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Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Kill Switch in Books
Feb 17, 2023
đđđ
17 of 235
Kindle
Kill switch ( Devils Night book 3)
By Penelope Douglas
âď¸âď¸âď¸âď¸
"I've done far worse than what I went to prison for. She has no idea how bad this can get."
WINTER
Sending him to prison was the worst thing I couldâve done. It didnât matter that he did the crime or that I wished he was dead. Perhaps I thought Iâd have time to disappear before he got out or heâd cool off in jail and be anything but the horror he was.
But I was wrong. Three years came and went too fast, and now heâs anything but calm. Prison only gave him time to plan.
And while I anticipated his vengeance, I didnât expect this.
He doesnât want to make me hurt. He wants to make everything hurt.
DAMON
First thingâs first. Get rid of her daddy. He told them I forced her. He told them his little girl was a victim, but I was a kid, too, and she wanted it just as much as I did.
Step two⌠Give her, her sister, and her mother nowhere to run and no fuel to escape. The Ashby women are alone now and desperate for a knight in shining armor.
But thatâs not whatâs coming.
No, itâs time I listened to my father and took control of my future. Itâs time I showed them allâmy family, her family, my friendsâthat I will never change and that I have no other ambition than to be the nightmare of their lives.
Starting with her.
Sheâll be so scared, she wonât even be safe in her own head by the time Iâm done with her. And the best part is I wonât have to break into her home to do it.
As the new man of the house I have all the keys.
For gods sake this woman knows how to kick you in the guts with trauma! This has so many trigger warnings. This book makes you feel everything itâs quite graphic and she doesnât hold back! Whether you like this series or not the woman writes abuse better than anyone Iâve read she gets you feeling all the emotions. I still canât stand these men but there is a catalyst for each one of them that being the worlds worst parents they certainly didnât do their kids any good. One thing I love is these women are strong and ruling the world is on the agenda!
17 of 235
Kindle
Kill switch ( Devils Night book 3)
By Penelope Douglas
âď¸âď¸âď¸âď¸
"I've done far worse than what I went to prison for. She has no idea how bad this can get."
WINTER
Sending him to prison was the worst thing I couldâve done. It didnât matter that he did the crime or that I wished he was dead. Perhaps I thought Iâd have time to disappear before he got out or heâd cool off in jail and be anything but the horror he was.
But I was wrong. Three years came and went too fast, and now heâs anything but calm. Prison only gave him time to plan.
And while I anticipated his vengeance, I didnât expect this.
He doesnât want to make me hurt. He wants to make everything hurt.
DAMON
First thingâs first. Get rid of her daddy. He told them I forced her. He told them his little girl was a victim, but I was a kid, too, and she wanted it just as much as I did.
Step two⌠Give her, her sister, and her mother nowhere to run and no fuel to escape. The Ashby women are alone now and desperate for a knight in shining armor.
But thatâs not whatâs coming.
No, itâs time I listened to my father and took control of my future. Itâs time I showed them allâmy family, her family, my friendsâthat I will never change and that I have no other ambition than to be the nightmare of their lives.
Starting with her.
Sheâll be so scared, she wonât even be safe in her own head by the time Iâm done with her. And the best part is I wonât have to break into her home to do it.
As the new man of the house I have all the keys.
For gods sake this woman knows how to kick you in the guts with trauma! This has so many trigger warnings. This book makes you feel everything itâs quite graphic and she doesnât hold back! Whether you like this series or not the woman writes abuse better than anyone Iâve read she gets you feeling all the emotions. I still canât stand these men but there is a catalyst for each one of them that being the worlds worst parents they certainly didnât do their kids any good. One thing I love is these women are strong and ruling the world is on the agenda!
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Old (2021) in Movies
Aug 22, 2021
Having been out of the "coming soon" game for quite a while so this one came as a surprise when I saw the trailer. It looked good, but there's always that "what is Shyamalan going to do" feeling.
An idyllic resort, a glorious beach. What starts out to be a pleasant day trip turns into tragedy and horror as the guests start ageing at an accelerated rate. What's going on and why can't they seem to do anything about it?
I'm going to mix this up a bit from my usual reviews because it seems appropriate for this oddity of a film.
As a whole, the film probably has a place in the Lost extended universe (especially considering Miles' role in it). Mystery and generalised horror abound, and you're left for prolonged periods of time with more questions than answers. Let's cover the biggie though.
That whole ageing thing... it is in the trailer so I'm going to do my best not to be spoilery.
Let's face it... there's a massive inconsistency. I'm happy to go with the fact that kids will change more physically with age than the adults will initially... no problem with that bit. But the assembled people on the beach have been there for (more or less) two different periods of time. While I don't remember it being established when the first arrived, I would have expected a more pronounced visual than the one we were presented with.
When the group get to the beach, Maddox is 11 and her brother Trent is 6. then there's Kara who is also 6. They progressively age throughout the events and we end up with three teenage looking kids. I'm still on board here, perfectly "logical". But here is also where I start to tail off into what could be a massive psychological debate... their bodies age, but their minds are only exposed to what is around them in that time, so are their actions in line with that?
Thomasin McKenzie seemed to have the right balance, with her character at a starting age of 11 she has the best chance of getting away with it, and her effort was good. I'm not sure the same is true of Alex Wolff and Eliza Scanlen though. Their storyline together, and their behaviour, didn't feel consistent. Particularly with Trent. Mentally the pair should still have been 6, or at least more immature than their look, but that didn't come across very effectively.
We're introduced to all of the characters in fairly quick succession at the beginning, but you do get a very clear idea about what you can expect from them going forward. They don't all really work together, and if chaos wasn't a necessary part of the film then I think I would have tired quickly of them all. As it was, I didn't particularly like any of the characters, including the parents of Trent and Maddox, but at least their journey evolved well through the film.
I feel like I need to mention the dubious sexualisation of the kids, in particular when we have Thomasin McKenzie as Maddox. When they discover the kids have aged up, Mum tells her to change into a swimsuit she has in her bag. The swimsuit she was already wearing covered everything relatively well, and actually has more cloth on it than the alternative. When I think about the things I bring to a beach in my bag with me, I bring a t-shirt, shorts, a sarong... never a second bikini. Would it not have been more logical to give her something different to wear? And was it really necessary to be there at all? I also have another point under this, but it would constitute spoilers I'm afraid.
Old's beach location is stunning, and some of the features allow for a slightly sinister edge. But a lot of the atmosphere is brought in with the cameras, and at one point I felt a rage come over me because of a collection of panning shots of the group. Yes, I know there are better things to be annoyed about, but it bugged me, I couldn't help it!
As a quick round-up of other points:
- I quite enjoyed Shyamalan's role
- Listening to people pronounce my surname wrong gives me palpitations, and
- The one bit of massively noticeable CGI was bad, so very, very, bad.
I'm interested to read the source material and see how its ending compares to what Shyamalan conjured. It's difficult to discuss the end without spoilers, but that's probably just as well because it'll lead to another heavy discussion. The actual resolution though does have a satisfying moment, even though it felt a little wrong.
Now for my overall feelings on the film... I enjoyed the mystery of it, and there are plenty of debates that arise. But the inconsistent moments in the ageing and how the ending comes around, sadly ate into my total score.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2021/08/old-movie-review.html
An idyllic resort, a glorious beach. What starts out to be a pleasant day trip turns into tragedy and horror as the guests start ageing at an accelerated rate. What's going on and why can't they seem to do anything about it?
