Search
Alice (12 KP) rated Cruel Crown: Two Red Queen Short Stories in Books
Jul 3, 2018
Many thanks to the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
I went into Cruel Crown with an open mind - I haven't read Red Queen yet so I hoped that reading the prequel novellas to the best-seller would reveal quite a bit on the inner workings of Red's and Silver's.
In respect of Queen Song it was a pretty dark novella - a lot darker than I expected for a YA prequel. Coriane begins as a impoverished Silver with a hatred of the mundane and a love of the inner workings of machines.
Queen Song follows Coriane's rise from impoverished Silver to Queen of the Kingdom via her diary entries. The entries start off pretty mundane and childlike in their layout but over the course of her growth as a character they become much darker and they reveal that even royalty has flaws.
She comes across - as a teenager - as a bit of a spoiled brat even though she doesn't actually appear to be spoiled. She gives me the vibe of spoiled and irritating child for most of the beginning but after meeting Elara I'll give Coriane her due she's way more laid back.
As previously mentioned I haven't read Red Queen and hoped that the prequels would shed some light on certain things - what a Silver and a Red is, what a singer and a whisper is etc. I found that it didn't, without reading Red Queen first the prequel doesn't really make a whole lot of sense but it does shed light on what happens with royalty etc.
A couple of the characters (Elara I'm looking at you) were a hell of a lot more evil than I expected. Particularly at the end.
But there is a difference between a single candle in darkness, and a sunrise.
That is, without doubt, the best line in the novella. It's strikingly beautiful in contrast to the darkness of the novella.
Steel Scars on the other hand is a nice change of pace from Queen Song. Steel Scars follows a Red soldier - a member of The Scarlet Guard -as she aquires assets for the SG. It contains far more action and drama than Queen Song and it provides a better basis for certain aspects of the Red and Silver world.
It also sets up the introduction to Mare quite nicely as well.
As prequels go, they're good if a little bare of some details. The writing style flowed pretty well and most of the characters were not overly annoying or filler.
What an ending though. The Queenstrial sets Red Queen up incredibly well.
I went into Cruel Crown with an open mind - I haven't read Red Queen yet so I hoped that reading the prequel novellas to the best-seller would reveal quite a bit on the inner workings of Red's and Silver's.
In respect of Queen Song it was a pretty dark novella - a lot darker than I expected for a YA prequel. Coriane begins as a impoverished Silver with a hatred of the mundane and a love of the inner workings of machines.
Queen Song follows Coriane's rise from impoverished Silver to Queen of the Kingdom via her diary entries. The entries start off pretty mundane and childlike in their layout but over the course of her growth as a character they become much darker and they reveal that even royalty has flaws.
She comes across - as a teenager - as a bit of a spoiled brat even though she doesn't actually appear to be spoiled. She gives me the vibe of spoiled and irritating child for most of the beginning but after meeting Elara I'll give Coriane her due she's way more laid back.
As previously mentioned I haven't read Red Queen and hoped that the prequels would shed some light on certain things - what a Silver and a Red is, what a singer and a whisper is etc. I found that it didn't, without reading Red Queen first the prequel doesn't really make a whole lot of sense but it does shed light on what happens with royalty etc.
A couple of the characters (Elara I'm looking at you) were a hell of a lot more evil than I expected. Particularly at the end.
But there is a difference between a single candle in darkness, and a sunrise.
That is, without doubt, the best line in the novella. It's strikingly beautiful in contrast to the darkness of the novella.
Steel Scars on the other hand is a nice change of pace from Queen Song. Steel Scars follows a Red soldier - a member of The Scarlet Guard -as she aquires assets for the SG. It contains far more action and drama than Queen Song and it provides a better basis for certain aspects of the Red and Silver world.
It also sets up the introduction to Mare quite nicely as well.
As prequels go, they're good if a little bare of some details. The writing style flowed pretty well and most of the characters were not overly annoying or filler.
What an ending though. The Queenstrial sets Red Queen up incredibly well.
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated The Many Saints of Newark (2021) in Movies
Oct 5, 2021
Production design (1 more)
Great cast
Sopranos prequel that failed to hit the high note with this Sopranos virgin.
With Bond showing on virtually every screen of my local Cineworld, there were few other choices for movies to go see this week. So even though I've never seen "The Sopranos" TV series, I decided to give this movie prequel a shot.
Positives:
- Like any good mafia story, there's a nicely developed sense of place for the action. The film is set in the late 60's / early 70's, and the score and the production design nicely portray the period. The rise of black factions to challenge the white status quo, even in the crime world, make this a nice companion piece to "Judas and the Black Messiah" .
- Although he's been in films like "American Hustle" and "Selma", I wouldn't have been able to pick Alessandro Nivola out of a line-up. But he did a great job portraying the different sides of Dickie: both caring uncle and psychopathic gangster. And Odom Jnr is again impressive: I've not yet seen him deliver any role that's been sub-par.
