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Charlie Cobra Reviews (1840 KP) rated Made In Abyss in TV
Mar 3, 2021 (Updated Mar 27, 2021)
Animation, this anime is beautifully drawn (2 more)
Soundtrack, the musical score adds much to the ambiance of the world
The characters, great character design and character development
I wish it was more than 13 episodes (1 more)
The cute characters design fools you into thinking nothing bad can happen in this show
A Beautifully Frightening Journey That's Emotionally Gripping
(CCR Original Content) Made In Abyss Review [Spoiler Free Review and Spoiler Section below picture] (9/10)
Made In Abyss is a Japanese dark fantasy/adventure/sci-fi anime series adapted by Kinema Citrus from the manga written and illustrated by Akihito Tsukushi. It was directed by Masayuki Kojima and written by Hideyuki Kurata with character designs by Kazuchika Kise and animation by studio Kinema Citrus. Kevin Penkin composed the soundtrack and the anime originally aired from July 7 to September 29, 2017. The series was licensed by Sentai Filmworks in North America.
The Abyss, a huge gaping chasm stretching down into the depths of the earth, filled with mysterious creatures and relics from a time long past raises countless questions. How did it come to be? What lies at the bottom? Countless brave individuals, known as "Delvers", have sought to solve these mysteries, fearlessly descending into its darkest realms. An orphaned young girl, Riko, and a humanoid robot, Reg begin their adventure to descend into the titular "Abyss", that leads deep into the Earth, in hopes of finding her mother.
This show is definitely going to be on my list as one of the best anime of all time. The animation is beautiful and the character designs were definitely misleading or deceptive in how cute and "chibi"-ish they look in comparison to how the story or plot goes. This was definitely a tear jerker in my opinion and such a great show. I personally haven't seen any of the movies that came after it but I hear that two (Made in Abyss: Journey's Dawn & Made In Abyss: Wandering Twilight) are actually just re-caps of the series and the third Made In Abyss: Dawn of The Deep Soul is actually something different. Not sure if it's a prequel or sequel because I didn't want to read any spoilers before watching it. As I was saying before, not to hype it up to much but this was definitely a great anime from the animation to the soundtrack to the concept and plot. I really liked the characters too. Riko is so smart and determined and Reg has the whole "born yesterday" thing going on with amnesia which is a little "cliché" but he still comes out being a pretty cool character too. The anime has a lot of beautiful and unique scenery and landscapes and it really feels like you go with them on the journey which only heightens the ups and downs of the adventure with gets surprisingly dark for how cheery it seems from a lot of the pictures I've seen of it. I would get into more details but I don't want to spoil anything, definitely gave me some Studio Ghibli vibes and I can't recommend it enough for people who like anime like Princess Mononoke and Madoka Magica. I give it a solid 9 which isn't a first for me but I usually don't give anything higher than a 8 and I'm sure there's things that you can find wrong with it but for me it was the whole experience from beginning to end that really sealed it for me.
-------------------------------------------------------
Spoiler Review Section:
(I actually didn't spoil anything because I didn't want to ruin for anyone because I thought this anime was so good.)
This was such a great anime and I had a really great time watching it with my brother who showed it to me. It has beautiful animation and the musical score really adds to the ambience and the awesome world building they did when they made this anime. So the whole thing with this anime is the people in it live in a town called Orth that exists on this island around a giant pit in the ground and when I say giant I mean gigantic. This pit is not only huge in circumference but is also very deep something like 12,000 meters or around 40,000 feet which would make it deeper than the Mariana Trench. In this world there are explorers who go down into the Abyss to explore it's many mysteries and also to bring back ancient relics of a long lost civilization. These relics are worth money and the orphans that are the main characters in this anime do this kind of like a job while they live at the orphanage called Belchero Orphanage in the town of Orth. People that explore into the Abyss are called Cave-Raiders or Delvers and they have a lot to deal with beside the dangerous creatures and the arduous descent, there is also the "curse of the Abyss" which gets worse the deeper you go. It's a very mysterious and potentially deadly side-effect of having ventured into the Abyss and because of it there are very few people who have gone down into the lower depths and returned. The only way I can explain it is that it's similar to deep underwater diving and how if you don't decompress it can damage your lungs and kill you. There's also a class system put in place that classifies the different cave-raiders by experience or capability and it uses different colored whistles to differentiate them. White whistles are of the highest rank and considered legendary delvers who are also given a title. The main character is name Riko, she is a small 12-year old girl whose blonde with glasses and her mother is a legendary White Whistle named "Lyza, the Annihilator". Riko is obsessed with exploring the Abyss and has plans to reach the bottom and see her mother who never returned. The other main character is Reg, who is a robot or cyborg and like I mentioned earlier has amnesia and no memories of anything before being found by Riko. This anime may seem pretty "chibi" and innocent but believe me their journey isn't for the feint of heart and so much happens in such a short amount of time over the 13 episodes. That being said you definitely need to give this anime a chance, it has beautiful animation, a great soundtrack or musical score and a gripping plot that advances the characters through obstacles and dangers the further they go into the Abyss. This anime gets my "Must See Seal of Approval" and I give it a 9. I really can't wait to see what they have in store for the other movie that I still haven't seen yet but you can bet I'll be putting a review for that too.
https://youtu.be/om6HVFxmr_s
Made In Abyss is a Japanese dark fantasy/adventure/sci-fi anime series adapted by Kinema Citrus from the manga written and illustrated by Akihito Tsukushi. It was directed by Masayuki Kojima and written by Hideyuki Kurata with character designs by Kazuchika Kise and animation by studio Kinema Citrus. Kevin Penkin composed the soundtrack and the anime originally aired from July 7 to September 29, 2017. The series was licensed by Sentai Filmworks in North America.
The Abyss, a huge gaping chasm stretching down into the depths of the earth, filled with mysterious creatures and relics from a time long past raises countless questions. How did it come to be? What lies at the bottom? Countless brave individuals, known as "Delvers", have sought to solve these mysteries, fearlessly descending into its darkest realms. An orphaned young girl, Riko, and a humanoid robot, Reg begin their adventure to descend into the titular "Abyss", that leads deep into the Earth, in hopes of finding her mother.
This show is definitely going to be on my list as one of the best anime of all time. The animation is beautiful and the character designs were definitely misleading or deceptive in how cute and "chibi"-ish they look in comparison to how the story or plot goes. This was definitely a tear jerker in my opinion and such a great show. I personally haven't seen any of the movies that came after it but I hear that two (Made in Abyss: Journey's Dawn & Made In Abyss: Wandering Twilight) are actually just re-caps of the series and the third Made In Abyss: Dawn of The Deep Soul is actually something different. Not sure if it's a prequel or sequel because I didn't want to read any spoilers before watching it. As I was saying before, not to hype it up to much but this was definitely a great anime from the animation to the soundtrack to the concept and plot. I really liked the characters too. Riko is so smart and determined and Reg has the whole "born yesterday" thing going on with amnesia which is a little "cliché" but he still comes out being a pretty cool character too. The anime has a lot of beautiful and unique scenery and landscapes and it really feels like you go with them on the journey which only heightens the ups and downs of the adventure with gets surprisingly dark for how cheery it seems from a lot of the pictures I've seen of it. I would get into more details but I don't want to spoil anything, definitely gave me some Studio Ghibli vibes and I can't recommend it enough for people who like anime like Princess Mononoke and Madoka Magica. I give it a solid 9 which isn't a first for me but I usually don't give anything higher than a 8 and I'm sure there's things that you can find wrong with it but for me it was the whole experience from beginning to end that really sealed it for me.
-------------------------------------------------------
Spoiler Review Section:
(I actually didn't spoil anything because I didn't want to ruin for anyone because I thought this anime was so good.)
This was such a great anime and I had a really great time watching it with my brother who showed it to me. It has beautiful animation and the musical score really adds to the ambience and the awesome world building they did when they made this anime. So the whole thing with this anime is the people in it live in a town called Orth that exists on this island around a giant pit in the ground and when I say giant I mean gigantic. This pit is not only huge in circumference but is also very deep something like 12,000 meters or around 40,000 feet which would make it deeper than the Mariana Trench. In this world there are explorers who go down into the Abyss to explore it's many mysteries and also to bring back ancient relics of a long lost civilization. These relics are worth money and the orphans that are the main characters in this anime do this kind of like a job while they live at the orphanage called Belchero Orphanage in the town of Orth. People that explore into the Abyss are called Cave-Raiders or Delvers and they have a lot to deal with beside the dangerous creatures and the arduous descent, there is also the "curse of the Abyss" which gets worse the deeper you go. It's a very mysterious and potentially deadly side-effect of having ventured into the Abyss and because of it there are very few people who have gone down into the lower depths and returned. The only way I can explain it is that it's similar to deep underwater diving and how if you don't decompress it can damage your lungs and kill you. There's also a class system put in place that classifies the different cave-raiders by experience or capability and it uses different colored whistles to differentiate them. White whistles are of the highest rank and considered legendary delvers who are also given a title. The main character is name Riko, she is a small 12-year old girl whose blonde with glasses and her mother is a legendary White Whistle named "Lyza, the Annihilator". Riko is obsessed with exploring the Abyss and has plans to reach the bottom and see her mother who never returned. The other main character is Reg, who is a robot or cyborg and like I mentioned earlier has amnesia and no memories of anything before being found by Riko. This anime may seem pretty "chibi" and innocent but believe me their journey isn't for the feint of heart and so much happens in such a short amount of time over the 13 episodes. That being said you definitely need to give this anime a chance, it has beautiful animation, a great soundtrack or musical score and a gripping plot that advances the characters through obstacles and dangers the further they go into the Abyss. This anime gets my "Must See Seal of Approval" and I give it a 9. I really can't wait to see what they have in store for the other movie that I still haven't seen yet but you can bet I'll be putting a review for that too.
https://youtu.be/om6HVFxmr_s
Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated The Dead Sagas, Volume I, Part I in Books
Jul 10, 2018
The Dead Sagas: Volume I, Part I by Lee Conley is a dark fantasy novel, a horror saga unlike any other. This is not a book for the weak. This is the book for the bravest, the ones who dare to read it, and the ones who can handle to continue living with what they now know.
