Regular readers of this blog – and I appreciate you both, by the way – are no doubt saying to yourselves, “What is an ‘express review’? There has never been an ‘express review’ here before!” And you are absolutely right. An express review, briefly put, is not a real review at all, but would like…
Tag: reviews
Review: Cinderella
I’m tempted to begin this review the way they used to introduce famous people on TV: “My guest tonight needs no introduction …” This line has received its share of ribbing, being an introduction that declares itself pointless, but in fairness, you always need an introduction. Even for people everybody already knows about. Like Cinderella….
Review: James Madison – A Life Reconsidered
James Madison, more than a Founding Father, is the father of the Constitution – the author of that document, less dazzling but more solid, more worthwhile than the Declaration of Independence. In her new biography of our fourth president, Lynne Cheney asks us to consider again James Madison, his achievements and their meaning. James Madison:…
CSFF Blog Tour: Storm Siren
At the ripe young age of seventeen, Nym is already experienced in being bought and sold – fourteen times experienced. This is proof incontrovertible that her life has been hard. So – and not coincidentally – have been her owners’ lives. And what with the war, and prowling evil wizards, and decadent rulers, and crazy…
Review: Dawn of Destiny
Scott Remington is sure that he was meant to fight in the Alien War, to stand in the front lines against the mysterious invaders whose sudden strikes plague the cities of Earth. And fight he will, at the forefront of the war, but it will take him places he never imagined, to a destiny he…
CSFF Blog Tour: The Fatal Tree
The universe, they say, is constantly expanding. If it ever stops expanding, it will then begin to contract. Once it begins to contract, it will eventually collapse, and that will be the End of Everything. Everything is a lot, especially in the multiverse. In The Fatal Tree, the conclusion of Stephen Lawhead’s five-part Bright Empires…
Movie Review: Arthur Christmas
Arthur’s heart was in the right place; it was his feet that usually weren’t. He wasn’t quite harmless – certainly not to the elves he routinely tripped over, whose home he once accidentally melted. But he meant well. Arthur Christmas is a story of Santa, his wife, his father, and his two sons. If you…
Review: Big Hero 6
If you really want to get the bad guy, it’s logical to conclude you need a hero. You might further conclude, especially if you’re fourteen, that you need a superhero. But to go from there to creating a superhero? For that, you need adolescent logic combined with genius-level skill. So enter, stage-right, Hiro Hamada, the…
Review: Hobbits, You, and the Spiritual World of Middle Earth
If you are curious to know how Bard is like the Apostle Paul, or how Pippin is like the Apostle Peter, or Galadriel like Solomon – then I have the book for you. Hobbits, You, and the Spiritual World of Middle-Earth is a devotional for teens written by Jill Richardson. Each chapter begins with a…
Review: Outpost
Christopher Hill spent a lot of time in the world’s hotspots – Kosovo, Bosnia, North Korea, post-surge Iraq. If you have never heard of him, I’m not surprised. Diplomats are rarely household names. Outpost: Life on the Frontlines of American Diplomacy is Christopher Hill’s memoir. He had many consequential jobs: working on the negotiations that…