Tag: intense

Six of Crows – Leigh Bardugo

July 12, 2016

I always love it when I’m buying a book and cashier sings its praises, it always makes me want to read the book even more. So this book started off well right from the beginning in Waterstones!

I’m just going to jump right into this, this book is set in the same world as the ‘Shadow and Bone‘ series but is in a different time period, has different characters and is a completely different story. This book is based in the country of Kerch instead of Ravka and follows the rag tag gangs within Kerch but mainly the Crow Club (gang) and it’s most prominent members. This gang gets contacted for a massive mission which is to break into the most well guarded and notorious prison in the Kingdom, The Ice Court and rescue a prisoner. It is clear this is a suicide mission, but with the prize of 30 million Kerch, Kaz and his team cannot resist.

Whilst browsing the shelves, this book intrigued me, mainly because I’d read the Shadow and Bone series, which was good but it wasn’t my favourite. Because of this I really wanted to know what it was like because I did like the world and was interested in learning more about it and exploring new areas and new characters. This book did not disappoint, it was so exciting and intense. The characters were strong with intimate and complex backstories which beautifully intertwined with the story line. I actually preferred this greatly to the Shadow and Bone story, I feel as though the story was a lot stronger and the characters were much more complex and likable.

What I really loved about this book was that it was so gripping! Right from the start it was interesting and I kept wanting to know more, there was no faffing they got straight into what the story was about and the main premise of the story. I just wanted to keep reading, but the best thing was that you never really know what was going on, you never knew if the gang are genuinely in trouble of if Kaz Brekker or the gang had something else up their sleeve! Because of this it was literally impossible to predict and I never knew what was happening and the ending was always so up in the air, even two pages from the end!

I don’t want to say too much about the characters because there is a lot you learn about each character and I want to keep that as a surprise. But I will say a tiny bit about the 6 main characters… Firstly there is Kaz Brekker (Dirtyhands) he is very high up in the gang and will do anything for money. Secondly there is Inej, known as The Wraith, she has silent feet and can climb anything. There is also Nina a Corporalki Grisha from Ravka and Matthias from Fierda who was trained to kill Grisha. Finally there is Jesper a good friend of Kaz Brekker but also has a slight glambling problem and Wylan who is always made fun of for being young and inexperienced. The characters were each so unique and different from each other, also each chapter was from a different perspectives so you got to know all of them really well!

I really did love this book, I would recommend it to anyone who loves a bit of excitement in a book. There are so many twists and turns I promise you that you won’t get bored! I’m going to give this book a 5 out of 5 stars, I really did love this book and it lined up perfectly for a sequel so I seriously cannot wait for the second book!!

In The After Light – Alexandra Bracken

March 23, 2016

I have quite a few different opinions about this book, good and bad, so I’m going to do a bit of background and then jump right into it!

So this book is the last book in the Darkest Minds series, after the emotional end of the second book Never Fade, I had simultaneous high expectations, excitement and curiosity about how the last book would pan out and how one of my new favourite series would end. If you wish to see what we thought on the first two books I shall leave the links here (The Darkest Minds and Never Fade)

Right, let’s get to it, we’ll start with the negatives. This book was VERY SLOW, I felt that it was a real slog to get through to the climax of this book, there was just too much sitting around planning things and too much politics. I know it was developing the story and building to the end, but compared to the previous two books which were action pact all the way through, it was just boring! Secondly, Ruby really annoyed me in this book! Some of the things she did were really frustrating, and it just seemed to me that the better choices were really obvious however she still did the opposite. I suppose emotions were high and everything so perhaps things weren’t so clear, but still, it annoyed me, it just seemed as though she was trying too hard to be a martyr.

Well that’s it for the negatives, on to the bits that I LOVED! Firstly, overall, Liam was such a little cutie, he is definitely one of my faviourite characters, but again some of the things he did were a little irritating, but what he did helped the overall story. Also he was just adorable, especially with Ruby, and there were some really cute lovey dovey scenes that were a nice relief to the intense politics of the rest of the book. Finally, without a doubt, the best part of the book was the end! Bracken took it in a different direction to what I was expecting which I loved, also it was really exciting, really intense and had me on the edge of my seat! It was a brilliant and satisfying ending to the series!

Overall, I did enjoy this book but the ending made it A LOT better! I’m going to award it a 3 out of 5 stars, a definite read to finish the series, especially if you want a secure closure, but not my favourite in the series.

Plastic – Film Review

May 30, 2015

IMDb page link 

Trailer link 

This was a little bit of an impulsive watch, not going to lie. I had it downloaded on sky plus but never got around to watching it. The only reason I did actually find the time was because I’d just got home after an exam and felt like a little bit of down time before I started revising again. I was actually pleasantly surprised! It was super action packed and exciting!

This film is based on a true story about of group of young adults (I think they were about 19/20, but I’m not entirely sure…) who work together to con various rich people with credit card fraud. However, one day they try to con the wrong sort of person, get caught, and let’s say they end up in a pretty sticky situation with a gangster who is demanding £2 million.

Before I downloaded it from sky, I hadn’t really heard about it before, but it is quite new, only being released in 2014! I didn’t watch it for a while though because A: I’ve had very little time recently and B: I kept forgetting it was there. However the basic plot line really pulled me in and enticed me to watch it! It was very exciting, clever and full of fast paced, high action.
The cast was very good as well with people like Ed Speelers (who I recognised all throughout the film and it really annoyed me. Turns out he was the guy from Eragon, I knew his faced looked familiar!) Also Will Poulter (who we all love let’s be honest, and he has better eyebrows than me…) AND Alfie Allan who I hadn’t seen in anything else but Game of Thrones, so it was quite refreshing to see him acting as a different character (however his character still manages to be a complete dick head)…

It was really amazing to think this actually happened, these kids where honestly so clever, even though they were criminals, I was applauding them on their initiative and intelligence! I really enjoyed this film, it’s not really a family film though as it has some naughty scenes and quite a bit of violence, it is a 15 so please bare this in mind before watching it. I’m going to score this a 4 out of 5 stars, overall I was entertained and that’s what I want from a film!