Jordan

Bruna Guedes

Husain Kothari

FRNK

Uendi Prifti

Abdul Hasib

Loughlin Sullivan

Delaney Knopp

Auriel W

Blake Molmen

Dani Shahar

Luis Javier Campos nieto

The bestselling author of the Myth series proves once again that not just anyone can join Phule's Company. They used to be the laughingstock of the interstellar armed forces--until their last mission proved successful. Now they must guard an intergalactic casino called the Fat Chance from a criminal takeover--and the odds are against the oddballs.

After the events of the last book Skeeve and Aazh as partners got themselves a very nice base of operations with just one tiny little problem: one of the doors in their dwelling (the kind they use in banks for safe vaults) led into an unknown and potentially deadly dimension. Circumstances forced Aazh to go in to investigate while Skeeve was tricked to be left behind. When Skeeve learned Aazh had stuck in a jail with a murder charge he rushed after his partner almost blindly accompanied by his goon/bodyguard (on a load from the Mob) and Massha. For those unfamiliar with the series, the second companion is a very colorful character who uses her countless jewelry items she wears to perform magic. The said items tend to malfunction often and in the most inappropriate moments. Hilarity ensures. Now that I reread the book I realized it contains some very subtle signs of the series decline down the road. None of the new characters, including the ones who will reappear later are not as good as already established ones with only possible exception of a werewolf who did not get enough screen time; he reminds me of this guy:Skeeve's love interest came out completely unbelievable and weak. Who needs a love interest when Tanda is always close by, anyway???However the escape scene has got to be one of the best in the series if not THE best. It really saves the book and earns it an extra star. I challenge anybody to read it, picture it in your head and try not to smile at least at the absurdity and hilarity of the situation. I would like to use the opportunity to rant a little. I keep saying that the word "racist" is really overused these days to the point where sometimes it loses its original meaning and just becomes "a person who does not agree with me". I was looking at the reviews for this book and stumbled upon a real gem and a proof of what I just sad. Both author and Skeeve were accused (I am taking seriously here) of being racist towards vampires and werewolves. Now I have seen everything; I will just shut up.

In the previous book as a result of Skeeve being an asshole (sorry but there is no more polite word to better describe his behavior) his mentor and friend Aazh left for his own home. Skeeve finally got off his head out of the clouds (see, I did manage to find more polite-sounding place for the guy's head) and decided to go to Aazh home dimension to apologize. Here is where the trouble began. Skeeve was alone in the wold populated by scary huge lizards with big teeth called Pervects (called so by themselves; other races insisted on calling them Perverts). His previous adventures had not prepared him to survive in a city reminding me of a cross between New York and Moscow during the time of the Soviet Union and populated by Perverts, I mean Pervects. Try to imagine finding a person in New York City (pop. 8.5 millions) or Moscow (pop. 17 millions) having no clue where to start and you will see what I mean.The first half of the book was funny; funny to the point that it made me hope I somehow forgot about how great the book was after my first read a long time ago and that Asprin managed to recapture the magic of the first 5 books. And then the second part came. My boring rant follows. Skeeve began growing up. I said it before countless number of times, but it is well worth repeating: growing up is boring. When you were a kid you could make great new friends all the time, every day brought new and exciting discoveries (from my personal experience: you cannot even imagine our excitement when we discovered an unguarded way into a local junk yard), summer vacations were long and great, and even getting sick meant you would have some school-free time. Now the adulthood came. You have to go to soul-sucking work every day, your boss is a jerk, your wife nags non-stop, and your husband is lazy good-for-nothing waste of human being. You have to think in long boring words like Politics, Financial Investments, Retirement, Stock Performance, and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. Sounds exciting? I did not think so. If you are still in doubt compare the last two pictures: which one makes you think of an adventure? So Skeeve's growing up took the second part of the book and this is exactly where the tale stopped being funny and became boring. It is not completely hopeless as we learn some of Aazh's background and get to meet the the newest member of M.Y.T.H. Inc. Pookie. 3 stars aka what ever happened to Robert Lynn Asprin's humor.

Now that M.Y.T.H. Inc. became a reality it is time for the company to take on some assignments. The said company took quite a diverse range of them - as diverse as the members of Skeeve's outfit. Let me count them: finding a thief who steals from a factory wholesale, collecting a debt, decorating a hotel, helping an old friend to get out of a really bad contract, and protecting shipping goods. Each assignment is a self-contained story and is told from a different POV of a person/being performing it. I feel my review of this installment would come out harsher than it needs to be so let me say from the beginning that regardless of what I am about to say it is still good enough for 3 (weak) stars. It has a couple of amusing moments as well as one laugh-out-loud (Tananda's visit to a bar frequented by hardened criminals). It is also short so it is over before the reader gives up on it. This book is noticeably weaker than the previous one and I already proclaimed that the previous one does not quite reach the level of the first five novels. Skeeve grew up. His growing up signifies his development which is nice and dandy, but he grew up to be a boring person and an asshole to boot. He became a president of a company and being an asshole comes with the job, but this does not make it any more entertaining to read.I did not like multiple POVs. Skeeve (the teen) was the sole narrator before and his outlook on life really shined. Here some of the POVs are quite boring. Speaking about boring, so are some of the stories. The ones that were not boring were predictable and cliché. Even the only funny moment I mentioned above was cliché, but its execution was top-notch reminding us that Robert Asprin knew how to write genuinely funny stuff. This is my second time I read this book and it did not become better on the reread. It is time for me to take a hiatus from the series. I finally recalled why I did not finish it on my first attempt.

