#neanderthal book review
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History of human evolution from ancient to modern, a book review. https://youtu.be/7P8zAqQseLg
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A Review of Neanthadral Opens The Door to the Universe
Mild Spoiler Warning & Trigger Warning for Discussion of Suicide & Abuse
Can you believe it? I literally finished it under 24 hours, like all four hundred pages under a damn day (well technically, I started it yesterday at like seven pm and finished it at four pm today). That was how addictive it was, I just kept reading through it. Flipping through it. I couldn't believe I thought my sister was ridiculous for buying this.
Unlike most YA novels I've read, our protagonist (Cliff Hubbard, AKA the titular Neanderthral) narration is entertaining. He's self deprecating, but he isn't pathetic. He doesn't really put himself down for attention, he's just shaped that way.
Before the story started, his brother, Shane, committed suicide and that pretty much made his life worse. Then, his life took a turn for the... greater weirder when one of the school's assholes Aaron Zimmerman got a concussion and told Cliff God came to him with a list. A list on how to fix the school.
I was never one for religious books, or books with religious themes. I'm just not interested. But this one handled it well! (And most of the supporting cast are err... atheists, so that's also unique. One of the main characters turns agnostic by the end, no elaboration on that.)
Cliff is huge, as in GIANT huge (that's where his cruel nickname comes from), but don't let that fool you. No matter how much his dad tells him to join the football team, he's basically a nerd at heart. (Although he can beat an asshole up easily. I'm not sure if he needs the football team as much as the football teams needed him).
I didn't really get most of the references, but I was so invested in Aaron's and Cliff's bromance. Their friendship went from 'Yeah, I only went along with his List for the jokies' to 'I would DIE for Aaron (well he never said that, but you can assume that)'.
They act like straight teenage guys, you know, ass, boobs and girls, but they also got a lot of chemistry together. Honestly, they're one of the few bromances I don't find myself shipping romantically. I just love them.
I forgot to elaborate on his list, but they were basically pointers on how to make their school better;
Put an end to Niko (one of the bullies obviously)'s bullying
Call the JTs (group of crazy Christian teens) to repentance
Remind Mr. Spinelli (an asshole teacher of theirs) why he chose to teach.
Show Frankie's gang (notorious gang of drug dealers) a better way
Find and stop HAL (a hacker)
Yes sir, I busted the book out!
Of course, it's left ambiguous on if Aaron did see God. Weirdly, the book also implies that Shane had a hand in transporting the message to him? The book does lean towards it being the result of his brain damage, but personally I liked to think there was a God sending him a message. Not a traditional God in our religions, no, I think a God.
Granted, I am an atheist so I don't have a horse in this race.
But seriously. Aaron got the best character development in this book. He went from a handsome, sexist douchebag to a well... handsome, loveable douchebag. Seriously. It wasn't just the concussion changing him, he really does change for the better. Albeit, he's still a teenager so he got a far way to go in terms of change but this is still better than nothing.
And did I mentioned Tegan, Cliff's girlfriend? I was worried she'd be those girlfriend characters that are only used to further the protagonist's development, but she has her own arc, personality, and hurts.
If I was a straight man, I'd fall for her. That's a queen.
But this topic does touch on some heavy topics. They may be hard to read through. For one example, Cliff has flashbacks to Shane's graphic suicide a few times. So, it might be triggering for any readers sensitive to that.
Cliff's dad also physically abuses him a lot, so that's also another sensitive topic the book touches on. But don't worry, his life gets better from here. A lot better. Everything I discussed in this post is just a tip of the iceberg, the four hundred page novel is a LOT more than that.
Overall, this is one of the few books I'd give a five star. Captivating, emotional, fun story, fun characters, beautiful themes. I adore everything about it. I wish I had read it earlier, but better now than never, right?
Please check it out if you love a YA novel that isn't centered around a romance. It's beautiful, fun, amusing.
And that was all
that unmotivater wrote.
#booklr#book rec#book review#neanderthal opens the door to the universe#preston norton#i love this book sm#readblr
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Another Sunday
Welp, I made it through another week without killing or being killed, so...success! I have the Sunday night dreads, remember that feeling as a kid? I haven't posted about work or much of anything because I feel like I've been negative lately. No one likes that. I'm usually the seeker of silver linings and cheerleader for the team/family, so I don't like being a downer. I know my role, and until I get back in the groove, I'll shut up about all of it, mmmkay?
Today we drove to Easton for an author talk and it was absolutely fascinating. David George Haskell, an evolutionary biologist and winner of all sorts of awards for his writings (two time Pulitzer finalist!) was speaking at The Avalon Theater about his book, Sounds Wild and Broken.
Biologist and nature writer David George Haskell has spent his career reminding us to pay closer attention to nature. In his latest book, Sounds Wild and Broken, which was nominated for a 2022 Pulitzer Prize in general nonfiction, Haskell turns his considerable perceptive powers to “Earth’s fraying soundtrack”—the planet’s orchestral richness, which is being increasingly blocked out by human noise. Haskell will deliver a book talk and play some recordings of nature’s most wondrous sounds in the Avalon Theatre.
It was so, so good. I took notes and now I want to read all of his books. He is an absolute artist with words, and managed to make some very scientific topics digestible for us common folks. His phrasing made me swoon, he could make insects seem magical. Even Mickey admitted to getting a little choked up a couple of times when he spoke of "primal sounds" - sounds that are unchanged from millions of years ago. We hear the ocean or a waterfall the same way that our Neanderthal ancestors did. I think you had to be there to hear and feel the impact. I'm not doing any of it justice. We had a lot to talk about on the way home and I'll be thinking of this for a long, long time. I've been reading rave reviews about his book The Songs of Trees, I may have to grab that one too. Don't judge his work by my poor attempt at sharing here - check it out!
Another big (and important!!) event coming up is the grandgirl's SIXTH birthday. Can you believe it? Seems like just yesterday I was passing out pink tootsie pops and telling everyone I met, "It's a girl!" Now she's her own little person with friends, report cards, and a desire to see Disney on Ice. That's where she's going next weekend with her bestie that lives two houses down from her. I would not be at all surprised if they attend in full princess regalia, tiaras and all. Grancy has her birthday surprises ready and I think I covered all of the bases - dress-up, books, a little magic (Magic Mixie Pixlings), clothes,etc. If she didn't already have two cats I'd get her a kitten too. Think they'd notice a pony in the back yard? I should stop.
After we celebrate Little Miss turning six, we'll celebrate my first baby turning thirty-nine. Thirty-nine. How did that happen? Matthew has been a joy to me every day of his life. That isn't an exaggeration. Thirty-nine years of being a mother went really fast. My youngest baby is thirty-five. Same level of joy. Those two made my whole life worthwhile. There's not a single day I'd give back. We were always sort of the Three Musketeers, we've been poor together, laughed until we cried together, had adventures - some even on purpose.
Okay, I got sidetracked. I was talking about Matt's birthday. Since he's in Minneapolis we rarely get to celebrate with him and that makes me really sad. I hate the idea of him working all day and then heading home to an empty house on his birthday. Oh, he's got wonderful friends, but it's not the same. Before I started at the library we'd talked about flying out to see him and have some birthday fun. Of course that isn't possible for me now, but Mickey is going to zip out to Minneapolis for a guy's weekend and I couldn't be happier. They'll probably fill the hours with weird stuff that wouldn't interest me - like watching a bunch of war movies and eating a lot of beef. As long as Matt has a happy birthday, that's a win.
