#DELIVER US FROM EVIL TRILOGY - Book 3

[coldgoldlazarus]

I've kinda talked about this before, but I think one of the big reasons I'm not as much a fan of the Ignition Trilogy is kinda summed up by how superfluous the Matoran characters felt after a certain point.

Ironically 2006, my least favorite year of the arc, does pretty decently on this front (Voya Nui resistance my beloved) even if that's offset by Ow the Edge™, but 2007 and especially 2008 kinda really drop the ball here.

I think part of it, in all fairness, is the fault of the book reduction from 5 per year to only 3, so the pacing had to be a bit more conceise and accelerated; there wasn't as much room for detours or sidestories such as Tales Of The Masks, The Darkness Below, Maze Of Shadows, or Legacy Of Evil. On the other hand, the Serials started happening to sort of make up for that and fill in the gaps, but without as much restriction they kinda spiraled off into a whole other thing, for better or for worse. Either way, somewhere in that shuffle, the supporting matoran fell through the cracks, leaving the bulk of the character investment to fall squarely on the Toa and that year's villains.

Why is this a bad thing? Because this is the point and the way, I feel, that Bionicle lost the trees for the forest.

The bigger scale of the Ignition trilogy isn't inherently a bad thing, not at all IMO; the story and world were expanding drastically, yet still naturally. The stakes being raised so high, even if it was initially offputting in 06, overall was the right way to go, finally giving all the payoffs to everything the first five years set up. I have my gripes with some elements of the worldbuilding tone and Greg Edge™, (said with outmost respect) but ultimately, not a bad call. All the same, I think it wasn't as effective as it could have been at delivering everything it did, because the focus shifted away from the smaller-scale happenings instead of keeping them in mind in addition to the bigger picture.

Quick detour here. Even if 01 is somewhat overplayed in the fandom now, I still think one of the reasons it was so successful wasn't just in the aesthetic or tone, but in its immersiveness. A lot of this is thanks to Templar Studios' work, of course; you got to see everything from a Matoran-eye view, get to know the island and inhabitants and culture inside and out, along with seeing the Toa's adventures. You became invested not just in the ones saving the day, but who they're saving the day for.

On the other hand 2004 didn't have a direct MNOG analogue, but here the books took up the slack; between the Toa Metru's status as only recently-transformed from Matoran and thus still in touch with the city's workings, the Disk-finder Matoran also being a pretty big feature for the first half of the year, and the time and space to fit in sidestories like The Darkness Below, you still got a fairly solid sense of the city and its people, even without as grand a cast of background extras like the Templar games and animations. Even 2005, with its radically darker feeling and post-apocalyptic version of the city, still continued to develop it and the inhabitants in a somber, post-mortem sort of way, and even in how the new threats in the Visorak and their leaders interacted with what was already there.

Now, I will admit that just on a fundamental structural level, expecting that same level of depth from the Ignition Trilogy, which was set up as more of an epic traveling adventure, hopping to a new location with each new year, would just be dumb. All the same, I still think it would have worked better if they'd maintained at least some level of detail more than was actually there.

Also, credit where it's due; again, despite all the edginess and grimness that made me so against 06 for so long, it still did a decent job in this regard. Again, the Voya Nui Resistance Team is one of that year's saving graces, giving us a group of Matoran intrinsically tied to the new island to sort of fast-track insight into how things work there, both before and after the Piraka's takeover. Similarly, even if it's honestly pretty grindy and repetitive, the Voya Nui Online Game also helps with this, giving the island a consistent map with actual landmarks and stuff, again lending depth and detail about on par with the Metru Nui saga, give or take. On a similar note, before the downsizing hit, City Of The Lost was able to set up Mahri Nui in a similar way; even if it says something that there were fewer small sets for that year, that book still managed to give us a pretty solid cast of Matoran to be invested in along with setting up the Barraki, before most of them wound up getting shunted off into one of the serials.

But yeah, after that point they kinda stopped being relevant, and 2008 whiffed it hard with their Matoran. There were good ideas there, I at least found Gavla interesting as someone who embraced the transformation into a Shadow Matoran, but outside of a certain stupid fandom meme gone out of control, I couldn't tell you a thing about the other five or how they lived in Karda-Nui; the only real landmark there was the Codrex, and everything else fell to the wayside.

Another detour. If each major arc has a central theme or focus to it, I think it would be these. The original years would probably be Unity (duh, with all the arguing and making up the Mata/Nuva did, lol) and not so much mystery as something to be solved, but Unknowns. Lots of questions were raised, but few answered. Metru-Nui was structured around mystery in a more typical sense, each book raising a question with the answers driving the plot forward, and as I said in an older post, it was also about loss and exile. In a lot of ways Metru-Nui needed to fall, but the Toa Metru still lost everything familiar in that, before moving on to build something new and better on Mata Nui.

The Ignition Trilogy, in addition to finally answering a lot of the questions set up by prior years and even questions we didn't even realize were questions until now, (see the GSR reveal) is also about the inevitability of death, and the end of the world as we know it. Sure, they averted Mata Nui dying altogether, but nonetheless it took Matoro's sacrifice, and Makuta won the day in the end, completing his grand plan.

So if anything, it's because of that that I think the travelogue structure, exploring new locations with each new year, was the right move. The full scale and impact of all of this just wouldn't be felt at all, if the action had stayed focused up in Metru Nui the whole time; this truly felt like a vast, all-encompassing thing. But that's also why the lackluster development of some of those new locations and their inhabitants somewhat bugs me too; after all, if you're facing down the end of the world, wouldn't it be better to be invested in what you're losing?

#not a reblog #bionicle #bonkle #bonkles #random rambling

[dargeereads]

Cover Reveal

HILLS OF SHIVERS AND SHADOWS by Pam Godwin

Cover Reveal: Feb 8, 2024

ARCs go out: Feb 23, 2024

Release date: Mar 12, 2024

Ebook cover → https://bit.ly/3HxWyYE

Graphics → https://bit.ly/3OjdTZ8

Series → Frozen Fate, #1Cliffhanger → Yes

Length → 177,000 words / 721 pages

Genre → Dark Romance

Tropes → Abduction, Adult Romance, Alpha Hero, Angsty, Anti-Hero, Band of Brothers, Billionaire, Bully, Captivity, Dark Romance, Enemies-to-lovers, Escaping a Killer, First Love, Forbidden Love, Forced Proximity, Found Family, Poly (3+ people), Protector, Romantic Suspense, Scars, Slow Burn, Stalker, Taboo, Tortured Past, Touch Her And Die, Tragic, Vengeance, Virgin Hero, Why Choose

Triggers → https://pamgodwin.com/hills-of-shivers-and-shadows-spoiler-free/

Goodreads → http://bit.ly/41YMlOa

Preorder links →

Universal link: https://books2read.com/hoss

Amazon US: https://amzn.to/4bqFfGT

Amazon Worldwide:https://mybook.to/HOSS

Apple: https://apple.co/3u1eQP0

B&N: https://bit.ly/4bagtKN

Kobo: https://bit.ly/3OiI96s

Google Play: https://bit.ly/47RKoEN

Audible: In production (release date TBA)

Blurb →

Abducted and taken to a remote cabin in Alaska, Frankie finds herself at the mercy of four feral men, each with his own dark secrets and twisted desires.

With nowhere to run, she must rely on her wits to survive the harsh winter, trapped with them.

As she delves into their mysterious pasts, she uncovers an insidious evil that feeds on loyalty and uses love as a weapon.

Nothing is as it seems.

In this desolate world where the monsters are as beautiful as they are cruel, trust is elusive. They torment her, protect her, and keep her in the dark.

But to have any chance of escape, they must stand together.

Or fall prey to the evil in the hills of shivers and shadows.

FROZEN FATE Trilogy

1 - Hills of Shivers and Shadows

2 - Cage of Ice and Echoes (coming 2024)

3 - Heart of Frost and Scars (coming 2024)

---------------------------------------------------

Author Photo → https://bit.ly/3UyAo0j

Author Bio

New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author, Pam Godwin, lives in the Midwest with her husband, cats, retired greyhounds, and an old, foul-mouthed parrot. She traveled the world for seven years, attended three universities, married the vocalist of her favorite rock band, and retired from her quantitative analyst career in 2014 to write full-time.

Her interests veer toward the unconventional: bourbon, full-body tattoos, and tragic villains. Equally peculiar are her aversions to sleeping, eating meat, and dolls with blinking eyes.

Author links

Website → www.pamgodwin.com

Bookbub → http://bit.ly/2G5VKvY

Instagram → http://bit.ly/2FUDceR

TikTok → https://bit.ly/496yJTy

Amazon → http://amzn.to/2hvqSpj

Facebook → http://bit.ly/2DGabSc

Goodreads → http://bit.ly/ZKdcgo

Twitter → https://bit.ly/2vljB6T

Pinterest → https://bit.ly/2qDyuLW

Other books by Pam Godwin

STAND-ALONES

DARK HISTORICAL PIRATE ROMANCE

Sea of Ruin: pamgodwin.com/sea-of-ruin

King of Libertines: pamgodwin.com/king-of-libertines

ROCK-STAR DARK ROMANCE

Beneath the Burn: pamgodwin.com/beneaththeburn

BILLIONAIRE / REVENGE ROMANCE

Dirty Ties: pamgodwin.com/dirtyties

STUDENT-TEACHER ROMANCE

Dark Notes: pamgodwin.com/dark-notes

STUDENT-PRIEST ROMANCE

Lessons in Sin: pamgodwin.com/lessons-in-sin

CELEBRITY ROMANCE

Incentive: pamgodwin.com/incentive

SERIES

LOVE TRIANGLE ROMANCE

TANGLED LIES trilogy: pamgodwin.com/tangled-lies

DARK ANTIHEROES ROMANCE

DELIVER series: pamgodwin.com/deliver

DARK DYSTOPIAN ROMANCE

TRILOGY OF EVE: pamgodwin.com/trilogyofeve

DARK COWBOY ROMANCE

TRAILS OF SIN trilogy: pamgodwin.com/trails-of-sin-series

#Pam Godwin #Hills of Shivers and Shadows #cover reveal

[tastywordgasms]

👀📚 ℍ𝕠𝕥 ℂ𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣 ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕒𝕝 📚👀 for DELIVER US FROM EVIL by Monica James. ᖇᗴᒪᗴᗩᔕꭵᑎǥ ᗝᑎ July 21st! @lanefotograf @lochie_carey #indieauthorsofinstagram #romanceauthorsofinstagram #authorsofig #readingcommunity #authorslife #amwritingromance #romanceauthor #romanceauthorsofinstagram #bookstagramfeature #bookstagramit #bookstagramers #ilovereading #Instareads #iread #liveauthentic #livecolorfully #livelifeloud #livethelittlethings #lovetoread #makeitblissful #mustread #mybookishfeatures #postitfortheaesthetic #read #readingisfun #readingissexy #readinglife #readingtime #readmore #amreading #aquietstyle #becauseofreading #bibliophilelife #bibliophiles #BookBlogger #bookclub #bookfeatures #bookrecs

👀📚 ℍ𝕠𝕥 ℂ𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕣 ℝ𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕒𝕝 📚👀 for DELIVER US FROM EVIL by Monica James. ᖇᗴᒪᗴᗩᔕꭵᑎǥ ᗝᑎ July 21st! @lanefotograf @lochie_carey #indieauthorsofinstagram #romanceauthorsofinstagram #authorsofig #readingcommunity #authorslife #amwritingromance #romanceauthor #romanceauthorsofinstagram #bookstagramfeature #bookstagramit #bookstagramers #ilovereading #Instareads #iread #liveauthentic #livecolorfully #livelifeloud #livethelittlethings #lovetoread #makeitblissful #mustread #mybookishfeatures #postitfortheaesthetic #read #readingisfun #readingissexy #readinglife #readingtime #readmore #amreading #aquietstyle #becauseofreading #bibliophilelife #bibliophiles #BookBlogger #bookclub #bookfeatures #bookrecs

DELIVER US FROM EVIL (Book III: DELIVER US FROM EVIL TRILOGY) Monica James   Monsters are real…and that monster is me. I’ve surrendered. I have no other choice.  With Babydoll gone, I’m going to do whatever it takes to find her.  I will lie. Cheat. Murder…and I’ll do so with a smile. I’ll even sell my soul to the devil…because that’s who my father, Sean Kelly, is. He won’t stop until Belfast is…

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#Deliver us from Evil #DELIVER US FROM EVIL TRILOGY - Book 3 #Monica James

[taylorrsmind]

what i thought about fear street  1666 (TW! Spoilers)

I loved the 1666, but the 1978 is still the best. Besides, a quick question, I don't know if I didn't get everything right because I only watched 1666 twice so far, but if Nick had already delivered the current generation's serial killer (Ryan Torres), why did he name Sam? because you see, Ziggy wasn't possessed, she of course lived scared to death, traumatized and all, but she didn't become a serial killer, her name didn't end in the cave rocks, after all, she was “free”. Why Nick would conjure Sam's name so early when no one would question after Kate and Simon died and took the blame from everything that happened? Why send a note saying "it's happening again" to Christine when he was the reason it was happening? Other than that, Nick didn't deliver much as a villain lol. I don't think it's the actor because he was well as a Soloman, I think it's because we don't see his villainization(is that a word?)? Like, I've been suspicious of him since 1994, but it doesn't show him being actively evil in any of the movies, just that scene of him conjuring the names and the ending a few minutes before his death with Deena, but I couldn't worry or be scared, you know? I expected him to try to justify himself or something until the cave scene, I didn't feel vilification(again, is that a word?) in the character and i think I should because he's literally responsible for everyone's deaths, he’s the big bad wolf, the true monster under the bed.From 1994 to 1666 I could guess he was shady af but it gave me more “anti hero thats gonna sacrifice himself in the end/// doesn’t want to be a part of this////is a puppet and has no idea what’s actually going on” and what I got was “Good is Evil or whatever” like even when he was talking abt his family, which wasn’t much he should have talked about that, his character should have appeared more, I think it would have been nice if maybe a moralization of the character in that scene where he's chasing Deena, like "Oh, my family has been doing this for years, my brother and mother are important to me, my blood is sealed to the devil since I was a baby Sunnyvale's safety is the most important thing, I do this for peace" very lunatic and a tyrannical even, wich does not in any way justify his actions, but who adds content to him as a villain, especially in a trilogy that had two great movies with horrifying killers and deaths. It just fell flat to me, for the big bad guy to barely even have good action, scarry scenes. 

Even his relationship with Ziggy was a bit thrown, the importance he gave her was there for no particular reason, just to make the audience think he's nice and in love and surprise us in the end, which didn't work and it's a tactic I hate, the old trick of wanting to outsmart the audience, something Gossip Girl, Game of Thrones and Pretty Little Liars made me completely despise. I 1000000% prefer a structured and predictable outcome than something that will blow my mind for its lack of sense and meaning. ALSO I wouldnt be bothered if Nick was just evil to the core with no debpt whatsoever. Hell, most Sunnyvalers are! But the thing is that, by trying to outsmart the audience and try to lead us into believing Nick is a good guy, the writer (s) ruled that possibility out. You show him puking at seeing kids dying, him confessing how he didn’t want the “Goode” burden to fall of his back but he had no choice, putting Ziggy’s life over his well being, bringing Christine back to life, warning her about the monsters he’s sending to her town and even showing emotion when seeing her after a long time. NOTHING I said would make Nick any less of a monster who should rot in hell, but it clearly shows several colors and divergency on his way of thinking. And like I said, the writers could have given us evil Nick that played Ziggy’s heart and the entire Shadyside, but it doesn’t add up with all of that, at the same time all of that also don’t add up with the Nick we saw on 1666. If this movies were shot in different periods of time and not at once like it was I would say it was because the writers didn’t know who the bad guy truly was.

