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Ross (3284 KP) rated The Ninth Rain in Books
Aug 27, 2018
The Ninth Rain takes place in a world with two main dominant races: humans and eborans. The latter used to derive strength from the sap of Ygserin, the life-giving god-tree. This tree also used to dispatch war-beasts when needed, following invasion from the "worm-people", an alien race who seem determined to destroy the land and its people. The story follows the adventures of Vintage and Tormalin (a human and her Eboran companion) as they try to research the worm people's motives and weaknesses, and Noon, a Fell-witch who can take someone's life force and turn it into a weapon of fire.
The plot is very well planned out and interwoven, with the history of the land and its people, and the main characters, being revealed over the course of the book as needed to fit in with the current timeline.
The characters are well crafted and develop in different ways over the course of the book.
For me, the middle third dragged a little as a fairly humdrum adventure across country unfolded and numerous incidents and conflicts occurred. There just didn't seem to be a great deal of direction and it was more that "things that need to happen will happen here" but it didn't really serve much purpose. The story before and after that was very strong, but this section was a chore.
I am always nervous when a character suddenly has a voice in their head telling them what to do, afraid of irritating deus ex machina. Here however that was not the case as the voice was a very important, and (eventually) well-grounded plot point.
Overall a very good story, set up nicely for the follow-up in the series.
The plot is very well planned out and interwoven, with the history of the land and its people, and the main characters, being revealed over the course of the book as needed to fit in with the current timeline.
The characters are well crafted and develop in different ways over the course of the book.
For me, the middle third dragged a little as a fairly humdrum adventure across country unfolded and numerous incidents and conflicts occurred. There just didn't seem to be a great deal of direction and it was more that "things that need to happen will happen here" but it didn't really serve much purpose. The story before and after that was very strong, but this section was a chore.
I am always nervous when a character suddenly has a voice in their head telling them what to do, afraid of irritating deus ex machina. Here however that was not the case as the voice was a very important, and (eventually) well-grounded plot point.
Overall a very good story, set up nicely for the follow-up in the series.
Gareth von Kallenbach (980 KP) rated Date Night (2010) in Movies
Aug 8, 2019
Underworld Ascendant
7.0
Rate It
Video Game Watch
Underworld Ascendant is the next-generation follow-up to Ultima Underworld, the critically acclaimed...
action role-playing
The Builders Association: Performance and Media in Contemporary Theater
Shannon Jackson, Marianne Weems and Shannon Sindelar
Book
This book begins with the building of a house, and the building of a company while building the...
Ross (3284 KP) rated Nightmare Keep (Euphoria Online Book 2) in Books
Dec 4, 2018
Outstanding follow-up LitRPG fantasy tale
The follow-up to Death March continues straight on, with Chris being marched off to the eerie evil presence lurking in the nearby ruined village. From there on, Chris has a mission to accomplish and things are looking good for him, albeit with some hard work to come. Just as things start to look up, he is booted out of Castle Winter by a group of stronger players and has to find another way to complete his mission.
The action is thick, fast and wonderfully narrated throughout the book. While the constant mention of which Skill, Spell or weapon is being used gets a little bit annoying, it adds to the gaming feel and allows you to see the characters' actions and how they chose them.
The story is excellent, barring some slightly confused metaphysical stuff right at the end, where the world becomes all hand-wavey and dreamy and you kind of lose the immersion a little. But the character development (literally, by completing tasks and winning fights, Chris gains XP and levels up) and interaction is top notch, totally nailing the language that would be used by gamers trying to be their character but also retaining their own personalities.
There are a couple of moments in the book where it seems Chris has just plain run out of luck, but something always arrives just at the right time for him to get out of his predicament. One revelation in particular was a little jarring where he managed to de-crypt a message and work out (or guess) what he had to do, which could have worked but was delivered a little clumsily in my opinion. In hindsight the smaller incidents are minor and did not detract from my enjoyment of this book.
Once again, the book is just cruelly short and leaves you wanting more. Luckily, there is one more book in the series so I won't be away from Euphoria Online for long.
Read as part of free trial on Kindle Unlimited (so for free!).