Gosh, it's almost 9 o'clock. We're watching the Grammy Awards and I'm quite pleased that we recognize so many performers. That's not always the case. When we were young we swore that we'd never be those old folks who didn't listen to popular music, but here we are. I listen to about a third of what's new, maybe not even that much. You get to an age where you just don't care - you like what you like and you don't care what else is out there. Kind of like my fashion choices at work - everyone else still wears gray, black, somber clothing. I show up daily in my pink and ruffled nonsense. It's February so tomorrow I'm adding big ol' heart earrings to the mix.
I. DON'T. CARE.
I'm the granny in the building anyway, might as well write my reputation in stone.
I have the biggest hair in the building, the brightest clothes, and the loudest laugh. I gotta' be me.
I'll end this scatterbrained post with a bit of good news. The mister and I have made a decision about our anniversary trip. It'll likely be in October and we'll head to the Alsace region of France. It's a stunningly beautiful area where France, Germany, and Switzerland bump noses. After bouncing around a lot of idea and doing a bit of research it's a place we're both excited to see. We'll likely fly into Paris and take a train to either Colmar of Strasbourg as a base for our explorations. That means that we'll probably spend a couple of days at the end of the trip back in Paris. That thrills me. I need to see the Eiffel Tower sparkling at night again and make another trek up to Montmartre. Isn't that a whole bunch of wonderful to look forward to? It certainly is in my world.
Alright, I've let you all know that I'm still alive. I'll try to blog more often (looong week ahead, no promises) and to make it lighter than it's been recently. No more whining. Well, not as much anyway.
Sending out lots of love tonight, take as much as you need. Heck, take a little extra and spread it around.
Stay safe, stay well.
XOXO,
Nancy
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The Cruel Prince Deadass Book Review
Jude and her twin sister Taryn are normal human girls growing up in faerie world, which sounds delightful, only it isn't. It's horrifying.
Jude could literally leave this nightmare at any time and go shop at Target, but no. This chic wants world domination. And the dick from faerie school is in her way.
This is an unhinged book review of The Cruel Prince By Holly Black
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
I had a HUUUUGE book hangover after Red, White, and Royal Blue.
I couldn’t decide what I wanted to read next, and was also poor and couldn’t blow $20 on a new audiobook I knew I wouldn’t be AS obsessed with.
So I tried a few free audiobooks for a while… like this one (“The Stand In”) where an everyday girl is asked to be a doppelganger for a celebrity and ends up falling in love with that celebrity’s boyfriend. It was cute, but didn’t really grab me. So I tried another called “Neanderthal Seeks Human” that literally opens up to a woman stranded on a toilet at work because she is out of toilet paper. And she is just having the WORST DAY EVERS. After she somehow gets out of the bathroom (the author never explains HOW, which really upset me and made me think she’s walking around with a poopy butt for the rest of the story), a hot security guard escorts her downstairs because she got fired. And she doesn’t know his name, so she keeps calling him “Hotty McHot Pants” in her narration, and I was just like “I’m done. I’m just done. I can’t do the Hotty McHot Pants.”
So then I was scrolling on the “BookTok” Hashtag on TikTok, even though I’m 35 and have no business being on that app. And I came across this hilarious girl called “NewlyNova” who made this review of a book called “A Cruel Prince” https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMR7roGCk/
Like NewlyNova said, it’s “Game of Thrones for teenaged girls.” -- so the first chapter opens with this cat-like Faerie guy entering some suburban home in California and killing the parents. Then he kidnaps 2 twins and 1 other little girl that was there who looks like him. The protagonist of the story is Jude, who also narrates. Her sister is Taryn, who is her identical twin. And their older sister is Vivienne, who is half human and half cat faerie. Jude’s mortal mother was married to Cat Faerie man, but then faked her own death and ran away with his baby, married a mortal man, and had the 2 twins. Cat Faerie (Maddok) raised the human girls as his own in the world of Faerie… which sounds beautiful and magical, and totally is, but it is also horrific.
Like... Faeries don’t give a fuck.
They’re brutal and mean and their favorite thing ever is just messing with each other… and/or killing each other. Like death is no biggy in this world. Someone stabs someone at a party and everyone chuckles and steps over them. There’s a scene where some Faerie kid bumps into our antagonist (Cardon) at a party, and he TEARS HIS WINGS OFF. Like… and then eats h'ordeuvres. It’s fucking nuts.
The Faerie world is especially horrifying for humans. They’re even more susceptible to magic and poisons and basically have targets on their backs. Apparently humans in this world are not unheard of? But extremely rare. And usually like… brainwashed servants. So it’s crazy that Jude and Taryn are going to fucking Faerie school with the other teens in this fantasy horror forrest, along with literal princes and princesses from all of the various species and factions. It’s like an anime up in here. Everyone has crazy hair and skin colors and some have animal features, or are like… mermaids… and everyone is gorgeous and has pointed ears. It’s fun. BUT SCARY.
Jude hates being a human in this nightmare world and hates being powerless even more. She’s all about swords and wants to be a knight and wants to compete in the special knight-making competition, but her murder-Dad tells her no. She competes (just not as a knight candidate) and picks a huge fight with Cardon, the class drunk, who is also one of the sons of the Faerie-land ruler. He has like 8 kids or something and Cardon is one of the youngest. He’s also probably the pissiest.
He’s weirdly obsessed with Jude (she found his notebook and there was an entire page of just her name angrily written over and over again…. And the audiobook narrator literally had to say “Jude” like 52 times bless her heart). Anyway, he bullies her. He tells her to quit coming to school and accept that she’s just a dumb fucking mortal and she tells him to go fuck himself. Not those literal words. But something equivalent.
So then for several chapters, Cardon and his friends basically try to kill Jude. Or really embarrass her. Cardon has a little posse which consists of Locke, a cool, composed fox boy. Nicasia, the quintessential mean girl. And Valerian, an actual homicidal maniac.
One time they are at star charting class in faerie school, and Valerian TACKLES JUDE, straddles her, and shoves a poison apple into her face until she nearly suffocates. Jude lives, but is high off her ass on magic apple, and is the laughing stock of the class. Literally the teacher is like “Well, I guess this is happening. Anyway, see you all tomorrow”. Nicasia gets her to strip down to her undies. Cardon is being an asshat and is like “Kiss my foot.” and she’s about to fucking do it when Locke the fox boy steps in and saves her.
I was like… all ready for Cardon to be the good guy in this situation? I thought he would finally step in and be like “Guys, guys, this is too far.” and throw a coat over her and help her. But he DIDN’T. And I was so surprised it was LOCKE.
So then for a few weeks, Jude and Locke are a thing. They make out in a tower. It’s adorable. He’s actually nice to her, unlike the rest of Cardon’s gang.
In addition to the school drama, Jude is visited by Dane, who is one of Cardon’s older siblings and the first choice to get the crown when his Dad decides to retire (which is apparently soon). Dane asks Jude to be a spy for him, because she is human and can sneak around in places Faerie can’t, and she can LIE.
So this is another fun thing. Faerie folk can’t lie. They can skirt around things and omit, and can even talk in riddles or mislead, but they can’t outright say something that isn’t true. So that’s neat.
Locke also said once that Jude is beautiful, which is super sweet, because that means he means it!