I won’t get into this, but someone important should’ve died. Like, bring the nurse back to avenge her daughter. Kill Ziggy (the idea of sacrificing Ziggy and Nick at the end ugh the waste). Kill somebody. This is a horror movie, nobody died. Yall could kill black and asian extras. Yall killed my sister Cindy, but couldn’t kill Ziggy? It made sense, she’d reunite with her sister! 

Anyway, I know it sounded like I hated the movie but I REALLY LOVED IT. The actors were all great, the chemistry was there, and although I wish we’d seen more of Sam than just her “ghrghrghrhr” until the very end, I loved how both queer main characters were alive in the end, and how they paid respect for Kate and Simon and how Sara was considered the very first Shadysider (although it was pastor Miller sksks). I loved seeing Simon and Kate’s face there again although it wasn’t really them. I loved that Sarah wasn’t the big bad wolf although I saw it coming and would love to see female rage (like that scene where she was like “If they want a witch, they’ll get a witch gave me chills) but like I said, I prefer prediction than disappointment and I wasn’t (disappointed)with that. 

THE END SCENE GOT ME EXCITED I HOPE THEY MAKE MORE OF THOSE BUT AT A DIFFERENT TIME SINCE LIKE THE BOOK WAS STOLEN. Also Cindy is my favorite character she legit showed up on flashbacks once and I cried.

My ranking, for now:

1. fear street 1978 (the best 2021 movie i fear i watched the entire week and made everyone i know watch it too)

2. fear street 1994

3. fear street 1666

i dont this there’s any bad movie on this trilogy btw. all great. 

#sam #deena #fearstreet #fear #street #fearstreet1994 #fearstreet1978 #fearstreet1666 #feart street 1994 #fear street 1978 #fear street 1666

[tinumiel]

Time for the tea aka I just finished Rule of Wolves

Spoiler alert...I...was kind of really disappointed by it :/

NEEDLESS TO SAY THERE’S SPOILERS OVER SPOILERS FOR KING OF SCARS AND RULE OF WOLVES BELOW THE READ MORE...Also a long ass essay no one asked for, I just needed to vent.

General Impression.

I was kind of disappointed, because the duology was sold as a Nikolai Lantsov duology, and while I definitely felt that was delivered in King of Scars, I feel like in Rule of Wolves he just sort of became a secondary character to the stories of others like Nina and Zoya (which don’t get me wrong, I love that they gain protagonism, but then why sell the whole thing as Nikolai centered?). That said, I loved Nina’s entire storyline and really enjoyed the Shu Han plot (which I think sets up quite nicely for a new, independent storyline).

Things I DID NOT like.

First I’ll speak of things that I didn’t like but more because of personal preferences. That is, things I didn’t like, but I can see why other did enjoy.

Zoyalai. I guess this has a lot to do with the fact that I am a Nikolina shipper first and a human being second and it’s hard for me to let go of a ship once I’ve invested myself in it. I wanted to like Zoyalai, and I did for the majority of King of Scars, but in Rule of Wolves, it suddenly started to feel kind of forced to me. I think they have a lot of things in common, but differ in very fundamental aspects that on the long run simply wouldn’t make them work. But more than that, I felt like their entire lovestory in Rule of Wolves was basically some kind of Nikolina AU in which everything that a very large chunk of the fandom wanted to see with Nikolai x Alina, was given to Zoya x Nikolai. It almsot felt as if Leigh Bardugo said “Oh well, the fans really wanted to see this, but since I gave the character they wanted to see in it a different ending, I’ll just give it to them but with a different character” and Zoya was just the one available for the plot. They did have some cute moments and I definitely do enjoy their relationship, but more as confidents and friends than lover interests.

Zoya’s storyline. I feel like Zoya was done dirty in Rule of Wolves, which is kind of ironic considering she ends the story with pretty much everything she dreamed of and more. But i felt like in King of Scars, Zoya went through a very interesting journey. She was always this character than sticks almost stubbornly into a certain way things should be, she doesn’t like stepping out of her comfort zone because she likes to feel in control. And in King of Scars she went through a journey in which she gradually learned to step outside the box. But I felt like for the most of Rule of Wolves, she simply reverted back, completely ignoring her changes in the previous book, until the very last minute in which she has this sudden epiphany moment about letting go, which seemed unnecessary to me since she had already experienced it in King of Scars. Secondly, on a similar note with the whole Zoyalai being a Nikolina AU with a different character, I felt like in Rule of Wolves Zoya was simply shoved into the alternate role many of us hoped to see Alina in. Not just as Nikolai’s partner, but as a person. Think of it, she gained this power no one else possesses, she becomes pretty much one of a kind, she becomes a queen that represent reunification. It’s basically as if she became a version of what Alina could have been, but with a different personality. A soldier queen? Alina was a soldier. A grisha queen? Alina was grisha. A suli queen? Alina was not half suli, but she is half shu, which are pretty much equally discriminated against. And finally, there’s this part in which I think it’s Nikolai refers to her as “Soldier. Summoner. Saint”. Sounds familiar? Because it’s the exact same words written on every cover of the Shadow and Bone trilogy, referring to Alina. It makes me very upset that they gave Zoya this discarded storyline for Alina instead of building up her own storyline (Not to mention: it did Alina equally dirty because she lost all of those conditions because Mal couldn’t handle being in the shadow of someone extraordinary, but that’s another story). 

Not for things I didn’t like, but for much more rational reasons.

The Darkling. When I finished reading King of Scars, I thought bringing him back was a pretty good plotwist. But it was also a tricky choice, because it coul fall into the “He was such a appealing villain tor readers in the first trilogy, I’ll bring him back to have the same success” trap. And that’s exactly what happen. I feel like if a villain (or any character really) is going to be brought back, then they have to fill in a different role from the one they originally occupied. The Darkling is basically the same. Even his conditions aren’t fundamentally that different once he gets his powers back. All the Darkling really needs are his powers, his tongue and a group of people desperate enough for someone to follow. And he had all of those things in Rule of Wolves, so it was simply repetitive. It was like the Darkling, but in rags.Plus it didn’t feel so much as a storyline, but more like a constant reminder of “LOOK HOW EVIL HE IS HE NEVER CARED FOR ANYONE. THAT QUOTE YOU PEOPLE LOVE SO MUCH ABOUT CHANGING THE WORLD IS ACTUALLY MEANINGLESS LOOK HOW MUCH HE SUCKS”. Like, I don’t need to be reminded he’s a bad guy, I am fully capable of knowing this and still liking his character. He’s a fictional character, I don’t need to be reminded of it. I’m capable of rational thought. Not to mention his ending felt like a huge nothing. “And he impaled himself to a tree”. It just felt like more of an excuse to set up for a Six of Crows #3 book. It’s just disrespectful to the fascinating character from Shadow and Bone. It basically took away everything that made him such a good character.

David dying.Fine, not much rational reasons here. It’s just doing my baby dirty. Why, oh why is Mal still alive, boring, toxic Mal who spent most of his time putting his love interest down; while David, sweet David who compromised and made an effort to do things that would make his wife happy even though it was hard for him, dies? It’s just cruel. 

All in all, I felt like the Ravka storyline pretty much fell apart in Rule of Wolves. I almsot felt tempted to skip it if it wasn’t because I didn’t want to miss any Nikolai quotes. I felt like Leigh Bardugo doesn’t really know what to do with the characters, and it became pretty obvious to me during the titanium heist with the special guest starring of the Crows. In like two chapters, I felt like Kaz, Jesper and Wylan were more smoothly written than any of the Ravkans. Which was really sad for me, considering how Nikolai is my favorite character in the entire verse, and Zoya was such an amazing character in the original series (and in KOS too).

What I DID LIKE.

Nina’s storlyine. Just, all of it. It was exciting, and dynamic, and you could perceive Nina’s character arc while still never straying into ooc territory. The way her griedf was treated, her loyalties, her desire to fight, her desire for revenge but also her desire to honor Matthias’s memory. All of it was so flawlessly written. I thought I’d be bored with her stuck in the Ice Court, but it was the storyline I actually enjoyed the most. The Fjerdan intrigues and political battles, and Nina in the midst of it. trying to do what was best for her country and the people she loved.  I love what was done to her character.

On the same note, I love Nina and Hanne. This, unlike my problem with Zoyalai, is a case in which, while I adored an original ship, I actually ended up enjoying the new one. Matthias and Nina were perfect for each other. But I loved how Hanne came to offer a new love. (I’m not sure if I should refer Hanny as she or he, so I’ll just use they until I get a better notion of what pronouns the character identifies with). It genuinely felt  like they were not a replacement for Matthias, or an upgrade. They were a love interest on their own, with their own story, not a “what if” version of another love story. Plus, Hanne is just objectively great.

The Shu-Han storyline. I didn’t even know I needed it, but it was so fascinating to read about the Shu. I find there is a lot to unpack and I really hope in the future, Leigh Bardugo will write a new series  following those characters. I loved Mayu and Ehri and grandmother Leyti. Plus, Mahki would make a great antagonist. And it would suppose a new colorfun addition to the countries we already know well, like Ravka and Fjerda, plus the city of Ketterdam.

The Crows. I know it was probably pure fan service, but I love just how well written they are, how you can really tell that Leight Bardugo has the complete hang and understanding of the characters. Plus, it’s always nice to see how my babies are doing.

FINAL THOUGHTS

All in all, I felt that the book had some highlights, but some decisions just pretty much ruined it for me. I hope the good parts are picked up and carried on in different sagas, and the rest...well, I guess I’ll keep on pretending the Ravka story finished when Alina and Nikolai were watching the stars fall and from then on, imagine they got marries, became an awesome power couple, and were the godparents of all of Genya and David’s beautiful, clever children. While Zoya looked upon all of them like “These are a pack of idiots but they are my pack of idiots and I am so proud”.

If you read this rant until the end, you’re awesome. If you liked Rule of Wolves, damn you are so lucky and I am glad you enjoyed it like I wish I had. But at least we can all join together under one common thought: Jarl Braum is a little bitch.

#shadow and bone #king of scars #rule of wolves #leigh bardugo #nikolai lantsov #zoya nazyalensky #nina zenik #grishaverse #out the door (ooc) #thaly trash

[hutchhitched]

Social Commentary on The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Part II

I made it through Part 2 before I attempted to go to bed last night. I didn’t end up sleeping, so apologies for any half-baked (pun intended) ideas and commentary. Admittedly, I don’t have as much on this part, but it’s certainly not because I don’t love every speck of this book. It’s so good, and it’s brilliantly woven and presented to us. If you want to read my commentary on Part 1, it’s here.

Spoilers below:

 It didn’t take long into Part 2 for the third book title to appear. Lucy Gray mentions mockingjays, and Snow seems lost. It’s convenient that she can’t explain what she means because I’m positive that’s going to come up again in the next part, and I’m sure it’s going to have a very important role. Otherwise, Snow wouldn’t be so put off by and intrigued by one (Katniss) in the original trilogy.

 One thing that stuck out for me in Part 2 is the December 15 date, a sort of Memorial Day for fallen military heroes mentioned in chapter 12 (National Heroes Day). The date itself didn’t ring any bells for me, but I know by now that Collins doesn’t do anything without it having a meaning, so I googled…wait for it…the date of the Sandy Hook Massacre. December 14. The next day is December 15, when Panem honors the fallen and delivers a gift basket full of luxury items to the families who lost loved ones. A gift basket full of “thoughts and prayers” would do just about as much good as we memorialize the dead in the days following a mass shooting but then allow the war to keep raging. The same could be said for the way we say “Thank you for your service” to military vets but do a terrible job of helping them with PTSD and re-entry into society. I do love the turkey story, though. At least Snow got some food out of the deal.

 I really love that we know now where the muttations come from in this world. Dr. Gaul is absolutely wacko, and I can’t quite figure out how much power she has. In fact, I can’t really figure out how much power anyone has. The President is remarkably absent. Dr. Gaul is there and seems to like Snow, but there’s no sense that she can protect him from Dean Highbottom, who seems to have the most direct influence over Snow. I just can’t figure out why. What kind of connections does Highbottom have that allow him to manipulate Snow’s life so completely? Clearly, there’s some bad blood between Snow’s father and Highbottom, and I’m waiting anxiously for that reveal. Also, that wasn’t a throwaway in Part 1 when we find out Highbottom was the one who came up with the idea of the Games in the first place. That’s got to factor in again. He’s hiding something, and Snow’s father is most likely a Very Bad Man.

 Dr. Gaul’s name is fabulous, too, although I’m sure there’s a lot of symbolism I’m not really getting about it. Gaul was a Roman province during the Empire—basically where the country of France is today. Gaul sacked a Roman city or two and embarrassed Rome, and Rome retaliated by conquering Gaul for the next few hundred years. I’ve oversimplified it, but that’s the gist. Why does Dr. Gaul have that name? Not sure, but maybe that’s coming in Part 3. I love that she’s a woman, too. Suzanne Collins doesn’t have time for that BS about women being naturally more nurturing and good than men.

 Which brings us to Lucy Gray. That snake charming thing she had going on was absolutely amazing. Lucky Gray is manipulative and charming and a performer and hiding something, and I am here for it. She’s smart, and she uses all the weapons at her disposal to survive while still retaining some humanity by caring for Jessup after his demise. I do not think she’s a hero. I’m not even sure she’s a flawed hero. I don’t trust her at all, but I admire her plucky spirit. She’s got levels I haven’t seen yet.

 And Snow loves her, which is just…I’m waiting for the climax. I think Lucy Gray is playing him, and I’ve felt that way since she first met him. There’s a connection there, yes, but Snow’s proven many times in this book that the world doesn’t work the way he thinks it should. He’s been surprised too many times. He’s tried to hold on and control things, but events happen that he doesn’t want, and all he can do is respond to them as best he can. He’s not doing very well at that. At all.

 The Games take second place for me in this book, which I think is pretty deliberate. This is Snow’s story, after all, and he’s not in the Hunger Games. Except he is because Dr. Gaul sends him into the arena (and Highbottom says they’re all in the Games, which is another throwaway that will come back, I’m sure). She wants to teach him a lesson and then gives him a homework assignment on it. It’s telling that he admits he wanted to kill the tributes. Not for self-defense but because they’re a perceived threat. He admits he wanted to kill them even after he’s back to safety, which shows his slide. And the homework assignment of having to write about Chaos, Contract, and Control, which he can’t do. And his attempt to extort money from the Plinths that he can’t execute and simply accepts their thanks and food. And his resolve to stop cheating and win the right way, his examination of the slippery slope and his justifications and so on. Because we’ve all been there. Justifying something and saying “no more!” and then messing up again. It could be any of us. It really could.

 Random things before I stop:

 The Capitol citizens are not the vapid, materialistic, soulless people we see in the original trilogy. Sure, there’s some of that there, but it’s nothing like it will be 64 years later.

 The development of the Games is interesting. The drones and betting and sponsors and the first intervention with the snakes and lack of cameras are all things that develop over time. The Tenth Games are a completely different world than the ones Katniss and Peeta experience.

 Snow really, really, really cannot convince people that Sejanus is not his friend. Ever felt like you’ve screamed something into the void a million times and no one takes it seriously? Yeah, I hear him on that one. Perception, not reality, is everything, in this case.

 After the housing crisis of 2008, I can understand the fear Snow has of losing his home. The war destroyed his family’s fortune and will result in losing their home and status. That (and really bad deregulation of industry and a lot of mismanagement and corruption) did that for a lot of people when the housing market crashed.

