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Merissa (13942 KP) rated Bite Club in Books

Mar 17, 2023  
Bite Club
Bite Club
Eule Grey | 2023 | LGBTQ+, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
A fast read I wasn't ready to end!
BITE CLUB is set in the same post-apocalyptic world divided in two by a wall as WHEN THE GLOW LIGHTS THE WOODS. Lenni comes from the other side of the wall, where they exist on 20 tablets a day and apps for everything. He goes to Bite Club because he needs... something but has no idea what. When he meets Mino, his world turns upside down as he gets what he needs before it gets taken away once more.

To be honest, I found this to be quite a sad story. To be so touch-starved and full of drugs that you hallucinate? Not a life I would like. I would have liked to have learnt more about Lion and just why he approached Lenni in the first place. He seemed as though he wanted to help but only so far.

Mino and Lenni are good together but you just don't get enough of them! This was a fast read that I would have loved more from. The story itself is all there, I just wanted more.

Different from the first book but still a great read and recommended by me.

** same worded review will appear elsewhere **

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
  
400 Days (2016)
400 Days (2016)
2016 |
Story: 400 Days starts with our four main characters Captain Theo (Routh), Emily (Lotz), Cole (Cook) and Bug (Feldman) being put in a social simulation for 400 days to show what it will be like to travel through space over long periods of time. We follow the four as they get put hiccups as the learn to manage them after losing connect to mission control early on but it is dealing with the psychological side of the mission that will test them the most.

When they open the hatch they find themselves questioning what happened but more worrying where they are now.

400 days really seems to be a film that is two different incomplete films, the first half is all psychological but when they leave the hatch it turns into a post-apocalyptic film that never really ends up being dealt with. Each side of the story works well as a single film but both don’t have enough time to really pull off what is really happen. As for the ending it is all left up to you what you think happens which doesn’t help and what happens to two of the character never really gets answered either. This has problems but really could have been great.

 

Actor Review

 

Caity Lotz: Emily is the medical officers who is also the former partner of Theo who has to make sure the crew remains sane over the course of the mission as well as keeping the medication up to date. Caity gives us a solid performance but really doesn’t get a chance shine.

 

Brandon Routh: Theo is the captain of the mission; he has to make the big decision with the information provided by his crew. He doesn’t want to be on the mission and has been on a four-day bender before the mission. Brandon continued to show why he is struggling to live up to the hype he once had early in his career.

 

Dane Cook: Cole is the engineer on the mission, he is easily the most unpopular on the crew and his cocky attitude leads him to become distant to the rest of the crew. Dane is another actor in this film who hasn’t made much of his career and even with this choice because he tries to do something different.

 

Ben Feldman: Bug is the brains of the crew making all the hard decisions and is clearly the smartest of the four crew members on the ship. He had to leave his young family behind for the mission which haunts him every day of the mission. Ben does a good job even if he does end up being a very generic character for the genre.

 

Support Cast: 400 days has a supporting you only see half way through the film but they end up being very generic.

 

Director Review: Matt Osterman – Matt brings us a great idea that doesn’t quite get pulled off effectively.

 

Mystery: 400 days keep you guessing what is actually happening to our characters.

Sci-Fi: 400 days puts our character in the experiment which would include space travel and a post-apocalyptic world.

Thriller: 400 days does keep us guessing from start to finish.

Settings: 400 days has two good settings the space ship which creates the isolation and the town the end up in that shocks.
Special Effects: 400 days uses the effects for certain moments but tries to keep everything need to the minimum.

Suggestion: 400 days is one to try, it does have a few flaws but you can see a couple of good points. (Try It)

 

Best Part: The ideas are good.

Worst Part: Not enough time for each story, both sides could have been short to increase the second one.

 

Believability: No

Chances of Tears: No

Chances of Sequel: No

Post Credits Scene: No

 

Oscar Chances: No

Runtime: 1 Hour 31 Minutes

 

Overall: Something Missing but good ideas being created.

https://moviesreview101.com/2015/11/02/400-days-2015/
  
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BookblogbyCari (345 KP) rated Enclave in Books

Aug 14, 2018  
Enclave
Enclave
Ann Aguirre | 2011 | Science Fiction/Fantasy
6
8.3 (8 Ratings)
Book Rating
Book Review by Cari Mayhew. Rating 6/10.

Set in a post-apocalyptic world, this book is a cross between Lord of the Flies, and City of Embers. You know you’re reading a YA novel when it starts with a coming-of-age ritual, and all the characters are under 25 years old.

The central character, Deuce, is a 15 year old young lady who grew up in an underground enclave, who has trained all her life to catch food to eat and protect the rest of the enclave from sharp-toothed zombie-like creatures (AKA Freaks) who also live underground.

The power within the enclave is held by a minority few and they operate by hard and fast rules. Everyone is designated their own purpose when they come of age. Deuce’s role is “Huntress” and other roles include “Builder” for those who make the items needed by the enclave, and “Breeder” for those who lack the skills to be put to any other use.

The enclave motto is “The Strong Survive” and the unspoken implication is that the weak are not valued. Any random object found by the members has to be declared to the elders and kept by the Wordkeeper. Hoarding is punishable by death. The enclave’s beliefs and way of life are all that Deuce has ever known.

Shortly after her naming ceremony and teaming up with Fade to carry out patrols, Deuce starts to see the set-up for the cold way of life that it is. One thing leads to another and the 2 of them are exiled. And so, the second half of the book continues above ground, where they face a different set of challenges.

In the beginning of the book, the descriptions of the fights with the Freaks are detailed, but this soon changes (which I was glad of, as that would have put me off the rest of the book).

The story is fast-paced and I didn’t get bored, but, as you may expect in a post-apocalyptic world, much of the story revolves around fighting zombies, finding food to eat, and water with which to drink and wash. So it felt repetitive in places.

There is a barely-there slow burn romance between Deuce and her “partner” Fade. They have each other’s back when fighting the mutants, and when Deuce got exiled from the enclave, but there’s little in the way of desire for each other.

At one point, the book seemed to form the beginning of a mystery novel, as Deuce and Fade tried to piece together how the world had got this way, but when a yellowing newspaper revealed an old story, there seemed nothing mysterious about the state of affairs.

This book is the first in the 3-book series, Razorland. Strangely the first book doesn’t really end in a cliff-hanger, so I didn’t feel compelled to read the next one. Although I’d imagine some of the earlier characters will re-appear. To be honest, I felt the story so far is unimaginative, but that’s not to say the rest of the series is the same.