I'm going to mix this up a bit from my usual reviews because it seems appropriate for this oddity of a film.
As a whole, the film probably has a place in the Lost extended universe (especially considering Miles' role in it). Mystery and generalised horror abound, and you're left for prolonged periods of time with more questions than answers. Let's cover the biggie though.
That whole ageing thing... it is in the trailer so I'm going to do my best not to be spoilery.
Let's face it... there's a massive inconsistency. I'm happy to go with the fact that kids will change more physically with age than the adults will initially... no problem with that bit. But the assembled people on the beach have been there for (more or less) two different periods of time. While I don't remember it being established when the first arrived, I would have expected a more pronounced visual than the one we were presented with.
When the group get to the beach, Maddox is 11 and her brother Trent is 6. then there's Kara who is also 6. They progressively age throughout the events and we end up with three teenage looking kids. I'm still on board here, perfectly "logical". But here is also where I start to tail off into what could be a massive psychological debate... their bodies age, but their minds are only exposed to what is around them in that time, so are their actions in line with that?
Thomasin McKenzie seemed to have the right balance, with her character at a starting age of 11 she has the best chance of getting away with it, and her effort was good. I'm not sure the same is true of Alex Wolff and Eliza Scanlen though. Their storyline together, and their behaviour, didn't feel consistent. Particularly with Trent. Mentally the pair should still have been 6, or at least more immature than their look, but that didn't come across very effectively.
We're introduced to all of the characters in fairly quick succession at the beginning, but you do get a very clear idea about what you can expect from them going forward. They don't all really work together, and if chaos wasn't a necessary part of the film then I think I would have tired quickly of them all. As it was, I didn't particularly like any of the characters, including the parents of Trent and Maddox, but at least their journey evolved well through the film.
I feel like I need to mention the dubious sexualisation of the kids, in particular when we have Thomasin McKenzie as Maddox. When they discover the kids have aged up, Mum tells her to change into a swimsuit she has in her bag. The swimsuit she was already wearing covered everything relatively well, and actually has more cloth on it than the alternative. When I think about the things I bring to a beach in my bag with me, I bring a t-shirt, shorts, a sarong... never a second bikini. Would it not have been more logical to give her something different to wear? And was it really necessary to be there at all? I also have another point under this, but it would constitute spoilers I'm afraid.
Old's beach location is stunning, and some of the features allow for a slightly sinister edge. But a lot of the atmosphere is brought in with the cameras, and at one point I felt a rage come over me because of a collection of panning shots of the group. Yes, I know there are better things to be annoyed about, but it bugged me, I couldn't help it!
As a quick round-up of other points:
- I quite enjoyed Shyamalan's role
- Listening to people pronounce my surname wrong gives me palpitations, and
- The one bit of massively noticeable CGI was bad, so very, very, bad.
I'm interested to read the source material and see how its ending compares to what Shyamalan conjured. It's difficult to discuss the end without spoilers, but that's probably just as well because it'll lead to another heavy discussion. The actual resolution though does have a satisfying moment, even though it felt a little wrong.
Now for my overall feelings on the film... I enjoyed the mystery of it, and there are plenty of debates that arise. But the inconsistent moments in the ageing and how the ending comes around, sadly ate into my total score.
Originally posted on: https://emmaatthemovies.blogspot.com/2021/08/old-movie-review.html
Smashbomb (4687 KP) created a post in Smashbomb AMA
Jul 12, 2019
Lee (2222 KP) rated Welcome to Marwen (2018) in Movies
Jan 11, 2019
Steve Carell (1 more)
Leslie Mann
This year, I made a resolution to try not to let critic reviews heavily influence my decision to go see a movie or not. In the period between Christmas and New year, I'd booked to go see Holmes and Watson, but when the very bad reviews for it started coming it, I decided to cancel, opting to continue lazing on the sofa with food, drink and Netflix instead. That particular choice I don't regret, but I feel there have been many occasions over the last year where I've either hated a movie the critics loved, or loved a movie the critics were negative about. Time to try and change that.
I almost did miss out on seeing Welcome to Marwen though, due to the large number of mediocre reviews I read. In fact, it doesn't seem to have appealed to the general public enough to keep it in the cinemas for very long at all. Having only opened here in the UK on New year's Day, the screening I went to last night was actually the last screening being shown at that particular cinema, and I was one of only a handful of people there watching it. What prompted me earlier this week to give it a go though was after listening to director Robert Zemeckis talk passionately about it, along with his other movies. It was a gentle reminder that this guy is responsible for so many of my favourite movies, and I decided to give it a shot. While I'm glad I did, and overall I enjoyed it a lot, I can certainly appreciate where some of the criticism is coming from.
Welcome to Marwen is based on the true story of Mark Hogancamp, and the 2010 documentary on his life title 'Marwencol'. Mark (played in the movie by Steve Carell) suffered a severe beating at the hands of a bunch of thugs following an altercation in a bar regarding his lifestyle choice of being a cross dresser. After nine days in a coma, the beating understandably left him traumatised, but it also left him without any memory his life prior to the attack - once a talented war illustrator, he now can't even write his own name. But Mark remained an artist, building a miniature World War II Belgian town called Marwen outside his home and populating it with dolls. Using them he creates scenes and a story which he then photographs, helping him to express and deal with his lack of memory, the pain and trauma he now experiences, and the relationships with the people around him. Captain Hogie is a fighter pilot, an Action Man/GI Joe figure representing Mark. The residents of Marwen are all women, alter egos of various people who have helped him in the past or continue to help him. The toyshop worker who supplies him with the dolls, a friend he met during rehab, a co-worker, his carer and the woman who came to his aid following his beating. The town is also terrorised regularly by a bunch of Nazis, representing the men responsible for attacking him. And whenever the Nazis are beaten and killed, they are brought back to life by a Belgian witch! When a woman called Nicol (Leslie Mann) moves in across the street, she strikes up a wonderful friendship with Mark, earning her own doll in the town of Marwen where she strikes up a relationship with Captain Hogie. As the movie progresses, Mark has to deal with the pending sentencing of his attackers and the anxiety surrounding an upcoming exhibition showcasing his photographs. Marwen, and its inhabitants, help him to work through all of this.
The scenes and stories in Marwen that Mark is creating and imagining are brought to life in the movie using impressive motion capture CGI which, if you've seen the trailer or any clips of the movie, will know looks incredible. When you think about the animation Zemeckis and his team were producing for The Polar Express back in 2004, through Beowulf and Disney's The Christmas Carol to where we are now with this movie, it's simply amazing how far we've come. Perfect recreations of the movie characters in doll form, moving and interacting with the real surroundings and the CGI is just faultless. But for the earlier parts of the movie, this aspect of the movie for me was for a while the most frustrating and dull. The movie opens with a big scene as Captain Hogie crashes his plane, comes across a group of Nazis before being rescued by the girls of Marwen and we get a few more of these lengthy sequences early on, with only short glimpses of Mark and his life inbetween. I found myself become interested and engrossed in the life of Mark, wanting to learn more, only to be snapped out of it by a not so interesting scene involving some dolls. Thankfully, the length of those scenes reduces over time, and as you begin to empathise more with Mark and his life, you start to appreciate more the reasons why a certain scene is playing out the way it is. At that point, I began to really appreciate and enjoy them a lot more.
