Category: review

The Secret of Secrets by Dan Brown

When you read a Dan Brown novel you know exactly what you are going to get. Is it high brow? No. Is it a Dostoyevsky level of human condition? No. Is it thrilling and keeps the pages turning? YES!

This book is no different, our favourite Professor Aquaman is with his “girlfriend”, a beautiful, smart scientist in Prague while she delivers a speech prior to publishing a new book that can change the World on how consciousness is misunderstood. But forces at play wish to keep her quiet and her book un-published. What follows is a day of adventure, danger, violence and a lot of science that goes over this readers. When I got to the end I was surprised that the timeline was only 24 hours!

It was fun for what it was, the best character in the book is probably Prague itself. That is what I enjoy most about DB novels, he really opens up the culture or history of a place to people like myself who know very little and it encourages one to do their own research like for example The Devil’s Bible or Prague Castle and the Door With Seven Locks.

The plot was enjoyable for what it was and a few twists and reveals caught me out. Very cleverly done, some bits far fetched but it a suspension of belief that you make for the sake of entertainment. I found this book better than Origin but it’s not quite at Inferno or Angels & Demons for me.

There isn’t really a true villain in the book except for perhaps Finch and his organisation, there’s lots of grey characters and even the Golem is just delivering justice and is justified in its actions.

And given this little quote from the book

Langdon flashed on the opening line to one of his favourite novels. It is said that in death, all things become clear.

it seems one of Robert Langdon’s favourite books is Digital Fortress by …. Dan Brown.

Mafia: The Old Country (PS5)

I am a bit of a gamer and I have been looking forward to this latest release in the Mafia series of video games. Mafia: The Old Country (TOC) follows on from the 2016 release of Mafia III, and the remastered versions of Mafia & Mafia II.

Unlike Mafia III which saw the series try an open-world approach to the game, TOC sees a return to the linear nature of the game, with it being story driven and a much more tighter experience. We are spoiled by open-world games and to many this is a letdown but I find it is a great approach to this series with a more story based and cinematic experience. There is still plenty do in game during missions, and collectables to collect.

The graphics and ambience of the game are simply stunning, it is beautiful game visually and it feels alive during the missions and it is a game I would return to. Outside of missions there is a sort of free exploration in the Carcyclopedia mode. There you can wander and there is some things to do but not much. This is something perhaps that will be fleshed out in the future or maybe some DLC to expand the game.

As enjoyable as the game is, it is about 15 hours long, you simply want more! More things to do outside of the missions. There are lots of things they could add like races, both horses and vehicles, gambling, knife fights (great fun), debt collection or protection.

The story was very well done and I don’t feel any of it was wasted, the problem was it could have given more. It really was a cinematic experience and lots of call backs to the typical Mafia tropes and it felt like The Godfather when Michael was in Sicily. The game features call backs to the other Mafia games like San Celeste from Vito’s army missions in Mafia II, Samuele Trapani being the Sam from Mafia, and a key thread binding all four games together Leone “Leo” Galante, as well as several other characters who feature in the previous games. The game was full of great characters especially Luca, and Tino, Enzo was very well rounded too albeit naive.

This game is clearly a sequel and plays like one, it is interesting to see where the series goes from here. It is very exciting too and I hope there isn’t a long wait for maybe Mafia IV, something set in Las Vegas charting the rise of the mob and Casinos would be a lot of fun.

All in all a wonderful game and one of my favourite’s through the series and welcome return to the linear story driven game, over the open-world of Mafia III. If there was more to do it would be a perfect 10. The game is 9/10 for me

A History of Britain in Ten Enemies by Terry Deary

A light and enjoyable read from the creator of the children’s books Horrible Histories. Though I enjoyed it I did expect more from it. As far as entertainment goes it hits the mark with the facts and humour.

Compared to something like Unruly by David Mitchell it falls a bit below par, and given the reputation of Horrible Histories I expected more. It was enjoyable but could have been better.

A little all over the place with the events like for example the French or Normans you go from 1066 to 1300s. Glossing over a large chunk of history.

Essentially the enemies starts with the Romans and ends with the Germans, though given our Royal family and history then the ‘enemies’ actually won in the end…

La Roche-Posay Lipikar Syndet AP+ Soothing Cream Wash & Lipikar Baume AP+M Moisturiser

I usually write reviews of books on here and I think well this is a review of a sorts as well.

All my life I have always had sensitive skin and issues with excema and psoriasis. To the point that in my childhood I would be having sunbed treatment at the local hospital to help treat it. As I have gotten older the psoriasis has cleared up but I do still get occasional flare ups of excema, mostly on my face around my nose, mouth and eye brows and on my chest. I have tried everything and both prescribed and over the counter solutions. Typically nowadays I use over the counter solutions like an excema friendly moisturiser called Child’s Farm Baby Moisturiser or Doublebase FlareRelief Emollient. Both are decent at treating a flare up but not a clear solution.

I did some browsing online and I was reading up on a brand called La Roche-Posay which has a lot of products for skin and treating various ailments like excema, signs of aging etc. It is quite expensive at £20+ per product considering the Moisturiser and FlareRelief were both under £10 each. So I was curious about it and as luck would have it the La Roche-Posay products went on sale last week during Amazon’s Prime Day sales. I purchased two products to use Lipikar Syndet AP+ Soothing Cream Wash and Lipikar Baume AP+M Moisturiser. I saved about £7 or 8 on each.

As timing would have it I had a flare up on my face and the purchase was perfectly timed but I had a beard too. So in the interests of science I sacrificed my beard to give the new products a proper try out.

Post shaving my face was very red and the excema very visible around my nose and around my mouth. I firstly used the face wash which stung a bit due to the alcohol in it and my bare freshly shaved skin. It is a very pleasant and nice product to use and subsequent uses have been perfect and no sting at all. The Baume is a very nice non-greasy balm and dries in nicely and leaves the skin feeling hydrated and looked after.

The results have been excellent and were clear to see the next morning where my mother noticed the difference instantly. Within 2 uses of each the redness and signs of excema were gone. I know I will never be free of it but it is nice to have something to combat it when it flares up. I will keep up using it daily as a cleanser and moisturiser. It is expensive yes but it works and you do get 400ml of product too.

I will include photos to show the difference.