So Jude is a spy for Dane, because all of his siblings are trying to kill each other Game of Thrones style. He gives her a "gesh" that makes her impervious to Faerie mind tricks (that is probably spelled wrong. I'm listening to this stuff on audio book so I'm probably getting a lot of shit wrong, sorry).
She sneaks into his brother Balekin’s house and sees a letter on his desk talking about all the bitchin poisoning he wants to do.
And at one awkward point, she has to hide under a table while Balekin beats his younger brother Cardon silly. Like clearly there’s messed up feelings in this family. I forget even why Balekin is beating the shit out of Cardon. But anyway, that happens and that’s how Jude figures out that her CRUEL classmate is living there.
When she’s not going to Faerie school, she’s going to spy school. She hangs out with Dane’s other spies like Roach, Ghost, and Bomb (code names). They’re also assassins. They teach her how to kill stuff better. Jude is also poisoning herself on purpose now, trying to build up an immunity to the litany of things that can kill her in this world.
One day at school, Valerian corners her alone after class and tells her to go apologize to Cardon, then throw herself off the tower and die. Faeries can glamor humans and make them do whatever they want, so he figures out pretty quickly that his magic isn’t working. And before he can ask why, she stabs him in the ribs. He lives, but is out of school for a few days lol.
One night, Jude fucks up bad and goes back to Belkin’s house because she thought of something and wanted to double check his desk. She goes back there, but doesn’t find what she’s looking for. So she decides to steal one of the brainwashed human servants, who she feels bad for, but accidentally ends up causing this girl to have a mental breakdown and before she can save her, the girl hurls herself into the ocean.
Jude is having a bad day.
It gets worse when Dane shows up, livid that she stabbed Valerian (thank god he doesn’t know about the servant she stole and then accidentally shocked into suicide). To punish her, he makes her stab her hand with a knife. Jude starts thinking that maybe Dane isn’t such a great guy after all and maybe the entire royal family is full of douchebags.
Any way, that night Valerian shows up and tries to kill her again.
So she stabs him properly this time and hides the body under her bed.
I’m like… Jesus this girl is racking up quite the body count. And it’s only Tuesday. Then she just like… GOES TO SCHOOL with her classmate’s BODY UNDER HER BED. But it's cool you guys, because faeries don't decompose. And eventually she just buries him in the yard. And then she gets all excited about the pretty dress she gets to wear to the new king’s coronation and I’m like… is this protagonist… secretly… a monster? I am here for it. Jude, you fucking power-hungry psychopath.
So the whoooooole kingdom is at the coronation. And the old ass Faerie king is like “I choose my son Dane to be the next king. La la la commence the long, complicated ceremony. Oh yeah, and he’s naked for some reason. Everybody be cool with that, it’s Faerie stuff.” and Jude is thinking… "okay he’s mean. He made me stab my hand. But once he’s king, I’ll get rewarded for being a spy. Life will be great. Cool cool cool."
Then Belkin steps forward and stabs Dane. And then stabs a bunch of his siblings. He spares a few sisters, because the only way for the crown to be transferred is if a sibling places it on a person’s head. But then one sister kills herself and the other GETS killed by one of Dane’s assassins. So Belkin is standing there now, having MURDERED HIS ENTIRE FAMILY and is like…. “WHERE THE FUCK IS CARDON?”
So bitchy ass drunk ass Cardon is the only person alive in the kingdom that can crown him the new ruler… and he’s nowhere to be found. The Termite King (actual person) says that Belkin has 3 days to find his brother and get crowned, and if he can’t do that, then Faerieland will just submerge into anarchy I guess. MAGICAL ANARCHY.
And then they literally just… keep partying.
WHAT DID I TELL YOU?
Faeries man. They are hard core. They’ve over here doing shots off their dead king and shit. Okay, that doesn’t happen (he exploded into moths anyway). But that is totally something they would do.
So Jude is on her hands and knees crawling around under the tables, because this is not a great place for a mortal to be. Especially one that swore allegiance to the guy who just got murdered in his birthday suit.
Oh oh. Also. Her Murdering Cat Dad was one of the people who stepped up and helped Belkin kill everyone. Jude thought he was loyal to Dane, but he was loyal to Balekin all along. Then right after that, Maddock, her sister, and Locke fucking LEFT THE PARTY. Like… LEFT HER THERE.
Oh oh !!! ANd oh my god Becky let me tell you about this part.
Our boy Locke? Adorable boy with fox ears? Good at kissing? Has been apparently dating Jude’s sister Taryn this whole time. He broke up with Jude in a weird way earlier at the party while they were dancing… by saying.. “How much do you love me? Do you love me enough to let me go?” --- and Jude is like… hmm.. Well that sucks. In the last 2 days I murdered two people and got dumped. Being a teenager is hard!!
Then right after that, she saw Locke being all flirty with her identical twin like…….??? And then the murdering started. And then they ran away and LEFT HER.
So Jude is crawling under the tables when she randomly bumps into CARDON!!! He’s wearing a silver mask… so he’s sort of disguised… but we find out later he’s just being his usual drunk asshole self, and was passed out cold while his family was murdered. Then I guess he didn’t know what else to do so he just kept partying. Jude is like “Oh my god fucking come with me you god damned idiot.” and they kind of help each other get out of the party because she is a mortal and he is the most wanted prince right now.
Jude is trying to figure out what to do next. The guy that was supposed to give her power just died. So she takes Cardon to the spy training room in the palace she was going to spy meetings in.
And she totally flips the script and holds a knife to Cardon’s neck and is being such a badass. She’s all like “Oh I’m sorry, you thought I was helping you? You’re my prisoner, dipshit.” and ties him to a chair. It’s totally awesome because he really has been awful to her up until now. I haven’t even written all of it down. He’s almost gotten her killed or hurt several times. This is totally different from The Unhoneymooners with Olive thinking Evan is a meanie when he’s standing around and doing nothing. Cardon once threw Jude and her sister into a river with man-eating selkies and stood back, ready to watch the bloodbath. He like, YANKED her hair back and threatened her after the knight contest thing.
So Cardon is genuinely shocked and put off by her threatening him, which is refreshing to see. But he’s also being surprisingly charming. I mean he’s drunk as hell. The banter is pretty hilarious with him tied to the chair, bargaining for his life. There’s this part I love where Dane’s other spies (Roach, Ghost, and Bomb) burst in the room and find them there… and Cardon just goes “Hello.”
Okay, so Jude is kind of scary. The spies are standing around like… do we give him over to Belkin and swear allegiance and get a reward? Do we kill Cardon and just let the world fall into chaos and watch it burn? Jude demands that Cardon is HER prisoner, and they aren’t allowed to kill him.
Cardon: Yay!
Jude: Let me go talk to my Cat Dad and find out why he betrayed Dane, and whether or not it would be a good idea for me to leverage Cardon’s life. Then we can kill him.
Cardon: Boo…
So Jude talks to Cat Dad and we’re not sure yet why he chose Belkin over Dane. I guess politics. I might need to listen to that part again. But he is like “If you know where that stupid prince is, you need to tell me.” And she’s thinking about it.
In the meantime, Jude and her sister are PISSED at each other. Locke I guess… was just sort of playing with both of them. He outright told Jude that he is a drama whore, so I don’t know why we’re all so surprised. But he wanted to marry Taryn and flirt with Jude for funzies, so Jude handles this well.
