The United Federation of Charles

    There are two kinds of Star Trek fans: those who like Wesley Crusher and those who don't. I, for those who wish to know, am one of the former.

    I was a wee lad of seven when Star Trek: The Next Generation first came on screen. Despite this, I watched it religiously and thought Wesley was the bomb. There was no reason not to like Wesley since, of course, a fourteen-year-old kid could do everything an adult could do but better. That was just common sense (at my age)!

    I suspect the older a Trek fan you were, the more irritating you found Wesley, at least until you reached your thirties when I suspected you found the whole idea of a Boy GeniusTM endearingly quaint. Whatever the case, Wesley Crusher is a character I'd love to read more about but has shown a peculiar (or perhaps not so peculiar given fan rage) absence from the literary Trek.

    Still, it may surprise you I wanted to read this book before the others because I was so excited at the prospect of Wesley Crusher playing a significant role in this novel. I am very pleased with David Mack's interpretation of what the character would be like after fully coming into his powers as a Traveler. He's a combination of adult Will Wheaton and the arrogance his character displayed as a boy tempered with genuine wisdom.

    The premise of The Body Electric is a great deal more space opera than usual, dealing with the kind of threat which makes Nomad or V'ger look comical. A massive machine is dumping massive number of planetoids and stars into a black hole. It's a mass murderer on a cosmic scale, every bit as evil and vile as the Borg. Wesley discovers this monster's existence and decides he needs to help of Captain Picard to stop it.

    Tying into this story is Data 2.0's continued quest to find the immortal Flint. This takes him into confrontation with renegade A.I. who are presently holding said immortal prisoner. This book also marks the return of Rhea McAdams, a character I've always been intrigued by. Despite her being branded 'Data's love interest', I always felt she had a bigger role to play than the novels let her play.

    The portrayal of Wesley Crusher, as mentioned, is extremely enjoyable. As a 'space-wizard' he's a very interesting character with powers that are simultaneously awe-inspiring but limited to teleportation. Nevertheless, you could use him as justification for all sorts of shenanigans and I hope we'll see him in future books. His conversation with his mother about not knowing 'what he was' (and how a seemingly normal human gained abilities such as is) was a particularly touching one.

    Unfortunately, I can't say this particular novel hit me completely the right way. For one, Doctor Crusher continues to be deriding and antagonistic over her loved one's choices. Not only does she disapprove of Captain Picard's 'family first' attitude but openly calls into question her son's humanity. Her statement she's not going to abandon her post is wonderful but the fact she doesn't think about evacuating her son from the possible destruction of the galaxy (despite it being within her power) is horrifying.

    I also wasn't particularly satisfied with the way this work ended. Without spoiling, I was a great fan of the way the Borg were dealt with in Destiny as well as the expansion on the Breen as more than just a race of space-suit-wearing bad guys.

    Here, however, the Machine's actions are not informed by an accident (like the Borg) or dissent. The Machine is not ignorant of organics, like V'ger, it's just outright prejudiced against them. Like the Dominion, I don't believe the Machine race warrants the same level of compassion other beings do. They are willfully malicious in their genocide and I find their actions to be vile. The crews continued attempts to make peace are valid for Starfleet but the Machines are, in my mind, fundamentally awful people.

    One element of the book I really did enjoy was the discussion of 'clone immortality' which has been forwarded by such fiction as the Sixth Day and Dollhouse. Indeed, the Vorta practice a form of it and I was surprised they weren't mentioned during the discussion. Basically, whether or not it's valid to keep creating perfect copies of yourself as a means of perpetuating you. The book comes down on the side this is dumb and not a from of immortality at all, which I agree with, but it's interesting to see a discussion on the unique science fiction concept at all.

     In conclusion, I liked this book and enjoyed its epic stakes. I do, however, wish a few things had been changed.

8/10

    Star Trek and religion have an interesting relationship.

    Gene Rodenberry was proudly an atheist and believed that the future would result in people "outgrowing silly superstitions." Others in the franchise, like Ron Moore, made Deep Space Nine one long rebuttal to anti-religious science fiction.

    Some authors have come in one one side or the other but few have tried to deal with the issue from a secular point of view. How does religion impact the lives of people who don't have miracles from the Bajoran prophets to justify their faith? What is the importance, if any, of religion when the deities they worship are confirmed as false?

    Shockingly, this isn't just what Ex Machina tackles. It also discusses, in a somewhat off-hand manner, the nature of the Singularity. The Singularity, much like the Tao, cannot be described because both are entities which are indescribable by their very nature. The Singularity is when we reach a point technologically or socially we cease to be able to be understood by normal humans.

    Christopher Bennett tackles the Singularity-like event of Star Trek: The Motion Picture and questions what this would mean for individuals seeking religious answers in the cosmos. In short, if you're looking for a god, what happens when a being is created who might as well be one? All of these questions and more get asked during the novels and answered with a somewhat reasonable extrapolation of facts.

    The novel's premise is Captain James T. Kirk is still recovering from the events of TMP. Having witnessed William Decker sacrifice his life to become one with V'ger, he's left with a crew which (rightly or wrongly) blames him for their former Captain's death. Spock, meanwhile, is struggling with his recent decision to abandon the pursuit of pure logic to rediscover his long-suppressed Vulcan emotions.

    James McCoy is regretting his decision to return to Starfleet. As a result, they are all eager to answer a distress call from a 'Hollow Earth' planet they destroyed the machine god of many years before. This happened in the 3rd season TOS episode, "For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky."

    Once there, they find the planet is rocked with religious strife as the discovery their machine god was false has not gone over very well with the populace. Likewise, the former high priestess' attempt to indoctrinate them all into a modern secular worldview (we can even say atheist) has only made things worse.

    Were this an episode of TOS, Kirk would resolve it by finding the terrorist leader and punching him or convincing everyone that they need to work together with a single speech. Things are a bit more complicated here and Christopher Bennett ties Kirk's cautious approach to events with his recent experiences. He even deconstructs Kirk's rather causal way of dismantling cultures as well as the crew's habit of having once-an-episode life-changing romances.

    Part of what I enjoyed about this work is the "new" characters, only barely glimpsed in TMP. The crew of the Enterprise, meant to be the cast of Gene Rodenberry's Phase 2, includes many more aliens than we're used to. Rhaandites, Betelgeusians, and other ones barely glimpsed in the later canon. My favorite of the new crew members, however, was Reiko Onami. A woman who has spent her entire life around aliens, she finds "regular humans" like Doctor McCoy petty and bigoted.

    I also was a huge fan of the contrasting characters of Natira and Rishala. Two high priestesses, they could not have more contrasting opinions. Natira embraces her new atheism and Federation agnosticism, feeling it has liberated her from a repressive evil religion. Rishala, however, holds to deep spiritual truths while expressing many of the Federation's highest virtues.

    They are twin sides of the same coin but deadly enemies due to how differently their experience with their planet's religion shaped them. In-between them are many characters of varying beliefs, shaping the complicated narrative of the book.

     In conclusion, Ex Machina is an excellent story. It's a bit more complicated than most TOS stories and a good deal more cerebral. However, this doesn't mean it's boring. Indeed, I found it incredibly engrossing. Deep characterization mixes with an in-depth analysis of an interesting subject. I recommend all fans of the original series as well as the movies.

9/10

    A Choice of Futures is an interesting novel. In a weird way, I'd say it's as close to a Tom Clancy novel as you're going to find in Star Trek. Only, instead of Jack Ryan, we have Archer and instead of John Clarke we've got Trip. For those of you who have never touched a Tom Clancy novel in your life, what I'm saying is that it functions on two levels: a political one as well as a spy one. In fact, Christopher Bennett does Tom Clancy up one by having a third level of pure Star Trek exploration.

    Christopher Bennett takes advantage of the Enterprise timeline's relatively close time period with "our" future to make things somewhat familiar. The newly formed Federation has many problems with it--ones very similar to ones from history.

    Without a Prime Directive in place, people are calling for the UFP to become the Alpha Quadrant's police-men and Starfleet's leaders are eager to play the role (all except for Admiral Archer). Comparisons with the USA are inevitable but there's also allusions to the USSR and even the Crusades.

    As an audience, we know Starfleet is going to become a scientific and exploratory body dedicated to peaceful first-contact. Here, however, it's obvious the majority of the UFP's leaders are seeing something more like NATO. After both the Xindi and Romulan War, this is an understandable position.

    Indeed, I'm honestly not sure it's wrong despite several potentially disastrous situations being averted primarily due to the former Enterprise crew's relative pacifism. Part of my problem with The Undiscovered Country is repeated here: it's hard to have a message of peace and understanding when there's a third party working to bring about war. Of course, I loved The Sum of All Fears and TUC is my favorite Star Trek movie so I can't complain too much.

    For those who are interested in jumping onto the Enterprise novel bandwagon but haven't purchased previous books, you won't have to in order to keep up. It's an excellent starting point to the series with even the strangest element (Trip is alive and a member of Section 31) being explained. All one really has to know is the Romulans have been defeated and everyone is settling into an uncomfortable new alliance.

