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Bianca Flynn expects her Sweet Sixteen to be a quiet celebration with her stepmother who she doesn't much like, but when strange things start happening, Bianca realizes this birthday will be anything but ordinary. So begins a magical journey between two worlds with a lead character who is not only strong, but also very likable. The fantasy world created in this novel is vivid and beautiful. With a fast pace, the author moves us seamlessly between two worlds putting a new spin on an old fairy tale, which is at times charming and at times chilling. The story moves at such a good pace, you won't want to stop reading. Truly enjoyable with twists that keep you guessing all the way through....
Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!] |
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Originally posted at: http://charismabonus.com/cha/2012/03/19/book-review-haunted--
anthology/
Ladies and gents, I will be completely honest with you – I do not read anthologies.
Well, no, that’s not an entirely fair statement – instead let me say I do not finish anthologies.
I enjoy reading, and I also enjoy doing things en masse. If I am going to have a snack, I eat a lot of things. If I am going to write, I write a lot. If I am going to code, I do it in a 10-hour marathon.
So, naturally, if I am going to read I am going to read for awhile or read a lot. Anthologies do not ordinarily lend themselves towards this kind of reading, instead I find that they’re best swallowed in small bites but still often feel unfulfilled by the end of the story. Usually anthologies do not do it for me for this reason – I want more than just a short story, I want an entire novel. I want more. I want to know what happened before and after and maybe during, should the story lend itself in that dire...
Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!] |
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I am into system design, and am working on my game design, so I like to check out lots of different games. Being that World of Arator was 'on sale' for $1.99 I'd thought I'd give a read through. I was unpleasantly surprised.
This is evident from the start. The document seems to be done as a single run of text, 235 apges of it.. No chapters, very little white-space, little in the way of headings and organization. No summaries evident, no bookmarks, no index. Ok, so that's -1 off the top.
With a name like a World of Arator I was expecting a Fantasy Heartbreaker, a FRP based on someones house-rules and game-world after having played D&D and some other games. Well, it is a Fantasy Heartbreaker after a fashion, but one designed in reaction to playing WoW or some other CRPG. Seriously, this game has the most calculation intensive, way to much of a pain to ever run by hand, mechanics I have ever seen.
I'm not kidding, from the intro...
"...A calculator is also essential to add an...
Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!] |
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A fun read in a pulpy style. it has everything: New York, sirplanes, dinosaurs, and bigger than life heroes!
Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!] |
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Much like the first volume, this anthology contains some great articles covering a variety of RPGs (though D&D tends to receive the lion's share). While not every article is going to appeal to every reader, the overall contents and sheer variety of topics makes this worth the price for the PDF.
Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!] |
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How to be a Great GM might be of interest to those brand new to GMing, but experienced GMs will find little in the book of use. That isn't to say that the book is bad: it's simply not something that anyone with a decent amount of experience under their belt will likely find very interesting. For novice GMs, the book does offer some solid advice to put the reader on the right path, though it tends more towards traditional advice which appears in many "GM guides."
Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!] |
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Redwing’s Gambit is a pleasant mix of science fiction action and suspense. Valentinelli deftly weaves her narrative through the corridors of the Haldis. Traditional sci-fi tropes such as the mysterious ship saboteur and disappearing crew members fit well for the story that Valentinelli is telling. As someone who had no previous exposure to Galileo Games Bulldogs setting, the use of these traditional tropes helped to keep me in the story as I built my understanding of the universe.
The aspect of Redwing’s Gambit that I enjoyed the most was the characters. Every last character has memorable in his or her own way. Each had just enough personality and individualism to stand out, but with none of the seemingly forced quirkiness that plagues some authors. Another sure sign that Valentinelli was successful with her characterization, I found myself wanting to know what happens next to the three main viewpoint characters Marrl, Xax, and Fang. Of the three I was particularly fond of Fang.
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Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!] |
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An amazingly fun thrill ride that channels everything that was fun about those old pulp novels from the 30s. Bigger than life heroes and heroines, dastardly villains at which you can hiss, all jumbled together in an adventure that spans the globe. I found Dinocalypse Now to be over the top in all the right ways. Chuck Wendig packed this first entry into the series with enough twists and turns to keep me guessing most of the way through. The next book can't come soon enough.
Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!] |
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Wow! Fast, furious and incredibly intense! Action on various levels that meshes into the political life of the Chicago Kindred. Poetic tragedy and romantic futility...all part of the unlife of oneof the most diverse Cities on this planet!
My only criticism regards the lack of explanation on how a Carthian Mekhet acquired "summoning". Other than that...I highly recommend this novel.
Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!] |
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I received a free copy of this book in exchange for a review.
Fragments is a series of short horror stories by a pair of authors, C.R.Smith and Victoria Snelling. The previous reviewer who characterized these stories as "easily digestible" was on the money; the chapters are short, pointed, and full of impact. The subject matter varies from the Lovecraftian and supernatural to the realist and psychological, and varies in style from narrative to modern epistolary (something of a lost art among horror writers in this day and age).
Personally, I would have preferred a couple of stories with more dialogue and less narrative, but that's a subjective preference. These stories are also about as bleak as they come -- few end well for the protagonists. My personal favorite was "Imelda," a harrowing little tale with a brutal twist at the end....
Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!] |
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I love a good ghost story. In this case, they aren't all ghosts, but still this is a nice compilation of short stories. Some are more traditional horror stories while others are just a neat twist ending. Overall, it's a good read and should keep you entertained.
Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!] |
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The Halloween Tree is the audiobook version of the 1972 publication by Ray Bradbury. The story is a fantastical look at the history of Halloween. Spanning several cultures, the characters experience the customs of people from Ancient Egypt, Rome, Mexico, the British Isles and others.
The story is impeccable and Bradbury does what he does best: social commentary through the guise of a story. Here, he teaches us about our own customs by forcing us to peer into the past without beating us over the head or giving boring explanations. I’m not the only one who thinks The Halloween Tree is spectacular. In fact, the story is so popular the animated version of The Halloween Tree was featured on Cartoon Network and it’s also been incorporated in Disneyland‘s Halloween decorations.
The audio performance of this story is more akin to an audioplay than a reading. A full cast, sound effects, and music bring this story to life. For that, it’s worth the price tag. However, the technical aspects ...
Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!] |
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Story: This well-drawn and well-written comic tells a condensed version of the life and rise to fame of one of the world’s best writers. Like other comics by the same company, they worked with the author to tell this story. It includes his life with his mother and brother, after his father left them. The situations that sparked his interest in the macabre. His life at college and his love for his family. His battle with drugs and depression and, of course, the terrible accident that almost cost him his life.
Shockers: While many fans of Stephen king are familiar with the details of important moments in his life, it is something of a shock to the system to see his accident in such visual detail. The artist did a great job bringing the pain and the gruesome reality of the situation to the forefront. I believe it would be difficult for anyone reading the comic to not imagine – even almost feel – what it must have been like for him in that unfamiliar situation on such a familiar stretch...
Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!] |
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This track will take you through a number of different musical styles, from spacy electronica to rock and roll to lounge jazz. You were expecting creepy, due to the name “Haunted House”? The sounds of wind and indistinct voices—possibly moans or cries—try to inject this into the piece, but the sound effects aren’t enough to turn basically non-creepy music into a scary experience. I wouldn’t use this track to score an exploration of a haunted house. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t use it; I just think the name and the music are mismatched. I’d use this track instead to score something like a night of investigation or patrol up and down the Las Vegas strip or a similar setting. Even here, though, the dramatic changes in mood, genre, and (especially) volume make this track less well suited to continuous looping under an RPG scene, unless the scene just happened to play out in a way that exactly corresponds to the music’s rises and falls....
Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!] |
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This track definitely hits the target on both the “creepy” and “carnivalesque” scales. Composer Randin Graves deserves a giant teddy bear from the midway for getting the atmosphere just right. He’s also cleverly engineered the track so that it both ends well and loops well, a good accomplishment with this piece. However, the shifts in tone and mood take you from the bright lights of the midway and the rides to the dark shadows behind the attractions and perhaps inside the freakshows. While this makes for a great listen and evokes the carnival mood exceedingly well, it also detracts from the track’s usefulness at the table. These variations make it hard to know what kind of scene to score with this piece....
Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!] |
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