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Purple Phoenix Games (2266 KP) rated Among the Stars in Tabletop Games
Dec 3, 2021
If there is a mechanic that we at Purple Phoenix Games seem to really love, it is card drafting. One such game that has been a big hit for us (well, at least for 3 of us….) is 7 Wonders. Draft a card, pass the rest to your neighbor, draft another card from those received from your other neighbor, and repeat. Set in the Ancient World, you are working to build the most wondrous city. But Laura, why all the 7 Wonders talk in this review? Well, because Among the Stars gives me major 7 Wonders vibes, but IN SPACE. Keep reading to see what I mean.
Disclaimer: Among the Stars can be played in two different modes – Aggressive and Non-Aggressive. This review covers the core game Non-Aggressive mode of play. -L
Among the Stars is a game of card drafting and tile placement in which players take on the roles of different alien races attempting to build the most efficient space station over the span of 4 years (rounds). After the 4th and final round, players calculate their final scores, and the player with the highest score is the winner! To setup for a game, assemble the Location deck as described in the rules. Each player takes a Main Reactor card and score marker in their chosen color. Score markers are placed at zero on the score board, and players put their Main Reactor card face-up in front of them, along with 2 Energy Cubes. Players choose, or are randomly given, a Race Tile with a special Racial Ability to be used throughout the game. Randomly draw the requisite number of Objective cards and put them face-up near the score board. The game is now ready to begin!
Over the course of 4 rounds, players will be drafting cards and playing them into their Space Station. At the start of each round, every player collects 10 Credits (game currency), and draws a hand of 6 Location cards. Every turn, players will select one card from their hand, place it face-down in front of them, and will pass the remaining cards in their hand to the next player (in either clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, depending on the round). Players will then simultaneously reveal their chosen card and perform one of three actions: Build a Location, Build Power Reactor, or Discard and gain 3 Credits. To Build a Location, you pay its listed cost in Credits and/or Energy and add it to your Space Station. Locations must be placed orthogonally adjacent to an existing Location. When you build a Location, you immediately gain the listed number of VP (tracked on the score board), and may use its ability. Some abilities are immediate and earn you extra VP now, while some are delayed and will be counted at the end of the game. To Build a Power Reactor, you will first discard your selected card for the turn. Pay the 1 Credit cost of a Power Reactor and place it into your Space Station, along with 2 Energy Cubes. Every round, you get 10 Credits, but Energy Cubes do not replenish unless you build more Power Reactors, so keep an eye on your resources! The last possible action is to Discard and gain 3 Credits, and is pretty self-explanatory.
Players continue taking turns (drafting cards, passing cards, and playing cards) until they are left with no cards in hand. The round is now over. Move the round marker to the next space, and begin a new round by drawing another hand of 6 cards. After the 4th round of play, the game ends and final VP are scored. Victory Points have been earned throughout the game, but now any delayed abilities are triggered and scored, Objective points are added, and players gain points for Power Reactors and remaining Credits. The player with the highest score is the winner!
See what I mean about being 7 Wonders in space? The overall gameplay is pretty much the same thing – draft a card, pass cards, play the card – even though thematically they’re on opposite ends of time. That familiarity and simplicity of the gameplay definitely added to my enjoyment of the game. And when I say ‘simplicity’ of gameplay, I do not mean that it is an easy game necessarily. It still requires a decent amount of strategy! Not only do you have to decide what card to draft for maximum benefit, but you also need to figure out exactly where to put it in your Space Station too. Some Locations may give you extra VP for being adjacent to certain other Locations, or they may even earn more VP for distance between two Locations. You’ve got to be thinking in advance, but also able to adapt on the fly. Do you draft a card that you don’t necessarily want because you can see your opponent needs it? Or do you keep your head down and try to fly under the radar? The strategy and mechanics work very well together in creating an engaging and entertaining game.
Components. This game basically just consists of cards, a score board, and some tokens. So even though it’s nothing too fancy or anything, they’re still pretty decent quality! The artwork is thematic and fun to look at, and the layout of the cards is easy to understand. The cards are square, so that makes for some interesting shuffling, but the square shape really lends itself well to the tile-laying aspect of the gameplay. So all in all, good production quality. Just be warned – as the game progresses, it turns into quite a table hog, since you are constantly adding cards to your Space Station. Not a knock on the game, just a heads up so you give yourself plenty of room!
Will Among the Stars replace 7 Wonders for me? Ultimately, no. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great game, but 7 Wonders just offers a little more strategy that bumps it to a higher level than Among the Stars. To introduce players to these mechanics and gameplay style, I would use Among the Stars because it is a little ‘lighter’ than 7 Wonders, if you ask me. If you are a fan of 7 Wonders and are interested in a more futuristic theme, I would definitely recommend checking out Among the Stars. It’s a neat game that has been hiding on my game shelf without the playtime it deserves. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a stellar 15 / 18.
