Foreword

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₪ Genre: Adventure
☑ Release date: October 2015
♬ Soundtrack: New OOTS and The Traveler's Tune

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Before even attempting to review Minecraft: Story Mode – A Telltale Games Series I should probably come clean and admit I'm one of those weirdos who know nothing about Minecraft as global sandbox block building phenomena that had everyone's attention before sandbox survival became a trend in recent years. I never got into it and genre as a whole did not grab my attention. This is worth bringing up because I may have on my hands a rare example of where not being familiar with source material to at least some degree can be detrimental and because you're piecing together what's what as you go along for a spin-off game. How'd I do? Well, let's see.

First episode is actually free so anyone can check it out, but just in case – we follow Jesse as he, or she seeing as you can choose the gender and some skin/clothes colors at the beginning making for a strange character creation in a Telltale game, and his two friends Olivia and Axel, are preparing to embark for EnderCon. Major competition of some sort for builders and that seems to be a big thing in the world? Accompanying them is also Jesse's best friend, a pig named Reuben. We see humor and jabs aplenty in these first few minutes and honestly, minus the QTEs, this single instance of a tree house room neatly condenses a lot of what Minecraft Story Mode is all about. Needless to say and self-evident for every good narrative this is merely the opening and soon world finds itself in danger as new heroes step up to save it. You connect the dots.

Weirdest thing for me was definitely getting over the art style. Fans will think nothing of it and it does grow on you over time, but goddamn if that first episode didn't take some time to acclimate myself. Maybe it looks better if you're playing further away from your TV and not seated in front of the monitor? I can't say. Geometry is simple, but at the same time I can only guess that may be the appeal for fans of Minecraft proper. Especially in later episodes when developers clearly went for some ornate and impressive architectural layouts, and realized them with various blocks. This is actually even brought up for story and character reasons seeing as building things is often the go-to solution for our party, but I really wish it wasn't relegated to just button mashing QTE segments. In fact, that's something I'd like to get into next...

I've ranted against Telltale's tendency to phase out actual gameplay with each new “adventure game” they keep making, but in many aspects this might be the worst example yet simply because such overt actions which COULD be turned into something where the player has to think for himself are automated. Crafting is one element where you do have to get involved, but it comes down to simple “hey, these are the ingredients you conveniently find in the same room where the crafting table is and all you have to do is match the pattern”. Maybe I'm [unjustly] expecting more than what Telltale can and has delivered so far yet Minecraft Story Mode actively made me question if I'm even necessary for anything in the game or whether my role is to just be an observer. For all the formula variations employed across eight episodes this is something that remained a constant – too many cutscenes where you're maybe required to occasionally press a button or two.

You would not expect such gravitas to go with the art style and it does clash on occasion.

Plenty of snappy humor to go around, though.

If you're not one for puzzles you'll be glad to hear inventory is mostly there for show and minor instances of crafting.

And really, it's bringing up episodes that takes me to the worst offender in what is, in a summary, an above average production – filler. My god, this did not require eight episodes. Certainly not if you're going to make two filler that amounts to nothing. Well, technically you got trophies from them that you get to display in the final interactive sequence, but story wise episodes five and six could've been completely done away with. One is a self-contained story and arguably Ivor development vehicle depending on how you handle it, but the other one... well, rarely have I seen such a self-indulgence on display. I can only surmise these characters are famous Minecraft Youtubers/streamers or something that got an entire episode dedicated to not mere cameos but actual story invasion. Let's just say I could've done without that and less said the better. Thankfully, plot steers back to its second arc somewhat naturally after that and builds up to a surprisingly good finale. Might actually be one of the best in all of these games, to be perfectly honest.

I briefly mentioned graphics upstairs, but soundtrack department was much more consistently satisfying. You can read from episode intro vignettes that one composer got dropped after a certain episode and you can hear it, but tracks grounded me in what was going on. Might sound strange when you imagine things like characters dying and other dramatic events happening set against the backdrop of such blocky visuals, but presentation itself is not the problem. It's merely a sort of juxtaposition until your mind accepts what the eyes see. Soundtrack lends itself well to this and chirpy tunes eventually settle in.

