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Bee (0 KP) rated Clariel: The Lost Abhorsen in Books

Jan 29, 2018

Let me start by saying I did not like Clariel. My favourite character, by far, was Belatiel.

My issues with Clariel stemmed from her selfish nature and the lack of positive thoughts she had for her parents. I understand her feelings in some regards, her mother was barely there, but her father did his best and she looked down at him constantly. I suppose this is reminiscent of young people thinking they know better than their parents and to see it written down makes it all the more infuriating.

I understood her need to go back to Estwael, but I was hoping for a change of character after her parents were murdered. This didn't happen. Instead, she continued to think selfishly and expected everyone else to avenge her parents while she lived out her dreams in the forest. It was only after her Aunt Lemmin was arrested for no reason did Clariel change her mind, and even then, when she saw the Clayr marching to the castle, she became selfish again and wanted to leave it all to them to deal with. This didn't sit right with me, as she'd had nothing but high praise for her Aunt, and yet when she needed rescuing Clariel was thinking of leaving because there were other people to do the job for her.

Let's not forget also, how she planned to leave Belatiel, passed out, in the middle of nowhere so she could, again, leave for the forest; only returning when she had to save his life.

I adored Belatiel, though. His personality and charm more than made up for Clariel's selfish attitude. He knew what he had to do, and it wasn't for any personal gain, it was because it was the right thing to do, for everyone. He wasn't completely without flaws, however. I felt sorry for Denima after she got upset that he and Clariel would be intimate behind her back, especially with Bel saying he wouldn't do anything like that and then professing his love to Clariel and denouncing Denima as 'just a friend' after she'd left. It was pretty darn obvious how she felt about him.

All in all, the book, despite Clariel, was fun to read and I can't wait to read Sabriel. Hopefully she'll be a little less annoying.

Kudos

Darren (1599 KP) rated Dracula (1958) in Movies

Oct 31, 2019

Dracula (1958)

1958 | Horror

7.8

(6 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Characters – Doctor Van Helsing has been trying to hunt down Dracula for years now, his latest attempt sees him anger the vampire, forcing him to defend his loved ones before he starts his own attack on the vampire. Count Dracula has lived a life where his presence has struck fear in the locals, he is a vampire with his age seemingly unknown, after his bride is taken from him, he goes after the people that took her, in search of finding his new bride. Arthur is one of the people working with Van Helsing, it is his family that has becomes the target of Dracula, with Mina being the wife of Arthur that is one of the women Dracula wants to make his brides.

Performances – Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee are the icons on the 50’s horrors, this film shows they are just wonderful in the horror performances both sides of the good and evil scale. When it comes to the supporting roles, it appears that the rest of the cast are meant to just let the lead two stars take the spotlight.

Story – The story here is the basic Dracula story, where after one of his brides is killed, Dracula targets the family that took his bride to get his own new bride and revenge. The Dracula story has been told so many times, it does become slightly boring to watch a story that doesn’t offer anything new to the tried and tested formula. If you do know the basic story, you will know everything that happens in this film which just ends up being nothing refreshing.

Horror – The horror comes the ideas of vampires with Dracula lurking in the darkness, most doesn’t come off scary though which is disappointing.

Settings – The film uses the couple of main locations, we have the castle of course which we don’t spend enough time around, the English house that shows how the family will try to hide from Dracula.

Special Effects – The effects are practical which do bring one of the most memorable scenes in the film.

Scene of the Movie – final showdown.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – It isn’t anything new.

Final Thoughts – This is a hammer horror version of Dracula, it works well enough for the basic idea, only it doesn’t reach too much new to the story idea.

Overall: Hammer Horror Dracula.

Kudos

Deborah (162 KP) rated The Mythology of Richard III in Books

Dec 21, 2018

As usual, Ashdown-Hill has given us a well-written and accessible book with an extensive index and bibliography and reasoning well backed up with factual evidence; I find his books are always worth reading an a refreshing change from a lot of the nonsense there is out there. In this particular book he looks at myths and legends, both old and rather worryingly modern, that surround one or our best known monarchs.

Early chapters deal with the mythology perpetuated by Tudor propagandists and blinkered 'traditionalists' despite lack of evidence in many cases and even explicit evidence to the contrary in others! He looks at how some stories, such as the 'body in the river' became perpetuated over time so that they eventually become accepted as 'truth' by the uninformed. Even I had taken rather at face value the story of the White/Blue Boar Inn, but as Ashdown-Hill points out, it would be much more logical for Richard III to have stayed at Leicester Castle, as he had on a previous occasion, and also there is no evidence that an inn with a boar in its name existed at all in Leicester at this time!

The latter part of the book deals with more modern myths and I was really rather saddened and disappointed that it was necessary to have to set the record straight on many aspect of the rediscovery of the king's grave. I completely understand Ashdown-Hill's need to do so. After reading his earlier book 'The Last Days of Richard III' I was thoroughly convinced by his well reasoned arguments and never for a moment did I seriously doubt that that is where Richard III's resting place was. I was almost ready to go and dig the car park up myself! Whatever the rights and wrongs of it, I did find all the arguments over a final resting place to be somewhat distasteful, with some people sinking very low in voicing their opinions. It is disheartening that a British University PR department is less interested in truth than in trying to keep all the kudos for itself and I hope that people will read this and know the truth. With all its apparent misinformation I doubt I will be bothering with the visitor centre in Leicester any more than I have bothered to visit the putative site of Bosworth.