This month’s post is pretty much themed around the O.W.L.’s Magical Readathon I’m participating in during the month of April. I’ve been enjoying going back to books and series’ that I remember liking in the past, as well as venturing way outside of my comfort genres and reading things like straight up romance *gasp*!
Okay, confession time… I haven’t had the chance to really get into this book. Shame on me, but I spent most of my free time sewing up a face mask to wear out-and-about.
Altered Heart follows Mick Matranga as he works to rid his city of the lowest scum out there. Along the way, he discovers his mate, one Rio Hardin, a human-turned-werewolf about the experience his first shift.
I’m pretty sure this is my first time reading Kate Steele, so here’s hoping it’s a good first introduction, lol.
By the title alone, The Perfect Wife by Gina Fields doesn’t sound like something I’d enjoy, but it comes highly suggested by my mother and she has great taste in books, so we shall see.
My mom says that it’s just a “really great story without a lot of extra stuff to clog up the plot” and “one the nicest romances I have ever read”.
I’m looking forward to reading this, even though it’s kind of short, lol.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice follows a young Celtic woman as she travels to save her lover’s soul from the grasp of the Viking goddess, Hela, and release him to the Celt version of the afterlife.
What makes Hellblade so unique is that Senua suffers from mental illness. She experiences hallucinations, delusions, hears voices and more.
It is suggested that players use headphones so that they can hear the voices in Senua’s head. It is a suggestion that I fully support, as the experience is one you won’t soon forget.
There were times when I was playing that the voices just overwhelmed me. I couldn’t focus on the fight because the voices were too distracting to ignore. They were always with me. Every minute of the game, each step of Senua’s journey, the voices were there.
Towards the end of the game, I found myself relying on the voices, following their advice in battle and to solve puzzles. It began to feel as if they were a vital part of Senua’s mind and how she processed the world and of my journey with her.
Computer programmer Kevin Flynn is transported inside the software world of a mainframe computer, where he interacts with various programs in his attempt to get back out. During his adventure he meets Tron, a rebel program fighting the tyrannical Master Control Program.
At first it was just an interesting read and I felt like I was getting a little bit more of the world, but it was still just another movie novelization.
The writing style felt really weird and clunky, mainly because of it’s age (the book was written a couple of years before I was born), and that probably didn’t help matters much. The flow of words felt outdated and strange to me, but I continued to read because I’m a huge TRON fan.
I’m actually really glad that I kept going, because even though I felt like I had gone back in time writing wise, the story gets REALLY good. Right around the time that Tron meets up with Yori, the story picks up pace and doesn’t slow down until the very last sentence.
I enjoyed the extra details about Tron’s fights with the Memory Guard on the solar sailor and the way the author described Flynn saving Yori’s life on Sark’s Carrier had me both worried and relieved that Yori would be alright and wondering why Flynn couldn’t have figured his powers out in time to save RAM (I love RAM) *cries*
So, in conclusion: At times, I felt like I’d traveled back in time and was reading something from the dark ages, BUT, even having to deal with an outdated style of writing, I found myself thoroughly enjoying this book. It gives the reader a sneak peak into everything we all know was going on in the background, but that they just couldn’t fit into the movie.
Audience: I think that fans of science fiction might also enjoy this book, but it’s a definite must-read if you are a fan of either of the Tron movies.
Format: Paperback Publisher: Del Rey Source: Library ILL Rating: ★★★★☆ Links: Amazon || Goodreads
From the moment you find the Diver floating in this vast blue ocean, it’s hard to set the controller down. Not only because of the mesmerizing visuals and amazing score, but by the feeling of being something so tiny in a world so big.
Throughout the game, I repeatedly found myself getting distracted by the sheer scope of what I was experiencing. Which is not to say that ABZÛ is a very long game, because it’s not. I think, from beginning to end, it can be completed in about an hour and a half.
But that doesn’t matter because ABZÛ isn’t a game you play just to win, it’s really one that it’s meant to be explored and Giant Squid made the exploration so very enjoyable!
The sea is a desert of waves, A wilderness of water.”
Langston Hughes
I really loved being able to see and interact with different kinds of sea life, from itty bitty anchovies to enormous blue whales and giant squid! You can even hitch a ride on the larger sea creatures and explore the ocean from their point of view. As someone who grew up watching Flipper and Free Willy, the idea of riding a dolphin or a whale or even a Great White shark is just magical.
The main objective in ABZÛ is to revive underwater ‘temples’ and bring life back to the ocean. You accomplish this by finding clues, solving puzzles, and unlocking new parts of this massive underwater world.
One of the things I really appreciated is that as you swim up to these temples you can see a clear delineation between the layer of water you’re in and another that is deeper and much more ominous. Our oceans have layers similar to this, where the further down you go the different, darker layers you encounter. You must swim into the temple in order to access this deeper layer of the ocean and be able to continue on your adventure.