My only issue overall with this movie is that I wouldn't really know the age range to pitch it at, and that's possibly why it doesn't appear to have done so well with audiences. You've got the fun elements involving the dolls and the CGI, but then some of these scenes do involve a fair bit of violence which actually appears quite realistic at times. Then you've got the trauma and the flashbacks involving the beating - the movie doesn't go as dark as it could, or maybe should have done with that subject matter, but I certainly wouldn't say this is a fun movie for all the family to enjoy. Which is a shame really because I did enjoy this a lot. Steve Carell does an outstanding job, and Leslie Mann is just wonderful as always. It's opened my eyes to some of the consequences of brain injury and made me want to learn more about Mark Hogancamp, which parts of the movie are true and which parts were added for entertainment. I'll be sure to try and watch the documentary at some point.
I almost did miss out on seeing Welcome to Marwen though, due to the large number of mediocre reviews I read. In fact, it doesn't seem to have appealed to the general public enough to keep it in the cinemas for very long at all. Having only opened here in the UK on New year's Day, the screening I went to last night was actually the last screening being shown at that particular cinema, and I was one of only a handful of people there watching it. What prompted me earlier this week to give it a go though was after listening to director Robert Zemeckis talk passionately about it, along with his other movies. It was a gentle reminder that this guy is responsible for so many of my favourite movies, and I decided to give it a shot. While I'm glad I did, and overall I enjoyed it a lot, I can certainly appreciate where some of the criticism is coming from.
Welcome to Marwen is based on the true story of Mark Hogancamp, and the 2010 documentary on his life title 'Marwencol'. Mark (played in the movie by Steve Carell) suffered a severe beating at the hands of a bunch of thugs following an altercation in a bar regarding his lifestyle choice of being a cross dresser. After nine days in a coma, the beating understandably left him traumatised, but it also left him without any memory his life prior to the attack - once a talented war illustrator, he now can't even write his own name. But Mark remained an artist, building a miniature World War II Belgian town called Marwen outside his home and populating it with dolls. Using them he creates scenes and a story which he then photographs, helping him to express and deal with his lack of memory, the pain and trauma he now experiences, and the relationships with the people around him. Captain Hogie is a fighter pilot, an Action Man/GI Joe figure representing Mark. The residents of Marwen are all women, alter egos of various people who have helped him in the past or continue to help him. The toyshop worker who supplies him with the dolls, a friend he met during rehab, a co-worker, his carer and the woman who came to his aid following his beating. The town is also terrorised regularly by a bunch of Nazis, representing the men responsible for attacking him. And whenever the Nazis are beaten and killed, they are brought back to life by a Belgian witch! When a woman called Nicol (Leslie Mann) moves in across the street, she strikes up a wonderful friendship with Mark, earning her own doll in the town of Marwen where she strikes up a relationship with Captain Hogie. As the movie progresses, Mark has to deal with the pending sentencing of his attackers and the anxiety surrounding an upcoming exhibition showcasing his photographs. Marwen, and its inhabitants, help him to work through all of this.
The scenes and stories in Marwen that Mark is creating and imagining are brought to life in the movie using impressive motion capture CGI which, if you've seen the trailer or any clips of the movie, will know looks incredible. When you think about the animation Zemeckis and his team were producing for The Polar Express back in 2004, through Beowulf and Disney's The Christmas Carol to where we are now with this movie, it's simply amazing how far we've come. Perfect recreations of the movie characters in doll form, moving and interacting with the real surroundings and the CGI is just faultless. But for the earlier parts of the movie, this aspect of the movie for me was for a while the most frustrating and dull. The movie opens with a big scene as Captain Hogie crashes his plane, comes across a group of Nazis before being rescued by the girls of Marwen and we get a few more of these lengthy sequences early on, with only short glimpses of Mark and his life inbetween. I found myself become interested and engrossed in the life of Mark, wanting to learn more, only to be snapped out of it by a not so interesting scene involving some dolls. Thankfully, the length of those scenes reduces over time, and as you begin to empathise more with Mark and his life, you start to appreciate more the reasons why a certain scene is playing out the way it is. At that point, I began to really appreciate and enjoy them a lot more.
My only issue overall with this movie is that I wouldn't really know the age range to pitch it at, and that's possibly why it doesn't appear to have done so well with audiences. You've got the fun elements involving the dolls and the CGI, but then some of these scenes do involve a fair bit of violence which actually appears quite realistic at times. Then you've got the trauma and the flashbacks involving the beating - the movie doesn't go as dark as it could, or maybe should have done with that subject matter, but I certainly wouldn't say this is a fun movie for all the family to enjoy. Which is a shame really because I did enjoy this a lot. Steve Carell does an outstanding job, and Leslie Mann is just wonderful as always. It's opened my eyes to some of the consequences of brain injury and made me want to learn more about Mark Hogancamp, which parts of the movie are true and which parts were added for entertainment. I'll be sure to try and watch the documentary at some point.
Kristy H (1252 KP) rated The In Between in Books
Feb 1, 2018
I confess that this book was not exactly what I was expecting. The novel appears to tell a typical tale of YA love, but it also spends much of its time in a paranormal, mystical world of the "In Between." It's very odd and I wasn't expecting so much talk of Heaven and Hell, despite the hint from the title.
The story follows Tara Jenkins and Justin Westcroft. Friends as children, they become close again after Tara saves Justin's life, when he nearly drowns in an accident at the public beach. Now in high school, Justin is a popular soccer star, while Tara is just a "regular gal." Tara and Justin quickly fall madly in love and become each other's world.
Part of my issue with this book is just that - Tara and Justin are in high school and the entire book centers on their "great romance" and the idea that they are made for each other, destined for all eternity. Some people pull it off, even if it's a cheesy YA series like Twilight. You find yourself rooting for Bella and Edward. Here... I don't know. Pierce's characters just aren't well-developed enough. I like Tara, but I'm not fully invested in her. I actually cared for Justin a bit more (he seemed to have more of a head on his shoulders), but I don't get to learn enough about him, or really get to know him enough as I read the novel. Instead, you are just left wondering why two young kids are so in love and so convinced, at this age, that they are meant for each other. Instead of falling for their love story, it seems like a Made for TV Special.
Once Justin actually dies (and I'm not giving anything away, the book's summary is forthright in telling you that Tara can't save Justin a second time) and he goes to the "In Between," you find him in this weird mythical, mystical land, and it's just odd. I do feel empathy for Justin as he struggles to get back to Tara, and even for Tara, as she grieves for Justin, but it often feels like two kids playing at being grown up. With the distraction of some weird mystical characters thrown in to boot.
That being said, the book managed to keep my interest. I kept reading, wanting to know what would happen to Justin and Tara. Would they kill them both? Would they be reunited? Surely it wouldn't just end with him stuck here and her still pining away? After all this?! In the end, the ending is rather "pat" and the book just sort of ends.
Come to think of it, this probably *would* make a great Lifetime movie. And I'd no doubt guiltily enjoy it with a box of chocolates.
(Note, I received a free digital copy of The In Between in return for a honest review.)
The story follows Tara Jenkins and Justin Westcroft. Friends as children, they become close again after Tara saves Justin's life, when he nearly drowns in an accident at the public beach. Now in high school, Justin is a popular soccer star, while Tara is just a "regular gal." Tara and Justin quickly fall madly in love and become each other's world.
