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Embrace the Magic (The Blood Rose #2)
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When a blood rose enters Mastyr Ethan’s world, will he succumb to his deepest needs or lose her...
Paranormal Romance
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated A Path of Darkness and Runes ( The Fallows book 1) in Books
Aug 27, 2022
154 of 230
Kindle
A Path of Darkness and Runes ( The Fallows book 1)
By Marnie L. Norton
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Fallow, a hallowed place and sanctuary for the beasts and creatures of the Continent, has been desecrated. The balance between the human and magical world has been ruptured.
Rhona is haunted by memories and revolts against the natures and traditions to which she has been born into. Marrying her betrothed, Elias, being one of them. She is part of a travellers community known as the 'Unwanted'.
When a night time raid, causes her brethren to flee across the Continent in search of safer dwellings; Rhona, along with her brother, Roman, and Elias, cross paths creatures of the Fallow - which sets them on a course of self discovery, redemption and magic.
Rhona must fight the dark forces at work from the Fallow, as well as battle the dark memories which threaten to break her at every turn. Now a pawn in a potential war between the magical folk and humans, Rhona must look past her own trauma to work at hunting the Lycan. Rhona must now put her life on the line to redeem her soul in a life debt against the Trinity, the Maiden, Mother and Crone.
I can’t even begin to tell you how much a I loved this book. One of the easiest 5⭐️ reads of the year. Absolutely brilliant debut novel. I love the characters, the story and the world building. It’s full of creatures and magic and beautifully written. I found this author on TikTok and just loved her content I’m so glad I did. I can not wait for book 2 as I had so many emotions running by the end of this one.
Kindle
A Path of Darkness and Runes ( The Fallows book 1)
By Marnie L. Norton
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Fallow, a hallowed place and sanctuary for the beasts and creatures of the Continent, has been desecrated. The balance between the human and magical world has been ruptured.
Rhona is haunted by memories and revolts against the natures and traditions to which she has been born into. Marrying her betrothed, Elias, being one of them. She is part of a travellers community known as the 'Unwanted'.
When a night time raid, causes her brethren to flee across the Continent in search of safer dwellings; Rhona, along with her brother, Roman, and Elias, cross paths creatures of the Fallow - which sets them on a course of self discovery, redemption and magic.
Rhona must fight the dark forces at work from the Fallow, as well as battle the dark memories which threaten to break her at every turn. Now a pawn in a potential war between the magical folk and humans, Rhona must look past her own trauma to work at hunting the Lycan. Rhona must now put her life on the line to redeem her soul in a life debt against the Trinity, the Maiden, Mother and Crone.
I can’t even begin to tell you how much a I loved this book. One of the easiest 5⭐️ reads of the year. Absolutely brilliant debut novel. I love the characters, the story and the world building. It’s full of creatures and magic and beautifully written. I found this author on TikTok and just loved her content I’m so glad I did. I can not wait for book 2 as I had so many emotions running by the end of this one.
Night Reader Reviews (683 KP) rated Traveller-Inceptio ( Traveller Book 1) in Books
Mar 18, 2020
Honest Review for Free Copy of Book
Traveller Inceptio: Traveller Book 1 by Rob Shackleford is a hard book to put into just one genre. It is both an adventure and a romance while also being science fiction and historical fiction. Overall an odd combination.
A group of friends working towards advanced college degrees decide to work on some research together. They are even able o secure funding from a major security company, Helguard. Their goal is to create new scanning equipment to be used by security in places such as airports. The team works extremely well together and soon they have a working prototype. However, something goes wrong with the machine and a mass of wires fuse together, causing a completely different result. When they turn the machine on and tell it to scan something, the item disappears instead.
After some research, it is discovered that the machine is sending items to the exact same location, just 1,000 years into the past. This discovery naturally gets the attention of governments around the world and the military who try to take over the project. Military men are trained in the ways of the Saxons and are sent back in time to become part of their society and provide reports and pictures of a time period that was originally poorly documented. There are many dangers that the travelers face for this project, but the main one is that the Saxons are currently at war with the Vikings.
What I liked best was the one member of the original team who was largely responsible for the creation of the transporter never claimed it. I am unsure if this is because he remains unaware of what he did, or out of fear because he was messing where he did not belong, either way, this is what stuck with me the most. There was a lot of technical speak, along with war and battle pans that were confusing and boring. The war or battle aspect of the book was very drawn out, though I have never been one to enjoy play-by-play fight scenes.
This is more of an adult book. The length and technical stuff would probably be a bit daunting for younger readers. It is also rather detailed in the more graphic fight scenes (gore) and rape, which might make some readers uncomfortable. I rate this book 2 out of 4. The more interesting parts of this book, such as when Michael is becoming part of the Saxon culture moves quickly and is enjoyable. The duller areas such as the fights and technical speak are dry and really bring this otherwise interesting book down.