    The changes to the characters feel natural and appropriate. Archer is now an Admiral, adjusting to it better than Captain Kirk or Picard would have, while T'Pol has moved onto her own command. Malcolm Reed is also in line for his own ship, a promotion which I think is long overdue. I wasn't too happy with the continued half-relationship between Trip and T'Pol but that's more or less inevitable given their circumstances.

    Christopher Bennett's talent for "arc welding" comes into play here as he attempts to address a large number of the issues leftover from the series. Without spoiling anything, he brings back several one-shot enemies and shows their reaction to the changing state of the galaxy. Prior to the Federation, with the exception of the Klingons, it was more or less a lawless universe. Watching that change is a fascinating sight to see. I especially liked learning more about the mysterious Gray-like aliens from "Silent Enemy."

    Weirdly, an element I really appreciated from the book was a retcon regarding the Orions. One of the most annoying changes done by Enterprise, undoubtedly done for changing sensibilities, was their transformation of the misogynist slaver group into a female-controlled society of slavers. That, to me, was actually more offensive than the original. Here, Christopher combines the two in such a way as to leave their role as corrupt vice peddlers intact.

    There's some really good moments in the book, including tying in a TOS character's history to early Starfleet, but I felt the book could have been improved by changing some of its focus. The Captain Reed section is completely divorced from the main plot and didn't feel thematically consistent with the rest. Aside from learning to accept alien life-forms (and keep their secrets), I felt it could have been any old episode of Star Trek. I would have much preferred a greater focus on the political angle of the newly formed Federation.

    Overall, I found A Choice of Futures to be a very satisfying read.The characters are spot-on, the situations are interesting, and the storytelling is excellent. I also love the way Christopher Bennett effortlessly weaves in story elements from a variety of sources to make the episodic setting of Star Trek feel more interconnected and alive. Honestly, though, I would have enjoyed more examination of the monumental nature of their new government. A person on the street's perspective on the new Federation would have been appreciated.

9/10

    Star Trek: Voyager was a Star Trek series I very much enjoyed but couldn't follow in my area religiously. Nevertheless, I still managed to catch every episode right up until around "Scorpion" where (I kid you not) the loss of Kes as well as de-emphasizing Chakotay made me less interested in watching the series.

    Because of this, I haven't followed the Voyager Relaunch as well as I should have. I was, thus, quite surprised when I heard about Janeway dying in a fight against the Borg. It was a risky move and quite ballsy since she was the effective star of the series. I wondered, for quite some time, if they would bring her back. This is the book they do so. This isn't a spoiler since it happens very early in the text and is actually the biggest source of publicity for the novel. Much of the novel is centered around Janeway's return and this is the best part of the story.

    The premise of the novel is Amanda Rogers, a one-shot character from TNG, and Q's son (Q Jr.) are discussing the fact Kathryn Janeway's death is a fixed point in time. This roughly means Janeway dies around this time no matter what else is happening in the Multiverse. This confuses the two Q since such a thing is oddly specific. It's as if the universe is out to get Kathryn Janeway. Meanwhile, the Starfleet armada heading to the Delta Quadrant (using its new Slipstream drive) gets itself into a pickle. Apparently, a really ancient race encountered something unpleasant and things steadily go from bad to worse.

   Much worse.

    As mentioned above, the Janeway parts of the book are quite good. Janeway's reaction to the developments in the Alpha Quadrant are underdeveloped but poignant for what little we see of them. Likewise, Chakotay's reaction to Janeway's return is entirely believable. I could have spent the entire novel following her as she tried to establish that, yes, she is the real Kathryn Janeway. Sadly, I feel there was a missed opportunity or two because I think Janeway should have taken at least a chapter to get used to the events of Destiny.

    Unfortunately, I can't say I'm a huge fan of the B-plot. Without giving too much away; I feel it killed two underused characters needlessly, revealed too much about the nature of the Q, took too much time away from the resurrection of Janeway, and resolved a Torres plot I was enjoying in a very haphazard way.

    I also am annoyed by the introduction of a race even more advanced than the Caeliar. Given the entire purpose of the Caeliar is to seek out other races more advanced than themselves, you'd think they would have noticed one in the Delta Quadrant. Which, given the Caeliar scan millions of other galaxies, is a bit ridiculous. Of course, I had the same question as to why the Caeliar seemed to have missed the Organians, Q, and other beings whose technology is more akin to magic than science.

    Sadly, there's a lot of plots in this book I would have enjoyed more than the B-plot. For instance, the book revisits the group from "Unity" which I was hoping we'd see as a thriving gestalt intelligence. Unfortunately, that plot is nipped in the bud almost as soon as it's raised. Then, it's players are summarily moved off-stage when I was hoping they'd play a major role in the book. I'm also not pleased at Janeway reflecting on "Sacred Ground" having a scientific explanation when that was obviously just the Doctor grasping at straws.

    The book does have an excellent handling of the Q continuum, however. I also felt the character of Q Junior was greatly expanded on, becoming a much better man than his father. Q, himself, plays a large role and I very much enjoyed his character. There's even a special guest appearance by Kes, which I absolutely loved. Watching the various Qs interact is also a treat, the omniscient beings trying to fool one another using methods that have to be seen to be believed.

     This, however, doesn't compensate for the fact that Janeway's resurrection doesn't get the attention it deserves. This, despite the fact it's a book ostensibly about her return from the dead. The book prefers to focus on the origins of Captain Afsarah Eden, who is interesting but needs her own book to discuss the surreal story told.

    In conclusion, I think it's an okay book but wasted a lot of its potential. Many of these elements may strike you as petty nitpicking, however, and you're welcome to pick it up to judge for yourself. You will still get your money's worth.

6.5/10

    Fire on High continues with the changes started in Martyr, keeping the crew semi-serious and toning down the humor so it's still hilarious but possessed of more character development and drama.

    The premise of Fire on High is the discovery of TNG character, Robin Lefler, that her mother is still alive. This is not much of a cause for celebration as Morgan Primus faked her death in order to escape her family. Amusingly, Peter David makes Morgan Primus yet another of the characters "played" by Majel Barrett.

    Specifically, she is the character Number One from the original Star Trek pilot. How is she still alive after almost a century between the New Frontier era and the Original Series? Well, Peter David has an interesting explanation about that which I'd be remiss in spoiling.

    The character of Morgan Primus is an interesting one as she nicely contrasts with the rest of the crew. For the most part, aside from some "aggressive courting" and disagreements, everyone gets along. Morgan Primus is a character who is distinctly unfriendly to everyone and causes no end of problems for the U.S.S Excalibur's crew.

    Peter David does an excellent job in getting Majel Barrett's "voice" down so I was able to easily imagine her acting the role of Morgan Primus. It's a harsher character than Christine Chapel or Lwaxana Troi but still has much of the subtle humor which makes her characters distinctive.

    The Burgoyne and Selar relationship continues in this volume, losing much of its creepiness since its now clearly consensual and desired by both parties. The addition of the character McHenry into their back and forth 'romance' is an interesting swerve in the storyline. I also like the fact Burgoyne has hir own issues to get over before s/he is ready to commit to either.

    The character of Soleta also gets some development as she discovers virtually everyone on the ship considers her a close personal friend. Which isn't a good thing because Soleta considers herself both naturally surly and a loner. It leads to my, hands down, favorite moment in the series where she's trapped in a never-ending turbolift ride with a succession of people who want romance advice.

    Romance advice...from a Vulcan.

    Captain Calhoun and Si Cwan go through the most development this volume. The former gets a reality check on his actions, discovering that intervening according to one's moral compass isn't always the best solution for every problem. The latter manages to display how deeply loyal he's become to the crew in an impressive manner.

    The plot, itself, is somewhat weak and mostly an excuse while the real focus is on the characterization. I have no problem with this and enjoy the change of pace from the usual New Frontier zaniness is welcome. I also am intrigued by the Prometheans and think they're an excellent addition to the Trek universe.

    In conclusion, I heartily recommend Fire on High and consider it an excellent continuation of the New Frontier series.

9/10

    I love Una McCormack's work. I may not have cared much for the B-plot in Hollow Men but the A-plot was absolutely grand. The Never-Ending Sacrifice, however, does something daring and should be acknowledged for it: its not just a good Star Trek novel, it's a good novel period. Had Una changed the names and places, the novel would function just as well as an independent science fiction piece.

    The first thing one has to know about ST:DS9: TNES is it doesn't star any of the regular characters from the show. This is another daring thing, because most books depend on the "star appeal" of the original characters. Here, the protagonist is Rugal, a character who only showed up on Deep Space Nine for about ten minutes of screen time max.

    Rugal's story is a fairly complex one. When the Cardassians were retreating from Bajor, he was left behind and adopted by Bajoran parents. Given the Cardassians treated the Bajorans nightmarish, this lead to a rather troubled by childhood. Rugal, himself, wasn't abused but grew up being told the Cardassians were a race of Space Nazis who did unconscionable things to the Bajorans.

    Which is true.

    The thing was, Rugal wasn't left behind deliberately. Indeed, he was effectively kidnapped from his parents due to the machinations of Gul Dukat. As a result, Starfleet ruled that Rugal was to be returned to Cardassia with his biological father. The fate of Rugal and his family was a story untold, until now.

