Artificial Continuum
Showing posts with label book review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label book review. Show all posts
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Go Mutants!-Book Review
4:19 PM | 
Posted by
Nick
Larry Doyle is quickly becoming a comedy superstar. A former writer for the Simpsons, and author of the widely successful I Love You, Beth Cooper, Doyle has already shown the world that he has skill in creating successful satire and memorable characters. Doyle continues his success in his recent comedic novel, GoMutants!.
In a world where the monsters, aliens, and events of B-Movie Horror films from the 50's actually exist, J!m, son of a particularly hated invader, must struggle to survive high school. While J!m has problems typical of an American teenager (puberty, girls, bullies, etc.) he also must deal with the fact that his neighborhood suspects him of being an alien terrorist. Luckily, he has the help of his two friends Johnny, a mutant motorcycle-riding ape, and Jelly, a jello like mass passing as a fat kid.
Go Mutants! is a unique premise to say the least. Although its plot relies on the cliches of both the high school comedy and science fiction genres, Go Mutants! never stops feeling surprisingly fresh.
Perhaps the most obvious and striking aspect of the novel is the fascinating world that it takes place in. Although designed as a satire, Doyle manages to breath a surprising amount of life and detail into a land populated by aliens, mutants, robots, etc. Incredible detail is given to the history, politics, and even pop culture of this surreal universe, which is surprising given that the book is a comedy. However, due to Doyle's deadpan and atypical sense of humor, certain confusing aspects are explained so nonchalantly that they required repeated reading to understand.
Despite this flaw, Go Mutants!'s comedy is endlessly funny. While there are the expected pop culture references, Doyle's humor spreads beyond name dropping. The characters and situations presented are enough to deserve a several laughs. That's not to say that Doyle does not use his expertly crafted universe effectively. Fans of the science fiction genre will be able to pick up cameos Gojira, Gort, and even Triffids.
Despite taking cues from 1950's culture, Go Mutants! is relevant, and continuously successful, in its satire. Commenting on topics ranging from the War on Terror to teen society, Doyle's tale is as almost as thought provoking as it is funny. While you won't find anything here as stirring as Catch 22 or other satirical masterpieces, Go Mutants! is a great piece of satirical fiction.
While overshadowed by the world they inhabit, the characters that populate the world are certainly notable in their own right. Each are interesting, and their plights believable and sympathetic, if slightly cliched.
While it may best be enjoyed by fans of the science fiction genre, Doyle's latest comedy is well worth the read.
Score: -A
Friday, June 11, 2010
George R.R. Martin's "Sandkings"
2:01 PM |
Posted by
PaddyWagon
So the other day, I ran across this oldie-but-goodie from everyone's favorite author, George R.R. Martin. It's a short story from a collection of short stories by Martin, come across by COMPLETELY LEGAL means on the internet
Here's a short description from fanfiction.co.uk
I personally thought these short stories of Martin's were better than his long Song of Ice and Fire series. It has Martin's classic narrative style, but kept succinct and fast-paced, where his several thousand page tomes of Ice and Fire can sometimes drag on (dragon (see what I did there?)).
Original source of quote: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/george-r-r-martin/sandkings.htm
Here's a short description from fanfiction.co.uk
"When Simon Kress returned to his home planet of Baldur from an offworld business trip, he was amused to find that his tank of Earth piranhas had cannibalized themselves into extinction, and of the two exotic animals that roamed his estate, only one remained. Now, in search of some new pets to satisfy his cruel pursuit of amusement, Simon finds a new shop in the city where he is intrigued by a new lifeform he has never heard of before ... a collection of multi-colored sandkings. The curator explains that the insect-like animals, no larger than Simon's fingernails, are not insects, but animals with a highly-evolved hive intelligence capable of staging wars between the different colors, and even religion--in the form of worship of their owner. The curator's warning to Simon about the regularity of their feeding, unfortunately, was not taken seriously...."