Book description:
In a land called Arnar, where brave warriors fight for glory, a great evil comes alive.
The secrets of which the scholars were writing about in the past years, the scary stories that were being told in families throughout the generations are becoming true.
Creatures we thought were dead are now walking through the streets, spreading their disease, killing innocent people, and are about to take over Arnar.
The brave warriors are prepared to die defending their lands, but how can you fight creatures that barely feel pain? Are the warriors strong enough?
My Thoughts:
A story that will leave you breathless until the very end, a story that will push you into anxiety and make you bite your nails. A story that speaks about evil, and good, love, bravery and survival, a book that will sit on your shelf after reading it, and you’ll give it a look once in a while, and say: Ahh.. that was good!
In The Dead Sagas we have the chance to follow the stories of many characters. We will meet scholars and apprentices, we meet warriors and lords, we meet people from the street, doing everything they can to survive, we meet survivors that have seen things and we will meet sailors that are dying.
From chapter to chapter, the story goes from one character to another, and we slowly see the progression of the evil creatures, the spreading pace by pace. While it starts with sailors getting sick and dying afterwards on a ship, it slowly continues to become more and more intense, as we see people literally transforming into dead walkers right after they die, right in front of our eyes.
You will meet Bjorn, who escaped a tribe that cooks and eats people, you will meet Arnulf, who sees unimaginable things will being a lord of the watch. You will see him go through the greatest pain in life, you will see him afraid and brave, you will see him fighting, even though he wants to go and cry in the corner and die.
You will meet a girl that sells her body, so she can buy food for her and her little brother. You will meet a woman warrior, and learn about her amazing and brave story, you will watch how people see their loved ones die right in front of their eyes, and sometimes, they even have to be the ones to kill them in order to survive.
Even though we learn so much about the characters and their stories, it was hard for me to really connect with any of them, as the chapters moved fast from one character to another. This is probably the reason to why I also found the beginning quite slow. It took me around 90 pages, to start realising what is happening.
There will be a lot of violence in this book, a lot of swearing, and scenes that might upset or offend you. This book is not for the weak ones, that is for sure. And while for some of you this might put you off this book, I do have to say that if the book didn’t have a strong language and violent scenes like it does, it wouldn’t have been the same.
The biggest ''flaw'' I had was the ending. I won’t say anything spoiler-ish , as I don’t want to ruin the book for you, but let’s just say that I didn’t expect it to end the way it did.
Even though this is a story about the dead people walking around and killing everything in front of them, this is actually a book about the survivors, the ones that managed to retell this story - the ones that lost anything and everything to be where they are now. This is for the lives of the brave souls, the mighty warriors, that were noble and tried to protect their lands.
A massive thanks to the author, Lee Conley, who managed to find me in the deep waters of Twitter, and who agreed to send me a paperback copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Book description:
In a land called Arnar, where brave warriors fight for glory, a great evil comes alive.
The secrets of which the scholars were writing about in the past years, the scary stories that were being told in families throughout the generations are becoming true.
Creatures we thought were dead are now walking through the streets, spreading their disease, killing innocent people, and are about to take over Arnar.
The brave warriors are prepared to die defending their lands, but how can you fight creatures that barely feel pain? Are the warriors strong enough?
My Thoughts:
A story that will leave you breathless until the very end, a story that will push you into anxiety and make you bite your nails. A story that speaks about evil, and good, love, bravery and survival, a book that will sit on your shelf after reading it, and you’ll give it a look once in a while, and say: Ahh.. that was good!
In The Dead Sagas we have the chance to follow the stories of many characters. We will meet scholars and apprentices, we meet warriors and lords, we meet people from the street, doing everything they can to survive, we meet survivors that have seen things and we will meet sailors that are dying.
From chapter to chapter, the story goes from one character to another, and we slowly see the progression of the evil creatures, the spreading pace by pace. While it starts with sailors getting sick and dying afterwards on a ship, it slowly continues to become more and more intense, as we see people literally transforming into dead walkers right after they die, right in front of our eyes.
You will meet Bjorn, who escaped a tribe that cooks and eats people, you will meet Arnulf, who sees unimaginable things will being a lord of the watch. You will see him go through the greatest pain in life, you will see him afraid and brave, you will see him fighting, even though he wants to go and cry in the corner and die.
You will meet a girl that sells her body, so she can buy food for her and her little brother. You will meet a woman warrior, and learn about her amazing and brave story, you will watch how people see their loved ones die right in front of their eyes, and sometimes, they even have to be the ones to kill them in order to survive.
Even though we learn so much about the characters and their stories, it was hard for me to really connect with any of them, as the chapters moved fast from one character to another. This is probably the reason to why I also found the beginning quite slow. It took me around 90 pages, to start realising what is happening.
There will be a lot of violence in this book, a lot of swearing, and scenes that might upset or offend you. This book is not for the weak ones, that is for sure. And while for some of you this might put you off this book, I do have to say that if the book didn’t have a strong language and violent scenes like it does, it wouldn’t have been the same.
The biggest ''flaw'' I had was the ending. I won’t say anything spoiler-ish , as I don’t want to ruin the book for you, but let’s just say that I didn’t expect it to end the way it did.
Even though this is a story about the dead people walking around and killing everything in front of them, this is actually a book about the survivors, the ones that managed to retell this story - the ones that lost anything and everything to be where they are now. This is for the lives of the brave souls, the mighty warriors, that were noble and tried to protect their lands.
A massive thanks to the author, Lee Conley, who managed to find me in the deep waters of Twitter, and who agreed to send me a paperback copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Alien Slave Masters: Part One
5.7
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The Captain's Pet When a distant planet’s ownership is in dispute, conquering aliens turn...
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Heather Cranmer (2721 KP) rated Promenade (The Dark Nocturne #3) in Books
Aug 30, 2022
After reading and loving the first two books in the Dark Nocturne series by Morgan Shamy, Serenade and Etude, I jumped right into reading the final book in the trilogy, Promenade. Promenade was the best book in the series which is saying a lot since I loved the first two! I was just sad that the trilogy was ending.
In Promenade, November and Vincent are in two separate eras in time. After an attack on November's life that lives others she cares about dead, she enlists the help of the Fae to help her get back in time to help stop Vincent's death in the present time. However, there's the shadow wraith that keeps coming after her to send her back to her time. November must convince Vincent, who's a totally different person than his present self, to somehow change the future to prevent his death in her time. However, things don't go as planned. More lives are lost, and November's plan is left in shambles.
I very much loved the plot of Promenade! I was hooked right from the start. Yes, the first two books in the series are fantastic, but Promenade really blew me away! There's so much action and adventure packed in each and every page throughout this book. It's hard not to get sucked right back into November's world. There was a few time where the pacing took off without me, and I was left confused, but that was not very often. Other than those few times, the pacing was perfect, and I found myself fully immersed in the story. I loved the setting of early 20th century London, England. With Shamy's great descriptions of everything that was around, I was easily transported back with November. It was easy to imagine everything going on around November. The world building was so good! The time travel aspect was written superbly, and it was done in a way that wasn't extremely confusing. In Promenade, we still had some mentions of blood walkers, shifters, and witches, but now November was also dealing with the Fae, the Shadow Fae, and a shadow wraith. I loved all the new types of fantasy beings in this book. There were a few plot twist throughout the book, and I loved how the whole trilogy was tied up nicely by the end of the book.
Where do I start with the characters in Promenade? Just like in the previous two books in the trilogy, Shamy does an amazing job at breathing life into each and every one of her characters no matter how big or small of a role they play. November redeemed herself in Promenade after annoying me in Etude. I admired her love and strong bond with Vincent. I loved how she'd risk everything just to try to make sure he and her friends would be alright (even if it would sometimes have the opposite effect). The depth of November's emotions felt very realistic, and I felt myself having the same feelings as November. I enjoyed reading about the Vincent of 1901. He was much different from the present day Vincent, and it was interesting to read how different they were. I liked how we got to know Quincey a little better in this book as well. I enjoyed learning more about him. Cam was also heavily featured, and I was thrilled! I've always had a soft spot for Cam after the first book in the trilogy when he turns over a new leaf. We are also introduced to the characters of Rowan and Hazel. Although they weren't featured a lot, they were still awesome characters. We also get to meet Vincent's father. Let's just say he is definitely a piece of work! Shamy does a fantastic job of making us kind of sympathize with him for wanting to protect his land and people but at the same time, hating him for what he's done to the people he thinks disobey him.
Trigger warnings for Promenade include murder, attempted murder, torture, violence, and blackmail.
Overall, Promenade is one of the best books I've read in awhile. With it's exciting plot and well developed characters, you'd be hard pressed not to like this book. I would definitely recommend Promenade by Morgan Shamy to those aged 14+ who are willing to stay up all night to finish a book due to how great it is!
In Promenade, November and Vincent are in two separate eras in time. After an attack on November's life that lives others she cares about dead, she enlists the help of the Fae to help her get back in time to help stop Vincent's death in the present time. However, there's the shadow wraith that keeps coming after her to send her back to her time. November must convince Vincent, who's a totally different person than his present self, to somehow change the future to prevent his death in her time. However, things don't go as planned. More lives are lost, and November's plan is left in shambles.