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A group of friends working towards advanced college degrees decide to work on some research together. They are even able o secure funding from a major security company, Helguard. Their goal is to create new scanning equipment to be used by security in places such as airports. The team works extremely well together and soon they have a working prototype. However, something goes wrong with the machine and a mass of wires fuse together, causing a completely different result. When they turn the machine on and tell it to scan something, the item disappears instead.
After some research, it is discovered that the machine is sending items to the exact same location, just 1,000 years into the past. This discovery naturally gets the attention of governments around the world and the military who try to take over the project. Military men are trained in the ways of the Saxons and are sent back in time to become part of their society and provide reports and pictures of a time period that was originally poorly documented. There are many dangers that the travelers face for this project, but the main one is that the Saxons are currently at war with the Vikings.
What I liked best was the one member of the original team who was largely responsible for the creation of the transporter never claimed it. I am unsure if this is because he remains unaware of what he did, or out of fear because he was messing where he did not belong, either way, this is what stuck with me the most. There was a lot of technical speak, along with war and battle pans that were confusing and boring. The war or battle aspect of the book was very drawn out, though I have never been one to enjoy play-by-play fight scenes.
This is more of an adult book. The length and technical stuff would probably be a bit daunting for younger readers. It is also rather detailed in the more graphic fight scenes (gore) and rape, which might make some readers uncomfortable. I rate this book 2 out of 4. The more interesting parts of this book, such as when Michael is becoming part of the Saxon culture moves quickly and is enjoyable. The duller areas such as the fights and technical speak are dry and really bring this otherwise interesting book down.
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https://smashbomb.com/nightreader
https://nightreaderreviews.blogspot.com/
Alex Fletcher Complete Series Boxset 1 - 5
9.0
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The Jakarta Pandemic (Book 1) Cases of a highly lethal virus appear in major cities around the...
James Koppert (2698 KP) rated Into The Crooked Place (Into The Crooked Place #1) in Books
Nov 13, 2019
I wanted this book to be good, its a bit like when you bake a cake and you have all the finest ingredients and the baker is brilliant as well but just somehow it doesn't quite come out as good as one would hope.
The setting, the characters and the basic plot really does work. This is a book about organised crime in a post war world full of different races of people, some of whom who craft magic who have been all but wiped out, warriors who protected them and ordinary people all of whom sit underneath the organised crime of the kingpin and his underbosses. The story focuses on the underboss Wesley and his crew of strong female characters, the warrior Karam, the secret crafter Saxony and Tavia the busker who sells the boss' magic and all of whom are pretty good in a scrap.
The characters are well created and you can visualise them easily on the pages. The adventure they go on has you rooting for them and the world is an exciting one that does hold enormous potential to be lost in. It is all however a little too dragged out.
As you can see this is the first in the series and the book very much does just tell the first part of the adventure, which is full of magic, betrayal, violence and even some glimmers of romance and yes, it does get very exciting and page turning in some parts, but considering this is only part of the story it could have done with being 150 pages shorter than it was. It just all seemed far more drawn out than it needed to be and let it down slightly. Because of this I was pleased to reach the end instead of being excited to pick up the next part which is a shame because Christo has created characters and a world which deserve to be explored and travelled in. Lets hope Into the Crooked Place number 2 allows this to become the cake it should be.
The setting, the characters and the basic plot really does work. This is a book about organised crime in a post war world full of different races of people, some of whom who craft magic who have been all but wiped out, warriors who protected them and ordinary people all of whom sit underneath the organised crime of the kingpin and his underbosses. The story focuses on the underboss Wesley and his crew of strong female characters, the warrior Karam, the secret crafter Saxony and Tavia the busker who sells the boss' magic and all of whom are pretty good in a scrap.
The characters are well created and you can visualise them easily on the pages. The adventure they go on has you rooting for them and the world is an exciting one that does hold enormous potential to be lost in. It is all however a little too dragged out.
As you can see this is the first in the series and the book very much does just tell the first part of the adventure, which is full of magic, betrayal, violence and even some glimmers of romance and yes, it does get very exciting and page turning in some parts, but considering this is only part of the story it could have done with being 150 pages shorter than it was. It just all seemed far more drawn out than it needed to be and let it down slightly. Because of this I was pleased to reach the end instead of being excited to pick up the next part which is a shame because Christo has created characters and a world which deserve to be explored and travelled in. Lets hope Into the Crooked Place number 2 allows this to become the cake it should be.
Movie Metropolis (309 KP) rated Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016) in Movies
Jun 11, 2019
More of the same
After the phenomenal success of Captain America: Civil War, the multiplexes have calmed down a little; that is until the release of X-Men: Apocalypse next week.
