Lucille Ancrath
They fell in love, the type where you sacrifice yourself for the other, in 3 days. Worldbuilding and visuals were very nice.
If Peter Mohrbacher's Angelarium and The Wolf Among Us had a daughter, it would be this book. Liked it, will read the rest of the series.
I really liked the mystery and adventure in this one. The kids get into all sorts of trouble, which doesn't feel clishe because they're intelligent and good-natured, so the way they maneuver around obstacles is also quite unique. There's no melodrama and stupid misunderstandings. I'd definitely read this story to someone younger.
I liked it. As others have said, nothing much happens and there is a whole chunk of time that is missing for no good reason. But the characters are endearing and the constantly witty writing made me chuckle a few times.
You know how the first few of the Harry Potter books have that childhood innocence about them? They're written through the eyes of a good natured, inquisitive boy and so as children we just went with it, and didn't question where the fuck the adults were... Well the Doldrums give me that same feeling. I think we need a lot more books with yound characters who are still pure and good and see the world as a generally safe place.
As an adult, I prefer to reading books with great parenting, like The House on the Cerulean Sea, but I don't think middle graders care much.
I also listened to this book and missed out on all of the lovely illustrations that come in print.
The post war desolate atmosphere is thick and wraps everything in the avail of timelessness and mild depression while the two main characters babble their way in circles, sometimes normal, other times imbecile. The humor has roots in the art of making fun of the dumb, the unable and the poor, which I disdain, but it also has some good moments and the language is very quick, and at times impressive, especially since the original was crafted in French.
Ted-Ed says this play is a part of the “Theatre of the absurd” movement and even though I don't really know what that is, it sounds about right. In general, I don't enjoy non sensical tales and didn't expect much from this, but I gave it a try because it is famous and quite short. Oh and if you didn't know, there is a recording of the entire play/movie on YouTube.
Overall, I understand what Beckett was trying to show us about life and time and waiting and wanting and needing and not having and never reaching the end; but having to sit through this felt like I was trapped in there, with him - and perhaps that was intentional, but dear god, let me out.
If I had father like God, I'd be in therapy for childhood trauma for the rest of my life.
In essence, this is a memoir written by a 19th century English lady about her scientific expedition to Alpes. Places, ethnicities and some of the animals are replaced by fantastical ones, but everything else is pretty much the same.
If we swapped dragons for eagles this would be historical fiction about a woman struggling to get her footing in a world dominated by men. Which also shows that this isn't a children's book, or at least that most of the social commentary and thus most of the book, would go right over their head.
As for dragons themselves, there are numerous encounters with beats and people do get hurt, but the book tries to stay grounded in reality. No one is swinging swords and magic amulets against their blazing breath or anything like that.
If you like books set in 1800s you will probably enjoy this mild fantasy. But if not, I doubt dragons would do much to make this interesting enough for you.
He said.
He said.
He said.
For the love of god.....
Otherwise it's a cool, little, self-contained story.
Too much corpse fucking. The first story is interesting and has a resemblance of necromancy though none of it is explained in any capacity, but the rest is basically a compilation of 101 ways to bone a ghoul. Gore and sex descriptions are on point, I suppose, though the characters are only shallow, horny husks of real people - which gets boring fairly quickly. I've definitely read fan fiction with the same themes that had more emotional and philosophical depth to it, while being much shorter.
I also disagree about this being a book for people looking for necromancy as I'm one of those people and the things I'm looking for are blood magic, corpse resurrecting, body mutations, forced communication with the afterlife, etc. You know, the regular gore. This book, however, is mostly about having sex with dead so in my opinion, it crosses the line towards necrophilia. You'll either love it or be bored and/or disgusted by it.
It took me a long time to finish these and I'm honestly not a fan. The way he describes the events is just kind of weird to me, it's like I'm reading a medical journal with step by step instructions. It's all very precise and well said, but my mind kept drifting away.
As far as creepy tales go, I much prefer H.P.Lovecraft's descriptions and suspense building.
