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Wakenhyrst
Wakenhyrst
Michelle Paver | 2019 | Crime, Fiction & Poetry, Horror, Paranormal, Thriller
8
8.6 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
Pacers ability to bring locations to life (0 more)
Edwardian Gothic Horror
Michelle Paver has this exceptional ability to create a location that always becomes the lead character of her stories. Here it is The Fen and the Manor House within it. You can smell the pond weed, hear the birds and visualise the location immaculately. This incredible writer also always manages to create suggestions and hints of horror without ever over stating it. Its a beautiful subtlety which makes it even more haunting. This book also highlights strong feminist values simply by portraying female strength she ridicules the notion of patriarchy.
As you know I don't like to give away the story, wanting you to discover the pages yourself. Wakenhyrst is set in the early 1900s and is a dark githic thriller about past deeds haunting the now, and like her other books it's spectacular.
  
The Lone Ranger (2013)
The Lone Ranger (2013)
2013 | Action, Comedy, Fantasy, Western
Famous box-office bomb is, as usual, not actually as bad as all that, just absurdly overblown for what should really have mid-budget genre movie written all over it. Origin story for the famous pulp western character; what makes the film curious (and quite interesting) is the way that it tries to combine different styles and tones - pulp and revisionist western elements rub up against the same kind of offbeat comic fantasy Verbinski and Depp had more success with elsewhere. This doesn't really work, but it's an undeniably curious mix.

Still, curious only takes you so far, and this is unlikely to be a film that lingers in most peoples' memory, despite a decent cast and good production values. Earns another point for the last twenty minutes, which are a genuinely impressive piece of Hollywood blockbuster bombast and spectacle. The rest could be worse, but could certainly be better, too.