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All the fiends of hell
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
27 of 220
Book
all the fiends of hell
By Adam L.G. Nevill
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

The red night of bells heralds global catastrophe. Annihilation on a biblical scale.

Seeing the morning is no blessing. The handful of scattered survivors are confronted by blood-red skies and an infestation of predatory horrors that never originated on earth. An occupying force intent on erasing the remnants of animal life from the planet.

Across the deserted landscapes of England, bereft of infrastructure and society, the overlooked can either hide or try to outrun the infernal hunting terrors. Until a rumour emerges claiming that the sea may offer an escape.

Ordinary, unexceptional, directionless Karl, is one of the few who made it through the first night. In the company of two orphans, he flees south. But only into horrifying revelations and greater peril, where a transformed world and expanding race of ravening creatures await. Driven to the end of the country and himself, he must overcome alien and human malevolence and act in ways that were unthinkable mere days before.

I did not put this down! Another brilliant novel from the mind of Adam Nevill. I was on edge the whole time completely invested in the story and the characters. This brought about one of those situations I think we have all thought about and how we would survive. Your heart is fully pumping constantly at the thought of these creatures. Absolutely brilliant!!! I’ll certainly be concerned next time I see the sky red!
  
The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid
Hans Christian Andersen | 2018 | Children
5
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Full review can also be found on my blog: www.diaryofdifference.com

I grew up with Disney movies, and my favourite one was the one with the mermaid that has long red hair, and I loved her love story, and also enjoyed watching the rest of the movie series that followed years later.

And while loving Ariel for so long, I have never actually read the original story. So a few weeks ago, I decided to cherish it properly, as a true childhood love deserves to be cherished.

And I was left with my jaw dropped and my mouth open, unable to sleep. I can’t say this book crushed my childhood love, but it definitely shook me quite hard.

If you are expecting to read about the little mermaid, and her adventures in the water, and how she would give anything to see how people live on Earth, and fall in love with a prince – you will get all that. In fact – the book description is far better compared to the movie. Incomparable, actually. The book glows with bright colourful descriptions of the world under the sea, and it is so vividly enchantingly explained.

But if you are expecting to read about the adorable love story of Ariel and the prince, and their happily ever after – that is not happening. Because things go wrong. Horribly wrong. With a crushing, terrible end, that will torture you in your dreams.

It wasn’t my intention to make this review so dark. The story is still wonderful, and full of life. However, there is no happy ending, and that, for me, was crucial to not enjoy it.

And I am not usually upset with unhappy endings. It happens so often. But this one was so brutal and cruel, that it felt so disturbing. Maybe, because it is my favorite childhood movie. Maybe, because I knew this to be a happy story. Maybe, because I didn’t expect this at all.

Hans Christian Andersen is an amazing writer. I have read many of his stories, and enjoyed them greatly. I honestly don’t know what was going on in his life when he was writing this, but wow. Just wow.
  
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Ross (3284 KP) Nov 16, 2018 (Updated Nov 16, 2018)

I was in Copenhagen recently, and saw her statue (meh), but also took the kids round the Hans Christian Andersen museum, with little dioramas of some of his most famous stories. They were all so dark! I was expecting fairy tales, but they were just all quite harrowing. I am tempted to read them, or see if someone has made horror adaptations of some of them as a writer could really go to town on them in the modern age.

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Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) Nov 16, 2018

The interesting thing is, he is know for his "dark fairy tales", but a lot of his early works have happy endings that he then crossed over and wrote dark endings. I wonder what happened...

TC
The Captain's Daughter
10
8.7 (3 Ratings)
Book Rating
I grew up with a deep (DEEP) appreciation for theatre. I have been in several productions personally. And musicals are my lifeblood (my hubby and I are going to see Phantom of the Opera in a couple weeks). So you can imagine my surprise when I discovered that not only is this book set in one of the most fascinating time periods, (Queen Victoria was pretty amazing! Check out the new Masterpiece Series from BBC
"Victoria" Yes, I know they over dramatized some aspects in this...But it is still AMAZING...and Jenna Coleman...'nough said.) but that we also get an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the life of the theatre in 1873. An era where an occupation on the stage was heavily frowned upon. Not to mention that the operettas written by Gilbert & Sullivan are the productions we find in The Captain's Daughter. I had the opportunity to see Pirates of Penzance, oh my lands! I adore it! By the way, for all my love of the theatre, I had NO idea why it is called "the lime light". If you don't know either, you can find out more on Wikipedia.

Falsely accused, Rosalyn finds herself in London. Without a penny to her name she makes her way to the very theatre that Nate is working at(you will understand the significance of this when you read the book). Both Nate and Rosalyn must make peace with the past in order to move on. As Nate tries to earn forgiveness for his mistakes, he learns that forgiveness can not be earned. Our Heavenly Father gives it freely. All we have to do is ask.