I personally thought these short stories of Martin's were better than his long Song of Ice and Fire series. It has Martin's classic narrative style, but kept succinct and fast-paced, where his several thousand page tomes of Ice and Fire can sometimes drag on (dragon (see what I did there?)).
Original source of quote: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/m/george-r-r-martin/sandkings.htm
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Kick Ass- Graphic Novel Review
3:52 PM |
Posted by
Nick
Kick Ass is sort of a big deal right now. With lots of publicity, and a movie being released this Friday, the green suited atypical hero is now as much a star as he is in his graphic novel. However, is this new attention deserving? How does the Kick Ass graphic novel measure up? I'll just have to tell you.
Kick Ass follows Dave Lizewski, an overall loser teenager, who spends his days reading comics, watching porn, and lusting over classmates and students. Being the geek he is, Dave comes to the realization one day that being a superhero cannot be as hard as it seems. Buying a wetsuit and a pair of nunchucks, Dave goes out to fight crime. Several surgeries and gory fights later, Dave's alter-ego ,Kick Ass, becomes an internet star, inspiring hundreds of geeks the world over. While Dave struggles to balance his own disfunctional life, and his new found stardom, he runs across other heroes. Among them the mysterious and violent Big Daddy and Hitgirl, and the smooth and rich Red Mist. As his world becomes more and more complicated, Dave finds himself over his head in a world filled with violent crime leaders.
Kick Ass is written Mark Millar (Civil War) and drawn by John Romita Jr (World War Hulk). Its unique approach to the superhero genre is interesting and refreshing at best, and tiring and frantic at worst. Kick Ass excels at telling a satirical and cynical superhero tail. Its wry sense of humor, and gritty sense of realism are a rarity in modern comics. The novel is also usually great at straying from the typical superhero cliches that often bog down the storyline.
However, some of the most lauded and talked about aspects of the controversial novel area also some of its most distracting. Kick Ass's characters do not shy away from extreme acts of violence or vulgarity. While initially jarring and refreshing, the over the top aspects of the book eventually lose what makes them interesting and just become boring. At times it seems as if Milar and Romita Jr are just trying too hard to defy convention, and the book suffers. The later act of the book falls apart, dragged down by the need for over the top action and gore. This seems hypocritical to the point of Kick Ass's ultrarealistic approach and actually feels cliched.
There are also aspects of the writing that bother me. Like mentioned earlier, the later act of the book falls apart falling into cliches that the book seems desperate to avoid. The story especially sputters when concering the characters Big Daddy and Hit Girl. The novel never seems able to make a decision on what the motivations for these characters, and the origin they eventually fall upon is just plain dumb. It defies conventional logic, and doesn't make sense. However, this is a shame because Hit Girl is established early on as being one of the more interesting characters in the novel. Her big emotional payoff at the end of the novel also misses the mark. It feels tact on and misses the necessary undertones it should have. Instead it takes a back seat to vulgarity and action.
The art style is also a mix. While sometimes delightfully minimalistic, it other times seems awkward and lazy.
However,despite these complaints, Kick Ass is still a mostly well written and interesting book. It is different enough to set it apart from the crowd, but overall misses the mark in alot of areas. This is depressing because if Kick Ass stuck to the potential it had in its earlier segments it could have been truly great.
Score: B+
Kick Ass follows Dave Lizewski, an overall loser teenager, who spends his days reading comics, watching porn, and lusting over classmates and students. Being the geek he is, Dave comes to the realization one day that being a superhero cannot be as hard as it seems. Buying a wetsuit and a pair of nunchucks, Dave goes out to fight crime. Several surgeries and gory fights later, Dave's alter-ego ,Kick Ass, becomes an internet star, inspiring hundreds of geeks the world over. While Dave struggles to balance his own disfunctional life, and his new found stardom, he runs across other heroes. Among them the mysterious and violent Big Daddy and Hitgirl, and the smooth and rich Red Mist. As his world becomes more and more complicated, Dave finds himself over his head in a world filled with violent crime leaders.