Just kidding she totally pulls a sword on her sister.
And they have this big dramatic fight in the game room where Taryn gets to vent like… “Hey thanks for picking a fight with the cool kids. I never wanted any part of that. Thanks for asking.” And Jude is like “No coping mechanisms! MURDER SISTER!!!”
Vivi shut the fight down. And everyone is mostly cool again. Cat Dad says no one gets to marry Locke because he’s a douche canoe.
In Chapter 25, Vivi brings a sandwich up to Jude’s room and tries to convince her to run away to the human world with her. She has a cute pink-haired girlfriend there. But her plan is to live among the feral faerie folk and turn acorns into money and just fuck off doing what they want to in California for the rest of their lives (honestly, sounds kind of awesome).
Jude is considering it, but is also considering the fact that she is actually a psychopathic killer with a thirst for power, and probably wants to stay in the Faerie world murdering her way to the top.
Regardless of this fact, she tries to apologize to her sister, but Taryn is out doing Taryn stuff. Jude finds Maddock’s wife, Oriana out on the balcony and they have a conversation about back in the day when she was a consort to the high king that just got murdered and exploded into moths. They also talk about Locke’s Mom (who has the dopest name ever, LORAIOPEI… lore-eye-oh-pee… I’m listening to an audiobook, I have no idea how these people’s names are spelled).
Anyhoo, Lalapalooza was also a consort, and was poisoned with blusher mushrooms, which paralyze and kill you. Turns out, she was PREGNANT with one of the high king’s bastard children, and Dane had some crazy pants vision that if that kid lived, he could never be king, so he poisoned Loraiopee to kill them both. Only Oriana really loved her friend, so she did her a solid and CUT HER BABY OUT OF HER BELLY before she died and whisked him away to safety, claiming he was her son.
Anyway, that baby was/is Oak… who I haven't mentioned yet. Oak is like 4. Jude sees him as a little brother. He’s sickly because he was cut out of his mother’s stomach prematurely, and he thinks Maddock is his Dad and Oriana is his Mom. But he’s actually an heir to the crown. So now we have 3 heirs running around: Mean ass Belkin, drunk ass Cardon, and 4 year old ass Oak.
Jude is like… trying to figure out how she can use this information to her advantage.
THIS GIRL IS A MONSTER.
So she goes back to the castle to check on her assassin friends who she hopes are interrogating and torturing Cardon, but she opens the door to find them playing poker around a table and drinking together. She’s like god damnit you guys, I gave you one job.
Alright so, Cardon is adorable. I’m into him.
There was a point in this book where he really was unbearable. I kept thinking the author would throw us a bone and have him show some humanity. But nope, every time. He was just a dick. And she did such a good job of making me like Locke and hate Cardon. Like… he was too mean.
So this is REALLY FUN seeing him be so charming. FINALLY. WITH 2 HOURS LEFT IN THE BOOK WE GET TO KNOW HIM BETTER. He’s cutting jokes and being so fucking adorable with the assassins that it pisses Jude off and she’s like, “Cardon, can I see you? In another room?” — So she takes him into Dane’s office and promptly points a crossbow at him.
He totally opens up to her, because he has nothing to lose. And agrees to answer all of her questions. I bet he’s thinking it’s going to be about politics and his siblings. NOPE! Jude surprises all of us and asks about teenager shit. Whatever. I’m here for it. Her first question is — WHAT IS THE DEAL WITH LOCKE? WHAT IS HIS PROBLEM?
Basically?— Cardon answers— Locke is a ho. He is a whoring little fox boy who likes to stir up shit and probably honestly likes Taryn, but probably also wants to get with Jude. Cardon’s like "I don’t know what to tell you, my friend is a slut."
They have all of this great banter in between her threatening his life and him actually being scared of her. Fuck, I would be too. This girl HID A BODY UNDER HER BED AND THEN WENT TO PICK OUT DRESSES.
He opens up about how awful all of his friends are. How he actually really liked (loved!) Nicasia, but Locke stole her from him just for fun. And he’s fucking terrified of Valerian too. Jude shows him the bruises on her neck and shoulder and tells him that Valerian tried to murder her twice, and she stabbed him for breaking and entering in her own home.
This is a total surprise to Cardon, which is a total surprise to Jude, who thought Cardon was instructing his friend to do this. But Cardon is like fuck no, that guy was crazy. I’m a lot of shitty things, but I’m not a murderer.
Jude thinks back to when Valerian was choking her to death smashing Faerie fruit into her face and Cardon was the one to pull him off of her. (At the time, I was like “Yay! Something sweet is happening!” Then he wastes no time in throwing her salt away and demanding she kiss his foot lol) He was fine humiliating her and belittling her, but he was never fine with killing her.
So when Jude asks him what his fucking problem is with her…
He says that he hates her because her Cat Dad actually loves her, even though she’s not even his real daughter. And she has a sweet relationship with her sisters. And has a support system that he’ll never have or be able to relate to. His family hated him and now they’re all dead. Except for the most abusive one that REALLY hates him.
And then Jude says “That’s so sweet.”
Just kidding, she points a knife at him and is like “That’s a stupid fucking reason and you’re pathetic. Why do you really hate me? That can’t be the only reason.”
And she’s got the blade under his throat, and he begrudgingly admits that he can’t stop thinking about her, night and day, and it disgusts him.
And she TAUNTS him, saying like… “You want me. And you can’t stand it.” Aaaaaand KISSES HIM!!!! This is such a great kiss. I did not see it coming. But this is great. It’s great because Cardon clearly has a lot of complex emotions surrounding his reluctant obsession with a human girl who he used to think was weak and annoyingly defiant, but is now terrifying and homicidal. And his hands move slowly up her arms because he doesn’t WANT to kiss her…. But he can’t help it. And finally he gives in and they have this just awesome make out session. It’s savage and hot and I’m living for it.
She pulls back when she realizes she’s treading a line between messing with him/trying to humiliate him and actually enjoying it. So they cool down and Cardon is like cool… so… How about this? How about we placate to Belkin, and I crown him on the condition that he banish me far away where I can be irresponsible for the rest of my life without consequence, and you are granted any kind of crazy power you want. Cool?
And Jude is considering this.
There were points in this story where she was losing me a little bit. I’m glad I hung in there, because the dynamic of Jude and Cardon is actually really interesting. She’s a bloodthirsty maniac, and he’s more harmless than he led on. He’s not good at violence or swordplay. He just wants to get drunk and party. He doesn’t want the crown. She wants to be a magical dictator. I love this.
Jude tells Cardon about her brother being an heir, and how she has this plan to crown her 4 year old brother king…. Then STEAL HIM AWAY to the human world and ask her sister Vivi to raise him on hugs and chicken nuggets, then bring him back when he’s a teenager to be a good and just king. I like how she hasn’t even asked her sister to do this yet, and is totally comfortable pushing this burden onto Vivi, who just wants to live with her girlfriend in a treehouse.
Also?? Her plan is to murder Maddock and uhhh I’m not really sure how she thinks Faerie world is going to function for 10 years while her brother is hidden. Like maybe her plan is for her and Cardon to rule while he’s growing up? I dunno.
Alright so Cardon is like cool, I’m down. I’ll help you make your 4 year old brother king. Whatever. Just promise me every bottle of wine in my father’s cellar and some land far away from here where no one will bother me for the rest of my life.