    The Never-Ending Sacrifice follows Rugal as he's exposed to an alien culture he's been taught to hate his entire life. The Cardassians are shown to be a complex society, neither wholly good or evil, with elements to admire as well as despise. One element I particularly enjoyed was the fact the Cardassians, not too long ago, were a starving broken people much the same as the Bajorans.

    While Rugal's father loves him, he's not a particularly welcomed by the rest of the household. He's uninterested in befriending his new family as well, constantly trying to figure out means to escape back to Bajor. It is a heartbreaking yet fascinating analysis of what it means to be family in an inhuman society.

    The novel chronicles Rugal's time through the early DS9 period to the Dominion War and beyond. Watching Rugal get drafted into the Cardassian military is fascinating, because it puts him in the perfect situation to understand not everyone is given a choice in an environment of oppression. Indeed, the first planet the Cardassian Union invaded was perhaps Cardassia itself.

    This is not a typical Star Trek story. It does not have Rugal involve himself with ancient gods, space battles, or even epic examples of peace-keeping. Instead, it is a personal story of the shift in perspective by one person. It is a coming-of-age drama set against the backdrop of an interstellar war which the protagonist will not have any major effect on. Instead, he is a leaf buffeted across the winds of history.

    Is The Never-Ending Sacrifice perfect?

    Yes, yes it is.

    This story is exactly everything it needs to be. From beginning to end, it handles a complex situation deftly and with aplomb. I cannot think of any complaints I have about the work. Is it the most enjoyable novel ever? No, but it moved me and there are few enough pieces of literature I can that about. I applaud Una McCormick for their work and wish them many future projects.

10/10

    Rough Beasts of Empire is yet another novel in the continuing epic political drama of the Typhon Pact.

    As the cover indicates, the book is primarily about Captain Benjamin Sisko and Spock. The book is, obviously, set before the events of Star Trek (2009) when the latter departed the original Star Trek universe forever.

    Benjamin Sisko's return isn't in this book but, I confess, a certain ambivalence to it in general. When he left to join the Prophets, I thought he was never going to return. That his 'ascension' was the price he was willing to pay for the Prophets destruction of the Jem'hadar fleet in "Sacrifice of Angels."

    The premise of the book is multifold. Benjamin Sisko is going through a personal crisis following the events of Star Trek: Destiny. Having witnessed the death of thousands he was unable to save, suffering the loss of a good friend, and discovering the death of his father--the man who would not bend simply breaks.

    It is painful to see Captain Sisko lose faith in the Prophets, his friends, his family, and even himself. This is not an easy situation that is resolved mid-point through the novel or during a dramatic climax, it is seemingly a permanent change to the character. David R. George III sells this excruciatingly sad series of events and I applaud his ability to write a tragedy, even as I hate it's happened to a character I love.

    Elsewhere, on Romulus, we see Spock finally getting some traction on his Reunification movement. This is contradictory towards New Frontier, where the Praetor and Spock had come to a sort of accommodation, but it's hardly the only continuity difference between those novels and the main universe. Spock soon finds himself targeted by a Reman assassin but uses this event to get political capital enough to force a meeting with the Praetor. What follows is a multi-layered conspiracy plot the former Ambassador must try and unweave. The ending is shocking and entirely unexpected.

    Finally, the Romulan government gets it own analysis. Their culture only vaguely hinted at in the various series, it is the Novelverse which has expanded on them to become a fully three-dimensional culture. Here, we get a rivalry between Praetor Tal'aura and Empress Donatra and how it has split the culture in two.

    Both sides want the Romulan Empire reunited as does the Typhon Pact but whichever side it comes down on will forever change the galaxy. As expected, we get the usual Romulan blackmail, assassination, and cronyism to spice up the politics.

    On my end, I've always been a huge fan of Empress Donatra and her Imperial Romulan State. I was rooting for her throughout the books she's appeared in, hoping she'd decide to ally with the Federation. Here, her story reaches its crucible as she's forced to work with Captain Sisko despite the fact he's probably at the absolute worst point of his life. I won't spoil things, but they don't go the way the universe needs. I fear for the Romulan people and I hate Romulans.

    We get some more information on the Tzenkethi this book, illustrating them as a people who employ a genetic "caste" system (which they object to--despite it being mostly true) so that everyone is perfectly suited for their jobs. I was getting a little bored of the Breen as the only "villains" of the pact so it was nice to spice up things with Tzenkethi manipulations. I find them an offensive people and hope they get some comeuppance for the horrible things they do this volume.

     A fan-favorite returns this volume with Sela of the Obsidian Order. Sela has always been a favorite character of mine and Star Trek Online won many kudos from me when it employed Denise Crosby to voice the evil Romulan Empress. Will Sela rise to the heights of her online counterpart? I don't know, but I hope so. With things having gone so poorly, I can think of no one better for eventual rulership of the Romulan people.

     Rough Beasts of Empire is a harsh book dealing with both depression as well as the loss of ideals. In a very real way, it's a volume about the fact the Federation's principles won't always work out for the best. That the "bad guys" often win as much as the good ones. Also, that the "good guys" don't get to retire into a life of happily ever after. Many times, they're broken by their experiences.

   Heavy stuff.

   I recommend the book, nevertheless, citing its excellent craftsmanship. It is a tragedy, telling the fall of a good man and how even heroes can be helpless before larger events. If we ever get to the Hobus disaster, I hope it is David R. George III who chronicles its final hours.

9/10

Warning: Strange digression into RL politics ahead.

    I've always been fascinated with modern Arab cultures' struggle with the West. Not necessarily in terms of geopolitics but the sheer lack of ability to find common ground more often than not. During the Cold War, the Middle East was lumped in with the rest of the Third World less because it wasn't involved in the struggle between NATO and the Warsaw Pact nations than its members didn't want to ally with either.

    Former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was briefly one of the most listened-to men in the world due to his opposition to both sides, highlighting the Soviet Union's state-based atheism and the United States' commercial secularism as reasons for the Muslim world to go it alone. Obviously, his support of terrorism destroyed his influence world-wide and the world is better for it. However, it highlighted the culture divide for me when I first read about it. The United States frequently speaks about how it wishes to foster democracy world-wide but gets extremely irritated when the public votes for a government dissimilar from its own.

    During the Second Iraqi War, one of the early questions about what was going to happen was whether or not the Iraqi people were going to become a theocratic oligarchy like Iran. Iraq, of course, didn't go this way but the biggest fear was that the people themselves would vote in leaders to install this. I found myself surrounded by classmates who were dreading democracy in action--because it was democracy they didn't like.

    In December, 2010 the Arab Spring began in part due to the failed democratic protests in Iran but also due to a rising tide of other factors from education to internet access. The overthrow of governments was done through means both nonviolent and otherwise, eventually bringing down the aforementioned Muammar Gaddafi amongst others. Of particular note was Egypt, whose firmly entrenched dictator was overthrown and promptly replaced with a populist religious movement. For many, it was a sign of a new day beginning in the Middle East. For others, it was a cause for concern.

    This relates to The Struggle Within as Christopher Bennett puts us squarely in an allegory to the Arab Spring with both the Talarians and the Kinshaya. For those who aren't enormous Star Trek nerds, the Talarians are a chauvinist race of warriors from TNG while the Kinshaya are a novels-only theocratic government of griffons.

    Yes, really.

    You can gauge roughly what sort of Star Trek fan by whether or not your reaction to that last bit is like mine (totally awesome) or like others I've read the posts of (stupid). For me, I fall on the line that a little craziness makes the Star Trek universe all the sweeter. I love the Kinshaya and would dearly enjoy seeing them interact with the Federation on a regular basis, particularly because if Starfleet had trouble with the Bajoran religion they'll lay an egg (pun intended) over the Kinshaya's. There's nothing particularly funny about the book itself, however, which depicts the Kinshaya's nonviolent protest movements entirely seriously. They're a deeply spiritual people who desire to have a little more freedom in how to worship their god.

    The Federation sees all manner of possibilities in this descent, including the possibility they might turn into a more secular government. I liked this last bit as it highlights the Federation seeing what it wanted to see versus what will probably happen.

    Of course, in RL, I support secularism not because of any irreligious thoughts (though people are welcome to have them) but because I believe dissent is important for any healthy functioning society and any religious conversion won by pressure is worthless. It is a failure of many modern Christians they fail to realize Freedom of Belief protects them every bit as much as it protects others.

    The Talarian situation is equally troublesome to the Federation as they desire the violent chauvinistic people to join them in the expanded Khitomer Accords. I'm reminded of David Webber's Grayson people in the Honorverse when describing the Talarians.

    They're not misogynists per say, there's no indication the women are physically abused (indeed, the taboo against such is extremely high), but they do restrict them from many cultural roles. No sooner does the Federation start compromising its principles by dealing with this decidedly un-Roddenberry group that the females start engaging in resistance for greater rights.

    Part of what I like about this book is the fact the Federation really has no idea what the hell is going on in the minds of the dissidents. The Kinshaya are strongly motivated by mysticism, arguing with the government on points completely esoteric to your average Feddie, while the Talarian women's demands are not what you'd immediately expect. It's very similar to many RL situations where cultural grievances are not universal and outsiders often misunderstand (or deliberately misrepresent) demands to cater to their own perspectives.

