Archives for reviews - Page 10
The Handmaid’s Tale & Failure Modes of Democracy
I've finally caught up with The Handmaid's Tale that Channel Four recently showed. I haven't read the book by Margaret Atwood but I have read some of her interviews about it. I've added the book to my wish list. The Handmaid's Tale The Handmaid's Tale is essentially a piece of speculative fiction about the failure of Democracy in the US. It's scarily plausible, which is sort of the definition of speculative fiction. Elisabeth Moss as Offred in The Handmaid's Tale (photo: Hulu) In the TV series of The Handmaid's Tale we follow Offred (formerly known as June) as she survives in the post-coup Republic of Gilead. That being the survivors of the former US. Elisabeth Moss does a great job playing the main character through both the flashbacks that explain how she got there and the 'present day' parts of…
Rivers of London: Black Mould by Ben Aaronovitch [Book Review]
Rivers of London: Black Mould by Ben Aaronovitch My rating: 4 of 5 stars Black Mould is a lovely little side story for Peter Grant that you can read without having read all the previous ; Black Mould The premise is pretty straightforward, although there's more than meets the eye initially. Peter Grant and his colleague Guleed are called to a luxury high rise where there's an infestation of black mould. This is more than just a fungal infection, otherwise they'd have sent a cleaner instead of the Met Police's second best ; The graphic novel format works really well, and despite having read five books before getting to the graphic novels (this is the third graphic novel) the characters are drawn/painted the way my imagination did from Ben Aaronovitch's ; There are some lovely background bits that tie Black…
Once More* *with footnotes by Terry Pratchett [book review]
Once More* *with footnotes by Terry Pratchett My rating: 5 of 5 stars I've been dipping into Once More With Footnotes for over a year. Being short stories, all with introductory notes from Sir Pterry, it's easy to read a few pages and then stop than it would be if there was a full novel. Once More* Terry Pratchett auf der Elf Fantasy Fair in den Niederlanden (Photo credit: Wikipedia) It's an odd collection of things that have been published elsewhere for the most part. There are short stories, some are even discworld stories. However there are introductions to things, newspaper articles and forewords. These latter give some insight into Pterry's character, although much of that is obvious already if you read his books. If you've been following my blog for any length of time then you'll know I'm a…
Dunkirk – A different sort of war movie [movie review]
I went to see Dunkirk with my 11 year old son last week. I'd read some reviews beforehand and chose the IMAX version. It's an amazing movie that I think will bear watching again. I'll try to avoid spoilers. Dunkirk English: Royal Navy gunner covering the troops retreat at Dunkirk (France, 1940). Screenhot taken from the 1943 United States Army propaganda film Divide and Conquer (Why We Fight #3) directed by Frank Capra and partially based on, news archives, animations, restaged scenes and captured propaganda material from both sides. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) The movie focuses on three stories, one on Land (over a week), one on the Sea (a day) and in the Air (an hour). The three stories are very personal perspectives and are interwoven, coming together near the end of the movie. There's no overview, or explanation of…
The Delirium Brief by Charles Stross [Book Review]
The Delirium Brief by Charles Stross My rating: 5 of 5 stars Bob is back, and the whole Laundry series just levelled up a couple of notches. I'm a major fan of Charlie Stross and have read his entire output. The Laundry is right up my street (being a civil servant with more than a passing interest in IT). This novel even more so, because it gets into other areas that I've got a professional interest in too. The Delirium Brief In terms of broad storyline, the Delirium Brief brings back some old characters and uncovers secrets that were compartmented away from Bob in the earlier stories. It also shows more of the inner workings and rationale for the Laundry that Bob wouldn't have either known about or cared much about if he had known. The Delirium Brief of the…