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Hazel (1853 KP) rated 13 Days of Midnight in Books
Dec 17, 2018
<i>This eBook was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review
Thirteen Days of Midnight</i> is the slightly lighthearted, young adult novel by Leo Hunt set in contemporary Northeast England. Luke Manchett is an average sixteen-year-old boy who mostly cares about his reputation as a member of the school rugby team, and attracting the attention of his crush, Holiday Simmon. However, his life drastically changes on discovering that his absent, psychic exorcist, of a father has died.
Luke is not affected by the actual death, as he barely knew his father; it is the things he inherits as the only named beneficiary of his father’s will that twist his life upside down. It turns out that Horatio Manchett was not a television phony but actually a powerful necromancer. The biggest shock of all is that Luke is now the owner of a collection of eight sinister ghosts who want him dead. With Halloween fast approaching, when the souls’ powers will be at their strongest, Luke with the help of mysterious school friend, Elza Moss, and an ancient book they cannot read, must find a way to release the ghosts without causing harm to anyone else.
<i>Thirteen Days of Midnight </i>is not scary in the way some readers may expect paranormal novels to be. Although it contains ghosts and death threats it is not written in a way meant to terrify, rather to entertain. Luke and Elza’s lack of knowledge and experience with a large number of spirits helps the reader relate to the story, as it is with great doubt that any other teenager would have known exactly what to do. Luke’s dog, Ham, also adds a bit of humour to the book.
There were a few typical aspects to the story, which made it less original. A paranormal novel based at Halloween seems a fairly obvious choice of setting, and popular boy developing a friendship (and possibly more) with an unpopular girl seems rather mainstream in regards to current young adult books.
Some paranormal/horror novels can be a bit over the top and occasionally confusing, therefore it was a surprise to discover how good Thirteen Days of Midnight is. The main characters are likable, the narrative flows well and it is overall entertaining to read. It is definitely a recommendable book.
Thirteen Days of Midnight</i> is the slightly lighthearted, young adult novel by Leo Hunt set in contemporary Northeast England. Luke Manchett is an average sixteen-year-old boy who mostly cares about his reputation as a member of the school rugby team, and attracting the attention of his crush, Holiday Simmon. However, his life drastically changes on discovering that his absent, psychic exorcist, of a father has died.
Luke is not affected by the actual death, as he barely knew his father; it is the things he inherits as the only named beneficiary of his father’s will that twist his life upside down. It turns out that Horatio Manchett was not a television phony but actually a powerful necromancer. The biggest shock of all is that Luke is now the owner of a collection of eight sinister ghosts who want him dead. With Halloween fast approaching, when the souls’ powers will be at their strongest, Luke with the help of mysterious school friend, Elza Moss, and an ancient book they cannot read, must find a way to release the ghosts without causing harm to anyone else.
<i>Thirteen Days of Midnight </i>is not scary in the way some readers may expect paranormal novels to be. Although it contains ghosts and death threats it is not written in a way meant to terrify, rather to entertain. Luke and Elza’s lack of knowledge and experience with a large number of spirits helps the reader relate to the story, as it is with great doubt that any other teenager would have known exactly what to do. Luke’s dog, Ham, also adds a bit of humour to the book.
There were a few typical aspects to the story, which made it less original. A paranormal novel based at Halloween seems a fairly obvious choice of setting, and popular boy developing a friendship (and possibly more) with an unpopular girl seems rather mainstream in regards to current young adult books.
Some paranormal/horror novels can be a bit over the top and occasionally confusing, therefore it was a surprise to discover how good Thirteen Days of Midnight is. The main characters are likable, the narrative flows well and it is overall entertaining to read. It is definitely a recommendable book.
Rachel King (13 KP) rated The Thirteenth Tale in Books
Feb 11, 2019
This book is like several stories woven together - Margaret's story, Vida Winter's story, and the story that Vida tells to Margaret. There was so much to keep track of that I really took my time reading and digesting the book.
