The United Federation of Charles

    Confessions of a D-List Supervillain is one of the first novels I reviewed here on the United Federation of Charles (here). It's the story of Cal Stringel a.k.a Mechani-Cal, who goes on to save the world from a series of disasters caused by the dysfunction of a major superhero. I liked Confessions but was rather annoyed we never got to actually see what being a supervillain was like for Cal.

    Origins corrects that flaw by showing us how Cal got involved in supervillainy, what he did while he was Mechani-Cal, and what he was thinking during it. Even better, we get an idea of how supervillains "operate" in the Confessions world. Jim Bernheimer puts a great deal of thought into how supervillains acquire their toys, network, and operate. We even get a look into things like prison life and how they launder their money.

    This bookpresents a sleazy underbelly to the world of bright costumes and wacky devices, which is an interesting choice. Supervillains are, at heart, petty criminals who just happen to have a bit of theatricality going for them. They spend their money at strip clubs, bars, and on drugs with the remainder going to pay for bigger crimes. It's a reflection of real-life criminal mentality and helps explain why they're always pulling off bigger heists.

    Cal gets a less sympathetic portrayal here than in the prior volume, where he seemed to be a villain-in-name-only. Here, it's made clear Cal's excuses for his criminal behavior are just that. He markets high-tech weapons to very dangerous people and hurts a lot of people who are only peripherally involved in his vendetta against Ultraweapon. I liked this because it makes Cal's redemption arc actually a redemption arc.

    Origins expands on the number of supervillains and superheroes in the setting too. Previously, there was just the Pantheon and a couple of extra superheroes but this novel hints at potentially hundreds of good guys and bad guys duking it out across the globe. It's bad enough they have a Super-Max prison entirely for supervillains.

    There's a decent bit of satire re: the American prison system with the author illustrating how it transformed Cal from an amateur bank robber into a full-blown criminal mastermind. Of course, that may just be showing the prison system as how it is versus any attempt at satire. Cal joining up with outfits like General Devious and the Evil Overlord's is only a slight exaggeration as to how many ex-cons end up in real-life criminal networks.

    I liked the supporting cast with Vicky, General Devious, the Biloxi Bugler, and Joseph being the standouts. I was very fond of lesbian character, Maxine Velocity, and am kind of sad her story went the way it did. Confessions characters Aphrodite and Wendy don't play a major role in the book but get referenced enough to let you know they exist. Cal's romance with Vicky is doomed to fail since we know he gets with Aphrodite in future volumes but it's still sweet. Besides, I rather like her as she reminds me of my favored ship in the series (Wendy/Cal).

    In conclusion, Origins is a great example of superhero prose. It's objectively better than Confessions and something all fans of the original novel should check out. Indeed, I recommend they read it beforehand.

10/10

    "I shall name my firstborn child, Loader-Bot."

    Okay, that was just ****ing awesome. No, seriously, this is probably the best Telltale game yet and I think The Walking Dead is the best video game of all time. The two can't really be compared aside from structure, though, because The Walking Dead was a tragic drama while this is a action-adventure comedy.

    Still, I'm grinning from ear-to-ear.

Loader-Bot died for my sins.

After some iffy games, this was the perfect antidote to my blahs. The episode is hilarious from start to finish, exciting, well-written, and entertaining. I loved the characters too. Laura Baily is already one of my favorite voice actresses being both Jaina Proudmoore (World of Warcraft), Chun-Li (Streetfighter IV), and Serena (Skyrim).

I can now officially add Fiona to the list as she is the classiest gal on Pandora. Troy Baker (Bioshock: Infinite, The Last of Us) is somewhat overexposed in recent years but his Rhys is a great character too. Rhys is a smarmy, self-satisfied, and jerkish Hyperion middle-manager but he has a heart where Handsome Jack had a black hole. Watching these two play off each other and their surrogate family-in-the-making is great.

I liked Rhys' developing relationship with Sasha. That was unexpected, since I was shipping him and Fiona.

    Telltale manages to bring Borderlands' Pandora alive in a way which was hinted at by Borderlands 2 but never really got the chance to be. We get a sense of how people live on the planet (badly), how desperate they are (very), and what they think of the Hyperion executives living above them (very little). The post-apocalypse Space Western vibe to the place has never been more vibrant and alive, showing how much potential the setting is.

    Borderlands is a series which thrives on memes and in-jokes but Telltale manages to derive plenty of humor from the dog-eat-dog world around our characters. Whether you live on the space-station Helios or in the deserts around Sanctuary, everyone is betraying everyone.

    So, the protagonists are given permission to do the same!

Our heroes are a collection of lovable cowards trying to survive very dangerous situations.

    The premise is Rhys and Fiona have been captured by an unnamed bandit in the middle of the desert. Said bandit wants to know how they got there, so both characters get to tell their side of the story. Rhys is out to steal a Vault Key from his boss and a local crime lord in hopes of propelling himself to the top of the Hyperion corporation food chain. Fiona is trying to make one last "big con" so she can get off Pandora.

    With their best friend and sister, respectively, depending on them, the two end up digging themselves a very deep hole. By the end of the episode, they'll be after a Vault ''and'', potentially, in debt to the tune of ten million of Hyperion's hard-stolen dollars.

    The supporting cast is amazing, too, with Sasha and Vaughn being some of the most likable sidekicks I can remember. I'm more fond of Sasha than Vaughn but that's not for lack of trying by the latter. The character of Shade, who was one of the most loathed in the franchise, somehow becomes highly entertaining.

    The father-daughter relationship between Felix and his daughters was touching as well as sad. I even like the absolutely insane antics of Zer0 and Bossanova, who show what it's like to be in the world's second-most-popular sci-fi shooter series from the perspective of civilians.

I fell a little in love with Fiona. In an entirely not-creepy, non-weird, wife-approved way.

    One thing which surprised me is the amount of action in the game. It's not a shooter like the Gearbox Borderlands games but it's got plenty of people shooting at our protagonists. There's more running, dodging, and fleeing in this game than a season of Scooby Doo. My favorite action scene was a Death Race-style, well, death race, which takes place in a bandit-filled mining platform ruled by a stereo-obsessed warlord.

    The game has some noticeable flaws, though, which I'm overlooking because of the warm glow I get from playing it. The game is glitchier than Telltale's usual fair. Loading times are considerable, sometimes I had to restart, and the last part of the game had dubstep music playing over the conversations. I'm not pleased with that and hope Telltale will fix them soon. This game is too good to be left unpatched. The beginning is a bit slow with Patrick Warburton's Hugo Vasquez being an uninteresting and unoriginal villain, the one fly in a very creamy ointment.

    In conclusion, buy this whether you're a fan of Borderlands or Telltale or both. It's as close to a Firefly game as you're probably ever going to get and a lot funnier.

10/10

    Wearing the Cape is one of my favorite Capepunk series. No, scratch that, it's my favorite Capepunk series period. What is Capepunk you may ask? They are prose-based superhero stories about the consequences for people in a world which various comic book tropes are true. The shorter version, they're stories about the little guy having to deal with people who can bench-press buses.

    Small Town Heroes is the fourth book following the adventures of Hope Corrigan a.k.a the superheroine Astra and the fifth in the series overall. It has been a couple of years since the events of the original novel and she's now nineteen. Unfortunately, her problems have only grown as people refuse to let go of her relationship with the superhero Atlas.

    Astra's friends have started suffering for her fame, too, as they've gone from being her circle of high school friends to 'Astra's posse.' This has both good and bad effects as they find themselves under a microscope but also aware this can be exploited to their benefit.

    It does, however, mean they are a great deal more secretive than they used to be. When a pair of her friends come out as being in a lesbian relationship, Astra is floored. Not because of their sexuality but that they didn't tell her. I liked this because human drama is one of the ways the series distinguishes itself from other Capepunk novels.

    Small Town Heroes follows Astra as she takes a break from all this to guard an American research facility located in an extra-dimensional pocket near Guantanamo Bay. It's an interesting reminder 9/11 didn't happen in the Wearing the Cape world as she's unaware the base exists until it's pointed out to her. Cuba has changed drastically in the post-Breakthrough world with a supervillain dictator named the Tyrant ruling it semi-benevolently.

    Much of the book deals with Astra's relationship with her teenage friend Shelly. I'm not a big fan of the character so this wasn't my favorite part. Despite this, I very much enjoyed their interaction. Shelly is an important part of Astra's life and I liked how the author has finally found an appropriate role for the character after several false starts.

