Review: Tricks of the Classic NES Tetris Masters (Book)

The great thing about a self-publishing platform like Amazon's CreateSpace is that it allows for the creation and distribution of wonderful little publications that might not otherwise see the light of day. "Tricks of the Classic NES Tetris Masters" by Brian K. Smith is such an example.

While Tetris itself is one of the most beloved video games of all time, dedicating an entire book to just one version might seem a little too niche. This book runs with that idea, however, and it's a great way to take what turns out to be a tremendous amount of information and focus it.

The book includes a well written single page introduction from Alex Kerr, a Tetris Grandmaster, that gives some insight into why the NES version of Tetris is special and later in the book the author discusses the Tengen version of the game that was taken off the market. There could have been more discussion about this version, although I understand why there wasn't.

Book Review: Words of Radiance (Book Two of the Stormlight Saga)

What's most amazing to me about Words of Radiance, Book Two of the Stormlight Saga is just how much I remember of Book One, which I read four years ago. In the intervening time I read most of the Wheel of Time books, including Brian Sanderson's completing volumes, and so much else I was expecting to spend the first few hundred pages trying to recall details of the opening of what is shaping up to be an epic book series.

That was not the case.

The broadstroke details of the conflict on the Shattered Plains and the major players are easily remembered and Sanderson does a good job filling in the minor details or prompting the reader a bit to jog a memory loose. It speaks to how well Sanderson has been able to flesh out the fantasy world of Roshar. Besides the main plots, there are a number of seemingly unrelated interludes interspersed throughout the novel that pad out the page total but also offer significant details about how the world functions. It's not all about conflict with the Pershendi amid violent highstorms. There's insight into trade and the extent of the Spren crossover allowing regular humans to take on superhuman abilities by absorbing stormlight and involvement and the importance of Surgebinding.

Book Review: A Memory of Light

When a book series sprawls to 14 books over 20 years and outlives the original author, to describe the whole thing as “epic” feels a bit of an understatement. Such is the case for the Wheel of Time series, which Robert Jordan began in 1990 and Brandon Sanderson finished off with concluding trio of books, including the latest, Memory of Light.

Book: Blue Magic

I love a good Fantasy yarn. Spun correctly, the characters, no matter the crazy names and dialogue, or what they're involved with, come off the page as believable on some level.

I like to use the Beer Scale for Fantasy novels. Would I buy a beer for this character? Would I sit down and drink all night with this character? It's not scientific, but that's the gauge I use when reading the genre.