Along the way, you’ll activate hidden pools of fish and release new and interesting species into the waters around you. You’ll find creatures such as the…
Icthyosaur
Possibly my favorite part of the game was finding the meditation statues in each level. These statues allow you to ‘meditate’ and while doing so, you follow different creatures around you as they swim, eat, and communicate with each other. It was so peaceful to have the soothing music and a serene underwater ballet playing on the screen… I could just sit there and watch it for hours.
The sound design for ABZÛ is really great, as well. It manages to somehow feel like you’re underwater without being suffocating (no pun intended), rather it’s like being wrapped up in a really thick, warm blanket and just enjoying being a blanket-burrito. If I could wrap myself up in ABZÛ all day long, then believe me when I say that I would!
These last few weeks and months have been stressful in any number of ways and it was such a relief to find a game that let me forget the real world for just a moment. ABZÛ pulls you right in, with it’s amazing music and scenery, and if you’re willing to just keep swimming, you might lose at least a few hours to it.
Now, I am a huge fan of Indie games, but there have only been a couple that have actual re-play-ability. ABZÛ definitely makes the list, as I’ve played it now three times through (with another play-through planned for live-streaming on my Twitch page). I feel like the game is more than worth the $19.99 PlayStation Store price tag.
Like Among the Sleep and Unravel, I think that ABZÛ is a game that players can return to over and over again and still be able to experience the wonder and enjoyment of it.
As for trophies, the most difficult trophy in the game was Collector. If the game wasn’t so enjoyable, I’m sure I would have gotten frustrated many times over as I searched for all of the very well-hidden seashells. 😛
Collector Ultra Rare 2.6% Add all secret shells to your collection.
With a total of twelve trophies in all, there’s a little bit of a challenge required to hunt down all of the seashells, hidden pools, and meditations spots. However, if you’re looking to earn a (fairly) easy platinum, you won’t find it in ABZÛ.
I wish I knew what the criteria was to get a platinum in a game, because I feel like there should be one for a game like this.
Three of the trophies require the player to both pay attention AND to explore beyond the main objective. It was suitably difficult to find all of the trophy requirements while the game remained fun and getting to 100% entirely doable.
There is no dialogue in Old Man’s Journey, no speaking, no subtitles, no nothin! But, in reality, it really doesn’t need it.
Old Man’s Journey tells us the story of yes, an old man, as he travels to reconnect with the family he left behind. Through memories and flashbacks, we learn what lead him to his little house on the seashore and, ultimately, what brings him home to his family again.
Old Man’s Journey was the first video game that I played in 2020 and it was such a great way to start gaming! It’s a super cute, indie game about an elderly gentleman finding his way home to his family. The puzzles are fun, sometimes challenging, and the music is amazing…
Carry Me Far plays during the train portion of the game and I could listen to this song over and over and over again, it’s that good!
I reviewed Old Man’s Journey and that post can be found HERE.
Did you enjoy this song? Does it make you interested in the game? Let me know in the comments!
As a young gay man—and a werepanther—all Jin Rayne yearns for is a normal life. Having fled his past, he wants nothing more than to start over, but Jin’s old life doesn’t want to let him go. When his travels bring him to a new city, he crosses paths with the leader of the local were-tribe.
Logan Church is a shock and an enigma, and Jin fears that Logan is both the mate he fears and the love of his life. Jin doesn’t want to go back to the old ways, and mating would irrevocably tie him to them. But Jin is the mate Logan needs at his side to help him lead his tribe, and he won’t give Jin up so easily. It will take time and trust for Jin to discover the joy in belonging to Logan and how to love without restraint.
Change of Heart by Mary Calmes sounded like a really good book and the print version might live up to my expectations of it…
Sadly, the narration of this story left much to be desired and I nearly didn’t finish the book because of it. There were many points in the story where I found myself not liking anything about the story only because of the way it was being read to me.
I know of many non-professional narrators who could have read this story and transformed it into a wonderful audio experience, but Sean Crisden just did not deliver that kind of performance.
I’m not sure what effect the narrator was going for in the reading of this story, but it was way of the mark for me. Jin was at times too whiny and at others too blasé about everything going on around him. And, while Logan was supposed to be the strong, alpha male of the story, the narration came across as pushy and fake every time Logan was speaking.
I truly believe that if I’d read this in a print format then it would have been an entertaining story worthy of more than the 2/10 I’m giving it… mainly because I wanted it to be good.
Series: Change of Heart Series, book 1 Format: Electronic audio book Publisher: Dreamspinner Press Source: Tennessee READS Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ Links: Amazon || Goodreads
Meandering Michelle 