Interweaving Myths in Shakespeare and His Contemporaries
Agnes Lafont, Charlotte Coffin and Janice Valls-Russell
Book
This volume proposes new insights into the uses of classical mythology by Shakespeare and his...
Edgar Wright recommended Le samouraï (1967) in Movies (curated)
Gaz Coombes recommended Histoire de Melody Nelson by Serge Gainsbourg in Music (curated)
The Essence of Shinto: Japan's Spiritual Heart
Book
In The Essence of Shinto, revered Shinto master Motohisa Yamakage explains the core values of Shinto...
The Sandman (Audible Original #1)
Book
Torn from his realm, The Sandman - Morpheus, the immortal king of dreams, stories and the...
Not for children! Horror Urban Fantasy Mythology Magic Audiobook
Baculum (Angelbound Lincoln #4)
Book
As King of the Thrax, Lincoln leads the most powerful demon fighting force in the after-realms…...
Young Adult Fantasy
The Valkyrie
Book
From SUNDAY TIMES bestselling author Kate Heartfield comes a glorious, lyrical retelling of one of...
Norse mythology Retellings Historical fiction
Feathers and Foxes (Brodyr Alarch #2)
Book
Terrwyn, prince of Melthkior and a wandering scribe, has roamed far and wide across distant lands....
Kristy H (1252 KP) rated The Furies in Books
Sep 26, 2019
The girl is found dead on a swing on a playground on Elm Hollow Academy property--no known cause of death. That's how this novel opens, and then we have Violet, who tells us the story looking back, recounting her time at Elm Hollow. So the story opens dramatically and we know something has terrible happened. And that Violet makes it out okay.
"Inconclusive, they said, as though that changed the fact of it, which was this: a sixteen-year-old girl, dead on school property, without a single clue to suggest why or how."
This book should be been really good--I'm a sucker for private school tales (I thought it was a boarding school one, as well, but it wasn't)--but it just didn't work for me. I thought about putting it aside several times, but I just couldn't. I need to work on my DNF skills.
There is a lot here: two dead girls; witchcraft and the occult; mythology; friendship and coming of age--and none of it feels fully explored. A lot of the book focuses on mythology as Annabel teaches some of it to the girls (I felt myself skimming over that, and I like mythology). There's the focus on witchcraft, but it never seems fully embraced. There's a lot of violence (won't go too far for spoilers) but there are never really any consequences. It's very strange, and honestly, not the sort of YA book I'd encourage for teens.
And, then, I just didn't care for these characters. Robin is hateful, and I couldn't form a bond with Violet, our narrator. That would be all well and good if the action was enough to keep my interest, but it wasn't. The book just felt jumbled, and I wasn't interested in picking it up. Even a few late twists didn't really redeem things for me.
Lots of others have found the story powerful, however, so if you like mean girls with a side of possible witchcraft, you may enjoy this more. 2 stars.
Awix (3310 KP) rated The Kid Who Would Be King (2019) in Movies
Apr 6, 2019 (Updated Apr 6, 2019)
Scores highly on the CGI spectacle front, and some good gags as well, but some of the learning-and-growing stuff feels a bit laborious and it's probably about twenty minutes too long. Child acting is mostly acceptable and Patrick Stewart is always good value, even though he's hardly in it. Given the film is trying hard to hit the same beats as Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings, and mostly succeeding, it's a little hard to see why it has turned out to be such a flop; a victim of too many other dud films based on classic mythology leaving a bad taste in the mouth, I guess. No-one involved in this one has any real reason to feel ashamed of themselves, anyway.