    If I have a complaint about the book it's the fact not much happens during it. It's a fairly self-contained plot and doesn't really advance the overarching story all that much. We get some characterization for Astra but nothing which really tells us anything new. I hope the book's otherwise dramatic plots aren't slowing down for the purposes of franchising. I love Astra but want to see the books keep their big, dramatic moments.

    In conclusion, a worthy entry into the series but not exactly its best either. It kind of leaps tall buildings in a single bound rather than flies.

8/10

Hey folks,

We have a real special treat for you today and that is an interview with Naomi Clark, author of the the Ethan Banning series! She's been gracious enough to sit here down with the United Federation of Charles and answer a few questions about her books. The first book, Undertow, was released August 24th, 2014 and was reviewed here.

The Ethan Banning series follows the titular character, a private investigator, as he deals with the fallout of demonic possession. While in nominal control over his body, Ethan is constantly tempted to violence or worse. Seeking a cure for his condition, he becomes involved in all manner of occult crises. The series is humorous and dark, Ethan making sardonic observations no matter how bizarre or perilous his circumstances.

Now let's get to that interview!

1. So, what separates the Ethan Banning series from other urban fantasy novels out there?

I'd say it's Ethan himself. He's not a hero and he doesn't want to be! Rather than being a strong man trying to make the world a better place, he's a walking disaster trying to avoid fucking up more. I like that – I like underdogs and I like exploring darker aspects of the human psyche. I think, for all his flaws and faults, Ethan is terribly human.

2. How would you describe your protagonist to our readers?

Not great, but trying pretty hard.

3. Tell us a little about Undertow's story.

Undertow is a mishmash of themes and ideas I adore. There's a huge Lovecraftian element, there's a creepy seaside town, and there's an exploration of what courage is, what goodness is, and where we draw the line between what we let happen and what we try to stop. Personal responsibility is a big deal in Ethan's world – how much can he blame on his demon passenger, and how much is down to him? Exploring that against a backdrop of human sacrifice and demonic pacts was a lot of hard work, but also a lot of fun.

4. Was it difficult coming up with the Ethan Banning-verse's mythology?

No, it's been very organic. The seed of his world – that demons are real and they can interact with humans – is an old idea, but I hope I've fleshed it out in a new way, and hinted at a much larger world and history beyond what people see in Undertow. I started with a quite Judeo-Christian idea, but I've tried to draw in lots of different concepts to make the world complete and different. And that happened really just by me asking myself, “what can I put in here?”, rather than by having a plan ahead of time!

5. Is it hard to write the dialogue between Ethan and his demon?

Sometimes it's hard to think up really nasty things for the demon to say, but generally speaking I find Ethan's voice and humor very easy to get into, and that makes their dialogue a bit easier. My main concern is that I make the Voice too witty – I don't really want people (or myself) to start liking him more than Ethan!

6. How dark do you consider Ethan's story? Do you find the humor balances the horror or detracts from it?

It definitely goes to dark places. There's addiction, self-harm, and general horribleness, and that's not nice to write, as much as I think it's important to explore. I think the humor is important – reading a relentlessly grim story is not something I enjoy. I want a sense of hope despite everything bad that's happening, and humor can help give that. Ethan's humor is pretty dark too, but I think it's important to keep it in there.

7. Why do you think readers love urban fantasy?

I think it's the sense of escapism, and also the idea that underneath the mundane world is a whole realm of secrets and magic. That's really appealing to me as an urban fantasy reader. I like the thought that there are magical things happening just around the corner, and that I could find them if I got lucky. It's a distraction from the humdrum real world of bills and work!

8. Who is your favorite character after Ethan Banning (and his demon)?

He doesn't show up in Undertow, but you will meet him in the sequel – Moss, the incubus who runs a strip club in Ethan's home town. He's not supposed to be in the human world, so works very hard to stay under the radar. He's great fun to write – very smooth and human on the surface, but very dangerous and inhuman underneath.

9. Undertow has a non-traditional ending. Did you ever consider something more upbeat?

No. I wanted to leave things a little open-ended, because the events of Undertow will have repercussions in later Ethan books, so I never intended to wrap everything up neatly. And I wanted it to be clear that there are real consequences in Ethan's world when you mess up. It was hard to write, but I wouldn't change it.

10. What can readers expect from you in the future?

The sequel to Undertow is about 75% done, and I have plans for more Ethan Banning books after that. I'd also like to revisit the novel that Ethan first appeared in – it's crying out for a sequel, but I've been waiting for the rights to revert to me before tackling that. I'm currently working on an urban fantasy set in a different universe that I'm wildly passionate about and hope to get out into the world next year.

Thanks for the interview! Can't wait for the next book!

Here's an excerpt from my current project. It's just the Foreword but I thought it was terribly clever. Death Knight is my current manuscript project alongside Rules of Supervillainy, The Red Room, and Cthulhu Apocalypse.

Foreword

I love J.R.R Tolkien's writings. I love Middle Earth. I love its characters.

It's also the last fantasy setting I'd ever want to live in.

Oh, there's worse fantasy settings out there. Warhammer 40K is an anti-space opera built upon genocide, religious intolerance, and fascism. H.P. Lovecraft's Arkham Cycle has its roots in fear of the Other and a belief man's insignificance is a bad thing rather than liberating. I'd last approximately a week in Westeros before dying of any number of treatable conditions in our world or getting my head chopped off by a knight for insolence.

Middle Earth is the one setting, though I'd just find myself at odds with on every level. It's not that bad place to be, Sauron aside, with its largely affable nobility and places like Hobbiton. However, it's a world which doesn't reflect my beliefs. The greatest things in the world were made in the past, technology is something to be suspicious of, the aristocracy draws its descent from literal superior beings, the forces of evil are irredeemable monsters, and the elves are just perfect in everything.

I'm exaggerating these flaws as Tolkien's setting is rich with a lot of subtleties people don't pick up on from Peter Jackson's movies. Anyone who thinks the elves are perfect just has to read about the misadventures of Feanor. Tolkien wasn't against technology so much as pro-green. The elves, for example, made some pretty nifty stuff. Tolkien's heroes offered the bad guys plenty of chances at redemption even if none of them ended up taking them up on their offer.

In a way, I was always more fond of The Hobbit because there was a greater awareness of what people call "bog standard" fantasy tropes. Thorin Oakenshield is absolutely the rightful heir to the Kingdom under the Mountain but he's also a pompous fool. Bilbo Baggin's common sense solution to the Battle of Five Armies comes within inches of saving thousands of lives while subverting the "epic" war its participants are all looking forward to. The Goblin King doesn't freak out about his prisoners until he sees they're wielding weapons emblazoned with the Middle Earth equivalent of 'I kill your people, Lozerz.'

So what does this have to do with Death Knight?

Death Knight is a book which takes place a little ways down the road from Middle Earth, perhaps in what you'd call the bad part of town. It follows the adventures of Jacob Riverson, a man who has the misfortune of being one of those many unfortunate cloaked figures who served the Ultimate EvilTM against their will.

It's a world where good and evil are absolute but this doesn't mean anything to the people who live in a world infinitely more gray. Elves and humans may be the greatest and most noblest of people but if they're still people then they're bound up in the same flaws as we are. It's a world where nostalgia may make things appear greater in the past but which is squarely looking forward. Is it more realistic? Not in the slightest. Cynicism is no greater thing than optimism and both J.R.R and my worlds have their mixture of both.

I make no pretensions of being anywhere near Tolkien's level of writing nor am I trying to make some grand statement. It's just a bit of fun set in a fantasy world where things are just a wee bit different.

I hope you enjoy.

I am a huge A Song of Ice and Fire fan. I love the books, I love the show, and I love all the spin-off media except for the 2012 video game. So, I was tremendously excited at the prospect of a "do-over" video game by Telltale Games. If anyone has any experience with morally ambiguous worlds, intense family-relationships, and looming undead apocalypses it's them.

I was curious how they were going to pull it off, though. Would it be set in the show universe or the book world? Would it follow the events of the show or attempt to do its own thing? Who would it star and how would they keep the multifaceted flavor of the books? The answer to these questions was: it takes place in the show continuity, its related to show's events but a side-story, it follows House Forrester who are the Starks-lite, and it has no less than five different protagonists.

My favorite character is Gared. Poor guy can catch no breaks.

You only play three of these protagonists in Iron From Ice but it gives three very different perspectives on the events following Season 3's Red Wedding. I was annoyed by this as it spoils one of the biggest twists in the franchise for those who haven't read the books or watched the series. I will give them credit, however, that the realization you're at said event is a nice surprise. It creates a very dramatic opening for the game as well as an immediate hook for the main characters.