Disclaimer: Among the Stars can be played in two different modes – Aggressive and Non-Aggressive. This review covers the core game Non-Aggressive mode of play. -L
Among the Stars is a game of card drafting and tile placement in which players take on the roles of different alien races attempting to build the most efficient space station over the span of 4 years (rounds). After the 4th and final round, players calculate their final scores, and the player with the highest score is the winner! To setup for a game, assemble the Location deck as described in the rules. Each player takes a Main Reactor card and score marker in their chosen color. Score markers are placed at zero on the score board, and players put their Main Reactor card face-up in front of them, along with 2 Energy Cubes. Players choose, or are randomly given, a Race Tile with a special Racial Ability to be used throughout the game. Randomly draw the requisite number of Objective cards and put them face-up near the score board. The game is now ready to begin!
Over the course of 4 rounds, players will be drafting cards and playing them into their Space Station. At the start of each round, every player collects 10 Credits (game currency), and draws a hand of 6 Location cards. Every turn, players will select one card from their hand, place it face-down in front of them, and will pass the remaining cards in their hand to the next player (in either clockwise or counter-clockwise direction, depending on the round). Players will then simultaneously reveal their chosen card and perform one of three actions: Build a Location, Build Power Reactor, or Discard and gain 3 Credits. To Build a Location, you pay its listed cost in Credits and/or Energy and add it to your Space Station. Locations must be placed orthogonally adjacent to an existing Location. When you build a Location, you immediately gain the listed number of VP (tracked on the score board), and may use its ability. Some abilities are immediate and earn you extra VP now, while some are delayed and will be counted at the end of the game. To Build a Power Reactor, you will first discard your selected card for the turn. Pay the 1 Credit cost of a Power Reactor and place it into your Space Station, along with 2 Energy Cubes. Every round, you get 10 Credits, but Energy Cubes do not replenish unless you build more Power Reactors, so keep an eye on your resources! The last possible action is to Discard and gain 3 Credits, and is pretty self-explanatory.
Players continue taking turns (drafting cards, passing cards, and playing cards) until they are left with no cards in hand. The round is now over. Move the round marker to the next space, and begin a new round by drawing another hand of 6 cards. After the 4th round of play, the game ends and final VP are scored. Victory Points have been earned throughout the game, but now any delayed abilities are triggered and scored, Objective points are added, and players gain points for Power Reactors and remaining Credits. The player with the highest score is the winner!
See what I mean about being 7 Wonders in space? The overall gameplay is pretty much the same thing – draft a card, pass cards, play the card – even though thematically they’re on opposite ends of time. That familiarity and simplicity of the gameplay definitely added to my enjoyment of the game. And when I say ‘simplicity’ of gameplay, I do not mean that it is an easy game necessarily. It still requires a decent amount of strategy! Not only do you have to decide what card to draft for maximum benefit, but you also need to figure out exactly where to put it in your Space Station too. Some Locations may give you extra VP for being adjacent to certain other Locations, or they may even earn more VP for distance between two Locations. You’ve got to be thinking in advance, but also able to adapt on the fly. Do you draft a card that you don’t necessarily want because you can see your opponent needs it? Or do you keep your head down and try to fly under the radar? The strategy and mechanics work very well together in creating an engaging and entertaining game.
Components. This game basically just consists of cards, a score board, and some tokens. So even though it’s nothing too fancy or anything, they’re still pretty decent quality! The artwork is thematic and fun to look at, and the layout of the cards is easy to understand. The cards are square, so that makes for some interesting shuffling, but the square shape really lends itself well to the tile-laying aspect of the gameplay. So all in all, good production quality. Just be warned – as the game progresses, it turns into quite a table hog, since you are constantly adding cards to your Space Station. Not a knock on the game, just a heads up so you give yourself plenty of room!
Will Among the Stars replace 7 Wonders for me? Ultimately, no. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a great game, but 7 Wonders just offers a little more strategy that bumps it to a higher level than Among the Stars. To introduce players to these mechanics and gameplay style, I would use Among the Stars because it is a little ‘lighter’ than 7 Wonders, if you ask me. If you are a fan of 7 Wonders and are interested in a more futuristic theme, I would definitely recommend checking out Among the Stars. It’s a neat game that has been hiding on my game shelf without the playtime it deserves. Purple Phoenix Games gives this one a stellar 15 / 18.
Amanda (96 KP) rated Ready Player One in Books
Mar 18, 2019
Why in the world did it take me this long to read this book? I could seriously kick myself! I haven't seen the movie yet, I'm not entirely sure I want to after reading this book. I don't think any movie could do it justice. Yes, I liked this book that much.
Imagine a world where the world has kind of gone to pieces and most of the time you want to escape the harsh reality. A man invented a virtual reality called OASIS and before his passing, he stated that there is a hidden Easter egg in the OASIS and whomever finds it, has COMPLETE control of the OASIS and his fortune. It's been several years and NOBODY has been able to find the egg, or even come close to it.
The entire story is told from Wade's point of view. In reality, he's known as Wade, in OASIS he is Parzivel. The creator of OASIS is known to be a huge fan of 80's style; music, movies, tv shows, you name it, he was a fan. Wade goes through all of these shows and movies to get some sort of clue to find out what and where the egg is located. One day, he figures out the first clue and winds up being the first name on the score board.
