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Remembered (Hollow City Coven #5)
Remembered (Hollow City Coven #5)
Hazel Hunter | 2016 | Paranormal, Romance
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This has been a wonderful series so far, but this instalment blew the others out of the water. In this novella, we get the story of Tenebris and how Galia, Mina, and Strayke end up there, and what becomes of them once they are there. The majority of this story is told about the past, with Gillian, Mathias, and Shayne only making a brief appearance at the end.

This certainly fills in the holes that Gillian has had in her 'memory', whilst giving the reader a front-row seat in their history. Exceedingly well-written, with characters that jump out of the page to you. With no editing or grammatical errors that I found, this is an excellent addition to the Hollow City Coven series, and definitely recommended.

* 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!
Jan 30, 2016
  
40x40

Merissa (12894 KP) rated A Double Sacrifice in Books

Dec 17, 2018 (Updated May 31, 2023)  
A Double Sacrifice
A Double Sacrifice
Jaxx Steele | 2016 | LGBTQ+, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
This is a novella that tells the story of an African tribe, their origins and traditions, and how that affects the first pair of fraternal twins born to the ruling line. It was always assumed that it would be the princess who would mate and live with the water god. However, this time, it is not the princess who is receiving the dreams, but her brother.

This story is based over a couple of weeks, but you still manage to be given all the information needed in a good way. There is no info dump here. Well written and with no editing or grammatical errors that I found, this was a short but steamy read that came to a satisfying conclusion. Definitely recommended.

* 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!
Mar 22, 2016
  
40x40

Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Underwater (2020) in Movies

Feb 16, 2020 (Updated Feb 16, 2020)  
Underwater (2020)
Underwater (2020)
2020 | Horror, Sci-Fi
Erm.... (0 more)
Frenetic action in murky water - baffling (2 more)
Scientific inconsistencies
Waterlogged Alien wannabe
Soggy and forgettable
I had a sinking feeling (excuse the pun) about this movie from the word go. It's a lazy approach to 'mansplain' the whole set up for the movie through digital news posts during the main titles. It feels more patronising to the audience than having main titles and then a 'Star Wars-style' synopsis.

Once into the movie, director William Eubank gives us the bare minimum of character set-up for our heroine while she brushes her teeth*. (And no way did she even follow the British Dental Association recommendation of two minutes brushing!) (* Interestingly, the trailer seems to show some above water scenes/dialogue and introductions to the rest of the crew that never made the final cut.)

And then....

BAM!!!

I was thinking that the manic action that follows was some sort of dream or flashback. But no. We are pitched headlong into the story without pause as disaster strikes. It all feels positively indecent.

For we are seven miles down in the Mariana trench, when a drilling station springs a leak.

Now call me a cynic, but I would have *thought* that, at that depth, a single leak would implode the whole station in about 10 seconds flat. But then that wouldn't be cinematic enough, and would be a much shorter movie!

And there are numerous other scientific implausibilities. For example, diving helmets that appear to be able to withstand 15,750 psi of pressure (I Googled it) can be smashed-in by a woman by just bashing it.

Sigh.

We are in 'Alien-lite' territory again. Just as in last year's "The Meg", those pesky humans have disturbed something in its home territory.... and it's suitably pissed-off. The action centres on hippy-chick engineer Norah (Kristen Stewart). The script neatly describes her as a "flat-chested elfin creature"... a fact which every male in the audience has thought (come on guys, admit it , you did!) from the immediately preceding scene.

It was never entirely clear to me what skills Norah was supposed to have.... it seemed to flex from diving to electrical engineering to computer engineering.

Stewart is a handy actress to have in a movie, but here she is mostly relegated to lots of shots of her athletic body running through corridors in her skimpy crop-top and knickers.

Supporting Stewart are veteran French actor Vincent Cassel as the mission captain; "the funny one" Paul (T.J. Miller); the trusty male action figure Smith (John Gallagher Jr.); and Emily - the 'less-flat chested but screamy one' (Jessica Henwick). Emily also gets to run around in a T-shirt and knickers: you kind of quickly get to know the audience the film is trying to appeal to.

As will be obvious if you've seen any of these types of film before, not all of these folks are going to make it.

As this movie is presumably filmed in a small water tank in a Louisiana studio. Clearly the memo said "fill it with murky water so the audience can't see the sides". "And just for good measure, let's film it with hand-help rapidly moving cameras". The result is that a lot of the time, when there was a burst of frenetic underwater action, I had NO IDEA what was actually going on.

In this way, the movie reminded me of the shark B-movie "47 Metres Down" from a few years ago.

This is certainly not "Alien". Although similarly set, this is not "The Abyss" either. It's most similar perhaps to "Life", but without the clever twist ending.

It's also not a truly TERRIBLE movie either. But unfortunately this is one of the most "meh" action movies I've seen in the past year. It's just brain-crushingly forgettable.

There was only one vaguely memorable shot in the whole movie: a final shot of Kristen Stewart. But that just serves to make me think.... 'Stewart deserves much better than this'.

For a movie concerning itself with a lack of oxygen, watching this felt like a waste of it.

(For the full graphical review, please check out One Mann's Movies here - https://bob-the-movie-man.com/2020/02/15/one-manns-movies-film-review-underwater-2020/ ).