James Closs

A Must Have for Critical Role Fans

Revisado: 04-06-25

I think any fan of fantasy would greatly enjoy this story, of a young woman being sacrificed in a dark ritual but then coming back as some sort of remnant Undead afterwards, and many of the trials and travails she would have to deal with.

There were a few points I felt perhaps things over wrought or melodramatic beyond what was called for, but that may be a matter of taste, and certainly doesn't diminish the absolutely stunning tale stitched together here giving background to one of the liveliest dead girls to ever walk Exandria.

Any D&D player could only dream to have such a treatment for their character.

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Everything You Ever wanted to Know About Dragonborn

Revisado: 10-29-24

If you've come this far, I feel like this does an excellent job of gathering all the loose plot threads for an inevitable final push in the next book.

In addition, the themes dealing Mahen's very adult emotions and relationships displayed along side the YA kind of romances our two Tiefling Twins contend with feels like a steadying hand on fraught nerves of all the past books. It may also reflect a maturing of the author.

So many pay-offs on the Mahen storyline in this book, and Dragonborn society is delved into in a way I have wished for elsewhere.

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Lisa Ortiz as Lina Inverse!

Revisado: 08-20-24

I was prepared to simply enjoy a little nostalgia trip with Slayers, but I got a 5 course combo meal once I heard THE Lisa Ortiz reading! Hearing her rendition of every character was an utter delight! The story itself is very fun, but the main reason I would be picking up more volumes of this is because Lisa is the voice.

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Not Enough D

Revisado: 07-28-24

The First 2 were more interesting as D had to interact with towns of people. There was more intrigue. I liked the bit of world building in this one about spaceships and the Half-monster people, and we find out the nature of D's Handy friend (which I honestly would have been fine never knowing) Still, at the end of the day it's very imaginative, and I still enjoyed the ride.

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Most Remarkable and Unlike anything else

Revisado: 07-14-24

Imagine a story in which the main character is scarcely a year old by its end. In which the most meticulous and well orchestrated fight you have ever read shall take place between a chef and a butler. In which the princess, who in a modern YA piece would miraculously rise above her circumstances and become the heroine character Steerpike thinks she ought to be, and Steerpike our dear would be hot Boi YA heart throb with his mind full of rebellion and "Down with the authority!" and all that, except that he is in every way a craven self-interested creature.
The other great noteworthy thing is that you will ABSOLUTELY remember the name and function of each deliciously absurd character in the Dreary yet resplendent halls of Gormenghast.

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I Could Get Used to This!

Revisado: 06-05-24

This is really the ideal way to enjoy these stories! I kind of wish that literally every man in the story apart from D wasn't a depraved rapist, but I suppose the author is trying to make a point of "Oh, Vampires are bad? What about humans?"

The world of Vampire Hunter D is very well thought out, so I'm excited to continue diving into it with the next volume.

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Evocative, realistic Cyberpunk

Revisado: 05-22-24

Afro-futurism. Solarpunk. Cyberpunk. Gritty Realism. Corporate Domination. There is a distinct irony leaving a review for a story where the villain is "Ultimatecorp" on an Amazon owned app.

Her description of the pain and rehab of cybernetics is something often glossed over or montaged through in Cyberpunk, because it keeps you from getting to the cool stuff. But here, dwelling in the pain and suffering of it is essential to AO's journey.

This is also a refreshingly unique perspective, having these matters in a small Nigerian town rather than a mega city dripping with neon.

And one of my favorite notes was that solar power has almost taken over completely as the power source, but problems still exist in the world. I think too often narratives tend to make any society which subsist entirely on Solar a utopia or the good guys, while here it's like "Okay, everyone has and uses solar. Guess what, people are still people." A refreshing note of realism.

I can't think of anything I disliked.

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Mildly Cliche but Perfectly Charming

Revisado: 04-21-24

The amount of research into and development of Cormyr as a setting is truly impressive, however the plot setups, while we'll implemented, hardly novel. Still Faridah and Havilar are an eternal delight, and Dahl turns out to be less Dull than we perhaps thought, and the new Queen of Cormyr is great, and in general it's good times in the Forgotten Realms. Just not quite 5 Star good.

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Great Buffy Fanfiction

Revisado: 01-22-24

"What if a bunch of dead characters were alive in another world???"

Almost every character you can think (and for sure some you forgot!) of apart from Willow, Buffy, and Angel have speaking roles in this. One of the main characters is a "baby slayer" (she new) who is a super fan, which braces the reader for "Okay, so this is gonna be reference after reference with some sort of plot to justify all of these characters coming together and chatting. If you're in the mood for a very well performed radio drama with sfx and everything that dives deep into Buffy Nostalgia, you're going to have fun, but I have to say for about the last hour of tale I was kind of over all of the resolutions of problems that had been laid out, overall plot and personal side plots. It will definitely be some Buffy fan's greatest thing in 5 years, and it's very cozy, but it did feel very fanfiction-y.

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...OH! It's Trauma!!

Revisado: 01-11-24

I really liked how extremely well researched the whale anatomy and facts of diving and physics of pressure were. That part was deeply impressive. I also thought it was an interesting nuance to have a hardcore environmentalist be the toxic, unavailable father instead him being ANOTHER fisherman stereotype.

Beyond that almost any time the story delves into Jay's past my brain kind of shuts off until we're back in the guts. I get that is some people's bag, and some people will say "Wow, I relate so much!" I'm good, thanks. But, our narrator did an excellent job vocalizing each character, and the "BOHM BOHM!!" of the Whale Heart was very pronounced.

Oh, and overall making a sort of Cosmic Horror level experience of being eaten alive by a being you can scarcely comprehend the scope of was very well done here. I just didn't care for it obviously trying to shove it through as a metaphor for overcoming trauma. Felt very forced that the only reason this kid got swallowed was so it could function as a metaphor. If it was more subtle, maybe it would have worked better, but it was very forced.

also, Beaky MVP.

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