Reading List Ramble

At the time of writing, I’m reading Rome and the Mediterranean, by Titus Livy, the last of his works I have to read. But I also have a pretty hefty reading list of mostly fantasy books and for those looking for something to sink their teeth into I thought a menu of fantastic fare might prove useful (not least as many will soon be getting bookstore gift vouchers and the like).

I’ve read the first three Chronicles of the Black Gate, by Phil Tucker, and really enjoyed them a lot. They’re set in a fictional world with different parts accessed by various gates (the Black Gate leading somewhere rather horrid, and the White Gate opening the path to Heaven). The plot has nice twists and turns, and the characters shift and change in a credible way that makes friends into enemies and vice versa. It’s entertained me so far and I will be buying the later entries at some point.

Whilst we’re on sequels, I’ve really enjoyed the Stormlight Archive series by Brandon Sanderson. Especially good for fans of enormo-books, the latest instalment, Rhythm of War, came out in November (part 4, I think) and each entry is about 1,200 pages. Lots of world-building, interesting backstories and epic fantasy for those with a voracious appetite.

Chris Wooding’s Tales of the Ketty Jay is a quartet of rollicking adventures in an engaging steampunk world. Annoyingly, I’ve already read them. However, he does have another series, The Darkwater Legacy, and I’ve been meaning to give that a look. And if you haven’t read Tales of the Ketty Jay I can strongly recommend it.

I recently read and reviewed The Faithful and the Fallen part 1: Malice, by John Gwynne. It took me a little while to get into it, but the plot twists were very nicely handled and the finale was excellent. The sequel is called Valour, and is on the ever-growing monstrosity that is my reading list.

A couple of months ago my internet fell off, so I had a few days with limited distractions and no possibility of work. Luckily, I also had Half A King by Joe Abercrombie, which I absolutely devoured in a couple of days (fastest I’ve read a book for an awfully long time). The other two parts in the Shattered Sea Series are most definitely to be read in the future.

In the more distant past I wrote some Snapshot reviews, reviewing just the samples of various books. I found this pretty fun and also discovered some very promising stories, most of which I haven’t read yet due to my inability to bend time.

The Copper Promise, by Jen Williams, was right up my street, an old school fantasy of treasure hunting and torture.

Kingshold, by DP Woolliscroft, had an intriguing setup of a kingdom shifting from monarchy to democracy and a range of engaging POV characters, and is something I’ve always intended to read in full.

The Thief Who Pulled On Trouble’s Braids Michael McClung, and Dangerous to Know by KT Davies both piqued my interest and opened series focusing on thieves with intriguing premises.

Those are just the things off the top of my head. There are plenty more great samples I encountered during the Snapshot reviews, and hopefully, if you like fantasy, that’ll provide you with some ideas of what to consider if you’ve got money to burn and aren’t sure what to try next.

Thaddeus

Review: Malice (book 1 of The Faithful and the Fallen), by John Gwynne

I acquired this from a little library at the same time as the earlier reviewed Joe Abercrombie book. It took me rather longer to read for several reasons: it’s bigger, I actually had the internet (and therefore work to do), and it took me a little while to get into it.

The start felt slightly slow, but given it’s the beginning of a series that’s perhaps understandable. The plot takes place in a fictional world and follows multiple POVs, from the youthful Corban to older men who have proven themselves in battle already. The cast is geographically dispersed and, at first, it seemed the plotlines might exist in silos, but one of the big positives of the book was when the various threads became entangled with one another. The integration of differing plotlines was well done and it was interesting to see the main cast, often separate, interacting with one another.

The world is original and whilst there’s lore this is allowed to exist as an important backdrop rather than swallowing the narrative or drowning it in infodumps. Dialogue sometimes felt like it could be a touch sharper, to be honest, but this was a relatively minor drawback.

Plot twists were another highlight. Some were obvious, and meant to be so, others far more unexpected but they fit the world, characters, and plot, making them credible and deepening my engagement with the story rather than jarring. The finale in particular was well-executed.

Overall, I found myself liking the book more and more as I got into it. Which is annoying because I really don’t have the shelf space. However, at some point (the reading list grows, ravenous beast that it is) I will check out the sequel in e-book format. Or I might even try the audiobook.

Thaddeus

Review: A Brief History of Life in the Middle Ages, by Martyn Whittock

This book was a delightful gift I received recently, and one I read rather rapidly.

The time period covered is pretty broad, although as the author acknowledges a lot can be argued about when the Middle Ages starts and when it ends (personally, I always liked the view that the Middle Ages is the period of time from the fall of the Roman Empire until the fall of the Roman Empire). In this book it covers pre-Conquest Anglo-Saxon England all the way until the middle of the 16^th century.

The broader approach taken allows for a look at what changed over the centuries and what stuck around for a long time (indeed, part of the reason the end date was chosen was because of the founding of the Church of England which ended many longstanding practices).

Topics covered include diet, the cultural/religious calendar, and the role of women. I found especially interesting the section on lepers and the way different people of the same era might consider them holy (suffering purgatory on Earth, effectively) or sinful (punished by God with disease). Similarly, the general demographics were of interest, as England’s population had an effective cap that wasn’t really surpassed until the Industrial Revolution rolled around.

The author does make use of ancestral examples here and there, but they always fit into and add to the history rather than being awkward (in short, they’re not an act of conceit, but of explanatory use).

Map fans have a few at the front, though it should be stressed both the maps and the book itself focus on England.

