Wayward by Hannah Mathewson - Book Review

 

'Welcome to the Witherward, and to a London that is not quite like our own… The grandchildren of the High Sorcerer are nothing but trouble. Cassia is determined to be inducted into the Society of Young Gifted Sorcerers. But the harder she trains, the more unreliable her spells become. But when Cassia accidentally awakens an archaic power, the fate of the entire city falls into her hands.

'Ollivan, her disgraced older brother, is scheming to seize the leadership of the society and revoke his banishment. But if he is to succeed, he must unravel a vengeful plot he set in motion the night he was exiled. The problem? His sister has triggered the spell.

'The city is divided between six rulers of six warring, magical factions. Each wields unique powers. Each is uniquely dangerous. The tenuous peace between them all is barely maintained by fragile accords. Now Cassia’s only chance to save that peace and put an end to the destruction she’s unleashed is to join forces with her villainous estranged brother.'

Wayward is the loose sequel to last year's Witherward, a fantasy story that takes readers to an alternate, hidden London attached to our own in the Victorian era, where magic rules supreme. Instead of following on from the previous book directly, Hannah Mathewson has chosen to jump forward in time a few years, and to follow a minor character from the first novel in a new setting. As such, Witherward is a sequel that fans of the first will enjoy, but also a perfect jumping on point for brand new readers.

The story focuses on two siblings, Cassia and Ollivan. Both of them are the grandchildren of the High Sorcerer, the leader of the Sorcerer's region in London. Cassia spent several years growing up in 'the Zoo', the part of London run by the Changelings (and where we met her in the first novel). Since returning to her people a few years previously, she's been studying to use her Sorcerer gifts and wield magic; hoping that she can prove herself and join an illustrious club, the Successors, for important Sorcerer families. Ollivan, the older of the two siblings, has spent the last year banished from the Witherward, forced to live amongst regular, non-magical humans in the other London. Having been accused of murdering a member of the Wraith faction, Ollivan was banished from his world by his grandfather, but has a plan to return home.

When Ollivan stages a daring scheme to have himself elected as the new president for the Successors using hidden promises, underhand dealings, and half forgotten bylaws, he's able to return to the Witherward for the duration of his term. This allows Ollivan two years in which to find a way to convince his grandfather to let him stay. However, before that happens he need to disarm a dangerous magical artefact he left behind before his exile; a weapon that he left to ensnare the person who caused his exile. Unfortunately, Cassia has the item in her possession; and if Ollivan can't disarm it the entire city could be at risk.

As someone who reads a lot of books each year I really do appreciate it when authors return to the worlds that they've created, but aren't relying on you to remember everything. When you've read close to two hundred books between the first and the sequel it can be hard to remember every character and every plot point, so having the sequel be almost a stand-alone story in its own right is absolutely my kind of thing. Not only that, but Mathewson really expanded the world she created by leaving the group of characters we followed in the original and taking a look at another part of that universe. We got to see how a different group of people live, how a different part of that society operates, and it led to some great expansion.

Wayward does assume that you've read the first book in some ways. Where the first one had a character being introduced to this other, magical version of London this one doesn't. Both of our POV characters grew up there, they understand the rules and the way the world works. We don't get as in-depth a breakdown of what this other version of London is like. But, I never felt like it was skipping over things, or that new readers could get lost. The book dropped in the background details as they became important, allowing the reader to learn things as they happened organically, rather than giving big info-dumps or explanations that could slow the action down.

One big difference here, over the first book, is that we follow two characters, rather than having the one lead. Cassia and Ollivan are very different types of people, and jumping between their perspectives lets the reader see the same scenarios in very different ways. Cassia is more reserved and introverted. She doesn't really have any friends, she feels slightly uncomfortable in the Sorcerers part of London thanks to growing up with the Changelings, and her magic isn't as strong or well honed as she wants it to be. Ollivan is a huge contrast to this. Despite having been accused of murder and exiled he managed to keep some strong friendships, he's outgoing and tends to be a smooth talker, he walks around with confidence and believes himself to be the smartest person in the room, and his magic is powerful.