I very much loved the plot of Promenade! I was hooked right from the start. Yes, the first two books in the series are fantastic, but Promenade really blew me away! There's so much action and adventure packed in each and every page throughout this book. It's hard not to get sucked right back into November's world. There was a few time where the pacing took off without me, and I was left confused, but that was not very often. Other than those few times, the pacing was perfect, and I found myself fully immersed in the story. I loved the setting of early 20th century London, England. With Shamy's great descriptions of everything that was around, I was easily transported back with November. It was easy to imagine everything going on around November. The world building was so good! The time travel aspect was written superbly, and it was done in a way that wasn't extremely confusing. In Promenade, we still had some mentions of blood walkers, shifters, and witches, but now November was also dealing with the Fae, the Shadow Fae, and a shadow wraith. I loved all the new types of fantasy beings in this book. There were a few plot twist throughout the book, and I loved how the whole trilogy was tied up nicely by the end of the book.
Where do I start with the characters in Promenade? Just like in the previous two books in the trilogy, Shamy does an amazing job at breathing life into each and every one of her characters no matter how big or small of a role they play. November redeemed herself in Promenade after annoying me in Etude. I admired her love and strong bond with Vincent. I loved how she'd risk everything just to try to make sure he and her friends would be alright (even if it would sometimes have the opposite effect). The depth of November's emotions felt very realistic, and I felt myself having the same feelings as November. I enjoyed reading about the Vincent of 1901. He was much different from the present day Vincent, and it was interesting to read how different they were. I liked how we got to know Quincey a little better in this book as well. I enjoyed learning more about him. Cam was also heavily featured, and I was thrilled! I've always had a soft spot for Cam after the first book in the trilogy when he turns over a new leaf. We are also introduced to the characters of Rowan and Hazel. Although they weren't featured a lot, they were still awesome characters. We also get to meet Vincent's father. Let's just say he is definitely a piece of work! Shamy does a fantastic job of making us kind of sympathize with him for wanting to protect his land and people but at the same time, hating him for what he's done to the people he thinks disobey him.
Trigger warnings for Promenade include murder, attempted murder, torture, violence, and blackmail.
Overall, Promenade is one of the best books I've read in awhile. With it's exciting plot and well developed characters, you'd be hard pressed not to like this book. I would definitely recommend Promenade by Morgan Shamy to those aged 14+ who are willing to stay up all night to finish a book due to how great it is!
Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated The Dead Sagas, Volume I, Part I in Books
Aug 21, 2018
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The Dead Sagas: Volume I, Part I by Lee Conley is a dark fantasy novel, a horror saga unlike any other. This is not a book for the weak. This is the book for the bravest, the ones who dare to read it, and the ones who can handle to continue living with what they now know.
<b><i>Book description:</i></b>
In a land called Arnar, where brave warriors fight for glory, a great evil comes alive.
The secrets of which the scholars were writing about in the past years, the scary stories that were being told in families throughout the generations are becoming true.
Creatures we thought were dead are now walking through the streets, spreading their disease, killing innocent people, and are about to take over Arnar.
The brave warriors are prepared to die defending their lands, but how can you fight creatures that barely feel pain? Are the warriors strong enough?
<img src="https://gipostcards.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/result_1529522968460.jpg?w=510"/>;
<b><i>My Thoughts:</i></b>
A story that will leave you breathless until the very end, a story that will push you into anxiety and make you bite your nails. A story that speaks about evil, and good, love, bravery and survival, a book that will sit on your shelf after reading it, and you’ll give it a look once in a while, and say: Ahh.. that was good!
In The Dead Sagas we have the chance to follow the stories of many characters. We will meet scholars and apprentices, we meet warriors and lords, we meet people from the street, doing everything they can to survive, we meet survivors that have seen things and we will meet sailors that are dying.
From chapter to chapter, the story goes from one character to another, and we slowly see the progression of the evil creatures, the spreading pace by pace. While it starts with sailors getting sick and dying afterwards on a ship, it slowly continues to become more and more intense, as we see people literally transforming into dead walkers right after they die, right in front of our eyes.
You will meet Bjorn, who escaped a tribe that cooks and eats people, you will meet Arnulf, who sees unimaginable things will being a lord of the watch. You will see him go through the greatest pain in life, you will see him afraid and brave, you will see him fighting, even though he wants to go and cry in the corner and die.
You will meet a girl that sells her body, so she can buy food for her and her little brother. You will meet a woman warrior, and learn about her amazing and brave story, you will watch how people see their loved ones die right in front of their eyes, and sometimes, they even have to be the ones to kill them in order to survive.
Even though we learn so much about the characters and their stories, it was hard for me to really connect with any of them, as the chapters moved fast from one character to another. This is probably the reason to why I also found the beginning quite slow. It took me around 90 pages, to start realising what is happening.
There will be a lot of violence in this book, a lot of swearing, and scenes that might upset or offend you. This book is not for the weak ones, that is for sure. And while for some of you this might put you off this book, I do have to say that if the book didn’t have a strong language and violent scenes like it does, it wouldn’t have been the same.
The biggest ''flaw'' I had was the ending. I won’t say anything spoiler-ish , as I don’t want to ruin the book for you, but let’s just say that I didn’t expect it to end the way it did.
Even though this is a story about the dead people walking around and killing everything in front of them, this is actually a book about the survivors, the ones that managed to retell this story - the ones that lost anything and everything to be where they are now. This is for the lives of the brave souls, the mighty warriors, that were noble and tried to protect their lands.
A massive thanks to the author, Lee Conley, who managed to find me in the deep waters of Twitter, and who agreed to send me a paperback copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
The Dead Sagas: Volume I, Part I by Lee Conley is a dark fantasy novel, a horror saga unlike any other. This is not a book for the weak. This is the book for the bravest, the ones who dare to read it, and the ones who can handle to continue living with what they now know.
<b><i>Book description:</i></b>
In a land called Arnar, where brave warriors fight for glory, a great evil comes alive.
The secrets of which the scholars were writing about in the past years, the scary stories that were being told in families throughout the generations are becoming true.
Creatures we thought were dead are now walking through the streets, spreading their disease, killing innocent people, and are about to take over Arnar.
The brave warriors are prepared to die defending their lands, but how can you fight creatures that barely feel pain? Are the warriors strong enough?
<img src="https://gipostcards.files.wordpress.com/2018/07/result_1529522968460.jpg?w=510"/>;
<b><i>My Thoughts:</i></b>
A story that will leave you breathless until the very end, a story that will push you into anxiety and make you bite your nails. A story that speaks about evil, and good, love, bravery and survival, a book that will sit on your shelf after reading it, and you’ll give it a look once in a while, and say: Ahh.. that was good!
In The Dead Sagas we have the chance to follow the stories of many characters. We will meet scholars and apprentices, we meet warriors and lords, we meet people from the street, doing everything they can to survive, we meet survivors that have seen things and we will meet sailors that are dying.
From chapter to chapter, the story goes from one character to another, and we slowly see the progression of the evil creatures, the spreading pace by pace. While it starts with sailors getting sick and dying afterwards on a ship, it slowly continues to become more and more intense, as we see people literally transforming into dead walkers right after they die, right in front of our eyes.
You will meet Bjorn, who escaped a tribe that cooks and eats people, you will meet Arnulf, who sees unimaginable things will being a lord of the watch. You will see him go through the greatest pain in life, you will see him afraid and brave, you will see him fighting, even though he wants to go and cry in the corner and die.
You will meet a girl that sells her body, so she can buy food for her and her little brother. You will meet a woman warrior, and learn about her amazing and brave story, you will watch how people see their loved ones die right in front of their eyes, and sometimes, they even have to be the ones to kill them in order to survive.
Even though we learn so much about the characters and their stories, it was hard for me to really connect with any of them, as the chapters moved fast from one character to another. This is probably the reason to why I also found the beginning quite slow. It took me around 90 pages, to start realising what is happening.
There will be a lot of violence in this book, a lot of swearing, and scenes that might upset or offend you. This book is not for the weak ones, that is for sure. And while for some of you this might put you off this book, I do have to say that if the book didn’t have a strong language and violent scenes like it does, it wouldn’t have been the same.
The biggest ''flaw'' I had was the ending. I won’t say anything spoiler-ish , as I don’t want to ruin the book for you, but let’s just say that I didn’t expect it to end the way it did.
Even though this is a story about the dead people walking around and killing everything in front of them, this is actually a book about the survivors, the ones that managed to retell this story - the ones that lost anything and everything to be where they are now. This is for the lives of the brave souls, the mighty warriors, that were noble and tried to protect their lands.
A massive thanks to the author, Lee Conley, who managed to find me in the deep waters of Twitter, and who agreed to send me a paperback copy of this book in exchange for my honest opinion.
Paul Kellett (118 KP) rated Descent: Journeys in the Dark (Second Edition) in Tabletop Games
May 4, 2019
Plenty of expansions (1 more)
Decent quality miniatures
App can be buggy (1 more)
One side can snowball after a couple of wins
Descent: Journeys In The Dark has been around a long time now, starting as a huge dungeon crawler and morphing into a tactical skirmish / objective-based campaign game. It is supposed to be played with 2-5 players with 1 player being the "Overlord", controlling all the monsters and playing nasty cards on the other players playing the group of heroes (at least 2 heroes required). The game is a fun dice-chucker with a decent amount of strategy and on the whole, well balanced.
With a couple of big-box and half a dozen small-box expansions, not to mention the various hero & monster packs, there is a ton of stuff available and if you own everything, you will be able to choose from 72 heroes with 22 different class decks; fight against 45 different monster types, and encounter around 15 lieutenants over a total of 182 different scenarios. That's plenty to keep you quiet for a while.
So many cards...
Descent: An Overview In The Dark
Descent is a scenario-based game where you work through a tree of different missions, choosing the next one based on whether the heroes or the Overlord worn the last. Each scenario will have specific objectives - anything from stealing an item and reaching the exit to interrogating prisoners and defeating a fearsome Lieutenant of the Overlord. Some of the monsters to be encountered are specified in the scenario text with other free groups able to be chosen from traits specific to that scenario. This gives some variety meaning you will never face exactly the same monsters if you replay the scenarios.
The good players choose a hero from the stack of basic skill types - Fighter, Healer, Scout or Mage and then choose from one of the many class decks for each type so the Fighter could be a Knight or a Berzerker, the Mage a Necromancer and the Healer a Bard, etc. These decks give each hero their skills and form their general strategy.
