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Merissa (13600 KP) rated The Heir Apparent (Sanyare Chronicles #2) in Books
Dec 17, 2018
Sanyare: The Heir Apparent is the second book in the Sanyare Chronicles, and follows Rie as she tries to control her magic, and realises that her position of Sanyaro Heir is very different to being a Messenger. Control is hard to attain, although she is working hard, and Greg just doesn't seem to be able to help. Hopefully, a ball will take her mind off things!
Once again, full of action and adventure, this book will delight and enthral as the words jump off the page at you. With a multitude of lovable characters, dangerous situations, baddies to dislike, and heroes to swoon over (including a bad-boy come good), then there is something here for everyone.
Exceptionally well written, with no editing or grammatical errors to disrupt the reading flow, this book continues the story with a smooth pace, whilst leaving you wanting more. An excellent addition to the Chronicles, and I look forward to reading more.
* I received this book from the author in return for a fair and honest review. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Once again, full of action and adventure, this book will delight and enthral as the words jump off the page at you. With a multitude of lovable characters, dangerous situations, baddies to dislike, and heroes to swoon over (including a bad-boy come good), then there is something here for everyone.
Exceptionally well written, with no editing or grammatical errors to disrupt the reading flow, this book continues the story with a smooth pace, whilst leaving you wanting more. An excellent addition to the Chronicles, and I look forward to reading more.
* I received this book from the author in return for a fair and honest review. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
David McK (3666 KP) rated Infinity: Volume 1 in Books
Jan 30, 2019
Spring 2018.
Perhaps the best Marvel movie to date was released, a culmination of circa a decade of Marvel movies consisiting of numerous single-character led films and even a couple of previous 'team-ups'. That movie was, of course, 'Infinity War, part 1'.
At around the same time, Comixology ran one of their frequent sales. With a picture of Thanos on the cover, a title called 'Infinity' and being on sale at around the saem time as the movie, I made the mistake of thinking this would share similarities with the plot of the movie.
(No) spoilers: it doesn't.
As others on this site have mentioned, however, it is perhaps well named in that the story seems to go on ... and on ... and on ...
Honestly? I struggled to get through this, finding it hard to 'tie together' the various disparate story-lines; to even really care about all that much about what was happening or who it was happening to.
In short, and for me, this was a massive disappointment.
Perhaps the best Marvel movie to date was released, a culmination of circa a decade of Marvel movies consisiting of numerous single-character led films and even a couple of previous 'team-ups'. That movie was, of course, 'Infinity War, part 1'.
At around the same time, Comixology ran one of their frequent sales. With a picture of Thanos on the cover, a title called 'Infinity' and being on sale at around the saem time as the movie, I made the mistake of thinking this would share similarities with the plot of the movie.
(No) spoilers: it doesn't.
As others on this site have mentioned, however, it is perhaps well named in that the story seems to go on ... and on ... and on ...
Honestly? I struggled to get through this, finding it hard to 'tie together' the various disparate story-lines; to even really care about all that much about what was happening or who it was happening to.
In short, and for me, this was a massive disappointment.
David McK (3666 KP) rated Wolverine: Origin in Books
Jan 30, 2019
As the mutant with no memory of who he was but with the adamantium skeleton and claws, there's a reason that Wolverine was the character chosen to draw the audience into the world of the X-Men in the 2000 movie of the same name, as well as being a key player in virtually all the X-Men movies to date (skipping, say, 'First Class').
He's also the first - and, to date, only X-Men mutant (I'm not counting Deadpool as belonging to the X-Men) to get his own solo movie in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. A movie that I'm not sure whether was released before or after (or at the same time, even?) as this collection of stories.
But there sure is a lot of similarities in the early portion of that film, and with when this is set and the events that take place within it ...
[i]edit[/i]: I've just discovered that this was released first (2001-02), with the movie in 2009. Guess I know now where the early part of the plot came from!
He's also the first - and, to date, only X-Men mutant (I'm not counting Deadpool as belonging to the X-Men) to get his own solo movie in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. A movie that I'm not sure whether was released before or after (or at the same time, even?) as this collection of stories.
But there sure is a lot of similarities in the early portion of that film, and with when this is set and the events that take place within it ...
[i]edit[/i]: I've just discovered that this was released first (2001-02), with the movie in 2009. Guess I know now where the early part of the plot came from!
Peter G. (247 KP) rated Near Dark (1987) in Movies
Oct 30, 2019
Quite ingeniously keeping a large chunk of the actors carried over from the movie 'Aliens' this was one of the better modern day vampire movies.