The idea of going to a virtual school sounded like a really cool idea. From the way it's described in the book, it sounds like a much more effective way to actually learn in a classroom. I think with the way technology keeps advancing, we may very well be on our way to going that route.
I loved all of the 80's references throughout the book. I'm not an 80's child, but I've been told I'm old soul. Like, I'm a reincarnated person who was born in the 30's because I'm not really into the new shows or the new music. Mentions of Monty Python and the other TV shows that I've actually binge watched myself really brought out my inner nerd and it was enjoyable.
The only thing that made me lose a little respect for Wade is when he starts falling for another user named Art3mis. He has NO CLUE who this person is in real life, just her avatar. And in OASIS, the avatar is a blonde woman and Wade falls for her and spends as much time with her as possible. When Art3miss decides to cool it down with him, he kind of acts like a puppy who had its treat taken away. I know he's a kid who just graduated high school so having your first crush on someone really clouds your best judgment, but I found his infatuation with Art3mis rather annoying and I almost wanted to yell at my book and hope he hears me.
Am I the only one who's felt that way?
In the end, I'm rooting for Wade to find all these keys and reach the gates before someone else does. There's another company who actually specifically hires people to find this egg. This company will start charging people to use OASIS and actually give people limited access, no, we don't want that.
The book as a whole was excellent. It caught my attention in the beginning, and even though I was a bit annoyed with Wade, I still WANTED to finish this story. I WANTED to go through the OASIS journey with him and help him, encourage him, to continue and find that egg and help everybody cope with reality, with or without OASIS. If you've seen the movie, read the book. I guarantee that the movie was not able to capture EVERYTHING with this story and you deserve to know EVERYTHING about WADE and his new friends in finding that egg.
Imagine a world where the world has kind of gone to pieces and most of the time you want to escape the harsh reality. A man invented a virtual reality called OASIS and before his passing, he stated that there is a hidden Easter egg in the OASIS and whomever finds it, has COMPLETE control of the OASIS and his fortune. It's been several years and NOBODY has been able to find the egg, or even come close to it.
The entire story is told from Wade's point of view. In reality, he's known as Wade, in OASIS he is Parzivel. The creator of OASIS is known to be a huge fan of 80's style; music, movies, tv shows, you name it, he was a fan. Wade goes through all of these shows and movies to get some sort of clue to find out what and where the egg is located. One day, he figures out the first clue and winds up being the first name on the score board.
The idea of going to a virtual school sounded like a really cool idea. From the way it's described in the book, it sounds like a much more effective way to actually learn in a classroom. I think with the way technology keeps advancing, we may very well be on our way to going that route.
I loved all of the 80's references throughout the book. I'm not an 80's child, but I've been told I'm old soul. Like, I'm a reincarnated person who was born in the 30's because I'm not really into the new shows or the new music. Mentions of Monty Python and the other TV shows that I've actually binge watched myself really brought out my inner nerd and it was enjoyable.
The only thing that made me lose a little respect for Wade is when he starts falling for another user named Art3mis. He has NO CLUE who this person is in real life, just her avatar. And in OASIS, the avatar is a blonde woman and Wade falls for her and spends as much time with her as possible. When Art3miss decides to cool it down with him, he kind of acts like a puppy who had its treat taken away. I know he's a kid who just graduated high school so having your first crush on someone really clouds your best judgment, but I found his infatuation with Art3mis rather annoying and I almost wanted to yell at my book and hope he hears me.
Am I the only one who's felt that way?
In the end, I'm rooting for Wade to find all these keys and reach the gates before someone else does. There's another company who actually specifically hires people to find this egg. This company will start charging people to use OASIS and actually give people limited access, no, we don't want that.
The book as a whole was excellent. It caught my attention in the beginning, and even though I was a bit annoyed with Wade, I still WANTED to finish this story. I WANTED to go through the OASIS journey with him and help him, encourage him, to continue and find that egg and help everybody cope with reality, with or without OASIS. If you've seen the movie, read the book. I guarantee that the movie was not able to capture EVERYTHING with this story and you deserve to know EVERYTHING about WADE and his new friends in finding that egg.
Phillip McSween (751 KP) rated When Marnie Was There (2015) in Movies
Apr 2, 2018
So Much Potential...
When Anna's mom sends her to stay with her aunt for the summer, Anna develops a strong friendship with Marnie, a girl that only Anna seems to know.
Acting: 9
Beginning: 1
Gets off to a bland start at best. I found myself tuning out very quickly. I was looking for a reason to get into it but it never grabbed me.
Characters: 8
You immediately sympathize with Anna. She's an introvert with seemingly no place in the world. To make matters worse, she's prone to panic attacks. From the very beginning, she's a character you wish you could reach out to and protect. Learning her history and the source of her pain is the best part of the film. There were a few other characters that were memorable as well, but none so much as Anna.
Cinematography/Visuals: 10
Another strong suit of the film. Animations were crisp with strong attention to detail. One scene inside of an abandoned silo particularly stands out. The blend of darkness and destructive winds really place you in the moment and breathe life into a film that was otherwise dull.