Sandwiched in between these two box-office behemoths is the sequel to Universal Studio’s surprise comedy hit, Bad Neighbours. But does another helping of Seth Rogen and Zac Efron’s adult humour hit the spot?
It’s fair to say that these films have a target audience firmly in mind. The first film was received best by University students and younger men according to box-office analysts and managed to gross a whopping $270m on an $18m budget – a sequel whilst completely unnecessary was as likely as an April shower.
Bad Neighbours 2 follows a very well-worn path, so well-worn in fact that it shoehorns the exact same premise from its predecessor into another 90 minute comedy, with just a few new twists and turns to stop it from being a carbon copy.
So, what are these twists and turns I hear you cry? Well, for one, Zac Efron’s Teddy Sanders is all grown up for one, returning to help Seth Rogen’s Mac, and Rose Byrne’s Kelly face-off against a sorority (instead of a fraternity) – headed by the excellent Chloe Grace Moretz.
Plot wise, that’s about it; in fact there is no plot to speak off and the real highlight in this simple film are the reams and reams of adult gags. The majority of them hit the spot; a brilliantly shot sequence at a college ‘festival’ is absolutely hilarious, and then a few of them don’t – but that’s to be expected in any comedy.
When it comes to the acting, it’s a by-the-numbers affair. Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne are dependable with the latter’s credentials in the genre expanding by the day. From Bridesmaids to Spy, she’s fast becoming a new comedy star, and there’s no complaint from me there.
Zac Efron is now utterly typecast but I doubt he’ll care if his movies keep packing out cinemas across the world. Despite his usual reliable performances, he’s starting to look a little older than his ‘frat boy’ characters would have you believe and if he can’t shake off that tag, he’ll end up in the bargain bins alongside Tobey Maguire. That’s a shame, as his more serious roles prove he has the acting chops to go with his good looks.
Elsewhere, Chloe Grace Moretz is the only sorority girl to make an impact and her sweet, if predictable backstory provide Bad Neighbours 2 with its only real sense of emotion.
Overall, Bad Neighbours 2 is a very funny adult comedy despite its lack of plot and the by-the-numbers casting. Returning director Nicholas Stoller has introduced a more female-orientated film that will no doubt pay dividends at the box-office. It definitely wasn’t needed, but as is the case in the film world, money talks.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2016/05/14/more-of-the-same-bad-neighbours-2-review/
Sandwiched in between these two box-office behemoths is the sequel to Universal Studio’s surprise comedy hit, Bad Neighbours. But does another helping of Seth Rogen and Zac Efron’s adult humour hit the spot?
It’s fair to say that these films have a target audience firmly in mind. The first film was received best by University students and younger men according to box-office analysts and managed to gross a whopping $270m on an $18m budget – a sequel whilst completely unnecessary was as likely as an April shower.
Bad Neighbours 2 follows a very well-worn path, so well-worn in fact that it shoehorns the exact same premise from its predecessor into another 90 minute comedy, with just a few new twists and turns to stop it from being a carbon copy.
So, what are these twists and turns I hear you cry? Well, for one, Zac Efron’s Teddy Sanders is all grown up for one, returning to help Seth Rogen’s Mac, and Rose Byrne’s Kelly face-off against a sorority (instead of a fraternity) – headed by the excellent Chloe Grace Moretz.
Plot wise, that’s about it; in fact there is no plot to speak off and the real highlight in this simple film are the reams and reams of adult gags. The majority of them hit the spot; a brilliantly shot sequence at a college ‘festival’ is absolutely hilarious, and then a few of them don’t – but that’s to be expected in any comedy.
When it comes to the acting, it’s a by-the-numbers affair. Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne are dependable with the latter’s credentials in the genre expanding by the day. From Bridesmaids to Spy, she’s fast becoming a new comedy star, and there’s no complaint from me there.
Zac Efron is now utterly typecast but I doubt he’ll care if his movies keep packing out cinemas across the world. Despite his usual reliable performances, he’s starting to look a little older than his ‘frat boy’ characters would have you believe and if he can’t shake off that tag, he’ll end up in the bargain bins alongside Tobey Maguire. That’s a shame, as his more serious roles prove he has the acting chops to go with his good looks.
Elsewhere, Chloe Grace Moretz is the only sorority girl to make an impact and her sweet, if predictable backstory provide Bad Neighbours 2 with its only real sense of emotion.
Overall, Bad Neighbours 2 is a very funny adult comedy despite its lack of plot and the by-the-numbers casting. Returning director Nicholas Stoller has introduced a more female-orientated film that will no doubt pay dividends at the box-office. It definitely wasn’t needed, but as is the case in the film world, money talks.
https://moviemetropolis.net/2016/05/14/more-of-the-same-bad-neighbours-2-review/
Russian Front
Games and Entertainment
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Russian Front is our most ambitious strategy game yet, an operational-level game with a wider scope...