\
  This review is dedicated to Iceland team of UEFA Euro 2016. Guys, you showed everybody you do not have to be a high-paid pro to play a good game.\
 “When old friends get together, everything else fades to insignificance."- War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death.Every chapter of all the books of the series starts with a funny epigraph; I could not resist using one of them above. Anyhow, Skeeve was bored out of his skull doing his job of a court magician (this means doing nothing). It did not help any that it was raining non-stop in the capital of the kingdom which employed Skeeve. Luckily Tanda showed up (for unfamiliar with the series think about a super sexy alien with a green skin from the original Star Trek – this is exactly Tanda). She invited Skeeve to help her with her shopping in other dimensions. And so Skeeve went despite Aazh gloomy and pessimistic prediction of an upcoming disaster resulting from the trip. Aazh was right of cause. A bold theft went very wrong and Skeeve barely escaped back home to ask Aazh to help him get Tanda out of a tight spot. Their rescue attempt resulted in a lot of absurd situations – each one is more hilarious than the previous – and culminated in a very memorable game vaguely resembling football/soccer, thus my dedication in the beginning. Yes, the picture above gives a fairly good idea about that game. It would be sufficient to say the novel made me laugh out loud in a public place, several times. Strictly speaking it does not exactly reach 5-star level, but anything making me laugh during the reread deserves an extra star. In other good news we get to meet even more interesting and colorful characters, Massha first and foremost. General Badaxe got himself a girlfriend and we learn a very interesting and unexpected tidbit about Tanda’s origins and see her brother up close and personal (hint: he does not need to be seen up close as he is very hard to miss even from a great distance). It is hard to believe for this subgenre, but there are interesting character developments (for the main characters anyway). Both Skeeve and Aazh grow; even Skeeve’s pet baby dragon does (it takes about 300 years for the little guy to become mature). For this reason the series needs to be read in order. I really cannot say anything more than the following. Are you looking for a funny fantasy? Are you looking for a funny read and do not mind reading fantasy? In both cases you are looking for this. I am also sorry to say, but I like this one (at least first several books) more than Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld – Myth series is funnier in my opinion. 

Again this is two-books-in-one, which makes it a bit harder to review than otherwise. I also find that my reactions to them were very different. I had read them before, I think one time and certainly not more than twice, and remembered some of that, which had some impact on my appreciation. It is the fifth and sixth books in the series; I have previously read and reviewed the first four.The first (that is, fifth) book, Myth-ing Persons, introduces Luanne as a recurring character. She had a brief appearance in the first book of the series, but without a name--she was the female of the con artist couple Skeeve and Ahz portrayed as a deal with a Deveel. Now she's the girl of Skeeve's dreams, and seems smitten and a bit overawed by him, which would be the perfect set up for a romance--except that she and her two companions managed to make him responsible for their scam on Deva by escaping through a back door in his office into another dimension he and Ahz had never explored. Ahz manages to leave Skeeve behind to attempt to bring them back, and her partner Vic manages to fake his own death and frame Ahz for murder--but Luanne has the courtesy to return to that back door to let Skeeve know his partner's in trouble. The rest of the story is about efforts to capture Vic to prove Ahz is innocent and square the problem with the Deva merchants association about the scam. The complications are that this particular dimension is notoriously short on force lines (the source of magic in the series) and the home of vampires and werewolves. Vic is one of the former, and true to Asprin's style he rewrites all the tropes in a way that explains why vampires have the reputation they have but aren't really like that--in this case, the vampires you meet in other dimensions are all arrogant eccentric wealthy tourists; at home most vampires drink the bottled blood of livestock, not fresh blood from people's necks.Interestingly, although I remembered a lot of the story as it unfolded, I did not remember any of the twists or surprises in this one (or at least, not many) despite this, I did not enjoy it so much as others in the series, and wondered whether he was slowing down or whether it was just that the story idea wasn't working for me. I've read worse stories, certainly, but this one did not hold me very well.In contrast, with Little Myth Marker, I remembered nearly all the significant twists and plot points almost from the first page, and yet found myself eager to read it. In this one, we are introduced to the concept of the game of Dragon Poker. There is almost enough about it in the book to set up a basic game--it plays like poker but with six card hands in which all six cards are part of play, so that a strait or a flush has one more card in it, and three pairs, three of a kind twice, and four of a kind and a pair are all ranked hands. The deck, though, is not adequately described, as reference is made to the ogre and unicorn cards in each suit without clarifying whether these are extra cards or different names for existing ones. Beyond that, we are given to understand that there are hundreds of complicated rules that change play based on everything from what day of the week it is, to which way your chair faces, to what number hand it is, to what cards are face up. Right at the start Skeeve plays a game at a local club because he was invited, having no idea how to play but somehow winning. He agrees, in a friendly way, to accept the marker of another player, and finds himself saddled with a little girl named Markie. She is immediately trouble, because little girls can cause all kinds of trouble--and she seems specially equipped and talented to cause more than her share. Meanwhile, there is another addition to the household, as the mob's Fairy Godfather Don Bruce has decided to send his niece Bunny to fill the position of Skeeve's "Moll", because every mob boss needs to have a gorgeous girl on his arm and Skeeve, after all, does see to the mob's interests on Deva (a long story from a previous book). Between Markie and Bunny life is in chaos at Skeeve's mansion--and then word reaches them that someone has hired The Ax, the most notorious "character assassin", to destroy Skeeve's reputation. Of course, Bunny is immediately suspect, as things have been going wrong since she arrived, but the situation is much more tangled than that. Word of Skeeve's success at Dragon Poker has also reached the ears of the world champion, the Sen-sen Ante Kid (yeah, that's what it's like sometimes), who has issued a challenge which Skeeve finds himself obliged to accept to preserve his reputation even though he still knows nothing about the game.Eventually Skeeve figures it all out, exposes the real Ax, befriends the Sen-sen Ante Kid, and incidentally helps a few people and punishes a few villains along the way. It also sets us up for future stories with the team working together, which will appear in future books.The series remains fun and highly entertaining, with Asprin's quirky creativity building clever twists on the tropes of fantasy. I recommend the series, although I recommend (as I always prefer) the reader begin with the first book, rather than jumping in here.