The three main characters: Gared Tuttle, Mira Forrester, and Ethan Forrester show Westeros from the perspective of a lowly squire, a lady-in-waiting, plus a landed but impoverished lord. Each of them is in a position to be close to power but not really wield it themselves. Ethan comes closest and the burden of his station is to lord over a house which might be exterminated at any moment. Telltale works well for a game set in Westeros as it's not the sort of game where you can mow down legions of enemies. Gared is a fairly badass and, yet, taking on three people at once is an almost suicidal proposition for him.

There's a bit of an uncanny valley effect with the attempt to capture the likenesses of actors from the show, sadly.

    The game has a theme, too, which is a reflection of the books and series: the conflict between Honor and Practicality. Is it better to do the noble thing or the pragmatic thing? Does it really matter if you choose the pragmatic thing? Part of what makes Westeros unique in fantasy is, sometimes, there's no right answer.

    A thing I found annoying in previous Telltale Games is they often go the same way no matter what you choose. Here, I had little problem with it because that's another theme in Westeros: a lot of events are inevitable and beyond the power of individuals to affect. A certain character could choose how he was going to face events but, when he was executed by Joffrey, there was nothing which could have prevented it.

    Still, I suspect some of the inevitability could have been better handled. At the end, for example, a bunch of soldiers seemed to teleport into the throne room despite the fact I'd locked down the castle. The surprises which occur in the game, however, are some of the best I've seen in video games. There's a lot of places which really punch you in the gut. If they can keep up this level of tragedy and shock then the game will be a worthy addition to the franchise. Certainly, it's better than the 2012 game.

    That's not to say the game is without flaws. There's quite a lot of them, in fact.

Bullying a highborn servant girl is one of Cersei's hobbies. Of course, it is.

    Much of this game depends on you being a hardcore fan of the show or the book. Who the Starks, Freys, and Lannisters are plus what their deal is never really explained. If you don't know who they are, much of the context for the resulting scene is lost. It's the same with Cersei Lannister, Tyrion, and Ramsay Snow. Unless you know who these characters are, you have no reason to care about them in-story. I feel like in their eagerness to get to the meet of the story, they skipped us a few episodes ahead in the Season.

    Or hell, a couple of seasons.

    The game is a little TOO derivative of the franchise's beginning. The player characters all fit into archetypes from the books/series for the most part. This is the equivalent of a Lord of the Rings game which starts you as a Hobbit in Bree who's aunt leaves her a Nazgul's ring. Some of the details are different but it's still really-really familiar.

    I can't help but think Telltale might have worked a little harder to differentiate the characters from the ones in Game of Thrones. I'm not too fond of Telltale's attempts to capture the actors from the show's likenesses either. They might have done better to try and represent them in the abstract. Finally, this game is glitchier than previous Telltale entries and I wish I'd waited for a patch.

Ironrath is a beautiful location and very much like a product from the books.

     Still, I must give them credit. They've managed to capture the feel of the setting quite well. The North feels like the North, a place of shocking brutality mixed with antique timelessness and natural beauty. King's Landing is well-done, too, as you feel everyone is spying on everyone and a single word could mean your execution.

     Much of the game is set-up for the next chapter but I enjoyed the storytelling. For those of us who are hardcore book or show fans, everyone feels in-character. I could guess how all of the characters were going to react based on my preexisting knowledge, which might be cheating but was a nice change-of-pace from games where the NPCs act however the plot needs them to.

     So what did I think of Iron from Ice? Well, honestly, I think it could have been better. They might have done better having each story done separately before bringing it all together in the end. Poor Gared, for example, doesn't have an arc so much as wanders from one traumatizing situation to the next. There was a point in the game where I was trying to reassure the Forrester's daughter before I realized she was trying to do the same to me for a completely unrelated horrible event. Some quieter or joyful moments would have made the drama more powerful.

     I definitely enjoyed the game and one of Telltale's weaker efforts is above most other games. I'm also inclined to be generous because I'm a die-hard fanboy.

8.5/10

    People have a very strange view of fantasy.

    The vast majority of people have a blind spot in their understanding of the genre. They think it started with mythology, moved on to King Arthur and Robin Hood, got revived with Tolkien and everything after was a product of J.R.R's vision with the exception of C.S. Lewis. Sometimes, they remember Conan. However, one of the big things George R.R. Martin gets credit for is adding grit and darkness to the genre. Stuff which was always there and Professor Tolkien removed.

    The Sword and Sorcery genre is the predecessor to Dark Fantasy. People remember Conan but it's a much wider and diverse collection of stories than one barbarian. There's Elric, Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser, plus countless other heroes who are, in a word, bastards. They live in worlds where antiheroism prevails and the reward for being a noble hero is unknown because none exist. Every city is a Bronze Age Mos Eisley, a wretched hive of scum and villainy. So what does that have to do with The Heresy Within?

    This is a return to that sort of uncompromising storytelling. Indeed, Rob J. Hayes manages to one-up the originals in terms of dark and gritty content. This isn't always for the better as the book's casual use of sexual violence as a background element, thankfully never on-camera, was a real turn-off. Those who are squeamish about such things should be cautious because the author frequently references rape and sexual slavery as an element to establishing his world is an utter ****hole. Like George R.R. Martin's Westeros, however, depicting misogyny is not condoning it and I gradually warmed to the way heroine Jezzet Vel'urn dealt with it.

    The premise is three ruthless anti-heroes: Blademaster Jezzet, Inquisitor Thanquil Darkheart, and a bandit called the Blackthorn are all individuals struggling to survive on an unnamed demon-haunted Sword and Sorcery world. There's implications this is, like Howard's Hyboria, a "lost age" of our own world but there's knights and churches alongside God-Emperors ruling over city-states.

    Each of them has their own wants and needs: Jezzet wants to escape the vengeance of old partner-in-crime Constance (now a warlord's general), Darkheart wants to uncover a conspiracy in the Inquisition, and the Blackthorn wants to get rich. They're all ruthless and jaded with the Blackthorn (real name: Betrim) being outright evil but all three are willing to do whatever is necessary to achieve their goals. There's one shocking moment, involving a witness to a demon summoning, where I actually had to put the book down.

    I found the starkness to be refreshing after I got over my initial shock. Betrim's gang may be scumbags but they're honest scumbags. Watching the characters interact, grow, befriend and betray each other is always entertaining. The book is meaty, too, with over four hundred pages of content. You really get a sense of what this world is all about, its politics, and environments by the end. One of the hardest parts of fantasy writing is so much effort has to be devoted to world-building the characterization sometimes suffers but that's not the case here. Everyone just leaps off the page, even if it's to stab you and steal your wallet.

    The actual plot is full of twists and turns with the characters' larger goals occasionally being lost. This is not because I lost interest but because everyone has a different agenda which they try and reach by manipulating the others. The characters lie to each other, lie to themselves, and lie to the authorities. This works to the book's benefit as much of it is framed in a series of short-story-esque mini-adventures where they go from one loosely-connected caper to the next. It all comes together in the end but this is the sort of book which can be read in multiple sittings.

    I even liked the romance, which is the last thing I expected in a book like this.

    Go pick this up and let the author tell you a tale of high adventure. Just keep one hand on your purse and another on your sword at all times.

    Hehe.

10/10

Buy at Amazon.com

    Summer Knight is where I think The Dresden Files really took off, at least for me. It's a story which moves away, slightly, from the private detective genre and more into the realm of "high fantasy in a modern setting." It introduces the character of Queen Mab, one of the series most enduring characters, and raises the stakes to the point Harry's failure will lead to the slow death of the world.

    The premise is Harry has been hired by Queen Mab, ruler of the Winter Fae, to find the murderer of Ronald Reuel the titular Summer Knight. Harry doesn't want to do this but is forced into the job by the White Council lest they revoke his title of wizard and hand him over to the Red Court vampires who still want his blood. Complicating matters further is the return of Harry's childhood romance, Elaine, who is working for the Summer fae.

    Part of what I like is it's a story built around the Fair Folk. While they're hardly unused in urban fantasy, it's rare they're as well-developed or nuanced. The Unseelie Court are mostly horrible people, inhuman predators without an ounce of humanity, but they aren't precisely evil either. Well, most of them aren't evil. The Summer Court is supposed to be the "good guys" amongst the fae but they have their dark side too. The book has a lot of cleverness about it, too, with Ronald Reul being the middle initials of J.R.R Tolkien.