    My favorite parts of the book deal with Jasminder Choudhury and T'Ryssa Chen. They are my two favorite Novelverse characters and such a breath of fresh air from the "old faithfuls." Jasminder Choudhury's peaceful nature contrasts nicely to the typical Security Officer stereotype. It's moving to see her want to see the peaceful protests of the Kinshaya succeed over more violent action. T'Ryssa Chen, the Happy Vulcan is just awesome and I could read a whole book about her adventures. She, more than anyone else, serves as an audience surrogate for the strange dealings going on around her.

    Seeing the Talarians return from their appearance in "Suddenly Human" and other spots was a welcome surprise, as well. They're not a bad race, albeit I grossly disagree with any form of non-equality, but they're leery of getting absorbed into the Federation wholesale. For a government so keen on cultural contamination, everyone around it seems to think it's some kind of root-beer-based Borg. I'm a little saddened by how their negotiations go but unsurprised.

    In conclusion, I think this was a great tribute to the nonviolent resistance of the world and those who marched their way to freedom without guns. Selling nothing short to those who won their freedom with firearms, swords, or golf clubs--I applaud the courage lauded here and Christopher Bennett's tribute to it.

10/10

    Dishonored is one of the best games to come out last year. The fact there's a distinct lack of stealth-based gameplay lately means it's virtually unchallenged as the best of its genre, as well. Sadly, Thief isn't coming out until 2014 and those who want to continue moving around guards will have to content themselves with replaying Dishonored as well as its DLC.

    The Knife of Dunwall is Dishonored's second major DLC after Dunwall City Trials. The Knife of Dunwall easily blows away the latter, more or less consisting of another three missions as well designed as the ones for the main game. Given the main game only had nine, this is quite impressive. I got more bang-for-my-buck from The Knife of Dunwall than some full-priced games.

    The Knife of Dunwall follows Daud, the murderer of Empress Jessamine from the start of Dishonored, as he finds himself curiously affected by her death. Having grown fond of Corvo, I was initially reluctant to slip into the role of Daud. I'm pleasantry surprised to say that Michael Madsen does an excellent job in realizing the character of Dunwall's greatest assassin.

There's several new enemies in the game, though I can't fathom why buzzsaws shoot bullets.

    The premise of the Knight of Dunwall is that Daud has found himself visited by the Outsider who tells him that his "story will end soon" and how depends on a woman named Delilah. This, of course, is a bold-faced lie since Corvo will either spare or kill him in the main game. Nevertheless, it provides Daud the impetuous to go after the mysterious figure.

    This weak storytelling hurts the game as there's no real personal connection between Daud and Delilah. He treats his possible fated killer as just another job and there's no real sense he's particularly worried either way. Likewise, Daud's targets are impersonal enemies who he has no real stake in destroying. This leads to the DLC's only real problem in a fundamentally weak narrative.

    The exception to this is the character of Billie Lurk, who becomes Daud's sidekick and one of my favorite characters in the setting after a very short while. Billie nicely pops up just enough to be intriguing but leaves before she overstays her welcome. I also enjoyed the character of Abigail Ames, a female mercenary who is not the character you'd expect in the pseudo-Victorian world of Dishonored.

The DLC also expands on Dishonored's ever-mentioned, rarely seen Lovecraftian whales.

    Despite this, the gameplay is top-notch. The game plays almost, but not completely, like Dishonored. Daud's Blink ability is modified so he stops time when he's using it, allowing him to create interesting stunts as well as manipulate the enemy in fascinating ways. Likewise, it's possible for Daud to summon his fellow assassins to deal with his enemies. By taking a page or two out of Assassin's Creed, Daud's play becomes more unique and less like Corvo redux.

    Gamers should be warned that the Knife of Dunwall is significantly harder to beat than Dishonored, itself. The levels are very open with lots of room for reinforcements from one's enemies. This is compensated for by excellent level design. There is a staggering number of hiding places as well as ways for characters to accomplish their mission.

    Those expecting this DLC to be stand-alone should be warned, this is more like "The Knife of Dunwall part 1." The story abruptly ends, obviously building up to a sequel but there's no indication of this before purchase. The fact that this will result in, presumably, six missions total means Daud's adventures will almost equal Corvo's own. I'm tempted to say they should have made Daud's adventures into Dishonored 2.

The level design for this DLC is gorgeous. No re-skinned levels. It's as breathtaking as the main game, maybe more so.

As a side-note, I think it's important to mention the DLC manages to capture the seamy flavor of Dunwall very well. Whereas we didn't get to spend much time in the hell that is Dunwall's class-segregated society, the first two missions give us a better sense of how the rich and poor are being effected by the events in the main game. I loved both slaughterhouse owner Rothwild as well as Barrister Timish. They're delightfully despicable, illustrating all the cruelties and hypocrisies of the Dishonored setting.

Overall, I strongly recommend fans of Dishonored pick up The Knife of Dunwall. Once its sequel is out, fans will have, essentially, doubled their gaming time in an interesting and unique world. The storytelling could have used some punching up but this is a small complaint given the world, itself, tells a story.

9/10

    I decided to give The Laundry series another try after being gravely disappointed with The Jennifer Morgue. I was intrigued in The Atrocity Archives by the possibilities of a Lovecraftian spy agency, particularly since I was a huge fan of Delta Green, but The Jennifer Morgue's parody of James Bond was shallow and uninteresting.

    The Fuller Memorandum, by contrast, is a return to form and I appreciate it. It takes the premise of a Lovecraftian threat to the world seriously while simultaneously also keeping some of its humor. Unlike The Jennifer Morgue, the humor of the novel doesn't go overboard and remains on the right side of this-close-to-ridiculous.

    The premise is Bob screws up during a routine exorcism and things go from bad to worse in his professional life. Even worse, this is occurring when there's something happening with a long-buried secret of the Laundry's organizational life.

    Part of what I enjoyed about this novel is it remembers the terrifying forces the Laundry deals with are actually terrifying. The Atrocity Archives made a nice balance between humor and horror, never going too far into one area or another like The Jennifer Morgue. The humor is actually funny, too, which allows it to be enjoyed for its own sake.

    The book deals with one of my favorite elements of H.P. Lovecraft's writings, specifically cultists. What does inspire a person to want to worship the Great Old Ones? The book gives the obvious answer and expands on it, horrifying Bob with its logic. It also does a nice parody of upper-class English life, highlighting the kind of secrets which can hide under seemingly respectable people with tongue-firmly-in-cheek.

    I also enjoyed the story's emphasis on the 'secret history' of the world. Spy fiction depends on realistic politics or, at least, understandable ones. Here, there's nothing realistic about extra-dimensional monsters and creatures from the deep--but the books acts as if they are. I appreciated that as the incorporation of people in real-life political situations trying to use demons somehow "sells" the premise to me.

    I enjoyed Bob's characterization this time around, the befuddled bureaucrat struggling with his position as well as relationship, which nicely contrasted to previous volumes. Moe also felt more "real" this time around, as opposed to the perfect fantasy girlfriend she's been portrayed as before. I even enjoyed the revelations about Bob's boss, each of them fitting with what we knew about him from before.

    I can't say The Fuller Memorandum blew me away. This isn't one of those books I walked away feeling like I absolutely had to read the next story but I appreciated it. It's gotten me interested in the series again and I'm going to finish reading it. Kudos, Charles Stross, you've won me back over.

8/10

Since I have some extra time today, I thought I'd talk about one of my favorite lesser-known genres. Like urban-fantasy, Steampunk is one of the creatures which has grown up in recent years as a counterbalance to more traditional science-fiction and fantasy storytelling settings.

But what is Steampunk?

Steampunk by way of illustration.

    Honestly, a lot of people don't know as there's been complaints that all you have to do is place some gears or clockwork on an object to make it part of the genre. Part of the reason for this ambiguity is steampunk began as a contrast to William Gibson's brief popularity as the originator of the 'cyberpunk' style of science fiction.

    J.K. Jetter (Morlock Night, the Infernal Devices) apocryphally coined the term in a letter to Locus magazine:

    Dear Locus,

    Enclosed is a copy of my 1979 novel Morlock Night; I'd appreciate your being so good as to route it Faren Miller, as it's a prime piece of evidence in the great debate as to who in "the Powers/Blaylock/Jeter fantasy triumvirate" was writing in the "gonzo-historical manner" first. Though of course, I did find her review in the March Locus to be quite flattering.

    Personally, I think Victorian fantasies are going to be the next big thing, as long as we can come up with a fitting collective term for Powers, Blaylock and myself. Something based on the appropriate technology of the era; like 'steam-punks', perhaps.

    —K.W. Jeter

    Cyberpunk was very clearly defined by William Gibson as a near-future dystopian style of fiction designed around the idea of being mankind literally ****ed by technology. Steampunk would, by its literal definition, be the Victorian equivalent and there has been numerous works written in this regard. After all, the 19th century is the hey-day of imperialism and the culmination of technology's rapid advancement during this period was the Great War.

