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Gloom of Kilforth: A Fantasy Quest Game
Gloom of Kilforth: A Fantasy Quest Game
2017 | Card Game, Dice Game, Fantasy, Roleplaying
Over 250 unique pieces of high quality artwork (3 more)
Solo play using one character
Massive replayability
An evolving story that's different every time
Can take 4-5 hours with 4 players (1 more)
Can be brutally hard if the dice roll bad
An Epic Narrative Adventure Game for 1 to 4 heroes
Gloom of Kilforth is an epic narrative adventure where you try to complete your saga and defeat the ancient evil bringing the land into gloom.

You start by choosing a character, class and a saga to tell. Your character and class give you your starting stats (combat, knowledge, sneak and influence) while the sagas are 4 chapters long and each chapter requires 2 (or 3 if only playing 1-2 players) keywords to complete. Completing a chapter levels up your character giving you more health and a new skill.
Keywords are found on the cards you encounter as you search the map and are colour coded to give you a hint to where they are most likely to be found.

The map is a 5x5 grid of cards with Sprawl City in the centre and a mix of Forests, Mountains, Plains and Badlands arranged randomly around it.
Every time you enter an empty location, you draw a card from the relevant terrain deck and interact with it.

Encounters are won by rolling a number of d6 dice equal to your skill in the stat list d on the encounter. Success is on a 5 or 6 so playing to your character's strengths is paramount.

Each player starts with 4 health and at the start of each round, you gain action points equal to your current health which makes strategy and stealth the key to early success.
It also means that the game starts slowly but starts to snowball as you complete the chapters of your saga and level up.

At the end of each round, you make camp and draw a night card which causes a location to fall into gloom and possibly trigger an event. A character ending the day on a gloom location will suffer 1 health point loss.
This is the game timer, so you have 25 days to complete your saga, gain more skills and equipment and confront the big bad.

Despite the random encounter draws and the size of each terrain deck (30+ cards each), every card has been carefully designed to fit into the game and let you narrate a unique story as you play.

If you want a unique narrative adventure game with a solid depth of strategy, look no further.
  
Strange world (2022)
Strange world (2022)
2022 | Adventure, Animation
6
6.1 (7 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Takes Too Long To Find It's Legs
If a film is going to be 1/2 good and 1/2 bad, is it better to have the good part first (which will get you to watch until the end) or last (which will leave you with a good feeling, if you make it that far). With the new Disney Animated Film STRANGE WORLD it is bad first, good second. So, if you stick through the disjointed first part of this film, you’ll be rewarded for your persistence with an interesting and satisfying finale.

A nod to the “Pulp Magazine” Science Fiction works of the 1950’s, STRANGE WORLD follows the adventures of the Clade clan as they try to find out what is beyond the hills of their land with the central conflict of this movie being that the Grandfather - the great explorer Jaeger Clade - wanting to explore. His son, Searcher Clade, wanting to stay put and the Grandson, Ethan Clade, caught between the 2.

It is pretty standard fare that is made all the more confusing by the setup of the premise and the clumsy introduction of the myriad of characters and situations that leads the audience to the exploration adventure that is to come.

Written and Co-Directed by Qui Nguyen (and directed by Don Hall) - both of whom are responsible for the criminally under-rated RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON - Strange World stumbles out of the gate and spends the first 1/2 (maybe even the first 2/3) trying to recover from that stumble.

It finally does get it’s legs under itself and the end is worth the patience one must have to get through the beginning.

The voice cast is steady - but unspectacular. Jake Gyllenhaal (Searcher), Gabrielle Union (Meridian Clade - the Mom and pilot), Jaboukie Young-White (Ethan, the Grandson), Lucy Liu (explorer Callisto Mal) and Dennis Quaid (Jaeger, the Grandfather) all put in “professional” work, but none of them stick out - which is especially disappointing in Quaid’s case, for his character looks like it was written to be the quirky, different, interesting character.

Disney animation has had a mixed bag with “action/adventure” animated films. For every BIG HERO 6, there are TREASURE PLANET attempts that seemed earnest and well-meaning, but just don’t hit the mark.

If you are in the mood for a good Disney/Animated adventure that comes from Hall and Nguyen, skip STRANGE WORLD and, instead, check out RAYA AND THE LAST DRAGON.