    Summer Knight makes excellent use of characters and plot developments from previous books to round out the cast. This is the book I started liking Murphy in, for the first time. There's an action scene which takes place involving a Walmart that's a blast. Her character is softened a bit from previous volumes and much more likable. While I was still ill-disposed to her due to the events of Fool Moon, she did a lot to regain my respect.

    I liked the relationship between Harry and Elaine, but it's a little too compatible to be interesting. They're childhood friends, both wizards, and neither side has any real reason not to become involved. In this, I'm grateful to have Jim Butcher substitute the very real trauma which passed between them. Even if Harry and Elaine are able to reconcile over what happened years ago, the feelings they've carried from that event stick with them. I'm not a big fan of the Murphy and Harry alternative, though, and am fond of other romance candidates.

    The supporting cast is great with several characters I wish had shown up more often in the resulting series. The book is funny, exciting, and filled with excellent world-building. Summer Knight isn't my favorite of the series but it's a novel I've read on multiple occasions. That's about the highest praise I can give a book. A good book will entertain you for a day. A great one will entertain you for a week.

    This is averaging about four or five days so far.

9.5/10

Buy at Amazon.com

    I've mentioned what a big fan I am of Shana Festa's signature series. Time of Death: Induction was exactly the sort of breath of fresh-air I needed after a series of increasingly dreary and grim zombie novels. Horrible stories of survival and trauma are fine, don't get me wrong, but it seemed like that's all anyone was doing.

    Time of Death is more or less the Southern Vampire Mysteries of zombies, following protagonist Emma Rossi as she meets the apocalypse with a can-do chipper attitude. This is contrasted to her husband, who is unable to process how his wife is able to remain so calm and upbeat in the face of the world's end.

    The premise of the books is Sanibel Island, the refuge from the previous books, has fallen. Our heroine, her husband, her brother-in-law, and sister-in-law all pile together in a boat to flee. Searching for fellow survivors in Florida, they hear rumors of a potential location called "Asylum." Meeting an oddball cast of characters, they eventually arrive and try to deal with their new-found home's peculiar rules.

    It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize Asylum isn't going to end up all it's cracked up to be. Shana Festa's avoids the common pitfalls of zombie fiction writers, however, by avoiding making them overtly evil. The majority of people in Asylum are helpful, friendly, and interested in saving their fellow humans.

    There's something evil going on, of course, but finding out what and who is involved is a mystery. This is a nice contrast to The Walking Dead's Woodbury or Terminus where it seems everyone is a willing slave to the Governor or a cannibal. The fact the survivors include many decent folk also prevents an easy solution like opening the gates to the undead. No, our heroine must convince her fellow survivors of what she finds or run the risk of being tossed out into the wilderness.

    What's interesting is the majority of the book takes place away from asylum, wandering around the ruins of Florida. While other series would play on the horror of a now-empty city, this book takes time to show the upsides of the apocalypse. Admit it: if you were looking for shelter in the zombie apocalypse, you'd probably go for the biggest, fanciest, and most well-equipped mansion you could.

    The fact some locations have working electricity and plumbing hint at larger survivors than we're used to in these situations to (or just some houses are "really" well equipped). This adds a nice little bit of social satire which has been missing from the genre since the Dead movies. The social satire is subtle, but it's there. All of the money in the world can't protect you against a real disaster and people want comfort, even in the face of oblivion.

    The writing is sharp, the scary scenes are scary, and the funny scenes are funny. There's a surprising number of well-written characters in this book with all of them able to stand out as individuals before the inevitable grasping hand of death kills them off. Despite being a lighter and softer series, Time of Death still has a large number of casualties. I can't tell who is going to live and who is going to die, either, which is new for me. It's also the only zombie series I know to have a cute dog! What's not to love?

    In conclusion, this is an awesome sequel to an equally good book. I hope Shana Festa can keep up the pace. If there's one flaw, it's the fact the book doesn't really so much end as peter out. The book has a cliffhanger and I hate those. Still, I'd be wrong in giving this anything less than a 10 out of 10.

Buy at Amazon.com

    I've already reviewed the entirety of the season by each individual episode, which are available here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.

    However, because I enjoyed it, I'm going to give an overview of the entirety of the series. I think the original is one of the best video games ever made, so the sequel has some pretty big shoes to fill. Would Clementine prove to be as interesting a protagonist as Lee? Would the characters be as likable? Would the plot be as moving or dramatic? Would it end on a bang or with a whimper?

    The short answer? It's not as good as the original.

    Not by a long shot.

The dog should have been Clementine's companion for the entire game.

    Still, there's plenty of room between "one of the best video games of all time" and "complete crap." There's a lot going for Season 2. Clementine is a great protagonist, about the only thing as good as the original, with her story arc remaining one of the most consistently entertaining things about the game. The characters are interesting, if not especially likable, and the story arc involving Carver is one of the best in the franchise.

    So what's the problem?

    On a serious note, there's too much darkness for it to have its appropriate impact. Part of what made the original so effective was the lighter moments scattered between the horrible ones. You came to bond with Kenny, Lilly, Duck, Carly, and (of course) Clementine before the game started picking them off. While there's some genuinely likable characters, a lot of them are mean and nasty to you before dying unexpectedly. Plenty of characters are introduced, get a minimum amount of development, and are unceremoniously killed off.

Is it wrong I want almost everyone in this cabin to die? Even at the beginning, I wanted Clementine to just find another group.

    The morality of the setting is also far more skewed towards cynicism and ruthlessness. In the original game, stealing a car full of groceries was a dick move which left Clementine feeling miserable if Lee goes through with it. It also has consequences. Here, the characters routinely betray, intimidate, lie, and worse with nary a second thought.

    While this is, perhaps, realistic given its years into the apocalypse--it doesn't really give me much reason to care about these asshats. If everyone is a scumbag, then what's really worth preserving? A more philosophical game might be interested in asking that question but this one is too interested in setting up the set pieces for the next big tragedy. There's also just some genuinely bad writing like a bunch of gun-toting Russians who don't speak English showing up in Episode 4.

    The premise of it's roughly a year after Clementine survives the events of the original game. It's hard not to spoil the game but she is separated from survivors Omid and Crista, only to hook up with another group of survivors. These survivors, however, are on the run from their own previous group. Clementine must win them over since they are hostile and suspicious of anyone new, apparently even little girls. Needless to say, they re-encounter their previous group and have to deal with the fallout from this event.

Carver could easily be a villain in the comics.

    There's some truly great moments spread throughout the game. The scene where Clementine is forced to deal with a non-zombie-related wound is shocking while I also loved the three endings the game gives you. A Christmas party near the beginning of the game is as touching as such a moment should be in a world where almost everything has been lost.

    As mentioned, the character of Carver is an immensely effective villain. He's tough, charismatic, and ruthless while also cracking in a quite believable way. You can understand why people follow him and even might be tempted yourself before the true depths of his brokenness become apparent. I also liked the polarizing figure of Jane who, despite her faults, is just a scared little girl like Clementine.

    These characters don't get their proper amount of time to shine, however, due to the game not being interested in developing them across the entire series. They get one or two episodes devoted to them before the plot leaves them in the dust. Which is a shame as they could have elevated the material greatly.

If the series ended here, I'd be okay with it. It's a satisfying ending.

In conclusion, The Walking Dead: Season 2 isn't a bad game. It's actually a very good game. It's a depressing game, however, and I had mostly stopped caring by Episode 5. I wanted some levity to contrast against the horror. I got a good ending but the game wasn't what I wanted. Despite all this, I recommend it for players of the original game because Clementine is an awesome protagonist. The good outweighs the bad and I'm still purchasing Season 3.

8.5

    If Summer Knight was the first "real" book in the series then Death Masks is the book which revealed it wasn't a fluke. Summer Knight told an excellent story about fairies, world-building, character development, and past mistakes. Death Masks, by contrast, is a story which builds on the previous four books to create a story which shows how all of the strangeness so far is interconnected. It's not my favorite of the series but tells a great story while setting up the groundwork for many more adventures to come.

    This book follows up on two plotlines established in Grave Peril: the war between the Red Court vampires and the White Council wizards as well as the holy sword wielded by ally Michael Carpenter. The former was left largely off-camera as there was still the possibility of negotiation or turning over Harry to stop the conflict. It's in full-swing now with the White Council doing the fighting for Harry (which I never quite liked).

