![]() Those who challenge the hierarchy are often portrayed as evil, and the peasants, on the whole, are mere background characters, dragon victims, refugees, burned out of their houses and generally disregarded by the heroes-whoever they are. Of course, the joy of the genre is in taking us behind that curtain of formality and showing us the cold clockwork underneath. While the best of it might offer a critique of monarchy and feudalism, most of the core texts are set in worlds with Kings, Queens, knights, court intrigue, hapless soldiers and peasants, operating in a rigidly hierarchical society with stultifying formality. ![]() Fantasy is an inherently conservative genre. ![]()
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![]() ![]() After all, one of the most prominent characters in the book, Dirty Weasel, is only a mildly fictionalised version of the author's tea duelling persona, a legend in his own teatime, so this was always going to be surreal wish fulfilment shenanigans. I know author Khurt Khave well, having co-founded the Arizona Penny Dreadfuls with him and a couple of lovely ladies, and this combines much of what I expected from him in a book titled 'Chainsaw Alice in Wonderland': not merely sex and violence in copious quantities, but also steampunk, tea duelling, Nicola Tesla, tentacle porn and the Cthulhu Mythos. ![]() Yes, this is the time-honoured story of 'Alice in Wonderland', retold in the style of a punk zine with all the requisite irreverence, right from the 'Legal Bullshit' page that precedes the contents. It's surprisingly rare nowadays to see such an honest creature as this in book form, given that it wears its raw intentions in its title and simple but effective cover. ![]() 6/8/2023 0 Comments Dk natural history book![]() ![]() From rocks to redwoods, microbes to mammals - this is a dazzling visual introduction to our planet's treasures.įilled with more than 5000 species and in-depth studies of animals, plants, fungi, microorganisms, rocks, and minerals, it's the ultimate celebration of the world's extraordinary diversity of life. "It is the kind of book you will pore over for hours." The Natural History Book About The Natural History BookĪ spectacular and exceptionally well-illustrated guide to everything on Earth. "If anyone can provide a succinct potted reference book on any subject under the sun, DK can." The Daily Express "A spectacular and exceptionally well-illustrated guide to life." How It Works "Beautifully packaged and very authoritative." Country Walking "Compiled by a team of experts, it is thorough, knowledgeable and authentic." The Field ![]() ![]() "A strikingly illustrated bible." Country Life "Not since the first pre-dawn unwrapping of a Christmas Annual For Boys have I leafed througha new book with quite the wonder commmanded by The Natural History Book." Irish Times "an absolute browser's delight" Bird Watching Eye candy for nature lovers of all ages" BBC Wildlife ".like opening the drawers of a Victorian natural-history cabinet. "beautifully packaged and very authoritative" County Walking ![]() 6/8/2023 0 Comments Books like piranesi![]() ![]() He feeds himself by fishing and foraging for seaweed and has devised a form of religion in which he honours the 13 dead ![]() This confinement seems to have provided one of the inspirations for the fantastical framework of Piranesi, where the eponymous hero finds himself exiled to a labyrinthine world, deprived of human contact apart from twice-weekly meetings with the Other. Clarke has written powerfully of the illness that kept her from writing during the intervening years, often confining her to bed in the home she shares with her husband. I read that superb debut when my wife was pregnant with our son now, as its successor is published, he is reading Jonathan Strange. Piranesi is a book of imagined worlds and unpredictable capitalisations, of mystery and murder and university life.įor those of us who had been eagerly awaiting a new Susanna Clarke after 2004’s wildly enjoyable Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, it has been a fair old hiatus. Piranesi knows the patterns of the tides that move through the House, sweeping everything before them, pouring over the statues and ornaments, rushing up staircases and across the House’s marble Halls and Vestibules. Piranesi is around 30, the Other almost twice his age. Of these, Piranesi believes only himself and “the Other” are still alive. ![]() He knows also the number of those who have ever existed: 15. He knows the House intimately, every one of its 7,678 Halls. ![]() 6/8/2023 0 Comments Shell game ridley pearson![]() ![]() ![]() The ship sets sail filled with enthusiastic guests and crew, and the battle is on in new and exotic arenas. It’s believed the Overtakers have infiltrated the cast and are “stowaways.” Worse: it is believed they have stolen an important journal that once belonged to Walt Disney himself–Finn has been having dreams about this–and that some kind of mission is planned. Only the Kingdom Keepers know the truth behind their invitation: nearly every Disney villain is represented onboard the new ship: whether on its decks or in its theaters. ![]() ![]() The Dream is now the most advanced cruise ship in the world.īut all is not right belowdecks. As the Disney Dream joins the cruise fleet, a special treat is in store for guests aboard its inaugural sail from Cape Canaveral to Los Angeles: the Disney Host Interactive teenage guides will be part of the Dream crew.įinn, Maybeck, Charlene, Willa, and Philby are to attend the cruise as celebrity guests, and to perform a ribbon cutting for the DHI server to go live. The fifth novel in the Kingdom Keepers series takes to the high seas! Finn, Amanda, and all of the DHIs are back for this new thrilling story that takes readers belowdecks on the Disney Dream. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() She also annihilated all who stood against her by establishing a bloody religious Inquisition that would darken Spain's reputation for centuries. She sponsored Columbus's trip to the Indies and negotiated Spanish control over much of the New World with the help of Rodrigo Borgia, the infamous Pope Alexander VI. She laid the foundation for a unified Spain. She ended a twenty-four-generation struggle between Muslims and Christians, forcing North African invaders back over the Mediterranean Sea. In 1474, when most women were almost powerless, twenty-three-year-old Isabella defied a hostile brother and a mercurial husband to seize control of Castile and Len. An engrossing and revolutionary biography of Isabella of Castile, the controversial Queen of Spain who sponsored Christopher Columbus's journey to the New World, established the Spanish Inquisition, and became one of the most influential female rulers in history Born at a time when Christianity was dying out and the Ottoman Empire was aggressively expanding, Isabella was inspired in her youth by tales of Joan of Arc, a devout young woman who unified her people and led them to victory against foreign invaders. ![]() ![]() ![]() I loved the landscape, the rich tapestry of mid-century Americana, prairies and cities. When two other characters enter the story-acquaintances from Emmett’s recent past named Woolly and Duchess-a third path opens. Billy has a plan too, a journey mapped by a mysterious series of postcards laid in a line on the kitchen table. Emmett has big reasons to leave the state, and a plan. The two boys are alone, but have each other. The Lincoln Highway begins with eighteen-year-old Emmett, recently returned from juvenile detention in 1954, reuniting with his little brother, Billy, on their foreclosed Nebraska farm. I can’t remember the last time I cared more about the heroes of a book so thoroughly and quickly. ![]() When I opened the first pages of Amor Towles’s newest novel, The Lincoln Highway, I had a feeling I was in for just this kind of experience-bighearted and hopeful, perilous and enlightening. ![]() The stakes are even higher when the underdogs are kids or teens-adventures like This Tender Land, classics like Huckleberry Finn. ![]() Give me a group of underdogs with a sea or continent to cross, the promise of treasure and an arduous road, and I’m all in. ![]() 6/7/2023 0 Comments Nathan hawkins icebreaker![]() ![]() ![]() And adding in that the mmc bought her a Bronco to make up for getting her pregnant? Ew. The fmc repeatedly says she doesn't want to physically have kids because it could mess with her skating career and that she wants to adopt. If you're going to make a needlessly long romance book, at least reward me for reading it all Not enough spice weirdly enough.? There are a lot of spicy scenes, but there are also times when there's build up and then it's fade to black. The fmc calling the mc "bub" as a pet name. she's really smart so this was out of character and I hated it The fmc makes some stupid decisions and doesn't see the problems right in front of her. I guess to make all of the pages "worth it" with how little plot is in this book, it did not need to be over 300 pages. The writing flowed quite well so when an odd turn of phrase came up, it would pull me out of it. ![]() All of the hockey boys are fantastic and fun ![]() The main characters felt like real people with their fears and issues The writing style is easy to get lost in Let's start with what I liked about this book: Or the goal.? A little hockey humor for you there. Another romance book that misses the mark. ![]() 6/7/2023 0 Comments A murder is announced plot![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() I don’t think there is any better praise I can make of it, other than the fact that I have it on Audible, in paperback and in Facsimile edition. ![]() I know the story nearly be heart by now, and I know exactly who did and –why-, but that never stops me from wanting to read/listen to it at least once a year. It’s like a comfortable blanket that every now and then I pull out of the boiler closet and just wrap myself back into the story for the week it takes me to read/listen. I’ve read this book since the late nineties, adding in a few splodges of listening on Audio and recently added it on Audible since my ipod bit the dust and I can’t afford a new one. ![]() 6/6/2023 0 Comments The ingo chronicles![]() Morveren lives with her parents and twin sister Jenna on an island off the coast of Cornwall. And she's sure she can hear him singing across the water: "I wish I was away in Ingo Far across the briny sea.Īn atmospheric and beautifully written adventure, from the award-winning author of the Ingo series. Diving down into Ingo, she discovers a world she never knew existed, where she must let go of all her Air thoughts and embrace the sea But not only is Sapphy intoxicated by the Mer world, she longs to see her father once more. Then, the following summer, Sapphy meets Faro, an enigmatic and intriguing Mer boy. When he is lost at sea she cant help but think of that old myth: shes convinced he's still alive. Sapphires father told her that story when she was little. ![]() ![]() ![]() He swam down into the sea to be with her, and was never seen again Stunning reissue, in beautiful new cover-look, of this magical and award-winning novel " the first of the spellbinding Ingo Chronicles Once there was a man who fell in love with a mermaid. ![]() |