Day Zero: A Watch Dogs Legion Novel by James Swallow & Josh Reynolds - Book Review

'A secretive resistance movement is the last line of defence in this heart-pounding prequel to 2020’s most-anticipated video game release, Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs: Legion

'Bike messenger and wannabe troublemaker Olly Soames is the newest recruit to DedSec’s Resistance movement, but when a stranger is shot dead in front of him, he realises that danger is closer than he thinks…Sarah Lincoln is an aggressive young politician with questionable methods and big ambitions, and when a string of murders unfolds in her borough, it may be the opportunity she has been looking for to make a name for herself…

'Ex-MMA fighter turned leg-breaker Ro Hayes is in deep with the vicious Clan Kelley, the most brutal organised crime firm in the city’s underworld, and her survival rests on uncovering a dead man’s secrets…And for Danny, Ro’s estranged brother and former soldier, his new career with private military contractor Albion is leading him down a very dark path, toward choices he may never be able to take back…

'Four lives are drawn into a murderous conspiracy that threatens to destroy Dedsec and plunge the city of London into chaos. Something very bad is going down in London town…'

I've played the first two Watch Dogs games and really enjoyed them, though I did prefer the narrative of the first game more as the second one felt a bit less engaging. But, I enjoyed the open world of the games, running around hacking into tech, collecting things around a huge map, and generally messing things up for big, evil corporations. I've been eagerly awaiting the release of Watch Dogs: Legion to get some more of this great franchise, though admittedly awaiting a second hand copy because I don't really want to support Ubisoft, one of those real life evil corporations. 

Luckily, in the wait to play the new game I've had the chance to read the official prequel novel, Day Zero: A Watch Dogs Legion Novel. The book follows a handful of people across London as the private security firm Albion tries to get approval to take over for the police across the city. Opposing them are a number of politicians, as well as members of the underground hacker group Dedsec.

However, when a seemingly random man is shot dead at a political rally things in London begin to spiral out of control. A new courier for Dedsec, Olly, finds himself thrust into the centre of a conspiracy against Albion, and has to work alongside one of the organisations best to try and track down the killer. Meanwhile, one of the Albion troops, Danny, discovers that his sister Ro is working for one of the biggest criminal gangs in the city, something that puts them at odds with each other. The three of them end up being drawn together in a plot that's bigger than any of them could imagine, and one that sets the stage for sweeping changes in the nations capital.

A lot of the time with video game novel tie-in's you'll get a retelling of the events of the game, or possibly a sequel story that's quickly dismissed as not being canon when the next game in the series comes out. These books can be fun, but tend to have little impact to the universes they're set it. This book, however, feels a little different. I've not had the chance to play the game yet, but I've seen a lot of trailers and behind the scenes videos for it, and know that some of the characters that appear on the periphery of this story will be making appearances in the game, like Mary Kelley and Nigel Cass; it also benefits from being able to set up a lot of the background for the game, things which hopefully won't later be retconed away.

There are, however, a few characters in the book that I've not seen referenced in any of the promotion for the game, and these tend to be the characters that the readers get to follow. It could have been easy for the writers to pick a character like Sabine Brandt as the main protagonist, someone who would go on to play a big role in the game. The problem with doing something like that, however, would be that some readers would know that she's in the game, that she would have to survive the events of the book in order to appear later on in the timeline. By creating brand new characters for the novel Swallow and Reynolds are making it so that you're having to stay on your toes throughout, and are never sure if the heroes are going to make it out alive.

Sadly, the main characters are never really given a chance to really be focused on beyond what's strictly necessary for the story, and some like Olly come away feeling pretty underdeveloped as a result, especially when compared to Danny and Ro who do get quite a bit of their backstory given. However, the characters don't really come away feeling hugely important, instead it's the wold that is. Reynolds and Swallow are given the task of setting up the London that people will find in the game, to explain how things got to the point where armed militia are patrolling the streets. Yes, I'm sure that this will be gone into in the game, but getting to see it unfold in front of me in a book is so much better than having characters tell me about it in game, or having to piece it together by unlocking things in game.

I was hoping that the book was going to be a good read, having been familiar with the work that Swallow and Reynolds have done in other franchise, but was worried that this might be another throw away game tie-in, one that felt cheap,rushed, or inconsequential. Luckily, it was everything I was hoping it was going to be, and got me very excited to play the game. A brilliant introduction to the new game.

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The Haunted Shore by Neil Spring - Book Review

 

'A CHILLING GHOST STORY SET IN THE HAUNTING WILDERNESS OF SUFFOLK

'When Lizzy moves to a desolate shore to escape her past, she hopes to find sanctuary. But a mysterious stranger is waiting for her, her father's carer, and when darkness falls, something roams this wild stretch of beach, urging Lizzy to investigate its past. The longer she stays, the more the shore's secrets begin to stir. Secrets of a sea that burned, of bodies washed ashore -- and a family's buried past reaching into the present.

'And when Lizzy begins to suspect that her father's carer is a dangerous imposter with sinister motives, a new darkness rises. What happens next is everyone's living nightmare . . .'

