[Bookwyrm account] I love #fantasyfiction. Mastodon: oldbytes.space/@confusedbunny Avatar is from Little Monster's Word Book (Mercer Mayer)
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WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE 2021
I'm not sure I enjoyed this as much as Dragons Of Insert Season Here, but it was a fun read, especially when Tas and Mari turned up. It also ended on a cliffhanger - so eagerly awaiting the next installment!
Shadows of Self shows Mistborn’s society evolving as technology and magic mix, the economy grows, …
I really enjoyed the original Mistborn trilogy. I read the first book of this second trilogy quite some time ago and wasn't keen. I then picked this up cheap and thought I'd give it a chance. I was disappointed. I'm not sure if it's just that too much time has passed between reading the original books (or indeed the first of this new set) meant I didn't understand the references, or the fact time has passed in the series itself and the setting (a sort of wild west/industrial age) doesn't appeal to me as much. I'm not against fantasy set in more modern time periods, this just didn't interest me much. I'd even go as far as to say I found it quite dull and didn't really care what happened to the characters. It's a shame as I usually enjoy the author's output.
This is a very good guide to the computers that made the 1980s(ish) in Britain. It covers computers that were influential, not just those that were made here. It's refreshing to see a history which isn't US-centric, where even Commodore tends to get written out.
I didn't like this as much as the previous books in the series. Too much recapping, but it did solve the mystery of the land of the dead, so definitely worth the effort.
The Phantom Atlas is an atlas of the world not as it ever existed, but …
I love maps. I spent my childhood pouring over atlases and Ordnance Survey maps, looking for interesting features, roman roads, blue symbols. That atlas in particular had countries that probably had ceased to exist before it was bought - but these are not the phantom lands depicted in this book, but creations mostly related to the fall of the Soviet Union.
This book has maps from further back, ones beautifully illustrated and based on vague descriptions brought back by explorers, where the land masses bear little relation to reality, and blank spaces were filled with sea creatures, monopods, and hypothesised continents.
The phantoms are a mixture of sighted islands that could not be located since, mythical lands which may or may not ever have existed, lands from entirely fictitious journeys which somehow ended up on maps, and depictions of creatures and people either invented or based on real sightings that …
I love maps. I spent my childhood pouring over atlases and Ordnance Survey maps, looking for interesting features, roman roads, blue symbols. That atlas in particular had countries that probably had ceased to exist before it was bought - but these are not the phantom lands depicted in this book, but creations mostly related to the fall of the Soviet Union.
This book has maps from further back, ones beautifully illustrated and based on vague descriptions brought back by explorers, where the land masses bear little relation to reality, and blank spaces were filled with sea creatures, monopods, and hypothesised continents.
The phantoms are a mixture of sighted islands that could not be located since, mythical lands which may or may not ever have existed, lands from entirely fictitious journeys which somehow ended up on maps, and depictions of creatures and people either invented or based on real sightings that were mangled in transit.
Welcome to London. A city where a house is yours for £50, banks make errors …
Part history lesson, part travelogue, Digitiser's Mr Hairs visits the streets and locations of London made famous by the Monopoly board. There's a lot to unpack here - London is dense and varied, and continually evolves, so the London of 1935 (when Monopoly came to the UK) is significantly different to London today (or, indeed, London of 2002 when the book was written).
I've been a fan of Duncan MacDonald since his Your Sinclair days. Always guaranteed to write absolutely hatstand reviews - including one for an April Fool's megagame Advanced Lawnmower Simulator, a game which he wrote himself and was subsequently featured on the covertape. In later times, he wrote a column for PC Zone and collaborated with a character known as Colin Culk to produce some crazy videos which were increasingly less about games, and more the sort of random nonsense you'd find on YouTube but before YouTube was a thing. In the early 2000s he wrote a blog for the website SeeThru - a project which involved another ex-Your Sinclair writer. It is that blog which forms the basis of South Coast Diaries.
It is, as I'd come to expect from Duncan, utterly hilarious in places and full of surreal characters and situations. I'm led to believe …
I've been a fan of Duncan MacDonald since his Your Sinclair days. Always guaranteed to write absolutely hatstand reviews - including one for an April Fool's megagame Advanced Lawnmower Simulator, a game which he wrote himself and was subsequently featured on the covertape. In later times, he wrote a column for PC Zone and collaborated with a character known as Colin Culk to produce some crazy videos which were increasingly less about games, and more the sort of random nonsense you'd find on YouTube but before YouTube was a thing. In the early 2000s he wrote a blog for the website SeeThru - a project which involved another ex-Your Sinclair writer. It is that blog which forms the basis of South Coast Diaries.
