The night circus

Hey guys,
A new book review is visiting us with this "Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern. Our frien Celia brings us her personal view about this gripping story which will not let you indifferent.

THE NIGHT CIRCUS by Erin Morgenstern

“The circus arrives without warning. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.”

Book information:

Title: The Night Circus

Spanish title: El Circo de la Noche

Author: Erin Morgenstern

Nº pages: 565

Editorial: Planeta Internacional

Approximately price: 8´5€ / 8´9€

ISBN*: 978-84-08-11169-6

*This number helps to find the book in the databases of the bookstores.

Setting : the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The black sign, painted in white letters that hangs upon the gates, reads:

Opens at Nightfall

Closes at Dawn

When the tents are all aglow, sparkling against the night sky, the sign appears.

                                     “Le Cirque des Rêves (The Circus of Dreams)

Now the circus is open. Now you may enter.

Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves but it isn’t a common circus. Rather than a single tent with rings enclosed within, this circus contains clusters of tents like pyramids, some large and others quite small. They are set within circular paths, contained within a circular fence. Looping and continuous.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway: a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their instructors, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. Love appears between our magicians in this magical competition of imagination and will.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone are involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus per­formers to the visitants.

PERSONAL OPINION

This book is not part of a book saga, so if you are looking for a single book full of magic, lovely characters that you will love and a little shot of romance, this is your book.

Personally, I don´t mind when publishers change the book covers because usually they don´t use the same design but it´s still beautiful but this time, Planeta Internacional has made a terrible murder! Seriously, the Spanish cover has nothing to do with the British and American covers .This makes me angry because the cover is the first thing you see and it´s what gives you an idea of what is the story about and they have choose not only the ugliest cover they could get but also it does not fix with the story at all.

The sentence “Don´t judge a book for its cover” is perfect in this case.  C.M.G

The British cover (left), the American cover (middle) and the Spanish cover  (right):

F1: 2015 Season

The F1 season is about to start. The Australian GP will open the season this next Sunday. Here there´s a guide of the new season with all the teams of the competition...

MERCEDES

Nico Rosberg driving his Mercedes

Drivers: Lewis Hamilton (GBR) and Nico Rosberg (GER)

Mercedes is the clear favourite again. After a great victory in 2014, they have been working in their new beast (depicted in the picture), and the results of the tests show us that they have again the best car of the grid.

With one of the greatest pair of drivers of the grid, they are going to assault again the title. However, Niki Lauda (the director of the team) has said that this year their car is not going to be as outstanding as it was in 2014. Should we trust him?

RED BULL

Daniel Ricciardo driving his Red Bull (whose decoration is provisional)

Drivers: Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) and Daniil Kvyat (RUS)

Red Bull is in the middle of a transition. The old days of victories and titles have ended, and now they will have to get adapted to the new situation. Their new car is not outstanding, so they don´t have any opportunity against Mercedes.

With the departure of Vettel to Ferrari, Daniel Ricciardo is the new “leader” of the team, and with him we´ve got Kvyat, from Toro Rosso, whose first season in F1 in 2014 was satisfactory... but it may be not enough.

WILLIAMS

Felipe Massa driving his Williams

Drivers: Felipe Massa (BRA) and Valtteri Bottas (FIN)

Williams, one of the greatest teams ever, is back. After a great season in 2014, they are going to try to obtain something more than podiums.

Their new car, an evolution of the previous one, is showing quite interesting data in the tests. They are close to Mercedes and their drivers are a mix between the experience of Massa and the youth of Bottas.

In case Mercedes fails... Williams is going to be there...

FERRARI

Sebastian Vettel driving his Ferrari

Drivers: Sebastian Vettel (GER) and Kimi Raikkonen (FIN)

A new era has started in Ferrari. After the departure of Alonso and the arrival of Vettel, Ferrari has changed all its structure to finally obtain good results.

And the new season looks quite good for Ferrari. Their new car is much better than the one from 2014. They have two drivers that together have five titles... and in general, they have improved.

However, Ferrari has a long-term plan, so they are not very sure about their real performance in the grid...

MCLAREN

Fernando Alonso driving his Mclaren

Drivers: Fernando Alonso (ESP) and Jenson Button (GBR)

Mclaren and its drivers had hope in 2015... But they are having problems. First of all, the new Honda engine is too complex and they are having problems to understand it.

However, the engine is not the only problem. Alonso had an accident during the tests, so he will lose the first race in Australia. Also, Mclaren is walking through economical problems and they don´t have a main sponsor.

