Smashbomb

"I've known Kloot for years, I've known them before they had a name, I did their original demos, and I've known who John [Bramwell, I Am Kloot singer and guitarist] was for many years, longer than we've been pals. He is one of our best songwriters, and Peter [Jobson] from the band is my best friend. Well this has all come to pass through me loving their music and making Sky At Night with them and Craig [Potter, Elbow bandmate] at Blueprint Studios in Manchester, which we don't own, we've been there a long time. We just rent space there and every album is a kick-start these days, every album is a reboot for a band, because of what the industry is. So if you don't go in with absolute enthusiasm and confidence, there is no point in going in. And for the band to be as long in the tooth as Elbow is – not quite as long in the tooth, actually – but to be around as long as we have, going with the level of enthusiasm you have to have, and knowing The Sky At Night is that [good] – that's all you need to know, it's one of the most beautiful, optimistic things. So I chose the album, not because I'm proudly associated with, although I am very, very proud of my string arrangements on that record. It's John's songwriting, and I want more people to hear it. It should have won the Mercury Prize. When they put the floor down in the studios, in the big room, I put a copy of every album that had been made there to date underneath the floorboards, knowing they won't come up for 100 years, with a note saying, ""All these records were made in this space"", for somebody to find one day."

Source

Kudos

Sam (74 KP) rated The Miserable Mill (A Series of Unfortunate Events #4) in Books

Mar 27, 2019

Here we are again, with yet another review of a book from A Series of Unfortunate Events. I hope You’re not bored of these yet, you’ve still got 9 more of them to go!

The Baudelaire’s are now under the care of yet another guardian, this time it’s a man just known as Sir who always has a cloud of smoke around his head. He owns Lucky Smells Lumber Mill with his partner Charles. He comes to an arrangement with the orphans that if they work for the lumber mill, he will keep them safe from Count Olaf. The Baudelaire’s don’t have any option other than to accept his offer and are put straight to work.

I’ve got to say I absolutely love Charles. He’s probably the best character in the whole series, the way he’s always happy no matter what is happening and how nice he is to the Baudelaires.

The Miserable Mill is probably one of the least mysterious books in the series as it’s quite clear quite soon on what is going to happen and how it’s going to end, however (without adding too many details) it does have one of the most gruesome endings out of them all.

I read it in a day which speaks for itself how much I loved this book. More than anything I was excited to move onto the books that haven’t been adapted on Netflix quite yet and this was the last of the books that they adapted in season one.

Kudos

Leanne Crabtree (480 KP) rated Shoot The Messenger (The Messenger Chronicles, #1) in Books

Sep 16, 2019

After finishing Betrayal by Pippa DaCosta the other day, I had an urge to read more so I went hunting for more of her books and found this one cheap and sounding rather interesting.

It starts with a bang--quite literally--as Kesh works as a Messenger, delivering a message to someone telling him he has 30 seconds to live. It doesn't go down well, as you can imagine, and all hell breaks loose as a bullet is fired and he does end up dead, with people thinking Kesh killed him. She uses her bot helper to figure out where the shooter shot from and heads up to investigate to find the weapon--one modified for fae use. The fae appears a few seconds later and threatens her, taking her bot with him and then what follows is very interesting.

I pretty much read half of this in one sitting. I did not want to put it down at all. I became very invested in Kesh's journey in trying to clear her name to then infiltrating the company Arcon to then being able to overcome her...illness? and beat the bad guy.

I found the reverse harem side of this very interesting. Kellee, the Marshal. Talen, the fae. It was slow building but I got very invested in the trio. What's going to happen next after that revelation near the end?

It's really hard to write a fitting review without giving spoilers away! I'm looking forward to the next book in the series.

Kudos

Hazel (1853 KP) rated The Thing: Zero Day in Books

Dec 17, 2018

I received this book for free through Goodreads First Reads.

The Thing: Zero Day is a short science fiction, horror story by Lee McGeorge. Inspired by John Carpenter’s film The Thing and the story Who Goes There? by John W. Campbell, McGeorge has created a creepy, fast paced thriller for readers to enjoy.

It is 1982 and a group of twelve Norwegian climatologists witness the crash landing of an unidentified flying object. Curiosity getting the better of them, they try to salvage what they can of the craft and discover an alien in a block of ice. What at first seems like a magnificent discovery turns frightening after all but three of the climate scientists begin behaving strangely, becoming impassive as if something has a psychological hold over them. The story becomes more horrific as it goes on with gruesome descriptions of the things that happen to the men.

The book is short enough to be read in one sitting, however it ends, annoyingly, without a definite conclusion, leaving the reader to imagine what happens next. The Thing: Zero Day is not a novel but a piece of fan fiction for the film The Thing. Although I have not seen the film I am led to believe that this book is a sort of prologue to the main story line.

Being short, the narrative is gripping from start to finish, jumping straight into the story. Readers are sucked into the tale and will most likely read it from beginning to end without putting it down. The Thing: Zero Day is obviously recommended for lovers of the film, however people who have not had the opportunity to view it, yet enjoy horror and science fiction, will also enjoy this book.