Conflict: 4
Genre: 8
The film isn't a favorite by any means and won't hold up against some of my other animated classics that I love. HOWEVER, I appreciate the animation style of the film and I also respected that it attempted to try something different. Even though it was a total miss, I give it the proper credit for daring to be different and take a chance.
Memorability: 6
Pace: 1
The word "snail" comes to mind here. A huge mistake was made here in merely focusing on the day-to-day of Anna. There wasn't a lot of conflict that dictated the pace. I was waiting for something to happen, ANYTHING. Before I knew it, I was begging for it to be over. As the story progresses there is no real momentum building that can give you a reason to keep your attention solely on the film.
Plot: 0
Unique or not, I had a hard time buying it in its entirety. Had this been a real situation, Anna probably would have been put in a nut house 10 minutes into the film. She was given an awful lot of freedom for someone known to not be adjusted to the world. That didn't make sense to me, neither did the fact that Anna couldn't somehow piece the whole situation together a little bit faster. Maybe the whole idea was that she couldn't piece things together because she didn't want to? I don't know. What I do know is that sometimes even the best intentions can yield some bad results. Perfect example.
Resolution: 10
Best part of the film and, no, I'm not being sarcastic. You essentially find out the mystery behind everything going on and I have to say it's a really nice payoff. Extremely touching, it makes the film 100 times better than what it could have been. I won't give anything away but it resolves around finding your place in life and appreciating who you are. While I loved it, it infuriated me at the same time. WHY COULDN'T THE REST OF THE FILM BE LIKE THIS???
Overall: 57
I have seen a number of films that get off to a great start and fizzle out at the end. When Marnie Was There does the opposite and the feeling it leaves you with ends up being far worse. Had the rest of the film hit home like the ending, this would have been a wonderful classic.
Acting: 9
Beginning: 1
Gets off to a bland start at best. I found myself tuning out very quickly. I was looking for a reason to get into it but it never grabbed me.
Characters: 8
You immediately sympathize with Anna. She's an introvert with seemingly no place in the world. To make matters worse, she's prone to panic attacks. From the very beginning, she's a character you wish you could reach out to and protect. Learning her history and the source of her pain is the best part of the film. There were a few other characters that were memorable as well, but none so much as Anna.
Cinematography/Visuals: 10
Another strong suit of the film. Animations were crisp with strong attention to detail. One scene inside of an abandoned silo particularly stands out. The blend of darkness and destructive winds really place you in the moment and breathe life into a film that was otherwise dull.
Conflict: 4
Genre: 8
The film isn't a favorite by any means and won't hold up against some of my other animated classics that I love. HOWEVER, I appreciate the animation style of the film and I also respected that it attempted to try something different. Even though it was a total miss, I give it the proper credit for daring to be different and take a chance.
Memorability: 6
Pace: 1
The word "snail" comes to mind here. A huge mistake was made here in merely focusing on the day-to-day of Anna. There wasn't a lot of conflict that dictated the pace. I was waiting for something to happen, ANYTHING. Before I knew it, I was begging for it to be over. As the story progresses there is no real momentum building that can give you a reason to keep your attention solely on the film.
Plot: 0
Unique or not, I had a hard time buying it in its entirety. Had this been a real situation, Anna probably would have been put in a nut house 10 minutes into the film. She was given an awful lot of freedom for someone known to not be adjusted to the world. That didn't make sense to me, neither did the fact that Anna couldn't somehow piece the whole situation together a little bit faster. Maybe the whole idea was that she couldn't piece things together because she didn't want to? I don't know. What I do know is that sometimes even the best intentions can yield some bad results. Perfect example.
Resolution: 10
Best part of the film and, no, I'm not being sarcastic. You essentially find out the mystery behind everything going on and I have to say it's a really nice payoff. Extremely touching, it makes the film 100 times better than what it could have been. I won't give anything away but it resolves around finding your place in life and appreciating who you are. While I loved it, it infuriated me at the same time. WHY COULDN'T THE REST OF THE FILM BE LIKE THIS???
Overall: 57
I have seen a number of films that get off to a great start and fizzle out at the end. When Marnie Was There does the opposite and the feeling it leaves you with ends up being far worse. Had the rest of the film hit home like the ending, this would have been a wonderful classic.
Emma @ The Movies (1786 KP) rated Escape Room (2019) in Movies
Jun 22, 2019 (Updated Sep 25, 2019)
TL;DR - I'm never doing an escape room ever again, and potentially never going anywhere that begins with a mysterious invitation.
The film opens, somewhat strangely, with some of the last scenes of the movie. I'm not sure whether this helped the film along or not. We already knew what to expect before going in so starting with the intrigue of the invitations probably would have worked just as well, it did at least ease you in to what you'd be getting from the rest of the film.
I was a little disappointed that we didn't get an intro to all of the characters. Admittedly six intro pieces would have made the beginning of the story drag but it felt a little odd to have the other three thrown in with no context. On the plus side you are able to infer some things about their back story as we go through the film, but I don't quite see the logic behind who they included and excluded.