Part of my issue with this book is just that - Tara and Justin are in high school and the entire book centers on their "great romance" and the idea that they are made for each other, destined for all eternity. Some people pull it off, even if it's a cheesy YA series like Twilight. You find yourself rooting for Bella and Edward. Here... I don't know. Pierce's characters just aren't well-developed enough. I like Tara, but I'm not fully invested in her. I actually cared for Justin a bit more (he seemed to have more of a head on his shoulders), but I don't get to learn enough about him, or really get to know him enough as I read the novel. Instead, you are just left wondering why two young kids are so in love and so convinced, at this age, that they are meant for each other. Instead of falling for their love story, it seems like a Made for TV Special.
Once Justin actually dies (and I'm not giving anything away, the book's summary is forthright in telling you that Tara can't save Justin a second time) and he goes to the "In Between," you find him in this weird mythical, mystical land, and it's just odd. I do feel empathy for Justin as he struggles to get back to Tara, and even for Tara, as she grieves for Justin, but it often feels like two kids playing at being grown up. With the distraction of some weird mystical characters thrown in to boot.
That being said, the book managed to keep my interest. I kept reading, wanting to know what would happen to Justin and Tara. Would they kill them both? Would they be reunited? Surely it wouldn't just end with him stuck here and her still pining away? After all this?! In the end, the ending is rather "pat" and the book just sort of ends.
Come to think of it, this probably *would* make a great Lifetime movie. And I'd no doubt guiltily enjoy it with a box of chocolates.
(Note, I received a free digital copy of The In Between in return for a honest review.)
Louise (64 KP) rated He Said/She Said in Books
Jul 2, 2018
I was lucky enough to win an unfinished copy of this book on a Goodreads giveaway.
The year is 1999, Kit and Laura are down in Cornwall at a festival held for eclipse chasers, this will be their first one together and the start of many more to come. Kit has all the future eclipses planned out, he has been doing this his whole life and wants to share it with the woman he loves and future children. With it being cloudy the odds of a total eclipse is minimal, to try and get a better viewing angle the couple move out to the edges of the festival, but what they do witness changes their lives forever. Kit and Laura are embroiled in a rape case, Jamie Balcombe was witnessed attacking Beth Taylor â Will Lauraâs testimony be enough for a conviction?
He Said/She Said is told from alternating point of views from Kit and Laura. They are also told from past and present, so will get a chapter from Kit in 2015 and 1999 and the same from Laura. This allows the stories to be interwoven and tells what happened and how it has affected them now. This is another slow paced book that feeds you small amounts of information at a time and when you think you know what has happened it takes an unexpected turn.
Laura in present day is an unreliable narrator, she suffers with anxiety and is extremely paranoid. We donât find out for a long time how she has become this way all we do know that itâs related to âBethâ. In 1999, Laura has her whole life ahead of her, she has just met Kit and has this outgoing nature to her. As the story progresses you begin understand why she is so paranoid and why she is so anxious.
Kit seemed like a super relaxed guy that takes everything in his stride, Laura is his soulmate and have been together for 15 years and will protect her to no end. At points he could be very meticulous and other points very sloppy regarding their change of identity. I must admit that Laura is the stronger character of the two and her POV was much more enjoyable.
I felt this book especially the first half was very slow even when there were parts that really appealed to me. The story line was good not something I have read about before and I didnât think it was predictable but when the twist happened it wasnât anything majorly startling for me.My actual reaction was âohâ! but the second half was much better than the first and had more action to it.
There is a trigger warning of Rape, so if this is something you are uncomfortable reading about then this might not be the book for you.
I rated this book 3.5 out of 5 stars
The year is 1999, Kit and Laura are down in Cornwall at a festival held for eclipse chasers, this will be their first one together and the start of many more to come. Kit has all the future eclipses planned out, he has been doing this his whole life and wants to share it with the woman he loves and future children. With it being cloudy the odds of a total eclipse is minimal, to try and get a better viewing angle the couple move out to the edges of the festival, but what they do witness changes their lives forever. Kit and Laura are embroiled in a rape case, Jamie Balcombe was witnessed attacking Beth Taylor â Will Lauraâs testimony be enough for a conviction?
He Said/She Said is told from alternating point of views from Kit and Laura. They are also told from past and present, so will get a chapter from Kit in 2015 and 1999 and the same from Laura. This allows the stories to be interwoven and tells what happened and how it has affected them now. This is another slow paced book that feeds you small amounts of information at a time and when you think you know what has happened it takes an unexpected turn.
Laura in present day is an unreliable narrator, she suffers with anxiety and is extremely paranoid. We donât find out for a long time how she has become this way all we do know that itâs related to âBethâ. In 1999, Laura has her whole life ahead of her, she has just met Kit and has this outgoing nature to her. As the story progresses you begin understand why she is so paranoid and why she is so anxious.
Kit seemed like a super relaxed guy that takes everything in his stride, Laura is his soulmate and have been together for 15 years and will protect her to no end. At points he could be very meticulous and other points very sloppy regarding their change of identity. I must admit that Laura is the stronger character of the two and her POV was much more enjoyable.
I felt this book especially the first half was very slow even when there were parts that really appealed to me. The story line was good not something I have read about before and I didnât think it was predictable but when the twist happened it wasnât anything majorly startling for me.My actual reaction was âohâ! but the second half was much better than the first and had more action to it.
There is a trigger warning of Rape, so if this is something you are uncomfortable reading about then this might not be the book for you.
I rated this book 3.5 out of 5 stars
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Harry Potter: Death Eaters Rising in Tabletop Games
Dec 3, 2020
Have you read our review of Thanos Rising: Avengers Infinity War? If you have not, please do. Iâll wait. The reason I ask is because this Harry Potter version is a reimplementation of Thanos Rising with a few new twists. Great twists. In fact, Iâll spoil it for you and let you know that I now prefer the Harry Potter version even though I enjoy Marvel-related things in my life much more. But why is it good or better than its predecessor?
Harry Potter: Death Eaters Rising is a game utilizing the Rising system of games (which also includes Batman, Star Wars, and SpongeBob Squarepants as of now) for two to four players. It is a cooperative game where players will take charge of one of the three factions: Dumbledoreâs Army, Hogwarts, or Order of the Phoenix in order to defeat Voldemort and his Death Eater cronies. Though Voldemort will be menacing players throughout the game, the players will not be able to attack him directly until about half way through the game. Can you survive long enough to battle the big bad?
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS. -T
To setup, follow the instructions in the rulebook, but generally the central board will have the large painted Voldemort âmini(?)â and three areas that hold Place cards: Hogwarts, Ministry of Magic, and Diagon Alley. Players will be given one Leader card in their chosen faction (obviously Order of the Phoenix is best) to begin the game. Set aside the damage counters, corruption gem tokens, and Spell tokens in their own piles. Shuffle the main deck of character cards, reveal and place three per Place and then insert the Voldemort card somewhere near half-way into the shuffled deck. The game may now begin.
On a playerâs turn they must complete the following steps: 1. Travel to a Location, 2. Roll Voldemort Die and resolve actions, 3. Roll, assign, and resolve Wizard dice, and 4. End Turn. After taking these actions it will be the next playerâs turn.
To Travel to a Location, the active player will place their faction-matching Mission token upon one of the Places on the board. This is the Place that the active player may now be able to recruit Wizards from and also attack enemies.