One thing that you will notice straight off the bat and that's the budget which is incredibly low and it shows mainly through its lack of locations and lots of reasonably well written dialogue, what I dont get is this films rise to classic status.... it's ok at best considering its cast and i remember having watched it not being able work out if i liked it as much as others who raved about it.
I am and was a big fan of Bill Paxton however I felt he overcooked his role a little and went from hugely intimidating to a parody of most of the characters he has played over the years.
Adrian Pasdar who I believe is a versatile actor was the best thing in the movie.
I understand this movie has somewhat of a following, it's not one I find myself revisiting however, and Bigelow has gone on to create some very good films.
One thing that you will notice straight off the bat and that's the budget which is incredibly low and it shows mainly through its lack of locations and lots of reasonably well written dialogue, what I dont get is this films rise to classic status.... it's ok at best considering its cast and i remember having watched it not being able work out if i liked it as much as others who raved about it.
I am and was a big fan of Bill Paxton however I felt he overcooked his role a little and went from hugely intimidating to a parody of most of the characters he has played over the years.
Adrian Pasdar who I believe is a versatile actor was the best thing in the movie.
I understand this movie has somewhat of a following, it's not one I find myself revisiting however, and Bigelow has gone on to create some very good films.
Kelly (279 KP) rated The Protector in TV
Dec 18, 2018
The backdrop of Istanbul (1 more)
Relationships between the main characters.
A Turkish superhero story
The story of the protector is one that we are familiar with: unlikely orphaned hero suddenly finds out that he was destined to defeat a big evil villain. A story, that over the years we have seen many times in many different ways. Somehow however, this did not bore me as much as it should. The backdrop of Istanbul made the plot line much more interesting to me (having no Turkish background and little knowledge of the country).
The characters were intriguing and I did genuinely care for them, as well as being interested in the love triangle that emerged between Hakan, Leyla and Zeynep. The female characters in the series were portrayed as strong women, which I particularly enjoyed. Hakan was goofy at times, but a likeable character overall. The immortal villain in the series could have been a bit more sinister, but this is just nitpicking.
Overall, I found the show really enjoyable, and hope that Netflix find the opportunity to make a sequel.
The characters were intriguing and I did genuinely care for them, as well as being interested in the love triangle that emerged between Hakan, Leyla and Zeynep. The female characters in the series were portrayed as strong women, which I particularly enjoyed. Hakan was goofy at times, but a likeable character overall. The immortal villain in the series could have been a bit more sinister, but this is just nitpicking.
Overall, I found the show really enjoyable, and hope that Netflix find the opportunity to make a sequel.
Phil Leader (619 KP) rated The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul in Books
Nov 20, 2019
Douglas Adams might be (rightly) famous for the Hitch Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy series but for Dirk Gently was the jewel in the crown. Carefully plotted, a well constructed and intriguing lead character and still the sublime humour and turn of phrase.
This second outing sees Dirk at a bit of a loss after his latest - very rich - client comes down with a bad case of being dead. That doesn't stop him though as his unique ability to link apparently unrelated facts leads him to one simple conclusion - the old gods are back.
Dirk is a joy as a character because he is so unlikely, allowing himself to be buffeted towards the truth by the tides of fate. Obviously the actual plot is far fetched but that's the whole point, if it wasn't impossible a normal detective would do. And the jokes, one liners, very clever observations and turns of phrase abound. A mystery wrapped in a conundrum wrapped in Adams' unique wit. What more could anyone want?
This second outing sees Dirk at a bit of a loss after his latest - very rich - client comes down with a bad case of being dead. That doesn't stop him though as his unique ability to link apparently unrelated facts leads him to one simple conclusion - the old gods are back.
Dirk is a joy as a character because he is so unlikely, allowing himself to be buffeted towards the truth by the tides of fate. Obviously the actual plot is far fetched but that's the whole point, if it wasn't impossible a normal detective would do. And the jokes, one liners, very clever observations and turns of phrase abound. A mystery wrapped in a conundrum wrapped in Adams' unique wit. What more could anyone want?
James Koppert (2698 KP) rated Construct by Archivist in Music
Nov 26, 2019
Post metal concept album sounds terrible but actually it's not
Ads you may have noticed despite being a Hip Hop artist and mainly listening to Hip Hop I do love all music, if it good, I'll bang it through my speakers. However I must admit, although i love hardcore, metal is not my favourite genre.