Why am I still recommending it then after this kinda negative piece? Because of what I said above – it is still an above average game of its type that simply happens to have some blemishes here and there, large and small. If you're a Telltale fan you already know what to expect and if you were hesitant because of Minecraft, like I was, I still think you should give it a go.

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☉ Platform: PC
₪ Genre: Action, Adventure
☑ Release date: November 2013
♬ Soundtrack: Under the Black Flag and Queen Anne's Revenge

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Back to Assassin's Creed it is for me after nothing but spin-off titles for a while. Surprisingly enough I did not get Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag when it became free on uPlay. No, I actually bought the damn thing some time back and then held off until I got the DLC I wanted for it. Now let's go see if it's same old fare or has the new setting resulted in major changes, yarrr.

Latter only applies if you're newcomer to the series, though. Provided you don't already happen to be familiar with the fact that Assassin's Creed is pretty damn constant in what it provides and setting affects flavor more than anything. You could make the case that Black Flag is the most notable departure so far because sailing is such a major part of the game, in my humble opinion, far more important than actual on-foot sections, but I'll get to that later. For now let's talk story...

... because it was honestly the weakest element for me. You play as Edward Kenway, a Caribbean pirate with cliff-notes backstory where he decides he'll make something out of himself and call for his wife waiting for him in England to join him, and tangentially ends up in embroiled in same old Assassins versus Templar situation we're all familiar with – Freedom versus Control. Now, I could accept the fact he adopts the costume and gear from would-be-traitor he disposes off, but I have no idea where Edward inherited Assassins' abilities the way he did. For a regular pirate with aspirations he certainly has the right skill-set from the beginning and does nothing to earn it. Hell, that's something actual members of the Order comment on when you meet them in the game. Even that isn't the main problem and this ties into the story, though – for most of the game and even Edward's story itself has nothing to do with the whole meta premise and unending conflict between two factions because you're just a guy plundering ships and stealing stuff while, by sheer convenience, having to get involved with things you care nothing about except for, you guessed it, get more booty. In hindsight I suppose this could be seen as a positive and might be the reason why so many people like the game, but for me it meant that about 80% of the story did not grip me in any way and character development/twists towards the very end fell flat because no groundwork was laid down properly for it to be built on top of. This could, admittedly, be just my taste. I wouldn't waste breath on modern day segment except to note they still exist and are presented to you in first person as you assume role of some Abstergo employee working on the Kenway project as part of Abstergo's game development studio. Draw whatever parallels you wish from that.

Good thing Assassin's Creed never really lived or died by its story. Sure, interesting characters and plots help, but they're not necessarily the main draw. Setting and locations play a large role in these things and Caribbean Golden Age of Piracy hits it straight on the head if you care about pirates. Do I? Well, sure. Most of the good pirate games are simulations which has, ironically, limited their appeal as far as mainstream fans care, but Black Flag is definitely accessible and gets most of the experience right. Sailing during the night while crew sings shanties is a phenomenal experience. Not to mention it's one of the few games in the series so far to tie the basic premise and gameplay into such tightly interwoven systems, but that's for the gameplay section.

Which happens to be simultaneously amazing and disappointing, both in already tried and true ways. For you see Assassin's Creed 3 already did sailing or at least basics that get expanded upon drastically in this one, and land sections are same old, same old you can probably play through blindfolded at this point. I did like the reduction in your overall kit so you're not a walking armory like you were in Assassin's Creed 2 trilogy. Good thing to inherit from the last game, of all things. Something I absolutely detested and yet is more prominent than ever are the goddamn tailing and eavesdropping missions. Why Ubisoft insists on bringing back the most despised type of missions in the franchise remains beyond me and doubly so this time seeing as civilized locations generally look all alike. What's even worse is this tailing carries into ship gameplay aka you have to tail ships unseen while avoiding detection areas and other ship's line of sight. Yes, it's absurd because, I mean, you can't really hide in a haystack while you're on the high sea and aboard a ship. Can you?

I wish Caribbean settlements had more identity beyond “shacks and jungle”. Even your own underdeveloped base.

Ah yes, the modern day storyline we can't get away from and you can probably count on one hand how many people care about.