It is, as I'd come to expect from Duncan, utterly hilarious in places and full of surreal characters and situations. I'm led to believe by somebody who knew Duncan, that everything in the book actually happened. It follows his life on the dole whilst living in Hastings, and there's not much more I can say than that without spoilers.
Duncan sadly died before this book was published (it was originally supposed to be released in about 2003 but never materialised). Fortunately somebody must have rescued the text and managed to get it published posthumously. It is a tribute to a great writer and somebody who sadly didn't appear to get the break they deserved.
Good job, bloody good job, mate.
A quite interesting exploration of the tangled nature of the UK software industry. However, it contains quite a lot of opinion and rambling thoughts that should have been edited out! Apparently it was originally a blog post which got out of hand, but that's not really an excuse for including paragraphs which say, "I was going to end this chapter here, then I remembered about something else which I will now tell you about". Edit it out, we don't need to know! And stick to the facts, keep your opinion to yourself - if you must micro-review games then it can go into an appendix - the book only needs to tell us that certain titles were "well reviewed by the gaming press" or somesuch.
This gamebook follows 8 of the 12 tribes (Outdoor, Egyptian, Highland and Cavelem are not featured) of Lemmings 2, as they try to find their parts of the Great Medallion. In the video game the Lemmings are trying to bring all the parts to put it back together, so the events in the book can be considered to have taken place before those in the game.
You start with 50 lemmings, and each zone requires then to be assigned to various skills (recognisable from the game, so the Classic zone have Blocker, Builder, etc - although bizarrely also Ballooner and Filler). You then choose options and use skills in various ways to guide the lemmings to their piece of the medallion. The lemming skills don't generally get "used up" so it's possible to take along a skill assigned to a single lemming and use it multiple times unless the book …
This gamebook follows 8 of the 12 tribes (Outdoor, Egyptian, Highland and Cavelem are not featured) of Lemmings 2, as they try to find their parts of the Great Medallion. In the video game the Lemmings are trying to bring all the parts to put it back together, so the events in the book can be considered to have taken place before those in the game.
You start with 50 lemmings, and each zone requires then to be assigned to various skills (recognisable from the game, so the Classic zone have Blocker, Builder, etc - although bizarrely also Ballooner and Filler). You then choose options and use skills in various ways to guide the lemmings to their piece of the medallion. The lemming skills don't generally get "used up" so it's possible to take along a skill assigned to a single lemming and use it multiple times unless the book expressly forbids it. All the zones are thematically correct for the tribes, and once you've successfully navigated them to the medallion you get an extra five lemmings. They are a lot harder to lose than in the game!
To complete the book, all eight zones need to be successfully completed.
At the time of reviewing, I've played through this once as each character. The book contains four characters and two more are available as "DLC". The standard characters largely follow the same storylines, at least after meeting up with Dorothy, and have a variety of different traits which can help or hinder your journey. There's quite a lot of variety here and with one exception contrary to the usual rules of "do not split the party", splitting up is a good thing, at no point does it seem unfair or suddenly kill you for no reason.
There are two methods for skill checks and combat. One is to use 2d6, the other is to use cards. The card method is more evenly distributed, although there is extra chance of getting very high numbers. You can also keep the cards out of the pack once you've used them which could help …
At the time of reviewing, I've played through this once as each character. The book contains four characters and two more are available as "DLC". The standard characters largely follow the same storylines, at least after meeting up with Dorothy, and have a variety of different traits which can help or hinder your journey. There's quite a lot of variety here and with one exception contrary to the usual rules of "do not split the party", splitting up is a good thing, at no point does it seem unfair or suddenly kill you for no reason.
There are two methods for skill checks and combat. One is to use 2d6, the other is to use cards. The card method is more evenly distributed, although there is extra chance of getting very high numbers. You can also keep the cards out of the pack once you've used them which could help predict results as the game goes on. 2d6 would favour 7, which maybe makes skills of 8 or more easier to pass.