Robert (Lynn) Asprin was born in 1946. While he wrote some stand alone novels such as Cold Cash War, Tambu and The Bug Wars and also the Duncan and Mallory Illustrated stories, Bob is best known for his series fantasy, such as the Myth Adventures of Aahz and Skeeve, the Phule’s Company novels and the Time Scout novels written with Linda Evans. He also edited the groundbreaking Thieves’ World anthology series with Lynn Abbey. Other collaborations include License Invoked (set in the French Quarter of New Orleans) and several Myth Adventures novels, all written with Jody Lynn Nye.Bob’s final solo work was a contemporary fantasy series called Dragons, again set in New Orleans. Bob passed away suddenly on May 22, 2008. He is survived by his daughter and son, his mother and his sister.

The life of a young magician's apprentice becomes amusingly complicated when his mentor is assassinated soon after summoning a 'demon.' The assassin fares no better than his target, vaporized by the magician's fireball. The summoned demon remains unscathed, other than for losing his magic. As they say, those who can't do, teach, so he becomes the apprentice's new mentor. These first two books of the Myth Adventures series are better than I remembered. Actually, It's been so long since I first read them that I didn't remember much about them at all. Obviously, I must now put all the others in the series on my TBR list for this year. :-)

This is the seminal novel of a young man's education as a member of an elite, paternalistic non-military organization of leaders dedicated to preserving human civilization, the Solar Patrol, a provocative parallel to Heinlein's famous later novel, Starship Troopers. Only the best and brightest--the strongest and the most courageous--ever manage to become Space Cadets, at the Space Academy. They are in training to be come part of the elite guard of the solar system, accepting missions others fear, taking risks no others dare, and upholding the peace of the solar system for the benefit of all.But before Matt Dodson can earn his rightful place in the ranks, his mettle is to be tested in the most severe and extraordinary ways--ways that change him forever, from the midwestern American boy into a man of the Solar Patrol.

“C'mon kid. Think a minute, even if it hurts.”Skeeve used to be a magician apprentice until an assassin (who paid for the deed with his life right away) brought an untimely end to his master, but not before the latter summoned a demon.“The Demon curled its lips back, revealing a double row of needle-sharp teeth. I considered changing my chosen course of action; I considered fainting.”Now Skeeve was stuck with the said demon who seems to have a very nice friendly personality:“Are you going to shake my hand, or am I going to rip your heart out?”To complicate things further the demon turned out to be quite different from what anybody would expect: in his case "Demon" stands for "Dimensional Traveler" and the guy's native dimension was called Perv, making Aazh one of his inhabitants, or Pervert (another hint about his nice personality). The two teamed up to deal with the powerful magician who hired the assassin. Their weapons? Skeeve's rudimentary magic skills and Aazh's ability to talk anybody's head off. Fun times are about to start - and they sure will.This book is funny. It has everything a good humorous fantasy is supposed to have: great puns, amusing dialog, absurd laugh-out-loud situations, colorful and equally amusing characters. Sadly this series nowadays is mostly forgotten and the first name that comes up when people think of humorous fantasy is Discworld. However it took Sir Terry Pratchett at least 3 books to become funny; this one makes you smile practically on the second page. The quality does drop off sharply after the first 5 or 6 books, but the initial ones are great. My only complaint is that it took practically two thirds of the book before the dynamic duo arrived on Deva's Bazaar: a truly colorful place with some excellent recurring characters (see above). I can recommend this series to anybody who needs a good laugh; it also works great as a cure for a book hangover (my personal experience).