Snippets of character stories you get from Assassin contracts are great, but sorely few in number.

Speaking of ships. Yes, I can safely say it's the best part of the game and finally a reason for in-game economy to exist, not to mention actually be put to good use. By their sheer nature ground sections could always be winged even with the most basic gear/upgrades. Not so with ship combat where you absolutely NEED numerous upgrades for the Jackdaw that come in form of improved hull armor, more broadside cannons, mortar to shell fortress with, ram to... well, ram things with, etc. It's much more of a numbers game with ships because you don't have much room for improvisation when combat is met. Seeing as you're a pirate you will use your spyglass to look at other ships on this Caribbean overworld, so to speak, and engage them in combat whereas you can loot by either destroying them and scavenging or boarding a crippled ship to take their entire inventory. You could fund your operations by looting all usual chests that are scattered around, doing missions, etc but big Reals lie in plundering rum and sugar from other ships and selling them. You also get three resources: metal, wood and cloth, combination of which you need in addition to Reales to upgrade the Jackdaw. All in all it's a very satisfying system and you can avoid the grind if you, well, play the game as a pirate the way you're supposed to which leads to higher wanted level and Hunter ships that carry vital crafting materials aboard. It works.

From a production standpoint Black Flag looks pretty damn solkid considering its release because the next generation of consoles was already underway and everything is apparently subject to those. Vibrant colors abound and lush vegetation lends itself well to organic locations compared to older, more established cities franchise is generally better known for. Unlike the previous numbered entry I think they realized it much better this time around because Caribbeans aren't really supposed to be some half-assed replacement for cities and rather seem to be the dominant biome. Like I mentioned above I wish there were less obstacles between ship play and on-foot sections, though – there's one or two too many loading screens between the sea overworld dotted with islands, fishing spots, diving locations, etc and hubs of civilization when it really should've been seamless to keep up with the illusion. Alas, we do what we can with what we have. What I did not like was probably the buggiest Assassin's Creed experience I've had so far; from disappearing ships left and right, NPC routines being unable to handle tight obstacles and water areas, missions that would just freeze and had to be restarted, vanishing markers, overall mistaken approach to everything naval freezing once you relinquish control of your ship, etc. Good number of these have been faithful franchise companions, but they're at their absolute worst in Black Flag.

You wouldn't think going from four pistols to a blunderbuss would make for much of a difference.

Before the conclusion I'd like to talk a bit about the accompanying DLC.

Well, only notable piece is really Freedom Cry because all others are really just cosmetics, OP weapons for Edward to use in the main campaign, resource saving packs if you can't be bothered to collect them properly and multiplayer stuff I did not bother with. Freedom Cry follows Adewale, protagonist's quartermaster in the main story, at some point after the events of Black Flag when he's doing a job on Templars but gets shipwrecked near Haiti and has to make his way back. As you'd expect it's a much smaller game in every way, but interestingly enough I found it a lot more engaging because Adewale is a good character with actual noble goals to him. Keep in mind you can only say SLAVERY IS BAD so many times before you get on my nerves and honestly, Freedom Cry managed to do so in about twenty minutes, but I still liked the addition of the Rebellion system where you liberate slaves from repeatable events and slave ships in order to build up a resistance. Sadly, this is not the sorely missed Brotherhood system where you command your own death squad, but it's nice to have a somewhat working base and gear progress that ties directly into your objectives. Short and focused, but worthwhile DLC that lasted me for couple of hours.

So let's bring this to a close. For me, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag was a mixed experience. I'm not one of those people who seemed to have enjoyed it because they disregard the Assassin's Creed part and just wanted to sail around. No, in many ways it embodies the worst and best parts of the franchise as a whole. What this really should have been is a game about ship combat exclusively. The way it is you still have to deal with very weak story and standards trappings held together by sailing.

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☉ Platform: PC
₪ Genre: RPG, Action
☑ Release date: May 2015
♬ Soundtrack: After the Storm and Steel for Humans

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At some point in your hobby, career or whatever it may be you'll come across something that's such a milestone that everything else pales in comparison. Doubly so if said product isn't perfect, but is phenomenal despite its very tangible issues. Such is the case with me and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Game had undergone various setbacks before I finally got around to finishing it – waited to upgrade my PC, considered getting it on Steam before going with GOG and then simply that cold and plain fact of having a ton of other games to play while a 100+ hour RPG required a special touch.