Drama, mystery, sci-fi, thriller... that's how IMDb classified Escape Room, and this is why I don't know why we bother pigeon holing films. It's definitely a thriller and can loosely fit into the horror genre (I only say loosely because of it's lack of gore) but to claim any of the others is a stretch.
In what was probably a rather average film I was glad to see some pieces that impressed me. Amanda (Deborah Ann Woll) has a flashback during one of their escapes and the transition was seamless. Woll's performance overall was probably the best, she goes from vulnerable to woman of action and in each scene she creates something that I found incredibly believable.
Tyler Labine is one of my favourite "hidden" gems of the movie world so I was excited to see he was part of this. My excitement was short lived though as his character wasn't given much opportunity to shine as his story is largely overlooked until the very last minute.
One of the issues I have at the cinema is that I suffer from mild motion sickness, generally I'm okay but on occasion the weirdest things can set it off. This film gave me a near heart attack when it entered the pool room, you can see it during the trailer, the room is basically upside down but that combined with the camera shots meant I had to keep looking at my feet for fear of either passing out or throwing up on my fellow cinema goers.
The idea behind the film had a lot of potential and up to a certain point I was enjoying what was happening... but that ending. My brain suddenly stopped and went "huh, Belko Experiment." I'm not generally a watcher of horror type films but from the comments I've seen online Escape Room is similar to a lot of things already out there. What I know is that it's predictable. Probably more so because of the way the film starts, the premise of an escape room, and the trailer. It does have some things up its sleeve though.
For someone who is easily scared out of their skin I didn't have a problem watching this (apart from that pool room scene), a lot of the really jumpy bits I'd already seen before going into the film. Until the memory of this film is washed away by several dozen other films I will not be setting foot in an escape room, and they should probably look at suing the film for lose of revenue.
What you should do
It's an entertaining film and if thrillers/horrors are your sort of thing then you should give it a go.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
Needless to say there is basically nothing I want from this movie apart from the little piece of sanity and rational thinking it stole from me.
The film opens, somewhat strangely, with some of the last scenes of the movie. I'm not sure whether this helped the film along or not. We already knew what to expect before going in so starting with the intrigue of the invitations probably would have worked just as well, it did at least ease you in to what you'd be getting from the rest of the film.
I was a little disappointed that we didn't get an intro to all of the characters. Admittedly six intro pieces would have made the beginning of the story drag but it felt a little odd to have the other three thrown in with no context. On the plus side you are able to infer some things about their back story as we go through the film, but I don't quite see the logic behind who they included and excluded.
Drama, mystery, sci-fi, thriller... that's how IMDb classified Escape Room, and this is why I don't know why we bother pigeon holing films. It's definitely a thriller and can loosely fit into the horror genre (I only say loosely because of it's lack of gore) but to claim any of the others is a stretch.
In what was probably a rather average film I was glad to see some pieces that impressed me. Amanda (Deborah Ann Woll) has a flashback during one of their escapes and the transition was seamless. Woll's performance overall was probably the best, she goes from vulnerable to woman of action and in each scene she creates something that I found incredibly believable.
Tyler Labine is one of my favourite "hidden" gems of the movie world so I was excited to see he was part of this. My excitement was short lived though as his character wasn't given much opportunity to shine as his story is largely overlooked until the very last minute.
One of the issues I have at the cinema is that I suffer from mild motion sickness, generally I'm okay but on occasion the weirdest things can set it off. This film gave me a near heart attack when it entered the pool room, you can see it during the trailer, the room is basically upside down but that combined with the camera shots meant I had to keep looking at my feet for fear of either passing out or throwing up on my fellow cinema goers.
The idea behind the film had a lot of potential and up to a certain point I was enjoying what was happening... but that ending. My brain suddenly stopped and went "huh, Belko Experiment." I'm not generally a watcher of horror type films but from the comments I've seen online Escape Room is similar to a lot of things already out there. What I know is that it's predictable. Probably more so because of the way the film starts, the premise of an escape room, and the trailer. It does have some things up its sleeve though.
For someone who is easily scared out of their skin I didn't have a problem watching this (apart from that pool room scene), a lot of the really jumpy bits I'd already seen before going into the film. Until the memory of this film is washed away by several dozen other films I will not be setting foot in an escape room, and they should probably look at suing the film for lose of revenue.
What you should do
It's an entertaining film and if thrillers/horrors are your sort of thing then you should give it a go.
Movie thing you wish you could take home
Needless to say there is basically nothing I want from this movie apart from the little piece of sanity and rational thinking it stole from me.
Joe Goodhart (27 KP) rated House of X/Powers of X in Books
Nov 30, 2020
I regret that it took me almost a month to finish my re-visit of HoX/PoX, but it did. And, not because the book sucked (COVID-19's mandatory "Stay-at-Home" shit starts to grate on the nerves, y'know?)! ANYWAY...
***
Say what you want about Marvel and their annoying reboot kerfuffles, but this whole "Dawn of X" that Jonathan Hickman is helming? FUCKING BRILLIANT, okay?!!? I swear to ya, the X-books haven't been this exciting or even remotely relevant in about twenty years! And as some who's been reading the X-books since the late 70's (yeah, I'm THAT old!), you can be sure that means something!