Flat-out, a lot of Steampunk's appeal is it just LOOKS pretty.

    From my own flirtations with the genre, however, it's not necessarily the case. While my favorite Steampunk works use the classicism, racism, and sexism of the period to tell interesting stories about today--a lot of fans are more interested in the romanticism of the period. The idea of gentlemen inventors and a period of time when the world still had unexplored regions.

    In short, Steampunk is retro-science fiction set in the period of time from the 17th to early 20th century with Victorian England and the Wild West being the most common settings. Variants on Steampunk include fantasy worlds resembling the Industrial Revolution and post-apocalyptic situations where humanity has returned to an earlier but still technological level of development.

    Retroactively, Jules Verne and H.G. Wells are the fathers of this style of science fiction. While they were simply writing for their time, the two men laid the foundations for all future imitators. Amusingly, given the heavy amount of social satire both men put into their writing, you might suggest they were the kind of individuals to focus on the 'punk' element themselves.

Realism, of course, is not necessary.

    Not all period pieces during this time are Steampunk--only those which are deliberately anachronistic technological advances. Cowboys vs. Aliens doesn't have steam devices but comments on American Imperialism. The Guy Richie Sherlock Holmes movies with their radios and Great War forehsadowing qualifies. Likewise, the Wild Wild West movie is a badly-made but accurate example of how the setting's conflicts work.

    Why do Steampunk, though? The answer is multifold: it's a road-less traveled, there's a lot of values dissonance which is easy to exploit for drama, and it's a time-period when romanticism clashed heavily with grim reality. A man might build an airship capable of circumnavigating the globe but he's still surrounded by a society where other races are second-class citizens. We also know much of the downfalls of industrialization, even as we reap its benefits.

     Those interested in writing Steampunk should choose what exactly they wish to say about the time-period and/or modern situations. It's entirely possible to write surface Steampunk, making use of the concepts of it without actually getting too in-depth on the ramifications of the technology involved but I think this is a poor use of the genre. Part of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea's fun is Jules Verne's examination of what the electrical submarine does--specifically, provides an unstable man with unlimited ability to murder the rest of the world's sailors. A similar effect is resulted from Robur the Conqueror's airship.

      Despite this, writers should not constrain themselves from going all out when creating their alternate Early Industrial settings. While examining the consequences of one element is good, you can also create a wholesale fantasy-land of clockwork and coal-powered devices. Realism has no necessary relationship to the genre and should never stand in the way of a good story. The Time Machine, after all, is a tale which uses travel to distant centuries in-order to examine the issues of class in the 19th century. Besides, if giant transforming robot-trains are wrong, I don't want to be right.

A robot making robots--a metaphor for today as well as yesteryear.

    Oddly, I don't recommend attempting to address the racism and sexism of the time in-depth unless you have a very deft hand. Not only does it tend to suck the joy out of a subject, the levels of it could vary from place-to-place and even person-to-person. Still, ignoring it is likely to feel inauthentic to readers. Acknowledging these issues and drawing from them helps keep the setting believable even if you're running around with steam-powered replacement super-limbs. As one commentator said, "I can buy a gigantic mechanical spider. I can't buy a racism-free 19th century America."

    Steampunk highlights a period which I term to be "The Age of Transition." In a very real way, the Industrial Revolution up until the Great War represented the period where Old Ideas clashed with the New. Everything from the way war was conducted to travel to the way people interacted changed due to the development of technology.

     Whether you curse the past world or long for it, Steampunk is about these two ways of looking at the world colliding. I consider World War 1 the end-point for any historical Steampunk story because it's when the horrors of modernized warfare eradicated any remaining romantic notions of chivalry, monarchy, invention, or warfare.

Not period-accurate attire.

     Take note writers have been known to combine steampunk settings with other genres as well. Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magic Obscura examines what happens when a bog-standard fantasy setting of dwarves and elves hits the Industrial Revolution. Likewise, Japan's Sakura Taisen takes a romanticized view of 1920s Japan to have a troupe of actresses fight demons in steam mecha.

     It's also possible to include Steampunk elements in settings which are not actually of the genre. TSR's Dragonlance setting added flavor to Gnomes by making them capable of creating Industrial Age devices, merely ones too dangerous for common use. Likewise, Firefly is a science fiction series which thrives on adopting 19th century values, clothing, and attitudes to provide contrast.

     It should be noted steampunk has inspired other retro-future settings as well. There is now "Dieselpunk" covering the 1920s and Flash Gordon meets Pulp futurism as well as "Clockpunk", highlighting the introduction of unimaginable inventions into Renaissance or earlier time-periods. I suspect this will continue as the spirit of adventure will always find new settings for the introduction of machines. In this respect, Daedalus of the Icarus wings and mechanical bull was the first Steampunk hero.

   In the end, Steampunk is a a style which can be done easily but doing it well is another matter entirely. The Industrial Revolution was a period which changed human history forever, taking mankind into a new age of development. Capturing that feel of excitement and terror is a daunting prospect. For that, a person needs to have the most elusive quality any writer can possess: a well-told story. Once you possess that, everything else will fall into place. Is Steampunk the genre for you? Only you can tell and if it is, perhaps you'll be one of the defining authors which shapes it.

     Thanks for reading!

    Ex-Communication is the third volume of the Ex-Heroes series, chronicling our intrepid band of superheroes as they struggle to rebuild civilization one brick at a time. I enjoyed the first story for its originality, the second for what it brought to the series, and the third volume doesn't disappoint.

    Much.

    I enjoyed Ex-Communication but it isn't quite as enjoyable as the previous two. The stakes, despite being as high as ever, don't seem to matter as much as they used to. I believe this has to do with our heroes having had more success than is usual in zombie fiction. For once, the efforts of our heroes in trying to save the world are paying off.

    Which isn't bad.

    The heroes of the Mount have started expanding their little city by leaps and bounds. They're not quite the same group of frightened masses huddled together for comfort they used to be. They've managed to establish a functioning society, albeit a small one. With the assistance of Captain Freedom (from Ex-Patriots), the kind of day-to-day danger they used to face no longer applies.

    Even the character of PeeZee, formerly a terrifying figure to our heroes, has become something of a joke. The heroes are able to hold off his regular attacks against their city with relative ease and the poor zombie puppet-master is later used to illustrate the comparative danger of a much stronger villain. I feel bad PeeZee has lost so much of his bite and think this reduces the setting's first supervillain.

    Ex-Communication's villain seems curiously non-threatening despite his apocalyptic power, perhaps because he's unable to penetrate the Mount due to some selective hand-waving. The heroes also manage to make several new friends, establish new relationships, and deal with some of their lingering emotional baggage.

    This isn't to say Ex-Communication is a bad book. Far from its. It's extremely entertaining. We get to find out what Stealth finally looks like, the humor is funny, and there are resolutions to a lot of dangling plotlines. The new character of Corpse Girl is decidedly fun, showing Peter Cline's ability expand his cast in new and exciting ways.

    I, especially, liked Peter Cline's examination of the Mount's religious practices. With a bunch of people compacted together in a survival situation, the divine is going to be on a lot of people's minds. Peter re-creates Catholicism with a single surviving priest taking over most of the religious roles in the community. He also creates a cult based around the, sadly absurd, idea the Exes (zombies) might someday regain their humanity.

    Sadly, I don't think the latter element really amounts to much. There's a lot of set-up that there's going to be some serious repercussions for the superheroes due to the religious sect's increasing popularity (brought about by some incredibly unlikely but plausible events). Set-up which, sadly, I didn't think really panned out. While it's nice to see characters actually talking about the issues which face them, it's not the most dramatic way of resolving a plot arc.

    I was pleasantly surprised by some of the twists in the story. Not the least bit being the revelation of a certain character's ethnicity. Peter Clines has taken quite a bit of flak for the predominately Caucasian nature of his superheroes versus the multicultural melting pot which is Los Angeles. Given this issue was already improving by the second book, I wasn't too troubled but am pleased at the revelation a major character is a person of color.

    While this book didn't blow me away, I felt it was entertaining from start-to-finish and a good continuation of the series. I recommend fans of the previous two books check it out and enjoy more of the same. I, myself, will continue reading this series as long as it retains its present level of quality.

8/10

    There is something worse than a terribly-made game and that's a game where you actually suspect you'd enjoy it if the developers just gave a damn. Dark is an awesome game which is unplayable due to its horribly buggy AI, poor level design, and nearly impossible-to-master controls. In short, if the game had put half-as-much effort into the game as you'd think a developer should--I'd be extolling Dark's praises.

    Even the name highlights the half-assed nature of the development. They couldn't even be bothered to use something which would be easy to find in a search engine. Let me think of a bunch of generic-sounding vampire game titles off the top of my head: Bloodthirst, Gothic, Nightfall, Shadow-walker, Vampyre.

    All better titles than Dark.

    The premise of Dark is your character is Eric Bane, similarly imaginatively named as the title, who awakens to discover he's a vampire. Wandering through a massive Gothic nightclub which is beyond anything which exists in the real world, he is contacted by an angel who temporarily halts the pain of his transformation.