So here we are at long last.

Well, this is the third game in the trilogy so I'm not certain how much I should be divulging to get you into because it is, in my opinion, not a good entry if you plan to get the most out of the experience. To cut the usual preamble short, don't worry because there's plenty of beating around the bush to follow, prologue is handled in flashback fashion as Geralt recalls a certain dream to Vesemir, another Witcher and Geralt's mentor. Aside from serving as the game's tutorial it also lays down some basics like who Ciri and Yennefer are, you get to see other Witchers of the Wolf School and some very ominous foreboding about the Wild Hunt and their chilling assault on the keep. Only to pull the rug under you as Geralt reveals this is, in fact, a dream and not a flashback seeing as events never transpired that way in reality yet the key players are very real. This retelling is cut short by a battle as two master Witchers make short work of some monsters and we finally get a tangible goal and reason why they're wandering across war-torn Northern Kingdoms as they're being invaded by Nilfgaardian Empire – Geralt's foster daughter Ciri has been missing for a while and he's on her cold trail alongside his mentor and sorceress lover Yennefer. It's a long shot at best but the duo knows they have to try as they descent to a local village to search for clues.

While not immediately evident from the above because both premise and story are presented in very understandable format, one can assume a fair bit of the Witcher 3 may be lost on newcomers who haven't stuck with the previous two games or, and perhaps more importantly in the grand scheme of things, haven't read the books. This is worth pointing out because even if you diligently follow up on various character entries, in-game literature and such I feel like you'll be stumped by Geralt's comments from time to time. I lost count of how many times I ran into “hey, it's THAT guy” while playing the game. From what I've gathered this has not been much of an obstacle for new fans, though.

While we're on the subject it should be pointed out that despite all of its other flaws and boons the Witcher 3 lives and dies by story, narrative and characters. This is doubly impressive when you consider it also falls under the “open-world RPG” umbrella where this belief that you have to sacrifice all or some of the above to get a world where you can fool around in has been long since entrenched, primarily championed by Bethesda in most cases. What I'm trying to say is the Witcher 3 is a game still strongly rooted in storytelling and, if I had to summarize it bluntly, subscribes to open world philosophy primarily so the player would have an easier time immersing himself into this world rather than so they can forget the story even exists. And make no mistake because what a story we have on our hands. I won't go into spoilers, but it involves traveling across multiple locales, some small and some large with varying degrees of pleasure and frustration along the way, and tackling a LOT of the subjects that go beyond simple “Where is Ciri?” despite that being the primary motivation behind Geralt's actions. It's difficult to put into words how writers did this but provided of willingly going off the beaten path to explore and do side content of your own volition, main story somehow never stops engaging and moving forward. One moment you're dealing with a self-proclaimed baron of Velen only to contend with pogroms against mages in Novigrad yet it all leads naturally as story moves along. It's very well done in a sense it doesn't play out like a set of blocks you have to build in order. After all – this is a Witcher game. Expect gray morality and choosing lesser evils with very few clear cut victories to be snatched from the jaws of death.

Forgetting you can't rob everyone blind when you go from boondocks to civilized places can be jarring. Guards get miffed, you see.

Whether he lives or not is up to you, little girl.

I know the sharpening effect can be overbearing for some people, but for me it added so much to the game under right conditions.

Characters and side quests fare in very much similar fashion – developed and positively worthwhile. There's a staggering quality to a game's writing when you realize even its throwaway side quests are more memorable and will stick with you longer than some other games' main stories would. That's not even getting into quests that feed into the main story, quests you can do out of order and actually get feedback from the game (nothing like doing contracts all on your own before even accepting said contract only for the fact to be recognized) and generally few examples of content that require you to pay attention or use common sense. Characters you interact with get very much the same treatment and I found myself remembering a simple innkeeper from what is essentially a tutorial area because she was animated so well and felt lifelike. If I had to put a finger on this beat it would be that the Witcher 3 benefits strongly from believable approach to writing all across the board. Keep in mind believable is not realistic but the no-nonsense attitude, staying true to premise and story, not to mention sheer memorability elevates the game in this aspect.