Kick Ass is written Mark Millar (Civil War) and drawn by John Romita Jr (World War Hulk). Its unique approach to the superhero genre is interesting and refreshing at best, and tiring and frantic at worst. Kick Ass excels at telling a satirical and cynical superhero tail. Its wry sense of humor, and gritty sense of realism are a rarity in modern comics. The novel is also usually great at straying from the typical superhero cliches that often bog down the storyline.
However, some of the most lauded and talked about aspects of the controversial novel area also some of its most distracting. Kick Ass's characters do not shy away from extreme acts of violence or vulgarity. While initially jarring and refreshing, the over the top aspects of the book eventually lose what makes them interesting and just become boring. At times it seems as if Milar and Romita Jr are just trying too hard to defy convention, and the book suffers. The later act of the book falls apart, dragged down by the need for over the top action and gore. This seems hypocritical to the point of Kick Ass's ultrarealistic approach and actually feels cliched.
There are also aspects of the writing that bother me. Like mentioned earlier, the later act of the book falls apart falling into cliches that the book seems desperate to avoid. The story especially sputters when concering the characters Big Daddy and Hit Girl. The novel never seems able to make a decision on what the motivations for these characters, and the origin they eventually fall upon is just plain dumb. It defies conventional logic, and doesn't make sense. However, this is a shame because Hit Girl is established early on as being one of the more interesting characters in the novel. Her big emotional payoff at the end of the novel also misses the mark. It feels tact on and misses the necessary undertones it should have. Instead it takes a back seat to vulgarity and action.
The art style is also a mix. While sometimes delightfully minimalistic, it other times seems awkward and lazy.
However,despite these complaints, Kick Ass is still a mostly well written and interesting book. It is different enough to set it apart from the crowd, but overall misses the mark in alot of areas. This is depressing because if Kick Ass stuck to the potential it had in its earlier segments it could have been truly great.
Score: B+
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Mass Effect 2 DLC: Zaeed- Review
12:59 PM |
Posted by
Nick
Just like with Dragon Age: Origins, Bioware has included a DLC pack that introduces a new team member for your roleplaying adventures. This time we got Zaeed Massani, a scarred mercenary that sounds like that shark guy that stood in for Mrs. Puff in that one Spongebob episode. Is Zaeed a worthy adaptation to your team? Does he provide the fun gameplay the squadmates do?
Story
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zaeed Massani sticks out among the Mass Effect 2 cast for being surprisingly underdeveloped. He doesn't have a recruitment mission, you just meet him on Omega and he joins him. He also doesn't have any dialogue conversations outside of his two missions. You can visit him in his cabin, but he only shoots you one liners. However, he gains a surprising personality during his loyalty mission, where you and him come to terms. The confrontations between Shepard and Zaeed have surprising depth, and tension. Zaeed also has an interesting tie to one of the minor villains in the game, which plays into the plot nicely. Zaeed also can play a dramatic role in the end run if you let him.
+Poignant loyalty mission
+Fits well into story
-No dialogue conversations
-No evolution outside of mission
Score: 25/40
Gameplay
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zaeed plays like your standard soldier character. He doesn't really bring any true combat upgrades to the battle scene, his powers could easily be interchanged with that of Garrus or Jacob. His loyalty mission however is surprisingly fun to play, and ranks as one of the better ones out of the eleven possible quests.
+Fun loyalty mission
-Doesn't add much to gameplay
Score: 30/40
Graphics
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zaeed himself is a strange character to look at. His two pupils are different colors from eachother which is an interesting idea but looks bizarre graphically. His scars also make his facial expressions seem stiff and and unnatural. However, the loyalty mission that accompanies Zaeed has a surprisingly interesting atmosphere and is fun to explore.
Score: 8/10
Sound
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zaeed's voice acting is well done and interesting, but the voice actor they chose has an incredibly distinct voice and I can't help but be reminded of previous roles hes taken. However, this is a trivial complaint to more polished sound effects, powerful voice acting, and great score by Jack Wall.
+Good voice acting
+Polished Sound effects
+Jack Wall's score.