If you’re after a broad scale overview covering an extensive period of time, this book will suit you rather well. If you’re after a more boots-on-the-ground and/or time-specific (14^th century) then you may prefer Ian Mortimer’s The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England.

Thaddeus

Review: Shakespeare’s London on 5 Groats a Day, by Richard Tames

As with Ian Mortimer’s excellent A Time Traveller’s Guide to Elizabethan England, this book is a modern day history that has an in-character primary source type of approach, putting the reader in the shoes of a visitor to the capital in the late 16^th century.

The book covers not just the city but also parts of its surrounding
area, in terms of reaching London when travelling there and taking day trips. There’s interesting detail on how social aspects such as the guilds function, and the defence of the city in times of woe (slightly odd but telling to read that longbows are superior to muskets but even the Queen’s guards swapped the former for the latter).

From shopping to staying at swanky inns (or less delightful taverns), what to eat (or not), the public spectacle of executions, and the biggest men, and women, in Elizabethan society, this is a good book for learning more about what it would be like to visit or live in London during that time. It’s also handy for world-builders thinking of how a society without our level of tech, and society with more old-fashioned views, might function.

The light-hearted style makes it entertaining and easy to read, and there are lots of little snippers of London lingo and lore that are concise but interesting.

It’s a slim book, which was to my liking and may be a pro or con depending on what you’re after.

Thaddeus

Review: Half A King (Shattered Sea Book 1), by Joe Abercrombie

It’s been a long time since I read a whole book in 2-3 days. But I read this one that fast.

Admittedly this was partly due to the internet being down which meant I played a lot of video games and read far more than usual. Nevertheless, if I’d been less taken with Half A King I would’ve done something else with my unexpected abundance of time.

The story follows the tale of Yarvi, a young lad of royal blood missing most of one hand. Naturally, this has rather held him back in the approximately Anglo-Saxon/Viking fictional world in which he lives. Hard to be a great warrior when you’re half a king.

The premise is that his father and brother suddenly die and he ends up being thrust into the role of king, something that nobody seems to want, including himself. But he soon discovers there are far more uncomfortable seats than the throne.

The narrative sticks with Yarvi throughout rather than switching points of view, and it works. The world is bitter, and cold, and so are the people, but along the way force of circumstance brings him together with some unlikely allies as they strive to escape the torment of fate and return to their homes.

One thing I especially liked, and won’t spoil, is the ending, which I think the author absolutely nailed.

All in all, a very good read and I’m glad I had it to hand to help occupy the time when a wiring problem set me adrift from the internet.

Thaddeus

Review Mesopotamia: The Invention of the City, by Gwendolyn Leick

This is a bit out of my usual area. It had been sitting, as many things are wont to do, in my basket, and as I was clearing out the enormo-list of things to actually buy a handful of items there was a sale on. This new book was cut from about £12 to £4, so I decided to get it.

Through looking at ten cities in an approximately chronological order, from Eridu to Babylon, the settlements and civilisation of Mesopotamia are explained to the reader. There are various different peoples/cultures covered, such as Sumerians, Assyrians, and Babylonians. I knew very little of this period (mostly the Persians under Cyrus replacing the Medes and conquering the entire area, which is touched on briefly at the very end) and the book begins with a somewhat prehistoric look which soon turns historical.

The name Mesopotamia means ‘between the rivers’, and the shifting course of the waters plays a major role in cities rising, falling, and rising again. The time periods involved are quite astonishing, literally thousands of years. Equally interesting is the shift from a potentially egalitarian society through to god-kings (in a broad sense, not dissimilar to what happened with Rome).

There are various particular terms which are always explained as they crop up, as are the various gods, which was very useful as I had no idea otherwise what many of them meant. Necessarily, there’s a lot of knowledge gaps with many uncertainties due to lack of evidence. In other areas, fortune preserved tablets which, upon discovery, revealed surprisingly detailed accounts of myths and historical events (or propaganda, perhaps).

I found it a very interesting book, and one good for people unfamiliar with the period.

Thaddeus

Review: (A Brief History of) The Roman Empire, by Stephen P. Kershaw

I acquired this from a local little library and thought it worth a look. And so look I did.

The Roman state (in the west) began as a kingdom before becoming a republic, with the imperial period only covering the last five centuries or so. It’s important to be aware of that because if you’re looking for
a Western Roman history from start to finish this is not it (nor does it purport to be but sometimes people assume Roman Empire = Roman Kingdom + Republic + Empire).

Necessarily the scope of the time frame means there can’t be an in-depth analysis, but the author’s relaxed style does make this very easy to read as he charts the achievements, calamities, and peculiar episodes of Roman imperial history.

This works as a good refresher for people who haven’t read much recently, or as an introduction for people new to classical history. It’s unreasonable to criticise the lack of detail in certain areas as a single volume covering five hundred years necessarily has to be concise. However, if you do want a more in-depth look at a particular period or emperor then this is not the book for you.

For further reading there’s a smorgasbord. The most obvious is almost the most difficult: Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (go for a Penguin or Everyman edition so you can enjoy the many notes).

Early Imperial Rome is covered by Suetonius and Tacitus, for later stuff I’d suggest Ammianus Marcellinus.

Thaddeus

Review: Dark Currents (Emperor’s Edge Book 2), by Lindsay Buroker

It’s been quite a while since I read the first Emperor’s Edge book, an engaging read in a more technologically advanced setting than I usually go for (think steampunk). Naturally, spoilers for that are contained in this review so if you want to avoid those, stop reading now. My review of the previous entry in this series is here.

