Messina 1347
Tabletop Game
Messina 1347 takes place during the introduction of the plague epidemic (a.k.a. the "black death")...
The Cat Who Blew The Whistle
8.0
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A train ride to mystery... Jim Qwilleran and his Siamese sleuths embark on another sparkling and...
The Secret Detectives
8.0
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The body seemed to fall for a long time. There was no splash, or if there was it was lost in the...
Keep It In The Family
6.0
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Mia and Finn are busy turning a derelict house into their dream home when Mia unexpectedly falls...
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Queen of Light ( The Chosen # 4) in Books
Feb 21, 2023
Kindle
Queen of Light (The Chosen #4)
By Meg Anne
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Only one of them can win.
Kiri Helena Solene is done burying her loved ones. She is going to put an end to this war, one way or another.
Even if it means she loses herself in the process.
But in matters of war, Rowena has no intention of losing. The Corruptor knows Helena's greatest strength is also her weakness, and she has every intention of exploiting it.
Especially if that means removing key players from the board.
The path ahead is fraught with betrayal. The only thing that's certain....
It won't end until one of them is dead.
Couldn’t have asked for a better ending! Also we had a happy start instead of one with death! Was so lovely to see nial get his make. I won’t say much because I wouldn’t want to spoil the end! I’m certainly ready to move on to the Keepers stories.
The Mark of the Salamander (The Island of Angels, #1)
Book
1575: Nelan Michaels is a young Flemish man fleeing religious persecution in the Spanish...
Historical Fiction
Merissa (13931 KP) rated Angel 6.0: Concubine (Angel 6.0 #1) in Books
May 31, 2023
Her life is good until the day The Gran board the station, earlier than expected, and sees her. They decide that they will have her and the story takes off very quickly. Above all, Angel is a survivor and she will do whatever it takes to make sure that she does. Facing sorrow, loss and fear, she comes out fighting.
The first instalment of this sci-fi erotica series starts with a bang and is brilliant reading from start to finish. Definitely recommended for a short, hot read.
* I received this book from the author in return for a fair and honest review. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Mar 25, 2016
Harlem After Midnight
8.0
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1936, September 17th, 1am… In the middle of Harlem, in the dead of night, a woman falls from a...
Historical fiction Harlem New York
David McK (3755 KP) rated Project Hail Mary in Books
Apr 13, 2025
Watched the movie no long afterwards.
Enjoyed both, but not enough to make me hunt out any others by the same author, so never (yet) read "Artemis" by the same author.
Then saw this on sale on Kindle, for something like 99pence, so thought I might as well give it a chance, after checking it was not part of a series i.e. could be read as a standalone (which it can).
Like The Martian, I found this enjoyable enough, maybe a bit slow during the middle section, but I'm also left with a burning question at the very end - just what happened back home on Earth? The novel completely bypasses that, perhaps as it's pretty much all told in first-person perspective from the astronaut/science teacher Ryland Grace, the last survivor on board the spaceship Hail Mary on a last-ditch effort to save Earth.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Elementos in Tabletop Games
Aug 6, 2019
So the winner of Elementos is the player that can get their wand (the wooden stick) to one of the three squares on the opponent’s side of the board (a la American football). This is accomplished by moving the element discs down the board and overtaking discs using the game’s elemental weakness wheel: fire burns trees, trees drink water, water douses fire. Movement can be made to any space obliquely, straight forward, or forward diagonally, unless the piece being moved is carrying the wand. Those wand-carrying pieces can only be moved straight forward.
Undoubtedly players will find themselves wanting to enter a space containing an opponent’s disc. Following the movement rules and elemental wheel described above, the attacking piece can overtake the opponent’s space and remove the opponent’s disc from the board. Easy, right? Let me explain the kicker here. The discs are double-sided and have different elements on the flip-side. So for an action (instead of moving) a player can simply flip any of their discs to the other side – perhaps to block movement, or setup a takeover on the next turn. As you only have one action to use on your turn you may not flip and move on the same turn. The other allowable action on a turn is to pass the wand to another friendly piece, observing movement rules for wand movement as well. The benefit with this is that the wand-carrying discs can neither attack nor BE attacked. Need to protect your tree from that fire ahead? Pass it the wand and be safe.
The rule sheet states that at any time you may peek at what element is on the flip-side of any piece at any time, but there is a variant described where you play the game without peeking, and we found that to be a more enjoyable way to play. You just never know if the other side of your tree is a fire or a water, and it sometimes results in turns where you effectively shoot yourself in the foot. Yes, it diminishes the tactics of the game, and if you would rather plan your moves well ahead of your turns like a Chess Grand Master, so be it. I kinda like the chaotic nature of not knowing what’s on the other side.
Components. So this is a clam shell wooden box that pulls double duty as the game board and storage for the other components. It is of good quality, and is reminiscent of the keepsake boxes one might find at Hobby Lobby or the like. The discs are painted and silk-screened plywood discs with a hole in the middle to accept the wand. The wand itself is a length of wooden dowel. All of these components are of good quality, but I wish a different finish was applied to the wood. The finish on the copy I was sent for review isn’t really conducive to sliding pieces on, so I suggest you pick up the pieces (any Average White Band fans here?) and place them where they need to go. Do as I say, not as I do.
Overall this is a really great game that I know will see lots of play in my house. My wife likes abstracts a lot and I predict she will enjoy this one as much as she adores Blokus (which she adores a TON). For the ease of teaching, play, and that itch to play just one more time, we at Purple Phoenix Games give this one a no-peek 9 / 12. If you are a fan of Chess, Checkers, or any of the other abstract strategy games I listed earlier, you should really check this one out. It’s a little different and a lot fun.