Lord Samper's Library

 Is it me or did November suddenly decide to get a move on and finish so that we could have a clear shot at getting 2020 done and out of the way? If it did, I'm not complaining. If it wasn't for other things happening today, I'd be really tempted to get the Christmas Tree up early and start celebrating. I mean, we've earned it this year, haven't we? It's around about this time of year that the arrival of book packages speeds up a bit but the book posts themselves gets thinner in content. Yep, my kids are getting loads of books for Christmas but you would not be interested, in the slightest, to see what they are; they will though and that's the main thing. Only a few books for me then, this week, but I'm expecting things to change on that front as the charity shops open over the next few days. Shall we see what they are...? Oh, go on then... ;o) I've always meant to try out some Patricia A. McKillip and when I saw 'The Forgotten Beasts of Eld'...

It's been a long old road (which felt far longer than it had any right to sometimes) but we're finally at the last episode (of Season One anyway...) of 'The Walking Dead: World Beyond'. More on the series, as a whole, in a bit, but for now lets concentrate on the final episode. There was a lot of stuff being built up to so it had better be worth it. Spoiler: It was worth it... Not a bad episode to bow out on and it has set things in motion for a hopefully much better Season Two. Actually, before we get started... I'm going to make a pretty big assumption that you all watched both episodes at once (unlike me) so all bets are off now and I'm naming the traitor and the asset in the paragraph below this one. You've been warned ;o) Everyone has suddenly realised that Huck has been pulling everyone's string and she has now disappeared with Hope. The race is on to rescue Hope then but does Hope actually need rescuing? If our groups can avoid danger along the ...

I didn't realise before but we're looking at a two part finale here, makes sense given everything that happened last week and the fact that the group has split and gone in at least three directions. If I'd thought about it, I'd have given myself a little extra time and watched both episodes at once. The way it went though, I had a great Saturday hanging out with my kids and I wouldn't swap that for a show that has been inconsistent to say the least. There's only two episodes left though so I'm seeing this one through to the end. You'll get my thoughts on 'The Deepest Cut' well, right now and we'll do the last episode tomorrow. Lets get to it. The group has split up and it looks like it's about to split up a little bit more with an injury playing right into our traitor's hands; now they have the 'Asset' all to themselves and their mission is almost complete. Secrets are about to be revealed though but is it too late...? And is...

I know, 'Mandalorian Friday' doesn't have the same ring to it, does it? Well, I'll be completely honest... After the week that I've had, I was in no mood for taking my chances with an episode of 'The Walking Dead: World Beyond' and it's 'Could be good, could be absolutely awful' ways. Nope, I needed something, to round off this week, that would do the job first time and leave me feeling thoroughly entertained. So, 'The Mandalorian' it was then' a show that even when it has a slightly 'off' day is still worth at least ten of that other show. Yep, I'm well aware that I'm leaving myself open to being blindsided by the 'World Beyond' season finale but that's not what this post is about so we'll leave that, for now, to concentrate on 'The Mandalorian' and an episode that was even better than I thought it would be, even though I didn't get the full effect of it (more on that in a bit) Before we k...

A quick post today because you would not believe the day I've just had... I just want to go to bed but first things first ;o) I love the 'Case Files' series as they're the best way for a lazy type, like me, to collect whole stories without hunting down individual issues. While you're poring through cardboard boxes in car boot sales (nothing wrong with that to be fair, show me a box of books and I'll pore with the best of them), I'll be sat in my favourite chair, reading in the warm ;o) It wasn't until my teens that I started reading 2000AD and I'll be honest, I was always more into 'Slaine' and 'Nemesis the Warlock', Judge Dredd was a bit of fun but not the reason I'd buy a comic. Well, that was the case until I discovered that every now and then, the 2000AD writers had this habit of killing off large chunks of Mega City One (Dredd's stomping ground) in ways that would move the death count into the millions without even brea...

I'm not going to bore you with more details of what a crappy week this has been. Basically, it has been but Wednesday's more or less done now so that means we're on our way to the weekend. At last! Finally... There hasn't been a lot of reading done this week, just the odd couple of pages here and there, I've got a review that I need to write (for a book that I finished last week) but this week has been more about watching absolutely awful movies as a way of giving my brain a little bit of time off. The only rule was that they had to be fun at the same time, I didn't want a movie where I would find myself checking my phone as time went on... With that in mind then, well... It had to be the 'Resident Evil' movies didn't it? And so at least a couple of posts were born... This one, where I go through the movies that I've actually seen and another one where I watch the remaining films for the first time. I'm not looking forward to but if I can g...