Interesting factoid: the first six Thieves' World collections should appear in the Kindle store in February 2020, thanks to the efforts of Open Road Media. The task of securing rights was probably significant.I'd be curious if this experiment--a shared setting and usable set of characters--has ever been repeated. The logical conclusion would be open-source or copylefted material, and the only thing I know of is the Jenny Everywhere project. Sadly the most common example these days is tie-in novels and licensed properties.So the essay itself, "The Making of Thieves' World", is the standout piece, as being partially a fascinating insight on wrangling together this material, as well as a bit about how this outstanding example of worldbuilding came together. On this reading (versus decades ago) the best stories trade places with the others, with the hardscrabble, character-driven ones being more involving and resonant than the boilerplate sword-and-sorcery adventure stuff that attracted me originally.Strangely, the story that I most remembered, "The Secret of the Blue Star", has aged poorly because of real-world changes to gender politics. The drama circling Lythande's "Secret" is so particularly heavy-handed and telegraphing that one wonders if any reader at the time was truly surprised by the twist ending. But I'm curious what this story would look like if written today. Also, the later accusations made against Marion Zimmer Bradley are only highlighted by the fact that a character here, Bercy, is concocted as a romantic or sexual object but her description signals her as being inappropriately young.

WIllard Phule is the heir to a super-rich munitions company, and also an officer in the Legion. Unfortunately he gets a little too gung-ho during a peace treaty, and catches the ire of his higher-ups. They can't court-martial him, so instead they try to get him to quit by shipping him off to a remote swamp planet to command a company of losers. But Phule is far too entrepreneurial and positive-minded to let that get him down.This is yard sale sci-fi. By that I mean you'd really never give this a look except for 50 cents at a yard sale. It's a slim book with a goofy cover. But it's good yard sale sci-fi: it's positive, well written, with good characters and a gentle spirit to it. It's not epic space opera, but it's great comfort reading. It's not going to win Hugo awards, but when you get tired of doom and gloom, hyper-violent and hyper-sexualized modern sci-fi, you could do a lot worse than this.

The plot of the first book in this volume is kind of lame. It revolves around a sporting event (I tend to dislike stories like that). Still, the characters are likeable, and their interactions and misadventures are fun without being overly silly or absurd. The second book is much better. In this one, Skeeve is asked to fill in for the king. He doesn't know at the time (unbelievable given his position as court magician) the the king's new bride is supposed to arrive the next day. Again, the plot has its weak points, but its an enjoyable story. My plan is to reread this entire series.

Skeeve and Aazh were minding their own business in an inn they ended up owing as a result of the events of the first book. Their leisure time was interrupted by a soldier who brought an invitation to the great and powerful magician Skeeve (ha!) to accept a position of a court magician in a nearby kingdom. As everybody is well aware a government job is the best one there is: it is stable, secure, and usually little or no work is involved; do not let me started on benefits. Aazh talked Skeeve into accepting the job. The first thing they realized upon arriving is that they are not the only applicants for the position and a job interview is in order. After successfully passing the latter due to Aazh skillful coaching the duo realized they ended up with the job and a problem which would put such powerful magicians as Gandalf, Allanon, Dumbledore, Lady, Macros, and Rand al’Thor taken together in a very tight spot. Let me remind you that Aazh had lost his magic powers and Skeeve was just a novice apprentice. Not a problem for the two, right? I cannot think of much to say here except that I laughed reading the book. Hard. It was a reread by the way, and not the first one. This series belongs to a dying breed of humorous fantasy which is funny and which does not require a bunch of people to die or bad puns to be funny. The dialog between Skeeve and Aazh never fails to deliver. Even when it does not make you laugh out loud, it makes you chuckle. The characters – new and old – are colorful and interesting (how is about a mercenary who is so old he falls asleep all the time including during his guard duty, but whose skill with a bow would make William Tell die of envy?) Skeeve and Aazh both have good development and feel like living beings and not just caricatures. To make a long story short this is a really underrated humorous fantasy. If you have not read it yet and are in the mood for something lighthearted: the first five books provide excellent mindless entertainment. This installment is not a 5 star classic, but it firmly stands in 4 star rating range.