 Snow hopes for so much as the Games wind down. He wants Lucy Gray back (as his girlfriend? as a possession? as someone who finally “gets” him?), and what he gets is a peacekeeper position instead of the Plinth Prize and a relationship. I’m positive his interaction with Lucy Gray isn’t over. Perhaps he’s shipped off to District 12 where she breaks his heart all over again? The Covey’s coming, isn’t it?

 There’s so much to cover in Part 3. Onward!

 (PS, I don’t like Snow, by the way. I don’t think he’s evil in this book, but he’s no angel. He’s reacting poorly to circumstances and making bad choices, but he’s also trying to hold things together just like any person does. Nothing excuses his later behavior, but he’s becoming a villain, not born one.)

#tbosas #tbosas spoilers #balladspoilers #the ballad of songbirds and snakes #spoilers #book spoilers #long post #hunger games meta #meta

[myupostsheadcanons]

Books “Read” in 2020

Previous entries: 2019, 2018, 2017

I don’t rank these based on actual literary quality, but by how much i enjoyed reading/listening to them. Hopefully with Audible’s new “Premium Included” feature it would cut down on so many Average/Below Average books next year, it’ll give me more of a choice on what kind of books/podcasts i want to listen to rather than given a handful to pick from a month.

The “Top 10″

Forging Hephaestus / Bones of the Past: Villains' Code Series - Drew Hayes has became one of my fav authors over the past couple years, from his Vampire Accountant series, 5-min Sherlock, and his Spells, Swords, and Stealth books. FH is one of the few times he wrote Adult Fiction. This is the second time Drew created a world of super heroes (the YA Superpowereds), thus previous experience in dealing with the nuisances and meta of super meta dynamics. I love the main character, Tori, and especially love many of the side characters (like Ivan) and the comedy is the right tone of dark and not-in-your-face (not quite as well -written as something like The Venture Bros or The Tick, but being adult fiction you can get away with having characters named Johnny Three-Dicks and Captain Bullshit)

Dreadnought / Sovereign - the second super hero series I’ve placed on my top list this year, this one is Young Adult. This one is far more serious and deals heavily in issues like trans and women’s rights, mental abuse, and social acceptance. The main character is full of angst, but that should be a given for a 15 yo with lots of mental baggage and new social pressures. The main character is the main draw, most of the side characters are a bit more one-dimensional.

The Trouble with Peace: Age of Madness, Book 2. It isn’t a “First Law” book if you don’t want to strangle half of the main characters. Many are stepping outside of the shadow of the previous generation and finding themselves falling flat on their faces. If they aren’t at each other’s throats, they would soon have to deal with rebellion in the streets and the constant looming presence of Bayaz, who waits to sweep the board clear and rearrange the pieces the way he sees fit.

Michael J. Sullivan’s: The Riyria and Legend of the First Empire Books.

Riyria Revelations: Theft of Swords / Rise of Empire / Heir of Novron

Riyria Chronicles: The Crown Tower / The Rose and Thorn / The Death of Dulgath

Age of Death / Age of Empyre, Pile of Bones

After finishing the Legend of the First Empire books that came out earlier this year, I went ahead and read the prior series that takes place in the same world. I would suggest reading the entire series by Publish order, but they can be read Chronologically. I read the Legends books first, and it helped me see where Sullivan was heading and when he started to plan out the Legends books in more detail. (The early cameo of the Main characters from Legends in a mural in Heir of Novron, and knowing who is behind the events in Dulgath)

The Dresden Files: Peace Talks / Battle Grounds - They really should be read as one book, because that was how they were written. It is a Feast of Crows / Dances with Dragons situation, where the book got too long and got split up. The fans are pretty divided by the book(s) ending and how some of the main characters are handled, but these are Jim Butcher’s characters not theirs and he can drop bridges on whom ever he wants.

What Lies Beyond: Cycle of Galand, Book 6 - This is a “mythology” book (like Sullivan’s Age of Death was) where it introduces most of the Pantheon of their religion and corrects much of the mythology that had been lost over the decades. They seek a weapon to vanquish the Litch and save their world and the afterlife from oblivion, but not all of their Gods are happy about it.

Will Destroy the Galaxy for Cash - Yahtzee (Zero Punctuation!) has to be one of my favorite internet personalities for the past 10+ years, and I eat up every book he puts out and because he wrote the books, and is an actor himself, he could deliver the lines as they are intended to be. The sequel to Will Save the Galaxy for Food does not disappoint and even ups the stakes from the previous book.

The Girl Who Drank the Moon - This has to be one of the most charming books I’ve read. It is magic and wonder at it’s finest, no need for long explanations on how the world works. If you like Ghibli movies, you’ll be interested in this book. It has its dark moments but isn’t outside of what you’ll find in something like Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, and Nausicca.

The Goblin Emperor - the youngest son of the Elf King finds himself emperor after the death of his father and brothers in an assassination. The only problem is, that he is only half-elf... his late mother was a Goblin, and he had been in exile as an embarrassment to the family for most of his life. He knows nothing of how the courts work and what’s left of his own family work against him just for being who he is.

Lost Gods: Brom - I liked this book more than I did American Gods (which I read a few years ago). It is darker and bleaker by the bucket loads. One of the few books with a downer ending that I actually liked. I would compare this book to books like All the Pretty Horses and No Country for Old Men-- but it is a Fantasy!

Above Average.

Siege Tactics (Spells, Swords, & Stealth. Book 4)  - What happens to adventurers after they retire? A fun concept that is explored with our party of NPCs running across a town full of epic-level characters that no longer have a player.

The Arthurian Saga - The Crystal Cave / The Hollow Hills  / The Last Enchantment / The Wicked Day - A more realistic version of the Arthurian tales, taking the POV of Merlin, bastard son of a princess, as he earns notoriety as a scholar and wizard.  The Wicked Day takes the POV of Mordred, making him far more sympathetic than other iterations of his character.

Arc of a Scythe - Scythe / Thunderhead / The Toll - Science and Technology eliminates death and in order to prevent over population and complacency an order of grim reapers are chosen to randomly deal out quotas of permanent deaths. An example of what happens when every need and want is satisfied by a higher force and the apathy that causes rot in human society and the superiority complex of those in charge of life and death.

The Diviners / Lair of Dreams / Before the Devil Breaks You / The King of Crows - Horror during the Roaring 20′s. Tackles issues as Racism, Poverty, Government Secrecy, Christian-Evangelical Cults, Nationalism Cult Mentality, Communism, Labor Unions, Eugenics, Post-WW1 trauma... It could almost pass as an adult fiction book. I wouldn’t recommend giving it to someone under High school age.

Ancillary Justice / Ancillary Sword / Ancillary Mercy - Artificial Intelligence takes over human bodies as a form of capital punishment, controlling ships and space stations. The dominate human empire outgrew the need to label any gender, using “she” to refer to everyone rather than the vaguer “them/they” pronouns, and only outlying colonies stick to the binary ideals. Think of “The Left Hand of Darkness” but on a more broader scale and as the default majority/ruling empire. Toss in a solid military action novel on top and it isn’t nearly as boring as Left Hand.

Children of Time / Children of Ruin - War destroys the human population of Earth and those that remain are the ones that headed out to the stars on tera-forming missions. A virus created to advance life forms to prepare a world for human habitation runs amuck with out its overseers, creating intelligent arachnids, crustaceans, and squid.

The Licanius Trilogy - The Shadow of What Was Lost / An Echo of Things to Come / The Light of all that Falls -  It is very heavy on info overload, there is a lot to keep track of, so much so there is a summary of book one and two at the start of the third. I like the twist at the end of the first book and that the villain is actually trying to help save the world, and you spend most of the second stuck between who thinks they are doing the right thing and who is actually doing the right thing - a lot to talk about doing the lesser of two evils.

Mythos - Steven Fry - A humorous retelling of Greek mythology. I read Mythology - by Edith Hamilton prior to this book, which is a more scholarly take on the myths, and helps if you are unfamiliar with classical mythology prior to reading Fry’s take on it.

Iron, Fire and Ice: The Real History That Inspired Game of Thrones - a nice history book about Iron Age royalty. It is actually refreshing to read after going through so much faux fiction that is in Philippa Gregory’s books.

Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs? - Children ask questions to a Mortician about death and what happens to bodies after people die. I listened to her autobiography last year/year before and it is worth picking up this one along with it.

Average, but still good.

Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet Universe: Triumphant (Genesis Fleet, Book 3) / Tarnished Knight: Lost Stars, book 1 - The realistic space battles just drag me back in each and every time.

The Case of the Damaged Detective: 5-Minute Sherlock - Drew Hayes can’t write a boring book. It isn’t quite on point as his other series, but still fun to read. Hayes is really good at making YA books with Adult Protagonists. It is a road-trip book, the main character is a washed-out operative that is getting his second chance playing bodyguard and future assistant to the 5-minute Sherlock.

Locked In / Head On - Do you remember “Surrogates”? that Bruce Willis movie where people walk around in robotic avatars, well... it’s almost the same thing. A virus kills millions, save for a select few that experience “lock in” syndrome and are able to connect to robots via their brains and the internet.  The main character is gender neutral and you get a choice to listen to the book with a male or female reader.

Murder by Other Means: The Dispatcher Book 2 - more John Scalzi! The first book was in my top list a few years ago, and i enjoyed the sequel just as much. Between Scalzi’s The Dispatcher and Locked In series, i like the Dispatcher more.

The Shattered Sea Trilogy: Half a King / Half the World / Half a War - Joe Abercrombie’s attempt to make Young Adult books. It keeps all the grim dark, but lacks all the swearing and humor that made The First Law books more enjoyable. Many of Joe’s favorite character tropes are still present and is one of the better “Fall to Darkness” stories I’ve read. It also has different POV characters each book and is one of those “faux fantasy” settings.

Mage Errant: Books 1, 2 & A Traitor in Skyhold: Book 3 - If you are wanting to get away from Harry Potter, pick up this book series. It takes place in magic school, but it is its own world and setting and not just a hidden world within our own. The main group of kids are misfits among the school, unable to master their powers, that get taken up by the badass librarian to be trained in more unconventional ways.

Dawn of Wonder: The Wakening Book 1 - the main character has ptsd from growing up in an abusive household, and i thought it was handled rather well. He would be rather competent and cleaver most of the time until he gets triggered into an episode, he fights really hard to overcome this short-falling of his. Standard classic affair else wise, family leaves home because the local authority figure doesn’t want them around anymore, goes to big city, kid wants to do good and avenge the deaths he was accused of, joins the badass school of hard knocks...  big powerful evil thing trying to consume the world.

The Rage of Dragons - It shares a lot of tropes and story points with Red Rising... just in a fantasy setting, not in space. If you are wanting fantasy with POC main characters and a non-European-centric culture, that doesn’t pull any punches, give it a shot.

Earthsea - Tehanu and Tales from Earthsea - I had read the first three books several years back, and i did re-read them in order to refresh myself prior to reading the final two.

The Secret Garden - I absolutely loved the movie from the 90′s as a kid, and finally got around to listening to the book.

Six of Crows - A heist book in fantasy world with the magic users being heavily “Jewish / Slavic” coded by how they are treated and persecuted. I might have thought more favorably about the book if i hadn’t read other books with “street rat slum” main characters. (Seriously, after spending six books with Royce in Riyria someone like Kas is just second bananas)

Unconventional Heroes / Two Necromancers - Comedic Fantasy, the humor’s not on par with say MogWorld, and has more jokes than Fred The Vampire Accountant. It is still a parody of villains and heroes in fantasy worlds. I would find it safe for a 12/13yo to read, cursing and all, though they might not be aware of many of the tropes that are being deconstructed. The reader of the book did better in this one then he did with Six of Crows and Beezer, still the audio needed some editing because it repeats itself a few times.

Once More Upon A Time (Free Audio Book)  - I don’t always care to read romance stories. I like the idea behind it however, to trade their love for each other in order to save their partner’s life, then learn to re-love one another again.

Monster Hunter International - If you think Dresden is too liberal, this takes a hard turn to the right.. replace the magic with GUNS, lots and lots of GUNS. An organization that hates the government but hunts monsters for government bounties. The main cast is multi-ethnic and they do make fun of that at one point. There isn’t a lot of thought into the plot, because action is #1, but it is fun enough to ignore the politicking.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Collection - i bitched about there not being an omnibus last year, and then Audible uploaded one. The ending is still one big clusterfuck.

Stephen King’s Insomnia - this book is the bridge between Steven King’s two universes. It is a sequel to IT and brings up the Darktower often. IT dealt mainly with childhood fears, Insomnia deals with Elderly and feminine fears.

D’Arc / Culdesac: War with No Name - I liked D’Arc more than i did Mort-e, and Culdesac is more on track with Mort-e. The virus that mutated the ants and animals reminded me of the virus from Children of Time/Ruin, even though i read Mort-e first, reading D’Arc after CoT let me notice it.

Michael McDowell’s:  The Amulet / The Elementals / Gilded Needles / Blackwater - From the guy that wrote the screenplay of Beetlejuice, and the pioneer of the Southern Gothic Horror. Gilded Needles is a bit out of place, taking place in 1890′s, and is more of a social horror rather than a super natural horror the other books are.

Gardens of the Moon: The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Book 1 - high fantasy dark fiction. if you really want some CHONKY door stoppers, there’s over 10 of them in this series. Could’ve done less with the manipulative bastard mage that speaks in 3rd person. I had read The Willful Child, an attempted comedy science fiction novel by the same author, and it showed that the author was unfamiliar with that kind of genera and should stick to grim fantasy.

The Knife’s Edge / Citadel of Fire: The Ronin Saga - This is one of those series that I’m always going “oh, that reminds me of [insert another better series]”  At times it reminded me of The Licanius Trilogy, Shades of Magic, Arc of Scythe, Riyria, Korra... It is just shy of being as good as them, and is rather firmly in that Sci-Fi Fantasy Ghetto and has a bit of “anime” feel to it with their magic users having ‘power levels’ and the power creep. 

In Calabria - My only problem with the book is the massive age-gap between the Main character and his love interest. Outside of that, the whole Unicorns in the modern world concept is done very well.

Pout Neuf (Audible Free Book)  - Journalism and romance during WW2. A quick read and the book really shows that research had been done about the setting and time period.

Nut Jobs: Cracking California's Strangest $10 Million Dollar Heist: An Audible Original - Not only does it talk about the heist, it actually touches on the subject of migrant farmers and slave labor, as well as the desertification of the California Valley.

The Science of Sci-Fi: From Warp Speed to Interstellar Travel (Free Audio Book) - a neat little informative podcast if you are looking for an introduction to some of the harder science fiction.

Mythology - by Edith Hamilton - Text book about Greek Mythology. Like “used in schools” text book. It is a good read if you don’t want to go through Ovid, Virgil, Homer, and all the other classical writers on your own.

The Space Race: An Audible Original - America didn’t win the Space Race. Russia did just about everything first. The only thing we did first was put people on the moon. It also goes into detail about how the inventor of the Nazi’s V2 rockets became employed with the US Space program. As well as the government’s announcement to let space travel become privatized.

Pale Blue Dot / Cosmos: A Personal Voyage - It’s Carl Sagan. Come on! Everyone should be reading them. Pale Blue Dot was being turned into an Audiobook in the 90′s but with Sagan’s death, only the first few chapters were read by him and his partner reads the rest of it (she does a decent job, and i understand why they wanted her to read it, it should’ve been done similarly to Cosmos, with guest readers doing each chapter)

Thicker Than Water (Free Audio Book)  - start up pharmaceutical company scams people out of millions with promises of a miracle machine that was ahead of its time. Story told from the whistleblower himself as he recounts what his job was within the company and how he knew the owner/founder of the company and how coming out about what was going on ruined his relationship with his family and friends.

