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Awix (3310 KP) rated Mortal Engines (2018) in Movies

Apr 5, 2019

Mortal Engines (2018)

2018 | Fantasy, Sci-Fi

6.7

(57 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Another lavish dystopian YA adaptation with first-class art direction but a really thin story and bland characterisation. In a strange (and somewhat improbable) future world, lack of resources has forced cities and towns to mobilise themselves and wander the landscape on wheels and caterpillar tracks, preying on smaller habitations. Someone has an evil plan to do something or other, but this bit is quite forgettable.

Probably the main problem with this film for me was that it put me in mind of many great, quirky SF and fantasy stories (Brazil, Cities in Flight, Inverted World) without having more than a fraction of their narrative boldness: good-looking but forgettable characters wander about going through the motions of hackneyed character arcs, while lots of boxes get ticked but hardly anything surprising happens. It's actually quite an achievement for a movie which opens with London pursuing a small German town across country to wind up being quite as forgettably boring as this one does. Not sure if the books are any better, but this certainly qualifies as a huge waste of potential.

Kudos

Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated Never Let Me Go in Books

Mar 6, 2018

Grim reading, but completely unexpected

For readers of Kazuo Ishiguro's other books, this will come as another surprise. While Remains of the Day is a period drama, and the Buried Giant is folklore, this novel reads as a dystopian fiction. What this shows is the author's incredible versatility at writing different themes, each as good as the other.

The story follows Kathy H., a carer to dying patients, and her mysterious upbringing alongside her charges at a secluded boarding school. From the beginning, we are introduced to the concept of 'donors', and it only becomes apparent after some time what it truly means. As a child, her and her fellow classmates were urged to be overly health-conscious with a special focus on artwork, which is said to be taken away to a gallery if exceptional. But when the students begin to question about its necessity, they understand that not all is what it seems.

From cloning to transplants, this book is both daring and alarming - and perhaps one of my favourite Ishiguro novels so far.

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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated Glitch (Glitch, #1) in Books

Jun 6, 2018

I absolutely loved this book!! I was a bit scared thinking I wouldn't like it based on the majority of reviews, but I loved it!

It does start off a bit slow. I was about halfway through it before it started picking up. After that, it was hard to put down!

I love dystopian novels. (Brave New World being my favourite). This one didn't disappoint me either.

I could actually imagine something like this happening in the future. It's quite scary to think about.

I loved the characters of Zoe and Adrien. They are so cute together!!

However, I couldn't stand Max! I was secretly hoping throughout the book that he'd be killed off.

The one thing that really annoyed me about this book was the made up swear words. I understand that it's in the future, but still...surely they could've just been left out. Eventually, about 75% through the book, I just got used to it.

I would definitely recommend this book. I thought it was fantastic! I'm very much looking forward to the next book in the series.

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Dawn Mue (1 KP) rated Ready Player One (2018) in Movies

Aug 23, 2018

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Garbage

After reading the book and finding out the writer was involved with the screen play, I was excited to see this film. I regretted purchasing a ticket for this movie after the first 15 minutes. Both the book and movie follow a teen named Wade. They both take place in a dystopian style story. However the movie portrays Wade as a one dimensional character, giving his best thoughts, words, and feelings to other characters. Wade in the book was a well rounded character who was smart, witty, and at times sarcastic. Reading the book you can believe that Wade has the ability to beat the game he’s playing for control of the oasis. In the movie he is girl obsessed and just not the character I followed through the oasis to win the game. If you haven’t read the book, or only want to check out the graphics, then this movie is for you. If you loved the book, as I did, just keep the story in your imagination and skip the movie.