At the start of the book Amaranthe, a former cop, has assembled what amounts to a steampunk A-Team, and is intent on clearing their names (including that of Sicarius, the taciturn assassin). Aided by a preening peacock, a learned bookworm, a foreign mute, and a delinquent novice mage, Amaranthe and her assorted ne’er-do-wells have been attempting to find problems to solve to get into the Emperor’s good books (hence their collective name, the Emperor’s Edge). When a corpse gets washed up the trail leads the Edge into an alarming conspiracy regarding the city’s water sources and magical constructs. Tensions continue to rise between the misfits as Amaranthe does her best to balance a group whose primary unifying characteristic is having bounties on their heads.

The characterization is excellent and fun, and the pace is handled very nicely, never feeling sluggish without straying into over-the-top needy constant action. It had been a while since I read the first book so it did take me a little while to recall who was who beyond Amaranthe and Sicarius, but this was a fun and engaging read and I’m looking forward to part three.

Incidentally, you can get the Emperor’s Edge Collection, which is the first three e-books, and is very good value.

Thaddeus

Review: NPCs, by Drew Hayes

Turns out reading multiple books at once can lead to a brief glut of reviews.

NPCs is a fun and engaging fantasy with an emphasis on light-hearted adventure and a wry look at tabletop gaming. For the most part it’s a traditional fantasy set in an RPG type world, and you don’t need to be an aficionado of D&D or Pathfinder or Critter to easily get the references.

We follow our not-so-heroic quartet of adventurers Grumph the half-orc, Gabrielle the human, Thistle the gnome, and Eric (also human). Together, to protect their hometown, they pick up the mantle of an unfinished quest when four foolish fellows accidentally combine forest foraging and booze and manage to kill themselves with ignorance.  Unfortunately, this entails highly probable death, and trying to get to grips (as NPCs) with how this adventuring business actually works.

Along the way they encounter a variety of foes and challenges, and the pace manages to tick along nicely without becoming frantic and breathless. There’s a nice sense of irony and amusement, and it’s a relaxing read. I often found myself reading more than intended, and given my reading speed can be somewhat glacial now this was a very good thing.

The beginning was interesting, the middle was fun, and while I won’t spoil anything of the ending I did like that as well.

It’s also worth noting this is the first in a series. I do plan on reading the rest later, but as the Deathgate Cycle will attest (minimum of 16 year gap between first and second instalments) it may take me a while with my current reading list.

NPCs gets a recommendation from me.

Thaddeus

Review: The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is ridiculous and sublime.

A short time after reading the classic The Hobbit for the first time, I just finished Douglas Adams’ famous The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. It’s odd, witty, surprising, quite compelling and rather short.

Coming in at just over 150 pages, it’s not a huge tome, but it is an engaging one, following the hapless Arthur Dent as he lurches from one bypass disaster to another, ably assisted by his alien friend Ford Prefect. It’s quite hard to describe events beyond that without spoiling things, but suffice to say the pace is swift, the writing is charming, the strange, surreal sense of humour is fantastic, and it’s really good.

So give it a read, if you haven’t already.

Thaddeus

Review: The Book of Jhereg, by Steven Brust

I first read this something like a decade and a half ago, and have vague memories of liking it. But tastes can change.

This book is actually a three-in-one deal, with the stories Jhereg, Yendi, and Teckla included. All follow the first person dramas of Vlad Taltos, human assassin in a world of Dragaerans (elves), with rich and powerful friends, and usually rich and powerful enemies too.

My reading speed has tended to be on the slow side lately, but I made surprisingly rapid progress with both the start and end of the book (well, books). The writing style is fast-paced and dialogue heavy, with less in the way of description and more in the way of things happening. That’s not to say the plot twists are overdone, just that the story keeps ticking over nicely (in this regard it’s the opposite of the pros and cons of Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series).

Whilst there’s backstory to the world the action almost entirely occurs within a single city, in which Vlad’s an underworld figure who inherited a title his father bought with the family fortune, such as it was, enabling him to have some status among the Dragaerans. The stories are set apart in terms of time and don’t progress in chronological order. I didn’t have an especial problem with this, although it’s a perhaps unusual choice.

The first, Jhereg, sees Vlad tasked with an extremely tricky assassination, with potentially dire consequences if he can’t achieve it quickly (not least his own impending death). The second, Yendi, occurs before this, and has Vlad facing a threat from a rival underworld boss with rather more backing than he’d expected. And the last, Teckla (perhaps my favourite), sees Vlad’s wife getting caught up with some revolutionaries amongst the lowest ranking elves and humans. I don’t want to get into more detail than that, but I did end up reading about half the last book in a single sitting I found it so engaging.

If you’ve never tried Steven Brust’s stuff I can recommend this as an introduction. The only thing stopping me getting more is that I already have a comically enormous to-read list. But when it’s time to buy something new this series will be one of the things I consider.

Thaddeus

First Thoughts: Stellaris (PS4)

Stellaris is a real time with pause strategy game that’s been out for quite some years now, especially for PC. Being a console peasant, I’ve only just gotten around to getting it. So, is it mind-bendingly complicated or easy to get into?

Yes.

It’s complicated. There are multiple resources/currency types, huge timescales, diplomacy, internal political factions, bureaucratic limitations and various policies, as well as racial bonuses and disadvantages you can give yourself.

And yet despite that, I haven’t had too much difficult so far with my first game. The tutorial tips are really useful, and, although complex, everything seems to make intuitive sense. I’ve made some mistakes, which is to be expected for a complicated game the first time it’s played, but nothing horrendous (probably should’ve built more starbases and fewer districts).