Don't Panic: Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - biography on Douglas Adams and the history behind the creative process behind the Hitchhiker’s Guide series.

The Genius of Birds - It reminded me a lot of “The Soul of an Octopus” in quality. It is rather informative about birds, how they behave, and how we judge intelligence in non-human animals.

It’s “ok.”

Les Miserabes - I can see why people favor movies and theater versions because of how dense the book is, getting the cliff notes version of the book instead of reading several chapters about the Battle of Waterloo. 

Viva Durant and the Secret of the Silver Buttons (Audible Free Book) - It’s cute, and I spent the next several weeks humming that freaking song.

Challenger Deep - A book about mental illness by the same person that brought us The Arc of a Scythe series. It isn’t a bad read, but if you are prone to get panic attacks and have mental illness yourself, you might get too into it and make you uneasy. It can help with neurotypical people with understanding how some illnesses work.

Into the Wilds (Warriors, Book 1)  - Ah, the cat book. It is prob because there are soooo many books in this series that it over-saturates the kids impressionable minds.

House of Teeth (Audible Free Book)  - I read this book prior to Monster Hunter International, and thinking back on this one, i am reminded about the other. Save for this one is PG. So... the kid friendly version.

The Martian Chronicles - Space Horror, on Mars. If you like old science fiction, like Classic Trek, Wells, or Forbidden Planet stuff. There is a lot of zerust.

Andrea Vernon and the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection - The third superhero series I’ve read this past year. It is not as ground breaking nor subversive as Villain’s Code or Dreadnought. The humor is a bit too forced and parts of it falls into “we can be more offensive because it is an adult book” category.

Interview with the Robot - Don’t really care for books or programs that are set up in the “interview” format where it is two people talking to one another. (I have no fucking idea how this book got top Kids book of the year on Audible, it is more of a YA book... it must been because it was Free and lots of people picked it because the rest of the choices that month were complete garbage)

Micromegas - perhaps one of the oldest examples of Speculative Science Fiction. Written by Voltaire, it is about a giant from another solar system that is so big that humans and life on Earth are microscopic. “what value are the lives of ants to a man?”

The Three Musketeers - i had forgotten how much espionage there was in this book. I would say this is a good companion book to Don Quixote, as it takes its fair share of inspiration from and even name-drops the character a couple times. 

Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist / David Copperfield / A Tale of Two Cities - DC is the standout IMO among the three, it is Dickens’ Magnum Opus. Les Mis did a far better job with the Revolution than Tale did as well. I felt rather obligated to reading these books because of the subplot in the Age of Madness books being about Poverty during the Industrial Revolution and Workers Revolts against the Ruling Class.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea - the version i listened too made most of the Americans sound like GWB... which is funny because one of them is Canadian, and the Comic Relief character about how boorish Americans are.

Stuck (Free Audio Book) -  it is a neat idea, getting jarred free of time but everybody else isn’t and doesn’t remember. It gets a little heavy for a kids book near the end, edging into YA territory as the character gets older mentally and the people around him age physically.

Phreaks (Free Audio Book) - i knew a lot about Captain Crunch and other phone hackers of the 60′s. There is a subplot of the big radioactive corporation covering up causing cancer to their workers, and the father (voiced by Christian Slater) being in the closet but still homophobic about it.

Silverswift (Free Audio Book) - If you like fairy tales set in modern times, it is worth a look. It is similar to In Calabira in that way. The mom being the nonbeliever and thinking grandma is off her rocker, but the granddaughter knows it in her bones that grandma is telling the truth.

Sleeping Giants - alien mechs from the distant past, once mistaken as the titans and gods form mythology, now being studied and experimented on by the government. This is another “interview style” story telling.

Celtic Mythology: Tales of Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes - there is a lot of names and stories, it is worth prob getting a physical copy of the book to keep things straight and to use as a reference.

How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps - A love letter to The Legend of Zelda’s Ocarina of Time and other RPG games.

Casino Royal: James Bond - the movie was rather faithful, including the part of being tied to a chair. I do wish they kept more of the book’s ending where Bond was ready to retire prior to his secret-spy love interest gets killed.

Aliens: Bug Hunt - a compilation of Alien stores about people landing on various planets and encountering aliens, not always the Xenomorphs we know, but the term “Bug” came synonymous to any dangerous alien lifeforms encountered.

Macbeth: A Novel - retelling the story of Macbeth but in a novel form. If you can’t get past the language of the original play, this would help. It sets it more firmly in historical fiction.

Hannibal: A Novel -  I went ahead and re watched the tv show after finishing the book. I’ve seen the movie a dozen times, and i understand why they changed the ending to the movie. The book is the main one that characterizes Hannibal and the show uses a lot of the plot. Hannibal Rising wasn’t really needed because Hannibal (in this book) does think/talk about what happened to his sister and home, and i can see why Harris didn’t want to write that book either. The audiobook is rather poor quality, they talked too fast in places and i don’t really care for their acting...

The Power of Six - I read I am Number 4 several years back and this one popped up on sale so i nabbed it. I like Neil Kaplan, and i think this one is better than the first one and actually gets into the meat of the story.

Cut and Run: A Light-Hearted Dark Comedy - body parts harvesting.... mmmm.

Calypso - non-Fiction, biography of the author. Talks about his family, his life with his partner, and what he does. Much of it is charming and it is read by the author. this was prior to him loosing his marbles about retail workers and becoming a karen.

Our Harlem: Seven Days of Cooking, Music and Soul at the Red Rooster - the history of Harlem and the Harlem Renaissance. I didn’t mind this podcast so much because i was reading The Diviners during the same time.

Malcolm and Me - another biographical book. one of the free books i got during Feb’ Black History Month.

History of Bourbon (Free Audio Book) - Informative about the liqueur industry in America.

Junkyard Cats: Shining Smith Book 1 - post apocalyptic action science fiction novel. the moment that guy showed up i was “that’s your bf.” and it was so... the plot wasn’t hard to figure out, it’s all about the action and setting.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress - One of the better Heinlein books. The man can’t write romance and he is rather big on casual polygamy and open marriages. An anarchist-revolution book written by someone that is more on the Libertarian side of the aisle. Mycroft (the computer) comes off as rather antiquated, an AI that runs on a closed server, communicating through the telephone lines and printed paper, makes me wonder what Heinlein would’ve done if he was told about the internet and Deep Fake tech. (the book takes place in like 2075, but written in 1966)

Caffeine: How Caffeine Created the Modern World - the production of coffee and it’s prevalence around the world.

The Life and Times of Prince Albert - Exactly what it says on the can. *rimshot*

The Real Sherlock: An Audible Original - a biography of Sir. Arthur Conan Doyle.

The Design of Everyday Things - using psychology to improve the design of systems, products, and the modern business model.  It gives proper terminology for several common design features and how to improve on existing structures.

Bottom of the Barrel.

The Pagan World: Ancient Religions before Christianity. I was hoping there would have been something in there about European Religions, there isn’t, and the book was mostly Greek and Roman life styles and how gods are worshiped. It let me know where the word “auger” came from and why it was used in the Licanius Trilogy.

Life Ever After - disjointed at best. a couple that aren’t good for each other spend the next several hundred years in a crappy relationship.

Beyond Strange Lands: An Audible Original - The audio was complete crap on half of the voices. Which is bad because this could’ve been better. It is a Pod Cast Show and the director couldn’t make sure everybody had decent recording equipment and the sound effects often drown out the actors.

Henrietta & Eleanor: A Retelling of Jekyll and Hyde: An Audible Original Drama - They were going for a modern telling, but the language used is archaic. They speak like Dickens characters even though they talk about cellphones and computers.

A Crazy Inheritance: The Ghostsitter book 1 - The concept is there, but it is too nerfed. It was made for the 8-12yo crowd in mind by people that don’t know how to write for children.

Tell Me Lies (Free Audio Book) - It really wants to be smart. Who’s playing who and who is the actual villain of this story? If you want a quick “who done it?” maybe look into it.

Evil Eye (Free on Audible Plus) - told through phone calls between a mother and daughter. The whole genera of evil boyfriends/husbands isn’t really my cup of tea, and the boyfriend’s actor was too fake and the set up to the meat of the story was annoying.

The Half-life of Marie Curie - I didn’t mind learning stuff about Marie Curie... falls squarely in “made for TV lifetime movie” quality though. You should not carry around a vile of uranium where ever you go.

Alone with the Stars - A girl in Florida hears the call for help from Amelia Earhart, but nobody listens to her. Part fiction, part biographical. It would’ve been better as a biography and talking about various conspiracy theories about what happened to her and finding the pieces of the airplane.

Beezer - The son of the Devil learning to become a good person with a found family... however, most of the characters are annoying.

The Year of Magical Thinking (Free Audio Book) - very heavy on the subjects about loss and death.

Complete Garbage.

The Getaway (Free Audio Book) - A man being a POS by stalking and abducting women. It broadcasts just about everything that is going to happen.

Agent 355 (Free Audio Book)  - Do you like “American Mythology?” Like the whole “the founders are the greatest people in the world” kind of vibe? I don’t. I also hate the main character for being one of those “i’m smart, because i read books that women aren’t supposed to” girls when she doesn’t really think for herself at all.

#myu reads #books read in 2020 #audiobooks #booklr #Audible #long post

[begitalarcos]

100+ Years of Horror

This is not a definitive list. These are just the films I believe every Horror fan should see at least once. I’ve excluded any sequels that I didn’t feel needed including. I hope you enjoy.

For @mechamag​

1922 – Nosferatu

1925 – The Phantom of the Opera

1927 – The Cat and the Canary

1931 – Dracula, Frankenstein

1932 – Freaks

1933 – The Invisible Man

1934 – The Black Cat

1935 – The Bride of Frankenstein

1939 – The Cat and the Canary

1941 – The Black Cat, The Wolfman

1942 – Cat People

1945 - Dead of Night

1953 – House of Wax

1954 – Creature from the Black Lagoon

1955 – Night of the Hunter, Les Diaboliques

1956 – Invasion of the Body Snatchers, The Bad Seed

1958 – The Blob, Macabre, The Fly

1959 – House on Haunted Hill, The Tingler, The Killer Shrews

1960 – 13 Ghosts , Black Sunday, Eyes without a face, Peeping Tom, Psycho, Village of the Damned

1961 – The Pit and the Pendulum

1962 – What ever happened To Baby Jane?

1963 – The Birds, Black Sabbath, The Haunting

1965 – Repulsion

1966 – Island of Terror

1967 – Wait until Dark

1968 – Night of the Living Dead, Rosemary’s Baby, Spider Baby

1970 – Mark of the Devil, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage

1971 – The Cat O’ Nine Tails, Let’s scare Jessica to Death, What’s the matter with Helen? A Bay of Blood, Play Misty for Me

1972 – Ben, Children shouldn’t play with dead things, Deathdream, Don’t torture a Duckling, The last house on the left, Night of the Lepus, What have you done to Solange?

1973 – The Crazies, The Exorcist, The Legend of Hell House, Sisters, The Wicker Man, Don’t look now

1974 – Black Christmas, Deranged, It’s Alive, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Vampyres

1975 – Shivers, Trilogy of Terror, Jaws, Deep Red, The Stepford Wives

1976 – Alice Sweet Alice, Burnt Offerings, Carrie, Eaten Alive, The Omen, Squirm, To the devil a daughter, The town that dreaded sundown, The Tenant

1977 – Audrey Rose, Day of the Animals, Demon Seed, Eraserhead, Exorcist 2: The Heretic, The Hills have Eyes, Rabid, The Sentinel, Shock, Suspiria

1978 – Damien: Omen 2, Dawn of the Dead, Halloween, I Spit on your Grave, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Jaws 2, The Legacy, Magic, Martin, Piranha

1979 – Alien, The Amityville Horror, The Brood, Phantasm, Prophecy, Tourist Trap, When a Stranger Calls, Zombi2, Nosferatu the Vampyre, Salem’s Lot

1980 – Alligator, Altered States, The Changeling, City of the Living Dead, Fade to Black, The Fog, Friday the 13th, Hell of the Living Dead, The House on the Edge of the Park, Humanoids form the Deep, Inferno, Maniac, Motel Hell, Prom Night, The Shining

1981 – An American Werewolf in London, The Beyond, The Black Cat, The Burning, Dead and Buried, The Entity, The Evil Dead, Friday the 13th Part 2, The Funhouse, Galaxy of Terror, Halloween 2, Happy Birthday to Me, Hell Night, The House by the Cemetery, The Howling, My Bloody Valentine, Omen 3: The Final Conflict, The Pit, Possession, The Prowler, Wolfen, Scanners, Blow Out, Ghost Story

1982 – Alone in the Dark, Basket Case, The Beast Within, Cat People, Creepshow, Friday the 13th Part 3, Halloween 3: Season of the Witch, Madman, Pieces, Poltergeist, Q: The Winged Serpent, Tenebrae, The Thing, Visiting Hours

1983 – A Blade in the Dark, Christine, Cujo, Curtains, The Deadly Spawn, Eyes of Fire, The House on Sorority Row, The Hunger, Mortuary, Nightmares, Sleepaway Camp, Videodrome, The Dead Zone, Twilight Zone: The Movie

1984 – C.H.U.D., Children of the Corn, The Company of Wolves, Gremlins, Night of the Comet, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Razorback, Silent Night Deadly Night, Firestarter, Starman, Ghostbusters

1985 – Cat’s Eye, Day of the Dead, Demons, Fright Night, Ghoulies, LifeForce, Phenomena, Re-Animator, The Return of the Living Dead, Silver Bullet, The Stuff, Cut and Run, The New Kids

1986 – Aliens, April Fools Day, Chopping Mall, Critters, Deadly Friend, The Fly, From Beyond, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, The Hitcher, House, Invaders from Mars, Little Shop of Horrors, Maximum Overdrive, Monster Dog, Night of the Creeps, Poltergeist 2: The Other Side, Rawhead Rex, Terrorvision, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Trick or Treat, Troll, Vamp, The Wraith

1987 – Angel Heart, Bad Taste, Creepshow 2, Dolls, Evil Dead 2, The Gate, Hello Mary Lou: Prom Night 2, Hellraiser, The Hidden, House 2: The Second Story, The Outing, The Lost Boys, The Monster Squad, Near Dark, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, Opera, Prince of Darkness, Predator, Stage Fright, The Stepfather, Street Trash, The Witches of Eastwick, Lady Beware, Fatal Attraction

1988 – Bad Dreams, The Blob, Child's Play, Dead Heat, Elvira Mistress of the Dark, Fright Night Part 2, Hellbound: Hellraiser 2, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, The Lair of the White Worm, Maniac Cop, Night of the Demons, Phantasm 2, Pin, Prison, Pumpkinhead, Return of the Living Dead Part 2, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Uninvited, Watchers, Waxwork, They Live

1989 – 976-Evil, The Church, Grim Prairie Tales, The Horror Show, Intruder, Leviathan, Night Life, Pet Sematary, Shocker, Society, Warlock, Dead Calm, The Forgotten One, DeepStar Six

1990 – Braindead, Bride of Re-Animator, Child’s Play 2, The Exorcist 3, Frankenhooker, Graveyard Shift, The Guardian, Hardware, IT, Jacob’s Ladder, Misery, Night of the Living Dead, Nightbreed, Predator 2, The Reflecting Skin, Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, Tales from the Darkside: The Movie, Tremors, Two Evil Eyes, Arachnophobia