Before Margaret meets Vida, the reader learns about Margaret's childhood filled with books, growing up in an antique bookstore with a book trader for a father - so many things for a bookworm to envy! Her love of nineteenth century literature seeps through the pages of the book in subtle ways, and I doubt I picked up on all of the hints.
Vida draws Margaret into her world through secrets, ghosts, and promises of some greater truth. Margaret is suspicious enough of Vida's story to do her own investigative work into Vida's past, which reveals more secrets and ghosts, as she is also battling with her own personal ghost.
The "thirteenth tale" is the big mystery and hook for Margaret, and very little of the book is predictable, so I was just as surprised by how it all ends as Margaret is. Margaret's dedication to Vida' story and her past goes way beyond that of a simple biographer, and I can't help but root all her varied efforts in tying up all the loose ends before Vida expires.
The over-riding theme of the book is the duality of twins, which makes for a very interesting concept and plays into so many sub-plots throughout the book. Without giving it away, uncovering the big revelation is worth the 400-plus page read!
Before Margaret meets Vida, the reader learns about Margaret's childhood filled with books, growing up in an antique bookstore with a book trader for a father - so many things for a bookworm to envy! Her love of nineteenth century literature seeps through the pages of the book in subtle ways, and I doubt I picked up on all of the hints.
Vida draws Margaret into her world through secrets, ghosts, and promises of some greater truth. Margaret is suspicious enough of Vida's story to do her own investigative work into Vida's past, which reveals more secrets and ghosts, as she is also battling with her own personal ghost.
The "thirteenth tale" is the big mystery and hook for Margaret, and very little of the book is predictable, so I was just as surprised by how it all ends as Margaret is. Margaret's dedication to Vida' story and her past goes way beyond that of a simple biographer, and I can't help but root all her varied efforts in tying up all the loose ends before Vida expires.
The over-riding theme of the book is the duality of twins, which makes for a very interesting concept and plays into so many sub-plots throughout the book. Without giving it away, uncovering the big revelation is worth the 400-plus page read!
Kim Pook (101 KP) rated Annabelle Comes Home (2019) in Movies
Sep 8, 2020
At first, the start of the movie didn't make much sense to me. A middle aged couple purchase Annabelle and on their way home their car breaks down, they witness what Annabelle can do but yet they're still willing to get back in the car with the doll and take her home! I'd have been burning that thing but hey ho! Anyway, it turns out this couple 'the warrens' collect possessed artifacts and keep them under lock and key, and Annabelle is no exception, the Warren's lock her away in a glass cabinet and have her blessed every week to keep the evil away.
One day a friend of the Warren's babysitter comes over to hang out, keen to see the cursed artifacts, and when she's left alone she goes wandering into the locked room where she comes across Annabelle. She unlocks the cabinet to prop her back up after she falls forward and is scared by the kitchen smoke alarm causing her to flee back to the kitchen leaving the cabinet unlocked. Low and behold Annabelle falls out of the cabinet which I found pretty amusing. After that, strange things start happening such as a child asking for annabelle to come out and play, people seing ghosts and annabelle appearing in random places, nothing overly scary really. The movie finally gets going after about an hour with a few jump scares, evil ghosts and a rabid wolf to name a few, but it was over quicker than it started and in quite an abrupt way too.
One day a friend of the Warren's babysitter comes over to hang out, keen to see the cursed artifacts, and when she's left alone she goes wandering into the locked room where she comes across Annabelle. She unlocks the cabinet to prop her back up after she falls forward and is scared by the kitchen smoke alarm causing her to flee back to the kitchen leaving the cabinet unlocked. Low and behold Annabelle falls out of the cabinet which I found pretty amusing. After that, strange things start happening such as a child asking for annabelle to come out and play, people seing ghosts and annabelle appearing in random places, nothing overly scary really. The movie finally gets going after about an hour with a few jump scares, evil ghosts and a rabid wolf to name a few, but it was over quicker than it started and in quite an abrupt way too.