Let’s start at the beginning. There are preset races/civilisations you can play as, or you can make your own. I toyed with being Cosmic Dragons or a reptilian version of Rome (may create those later) but decided to go with the British Space Empire, exporting tea, cricket, and intergalactic violence to anyone who crosses me. There’s a range of cosmetic stuff you can play with, as well as gameplay mechanics such as boosting how adaptable your species is (handy for colonising more worlds). Another cool feature is that empires you create may then appear in your future games as AI civs (you can enable or disable this feature as you like for each individual empire).

Start up the game and you’ve got your homeworld, a small military force, and civilian ships. These last ships are the most immediately useful. Constructions ships create mining facilities, and can build starbases in other systems, claiming them for your empire and enabling the constructions of mining operations. Science ships fly about surveying everything so you know which systems are worth claiming. They also analyse anomalies which can yield significant benefits (mostly scientific, but one example of something different would be that found a ship way more advanced than anything I had, trapped in the gravity of a planet. I tried and succeeded to retrieve it, substantially boosting my military capacity).

It’s a really laid back game. Mostly. The vast distances can mean that if you get caught short militarily you end up unable to defend if your ships are too far from the action.

Other empires can have wildly varying attitudes towards you, based on xenophobia/xenophilia and how similar/far away you are from them. Butter them up with trade deals (or gifts), or crack some skulls and go to war (I did this and claimed two systems from the Figyar Star Commonwealth, including a natural bottleneck to stop them annoying me in the future).

The speed can be varied from slow to average to fast, as well as pausing possible pretty much any time you like. There’s a really nice level of creative writing with the varied anomalies and special research projects that I appreciate. Still relatively early days (I’ve been playing for less than a week), but right now I’m enjoying it a lot. Recently formed a federation with my best alien friends, and a third member just joined, putting us in what I hope is pretty good shape.

I have to admit to a perverse desire to try playing it in German. I’ve played quite a few games that way, and it’s the only reason I can remember more than a handful of words.

Thaddeus

Review: The Hobbit, by JRR Tolkien

Tiny bit late to the party, but I was glad to finally get around to reading this classic, decades after checking out Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. Didn’t go into entirely blind as info is not only revealed through the Lord of the Rings but I also saw this at the theatre (although that was probably over 20 years ago. My main memory was of Bard having a powerful voice).

I’ve got to say I rather enjoyed it. The slightly old-fashioned adventure, allowing for moments of fear and trepidation without wallowing in grimdark woe, and some clever twists and turns combine with a charming storytelling style and rapid pace to make it quite the page-turner.

The story, you may be shocked to learn, involves a hobbit, which is a chap or lady even smaller than a dwarf (which you likely know already). Also known as halflings, they tend to keep to themselves, but one, Bilbo Baggins, finds himself whisked away by Gandalf the Grey and a dozen or so dwarves intent on reclaiming a huge mound of treasure.

There’s just one or two problems. The treasure is miles away and a perilous journey is required. And the treasure is guarded by a dragon called Smaug, who prefers murder by the bucketload to equitable distribution of wealth.

And so we follow Bilbo, a kind-hearted fellow and altogether a fish out of water, as he travels with Gandalf and the dwarves far from his comfortable home, facing numerous woes I shan’t spoil here. It’s a good read and faster paced, as you would expect, than its famous (and perhaps slightly fat) cousin, The Lord of the Rings.

I’d recommend it to fantasy fans, and suspect it’s more accessible than either the large LOTR, or The Silmarillion (which I like a lot but know the style isn’t to everyone’s taste).

Thaddeus

Age of Wonders: Planetfall (PS4) – First Impressions

I snagged this for £6, having been intrigued for a while by the seeming mix of Civ and XCOM mechanics. But how does the sci-fi game stack up after a couple of hours of play?

Pretty well, actually. There are six factions available, of which I’ve only played the Vanguard (think humans with advanced war machines and laser guns). The others are the man-hating tree-huggers, insects without a hive mind, cyborg vampires(ish), human resource capitalists, and Russian space dwarves. You can customise your own commanders (who partake in combat) and there’s a decent array of options, from flags to vices.

There are two tenets of gameplay: a strategic world map, and tactical combat on a battlefield. I’m a console peasant but like the idea of strategy games (may get Stellaris next month) so I’m still getting to grips with all the strategic stuff, but so far I think it’s fairly intuitive and easy to follow. In addition, the research often leads to amusing little quotes, and it’s nice the game doesn’t take itself too seriously.

You start off with a planetfall colony, to which you can annexe adjacent sectors for more food, productions and other resources. It’s also where you create new units, including the coloniser to set up new colonies.

The tactical battles play out significantly faster than XCOM’s. Beforehand (when initiating, at least, unsure if it happens when you defend) you get to compare the relative strengths of the armies, which is very helpful. You can also have an auto-combat option, which simply gives you an automatic result. During the battle you can also hand over to the Machine God to run auto-combat from there (you’ll see the moves taken in this instance). There are options to cut down on the brief overhead intro and make enemies’ turns quicker, which I adopted to cut down on noise (see below).

A really nice feature is modding units. Research soon yields bonuses, from ammo that inflicts bleeding to hitpoint restoration abilities. You can apply these to units individually or en masse, giving that template a name (the suggested ones, such as Butcher and Eviscerator, are usually pretty good). That way, you can create these specifically upgraded units at your colony, if you want to. It also makes tier 1 units more useful later on, it seems, rather than just becoming obsolete.