Meanwhile, the Overlord player chooses one of two Basic decks of cards that will form the base of his defence against the heroes. One deck is more about springing traps while the other has more things to enhance monster attacks. After choosing the basic deck, the Overlord can choose a specialist deck. These can be used to fine tune the Overlord's strategy and at first, only one card is available, the others will be purchased with experience points after each scenario. Finally, if the relevant expansion packs are available, the Overlord can choose a Lieutenant deck which adds further depth to his strategy and also offers the chance to bring a powerful figure into play later in the campaign.
Solo? How So? Redjak has the answer.
With all that going on, it sounds like a fairly daunting if not impossible task to play a solo game of Descent but a fan going by the name of Redjak created two card-driven AI decks - Redjak's Automated Monster Variant (RAMV) and Redjak's Automated Overlord Variant (RAOV). These decks both allow a player, or group of players to play the game as a fully co-operative experience with the cards replacing the Overlord player.
I will say that it is preferable if you have a grasp of the basic rules before jumping into these variants as there can be a lot going on if you are trying to learn the game and the solo rules at the same time. It's probably best to only choose two heroes at first as playing four heroes is more involved but ultimately more rewarding.
These variants are available to download and print out and are also available from the Printer Studio website if you search, although if you are not in the US, then shipping gets expensive.
RAMV
The Monster AI deck is the simpler of the two AI's, being just concerned with the monster actions and leaving out all the Overlord's cards. I haven't played much with this variant but the rules are fairly straightforward. You will set up 4 decks - an Event deck, a Dark Influence deck, a Conditions deck and a Monster deck.
After choosing a scenario to play, you draw cards from the Monster deck, finding ones with icons matching those of the current scenario. This keeps things random and you will always have different things to fight. The selected monster groups will then be placed in "Teams" underneath a row of team cards that will give them their activation order. Finally you will place the encounter objective card for the current scenario. This will give you specific things for each monster group to focus on in terms of stopping you from winning.
You will take your turn alternating hero and monster groups, drawing cards at various points when the monsters should react to attacks, certain scenario triggers ond other in-game events.
It is a fairly simple system but it works really well, giving a solid, straightforward dungeon crawl feel of exploring a map and fighting monsters while trying to complete your quest. Definitely a good starting point and good if you want a 'quick' dungeon crawl.
RAOV
This is the meat, the full experience. Although daunting at first, if you are familiar with the game rules (and have possibly played RAMV a bit), then it will make sense once you get stuck in.
RAOV differs over RAMV in only having one deck, but the rule book is more in depth describing how everything gets played.
You set up as normal, decide on what decks the Overlord will be playing with, draw his starting hand of cards placing them face up on the table. (This variant uses D10 dice anytime you have to make selections)
and take all your heroes actions. If at any point one of your actions would trigger an Overlord card, then that card is played and discarded. Having an open hand means that there are fewer surprises and the Overlord cant be as evil as a human player would be, but it is still tricky and knowing what cards might trigger forces you to think about your strategy in a different way.
Once the heroes have all activated, then the Overlord take its turn, playing any cards that would trigger at the start of the turn. Then, you flip over the top card of the AI deck and activate the first monster group. These cards have a primary target, shown by the corresponding hero symbol and several secondary targets. This gives the monster a focus for its actions. The main text of the card is a list of actions and essentially you work down the list doing whatever actions you are able. Each monster that activates will draw a new card and follow it's orders.
That in a nutshell is it. The Overlord's cards will trigger at the first available opportunity and the monsters will follow a list of options. Once you get used to it, it flows really well and doesn't feel too fiddly at all.
An Open Dungeon
As well as the two AI variants, Redjak also created Delven Deep - a deck of cards each displaying a different map tile that you can use to play a completely randomly generated dungeon crawl. I have yet to try this out, but it is another option if you don't fancy playing through a scripted scenario and just want to explore a random map, killing things.
For The Digital Generation
Fantasy Flight Games have also released an official, free companion app on Android, Steam and IOS that will take control of the Overlord player. This app comes with, I think 2 campaigns - a short training story and a larger, full campaign. Other campaigns a random dungeon generator are available to purchase in the app. None of the printed scenarios are playable using this app and it doesn't use any of the overlord cards, plot decks, event cards or encounter cards.
I will say that I am not a fan of apps for board games and it was actually this app in particular that soured me on the whole idea. Many people really enjoy this app and it has breathed a new lease of life into the game, but unfortunately on my first playthrough, it decided to crash near to the end of a campaign and I essentially lost 6 hours of gaming. I would have had to start all over again from the beginning. That was not a fun experience and put me off completely.
The app borrows heavily from Redjak's work, giving you a list of options to work through when activating the monsters, and various other triggers. Unlike the printed scenarios, all the maps in the digital stories are hidden until you explore them, so you never know what you will encounter. Also, there is a hidden timer in the program that means if you take too long exploring, fighting or whatever, then the game will start throwing nastier and nastier events at you. This makes the game much more of a race than its cardboard cousin and ramps up the difficulty at a fast pace making you feel like you never have enough time to do what you want.
In My opinion, RAOV is the best way to play Descent solo. It uses absolutely everything in the box and gives the most realistic feeling of playing the complete game.
With a couple of big-box and half a dozen small-box expansions, not to mention the various hero & monster packs, there is a ton of stuff available and if you own everything, you will be able to choose from 72 heroes with 22 different class decks; fight against 45 different monster types, and encounter around 15 lieutenants over a total of 182 different scenarios. That's plenty to keep you quiet for a while.
So many cards...
Descent: An Overview In The Dark
Descent is a scenario-based game where you work through a tree of different missions, choosing the next one based on whether the heroes or the Overlord worn the last. Each scenario will have specific objectives - anything from stealing an item and reaching the exit to interrogating prisoners and defeating a fearsome Lieutenant of the Overlord. Some of the monsters to be encountered are specified in the scenario text with other free groups able to be chosen from traits specific to that scenario. This gives some variety meaning you will never face exactly the same monsters if you replay the scenarios.
The good players choose a hero from the stack of basic skill types - Fighter, Healer, Scout or Mage and then choose from one of the many class decks for each type so the Fighter could be a Knight or a Berzerker, the Mage a Necromancer and the Healer a Bard, etc. These decks give each hero their skills and form their general strategy.
Meanwhile, the Overlord player chooses one of two Basic decks of cards that will form the base of his defence against the heroes. One deck is more about springing traps while the other has more things to enhance monster attacks. After choosing the basic deck, the Overlord can choose a specialist deck. These can be used to fine tune the Overlord's strategy and at first, only one card is available, the others will be purchased with experience points after each scenario. Finally, if the relevant expansion packs are available, the Overlord can choose a Lieutenant deck which adds further depth to his strategy and also offers the chance to bring a powerful figure into play later in the campaign.
Solo? How So? Redjak has the answer.
With all that going on, it sounds like a fairly daunting if not impossible task to play a solo game of Descent but a fan going by the name of Redjak created two card-driven AI decks - Redjak's Automated Monster Variant (RAMV) and Redjak's Automated Overlord Variant (RAOV). These decks both allow a player, or group of players to play the game as a fully co-operative experience with the cards replacing the Overlord player.
I will say that it is preferable if you have a grasp of the basic rules before jumping into these variants as there can be a lot going on if you are trying to learn the game and the solo rules at the same time. It's probably best to only choose two heroes at first as playing four heroes is more involved but ultimately more rewarding.
These variants are available to download and print out and are also available from the Printer Studio website if you search, although if you are not in the US, then shipping gets expensive.
RAMV
The Monster AI deck is the simpler of the two AI's, being just concerned with the monster actions and leaving out all the Overlord's cards. I haven't played much with this variant but the rules are fairly straightforward. You will set up 4 decks - an Event deck, a Dark Influence deck, a Conditions deck and a Monster deck.
After choosing a scenario to play, you draw cards from the Monster deck, finding ones with icons matching those of the current scenario. This keeps things random and you will always have different things to fight. The selected monster groups will then be placed in "Teams" underneath a row of team cards that will give them their activation order. Finally you will place the encounter objective card for the current scenario. This will give you specific things for each monster group to focus on in terms of stopping you from winning.
You will take your turn alternating hero and monster groups, drawing cards at various points when the monsters should react to attacks, certain scenario triggers ond other in-game events.
It is a fairly simple system but it works really well, giving a solid, straightforward dungeon crawl feel of exploring a map and fighting monsters while trying to complete your quest. Definitely a good starting point and good if you want a 'quick' dungeon crawl.
RAOV
This is the meat, the full experience. Although daunting at first, if you are familiar with the game rules (and have possibly played RAMV a bit), then it will make sense once you get stuck in.
RAOV differs over RAMV in only having one deck, but the rule book is more in depth describing how everything gets played.
You set up as normal, decide on what decks the Overlord will be playing with, draw his starting hand of cards placing them face up on the table. (This variant uses D10 dice anytime you have to make selections)
and take all your heroes actions. If at any point one of your actions would trigger an Overlord card, then that card is played and discarded. Having an open hand means that there are fewer surprises and the Overlord cant be as evil as a human player would be, but it is still tricky and knowing what cards might trigger forces you to think about your strategy in a different way.
Once the heroes have all activated, then the Overlord take its turn, playing any cards that would trigger at the start of the turn. Then, you flip over the top card of the AI deck and activate the first monster group. These cards have a primary target, shown by the corresponding hero symbol and several secondary targets. This gives the monster a focus for its actions. The main text of the card is a list of actions and essentially you work down the list doing whatever actions you are able. Each monster that activates will draw a new card and follow it's orders.
That in a nutshell is it. The Overlord's cards will trigger at the first available opportunity and the monsters will follow a list of options. Once you get used to it, it flows really well and doesn't feel too fiddly at all.