This week has been awful and we're only just finishing up on Tuesday... I won't go into loads of detail but the doctor says it's stress and she wants me to take some time away from work. I'd love to but it's easier said than done, for a number of reasons... Oh well, lets get tomorrow done and then it's a clear run to the weekend ;o)  To balance things out a bit, I did manage to get a Christmas present, for my youngest daughter, that may well be the last one of its 'un-bought' kind in London, seriously :o) Little victories are what gets this Graeme through the day at the moment. All of this means that I'm back in that place again where I've got a pile of books on the go but am only a few pages into each of them. You know what it's like when you find yourself nibbling on a few pages, here and there, and then dart to another book that looks more like what you're after; only to begin the cycle again ;o) The pizza delivery guy is on his way so...

‘Mandalorian Monday’? More like ‘Mandalorian Monday Night’… I’ve only just stopped working (and half of that was sorting out mistakes that I’d made) and it’s been a nightmare the whole way through. It’s official, I hate today but there’s still an episode of ‘The Mandalorian’ to talk about so lets do it, shall we? This week’s episode saw the return of some old friends, an old enemy the Child actually ate something that he was supposed to eat. It’s all happening here… ;o) The ‘Razor Crest’ is in no shape to get our Mandalorian and Child to their destination so it’s back to Navarro for some repairs and to catch up with some old friends, who are doing very well for themselves now that the planet is just about free from Imperial control. I say ‘free’… There’s one base left and once that’s out of the way, Navarro can finally prosper. Greef Karga and Cara Dune make Din Djarin (yep, I’m going to call him by his name from now on…) an offer that he’s happy to take up but what other secrets doe...

I'm knackered, pardon my language but it's true ;o) I'm not one for walking loads at the best of times (I need to be but there's always a bus handy...) so walking from London Bridge all the way down to Greenwich was a little bit ambitious for my portly frame and slightly arthritic knee. I did it though :o) Well, to be honest, I had to as the girls were on their bikes and I had to stay within at least yelling distance and be on hand to pick the smallest one off the pavement at least once, my ex-wife was on hand for the other two occasions. Yep, the smallest one is still cycling with the confidence of a twenty year cyclist even though she's only been riding for just over a fortnight. Which is great until you see her take a corner... Oh well, after all that I'm half looking forward to getting back to work tomorrow and getting to grips with stuff that I can actually deal with ;o) Now I've got that off my chest, how about a look at the books that came through the...

Welcome back to another installment of that occasional series where I suddenly realise that there are shelves below eye height and my knees will actually let me bend down for further inspection. I find something that I had completely forgotten about and post my thoughts right here. It helps me to justify the shelf space being taken up and also saves me a few quid (by revisiting old books instead of just going out and buying more, which is fun but...) This time round, we're looking at Volume One of 'Rumble', a book that I had totally forgotten was there until I saw Volume Two and decided it was time for a re-read. I vaguely remember having a lot of fun with this one, back in the day, so lets have another look and see if (and how) it holds up... Rathraq fought the monsters of old, on behalf of humanity, in the murky depths of pre-history. He was betrayed and forgotten about as the world moved on. Now he's back to take up the fight once more and dish out a little revenge...

If you have been following this blog for the last couple of months, you will have seen go from 'Wow, new Walking Dead Show!' to 'This show needs to sort itself out' to 'Okay, that was brilliant' on to 'What? No! Don't slow down again...' It's been a roller coaster ride alright, unfortunately spiralling downwards though... I'm a glutton for punishment though, and zombies, so figured I'd tough it out for the last three episodes. Having said all that though, last week's episode did end with a mystery to be solved. Did Silas really cave Tony's head in or was he just having a quiet drink in the toilet when it all went down? And if he was, why was he covered in blood? And why sneak a drink in the toilet when they're all in a large building with plenty of room to be alone? Okay, that last one was me (who has never boozed it up in a bathroom) but you get where I'm coming from ;o) So I sat down and watched 'The Sky is a Grave...

Just a quick one today as everything has been competing for my time (you name it, it was competing...) and I'm not left with an awful lot of time left to call my own. It hasn't been a bad day at all, just... really busy... It's all good though, especially as I'm going to be talking about 'Fighting Fantasy' again; this time, it's 'Trial of Champions'... If you read 'Fighting Fantasy' books, back in the day, then 'Deathtrap Dungeon' probably still has a place in your heart either as the first 'Fighting Fantasy' book that you read or the one that is still your favourite. I'm the odd one out here as 'Deathtrap Dungeon' ties with 'Forest of Doom' as all time favourite, but anyway... 'Deathtrap Dungeon' was a book that I went back to over and over again, when I was a kid, so you can imagine how excited I was when I found out that Baron Sukumvit's Dungeon was open for business again in a brand new boo...

