Blogcritics Author: Richard Marcus

Book Review: The Judging Eye (Book One Of The Aspect Emperor) R. Scott Bakker

Richard Marcus — Thu, 8 Jan 2009 21:56:19 EST

This is fantasy literature like you've never read before.
History is the record of what came before us and reminds us of who we once were and how we became who we are now. However, there is often a marked difference between what is recorded as history and what actually happened. Whether it's the mists of time that cloud people's memories or a deliberate colouring of the truth that distorts reality...

DVD Review: Brideshead Revisited (2008)

Richard Marcus — Tue, 6 Jan 2009 15:01:10 EST

A remarkable achievement and a wonderful film.
It's difficult enough as it is to try and adapt a well known novel as a movie without disappointing audiences, but when somebody else has already made what many consider the definitive adaptation of the same work, the job becomes nearly impossible. Such was the case for director Julian Jarrold and the rest involved with bringing the version of...

DVD Review: The Last Detective - The Complete Series

Richard Marcus — Tue, 6 Jan 2009 02:19:48 EST

He's not your typical television police officer and this is definitely not your typical television cop show.
If there wasn't any truth to an expression it probably wouldn't ever have been said, so although you can't take a saying like "nice guys finish last" as gospel, you can be sure there has to be some truth to it. One only needs look at the way the world conducts business to realize how a saying like that could have come about....

Music Review: Novalima - Coba Coba

Richard Marcus — Sun, 4 Jan 2009 17:57:38 EST

Novalima sets the standard for all other bands wishing to bring modern technology into play when adapting traditional music.
Prior to the coming of the Spanish in the 16th century, Peru was home to the sophisticated civilization of the Inca empire. Although the Inca had managed to subjugate their various neighbours and raise exquisite cities, they quickly fell to the Spaniards due to gunpowder, disease, and deceit. Once the conquistadors had sated their lust for gold, it...

Book Review: Poe, edited by Ellen Datlow (stories inspired by Edgar Allan Poe)

Richard Marcus — Sun, 4 Jan 2009 07:20:17 EST

Works of mystery and imagination that not only do justice to the author they celebrate, but are fine stories in their own right.
Anthologies of short stories are usually put together to honour the best of a particular genre for the past year. It's not uncommon therefore in January to see collections titled The Best Fantasy, or The Best Science Fiction being released by various publishers. In those instances the editor's job isn't really that difficult as they...

Book Review: The Enchantress Of Florence by Salman Rushdie

Richard Marcus — Fri, 2 Jan 2009 18:53:17 EST

A historical fantasy that's both a pleasure to read and an education in its recreation of two of history's most fascinating cities.
In our chauvinism the West puts Florence and its renaissance as a place of arts and learning, at the centre of the world when it comes to cultural achievements in the 15th and 16th centuries. Our bias has prevented us from seeing that while supposedly civilized Europe struggled through dark ages of ignorance and plague in the years prior to that...

My Favourite Reads Of 2008

Richard Marcus — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:08:11 EST

A simple test: which books would I be most inclined to re-read?
Naturally the books I liked the most through 2008 have stuck in my memory, but I still had to wade through Blogcritics' archives so I could locate their links, and I was shocked to see how many reviews I had published in this time, and how many had been books that I'd forgotten about.The criteria I used was simple enough; which books would...

Village Rescues Starving Horses From Mountainside

Richard Marcus — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 17:12:12 EST

The village of McBride British Columbia reminds the world what it means to care more about somebody else than yourself.
The newspapers have been awfully depressing recently, filled with forecasts of economic disaster, reports of epidemics (cholera in Zimbabwe and ebola in the Congo), and casualty statistics from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Gaza. With millions of people going hungry worldwide on top of that, it's sometimes hard not to listen for the echo of hoof-beats...

Music Review: Rupa & The April Fishes - ExtraOrdinary Rendition

Richard Marcus — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 10:06:11 EST

Their music speaks to all of us and is in a language that all can understand.
If music from countries outside North America and England is considered world music, and music by people from English speaking North America is considered popular music, what would you call music performed by a band whose lead singer was born in the States to parents originally from the Punjab region of North India, who moved to the South of France...

Book Review: The Tales Of Beedle The Bard by J. K. Rowling

Richard Marcus — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 06:44:23 EST

Rowling once again manages to immerse us completely in a world where magic is part of the fabric of existence.
I'm not the easiest person to buy presents for. You can't just pop out and pick me up a CD or a book because chances are if its one I'm inclined to listen to or read I'll have already managed to get a copy to review for these pages. Which made it doubly surprising that my wife walked in the door beaming the other day after returning...