David McK (3425 KP) rated Chaosmage (The Age of Darkness Trilogy, #3) in Books
Jan 30, 2019
The final part of [a:Stephen Aryan|10372063|Stephen Aryan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1435501696p2/10372063.jpg]'s 'Age of Darkness' trilogy (that also consists of [b:Battlemage|24396857|Battlemage (The Age of Darkness Trilogy, #1)|Stephen Aryan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1434726211s/24396857.jpg|43981438] and [b:Bloodmage|26030693|Bloodmage (The Age of Darkness Trilogy #2)|Stephen Aryan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1454627052s/26030693.jpg|46819958]), with this one having more-than-a-hint of 'The Walking Dead' about it, primarily set (as it is) in a compound in an eerily abandoned and destroyed city (after the war covered in [b:Battlemage|24396857|Battlemage (The Age of Darkness Trilogy, #1)|Stephen Aryan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1434726211s/24396857.jpg|43981438]) that is under siege by - more or less - zombies.
OK, maybe not zombies in the classicly - or comtemporarily (is that a word?) - understood sense, but that's more or less what 'The Forsaken' (as they are called) come across as.
This novel also sees the return of the Battlemage Balfruss - who seems to be modelled after [a:David Gemmell|11586|David Gemmell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1202771023p2/11586.jpg]'s character of Druss, if Druss could use magic - with it taking more or less chapter about to move between his point of view and the other key characters.
All-inan-all a solid ending to the trilogy, that leaves the door open for further tales to be told in this world.
OK, maybe not zombies in the classicly - or comtemporarily (is that a word?) - understood sense, but that's more or less what 'The Forsaken' (as they are called) come across as.
This novel also sees the return of the Battlemage Balfruss - who seems to be modelled after [a:David Gemmell|11586|David Gemmell|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1202771023p2/11586.jpg]'s character of Druss, if Druss could use magic - with it taking more or less chapter about to move between his point of view and the other key characters.
All-inan-all a solid ending to the trilogy, that leaves the door open for further tales to be told in this world.
Fatal Pursuit: Bruno, Chief of Police 9
Book
The Bugatti Type 57 Atlantic was called the most beautiful car of all time. Only four of them...
Lyndsey Gollogly (2893 KP) rated Minds of Men (The Psyche of War #1) in Books
Jan 14, 2021
8 of 250
Kindle
Minds of Men ( The Psyche of Wars book 1)
By Kacey Ezell
Once read a review will be written via Smashbomb and link posted in comments
Evelyn Adamsen grew up knowing she had to hide her psychic abilities, lest she be labeled a witch. However, when the US Army Air Corps came calling in 1943, looking for psychic women to help their beleaguered bomber force, Evelyn answered, hoping to use her powers to integrate the bomber crews and save American lives.
She was extremely successful at it...until her aircraft got shot down.
Now, Evelyn is on the run in occupied Europe, with a special unit of German Fallschirmjager and an enemy psychic on her heels. Worse, Evelyn learns that using her psychic powers functions as a strobe that highlights her to the enemy.
As the enemy psychic closes in, Evelyn is faced with a dilemma in her struggle to escape - how can she make it back to England when the only talent she has will expose her if she uses it?
A different spin on a part of world war 2 that was a very male dominated area. I found Kaceys version enthralling. At one point my heart reached out to Lina for you know they were all following orders! Don’t worry it didn’t last and I was back routing for Evie and her men! I also got so lost trying to pronounce those German words. Overall it was a decent read!
Kindle
Minds of Men ( The Psyche of Wars book 1)
By Kacey Ezell
Once read a review will be written via Smashbomb and link posted in comments
Evelyn Adamsen grew up knowing she had to hide her psychic abilities, lest she be labeled a witch. However, when the US Army Air Corps came calling in 1943, looking for psychic women to help their beleaguered bomber force, Evelyn answered, hoping to use her powers to integrate the bomber crews and save American lives.
She was extremely successful at it...until her aircraft got shot down.
Now, Evelyn is on the run in occupied Europe, with a special unit of German Fallschirmjager and an enemy psychic on her heels. Worse, Evelyn learns that using her psychic powers functions as a strobe that highlights her to the enemy.
As the enemy psychic closes in, Evelyn is faced with a dilemma in her struggle to escape - how can she make it back to England when the only talent she has will expose her if she uses it?
A different spin on a part of world war 2 that was a very male dominated area. I found Kaceys version enthralling. At one point my heart reached out to Lina for you know they were all following orders! Don’t worry it didn’t last and I was back routing for Evie and her men! I also got so lost trying to pronounce those German words. Overall it was a decent read!