The narrative switches between the two of them at various points, and Hannah Mathewson does a good job at picking the right moments to do so. We will see events from the point-of-view of one of them, seeing several plot points unfold, leading us to come to certain conclusions about what's happening; then the point-of-view will change and we either get more information that gives further context, or we learn something that completely changes what we thought we saw. Mathewson uses this to great effect, with the two perspectives working together to build on each chapter, either building a bigger and more developed world, or giving us a twist or two.

I also really liked that because our two leads were siblings we don't really get the romance sub-plot that books in this genre have. Yes, there are romances in the book, including wonderfully healthy queer relationships that aren't treated as anything but normal, but these aren't the main thrust. Instead, the book is about family. It's about the people that you don't choose to love, but are obligated to because you're related to them. And sometimes those relationships aren't great, you might not particularly like each other. This is what Wayward makes the focus. I think most readers will have someone in their family who they don't always see eye-to-eye with, who might even drive you to the end of your patience at times, so I think a lot of readers will be able to relate to Cressia an Ollivan to a certain degree.

The threat in Wayward is also a lot more straight forward than the first book. The first novel had mystery to be solved, hidden goals and secret plots. It was complex in a lot of ways. Wayward, in comparison, is much more straight forward. There's a threat that becomes apparent, and the heroes have to find a way to stop it. And I don't mean simple in a bad way, there's still a lot of layers here and stuff to uncover, but the threat is definitely more overt. I loved this approach, and found the threat to be a really cool and even creepy opponent.

I really enjoyed Wayward, I liked that this wasn't just another story with the same characters, that Mathewson didn't try to come up with more adventures that might have felt like it changed the way things ended in the first book. Instead, we got a book that expanded the universe, that went to new places and did some exciting new things to the mythology that's just making this series all the more exciting. I hope that this is the way this series is going to go with future entries, that we'll be getting new characters and new places each book; and if it is, I can't wait.

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The Misfits Club For Girls: Paloma by BéKa - Book Review

 

'Four high school girls who have problems fitting in decide to join forces and form their own club, which they feel will empower them to better face the world and their own individual problems. Their first goal is to get girl No. 5 to join them: Paloma, a troubled and anti-social teenager who's lived in more than fifteen foster homes since she was six. But before the Misfits can welcome Paloma into the fold, they must first get her to confront her difficult and tragic past.'

The Misfits Club For Girls is a new teen coming-of-age graphic novel series from Europe Comics that sees five young women who are outsiders and outcasts come together to form a friendship that will help each of them deal with their issues and live happier lives. At least, that's the plan.

The story begins with the focus of this volume, Paloma, arriving to live at her 15th foster home. Paloma has failed to find a place in any of the homes that have taken her in, and she expects that this one will fail for her too. She believes it so much that the first thing she does upon arriving is to set a fire in her bedroom. Fortunately for her, her new foster mother, Liselotte, takes it in her stride and doesn't let it bother her. She doesn't mind when Paloma refuses to eats with her, she doesn't say anything when Paloma wrecks the house. Paloma is sure that Liselotte is going to throw her out any moment. But then Liselotte makes her a deal, if Paloma can make a real friend within a year she won't get thrown out, and won't have to go into a group home.

The first year comes and goes without success, so she gets an extension. She gets another when she fails again, and another, and another. It's whilst in her fourth year living with Liselotte that she gets an email from the school informing her that she has to go to a mandatory tutoring session. When she arrives she finds four other girls from the school, other outcasts. There's Celeste, Sierra, Apoline, and Chelonia. It turns out Chelonia, who's something of a hacker, used her skills to get in the school system and look into the other girls, and faked the emails to get them all together. She's seen the way the five of them are treated by the other students, how sad and angry they are, and is sure that they can help each other. She proposes they become The Misfit Club For Girls.