Aazh took a leave to take care of his family problems. Skeeve thought it would be easy to live a couple of days without his mentor and for some short time it looked like he was right. Right until the moment his employer the King showed up and asked his court magician to substitute for him while poor overworked king takes a short vacation. Not a big deal, right? Wrong. It turned out the king was about to get married to a woman who would think nothing to kill a husband or two that had a misfortune to be in the way of her plans. So the real king thus escaped and Skeeve ended up with a bloodthirsty bride. Now would be a very good time to use the most famous quote of the series - something Skeeve said in this installment, "When things are at their blackest, I say to myself, 'Cheer up, things could be worse.' And sure enough, they get worse." Sure enough as soon as the bride arrived it turned out the poor guy had much worse problem on his hands: the Mob came and showed its interest in him. I do not need to say that even in the fantasy land if the Mob takes an interest in you your lifespan is about to get much shorter. This time Skeeve is truly on his own. My short review: it is funny; probably not as funny as the last book, but almost as much. We get to meet even more colorful characters that will play major roles down the road - most notably a couple of Mob goons. Massha got a permanent position in the series. Skeeve matured. He managed to solve half of his problems on his own until they became big enough for him to ask his friends for help. His confrontation with Aazh in the middle of the book also showed it. All in all this is a good installment of the series which fully deserve 4 stars.

Guido and Nunzio may not be the brightest bodyguards in the world - but they certainly are faithful. When Skeeve "the Great" asks them to join the army of Possiltum, the two thugs volunteer without question...Except: Whose side are they on?Queen Hemlock's? The Mob's Fairy Godfather's? Skeeve's? The two baffled bodyguards barely have time to figure it all out - they've been handed government-issue crossbows, armored with leather skirts, and given combat orders by the dreaded drill sergeant Smiley!With war heroes like these...who needs enemies?

Skeeve tried to fit into a new neighborhood he recently moved (don't we all?) For this reason he accepted an invitation for a friendly game of Dragon Poker- I will talk about the game itself later. Another reason was that all the people that kept Skeeve out of trouble were otherwise occupied and the guy could not miss the opportunity - to get into the trouble that is. As people familiar with the series know if trouble Skeeve asks trouble Skeeve gets; and a big one too. Sufficient to say he won and one of his IOUs created endless and practically unsolvable problems for him. When I talk about the series I keep saying that its quality declined as it went along. This is the place where it all started. It is still good enough, but not on the level with the first five installments. Where do I start? Skeeve is growing up and not surprisingly growing up is boring.  There are some parts of the book where the story just stops and Skeeve or his friends sit down and do some philosophical pondering about life and its meaning. These places really feel like screeching half of the tale. The very last sentence dropped all pretenses of being funny and left Skeeve and the readers sad and confused. This was also the start of Skeeve friends' practically worshiping him as a demigod who Can Do No Wrong - a somewhat undeserved reputation among the people/beings who should know better. This only becomes worse in the following books. I really have to mention Dragon Poker as I promised above. It was referred to as the most complicated card game ever invented and I agree. On the surface it looks like good old Poker with six cards instead of five. However there are modifications for the hands and they are numerous and great. To give an example one of them states something like this, "You have a pair and he has straight, but you sit facing south and his last name contains letter K, so your hand wins". Sufficient to say, I want this game. As I already mentioned this does not mean the book is hopeless; in fact it was good enough for 3.5 stars.

Last night while I lay thinking here Some Whatifs crawled inside my ear And pranced and partied all night long And sang their same old Whatif song: Whatif I flunk that test?Whatif green hair grows on my chest?Whatif nobody likes me?Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me?...This 20th anniversary of Shel Silverstein's A Light in the Attic includes a CD of highlights from his Grammy Award-winning album.Here in the attic of Shel Silverstein you will find Backward Bill, Sour Face Ann, the Meehoo with an Exactlywatt, and the Polar Bear in the Frigidaire. You will talk with Broiled Face, and find out what happens when Somebody steals your knees, you get caught by the Quick-Digesting Gink, a Mountain snores, and They Put a Brassiere on the Camel.From the creator of the beloved poetry collections Where the Sidewalk Ends and Falling Up, here is another wondrous book of poems and drawings.

This book is good for the following things: 1. Propping up a short table leg2. Lining a bird cage3. Building a fire4. Using as a coaster for cold drinksI devoted some of my grammar thesis to criticizing this book, and it was time well spent. Geoff Nunberg may have said it best: "The weird thing is to see rules like these passed down as traditional linguistic wisdom. Take that edict that you ought to say "10 persons" rather than "10 people." You can still find it in the recent editions of Strunk and White's revered Elements of Style, along with antique admonitions against saying "contact us" or calling something "worthwhile." The linguist Arnold Zwicky calls these zombie rules. Somebody should have run them through a wood chipper long ago, but here we are in 2010 assigning students a style guide that tells them that correct English requires them to write, "There were 5,000 screaming persons at the Lady Gaga concert." http://www.npr.org/templates/story/st...

I read this book in 4th grade. One day I was waiting for class when an obnoxious boy decided it would be a good idea to take it. I informed him that it was my favorite book in the whole wide world and if he didn't give it back that he'd be sorry. He then threatened to tear the book in half. With that I walked over to him, hit him over the head with my cast (I had broken my wrist a few weeks prior), took my book and calmly walked away.I think that a book that inspires someone to violence in the 4th grade is worth reading, don't you?

