Ross (3284 KP) rated Death March (Euphoria Online Book 1) in Books
Nov 19, 2018
While the term "LitRPG" isn't necessarily something that would attract me (I've read and mostly enjoyed Ready Player One but the idea of people escaping the real world to enter an online one doesn't seem to justify a whole sub-genre to my mind).
The book sees Chris struggling to make ends meet teaching disinterested kids while he fights his brother's death sentence. A former compulsive gamer, given the chance to enter the world of Euphoria, normally too expensive for him to consider, he throws himself into the game with gusto. By playing on the hardest level (Death March), he is risking his own life as he cannot re-spawn in the game and death will mean actual death for him. The prize on offer for this risk, if he can survive 6 months game-time (the equivalent of a weekend in the real world), is a cash sum plus the chance to request anything at all of the AI running the government - including a pardon for his brother.
Chris finds himself in a ruined medieval setting in the game, struggling to earn points to level up and make his character stronger. This levelling up and earning/spending XP is a main part of the book. While not a RPG fan myself, I loved this aspect as it meant he learned new skills and abilities throughout the book with good reason (so no sudden new strengths here!) and he had to choose what kind of character he wanted to become.
The action sequences are sublimely written and narrated and the whole book is so immersive. Sadly, it is also really short so was over in no time, but with 2 more books already available I will get cracking on those.
Heartily recommend to anyone who is a fan of fantasy, gaming/RPG or anyone looking for some real escapism.
Erika (17788 KP) rated Cruella (2021) in Movies
Jun 1, 2021 (Updated Jun 1, 2021)
At an overly-long, bloated run time of 2 hours and 12 minutes, we get the entire life story of Cruella, prior to 101 Dalmatians, whose real name is Estella. Of course, it starts with the stereotypical birth scene, continuing through childhood to adulthood. She becomes orphaned, and meets her two future henchmen, played by Paul Walter Hauser and Joel Fry. They were pretty bumbling, and I found myself both amused and annoyed by them.
Estella dreams of a career in fashion, and by a series of events, ends up at the fashion house of the Baroness. There’s a connection from the Baroness to the events that caused Estella to be orphaned, and when that connection is made by Estella, she goes full on Cruella. I think Disney was attempting to show that Estella/Cruella has some sort of hereditary personality disorder, and I don’t know how I felt about that being used as a plot device. Cruella’s vendetta and revenge are sort of fun to watch, but there’s just too much. Every time you thought the movie was ending, something else happened.
Emma Stone does make Cruella interesting, which is a positive. Emma Thompson as the Baroness was so over the top, but at least Thompson seemed to enjoy playing someone that deranged.
For me, the only positives of this film were the costumes and music. The 60s/70s soundtrack was sick (in a good way), and the fashion was over the top and outrageous. The run time was so long, and Disney should have just slapped it on Disney+, for free, as a miniseries. The movie was not worth the price of a ticket, and definitely not worth that crazy premium pricing on VOD. If you’re interested, wait a couple of months and watch it for free when it joins the Disney+ library.
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Merissa (12066 KP) rated Everywhere to Hide in Books
Oct 16, 2020
This was an intricate story with lots of jargon about cryptocurrency which, to be honest, I tended to skim over as I don't have degrees in economics and/or finance so it made my eyes glaze over. The mystery side of it I completely enjoyed. It was fascinating to see how her face blindness affected her life and the way she had to make adjustments to compensate for that.
Leo was an absolute star and I loved him. The scene-setting was wonderful and clear, giving great descriptions of where she was and how she felt. As for the whodunnit part - well, let's just say it didn't come as a surprise because my spidey-senses were tingling. More than that, I won't say so you'll just have to read it yourself.
A great mystery that I have no hesitation in recommending.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
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