Tome Thursday: The Land the Gods Forgot

 

Hello everyone!

 

And welcome back to another book review.

 

Tonight's choice makes a whole lot of sense if you remember that I'm a big fan of Outlander and Vikings, which is basically what this is a mash-up of.

 

The fact remains that there's been a BIG resurgence of time travel books and books that feature characters just randomly popping through time since Diana Gabaldon's works have been adapted by Starz (and this is ending with the eighth season, so, SOBS GALORE).

 

Which isn't a bad thing, honestly, because there's sooo many places you could time travel to!

 

Now, if only we could find authors that wrote about someone dropping into Ancient Greece or the like.

 

Anyway, without further ado, let's get right into Sarah Beth's book, alright?

 

The ravens are gathering and the battle draws near in The Land the Gods Forgot.

 

Talkie Tuesday: Quest for Camelot

 

"A knight's strength comes from the heart."

 

Hello everyone!

 

I finally return with an actual, movie-related blog post, which has been a bit lacking since I fell into the black hole of gaming on Youtube.

 

But never fear, I still have a list of stuff waiting to be watched, including but not limited to Black Widow, so here we go! Tonight's one is a blast from the past more than anything else. I mean, the movie IS 23 years old, which is as long as someone's lifetime.

 

Then again all the good movies seem to have the longevity to them at the end of the day so I'm not even remotely surprised that this is what happens.

 

Anyway, I'm rambling now.

 

Why don't I stop with my babble and jump straight into the important bits?

 

Aka, you know the story of the Sword in the Stone - but do you know, or do you remember, the story of the Quest for Camelot?

 

Saturday Snippet: Asgard!

 

 

 

Check this gameplay and pay attention!

The plot thickens.

 

xx

*video not mine

Tome Thursday: The Legend of Lady MacLaoch

Hello everyone!

With the weather having changed (FINALLY) to something a little more manageable in the sense that it's not two hundred degrees outside every time I stick my nose out, I finally feel like I can actually function normally again.

I mean, I like summer, don't get me wrong, but I also like it when it doesn't try to roast me on the spot like it's been trying to do.

But then of course the downside here is that we may not GET any more real summer from now on, which is a bit of a bummer.

You can't have it all!

But maybe you CAN if you're descendant of some ancient Scottish clan or Viking-inspired seafarers, because then you just MIGHT stumble over a curse that's been hanging over someone's head for generations, you CAN try to lift it, and end up living your happily ever after!

Sounds like something you might read more about?

Then I encourage you to pick up The Legend of Lady MacLaoch. It's got all of the above, and more!

Saturday Snippet: Hann til ragnarøks!

xx

*video not mine

Tome Thursday: If Kisses Were Snowflakes

Hello everyone!

Today has been a rather busy day for me, but that said, I've been looking forward to sitting down and typing up this blog post, because it features one of my favourite books.

I think you may be sensing a trend here.

I don't believe I've ever run into more than one or two books written by Serenity Woods that I didn't like - and even then, it wasn't that I really didn't like them, I just didn't connect well enough with a character so I felt out of whack with the entire thing, and therefore missed the experience.

But ALL of her books are guaranteed to make you smile. Scout's honour!

I've been on a Woods reading binge ever since December began, going through her Three Wise Men series (I still have to read Matt's book one more time) and generally just picking up her Christmas-y titles.

This one is DEFINITELY one of those, because believe it or not, it's part of her Christmas Wishes book series, a set of standalone books that are all set in Christmas time.

As they say, If Kisses Were Snowflakes - I'd send you a snowstorm.

Tome Thursday: Hotel Valhalla Guide to the Norse Worlds

Hello everyone!

It's time to defy Ragnarok again!

Okay well, maybe not quite, but MAYBE this gives you an idea about what I'll be talking about tonight.

I've sort of been behind on my reading for a little bit and I need to catch up during the weekend, so I pulled out an old favourite to check through since I've already done some other guide books by the same author.

Rick Riordan has this thing where he writes about deities from any and all cultures, more or less.

Most famously, of course, he breathed life to the one and only Percy Jackson, but another fan favourite was Magnus Chase, or he quickly became one, especially because Magnus is cousin to our Annabeth!

And well ... he's kind of dead.

More on that later.

For now, let's just say that the Hotel Valhalla guide is probably a must-read!

