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I am complete trash for novels involving princesses that hide under the guise of anonymity so they can protect their kingdom (bonus points for not wanting to rule), and The City of Veils by S. Usher Evans is no exception to this. While Brynna is working on bringing down a prominent businessman known for scamming civilians, she is taken in by the captain of the king’s guard and finds out both her father and brother have been murdered in less than a month. The murders leave behind a mystery and also force her to step in as the rightful queen of Forcadel. However, staying away from the castle for years to escape an arranged marriage comes with a cost: not only is she not aware of the court politics that have been happening in the castle, but she’s not sure who she could trust. Despite having no particular desire to rule, she definitely doesn’t want to be the next dead royal.

Despite being advised against it, Brynna finds herself negotiating with Felix, the captain of the king’s guard, to continue working as a vigilante at night while working on her royal duties during the day. This begins an amusing back and forth between the two throughout the novel as they butt heads constantly and try to negotiate with each other. I loved seeing their relationship develop, along with Brynna’s relationship with the other characters, including Katarine, the other guards, and others who will likely be playing a major role in later books.

The first novel in Evans’ newest series, Princess Vigilante, was a fun ride from beginning to end. The overall pacing of the story was perfect, although there are parts I felt were slow or a little rushed. The story was engaging and entertaining, and I was constantly kept on my toes as Brynna tries to navigate her life as a masked vigilante and a queen while trying to stay wary of potential dangers.

<a href="http://theartsstl.com/s-usher-evans-the-city-of-veils-suns-golden-ray-publishing/">This review is originally posted on The Arts STL</a>
  
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
2011 | Action, Adventure
With the impending Avengers flick due out in the summer this year, 2011 was all about wrapping up the the final film which would link yet another character into the superhero pack. If I’m honest I am pretty bored of the superhero genre of late, so this one was going to have to work hard if it was going to hold my interest. But, for the most part… hold my interest it did!

Evans starts off as a scrawny weakling, desperate to serve his country during World War II. You’ll have to look hard to realise that Evans’ appearance is a brilliant piece of CGI, no man could get to that size and back in such a short space of time.

He then gets himself accepted as part of an experiment to transform average soldiers into supreme physical beings. Rogers, now a beef cake becomes an American poster boy for the war promoting everything the American public should stand for.

Singing in chorus lines he longs to be part of the action, to get onto the front line and to help bring down HYDRA, and its main villain Johann Schmidt aka Red Skull.

The film moves through the gears, massive explosions and some great action set pieces. But you’d expect nothing less, director Joe Johnston injects the film with enough to tie over until a rather disappointing ending.

One of the bright lights however is Weaving, whose Red Skull is one of the more colourful villains we might have seen in recent times. His penetrating persona gives the film a lift when otherwise it was heading for the doldrums.

Captain America does what pretty much every other super hero film has done before it, starts as an origins story, throws some back history in along with a lot of action but ultimately fails on the big pay off.

We all know where the film is going though, as most will have seen all the trailers surrounding The Avengers, for me though this is just another missing piece of the puzzle that will lead onto a much greater film. After which Captain America will pretty much be all but forgotten.
  
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)
2011 | Action, Comedy, Sci-Fi
10
6.3 (30 Ratings)
Movie Rating
“ Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me. We pillage plunder, we rifle a loot. Drink up me ‘earties, yo ho. We kidnap and ravage and don’t give a hoot drink up me ‘earties yo ho”.
Captain Jack Sparrow is at it again with a map in one hand and a bottle of rum in the other. In the fourth installment of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Captain Jack Sparrow teams up with an old flame Angelica (Penelope Cruz) and her father Blackbeard (Ian McShane) in the hopes of finding the Fountain of Eternal Youth. There are a group of Englishmen captained by Barbossa and a group of Spaniards who are on the quest to find the fountain as well. In order to reap the benefits of said fountain they have to find two chalices that are in the possession of Ponce de Leon and a mermaids tear. With a great storyline from Tedd Elliot and Terry Rossio the summer movie season has started off on the right foot and looks very promising.

Jerry Bruckheimer brings us Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger tides in excellent 3D. Unlike a lot of the other recent 3D movies converted into 3D, POTC is actually shot with a 3D camera providing the audience with better graphics and exciting effects. Unlike the others this new installment is based upon the book On Stranger Tides written by Tim Powers and includes but is not limited to mermaids, Zombie crewmembers, lots of rum, revenge, romance, mystery and a lot of swashbuckling excitement.

Orlando Bloom and Keira Nightly are not missed as Capt. Jack once again steels the show. The 1967 Disney attraction has changed over the years and most recently Capt Jack himself, Capt. Barbossa and coming soon they will be adding Blackbeard to the previous Davy Jones fog projection screen. The future for Jack Sparrow looks very promising as it has been rumored that Johnny Depp is already signed on for more pirate adventures. I loved this movie and is a great kick off to the summer movie season and I plan on seeing it again only this time in “4-D” at the closest D-Box(motion simulation seats) theater.
  
The Last Dragon Rider (The Wild Realms of Véneanár #1)
The Last Dragon Rider (The Wild Realms of Véneanár #1)
Errin Krystal | 2017 | Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
The Last Dragon Rider (The Wild Realms of Véneanár #1) by Errin Krystal
The Last Dragon Rider starts off with a child being read a bedtime story. It quickly changes to become THE story, and you learn first-hand about the love between Flintathriël and Sairalindë. There is additional action, both of the battle and romantic kinds, between Flint's sister and the Captain of the special guard. Although this is only a short novel, you get a lot of background knowledge, but it isn't just 'info-dumped' on you. You find out more snippets as the story progresses, the characters develop, and situations turn tense.

This is very well written, with excellent descriptions throughout. There were no editing or grammatical errors that disrupted my reading flow. The ending, whilst not expected, certainly left me wanting to know more. Absolutely recommended by me.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and my comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
Avengers: Endgame (2019)
2019 | Sci-Fi, Thriller
Almost everything (0 more)
Saying 'goodbye' (0 more)
A Sufficient ENDing For This Phase
Contains spoilers, click to show
Even though I've seen all of the MCU movies to date, I wouldn't say that I was obsessed, but I AM a completionist, so I felt like I had to see it through... With that being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, despite the sad goodbyes. Also, even though it was amusing, I didn't like the prolonged gag of Thor being overweight and out of shape. Aside from those two things, though, I thought it was really good. The pacing was excellent, and it didn't even "feel" like 3 hours. I was also satisfied with the amount of time each character got...with the exception of Captain Marvel; I would liked to have seen a bit more of her. In addition, I felt like the mix of humor and seriousness was spot-on. As to the story and resolution from the previous film, I thought it made sense, and it wasn't too difficult to follow, so I was happy with that aspect, too.