I like how over everything he is. Like Jude says she’s surprised at how fine he is hanging out with the assassins and wearing the same clothes for days and sleeping on a cot… apparently he was more miserable than she thought living as a prince (getting the shit beaten out of him all the time). I also like that he’s kind of terrible at fighting. She’s over here being miss badass and strategizing and playing war games and Cardon just wants to play poker with the killers and drink. He’s surprisingly tame.
So she negotiates this, and asks him to swear allegiance to her (so he doesn’t betray her or whatever). And he agrees to be in her service for 1 year and 1 day and “not a second more” — and he still seems like he deeply dislikes her/is afraid of her, but simultaneously super into her? It’s adorable.
Faeries can’t lie. And any time they make promises or swear something, they 100% have to do it. It’s like some form of honor magic.
The “revelry” is still going on (aka the week-long party surrounding the king’s coronation whether he explodes into moths or not). So they hang out near the camps of the various tribes and factions and strategize on who to make an alliance with as they try to overthrow Belkin. Cardon has a lot of good information on everyone and helps her know who to talk to (She gets two allies, and the exchanges are cute. This author is really good at writing side characters and making us instantly like them.) — And there’s this really cute part where Jude commands Cardon to sit by this oak tree and wait for her until she gets back, and he says something cute to the effect of “Be careful. Don’t die and leave me waiting.”
So Jude has her alliances. She has Vivi ready to reluctantly take Oak to the human world with her. And she has this epic Ocean’s 11 heist plan to get all dressed up and go to the revelry parties WITH Cardon, out in the daylight, with some kind of plan with the assassins to steal the crown, have Cardon put it on Oak’s head, and then kidnap Oak. I’m sure it’s going to go great and all according to plan.
Oh damn the ending to this book was DOOOPE!!!
I mean I knew something would go wrong. Things wouldn’t happen as planned. But I just didn’t know how it was going to pan out.
Jude and Cardon go to the party and walk arm in arm. Everyone is congratulating Jude on finding Cardon and bringing him there. Belkin is ready to give her whatever she wants in the world and is trying to get Cardon to hurry up and put the crown on his head, but the Lord of Termites guy (one of Jude’s allies) tells him to relax and enjoy the party, there will be plenty of time for that later. Belkin, who just got done murdering almost all of his family in front of everyone, is trying to save some face, so he’s like FINE.
Jude gets into a fight with her Cat Dad. Tells him she won’t let him use Oak and turn him into a war monster. She ends up winning because she poisons him. I was expecting some kind of twist here where Cat Dad wasn’t as bad as she thought he was, but nope. She totally figured out his plan. That’s exactly what he wanted to do. So that happens and they stuff him in a closet.
Alright so then Jude goes back out to the party. Cardon meets up with her and exchanges this funny line where he’s like “How is your night going? The main topic in all of my conversations has been how my head is going to end up on a stake.” *drinks heavily* -- and she’s like shut up babe, I’m plotting.
They set off one of Bomb’s bombs as a distraction so that Ghost can steal the golden crown from its fancy little pillow. And then he mistakes her twin sister Taryn for Jude and throws it to HER. So now Jude is like “Taryn, quit being a bitch and give me the crown.” and Taryn, being a bitch, is like “Wh-what’s going on?!” and there’s this tense moment. Then Belkin gets pinned to the table with an arrow shot by Ghost in the rafters. He’s livid and is like “GIVE ME THE CROWN.” but Daryl is a good sister for once and gives the crown to Jude.
Vivi steps forward with cute little 4 year old ass Oak and is like “Go on. Just like we practiced.”
And Jude is like “Hey Cardon, kneel down so Oak knows what to do.” and he’s like “Um. Sketch. But okay.” and does it. And the second he’s kneeling, she’s like “Thanks. I order you not to move a muscle.” and Oak fuckiiinnnggg recites the thing, and puts the crown on Cardon’s head, making him king!!! The crowd loses their shit because they’re all fickle immortal Faerie Folk who just love unexpected stuff happening, so they’re down with this new… young… alcoholic king.
Cardon is livid.
We went from sexy fun times enemies “hey I still hate you but you also turn me on” back to “I am going to fucking kill you in a year, human girl.” and Jude is even more of a stone cold bitch than we thought she was. She is like 17? 18? And she has the king of Faerie world sworn to obey her every command, so she’s basically using him to control this magical, horrific world that used to threaten her life daily. It’s awesome.
There’s a fun bit with Jude, Vivi, and Oak shopping in Target that I love because it’s such a stark contrast from the Faerie world. But Oak is going to live there with Vivi now buying gummy bears with leaves enchanted to look like money so it’s not going to be a terrible life. I mean maybe terrible for Vivi. She didn’t ask for this. Again, Jude is a monster.
The book ends with her approaching King Cardon on his throne and he’s all creepy and bitter and evil and is like, “c’mere and sit next to me. This is what you wanted, isn’t it?”
I liked this book. It’s easy to read/listen to, but feels rich and I love the descriptions of the environments, food, clothes, and people. Jude cracks me up with how fucked up she is. She makes Katniss look like an angel. But I am just totally in love with Cardon, which is delightful because I really hated him for most of this book. There was a point where I was like “Ew, is he supposed to be the love interest? I hope not…” and seeing him display some humanity/humility paired with confidence and humor while under custody was just hilarious. I love his self-destructive and weird little personality and huge crush on Jude while simultaneously being terrified of her. I would be too. There are 3 books in this series. ON TO THE NEXT ONE!
Deadass Rating: 8/10
Unofficial theme song: “Seize the Power” by YONAKA
#cruel prince#jude x cardan#fiction#book review#deadass book review#cardon#jude#holly black#books & libraries#currently reading#literature#writers
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Title: The Rise and Reign of the Mammals: A New History: From the Shadow of the Dinosaurs to Us
Author: Steve Brusatte
Genre/s: nonfiction, paleontology
Content/Trigger Warning/s: none
Summary (from publisher's website): We humans are the inheritors of a dynasty that has reigned over the planet for nearly 66 million years, through fiery cataclysm and ice ages: the mammals. Our lineage includes saber-toothed tigers, woolly mammoths, armadillos the size of a car, cave bears three times the weight of a grizzly, clever scurriers that outlasted Tyrannosaurus rex, and even other types of humans, like Neanderthals. Indeed humankind and many of the beloved fellow mammals we share the planet with today—lions, whales, dogs—represent only the few survivors of a sprawling and astonishing family tree that has been pruned by time and mass extinctions. How did we get here?
In his acclaimed bestseller The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs—hailed as “the ultimate dinosaur biography” by Scientific American—American paleontologist Steve Brusatte enchanted readers with his definitive history of the dinosaurs. Now, picking up the narrative in the ashes of the extinction event that doomed T-rex and its kind, Brusatte explores the remarkable story of the family of animals that inherited the Earth—mammals— and brilliantly reveals that their story is every bit as fascinating and complex as that of the dinosaurs.
Beginning with the earliest days of our lineage some 325 million years ago, Brusatte charts how mammals survived the asteroid that claimed the dinosaurs and made the world their own, becoming the astonishingly diverse range of animals that dominate today’s Earth. Brusatte also brings alive the lost worlds mammals inhabited through time, from ice ages to volcanic catastrophes. Entwined in this story is the detective work he and other scientists have done to piece together our understanding using fossil clues and cutting-edge technology.