I have been bored with Wolverine's character the last handful of years. Other than the film LOGAN, I thought his character was overused and something of an ass, if I have to be honest. However, here? Holy crow, I am digging the ol' canucklehead again! Thank you, Mr. Hickman!
And I am going to keep this next bit Spoiler-free, just in case there is anyone reading this review and they have not yet finishing a'readin' it... Who knew [SPOILER-FREE] was a frikkin' mutant?! Again, I am a reader of the X-Men since the late 70's, but I still never had an even inkling that they were a mutant! And the way it was all presented? EPIC! I wanted to hate it, because it sounded so frikkin' trope-ish, without any redemptive potential! None of us likes to be proven wrong, but in this, yeah, I'll take it! Hickman did a smashing job with this plot point, one in which I am apt to conclude that when "Dawn of X" reaches its pinnacle (whenever this is.. <u>Thanks, COVID!!</u>), it's gonna come back around and it's a'gonna pack one hell of a punch!
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And I am fairly certain that what I am about to say is not going to be a spoiler, as I feel this has been true for some time now, but good Lord, Professor X is a dick! He is playing chess, with a board in his head that only he knows of, and anyone who is close to him gets relegated to "pawn status"!
I totally get where he, Erik (Magneto) and [SPOILER-FREE] are working towards with the whole mutant-nation of Krakoa, I truly do! But, with Xavier keep his hand of cards close to his chest, it seems sketchy at best! While we have seen Xaviers in past X-books where he wasn't as good as we thought, but it got old hat, y'know? Here? Yeah, I'm in for the long haul, as I am curious where this is all going to go and I suspect it's not going to go well as far as Xavier is concerned!
And amaz-a-balls as Hickman is with all this, it would be so unbecoming of me if I didn't address the fab art on both series! We had Pepe Larraz on HoX, while R.B. Silva handled the art for PoX. And let me tell ya, both of them did bang-up jobs, really bringing the icing for two already outstanding "cakes"! Bravo, gentleman, bravo!
So, time to wrap this up.. If you have any vested interest in all things mutant-related and have felt severely disappointed in the way things have been handled for the last twenty years plus, then you sincerely owe it to yourself to read this book! Worse case scenario? You're a closed-minded S.O.B., like I used to be, and there's just no pleasin' yer ass!
Peace. y'all!
***
Say what you want about Marvel and their annoying reboot kerfuffles, but this whole "Dawn of X" that Jonathan Hickman is helming? FUCKING BRILLIANT, okay?!!? I swear to ya, the X-books haven't been this exciting or even remotely relevant in about twenty years! And as some who's been reading the X-books since the late 70's (yeah, I'm THAT old!), you can be sure that means something!
I have been bored with Wolverine's character the last handful of years. Other than the film LOGAN, I thought his character was overused and something of an ass, if I have to be honest. However, here? Holy crow, I am digging the ol' canucklehead again! Thank you, Mr. Hickman!
And I am going to keep this next bit Spoiler-free, just in case there is anyone reading this review and they have not yet finishing a'readin' it... Who knew [SPOILER-FREE] was a frikkin' mutant?! Again, I am a reader of the X-Men since the late 70's, but I still never had an even inkling that they were a mutant! And the way it was all presented? EPIC! I wanted to hate it, because it sounded so frikkin' trope-ish, without any redemptive potential! None of us likes to be proven wrong, but in this, yeah, I'll take it! Hickman did a smashing job with this plot point, one in which I am apt to conclude that when "Dawn of X" reaches its pinnacle (whenever this is.. <u>Thanks, COVID!!</u>), it's gonna come back around and it's a'gonna pack one hell of a punch!
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And I am fairly certain that what I am about to say is not going to be a spoiler, as I feel this has been true for some time now, but good Lord, Professor X is a dick! He is playing chess, with a board in his head that only he knows of, and anyone who is close to him gets relegated to "pawn status"!
I totally get where he, Erik (Magneto) and [SPOILER-FREE] are working towards with the whole mutant-nation of Krakoa, I truly do! But, with Xavier keep his hand of cards close to his chest, it seems sketchy at best! While we have seen Xaviers in past X-books where he wasn't as good as we thought, but it got old hat, y'know? Here? Yeah, I'm in for the long haul, as I am curious where this is all going to go and I suspect it's not going to go well as far as Xavier is concerned!
And amaz-a-balls as Hickman is with all this, it would be so unbecoming of me if I didn't address the fab art on both series! We had Pepe Larraz on HoX, while R.B. Silva handled the art for PoX. And let me tell ya, both of them did bang-up jobs, really bringing the icing for two already outstanding "cakes"! Bravo, gentleman, bravo!
So, time to wrap this up.. If you have any vested interest in all things mutant-related and have felt severely disappointed in the way things have been handled for the last twenty years plus, then you sincerely owe it to yourself to read this book! Worse case scenario? You're a closed-minded S.O.B., like I used to be, and there's just no pleasin' yer ass!
Peace. y'all!