    A representative of the Red Court, Duke Ortega, comes to visit Harry and makes him an offer: settle this in a duel, one-on-one, and end this war now. Harry, justifiably feeling guilty for his role in starting the conflict, agrees and begins preparations for a show-down against an opponent he's woefully outmatched by.

    The latter plot element expands on the mythology behind the Knights of the Cross. It turns out three individuals are armed with swords made from the nails in Jesus' cross. Surprisingly, but appropriate given Jesus' views on violence, they aren't really warriors per se but redeemers. It is the job of the Knights to gather up the Denarian Coins (Judas' coins) which cause the holders to be possessed by demons. The Knights of the Cross attempt to save the holders of said coins rather than execute them since each soul lost to the Devil is a tragedy.

    I've mentioned my fondness for Michael Carpenter as one of the rare Christian characters in fiction who is neither a caricature or irreligious to the point he might as well not be one. While Harry remains as agnostic as someone can be in a world where the Archangel Michael hands out magic swords, fact he lampshades is ridiculous, Michael remains a beacon of quiet faith. Michael's compatriots play with this idea as one, Shiro, is an honorable warrior but Christian mostly because he liked Elvis' gospel music. Their companion, Sanya, is a black Russian communist who one-ups Harry by being an atheist.

    The three of them join Harry in opposing Nicodemus, the leader of the Denarians. Nicodemus is as close to an arch-nemesis as Harry possesses, being a character who has opposed him across multiple books with various degrees of success. Nicodemus is a cunning and evil character with his own sense of humor as well as genre savviness. As impressive as Duke Ortega is, he's in the kiddie leagues compared to the human host of a fallen angel. Death Masks also introduces the Archive, a character who doesn't play a big role in the books but is one of my favorites. There's something awesome about a little girl with near-omniscience.

    Death Masks ups the stakes considerably in terms of character danger as deaths are not uncommon in this book. These make the dangers faced by the characters considerably more real and a few of them are unexpected. In short, this book comes with a strong recommendation and it amazes me that it just keeps getting better.

10/10

    The explosive climax to the What Zombies Fear series is the end of an age. In a very real way, these books had an impact on the whole of the literary zombie genre. Nowhere near that of World War Z, of course, but something that inspired quite a few other authors to take up the pen. What Zombies Fear contributed, at least in some small way, to creating a market for people who wanted to see the undead get slaughtered in text.

    The premise is a rebuttal to the majority of zombie fiction which revels hopelessness. Most zombie fiction is a disaster story, while this is an action series. Our heroes are capable of slaying vast numbers of the undead and do so with great abandon, exacting a small amount of revenge for the amount of times mankind has been slaughtered by them in fiction. Victor Tookes, the titular individual which zombies fear, has developed superpowers due to his immunity to the zombie bite. With these powers, he's fought the zombies of Earth for over a decade.

    Unfortunately, they've regrouped and are now assaulting not only his community of survivors but every single other community his followers protect. The group is divided and weak, many having lost loved ones. Can Victor rally them to take the fight against Bookbinder, the mysterious new "queen" of the E'clei?

    Of course he can.

    Despite the previous volume being the darkest in the series, Incarnation is a largely positive story about humanity vs. the dead. Everyone rallies back behind Victor and while there is a good deal of hurt feelings, the sense of heroism behind each of the characters shine through. Due to the fact Max is now an adult, he is able to lend his godlike zombie-destroying powers to aid the fight as well.

    It's no walk in the park for the heroes, though. Despite Max's many advantages, the zombies have been preparing for the counterstrike for ages. Lives will have to be sacrificed to stop the E'clei and some of them will be familiar faces. All of the heroes are ready and willing to give their lives to stop the zombie menace once and for all. People often pooh-pah good versus evil stories but some of the most enduring are those which have said premise. This is not an exception and I'm not afraid to say the ending had me a little misty eyed.

    The battles are straight out of a comic book only done in a wonderful literary style. Even better, the drama is heartfelt. When people die, each character is strongly affected and can't help but be devastated when the loss is someone closest to them. A few of them become suicidal but in a war where every life matters, the heroes have to close ranks in order to try and help.

     Is it a perfect ending? I'm not going to say so. I felt the break-up of the group to go their separate ways when millions of zombies were still at large felt contrived. Likewise, I was hoping we'd get to see more than the main group take up the sword to do battle with the E'clei. It would have been nice to see him leading a whole army of empowered mortals against the zombie hordes. Such is not to be, though.

     The ending also verges a little to the melodramatic side but, at least, spends time giving events their appropriate dramatic weight. It was always about protecting Max for Victor and his life along with the lives of his fellows was never important beyond that.

    It's the end of a series and the authors have saved the best for last.

10/10.

*Warning - this review contains mild spoilers for the prologue of the game*

    I picked this one up for my birthday and have been more or less playing it non-stop for a week. I'm still not done with it but the game has provided countless hours of continuous amusement. Dragon Age: Inquisition combines the deep characters of Dragon Age with the sheer open-world hugeness of Skyrim.

    It is an impressive accomplishment for Bioware, its writers, and its programmers. If nothing else, anyone who says the game is underdone is lying through their teeth. This is a product of hard work with every one of its thousands of man hours visible. About the only thing I can compare it to in size is an MMORPG and it has all the benefit of such without the actual MMO-isms.

    This is one big-ass game.

    Ahem.

The War Table operations aren't a great deal of fun but help with the feeling you're in charge of an army.

    Have I mentioned its big?

    Yeah, okay, now we can move on.

    The premise is the mages and Templars have been at war since the events of Dragon Age 2 (the actual declaration taking place in novel Dragon Age: Asunder). The war has been devastating for both sides so the Chantry, equivalent to the Catholic Church, hosts a peace summit at the holiest spot in Thedas: The Tomb of Sacred Ashes (found by the Warden in Dragon Age: Origins). This is already full of fanservice for devoted followers of the series. The peace-summit goes disastrously wrong, however, when someone sets off the equivalent of a magical nuke. A literal hole in dimensions is torn and demons begin pouring out by the hundreds.

    All of the participants at the conclave but a scattered handful are killed, including the Chantry's equivalent to the Pope. One survivor, however, emerges from the Fade with a supernatural mark on his (or her) left hand. This is the Herald of Andraste and future Inquisitor.

    Your character.

A duel of words is as deadly as one of swords in Orlais.

    The Breach, as it comes to be known, has had even greater effects than this initial explosion. Smaller rifts have been created across the continent, flooding Thedas with demons. The Templars and Mages blame each other, resuming their fighting, but it's fairly obvious neither is at fault.

    The character, who people believe was rescued by Andraste herself due to some oddball events in the Fade, is thus dragooned into joining a force to put the world back to rights. It's a strong, if somewhat generic, plot. The "save the world" thing has been done many times in the past and I should probably be grateful this isn't just another Blight.

    My biggest criticism of the game is its greatest blessing. Inquisition isn't just meaty, it's outright obese. They could cut half of the side-quests away from the game and it wouldn't lose a thing except running around time. It's possibly to spend forty or so hours in the Hinterlands doing random side-quests so when the time comes for the "Seal the Breach" mission, you assume it's the ending.

    In fact, this is just the ending of the prologue.

The High Dragon fights are suitably epic.

    I feel a bit daft complaining about this sort of epic scope and it's not a large complaint. In truth, this is a great game to spend a long time with. The game doesn't blow everything at the beginning, either, as there's some truly magnificent levels spread throughout. My favorite was attending an Orlesian masquerade ball where you can assemble blackmail material to, potentially, control the future of the Empire.

    The characters are an eclectic mix of heroes, villains, and anti-heroes with old favorites Varric, Morrigan, Leliana, Hawke, Cole, and Cassandra returning. Sadly, Alistair doesn't make as much of an appearance as I'd hoped but you can't have everything. New characters of Solas, Sera, Vivienne, Dorian, and Iron Bull are all fascinating even if I can't say I fell in love with some of them the way I did Origins. Writing is where Bioware is at its best and you really come to view all of these individuals as friends by the end of it.

    The Elder One, mastermind behind all of this madness, is a poor villain. While I'll keep his identity secret, he amounts to being little more than a generic doomsday cultist. There's none of the menace and personal anger at Loghain or Malak from previous Bioware games. The Elder One manages to be a better villain the Knight Commander Meredith or the Arishok but even they had moments of pathos. The Elder One, at the end of the day, is a poor man's Skeletor and I think they could have done better with him.

The Inquisitor has a selection of four voices and multiple races, which gives quite a bit of range to characterization.