The game looks fine. It's the gameplay which stinks.

Eric is only a half-vampire, though, because he was drained without being given the necessary blood by his master. As a result, he needs to track down a more powerful vampire in order to take their blood and become a real boy. It's a simple, but effective, plot-line which might have sustained the game for the beginning of the story but gets only a cursory examination.

The game is deliberately modeled after Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines as well as Dishonored. Unfortunately, it doesn't include any of the immersive elements which made those two games so wonderful. It also is as buggy as the original V:TM:B and possessing none of the dynamic movement which made Dishonored so enjoyable.

Eric Bane looks irritated. This is his only expression.

     The game is ostensibly about stealth but there aren't any decent passageways to sneak past guards and enemies. There's also far too many enemies per level, meaning that you can't really fight your way past foes should you get into trouble. Instead, the best way to get through a level is to individually murder every single guard in a level before proceeding. It's a tedious and monstrous process which sucks all the enjoyment out of the game.

     What's frustrating is that the idea of vampire stealth is an innately cool idea. There's so much potential for a Dishonored and Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines combination. The Sanctuary is a beautifully designed location and I enjoyed several of the NPCs. Unfortunately, the tedium of trying kill my way through levels sapped most of the joy I derived from the story. It doesn't help Eric Bane is the bladest of the game's few characters.

     Tell me, if you've been turned into a vampire--would you react with more than mild irritation? Eric Bane's denial of being a vampire lasts only a short while but one would think the shock would last a little while longer. Instead, Eric Bane talks like a combination of Max Payne and The Witcher's Geralt. This reduces the potential for drama considerably.

The ghouls are suitably menacing, though. Sadly, they're all similar.

The few characters I do like, such as Rose and the bartender, are characters who we don't get to spend much time with. The dialogue is atrocious with very little in the way of genuine human emotion from our vampire protagonist. What's worse is that, with a slight punching up, I could have seen Eric's story arc as really moving.

In conclusion, I think Dark is a bad game. It's a bad game which could have been a good game, which makes it a worse game. I love vampires, I love stealth, I love stealthy vampires. I do not love nearly impossible controls and murdering hundreds of semi-innocent guards because that's the only way to complete the game.

3/10

    When I was a boy, the shelves were absolutely filled with fantasy novels. I read over a hundred Dragonlance novels alone, often one a day. Then, in part because I went to college, I fell out of the habit and returned to find the fantasy market had changed dramatically. There's still an ample collection of fantasy novels out there, but it seems the entire market has changed. Urban fantasy has become much more popular than traditional fantasy, despite the Lord of the Rings movies and the recent success of A Game of Thrones. Fantasy is still out there but the surprising fact is the Young Adult market has become a haven for hungry new authors.

    Throne of Glass is a Cinderella-on-crack inspired tale of a female assassin named Celaena Sardothien who is serving her "work until death" sentence in the repressive monarchy of Adarlan's mines. The improbably aged (17), best assassin in the world has been working for over a year and is drained to the point of death. In a surprising bit of moral ambiguity, the Crown Prince comes to her rescue. Not for any romantic or altruistic reasons but because he requires a hired killer. In a nod, perhaps, to a similarly successful series--Celaena must win a competition against a dozen other hired killers in order to become the King's Champion.

    Throne of Glass isn't a The Hunger Games meets A Game of Thrones hybrid, despite what the cover might say, but a dark fantasy novel which contains many foreboding qualities. It's not as relentlessly grim and gritty as it could have been--Celaena being a bit of a snob when it comes to everything from fashion to romance but it is a story based on being a killer for a monster. I like that. It's dark and kids entering their teenage years love dark. It's why Terminator 2 was relentlessly marketed to fourteen-year-old boys like I used to be.

    Celaena is a uniquely enjoyable character, possessing both the qualities of a murderous assassin and a hopeless romantic. It's interesting to watch her go from speaking about murder to feasts in two-seconds-flat. The book shies away from truly traumatic moments but there's still a fair amount of bleakness spread throughout the pages. We never lose sight of the fact Adarlan is a repressive, even genocidal, state that destroys everything in its path to continental dominance.

    Without being obvious, it highlights many of the tactics of dictators from the burning of books to the destruction of cultural heritage. Adarlan eradictates the written word of the lands it conquers and then replaces the lost knowledge with copies of approved texts in their own language. It practices scapegoating on a massive scale, dividing the people against one another while persecuting the unpopular. It even manages the difficult feet of gaining a steady source of recruits by lavishing attention on one ethnic group above the others, making them rich so there's plenty eager to oppose the so-called barbarian.

    Celaena's supporting cast is every bit as enjoyable as herself. While love triangles are somewhat passe, I actually enjoyed the one developing between her and the characters of Chaol and Prince Dorian. Indeed, it might even be a love square given the presence of Princess Nehemia. All of them have unique character voices and interesting viewpoints. Princess Nehemia, for example, comes off as painfully naive in some places while an inspiring leader in others. The hidden depths of the cast make the book surprising and a source of several twists I, honestly, did not see coming.

    If I had any complaints about the book, it's the fact the story spends a little too much time on Celaena's rather expensive tastes. Apparently, being an assassin pays very well since whole chapters are spent talking about how she's missed one thing or another during her time in the mines. I would have appreciated her spending more time plotting to murder her fellow participants or otherwise win the competition that puts her in the king's favor. This is a relatively small complaint, however, and I enjoyed the book irregardless of its focus on what I consider to be trivialiaties.

    In conclusion, I recommend individuals looking for a light fantasy read with a heavy focus on romance might enjoy picking this up. It's not the best book I've ever read, but it's definitely enjoyable and I am interested in picking up future volumes.

7/10

    Damn, it feels good to be a gangster.

    Grand Theft Auto is a series I like to call a "Catharsis Simulator" where we get to briefly turn off our brains for a time to enjoy ourselves. You can read more about my opinion of such things in this essay:

Grand Theft Auto, Violence, and Alternative Media.

    The series is all about being a criminal, enjoying the fruits of your ill-gotten gains, and engaging in reckless mayhem as an alternative to the humdrum joys of real-life. If you haven't tried them out, you're probably one of the few gamers who haven't but I suggest everyone do so. It's not going to be everyone's taste but, for those who enjoy them, they're great.

    Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is considered by many to be the turning point in the series. Whereas Grand Theft Auto III was where the series became famous, GTA:VC is where I felt its combination of wacky characters and mayhem reached its perfect mixture. While Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas was my first game in the series, I've since gone on to play them all and Vice City is definitely my favorite. The premise is fairly simple: play a story which is a combination of Scarface and Miami Vice.

Vice City is beautiful to look upon. Its vibrant colors and design is spectacular.

You are Tommy Vercetti, voiced by Ray Liotta, and you are a member of the Italian mafia. Having been freed from prison after serving a sentence of fifteen years, you are eager to get back into the game. Sent down to a thinly disguised Miami, Florida (the titular Vice City), you have been ordered to start a drug empire. This is somewhat difficult when you are robbed of your starting money at the very beginning--alienating your employers as well as the people you were to buy drugs from.

The game follows Tommy as he conducts an investigation of who set up his deal to fail, assembles enough cash to pay off the mafia dons back home, and builds a network of contacts which will allow him to become the Number One Boss of Not-Miami. You can do missions as a hit-man, drug-supplier, cabbie (?), and mind-controlled Voodoo zombie (?!). Note: the last one is the real-life person under the power of suggestion rather than the shambling monster. The game world is smaller than San Andreas by a significant margin but more interesting, in my humble opinion, because Vice City feels so alive.

The nightlife is good, too. It makes me want to move to South Florida.

    The all-star cast really helps sell this game. In addition to Ray Liotta, there's Phillip Michael Thomas (Tubbs from Miami Vice), Burt Reynolds, Denis Hopper, Robert Davi (License to Kill), Fairuza Balk, and even porn star Jenna Jameson. Deborah Harry, of all people, does some voice-work for the game. It's really a shame Rockstar decided to move away from this format because "spot the celebrity" is part of the game's fun.

    I think part of why the game is so enjoyable is the story is unapologetically materialistic. Tommy Vercetti is a psychopath, having no objections to any of the horrible acts he commits, but that allows the player to become further removed from any of this having any meaning. It's all about the Benjamens in Vice City and the feeling of satisfaction you'll have when you finally have your very own Tony Montana-inspired mansion is tremendous.

    No mention of Vice City would be complete without mentioning its absolutely insane soundtrack. "Dance Hall Nights" (Wang Chung), "Billie Jean" (Michael Jackson), "Self Control" (Laura Branigan), "Owner of A Lonely Heart" (Yes), "Video Killed the Radio Star" (The Buggles), and "Running With the Night" (Lionel Richie) are just some of my favorite soundtracks in the game. It really manages to capture the peculiar feel of Florida in 1986, the height of the decade and all it represents.

The world is yours, Tommy.

I wouldn't have enjoyed the game half as much as I did if not for the eclectic cast of characters. One of the early missions in the game introduces the majority of the quest-givers; a massive collection of frauds, hypocrites, big-spots, and masterminds. In addition to their celebrity voices, they're all self-centered to the core but reel you in with their promises of wealth and power. As Tommy builds his crew, you'll also get acquainted with plenty of colorful lesser criminals as well. My favorite of the characters is Dennis Hopper's sleazy softcore (?) porn director, who positively oozes incompetence but is convinced he's a genius.

