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David McK (3425 KP) rated Captain America: Civil War (2016) in Movies

Aug 26, 2019 (Updated Sep 2, 2020)  
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
2016 | Action, Sci-Fi
Third of Marvel's Captain America movies, this is - IMO - better than The First Avenger, but not as good as The Winter Soldier.

Taking its cue from the graphic novel arc of the same name (although there may be some truth to the charge that this is more a Civil Facas than a Civil War as there's not so many super heroes running about here), this sees the Avengers splitting into two camps over an ideological difference in whether they should be regulated or not: in one cam, we have Iron Man leading those all in favour, while on the other we have Captain America leading those opposed to it.

Also introducing Chadwick Boseman's Black Panther and the nation of Wakanda, this film ends with a final bruising fight between Cap and Iron Man, with neither of the characters reuniting until 2019s Avengers: Endgame at least 3(?) movies later.
  
    New Kid

    New Kid

    Jerry Craft

    (0 Ratings) Rate It

    Book

    Perfect for fans of Raina Telgemeier and Gene Luen Yang, New Kid is a timely, honest graphic novel...

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David McK (3425 KP) rated Batman: Hush in Books

Jan 28, 2019  
BH
Batman: Hush
Jeph Loeb | 2009
10
8.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
So, not long ago I picked up a copy of the Batman 75th anniversary box set, which is made up of 3 separate stories: The Dark Knight Returns, The Court of Owls and Hush. I also put caked up both Year One and The Killing Joke separately.

Of them all, I knew that at least 3 were (supposedly) very good: The Dark Knight Returns, The Killing Joke and Year One. What I ddid nt know, however, was just how good Hush was.

Set during a period when Batman is at the top of his game (unlike the older Batman of The Dark Knight Returns, or the younger of Year One), this graphic novel includes just about any and all of Batmans friends and foes - top of my head, I can think of only one major villain who doesn't play a role (but is mentioned in passing).

Like The Dark Knight Returns, it also includes The Man of Steel in the story, with Batman and Superman again facing off against one another in a portion of it (but for very different reasons than in The Dark Knight Returns).

OK, it may be pretty obvious - I felt - fairly early on just who is pulling the strings,but this still makes for a very enjoyable and dynamic read, with some of the best artwork I have yet seen in any of the graphic novels I have read.
  
A Kiss of Madness
A Kiss of Madness
K.B. Everly, Stacy Jones | 2018 | Contemporary, Romance
2
2.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Starts out good (0 more)
Too much smut (3 more)
Unbelievable plot
Underdeveloped and unlikable characters
Book is confused about the plot
Reads More Like a Rough Draft
I love reading books about mental illness, and even more so if they take place inside an asylum. When I saw A Kiss of Madness by K.B. Everly and Stacy Jones, it seemed like the perfect read for me. Unfortunately, I was left very disappointed.

The synopsis for A Kiss of Madness sounded very interesting. It could have been a very interesting book except there's too much going on in the story. Lydia gets sent to Brocker's Center for the Criminally Insane after having a vision and throwing a chair through a window as well as attacking an innocent bystander. She could have chose jail time or to voluntarily commit herself to Brocker's. She chose the latter. While there, she gets feelings about people and doesn't feel like she belongs. She meets three guys who are patients with their own issues. However, she ends up thinking they're hot, and they also think she's hot. The guys all agree to be her boyfriends and end up following her everywhere. When one of the other female patients goes missing, Lydia tries to uncover what really happened putting herself in grave danger. I was confused if A Kiss of Madness was trying to be more of a romance novel, a mystery/crime novel, or a paranormal novel. I got the insane asylum vibe for a few chapters, but soon this book lost its whole mental illness vibe. I felt like the insane asylum setting was just thrown in there to make this book sound more interesting than it actually was. It soon turned more into an erotic novel which made me like the book even less. There was just too much pointless fairly graphic sex for my liking. I feel like all the fairly graphic sex and sexual references really took away from the story. I also didn't like the ending. It just felt too rushed. Actually, the whole story just felt really rushed. I also didn't understand how one character who had a violent past could have such a great job. I won't go into further details because it's a spoiler.

I started out liking Lydia and was on her side for the first few chapters or so. However, I found myself losing the connection I felt with her the more I read. She just came across as being very irresponsible and immature. I didn't really care for Pierce, Emmett, or Mason/Jason either. None of the characters in A Kiss of Madness were fleshed out enough to be likable or believable.

The pacing starts out great in A Kiss of Madness. However, it soon slows down once the sex scenes come into play. Then it slows down and becomes more of a smut novel instead of a decent read. Luckily this is a short read or I would have given up on it when I got to the sex parts.

Trigger warnings for A Kiss of Madness include violence, murder, mental illness, attempted sexual assault, fairly graphic sex scenes, sexual references, and profanities.

Overall, A Kiss of Madness started out great. However, it soon went downhill close to halfway through the book. I feel like this book feels more like a rough draft on what could be a decent read. It just needs a lot more work to be good. Get rid of a lot of the pointless sex scenes and references, bulk up the story and characters a bit, decide on what angle to go with, and give this book some guts! At this time, I would not recommend A Kiss of Madness by K.B. Everly and Stacy Jones.
  
07-Ghost, Volume 01
07-Ghost, Volume 01
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Honestly, this is the first graphic novel I've properly read so I don't have anything to compare it to. So this review may not be that helpful, and I'm just going to keep it quite short.

I'm not going to lie, I found this pretty confusing. It was a bit all over the place - but I've heard it gets better. It starts at the military academy with Teito Klein and Mikage, who are best friends. But then Teito's repressed memories are jogged when he overhears a secret conversation, forcing him to flee the district. From there, he finds himself in a strange church. The bishops there begin to help him understand the war between two empires, the legend of seven ghosts, and the battle between good and evil.

The art in this is fantastic! Sometimes it seems a little busy and hard to follow, but maybe that's just because I'm new to it.

The dialogue is great - the jokes and everything really make this a good novel. And the premise is good, too - I intend to read on and hopefully make sense of it all!

I did like it, but I also got lost a fair bit. It was a lot better toward to end, with Mikage's surprise appearance and all, but I think I can only give this 3 stars.