The biggest drawback I’ve encountered isn’t the game, it’s the console. Fellow PS4 owners will be aware that the machine (I’ve got a fat original version) can be noisy a lot, and occasionally mimic a jet engine with alarming authenticity. It’s audible during the strategic map, but during the tactical battles it can get pretty damned loud. Can’t fault the game for this because I’ve had the same with many other titles, and it’s obviously a console cooling weakness, but if, like me, you get nervous of your console melting itself, this is a downside.

The game itself, however, is pretty good.

Thaddeus

A Day in Oblivion – Unearthing the PS3

The controller’s sticks had turned unhealthily gunky when I removed the controller from its stone sarcophagus. Not sure if the meltiness was because my room is south-facing or a side effect of encasing my old consoles in the cursed sarcophagus of an Egyptian mummy.

But would Oblivion live up to my memories?

I’m a little wiser and a lot balder than I was when I played then back in those heady days before global pestilence had returned. Would time have eroded the delight I recalled, or would the plucky older game hold up well? I heroically decided to spend Sunday finding out.

The several hours I spent in Cyrodiil at the weekend were laced with nostalgia, so it might jut be rose-tinted glasses, but I really rather enjoyed my stay there. I played as a Breton battlemage, going with the suggested class rather than the custom one that I habitually created way back when.

The graphics are still perfectly reasonable (bearing in mind the ag), the major exception being the character faces. One big plus I’d forgotten was that the hotkeying on consoles is miles better than Skyrim. In Oblivion you get 8 (via the D-Pad) whereas there just 2 console hotkeys in Skyrim (up and down, selected from the favourites list accessible by pressing left or right). This came in very handy as someone focusing mostly on magic.

Another nice touch I’d forgotten was the Black Horse Courier, which helped get me back into the world before the empire started falling to pieces. Quests unfolded naturally too, with a couple of people seeking me out in Skingrad (one of whom had walked from the Imperial City), and my nirnroot-harvesting leading to another. There seemed more freedom wandering about this way and that, and I encountered a couple of ruins which I successfully navigated by summoning undead to do the hard work for me.

It was also a little sad to see the Mages Guild in Skingrad appear to have more spells than in the whole of Skyrim.

One diametrically opposing difference was the clear lack of voice-acting variety. That said, the races do stand out a lot more, especially in height terms. In Skyrim, Bretons, Nords, and Imperials look pretty damned similar (although the beast races are orders of magnitude better).

It’s early days, but I really rather enjoyed my Sunday in Cyrodiil. Had to swap the console back for other reasons, but looking forward to joining the Mages Guild and crafting my own spells.

Thaddeus

PS And, for those wondering, a day or two of leaving the controller out plus an hour of playing degunkified my cursed controller.

Oblivion Reminiscing

Occasionally I go back to my old consoles and play games of yesteryear. I was considering doing just that with my PS2 and enjoying classics like God of War, Shadow Hearts, and so on. But lately I’ve been wondering about playing Oblivion.

Made by Bethesda in the good old days when paying for horse armour was laughable and games didn’t take over a decade to be released because studios were too busy dicking about with live service bullshit, Oblivion has a lot of points I remember really fondly. And one I loathed.

Skyrim’s got a more realistic world in terms of paths and mountains, but the infamous sideways mountain-hopping is far easier in Oblivion. What this means is you can go practically anywhere, which means the world’s a bit less realistic but players enjoy a lot more freedom. I’ve gone multiple different ways after leaving the starting dungeon, whereas Skyrim does more heavily lead you by the hand.

Another big plus is that the cities feel larger, and more distinct. The city size in Skyrim is significantly smaller than in Oblivion, and the cities tended to feel like they had their own identities more. Markarth is nice and different, but mostly the architecture and feel of Nordic cities is pretty similar. That’s not the case in Oblivion.

Quests are also better in the Elder Scrolls IV than the next instalment. I won’t spoil it, decade and a half old as it is, but the Dark Brotherhood questline in Oblivion is orders of magnitude better than anything in Skyrim. If you haven’t played it, give it a look. It’s engaging, enjoyable, and compelling.

Creating your own spells is a nifty feature you gain if you join the Mages, but for some reason it was stripped out of Skyrim. Why? It’s cool being able to create your own spells, and the range of spells in Oblivion, even without making your own, is substantially more too. And you can cast them whilst having a sword in one hand and a shield in the other. Plus the touch spells make being a battle mage a cool option.

Character creation obviously comes with inferior graphics, but against this you can alter the colour and length of your hair, and even fiddle cleverly to make your orc red (move the relevant slider all the way right, then left, then repeat until he’s red).

These are all things I like. So, what’s the thing I didn’t?

Levelling.

Now, maybe I’ll view things differently if I ever go back, but from memory the levelling system pissed me off. Enemies level as you do. Which can work. But if you don’t get your skills right then you become relatively weaker, making you less powerful as you level up. Which is insane.

I’m currently replaying Divinity Original Sin 2. Undecided if I’ll take a hiatus upon leaving Fort Joy or keep going, but it’s interesting to consider going back to Oblivion.

And the PS3 also has Dragon Age: Origins as well. Ah, happy days…

Thaddeus

Review: Time of Contempt, by Andrzej Sapkowski

Although I got this a little while ago starting it was delayed due to my glacial reading speed (well, that and relatively little reading time). However, I very much enjoyed this part of the Witcher and Ciri’s tale.