    I can't say I'm not disappointed with the resolution of the Mage-Templar War too. Given I took the time to write a huge essay on freedom versus security on this website, it turns out none of those issues were addressed. The majority of both factions die in the conclave explosion and the survivors are those who the Inquisitor chooses to ally with. There's no final showdown between the two factions with one faction winning by default.

    I felt kind of cheated.

    The gameplay is similar to Origins with many tweaks. It's real-time turn based with an option to pause the game for tactical commands (which you will never do because there's no real point). You can armor and gear your followers however you want, but their clothing will adjust to their personal styles. High Dragons make a return with a unique set of them spread throughout the game for high-level monster-slaying.

I romanced Cassandra, one of the few openly lawful AND good people in Thedas.

    Another huge draw of the game is the settings are absolutely beautiful. While the Hinterlands are something of a generic fantasy land, there's a fabulous mixture of environments throughout. There's deserts, stormy coasts, gloomy haunted marshes, and a battlefield which has been torn-up to look like World War 1 trenches. All of this is gorgeous and you're really doing yourself a disservice getting this on a last generation console.

    One feature I liked about the game was the addition of the War Table operations. While they could be no different than the Assassins missions from Ubisoft, I think they did a good job making them tools for world-building. Lots of connections from previous games show up and the use of the Dragon Age Keep means I can change my game however I want to. One final thing, for those who care, the romances are considerably more risque with a Witcher 2 level of nudity.

    In conclusion, this is a must-buy for anyone who wants to spend possibly a hundred or so hours in Thedas. If not, you can race through the game, but don't be surprised if the Elder One destroys the world.

10/10

    I'm going to make a confession, I didn't watch this movie until recently. I've never been a big fan of the Marvel Space Universe. The only exceptions I make for their space stories are the X-men and it's highly unlikely we'll ever see them visit the Shi'ar on the big screen. I enjoyed Nova's story arc during the Annihilation event but, mostly, I don't have a huge affection for the Guardians of the Galaxy.

    As one of the key memorable scenes of the summarizes:

    "I'm Starlord."

    *blank stare* "Who?"

    *pout* "I'm Star Lord, man!"

    So, this movie had the task of introducing me to the Guardians, who they are, and what they're about. My Marvel knowledge is great enough I knew who Gamora, Nebula, Drax. Thanos, and Ronan the Accuser were but everyone else? Not a clue.

The prison-break sequence if one of my favorite parts.

    So how did the movie do?

    Pretty good, I think.

    The movie takes the time-honored premise of Blake's Seven, Farscape, and Firefly (a.k.a. a ship full of criminals against even worse people) and rolls with it. The criminals befriend each other a little too quickly and achieve redemption a touch too fast but I understand this is a Disney production. Besides, if you're going to save the universe from an Infinity Stone then your previous criminal behavior is going to look pretty mild.

    The premise is a bunch of these outlaws manage to stumble across an Infinity Stone. Which, for those unfamiliar with them, they're objects which allow the wielders to do more or less anything. Unfortunately, these objects are starting to dominate the movies. Thor: The Dark World, for example, was a poor film due to the focus on the one-dimensional villains as well as ill-described Maguffin.

I will say, I love Starlord's costume. Best mask since Darth Vader.

    Thankfully, the simple premise is rescued by strong characterization. All of the Guardians have distinctive personalities which play off each other well. Starlord is the deadpan snarker, Gamora is the focused assassin, Rocket is a racoon with the personality of Han Solo (it actually makes sense in-context--seriously), Drax is a literal-minded blood-knight, and Groot is Groot. Ronan the Accuser is a one-dimensional terrorist stereotype but he manages to remain threatening despite it. Thanos loses some villain credibility due to everyone turning on him without punishment but, despite this, comes off as very threatening.

    Benicio Del Toro's Collector actually makes a very strong impression despite the fact he's played up as a flamboyant crime lord over a cosmic being. The fact he's got a cute henchwoman and lives in the skull of an alien god go a long way to establishing the character's cool factor. There's also the best cameo of all time in a Marvel movie in the stinger. Best part? It makes perfect sense!

     The world-building is excellent. The movie doesn't attempt to justify why aliens look human and that's probably the best decision they could have made. Thor and the Asgardians look human and so do the vast majority of other aliens. Much of the world feels like Mass Effect, which means it feels like it takes place in a plausible future where technology has changed but people haven't.

Zoe Saldana is excellent as Gamora, the only sane person on the crew. Which is hilarious given she's the intergalactic assassin.

The action has a light-hearted, Star Wars-esque feel with starfighter fights and plenty of good old-fashioned fisticuffs. There's some incredulous moments like the fact a scavenger army is capable of taking on a terrorist organization threatening a planet and the ending owing itself to the power of friendship (which is NOT something you should see in a heist movie, in space or not) but these are minor quibbles.

In conclusion, Guardians of the Galaxy is an excellent movie and a great addition to the Marvel universe. It manages to sell a new concept to the public and does so in an entertaining way. The comedy and classic music is sometimes a little too cutesy but, overall, I think this is a good fun movie.

9/10

    Tolkien is pretty much ungameable.

    This is an irony given stuff derived from J.R.R Tolkien is directly responsible for Dungeons and Dragons, which is responsible for more or less all RPGs period. However, the setting is one where all of the adventures have been had. He wraps up the plotlines with nary a loose end and ushers in an age of peace as well as prosperity. Harry Turtledove speculated you could do an excellent sequel by having the Witch King return while I'm a big fan of "Morgoth awakens" as an alternative.

    Still, people keep trying to make a Middle Earth game which doesn't involve following in the footsteps of the Fellowship. There's been a couple of successes but nothing which has really stood out, at least in my opinion. So, I was leery when I approached Shadow of Mordor. The idea of doing a darker and edgier Tolkien where you're a kind of supernatural assassin seemed to miss the point of the franchise.

    I am pleasantly surprised by the results.

The combat is straight out of Arkham Asylum, except Talion doesn't hesitate to kill.

    Shadow of Mordor uses a protagonist who is the opposite of your typical Tolkien one: a man who attempts to use dark magic and terror against the enemy in order to highlight the Lord of the Rings' themes on why this is a bad idea.

    Talion is an individual who desires revenge for his slain wife and child while the Bright Lord is an elf who has his own reasons for wanting to destroy Sauron. The game is aware Talion is being led down a dark path and watching it unfold is like enjoying a good tragedy.

    In a way, this is an antidote to the bright and happy reputation the books possess as there's a lot of dark themes which get overlooked. Talion is more of a Boromir or Feanor figure in that he is well-intentioned but the path of power The game's tone is somber and foreboding with a sense the return of Sauron is something genuinely horrific. We see countless slaves working on rebuilding Sauron's kingdom and overhear the orcs exalting in their petty power over their prisoners.

Each Orc Captain and Warchief is fleshed out to a surprising degree.

    As mentioned, the story is fairly simple: Talion loses his wife and child during an attack by orcs only to be sacrificed in a black magic ritual designed to bind a ghost into Sauron's service. The ghost chooses to possess Talion instead, providing him with a number of powers similar to a Ringwraith plus several related to mystical forging.

    The fact our hero is walking in the path of Sauron himself is something inescapable to Tolkien fans. Either way, Talion intends to kill the Black Hand of Sauron who killed his family in order to break the spell binding him and the Bright Lord. This will result in their deaths but will reunite them with their loved ones.

    Assuming Talion and the Bright Lord don't damn each other.

Combat is fast-paced and visceral.

    The story shouldn't work as is. Talion is a brown-haired, grizzled, veteran soldier on a mission to avenge his family. He's, quite possibly, the most generic video game protagonist ever but quality voice-acting and writing elevate the material so you manage to like him despite yourself. I think this has to do with him being the more reasonable of the two. The Bright Lord doesn't even remember his lost family but is perfectly willing to destroy the world if it means getting closer to the Dark Lord.

    Despite all the attention I'm giving the story, it's a relatively small part of what makes the game enjoyable. This is one of those rare games which would be almost as enjoyable if you just said, "You are a ranger from Gondor who knows magic. Go kill orcs." I spent my first six hours of the game just wandering around doing nothing but stabbing orcs. The reason this never gets old is due to the fabulously innovative Nemesis system.

    The Nemesis System, basically, creates a staggering number of orcs who possess names, weaknesses, and strengths. There's a select number of Orc Captains who are always running around Mordor and working to build up their power base so they can challenge the Warchiefs who rule them. This wouldn't be all that interesting if not for the fact the orcs remember you from previous encounters.

The interaction between characters can be quite impressive despite their short length.