An Open Dungeon
As well as the two AI variants, Redjak also created Delven Deep - a deck of cards each displaying a different map tile that you can use to play a completely randomly generated dungeon crawl. I have yet to try this out, but it is another option if you don't fancy playing through a scripted scenario and just want to explore a random map, killing things.
For The Digital Generation
Fantasy Flight Games have also released an official, free companion app on Android, Steam and IOS that will take control of the Overlord player. This app comes with, I think 2 campaigns - a short training story and a larger, full campaign. Other campaigns a random dungeon generator are available to purchase in the app. None of the printed scenarios are playable using this app and it doesn't use any of the overlord cards, plot decks, event cards or encounter cards.
I will say that I am not a fan of apps for board games and it was actually this app in particular that soured me on the whole idea. Many people really enjoy this app and it has breathed a new lease of life into the game, but unfortunately on my first playthrough, it decided to crash near to the end of a campaign and I essentially lost 6 hours of gaming. I would have had to start all over again from the beginning. That was not a fun experience and put me off completely.
The app borrows heavily from Redjak's work, giving you a list of options to work through when activating the monsters, and various other triggers. Unlike the printed scenarios, all the maps in the digital stories are hidden until you explore them, so you never know what you will encounter. Also, there is a hidden timer in the program that means if you take too long exploring, fighting or whatever, then the game will start throwing nastier and nastier events at you. This makes the game much more of a race than its cardboard cousin and ramps up the difficulty at a fast pace making you feel like you never have enough time to do what you want.
In My opinion, RAOV is the best way to play Descent solo. It uses absolutely everything in the box and gives the most realistic feeling of playing the complete game.
Ari Augustine (10 KP) rated Crave (Crave, #1) in Books
May 4, 2020
I am super torn about CRAVE by Tracy Wolff.
First off, the world is kind of amazing. I did love the Hogwarts-Vampire Academy-Narnia-in-Alaska vibes I was getting from the setting. It was beautiful, secluded, and totally magical. Grace is hilarious most of the time, filled with snark and near corny knock knock jokes, but I also enjoyed how she called characters out on their crap. She wasn't always a reckless mess, which was nice, and I readily felt for her grief over the death of her parents. From the beginning, I was there for her pain, her panic attacks, her bravery, her wit, and this new adventure before her. Second to Grace is Jaxon, who I adored in so many ways. Perfection and arrogance aside, he's totally a broody vampire, but this isn't the ONLY side to his character we get, and unlike so many other characters we could compare him to, he does change throughout the course of the book. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that maybe Jaxon, not Grace, is the main lead of this story. They had amazing chemistry, sexy banter, and I deeply enjoyed the tug o' war between them.
Okay. Now for the....not so great. For one, while the setting is so magical and new, we don't really get to explore it much. Yes, we get the AMAZING library filled with witches, unusual tomes, and gargoyles, but I would have loved to hear more about the classes, the different cliques, the way this new place functioned. Unfortunately, because Grace was left out of the loop for pretty much the whole book, we were, too. So we end up not really getting to explore this new place much and that really sucked. This brings us to a second thing I struggled with: Grace.
While I absolutely adored her character, I also kind of wanted to smack her and scream "OPEN YOUR EYES". Even with Macy (her cousin) half spelling it out and with all the impossibilities going on (like students standing outside in below 0 weather without jackets), Grace just sort of files it away as odd, but shrugs. Meh. So that guy wanted to murder me? Meh. So these beads shock everyone but me? Meh. So I fell from a tree and somehow this hot guy caught me midair? Double meh. The list goes on. This went on for the ENTIRE BOOK. And while it was all painfully obvious to us, it sailed over her head like an invisible wind. This really bothered me. Just like the instalove with Jaxon bothered me. Look, I believe in instant attraction. I know a hottie when I see one and, yeah, there's always that little phase of infatuation and attraction, but this started intense and just sort of ended with love bombs. The chemistry, as I said before, was amazing, but I wished we could have had more to go on. It bothered me that Grace was constantly throwing herself at Jaxon, forcing herself on him and forcing him to open on. She also made so many assumptions about Jaxon and I was waiting for her rationale, which never really came. It's like meeting a feral dog in the tundra and believing it wont harm you because it's one of God's creatures or something. She totally idolized him, and I think that, more than anything, kept preventing me from fully loving her as a character.
Odd things I don't know how to feel about: I can totally see where people here are comparing it to Twilight. It pretty much follows the same Vampire Romance formula. Human girl meets broody vampire boy who has a dark past, a set of fangs, and, of course, many enemies. The girl almost always sacrifices herself for love and that happens here, too. I will argue that these characters had WAY MORE personality than Bella and Edward, though. In fact, I FUCKING LOVES all the scenes where Grace handed Jaxon his ass. In fact, this is pretty much why I was unable to put the book down despite all the issues I had with it later. What struck me, though, was I couldn't shake the feeling that the book was either laughing at Twilight (by being a better version of it) or if it was laughing at itself....as if Twilight were the inside joke. This was actually the most entertaining part of the book, and I was unable to figure out if this was meant to be comedic or if I was just reading it that way. Does this make sense? There were so many Twilight references and at one point, Grace event comments to herself about how she wasn't going to be like those female heroines in YA fantasy novels. I don't know. I read this alongside a friend who also felt like the book wasn't taking itself seriously, but neither of us could tell if this was deliberate or not.
Overall, it was a light and entertaining read. Was it perfect? No. Is it funny? Hell yes. Lots of delicious fangy hotness? Um...YEAH. And despite all the problems I had with it, it was still a fun book to setting into during midterms week.
First off, the world is kind of amazing. I did love the Hogwarts-Vampire Academy-Narnia-in-Alaska vibes I was getting from the setting. It was beautiful, secluded, and totally magical. Grace is hilarious most of the time, filled with snark and near corny knock knock jokes, but I also enjoyed how she called characters out on their crap. She wasn't always a reckless mess, which was nice, and I readily felt for her grief over the death of her parents. From the beginning, I was there for her pain, her panic attacks, her bravery, her wit, and this new adventure before her. Second to Grace is Jaxon, who I adored in so many ways. Perfection and arrogance aside, he's totally a broody vampire, but this isn't the ONLY side to his character we get, and unlike so many other characters we could compare him to, he does change throughout the course of the book. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that maybe Jaxon, not Grace, is the main lead of this story. They had amazing chemistry, sexy banter, and I deeply enjoyed the tug o' war between them.
Okay. Now for the....not so great. For one, while the setting is so magical and new, we don't really get to explore it much. Yes, we get the AMAZING library filled with witches, unusual tomes, and gargoyles, but I would have loved to hear more about the classes, the different cliques, the way this new place functioned. Unfortunately, because Grace was left out of the loop for pretty much the whole book, we were, too. So we end up not really getting to explore this new place much and that really sucked. This brings us to a second thing I struggled with: Grace.
While I absolutely adored her character, I also kind of wanted to smack her and scream "OPEN YOUR EYES". Even with Macy (her cousin) half spelling it out and with all the impossibilities going on (like students standing outside in below 0 weather without jackets), Grace just sort of files it away as odd, but shrugs. Meh. So that guy wanted to murder me? Meh. So these beads shock everyone but me? Meh. So I fell from a tree and somehow this hot guy caught me midair? Double meh. The list goes on. This went on for the ENTIRE BOOK. And while it was all painfully obvious to us, it sailed over her head like an invisible wind. This really bothered me. Just like the instalove with Jaxon bothered me. Look, I believe in instant attraction. I know a hottie when I see one and, yeah, there's always that little phase of infatuation and attraction, but this started intense and just sort of ended with love bombs. The chemistry, as I said before, was amazing, but I wished we could have had more to go on. It bothered me that Grace was constantly throwing herself at Jaxon, forcing herself on him and forcing him to open on. She also made so many assumptions about Jaxon and I was waiting for her rationale, which never really came. It's like meeting a feral dog in the tundra and believing it wont harm you because it's one of God's creatures or something. She totally idolized him, and I think that, more than anything, kept preventing me from fully loving her as a character.
Odd things I don't know how to feel about: I can totally see where people here are comparing it to Twilight. It pretty much follows the same Vampire Romance formula. Human girl meets broody vampire boy who has a dark past, a set of fangs, and, of course, many enemies. The girl almost always sacrifices herself for love and that happens here, too. I will argue that these characters had WAY MORE personality than Bella and Edward, though. In fact, I FUCKING LOVES all the scenes where Grace handed Jaxon his ass. In fact, this is pretty much why I was unable to put the book down despite all the issues I had with it later. What struck me, though, was I couldn't shake the feeling that the book was either laughing at Twilight (by being a better version of it) or if it was laughing at itself....as if Twilight were the inside joke. This was actually the most entertaining part of the book, and I was unable to figure out if this was meant to be comedic or if I was just reading it that way. Does this make sense? There were so many Twilight references and at one point, Grace event comments to herself about how she wasn't going to be like those female heroines in YA fantasy novels. I don't know. I read this alongside a friend who also felt like the book wasn't taking itself seriously, but neither of us could tell if this was deliberate or not.
Overall, it was a light and entertaining read. Was it perfect? No. Is it funny? Hell yes. Lots of delicious fangy hotness? Um...YEAH. And despite all the problems I had with it, it was still a fun book to setting into during midterms week.
Cyn Armistead (14 KP) rated Carniepunk in Books
Mar 1, 2018
As soon as I read about this collection on Kevin Hearne's Facebook, I knew I would be buying it. I don't care for carnivals at all, and every story will be related to one in some way - but there was just no way I was going to miss an Atticus and Oberon story! I even pre-ordered the book on Amazon, the first time I've ever done that. It was SO hard not to skip right ahead and read Hearne's contribution the moment the book was in my hot little hands, but I managed some discipline.
Rob Thurman's "Painted Love" opens the book. It is dark, but to be fair it isn't quite as dark as the only Thurman novel I've read, from the Cal Leandros series. I rather liked the twist. I adored the fiercely protective older sister, especially the way she is described. I'll rate this one at three.