Like preceding books it has a varied POV in different sections, with Geralt being the main character and Ciri being the story’s heart. Together they’re aided, or not, by assorted major characters, and as someone who discovered the Witcher’s world via the last videogame it’s interesting to see the names I know in an earlier time.

There’s a stronger sense of continuity and connection between the differing segments of the book than in some predecessors, and this really works to its advantage. The personal tribulations of the leading characters blends seamlessly with wider political machinations and global events. I don’t want to spoil the story so I won’t say much more on that front, but the development of the world and secondary characters helps to strengthen the foundations upon which the dramatic tension is built. Characters feel three-dimensional and credible, which makes their plight or success matter more.

I enjoyed this book a lot, and if you’ve read the previous few entries then this one should be right up your alley.

Thaddeus

Review: Lancaster and York (The Wars of the Roses), by Alison Weir

I sought this book because I was after a single volume covering the Wars of the Roses, and, having finished it yesterday, must say I enjoyed it a lot.

For people unfamiliar with the period there’s a helpful setting of the early 15^th century scene, with the reign of Henry IV supplanting Richard II, and the heroic (if short-lived) Henry V following. The book then settles into the meat of the matter: the disastrously incompetent Henry VI, his domineering French wife Margaret, and the clash between them (the House of Lancaster) and the House of York.

The book covers the entirety of Henry VI’s reign (or, perhaps, that of his wife), and the reign of Edward IV. It ends in the 1470s, after the dynastic clash is settled (although mildly surprised it didn’t go to Bosworth in 1485 I do think that legitimate given the succeeding house was Tudor, not Lancaster).

It’s not as bad as reading a biography of King John, but it’s nevertheless remarkable how much incompetence there was at this period in history. Vindictiveness and complacency led those in seemingly unassailable positions to throw away their advantages. Many men changed sides (willingly or not), many remained neutral, but, beyond those competing for the crown, the charismatic, ambitious, and talented Warwick was a fascinating third part of the story.

What’s striking is that the wars were so unnecessary. Factionalism and mistreatment of a man with a better claim to the throne, and who had rendered good service to the crown at his own expense, precipitated a conflict that otherwise wouldn’t have happened.

The book’s easy to read, although I’d prefer there to be a map at the front (there is one but it’s partway through) for reference. Happily, there are footnotes rather than the Devil’s work of endnotes. These are sparing and useful, so there’s no need to worry about a Gibbonian proliferation of notes.

All in all, I would recommend this to anyone who, like me, knows sod all about the Wars of the Roses and would like to remedy the situation.

Thaddeus

Quarantine Reading

Hey, kids.

I don’t blog much nowadays but thought it might be useful for some people (the elderly, asthmatics, those with other underlying conditions) facing potentially months in isolation to have some hefty reading recommendations to help fill the time.

Note that all of these are books/series I’ve entirely or largely read, and come in both physical and electronic forms. I’ve tried to mix things up a little according to whether people read a lot or a little and different types of books. NB these are all text-based books, obviously su doku, crossword, and other types of puzzle book could be good ways of killing time.

The Lone Wolf gamebooks

These were some of my favourite books growing up, and I still have most of the first 20. They’re a lot of fun, mostly ok for kids (maybe not very young ones) and engaging for adults. I recently replayed the first couple until my full playthrough was interrupted due to various (non-pandemic) factors. Best of all, almost every book is available online for free at Project Aon (with the blessing of the sadly departed author Joe Dever). These won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, and the first couple only took me an hour or two each, but there’s a lot to sink your teeth into and I recommend giving them a shot.

The Sharpe series

Another staple of my teenage years were the Sharpe books by Bernard Cornwell. There are tons of them covering the eponymous hero as he fights for Britain from India to Europe, enjoying a nautical adventure at Trafalgar along the way. The books are easy to get into, not excessively long, but there’s a large number of them. I can also highly recommend, by the same author, the Warlord Chronicles (an Arthurian trilogy), and the Starbuck Chronicles (a quartet focused on the American Civil war).

Outlaws of the Marsh

Despite being pretty massive (there are different versions, with around 2,000-2,200 pages being usual) I’ve read this Chinese classic three times and will likely keep re-reading it. Imagine Robin Hood set in Ancient China, directed by Quentin Tarantino and written by a man who thought the problem with the Lord of the Rings was the small size of the cast. It’s packed with bloody action and cool characters like Sagacious Lu, the tiger-killing Wu Song, and Nine Dragons Shi Jin. If you like action and politics then Three Kingdoms, of a similar size, is well worth checking out. It’s a book of historical fiction covering the fall of the Han Dynasty around the end of the 2^nd and start of the 3^rd century AD. If you prefer things simpler, then try Journey to the West, which has a main party of just four travelling to the west and knocking seven bells out of the assorted demons that try to stop them (I’m most of the way through re-reading this one myself).

The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

About 4,000 pages long, Edward Gibbon’s six volume masterpiece of history chronicling millennia of the Western and Eastern Empires is fantastic. It’s worth stressing this isn’t one for beginners as it’s not only massive, but densely packed and can drag sometimes (the Mongols and origins of Christianity and Islam both get quite a few pages). However, it’s also really rather good. I’d advocate getting the Everyman’s edition as the notes are included as footnotes (some versions have a separate volume for the significant number of notes.

The Complete Works of Shakespeare

I admit, I’ve got this and have been a little lax working through it. But if you like the Bard and haven’t got to grips with his plays, sonnets, and assorted whatnot then why not take this opportunity to indulge yourself and read up on epic tragedies and a smorgasbord of cock jokes? (The Taming of the Shrew’s central message has aged appallingly but it does have some good one-liners. “Away, you three-inch fool!”).