Renowned adventurer Allan Quatermain leads a team of extraordinary figures with legendary powers to battle the technological terror of a madman known as "The Fantom". This "League" comprises seafarer and inventor Captain Nemo, vampire Mina Harker, an invisible man named Rodney Skinner, American Secret Service Agent Tom Sawyer, the ageless and invincible Dorian Gray, and the dangerous split personality of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

2003 superhero film by Stephen Norrington

It feels good to be bad...Assemble a team of the world's most dangerous, incarcerated Super Villains, provide them with the most powerful arsenal at the government's disposal, and send them off on a mission to defeat an enigmatic, insuperable entity. U.S. intelligence officer Amanda Waller has determined only a secretly convened group of disparate, despicable individuals with next to nothing to lose will do. However, once they realize they weren't picked to succeed but chosen for their patent culpability when they inevitably fail, will the Suicide Squad resolve to die trying, or decide it's every man for himself?

Evil sorceress Queen Ravenna's powers allow her to know that her younger sister Freya, whose powers have not yet emerged, is not only involved in an illicit affair with an already elsewhere engaged nobleman Andrew, but is also pregnant with his child. Sometime after Freya gives birth to a baby girl, Freya discovers that Andrew not only reneged on his promise of elopement with her but also murdered their child. In a grief-fueled rage, her broken heart freezes over and she kills him with her sudden emergence of powers - the elemental control of ice..

Mankind discover the existence of the Vampire and Lycan species and begin a war to annihilate the races. When Selene meets with Michael, they're hit by a grenade. 12 years later, Selene awakens and meets the vampire, David. She learns she had been the subject of scientist Dr. Jacob Lane, and the Vampire and Lycan species have been practically eradicated from Earth. Now, Selene and David must protect a 12-year-old girl against the Lycans who intend to use her.

2012 film by Måns Mårlind and Björn Stein

As the war between the vampires and the Lycans rages on, the beautiful vampire, Selene, a former member of the Death Dealers, and Michael, the werewolf hybrid, work together in an effort to unlock the secrets of their respective bloodlines. In this ancient feud between the two tribes, they try to unlock the secrets, in a modern tale of action, intrigue, and forbidden love, which takes them into the battle to end all wars, as the immortals must finally face their doom.

PRIEST, a post-apocalyptic action thriller, is set in an alternative world -- one ravaged by centuries of war between man and vampires. The story revolves around a legendary Warrior Priest from the last Vampire War who now lives in obscurity among the other downtrodden human inhabitants in walled-in dystopian cities ruled by the Church. When his niece is abducted by a murderous pack of vampires, Priest breaks his sacred vows to venture out on a quest to find her before they turn her into one of them. He is joined on his crusade by his niece's boyfriend, a trigger-fingered young wasteland sheriff, and a former Warrior Priestess who possesses otherworldly fighting skills.

John Constantine is approached by Det. Angela Dodson who needs his help to prove that her twin sister Isabel's death was not a suicide. The dead woman was a devout Catholic and Angela refuses to accept she would have taken her own life. She's asked Constantine for help because he has a reputation for dealing with the mystical. In fact, he is a demon hunter whose sole purpose on Earth is to send demons back to the nether regions. John himself has been to Hell and knows that he is destined to return there on his death - but hopes his good deeds may find him a place in Heaven. As he looks into Isabel's death, he realizes demons are trying to break through to the human world, and his battles lead him into a direct conflict with Satan.

In a world where vampires walk the earth, Blade has a goal. His goal is to rid the world of all vampire evil. When Blade witnesses a vampire bite Dr. Karen Jenson, he fights away the beast and takes Jenson back to his hideout. Here, alongside Abraham Whistler, Blade attempts to help heal Jenson. The vampire Quinn who was attacked by Blade, reports back to his master Deacon Frost, who is planning a huge surprise for the human population.

Blade finds himself alone surrounded by enemies, fighting an up hill battle with the vampire nation and now humans. He joins forces with a group of vampire hunters who call themselves the Nightstalkers. The vampire nation awakens the king of vampires Dracula from his slumber with intentions of using his primitive blood to become day-walkers. On the other side is Blade and his team manifesting a virus that could wipe out the vampire race once and for all. In the end the two sides will collide and only one will come out victorious, a battle between the ultimate vampire who never knew defeat, facing off against the greatest vampire slayer.

Bruce is an ordinary Gamma expert who one day gets blasted with radiation and somehow survives. But in the process a monster was born. Now whenever he gets angry he grows bigger and stronger until he is no longer Bruce Banner. He becomes The Hulk

In modern day Japan, Wolverine is out of his depth in an unknown world as he faces his ultimate nemesis in a life-or-death battle that will leave him forever changed. Vulnerable for the first time and pushed to his physical and emotional limits, he confronts not only lethal samurai steel but also his inner struggle against his own near-immortality, emerging more powerful than we have ever seen him before.

