The Introverted Detective

 Today we review book 2 of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, Carl's Doomsday Scenario. At this point, Carl has just entered floor 3. If you don't know what I'm talking about, read the first book. Let's get into it.  Basic overview, this is where the real drama and dungeon crawling begin. This entire book is level 3. All of it. From the circus quest, to the desperado club, to the quest that led every crawler to run to level 4 early. This was level 3 alone, and I can't wait to see what level 4 has in store next book.  There is a lot to say. The stakes go higher and higher. There are also moments I wouldn't be eating lunch and reading this book. The circus quest left me feeling a little ill. Ice cream anyone? I didn't think so. You'll understand when you get there.  The main thing is that the crawlers are starting to interact more, and we learn that high crawlers have bounties on their heads. This game just keeps getting crueler and crueler. We see some NPCs...

  Return Of The King blew me out of the water. This is the best book in the trilogy, picking up with Gondor and what happens to Pippin and Gandalf. Let's get into it.  Half this book is war, another tenth is Sam and Frodo's journey to destroy the ring, and the rest of it is the aftermath of coming home - including liberating the Shire from Saruman. A lot happens in this book. I couldn't sum it up in one sentence if I tried.  Review The first thing I made notes about was Denethor, the "charming" father of Boromir and Faramir. There are memes explaining that Denethor loves Boromir more than Faramir for good reason. Later he burns himself alive, after trying to burn Faramir (ill from battle) with him. Denethor was convinced there was no hope of Gondor being saved, thus he decided to end himself. Gondor was saved. Denethor also was a steward of the throne and refused to give it up before lighting himself on fire. He makes Boromir makes sense. Next we come to "I a...

I'm reviewing another 1930 Laurel and Hardy, a talkie titled Murder Case. Let's get into it.  This talkie starts with Laurel and Hardy fishing, then has them at the home of a murdered man in hopes of claiming money, as they are out of work since 1921 according to title cards. At the end you find out all the hijinks were in their head and they fist fight into the water they were fishing in.  We got a hilariously creepy butler, a bunch of great practical effects, and a lot of silly moments. As usual, I loved it. Also, for 1930 the sound was pretty dang good. I also watched a refurbished version, so that might also be it. If you want the worst "woman passing out in shock" you'll find it here - used for comedic and dramatic effect. You might think I'm going to give this five stars, but I give it four stars. I rate these out of enjoyment and this was a great one, but not my favorite. It had great hijinks and comedy, but I like others more. So, for all the good soun...

 Let's get into Book/Chapter 2 of The Odyssey. Once again, I have watched a video by MoAn Inc before I got into the poetry. I highly suggest doing that for The Odyssey so you don't get lost in the poetic language. You'll see the link to that video right before the review section. Time to dive in.  Book 2 is really Chapter 2 in The Odyssey. If you want to read my review of Book 1,  here it is.  The review has two parts. One is plot and general enjoyment. The other is readability (how easy it is to understand). I'll have two five-star ratings here, just so you can know how difficult the poetry is to understand.  Here is the YouTube video by MoAn Inc.  MoAn Inc. Book 2 Summary The Review I'm starting with enjoyability. This was five stars. I liked the banter and storyline here. Right now Telemachus is calling a council meeting and then going to Pyle to inquire about Ulysses/Odysseus. He calls on Jove/Zeus and Minerva/Athena for help, which they give in omens ...

 Do you want to hear about George Remus, a lawyer turned bootlegger? Then you'll love this book. Let's dive in.  This book is about a bootlegger named George Remus, who started as a lawyer and then turned his legal hand to bootlegging, then got ruined by a woman named Imogene. This is the story of a bootlegger who had the intelligence to run an empire for a short time, but not the intelligence to know he was being played like a fiddle by his second wife. This is also the story of Mabel Walker Willebrandt, who took down Remus and bootlegging operations while battling a hearing impairment and sexism. Oh, and let's not forget that this story ends in murder.  The Review This is narrative nonfiction, which means it is written like a fiction story but entirely true. It is telling a story with facts behind it. This makes nonfiction much easier to read. Combining a thrilling story of bootlegging, betrayal, and murder with narrative nonfiction made this book an easy read.  I ...

 Here is book two of Lord Of The Rings. Without any Adieu, let's get into it.  We pick up with the rest of the fellowship, starting with Aragorn finding Boromir. Peter Jackson put some of this in the first movie and not the second. Knowing that, you have to read The Fellowship Of The Ring before you read The Two Towers.  The Overview We turn the camera back to the rest of the fellowship. After focusing on Frodo, we now know Boromir died to protect the last two hobbits (Merry and Pippin). You have to read the previous book to understand what is going on. They don't know where Frodo and Sam are until they see the boats. The remaining fellowship go after Merry and Pippin. The fellowship all end up at Rohan. From here, we take down Saruman and the trees go to battle (The Ents, you'll understand when you read it). Close to the end we tune back in to see where Sam and Frodo are. They tame Gollum/Smeagol to get a guide across the swamp. That lasts only so long before Gollum/Smea...