Rachel King (13 KP) rated A Midnight Dance (Fiery Tales, #1) in Books
Feb 11, 2019
I love a good fairy tale re-telling, especially when it is retold specifically for adults, as this book is. Right from the beginning, the romance and chemistry between Sabine and Jules is steamy and passionate, and I had a hard time putting the book down at all. The Cinderella references are vague and somewhat after-the-fact. The glass slipper scene takes place at the beginning of the book when Sabine is young, and the stepmother and two stepdaughters look to Sabine as the head of the household, instead of placing her in the role of a servant. This book seems to take the original tale and turn it upside down, with Sabine forging her own destiny - with or without Prince Charming - and refusing to bend to misfortune.
Sabine's character is both headstrong and naive. A large part of her successes in the plot seem to be born out of pure luck, as she lacks any real skill at either deception or thievery. Jules strong attraction to her gives her the freedom to get as far as she does in her plans, even as she falls for him in return.
While the romance and eroticism takes center stage in the novel, there is a secondary element to the book that comes in subtly as Jules takes a more permanent role in Sabine's life. Jules is intent on a restoration of his honor and wealth, and the discover the truth about his father's accusations. Neither Jules nor Sabine suspect the guilty party until Sabine's life is in danger. Suspense and unpredictability pull me right to the end pages, and just enough is left hanging to lead into a sequel. I look forward to discovering what happens next!
Sabine's character is both headstrong and naive. A large part of her successes in the plot seem to be born out of pure luck, as she lacks any real skill at either deception or thievery. Jules strong attraction to her gives her the freedom to get as far as she does in her plans, even as she falls for him in return.
While the romance and eroticism takes center stage in the novel, there is a secondary element to the book that comes in subtly as Jules takes a more permanent role in Sabine's life. Jules is intent on a restoration of his honor and wealth, and the discover the truth about his father's accusations. Neither Jules nor Sabine suspect the guilty party until Sabine's life is in danger. Suspense and unpredictability pull me right to the end pages, and just enough is left hanging to lead into a sequel. I look forward to discovering what happens next!
Rachel King (13 KP) rated The Season in Books
Feb 11, 2019
Most of the main characters had traits that separated their personality from one another, but I had trouble distinguishing between Alex's three brothers, as they all seemed to behave alike. The plot seemed to falter everytime there was a journal entry by the antagonist, especially since what would happen in the plot following them didn't usually match up with what was in the journal entry. All of the loose threads were accounted for in the end, though. The book came to me classified as a mystery, but I found that aspect of the text to be lacking most of the time, especially when focusing on the romance part of the text. I'm not usually a fan of mysteries, but the mystery of Gavin's father's death really seems to take a backseat to the budding romance between Gavin and Alex. The text claimed to fall in the year 1815, and there were lots of little details that made the text seem authentic, such as the three young women discussing the works of Jane Austen while identifying her as an anonymous author, the proper clothing attire for both men and women, and the proper decorum of both as well. Alex did seem to break with decorum a questionable number of times, but I'll attribute that to her personality and not a fault in background. While it's not likely I would have picked this particular book off the shelf if it were not for a recommendation, I have read similar works in the genre of historical romance for adults, and I have plans to read more of this genre in the future. I did enjoy this book and I would rate it 3 out of 5 stars.
Molly J (Cover To Cover Cafe) (106 KP) rated The Hawaiian Discovery in Books
Feb 25, 2019
Oh,my dear Amish loving friends, you will not want to miss this book! It is the follow up book to The Hawaiian Quilt (find my review featured here), and let me tell you right now. You do not want to miss this! The queen of Amish fiction has once again managed to take amazing and lovable characters, inspiring messages from God, and a few twists and wrapped them up with the beauty that is Hawaii and threw her fans another fabulous novel! Ms. Brunstetter and her daughter-in-law, Jean, really do a wonderful collaboration together. They know just what we like!
This novel brings us Ellen's story. I loved Ellen in book 1, and I love her even more in this new novel. She's spunky, caring and definitely works her way into your heart. She returns to Hawaii to help Mandy and she meets Rob, another lovable addition to this book! I loved watching them work along side of each other. The sparks really flew between them! Ultimately, though, God's messages worked on Ellen's heart and she had a decision to make.
You definitely need to grab this 5 star novel! Just make sure you read The Hawaiian Quilt first because you'll want to keep up with Mandy and Ellen's first adventure to Hawaii. From discovering what really matters, to God's love, grace and forgiveness, this book is one that should fly to the top of your summer reading list. Grab it now! Hats off, two more thumbs up and highest of praises go to the Brunstetter ladies for another amazing novel!
*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Publisher and was under no obligation to post a review, positive or negative.*
This novel brings us Ellen's story. I loved Ellen in book 1, and I love her even more in this new novel. She's spunky, caring and definitely works her way into your heart. She returns to Hawaii to help Mandy and she meets Rob, another lovable addition to this book! I loved watching them work along side of each other. The sparks really flew between them! Ultimately, though, God's messages worked on Ellen's heart and she had a decision to make.