Yet it also brings us to the first major negative I have for the game and it's not a minor one.

You see, all of the above can be a double-edged sword if you don't have the systems to back such lofty storytelling and sadly that's really where Geralt's adventures stumble. What do I mean by that? While there's a ton of genuinely interesting, inventive and varied stories to enjoy they're all bolted on top of very simple and repetitive mechanics – you can expect to almost always A) follow someone to get to the objective or B) follow red trails visible with your Witcher vision as Geralt narrates what you should be doing next. This started to grate on my nerves extremely quickly because I decided to tackle side content as well and there's even less [mechanical] variety there whereas major and side quests tend to vary it up to some degree. You can only clear so many bandit camps, destroy monster nests or dive for chests before it all blends together, for example. Not to say some of those didn't have, you guessed it, interesting premises for you often come across bandit notes and such breathing life to characters who's guts you just spilled out. It should be noted that side QUESTS and side CONTENT do not necessarily refer to the same thing in Wild Hunt's context and I've seen a fair share of people equate actual quests with simple activities you can do after finding them in the world and marking them on your map. This is not an honest assessment in my opinion.

I can't believe I'm this far into the review and I've only rambled about things narrative and if you don't already know about the Witcher series you basically have no idea what I'm talking about at all. Taking after its predecessor we once again have an action RPG on our hands, albeit one that's much more polished and does away with somewhat stilted combat system for one that flows much more smoothly. Entire game has been retooled to feel this way, in the same manner as its engine was modified to facilitate open world structure. In many ways you still have all the tools Geralt of yore had access to like variety of magical Signs, ability to brew potions, oils and bombs, but there are new additions some of which like the crossbow are dubious at best and highly situational or perhaps were introduced more for the sake of needing to handle underwater combat of all things? We can only speculate. All character buildings aspects also saw major facelifts and upgrades you uncover along the way and having a access to a handful of abilities at any point in time makes you choose careful which of those you want to have “turned on”, so to speak.

In many ways, as you play through the Witcher 3 and find all the armor, weapons and other equipment to get better in traditional RPG sense you can't really shake the feeling game suffers from development bloat as features were continuously added for the sake of being there or, once again, immersion. Did we really need haggling for contract fees when you get what amounts to minuscule raises? Did we need a specific item that lets Geralt see what people were up to at their moment of death you will use only in handful of situations? Was there really need for contextual Igni actions that let you flick fires on and off? No, not really. But they add to the game and world interactivity and I appreciated them for that.

Aside from being a definite step up from Witcher 2's inventory there's also a lot of usability packed here you may not notice at first like the preview feature.

CDPR should be congratulated for the amount of effort that was put into areas you only briefly visit.

As befitting a Witcher you can expect to do much more than just whack people over the head with your sword(s).

While I'm on the negativity I might as well keep riding it all the way because it leads to the Witcher 3's second problem – questionable itemization and balance. There are many opinions on which path (Alchemy, Combat or Signs) is the best and most OP, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm referring to the fact game was clearly balanced for the so-called “critical path” approach aka just doing the main quest with minimum side stuff required to perhaps reach the level required so you can survive on higher difficulty. In practice this translates to couple of things not least of which being that you'll be pretty over-leveled if you choose to exhaust optional content before tackling the next step of the story AND if you actually bother locating Witcher set diagrams, best sets of armor in the game until you tackle New Game+ from what I've understood, you can forego about 95% of other equipment you come across. That's just sad and tremendous waste. It's not like getting Witcher sets is a major achievement or anything, either. Make that small effort and you've essentially made your own upgrade path you'll never deviate from. There's hope that you may end up starving for crafting components you need to further upgrade those sets, but if you're playing the Witcher 3 like a good little RPG boy aka stealing everything that's not nailed down and where you can get away from the guards, you'll also never want for components. Basically, if you take the game seriously and explore you run into serious diminishing returns in terms of gear progression. But on the flip-side you'll also gain access to a lot of formulas which will future proof you more than you realize. That +50% damage and correct decoction can be a life saver.