Whilst the others are up for the idea Paloma is angry that they would try to be her friends and storms out. This leads to the club making getting Paloma to join be their first official action. They try talking to her inviting her to hang out, and whilst these plans and schemes bring the rest of them closer it doesn't convince Paloma. They know that they're going to have to take drastic steps to get her into the club, and so form a plan that will uncover some startling revelations.

I really enjoyed The Misfit Club For Girls. I wasn't sure how I was going to feel about it when it first began, mainly because Paloma is a really tough character to like at first; especially when she's being so mean to Liselotte, who is just wonderful. When the book introduced the other members of the group things got better, and it felt like a much needed injection of new and exciting energy. Whilst we don't get to know all of the group super well at this point I did like what I learnt. Apoline is a tall, Black lesbian who gets picked on for her sexuality, but is super confident in who she is and doesn't seem to let it bother her. Pretty early on we see her get a comment about being a 'dyke with big boobs' and it doesn't even phase her. She forms a connection with Sierra, who has pretty extreme emotional reactions to things, especially seeing her ex with new girls. Over the course of the book the two end up kissing more than once, and whilst Apoline is cool with it Sierra is clearly struggling with her identity and who she's attracted to. This is something I really hope comes up more in future volumes.

Celeste seems super quite, not really speaking much and avoids confrontation. She loves to read and tries to be nice to folks. There are a couple of moments throughout the book where she ends up turning up to the group with scrapes and cuts, and I wouldn't be surprised if perhaps this is setting up a future revelation of her being a victim of abuse at home, or possibly self harming. Whatever route her story goes, I'm super interested in seeing it. Chelonia is the member of the group that seems the most well adjusted. She doesn't appear to have any real issues to be dealing with, and has a good handle on her emotional state. Yes, she engages in some pretty illegal activity with her hacking, and has no sense of personal boundaries when it comes to looking into folks past; but she seems fairly okay. However, there is a scene where the girls visit her house and she tells them her mother died years ago, and her father is disabled and stays in his room. There's a moment where the book makes a point of showing us that there's only one toothbrush in her bathroom; so I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out she's living alone and has no parents in her life.

But, the focus of this volume is Paloma; and over the course of the book we begin to understand why she's so angry, why she doesn't want to make friends with people, and how much Liselotte means to her. Her story was pretty interesting, and I enjoyed learning about her history and why she ended up the way she did. It was lovely to see her change over the course of the book too, learning that it's okay to open up to people and to start letting her guard down. There are developments towards the end of the book that means whilst her initial story here seems to be fairly resolved she'll be going through some big things going forward. I was surprised at how much the end of her story effected me emotionally, and I found myself tearing up at one point.

The art on the book, by Camille Mehu, is very pretty, and I really liked how the book looks. The art feels very soft, with minimal lines that are all really thin and precise. It felt kind of delicate at times. Each panel is filled with detail though, and every location feels lived in and full of things to look at. Each of the girls looks instantly unique too, with their own distinct looks and styles that mean you're able to identify them straight away on the page.

The Misfits Club For Girls: Paloma is a great start to this new series. It was a really entertaining and endearing introduction to these characters and this idea, and whilst it wasn't perfect it ended up entertaining me and delighting me throughout. With more of the group yet to focus on, and with the seeds of future stories already being planted here, I look forward to seeing what comes next.

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The Adventures of Maid Marian – Film Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Everyone knows Robin Hood. Whether you know the story or not, you know the name. But there was more to the legend than this one man; after all, he has a whole band of ‘merry-men’ around him acting as a supporting cast. One of the main figures of his legend is Maid Marian, a capable female warrior who was also Robin’s love interest. Over the years Marian has been given meatier roles in various adaptations, from being the true leader of the Merry Men in the BBC children’s show, to little more than a prisoner of the villains that Robin has to rescue. Whatever role she takes, she’s become a key part of the story of Robin Hood.

Writer and director Bill Thomas has forgone telling the story that we’re familiar with, of the dashing hero thief working against a villainous sheriff, and has set his story years after the tale of Robin Hood has come to a close. Set years after Robin has won and joined the King in his war abroad, The Adventures of Maid Marian focuses on the person he left behind, his love, Marian (Sophie Craig).

