lathany

A few book reviews:

Taltos - Steven Brust : I dragged this out of the bookcase upstairs (we have two copies, neither of which is ours) and decided to give it a look. It's obviously out of a series (we appear to have some of the others, again they aren't ours) and quite fun. I enjoyed the story, the main character and the descriptions. Definitely a fun, easy read, even if it did suffer a bit from Deus ex machina and a touch of fantasy cliché.

The Road to Yesterday - L M Montgomery : Yep, Anne of Green Gables stuff. Great if you like Montgomery (this is a set of short stories), otherwise give it a wide berth.

The Creature in the Case - Garth Nix : Set in the same background as the Sabriel trilogy, the events in this book take place six months after the end of Abhorsen and would be a spoiler for anyone who hadn't read the trilogy. I enjoyed it thoroughly, it was a good follow-up for its main character (who featured in Abhorsen) and a decent story in its own right. It's a short book, of course, but it only cost a quid.

Past Lives, Future Lives - Dr Bruce Goldberg : Details of recorded cases of past and future life regression. I found this very readable and Goldberg has included a number of chapters at the start detailing how it all fits into his take on life, death and the universe (which was just as well from my viewpoint). I thought that the past life regressions very interesting, not least because of some of the presented evidence, but found the future lives were much more difficult to swallow. Perhaps because they all reminded me of science fiction plots and perhaps because everyone seemed to suddenly become very important personages.

A Rag, A Bone and A Hank of Hair - Nicholas Fisk : I've read a handful of Nicholas Fisk books, of which Space Hostages is definitely my favourite. This one is good, though. It is set in the future looking back to the second world war. I thought it was a nice concept and the ending was well-chosen. My grumble is that I found it difficult to believe, even in the described setting, that children would be held in respect in the future rather than smothered in safety. Oh, and it just seemed too short.

The Art of Murder - Jose Carlos Somoza : Having enjoyed The Athenian Murders, I had high hopes for this book and was not disappointed. There's a number of decent characters (this time including some women), a substantial murder mystery and a weird background (namely that the new art is people being used as canvasses and ornaments) all beautifully described. Thoroughly recommended (I don't want to give too many details, 'cos I want to suggest it for a future book club meet).

Game:

Vampire the Masquerade - Redemption : Back in the dark ages when I still worked, one of my colleagues played and recommended this to me (he was also a roleplayer). This year, it being on budget, I got a copy (I'd requested it for my birthday). Having read other reviews of the game, I'm grateful to have the budget version 'cos it includes the patch. This means that you can save anywhere and that the game doesn't crash at inopportune moments. Both of which are huge pluses.

I liked the plot (it's not brilliantly original, but is nice enough), liked the dungeons (they're sufficiently different from each other and not too long) and liked the mixture of puzzles and fighting. Additionally, having it in two halves was a good idea because it means rebuilding the character up again in the middle and being able to go back to a one person party). Plus I like the music and the graphics (and there's a bit of daylight as well).

As for the bad stuff? Technically, there are still a few problems (I had to replay a fight with a boss because they didn't do their gloat speech at the start). And the content itself? Well, I suspect that the treatment of the disciplines (particularly thaumaturgy) could bring a dedicated White Wolf fan to the brink of suicide (although, maybe that's not too hard). I was a Brujah and by the end of the game I had the potential to develop any and every discipline known to the standard seven clans (plus some from the Player's Handbook as well). Whilst dungeons were the right length they were usually the same length. The Tower Boss was too d*mn hard. As was the End Boss. Unless you learned a particular power and then both were an absolute cake walk. Finally, the game isn't really replayable (no side quests, etc); but it's a little too easy to mess up the ending ('cos you can damn yourself, literally, in the first half by doing something that really doesn't seem evil).

Overall? I loved it. I'm now wondering if Bloodlines is any good.