- It's also impressive that they had Michael Gandolfini to play the younger self of his late father's role. Although I kept being distracted by how much he looks and acts like a young John Cusack!
Negatives:
- The story is told over many years and the script came across as quite uneven. There are regular cut-aways to Dickie visiting his uncle "Hollywood Dick" (Ray Liotta) in prison, which a lot of the time, to me, felt disconnected from the main plot.
- Whilst most of the ensemble cast do a good job, some of the portrayals felt like forced caricatures of "Goodfellas" characters.
- As a "Sopranos" virgin, I could tell that there were lots of Easter Eggs and in-jokes in the movie (e.g. The baby Christopher crying whenever Anthony talked to him). WIth "Sopranos" regulars Alan Taylor and David Chase in charge, that's not surprising. But I'm afraid all of these went right over my head.
Summary Thoughts on "The Many Saints of Newark": This wasn't a complete bust for me, which it might have been if it had been a sequel rather than a prequel. Indeed there are the occasional flashes of brilliance with certain scenes. But neither did I find it so engrossing that it's going to trouble my top 20 for the year.
I guess is that if you are a "Sopranos" fan, then you would get a lot more out of this than I did. But it's still an interesting way to spend a couple of hours.
(For the full graphical review, please check out #oemannsmovies on the web, Facebook or Tiktok. Thanks.)
Positives:
- Like any good mafia story, there's a nicely developed sense of place for the action. The film is set in the late 60's / early 70's, and the score and the production design nicely portray the period. The rise of black factions to challenge the white status quo, even in the crime world, make this a nice companion piece to "Judas and the Black Messiah" .
- Although he's been in films like "American Hustle" and "Selma", I wouldn't have been able to pick Alessandro Nivola out of a line-up. But he did a great job portraying the different sides of Dickie: both caring uncle and psychopathic gangster. And Odom Jnr is again impressive: I've not yet seen him deliver any role that's been sub-par.
- It's also impressive that they had Michael Gandolfini to play the younger self of his late father's role. Although I kept being distracted by how much he looks and acts like a young John Cusack!
Negatives:
- The story is told over many years and the script came across as quite uneven. There are regular cut-aways to Dickie visiting his uncle "Hollywood Dick" (Ray Liotta) in prison, which a lot of the time, to me, felt disconnected from the main plot.
- Whilst most of the ensemble cast do a good job, some of the portrayals felt like forced caricatures of "Goodfellas" characters.
- As a "Sopranos" virgin, I could tell that there were lots of Easter Eggs and in-jokes in the movie (e.g. The baby Christopher crying whenever Anthony talked to him). WIth "Sopranos" regulars Alan Taylor and David Chase in charge, that's not surprising. But I'm afraid all of these went right over my head.
Summary Thoughts on "The Many Saints of Newark": This wasn't a complete bust for me, which it might have been if it had been a sequel rather than a prequel. Indeed there are the occasional flashes of brilliance with certain scenes. But neither did I find it so engrossing that it's going to trouble my top 20 for the year.
I guess is that if you are a "Sopranos" fan, then you would get a lot more out of this than I did. But it's still an interesting way to spend a couple of hours.
(For the full graphical review, please check out #oemannsmovies on the web, Facebook or Tiktok. Thanks.)
All the King's Men: The Beginning (All The King's Men #6)
8.0
Rate It
Book
NOTE: This book is a prequel. Reading the first five books of the series will greatly enhance your...
Paranormal Romance Vampires
ClareR (5854 KP) rated Practical Magic in Books
Dec 31, 2017
I'm pretty sure the film was nothing like the book....
Firstly, this isn't at all like the film. I'm really glad that I had a sizeable gap between watching the film and reading the book, because I'm sure I would be picking holes in either one or the other. I really enjoyed this though. The relationships between the three sets of sisters resonated with me in some ways (closeness vs wanting to get away!). I thought it interesting that they clearly had witchcraft knowledge/ ability, but didn't seem to want to use it! Why?! I'd be out there being my best Witch! I have to say that I actually preferred The Rules of Magic: the writing just seemed better. I suppose the author has written a lot of books between this book and its follow up=prequel. The story though is a great one.
Sarah (7799 KP) rated La Belle Sauvage: The Book of Dust in Books
Jan 15, 2018
A great new addition
I'm not entirely convinced that we really need any more Dark Materials books, especially not a prequel, but this is still a very good book.
It's very well written and is an interesting tale, although it is a little bit far fetched. Malcolm is a good new character and is a bit of fresh air in comparison with Lyra as he's a lot less brash and overconfident. It's nice to see Lord Asriel potrayed in a better light than he is in the other books and there are some interesting new characters too. I felt the ending was a little abrupt and a bit of a let down, and I'm also not entirely sure that this is how I would've pictured Lyra ending up in Jordan college. Still it's an entertaining story and has left me dying to read the next one.