Score: 10/10
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall
Zaeed is a fun but flawed DLC. Like the Normandy Crash Site its free with a purchase of the game, so you might as well download him, and it does add a good solid hour of gameplay to the final product.
Aggregate/Overall Score: 73/100
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
A Novel of Vampires, Werewolves, and Parasols
7:25 PM |
Posted by
Anna
Konban wa! Anna speaking. Firstly, may I express how totally psyched I am to be working on this blog!
Secondly, lady geeks, have I got a book for you to read!
Title: Soulless (Book 1 of The Parasol Protectorate)
Author: Gail Carriger
Summary: Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations.
First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is bother Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social ettiquette.
Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire - and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.
With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia is responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?
Rating (out of five stars): FIVE STARS
Review: If you loved Twilight, Soulless is your new favorite book. Aside from being much better written than the teen fanfavorite, Soulless has a level of humor that caters to a more...what's the word...mentally awesome group. Set in Victorian London, the story follows the adventures of Miss Alexia Tarabotti, an almost literal 'black sheep' in her family of dumb blondes. Witty and resourceful, Alexia uses her wits and wiles to solve an intrigue that normal people can't even hope to understand. With the help of Lord Conall Maccon, an ancient, cynical, and Scottish werewolf leader, she braves the mysteries of the supernatural aspect of society and finds love along the way.
This book had me laughing, gasping, and reading until all hours of the morning. The novel has some steampunk aspects to it that made little old me a very happy little nerd. Alexia was a very relatable character: self-conscious, emotional, independent. She even has a gay best friend...even though he's a four-hundred-year-old vampire with a penchant for sparkly things and outrageous color combinations. And do not get me started on Lord Maccon. Bow-chicka-wow-wow!
There was some sex in it, but fear not, this is no bodice-ripper, my friends. Even during the steamy bits (which were honestly not that steamy), Carriger maintained her wicked sarcasm and biting humor. Nothing romance novel-y here. Just good writing.
So, to sum it all up, a great beginning to a series and a phenomenal book on its own. Definitely worth your time.
Well, that's all I have to say for now, ladies and gentlemen. Until next time!
Jaa mata!
Secondly, lady geeks, have I got a book for you to read!
Title: Soulless (Book 1 of The Parasol Protectorate)
Author: Gail Carriger
Summary: Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations.
First, she has no soul. Second, she's a spinster whose father is bother Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social ettiquette.
Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire - and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.
With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia is responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London's high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?
Rating (out of five stars): FIVE STARS
Review: If you loved Twilight, Soulless is your new favorite book. Aside from being much better written than the teen fanfavorite, Soulless has a level of humor that caters to a more...what's the word...mentally awesome group. Set in Victorian London, the story follows the adventures of Miss Alexia Tarabotti, an almost literal 'black sheep' in her family of dumb blondes. Witty and resourceful, Alexia uses her wits and wiles to solve an intrigue that normal people can't even hope to understand. With the help of Lord Conall Maccon, an ancient, cynical, and Scottish werewolf leader, she braves the mysteries of the supernatural aspect of society and finds love along the way.
This book had me laughing, gasping, and reading until all hours of the morning. The novel has some steampunk aspects to it that made little old me a very happy little nerd. Alexia was a very relatable character: self-conscious, emotional, independent. She even has a gay best friend...even though he's a four-hundred-year-old vampire with a penchant for sparkly things and outrageous color combinations. And do not get me started on Lord Maccon. Bow-chicka-wow-wow!
There was some sex in it, but fear not, this is no bodice-ripper, my friends. Even during the steamy bits (which were honestly not that steamy), Carriger maintained her wicked sarcasm and biting humor. Nothing romance novel-y here. Just good writing.
So, to sum it all up, a great beginning to a series and a phenomenal book on its own. Definitely worth your time.
Well, that's all I have to say for now, ladies and gentlemen. Until next time!
Jaa mata!
Labels:
Artificial Continuum,
book review,
Gail Carriger,
novel,
parasols,
Soulless,
steampunk,
vampires,
werewolves
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