The Haunted Shore follows Elizabeth Valentine, Lizzy, a successful woman in her mid thirties with a partner that loves her and a high paid PR job in London. She loves her life, and is ready to settle down into married life with her partner and have some kids. Unfortunately for her, her life is about to spiral out of control. Lizzy's partner is also her boss, and when he removes her from an important project she turns to the one place shes always found comfort, online gambling.

Without realising what she's doing Lizzy drains her bank accounts in a spree of online Blackjack. Panicked and desperate she uses her corporate credit card to try and win her money back; but alas, her addiction prevents her from stopping before it all goes wrong. With £80,000 stolen from her work and gone to the wind, Lizzy is fired from her job, loses her partner, and is being hounded by shady characters who all want their money back.

Unable to see what she can do to get herself out of this hole her addiction has dug her she climbs onto the edge of a bridge and is about to end her life when she gets a phone call from her brother. It turns out her father is getting sicker, that he's struggling to get by, and her brother needs her to help. Grabbing hold of this sudden lifeline with both hands Lizzy travels back to her childhood home to help her father.

A former architect, her father is hiding away from the world in his converted Martello tower on a stretch of the near deserted Shingle Street, a small patch of coast in Suffolk. Lizzy arrives at this remote home to find her father in worse condition than she though, her brother moved away to live with a younger woman, and a strange carer, Hazel, staying in the tower. Back in her fathers life and determined to help him, Lizzy not only has to worry about the debt collectors on her trail, and continually locking horns with Hazel, but there's also mysterious figures on the beach at night, and strange noises that she can't explain haunting her too.

The Haunted Shore is a book that's full of atmosphere, one where you feel the location seeping off the page into you as you read it. The remote and dreary shore of Lizzy's childhood home is dark, creepy, and full of atmosphere, and it never once lets up. The oppressive nature of the winter weather, as well as the cold and isolated feel of the tower means that this is a place where Lizzy can never find rest, where she never feels relaxed or fully safe. The result of this is a woman who is barely keeping a hold of herself throughout most of the book.

Lizzy is a character that feels very real in a lot of ways, for starters she's incredibly flawed, and makes so pretty awful mistake like anyone would. But the thing I like about her most, that I really appreciate from Neil Spring, is that her gambling addiction isn't treated as a failing on her part. Sure, there's a time at the start of the book where she's blaming herself for doing it, but she soon starts to address it like any kind of addiction, something that is a part of her, something that she has to fight against because it's not just someone making the conscious choice to go and gamble, but an insidiousness inside her that keeps trying to push her towards it. Society seems to understand that addiction is often something that someone can't help, when it comes to things like alcohol or smoking, but other addictions are treated as some kind of moral failing or weakness on the part of those who fall victim to it, and gambling is one of these. To see it treated with the respect and sympathy it deserves is wonderful, and helps to normalise the idea that it's a sickness, not an active decision for gambling addicts.

Whilst battling with this illness, Lizzy is subject to further mental strain in the form of Hazel, a woman who you just can't help but hate. There are times where she feels completely genuine, where you believe that she's a kind woman, there to do what she can to help a vulnerable older man. You come to believe that perhaps Lizzy is just overreacting, and her feelings of suspicion and hate have no grounding in reality. Other times you completely agree with Lizzy, you believe completely that Hazel is a nasty, awful person, one who's there to cause harm. The back and forth on the view of this character, on the way both the reader and Lizzy feel about her is great, and really speaks to how well written the book is. I won't say which of these is right, whether Hazel is good or bad, because finding that out yourself is half the fun.

Neil Spring also manages to weave the ghostly parts of the story into the narrative in great ways, and whilst you never feel that this supernatural element is completely gone thanks to the atmosphere, there are large sections of the book where it takes a back seat to the human drama going on. The two stories intertwine together very well, and both lead to some shocking revelations and surprise conclusions.

Overall I really enjoyed The Haunted Shore, it had a compelling narrative with some great twists and turns, and some really creepy, spooky moments in their too. 

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Underdog – London Korean Film Festival 2020

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Underdog (also known as A Dog’s Courage) is the only animated film at the London Korean Film Festival, and the only one seemingly aimed at children, and it certainly stood out as one to keep an eye on.

The basic plot follows Moongchi (Kyung-soo Doo), a family dog who has been abandoned by his owners. Having loved and trusted his owner for his whole life, Moongchi waits patiently for him to return and pick him up. Alone and unsure how to survive, he’s taken in by a group of other strays, who have been living on the streets for a while and know how to get by. Living in a slum on the edge of town, they get by via scavenging through trash, and the kindness of some of the locals. However, a dogcatcher stalks the streets, hunting down any stray he can get his hands on.

One day when he wanders up to the mountains Moongchi sees a group of wild dogs and decides that he wants to befriend them, particularly the young female Bami (So-dam Park). The wild dogs initially want nothing to do with Moongchi or his friends, but when the dog catcher learns of this group he sets his sights on them too, leading to the two packs to team up together to try and reach a new home safe from people.