Once at a Location, the active player will Roll Voldemort Die and resolve actions thenceforth. The game affords players a large green Voldemort Die to be rolled. Upon the faces are sides that instruct players to turn the Voldemort mini Left or Right one Place and attack all Wizards there (including all Wizards on a playerâs team if Voldemort is now in their Location). Two faces will also show the Dark Mark. When this face is rolled Voldemort does not move, but will attack all Wizards at his current Place (by placing damage counters on the card) as well as activating ALL Death Eater Dark Mark abilities. Not all Death Eaters will have Dark Mark abilities, but when they activate, they can be deadly.
Now that Voldemort has had his fun, the active player will Roll, assign, and resolve Wizard dice. Players will have in front of them faction cards that indicate how many and of which color dice to be rolled on a turn. These dice may be added to or otherwise altered as a result of recruited Wizardsâ special abilities as well. Once a player takes the appropriate dice to be rolled, they must roll them and begin assigning faces to Wizards for recruitment, Death Eaters for damage, or other abilities on team cards. Recruiting more Wizards to a playerâs team or damaging Death Eaters is how the game progresses because each time a card is recruited or defeated it is removed from the main board and a new card replaces it. As long as at least one die is removed from the playerâs pool each time the dice are rolled the player may continue rolling to match symbols needed.
To End Turn, the active player will add any recruited Wizards to their team, discard any defeated Death Eaters, Wizards, or Places, and retrieve their Mission token to be used on the next turn.
Play continues in this fashion of taking turns through the four steps until the Voldemort card is drawn. He then comes into play as an enemy that may be attacked like normal. Players win when they defeat enough Death Eaters and Voldemort, but can lose if the players allow a Place to be completely corrupted (usually by Death Eater card abilities), allowing four Places to be corrupted, if too many Wizards have been defeated per number of players, or any player has all their Wizards defeated from their team.
Components. This game includes a lot of components of varying style and materials. The cards are all very glossy (meh) and feature headshots of the characters mostly. The board is three pieces fit together like a pizza and is great. The damage counters are little translucent red cubes, and the corruption gem tokens are also translucent gems but gray in color. The best components in the game are by far the Voldemort, well, statue and all the dice. The Voldemort piece is incredible, and pre-painted. The stance he is taking is formidable and somewhat intimidating when heâs pointing his wand right at you. The dice have been upgraded to a matte finish (as opposed to yucky polished finish) and feature some great inking. The one negative I have to say is also about the dice: I believe that the faces sometimes can be confusing because the icons are more detailed than is necessary. While some would argue that detailed dice are better than merely serviceable dice, I would much rather see a sword on a face and know itâs a sword than to look at a die face and wonder what I am looking at exactly. In any case, thatâs my opinion and yours may be different. Letâs still be friends.
So overall this is a big upgrade over the Thanos version of a Rising game for several key reasons. In Thanos I always felt like every turn could lose the game for us, and Thanos seemed to gain the Infinity Stones too quickly for my taste. In this version, you know you have half a deck before you are able to even fight Voldemort, so being able to tackle his minions until then seems more surmountable. The dice have been upgraded, and the Voldemort die is wonderful and easy to read. That was an issue I had with Thanos: his die was hard to read and the colors were not distinct enough. Not a factor in this version at all. I also feel that this version has much more faction-dependency and interplay. What I mean is that an Order of the Phoenix card may require a player to also have a Dumbledoreâs Army card on the team in order to unlock access to their special ability. I like that. I like a well-balanced team, though my first game saw me recruit eight Order of the Phoenix cards and one Dumbledoreâs Army card. We won, but I felt bad.
So itâs no surprise that I love this game. I find it better and easier to learn/play than the Thanos version. I like the components a whole lot more. I like the interplay between the factions more. I am sad that I prefer Marvel to Harry Potter, but I do not dislike Harry Potter, let it be known. And I do enjoy this version much more. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a triumphant 10 / 12. My wife and I truly love it and canât wait to play it again very soon. If you are looking for a good Rising game, I certainly recommend you look at Harry Potter: Death Eaters Rising. Itâs a guaranteed hit if you or a loved one is a Harry Potter fan. For sure. Itâs brilliant.
Harry Potter: Death Eaters Rising is a game utilizing the Rising system of games (which also includes Batman, Star Wars, and SpongeBob Squarepants as of now) for two to four players. It is a cooperative game where players will take charge of one of the three factions: Dumbledoreâs Army, Hogwarts, or Order of the Phoenix in order to defeat Voldemort and his Death Eater cronies. Though Voldemort will be menacing players throughout the game, the players will not be able to attack him directly until about half way through the game. Can you survive long enough to battle the big bad?
DISCLAIMER: We were provided a copy of this game for the purposes of this review. This is a retail copy of the game, so what you see in these photos is exactly what would be received in your box. I do not intend to cover every single rule included in the rulebook, but will describe the overall game flow and major rule set so that our readers may get a sense of how the game plays. For more in depth rules, you may purchase a copy online or from your FLGS. -T
To setup, follow the instructions in the rulebook, but generally the central board will have the large painted Voldemort âmini(?)â and three areas that hold Place cards: Hogwarts, Ministry of Magic, and Diagon Alley. Players will be given one Leader card in their chosen faction (obviously Order of the Phoenix is best) to begin the game. Set aside the damage counters, corruption gem tokens, and Spell tokens in their own piles. Shuffle the main deck of character cards, reveal and place three per Place and then insert the Voldemort card somewhere near half-way into the shuffled deck. The game may now begin.
On a playerâs turn they must complete the following steps: 1. Travel to a Location, 2. Roll Voldemort Die and resolve actions, 3. Roll, assign, and resolve Wizard dice, and 4. End Turn. After taking these actions it will be the next playerâs turn.
To Travel to a Location, the active player will place their faction-matching Mission token upon one of the Places on the board. This is the Place that the active player may now be able to recruit Wizards from and also attack enemies.
Once at a Location, the active player will Roll Voldemort Die and resolve actions thenceforth. The game affords players a large green Voldemort Die to be rolled. Upon the faces are sides that instruct players to turn the Voldemort mini Left or Right one Place and attack all Wizards there (including all Wizards on a playerâs team if Voldemort is now in their Location). Two faces will also show the Dark Mark. When this face is rolled Voldemort does not move, but will attack all Wizards at his current Place (by placing damage counters on the card) as well as activating ALL Death Eater Dark Mark abilities. Not all Death Eaters will have Dark Mark abilities, but when they activate, they can be deadly.
Now that Voldemort has had his fun, the active player will Roll, assign, and resolve Wizard dice. Players will have in front of them faction cards that indicate how many and of which color dice to be rolled on a turn. These dice may be added to or otherwise altered as a result of recruited Wizardsâ special abilities as well. Once a player takes the appropriate dice to be rolled, they must roll them and begin assigning faces to Wizards for recruitment, Death Eaters for damage, or other abilities on team cards. Recruiting more Wizards to a playerâs team or damaging Death Eaters is how the game progresses because each time a card is recruited or defeated it is removed from the main board and a new card replaces it. As long as at least one die is removed from the playerâs pool each time the dice are rolled the player may continue rolling to match symbols needed.
To End Turn, the active player will add any recruited Wizards to their team, discard any defeated Death Eaters, Wizards, or Places, and retrieve their Mission token to be used on the next turn.