1991 – Body Parts, Cape Fear, The People under the Stairs, The Pit and the Pendulum, Popcorn, Scanners 2: The New Order, The Silence of the Lambs, Sometimes they Come Back

1992 – Army of Darkness, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Candyman, Demonic Toys, Dolly Dearest, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Innocent Blood, Sleepwalkers, Spilt Second, Man Bites Dog

1993 – Body Bags, Carnosaur, Cronos, The Dark Half, Leprechaun, Return of the Living Dead 3, Trauma, Kalifornia, Man’s Best Friend

1994 – Brainscan, Cemetery Man, The Crow, Death Machine, Hellbound, In The Mouth of Madness, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, The Stand, Wes Cravens New Nightmare, Wolf, Interview with the Vampire

1995 – Castle Freak, Demon Knight, Lord of Illusions, The Mangler, Mosquito, The Prophecy, Species, Village of the Damned, Screamers, Dolores Claiborne

1996 – Bad Moon, The Craft, The Frighteners, From Dusk till Dawn, Jack Frost, Scream, Tremors 2: Aftershocks, Mary Reilly

1997 – An American Werewolf in Paris, Anaconda, Campfire Tales, Cube, The Devils’ Advocate, Event Horizon, I know what you did last Summer, Mimic, The Night Flier, Nightwatch, The Relic, Quicksilver Highway, The Ugly, Wishmaster, Kiss the Girls, Se7en, Perfect Blue

1998 – Blade, Deep Rising, The Faculty, Ringu, Strangeland, Urban Legend, Vampires, Sphere

1999 – Audition, The Blair Witch Project, Deep Blue Sea, The Haunting, House on Haunted Hill, Lake Placid, The Mummy, Ravenous, Sleepy Hollow, Stigmata, Virus, The Sixth Sense, Idle Hands

2000 – American Psycho, Bless the Child, Blood: The Last Vampire, Cherry Falls, Final Destination, Ginger Snaps, Hollow Man, Ju-On, Pitch Black, Python, Versus, What Lies Beneath, The Gift, The Cell, Shadow of the Vampire

2001 – The Attic Expeditions, Brotherhood of the Wolf, Dagon, Jeepers Creepers, Mulholland Drive, The Others, Session 9, Thir13en Ghosts, The Devil’s Backbone, Frailty, From Hell, Hannibal

2002 – 28 Days Later, Blade 2, Bubba Ho-Tep, Cabin Fever, Dog Soldiers, Eight Legged Freaks, Ghost Ship, May, Queen of the Damned, Resident Evil, The Ring, They, The Mothman Prophecies, Red Dragon

2003 – Darkness Falls, Dream Catcher, Final Destination 2, Freddy Vs. Jason, Haute Tension, House of 1000 Corpses, A Tale of Two Sisters, Undead, Underwold, Willard, Wrong Turn

2004 – Alien Vs Predator, Club Dread, Dawn of the Dead, Dead & Breakfast, Exorcist: The Beginning, Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed, Godsend, Saw, Shaun of the Dead, The Village, Taking Lives, The Forgotten, Enduring Love

2005 – 2001 Maniacs, The Amityville Horror, Constantine, Dark Water, The Descent, The Devils’ Rejects, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Land of the Dead, Wolf Creek, Hard Candy

2006 – Abominable, All the boys love Many Lane, Black Sheep, Fido, Final Destination 3, Hatchet, The Hills have Eyes, Slither, The Woods, The Host, Silent Hill, The Tripper, Wild Country

2007 – 28 Weeks Later, 30 Days of Night, 1408, Grindhouse, I am Legend, The Mist, My Name is Bruce, Nature of the Beast, Paranormal Activity, Primeval, REC, Skinwalkers, Teeth, Trick r’ Treat, An American Crime, Rogue, Funny Games

2008 – Book of Blood, Cloverfield, Deadgirl, Diary of the Dead, Let the right one in, The Midnight Meat Train, Mirrors, Quarantine, The Ruins, Splinter, The Strangers, Eden Lake, Outlander

2009 – Case 39, Grace, The Haunting in Connecticut, Heartless, The House of the Devil, Jennifer’s Body, The Loved Ones, Orphan, Pandorum, Splice, Triangle, Zombieland, Carriers, Dread

2010 – Black Swan, The Crazies, Exorcismus, Frozen, Insidious, The Last Exorcism, Let me in, Primal, Tucker & Dale Vs Evil, The Wolfman, Troll Hunter, Devil

2011 – The Awakening, Don’t be afraid of the Dark, The Innkeepers, Livid, The Thing, The Woman, The Rite

2012 – American Mary, Bait, The Cabin in the Woods, The Devil Inside, The Possession, Prometheus, Sinister, Byzantium, Compliance

2013 – The Conjuring, Evil Dead, Jug Face, Mama, Under the Skin, Only Lovers Left Alive, Warm Bodies, Horns, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters, Contracted, Stoker

2014 – Annabelle, As Above So Below, The Babadook, Deliver us from Evil, A Girl walk home alone at Night, Life after Beth, Starry Eyes, Tusk, It Follows, Goodnight Mommy, The Voices, Digging up the Marrow, When Animals Dream, Gone Girl ,The Remaining, Late Phases, Cub

2015 – Crimson Peak, Krampus, The Lazarus Effect, Maggie, The Visit, The Witch, Bone Tomahawk, Green Room, Regression, The Devil’s Candy, The Lure

2016 – The Autopsy of Jane Doe, The Belko Experiment, The Boy, The Conjuring 2, Don’t Breathe, The Eyes of my Mother, Split, The Forest, The Love Witch, The Neon Demon, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Raw, Train to Busan, The Void, What We Become, 10 Cloverfield Lane, A Cure for Wellness, The Shallows, Pet, Hounds of Love

2017 – IT, Get Out, Mother!, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, The Ritual, Thelma, Veronica, It comes at Night, Life, Gerald’s Game, Revenge, 1922

2018 – Annihilation, Halloween, Hereditary, Mandy, Mom and Dad, The Nun, Overlord, Possum, A Quiet Place, Suspiria, The House that Jack Built, Bird Box, Apostle, The Meg

2019 – Brightburn, IT Chapter 2, Midsommar, Ready or Not, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Us, I am Mother, Crawl, The Dead Don’t Die, Extremely Wicked Shockingly Evil and Vile, Glass

#begita #Horror #I'll probably add more #but these are the ones that come to mind first off

[whatifitscool]

Kyle O’Reilly – Undisputed Era’s Next Breakout Star

By Timmy Daytona 

With WWE NXT’s New Year’s Evil fast approaching, it’s time to look back at Kyle O’Reilly’s breakout performances of 2020, which saw his incredible rise as a singles competitor.

Absent from screens for a significant portion of the early stages of the pandemic, O’Reilly eventually returned to the ranks of the Undisputed Era (UE).

Developments were brewing such as their long-term feud with Pat McAfee but also a welcome singles push for O’Reilly, who was finally being given the opportunity to break away from tag-team pursuits.

On 23/09/2020, O’Reilly was one of five competitors in a Gauntlet Eliminator match where the winner would go on to face Finn Balor. Initially squaring off against Kushida, the two grappling experts put on a technical display until Bronson Reed entered and began to dominate.

Though the Thicc Boi put in a spirited effort, it was O’Reilly’s night as he outlasted and eliminated all but one of the other competitors to earn an opportunity to face Balor at NXT Takeover 31. Poor Grimes – he’s yet to win a title and take it to the moon like he’s promised on several occasions.

In a match that should be in wrestling Top 10 lists everywhere for 2020, O’Reilly and Balor went to war in Takeover 31’s main event. What stood out most was O’Reilly’s natural transition as a singles competitor. The storyline that this was his first solo main event was sold well.

It was understandable that “nerves” would factor into proceedings, especially when he was initially outclassed. Balor took advantage and humorously locked O’Reilly’s arm while playing air guitar with it. But from there, O’Reilly rose to the challenge and answered Balor’s offence with his own. Their strikes looked and sounded painfully realistic. O’Reilly’s striking game was on point, looking just as devastating when applied to a singles match as it is when used in tandem with partners Fish or Strong.

The decision to work a stiff style was not without consequences. One spinning back kick to O’Reilly’s mid-section appeared to legitimately wind him. It was later confirmed that the liver shot injured him. Later reports revealed that errant strikes fractured Balor’s jaw in two places while O’Reilly suffered some broken teeth.

Despite criticisms for working unsafe, their match deserves praise for being brutal without resorting to being a spot-fest and should definitely have gotten people to take notice of NXT again.

In an era with limited or, in some places, zero crowds, Takeover 31 was one of NXT’s best PPVs and almost on the level of their pre-COVID Takeovers. The card was tight and O’Reilly almost stole the show with his performance in an instant classic.

Seizing the momentum from this, O’Reilly delivered further displays of brilliance in the Wargames PPV. O’Reilly started things and at 45:01, he did what no other member of UE could do, ending the match by hitting a leaping knee onto a chair on Oney Lorcan’s face to earn the 3-count.

Following this MVP-level showing, O’Reilly faced the Bruiserweight on 16/12/2020. This had a big-match feel; on the one hand because it was for the #1 contender opportunity but also as they unflinchingly stared each other down while chaos unfolded around them. Despite poor camerawork capturing a Pete Dunne pump kick not even connecting with O’Reilly’s face, this was mostly a wrestling masterclass. Hard-hitting throughout, it was again O’Reilly’s leaping knee – this time to the back of the neck – that would see him prevail and earn yet another opportunity for the title.

O’Reilly is poised to face Balor once more at New Year’s Evil on 06/01/2021. Their promo work has been amazing with Balor insisting this won’t be a trilogy while O’Reilly continues to show that he is deserving of being in the picture of championship contention.

How will things play out?

Undisputed Era previously fulfilled their prediction in holding all the gold in NXT, matching a feat that Evolution once achieved in years past. When Orton eventually won the WWE Heavyweight Championship, he was dumped unceremoniously from the stable.

Could New Year’s Evil be where O’Reilly or Cole are booted from the faction?

What’s been consistently great is that Undisputed Era, and indeed Cole, have been subtle in any hints at where they could go. There haven’t been many visible signs of a lack of unity. Perhaps a slight look of envy on Cole’s part as he was positioned at the edge of their ranks when they strolled to the performance centre for Takeover 31. Cole remained silent while Fish and Strong no doubt gave words of encouragement to the stoic O’Reilly.

Cole was also at the rear of their party as they escorted O’Reilly to the match but still said he loved him and it was his night.

When Velveteen Dream taunted Cole on the NXT episode of 23/12/2020, he told Cole that the mighty had fallen and Kyle was now head of the Undisputed Era. He responded by slapping Dream while claiming that there was no leader of the group.

Challenging Cole’s position could result in a storyline jealousy angle to ignite a rivalry between him and O’Reilly.

WWE has a tendency to fast track talent to the main roster so this could be one way they split up the Undisputed Era. But with UE being the best stable in NXT, it would be unwise if they were to disband the faction especially with their popularity still red-hot.

Though with Cole being transitioned to compete in the Dusty Rhodes Classic, there’s hope that Undisputed Era will remain united for some time to come.

What’s likely is that interference from Cole and/or the returning Karrion Kross will factor into the ending, leaving Balor as the victor. It could be played as unintentional on Cole’s part with the misunderstanding or miscommunication laying the seed for a future falling out while still protecting O’Reilly.

Kross is being booked to be Balor’s main challenger but with this much talent vying for the prize, perhaps they could have a 5-way match featuring Balor, O’Reilly, Cole, Dunne and Kross at the next Takeover.

Whatever happens on 06/01/2021, the following is certain. While 2019 was the year of Adam Cole, 2020 and perhaps now the early stages of 2021 are Kyle O’Reilly’s.

Much like Roman Reigns’ prolonged absence from screens, the wise decisions to reboot both characters on their returns has yielded fantastic results. The consistency of his star-making performances has seen O’Reilly become the next breakout star of the Undisputed Era and hopefully NXT will continue his push as he is ready to hold more than tag-team gold.

#kyleoreilly #nxt #undisputedera #wwe #wwenxt #adamcole #wrestling #prowrestling #dustyrhodes #nxtchampion #nxtchampionship #bobbyfish #roderickstrong #romanreigns #Finnbalor #karrionkross #killerkross #bruiserweight #velveteendream #dustyrhodesclassic #takeover #nxttakeover #nxttakeover31 #takeover31

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

We all know a tv show would be preferable to a movie (or do we?), but if Animorphs were to be adapted in to a movie series, how would you break up the books? Which ones would become films, would any be combined, would you make any composite characters?

I’d vote for a show over a movie series, but if I had to have a movie series, it’d ideally go something like this:

Animorphs: The Invasion

Goes through the events of the first book, with a handful of additions:

Have one scene or sequence with the Animorphs each saying goodbye to their families before leaving to fight the first battle (similar to AniTV)

Establish both major romances of the series right off the bat, maybe through having Jake and Cassie be a couple already and then building Rachel and Tobias up to a pre-battle kiss

Briefly go through the events of #3 and #4 in the last few scenes by showing some kind of montage of Tobias adjusting to hawk life and then, at the very end, have him go discuss weird dreams with Cassie

Last shot of the movie: pan down to Dome ship at the bottom of the ocean, show Ax using mirrorwave whatsits to call for help

But-wait-there’s-more: a post-credits scene establishes that Visser Three is getting Ax’s messages too

Animorphs: The Message

Goes through the events of #4 and #13, with flashbacks to The Andalite Chronicles:

Open mid-battle (possibly the water truck battle from #3) to establish that it’s been a few weeks since the first movie

Have Cassie talk the other Animorphs into “one more attempt” to go rescue Ax, followed by the (somewhat abridged) events of #4, probably sans talking whales because that just won’t translate well

Ax and Tobias almost immediately begin their attempt to have “E.T. phone home” from #8, and in the process discover andalite tech that contains Elfangor’s hirac dilest

Have Ax learn the location of the morphing cube from Elfangor’s hirac dilest, along with some engineering knowledge that gives Tobias’s morphing power back (again, sort of like AniTV)

Have Ax and Tobias discover Jara and Ket mid-escape and try to help, leading to a simplified version of #13; leave out the Ellimist because he’s too dang complicated

All Animorphs help to get Jara and Ket to safety, after which Jara explains that the Yeerk Peace Movement helped them escape

Post-credits scene: Tobias flies to unknown neighborhood, sits on roof until an adult Loren comes out of the house across the way

Animorphs: The Answer pt. 1

Goes through the events of #41 - #50, extremely abridged:

Open with the sequence from #41 with the end of the battle followed by Jake going home, again to help establish that it’s been a while since the events of the last movie (and to remind us that Tom exists)

As Jake is checking in at his house, have Cassie checking in with the YPM, Tobias checking in with Loren at the hork-bajir valley, and Ax intercepting a yeerk transmission indicating that open war is imminent 

Finally, cut to Rachel and Marco showing up at a hospital, where they recruit James et al.