On the surface the film reminded me of stories like Watership Down and The Animals of Farthing Wood, with a group of animals coming together in order to find a safe new home. However, unlike those other stories, the actual journey in Underdog doesn’t even start until close to halfway through the film, giving viewers a good long period to get to know the dogs before they end up in peril – and oh boy do they end up in peril!

Much like the aforementioned stories, Underdog has a level of danger to it that I think most children’s films seem to have lost over the years. It’s not as bloodthirsty as The Animals of Farthing Wood (which is like Game of Thrones for children) but dogs do die during this film, and whilst it’s sometimes dramatic and shows the stakes, there’s at least one time it happens that’s just plain sad and designed to hit you where it hurts. It doesn’t mean this isn’t a film suitable for kids, but it does mean that parents need to be aware just in case their little ones burst into tears.

Underdog has an interesting art style too, one that seems very different from most western animated features. Instead of being completely hand drawn or completely CGI, the film has these gorgeous backgrounds that have a great hand painted feel to them, whilst most of the characters seem to have been built as 3D elements in a computer but designed to look two dimensional too.

The result is a little janky at times, and there are a few moments where some of the dogs’ movements or expressions seem a little off and made me think about cel-shaded video games. There is one particular scene where the villainous dog catcher is talking to a character who seems to have been made completely two dimensional, and the difference really jumps out there; but on the whole the animation style is very smooth, and looks great, and I’d have happily spent time looking through the beautifully crafted environments.

Underdog was a surprisingly good film, one that is definitely aimed at children, but thanks to different sensibilities of the south Korean film makers, feels a bit more grown-up than what we’d be used to from a US production. The story has things in it that are darker, and has heavier themes that will appeal to the adults who watch this with their children. Definitely worth checking out.

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Cat Step by Alison Irvine - Book Review

'One mistake can unravel everything…

'She only left her daughter in the car for a minute; just a quick minute whilst she ran into the shop. She barely thought twice about making the decision, but it soon began to consume her every thought. And not just her thoughts, but those of every neighbour, police officer and social security worker in a fifteen mile radius. But this is her child. Surely she knows best?

'After she’d made the move to a small town in Scotland, the rolling hills and blustery beaches seemed to be the perfect backdrop for her and her four year-old daughter, Emily, to start again. It wasn’t always easy just the two of them, but Liz was sure that she could manage this time. And now this?

'Sometimes, one mistake is all it takes to unravel everything. Cat Step is a lyrically sparse novel about judgement, inter-generational relationships, community, class, and the expectations that we place on mothers. With sharp prose Alison Irvine has crafted a compassionate narrative that compels you to read on.'

Cat Step was not the book that I was expecting it to be; I guess I came to the novel with a preconceived notion of what was going to happen from the tease of the blurb. I was expecting something big and dramatic, for Liz's choice to leave her daughter in the car alone to cause something awful to happen. I thought this was the set-up to her child going missing, and the terror and heartbreak that would bring. But I was wrong. Instead, Cat Step is a much more grounded novel, one that looks at a very ordinary and recognisable life, one that many people will be able to find a connection with, something familiar to their own life.

The book follows Liz, who has left her life living with her mother in London to travel to Lennoxtown, a small town in Scotland. Taking her four year old daughter Emily with her, Liz has gone to clear out the flat of her late partners grandmother, who passed away recently. Clearing a home and getting it ready to be sold on is hard enough, but when you've got a four-year-old to look after too, it begins to get a bit much for the single mother. 

When Emily falls ill with tonsillitis Liz does her best to carry on, as well as taking care of her sick daughter. All she does is make one tiny mistake in judgement, and things begin to unravel for her. Taking Emily to go get some much needed groceries, she leaves the sleeping child alone in the car as she dashes in to get what she needs. Unfortunately, this is the day a thief chooses to break into her car to steal her phone. The break-in leads to the police being called, and when they discover that Emily was left alone in the car Liz is reported to social services.

Now Liz has to try to keep her life together as she remains isolated, hundreds of miles from her only family, with a child that doesn't always make her life easy, and social services watching her every move. In the middle of all of this, Liz is desperate to find people who might have known her late partner Robbie, to learn more about the man she lost; but not everything she learns about him is a good as she hopes.

Liz has an incredibly difficult journey in Cat Step, and it's a book that really hammers home the stress and difficulty of being a parent, especially a single parent. Liz spends most of the book isolated, with her daughter being her only companion for much of the time. Other than a handful of pensioners she spends time with to teach dance most everyone she meets in her time at Lennoxtown is someone that she comes to see as an adversary. They're judging her, they're questioning her parenting skills, and they want to take her daughter away from her.

It's no surprise that Liz's mental health takes a heavy hit over the course of the novel, and the threads have already begun to unravel at the very start of the book. This isn't just through being in a new, isolating place, but we learn over the course of the story that Liz has had to deal with some awful tragedy when she lost her partner, and that that loss still haunts her almost five years later. The book speaks as much about the effect that grief can have upon a person as much as it does the trials of being an isolated mother, and these two issues are ultimately what leads Liz down a dark path.