Play continues in this fashion of taking turns through the four steps until the Voldemort card is drawn. He then comes into play as an enemy that may be attacked like normal. Players win when they defeat enough Death Eaters and Voldemort, but can lose if the players allow a Place to be completely corrupted (usually by Death Eater card abilities), allowing four Places to be corrupted, if too many Wizards have been defeated per number of players, or any player has all their Wizards defeated from their team.
Components. This game includes a lot of components of varying style and materials. The cards are all very glossy (meh) and feature headshots of the characters mostly. The board is three pieces fit together like a pizza and is great. The damage counters are little translucent red cubes, and the corruption gem tokens are also translucent gems but gray in color. The best components in the game are by far the Voldemort, well, statue and all the dice. The Voldemort piece is incredible, and pre-painted. The stance he is taking is formidable and somewhat intimidating when heâs pointing his wand right at you. The dice have been upgraded to a matte finish (as opposed to yucky polished finish) and feature some great inking. The one negative I have to say is also about the dice: I believe that the faces sometimes can be confusing because the icons are more detailed than is necessary. While some would argue that detailed dice are better than merely serviceable dice, I would much rather see a sword on a face and know itâs a sword than to look at a die face and wonder what I am looking at exactly. In any case, thatâs my opinion and yours may be different. Letâs still be friends.
So overall this is a big upgrade over the Thanos version of a Rising game for several key reasons. In Thanos I always felt like every turn could lose the game for us, and Thanos seemed to gain the Infinity Stones too quickly for my taste. In this version, you know you have half a deck before you are able to even fight Voldemort, so being able to tackle his minions until then seems more surmountable. The dice have been upgraded, and the Voldemort die is wonderful and easy to read. That was an issue I had with Thanos: his die was hard to read and the colors were not distinct enough. Not a factor in this version at all. I also feel that this version has much more faction-dependency and interplay. What I mean is that an Order of the Phoenix card may require a player to also have a Dumbledoreâs Army card on the team in order to unlock access to their special ability. I like that. I like a well-balanced team, though my first game saw me recruit eight Order of the Phoenix cards and one Dumbledoreâs Army card. We won, but I felt bad.
So itâs no surprise that I love this game. I find it better and easier to learn/play than the Thanos version. I like the components a whole lot more. I like the interplay between the factions more. I am sad that I prefer Marvel to Harry Potter, but I do not dislike Harry Potter, let it be known. And I do enjoy this version much more. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a triumphant 10 / 12. My wife and I truly love it and canât wait to play it again very soon. If you are looking for a good Rising game, I certainly recommend you look at Harry Potter: Death Eaters Rising. Itâs a guaranteed hit if you or a loved one is a Harry Potter fan. For sure. Itâs brilliant.
Annie Chanse (15 KP) rated Shadows & Dreams in Books
Dec 19, 2017
Review** spoiler alert ** *Warning: contains spoilers, bad words, and quite a long rant*
To be honest, I was very disappointed in this book. It had a great premise, which meant it had the potential to be a really good story, but the writing style of the author just completely ruined this book for me.
The basic idea behind the story is that Kate Kane, a paranormal PI, sets off on a case to find the brother of a woman she slept with once, and during this investigation, she runs into ALL MANNER OF TROUBLE. There are vampires and werewolves and ex-girlfriends around every corner, just lurking and waiting to pounce on Miss Kane. It's a very busy and involved story, and if it had been better written, I would have easily given it four stars at least, but there was just TOO much about this book -- style-wise -- that drove me insane.
For instance:
1. The plot, itself, is actually fairly well thought out and developed and is nowhere NEAR as cheesy as it sounds when you hear, "Vampires fighting werewolves," -- which, let's be honest, these days is so trite and overdone that it is scoffed at on a regular basis. However, there IS a good story in this novel. But the way Hall writes the not-cheesy story is so cheesy that it makes you THINK the story is cheesy. A lot of cheese, huh? A little confusing? Well then, let me give you an example.
Page 7-8: "Truth be told it was a little bit awkward, but my social weirdness threshold has gone way up since my girlfriend tried to murder my ex-girlfriend because her ex-girlfriend tried to murder her."
Okay... a bit ridiculous, especially seven/eight pages in, but I can roll with it. However, at the bottom of page eight:
Kane asks, "Who saw him last?"
Her assistant -- who is actually a statue brought to life and gifted to Kate by a group of rats who are apparently all seeing and all knowing God-types -- says, "I don't know. [...] Probably somebody at the hospital."
Kane asks, "Which one?"
And the assistant replies with this fantastic line: "The Whittington. He broke his leg changing a light bulb. Because he was standing on a swivel chair because he's an idiot."
Okay, I concede that maybe this line is supposed to sound ridiculous and funny, so I can even let that one slide. But then, three pages later, Hall completely turns me off to the book with this:
"Well, fuck. I was about to be hired by a woman I'd very nearly slept with to find her missing brother who was working for the woman who'd left me for a tech startup at the tech startup she left me for."
Wh-wh-what?! Are you kidding me? Could that sentence BE anymore convoluted or that plot-point any more ridiculously stereotypical?
And what is truly awful is that the story itself REALLY WASN'T THAT BAD. I mean, the writing was awful, which, overall, meant that the novel was -- in my opinion, of course -- bad, but the way the story progressed WAS interesting. It was nowhere near as bad as these 'recaps' by the main character make it sound, but the problem is that Hall throws in these inner-monologues for Kane ALL throughout the book, and they are terrible! Which, in turn, decreases the value of the entire story.
Another example falls right on the heels of the page 11 jewel.
Page 14: "I really really hoped this wasn't going to be another zombie plague. There'd been an outbreak when I'd taken Eve up to Lake Windermere for our third anniversary, and we'd spent the whole weekend under siege in the hotel, making molotovs from the minibar and clubbing re-animated tourists to death with souvenir walking sticks."
Really? Zombies now? On top of the vampires, witches, and werewolves? Can we POSSIBLY fit anymore para into this normal?
Enough with that.
Now on to point number 2. The girl on girl sex scenes in this book between sexy, snarky PI and her vampire girlfriend, the Prince (yes, Prince) of Cups, should be hot, right? No. They are forced, fake, and ridiculous. Halfway through the first one, I thought, "Jesus. This isn't lesbian sex. This is lesbian sex if it was written by a man who WISHES he could see some lesbian sex." That was the point at which I decided to look up more info on Alexis Hall, and I found out that he is, in fact, a man, which at least explains the sex scenes.
#3. Speaking of sex scenes, Hall also has this really irritating -- and distracting -- habit of throwing in random, explicitly sexual thoughts at TOTALLY inappropriate times. Right in the middle of the most stressful situations -- being locked up, about to be killed, thrown in prison/on trial -- Kate Kane begins inner-monologuing with herself about how much she'd like to fuck whatever female happens to be standing in front of her. RIDICULOUS! And annoying. Hated it.
4. One of the MOST annoying things about this book, however, was that it was in DESPERATE need of a SERIOUS case of editing. All throughout the book there were glaring errors that any first year college student should have caught while reading. I'm willing to discount SOME of these "errors" as simply being lost in translation, as the book is written with a British tone, and I am very much American. However, SOME of these errors simply CANNOT be due to anything other than careless editing.
For instance, page 113: "It's main distinguishing feature, right, was that was it was blue."
WAS that WAS it WAS blue? What does that even mean? Oh, yes, it means that no one bothered editing this beast before printing.
Page 141: "Piercing the heart will paralyse, but it won't kill, and anything will do, it doesn't have to wood."