 I just read the book The Fellowship Of The Ring. Today we compare it to the Peter Jackson film - the extended edition. Let's go! Today I'm highlighting the differences between the movie and the book. This is because books don't directly translate to film. You have to convert the dialogue into a script, film stuff (not as easy as they make it look), and edit the result. Some scenes didn't work, or some set piece doesn't work (like Jaws), and you get a different result than the book. It is never exact.  With all that in mind, we dive into the film itself. The main plot is intact, minus Tom Bombadil's role. He was cut from the film.  The  comparison The shire and the birthday party are pretty close. The only real differences between the book and movie in the first part are these: you are missing the other black rider encounters between the first and last one before Buckleberry Ferry. Oh, and Tom Bombadil. It skipped the months of planning that went along with Frod...

 One of my college friends loves this series and I am just getting into it. This is book 1 of the series. Let's talk about alien politics and video game dungeons.  If you liked Hunger Games, imagine adding video game rules to the story and having alien planets run the whole thing. Oh, and some crude humor to keep us from focusing solely on the darkness. You are looking at a video game dungeon version of Hunger Games, where the longer you survive the more likely you are to work for the alien planets instead of dying. No one has survived past level 13 of 18 levels. Remember - "kill, kill,kill!" The review This is a story about Carl, a man stuck in a dungeon with his ex's talking show cat (Princess Donut). Again, take video game rules and imagine yourself trapped in a dungeon for real - where there is no respawning. We start with 13 million people in the dungeons and make it down to less than 1 million by the end of the book (floor 3). This is also survival horror. For e...

 I'm finally reading the books I stare at in the living room. Let's dive into The Lord of the Rings trilogy. These are my husband's books. Because of that, I acquired see-through sticky notes to annotate the book. I'm not allowed to write directly on the page. I highly reccommend using these sticky notes, as they make the book look nice, but allow annotation to happen.  This is the first book of the trilogy, where Frodo acquires the ring from Bilbo and they find out it's the One Ring. It begins in the shire and is a lot of travel - and running from dark riders.  Thoughts The dark riders are a big problem. They can smell the ring on Frodo. The ring also wants to be found, so when they come around the urge to put on the ring is amped to 11 out of 10. The second time we see one, it is crawling towards Frodo and the hobbits (while they are hiding in the woods). It was almost game over and we haven't reached Rivendell. Frodo was lucky the elves were traveling that pa...

 I'm taking on reading the Odyssey, with help from a YouTuber who has summaries of each book. I'm starting with Book 1 and slowly working through it. I was inspired by Epic the Musical. Let's get into it.  Courtesy of lookandlearn.com Telemachus and Mentes The first thing I did was listen to a summary of book 1. I'd suggest doing the same. It helps you know what's going on in plain English. I put the video I watched here. In case it doesn't actually let you watch it from here, look up "MoAn Inc. The Odyssey" and find her playlist for the summaries. Then, I dove into the poetry. Once you know the summary, it is easier than you think. I would highly suggest watching the video above before reading it. I did get lost at a few spots. If I hadn't known the summary, I'd be confused.  My Review I'm reviewing this on two things: readability and the story. Just like any older text, you do have to get used to the poetry. It was meant to be performed. ...

 I read the book that inspired this film. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from 1931 is a black-and-white silent film. The movie isn't all that far off from the book. Aside from adding a love interest (like they do in lots of films), the plot is close enough once you get to Jekyll actually getting the idea for the potion.  Courtesy of Alamy.com I give this film an 8 out of 10. It was entertaining, but the music was situation-deaf. The organ music during Hyde beating a man to death with a cane was...a choice. Cheerful music for being attacked by Hyde, beating a man to death, and someone dying of poison were all tone-deaf choices for tense moments. Any other filmmaker would have used more tense pieces for such scenes.  The acting itself was good, minus those melodramatic transformations. The women in this film knocked it out of the park. You could tell the prostitutes and women around Hyde hated him - but the prostitutes couldn't say no to money and feared him. They effectively told...

 The cartoon research has ended. Now we get back to films. I started with Laurel and Hardy (something I grew up with because my Dad loves this comedy duo). I did a blog on those two actors ( click here for that blog ) and now I'm reviewing more of their films. This one is called Brats from 1930.  Fineartamerica.com This one started slow, but got funnier the longer I watched it. I was also struck by the practical special effects in this short. They would achieve being the size of children by acting a huge set. Not to mention the water effect at the end and the mouse that shows up. You can also spot a stuntman rather easily (falling down stairs). The mouse looked like early CGI.  I loved the physical comedy, as usual. The joke set-ups were great. For example, the billiards joke with the marshmallow and the chalk, the skate on the stairs, and the running water. I give this 10 stars (rounded up because I'm somewhere in between 9.5 and 10). It started slow, but definitely got ...

 Villette is a book I don't hear much about, so let's talk about it. Written by Charlotte Bronte, it is about Lucy Snowe. I went into it knowing nothing.  When I started getting more into it, I discovered that Lucy Snowe was without family and looking for work. She gets on a boat on a guided whim, goes to a French speaking country, and ends up at Villette. She has money, but not very much. This is the story of a woman looking for work, who also has nothing to lose. She is going on whims, or if you read it as guidance, God's guidance. Every whim or guided suggestion pays off, so I would classify it as God's guidance.  Here's the thing about Charlotte Bronte's life when she wrote Villette; she wrote this after her sisters died. The hope you saw in Jane Eyre is definitely not the same because the author was not as lonely then. It explores her depression and ill mental health. You know Lucy is mourning, you know Lucy is alone, and you know she's not okay. Neithe...