    Thus, if you're killed by one, then he remembers doing so when you next meet. If you burn one, he's likely to remember that too and mention it. Nothing gets a gamer more invested in a game than knowing there's an orc wandering around the map who not only killed your character but is bragging about it in-game. The actual combat system is a combination of Arkham Asylum and Dishonored, especially once you gain the ability to teleport, and is extremely fun. The fact you don't have to hold back on killing your opponents is great too--at least when they're orcs.

    Is the game perfect? Not quite. The plot is rather thin in places and they could have made the storyline much deeper but chose to focus on gameplay instead. There's numerous interesting characters but we don't get much time to deal with them. The world map is also somewhat small, being more akin to a city in Grand Theft Auto or Saints Row than an entire country. The game's ending is also a cliffhanger, which I hate.

    Still, am I glad I got this? Hell yes.

9/10

    It's rare I get to read a really good fantasy novel. I've not lost interest in fantasy, far from it, but it takes quite a bit of originality to interest me. There's exceptions: The Lies of Locke Lamora, The Heresy Within, George R.R. Martin's recent Westeros novellas, and the old school D&D fantasy series GnomeSaga.

    The latter is particularly noteworthy because it shows my requirements of originality are quite flexible. Mostly, I'm just bored with many fantasy worlds. I might visit but it's rare I want to say. This is why I stick with ones I know, even if it means I read more video game fiction than is probably healthy. Say what you will about Dragon Age and World of Warcraft but they're old friends even if rather cheesy.

    Then someone recommended The Name of the Wind.

    This is a really good fantasy novel.

    It's not a work without flaws but at a hefty seven-hundred-plus pages, it's a novel with a lot of meat to it. The world doesn't leap off the page the way some do but it doesn't have to because Patrick Rothfuss manages to create a setting which feels plausible. If there were a world with magic in it as a functional, every day part of life, then this would probably look like it.

    There's a few terrifying things like fairies, monsters, demons, and a race not-too-dissimilar to Ringwraiths but they're few and far between to the fact magic is primarily used for practical purposes. You have to go to university to become an accredited mage so the vast majority of magic-users are little more than guys who fix wagon wheels and enchant hammers.

    The premise is Kvothe (pronounced "Quoth") is in hiding. A legendary bard, wizard, and swordsmen with a somewhat exaggerated reputation, he's lost faith in himself. Despite being able to fight five spider-demons at once, he's suffered enough setbacks he's decided to spend the rest of his life pretending to be an innkeeper. This gets interrupted by a man called "Chronicler" who has come to hear Kvothe's story in his own words. Kvothe is reluctant to tell it but promises to share the entirety over the course of the next three days.

    Will relating his story remind him of why he became a hero in the first place?

    Maybe. Maybe not.

    The majority of the first book takes place in the magical university Kvothe studies in. Patrick Rothfuss has a lot of fun satirizing real-life academia in a way I found to be amusing. The primary problem Kvothe faces isn't Lord Voldemort or Draco Malfoy but paying his tuition. As someone who made the mistake of getting student loans, I sympathized strongly for our would-be wizard.

    Kvothe is a little too skilled in many places, possessing the abilities of just about every sort of fantasy class you can think of. He's an inventor, wizard, swordsman, musician, and all-round genius. The one weakness he has is he's absolutely horrible with people. Kvothe is blind to what people are really thinking, is all-too-easily fooled, and has little skill at persuasion. It's amusing Kvothe can invent a mystical lamp perfect for thieves, spies, and assassins but doesn't pause to think this isn't the sort of thing he should off at a university testing. There's also a gut-bustingly funny moment where Kvothe assumes being told to jump off a house is a test of his worthiness to become a wizard.

    The supporting cast is excellent and while no one is quite as memorable as Kvothe, himself, there's quite a few I developed an affection for. I'm particularly fond of Bast and Chronicler, as both are quite entertaining. Albeit, I lost a great deal of affection when Bast threatened the latter's life. The character of Denna is one I'm of mixed feelings about since she seems to represent "the one that got away" a lot of men have, who is never as interesting their adorers seem to think.

    The humor of the book is probably its best quality. The author is never unaware Kvothe isn't as smart as he thinks he is and this results in some hilarious situations. In addition to the aforementioned scenes with the lamp and house-jumping, I also enjoyed poor Kvothe's awkwardness around women. There's one place where all men are equal and that's not knowing how to talk to a girl you really like. Even Innkeeper Kyote (going under the name "Kote") is funny as our hero pretends to be a worn-out, tired old man as part of his cover persona. This wouldn't be funny if not for the fact he's about twenty-five.

    The Name of the Wind doesn't have any great epic plot. Despite being called The Kingkiller Chronicle, there's no kings being threatened or nations in peril. This is just the story of a poor magical grad student and his rather bizarre adventures. I like the fact the author takes time to build up to Kvothe's legendary reputation and how much of it, as we find out, is based on what people want to believe versus what happened.

    And what happened is impressive enough.

9.5/10

     Skinjumper is a hard book to review as it exists on the edge between a horror novel and a black comedy. It is a transgressive work, pushing buttons and boundaries in order to make an impression on the reader. Sometimes this works wonderfully well, making you laugh out loud at the sheer audacity of the author while other times it falls flat because the villainous protagonist is too repulsive.

    The premise tells you everything you need to know about the zany, horrible, weird world of Skinjumper. As a teenager, Terry Miller participates in a necromantic ritual to resurrect a dog his Alex friend accidentally poisons with chocolate. After strangling, another dog to do it, the ritual fails and he thinks nothing of it for a decade. Terry then discovers his longtime girlfriend has been secretly sleeping with his father and murders them both.

    This act triggers Terry's power to Skinjump, moving from body to body as long as he strangles the life out of his intended host. This would be a horrific premise if not for the fact Terry is a moron. Despite possessing a power which, literally, should mean it's impossible for him to be captured by law enforcement, he creates such a massive pile of bodies that even mundane authorities are drawn to investigate him.

    The book is at its most enjoyable whenever Terry is screwing up. The early parts of the books are hilarious because, again, Terry is a moron. Watching him make horrible mistake after horrible mistake, always ending in murder, is like a delightful train wreck. Alex is, arguably, even worse as he is deranged enough as an adult to see nothing particularly strange about his formerly skinny white friend showing up as a large black man. The two, together, make a twisted set of villains.

    Where the book hits a snag is, sometimes, the author tries to treat Terry and Alex's situations seriously. They're both such irredeemable pieces of crap, I wanted nothing more than to watch them create an ever-greater series of disasters until they get themselves killed. The last third of the book, however, has them get their s*** together enough to mount a semi-competent plan to murder a woman Terry has become obsessed with.

    This is a mistake as it just becomes tedious hoping for the two of them to get hit by a truck as they go after the only likable character in the book. A better decision might have been to keep the situations so over-the-top they are impossible to look away from. I found myself disappointed the two's first fight, over whether Terry in a prostitute's body should sleep with Alex, didn't go places. If you're going to create such an insane situation, you should follow it through to a conclusion of some sort.

    Skinjumper isn't going to be a novel or everyone. Terry and Alex are a repulsive pair of misogynist psychopaths who are only tolerable because it's clear the author knows they're a pair of evil idiots. The supporting cast is never quite as entertaining as these two when they're blundering about and a few of their subplots go nowhere. I was very fond of the character Rose and wanted nothing more than to see her put a bullet into the head of both. I'm not a big fan of the ending, though, which is more horror when it should have been funny.

    Still, Skinjumper is memorable. The fact the author is willing to start with such an absurdest premise buys the book a lot of forgiveness. If you have a fondness for pitch-black comedy and a desire to see suburbia at its most needing to be destroyed, this is the book for you.

7/10

Hey guys,

I wanted to let you know I have a new schedule for 2015 thanks to the whole big Permuted Press meltdown and my subsequent getting picked up by other publishers. It was for the best, really, because the new contracts are much more generous. I don't have exact release dates yet but expect Esoterrorism around in June. Two of the books are signed while the others are strong possibilities but, either way, they'll all be coming out.

1. Merciless: How I Became a Supervillain: The story of Gary Karkofsky, a man who finds a magical cloak in a superhero filled world and decides to use it to MAKE MONEY! He's assisted by his horrified and much-much saner wife, Mandy. A comedy which makes fun of all the various superhero movie tropes we've seen these past few years.

2. Death May Die (Cthulhu Apocalypse 1#): John Henry Booth is a soldier living in the Wastelands. The world has been destroyed by the rising of the Old Ones and he's been struggling to make do a century later. When he's banished from his isolated community after the death of his squadron, he tries to found out what happened during a missing time event where he encountered some of the Wasteland's terrible mysteries. A post-apocalyptic horror action novel. Like Mad Max with monsters!