Cat Step shows readers that loss and grief are something that in some cases doesn't just pass, but becomes a huge part of someone's life, colouring every part of their existence. It can cause you to want to live in that happier past, to struggle to make new connection, and can prevent you from living your life to the fullest. This is why when Liz learns that Robbie had some skeletons in his closet, some pretty damn bad ones, it begins to break her world. The man she loved and lost was the brightest spark in her life, someone who devoted themselves to her, who supported her dreams and made a family with her; the idea that he wasn't perfect is too much for her, especially as he's not around for her to talk about it with him. She's left grappling two conflicting ideas of Robbie, ones that she feels can't exist in the same person.

I saw this idea of duality a lot in the book, with a number of characters seeming to make dramatic shifts in their personalities and attitudes towards Liz. This, of course, could have been very much skewed by the perspective of a woman who's mental health is slowly deteriorating, but it could also fit in with the idea that some people can hold vastly opposing facets. The loving husband could have a criminal past, a man who did awful things and beat his mother can feel shame and seek forgiveness whilst trying to be a good father, a strong independent woman can fall to pieces where their child is concerned, and a kindly new boyfriend could be a cheat. The book likes to remind the reader that people aren't defined by one simple characteristic, that they're complex, and often flawed. Liz sees this in others during her time at Lennoxtown, and even shows it in herself as a devoted mother who some could see as a neglectful or even cruel parent.

Cat Step was simpler in its story than I was expecting, but had a lot more depth too. It took a very ordinary person going through a very ordinary life and used that to show the difficulties and complexities of life. It reminded the reader that everything you do can be seen in different ways, that one persons hero is another's villain, and that perhaps we should all take the time to consider things more carefully before we make snap decisions about people.

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Ashfall – London Korean Film Festival 2020

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The line up for the London Korean Film Festival is an impressive one, with a broad range of genres designed to appeal to people who are fans of very different films. One that immediately jumped out from the list was Ashfall, a big, bombastic action adventure blockbuster that looked like a load of fun.

Ashfall (original title Baekdusan) follows bomb disposal technician Jo In-Chang (Jung-woo Ha), who’s planning to retire from his dangerous job to spend more time with his wife and their baby, who’s close to being born. However, when Mount Paektu, an active volcano on the North Korea/China border suddenly erupts, his plans are cancelled.

The eruption causes extensive damage across the Korean Peninsula, destroying cities in North and South Korea. When it’s discovered that this is only the first of four eruptions, and that the final one is going to be large enough to cause massive devastation and loss of life, the Korean government must come up with a plan to prevent this.

Jo In-Chang and his team get dispatched to travel into North Korea, contact double agent Ri Joon-pyeong (Byung-hun Lee) who’s in one of their detention centres, and discover the location of North Korean nuclear weapons. They will then have to steal one of these weapons in order to detonate it beneath the mountain, providing enough pressure relief to prevent the final eruption.

This plan sees Jo and his team travelling into hostile territory, that puts them against both the North Korean forces, and those of the USA who have travelled to Korea to take part in nuclear disarmament procedures. But when things go wrong, Jo and his technicians, who are not trained for combat, must complete the mission, alongside a double agent intent on escaping and screwing over the team if it means his freedom.

Ashfall opens big, with the first eruption of Mount Paektu within the first ten minutes causing massive damage across Seoul. Buildings come crashing down, cars crash, and Jo is left dashing through the destruction as carnage and ash rain around him.

From here the film hardly lets up, and uses the constant threat of follow-up destruction to keep the cast of characters moving forward at all times, fighting towards their end goal. However, it doesn’t just rely on the threat of geological disaster, but throws a lot of action, espionage, buddy comedy, and even some surprisingly emotional moments into the mix too, meaning that the audience never has a chance to get bored with events.

The film really picks up when Jo and his team encounter Ri, who doesn’t seem to care about anything but his own personal goals throughout. He’s constantly at odds with Jo and his team, and this means that you’re never sure which side he’s going to be on at any moment. The interplay between Jo and Ri is great, and keeps the audience guessing right up to the end; an end that manages to hit a perfect note.

These constant shifts in tone, jumping from action and espionage to silly moments where the two leads are battling against each other and trying to get the upper hand, mean that Ashfall never feels dull or takes itself too seriously. This helps to balance out against some of the stark and realistic depictions of destruction, and the massive stakes that Jo has on his shoulders.

Ashfall is the kind of film audiences often get from big budget American studios, where it would be the US Army riding in to do the impossible and save the day, so it’s refreshing to see that formula subverted a little, where not only is it another country that gets to play at big budget heroics but the US military is an active antagonist.

Overall Ashfall is a really enjoyable film. It has some great pacing, big action and disaster sequences that work really well, and a central cast who are a genuine delight to watch. Definitely a film that I would recommend.

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Relic – Film Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Relic is the feature film debut of writer/director Natalie Erika James, and takes a look at the very real pain of seeing a loved one lose themselves to dementia, told through a deeply disturbing horror lens.

The film begins with Kay (Emily Mortimer) and her daughter Sam (Bella Heathcote) travelling to the remote town of Creswick, when Kay’s ageing mother Edna (Robyn Nevin) suddenly disappears from her home. Kay and Sam join in with the police and local residents in their search for Edna in the surrounding woodlands, but no sign of her is found.