At the school for the blind, Tobias spots a Sharing Relief Services van out front; he warns the others in time, but they end up leaving the cube with one of the blind kids they came to recruit in their haste to retreat

Jake sees Tom getting in the van with the morphing cube, grabs a dracon beam and is about to shoot him; Cassie yells Jake’s name in an effort to stop him, and Tom turns around and sees them both as humans

There’s a big final battle, a random YPM member saves Jake from Visser Three, but the yeerks get the morphing cube anyway

Throughout the battle, it’s extremely obvious the whole time that the Animorphs’ cover is blown

Post-credits scene: Tom’s yeerk is watching Jake’s parents infested, and then walks out of the room, morphs a bird, and flies away

Animorphs: The Answer pt. 2

Covers (some of) the events of #52 - #54:

Open on the scene with Jake and Tobias floating over their town looking at the destruction, including the mass infestations happening below

The Animorphs go through their plan to blow up the yeerk pool, only Jake/Rachel/Tobias are on a separate mission with the Auximorphs to attack the taxxons at the same time that Ax/Marco/Cassie are delivering the train car

Jake falls through a hole, everyone assumes he died, and they all go back to the hork-bajir valley where “war council” scene occurs and includes a discussion of James taking over as leader

Cut to the taxxon tunnels with the big reveal that Jake survived, and he’s currently negotiating with Arbron and Tom’s yeerk about how to take down Visser Three

The final battle plays out almost the same way, although with the YPM playing the role that the chee did in the books, including a rebel yeerk draining the Pool ship’s guns in revenge after finding out Jake dumped the yeerk pool

End on Cassie voiceover, starting with her talking at Rachel’s funeral and fading into her talking about what the other four survivors did over the next few years

Post-credits scene: Ax finds the Blade ship, gets sucked into some kind of eldritch abomination as Menderash watches on the viewscreen

A few notes on my thought process:

Many of the elements I’d leave out are those that would be difficult or impossible to convey quickly with the hyper-simplified format of movies.  These include: the Ellimist and Crayak, gedds, skrit na, Eva and Edriss, Erek and the other chee, most andalite politics, the Chapman family, most yeerk hosts, Aldrea and Dak, and Aftran.

Similarly, many of the elements I’d emphasize — romances, battle sequences, flashbacks, family dramas — are the ones that would probably translate well to film.

After all that, I’d make the movies YA and PG-13.

The higher rating would allow more of the books’ violence, gore, body horror, predation, and moral greyness to remain in the movies.

A YA movie would be allowed to have the complexity I’d want from the plot to avoid it becoming a good vs. evil story.

It’d ideally be marketed toward the Shadowhunters/ Hunger Games/ Divergent audience, not the Goosebumps/ Pokemon/ Spiderwick Chronicles audience.

It’s a better idea to cast actors in their late teens or early 20s (much as I hate this) to avoid continuity errors around one’s cast going through puberty between shoots.

Do the classic YA-film-series money grab gambit by having a four-movie trilogy, which is one extra movie.

Emphasize the YPM and rebel taxxons, because those elements help set Animorphs apart from being an oversimplified war movie with black-and-white morality.

Keep the spandex costumes, but make them deliberately ugly and dorky to avoid sexualizing the child protagonists.

#animorphs #animorphs meta #animorphs movies #long post #movie plotting #the books would still be better #unculturedmamoswine #asks #anitv #movie

[hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger]

Spider-Man: Far From Home Thoughts Part 1 a.k.a. MCU Chapter 23

As I did for Homecoming I’m going to split my thoughts on the film up based on looking at it as a film unto itself/part of the MCU and then separately looking at it in terms of being an adaptation. 

However in trying to write the former section I soon realized it was more practical to further partition coverage of the film.

Because MCU films can be looked at not merely as part of a film trilogy/quadrilogy (or as the latest chapter in a specific character’s arc) but as installments in the wider MCU story. Spider-Man: Far From Home is in essence simultaneously ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe Spider-Man 2′ and ‘Marvel Cinematic Universe Part 23′. And those two lenses do affect how you evaluate the film.

So as such I’m going to have three sections across...however many parts it takes. These posts are something of a stream of consciousness so I’m aiming for 3 parts but we’ll see what happens.

Let’s start with how this stacks up as the latest installment in the MCU Saga.

On a scale of Iron Man 3/The Dark World/Captain Marvel to Winter Soldier/Civil War/Endgame, Far From Home sits comfortably in a middling position, much like its predecessor.

Like Homecoming it’s a mostly entertaining time killer, decent popcorn fun...just not quite as high quality popcorn fun as say Avengers 2012 or Iron Man 2008.

Speaking of Iron Man his post-humorous presence in the film illustrative of a strength and weakness of the MCU’s narrative style, hence I’m going to talk a lot about it here.

Whilst the MCU is often touted (even by Disney themselves) as replicating the comic books’ shared cross continuity nature, in truth it doesn’t.

In Marvel comics one can mostly follow Iron Man or Spider-Man or Avengers runs on their own. The shared universe is there and comes into play at times, but really you don’t need to follow everything.

With the MCU, whilst a lot of the films are accessible you really couldn’t just watch the Iron Man Trilogy and call it a day because Tony’s arc plays out across other films too, it climaxes 5+ years after his last solo film. In essence the MCU is like a TV show wherein you get 2-3 episodes per year and the season finales are the Avengers movies.

This is relevant to Far From Home because, despite what anyone tells you, this is the start of Phase/Season 4 and it feels that way (it more or less states that to you at the start of the movie). As such the film acts as MCU Spider-Man 2 but also MCU Chapter 23/MCU Book 4 Chapter 1 and HAS to address the fallout of the last episode/chapter/season finale.

Thus Peter’s arc in FFH gets hijacked as a kind of Endgame/Tony Stark post-mortem...sorta. We’ll talk more about that in another post, but understand that in so far as Tony’s post-mortem does hijack the movie it undermines Peter’s personal narrative.

However, in regards to the post-Endgame state of affairs it is rather unsatisfying, almost disrespectful.

And by disrespectful I mean that as the Marvel Studios logo opens up we have a rendition of ‘I Will Always Love You’ (the Whitney Houston version I believe) over poorly picked out, low res stills of all Avengers who died or didn’t come back in Endgame; to the film’s credit it does look like something a high schooler would make. That is followed by the first of two clunky exposition drops played for laughs and repeating the unrequited romance joke between Betty and Jason from Homecoming, complete with a focus upon Jason’s bewilderment over now being older than his little brother. Oh and let’s not forget the gag about the high school band turning to dust and then reappearing in the middle of a basketball game to wacky effect. The film even makes a point of not  addressing if the Avengers are even around as a team anymore, which is likely a meta commentary as well.

I’ll give the movie this, it made it’s intentions clear. It was not going to really treat the aftermath of the biggest MCU movie with much weight, it was going to be a superfluous, light, fluffy funfest. That’s a stupid direction to adopt after Endgame but at least it didn’t try to trick the viewers that it would be anything else.

Now in spite of that tone and approach the film could still explore how the post-Endgame world has changed. Maybe we won’t get anything dark or dramatic per se, but at least we’ll get some information right?

In fact, as much as I had disdain for this film going in, seeing the post-Endgame MCU was what I was really interested in. And the film delivered on that...initially...in the very same clunky exposition drop played for laughs.

We don’t talk about the blip again apart from 3 or 4 quick references, one of which explained who Mysterio was and why he could’ve duped Fury.

As for how this affected Peter, it didn’t. Many speculated Aunt May might’ve survived the blip but no, we’re told very explicitly she disappeared too.

This is very much a mixed bag for FFH as an MCU film and as a Spider-Man movie (yes I know I said I was separating those two things but it’s more efficient for this next part).

On the one hand for those who want to follow the broader MCU story FFH gives them answers but brief ones. It’s the equivalent to simply googling the answer to a murder mystery rather than experiencing the story unfold towards that answer. We had a huge opportunity to examine the ramifications of such a globally changing phenomenon but we simply acknowledge it happened and then press on as though it didn’t. The same opening exposition makes that clear too when it says that they’re moving on.

On the other hand were the film to properly explore the ramifications of the blip it would hijack the whole movie, even more than the Iron Man post-mortem already was.

On the other other hand having everyone of relevance to Peter’s life (sans Happy and Tony) die and come back, keeping them all ‘synched’ with him basically, is extremely convenient.

On the other other other hand it’d derail his narrative in a huge way if MJ or Ned or May (who’s still not ‘Aunt May’ btw because fuck this movie) were suddenly in their 20s.

On the other x4 hand the presence of such a massively fantastical event like death and resurrection (along with aliens and space technology) has already derailed the verisimilitude of his solo films which began by painting themselves as comparatively more down to Earth and ‘friendly neighbourhood’ even in spite of alien tech being repurposed. The same applies to having him go on international adventures; yet another inconsistency between this and the last Spidey movie.

So it’s very much a case of pick your poison.

Getting back to this film as a Tony Stark tribute, when viewed as part of the ongoing MCU saga it’s presence and handling succeeds more than it fails.

As I said Tony began the MCU and along with Cap was one of the twin pillars holding it up, so his death demands examination. On a metatextual level we need a film grieving Tony Stark before we can move on to the next step.

So in this regard the film giving so much attention to the hole left behind by him and how that’s really the impetus for the entire primary plot of the film is incredibly fitting.*

This applies to Mysterio in a sense.

I’ll talk more about his place when compared to certain other villains in a future instalment, but in the context of this movie his role as a kind of evil Iron Man/pretender to Iron Man’s throne works well. In fact he’s an exceptionally great villain...for Iron Man.** You see where I’m going with this, but that’s for another post.

Lets switch gears a little and discuss another wider MCU element, Nick Fury. At certain points of the film I felt Fury was out of character and a huge jerk. But twist at the end that it was actual Talos mitigated all that, it made sense. It also addressed another huge problem I was having with the movie up until that point, the absence of other heroes.

Like in the trailers the movie takes strides to address why Thor, Captain Marvel and Doctor Strange can’t help out against the Elementals. But of course this leaves the huge problem of literally everyone else. You could make a case for Falcon and Winter Soldier being of little use against such seemingly powerful foes like the Elementals, but what about Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, Valkyrie, etc? Thankfully the Talos reveal addresses this as Talos is ultimately not Nick Fury so wouldn’t have access to all those heroes.

It also sets up for future films, implying the Kree/Skrull War is far from over and that we will soon be seeing S.W.O.R.D.

Really that’s all there is to say about the movie moving forward into the MCU.

We get answers but they’re underwhelming and unsatisfying whilst getting a movie grieving Tony Stark and making the audience feel his loss.

If only Spider-Man himself seemed to feel as upset...

*Too bad all the comedy and light teen drama crap undermines it.

**In fact the entire villainous crew and villain scheme revolves around Iron Man’s legacy. I guess that makes this film also a.k.a. Iron Man in Memoriam 

#Spider-Man #Spider-Man: Far From HOme #MCU #marvel cinematic universe #peter parker #tom holland #Nick fury #iron man #tony stark #mjwatsonedit #Mary Jane Watson #Mary Jane Watson Parker #mj watson #mysterio #quinten beck #Aunt May #May Parker #Ned Leeds #Betty Brant #Molten Man #Hydro Man #Sandman #zendaya #Avengers #Avengers: Endgame

[thezachrogers]

The Best and Worst Films of 2019.

We are THREE days away from the Academy Awards and I know this is way overdue, but I made the deadline and have brought the films to watch and avoid that came out last year. We will be counting down from the films that were best all the way down to the worst.

2019 was the best year for film in a long time and I will go down saying I LOVED my top 26, I liked 27-65 and I only disliked/hated four films I saw last year. Overall an excellent year of endings to series, a great year for original films, and we are in for one of the most competitive Academy Awards yet. So here it is, counting down from best to worst, the 69 films I saw in 2019:

Avengers: Endgame - NOW AVAILABLE ON DISNEY+ nominated for 1 Oscar, one of the best films I have ever seen in my life and my current all time favorite comic book film. 

Ford v Ferrari - nominated for 4 Oscars including Best Picture. Wow, wow, wow; what a movie, see this movie ASAP. Hands down the BEST performance of Matt Damon’s career, a definite snub for Best Actor, directed by 2017′s Logan’s James Mangold.

Jojo Rabbit - nominated for 6 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actress, this film gives you all the feels. Border lining on the edge of offensive, this story is about a little boy growing up in the Nazi Regime learning that everything he loves about Nazi Germany and what he believes about Jews just doesn’t add up. 

Marriage Story NETFLIX ORIGINAL - nominated for 6 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress, this cast brings it in this tragic story of marriage and divorce. I’m rooting for my boy Kylo Ren Sunday Night even though I know Joaquin Phoenix is going to win as the Clown Prince of Crime.

Bombshell - nominated for 3 Oscars including Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress (GO MARGOT ROBBIE), this is based on the true story of Roger Ailes’s firing at Fox News due to Gretchen Carlson’s accusations. Robbie gives the performance of her career and Charlize Theron plays a very convincing Megyn Kelly starting the “Me Too” movement.

The Two Popes - NETFLIX ORIGINAL nominated for 3 Oscars including Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. This true story and Netflix original is about Anthony Hopkins portrays Pope Benedict leaving the position and asks the now Pope Francis (Jonathan Pryce) to fill his shoes.

Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood - Nominated for 10 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor (guaranteed win), and Best Original Screenplay, Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece is LOOSELY based on 60s Hollywood during the time of the Manson Family murders.

The Irishman - NETFLIX ORIGINAL Nominated for 10 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director, and Two Best Supporting Actor Nominees, Scorsese brought it in this four hour Netflix Orginal.

1917 - Nominated for 10 Oscars including guaranteed Best Picture and guaranteed Best Director, 1917 takes place in real time and is shown in two takes. Brilliant cinematography and direction, this is one to see in theaters.

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood - Oscar Nominated for Best Supporting Actor, this movie brought me to tears. I grew up with Mr. Rogers and Tom Hanks absolutely kills it in this role.

The King NETFLIX ORIGINAL

Parasite - Nominated for 6 Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director. This Korean Film has the craziest plot I have ever seen in a movie. See it. You will be blown away.

Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker - Nominated for 3 Oscars including Best Score this was quite the underwhelming finale compared to Endgame, I mean a 42 year buildup and it just did not hit home like it should have. Now they ended the big three’s (Luke, Han, and Leia) arcs very well and FREAKING KYLO REN has become my all-time favorite character. We all need to thank Adam Driver for carrying this trilogy on his back as Rey, Finn, and Poe’s arcs where just meh. I do believe JJ did everything he could do with what he was given with The Last Jedi. All the fan service was amazing and very appreciated like bringing back Wedge, Lando, Han, Young Luke, Young Leia, Red 5, and Palpatine back for last ride. I will be in line at Target at 7am to pick up their exclusive packaged Ultra 4K Bluray and yes, I’ve already started the paperwork on financing the Best Buy exclusive complete Skywalker saga (I’m not joking).

El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie NETFLIX ORIGINAL

Honey Boy PRIME ORIGINAL - 2019 was the comeback of Shia LaBeouf’s career. This movie was written by him and loosely based on his life. LaBeouf plays his father and brings the best performance of his career.

The Report PRIME ORIGINAL 

Spider-Man: Far From Home

They Shall Not Grow Old NOW AVAILABLE ON HBO

Uncut Gems - Snubbed by the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards, the Safdie brothers deliver a masterpiece and the performance of Adam Sandler’s career.

Togo - DISNEY+ ORIGINAL

Frozen II - Nominated for Best Original Song, if it doesn’t win, lets riot.

Knives Out - Nominated for Best Original Screenplay, this Rian Johnson directed film was snubbed from every other category due to everyone remaining pissed off about The Last Jedi.

Toy Story 4 - NOW AVAILABLE ON DISNEY+ Nominated for Best Animated Film and Best Original Song, another underwhelming finale (that no one asked for, because we already got it with Toy Story 3), I still loved this movie and it is well deserved for best animated film but not more deserving than the snubbed Frozen sequel.

Little Women - Nominated for 6 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actress, Florence Pugh and the rest of the cast delivered in this reboot and this was a film I thoroughly enjoyed at home.

