fantasy – Roll 3's to hit

Honour among thieves. Enough cheese and ham for a sandwich but still pure DnD

Honour among thieves is the latest attempt to bring the popular role playing game to the silver screen; but this time it seems that Hasbro have finally managed to pull it off and create a movie which is actually a Dungeons and Dragons film. The early noughties efforts may have had the excellently overacted performanceContinue reading “Honour among thieves. Enough cheese and ham for a sandwich but still pure DnD”

Red Tides by Marc Turner – a disappointing end to a series with potential

Red tides brings the Chronicles of the Exile series to an end in a way which is disenchanting and, despite being a decent book, feels very much like the author had lost interest by the end. As before I have not paid for this book and have instead checked it out from the local library. Continue reading “Red Tides by Marc Turner – a disappointing end to a series with potential”

Troll – a fun godzilla clone

Troll is what happens when you take the reboot of Godzilla, shrink it down, set it in Norway and include a chunk of scandinavian folklore. However, despite being a pretty blatant reskin of Godzilla it is surprisingly good. I am a big fan of monster and giant mech movies. Yes they are cheesy, CGI heavyContinue reading “Troll – a fun godzilla clone”

Dragon Hunters by Marc Turner

Dragon Hunters is proof that you can have a sword and sorcery novel containing dragons, scheming and politicking and still make it entertaining without needing to resort to Game of Thrones levels of sex and graphic violence. It was a damned good book and my only real criticism was that some of the character arcsContinue reading “Dragon Hunters by Marc Turner”

Babel – as emotionless as the Empire it portrays

So I will be completely honest. Of late, I have avoided buying pretty much any new books in the sci fi and fantasy genres for the simple reason that they have become unsubtle social justice commentaries with the allegorical subtlety of a brick falling down the stairs. The current trend towards revisionist views and applyingContinue reading “Babel – as emotionless as the Empire it portrays”

Diablo Immortal, a troubling study in the psychology of manipulation

So, Diablo Immortal, the latest free to play game released for mobile this week. Part of the immensely popular IP of the same name this game was announced to a degree of scepticism as many fans wanted a full PC game, not a mobile; but its release has certainly generated a great deal of publicityContinue reading “Diablo Immortal, a troubling study in the psychology of manipulation”

Lord of the Rings and the danger of adapting books for TV and film

So this week the first screenshots of the Lord of the Rings adaptation Rings of Power have been released. Up to now we had only had teasers and little hints, but not really much to give an insight into the world that Amazon are creating. Now at this stage, there’s not a lot to goContinue reading “Lord of the Rings and the danger of adapting books for TV and film”