So... those are actually pretty serious points against the game, right? So you may be wondering why am I so enthused for it? Because the Witcher 3 is that kind of game proving sum of all parts can be so much more than when you observe those parts individually. There are problems yes, even problems some could find totally off putting like combat which features a lot of moving parts and things to keep track off yet is ultimately simplistic and easily broken with a modicum of thought put into your setup, but when observed as a whole the Wild Hunt shines like rarely any RPG has in recent memory. You could even say it raises the bar in many aspects from its stellar production values and post-launch support to sheer scope and scale with all the content that entails. Make no mistake because you WILL get your hours played with this one and if you add DLC on top of that you, well, you get even more out of it. Speaking of which...

There was a chance I would postpone both of the story DLC when I was considering this review a week or so ago but when I got my claws into them I could not stop playing. I would also like to point out CDPR had a great series of 16 pieces of free DLC, but those are more along the lines of different skins and armor and as such I won't cover them here. Still, nice to have more added to the game.

First order of business is Hearts of Stone which, in all honesty, is almost CDPR's return to form and more scaled back Witcher work with a personal story included versus large zones you have to fill with content. This one is grafted onto Velen, but story regarding one Olgierd von Everec and his supernatural troubles absolutely stands out as one of the best in the entire complete package. You walk away from Hearts of Stone seeing nothing but pure progress compared to base game in every way; bosses are deadlier and actually thought out so they're not just supped up normal enemies, there's even more astonishing production value to go around and shorter play time makes for a very densely packed experience. As if to prove me wrong and show they can do vanilla format except better we also have Blood & Wine which introduces an entire new region of Toussaint where chivalry lives on, but is hopeless to do anything against the Beast which seems to be stalking the region and killing influential people. Formal invitation on behalf of the Duchess sees Geralt resolving what could be the contract of a lifetime. Blood & Wine raises the stakes significantly compared to the previous DLC, but all the same applies on top of introducing the final level of Witcher set upgrades. This is the one you should probably tackle after finishing the main story proper seeing as it has a note of finality in Geralt's final farewell and goes even heavier on fan service than Hearts of Stone. Needless to say, they are both outstanding and should be played as they're absolutely worthy of being called EXPANSIONS in this day and age of bite-sized and overpriced DLC.

Accurate representation of what the author went through after finishing Blood & Wine... minus the running mascara.

That was a long read and I absolutely gushed all over the game while glossing over talking about anything tangible, didn't I? Yes, and yes. I don't think I'm that blind to most of the Witcher 3's tangible faults, but I cannot help liking the game despite all of them. Now for the sad realization I will probably never replay it because it's so huge and will most likely stay fresh in my mind for a long time. It is probably my one regret that I couldn't get more into Gwent, fully fleshed out card game present as a side activity. I think missing a card early on lead me to fail a quest and discouraged me from getting involved further. Not to mention a standalone Gwent game exists now so there's always that. To be perfectly honest I'm containing my yamering here seeing as I haven't even touched on the amazing soundtrack game has that really lends it identity and character in its own right. Vocals are seriously underused in soundtracks outside of dramatic tracks for some reason and it does take some time to get used to them, but region-specific tracks enhance the experience dramatically.

There is no such thing as a perfect game, but looking at it as a modern RPG standing separate from genre's “golden age” and ticking all the boxes I like in games I can stand today, Wild Hunt gets pretty damn close to that mark.

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₪ Genre: Science Fiction
☑ Publication date: April 2006
⇲ Pages: 416

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I guess I should make the following my motto at this point, but The Horus Heresy series of novels was yet another series I put off for years because at first I just didn't have the time and then I wanted to wait until more of the books were released so I could get a feel from other readers. Needless to say you can imagine my surprise when a decade later series is still going with its myriad of novels and short story anthologies. So lest I dally any longer it's time for the first book in the series – Horus Rising – penned by Dan Abnett himself.