Kay does what she can to cope with the sudden vanishing of her mother, and works on clearing up her house, going through all of the things her mother has been hording in her deteriorating state. When Edna suddenly reappears in the house one night Kay and Sam are grateful to have her back, but are still worried about her mental state and physical well being.

The mother and daughter try their hardest to do what’s best for Edna, but find her lapses in memory and sometimes violent mood swings too much to cope with. When Edna starts talking about the strange thing trying to get into her home the two of them chalk it up to her dementia, but strange things begin to happen in the house, and Sam discovers a mysterious mould covered maze of corridors and rooms within the walls of the home. Is this where Edna went missing, and is there something else in there trying to break through?

Relic is a film that relies on dread to get under the skin of its audience, and from its very start builds a sense of unease that never goes away during its run time, culminating in a finale that will leave you feeling disturbed and affected. The very first scenes establish the rules for the movie, relying on slow, lingering shots, a quietly discomfiting musical score, and superbly crafted sound effects to straddle the line between disturbing reality and the world of the paranormal and horrific.

The whole of Relic is like this, confidently walking this line between the mundane and the nightmarish, never allowing the viewer to gain enough information to know what’s going on, but allowing what it does give you to be uncomfortable enough that you never stop feeling on edge.

Based on the content of the film and on background information, this would seem to be intentional on the part of writer/director Natalie Erika James, who is trying to show the horror of watching a loved one slip away due to dementia; something she herself has some personal experience with. The film seems to be trying to put you into both the mindset of having to watch someone you love slip through your fingers, and the emotional toll that would take upon you; as well as having the viewer experience not know what’s going on, and questioning whether everything they experience is real, much like someone going through dementia.

Because of the way that Relic grapples with the theme of dementia, and the amount or explanation it offers for the events on screen, I came away unsure of what I’d just watched. What I do know is that what I saw didn’t sit right with me. It left me feeling uncomfortable. Which means that it worked as a horror film.

Yes, there were moments that included jump scares, but this isn’t the kind of film that relies on loud bangs to make you feel frightened, nor does it have some kind of monster or foe chasing characters around to make you feel on edge; it relies on a much creepier feeling to get to you, and this makes it an incredibly subtle and affecting film.

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Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles by Ryan Parrott - Book Review

'THE TEENAGERS WITH ATTITUDE MEET THE HEROES IN A HALF SHELL FOR THE FIRST TIME!

'The Power Rangers arrive in New York City to find their missing teammate Tommy Oliver – AKA The Mighty Morphin Green Ranger – but soon discover he’s joined forces with the villainous Shredder and the Foot Clan! But the Rangers must also deal with another unexpected (fr)enemy – the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! Can these heroes find a way to work together to defeat the bad guys and save the world from total destruction?!

'Written by Ryan Parrott (Power Rangers: Necessary Evil) and illustrated by Simone di Meo (Power Rangers: Beyond The Grid), the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers fight – and maybe team up with – the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the first time ever.'

Boom! Studios have done a fantastic job at breathing new and exciting life into the Power Rangers franchise with their works on the comics, introducing new characters to the lore more than twenty five years since Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was on television. One of the writers on the Power Rangers comics is Ryan Parrott, who's currently relaunching the books with two new, exciting series, and here fans get to see him tackle another beloved children's martial arts franchise, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers/Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles opens with the Rangers fighting Rita's latest monster in downtown Angel Grove. During the fight we learn that Tommy, the Green Ranger, has taken a leave of absence, and the Rangers have no idea where he is. On the other side of the country, in New York City the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are battling a number of Foot Clan ninja's. However, one of these ninja's manages to get the upper hand over Raphael, and make their escape.

We soon learn that this new ninja is, in fact, Tommy, who has travelled to the city to infiltrate the Foot Clan to help a childhood friend who's become mixed up with the criminal organisation. In order to prove himself to the Foot's leadership, Tommy must infiltrate a secret research lab and steal some tech. He's able to make it inside the building, but finds the Turtles waiting for him. When he's forced to morph in order to take them on the Power Rangers are able to detect this, and teleport to New York to assist him.

After a brief fight between the two teams they quickly realise that they're on the same side and join forces, however, Tommy has already fled the scene, returning to the Foot Clan with the stolen tech. Coming face to face with the leader of the Foot, Shredder, Tommy discovers that Shredder knew of his real identity the whole time, and is captured. Using tech from his allies in Dimension X, Shredder severs Tommy's connection to the Morphin Grid, and takes on the Green Ranger powers for himself. 

With Tommy missing, Shredder now a Ranger, and Rita Repulsa seemingly allied with him, the Rangers and the Turtles must work together to stop these powerful foes, rescue their friend, and save the city.

I'm going to be honest, I wasn't sure what to expect from this book when it was first announced. This isn't the first time that these two franchises have met, with an episode of Power Rangers In Space featuring the turtles from the 90's television series Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation. The crossover episode was admittedly, pretty bad, thanks in large parts to in both not making much sense for the two series to suddenly cross-over, but also because of the low effort put into it. I was slightly worried that this series could become another half baked way of putting these two groups into the same space. Luckily, I was wrong.