The action is thick, fast and wonderfully narrated throughout the book. While the constant mention of which Skill, Spell or weapon is being used gets a little bit annoying, it adds to the gaming feel and allows you to see the characters' actions and how they chose them.
The story is excellent, barring some slightly confused metaphysical stuff right at the end, where the world becomes all hand-wavey and dreamy and you kind of lose the immersion a little. But the character development (literally, by completing tasks and winning fights, Chris gains XP and levels up) and interaction is top notch, totally nailing the language that would be used by gamers trying to be their character but also retaining their own personalities.
There are a couple of moments in the book where it seems Chris has just plain run out of luck, but something always arrives just at the right time for him to get out of his predicament. One revelation in particular was a little jarring where he managed to de-crypt a message and work out (or guess) what he had to do, which could have worked but was delivered a little clumsily in my opinion. In hindsight the smaller incidents are minor and did not detract from my enjoyment of this book.
Once again, the book is just cruelly short and leaves you wanting more. Luckily, there is one more book in the series so I won't be away from Euphoria Online for long.
Read as part of free trial on Kindle Unlimited (so for free!).
Ross (3284 KP) rated The Gutter Prayer in Books
Jan 15, 2020
A heist gone wrong
This is a very strange fantasy book. The story starts with a crew of three (a demonic type of person, a human exile girl, and a young man gradually turning to stone) sent to steal an artefact from the Tower of Law. During the heist the building starts to fall down around them and they scatter. There then follows a strange twisting and turning story in a very unique and unusual world. Conspiracies abound as all sides (government, alchemists, thieves, underground creatures) battle for access to artefacts, buildings and, eventually, gods.
The worldbuilding as a whole is superb. This is by far one of the most unusual worlds I have read a story in, with so many different races, creatures and magical things. However, large important parts of this are revealed throughout the book, so things just happen. I wouldn't say they are times of deus ex machina, but definitely some foreshadowing would be nice. This is increasingly annoying over the final third of the book, where new aspects of magic are being made up as we go.
The story is strong, albeit a little convoluted and at times Hanrahan's narrative tone is really nice. However the cast of not altogether distinct characters and names did make me struggle a little, with slightly too many factions or people introduced.
I also found the pace of the book dropped off after the first third, and it took me way longer to finish than it should have as my enjoyment tapered off.
There were a large number of typos throughout the book, more than would even be acceptable for a self-published book, in some cases I think character names were mixed up which meant conversations were harder to follow than they needed to be. Small things like this really hampered my progress through what was, in hindsight, a really good book. I have rated this up a little having had a day or so to calm down from a disappointing end. I have the follow-on book to read soon for Netgalley and will go in to it hoping for better editing and with more of an idea about the world the book takes place in.
The worldbuilding as a whole is superb. This is by far one of the most unusual worlds I have read a story in, with so many different races, creatures and magical things. However, large important parts of this are revealed throughout the book, so things just happen. I wouldn't say they are times of deus ex machina, but definitely some foreshadowing would be nice. This is increasingly annoying over the final third of the book, where new aspects of magic are being made up as we go.
The story is strong, albeit a little convoluted and at times Hanrahan's narrative tone is really nice. However the cast of not altogether distinct characters and names did make me struggle a little, with slightly too many factions or people introduced.
I also found the pace of the book dropped off after the first third, and it took me way longer to finish than it should have as my enjoyment tapered off.
There were a large number of typos throughout the book, more than would even be acceptable for a self-published book, in some cases I think character names were mixed up which meant conversations were harder to follow than they needed to be. Small things like this really hampered my progress through what was, in hindsight, a really good book. I have rated this up a little having had a day or so to calm down from a disappointing end. I have the follow-on book to read soon for Netgalley and will go in to it hoping for better editing and with more of an idea about the world the book takes place in.
Phil Leader (619 KP) rated The Kingdom Beyond the Waves in Books
Nov 18, 2019
TT
Ten Things Video Games Can Teach Us: (About Life, Philosophy and Everything)
Jordan Erica Webber and Daniel Griliopoulos
Book
WOULD YOU KILL ONE PERSON TO SAVE FIVE OTHERS? If you could upload all of your memories into a...