Tintin au Congo (Tintin in the Congo) (Tintin #2)
7.0
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The young reporter Tintin and his faithful dog Snowy set off on assignment to Africa. But a sinister...
I Am Alice (The Last Apprentice / Wardstone Chronicles #12)
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I must be brave. I must do what has to be done. I am Alice. Alice is the most powerful witch...
The Bone Roses
10.0
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Sixteen-year-old Rags is the most feared Rustler in the world, and for good reason. When she’s not...
Mystic Maples (Deerbourne Inn Series)
6.0
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Earth/Fire witch Mercy Rose's insatiable curiosity always gets her in trouble. After a break-in at...
Paranormal Romance
Merissa (12776 KP) rated Dark Night (The Amulet #2) in Books
Apr 14, 2023
This is a novella so therefore it moves along at an incredible pace - everything happens within the space of a few short hours. There is attraction, flirtations, humour, and the threat of violence - all within a few pages.
If you are on the lookout for a hot, coffee-break book, then I can highly recommend this book and The Amulet Series as a whole.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book; the comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
Jul 29, 2015
Weyward
10.0
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KATE, 2019 Kate flees London – abandoning everything – for Cumbria and Weyward Cottage,...
Historical fiction Witches Magical Realism Trigger Warning: domestic violence
Down Among the Dead Men (Forest Kingdom, #3)
4.0
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"Ten years have passed since the Demon War. The Forest's scars are slowly healing, the Darkwood is...
Empress of Storms (Two Thrones #1)
10.0
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I’m marrying a king to protect my country. But I’m falling in love with the lonely man under the...
Fantasy Romance
Movie Metropolis (309 KP) rated Season of the Witch (2011) in Movies
Jun 11, 2019
Whilst it may not be the worst film in the past twelve months, something which still seemingly belongs to Clash of the Titans, there is little here to differentiate it from the frequent blockbuster drivel that Hollywood seems to spit out these days.
Nicholas Cage and Ron Perlman star alongside a host of two dimensional characters which bizzarly includes home grown star Robert Sheehan (Misfits) who perhaps plays the films best role in newfound warrior Kay. Unfortunately, his stellar performance is overshadowed by a script that’s as bland as the special effects.
The saving grace of the film is in its fabulous set pieces which really do shine through, the choice of location and fabulous cinematography especially in the early battle sequences are fantastic and made the film look like it was going to be more of a success than it actually was. It is here that Sena must be given credit as the movie could’ve been much better if it had followed from the quality of the opening.
It is important to note that the CGI and special effects are not being praised here because on a budget of around $40m, the designers could’ve done a whole lot better than some very questionable looking wolves and melting metal.
Cage, who isn’t without his fair share of criticism as an actor is completely miscast in his role, speaking contrived one-liners that won’t shake off those critics who say he cannot act in anything but action movies, but to be fair, this is not entirely his fault, the script leaves much to be desired and poor old Nick is stuck slap bang in the middle, sitting on the fence between his wrongful characterisation and his need to please the critics.
Alongside Cage is Claire Foy, a relatively unknown actress trying to make a big budget breakthrough as ‘the girl’, a rather unfair accreditation at the end of the film. She actually plays the ‘witch’ and does so well, but there isn’t enough dialogue for her to become a central role in the film, so in the end, she sits in a cage for the entire duration and looks menacing; if that’s what you want to call it. This is a problem that blights the entire film, there are only a handful of characters but the alarmingly poor script means that much of what they say is forgotten.
Overall, director Dominic Sena has missed a trick with this biblical tale, unfortunately it doesn’t do enough to make it stand out and therefore it’s lost in a muddle of poor scriptwriting and poor special effects. However, a few standout performances do save it from being a complete disaster and as such, it just about becomes a passable tale.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2011/01/12/season-of-the-witch-2011/
Kyera (8 KP) rated Beheld (Kendra Chronicles, #4) in Books
Feb 1, 2018
My least favourite aspect of the book was actually the interludes linking each story together, or Kendras tale of trying to find her love. Each retelling would have been an interesting (if short) read, even if she were not a character and the magic was introduced in another fashion. Personally, I felt that these tales would have been better served as novellas because the thread linking them felt forced. The stories themselves felt rushed at times, perhaps because all four had to be combined into one cohesive story and if they were more detailed than the novel would be much too long.
The characters were likable and the world was believable, but neither was particularly developed. I wish that the author had taken the time to delve more deeply into the worlds and build an entrancing narrative. Overall, the book was enjoyable but there were times that it was slow and I had to force myself to pick it back up to continue.
I would recommend this novel, and the series as a whole, to young adult/teen readers who enjoy magic and fantasy in their books, as well as fairytale retellings.