Sarah (126 KP) rated Safe - Season 1 in TV
Jul 30, 2018
I had reservations about an American being cast in the lead role of an English drama, as I often find that the accents can be quite jarring, however, for the most part it was actually very convincing. I was worried, in the first episode, that it was going to be full of misplaced Americanisms when the middle class English doctor proclaimed "My bad", but again, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this wasn't the case.
The story was definitely compelling and well-acted, but I did find that there were a few too many close-ups of people being moody for no particular reason, apparently in order to 'set the scene'.
Sadly, the characters are rather cliched, and there are too many sub-plots/side stories which are not really necessary to the plot and which detract from the overall story, in my opinion.
In short, I would say it's worth a watch and is certainly not bad, but is let down by maybe trying too hard.
David McK (3364 KP) rated Ender's Game in Books
Jan 28, 2019
When I started seeing the trailers for the movie adaptation to be released this week (on 25/10/13), I decided I actually would read it before going to see the movie (which is sometimes a good idea, other times not).
Having done so, it's interesting to see how Card predicted many of today's technology (remember, this was written mid-80s), in particular the kids portable tables (today's tablet computers), and the proliferation of blogging (although it was never actually called such) on the internet (again, never called such).
The plot? Very briefly (and roughly): Earth is at war with an alien insectoid race, so the best and brightest kids are taken to a 'battle school' in space at a young age in order to be trained in how to become leaders. Andrew 'Ender' (so called because he is the youngest child of 3) Wiggins is one such kid, who proves to be the brightest and best of the bunch ...
How will the movie compare? I'll just have to wait and see!
Acanthea Grimscythe (300 KP) rated The Moor in Books
Jan 31, 2019
The ghost story side of this book is fantastic. It’s written in a way that captures the reader’s imagination and honestly, I could picture the details quite well. What I didn’t like was the creature feature side of the book. The monster that makes up this horror tale should be terrifying, but instead I found it to be one dimensional–in fact, every single time the creature shows up, it’s described the same way which really put me off.
I felt no emotions or connections to the boys in the book, and this greatly diminished the emotional/fright factor of the novel for me. I really wanted to taste the fear that these teenaged boys were going through.
I’d like to thank NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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