Super Mario Odyssey

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More video game reviews can be found here.

Series Title: Mario, Super Mario
Genre: Platformer
Developers: 1-UP Studio, Nintendo EPD
Release Date: October 27, 2017
Platform: Nintendo Switch

Super Mario Odyssey coverStart Date: October 29, 2017
Finished Date: January 27, 2018
Playing Duration: 90 days
Let’s Player: Olizandri

It’s time to throw my hat into the ring and write yet another review of the latest game in Nintendo’s flagship series.  Before I tell you what I think, let’s go through the basics.

Gameplay

Super Mario Odyssey is a 3D platformer crafted in such a way to be very forgiving towards those lacking 3D platformer skills (aka TSN), but this stands to reason since Nintendo has always been a family oriented company, catering its games more towards younger players with an emphasis on fun over challenge.  This is not to say SMO isn’t challenging, but you don’t need to be an expert player to enjoy or even finish the game. There are 880 Power Moons to collect, but you only need 124 (125?) to power up the Odyssey enough to make it to the end.  This sort of tiered difficulty means that more novice players can still say they beat Super Mario Odyssey, while the challenge hounds can rack up the PMs in order to fulfill their competitive needs.

Mario collecting a triple moon

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The State of the Writer: 6/17/18

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<–The State of the Writer: 6/3/18          The State of the Writer: 7/1/18–>

A biweekly post updated every Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

Finished Projects: 5

Project: Story
Title: The Broken Rose
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction (FFVII) Novel
Current Word Count: 260,969
Prior Word Count: 261,043
Word Difference: -74
Status: Revising
Progress: Chapter 7 review

What am I doing?  Like seriously.  What am I doing?  I finished up the revisions I said I wanted to do, so what am I doing now?  Well, I’m reading through the remaining beginning chapters just to make sure there’s nothing I missed.  I haven’t done any major edits since Chapter 6.  It’s also not taking me that long to read through them, so as long as I keep up a decent pace with that, I should be back to a posting schedule by next month.

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The Daemoniac by Kat Ross (Dominion Mysteries #1)

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Title: The Daemoniac
Series Title: Dominion Mysteries
Author: Kat Ross
Date Added: October 13, 2016
Date Started: September 28, 2017
Date Finished: October 25, 2017
Reading Duration: 27 days
Genre: Mystery, Historical Fiction

The Daemoniac coverPages: 334
Publication Date: October 12, 2016
Publisher: Acorn
Media: eBook/Kindle

It’s August of 1888, just three weeks before Jack the Ripper will begin his grisly spree in the London slum of Whitechapel, and another serial murderer is stalking the gas-lit streets of New York. With taunting messages in backwards Latin left at the crime scenes and even more inexplicable clues like the fingerprints that appear to have been burned into one victim’s throat, his handiwork bears all the hallmarks of a demonic possession.

But consulting detective Harrison Fearing Pell is convinced her quarry is a man of flesh and blood. Encouraged by her uncle, Arthur Conan Doyle, Harry hopes to make her reputation by solving the bizarre case before the man the press has dubbed Mr. Hyde strikes again.

From the squalor of the Five Points to the high-class gambling dens of the Tenderloin and the glittering mansions of Fifth Avenue, Harry and her best friend, John Weston, follow the trail of a remorseless killer, uncovering a few embarrassing secrets of New York’s richest High Society families along the way. Are the murders a case of black magic—or simple blackmail? And will the trail lead them closer to home than they ever imagined?

I believe change is coming, and we can either get out of the way, or be knocked down flat.

Harrison Fearing Pell is a consulting detective in this Sherlock Holmes inspired mystery where she isn’t even the Holmes analogue, her more famous sister Myrtle is, but the older Pell is away on business, and the game is afoot.

