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Rumpelstiltskin (Timeless Fairytales 4)
K.M. Shea | 2024
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
70 of 220
Kindle
Rumpelstiltskin ( Timeless Fairytales 4)
By K.M. Shea
⭐️⭐️⭐️

Things look grim for Gemma, a seamstress, when she is ordered under the threat of death by the insane King Torgen to spin straw into gold. Unwilling to forfeit her life, Gemma tries to escape her royal prison, earning her the respect of the mysterious mage, Stil. Stil offers to complete the impossible task... for a price.

Greedy and unsatisfied, King Torgen demands more and more straw to be spun into gold, and decrees that he will "reward" Gemma by marrying her. With death or marriage to a crazed king clouding her future, Stil offers Gemma a bargain that seems too good to be true.

Will Gemma's trust in Stil be her downfall, or will he defy the entire country to save her?

This was a really lovely retelling of Rumplestiltskin. It’s not a story I’ve really read much of which is why I really enjoy this series and KM Sheas work she tends to go a little puts the box. It’s a quick fun read especially if you like a retelling!
  
TS
The Salt Grows Heavy
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
94 of 220
Book
The Salt Grows Heavy
By Cassandra Khaw
⭐️⭐️⭐️

After the murder of her husband and the fall of his empire, a mermaid and her plague doctor companion escape into the wilderness. Deep in the woods, they stumble across a village where children hunt each other for sport, sacrificing one of their own at the behest of three surgeons they call "the saints." These saints play god with their magic, harvesting the best bits of the children for themselves and piecing the sacrifices back together again.

To save the children from their fates, the plague doctor must confront their past, and the mermaid must embrace the darkest parts of her true nature.

This was certainly not the story I’m used to reading when it comes to mermaids. This was fully of gore and dark meanings. Some parts are hard to read and not for the context but it’s like a full dictionary has been thrown in and it really put me off. Overall it’s a deeply dark fairytale of mermaids and death. For a small book it packs a punch in places.
  
Iceman (2014)
Iceman (2014)
2014 |
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Story: Iceman starts when Ho Ying (Yen) gets awoken from a frozen sleep of 400-years in the modern time, he must look to adapt fast to a world different from his own. Ying isn’t the only one to make it to the modern time, his brothers Sao (Wang) and Niehu (Yu) arrive as they look to hunt him down after all these years after he is meant to of betrayed his emperor.

Ying must use the people willing to help him in May (Huang) to locate the Golden Wheel of Time, to prove that he is innocent to stop his brother’s from hunting him down.

 

Thoughts on Iceman

 

Characters – Ying was once one of the emperor’s most trusted imperial guards, he is betrayed and framed for treason before getting frozen in time. He gets defrosted in the modern time, where he must go in search for the Golden Wheel of Time to prove his true innocence and protect the world from his own brothers. Sao and San Ko are the two brothers that have also, they are causing more havoc in their hunt for Ying which has drawn more police presence. May is the young lady that takes Ying in, teaches him about the modern day unaware of the true danger that could come their direction. Cheung is running a military chase for Ying, he has learnt the power of the Golden Wheel of Time and believes that he can use it for his own good.

Performances – Donnie Yen is the main attraction to this film, we know he can handle the action which is does with ease, it is when it needs to work on the comedy side of things when his performance goes downhill. Baoqiang Wang and Kang Yu are both entertaining enough in their roles, while Simon Yam brings much needed seriousness to the film. Shengyi Huang is the strongest part of the comedy in the film.

Story – The story follows three brothers and former imperial guards in ancient China, find themselves waking up in the modern time, still at battle for the action that happened in the ancient times. This story is an ambitious idea and it does work for the idea of having the fish out of water situation created for the imperial guards. We do go through the idea of needing to figure out how survive in the new surrounding, which does work too and seeing the twists along the way with the flashbacks does fill in moments of blanks in the storyline. Parts of the storyline can come off confusing though because we do seem to have a lot going on and it does feel like if you blink you might miss something.

Action/Comedy – The action in this film is easily the highlight of it, we get to see Donnie Yen doing his fighting sequences which are always entertaining to watch. The comedy however falls flat resorting to fart jokes, May is the only one that gets proper laughs.

Settings – The film uses the settings to show how the ancient men must adapt to the modern world with the different type of locations they visit.

Special Effects – The effects in the film are good in places, but weak if others, when it comes to the roaring faces they particular look weak.


Scene of the Movie – Bridge fight.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – Fart Jokes.

Final Thoughts – This is an easy watch action sci-fi film, if you want martial arts entertainment this will give you what you need.

 

Overall: Enjoyable action film.
  
Warsaw 44 (2014)
Warsaw 44 (2014)
2014 |
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Story: Warsaw 44 starts as we meet Stefan (Pawlowski) a young man living in Warsaw in 1944 during the war, he lives with his mother and younger brother bring the money back to the home, this changes when he meets a group of people similar to his age, they offer him a chance to go into the Polish army as they plan to fight back against the Germans.

As the Uprising starts to attack the Nazi’s Stefan learns the harsh reality of war up close and personal, with the love of his life Biedronka (Wichlacz) being the only one that will help him through the destruction.

 

Thoughts on Warsaw 44

 

Characters – Stefan is the honest hard working young man, he supports his family, protects his brother from the horrors of war, he is however led to join the Uprising in Warsaw against the Nazi’s, a move which will change his life, he will learn love and heartache as the war comes closer than he would imagine. Biedronka is the woman that Stefan falls for in the uprising, she fights alongside the men and will do everything to save lives. Kama is another woman in the uprising that shows love towards Stefan, we get plenty of characters in this film that are mostly following the ones in the uprising that will do anything to get their freedom back.

Performances – Jozef Pawlowski is good in the leading role, the charm he shows saying goodbye to his little brother could melt a heart and seeing his reaction to the war side of the film shows us how any young man would have been going through during the time. The rest of the cast is good, getting their moments to shine with the desperation needed through the war.

Story – The story follows the young people of Poland setting up an uprising to take on the Nazis during World War II, it starts as a small fight and soon throws them into the true harsh reality of war. While seeing the realities of war isn’t anything new, we do know how destruction, devasting and brutal war is on the people involved and World War II could well have been the worse in modern history, these people didn’t have any hope and only wanted freedom, they were willing to lay die their lives to do so. The characters however are fictional which could hold back being truly connected to the real people that would have suffered through the events. The story isn’t an easy watch and does have parts we don’t need to see, mostly the romance.

History/Romance/War – The history behind this film is true, we knew how bad the war was on the people and just how fighting back was the only way, these two parts of the film are shown near perfectly for what it could have cost people. The romance however just feels tacked on and unneeded for most of the film.

Settings – The film makes us feel like we are there, feeling each explosion, moment of destruction with hauntingly created settings.


Scene of the Movie – The graveyard battle, because it shows us what they will truly be battling.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – The romance side of the film.

Final Thoughts – This is a hard hitting war drama, it shows us just what people were willing to do through the war through the eyes of the young adults.

 

Overall: Hard-hitting war drama

https://moviesreview101.com/2019/06/23/abc-film-challenge-world-cinema-w-warsaw-44-2014/