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Book Review: Unsaid Things…Our Story by McFly

By Amazon, Books & AuthorsNo Comments
mcfly-unsaid-things-book-cover This autobiography tells the tell of McFly. Written in an interview style, Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Harry Judd and Dougie Poynter start in their childhood’s and proceed chronologically through the decade that the band has been together (2003-2013).

It’s one of the most honest autobiographies I’ve ever read. It tells-all (well almost!) about the band including: the band nearly ending before it had began because of weed, Tom’s struggles with his mental health and Dougie’s battle with addiction (and how he got into recovery).

The good, the bad and the ugly (not that there’s any ugly) it’s all in Unsaid Things…Our Story. As is how the band celebrated and enjoyed their successes and learned from their failures.

In Unsaid Things…Our Story McFly acknowledge the support from their fans and thank them. There was a suitable amount of glossy photo pages, but more would always be welcome with these attractive guys.

People of my sort of age (late twenties) will get all their references. A good example is growing up we all watched Back to the Future. This film had a huge influence in how the band got it’s name. Want to know more? Buy Unsaid Things…Our Story and find out.

In Unsaid Things…Our Story McFly fans will learn when they wrote which songs, what those songs were originally about and what they feel about their past albums now – looking back.

I enjoyed reading this honest and open book about McFly’s ten year journey. Here’s to the next decade and beyond McFly! Unsaid Things…Our Story by McFly is available to buy on Amazon.

Review soon,

Antony

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Friday 25 July 2014

Book Review: Fear by Michael Grant

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
fear-michael-grant-cover Fear is fifth book in the Gone Series. The first book was Gone, which I have reviewed here. The second book was Hunger, which I reviewed here. The third book was Lies, which I have reviewed here. The fourth book was Plague, which I have reviewed here.

In Fear the kids are still trapped in the FAYZ (Fallout Alley Youth Zone) by the impenetrable dome and things are about to get a lot worse.

Astrid is living alone in the wilderness after events in Plague. But after noticing a black stain rising over the dome, she returns to Lake Tramonto and to Sam. If the dome goes completely black it will leave the kids in the dark. With no sunlight how will they grow food? Kids will panic, have accidents, starve and quickly die.

Meanwhile King Caine is continuing his reign of Perdido Beach with psychopath Penny. But when she goes too far he is forced to make a difficult choice.

Penny switches sides joining Drake and the Darkness. The darkness is after Dianna’s unborn baby. Why does it want the baby and will it succeed? Little Pete is surprisingly back as something. Pete will discover his new true nature and so will the reader.

Fear starts with Connie Temple outside the dome. This outside perspective adds another dimension to the story.

Astrid, Dianne, Little Pete and Caine characters developed well. This development gave the characters a strong sense of realism. Sex between some characters was used to indicate the characters maturity and the importance of their relationships to one another. These scenes were an expected progression and written appropriately for a YA book.

In Fear no new kids develop new powers. This was a missed opportunity to develop the storyline. The storyline was captivating as always, with a great dome-related twist at the end. However the ending was anticlimactic and left open. The reader had to many unanswered questions at the end to feel satisfied.

Overall Fear is a great instalment in the Gone Series. It’s good to know that it isn’t the last in the series. Fear is available to buy on Amazon.

Review soon,

Antony

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Thursday 10 July 2014

Film Review: After The Dark (The Philosophers)

By Amazon, Inspiration, Reviews, Thinking, TV, Online Streaming & FilmsNo Comments
after-the-dark-film In After The Dark it’s the last day of term and Mr. Zimit, a Philosophy Teacher challenges his international high school students to take part in one final thought experiment: It’s the apocalypse and there’s a bunker that will save some of them. There’s twenty-one of them and only ten places in the bunker. Having more than ten people in the bunker will mean that all in the bunker perish. The class must decide who will get a place in the bunker and who wont.

To help the students decide, Mr. Zimit hands them cards with skills on (e.g. Organic Farmer, Structural Engineer, Poet, etc.) for their character in this thought experiment. He encourages them to make logical decisions.