Marvel's "Iron Man 3" pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

Armed with the astonishing ability to shrink in scale but increase in strength, con-man Scott Lang must embrace his inner-hero and help his mentor, Dr. Hank Pym, protect the secret behind his spectacular Ant-Man suit from a new generation of towering threats. Against seemingly insurmountable obstacles, Pym and Lang must plan and pull off a heist that will save the world.

After the events of Captain America: Civil War, Prince T'Challa returns home to the reclusive, technologically advanced African nation of Wakanda to serve as his country's new king. However, T'Challa soon finds that he is challenged for the throne from factions within his own country. When two foes conspire to destroy Wakanda, the hero known as Black Panther must team up with C.I.A. agent Everett K. Ross and members of the Dora Milaje, Wakandan special forces, to prevent Wakanda from being dragged into a world war.

Jedi Master-in-hiding Luke Skywalker unwillingly attempts to guide young hopeful Rey in the ways of the force, while Leia, former princess turned general, attempts to lead what is left of the Resistance away from the ruthless tyrannical grip of the First Order.

2017 American epic space opera film directed by Rian Johnson

Imprisoned on the other side of the universe, the mighty Thor (Chris Hemsworth) finds himself in a deadly gladiatorial contest that puts him against The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), his former ally and fellow Avenger. Thor's quest for survival leads him in a race against time to prevent the all-powerful Hela (Cate Blanchett) from destroying his home world and the Asgardian civilization.

Diana, princess of the Amazons, trained to be an unconquerable warrior. Raised on a sheltered island paradise, when a pilot crashes on their shores and tells of a massive conflict raging in the outside world, Diana leaves her home, convinced she can stop the threat. Fighting alongside man in a war to end all wars, Diana will discover her full powers and her true destiny.

All looks lost for the Rebellion against the Empire as they learn of the existence of a new super weapon, the Death Star. Once a possible weakness in its construction is uncovered, the Rebel Alliance must set out on a desperate mission to steal the plans for the Death Star. The future of the entire galaxy now rests upon its success.

2016 American epic space opera film in the Star Wars franchise directed by Gareth Edwards

After saving Xandar from Ronan's wrath, the Guardians are now recognized as heroes. Now the team must help their leader Star Lord (Chris Pratt) uncover the truth behind his true heritage. Along the way, old foes turn to allies and betrayal is blooming. And the Guardians find that they are up against a devastating new menace who is out to rule the galaxy.

With many people fearing the actions of super heroes, the government decides to push for the Hero Registration Act, a law that limits a hero's actions. This results in a division in The Avengers. Iron Man stands with this Act, claiming that their actions must be kept in check otherwise cities will continue to be destroyed, but Captain America feels that saving the world is daring enough and that they cannot rely on the government to protect the world. This escalates into an all-out war between Team Iron Man (Iron Man, Black Panther, Vision, Black Widow, War Machine, and Spider-Man) and Team Captain America (Captain America, Bucky Barnes, Falcon, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, and Ant Man) while a new villain emerges.

2016 film directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo

When you first saw him, Lieutenant Columbo looked like a bum that just came off the street. He had a bumbling demeanor, was overly polite and seemed to chomp on the same short cigar on a daily basis. However, beneath all that comical exterior was probably the most dogged investigator in the Los Angeles Police Department. Columbo was often called on to investigate high profile murders that involved the rich and famous. The culprits were often amused by him, and just as they thought they were going to get away with murder, Columbo would find a way to trap them or find enough evidence to make them confess.

American detective television film series (1968-1978, 1989-2003)

A modern take on the cases of Sherlock Holmes, with the detective now living in New York City.

Dr. Cal Lightman teaches a course in body language and makes an honest fortune exploiting it. He's employed by various public authorities in various investigations, doing more when the police etc. fail to go the extra mile. So he can afford to constitute a team of his own, which like clients and others has to put up with his mind-games.

focuses on two brothers who murdered the wife and infant daughter of their younger brother. The killers claimed they were acting on orders from God, consistent with their interpretation of a fundamentalist interpretation that goes back to the formation of Mormonism. The brothers were members of a splinter group called the School of Prophets, which adhered to original tenets of the faith that included polygamy and a belief that true believers could speak directly with God. These were rooted as the faith grew to a mainstream appeal, but the brothers remain convinced they were obeying God's command when they committed the heinous crime.

Two FBI agents, fighting the departmental stigma of backroom boys - those who try to complicate the status quo of simple Means, Motive, Opportunity (MMO) of crime-solving with academics - work to develop an innovative investigative field incorporating psychology, anthropology and sociology as a method to reveal the motive. They acknowledge classic crime-solving - MMO - as no longer sufficient because criminality is becoming more complicated as Motive graduates from need and greed to inexplicable and irrational reasons. They theorize applying deeper psychological evaluation will posit new questions. Simply, asking Why will lead to the Who. This series focuses on the development by two men, two agents, of a new criminal field and does so through story lines of visiting the sociopathic mind.