A sterling example of scientific storytelling by one of our finest young researchers, The Rise and Reign of the Mammals illustrates how this incredible history laid the foundation for today’s world, for us, and our future.
Buy Here: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-rise-and-reign-of-the-mammals-a-new-history-from-the-shadow-of-the-dinosaurs-to-us-steve-brusatte/18064544
Spoiler-Free Review: This is a nice parallel to Brusatte's first book, Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs. I like how they followed almost similar narrative arcs, while also having similar tones of voice and writing style. I don’t think I’ve ever picked up nonfiction books by the same author that felt so naturally connected as these two do, and it was kind of pleasant to get to experience that here. The same enthusiasm that Brusatte brought to his first book, along with the same respect for his predecessors, colleagues, and students in the field. Those two aspects are the best part of this book - along, of course, with the scientific rigor that Brusatte brings to the table while simultaneously making everything remarkably readable for the layperson.
I will say though, that despite this feeling like a natural sequel to Rise and Fall, it doesn't have the same tone. Rise and Fall talks about dinosaurs and how they aren’t really dead: they’ve just evolved into birds, and so in a way, dinosaurs are still with us. This is a fantastic and wondrous line of thought, because isn’t it incredible to think that dinosaurs - which most people think of as long-dead animals (and most of them are) - to still be here with us, and moreover, to be creatures we encounter everyday, and even eat?
This book, however, doesn't have that same triumphal feel-- Actually, that's incorrect; it DOES have that feeling, especially during the first three-fourths of it, but as it progresses it becomes less triumphant and more solemn. Mammals were able to overcome the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs, and they were able to survive the many climate change disasters that came after - but can they survive the current human-made climate crisis? Can we, for that matter? The title Rise and Reign of the Mammals is definitely apt, because mammals did manage to rise and reign over the Earth - us humans in particular. But every rise comes with a fall: just look at the dinosaurs.
This book does a good job of reminding the reader just what’s going to cause that fall, and how it might look like based on previously-explained extinction events. It's not all gloom-and-doom, of course: Brusatte is quick to remind the reader that, unlike previous climate change-caused extinction events, humans are actually in a position to do something about the current one, not least because we're the ones responsible for it. But even if we do manage that change, there is no denying that we've destroyed many species on the way to accomplishing it, and many more will probably die off along the way before this climate change crisis is finally manageable. As I said, a rather somber ending, but an important one.
Rating: five platypus eggs
#book review#book reviews#the rise and reign of the mammals#steve brusatte#nonfiction#science#paleontology#books
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Ugh. I have a negative review that just came in from FF.net that was ‘truncated due to length’ which is already stupid. And you can’t read them on mobile, because the link takes you to the app that doesn’t work.
I’ll probably just delete it when I get on the computer, but damn, why can’t people understand that reviews and comments on FanFiction are not like they are on books and movies?? You aren’t reviewing a product to warn other purchasers what your experience was like. You are sending a direct message to the author that says “this story sucks, don’t waste your time.” FanFiction is free, and the more you critique them (unless the author specifically asks for them) the more writing and posting is going to be a chore than a joy.
Honestly, I think the hobby of FanFiction is dying out, and it’s because of these Neanderthals.
#fanfiction#ff.net#some days I want to delete my profile over there#but that’s 12 years of work and positive comments I’m not willing to part with
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I posted 4,883 times in 2022
That's 364 more posts than 2021!
46 posts created (1%)
4,837 posts reblogged (99%)
Blogs I reblogged the most:
@tanoraqui
@shmreduplication
@july-19th-club
@psqqa
@howdydowdy
I tagged 3,984 of my posts in 2022
Only 18% of my posts had no tags
#the queue continuum - 1,966 posts
#star trek - 290 posts
#gideon the ninth - 247 posts
#cat - 193 posts
#murderbot - 119 posts
#ds9 - 113 posts
#story time - 112 posts
#batfam - 105 posts
#ofmd - 80 posts
#doctor who - 78 posts
Longest Tag: 107 characters
#the little old lady who swallowed an owl to eat the owl who ate the owl who ate the owl who ate the owl who
My Top Posts in 2022:
#5
67 notes - Posted June 28, 2022
#4
reading The Hands of the Emperor like "surely this is the emotional climax of the book. surely *this* is the emotional climax of the book. okay, surely THIS is the--"
135 notes - Posted March 28, 2022
#3
today's shapes: ⚫ ⚫
267 notes - Posted August 7, 2022
#2
Innocently asking, why are Germanics so plagued with furries? In America, the most furries are found in like the Midwest which is filled with Germanic immigrants. You don't really see many Italian or Slavic furries for instance. Meanwhile in Europe you see curries the most densely in like Germany and Sweden. Is this related to autism? I am not trying to be offensive I promise, I'm just baffled what causes this. Surely there's a genetic factor? Did Neanderthals like wolves too much? :s
this ask has been in my ask box since January 5, 2020
anon, I have many questions, but the first and most important:
305 notes - Posted January 14, 2022
My #1 post of 2022
local cat has never been pet or held or loved or cherished in entire life, says local cat
17,283 notes - Posted February 26, 2022
Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →
#year in review#'local cat continues to have never been pet or held or loved or cherished in entire life' says local cat while sitting on local human's lap
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February 2024 Book Log
(bold means new this month)
Bosnia: A Short History by Noel Malcolm
The Chronicles of Ancient Darkness Book 5: Oath Breaker by Michelle Paver (reread, FINISHED!!!!)
Crowded Volume 1: Soft Apocalypse by Sebela et al. (finished)
Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel José Older
Dinosaur Summer by Greg Bear
Kindred: Neanderthal Life, Love, Death, and Art by Rebecca Wragg Sykes (unfinished - due at library)
Mossflower by Brian Jacques (reread, finished)
Orochi Volume 2 by Kazou Umezz
Pride Wars 2: The Four Guardians by Matt Laney (finished)
Guess who finally finished tCoAD book 5 lmaooooooooo okay jumping ship to Pride Wars 2 what the fuck was that ending. No spoilers but. Hello?????? Felt like I was being repeatedly tossed into the air by a gorilla until I landed face-first on solid rock. I'm anticipating this to be a finite series (four books, probably), so I'm gonna save my full review until after I finish the whole thing. I just need you to know I'm not happy with like...the whole last quarter of book 2, maybe more.
Once again defeated by due date. RIP Kindred I'll check you out again soon. In the meantime I'm reading a much slimmer volume on the history of Bosnia - 99% sure this is the text Sacco was referencing when he made Goražde.
Crowded was loads of fun. I spent like an entire Sunday reading it. Orochi is my friend's book...I have a lot of books of his I need to finish (I've been "borrowing" them for about two years now smh smh smh smh smh.) I typically have a hard time following the action and dialogue in manga, but Orochi is much easier for me, and a nice change of pace overall from most of the stories I read, comic or otherwise.
Dactyl Hill Squad has been in my inventory for nearly two months, and is on the very last leg of its library loan period. I grabbed it on impulse because it had dinosaurs. (You know me.) It's young YA, like Pride Wars, so it's got the typical young-YA quirks, but I'm really enjoying the core of the story: orphans of color navigate the aftermath of the Draft Riots in New York City during the American Civil War, in a universe where humans live alongside dinosaurs.