Swept into the sea of romance, song, lights, costumes, and scandal...I found myself dancing through the pages (or at least swaying) as the anticipation builds for the ending that I was HOPING would play out a certain way. Forgiveness, true love, and living the life that God has called you to live are the main themes that struck my heart.

I received a complimentary copy of The Captain's Daughter from Bethany House Publishers through the Litfuse Tour. I was not required to write a positive review. All opinions expressed are mine alone.
  
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Ali A (82 KP) rated The Meadows in Books

Sep 11, 2023  
The Meadows
The Meadows
Stephanie Oakes | 2023 | Dystopia, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult (YA)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Trigger Warnings: conversion therapy, homophobia

Every youth hopes to get a letter to attend one of the places where only the best and brightest go to be even better and brighter: the Estuary, the Glades, the Meadows…

When Eleanor is accepted to go to the Meadows, it means her escape from the Cove and a hard life by the sea. But, though the Meadows is filled with beautiful and wonderful things, it hoards dark secrets: its purpose is to reform its students from their attractions, to show them that the way of life is only possible through their way. Maybe Eleanor starts to believe, but then she meets Rose, and everything changes.

A year after leaving the Meadows, Eleanor and her friends are on the outside, living back in society - but not everything is as they hoped. Eleanor is an adjudicator, someone who makes sure former students haven’t strayed from the lives they were trained to live. But the past isn’t letting go of Eleanor and as secrets unravel, Eleanor must fight against everything she has been taught to be, especially if she can find the girl that she lost.

I originally was interested in this title when I saw it on BookishFirst because it was being marketed as “a queer, YA Handmaid's Tale meets Never Let Me Go” and I was all about that. I also love a good dystopian novel so this was really right up my alley.

That being said, I absolutely loved and devoured this novel over the course of the weekend when I didn’t have the interruption of work. The world building is intriguing and the “perfect” society is everything but (aren’t they all). The characters were also complex and engrossing - even the ones I wasn’t the biggest fans of, I still wanted them to succeed.

I absolutely recommend this book to those not only those who love dystopian novels, but those who want a page turning science fiction with queer characters.

*Thank you Dial Books and BookishFirst for an ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
  
The Red Sea Diving Resort (2019)
The Red Sea Diving Resort (2019)
2019 | Drama, History, Thriller
Story: The Red Sea Diving Resort starts as Ari (Evans) an American Ari (Evans) working for the Israel Mossad agents rescues refugees from Ethiopia with his latest mission seeing Kabede (Williams) rescued. Ari does become grounded, but isn’t willing to let more innocent people murder, he comes up with an idea that could see thousands rescued.

Ari puts together a team including Rachel Reiter (Bennett), Jake (Huisman), Max (Hassell) and Sammy (Nivola) with the plan to lease a hotel known as the Red Sea Diving Resort to use it to get refugees out of Africa back to Israel. This is one of the riskiest rescue attempts tried and one that will bring history to life.

Thoughts on The Red Sea Diving Resort

Characters – Ari Levinson is leading an Israeli group of agent, who are trying to rescue Ethiopian refugees by taking them through Sudan, giving them their only hope to make it out alive. He is willing to risk everything to make it happen by taking a mission which will risk their own lives to lead them out to see, remaining calm through the operations which will see them become targets of the local generals. Rachel is one of the team, just by being a woman she is risking even more than the rest, though her language skills are key to the whole operation. Kabede Bimro is the connection with Ari that leads the refugees to him, he becomes one of the most wanted men because of his actions, but will risk everything for his own family. Ethan Levin is the one that tries to control Ari on his mission, he doesn’t agree with most of what he does, knowing if he was to get caught it could create an international incident.

Performances – Chris Evans takes his first major role since leaving the role as Captain America, he does show he can handle the serious side of acting even though his character does feel like branch of what Captain America stood for. Haley Bennett is strong throughout, in a world that her character shouldn’t feel safe in. Ben Kingsley does what you would expect in his authority role, while Michael Kenneth Williams is the most interesting character though we could have spent more time with his character.

Story – The story here follows an Israeli agent that risked everything to try and rescue as many Ethiopian refugees as he could using a Sudanese hotel as a cover to hide them and move them through to safety despite heavy pressure from the military forces in the country. This is another incredible story of how somebody and their team would do the right thing for the human race that would be left facing a future which would see them killed or forced into slavery if they couldn’t get free. It should be seen to highlight the continuing problems in the world along with the incredible work that was done. We are kept waiting to see how many will get rescued and how they will overcome the obstacles placed in their way, though it would be fair it wouldn’t be a story if they had failed.

History – This is a moment in history which showed a country reaching out to help in secret when another country would rather butcher their own people.

Settings – The film creates the realistic settings that only make this feel like we are part of the era it is set in, we see how much was being risked in what could be considered a calm location of a hotel.


Scene of the Movie – Runway.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The fact that his behaviour actually still happens in the world.

Final Thoughts – This is a highlight on just what was risked to save thousands of stranded refugees, it has top class acting and shows that we can achieve great things if we worked together.

Overall: Brilliant look at bravery.