Lucas Hood, an ex-con and master thief, assumes the identity of a murdered sheriff where he continues his criminal activities. His past seems to haunt him by those he betrayed years earlier. This ex-con imposes his own brand of justice where violence erupts at every turn in the not so quiet Amish town of Banshee, Pennsylvania.

American action drama television series created by Jonathan Tropper and David Schickler

A woman with no memories of her past (Jane Doe), is found naked in Times Square with her body fully covered in intricate tattoos. Her discovery sets off a vast and complex mystery that immediately ignites the attention of the FBI, which begins to follow the road map of her tattoos into a larger conspiracy of crime, while bringing her closer to discovering the truth about her identity.

American action crime drama series (2015-2020)

Kiefer Sutherland stars as Tom Kirkman, a lower-level cabinet member who is suddenly appointed President of the United States after a catastrophic attack on the US Capitol during the State of the Union, on the highly anticipated series Designated Survivor. In this dramatic thriller, Kirkman will struggle to keep the country and his own family from falling apart, while navigating the highly-volatile political arena and while leading the search to find who is responsible for the attack.

A highly articulate, erudite and intelligent businessman and mastermind, "Red" Reddington, has allegedly been on the "10 Most Wanted List" of various U.S. law enforcement agencies for over 20 years. The legend is that Red is as elusive as he is clever, controlling a labyrinth of creative enterprises, coupled with uncanny ability to gather and finesse information at the drop of a hat. On the first day at FBI for a new female profiler fresh out of Quantico, Red offers to bandy wits with the FBI. Red promises to deliver various criminals and plots previously unknown to any branch of law enforcement... and all Red requests in return is to choose his muse.

Malcolm Bright, one of the best criminal psychologists around, uses his twisted genius to help the NYPD solve crimes.

Patrick Jane is a crime consultant with the California Bureau of Investigation. He has a particular gift for astute observation and reading people, honed through years of being a faux psychic. His gift makes him brilliant at solving murders, which is why the CBI have him around. However, his motive for taking on the role is purely one of revenge: find and kill the man who killed his wife and daughter - Red John.

American crime television series (2008-2015)

After the unsolved murder of his wife, Trudy, Adrian Monk develops obsessive-compulsive disorder, which includes his terror of germs and contamination. His condition costs him his job as a prominent homicide detective in the San Francisco Police Department, but he continues to solve crimes with the help of his assistant and his former boss.

Think you are psychic? Shawn Spencer (James Roday) makes his living pretending to be. Shawn and his best friend Burton "Gus" Gu ster (Dulé Hill) own a business called "Psych". They are able to stay in business only because of the cases they work with the Santa Barbara Police Department as psychics. Shawn and Gus go through many ups and downs trying to keep the ruse up. Can they pretend forever? Or is the world they built going to come crumbling down?

American detective comedy-drama television series

Michael Westen, a seasoned U.S. spy, is suddenly "burned", i.e. discredited, without any form of procedure. He survives by doing impossible jobs for desperate people in Miami, where his mother lives. Michael is usually aided by his ex-girlfriend Fiona and trusted former FBI informer Sam.

When CIA analyst Jack Ryan stumbles upon a suspicious series of bank transfers his search for answers pulls him from the safety of his desk job and catapults him into a deadly game of cat and mouse throughout Europe and the Middle East, with a rising terrorist figurehead preparing for a massive attack against the US and her allies.

The series follows James Reece after his entire platoon of Navy SEALs is ambushed during a high-stakes covert mission. Reece returns home to his family with conflicting memories of the event and questions about his culpability. However, as new evidence comes to light, Reece discovers dark forces working against him, endangering not only his life but the lives of those he loves.

American thriller drama television series starring Chris Pratt

After exacting revenge on those responsible for the death of his wife and children, Frank Castle uncovers a conspiracy that runs far deeper than New York's criminal underworld. Now known throughout the city as The Punisher, he must discover the truth about injustices that affect more than his family alone.

The war is over and almost everyone has experienced a loss. Agent Peggy Carter has lost the love of her life. To top it off, when billionaire Howard Stark is accused of Treason, he secretly employs her to clear his name. With the help of Stark's butler, she embarks on a whimsical journey full of deceit, murder and controversy with a side of wise-cracking roommates.

American television series, based on the Marvel One-Shot short film

After a sabotaged experiment leaves him with super strength and unbreakable skin, Luke Cage becomes a fugitive trying to rebuild his life in modern day Harlem, New York City. But he is soon pulled out of the shadows and must fight a battle for the heart of his city - forcing him to confront a past he had tried to bury.

After the Battle of New York, the world has changed. It now knows not only about the Avengers, but also the powerful menaces that require those superheroes and more to face them. In response, Phil Coulson of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division assembles an elite covert team to find and deal with these threats wherever they are found. With a world rapidly becoming more bizarre and dangerous than ever before as the supervillains arise, these agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are ready to take them on.

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