I don't believe I've ever read anything by Delilah S. Dawson before, certainly not anything in the Blud universe, so I had no idea what to expect from "The Three Lives of Lydia." It was a far darker story than I would generally choose to read. I found the male love interest highly appealing. The portrayal of mental illness was horrific. I found it interesting that Dawson is an Atlantan as well as a fellow geeky mom, but I'm sure that I've never heard of her before. She does have a book coming out next year that looks promising, so I may give it a read. This one's a two.
Then there is the Iron Druid story! "The Demon Barker of Wheat Street" is set a few books back in the series' chronology (two weeks after "Two Ravens and One Crow"), so Granuaille isn't yet a full Druid. To make things even more interesting, Atticus accidentally offended the local elemental many years ago, so his magic doesn't work as well as usual in the area. The story isn't vital to the series, and knowledge of the series isn't necessary for enjoying it. Hearne's fans definitely won't want to miss it, though, and it could be used as a nice little taste of his style for new readers. Definitely a five.
I couldn't make it through "The Sweeter the Juice" by Mark Henry. Zombies are disgusting, but I was way squicked before the first walking dead even appeared on the scene. A one, just because there are no zeroes.
Jaye Wells is another new-to-me author, as far as I can remember at the moment. I didn't really like "The Werewife," to be honest. There was no joy anywhere in this story. There wasn't even a hint that perhaps the couple in the story had been happy together at one time. Both of them seemed pretty miserable, and I didn't like the way it ended. It didn't seem like there was any way to give them a happy ending, but that ending didn't feel "true." It gets a two, and that's only to set it apart from the previous story.
"The Cold Girl" by Rachel Caine is about an abusive teen relationship. Oh, and vampires. I'm not a Caine fan, but this story was better than some of her other work. Again, too dark for my tastes. If half stars were possible, it would have one. I'll be nice and round up to three.
The name Allison Pang sounds familiar, so maybe I've read something by her in the past. If I did, I'm certain that it wasn't set in the same world as "A Duet With Darkness," which says it is an Abby Sinclair story. I found the main character to be an annoying, immature twit, but I'm a sucker for fiction with musical influences. The music is well-done here. I don't know if I will read anything more by Ms. Pang or not - I suppose that depends on whether or not her other work has better characters and is also musical. This one gets a four.
I found "Recession of the Divine" by Hillary Jacques fascinating. The Greek inspiration was unusual. I didn't really buy the customers being quite so unquestioning of Ophelia's state, but it wasn't a major complaint overall. I was highly disappointed to find nothing but a credit in another anthology for her. But! Reading the author profiles at the end of the book pays off, because that's how I learned that she also writes as Regan Summers. Now her works published under that name are on my to-read shelf. Another five.
Jennifer Estep's "Parlor Tricks" was actually released free on Amazon a little while back to promote Carniepunk, so it was the first story I read. I enjoy the Elemental Assassin series in general, and this story is no exception. Again, knowledge of the series is not required to understand the story, and the story is not vital to the series. It is a nice little sample, though, and I enjoyed seeing Gin and Bria having a sisterly outing. I'm probably biased, but it gets a five.
I liked Kelly Meding's "Freak House" a lot, and her name sounded familiar, but the story was set in the "Strays" universe, which I was certain I had never heard of before. I actually stirred myself to look her up, and learned that I've had one of her books on my to-read list for ages, and Strays is a new series she's just starting. Djinn, werewolves, vampires, pixies, harpies, leprechauns, skinwalkers, and more, some "out" to humans, some living hidden - what's not to love? This one gets a four.
Nicole Peeler us yet another author who sounded vaguely familiar to me, and yep, there is one of her books on my to-read list (yes, it is massive, why do you ask?). It is, in fact, the first of the Jane True books, and "The Inside Man" is set in that world. Peeler's writing style dies not flow for me, but I liked Capitola Jones and her friends Shar and Moo. As clowns are indisputably evil, I had little to complain about in the story. It gets a three.
Succubus (former?) Jezzie is the main character in Jackie Kessler's story "A Chance in Hell." Obviously, the story is set her Hell on Earth series. I had to look that up, though, because while I know you're shocked, her name did not ring any bells for me. I don't actually have ALL the urban fantasy books on my to-read or read lists! The piece opens with a confusing remark about a demon eating Jezebel's face, when that definitely is not the anatomy in question. If that's a common euphemism, it is wholly new to me. Within the next couple of pages there are multiple references to the fact that she has fallen in love with a human since becoming mortal, but absolutely no explanation of how she would reconcile sex with an incubus with her human love. As much as I would prefer that it were not the case, the default assumption in our society is that people are monogamous. Therefore, when there is a deviation from that norm, the reader expects - something. Is it supposed to demonstrate that the fictional society is different? Is the character in an explicitly non-monogamous relationship? Is her love unrequited? Is the guy dead? Do demons not count? Is she just a skanky ho? Then this great love isn't mentioned again for the rest of the story, so none of the questions raised are answered. Oh. There is, in fact, a plot here, but I was so annoyed by that stuff that I almost failed to notice it. Demonic circus, yo. The whole demon thing reminds me too much of another series I've read in the past. I can't even remember the author's name, much less the title, right now, but Kessler's work feels derivative. She gets a two.
Next up is Kelly Gay - Hey look! Another author whose name I don't recognize! - with "Hell's Menagerie," a Charlie Madigan short story. Okay, this series is set in an alternate Atlanta. As an Atlanta girl, that certainly gets my attention. And Charlie is a single mother. I don't recall any other single mothers in the UF world right off. (Kate Daniels doesn't quite count, because she adopted her daughter as a teen. Although it is interesting to note that Kate is also Atlanta-based.) I was ready to like this one, based solely on what I knew of the series. Then there was a grammatical error on the second page of the story that set my teeth on edge, one which could not be chalked up to a character's voice. Add in the fact that we get a fast, "and also, Jim" style introduction to Charlie (who isn't even present in the story!), Rex, and Emma in less than two pages, and I am officially annoyed. It isn't an old matinee movie, so surely that information could have been worked in a little more naturally? Emma won me over. Mostly. There's some, "Not another super-gifted kid," reaction, but I guess if the mother is supposed to be all that it's to be expected that the daughter might be special, too. Hmm. A three.
The last piece is Seaman McGuire's "Daughter of the Midway, the Mermaid, and the Open, Lonely, Sea." Is that title a mouthful, or what? It has the feel of a Toby Daye story, although it isn't subtitled as such, and there are no fae so maybe it isn't in that universe at all. As there are other stories in the book that are set in the same world as their author's series, yet not marked in any way, lack of a subtitle can't be taken as a negative indicator, though. In any case, the story is poignant, which I've come to expect from McGuire. I didn't really like it, but I didn't dislike it, either. I couldn't "feel" Ada in any true sense. I have the same problem with Toby. A three at best.
Overall, the book was decent. The ratings only average out to 3.21, but I'm very glad to have read the stories by Hearne and Estep. Discovering Jacques/Summers was absolutely worthwhile. I really hate that I read as much of Henry's story as I did. If I could delete that from my memory, it would probably raise the rating for everything else.
Rob Thurman's "Painted Love" opens the book. It is dark, but to be fair it isn't quite as dark as the only Thurman novel I've read, from the Cal Leandros series. I rather liked the twist. I adored the fiercely protective older sister, especially the way she is described. I'll rate this one at three.
I don't believe I've ever read anything by Delilah S. Dawson before, certainly not anything in the Blud universe, so I had no idea what to expect from "The Three Lives of Lydia." It was a far darker story than I would generally choose to read. I found the male love interest highly appealing. The portrayal of mental illness was horrific. I found it interesting that Dawson is an Atlantan as well as a fellow geeky mom, but I'm sure that I've never heard of her before. She does have a book coming out next year that looks promising, so I may give it a read. This one's a two.
Then there is the Iron Druid story! "The Demon Barker of Wheat Street" is set a few books back in the series' chronology (two weeks after "Two Ravens and One Crow"), so Granuaille isn't yet a full Druid. To make things even more interesting, Atticus accidentally offended the local elemental many years ago, so his magic doesn't work as well as usual in the area. The story isn't vital to the series, and knowledge of the series isn't necessary for enjoying it. Hearne's fans definitely won't want to miss it, though, and it could be used as a nice little taste of his style for new readers. Definitely a five.
I couldn't make it through "The Sweeter the Juice" by Mark Henry. Zombies are disgusting, but I was way squicked before the first walking dead even appeared on the scene. A one, just because there are no zeroes.
Jaye Wells is another new-to-me author, as far as I can remember at the moment. I didn't really like "The Werewife," to be honest. There was no joy anywhere in this story. There wasn't even a hint that perhaps the couple in the story had been happy together at one time. Both of them seemed pretty miserable, and I didn't like the way it ended. It didn't seem like there was any way to give them a happy ending, but that ending didn't feel "true." It gets a two, and that's only to set it apart from the previous story.
"The Cold Girl" by Rachel Caine is about an abusive teen relationship. Oh, and vampires. I'm not a Caine fan, but this story was better than some of her other work. Again, too dark for my tastes. If half stars were possible, it would have one. I'll be nice and round up to three.
The name Allison Pang sounds familiar, so maybe I've read something by her in the past. If I did, I'm certain that it wasn't set in the same world as "A Duet With Darkness," which says it is an Abby Sinclair story. I found the main character to be an annoying, immature twit, but I'm a sucker for fiction with musical influences. The music is well-done here. I don't know if I will read anything more by Ms. Pang or not - I suppose that depends on whether or not her other work has better characters and is also musical. This one gets a four.
I found "Recession of the Divine" by Hillary Jacques fascinating. The Greek inspiration was unusual. I didn't really buy the customers being quite so unquestioning of Ophelia's state, but it wasn't a major complaint overall. I was highly disappointed to find nothing but a credit in another anthology for her. But! Reading the author profiles at the end of the book pays off, because that's how I learned that she also writes as Regan Summers. Now her works published under that name are on my to-read shelf. Another five.