It's such a refreshing perspective that I'm even willing to forgive it for being set in NYC lol. This is, dinosaurs aside, a very different NYC - none of the hyperactive bustle and conceit of modern NYC that inevitably poisons the blood of any book or movie set there. This is old NYC...mid-19th century old...and I dig it.
I also love what Older does with his dinos: a healthy mix of traditional and modern interpretations, creating something unique and engaging. My only issue with the story so far is that we're not given good descriptions for about half the characters. Lots of names get thrown around in the beginning with little to no associated images, descriptors, or voices, so I'm having a hard time keeping track of the cast. Other than that, an exciting story! Glad it caught my eye on the bookshelf :)
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Book Review for Neanderthal Seeking Human
As the first book I have read by Penny Reid, I really wanted to love it! While I did enjoy the humor (she had me laughing before I finished the first page), I just couldn’t go all in with this book. The the storyline of Janie and Quinn was solid; however, it was the subplots that consistently pulled my attention away, causing my interest to dip until we were finally able to get back to the heart of the story. Understanding Neanderthal Seeks Human was Penny’s debut novel, I believe her writing was still finding its footing and the rest of the series may be more formulated and awe-inspiring.
To say Janie has had a bad day would be a gross understatement. First, she finds out her boyfriend has been cheating on her. Next, she spectacularly destroys her work outfit and has to borrow a variety of items to resemble a partially functioning/half decent human being. But it doesn’t stop there! Of course she is also fired once she gets to work, conveniently being part of a downsizing of one. You would think mercy would be taken on her at some point but the icing on the cake, the extremely hot security guard – Sir McHotPants, the man she can’t even look in the face, has been assigned to escort her off the premises. What has she possibly done to deserve all of this?! Out of the three sisters, she was the good one, the calm one, the one who always did the right thing. Taking a deep breath (after hiding in the bathroom post firing and pre McHotPants), Quinn leaves with her head held high and resolves to get her life back on track. After sulking around the apartment and embracing her new reclusive way of life, her roommate and best friend Elizabeth suggests a girls night out. Not knowing what she signed up for, she definitely wasn’t expecting to run into McHotPants – i.e. Quinn! She also didn’t expect to wake up hungover, in her underwear, and in a strange bed the next morning! Quickly to reassure her nothing happened, Quinn offers to help Janie snag a job where he works. Going full circle and back where it all started, Janie finally feels like things are working out. Now if she can just figure out her love life. Lucky for her, Quinn has an answer for that too!
While I don’t see myself reading any more books in this series, I do highly recommend it for those who love a steamy romance with humor, suspense, drama, and a quirky group of characters that keep you smiling, guessing, laughing, and loving from beginning to end.
Check out the spoiler-free review in the Facebook Group - The Romantic Comedy Book Club or the full review on the main website: https://romcombc.com/book/neanderthal-seeks-human/
#ireadromance#contemporaryromance#contemporaryromancereads#romancelandia#romancebookaddict#romancebookstagram#bookstalife#romancenovelsforever#readreadread#booksaremyhappyplace#booksarelife#romcomread#bookrecommendations#readingromance#romancereader#billionaireromance#happyreading#bookworm#bibliophile#readromance#bookaddict#readersgonnaread#readersofinstagram#romancereadersofig#romancereadersofbookstagram#romancereadersofinstagram#romcombooks#romcomreads#officeromance#readingcommunity
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[image 1: book cover, a green background with title inside the yellow outline of a snake; image 2: map showing Estonia; image 3: a green forest in Estonia with a shallow stream, source: wikimedia commons]
Book Review: The Man Who Spoke Snakish (🇪🇪 Estonia)
Author: Andrus Kivirähk
YA World Challenge book for 🇪🇪 Estonia
Review
This was a really amazing, engrossing folklore world. This falls under "not YA", but really it has a classic, timeless fairy-tale style of storytelling. And like old fairy tales, it has it's gruesome bits as well as its magic.
Leemet's family is among the last of the Estonian humans living in the forest - most of the people having gone to live in the villages and adopt the foreigners' god. Leemet doesn't understand why people would do backbreaking work to make tasteless bread and weave cloth fabric when all the abundance to be had is right at your fingertips in the forest. The overarching theme of the book is the struggle of tradition against change, the old ways vs. the foreigners. It's magical, bittersweet, and oftentimes hilarious, especially when the very atheist/pragmatic Leemet is set against religious fanaticism (both pagan and christian).
Going by Wikipedia the setting should be somewhere around 1000 CE, but it feels very mythological at the same time - with ancient magic where humans commune with snakes and hold power over the animals, and the last two Neanderthals living deep in the forest.
Very unique read and I would recommend it.
Other reps: #straight #atheist #christian #disability (amputee minor character)
Genres: #ancient historical / #medieval historical #folklore #magical realism
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 5 stars
Read it at: Bookshop.org | Amazon
#book review#estonia#ya world challenge#the man who spoke snakish#booklr#bookish#historical ancient#historical medieval to 19th century#folklore#magical realism#straight#atheist#christian#physical disability#europe
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New Joe And Mac Caveman Ninja Review (PlayStation 5)
For our New Joe And Mac Caveman Ninja Review, we go back to the distant past, when “Rock & Roll” was just about rocks and “Fast food". Two cave dudes named Joe & Mac live in a peaceful and cool village. Cool, it was, until a bogus bunch of Neanderthal snatched all the village’s women.
New Joe And Mac Caveman Ninja Review Pros:
- Decent cartoon graphics.
- 825.2MB download size.
- Platinum trophy for the arcade game with extend having its own list of seven additional trophies.
- Platformer gameplay.
- Two-player local support.
- Two game modes - Arcade and Extend.
- Arcade mode is the game you know and remember.
- Extend mode is
- You can choose to play as Joe or Mac.
- Health bar where eating food replenishes it.
- You can kill enemies with projectiles or by jumping on them.
- Pick up and use different projectiles but stone axes are your basic always available weapon.
- Comic book pop-ups for hits and damage.
- Big boss battles.
- The gimmick is that your health is constantly going down so you need to keep pushing forward.
- In-game cutscenes.
- Multi-layered levels allow you to go up and down.
- Can skip cutscenes.
- Captures the feel of the original game.
New Joe And Mac Caveman Ninja Review Cons:
- Doesn't have any tutorials.
- Cannot rebind controls.
- Difficult game.
- No checkpoints so death always ends in a level restart and that's in both modes.
- Dodgy hit detection.
- You cannot bring up any control layouts.
- No online play.
- Doesn't have any leaderboards.
- Takes a while to get used to.
Related Post: Front Mission 1st Remake Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)
New Joe And Mac Caveman Ninja:
Official website.
Developer: Mr. Nutz Studio
Publisher: Microids
Store Links -
PlayStation
Read the full article
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Read These History Books to Broaden Your Approach
History books give the broader picture as well as the finer details.
Let’s see some of the most seminal texts on global history. These books from Bookswagon cover the moments and events that form the connective tissue between war & peace, culture and historical architecture.
War & Peace
This book is as much a story of love and adultery as it is of war and death, with a deep insight into war-stricken Russia. War and Peace is a complete picture as a contemporary reviewer put it, of everything in which people find their happiness and greatness, their grief and humiliation. War and Peace introduces you to many different characters such as the misfit,, the analytical and loner Prince Andrew, and the impulsive, lively Natasha, who plays the pivotal role and many more.