3. Esoterrorism (Red Room 1#): Derek Hawthorne is an agent working for the Red Room, the intelligence arm of the House. The House is the organization which is responsible for keeping the supernatural hidden from mundanes and has been since time memorial. Now a global organization with massive wealth, influence, and governments in its pocket--it has also become corrupt. Saddled with a succubus partner, Shannon O'Reilly, he is given a mission--find a traitor in the house or be branded the most likely suspect. All the while as the clock is ticking down on a biological weapon which could reveal the supernatural to the public and kill thousands.

4. Death Knight (Death Knight 1#): Ever wonder what happened to the Ringwraiths after the defeat of Sauron? Jacob Riverson may not be a Nazgul but he's close enough for government work. Enslaved for centuries by the Dark Lord, he's only recently awoken from his slumber and discovered a changing world. Possessed of amazing supernatural abilities but a terrifying presence which takes all of his powers to suppress, he attempts to make atonement for his sins. WIll the world accept him or can he find friendship in only a small group of heroes hunted by the new Post-Dark Lord regime?

I hope everyone will check these books out when they come out.

    The Forty-First Wink is a novel which would make an excellent Terry Gilliam movie. It doesn't have that deep psychological edge or dream-logic which makes things like Brazil so appealing but there's some fun stuff here which is reminiscent of Time Bandits (an underrated classic).

   If I were to summarize what it's like, I'd say it's what you get when you dump Simon Pegg's character from Shaun of the Dead into Toon Town. It's very obvious the novel was written by a resident of the British Isles since the humor works best when viewed through the lens of a poor working-class schlub dumped into a magical dream world only to get chased around by evil psychotic clowns. All the while being helped by a bunch of toy pirates.

    *pause*

    Oh wait, that's just the plot.

    Sorry.

    The premise is Marty is a Generation Y-er who aspires to be an artist but hasn't managed to create anything. Instead, he spends the majority of his existence in a figurative sleepwalking state, going to work and returning home to go back to work in the morning again. He has dreams and works in a profession which is symbolic of the fact they're being put aside for other people's amusement (he's one of the guys animal costumes at theme parks).

    One day, Marty's Id has enough of how much he's neglected and seizes control over his body. For most of this, it would mean going on a binge of drinking and causal hook-ups but for Marty results in his consciousness being dumped in his unconscious. The toys from his childhood, evil clowns, the girl he's been crushing on for months, kaiju, Nazis, and very-weird superheroes are the things he encounters in his quest to wake up.

    The strength of the story is the way the novel apes Alice in Wonderland with an adult male protagonist. The world he inhabits is extremely random, being the detritus of Marty's existence, so there's more or less nothing which is off-limits. There's also some enjoyable symbolism which doesn't get spelled out, such as the fact pirate toy Timbers representing a time when anything was possible in Marty's life and the fact he's ruining his life by choosing not to engage with it.

    If The Forty-First Wink has flaws, it's perhaps the fact the book is hesitant to engage with its protagonist. Marty remains a passive character in his dreamworld, willing to accept things on their own terms. The most honest moment of the book is Marty's lengthy discussion of his feelings for dream-girlfriend Kate as well as how he believes it is a universal truism clowns are horrifying rather than funny. Which is true, by the way.

    I think the book could have been improved by exploring more of Mary's life and world in-particular. He goes to visit a bar to find Timbers, for example, but it would have been interesting to have it be one where he's spent a great deal of time. A place like the Winchester from Shaun of the Dead for example. Likewise, it seems somewhat dishonest that we have his fantasy girlfriend and worst nightmares in his subconscious but there's not a nod to the fact there's a dirty-thoughts district in his head.

    Now, is the book funny?

    That's an interesting question. I've read other reviews and heard it described as a laugh-a-minute romp while I took this as somewhat serious fairy-tale where the random events were dangerous. Is it funny to get chewed out by your reflection? To almost get stomped on by Godzilla? Maybe. It could also be taken at face-value. I suspect the humor content of the story will depend greatly on how the reader takes events.

    In conclusion, The Forty-First Wink is a bizarre dream adventure which is quite different from the majority of works out there today. I would have liked Marty to have been more proactive in his pursuit of a better world or more insights into his mindset but I suppose the point of the book is he's a boring person. It's Timber and his eccentric crew who are there to show Marty has the potential to be something more.

7/10

Buy at Amazon.com

    The sequel to The Name of the Wind is a huge, containing almost a thousand pages of world-building and story. The Name of the Wind was a sleeper hit, winning the favor of countless readers and adding a new modern classic to the genre. So what does the sequel bring to the setting?

    A lot more sex and violence!

    I kid.

    Sort-of.

    There is a great deal more sex and violence this time around but I find them appropriate additions given this series is, essentially, about Kvothe's coming-of-age. I also think readers can be unduly harsh on the former while ignoring the latter. Patrick Rothfuss, himself, has commented his readers often sent him letters criticizing the addition of a sexual element to Kvothe's journey but rarely mentioned he also made his hero a killer.

    Which says a lot about our culture today, let alone fantasy, doesn't it?

    The premise is Kvothe the legendary swordsman, musician, and wizard is still relating his life-story from his hiding place in the middle of nowhere. When last we left Kvothe's journey, he was still a fifteen year old boy finishing his first term at the Arcanum. Wise Man's Fear takes us from there to Kvothe turning eighteen.

    We'll follow him through another term at the Arcanum, a visit to a decadent court ruled by the world's richest man, watch him become a leader of mercenaries, see him enslaved by a beautiful fairy-queen, and then have him study at the setting's version of a Shaolin Temple. During this time, Kvothe will fall in love (or at least lust) as well as take his first human lives.

    Patrick Rothfuss' descriptions are vivid and rich with each section of his world jumping off the page. I'm especially fond of the section set amongst the Adem. A matrichal society with warrior ethos and decidedly libertine attitudes about sex, the Adem might first seem to be a male fantasy come to life but I enjoyed the translation of many Daoist concepts to "fantasy-speak." Watching Kvothe grow in his perspective on the world is fascinating to watch.

    The book also moves us along the central story of Kvothe's journey. We know Kvothe will become a legendary hero by the framing narrative but we also know he'll trigger a catastrophic series of events as well as end up killing a king. Here, Kvothe meets his first fairies and learns a great deal about his enemies in the Chandarian. He's also informed by a malevolent oracle his quest will result in nothing but ruin.

    He decides to proceed anyway.

    We also see Kvothe bloody his hands both as a warrior and as an executioner. Kvothe discovers he has a capacity to inflict devastating damage using his magic in a martial manner and, more so, has the willingness to do so. Another fantasy author would have just glided over the fact his hero is a killer but Patrick Rothfuss takes time to show how this change in Kvothe is both horrifying as well as hardening.

    As for the sex element, I actually thought it was quite tame. Kvothe has sex with five women over the course of the story and allusions to other romantic encounters but each of the five is a well-developed character.

    The sex, itself, is about as risque as something in a James Bond film. It's more implied than shown with the occasional flowery term which you can decipher if you know anything about sex. Sadly, despite meeting numerous very interesting female characters, Kvothe is still hung up on Denna--who I find the most boring girl in the series.

    The supporting cast in the book is great with such memorable characters as the Maehr, the Lackless family, returning favorites like Bast as well as Chronicler, and many others I could name. Patrick Rothfuss' characters may or may not be believable but they are authentic and that's much better, in my humble opinion.

    In conclusion, this is a great story. I think all readers who picked up the Name of the Wind will enjoy the sequel even better. I do warn them, however, that this is a pretty big book. It took me a week and a half to read it and I usually go through stories like rolls at dinner.

10/10

Origins of a D-List Supervillain review

Tales from the Borderlands: Episode 1: Zer0 Sum review

Small Town Heroes review

Exclusive Interview with Naomi Clark!

Excerpt from Death Knight Manuscript

Game of Thrones: Episode 1: Iron from Ice review

The Heresy Within review

The Dresden Files: Summer Knight review

Time of Death: Asylum review

The Walking Dead: Season 2 review

The Dresden Files: Death Masks review

What Zombies Fear: The Incarnation review

Dragon Age: Inquisition review

Guardians of the Galaxy review

Shadow of Mordor review

The Name of the Wind review

Skinjumper review

My books for 2015

The Forty-First Wink review

Wise Man's Fear review