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(As featured on my blog <a href="http://themisadventuresofatwentysomething.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/review-of-revenge-of-praying-mantis.html">The (Mis)Adventures of a Twenty-Something Year Old Girl</a> )


I've never read a book about ninjas or anything ninja related before. It never really interested me. However, I am glad I came across Revenge of Praying Mantis by Jane Prowse. I found it to be extremely interesting, and not once did my attention waver!

Revenge of the Praying Mantis is the first book in the series of Hattori Hachi, a fifteen year old girl whose mother goes missing under suspicious circumstances. Hattie must learn ninjutsu if she wishes to find out what happened to her mother. She also must learn who to trust.

I loved loved loved the characters in Revenge. I felt they were all very well developed especially those of Hattie, Mad Dog, and Yazuki. I loved the fact that finally a mixed race person was the main character of a book as you don't often see that. I also loved the fact that Hattie could hold her own. She didn't act like a damsel in distress either. She was a kick butt girl!! I found Mad Dog to be a perfect gentlemen. He didn't try to overshadow Hattie at all, and he was always willing to do his own thing. I also loved the fact that he was always willing to risk his life for Hattie. Yazuki was definitely my favourite character. I found her to be a very strong character throughout the book. She says and does some very funny things, but she is very wise. Yazuki becomes Hattie's mentor and friend. I'm really hoping Yazuki will be featured in all of the books because she feels like part of my family for some reason.

Throughout the book, I felt like I was being taught ninjutsu as well. It is very obvious throughout the book that Ms Prowse has definitely done her research in ninjutsu. I loved how each chapter started out with a saying about ninjutsu.

I found the pacing to be absolutely perfect. It wasn't too fast that I didn't understand what was going on, nor was it too slow where I got bored. Every chapter held my interest, and I was desperate to know what would happen in the next chapter.

The dialogue is very easy to understand especially as this is a YA book. It's not condescending either. I felt it used the right dialogue that would appeal to pre-teens, teens and adults alike.

Okay, I have to mention the cover now. I love it, and I find it very appealing! The cover definitely matches the story of the book especially with the shadow on the front. I like the fact that the cover is very simple yet beautiful. It's not cluttered like a lot of covers sometimes are.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I believe it appeals to both boys and girls, young and old. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone and everyone even if martial arts aren't your thing as there's so much more going on in this book!!

The Revenge of Praying Mantis (Hattori Hachi #1) by Jane Prowse gets a 5 out of 5 from me.
  
Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
1970 | Horror
7
7.3 (4 Ratings)
Movie Rating
The Vampire's Blood
Taste The Blood of Dracula- is the fifth Dracula movie made by Hammer. The Fourth with Christopher Lee.

The plot: Three elderly and distinguished gentlemen, searching for some excitement in their boring lives, get in contact with one of Count Dracula's servants.

Taste the Blood of Dracula was originally written without Dracula appearing at all. With Christopher Lee's increasing reluctance to reprise the role, Hammer intended to replace Lee and Dracula in the franchise with the Lord Courtley character played by Ralph Bates, who would rise as a vampire after his death and seek revenge on Hargood, Paxton, and Secker.

Hammer intended to replace Lee and Dracula in the franchise with the Lord Courtley character played by Ralph Bates, who would rise as a vampire after his death and seek revenge on Hargood, Paxton, and Secker. Hammer's American distributor refused to release the film if it lacked an appearance by Dracula; this prompted Hammer to convince Lee to return, with Dracula replacing the resurrected Courtley.

In its original United States release, it was rated GP (General audience, Parental guidance suggested—the forerunner to today's PG), but when it was re-released to DVD it was rated R for sexual content/nudity and brief violence.

Its a hammer film, what else do you expect.
  
40x40

Hazel (2934 KP) rated The Collective in Books

Jul 31, 2022  
The Collective
The Collective
Alison Gaylin | 2021 | Fiction & Poetry
7
7.5 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
A very satisfying tale of revenge that I raced through in quick time.

Unfortunately, we have all heard of cases where a child is abused or found dead, murdered or killed by someone else and the person thought to have committed that atrocity walks free. We all feel for the parents but what would you do if that parent was you? Would you want revenge and how far would you go?

Camille is that parent; her only child is gone and her marriage has ended.

Grief has no time scale and after five years, the pain is still as raw, if not more so as the person she believed murdered her beautiful daughter is walking free and getting on with their lives. She has to do something but what?

Enter the collective ... a secret online group of mainly mothers who will help you get the justice you feel you deserve by working together.

Camille now has purpose but how far will she go?

With a great plot and interesting characters written at a pace that was quite slow at first but increased as the story developed, this book is a great thriller and certainly had me gripped from the start waiting to see how it all turned out.

Thank you must go to The Orion Publishing Group and NetGalley for enabling me to read The Collective and share my views.
  
The Northman (2022)
The Northman (2022)
2022 | History, Thriller
5
7.9 (11 Ratings)
Movie Rating
M'eh.
So, The Northman.

Been quite a bit of hype for it over here in Northern Ireland (perhaps because some of it was filmed here), which might explain why the showing I went to was absolutely jam packed - the most people I've seen in a screen since even before Covid times.

Unfortunately, and for me, the film also fell rather 'flat': I actually spent more time scanning the background to see if I could spot any familiar faces (and locations) than concentrating on the (slow, plodding) action unfolding in the foreground.

It's no secret that the plot owes much to the Icelandic sagas that inspired 'Hamlet' (or, in more modern terms, 'The Lion King'), with Alexander Skarsgard Viking protagonist on a mission of revenge against his uncle, who killed his father and stole his mother.

Perhaps that is why I (and most of those I saw this with) weren't all that impressed: basically, we've all seen it before! Well, that, and the fact the the finale felt like something out of 'Revenge of the Sith' ...

(We were also all in agreement that it would have been better if the more supernatural elements of the story had been toned down).

All this is not to say that it's a bad film, per se: just not at all what we were expecting or had been sold on by the trailers.
  
Cold Pursuit (2019)
Cold Pursuit (2019)
2019 | Action, Drama, Thriller
The Dark Humour The Winter Scenery (0 more)
Fargo for the 21st Century
Was expecting this to be the usual type of revenge thriller that neeson seems to do on a regular basis nowadays but this particular movie came with some very dark comedy moments that made it sort of feel like a fargo for the 21st century.

An ok film mostly but the story itself does tend to drift away from it's original opening event midway through the film and it seems the local cops are always 2 steps behind the villains.

The way the film let's the viewer know who was just killed off was pretty inventive i thought.