Faithful to its title. I really liked the introduction and how the author emphasized doing what feels most natural to you. I also appreciate that she put effort into explaining reversals. Yes, sometimes they are just the opposite, but often they carry a deeper message.
One gripe I have with this book is that Cups get 3X more info than the other minor arcana. This implies that the author could have written a lot more about all of them but for some reason just focused on Cups.
I've listened to the audiobook version on Scribd so I don't exactly have it in front of me to draw notes and analyse. Though I'd like to do just that, so I might buy a physical copy.
I'd also like to read the other book by this author, called: Reading the Tarot - the Ultimate Guide to the Rider Waite Tarot Cards
Going into this I was expecting to hear about black cats and European centered magic, and while the first few chapters are covering just that, the author actually branches out and talks about various other cultures and myths.
In this book, a familiar is pretty much any “imaginary” entity which talks to and guides a human being. This loose definition allows the author to draw and showcase many different connections and similarities between the ancient myths, worldwide.
Some people will have a problem with this, but I think it is very interesting and raises some good points. I also really like that the author explained the origin of some well known words / names. This new knowledge changed the way I view those words and myths created around them.
In conclusion, I enjoyed this book and will probably purchase a physical copy so that I can re-read some parts at my own pace. The author also cites numerous other sources which I'd like to check out.
Good intro, but I don't think it manages to explain the author's way of “unconventional” card reading. He gives a couple of examples, but they are all kind of short and kept on surface level. I wish he went more in depth on how he comes up with his analysis.
I also don't feel like every book needs to have meanings for each card or rather conventional meanings. Vincent is interesting because he is a little “different” so I would have preferred if he kicked out traditional meanings all together and focused more on his own work.
There were too many strange names, which I couldn't connect to anything, that made me space out parts of the plot.
I also kept forgetting they're underwater due to elves having no physical characteristics to back that up. No gills, no fins, no finger webbing. Some of them are blind, but that's unrelated to water and doesn't seem to be an impairment.
So for a big portion of the book, whenever someone “moved forward” I'd imagine them walking instead of swimming. I think the language should've been adjusted to showcase their submersion a bit more obviously. Same goes for words like “forest”. I forgot to visualize it as kelp.
Another reviewer said they had issues with physics and logistics of this sea world and yeah I can see that too. A lot of it seems to work purely based on magic and I didn't really expect so much pure high fantasy in a 40k universe. My bad, I guess?
The audiobook narrator was excellent. And I found the idea of Sea Elves and their underwater society pretty cool. Story was a bit basic on paper, but writing was definitely professional.
Overall, for a big-game-franchise type of book, it was pretty good. I'd read more.
I generally like the first third of this book. The rest of it not so much. Everyone uses more words than necessary, which makes for a boring reading experience.
It also feels like some of the featured artists aren't very experienced with teaching art to others. They are good at creating it, but it feels as if this was their first time trying to explain the proces, so they just made a quick list of steps they took and called it a day. But that's not really teaching, is it?
I think Aveline Stokart's tutorial is technically the best, even though it was arguably the simplest painting and not an art style im interested in. She actually took the time to draw multiple perspectives and dissections, as well as to point out what not to do or when to switch to a new layer. This shows that she understands what others might not know yet. Kudos to her.
I liked a few others as well, but as I've said above, the book is very wordy, so I would've appreciated some cutthroat editing and more emphasis on raw information.
“And soon, very soon, before you are an old man and an old woman, great nations in your world will be ruled by tyrants who care no more for joy and justice and mercy than the Empress Jadis.'' — Well that rings a bell, doesn't it?I liked this prequel a bit more than the [b: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe 100915 The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #1) C.S. Lewis https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1353029077l/100915.SY75.jpg 4790821] because in this one, I think he did a better job of weaving an adult message into a children's story, which for me automatically elevates it to another level. The writing also feels more comfortable and coherent.In conclusion, I think this is a good, self-contained children's story and I'd gladly read it to someone younger.