Jennifer Estep's "Parlor Tricks" was actually released free on Amazon a little while back to promote Carniepunk, so it was the first story I read. I enjoy the Elemental Assassin series in general, and this story is no exception. Again, knowledge of the series is not required to understand the story, and the story is not vital to the series. It is a nice little sample, though, and I enjoyed seeing Gin and Bria having a sisterly outing. I'm probably biased, but it gets a five.
I liked Kelly Meding's "Freak House" a lot, and her name sounded familiar, but the story was set in the "Strays" universe, which I was certain I had never heard of before. I actually stirred myself to look her up, and learned that I've had one of her books on my to-read list for ages, and Strays is a new series she's just starting. Djinn, werewolves, vampires, pixies, harpies, leprechauns, skinwalkers, and more, some "out" to humans, some living hidden - what's not to love? This one gets a four.
Nicole Peeler us yet another author who sounded vaguely familiar to me, and yep, there is one of her books on my to-read list (yes, it is massive, why do you ask?). It is, in fact, the first of the Jane True books, and "The Inside Man" is set in that world. Peeler's writing style dies not flow for me, but I liked Capitola Jones and her friends Shar and Moo. As clowns are indisputably evil, I had little to complain about in the story. It gets a three.
Succubus (former?) Jezzie is the main character in Jackie Kessler's story "A Chance in Hell." Obviously, the story is set her Hell on Earth series. I had to look that up, though, because while I know you're shocked, her name did not ring any bells for me. I don't actually have ALL the urban fantasy books on my to-read or read lists! The piece opens with a confusing remark about a demon eating Jezebel's face, when that definitely is not the anatomy in question. If that's a common euphemism, it is wholly new to me. Within the next couple of pages there are multiple references to the fact that she has fallen in love with a human since becoming mortal, but absolutely no explanation of how she would reconcile sex with an incubus with her human love. As much as I would prefer that it were not the case, the default assumption in our society is that people are monogamous. Therefore, when there is a deviation from that norm, the reader expects - something. Is it supposed to demonstrate that the fictional society is different? Is the character in an explicitly non-monogamous relationship? Is her love unrequited? Is the guy dead? Do demons not count? Is she just a skanky ho? Then this great love isn't mentioned again for the rest of the story, so none of the questions raised are answered. Oh. There is, in fact, a plot here, but I was so annoyed by that stuff that I almost failed to notice it. Demonic circus, yo. The whole demon thing reminds me too much of another series I've read in the past. I can't even remember the author's name, much less the title, right now, but Kessler's work feels derivative. She gets a two.
Next up is Kelly Gay - Hey look! Another author whose name I don't recognize! - with "Hell's Menagerie," a Charlie Madigan short story. Okay, this series is set in an alternate Atlanta. As an Atlanta girl, that certainly gets my attention. And Charlie is a single mother. I don't recall any other single mothers in the UF world right off. (Kate Daniels doesn't quite count, because she adopted her daughter as a teen. Although it is interesting to note that Kate is also Atlanta-based.) I was ready to like this one, based solely on what I knew of the series. Then there was a grammatical error on the second page of the story that set my teeth on edge, one which could not be chalked up to a character's voice. Add in the fact that we get a fast, "and also, Jim" style introduction to Charlie (who isn't even present in the story!), Rex, and Emma in less than two pages, and I am officially annoyed. It isn't an old matinee movie, so surely that information could have been worked in a little more naturally? Emma won me over. Mostly. There's some, "Not another super-gifted kid," reaction, but I guess if the mother is supposed to be all that it's to be expected that the daughter might be special, too. Hmm. A three.
The last piece is Seaman McGuire's "Daughter of the Midway, the Mermaid, and the Open, Lonely, Sea." Is that title a mouthful, or what? It has the feel of a Toby Daye story, although it isn't subtitled as such, and there are no fae so maybe it isn't in that universe at all. As there are other stories in the book that are set in the same world as their author's series, yet not marked in any way, lack of a subtitle can't be taken as a negative indicator, though. In any case, the story is poignant, which I've come to expect from McGuire. I didn't really like it, but I didn't dislike it, either. I couldn't "feel" Ada in any true sense. I have the same problem with Toby. A three at best.
Overall, the book was decent. The ratings only average out to 3.21, but I'm very glad to have read the stories by Hearne and Estep. Discovering Jacques/Summers was absolutely worthwhile. I really hate that I read as much of Henry's story as I did. If I could delete that from my memory, it would probably raise the rating for everything else.
Roar started off slowly, but before long I was completely enamoured by the story. I personally love stories where elemental powers are part of the lore. Roar had a similar, yet unique take on those special abilities.
There are people in the world, called Stormlings, who are able to use their affinities to battle storms. In this land, those abilities relate to the storms that plague the kingdoms and towns. A Stormling may have an affinity for sky fire and be able to battle lightning - or they may have an affinity for tornados. Many battle storms not only to protect their lands but in the attempt to gain more affinities. If strong enough, a Stormling could take the heart of the storm (which manifests as a rock or gem) and use it to channel their abilities.
Aurora is the future Queen of Pavan, but she has yet to show any hint of the power needed to protect her people. As a result, her mother sets up an arranged marriage with the second born son of a neighboring kingdom. Not all is as it appears and Rora sets out to discover the truth. She soon learns that Stormlings are not the only people with the ability to fight storms and realizes that she must learn from these storm hunters so that she can avoid the path her life is currently on.
Aurora begins the book as a strong female character despite the fact that she is forced into a more meek, agreeable role in order to secure the marriage, so it may not seem that way. Although she has not been able to access the magic her blood should give her, she has not rested on her laurels. Rora occasionally trains with the guards in swordsmanship, reads whatever books she can get her hands on, is quite skilled in a number of languages and can chart her course by the stars. While she is not the typical heroine we might expect to save the day, she does grow over the course of the novel and will continue to do so in the second book.
As the majority of the book does not take place in the palace, we do not see much from the Locke family but I am incredibly intrigued by their familial relationships and the Prince himself. He is a dark, strong and imposing figure who is out to claim the throne - but may be less ruthless than he seems. While we do not such much of him, I expect there will be a lot more character development in the second book and I'm looking forward to that.
Locke, the storm hunter, was probably my favourite main character - although I loved the storm hunter crew as a whole. They had such unique personalities, tales and roles in the group and who wouldn't join a group of storm hunters? That would be amazing. Anyway, Locke started to remind me after a while of that over-protective Fae male personality that we see so often in Sarah J Maas' books (which can become tiresome) but his storm hunting prowess won me over. The author wrote each storm, its feeling and the hunters fighting it so brilliantly that those were definitely my favourite scenes in the novel.
This book seemed to set up the world, the magic system and the main characters well but leave plenty of room for development. We don't even see the character who is likely to be the villain until about 75% of the book is over. I'm intrigued by the villain's story and abilities, and can't wait to see where it goes in the second book.
The world is what drew me in and kept me wanting more, despite the cliches, tropes, and mid-level character development. The romance itself was probably the most off-putting because it was so unbelievable to me. It's not necessarily the chemistry and interactions between the two, but rather the way the author writes the male's point of view. To me, it just didn't sound like a guy was thinking those thoughts. Both of her main male characters became almost immediately obsessed with Aurora, wanted to protect her at any cost, thought about her all of the time, etc. As I mentioned before, that overprotective Fae male mentality. While it may seem sweet that they want to be protective, it borders on being too much (and sometimes crosses the line), which is not a healthy relationship dynamic to romanticize. I don't want to give more specific examples and spoil anything. This is not to say that men cannot be emotional and effusive because they can, but for me, just the way that it was done didn't read authentically. Those were the times I felt most drawn out of the narrative.
This book ends with the type of cliffhanger that most books should end on. You are not utterly destroyed and heartbroken that the author has ended this book with such big questions and yet the next is not due out for another year - you are completely in love with the story and the final scenes just make you excited to continue reading.
For me, the book was a little slow to start but once Rora goes on the journey with the storm hunters I think the book picks up a lot. I've seen a few people put the book down because they couldn't get into it and I would just recommend trying to push through a little longer and see if that changes for you. This is an upper-YA novel that I would recommend to ya/teen readers who enjoy fantasy and character growth in their novels.
There are people in the world, called Stormlings, who are able to use their affinities to battle storms. In this land, those abilities relate to the storms that plague the kingdoms and towns. A Stormling may have an affinity for sky fire and be able to battle lightning - or they may have an affinity for tornados. Many battle storms not only to protect their lands but in the attempt to gain more affinities. If strong enough, a Stormling could take the heart of the storm (which manifests as a rock or gem) and use it to channel their abilities.
Aurora is the future Queen of Pavan, but she has yet to show any hint of the power needed to protect her people. As a result, her mother sets up an arranged marriage with the second born son of a neighboring kingdom. Not all is as it appears and Rora sets out to discover the truth. She soon learns that Stormlings are not the only people with the ability to fight storms and realizes that she must learn from these storm hunters so that she can avoid the path her life is currently on.
Aurora begins the book as a strong female character despite the fact that she is forced into a more meek, agreeable role in order to secure the marriage, so it may not seem that way. Although she has not been able to access the magic her blood should give her, she has not rested on her laurels. Rora occasionally trains with the guards in swordsmanship, reads whatever books she can get her hands on, is quite skilled in a number of languages and can chart her course by the stars. While she is not the typical heroine we might expect to save the day, she does grow over the course of the novel and will continue to do so in the second book.
As the majority of the book does not take place in the palace, we do not see much from the Locke family but I am incredibly intrigued by their familial relationships and the Prince himself. He is a dark, strong and imposing figure who is out to claim the throne - but may be less ruthless than he seems. While we do not such much of him, I expect there will be a lot more character development in the second book and I'm looking forward to that.