A Short History of the World
Short History of the World by H.G. Wells is a thought-provoking masterpiece. It is an immensely popular period piece that remains one of the most readable of its kind, constructed on an evolutionary, anthropological and sociological basis.
From the very beginnings of life, spanning across the age of mammals evolving into monkeys, apes and sub-men, from the Neanderthal to the early days of human adventure.
The Penguin History of Early India
It compares the religious customs, living habits etc. and gives readers a clear idea of how India was formulated to be what it is today.
Author starts from the prehistoric era and enumerates the good and the bad of every era that followed. Author Romila Thapar helps readers to visualize the formation of a nation and how it grew and flourished over generations and explores India's past quite vividly.
It also documents India like it has never been documented before and rewinds all the varieties of hue that India represented from then to now.
Ancient India
This classic Ancient India, From the Stone Age to the 12th Century book
allows the book lover to imagine and appreciate the rich and diverse relics of India's ancient past, transforming the method of discovering that past into a thrilling experience. You will find excellent illustrations of how historians compare history on their basis.
It also describes the original sources such as ancient texts, artifacts, inscriptions and coins. This is one of the complete books for graduates and post graduates.
Get all these history books from Bookswagon by availing the most amazing offers.
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Kindred
Fascinating review of Kindred: Neanderthal life, love, death and art!
This book covers everything we know about Neanderthals. The balance of evidence suggests that Neanderthals had some form of language. Here's the book:
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Revisiting The Sealey Challenge 2021 ~ 8
Well, this is another poet that it's a thrill to come back to. A very different tone from my memory of Ross Gay, whose register (in my recall if nothing else) seems rooted in a boyish sense of mischief, from which grounding he can dip and weave towards fun or towards seriousness - even atrocity - having first disarmed his reader/listener.
With Jo Harjo, I have zero difficulty believing that her ancestors were the leaders of the people. She bears such grave dignity that I find myself a little nonplussed, a little silenced. What should I say?
While I'm thinking about that, here's what her publisher said about the collection, An American Sunrise -
In the early 1800s, the Mvskoke people were forcibly removed from their original lands east of the Mississippi to Indian Territory, which is now part of Oklahoma. Two hundred years later, Joy Harjo returns to her family’s lands and opens a dialogue with history. In An American Sunrise, Harjo finds blessings in the abundance of her homeland and confronts the site where her people, and other indigenous families, essentially disappeared. From her memory of her mother’s death, to her beginnings in the native rights movement, to the fresh road with her beloved, Harjo’s personal life intertwines with tribal histories to create a space for renewed beginnings. Her poems sing of beauty and survival, illuminating a spirituality that connects her to her ancestors and thrums with the quiet anger of living in the ruins of injustice. A descendent of storytellers and “one of our finest—and most complicated—poets” (Los Angeles Review of Books), Joy Harjo continues her legacy with this latest powerful collection.
Well, I can say, I guess, how moved I was with the reading - I keenly felt the sense of being in the presence of a great dignitary. An elder. One with wisdom. Someone connecting the past to the present, anchoring the people in memory of their history - a gesture which, somehow, paradoxically, opens possible fresh futures.
Probably because I heard her read it, I particularly remember the mood of the poem, positioned early in the collection, Exile of Memory, which begins -
Do not return,
we were warned by one who knows things -
you will only upset the dead.
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I have been doing quite a bit of returning, myself, over the past several years - following the threads of family that I couldn't quite admit to myself were essential to the pattern of my thesis.
Because, acknowledged or otherwise, they were fundamental to shaping the pattern of my life. Not the same story. At all. But something about standing in the power of a known history. Knowing who I am, who I am not. The first focus taken by the maternal line because that side of my family heritage has reached so fiercely towards me, throughout. It has made a significant difference.
A few weeks ago - a little wrung out and grumpy - I went to the British Museum to see the Stonehenge exhibition and (in addition to being a great relief that I was looking at the artefacts that indeed belonged to the peoples who had lived here some thousand of years ago, and had not been carried here from other places by colonizers), there was something moving about seeing traces of MY history.
Best I know, my genes are Celtic, Anglo-Saxon - local. No hint of French nobility, nor any recent twist of interesting Other origins.
That said...
Clearly, I mean - if you go back far enough... no-one lived on these islands all the way through the worst of the Ice Age of 20-30 TYA (thousand years ago). So everyone here came here from somewhere else, if you can see back far enough. And before that, the settlers who lived here (and across Europe generally) were Neanderthal. Thus, geologically speaking, my people are pretty recent immigrants.
PS when I had a Masterclass subscription, I don't think Jo Harjo's lectures had been recorded. ALMOST - not quite - enough to tempt me back. I'm trying, with some success, to be "good" with ££...
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Delila is a senior at Coral Springs High School. She loves movies, writes film reviews for the school newspaper, has only two friends who are as eccentric as her, and keeps to herself. Then one night, she gets noticed by the celebrity star quarterback, and just like that, everything changes. The Geek Girl and The Quarterback is a funny, romantic, endearing, entertaining homage to 80’s teen movies and pop culture from writer James J. Caterino, the author of Pop Star, The Promise, Time Travel Stories, and The Last Neanderthal. #books #reading #coverart #mustread #youngadult #teen #fiction https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf5TxLxOWOm/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
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The Last Neanderthal Clan: Raka of the Last Neanderthal Clan
by Charlie Boring and Lisa Lareau
full disclosure, this book was ruined for me for non-neanderthal related reasons so if it seems like im being a little biased or short with this one thats why.
this is a tale of survival that follows two generations of hunter-gatherers during the last ice-age.
believablity: 6.5. the neanderthals in this did not seem to see or be seen as a different species by the modern humans, which feels believable because thats what its like today, but im not 100% sure that its believable for there to be no real distinction at all. they both seem to have equally keen smelling ability. no differences in mh vs thal abilities at all. the main difference between them seems to be that modern humans were taller, which is credible, and neanderthals prefer to eat mostly meat even when edible plants are available, which is less so.
there was also marauding modern human cannibal groups with coming of age rituals that involve killing a “member of the southern tribes” of which i believe are mostly neanderthals. did ancient people practice cannibalism sometimes? sure, but this seems too movie-monster-ish to be credible too me.
characterization: 10? i guess? all of the characters are poorly written but none more so than others. neither neanderthals nor modern humans are elevated or demonized. equality, at last.
hybrids: 10. the name sake of the book, Raka, is one such hybrid. he becomes the main character of the book after a time. before he is the main character, the story follows his father for a bit. his fathers people has a practice of sending young men out to gather information and “spread their seed to the southern tribes,” which foretells the existence of other such hybrids and leads me to....
inter-species sex: 10. multiple written out sex scenes between modern humans and neanderthals, including the assumed conception of a main hybrid character. bonus points for hybrid + full neanderthal sex.
accuracy: 2. for all the dense descriptions of tool making and the like, practically none of this story is based on modern science. the term “cro-magnon” is sometimes used, which has not been used as a scientific term in decades. the characters are also constantly going on hunts and seem to go through meat super fast. honestly this book is more based on the caveman archetype than anything else, the neanderthal/modern human aspect could be removed entirely and nothing about the story would have to change.
#neanderthal#book review#the last neanderthal clan#neanderthal book review#neandertal#charlie boring#lisa lareau#rambling#Thoughts#neanderthal book
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