It's very well written and is an interesting tale, although it is a little bit far fetched. Malcolm is a good new character and is a bit of fresh air in comparison with Lyra as he's a lot less brash and overconfident. It's nice to see Lord Asriel potrayed in a better light than he is in the other books and there are some interesting new characters too. I felt the ending was a little abrupt and a bit of a let down, and I'm also not entirely sure that this is how I would've pictured Lyra ending up in Jordan college. Still it's an entertaining story and has left me dying to read the next one.
Ross (3284 KP) rated Of Gods and Men in Books
Jan 31, 2018
Enough hints to anticipate twists and reveals (1 more)
Short and concise
Fantastic taster of Aryan's writing and world
*** I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review ***
This novella serves as an excellent taster of Stephen Aryan's writing style and the world in which his other books take place. I haven't read any of his other work yet, but as this is a prequel I didn't feel I was missing out on any inside knowledge. If anything, this book serves as an expanded backstory to one of the main characters of the first series, Vargus.
I really enjoyed the entry into the world, Aryan's easy-flowing narrative and the short, concise self-contained story which contains some good, well described action scenes, good dialogue and hints at a larger world to be explored and does lead you to want to read more.
This novella serves as an excellent taster of Stephen Aryan's writing style and the world in which his other books take place. I haven't read any of his other work yet, but as this is a prequel I didn't feel I was missing out on any inside knowledge. If anything, this book serves as an expanded backstory to one of the main characters of the first series, Vargus.
I really enjoyed the entry into the world, Aryan's easy-flowing narrative and the short, concise self-contained story which contains some good, well described action scenes, good dialogue and hints at a larger world to be explored and does lead you to want to read more.
Cyn Armistead (14 KP) rated The Iron Hunt (Hunter Kiss, #1) in Books
Mar 1, 2018
<i>The Iron Hunt</i> is a beautifully written book with some interesting twists on established fantasy memes. To some extent, I felt that I'd come in to the world on book 2 or 3, but as far as I know (and from what Amazon says) this is the first book of the Hunter Kiss series. There was a bit of Buffy and a little Witchblade, with other elements I'm sure I'm overlooking.
For once, it's good to see a novel in which an established couple has a seemingly-healthy relationship. Maxine and Grant have very different skills, but they work together well. That said, this is <b>not</b> a romance.
Edited to add: I just learned that there is, in fact, a prequel to this book in <i>The Wild Thing</i> anthology, which I hadn't heard of before. I'll certainly be looking for it.
For once, it's good to see a novel in which an established couple has a seemingly-healthy relationship. Maxine and Grant have very different skills, but they work together well. That said, this is <b>not</b> a romance.
Edited to add: I just learned that there is, in fact, a prequel to this book in <i>The Wild Thing</i> anthology, which I hadn't heard of before. I'll certainly be looking for it.
Steph (468 KP) rated The Wall of Storms (The Dandelion Dynasty #2) in Books
Jul 9, 2018
I am incredibly impressed with the amount of research that must have gone into this book, for politics, military strategy, engineering, physics, and more. That being said, to me the most important thing is characters and I think they fell a little short on this one. Parts of the plot were a little confusing and hard to follow as well. Jia's struggle for power/efforts to unite the throne seemed silly and it was difficult to see the political accumen involved. I was also surprised at how cold and calculating she became. The plot started off rather slow and seemed to end too soon with a lot happening far too quickly at the end. Ultimately this book read more like the first in a series with The Grace of Kings as a prequel. Nevertheless, I still admire the work that went into this book and the brilliance behind the ideas.
David McK (3547 KP) rated The Star Wars in Books
Jan 30, 2019
Based on George Lucas' original rough-draft for 'Star Wars', this is an interesting read not so much for the (somewhat disconnected) story, but to see how the movies grew out of the original rough draft: this is very different from those movie(s), albeit with some of the characters and place names still showing up but in a different manner - most noticeable, perhaps, in the characters of Han Solo and Darth Vader (and 'May the Force of Others be with you' just doesn't sound right, does it?).
Having read this, it's also now VERY clear that Lucas was to re-use elements of his original rough draft in the Prequel trilogy, particularly in the whole Princess-in-hiding section(s) that are included in both The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.
The art is impressive, but the dialogue/story? Not so much.
Having read this, it's also now VERY clear that Lucas was to re-use elements of his original rough draft in the Prequel trilogy, particularly in the whole Princess-in-hiding section(s) that are included in both The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones.
The art is impressive, but the dialogue/story? Not so much.
Little Keith Lemon: Memoirs of Me Childhood
Book
Keith Lemon's hilarious prequel to BEING KEITH, this is the memoir of his life as a northern...