Some extra suggestions, from others:

Europe: A History

By Norman Davies, this sizeable tome covers the continent from the Ice Age to the Cold War.

The Complete Aubrey/Maturin Novels

Written by Patrick O’Brian, the boxed set of historical novels comes in at thousands of pages. Nautical fans may prefer these to the mostly landlocked Sharpe.

Fighting Fantasy

As a friend reminded me, those who want more besides the Lone Wolf gamebooks have plenty of options and amongst these are the Fighting Fantasy books, of which there are rather a lot.

Thaddeus

Review: A Mage’s Power (Journey to Chaos Book 1), by Brian Wilkerson

Disclaimer: I was asked to review this book honestly. So I am.

A Mage’s Power is a fantasy story, initially set in the real world before moving into a fantastical one. The protagonist is one Eric Watley, a chap with low self-esteem and a bit out of a down-and-out. He encounters a cosmic trickster, whose blend of help/annoyance soon propels Eric off Earth and into a strange new realm.

Clearly influenced by classic fantasy RPGs, the plot sees Eric enter the world of Tariatla and he discovers a penchant for magic. After a spell in school, he becomes a mage and a mercenary with the Dragon’s Lair. Although there are a series of almost self-contained story arcs, Eric is always at the centre as our protagonist and there are some interesting twists, particularly towards the end when he finds himself confronted with political intrigue and some characters of dubious loyalties.

The style is a bit lighter/more young adult than what I usually go for, and a little more grit would’ve been my preference. The setting’s interesting, mixing together ye olde swords and spears with magic and (effectively) technology powered by magic. It’s a bit reminiscent of some Final Fantasy worlds, and it all fits together nicely. There’s a nice pace to the story and some interesting twists and turns. Because of the tone, the peril/adversity seems a little on the low side, but that’s a choice the author’s made rather than a failure to execute anything else, so more of a style point than a criticism. The upside of that is that the story’s fun and the character interactions, particularly Tiza and Nolien’s bickering, work well.

There was some head-hopping which could’ve been handled better, and sometimes it was unclear which dialogue came from which character. It does take a little while to get rolling, although later on I did end up reading more than intended on numerous occasions (my reading time is pretty short right now).

If you’re after a fun story with an easy to read style, then I’d suggest downloading a sample and giving it a look.

Thaddeus

Review: Civilization VI (PS4)

Please note that this is a review of the base game only, and that, at the time of writing, I’ve played exactly three games (winning the last) all on standard/Prince difficulty.

My prior experience of Civilization was Civ II (released in 1999) and Civ Rev for the PS3 (but which is a lot more streamlined than main Civ games).

For those entirely unaware, Civ is a strategy game whereby the player picks a civilization and leader from history and aims to lead them to greatness, with victory being achieved in various ways (science, culture, etc. In my win I went for a domination victory, which means conquering everyone else’s capital city). Players can forge alliances with other civilizations, research together, trade, or declare war. Cities themselves flourish or flounder based on food, resources, housing, amenities and whether or not your enemies invade and annihilate your hopes and dreams.

In terms of the learning curve, it took me about three games on standard difficulty to feel like I’d gotten to grips with most of the mechanics, using the base game (there is an expansion bundle available as DLC).

Generally, controls worked well but there is room for improvement. There’s no handy button to flick from city to city. The game does auto-prompt you to pick things when a city’s finished whatever it’s doing and lets you know when housing/amenities are a problem, but it still would’ve been nice.

The AI isn’t the most challenging. Once you get how combat works, the computer-foes tend to be rather foolish and easy to defeat. This is both in terms of combat and diplomacy. I was attacking everyone, one by one, and regularly got denounced as a warmonger, but nobody ever declared war on me.

Barbarians, however, are more numerous and a bit trickier early on than they were in other games. Scythia can be a handy civ for this as they gain a bonus against damaged units and heal upon defeating enemies, which can make an early game a bit more straightforward.

Changes I enjoyed include cities with walls getting to shoot nearby enemies, and the ability to link units as escorts (so your settler can have a warrior companion) without needing to move them separately.

Changes I did not enjoy were housing and, to a lesser extent, amenities. Housing decreases growth when you don’t have enough (you get it from water sources, plus improvements). It just seemed a pointless faff to me. Amenities are pleasant distractions to keep people happy. That said, on Prince I had a lot of unhappy cities but not one ever revolted.

There’s a nice variety of civilizations from which to pick although I must admit it still annoys me Victoria is described as English (a far better choice would’ve been Elizabeth; Victoria was British).

The search function in the Civilopedia didn’t seem to work. Most stuff is easy to get to grips with but early on that would’ve been handy.

And I only found the lens menu (L1, the left hand menu) late on. Probably very useful for people after a religious victory.

In terms of PS4 performance and the jet engine noise that certain games cause: this didn’t happen. From start to finish, there was a low amount of noise but with earphones in I couldn’t even hear it. This was a pleasant surprise given that (albeit on a standard-sized map, which is still pretty large) at the end of my third game I had a hefty empire and quite a lot of units moving about.

Good music, and I like Sean Bean’s narration. That said, still a very good game for the radio or playlists.

One annoyance was the total absence of any instructions. It’s an ideal game for a basic instruction book, even if it's just civics and research trees.