Okay, so maybe the "paralyse" is simply British, but surely the "doesn't have to wood" bit needs a "be" in there somewhere, right?
Page 157: "Have we have achieved case closed, Miss Kane?"
Yes, yes have we have.
There are several -- SEVERAL -- more examples of these type errors, but I'm not about to point them all out. If you read the book, I'm sure you'll easily catch them on your own.
5. Another thing that drove me NUTS was the repetition. The awful thing is I'm fairly certain that Hall used these repetitious lines PURPOSELY to create some kind of effect -- humor, maybe? Whatever the desired result, it failed to do anything other than annoy me.
For instance, page 163: "'Hi. So. Look.' I tried to find a way to express the fact I had some good news and some bad news that wasn't I've got some good news and some bad news. 'I've got some good news and some bad news.'"
...blink... ...falls over...
Page 177: "All the more reason to tell them. [...] If they know that we know that she has returned, then they will not be tempted to conspire against us out of the false belief that we do not know. Of course, they may already know, but at present, we have no way to know what they know. If we tell them, we will know what they know, and all we will not know is how long they have known it."
Oh. Jumping. Jesus. On. A. Pogo. Stick. Please tell me you aren't serious.
And there was this one thing that repeated over and over again throughout the book. The first time, it was actually pretty clever. The second time, even, was okay. But by the time I'd read it nine times -- yes, NINE TIMES, no exaggeration whatsoever -- I was ready to never EVER read anything like it ever again.
This particular phrase was something Kate Kane internalized or muttered aloud to herself each time she decided to do something stupid OR she felt her life was in danger. The basic format went something like this:
"Here lies Kate Kane, died peacefully in her sleep aged 94. Beloved daughter."
The "Here lies Kate Kane" part remained constant, as did the "Beloved daughter." It was only the middle part that changed, for instance, "Here lies Kate Kate. Should have minded her own business. Beloved daughter." Or perhaps, "Here lies Kate Kane. She made a difference to dozens. Beloved daughter."
This continued NINE TIMES. It is not cute, funny, or clever after about the second time, definitely after the third. BUT NINE TIMES?! Come on!
And finally, my last complaint.
6. Several of the items, scenes, quotes, etc. in this book seemed waaaaaaaaaay too close to things from other books for my taste. Perhaps it is simply a coincidence and the author did not intentionally siphon plot points and details from other authors -- except, of course, when he obviously did in his quotations, such as his use of "Not all those who wander are lost" and "As old as my tongue, a little bit older than my teeth" which are DIRECTLY taken from other books, but I'm hoping those were intentional and not attempted-to-get-away-with-it plagiarism.
But there are several things in this novel that could have been taken from Jim Butcher's "Dresden Files", Lewis' "Narnia" chronicles, and Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" series. I'm hoping, however, that they weren't, but they were very, very similar.
All in all, I'm disappointed to say that I was not a fan of this book at all, and I will most likely not be reading anymore Kate Kane books.
To be honest, I was very disappointed in this book. It had a great premise, which meant it had the potential to be a really good story, but the writing style of the author just completely ruined this book for me.
The basic idea behind the story is that Kate Kane, a paranormal PI, sets off on a case to find the brother of a woman she slept with once, and during this investigation, she runs into ALL MANNER OF TROUBLE. There are vampires and werewolves and ex-girlfriends around every corner, just lurking and waiting to pounce on Miss Kane. It's a very busy and involved story, and if it had been better written, I would have easily given it four stars at least, but there was just TOO much about this book -- style-wise -- that drove me insane.
For instance:
1. The plot, itself, is actually fairly well thought out and developed and is nowhere NEAR as cheesy as it sounds when you hear, "Vampires fighting werewolves," -- which, let's be honest, these days is so trite and overdone that it is scoffed at on a regular basis. However, there IS a good story in this novel. But the way Hall writes the not-cheesy story is so cheesy that it makes you THINK the story is cheesy. A lot of cheese, huh? A little confusing? Well then, let me give you an example.
Page 7-8: "Truth be told it was a little bit awkward, but my social weirdness threshold has gone way up since my girlfriend tried to murder my ex-girlfriend because her ex-girlfriend tried to murder her."
Okay... a bit ridiculous, especially seven/eight pages in, but I can roll with it. However, at the bottom of page eight:
Kane asks, "Who saw him last?"
Her assistant -- who is actually a statue brought to life and gifted to Kate by a group of rats who are apparently all seeing and all knowing God-types -- says, "I don't know. [...] Probably somebody at the hospital."
Kane asks, "Which one?"
And the assistant replies with this fantastic line: "The Whittington. He broke his leg changing a light bulb. Because he was standing on a swivel chair because he's an idiot."
Okay, I concede that maybe this line is supposed to sound ridiculous and funny, so I can even let that one slide. But then, three pages later, Hall completely turns me off to the book with this:
"Well, fuck. I was about to be hired by a woman I'd very nearly slept with to find her missing brother who was working for the woman who'd left me for a tech startup at the tech startup she left me for."
Wh-wh-what?! Are you kidding me? Could that sentence BE anymore convoluted or that plot-point any more ridiculously stereotypical?
And what is truly awful is that the story itself REALLY WASN'T THAT BAD. I mean, the writing was awful, which, overall, meant that the novel was -- in my opinion, of course -- bad, but the way the story progressed WAS interesting. It was nowhere near as bad as these 'recaps' by the main character make it sound, but the problem is that Hall throws in these inner-monologues for Kane ALL throughout the book, and they are terrible! Which, in turn, decreases the value of the entire story.
Another example falls right on the heels of the page 11 jewel.
Page 14: "I really really hoped this wasn't going to be another zombie plague. There'd been an outbreak when I'd taken Eve up to Lake Windermere for our third anniversary, and we'd spent the whole weekend under siege in the hotel, making molotovs from the minibar and clubbing re-animated tourists to death with souvenir walking sticks."
Really? Zombies now? On top of the vampires, witches, and werewolves? Can we POSSIBLY fit anymore para into this normal?
Enough with that.
Now on to point number 2. The girl on girl sex scenes in this book between sexy, snarky PI and her vampire girlfriend, the Prince (yes, Prince) of Cups, should be hot, right? No. They are forced, fake, and ridiculous. Halfway through the first one, I thought, "Jesus. This isn't lesbian sex. This is lesbian sex if it was written by a man who WISHES he could see some lesbian sex." That was the point at which I decided to look up more info on Alexis Hall, and I found out that he is, in fact, a man, which at least explains the sex scenes.
#3. Speaking of sex scenes, Hall also has this really irritating -- and distracting -- habit of throwing in random, explicitly sexual thoughts at TOTALLY inappropriate times. Right in the middle of the most stressful situations -- being locked up, about to be killed, thrown in prison/on trial -- Kate Kane begins inner-monologuing with herself about how much she'd like to fuck whatever female happens to be standing in front of her. RIDICULOUS! And annoying. Hated it.
4. One of the MOST annoying things about this book, however, was that it was in DESPERATE need of a SERIOUS case of editing. All throughout the book there were glaring errors that any first year college student should have caught while reading. I'm willing to discount SOME of these "errors" as simply being lost in translation, as the book is written with a British tone, and I am very much American. However, SOME of these errors simply CANNOT be due to anything other than careless editing.
For instance, page 113: "It's main distinguishing feature, right, was that was it was blue."
WAS that WAS it WAS blue? What does that even mean? Oh, yes, it means that no one bothered editing this beast before printing.