A lot of things were meant to happen today but then work came along and put paid to most of them. To be fair though, I did get paid today so felt like I ought to show willing... ;o) One of the things that I was planning on doing was getting a book review up but that clearly hasn't happened, has it? That was nothing to do with work though and more to do with my watching the hell out of 'Truthseekers' last night. Seriously, I didn't stop until the last episode was done. Amazon had thrown a few adverts at me, Twitter had recommended 'Truthseekers' and I was in the mood for watching something that wasn't 'The Walking Dead: World Beyond' or 'The Mandalorian'. I settled down, yesterday lunchtime, to watch a couple of episodes and just kept watching... Gus Roberts is the number one engineer at Smyle, Britain's biggest mobile network operator and internet service provider. In his spare time he's also a keen investigator of the paranormal. ...

The last few months have seen me dip in and out of the 'Age of Sigmar' short stories that keep popping up on Amazon when I should be doing literally anything else other than spend money, that I can't really afford, on books. “Shut up! They're good reads” is one of the excuses that I tend to throw in the face of my 'purchase guilt' along with “look, they're really good for those days when you can't get into anything longer.” Both of these excuses are true of course, and these short stories have also helped me get over there not being an 'Old World' to read about; so much so, in fact, that I figured it was time to try something a little (okay, a lot) longer and really throw myself into the Mortal Realms. Luckily, the TBR pile had me covered and it was time to finally give 'Gloomspite' a go. The only other story that I'd read of Clark's was the short story 'The Will of the Legion' so I was looking forward to seeing how he...

Monday has come round once more and, once more, that means it's 'Mandalorian Monday' time here in the Library; a little slice of alliteration that I can't believe no-one else is using. Surely someone else is... anyone? Maybe it is just me then :o) Either way, we're onto Episode 11 now and I'll confess to a little bit of nerves, coming into this episode, as 'The Passenger' didn't quite meet the standards that this show has set itself. As far as I'm concerned. 'The Mandalorian' has a lot of credit in the bank so I was prepared to write last week off as a bit of a 'blip' but even after a blip, you can't help but wonder where a show will go next. Will it get back to winning ways or will it plod relentlessly downwards? Yep, I'm looking at you 'Walking Dead: World Beyond'... It turns out that I didn't need to worry, 'The Mandalorian' is too good to let one slightly off-key episode define it. 'The Heires...

The title is pretty much my weekend in a nutshell. My youngest daughter learnt to ride her bike last week and now she's ready to take on the world... or whatever is in front of her on the cycle path, whatever comes first... Lets just say that you can tell where she is, on the path, by people jumping out of the way... I'm loving that she's enjoying her bike but I somehow need to help her strike a balance between that and her being careful and considerate of everyone else on the cycle paths. Oh well, it's early days... She'll learn :o) But you're not here for a commentary on my little girl's cycling technique (essentially 'keep going forwards and everything else will sort itself out...'), you want to know about the books, don't you? Well... It's been a really quiet week for books as it happens; partly down to all the shops being shut and partly down to me only having a few quid to last until payday (which is Wednesday, I'm almost there...) ...

A little late in the day again but I somehow managed to spend most of the day asleep which was just what this Graeme needed after the last week. It's still Saturday though and that means it's time to take a look at what's happening in 'The Walking Dead: World Beyond' and more importantly, is it actually any good this week...? Because while there have been some good bits here and there, the season as a whole hasn't been up to much at all really, has it? Our intrepid gang of teenagers should be dead ten times over by now but the plot needs them to make it to New York State so make it they will; helped by no end of good luck, adult supervision and now, a truck with a tank full of gas and a map to help them on their way. All of us, on the other side of the screen, can only sit and wish that when the zombie apocalypse comes, it will be as kind to us as it is to them... The destination isn't in sight yet but it has suddenly become a hell of a lot easier to reach ...

Time seems to keep running away from me this year (not surprising really)... It feels like only last week that I was talking about Volume One of 'The Autumnlands' but it was actually way back at the beginning of October. At this rate, I'm going to have to be really careful that I don't blink and miss Christmas. You can read the review, for Volume One , if you want but if you don't want to, that's cool too ;o) Lets just say that I love that book'; near perfect storytelling and artwork combine to give the reader something really special in terms of story and a world that's just beginning to unfold. It took me a little longer, than planned to get to Volume Two but having finished Volume One, it was always going to happen sooner or later. So off I read and it always feels a little off re-reading something as you know what's coming. It was no different here but there's still plenty to talk about here. Stranded in the mountains, the Great Champion ...