You definitely need to grab this 5 star novel! Just make sure you read The Hawaiian Quilt first because you'll want to keep up with Mandy and Ellen's first adventure to Hawaii. From discovering what really matters, to God's love, grace and forgiveness, this book is one that should fly to the top of your summer reading list. Grab it now! Hats off, two more thumbs up and highest of praises go to the Brunstetter ladies for another amazing novel!
*I received a complimentary copy of this book from Publisher and was under no obligation to post a review, positive or negative.*
Barundar (12 KP) rated Avengers: Endgame (2019) in Movies
Apr 27, 2019
Story (2 more)
Ending
Effects
Endgame No Spoiler Review!
The Epic ending to last year's Infinity War was all you could hope it to be. Not only did this film have to wrap up the devastating cliffhanger we were left hanging on after the 'snap', it also had to tie up all the character arcs the MCU has built so far for the original Avengers. Somehow this film delivers it all!
The three hour run time may seem daunting to some, but to those who have invested in the last 21 films it's just right. Each character has their moments and the film is filled with the usual MCU humor and action.
The first two hours move at a steady pace, fleshing out the characters and story while building up to the third hour and final act. The ending, as expected, was beyond epic and highly satisfying in every way. The story doesn't drag during the three hours, nor is it straight action. In between we get plenty of 'fan moments' that are just perfect and well earned after all these films.
There is a lot to take in with three hours of story. You may need to see it again as you are sure to be blown away by something you may miss something else. Some moments need to be seen again and at some point you may need a critical bathroom break too.
The film does not have any after credit scenes only a 'sound' at the very end. It's enjoyable for the casual MCU fan to the die-hard fan, having seen Infinity War being a prerequisite in my opinion.
Avengers: Endgame is PG-13, so as far as little ones seeing it, if they could handle Infinity War they can handle this.
This is a must see for any MCU fan and an A+ from me.
The three hour run time may seem daunting to some, but to those who have invested in the last 21 films it's just right. Each character has their moments and the film is filled with the usual MCU humor and action.
The first two hours move at a steady pace, fleshing out the characters and story while building up to the third hour and final act. The ending, as expected, was beyond epic and highly satisfying in every way. The story doesn't drag during the three hours, nor is it straight action. In between we get plenty of 'fan moments' that are just perfect and well earned after all these films.
There is a lot to take in with three hours of story. You may need to see it again as you are sure to be blown away by something you may miss something else. Some moments need to be seen again and at some point you may need a critical bathroom break too.
The film does not have any after credit scenes only a 'sound' at the very end. It's enjoyable for the casual MCU fan to the die-hard fan, having seen Infinity War being a prerequisite in my opinion.
Avengers: Endgame is PG-13, so as far as little ones seeing it, if they could handle Infinity War they can handle this.
This is a must see for any MCU fan and an A+ from me.
Jon Hansen (9 KP) rated Magic Rush: Heroes in Apps
May 2, 2019
Boring (3 more)
Gacha (random character drawing)
Throttled progress
Free to play, pay to progress: Hostageware
The latest in a long line of soulless Gacha
This game gets a solid C for effort. An RPG with occasionally tower defense elements is okay in concept, but this implimentation is sure to leave you feeling hungry for more. As in, more of some other game. Because let me be clear there's nothing satisfying here to playing this game. Take a look at the central gameplay mechanics:
- Energy system arbitrarily keeps you from playong the game at a pace necessary to actually enjoy it (oh, of course, you can insert a quarter in the form of $5 % to keep playing for another twenty seconds)
- hero draw mechanic makes sure that you have no control over what champions you have and whether they're good or not, leaving zero room for customization
- Standard Battles amount to little more than an Idle clicker.
- Alliances encourage you to team up with people you don't know and don't and won't ever care about to do nothing
- weak and meaningless pvp battles because they're still just the aforementioned idle clicker
- re-raid previously completed maps for junk to progress! This of course costs money, and with its poor interface it is left taking days longer than it needs to. But hey, for those of us who like farming but not gameplay, I guess it makes sense.
- constant ads and offers for bundles that cost your life savings and do nothing
- ...and much, much more, ensuring the game is 4x as generic as every other game on the entire app store. 2 stars for good (read:non-buggy) implimentation of this cash grab street beggar simulator.
- Energy system arbitrarily keeps you from playong the game at a pace necessary to actually enjoy it (oh, of course, you can insert a quarter in the form of $5 % to keep playing for another twenty seconds)
- hero draw mechanic makes sure that you have no control over what champions you have and whether they're good or not, leaving zero room for customization
- Standard Battles amount to little more than an Idle clicker.
- Alliances encourage you to team up with people you don't know and don't and won't ever care about to do nothing
- weak and meaningless pvp battles because they're still just the aforementioned idle clicker
- re-raid previously completed maps for junk to progress! This of course costs money, and with its poor interface it is left taking days longer than it needs to. But hey, for those of us who like farming but not gameplay, I guess it makes sense.
- constant ads and offers for bundles that cost your life savings and do nothing
- ...and much, much more, ensuring the game is 4x as generic as every other game on the entire app store. 2 stars for good (read:non-buggy) implimentation of this cash grab street beggar simulator.