Richard Jewell - Nominated for Best Supporting Actress

The Peanut Butter Falcon

The Farewell

Harriet - Nominated for 2 Oscars including Best Actress

Klaus - NETFLIX ORIGINAL Nominated for Best Animated Film

Dolemite Is My Name - NETFLIX ORIGINAL Eddie Murphy’s triumphant comeback delivers. Definite snub, this is not the last we will see of Eddie in the coming months with Coming 2 America and Eddie’s much anticipated standup special

Missing Link - NOW AVAILABLE ON HULU Nominated for Best Animated Film

Joker - Leading the Oscars with 11 Nominations including Best Picture, Best Actor (guaranteed win), Best Director, Best Cinematography (Guaranteed win), Best Score (guaranteed win); Joaquin Phoenix delivers a career-defining performance (that still does not touch Heath Ledger’s) in a quite underwhelming plot with beautiful cinematography and a masterful score, this movie is turning the tides for the comic-book film genre.

Late Night PRIME ORIGINAL

John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum NOW AVAILABLE ON HBO

Shazam! NOW AVAILABLE ON DC UNIVERSE

Fighting With My Family NOW AVAILABLE ON HULU

Long Shot NOW AVAILABLE ON HULU

Doctor Sleep

Hustlers

Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened NETFLIX ORIGINAL

The Highwaymen NETFLIX ORIGINAL

The Laundromat NETFLIX ORIGINAL

The Aeronauts PRIME ORIGINAL 

Always Be My Maybe NETFLIX ORIGINAL

Maleficent: Mistress of Evil - Nominated for Best Hair and Makeup

Chasing Happiness PRIME ORIGINAL

Good Boys

Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs and Shaw

Aladdin NOW AVAILABLE ON DISNEY+

Captain Marvel NOW AVAILABLE ON DISNEY+

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part NOW AVAILABLE ON HBO AND HULU

Isn’t It Romantic NOW AVAILABLE ON HULU

Detective Pikachu NOW AVAILABLE ON HBO AND HULU

Lady and the Tramp DISNEY+ ORIGINAL

MIB: International NOW AVAILABE ON HULU

6 Underground NETFLIX ORIGINAL

Noelle DISNEY+ ORIGINAL

Ad Astra - Nominated for Best Sound

The Lion King - NOW AVAILABLE ON DISNEY+ Nominated for Best Special Effects

It Chapter Two

Ready or Not

The Lighthouse - Nominated for Best Cinematography

Dumbo NOW AVAILABLE ON DISNEY+

Little NOW AVAILABLE ON HULU

Happy Death Day 2U NOW AVAILABLE ON HULU

Triple Frontier NETFLIX ORIGINAL

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile - NETFLIX ORIGINAL Another gem from Netflix, Zac Efron gives the acting performance of his career as Ted Bundy.

Glass NOW AVAILABLE ON HULU - The final film in the Unbreakable trilogy that no one asked for...yet we didn’t know we wanted. This film was highly anticipated for a sad (yes, tears) ending to same great characters. Glass does not hold a candle to Unbreakable, nor Glass, but it is still loads of fun.

Dark Phoenix - They say they save the best for last...well it X-Men’s case, they don’t. This film was a polished turd with great acting from McAvoy and Sophie Turner. 

Murder Mystery - NETFLIX ORIGINAL Oh look, another movie where Adam Sandler went on vacation with his buddies and said “lets get Netflix to pay for a Eurotrip by making a movie,” and then you get Netflix’s Murder Mystery. Looks like they will be paying for another vacation with 2021′s Murder Mystery 2. No, I am not kidding.

Wine Country NETFLIX ORIGINAL- This film had literally all the SNL power women except for Kristen Wiig...I wonder why? JK, horrible...no wonder it went straight to Netflix

Us NOW AVAILABLE ON HULU - The worst and most overrated movie of the year. I was so excited, I went to the theater opening night. What a disappointing follow up to Get Out and a complete waste of time. Do not watch this movie.

[scoutception]

Ys 1 & 2 review: the 22 year long journey to American computers

Falcom is one of the big underdogs of Japanese game developers, at least outside of Japan, a role pretty unfair for them considering they’re also one of the most important Japanese game developers to exist. Before names like Final Fantasy and even Dragon Quest were around, Falcom was pioneering action RPGs, JRPGs, and even innovating video game music as a whole. Dragon Slayer, the title that set the foundation for action RPGs, would eventually transform into the Legend of Heroes, better known as the Kiseki, or Trails, series, boasting some of the most detailed JRPGs out there, while the other big innovator, Ys, would remain true to its roots, while still taking steps to innovate as much as possible with every new title. Despite their games both being very influential and just plain great in of themselves, Falcom was basically unknown outside of Japan for decades due to very inconsistent localizations, and mostly being released on more niche consoles even when it did happen, like the Sega Master System or the TurboGrafx-16. The only Ys game to make it to American shores on the Genesis or SNES was Ys 3, which was barely recognizable as an Ys game in its original form, gameplay wise, and the first exposure America got to the Legend of Heroes was the Gagharv trilogy on the PSP, which recieved such awful localizations that they were actually released out of order, with the second game actually being released first, instead of the actual first, cause that certainly isn’t capable of causing problems. Thankfully, since 2010, XSEED has delivered fantastic localizations of many, many significant Falcom games released both before and after, giving fantastic games like Trails in the Sky exposure only dreamed of before. They’ve still got a ways to go, though, and so, it’s time for me to show my appreciation for these games by covering Ys 1 & 2, the games that refined the action RPG genre, farther than just starting it. The version I’m covering is Ys 1 & 2 Chronicles Plus on Steam and GOG, one of the most recent, and refined, versions available, and is based off the PSP version, which is based off the PC remakes. It’s a pretty crazy history for these games.

Ys 1: Ancient Ys Vanished: Omen

Story:

The story of Ys 1 is about the titular land of Ys (pronounced ees, like ease, or the middle part of geese), a mysterious floating island, which was, in ancient times, part of the island of Esteria. Ys was said to be watched over by twin goddesses and six great priests, named Tovah, Dabbie, Hadal, Mesa, Gemma, and Fact, until a mysterious evil forced them to raise Ys into the sky, with a few descendants of the priests and a gigantic crater being among the only remnants of Ys left in Esteria. 700 years later, odd things are happening in Esteria, with a wall of storms appearing to surround the island, cutting it off from the rest of the world. On the island itself, monsters have suddenly appeared as well, and something is stealing anything made of silver from the inhabitants, even resorting to assault. In the middle of this, the red haired swordsman Adol Christin, fueled partly by intense wanderlust, sets off to Esteria to investigate... only to predictably shipwreck against the Stormwall, washing up on the island and being rescued by the citizens of port Barbado, setting a fantastic standard for himself to repeat several times in future games. After setting out and reaching the town of Minea, Adol allies with the fortuneteller Sara, a descendant of priest Tovah, and sets off to collect the 6 Books of Ys, written by the priests, said to contain the secrets to the rise and fall of Ys, and the power to save Esteria, along the way meeting Feena, an amnesiac girl specifically imprisoned by the monsters, Reah, a troubadour with a silver harmonica, Luta Gemma, another descendant of the priests, and Adol’s future traveling companion Dogi, who has a hilariously small role considering his role in future games.

It’s definitely nothing too deep by today’s standards, not helped by the game’s short length, but having such an old game, we’re talking 1987, have an active focus on the story is pretty impressive, and to its credit, it does manage to make Ys genuinely mysterious, with an interesting explanation behind its fall, namely, the valuable metal of Ys, Cleria, caused the summoning of demons, and its discovery in Esteria, mistaken for silver, led to the island’s current troubles. While the characters as a whole aren’t anything special either, they have a likeable quality to them, and the main villain does have a fairly interesting twist to him; he’s also a descendant of one of the priests, Fact, out to collect the books for his own purposes. That said, the main strength of writing is just the general dialogue itself. For such an old game, the remakes added a lot of detail to the NPCs, giving everyone a name and a personality, and the translation gives a lot of life to them, making them pretty fun to talk to, turning what would otherwise be a lot of empty dialogue into amusing moments. They even gain new dialogue after certain points in the plot, which is another nice touch.

Overall, though, the biggest strength concerning the plot itself is the actual dedication put into it just relative to the time it was released. Touches like the Books of Ys being in a completely different language than what Adol knows, forcing him to find a way to translate them, and Luta Gemma’s mentions of guiding dreams, something that would become a much more common occurrence in the sequel. Speaking of which, this game was clearly betting on having a sequel with its plot, which is a pretty ballsy move even now. The deeper details to the downfall of Ys, the mysteries behind characters like Feena and Reah, and just what Ys itself is really like are left unanswered, with the game ending on an outright cliffhanger, with the books transporting Adol to Ys after saving Esteria, very likely one of the first video games to do so, at least in regards to following up on it. Overall, the writing side is still entertaining enough, and as long as it manages to be fun, that’s a success in my book.

Gameplay:

Here’s where stuff gets a bit, let’s say, contentious. Ys is played at a top down angle with you controlling Adol, and only Adol. Combat, compared to almost any other video game, even from the 80's, is rather unusual. You see, instead of using a dedicated attack button, Adol suffices with ramming into his enemies, swinging his sword and damaging them automatically on contact. This system, called the Bump system, may sound, well, dumb and overly simple, but it’s quite a bit more complicated than it may seem. Running directly into an enemy, rather sensibly, kills Adol dead in just a few hits, though he at least trades hits with them as well. In order to attack safely, you need to hit them at a vulnerable angle, such as to the side or behind them. Thankfully, you don’t need to pull hit and runs for every individual attack, as once you hit an enemy at a good angle, you can just keep moving forward and attacking, with them being unable to resist unless you choose to move away, or are knocked back by another enemy. While it can be difficult to put to use at first, it’s actually a fairly well designed system. It gives the game a fast and surprisingly intense pace, with enemies being able to kill you in just a few hits, and having telegraphed attacks of their own in addition to being able to hurt you just through collision. On the opposite side, being able to run into enemies and kill them in a second is pretty satisfying, and makes grinding for EXP and gold a lot less troublesome than usual in RPGs, considering you can just take things down on your way to something else. The game also takes mercy and allows you to automatically regenerate your HP on the overworld and in towns just by standing still for a few seconds, and considering enemies only respawn when you move the screen, it isn’t much of a risk to you either to just stop and take a breather.

Adol’s equipment consists of swords, shields, armor, and rings. The first three are pretty self explanatory, boosting his attack and defense, and acquired by buying them in shops, finding them in treasure chests, or even received from NPCs for free in a couple of cases, while the rings give effects like boosting attack or defense, slowing down enemies, or boosting health regeneration, either doubling it when Adol is outside, or allowing it in dungeons, where it is normally restricted, though unfortunately the rings do not work in boss battles. Adol also has a regular inventory, mostly containing key items, including a few equip able ones like a mask revealing secret passages, and a few other things like potions to restore health and wings to instantly transport him back to Minea. As this is an RPG, there’s also a leveling system, which gives Adol downright dramatic stat increases each time he gains a level. Problem is, these levels matter way more than equipment, and with the jump between each level, the early game consists of just grinding a few levels until you’re capable of taking on the next set of enemies somewhat safely, with several bosses in particular being outright immune to damage until you reach certain levels. At the least, you don’t have to do this many times, considering the level cap is only 10, which you need to reach to beat the third boss out of seven, after which you’re at the mercy of any equipment the game gives you to get any stronger. Speaking of which, bosses mix up the gameplay a bit by being vulnerable at any angle, meaning you just have to focus on getting to them in between their attacks. Unfortunately, most of the bosses aren’t exactly great, either being really easy, or really, really annoying, with special mentions going to the previously mentioned third boss, which spends most of its time as a swarm of bats capable of covering most of the screen, only being vulnerable when it reforms for the briefest of moments, and we’re talking barely a second. Sometimes it’ll reform almost immediately after transforming, but other times it’ll chase Adol much longer, and it stays as the bat swarm longer if you get hit. It doesn’t take much damage even when you do hit it, as a cherry on top, making for a very drawn out fight.

The 4 bosses after this one are a lot more fun, at least. From a giant mantis that constantly throws scythes at you, to a giant rock creature constantly firing projectiles at near bullet hell levels, to two giant floating heads bouncing around a room with barriers around them, forcing you to slip in between the barriers to hit while they swap between who is vulnerable, they’re legitimately intense, and a lot of fun, culminating with Dark Fact himself as the insane final boss, ping ponging around a room, firing near impossible to dodge projectiles, turning it into a game of rushing to meet him once you can predict his path and damaging him as much as you can, while he destroys parts of the floor for every hit he takes, killing you if you’re not on a different tile when he destroys it. It’s a nightmare attempting it at first, especially since you can’t even use your best equipment, as he is immune to any sword that isn’t the silver sword, and will kill you near instantly if you don’t use the silver armor and shield, and the instant death floor destruction is a cheap move, especially since you can outright get trapped if the right tiles get broken, nearly always forcing you to reload. Still, it’s actually pretty fun once you get the hang of it, and certainly lets the villain live up to the hype he built up. It should be mentioned there’s also a time attack mode that lets you go through a boss rush. It’s actually pretty fun, if let down by some of the roadblocks a few bosses present.

While at its core, Ys is an enjoyable time, there is one pretty difficult to ignore aspect to it: it is a very short game. There’s only three towns, a fairly small overworld, and three dungeons to go through. The first two dungeons, an old palace and a mine, are pretty decently lengthy, with quite a bit of stuff to find, but otherwise, it’s just a lot of backtracking and grinding. There’s not much in the way of puzzles, either, mostly only a few in the final dungeon. Once you’re forced into Darm Tower, with a full set of silver equipment and half of the books in your possession, you don’t think this last dungeon will be much. But that’s when the game throws you for a loop. Darm Tower is a behemoth of a dungeon, at a massive 25 floors you have to trudge through, with plenty of detours and backtracking. There’s new enemies every few floors, and 4 whole bosses are contained in this place. In the original versions, it easily took up half the game, and even in the newer versions, it’s a third of the game at minimum, if you spend enough goofing off. I have some mixed feelings towards this place. It’s miserably long and difficult, that mostly just has the same look to it in each floor, and even the music is the same until towards the end, not to mention once you go in, you’re stuck, and forced to keep on marching until you reach the top. On the other hand, I kinda like it just because of how unique it is. Darm Tower is hyped up even during the intro to the game, and plenty of NPCs say it to be an awful, fearsome place. If you’re savvy with RPGs, you might figure it won’t live up to that... but no, it lives up to all the hype it’s given. It’s utterly massive and exhausting, with tons of dangerous enemies that’ll hunt you down relentlessly. They’re even able to stick in plenty of plot and characters within, and seeing the day slowly turning to night as you make progress is quite a sight. In just living up to, and even surpassing, this hype, I kinda have to respect it. Overall, the gameplay of Ys works a lot better than you’d expect, successfully polished through over 20 years of remakes, but the short length alone could make it a difficult recommendation on its own.

Graphics:

Ys is actually a very pretty game to look at. The characters and regular enemies are in a sort of chibi style, which is pretty adorable, but not too detailed by themselves. The environments, on the other hand, look great, with lots of little details and allowing some fantastic views. While the enemy designs and locations aren’t anything too special, they still look quite good, especially the bosses, which are significantly bigger than normal enemies. Enemies also explode in a cloud of blood, bones, and body parts when defeated, which is both funny and satisfying, while not being anything too gruesome. You may have also noticed the border portrait in these screen shots, which I find quite nice to look at, if a bit restricting. You are allowed to go completely full screen, though, if it’s not to your tastes, but it doesn’t actually cut anything off.