Marian has spent the last three years living in a small convent under an assumed name, keeping her identity secret from those around her. She’s pretty bad at being a nun, and regularly sneaks off to go and help people in the surrounding area as a masked archer. When Marian hears that King Richard the Lionheart has died and his soldiers will be returning home, she leaves the convent and travels to the pre-arranged place where she hopes to meet Robin (Dominic Andersen) again.

Robin returns from the war, and the two of them make plans to finally be together, to make a life with each other and get the happy ending that they were denied all these years. Unfortunately, others intend to ruin these plans. The disgraced and exiled Sheriff of Nottingham (Bob Cryer) has returned to seek revenge against Robin. With a group of mercenaries helping him, he begins to hunt the two young lovers across the countryside, determined to make them pay for everything they did to him.

The Adventures of Maid Marian is billed as being ‘her story’; it’s on the poster for the film, and she’s front and centre of all the marketing. And whilst she is the central focus of the film and we follow her throughout, this doesn’t really feel like her story. When the film started and she was sneaking out of the convent to help folks I was expecting that she would upset the wrong person, or end up becoming a wanted criminal and it would be her own actions that spur the events of the film on. Instead, this is more of a follow-up to Robin Hood’s story, and is still very much about him.

The villain of the piece has his sights set on hurting Robin, and even says more that he didn’t intend to do anything to her. He does put her in danger, and sets his men to harm her, but only when she tries to stop him from killing Robin. So yes, she might be the hero of the film, she might be the one having to step up and save the day, but she does so in order to resolve a man’s story, and as such it doesn’t really feel like, as the title suggests, this is her adventure.

Another thing that I found that stood out when watching the film is that things such as costumes, arms and armour look pretty good. But perhaps a little too good. Clothing looks bright and fresh and brand new, like they’d just been made that morning. Whilst this isn’t really too big of an issue in itself – after all it is period accurate clothing – nothing looks worn or lived in. Perhaps we’ve been spoilt by big fantasy and historical productions where they’re able to give over more time and money to such things, but The Adventures of Maid Marian never looks like it is taking place in a real historical setting, and looks more like an reenactment.

The action also feels a little flat at times too, and whilst there is nothing majorly wrong with it there are never any moments where things feel really dangerous. The fighting has a slightly sluggish feel to it, like the participants are simply going through the motions instead of genuinely fighting for their lives. The choreography never tries to do anything inventive or new, and the film doesn’t really offer anything that we’ve not seen before elsewhere.

The Adventures of Maid Marian tries to be entertaining, and in that regard it doesn’t exactly fail. It’s an entertaining enough way to spend a couple of hours, but if you’re looking for something to wow you, to become your new historical epic go-to film, this may not meet those expectations.

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Brave New World by Aldous Huxley – Throwback 90

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Brave New World is likely to be one of those book titles that you will recognise. Even if you don’t know a thing about the story, or even who the author is, there’s a good chance that you’ll have heard the name of this icon of science fiction and dystopia, that is celebrating 90 years since its first publication.

Written in 1931, Brave New World was largely inspired by the utopian science fiction writing of authors such as H.G. Wells, where a hopeful future was imagined for the human race. Aldous Huxley originally began wanting to create something of a parody of Wells work, and sent letters to friends of his about the book, saying that he ‘got caught up’ in his own ideas, changing this parody novel into a creation that stands by itself as a frightening look at the future.

Brave New World is set in the distant year of 2540, though under a new calendar the year is now 632. The world has changed a lot in this time, and a new global world state has emerged. The citizens of this new world state are genetically engineered and grown inside large factories. Once they’re born, these artificially produced children undergo indoctrination programmes, and are tested to see which pre-determined classes they will be a part of, and what their role in society will be. The citizens of this world are kept content and in line thanks to Soma, a drug that everyone is given to make them calm, peaceful, and accepting of the things around them.