Parrott has come up with great ways to bring the characters together in this story, and not just the main teams either. Having Tommy travel to New York to help a childhood friend, and having to infiltrate the Foot to do it is a really good idea, and it gives him reason to keep going back on his own, without Ranger back-up. And whilst the two teams do do the almost obligatory fight upon first meeting because they don't know they're all good guys comic cliche, they actually work really well together.

Jason and Leonardo get time to bond over being leaders, and there's a few fun conversations between the two of them comparing sword fighting techniques and their love for martial arts. Michelangelo and Zach both seem to have some dubious food love, and get to have fun coming up with bizarre and downright disgusting pizza toppings together. Billy and Donatello are a perfect pairing as the teams two techies, comparing their inventions, talking science, and getting excited over giant robots. And there's a really good scene where Trini and Raphael discuss some of his emotional issues; though this felt like it was never resolved with another similar scene, which is a shame as I think Trini would have been an amazing friend for the deeply caring Raph. The only Ranger who doesn't really get a Turtle to pair off with is Kimberly, but she has a number of scenes where she and April O'Neil spend time together, and get to discuss guy trouble. 

The bad guys even get to team up too, with Rita and her lieutenants getting the chance to fight against Shredder and his forces, before ultimately agreeing to an uneasy alliance to bring down their respective foes. 

One of the best things about the book, however, is how Parrott really changes things up, and does stuff that would never happen on the TV screen. Using the same device that broke Tommy's connection to his powers, the other Rangers are similarly affected, which causes issues when one of Rita's monsters arrives in the middle of New York. To solve this issue the Turtles, and April, borrow the morphers and become the Mighty Morphin Ninja Turtles. Similarly, the de-powered Rangers join Casey Jones on a mission to infiltrate the Technodrome, kitted out in ninja gear borrowed from the Turtles.

The designs for both groups are absolutely brilliant, and I love the work that Simone Di Meo does here. The Turtle Rangers are all instantly recognisable as the Power Rangers, but still look like turtles, with some gold elements similar to the Green Ranger thrown in in places like their shells. Speaking of the Green Ranger, the design for Shredder using that powers is amazing, and the way that both iconic designs come together to create something completely new, without losing what makes either character recognisable, is astounding. Even April, who's just another human using the Pink Ranger powers gets a slight redesign, even if it's something as simple as removing the skirt.

Not even the Megazord gets away unscathed from the awesome redesigns, as it gets to merge with a giant version of Metalhead getting to combine with the Megazord to create the Turtle Megazord. I really hope that if Hasbro start doing more comic characters as part of their Lightning Collection of figures we get a set from this book, because the designs on offer here are some of the best Power Ranger designs I've seen in years. And I want them as toys.

I went into this book with pretty low expectations, but hoping for something that would be good, and I got something that was so much better than I was even hoping. I loved reading this book, and I want them to do a sequel. Do it again a season later, using the White Ranger and the Stone Canyon Trio to add something new into the mix, do it with Lord Zedd, or even go pick another team of Rangers all together. Either way, I want Ryan Parrott to do another of these, because this is brilliant.

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Sleepwalkers – Blu-ray Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

This week sees the release of Stephen King’s Sleepwalkers on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK, and proves to be the perfect set for some classic horror just in time for Halloween.

The film follows mother and son Charles (Bian Krause) and Mary (Alice Krige) Brady, who have recently moved to the small town of Travis, Indiana. Despite looking like regular human beings the two of them are actually Sleepwalkers, a pair of shape-shifting energy vampires who feed off the life force of virgin girls. The pair have set their sights on local girl Tanya (Madchen Amick) to be their next meal.

Over the course of the film Charles uses his charming personality to win Tanya’s affection, trying to lure her into a situation where he can feed off her. However, when his plan doesn’t go as expected he and his mother find themselves being hunted by local law enforcement.

Sleepwalkers marks the first time that Stephen King wrote an original screenplay, rather than having one of his existing works adapted to film, and because of this it definitely feels a lot tighter than some other films with his name attached. It moves at a pace that is sometimes lacking in other King films, and seems to have a much more relaxed feel to it, even going so far as to embrace some dark comedy, rather than trying for an oppressive atmosphere. Though this will also in part be down to director Mick Garris, who before this film worked on Critters 2, another horror with a comedic tone.

The film itself is, despite the dark tone of the subject matter, is quite a bright and lively piece, and even includes a car chase in the middle of the day, something that I wasn’t expecting from a film with King’s name attached. It seems to know that the very concept, two shape-shifting cat-like entities that suck the soul out of people, is ridiculous, and doesn’t try to make it anything else. That’s not to say there isn’t a decent level of threat though, as the Sleepwalkers themselves are still dangerous foes, and there are a number of scenes in the film that show off how vicious and powerful these entities are, with some good effects work involved.

The biggest downside, however, is that as an animal lover, and someone who has cats, it is at times pretty hard to watch. The film opens with a scene where there are dozens of murdered cats hanging in a tree, in various grotesque states, and towards the end Mary snaps a cat’s neck (something that Krige, in the extras, admits was a hard scene for her to film). Whilst I know these moments are fake, and that no cats were hurt, it still made the film difficult to watch and tainted some of my enjoyment.