But Ron Dennis, director of Mclaren, says that all these problems should be resolved by the end of the summer. Mclaren indeed needs a miracle if they want victories in 2015.

FORCE INDIA

The new Force India

Drivers: Nico Hulkenberg (GER) and Sergio Pérez (MEX)

Force India is travelling through a real storm. They didn´t have money to participate in the tests, and the car is not very competitive...

They have two great drivers and a wonderful technical structure... but the economical problems of the team are destroying the ambitions of the staff.

Their objectives for the first races of the season are very humble... they just want to finish the races and, if it is possible, gain a couple of points...

TORO ROSSO

Max Verstappen driving his Toro Rosso

Drivers: Max Verstappen (BEL) and Carlos Sainz Jr. (ESP)

Toro Rosso had a relatively great season in 2014. With the departure of Vergne and Kvyat, they will have to battle with two very young rookies.

The data of the test are not very clear. Sometimes they were in the middle of the grid and sometimes they closed the classifications. So it seems like another normal year for Toro Rosso: trying to score and form both drivers.

LOTUS

Pastor Maldonado driving his Lotus

Drivers: Romain Grosjean (FRA) and Pastor Maldonado (VEN)

Lotus wants to restart in 2015. After a horrible year in 2014, they want to get good results again.

And they are improving. The data of the tests show that they have a good car. This good car and a good pair of drivers should make them get back to the top-10 of the grid.

However, Lotus is having hard times because of their economical problems. They tried to resolve this by signing Pastor Maldonado (whose sponsor carried out a millionaire amount of money), but they are still having problems. Some rumours say that maybe Renault will buy the team to be back on the grid as an official team.

SAUBER

Felipe Nasr driving his Sauber

Drivers: Felipe Nasr (BRA) and Marcus Ericsson (SWE)

And we end the article with Sauber. This humble team had a very difficult season in 2014, and now they want to start again by signing two fresh rookies (both with a great amount of personal sponsors).

Sauber will fight with Force India for the not so honourable position as the “worst” team of the grid. They are optimistic, but the results of the test show that their car could be not enough to reach the top-10 and the points...

BIT TRIP RUNNER 2 / The Order: 1886

Hi, I'm Daniel, and today I'm talking about a game I liked a lot: “BIT TRIP PRESENTS: Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien” (or just “BIT TRIP RUNNER 2”), and the ever­talked­about “The Order 1886”. I'm sorry I have not written for such a long time, but I didn't find the time. Hope I write more from now on.

BIT TRIP PRESENTS: Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien

This platform game is a must­play if you are keen of platform games. But you should play this game over all if you like, apart from platform game, good music and rhythm. The main point of the game is very interesting, yet catching: there is not music in the sole game but the base; the music plays with your actions (like jumping over an obstacle, or picking one pile of gold), every one of which plays a different musical note each time you perform them. The result is a pretty exotic music, which may become repetitive, but varies in each world, so you won't get tired of it. I also want to point out the difficulty of this game. This game is hard by itself, but more if you want to complete it at 100%. You'd better be very good at platform games, or you will suffer! Anyway, it is good fun to play (sometimes frustrating, but fun to play after all), no matter you want to complete it at full or not.

PROS:

• The music, the main characteristic of this game, is awesome.
• Quite long from the beginning to the end.
• Variety of worlds.
• If you only want to jump ans dodge (not kill or fight) in a platform game, this is your game.

PROS/CONS:

• If you like difficult and challenging games, you will like this game; if not, you might not enjoy it.

CONS:

• May seem rather simple and repetitive sometimes.
• Sometimes frustrating...

THE ORDER: 1886

The Order 1886 has been the most controversial game lately. This game, the first important exclusive of Play Station 4, has a lot of potential, but it has been a disappointment. The game is gorgeous, and so it seems to be good at the beginning... but then a cinematic play... and then another cinematic plays... and then another... and another... The game is a lot about the visual, but almost nothing about the gameplay. A lot of quick time events; corridors; and simple brawls, where you have to shoot things and then you go on... It feels more like a film than like a game. But a film lasts 2 hours; The Order 1886, 7­8 hours in normal difficulty. The visual aspect is remarkable though. Yet the graphic engine has been made by the developers, it is absolutely magnificent. The game has a very well achieved atmosphere, and the illumination just makes it feel real. But again, these aspects are vain, empty, just because all the effort that has been made on making the game so outstanding at its graphics, is an effort that lacks on developing solid gameplay mechanics. Hope you enjoyed the article, and hope I write another sooner than after!