The story follows Bernard Marx, a psychologist who works in the sleep-learning department. Marx has begun to question the way of society, finding the constant drugging and indoctrination programmes to be crushing free will and people’s ability to live full lives. When Marx takes a holiday out of the World State, he and his partner visit a ‘Savage Reservation’ in New Mexico. Whilst here they discover a woman from the World State who was left behind on a trip years before. Living with the people of New Mexico, this woman has spent years raising her son John, someone who was born naturally. It is revealed that John is the son of Marx’s boss. With John wanting to travel to the World State, to see this ‘brave new world’, and Marx believing that he can use John to ruin his boss’ plans to get rid of him, a plan is formed to bring John home.

The world of Brave New World is one that stood in stark contrast to other science fiction futures at the time. Whilst other authors imagined futures where humanity would grow and evolve and become better people, Huxley imagined a world where humanity regressed in a great many ways. This was in part deliberate, as Huxley was being influenced by the events of the time, such as the 1931 depression in Britain, and was translating much of the fear and depression of the time into his work.

Over the years since its publication, Brave New World has been compared to George Orwell’s 1984, which was published seventeen years later. Both books do have a lot in common, depicting dystopian futures where those in power cling to their positions by manipulating the populace, and free will is a barely held illusion. However, whilst Orwell proposed a future where torture and brute force reign, Huxley believed it far more likely that leaders would simply try to make the population apathetic to what was going on, to make them unable to care for the important issues, and to feel like they were unable to do anything to effect change.

In Amusing Ourselves To Death, American author Neil Postman discussed the differences between the two of them: “What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we were reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.”

It’s hard to argue that both of them were right in their own ways, and that parts of both 1984 and Brave New World loom large in our society. We live in a world where politicians try to hide the truth, and flood us with irrelevant information in order to do so. We live in a world where rights and freedoms are under constant attack, yet people are told that the irrelevant, the vapid, and the pointless are more important priorities. In many ways Brave New World has already started to come true, and our society is largely giving up to apathy in the face of those who wish to do true harm to others.

Brave New World might not be spoken of in the same reverent, warning tones as other books in the dystopia genre; we don’t get told things are Huxleyian or that its ‘becoming Brave New World‘ whenever some societal change happens. But Brave New World is an important book, one that has warnings of a future that many of us can probably already see unfolding around us. As such, I can see why it’s a book that’s lasted as long as it has, and why it’s still as relevant today as when it was first published 90 years ago.

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The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind – Throwback 20

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Whilst The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim might be the most famous entry in the Elder Scrolls franchise, with the most re-releases and new versions, easily the second favourite entry in this expansive fantasy saga is the third entry in the series, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. And now that this stand out piece of gaming has turned twenty it feels like the perfect time to take a look back at it.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind puts you in control of a recently released prisoner (a series staple), who has been transported to the island of Vvardenfell, a part of the Dark Elf nation of Morrowind. Unlike in previous entries of the Elder Scrolls series you’re unable to explore an entire region, with developers making the choice to limit the game to just a single part of Morrowind itself. However, this didn’t reduce the scope of the game in any way, as the team at Bethesda were able to give Vvardenfell more depth and detail than any previous Elder Scrolls game to date, making it a vast and expansive place to explore.

Once you have arrived in Vvardenfell, chosen your race, class, starting stats, and appearance, you step out into the wilds of Morrowind and are given pretty much free reign to go where you want and do what you like. Yes, there is a central story, and a pretty important one that sees you joining a secret group of spies and fighting to overthrow a powerful god-like being, but this is actually pretty optional. This was a system that had already been put in place in previous entries in the franchise, but The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind really expanded upon this, giving players more factions to join, more quests to complete, and more locations to explore. As a result, you could spend dozens of hours progressing your character, improving your skills, and becoming a hero in Vvardenfell, yet never progressing the main quest.

The creative team behind The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind were given the chance to put more detail than ever before into the game by getting rid of the random content generation that was a staple of previous releases, and actually getting to design every detail and item placement. The creators were able to craft a more cohesive environment for the player to explore. They could tell stories with environmental details, and even had more then 300 books scattered throughout the world totalling more than 1,200 pages of background information, history, and extra context clues for the world.