Despite these moments, one of the best parts of the film is a cat; in this case Sparks, who plays Clovis, who belongs to one of the local police officers. Clovis absolutely steals every scene he’s in, and even has a few heroic moments that would have meant the death of Tanya if he wasn’t there to save her. It’s not often a cat gets to play a hero, but I love it when they do.

This new release comes with a number of new special features, including interviews with the director, three lead actors, and special effects team, all of which shed some interesting light on the production of the film. The interview with Krige is particularly interesting as it gives viewers an insight into how she, as a classically trained actor, gets into the head-space of the characters she plays. The disc also includes two new audio commentaries, both of which are a lot of fun to listen to, and provide even more information on the production of the film than the extras.

Sleepwalkers is definitely one of the more interesting King films, and it’s a fun piece of early 90’s horror with some great actors and a bag full of cameos. If you’re not normally a fan of Stephen King movies this might be one that’s worth a watch, as it’s definitely a lot of fun.

Sleepwalkers is out on Blu-ray on 26th October from Eureka Entertainment.

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Race To The Finish Line by Aisha Yusuf - Book Review

Originally published on Set The Tape

'Aaleyah Ahmed had her senior year planned out. She would focus on diplomas, apply to universities, graduate, and take a road trip around Canada with her best friends. What was not a part of her plan was moving to a small town in America she’s never heard of because of her dad’s job.

'What she wasn’t prepared for was discovering the town’s dark history that threatens the safety of her and her family.

'Aaleyah and her friends vow to uncover the truth. However, they discover more than they bargained for. They realize they might be in over their heads, but they’re in too deep to stop.

'One thing is for sure; everyone is hiding something.'

Race To The Finish Line is one of those books where the cover instantly jumped out and made me want to learn more about it; there are probably few covers as instantly grabbing as a Black Muslim girl standing up to a member of the KKK, especially in 2020. When I discovered that the author is herself a young Muslim woman of colour, and that she was choosing to write about life as a member of that demographic in the US, I was instantly on board.

The book follows Aaleyah, a seventeen-year-old Black Muslim girl living in Canada with her family. When her father gets a new job in the US Aaleyah and her parents move to the town of Anderton, Arkansas. Upon arriving Aaleyah is shocked to find that the town is more then 90% white, and incredibly racist.  She's subjected to stares in public, muttered insults, and full blown verbal assault at school. And this is only the beginning of the abuse that she receives. Digging into the town history she discovers that there's an alarming trend of missing persons reports for minorities in Anderton. Teaming up with her two new friends, Brianna and Matthew, she sets out to dig into this past, all whilst trying to survive the racists that infest the town.

I have to be honest, at first I wasn't sure what to think of the book due to the writing style. The lead character is in her teens, yet the writing often felt like it was aimed at a younger audience. This was largely due to the simplicity of a number of the scenes, the way that Yusuf would gloss over certain details and jump around the narrative very quickly, not giving events a chance to breath before moving on to the next. For the first few chapters I was unsure if I liked the book or not.

However, once Aaleyah reached her school things changed. Suddenly events were a lot more interesting, the things that Aaleyah was experiencing had me on the edge of my seat, and the faster pace began to work a lot better. It felt like I'd found the meat of the story, and the first few chapters were Yusuf quickly getting through the set-up so that she could focus on the important stuff.

This part of the book wasn't exactly enjoyable, because I don't think you could ever class this kind of story as enjoyable, but it was certainly grabbing. Yusuf didn't shy away from showing the realities of the racism and Islamophobia that Aaleyah faces. There are times where she is verbally attacked, complete with racial slurs, physical assaults, vandalism, and appearances from the KKK. This is a book that will test you, it will make you feel angry and on edge, it could even hurt you, because despite being a work of fiction this is a very real story.

It's a sad thing that this kind of story isn't relegated to the past, but is still happening today. The Ku Klux Klan are active across the US, Black people are murdered by white supremacists and cops (with the two often indistinguishable), and the Black community have had to take to the streets in protest across the world to demand equality and justice. The way that minorities are treated in the US is fucking abhorrent, and this book doesn't shy away from that.

I don't know what it's like to be treated differently because of the colour of your skin, to face such vile hatred simply because you look different. I can't understand how hard this kind of thing must be for people like Aaleyah, like Aisha Yusuf. I experience some discrimination because I'm a disabled trans woman, but I know that what I face is a far cry from what Black people in the US suffer through every single day, where you honestly don't know if you're about to be murdered or not if a cop stops you. I don't understand how someone can live with that kind of pressure and hatred thrown at them and remain so strong and so compassionate, and even after reading this book I still don't get it.

Reading Race To The Finish Line made me angry at time. It made me so fucking angry that this is daily reality for some people, and for so many people. It made my heart race as the anger and despair of that kind of life washed over me, and it had me close to tears. This might just be a fictional story, but it's also a window into the lives of so many people, people whose only crime is the colour of their skin. 