The author did a fantastic job differentiating this not only from the Sherlock Holmes stories (which…I’ll be honest, I haven’t read, so I might be completely talking out of my ass), but also from mysteries in the same vein.  Cleverly weaving more Sherlockian lore into the narrative with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as the uncle of the Harry and Myrtle.  So while The Daemoniac is inspired Sir Arthur’s work, in the narrative the famous mystery writer is inspired by his nieces.  There’s also a similar dynamic between the Pell sisters and the Holmes’ brothers (at least from what I’ve seen on the modern BBC version) with some virulent competition that unfortunately crossed over into bullying with the younger Harry as the victim.

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The State of the Gamer: 6/12/18

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<–The State of the Gamer: 5/15/18            The State of the Gamer: 6/26/18–>

A weekly post updated every other Tuesday detailing my current gaming projects.  I have an account at Grouvee, which is a site you can use to keep track of your backlog, so please feel free to friend me there!

What I Didn’t Finish

Title: Final Fantasy V
Series: Final Fantasy
System: PlayStation 3

Date Started: June 17, 2017
Date DNF: May 27, 2018

I called it quits after the Ancient Library.  The job system is just not working for me.  I like the characters and enjoy the story, but it started being a chore to play it.  I told myself if I could find a decent Let’s Play, I’d concurrently watch V while starting VI, and that’s just what I did.

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The People of Sparks by Jeanne DuPrau (Book of Ember #2)

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Book of Ember

<–The City of Ember (BOE #1)                                      The Prophet of Yonwood  (BOE #3)–>

Note: Since this is a sequel there are spoilers for the prior book even in the blurb.  Something to keep in mind if you haven’t read The City of Ember and don’t want to be spoiled.

Title: The People of Sparks
Series Title: The Book of Ember
Author: Jeanne DuPrau
Date Added: September 12, 2017
Date Started: October 22, 2017
Date Finished: October 23, 2017
Reading Duration: 1 day
Genre: Mid-grade/Young Adult (YA), Fantasy, Post-Apocalyptic, Dystopian

The People of Sparks coverPages: 338
Publication Date: May 25, 2004
Publisher: Yearling Adventure
Media: Paperback

When Lina and Doon lead their people up from the underground city of Ember, they discover a surface world of color and life. The people of a small village called Sparks agree to help the Emberites, but the villagers have never had to share their world before. Soon differences between the two groups escalate, and it’s up to Lina and Doon to find a way to avoid war!

In the riveting sequel to the highly acclaimed The City of Ember, Jeanne DuPrau explores the nature of conflict and the strength and courage necessary to overcome it.

We will renounce violence, which is so easy to start, but so hard to control.

In the second Book of Ember, Lina and Doon play Moses in leading the exodus from their dying city.  The find a settlement called Sparks where the descendants of the Disaster survivors live.  Having absolutely no experience or even knowledge of the world they’ve found themselves in, they ask the leaders of the village for help.

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My Name in TBR Books Tag

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Here we have another awesome tag I saved a long time ago from Ignited Moth.  Using Goodreads (or whatever TBR list you have), you pick a book based on the letters in you name.  Like the lovely blogger I from which I borrowed this, I’m going to use my blogging name as well, but you can do whatever you choose if you choose to participate 🙂

T – Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay

Tigana coverI’m pretty sure I went out and bought this right after I read the sample.  It has that eloquent language I love, and within just a few pages, it presented characters you couldn’t help but care about.  Definitely a book I can’t wait to read.

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The State of the Reader: 6/6/18

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<–The State of the Reader: 5/23/18          The State of the Reader: 6/20/18–>

A weekly post updated every other Wednesday detailing my current reading projects and what new titles I’ve added to my to-read list.  Title links go to Goodreads, and if you have an account there feel free to friend me!  I’d love to see what you’re reading and/or planning to read.

Books Purchased: 4

Books Finished: 1

Title: Parasol Protectorate
Series Title: Souless
Author: Gail Carriger
Date Added: October 26, 2016
Date Started: April 26, 2018
Date Finished: June 1, 2018

SoullessMedia: Paperback (Library)

This was delightful even if it was a little predictable.  The ending is extremely satisfactory and the dry, witty humor helps curb some of the cliches.  I will definitely be continuing this series.

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