Locke, the storm hunter, was probably my favourite main character - although I loved the storm hunter crew as a whole. They had such unique personalities, tales and roles in the group and who wouldn't join a group of storm hunters? That would be amazing. Anyway, Locke started to remind me after a while of that over-protective Fae male personality that we see so often in Sarah J Maas' books (which can become tiresome) but his storm hunting prowess won me over. The author wrote each storm, its feeling and the hunters fighting it so brilliantly that those were definitely my favourite scenes in the novel.
This book seemed to set up the world, the magic system and the main characters well but leave plenty of room for development. We don't even see the character who is likely to be the villain until about 75% of the book is over. I'm intrigued by the villain's story and abilities, and can't wait to see where it goes in the second book.
The world is what drew me in and kept me wanting more, despite the cliches, tropes, and mid-level character development. The romance itself was probably the most off-putting because it was so unbelievable to me. It's not necessarily the chemistry and interactions between the two, but rather the way the author writes the male's point of view. To me, it just didn't sound like a guy was thinking those thoughts. Both of her main male characters became almost immediately obsessed with Aurora, wanted to protect her at any cost, thought about her all of the time, etc. As I mentioned before, that overprotective Fae male mentality. While it may seem sweet that they want to be protective, it borders on being too much (and sometimes crosses the line), which is not a healthy relationship dynamic to romanticize. I don't want to give more specific examples and spoil anything. This is not to say that men cannot be emotional and effusive because they can, but for me, just the way that it was done didn't read authentically. Those were the times I felt most drawn out of the narrative.
This book ends with the type of cliffhanger that most books should end on. You are not utterly destroyed and heartbroken that the author has ended this book with such big questions and yet the next is not due out for another year - you are completely in love with the story and the final scenes just make you excited to continue reading.
For me, the book was a little slow to start but once Rora goes on the journey with the storm hunters I think the book picks up a lot. I've seen a few people put the book down because they couldn't get into it and I would just recommend trying to push through a little longer and see if that changes for you. This is an upper-YA novel that I would recommend to ya/teen readers who enjoy fantasy and character growth in their novels.
Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Abyss in Tabletop Games
Aug 5, 2021
I am not a great swimmer. For several years of my life I would avoid water at all costs. I have since grown to love it, but would still freak out a bit if a crab came towards me. I’m kind of a baby like that. I do so love underwater scenes and the wildlife, so I was bound to enjoy Abyss. Throw in some of the most amazing artwork in all of gaming and you have a hit, right?
Abyss is a push your luck, set collection, hand management, fantasy card drafting game for two to four players. In it players are attempting to gain the most Influence Points to rule the underwater kingdom by recruiting allies and Lords, and controlling locations. The game ends once a player recruits their seventh Lord or if the Lords cards run out before the Court can be refilled.
To setup, lay out the board, shuffle the Exploration cards (starfish backs) and place in the upper left corner. Shuffle the Lord cards (trident backs) and place the deck in the lower left corner. Reveal Lords to each of the spaces drawn to the right of the deck. This is the Court. Shuffle the Monster tokens and place in a messy pile near the board. Next to these place all the Key tokens. Display the Threat Tracker board with the Threat token on the first space. Shuffle the Location tiles into a stack and reveal the first one. Give each player a pearl in a shell cup and the game is ready to begin!
On a player’s turn they will follow the basic structure of Plotting at Court (by spending pearls to reveal more Lords), Taking One Action (by Exploring the Depths, Requesting Support from the Council, or Recruiting a Lord), and Controlling a Location.
Plotting at Court is simply paying pearls to reveal more Lords at Court.
The action choices begin with Exploring the Depths. This is the push your luck portion of the game where players will reveal cards from the top of the Exploration deck one by one, offer the card to their opponents for purchase (payable to the active player in pearls), and then deciding to continue or take into hand. These cards include members of five allied races of underwater species numbered in strength from one to five and monsters. Fighting monsters is an auto-win and the spoils are what is reflected on the Threat Tracker. If players decide to pass, they will move the Threat token down by one level and improve the treasure won when destroying a monster. Any allies that are undrafted will be sorted by family and placed on the appropriate space on the board.
To Request Support from the Council players will take the entire stack from one family on the board. Again, these are made up of the cards that were undrafted from previous Exploring the Depths actions.
Finally, Recruiting a Lord players will be spending their Exploration cards to combine strength values and family types to appease the Lords they wish to recruit. Players will analyze the strength needed on the bottom left of the Lord card along with the number and color of bubbles above the strength number to determine from which families cards will need to be paid. Lords will have special powers that can be used throughout the game until you use them to Control Locations.
Lords and monster tokens afford players keys, and once players accumulate three keys they MUST Control a Location. To Control a Location players will draft a face-up Location tile or draw one to four tiles and draft one of them. Also, players will sacrifice their Lords (and their special powers) to, well, lord over Locations as super powerful property managers. This is done by covering up the special Lord powers with the Location tiles.
Play continues in this fashion of quick turns until a player recruits their seventh Lord or if the Lords cards run out before the Court can be refilled during a Plot at Court action.
Components. As I mentioned in my open, Abyss boasts some of the most magnificent art ever to grace a board game. The aesthetic coupled with the theme makes for a gorgeous game on the table. The cardboard is all good quality and thick, the cards are good quality as well. The black plastic shells and pearls they hold are so nice to play with and I find myself rolling those pearls as fast as I can within the shells and inevitably spilling them everywhere.
The game play is also quite solid. I like drafting games quite a bit and this delivers a lot of drafting in different locations. You draft Exploration cards and Location tiles to beef up your mini empire. Using the Lords as special power cards but having to cover them up to help control a Location is a clever mechanic and helps with any sort of runaway leader issue. I did not touch on a couple rules because they can be a little confusing to new players (ie the affiliation of allies), but even new gamers can appreciate what Abyss does and how beautifully it accomplishes its task.
I cannot overstate how gorgeous this game is and how much I enjoy being able to pull it off the shelf and set it up to people who have never seen it. I mean, even just the box cover, which is a giant face and no text, is very impressive and helps set the tone for the dark but interesting experiences held within. Purple Phoenix Games gives Abyss a boding 14 / 18. Pick it up, post a picture of which box cover you received, and tag us in the post so we can compare.
Abyss is a push your luck, set collection, hand management, fantasy card drafting game for two to four players. In it players are attempting to gain the most Influence Points to rule the underwater kingdom by recruiting allies and Lords, and controlling locations. The game ends once a player recruits their seventh Lord or if the Lords cards run out before the Court can be refilled.
To setup, lay out the board, shuffle the Exploration cards (starfish backs) and place in the upper left corner. Shuffle the Lord cards (trident backs) and place the deck in the lower left corner. Reveal Lords to each of the spaces drawn to the right of the deck. This is the Court. Shuffle the Monster tokens and place in a messy pile near the board. Next to these place all the Key tokens. Display the Threat Tracker board with the Threat token on the first space. Shuffle the Location tiles into a stack and reveal the first one. Give each player a pearl in a shell cup and the game is ready to begin!
On a player’s turn they will follow the basic structure of Plotting at Court (by spending pearls to reveal more Lords), Taking One Action (by Exploring the Depths, Requesting Support from the Council, or Recruiting a Lord), and Controlling a Location.
Plotting at Court is simply paying pearls to reveal more Lords at Court.
The action choices begin with Exploring the Depths. This is the push your luck portion of the game where players will reveal cards from the top of the Exploration deck one by one, offer the card to their opponents for purchase (payable to the active player in pearls), and then deciding to continue or take into hand. These cards include members of five allied races of underwater species numbered in strength from one to five and monsters. Fighting monsters is an auto-win and the spoils are what is reflected on the Threat Tracker. If players decide to pass, they will move the Threat token down by one level and improve the treasure won when destroying a monster. Any allies that are undrafted will be sorted by family and placed on the appropriate space on the board.
To Request Support from the Council players will take the entire stack from one family on the board. Again, these are made up of the cards that were undrafted from previous Exploring the Depths actions.
Finally, Recruiting a Lord players will be spending their Exploration cards to combine strength values and family types to appease the Lords they wish to recruit. Players will analyze the strength needed on the bottom left of the Lord card along with the number and color of bubbles above the strength number to determine from which families cards will need to be paid. Lords will have special powers that can be used throughout the game until you use them to Control Locations.
Lords and monster tokens afford players keys, and once players accumulate three keys they MUST Control a Location. To Control a Location players will draft a face-up Location tile or draw one to four tiles and draft one of them. Also, players will sacrifice their Lords (and their special powers) to, well, lord over Locations as super powerful property managers. This is done by covering up the special Lord powers with the Location tiles.
Play continues in this fashion of quick turns until a player recruits their seventh Lord or if the Lords cards run out before the Court can be refilled during a Plot at Court action.
Components. As I mentioned in my open, Abyss boasts some of the most magnificent art ever to grace a board game. The aesthetic coupled with the theme makes for a gorgeous game on the table. The cardboard is all good quality and thick, the cards are good quality as well. The black plastic shells and pearls they hold are so nice to play with and I find myself rolling those pearls as fast as I can within the shells and inevitably spilling them everywhere.
The game play is also quite solid. I like drafting games quite a bit and this delivers a lot of drafting in different locations. You draft Exploration cards and Location tiles to beef up your mini empire. Using the Lords as special power cards but having to cover them up to help control a Location is a clever mechanic and helps with any sort of runaway leader issue. I did not touch on a couple rules because they can be a little confusing to new players (ie the affiliation of allies), but even new gamers can appreciate what Abyss does and how beautifully it accomplishes its task.
I cannot overstate how gorgeous this game is and how much I enjoy being able to pull it off the shelf and set it up to people who have never seen it. I mean, even just the box cover, which is a giant face and no text, is very impressive and helps set the tone for the dark but interesting experiences held within. Purple Phoenix Games gives Abyss a boding 14 / 18. Pick it up, post a picture of which box cover you received, and tag us in the post so we can compare.
