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David McK (3814 KP) rated The Last Guardian (Jon Shannow #2) in Books

Jul 5, 2026 - 4:01 PM

"But he did not die."

Gripping words in David Gemmell's so-called Jon Shannow trilogy of novels (and about the fourth in the Sipstrassi - or Stones of Power - series), that are required after the ending of Wolf in Shadow: reading this, I often wonder did Gemmell not realise that Jon Shannow aka The Jerusalem Man would be such a popular character when he first wrote that book, and had initially intended it to be a one-off (quick Google search: yes).

This particular series, however, is essentially a post-Apocalyptic Western, with it hard not to imagine the character as Clint Eastwood appears in Unforgiven.

On a more literary front, I also wonder whether Stephen King The Dark Tower series was either inspired or provided the inspiration for this, with both sharing a few (superficial, at least) similarities.

Freed from most of the heavy-lifting of the world building done in the previous entry, this particular work instead is more able to concentrate on the character of Jon Shannow, providing a bit more flesh (as it were) to the world he inhabits, while still also calling back to those previous events in passing.

I'm not entirely sold on the Lizard enemies that appear roughly about half-way, thinking it might have been better to stick with more traditional (if I can use that word in this context) heroic fantasy enemies, but even they are given more of a character than you would normally expect from supporting characters. Talking of supporting characters: this one also has Nu-Khasistra (an Atlantean from before the Fall - trust me, it makes sense once you read it!) and the Parson to provide counter-balance to Shannow himself: the former a ship-builder whose faith has much in common with that of Shannow and who provides some sage words of advice; the latter showing what can happen when a man believes in absolutes.

As with most of Gemmell's works, well worth a read

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Zach Smith (62 KP) rated Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) in Movies

Jan 17, 2020

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

2019 | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

7.0

(48 Ratings)

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Great special effects, and details to make the Terminator spooky again. (0 more)

Killing off and destroying the John Conner legacy (0 more)

What went wrong?

Contains spoilers, click to show

So in my review I will make very controversial statements. This movie should have been secured future funding for the series however it may have just done enough damage to bury the Terminator for good.

So they kill little fresh faced John in the first five minutes. Only to replace with the new standard of hero in our society, an empowered female. This is being overdone in Hollywood I believe causing people to become tired with the predictability of it. On top of that shit sandwich we have a President that has villainized an entire race of people (Mexicans) which has fueled hatred that has been lying dormant in Americas belly waiting to be vomited up from ques by the leader of the "free" world. Well the "new" John Conner is a female, Latino. So James Camron and friends make a movie that kills off a beloved resistance hero and replaces him with someone that the Trump Nation has been brain washed into believing is the enemy of America.

I'm all for the empowered female but they are over doing it, we now have four star wars movies where the heroic main character is an empowered female.

Onto the highlights: The new color of the Rev Terminator is great black, the idea of a liquid terminator was seen in Terminator 3 Rise of the Machines which I loved, however the new color and the energy this machine shows is pretty intense.
_ There is a zero G flight in a plane going down which is fucking fantastic!
-They drive an armored Humvee underwater, kinda lame.
-End fight sequence is at the Hoover dam which was pretty cool.

Luckily its all about time travel and if they decide to resurrect the franchise again maybe they can do a proper sequel where John lives to fight another day, however don't count on it.
I give the movie a snore factor of 0/10 because I never looked away from the screen even though it made me disappointed.