Suswatibasu (1701 KP) rated Blood on the Tracks: Sydney Rose Parnell Series, Book 1 in Books
Jul 27, 2017
Slightly overrated in terms of previous reviews
The idea of PTSD of war veterans is an important topic, and I understand that the author attempted to raise the issue, but the constant appearance of ghosts with not much impact on the narrator seems to trivialise the effect of trauma. She seems to have learnt to live with them.
The story itself felt too much of a mishmash of several themes from the far right to soldiers of war. It would have been better to stick to one area. I would have been more interested in hearing about Iraq and how it is more clearly linked with the current crime. It just seems to fall short in developing the major themes.
The story itself felt too much of a mishmash of several themes from the far right to soldiers of war. It would have been better to stick to one area. I would have been more interested in hearing about Iraq and how it is more clearly linked with the current crime. It just seems to fall short in developing the major themes.
Sarah (7798 KP) rated Abattoir (2016) in Movies
Aug 13, 2017
Absolute nonsense
Let's face it, I wasn't expecting much from a film that had gone straight to dvd/sky but i was hoping it could be fairly enjoyable like Thirteen Ghosts or House on Haunted Hill, however this was when worse than I ever would've thought. The acting and script was awful, it was ridiculously cheesy and the plot made no sense whatsoever. Even talking it over after the film, we couldn't figure out what on earth was going on and why. There's also the fact that the plot summary gives away the main part of the film and this doesn't actually appear on screen until there's only around 20 minutes remaining. And the film's title Abattoir is a little misleading and maybe slightly misused.
Ghosts and the paranormal have always fascinated me. I keep hoping to discover that such things are real even though I can't help but doubt that they are. It is fascinating then that a major university like Duke at one time had a department focused solely on investigating the validity of these beliefs. The program and its founders have an interesting history, and it makes for a really fascinating read. I won't go into any details about what they do or don't discover, but it will certainly leave one wondering why there hasn't been more serious research into the fields these scientists were looking at since the program's end. Anyone who is even remotely curious about the supernatural should check this book out.
Sarah (7798 KP) rated Winchester (2018) in Movies
Dec 9, 2018
Dull and predictable
I’m surprised that someone as talented as Helen Mirren would stoop to being in this, it’s really well below her abilities. As a scary/horror film, Winchester is sadly nothing new. It’s entirely predictable, pretty boring and the scares are not very scary at all. I can’t really say anything good about it, as even the cast had very little to work with. It reminded me a little of the 13 Ghosts film, but even that was a hell of a lot better than this. I’m intrigued to know more about the actual events that the film is based on, but there are so many better horror films out there, I really wouldn’t bother with this one.
ClareR (5603 KP) rated A Christmas Carol in Books
Jan 5, 2019
This is a story that will never get old
The first time I read this, I only gave it 3.5/ 5, and I really don't know why! I think that reading it in the serialised, Pigeonhole platform really helped, to be honest. It gave me time to think about what I'd read, and the comments from fellow readers really helped me to understand those parts (historical, mainly) that I'd previously struggled with. It's a great story of a mans transformation and his realisation that he really isn't a nice person. To live as he does, is to live a lonely, unfulfilling life. The ghosts show him his potential, both in the past and in the future, and hold his present up to him to confront.
Adam Silvera recommended Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in Books (curated)
Alison Pink (7 KP) rated Come In and Cover Me in Books
Jan 15, 2018
This book tells the story of Ren an archeologist who can see ghosts. Her first experience is with her older brother who was killed in a car accident when she was 12. It carries over into her work in the field years later when she sees a young, Native American girl chopping off her hair in a creek. Lynay as the ghost comes to be known leads Ren to various discoveries, both about herself & ancient culture.
The story had absolutely no action to it. It was well written, but I unfortunately found myself getting bored with at multiple points in the plot. The summaries I read prior to reading the book sounded good... an interesting idea, intriguing characters, but the execution was poor. Not worth the time really.
The story had absolutely no action to it. It was well written, but I unfortunately found myself getting bored with at multiple points in the plot. The summaries I read prior to reading the book sounded good... an interesting idea, intriguing characters, but the execution was poor. Not worth the time really.