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Dean (6927 KP) rated Elvis (2022) in Movies

Jul 6, 2022  
Elvis (2022)
Elvis (2022)
2022 | Biography, Drama, Musical
6
8.0 (9 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Great songs (1 more)
Austin Butler
Feels even longer than 2.5hrs (1 more)
Not a detailed bio epic
We can't go on together...
Saw the trailer and the style and vibe of the film interested me, not knowing a great deal about Elvis I thought it would be interesting to know more.
It's great to find out more about him, how he started out and his inspiration. Still not sure how accurate some details are and some sections of his life are barely covered. So maybe not the full story you might expect, despite the 2.5hrs run time. Some how it felt even longer.
It does feel a little disjointed at times switching between Elvis story and also that of his manager Col Tom Parker. The songs are great and Austin Butler gives a great performance. The first half of the film about his rise was intriguing the second half towards the end of his career was a lot slower.
So it's very stylish and interesting, although big fans of Elvis might be a little disappointed on how much of Elvis it a actually covers. Also how accurate it is as well. For others it was a good incite if maybe not as detailed as you might expect.
  
Hell Train (The Cursed Manuscripts)
Hell Train (The Cursed Manuscripts)
Iain Rob Wright | 2022 | Horror, Paranormal, Thriller
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I think I can safely say that I am a fan of Mr Wright's work; rarely have I been disappointed with anything he has written and Hell Train is no exception.

At the beginning of the book, Mr Wright tells us that his inspiration is Stephen King's The Langoliers and whilst I can definitely see this (and understand because I love The Langoliers), Hell Train is very much an original story.

Mr Wright has a great knack of making the normal develop into something that is totally abnormal and here he does it again. A simple train journey in the middle of the day becomes something entirely different when the train enters a tunnel.

With characters that you love and some you love to hate, a plot that is intriguing and different, a pace that is relentless with no words wasted, with twists that will shock and scenes that might leave you feeling a tad queasy, Hell Train is a quick and enjoyable read and one that I would recommend to lovers of horror.

My thanks must go to Iain for accepting me into his "street team" and for allowing me to read Hell Train and to share my thoughts.
  
The King in Rome (Warrior #1)
The King in Rome (Warrior #1)
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
As an author, Simon Scarrow is - IMO - most associated with the genre of historical fiction.

Even more so - again, IMO - with those set during the time of the Roman Empire: I think we're approaching 20, now, of his full length Cato and Macro novels (edit: as of typing this, 22 novels).

I can't say much about TJ Andrews, other than I'm aware he has collaborated with Scarrow on a a few e-book novella's.

This is the latest in that collaboration, taking - as it's inspiration - the tale of Caratacus, the British warlord who defied the Empire before the time of Boudica, and who appeared in some of the earlier Eagle (aka Cato and Macro) novels as an antagonist. Eventually defeated by the Roman legions, Caratacus was spared by the Emperor Claudius to live out his life in the confines of Rome (and with Prefect Cato being name dropped when he mentions that in this novella), which is where this series of novellas picks up, as Caratacus is persuaded to tell his life story to a Roman historian who first encounters him at a banquet hosted by the Emperor Nero.

Told, therefore, from the 'other point of view' than the usual, I'm interested in seeing where this goes!
  
Second entry in Michael A Stackpole's Star Wars: X-Wing series (a total of 10 novels, the first four written by Stackpole and centring around a reconstituted Rogue Squadron), following on from'Rogue Squadron' and taking as its inspiration the old LucasArt X-Wing/TIE fighter series of computer games. Hadn't read books these since the late 90s.

These novels (and the aforementioned games, now all considered 'Legends' by Disney) are my head-canon of what the sequel trilogy should have been.

Anyway, in this novel in particular, the action now moves from space to the city-planet of Coruscant, the seat of the Imperial Government that took over from the Old Republic and - in the Legends continuity at least - also that of the New Republic.

Here, we have the members of Rogue Squadron infiltrating said city planet and looking for a way to bring down the planetary shields so that the rest of the fleet can arrive, but they may be playing into the villain-of-the-piece Ysanne Isard's hands in so doing ...

For anybody that hasn't read this, it ends in a massive cliff-hanger, so be warned you'll be wanting to move onto the sequel 'The Krytos Trap' not long after finishing it ...
  
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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2387 KP) rated Secrets of a Scottish Isle in Books

Mar 28, 2024 (Updated Mar 28, 2024)  
Secrets of a Scottish Isle
Secrets of a Scottish Isle
Erica Ruth Neubauer | 2024 | Mystery
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Undercover in the Occult
Jane Wunderly is on the Isle of Iona off the coast of Scottland. She’s joined the Golden Dawn, going under cover in an attempt to learn if their leader would be a good asset for the organization she and her fiancé, Redvers, works for. But Jane has just barely joined the group when she finds the body of another female member on the moors. Jane is driven to get justice for the victim. But what exactly happened to her? And what about Jane’s official investigation?

As a fan of the series, I was delighted to spend time with Jane and Redvers again. They are a great pair. We get plenty of new characters, and they are well developed, too. Sadly, the plot was uneven, with Jane spending lots of time contemplating what was happening in between the twists. This led to an abrupt but logical climax. The writing brought Iona in March to life, and it made me shiver as I read. It’s fun to see a poet from 1927 show up in the book, and be sure to read the author’s notes at the end to see where she got the inspiration for the tale. Fans of the series will enjoy Jane’s latest adventure.
  
    Pocket Vedas

    Pocket Vedas

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    Pocket Vedas includes the full text of all these books: Bhagavad-gītā As It Is / Śrīmad...