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The Spear Cuts Through Water, by Simon Jimenez
I enjoyed this a lot, it was fascinating and intense. I loved what it did with the narrative, the different lines and stories, and the voices of the dead adding their comments and snippets of additional perspectives. I also liked the take on myths and godhood, and on mistakes and atonement. And it did horror really well. The was one of the tensest scenes I've read in a while (that sounds too tame but I don't have the right words rn), and the fate of was horrific and tragic. There were parts near the end that seemed a bit too, hm, sudden, but it still worked overall.
The Art of Prophecy and The Art of Destiny, War Arts trilogy #1 & #2, by Wesley Chu
I got these two very cheaply at Worldcon. (LB, who hadn't thought to bring reading material, actually read them before me.) I really enjoyed the first one! A ~wuxia fantasy with a Chosen One of a prophecy that is broken and the legendary war artist who accidentally finds herself his mentor, I loved Taishi especially and also her relationship with poor Jian, and it was exciting and fun. I liked the other two PoV characters less but had hopes that they would get more character development in future books.
Unfortunately the sequel was very boring. I was a few hundred pages in when finally something happened and by that point I just wanted the book to be over, and even then the plot was predictable, there was very little character or relationship development, and overall I unfortunately lost all interest in the series.
Crypt Custodian (video game)
You play as the ghost of a cat that is sentenced to clean up the afterlife. I saw this recommended as a cozy metroidvania that's not outstanding but does everything well, and that's pretty much what it was. I enjoyed it a lot.
I switched to playing on easy difficulty pretty early and still had trouble with one boss, but every other one only took me a few tries and several only one and that suited me fine, it fit the atmosphere. Some bosses I stopped at to go elsewhere, only to defeat them on my first or second try the next day. Some of them might be fun to try in harder difficulties if I'm ever in the mood for that, conveniently there's a boss rush mode for that.
In the mid- to late-game I had my favorite metroidvania experience: there's so much to discover and so many places I can go. The map is huge! And fun to explore. The movement upgrades are fun, and combat isn't too varied but it's fine. The story is cute, I just wish I could connect better to Pluto as a character. Idk why their voice just didn't really work for me. Sadly that also means I'm not really interested in fanworks.
I got to the credits at 72% completion in a little under 11 hours over three days. I'm not sure yet if I'll do the postgame and/or come back to it eventually, I might, I'll see.
I enjoyed this a lot, it was fascinating and intense. I loved what it did with the narrative, the different lines and stories, and the voices of the dead adding their comments and snippets of additional perspectives. I also liked the take on myths and godhood, and on mistakes and atonement. And it did horror really well. The
spoiler
confrontation with the second Terrorspoiler
the turtle godThe Art of Prophecy and The Art of Destiny, War Arts trilogy #1 & #2, by Wesley Chu
I got these two very cheaply at Worldcon. (LB, who hadn't thought to bring reading material, actually read them before me.) I really enjoyed the first one! A ~wuxia fantasy with a Chosen One of a prophecy that is broken and the legendary war artist who accidentally finds herself his mentor, I loved Taishi especially and also her relationship with poor Jian, and it was exciting and fun. I liked the other two PoV characters less but had hopes that they would get more character development in future books.
Unfortunately the sequel was very boring. I was a few hundred pages in when finally something happened and by that point I just wanted the book to be over, and even then the plot was predictable, there was very little character or relationship development, and overall I unfortunately lost all interest in the series.
Crypt Custodian (video game)
You play as the ghost of a cat that is sentenced to clean up the afterlife. I saw this recommended as a cozy metroidvania that's not outstanding but does everything well, and that's pretty much what it was. I enjoyed it a lot.
I switched to playing on easy difficulty pretty early and still had trouble with one boss, but every other one only took me a few tries and several only one and that suited me fine, it fit the atmosphere. Some bosses I stopped at to go elsewhere, only to defeat them on my first or second try the next day. Some of them might be fun to try in harder difficulties if I'm ever in the mood for that, conveniently there's a boss rush mode for that.
In the mid- to late-game I had my favorite metroidvania experience: there's so much to discover and so many places I can go. The map is huge! And fun to explore. The movement upgrades are fun, and combat isn't too varied but it's fine. The story is cute, I just wish I could connect better to Pluto as a character. Idk why their voice just didn't really work for me. Sadly that also means I'm not really interested in fanworks.
I got to the credits at 72% completion in a little under 11 hours over three days. I'm not sure yet if I'll do the postgame and/or come back to it eventually, I might, I'll see.