I picked up Vice City via Steam and the game played wonderfully even on my laptop. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas but it is more tightly scripted (IMHO) and easier to master. Not an hour or two into Vice City and you'll have the hang of the game, which is a great thing when you're playing it on computer. There's still options for other game consoles but the age of the title makes it more difficult to acquire.

Yes, Tommy, the scenery is nice.

Does Vice City have any flaws? Honestly, I don't think so. It's exactly what it's supposed to be and does everything it attempts perfectly. It's a story of an up-and-coming crook in an environment which thrives on crime and cruelty. There's just enough ridiculousness to keep the story going and to make all of Tommy's evil deeds seem sane and rationale in the corrupt environment. No one likes doing horrible things to nice people, everyone loves doing horrible things to bad people--and everyone is bad in Vice City.

All in all, I heartily recommend this game.

10/10

As part of my "Month of Grand Theft Auto", I thought I'd take time to review the majority of the games in the series. At the very least, the HD versions. No more important game to this study exists than Grand Theft Auto IV, which showed video game developer Rockstar's changing focus from mindless mayhem to serious storytelling.

The premise of Grand Theft Auto is Balkan War veteran, Nico Bellic, has jumped ship off a freighter docked in Liberty City to become an American. He has his own motivations for this act but is primarily interested in helping his strapped-for-cash cousin Roman.

Nico isn't a particularly handsome or scary man--but he looks gritty enough that you wouldn't want to tick him off in RL.

Given Nico Bellic's only skills are an impressive array of combat techniques and a mother-of-all PTSD-induced apathy, he's the perfect sort of guy to get stuff done for the city's various criminals. Unlike Claude, the protagonist of the mega-successful Grand Theft Auto III, Nico does not take much pleasure in his criminal activities but treats them with a grim professionalism.

The combat in the game is excellent, a real improvement over San Andreas. The addition of auto-targeting is also great.

The revisited Liberty City is an amazing reproduction of the actual real-life New York, managing to invoke the feeling of the city if not specific streets. There's ethnic neighborhoods, blue-collar districts, industrial centers, residential zones, docks, internet cafes, restaurants, nightclubs, clothing stores, Times Square, a 'life-size' Statue of Liberty remake, and more unique areas than you could shake a stick at.

GTAIV's Liberty City is obviously a labor of love for its developers and the sheer amount of work which must have gone into creating it boggles the mind. While many sandbox claim you could spend literally hours just tooling around, this game really lives up to that statement. Sometimes I actually stopped during missions merely to marvel at the scenery.

The scenery is really, really beautiful. Seriously.

Dialing down the absurdity in the main game makes the plot-line all the more entertaining with Nico struggling to make things right for his cousin, achieve personal success, and resolve the many issues which inevitably come from being a member of organized crime. He attempts to make friends, deal with his enemies, and live a normal life while things get progressively more insane. I felt for Nico, thuggish tendencies aside, and wanted him to succeed--which is a sure sign of a good character.

Combat is fast and furious in the game. You are never too far from death but it's not unfair, either.

    The supporting cast in the game isn't quite as colorful as the one in Vice City but it's incredibly memorable. I became particularly fond of Roman, Nico's cousin, despite the fact the game went out of its way to show his many flaws. Likewise, I loved Nico's numerous in-game friends that include Irish, black, Jamaican, and Jewish criminals. Nico's love interests are less entertaining but the "side" ones you can date are often immensely entertaining.

    As with previous Grand Theft Auto games, there is well over forty hours of content present (I'd argue it's as much as eighty). I've been playing it well-over a week and a half now with only now the endgame material finally coming into play. That's not including the simple joys of getting into car chases or the Multiplayer option.

    Sadly, unlike Saints Row 2, there's only a few mini-games present with Vigilante missions from the police-cruiser and jobs for your friends being the notable exceptions. I can understand why they did this, Nico doesn't seem the kind of guy to go joyriding around in an ambulance, but it was disappointing. The game does include the option to play darts, pool, and bowl but they're not the sort of things I bought GTAIV for.

The story is engaging with many twists and turns.

There's also not a lot of customization in the game, either, with Nico restricted more or less to three kinds of clothes (suits, middle-class Dad, and grungy dock worker). A couple of missions add unique outfits with my favorite being Claude's from Grand Theft Auto IV but I was very disappointed we couldn't get Nico jewelry or tattoos. Likewise, perhaps sensitive to 9/11 issues, there isn't an opportunity to fly around a plane in New York City's analog.

I'm also not too pleased with the lack of a Difficulty slider. I'm a hopelessly causal gamer so the lack of a Causal mode irritated me. Despite this, I still managed to complete the vast majority of missions without much trouble. I just hope Rockstar will realize there's a variance in their players' skill levels and will restore the content in future installments of the series.

Bowling - not exactly what you think of when you hear the word GTA.

     How does the game play? Very well, in fact. The vehicles handle more "realistically" which isn't always fun but it doesn't take that long to master the game. There's also dozens of different types of missions to keep the gameplay fresh and interesting.

    A few of the missions were really fun for the variety of ways you could resolve them. Several missions had a straight-forward assault approach as a way of resolving it while also including side-entrances and different valid tactical approaches. Sadly, another few include invincible cars and helicopters because they're required to advance the story.

    There's also the very annoying, much talked about "Friendship System" where you have to do regular activities with your in-game friends to maintain their benefits. If you refuse to do these activities, their friendship scores go down. There's a trick around this where you accept the offer to go bowling, darts, drinking, or whatever then cancel the plans without problem. However, when played "correct" it can be very annoying.

    So, overall, what score do I give the game? As cliche as it sounds, I give it a ten. It's not because the game is without flaws or problems but because I'm judging it on the level of enjoyment I derived from it. I got dozens of hours of entertainment from it and was never bored. That, at the end of the day, is what's important.

10/10

    In addition to Grand Theft Auto IV, my Complete Edition pack came with The Lost And The Damned as well as The Ballad of Gay Tony. These latter two were the two DLC campaigns made for the game, which were also released separately in-stores as Episodes From Liberty City.

    The premise of TLATD is our protagonist, Johnny Klebitz, is a member of the titular Lost outlaw biker gang. Much like on television's Sons of Anarchy show, the Lost talk a good game about brotherhood and freedom but are riddled with internal divisions.

    This is no more apparent than when the leader of the Lost Motorcycle Club, Billy Grey, gets out of rehab only to immediately start throwing his weight around. Johnny has been leading the Lost for several months now, so he's not precisely happy to see Billy return. It's less about the fact that Johnny wants power than Billy is a violent thug who cares more about hookers and drugs than making money. It doesn't help Billy also intends to start a re-war with a much-larger, much-nastier group of bikers.

The mass motorcycle rides are a cool little mini-game, encouraging you to drive in formation.

The campaign of TLATD is, necessarily, much shorter than the main story of GTAIV. Nevertheless, it's a fairly huge game with more story time than many single-player campaigns. There's eight-to-twelve hours of content here, easily enough to keep your average gamer occupied.

The storytelling is nowhere near as good as Grand Theft Auto IV but it's not bad either. Johnny Klebitz has his moments but he's an insufferable killjoy in the parts where he's supposed to be an outlaw criminal and he's an utter bastard in the parts where you want him to show a softer side. In short, he's just not as compelling a protagonist as Nico Bellic.

The bike controls are impressively enhanced for this DLC. Sadly, they don't transfer to the main game.

The game-play enhancements for motorcycle use are considerable. In the main game, it's almost impossible to use them. You get knocked off the bike by just barely tapping vehicles. Johnny Klebitz is a much better biker and his ability to handle them is amazing.

The addition of several motorcycle variants also helps broaden the appeal for motorcycles in the game. You never want to use cars and that's a major plus. There's also several new weapons, my favorites being the grenade launcher and automatic shotguns. Unfortunately, none of these transfer to the main game so there's not much point other than to enhance the game's somewhat lackluster campaign.

The supporting characters are interesting and well-written, equal to the ones from GTAIV.

    There's a couple of interesting new mini-games too, including a demolition derby variation of bike racing as well as "Gang Wars." The only downside to the game is the combat as TLATD makes use of trash-mob hordes of enemies with guns taking half-a-clip to take them down. Head-shots are necessary to achieve anything approaching victory.

     If there's any problem with TLATD, it's the fact the game is a bit on the depressing side. Nico Bellic's adventures included enough comic relief, specifically in the form of his cousin Roman, to distract from his ever-present PTSD. Johnny Klebitz, by contrast, is just a horrible human being who lives a joyless and humorless life. Rockstar has even incorporated an optional grain filter to make the DLC that much grittier.

     So do I recommend The Lost And the Damned? Well, it's not necessary to enjoy the Grand Theft Auto IV experience but is pretty enjoyable. Inferior to Grand Theft Auto IV is not really much of an insult, since most games are. Instead, I think of it as an excellent little side-game which is well worth the DLC price. Pick it up if you haven't gotten your GTA fix by finishing the main game.