Race To The Finish Line might not be the most polished book I've ever read, and there might have been moments where I wish things were done differently in the narrative, but it's also a book that moved me. It had a hell of an impact on me, and is one that I know is going to stick in my head for a long while. I know racism can be a scary subject for white people, it can be something that you don't want to admit is as bad as it is, something that still has such a stranglehold on society, but it's important that you at the very least start to look at it. We can't make things better if we just bury our heads in the sand and pretend it's not happening. If the news is too scary, if real life accounts are too awful to get you engaged, start with this book, and learn a little of what it's like to have to live with that hanging over your head everyday.  A must read.

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Zoey Punches The Future In The Dick by David Wong - Book Review

 

'The latest--and greatest--sci-fi thriler in the Zoey Ashe Series.

'Nightmarish villains with superhuman enhancements. An all-seeing social network that tracks your every move. Mysterious, smooth-talking power players who lurk behind the scenes. A young woman suddenly in charge of the most decadent city in the world--and her very smelly cat.

'Zoey Ashe is like a fish so far out of water that it has achieved orbit. She finds herself struggling to establish rule over a sprawling empire while Tabula Ra$a's rogue's gallery of larger-than-life crime bosses and corrupt plutocrats smell weakness. Tensions brew across the city.

'A steamer trunk-sized box arrives at Zoey's door, and she and her bodyguard Wu are shocked to find that it contains a disembowelled corpse, and even more shocked when that corpse, controlled by an unknown party, rises from the box and goes on a rampage through the house. After being subdued, it speaks in an electronic voice, accusing Zoey of being its murderer. Soon, it makes the same claim to the public at large, along with the promise of a cash reward for proof that Zoey and the Suits are behind the crime.

'Now Zoey is having doubts of her own: Is she 100% sure that someone on her team didn't do this? She also doesn't even have a complete list of what businesses she owns, or what exact laws her organisation is still breaking. So what does she really know?'

Sometimes coming into a series after the first book can be something of a challenge, wither the book can be too dense with things left over from the previous entries that it becomes hard to know what's happening, or it can become so bogged down with trying to explain everything that it can alienate new readers under an info-dump. Zoey Punches The Future In The Dick could easily have faced these issues, it's set in a world where the fantastical is the norm, and society is pushed to the extreme, so suddenly being thrust into that with characters and a set-up that you don't know is a daunting prospect; however, I never once felt lost or overwhelmed reading this, which speaks volumes to how well Jason Pargin (writing under his pen-name David Wong) writes the book.

The book returns readers to the city of Tabuala Ra$a, a mostly lawless metropolis formed by gangsters and powerful businessmen in Ohio. It's here that were introduced (or reintroduced to returning fans) to Zoey Ashe, a young woman in her early twenties who grew up a regular poor, working class girl in a small town, but discovered her father was the billionaire founder of Tabula Ra$a when he died and she inherited everything he had. Now Zoey finds herself not only heading up a business empire, but also all of the shady and illegal dealings her father had, including his former enemies.

The story begins with Zoey having to respond to a hostage situation in one of the businesses she now owns when a cybernetically enhanced man smashes his way into the building and threatens to kill everyone inside unless Zoey gives herself over. Zoey manages to help bring the volatile situation to a peaceful conclusion, but is still hated by much of the city, who have taken to harassing and bullying her whenever they get the opportunity.

When the hostage taker turns up at her home, dead inside a trunk, a month later Zoey's problems get even worse. Stripped of organs, and made to attack her via his cybernetic implants, the victim blames Zoey for his death. Pretty soon rumours spread throughout the city that Zoey has had him killed so that she can eat his organs, and a million dollar bounty is put on her head to make her confess to these heinous crimes. Now Zoey not only has to try to get to the bottom of this mystery, but needs to keep herself alive as she is targeted by every bounty hunter and hate group in the city.

It's made pretty clear very early on during the book that you don't have to take things too seriously in the world Pargin has crafted here. There are some brutal and disturbing moments yes, but these tend to occur rarely, and the book instead relies on an almost satirical sense of silliness to keep things fun and entertaining. The stakes are big, but the characters always manage to keep things feeling light. There's a high speed vehicle chase where our heroes are under attack, but it features a human glider flying around, there's a brutal fistfight as Zoey tries to stay alive, but her opponent also has an electric crotch whip. The whimsy manages to make scenes that would otherwise be too intense manageable, and will have you laughing out loud more than once.

I liked this sense of humour the book had, and the way it was also used in the world as well as the characters. More than once Tabula Ra$a reminded me of Mega City One from Judge Dredd, in the sense that anything felt possible. Even though the book is set around Halloween Zoey makes it clear that much of the bizarre costumes and over the top people walking the streets wouldn't be out of place on any day of the year, and the constant social media monitoring and giant electronic billboards made it feel like a crazy future to live in.

Thanks to the brilliant world building, interesting cast of colourful characters, and a plot with more twists and turns in it than I was expecting, the book was a pure joy to read, and I blasted through it faster than I thought I would. I'm definitely going to be going back and checking out the first book because of this, and really look forward to seeing more from Zoey in the future. As long as she's done punching it in the dick.

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