with several of the passages and chapters told from the French point of view.