Tome Thursday: An Uncommon Sense

Hello everyone!

I've started yet another book trilogy to read and review for you, although granted I'm sure many of you have already read these. Or maybe not. If not, I hope you give them a try!

Serenity Woods is, as per usual, one of my favourite go-to authors when I need a HEA and just to spend a few hours immersed in a different life than my own. It's kind of funny in a way, and maybe kind of sad too, but it is what it is.

I'll admit that I've had her Sensual Healing trilogy on my computer in electronic version for a while, but never actually got around to reading it. I was always either too busy, or it didn't spark my interest, or something else came along and distracted me.

But when you're digging through old files and find books like these, well, you just have to read them at some point, right? Right.

So let's begin where you usually would: at the beginning, with An Uncommon Sense.

Tome Thursday: Norse Mythology

Hello everyone!

So I made a snap decision to change the book for tonight's blog post. Why? Well, for no other reason than I felt like it.

Plus it took me FOREVER to get my notes in order for the original one, so I figured I might as well leave them to sit there for a bit, then go back and check them again before I decide to post it all up here.

In the meantime, however, I still need to write about something.

Which is why I decided to write about Neil Gaiman and his Norse Mythology book.

Norse mythology is, for all intents and purposes, as rich and varied as Greek or Roman, but unfortunately we just don't have enough written evidence about what happened back then, what people believed. We have fragments - but the whole is lost to us.

It's a sad story, but what we DO have, well, that's pretty brilliant.

Enter, stage right, Neil Gaiman with his all-in-one account of the gods, Norse Mythology.

Talkie Tuesday: Warcraft

"Is war the only answer?"

Hello everyone!

Okay.

I will admit. I'm a bit of a fantasy nut.

I can honestly HEAR people who know me going 'Oh, REALLY?' in the most sarcastic tones ever, but really, I haven't actually sat down to write something very, very fantasy-like in a while now.

And then I remembered this gem I decided to watch some time ago.

The movie itself is already a year old, so to be honest I'm out of the loop and definitely late into the game, and it's been a while since I've seen it so there's been a lot of back-and-forth for me to remember just what, precisely, was going on back in the thing itself.

Also, I have to be honest with you: my main reason for trying this on for size was the fact that Travis Fimmel was cast in one of the lead roles.

I mean, have you seen Vikings? You probably have. If you've seen the show, you know you NEED to see anything and everything Fimmel does in his career, because he's just that good. And, yeah, okay, I wanted to see if his accent would be different to the one he had as Ragnar.

Ergo, without further ado, allow me to introduce Warcraft!

Talkie Tuesday: The Lord of the Rings

"One Ring to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them."

Hello everyone!

Okay, so I bet you're all thinking this is some sort of weird blog post considering the fact that I've talked about Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings so much in the previous ones even when they didn't need to be talked about that it's pretty funny, I guess. And then I go and finally make a totally separate post! 

It's not that bad, I swear.

I mean, okay, yes, it's bad because my love and almost-obsession with this thing is probably something I should at some point be ashamed of, but so far I'm not (and I'm ignoring the coughs and eye rolls from people who will take the almost-obsession and strike the almost out of it!). I think it's one of those literary pieces that stay with you, if you only allow it.

Which is exactly what happened with me, of course, though I won't be talking about the book in this blog post.

I've actually seen the movies so many times so far that I probably know the scripts by heart and I can voice along with the rest of them without looking at the screen. But the movie I'm going to talk about wasn't made by Peter Jackson.

In fact, it was made decades before, in 1978 by a man named Ralph Bakshi.

Talkie Tuesday: Taken

"I will find you. And I will kill you."

Hello everyone!

I'm usually fairly okay with keeping up with movies - when I put my mind to it. And then one thing happens, or the other, and I end up forgetting ALL about the movies, which means they pile up behind me like some sort of downtown rush hour traffic jam. 

I'm not even joking.

I have probably a number going closer to ten movies that are just waiting, begging to be considered as the movie of the day, but I just can't get to them with the backlog I have going on!

Among these is the trilogy of Taken movies, although granted I was late on this whole Taken train bandwagon to begin with, because for some reason I just never found the time to sit down properly and watch them. Of course, then came the time of summer, beach vacations and loads of free time (with no internet), so they sort of ended up on the list.

Luckily, as they were certainly amusing.