If you asked me whether this was a good primer for someone not at all familiar with Warhammer 40k I would be hard pressed to give you an acceptable answer? Why? Well, because Horus Rising is actually set during 30k aka it's a prequel to Warhammer 40k setting as people know it today. Emperor of Mankind is still around, Primarchs are kicking ass on the Great Crusade, and Imperium of Mankind is on the way to drag itself out of the Dark Ages by reclaiming lost technologies, fighting against the horrors of ignorance and mysticism and in general striving to unite all of its denizens in strong unity to fight against cosmic dangers. This is the time during which we follow Garviel Loken, serving in Luna Wolves, as he follows his legion and their Warmaster Horus on the Great Crusade. Seeing as many things happen over the course of three parts, even changing the protagonist for one of them, and even more plot hooks as well as references fans will appreciate are dropped it's really difficult to talk about all the events that transpire, but let's just say I really enjoyed the switch and bait that almost had me going “no way they're already rushing to the finale”. I would argue REAL strength of Horus Rising is giving the fans look into pre-40k Imperium that many have been asking for, though.

Seeing Space Marines are military you can imagine what you'll get from characters – from stoic sergeants, badassery from discipline, etc. Difference here lies in the source material so you'll also expect a lot of veneration, regular army and civilians looking upon Space Marines with awe, sentiment latter also extend to their Primarchs as ther best of the best. But this is also a time of change as Emperor extends his hand and allows Remembrancers to follow his Legions on their Crusade and document for posterity what is happening. This was a well done perspective that adds more to the novel than I originally expected because these are ultimately academics and artists trying to somehow co-exist and find time to interact with rugged Space Marines, dignitaries, etc to get their creative material. Glances at how these two different groups intermingle and what their opinions are on each other make for a sizable part of the read.

Other part is all action, though. And I couldn't be happier for the way it's handled considering you really get the feeling Space Marines are greater than life figures who get thrown into insane situations. Getting sent on a planet codenamed Murder is a bad sign, but they persevere despite some folly. Garviel is suitably appropriate for what transpires, yet I also really enjoyed seeing there is a person under all that armor with his own personality and opinions. Add to that other characters, be they his fellows or from other Legion with somewhat less friendly attitude, and you get a nuanced look at what are usually stereotypical FOR THE EMPEROR zealots. Running across other human cultures on Crusade's journey just adds more to this aspect of the novel.

So to come back to my earlier point – would I recommend Horus Rising? Yes. Even if you don't know much about Warhammer 40k this is a good novel in its own right. Not to say Abnett doesn't go to length to familiarize you with the setting, though. You will be comfortable with most of the terminology early on as it eases you in with the prologue scenario, but a lot more interesting parts happen internally as we see some wheels starting to move and characters adapting to change. Series certainly promises to be an interesting read if it stays on this level of quality.

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₪ Genre: Science Fiction
☑ Publication date: April 1979
⇲ Pages: 217

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Another day, another SF book. The Bug Wars sounds like such a generic title, but I found the book to be anything but looking back on it as a whole. One standout fact I wasn't aware of is that this is a relatively rare case of xenofiction aka fictional work distinctly not told from the human perspective. In our case at hand it involves alien point of view, but that quality alone almost makes it a worthwhile read because author had to put in extra effort to flesh out his characters on the most basic level. Or so I assume, at least.

As the book itself points out in the opening song lyrics following events are set at some point in time before humanity was a thing, era when species of insects and lizards were vying for dominance of the stars. We follow the lizard race, so-called Tzen empire, as they embark on another phase of their seemingly long spanning war against the insect coalition comprised of wasps, leapers and ants. Compared to them Tzen are a monolithic and warlike race with their people bred for cast role and our protagonist Rahm is one of the warriors who puts together an unlikely team, because it's not all-warriors the way they're expected to be when headed by a warrior leader, and leads them out into various dangers as they get stranded, play a pivotal role in uncovering enemy intelligence and resolve their own tensions.

Short novel covers what he and his team were doing during multiple offensives made on the coalition, but I honestly think events themselves take a backseat compared to inner group dynamics we become witness to as we get a window into Tzen society. Because of the nature of the book and seeing that I consider this to be the main draw over story, characters and all else I really won't go into detail, but I'll just touch on some things like how warriors, technicians and scientists have mutual distaste for others' caste yet clearly need each other, how given that you can change your cast based on talents can lead to some interesting skillsets that come useful in the wilderness and how familial ties in Tzen can become a tremendous liability because they cannot stand in the way of doing your duty.