Page 141: "Piercing the heart will paralyse, but it won't kill, and anything will do, it doesn't have to wood."
Okay, so maybe the "paralyse" is simply British, but surely the "doesn't have to wood" bit needs a "be" in there somewhere, right?
Page 157: "Have we have achieved case closed, Miss Kane?"
Yes, yes have we have.
There are several -- SEVERAL -- more examples of these type errors, but I'm not about to point them all out. If you read the book, I'm sure you'll easily catch them on your own.
5. Another thing that drove me NUTS was the repetition. The awful thing is I'm fairly certain that Hall used these repetitious lines PURPOSELY to create some kind of effect -- humor, maybe? Whatever the desired result, it failed to do anything other than annoy me.
For instance, page 163: "'Hi. So. Look.' I tried to find a way to express the fact I had some good news and some bad news that wasn't I've got some good news and some bad news. 'I've got some good news and some bad news.'"
...blink... ...falls over...
Page 177: "All the more reason to tell them. [...] If they know that we know that she has returned, then they will not be tempted to conspire against us out of the false belief that we do not know. Of course, they may already know, but at present, we have no way to know what they know. If we tell them, we will know what they know, and all we will not know is how long they have known it."
Oh. Jumping. Jesus. On. A. Pogo. Stick. Please tell me you aren't serious.
And there was this one thing that repeated over and over again throughout the book. The first time, it was actually pretty clever. The second time, even, was okay. But by the time I'd read it nine times -- yes, NINE TIMES, no exaggeration whatsoever -- I was ready to never EVER read anything like it ever again.
This particular phrase was something Kate Kane internalized or muttered aloud to herself each time she decided to do something stupid OR she felt her life was in danger. The basic format went something like this:
"Here lies Kate Kane, died peacefully in her sleep aged 94. Beloved daughter."
The "Here lies Kate Kane" part remained constant, as did the "Beloved daughter." It was only the middle part that changed, for instance, "Here lies Kate Kate. Should have minded her own business. Beloved daughter." Or perhaps, "Here lies Kate Kane. She made a difference to dozens. Beloved daughter."
This continued NINE TIMES. It is not cute, funny, or clever after about the second time, definitely after the third. BUT NINE TIMES?! Come on!
And finally, my last complaint.
6. Several of the items, scenes, quotes, etc. in this book seemed waaaaaaaaaay too close to things from other books for my taste. Perhaps it is simply a coincidence and the author did not intentionally siphon plot points and details from other authors -- except, of course, when he obviously did in his quotations, such as his use of "Not all those who wander are lost" and "As old as my tongue, a little bit older than my teeth" which are DIRECTLY taken from other books, but I'm hoping those were intentional and not attempted-to-get-away-with-it plagiarism.
But there are several things in this novel that could have been taken from Jim Butcher's "Dresden Files", Lewis' "Narnia" chronicles, and Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" series. I'm hoping, however, that they weren't, but they were very, very similar.
All in all, I'm disappointed to say that I was not a fan of this book at all, and I will most likely not be reading anymore Kate Kane books.
Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated Carrie in Books
Nov 14, 2018
Full review can be found on my blog - www.diaryofdifference.com
I am probably one of the last people on Earth that hasnât read a Stephen King book. Carrie is the first book I decided to read. People have been suggesting it to me for a while, and it seemed like a nice short bit of introduction to Stephenâs horror world.
Also, a special thank you to my friend Dave, for constantly recommending Stephen King books to me, until I finally decided to listen to him. He seemed to be right!
Now - Carrie.
A book about a girl that lives with her crazy religious mother in a creepy house. A girl who is being bullied at school all the time. A story about a girl that has the ability to move objects as she wishes. And a prom night, where everything escalates.
Carrie is a sixteen year old girl. And she has been raised by her mother, who is a religious person in a - not healthy way. When Carrie misbehaves, she is sent to a closet to pray for the whole day. Even though Carrie doesnât share her motherâs beliefs, she canât really stand up and fight for herself.
The plot gets a grip when Carrie has her first period at the age of sixteen. She thinks she will bleed to death. And all her classmates are laughing at her, because she is stupid. And throw tampons her way. And as I am reading this, I keep thinking - what kind of mother wonât tell her child about menstruation, and puberty, and all the normal teenage phases a kid has to go through while growing up?
This moment, in the school bathroom, is the moment Carrie finds out about her powers.
And a few weeks later, a terrible thing happens.
This is a horror story, but the horror doesnât lie in what Carrie did, but what led her to do that. Who it is to blame, and why things escalated the way they did.
Stephen King described bullying in its most painful and real way, and the consequences it can lead to. And it does happen, in every school, to a lot of children all over the world each day. A sometimes, most of the times, they are bullied only because they are different, not because they are bad.
This is a story that silently stands up to bullying, and by doing that raises such a strong voice in every corner of the world.
And remember - if you are the bully - think twice before you say things. Words can hurt, and they can result in bad things happening. Think twice about why you say what you say. The classmate of yours might have a talent you donât know of.
And if you are the bullied child - also remember - you are kind and beautiful, no matter what everyone says. You shouldnât let people bring you down. And we have all been bullied while growing up. Once you reach a certain age, people stop caring, and you stop caring what people think, and then, finally, you can be comfortable and happy with who you are!
I am probably one of the last people on Earth that hasnât read a Stephen King book. Carrie is the first book I decided to read. People have been suggesting it to me for a while, and it seemed like a nice short bit of introduction to Stephenâs horror world.
Also, a special thank you to my friend Dave, for constantly recommending Stephen King books to me, until I finally decided to listen to him. He seemed to be right!
Now - Carrie.
A book about a girl that lives with her crazy religious mother in a creepy house. A girl who is being bullied at school all the time. A story about a girl that has the ability to move objects as she wishes. And a prom night, where everything escalates.
Carrie is a sixteen year old girl. And she has been raised by her mother, who is a religious person in a - not healthy way. When Carrie misbehaves, she is sent to a closet to pray for the whole day. Even though Carrie doesnât share her motherâs beliefs, she canât really stand up and fight for herself.
The plot gets a grip when Carrie has her first period at the age of sixteen. She thinks she will bleed to death. And all her classmates are laughing at her, because she is stupid. And throw tampons her way. And as I am reading this, I keep thinking - what kind of mother wonât tell her child about menstruation, and puberty, and all the normal teenage phases a kid has to go through while growing up?
This moment, in the school bathroom, is the moment Carrie finds out about her powers.
And a few weeks later, a terrible thing happens.
This is a horror story, but the horror doesnât lie in what Carrie did, but what led her to do that. Who it is to blame, and why things escalated the way they did.
Stephen King described bullying in its most painful and real way, and the consequences it can lead to. And it does happen, in every school, to a lot of children all over the world each day. A sometimes, most of the times, they are bullied only because they are different, not because they are bad.
This is a story that silently stands up to bullying, and by doing that raises such a strong voice in every corner of the world.
And remember - if you are the bully - think twice before you say things. Words can hurt, and they can result in bad things happening. Think twice about why you say what you say. The classmate of yours might have a talent you donât know of.
And if you are the bullied child - also remember - you are kind and beautiful, no matter what everyone says. You shouldnât let people bring you down. And we have all been bullied while growing up. Once you reach a certain age, people stop caring, and you stop caring what people think, and then, finally, you can be comfortable and happy with who you are!