The Normans: From Raiders to Kings

The Normans: From Raiders to Kings by Lars Brownworth
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is for the audiobook only.

Mr. Brownworth's book is compelling and the quality of the sound is good. I have been listening to a lot of other books with not nearly the quality. He obviously did a lot of research and I always appreciate that.

I give it four stars because the information is interesting and presented in a way that I didn't get bored with it. The disadvantage for the author is I have read a lot about the Normans, and his book didn't bring a lot of new information to me. However, like I said I don't want to bring the rating down to far because I am already familiar with the subject, after all it is a history book, not fiction.

I say get it if you like that part of history. It was a nice listen.

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Resident Evil: The Final Chapter

Well it happened, one of the most iconic movie series in my adult life is ending and it took us by a big surprise, it was pretty good, especially for its status as a B grade horror movie. What I really love (and this isn't a spoiler since its in the previews) is that it comes back to Raccoon City.

Don't get me wrong, it won't be winning any sort of acting awards, the writing isn't Oscar worthy and the special effects are lagging behind. However, even with all of that it was the most cohesive chapter of the series to date.

We originally saw the original Resident Evil when it first came out, since then, barring a single movie, we have seen them all in the theater. Much like the Underworld series, it is just a thing we do.

I was surprised at how well everyone looks (especially Milla) after so many movies and so many years. However, like Kate Beckinsale she probably doesn't have a lot more time in that she could do this movie and supposedly be the same character at the same age.

Out of all of these movies, this definitely had the most cohesive plot. The wrapped up several strings, and even brought in some new things that were maybe a little obvious but they worked well with it. Contrary to some of the movies in the middle though it kept my attention, and entertained us. We were a bit sad to see it wrapping up, it rests up there as a tie for second place for my favorite RE movie (no matter what I do, the original RE always keeps its spot).

Pros: Cohesive storyline, not bad acting, and a satisfying conclusion.

Cons: For a B grade theater movie there really isn't any big cons except this is the final chapter.

Final words, definitely go see it in the theater.