Letter Grade: C+

5 1/2 stars (out of 10) - and you can take that to the Bank(ofMarquis)
  
Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
2019 | Action, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Amazing world building (1 more)
Jaw dropping special effects
The love story kind of let it down (0 more)
A master class in science fiction
So I saw this movie Friday and I loved it ,this is the kind of movie you have to see on the biggest screen possible ,and beautiful to look at ,I completely forgot that the character of ALITA is completely rendered in I computer there are times where you swear that ALITA is a real human being ,the action is top notch it has some of the most exciting action set pieces I've seen in a movie period especially the motor ball scene ,it was a joy to watch that entire scene play out and my mouth was on the floor the entire time ,that scene alone is worth the ticket admission,the acting is great across the board you could tell that everyone involved was passionate about this project and they wanted to make the best movie possible ,there is however an aspect of this movie I thought didn't work and that was the love story it felt it was unnecessary but it did pay off in the end ,I'm not going to go into spoilers because I believe the best way to see this spectacular movie is to go in knowing next to nothing and just experience it ,I will say this Alita battle angel is a fast paced ,epic ,science fiction adventure and I came out of the screening wanting more ,this movie is a passion project for James Cameron and you can really tell ,after seeing this I can't wait to see what he brings to the table with his avatar sequels..I loved this movie !!!!
  
Captain Marvel (2019)
Captain Marvel (2019)
2019 | Action, Adventure
First female lead for Marvel (2 more)
Unexpected twists
Kept with MCU continuity
Kree make up lacked a little (2 more)
Good Marvel knowledge required to make full sense of movie
Possibly released too close to Endgame to get the recognition it deserves
Brie Larson rocks Captain Marvel with almost perfect performance
Brie Larson kicks butt in this action packed adventure that takes Carol Danvers on a trip down (a very long) memory lane.

The overall plot of the movie works brilliantly and does well to give fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe a glimpse of the raw power that Captain Marvel posseses. The story (with good reason obviously) focused a lot on Captain Marvels journey to learn who she is and where she comes from. In doing that however I feel like Marvel left us with little back story behind the Kree-Skrull war. This could be paid off in later films but I do feel as though this was the perfect opportunity.

The 90's feel was executed to perfection, from the costumes to the sets, the soundtrack to the technology, there was a perfect amount of nostalgia without it getting close to cheesy. This allowed the film to focus on it's 'Top Gun' style and makes it stand out and stand strong amongst any other Marvel film to date.

Whilst I feel there was a small amount of detail missing, overall I thought the film was an action packed rollercoaster of fun which made great use of the opportunity to set up everything that was to come in the MCU timeline.

Brie Larson and Samuel L Jackson were terrific and I hope they can collaborate further in any planned sequel.

On a final note, now that Captain Marvel is out there for the world to see, bring on Avengers: Endgame!

Higher Futher Faster.
  
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Eleanor (1463 KP) rated Star Trek: Discovery - Season 1 in TV

May 24, 2019 (Updated May 24, 2019)  
Star Trek: Discovery - Season 1
Star Trek: Discovery - Season 1
2017 | Sci-Fi
Packed full of great characters (0 more)
Klingons aren't very interesting in this (1 more)
Wired propulsion system makes little sense
Slick action packed adventure
I grew up on Star Trek The Next Generation and was pretty obsessed with it, all those now defunct VHS tapes...sigh. I enjoyed the Original series (in particular Doctor McCoy) but things started to go awry with Deep Space Nine and I struggled to get into it until the later series and the Dominion came into it. Voyager never did a lot for me the Borg made it tolerable at times and I just plain gave up on Enterprise so it’s safe to say I went into watching Discovery without much hope but came out of season 1 pleasantly surprised.

Set before the adventures of the Original series Discovery is a star-ship with a revolutionary propulsion system and set to be a key part in the battle against the Klingons which this series focuses on (the look they went for with the Klingons in this didn’t work for me - too much like a Cornish pasty head.)

Unlike previous incarnations, Discovery doesn't focus around the Captain, instead we focus more on the character of Michael Burnham who’s pretty a smart kick ass type of girl. It’s the characters and the acting in this that really engaged, I don’t think I’ve liked as many of the main cast as this before.

When we start dealing with the Mirror universe (remember goatee Spock in the original series?) this series really got going for me I love the Terran empire and when we meet the Emperor it’s just great.