This was recommended to me and the description sounded horrific, it is a sci fi concept album mixing shoe gazer with blast beats and songs getting to the ten minute mark. Yeah, terrible right? Well actually its really damn good. Parts of the album remind me of Belligerent Declaration where dark atmospheric slow meandering showcase, builds up the atmosphere before going full sonic heavy on your ears without ever destroying the feeling its creates. Its rare to listen to a song clocking over 8 minutes and then rewind it to listen again but I did.
Now I need to get their new one and watch out for them live.
This was recommended to me and the description sounded horrific, it is a sci fi concept album mixing shoe gazer with blast beats and songs getting to the ten minute mark. Yeah, terrible right? Well actually its really damn good. Parts of the album remind me of Belligerent Declaration where dark atmospheric slow meandering showcase, builds up the atmosphere before going full sonic heavy on your ears without ever destroying the feeling its creates. Its rare to listen to a song clocking over 8 minutes and then rewind it to listen again but I did.
Now I need to get their new one and watch out for them live.
Ross (3284 KP) rated The Land You Never Leave in Books
Feb 7, 2020
Fantastic
The second book in Watson's West of West trilogy continues following the Hardworkers (a small tribe of Nordic descendants) and the former Calnian Owsla (a Native American warrior team), who have now joined forces. Their aim is to simply head West to try and save the world, as told by a dream. The book sees them approaching Badland country and expecting trouble. The Calnian army are gathered to track them down and attack them, the empress being controlled by her mysterious new healer, and following her own dream which told her the Hardworkers would destroy the world.
As in the first book, the humorous dialogue keeps this book rolling along really well. The interactions and relations between characters is superb and believable. The world is familiar enough to us, but with some unusual creatures and customs thrown in. The Badlanders are a truly psychotic tribe.
The pacing of the book is top notch with plenty of action and excitement spread throughout, and told from numerous different points of view.
A wonderful read with excellent characters.
As in the first book, the humorous dialogue keeps this book rolling along really well. The interactions and relations between characters is superb and believable. The world is familiar enough to us, but with some unusual creatures and customs thrown in. The Badlanders are a truly psychotic tribe.
The pacing of the book is top notch with plenty of action and excitement spread throughout, and told from numerous different points of view.
A wonderful read with excellent characters.
Awix (3310 KP) rated Seberg (2019) in Movies
Jan 14, 2020
Tonally awkward drama-thriller hybrid about the troubled life of 60s film star Jean Seberg (ask your grandparents, probably). Didn't know much about her (actually thought she was French), expected something arty and significant about the French New Wave - actually this borders on being another film about the Plight of Black America. Seberg (Kristen Stewart, watchable as usual) strives for significance, gets mixed up with the civil rights movement, finds herself surveilled and then tormented by the FBI.
Starts off quite interesting - Seberg is largely a forgotten figure nowadays, so the story is obscure - but as the thriller elements recede and it becomes more of a downbeat drama, the vitality and interest of the movie fades somewhat. If there is an irony in Stewart choosing to play a movie star looking to be more than just a pretty face in commercial schlock, the movie seems unaware of it. Pretty good performances, especially from Vince Vaughn (now quite well-established as a character heavy), but fizzles out a bit.
Starts off quite interesting - Seberg is largely a forgotten figure nowadays, so the story is obscure - but as the thriller elements recede and it becomes more of a downbeat drama, the vitality and interest of the movie fades somewhat. If there is an irony in Stewart choosing to play a movie star looking to be more than just a pretty face in commercial schlock, the movie seems unaware of it. Pretty good performances, especially from Vince Vaughn (now quite well-established as a character heavy), but fizzles out a bit.
Barry Newman (204 KP) rated El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie (2019) in Movies
Feb 9, 2020
Contains spoilers, click to show
I’m of the opinion that ‘Breaking Bad’ is one of the greatest TV shows of all time and the ultimate example of how to end a TV show properly. Which is why when I heard this was being made I couldn’t help but be a bit apprehensive and unfortunately I did come away from this a bit underwhelmed. Aaron Paul puts in a great performance and I enjoyed catching up with Jesse and some other old faces again but this wasn’t really a story that absolutely needed to be told. I felt the action was a little flat and draggy at times as well. Barring a very brief crowd pleasing flashback cameo you really miss having Walter White on screen. Not having him there you realise just how much Bryan Cranston absolutely dominated the series and his absence is really felt. It’s still an enjoyable watch even if lacking the magic of the show and certainly worthy of your time but ultimately it probably didn’t need to have been made.