The best aspect of the visuals, though, is the character artwork used when talking to important characters. It looks absolutely beautiful, and is a good contrast against the otherwise lesser detailed sprites.

This version also goes above and beyond in this regard by giving you options regarding this character artwork, namely a choice between using the newer artwork made specifically for this version, Ys 1 & 2 Chronicles, and the older artwork originally used in Ys 1 & 2 Complete, the PC remakes that have served as the basis for almost every port of these games since their release. Which you use comes down to a matter of preference, and while I do find the Complete artwork to look a bit odd at times, overall both options are beautiful. (Chronicles artwork is used first in these comparisons, and Complete artwork is used second)

Sound:

Ys 1 has an absolutely fantastic soundtrack, courtesy of Yuzo Koshiro, also known for the soundtracks for The Revenge of Shinobi, Etrian Odyssey, and, probably most famously, Streets of Rage, setting a standard for Falcom games in general, and providing quite an influence on video game music as a whole. This version again gives options in regards to the soundtrack, giving three different versions to choose: the original soundtrack on the PC-88, which holds up well even today, the Complete soundtrack, which gives a refreshing and different take on several songs, even if it’s very blatant in being in MIDI at times, and a new soundtrack recorded specifically for this version yet again, which is amazingly metal. It, again, comes down to preference, though while I like all of them quite a bit, I easily like the Chronicles soundtrack best, though it’s telling when the original PC-88 version of the title screen theme, Feena, is just as pretty as the other versions. Speaking of which, when it comes to individual pieces, some big standouts to me are Feena, again, for the title screen, Palace of Destruction, the theme of the first dungeon, Fountain of Love, Minea’s theme, Tower of the Shadow of Death, the maddening theme of Darm Tower, and Dreaming, played during a memorable maze section of Darm Tower. It is, overall, among some of the best music I’ve heard in a game, and is worth looking up even if you otherwise have no interest in Ys.

Ys 2: Ancient Ys Vanished: The Final Chapter

Ys 1 and 2 are so tightly connected to each other that I could not go without giving both games a proper looking through. Most releases of them nowadays can’t either, with almost everything bundling them together, which makes the short length of both a lot more acceptable, especially if you look at them as two split up parts of one game, like the acclaimed TurboGrafx-16 version did.

Story:

Ys 2 picks up right where Ys 1 left off, with Adol being transported to Ys itself. Unfortunately, his journey is not too smooth, resulting in him ending up unconscious and losing everything except for the six Books of Ys, eventually being rescued by a girl named Lilia and taken to her home of Lance Village. At least it wasn’t a shipwreck this time. But yes, as it turns out, people still live on Ys, and lived so in peace, until the same events that caused monsters to appear on Esteria caused the demons that once devastated Ys to reemerge. After being told that returning each tome to the sanctuaries of each great priest would open the way to the Shrine of Solomon, the former temple of the twin goddesses, and the current base of locations of the leaders of the demons, Adol sets off once again, to restore peace to Ys once and for all.

There unfortunately isn’t that much more for me to say regarding the writing. It’s about the same quality as the original when it comes to plot and characters, but overall, it’s a good conclusion to this tale, and the general dialogue is as entertaining as ever. I will say, though, that the tone works quite well, carrying a somber feeling reflecting the misery of the people of Ys, and their wish to return to happier times. Additionally, using a certain spell in the game, Adol is able to talk to the demons on friendly terms, and every one of them has unique dialogue. Not every type of enemy, every enemy has unique dialogue. Some of it is informative, but others just seem to be Falcom and/or XSEED going out of their way to prove how dedicated they are to detail, and I for one love it. Another notable thing to me is the setting of Ys itself. Esteria was a fairly normal location, but for such a mythical place... Ys itself isn’t too much different. It has some more extreme environments, like an ice wall and lava filled caverns, but it’s remarkably normal otherwise. While this may come off as disappointing, it fits quite well, considering Ys was never meant to be so grand and mysterious, and is a relatively normal place forced into an abnormal situation. Overall, again, it is a solid conclusion and step forward.

Gameplay:

The gameplay of Ys 2 is more or less the same as Ys 1, for the most part, divisive bump system and all. It does, however, feature several improvements, mostly to the combat. Firstly, the bump system has been changed so that ramming an enemy while moving diagonally will always count as a safe hit for Adol, making combat a lot safer, and enemies generally don’t deal as much damage either. The level system has also been revamped, going from the paltry level cap of 10 to a level cap of 55, meaning you’ll be leveling up and improving till the end of the game. Conversely, individual levels don’t mean nearly as much, but not only are they easier to grind for when necessary, they also make equipment much more important. The biggest gameplay addition, however, is the magic system. Over the course of the game, Adol gains several spells, most notably a spell to shoot fireballs, which can be shot rapidly or charged for a stronger attack, but also includes a spell to temporarily stop time, freezing enemies in place and leaving them defenseless, a passive, yet constantly active spell that reveals secret passages, a spell that allows Adol to appear as a demon, allowing the previously mentioned interactions, and even a spell that can warp him between various towns and other important locations, something that proves extremely helpful. This system alone adds so much to the game, and is a great way of expanding upon the rather limited system of the first game. Accessories have also been overhauled, as rather than just rings with simple effects, they’re various objects with much more unique effects, such as yet another ring that occasionally allows Adol to parry an attack, and an idol that gives homing properties to his fireballs. All bosses except for the last two now require the use of the fireball spell to defeat, making them a lot more reliant on skill than just being at the right level, making them a lot more fun as well, while retaining the frantic feel.

Another addition is the ability to give items like flowers and apples to NPCs as gifts. A few of them will reward you with valuable information, or even items, but for the majority, all you get is some amusing dialogue, all of which is unique, once again proving how insane these writers and localizers can be. You can also choose to throw fireballs at them, causing them to shout some pretty funny comments, which often include references to other games like River City Ransom and Final Fantasy 6. Still, it’s not very practical considering it lowers their affection, requiring more gifts just to get back to neutral. While it doesn’t affect normal dialogue, this little system is worth messing around with, just to see what laughs you can get from it.

Otherwise, the game is more fleshed out, with a lot more places to go to. You’ve got a shrine and a mine combined into one general dungeon, a beautiful ice wall, volcanic caverns, and finally, the Shrine of Solomon. Compared to Darm Tower, the Shrine of Solomon isn’t quite as dominating, but it’s still huge, and sadly still requires a lot of backtracking. I’d wager it’s about a fourth of the game in of itself, possibly a third if you’re quick enough with the rest, and can still get pretty draining. Still, it’s a lot more enjoyable than Darm Tower, having more interesting environments, such as plenty of outdoor areas and a subterranean canal, and certainly lives up to the hype itself had built up. There’s no overworld, but considering how you were gated off by anything you weren’t a high enough level to take on in Ys 1, combined with how tiny and featureless said overworld was regardless, this linearity is preferable, giving a nice sense of progression. There’s also 4 towns spread out quite nicely, giving some much needed breathers after some of the more expansive parts of the game. The game is a decent bit longer than Ys 1, especially if you allow yourself to goof off and take in all the detail, like I did. Overall, Ys 2 has some much improved gameplay, and is a lot more fun than the already enjoyable first game.

Graphics:

The graphics of Ys 2 are about the same level as Ys 1, namely, it looks great, especially the character artwork. One noticeable improvement comes in the area and enemy design, looking a lot more distinct than in the first game, making it all look a lot better. There’s also a dumb, but cute option that lets you hang a “mascot” on the screen, which just amounts to the sprites of various characters and enemies, more characters unlocking at maximum affection. Otherwise, I could just copy and paste I said in this section for the first game. Still, very good.

Sound:

The music, again, is very similar in quality to the first Ys, and is still amazing. Personally, I find the Complete remixes are a bit weaker compared to the first game, but the Chronicles soundtrack still hold strong. Some stand out pieces to me include Too Full of Love, Lance Village’s theme, Ruins of Moondoria, Ice Ridge of Noltia, Palace of Solomon, Tender People, Ramia Village’s theme, and this game’s remix of Feena, which is even better than the version in Ys 1. Overall, still a fantastic followup.

Conclusion:

Overall, Ys 1 & 2 Chronicles gets a recommended from me. It’s short length, questionable combat system, and overall signs of age can certainly be enough to make one wary, but getting past that leaves you with two games full of charm and passion. More than anything, they feel rather comfortable and relaxed. The shorter length, the various options for graphics and music, the general charm of it, and even the goofy and often context-less achievements, these two games manage to be memorable experiences.

This collection is a great introduction to one of the grandfathers of RPGs, a grandfather that’s still going strong after more than 30 years. Till next time, and apologies to anyone who reads this for how horrendously long this ended up.

-Scout

#ys #falcom #JRPG #action rpg #game review #long post

[theasiantvshipper-blog]

The Shadowhunters Season Finale Thoughts

With just an episode left before the 2 hour series finale, I think it’s safe to say that we have no idea where the writers are going with the finale. But for purposes of discussion, I’m going to try and make sense of what we know so far all throughout 3B with the promo and sneak peeks and teasers available for the last episode of Season 3. Remember, this was done prior to the cancellation, so we may or may not see storylines close or overlap for a possible Season 4 renewal. I will have a separate prediction for 3x20: City of Glass episode once I have enough spoilers, teasers to work with. 

I’ll start with the biggest arcs that should be closed by the end of this season:

The Malec story arc- this has unofficially come to a head, and I don’t see any reason for this arc to be dragged to the mud. Really. Someone tell the SH writers to close this angst fest with Malec already. No good is going to come out of this, trust and believe that. They had the right intention to start the 3B season with Magnus dealing with the loss of his magic and his mundane life. That was actually very clever, but this was a classic case of “finish what you started” gone bad. All actions have consequences and I liked that they went for it but it wasn’t exactly a home run, as you can see. Halfway through the season, it became problematic. Every single episode had a ‘malec’ bait, like jesus, if you’re going to make Malec the A-plot of this season, stick with it. Don’t give 2-4 minutes worth of Malec and call it a day. Don’t get me started on those OOC moments throughout the season, I almost wanted to bleach my eyes just re-watching those. I love Malec with all my heart, they are my babies. So I am very critical of how they write them in because, even Cassie Clare took her time exploring the relationship of Malec in the books. And I couldn’t be any happier when she finally had them married by the end of the Dark Artifices trilogy. That was 12 years in the making, that’s how you build a relationship. I hope these writers paid attention to how CC handled Malec in the books. 

The Dark Clary, Team Evil and Jonathan arc- this, was a missed opportunity. The books had a better way of depicting Jonathan as the BIG BAD of the Heavenly Fire book. Luke is great as a Jonathan, but the material he’s given is lack luster that unless the next episode (3x20) needs to deliver the big guns for his character, otherwise, Asmodeus could easily steal his thunder. Dark Clary wasn’t much of a help either. I mean, you turned her evil, and a few episodes after, she turns back to being good again. Way to go for character development. Even if they had a 4th season, having Clary turn 2 episodes before the season finale isn’t exactly the smartest way to do it. I will bet my ass that they will just brush this arc right under our noses and we’d forget about it because there’s another Malec trope happening. And they say this is the A-plot of this season? Really? I mean, really? That’s not a trick question. I need answers from the SH writers. 

The rest of the sub plots- Sizzy, Jordan/Maia, Luke as a Praetor, Asmodeus and Magnus were fillers they needed in order to complete a 40 minute episode. The only redeeming quality of those plot lines were the acting, otherwise, if they had bad actors acting out poorly written arcs, you can just imagine the backlash they’d get. 

Overall, this feels like they will close the Dark Clary arc as soon as they can and bait us with a world-ending moment with Malec to tide us through the 2 hour series finale where they promised to give us a Malec wedding. Because I refuse to accept that it’s anything but a Malec wedding. We’ve been robbed of so many good plots this season that a wedding is the only way to fix this mess they created. 

For now, let’s re-watch the entire 3B season before heading to the season finale next week. 

Keep the fight alive, Angels! 

#saveshadowhunters #shadowhunters #shadowhunters 3b #malec #clace #sizzy

[thereaderandthechef]

Classic question! What are you currently reading? 🍂😍🙌 . Welcome to our tour stop for The Revelation of Three by Sara M. Schaller! Get ready for another adventure as three friends, and the angels they now consider family, travel the globe in search of a way to save each other—and the world. This is the second installment in The Empyrean trilogy & it was published on August 3rd, 2021 from Designs by Seraphim. 🍂✨
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Oh how have things changed from Book 1, The Genesis of Seven! I remember reading about Jordan, ready to move out from the orphanage, and how an encounter with mysterious people and a backpack he was entrusted to deliver, sent him down a life-changing adventure to *possibly* save the world. The Revelation of Three continues Jordan’s journey as he faces new challenges when things quickly become not so black and white in the war against hell. Power struggles, amazing friendship dynamics, insecurities and the big question of who is the bigger evil, made The Revelation of Three to be my favorite in the series to date. Though I know book 3 will for sure be even more amazing! 😍🙌 Can’t wait!! . 🍂INTL TOUR PRIZE🍂
Win a signed Hardcover of The Revelation of Three + a Bookmark, Pins, Tote Bag & Tapestry Art Print! . 🍂HOW TO ENTER: - Like & leave a comment
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🍂EXTRAS: - Invite friends in the comments! - Share this post via stories tagging us & mtmctours - Visit the next tour stop tomorrow: @a_bookish_dream . Ends November 27th. Results announced on mtmctours' account in the tour wrap-up. Must be 18+ or have parental permission to enter. (Not affiliated/endorsed by Instagram) . . . #bookaesthetics #yabookstagram #bookishcommunity #bookcollector #bookseries #bookblogging #whatimreading #fortheloveofbooks #bookoftheday https://www.instagram.com/p/CWT-JwKv0gK/?utm_medium=tumblr

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[bookwhoreunleashed]

2021 ARC 8 #DeliverUsFromEvil by @authormonicajames Deliver Us From Evil Trilogy Book #3 . Links to the full review below. . 📖 Blurb: Monsters are real…and that monster is me. I’ve surrendered. I have no other choice. With Babydoll gone, I’m going to do whatever it takes to find her. I will lie. Cheat. Murder…and I’ll do so with a smile. I’ll even sell my soul to the devil…because that’s who my father, Sean Kelly, is. He won’t stop until Belfast is his. He knows I’m at my breaking point. Just how far will he push until I lose myself to the darkness for good? But I’m prepared to give it all away. She’s all that matters. However, this life isn’t done with me yet. A startling secret threatens to destroy me, and a new player is introduced into the game. I don’t know if he is a friend or foe. What I do know is that he has the power to change the world as I know it. He wants what is mine. My kingdom. My name. And my legacy. But I am Puck Kelly—and every monster is scared of somethin’…and that somethin’ is me. No more hiding in the shadows because I’m huntin’ youse, and this time, I won’t lose. Run, wee monsters, run. . . . ✔️Buy Link: Amazon.com: https://amzn.to/2TkAg79 . . 📚 Goodreads Link:  * https://bit.ly/3rl4ovO . . 📚 Bookbub Link: * https://bit.ly/2VqOZy4 . . ✍️ Review Links: * Amazon: https://amzn.to/3zkNrUV * Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3xRDUEJ * Bookbub: https://bit.ly/3717hJ3 . . #goodreads #bookworm #bibliophile #bookstagram #romance #readingchallenge #goodreads #amazon #teaser #bookwhore https://www.instagram.com/p/CRih3tNDBRg/?utm_medium=tumblr

#deliverusfromevil #3 #goodreads #bookworm #bibliophile #bookstagram #romance #readingchallenge #amazon #teaser #bookwhore