8/10

The Ballad of Gay Tony is the final DLC for Grand Theft Auto IV and finishes up Liberty City's storyline. A story which interconnected the main game and The Lost and the Damned. Throughout the game, there is a question of who owns two million dollars worth of diamonds smuggled in from Russia. Whose after them? There's Russian mobsters, the Italian mafia, a club owner named Tony Prince, the Jewish mob, the Lost biker gang, the McReary family, and GTAIV protagonist Nico Bellic himself. Even a trio of minor mafioso thugs tried to make off with the gemstones. The Ballad of Gay Tony completes this storyline, tying it into the trials and travels of a Dominican club manager named Luis Lopez.

The club's owner, the titular Gay Tony, hired Luis out of prison as his personal problem solver and given that the latter is a GTA protagonist--this proves to be an astonishing act of foresight. Luis is capable of all the necessary brutality, murder, and terrorism expected of a man needing to extripate Tony from debt to the various criminals. Indeed, it is the main plot of the DLC. Can Luis maintain the lifestyle to which he's become accustomed or will his overspending partner bring them down? I won't spoil the ending but I found it surprisingly satisfying and considerably more upbeat than the previous two GTAIV game endings.

Luis is a middle-of-the-road GTA protagonist. He's not great, like Nico, or awful like Victor Vance.

The gameplay of TBOGT isn't significantly changed from Grand Theft Auto IV, merely adding base-jumping, dancing, drinking contests, and more helicopter missions to the setting. Honestly, the latter is the biggest flaw for the game as the helicopters are nearly uncontrollable and damn near unplayable. As much as I loved The Ballad of Gay Tony's storyline and characters, the helicopter missions seriously soured my appreciation for the DLC.

This isn't just a small complaint either as the helicopters play a crucial role in several important missions. You're required to hit insanely small targets, maneuver the vehicles at different altitudes to follow vehicles, and use weapons that are incredibly inaccurate. Grand Theft Auto's history of allowing you multiple ways of solving missions doesn't really apply here as I often found myself frustrated by missions which required literally dozens of plays. Usually, I can power my way through missions but some of these resisted all my attempts to complete them and finish the story. I was actually forced to find out what the ending was from the internet.

The vibrant colors and music which greet successful mission completions are a stark contrast to the other GTAIV games.

    Anyway, the characters are great in this DLC. I really enjoyed the father-and-son relationship between Luis and Tony. In a game series which has not always been known for its sensitivity to homosexuals, tending to treat them (like everyone else) as camp stereotypes, Tony comes off as a good friend and mentor to Luis. Likewise, Tony is a flamboyant socialite prone to excessive whining but he's never weak or stupid. You want these two to succeed and I think it's nice of Rockstar to force some of their more prejudiced players to see gay characters in a friendlier light. Indeed, the only prejudice expressed in the game is by Luis' stupid parasitic friends.

    There's several truly outrageous supporting characters scattered throughout this DLC and watching them interact is a hoot. I'm particularly fond of Yusuf, a Dubai real-estate developer who has taken to Western decadence with a bit too much enthusiasm but represents a possible source of immense wealth to our heroes. I also loved the expanded role of Gracie Ancelotti, the spoiled but likable mafia princess of Grand Theft Auto IV. Not all of the characters are fun, however, with both Luis' childhood friends and his mother being a drag on the narrative.

    If there was an element I really enjoyed about TBOGT, it was a return of Rockstar's trademark humor to the series. One particularly insane mission involved a golf cart chase through a course with gangsters trying to kill you. Throw in Yusuf's insane desire to possess the world's most bizarre cultural treasures and you have a collection of truly outrageous missions. There's even new Laslowe radio show bits, which are a source of great laughs for anyone who isn't easily offended. Of course, people who are easily offended shouldn't be playing Grand Theft Auto.

There's actually a context this makes sense. Seriously.

     For individuals interested in long-term play, The Ballad of Gay Tony offers an exceptionally large number of missions Luis can take on behalf of his loser friends in order to build up their fledging drug empire. While you may not like them personally, they pay well and there's a seemingly never-ending source of henchmen and criminals to murder in order to steal their stash. For players who have an insatiable urge to play around Liberty City, The Ballad of Gay Tony will offer you a good number of hours of extra playtime.

    What are the downsides to TBOGT? Well, the obvious one is the aforementioned helicopter controls are not remotely improved from the original game. Indeed, they're arguably worse. Given how bad helicopters controlled in GTAIV, that's saying something. Next, the game seems designed to be played after the main game and The Lost And The Damned. As a result, there's a significant difficulty spike for those who might want to play it separately.

     Despite my love of Grand Theft Auto IV and TBOGT's characters, I'm not sure this is worth buying. The helicopter missions spoiled my enjoyment of the game and the rise in difficulty was an unwelcome change. While it's impossible to say anything Rockstar puts out is bad, I can't say this isn't going to be more frustration than its worth to many buyers.

6/10

Good news, folks.

I'm going to have yet another short story published. This time in Emby Press' Blood Trails anthology.

http://embypress.com/2013/08/blood-trails-on-track-for-a-november-release/

That's 3 short stories published. Not a huge accomplishment but getting there to the fame and riches of superstar author!

At least I keep telling myself this.

:)

    The Omega Dog is the sequel to Pavlov's Dogs, a story of genetically-engineered werewolves versus zombies I found to be immensely satisfying. The Omega Dog picks up literally minutes after the explosive finale of the previous volume, forcing our heroes to figure out what their next move is when the entire world has gone to hell.

    Whereas the original volume 'merely' contained werewolves and zombies--this one opens up the world to numerous other creatures that call into question what has happened to the world. The authors only hint at what's happened and that mystery will bring me to future books.

    In The Omega Dog you have werewolves, a mythological beasts, mutants, drug cartels, and all sorts of other fun stuff. It's a nice change of pace swerves from amusing to nail-biting. Our heroes have no idea how to deal with all of the problems they're being faced and are just sort of blundering along the entire way through.

    I confess, The Omega Dog surprised me with its high mortality rate. The authors pull no punches in this book and I was strongly affected by the death of several characters. Some of them were actually troubling, making me wonder if the authors enjoyed setting up characters just to cut them down. I haven't seen this sort of body count since The Walking Dead.

    The character development of the heroes continues from the previous book, each moving in different ways. Ken Bishop, originally a somewhat goofy guy with an ounce of genre-savvy, starts to act more like the 'hero' in movies even if he's not sure that's a sane thing to do. Jorge and Shanya both prove themselves to be better 'heroes' than Ken but find themselves continually turning to him because our protagonist is able to fake confidence in his decisions.

    I also became enamored of Summer Chan, watching her grow from being a minor background character in Pavlov's Dogs into a full-blown protagonist. The stand-out character of The Omega Dog, though is definitely Theta-Kaiser. I love this guy. He's a thoroughly engaging monster and the fact that he's enslaved by heroes to be used as their personal werewolf-enforcer is wonderfully twisted. Even though he's almost pure evil, he's a surprisingly sympathetic character by the end.

     After Theta-Kaiser, I think my favorite character is Anti-Villain Adolfo. When the rest of the world's governments have collapsed, the drug cartel leader stepped up to create his own private kingdom. It's an interesting moral dilemma for our heroes. Do they allow him to continue even though he's a monster or do they destroy his empire, even though it's one of the few remaining pockets of civilization left. It's the kind of question which doesn't get asked very often in zombie fiction. The resolution, I promise, will surprise you.

    The Omega Dog has the ambiance of a modern day pulp novel, putting our heroes in a variety of fantastic perils and unimaginable escapades. Despite the fact the world is crumbling down, there's a certain lighthearted adventure feel to the story. Our heroes aren't afraid of sharing jokes and looking forward with their lives, even when things are at their worst. Ironically, this makes the moments of genuine horror all the more potent.

    Much to my surprise, I enjoyed the book's romance subplots too. In books like these, too often, the female characters get overshadowed or the love-stories to be purely perfunctory. Here, they felt interesting and the way they're resolved surprised me. I salute D.L Snell and Thom Brannan for both their sharp writing here and also their use of Mexican American protagonists. Kudos. If you like zombies, apocalyptic-fiction, or urban fantasy I suggest you pick up The Omega Dog. It can be heart-warming, scary, shocking, surprising, and funny in equal measure.

10/10

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Star Trek: The Original Series: Ex Machina review

Star Trek: Enterprise: Rise of the Federation: A Choice of Futures

Star Trek Voyager: The Eternal Tide review

Star Trek: New Frontier: Fire on High review

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Never-Ending Sacrifice review

Star Trek: Typhon Pact: Rough Beasts of Empire review

Star Trek: Typhon Pact: The Struggle Within

Dishonored: The Knife of Dunwall DLC review

The Fuller Memorandum (The Laundry book 3) review

What is Steampunk?

Ex-Communication (Ex-Heroes book 3) review

Dark review

Throne of Glass review

Retro-Review: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Grand Theft Auto IV review

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost And The Damned review

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony review

I'm going to have another short story published!

The Omega Dog (Pavlov's Dogs book 2#) review