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Ross (3284 KP) rated The Fires of Vengeance in Books

Jan 12, 2021

The Fires of Vengeance

Evan Winter | 2020 | Science Fiction/Fantasy

7.5

(2 Ratings)

Book Rating

Superb follow-up African fantasy

The follow-up to Rage of Dragons follows Tau and his sword-brothers as they seek to take back control of their country after its civil uprising and invasion by the less civilised former inhabitants of Xidda.
I had my misgivings about reading this second book as I had some issues with "Rage ...", finding the first two thirds really quite a slog. My love of the final third, where all the action was, really made my mind up. I am so glad I decided to read this book as it is truly superb. It has been a long time since a book kept me up reading at night, normally my eyes go quite quickly. Not so here, I was reading for over an hour at times.
The book is a nonstop thrill, every page either filled with action, strategy or concise dialogue that moves the plot along. There is simply no filler material at all.
I received a free copy in advance from the publishers and netgally in exchange for an honest review

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Awix (3310 KP) rated Ad Astra (2019) in Movies

Sep 20, 2019

Ad Astra (2019)

2019 | Adventure, Drama, Mystery

6.8

(38 Ratings)

Movie Rating Watch

Portentous sci-fi film takes some of the less interesting bits from Interstellar, welds them on to the basic idea of Gravity, and adds Brad Pitt and a couple of killer baboons in the hope that no-one will notice (this strategy seems to be somewhat successful). Cosmic rays from Neptune are threatening civilisation as we know it, and so Pitt is rocketed off to the Moon and then Mars in order to try and make contact with his long-lost father, who is in the frame for masterminding this. (This honestly is the plot.)

Visually stunning to look at, and I suppose the central metaphor of the film is well-executed (Pitt's journey into outer space reflects the way he is addressing some of his own internal psychological issues), but it is just a tiny bit dull - they keep having to insert arbitrary moon buggy chases and killer baboons just to pep the movie up a bit. The future world envisioned by the film is neither particularly original nor terribly convincing. Pitt's performance is better than the movie deserves.