Overall, I like Civ VI a lot. It’s very moreish, most of the mechanics etc are easy to get to grips with, and there’s a lot of customization possible when it comes to setting up games. It’s not without the odd flaw or room for improvement, but the base game is well worth a look.

Thaddeus

Great Games in Early 2020

I haven’t written too much on videogames recently compared to a few years ago (my Civ VI first impressions aside), but the release calendar for the first half of 2020 is one to delight the soul and wound the wallet.

Dates are correct at the time of writing (UK), obviously delays can and do happen. Information revealed through trailers is mentioned but no spoilers beyond that. I’ve listed the titles and dates immediately below if that’s all you’re after, with more detail underneath.

• Final Fantasy VII Remake – 3 March [PS4 Exclusive]
• Cyberpunk 2077 – 16 April [PS4, Xbox One, PC]
• The Last of Us Part II – 29 May [PS4 Exclusive]

Final Fantasy VII Remake – 3 March [PS4 Exclusive]

When I first got my original Playstation back in the late ’90s, the games I got with it were Resident Evil 2 and Final Fantasy VII. And I really liked them, especially FFVII. The materia system was simple to grasp and brilliant to use throughout the game, interacting with weapons and armour to create interesting combinations. The characters were fun, the world huge, and the villain has gone on to become an icon of videogames. Plus the music, especially the reactor theme and One Winged Angel, are great. Bit tricky for Square Enix to decide what to update and what to keep the same, but the combat system has been modernized (mingling real-time action and strategic commands, apparently). Will it live up to the hype? No idea. But I reckon it might just sell by the bucketload.

Cyberpunk 2077 – 16 April [PS4, Xbox One, PC]

The Witcher 3 was the game that made CD Projekt Red’s reputation for a lot of people. It combined an open world and meaningful choices with a pre-determined character who already had relationships with most of the major characters. On top of the fantastic writing, storylines, music and graphics, CDPR also handled the DLC brilliantly, giving away 16 items for free (from quests to costume changes) and then charging reasonable sums for substantial expansions. Cyberpunk 2077, featuring the breath-taking Keanu Reeves, is a long way from Novigrad. It’s the near future, where corporates hold sway in crime-ridden Night City. Cybernetics are routinely used to enhance humans, and the player-character V is after one that might just grant immortality.

The Last of Us Part II – 29 May [PS4 Exclusive]

The first game has a strong claim to be one of the best ever made, combining visceral combat and nerve-shredding tension with an enthralling story and engaging characters. The surrogate father-daughter relationship of Joel and Ellie worked fantastically well, and a lot of people have mixed feelings about a sequel given that living up to the first game is a pretty tall order. From what we’ve seen so far, Ellie appears to be the primary (possibly sole) protagonist. She’s a young adult now, and Joel’s grown a little greyer. Although they do seem to have found a semblance of civilization there’s still a very grim and violent world. We’ll have to see if Naughty Dog can live up to the very high expectations they’ve created for themselves.

Whilst this is a PS4-heavy list, that’s just the way the calendar’s worked out. If you’re more of an Xbox player then there is good news down the line, with Halo Infinite anticipated as a launch title for Microsoft’s new console (set to come out at the end of 2020).

Thaddeus

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Civilization VI (PS4): First Impressions

I was rather looking forward to this. Although I’ve played Civilization: Revolution for the PS3 the last ‘proper’ Civ I’d played was Civ II for the original Playstation, which released in 1999.

As preparation I cunningly watched quill18’s excellent mini-series on Youtube (it’s well worth a look), and then completed the tutorial, which was rather more forgiving than I deserved.

Then I cracked on as Rome. At the time of writing I’ve probably played an hour and a halfish of my first game.

The basics are mostly intuitive, although it took me a little while to realise that clicking on a city first selects the unit on that square (and units, excepting siege/settlers, don’t appear to stack) and you need to press up or down on the d-pad to select the city. One thing missing is a straightforward toggle between the cities. Not a problem early on but I’m guessing that could be irksome late on in a massive game.

The housing and amenities stuff is a little bit over my head right now, but I'm sure I'll get the mechanics down after a game or two.

All the combat stuff is basic but sensible, with bonuses/penalties based on terrain, damage, and policies (which are very simple to set and change).

The art style is cartoony but works fine, although the pedant in me has to point out that Victoria was a British not an English queen (Elizabeth I would’ve been a better choice).

When it comes to the perennial PS4 problem of noise due to insufficient cooling, there’s a little bit but it’s nowhere near the jet engine certain other games produce.

One problem others may face (which I learnt via the Multiplayer Media Youtube channel) is that screens sometimes eat the edges. Which is a huge problem if that affects you here because critical info is on the edges of the screen. You’ll need to satisfy yourself that isn’t the case, or have a tricky time of things. Multiplayer may or may not be functional, but as I’m a solo player that’s not a problem for me.

I’m enjoying it a lot so far. Even being acutely aware of the time, I found myself losing an hour or so before getting ready to leave the game (currently, Qin and Gilgamesh like me, and Cleopatra’s being a bit of a bitch). I’ve already managed to bugger up one city’s location (although Ravenna’s looking good). Incidentally, renaming cities can be done by entering the screen with all the housing/happiness info and tapping triangle. Units can also be renamed but do need to get two promotions first.

Bit of a learning curve right now, which I expected. On Prince, the standard difficulty, things seem decent enough for someone who does have outdated experience of the series.

The loading time (standard map size) was not very long, which was another pleasant surprise.

All in all, I’m liking it a lot, minor quibbles notwithstanding.

Thaddeus

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