Later Mr. Zimit ups the ante by telling students that they are required to get at least one pregnancy going during the year in the bunker and asks the students to open their cards to reveal another aspect to their character (e.g. one is gay, one is sterile, one is a midwife, one will get cancer in 3 years time, etc.). Then they have to decide again with this new information who will get a place in the bunker.

Here’s the trailer:

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After The Dark is a superb film that uses the dialogue and snippets of action to keep the watcher hooked throughout. Set in the Indonesian city of Jakarta, there are some beautiful settings in this film including Prambanan temple. The cast are mostly unknowns, but fitted their individual roles and worked together well.

There is good representation of gay people in this film. One of the students is a gay man who is out, accepted and valued by his fellow students (and there is another one that isn’t out at the beginning of the film).

The lead male character who is identified as straight, opens up his Organic Farmer card to reveal that his character is gay. He gets a place in the bunker, but when it comes to pairing up to get a pregnancy going he says he feels he wouldn’t be comfortable sleeping with a woman as a gay man. This is followed by a short scene of him and the openly gay student getting it on and then shows them becoming close as a couple.

After The Dark is a film that challenges what you believe about philosophy, logic, the survival of the human race and whether it’s important to exist or live. You’ll find yourself watching it again and again and thinking about it for days afterwards. It will be a great source of enjoyment and generate a good debate among the people you watch it with.

After The Dark is a fantastic five star film, one that has been under-rated and missed by most. It is available to pre-order/order on Amazon.

Published by: The Gay UK on Sunday 6th July 2014.

Review soon,

Antony



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Thursday 3 July 2014

Book Review: Thief’s Magic by Trudi Canavan

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
Thiefs-magic-trudi-canavan-cover Thief’s Magic is one of Canavan’s best books to date. Here’s what Thief’s Magic is about according to the Press Release:

In a world where an industrial revolution is powered by magic, Tyen, a student of archaeology, unearths a sentient book called Vella. Once a young sorcerer-bookbinder, Vella was transformed into a useful tool by one of the greatest sorcerers of history. Since then she has been collecting information, including a vital clue to the disaster Tyen’s world faces.

Elsewhere, in a land ruled by the priests, Rielle the dyer’s daughter has been taught that to use magic is to steal from the Angels. Yet she knows she has a talent for it, and that there is a corrupter in the city willing to teach her how to use it – should she dare risk the Angels’ wrath.

But not everything is as Tyen and Rielle have been raised to believe. Not the nature of magic, nor the laws of their lands. Not even the people they trust.

The book is split into two stories, Tyen’s and Rielle’s.

Tyen’s character and storyline were brilliant. His tale is a classic adventure story and grips the readers attention. The reader will like the concept of many different worlds and the concept of the millennium rule. Tyen’s story is compelling and will leave the reader with a hankering for more. More conversations between Tyen and Vella, more exploration of different worlds and more learning of magic.

Rielle’s character felt two dimensional and underdeveloped. Other characters in Rielle’s chapters were much more interesting than her. Canavan had well researched dyes, paints and artistic skill, which she put into the novel as required. There are some imaginative ideas and interesting plot points in Rielle’s story. But as the book continued, I sighed every time I saw Rielle’s name as the chapter title. The problem with Rielle’s character is that I didn’t care about her. This was in part because she lacked depth.

As always Canavan’s writers voice engages the reader. She showed the transition of time really well and the show/tell balance was perfect. The pacing was a little slow at times and the reader will question if some chapters are necessary or important to the story. However Canavan may have been laying the foundations for the two other books in the trilogy. Towards the end of the advanced copy I received, the editing could have been better. There were a number of typos that interrupted the flow of the story, however it is likely these were fixed prior to the printing of the general release.

Overall Thief’s Magic is a great read. Tyen’s story makes the reader excited about the next book and impatient for it to be published.

Thief’s Magic is available to buy on Amazon.

Review soon,

Antony



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Saturday 7 June 2014
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