This series was full of continuing story lines (unlike the more traditional Trek standalone episode formula) and had a lot more action based feel to it. It’s different but enjoyable, looking forward to watching series 2.
  
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Kyera (8 KP) rated The Dark Prophecy in Books

Jan 31, 2018  
The Dark Prophecy
The Dark Prophecy
Rick Riordan | 2017 | Children
10
9.0 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
Please read the first book in the series before delving into this one, otherwise, you will be very confused. I would recommend this book to middle grade/young adult readers who have enjoyed Rick Riordan's other novel, mythology, fantasy or action/adventure books.

It was really great to see Apollo's character continue to develop throughout the book. As time passes, he learns what it means to be human and begins to understand mortality. As a god, he was always removed from a situation - sending worthy Demi-gods to do his bidding without a care for their safety or lives. As Lester, he develops relationships with other people and learns to truly care about their wellbeing.

Although this series is called the Trials of Apollo, and Apollo himself would be quite insulted that I suggest he is not sufficiently impressive to carry this book - but there is not enough Percy Jackson. I am glad however, that there is a lot of Leo. He is hilarious and I am so happy to get to spend more time battling monsters and immortals with one of the Seven.

The endings feel like they come out of no-where, which is exactly how I felt rereading the first book in this series. Although the end of the book's plot follows the typical action-filled climax, conclusion of event and a short "how things have changed" final few pages - I will be reading, turn the last page and be confused when all I see are the terms in the glossary, rather than another chapter. It feels abrupt and I wish that there would be more to the end. The final pages feel like they're the end of a chapter rather than a book.
  
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Now and Forever (Wild at Heart, #2)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Romance and suspense in the mountains of Idaho Territory, 1866.

Shannon Wilde, the middle sister, has a soft spot for animals. She cares for her flock of sheep on her homestead. When her life takes a dramatic turn off of a cliff with Matthew Tucker, she finds herself married to the rugged mountain man. Shannon is a strong independent woman who is not used to being protected by a man. But as attacks begin to try and drive her off her land, maybe she needs that protection after all. The attacker picked the wrong family to mess with, Tucker's fury is not something to trifle with. But will he be able to protect the wife that he is falling in love with? Will her past drive a wedge between them? Find out on another adventure with the Wilde family!

Mary Connealy is quickly becoming one of my favorite western authors. Her romantic comedy has a side of action and terror, which makes her books well balanced. Now & Forever is not for squeamish stomachs however. I found myself grimacing as I read through a couple of the scenes. I was hooked from the start though, and I couldn't put it down through all of the action and suspense. It really felt like Criminal Minds meets the Old West as they try to find out who is behind the attacks. I enjoyed watching as Shannon and Tucker's relationship developed, turning into love and respect for one another. After experiencing unbelievable horrors in he Civil War, Shannon's faith is on shaky ground. Tucker helps her through her journey of reestablishing that faith in God. Even with their challenging upbringings and pasts, they learn to work through their differences, becoming a team that is inseparable.

I received a free copy of Now & Forever from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for my honest review.
  
Demon Crew (The Wolfborne Saga #5)
Demon Crew (The Wolfborne Saga #5)
Cheree Alsop | 2019 | Paranormal, Young Adult (YA)
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Demon Crew is the fifth book in The Wolfborne Saga and we continue with Zev and Virgo being part of a super-secret government agency... although Zev didn't actually agree to any of it! I admire Zev's resilience and his ability to forgive because I honestly don't think I would be able to do so! There is also a new woman in Zev's life although he's not sure if he actually likes this one as she is dhampir. Needless to say, the action and adventure start immediately and Zev remains the humble hero.

Now, I'm going to admit that I wasn't all that happy about reading this book. Virgo really did me in at the end of the last one and the thought of Zev back in chains did absolutely nothing for me. However, Ms. Alsop has managed to win me over yet again. Not only did I enjoy this book but it has become my favourite (so far) of the series! And yes, I know I've moved that title as I've read through the series, but that should tell you something!!!

As with all the books, this one leaves you on a cliffhanger, wanting more. The world continues to delight with all the action and fights you could ask for. The characters are lifelike and full of sarcasm and wit. The pacing is once again smooth and will keep you turning the pages. I really can't recommend either the book or the series highly enough.

* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and the comments here are my honest opinion. *

Merissa
Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!