Sadly this also brings me to the main problem of the novel – it's incredibly dry in its writing style. What I mean by this is little effort is made for scenes to really flow into each other and god help you with the dialog because it's utilitarian to the extreme and Rahm in particular often resorts to simple “Explain” which is then followed by a paragraph long literal explanation from other characters that doubles up as in-character lecture and conveying the message to us, the readers. I wouldn't even pick up on this if it wasn't so pervasive and ever-present in the book. Events are also clearly disjointed in flow of time, but that could be well explained because Tzen soldiers go to stasis between operations and it's never established how much time has, in fact, passed between major events. One small touch I like is how we're talking generations here and old cast comments how these newfangled Tzen can actually tell colors apart and are brasher with more self-initiative, but also less stoic and not as zealously willing to throw their life away.

In the end it's a pretty good read hampered by Asprin's writing style. I went in expecting action, and you will get some of it alongside exploration of lizard technology and military tactics, but the main appeal is most definitely the social angle. Ending probably left a bigger impact on me than I expected as certain someone wonders what will become of Tzen society now that it has to change.

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₪ Genre: Mystery, Horror
☑ Publication date: March 1993
⇲ Pages: 243

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The Golden was not exactly what I expected it to be before diving in. Or should I say, priorities were turned on their head. In all too many vampire stories it's the vampirism that gets all the attention as the work becomes an exploration of the state itself, but in The Golden while still prevalent you can tell the whodunit mystery is the focal point and other elements are supposed to feed into it. In a sense I was reminded of David Brin's Sundiver except that was obviously a work of science fiction, but the same principle applied. Let's take a bite and see if holds up.

Imagine the following scenario – important vampires of Europe are gathering in old castle Banat in the middle of the 19th century for an event that's been in the making for the longest of time. So called Decanting where they'll partake in the finest blood that centuries of breeding and grooming can produce, contained in what is merely one mortal vessel – the Golden. Mark of prestige on its own, yet this gathering of immortals provides numerous other opportunities such as the ever-growing question of should the bloodlines spread out across the world further and set out to form new colonies as the Old World grows tiresome and stagnant. In the middle of all of this a tragedy strikes as the Golden is brutally murdered before sampling can take place, and our fledgling vampire Michael Beheim has to put his former Parisian inspector background to use in order to figure out who committed the deed before the Patriarch's time limit expires and potential suspects disperse never to be seen again. Will he succeed in navigating all the obstacles and rivals that stand in his way?

As you've surmised from the above it's a mystery story and protagonist fits the genre like a glove. In essence this is a perfect mystery premise with supernatural elements added on top of it, but aside from couple of trippy parts that really left me wondering “what's going on here?” towards the end I don't think the vampire element added that much to the work. Characters involved still fit general archetypes genre savvy readers will recognize and appreciate, but it sort of detracts from the puzzle at hand. It doesn't help you can figure out relatively early on who the culprit is if you've read these sorts of stories, though. Then again later on you can clearly tell there's more going on here than just hedonistic excess and loss of life. Maybe I would've been content if the book pulled more of a twist on me? Still, I would argue this is a matter of preference on my part and might depend entirely on the reader's experiences so far.

One notable aspect that struck me as rather is the way the book is written and I had to look it up to put into words because I'm not that experienced with old time-y English literature and it flew past me the novel was written in period-appropriate style with lots of foreshadowing and almost overbearing focus on gothic mood. I don't know what to think of it except that it may be the reason why The Golden is predictable if you start thinking about what is transpiring, but is also richly dense in conjuring imagery. Descriptions of the mysterious castle Banat with its purposefully nonsensical layout not really built for mortal lives, nature of vampiric Mysteries and vague tonality of what they are, etc. It seeps throughout the novel and really draws you in.

You might wonder why would I give this a middling recommendation if the summary is generally positive? Mainly due to mystery not holding up and resorting to pulling a rug under you towards the end to keep going. Maybe I'm not explaining it succinctly enough, though. I was also surprised at how a major discovery that could change lives of all vampires is almost hand-waived to keep the current events going.