Upon its release the game became a huge success, with close to 100,000 copies sold within the first two months of release. This was in part due to the fact that this was the first Elder Scrolls game to be released outside of PC, with the game also coming out on the original Xbox. The game was able to release on the Xbox thanks to the console’s larger processing power compared to other consoles at the time, making it the only place The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind could be played outside of PC. The game proved to be hugely popular on the Xbox, and was was one of the top selling titles for the console for a full year after its release; only being beaten in this regard by Halo.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind received high scores across the board from a variety of publications, including IGN, Metacritic, and PC Gamer. This popularity, along with the high sales, encouraged the team behind the game to expand upon their work, and over the next year two expansions were released. The Elder Scrolls III: Tribunal sent players to the self-contained, walled city of Mournhold, the capital of Morrowind. Players were able to transport in and out of the city, unable to explore any of the surrounding area, and were able to explore more into the Tribunal deities that make Morrowind their home. The Elder Scrolls III: Bloodmoon was the larger of the two expansions, and gave players a whole new landmass north of Vvardenfell to explore. This expansion gave players new, snowy environments to explore, as well as bringing werewolves back into the series. Both of these expansions were eventually released alongside the base game as part of the Game of the Year edition.

The huge popularity of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind never really went away, even when other entries in the series were released. Even with new titles on offer, fans continue to go back to this game to replay it, and dedicated modders have continued to release new content to add to the game. It’s been that popular that modders have even been working on a huge re-master of the game for several years, planning to release The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind with improved graphic and game-play for free. The region also featured in The Elder Scrolls Online, much to fan delight.

Whilst other entries in the Elder Scrolls franchise might be better known, and more technically impressive, The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is sure to remain one of the stand out and most popular parts of the series for many more decades to come.

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Godzilla Rivals: vs. King Ghidorah – Comic Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

As a lifelong fan of the Godzilla franchise, and any form of Tokusatsu, IDW Publishing‘s Godzilla Rivals is a series that I look forward to every time a new release is announced. It might not be the most regular series in comics, coming out several months apart, but the extra long format, the interesting stories, and the sheer sense of celebration for the creatures featured, make it a series worth waiting for.

The latest issue, the third in the series so far, sees the titular monster facing off against one of his most famous foes, King Ghidorah. The story begins in 1996, where an alien invasion is ravaging planet Earth. We see flying saucers creating devastation in Tokyo as the military tries its best to fight back the invaders, though with little success. During the battle Godzilla rises out of Tokyo bay and starts attacking the alien spacecraft, tearing the invaders to pieces. Unfortunately, this victory is short lived as the aliens capture Godzilla inside some kind of force-field, and take him prisoner, transporting him off the planet.

Several months later we catch up with the leaders of Earth as they shelter from destruction inside the secret base of Dr Ogilvy Hu, who is loosely based off the recurring villain Dr Who from King Kong Escapes. The self proclaimed villain admits that he has put his conquest of Earth to one side in order to help save it from Xilian destruction, and hatches a plan to send an ace pilot and a super advanced android to Mars with a weapon designed to destroy the Xilian control of the invasion, giving Earth a chance. Little do they know, however, that the Xilian city on Mars is home to more than just alien invaders, as the captured Godzilla is forced to fight for their entertainment against other Kaiju inside a huge area; and that he’s getting closer and closer to fighting their champion, Monster Zero himself, King Ghidorah.

The plot for Godzilla Rivals: vs. King Ghidorah is a bit different from some of the other Godzilla comics, mainly because other than one scene Godzilla doesn’t get to do much on Earth before being whisked away to Mars. Rather than being the protector of Earth, or even a threat to the planet, he becomes a displaced gladiator instead. It’s a fun concept, and one that writer Adam Gorham seems to be having a lot of fun with. It’s a neat way to craft a new type of Godzilla story, one where the humans aren’t waiting around for him to show up and save the day, yet where he can still have an impact upon proceedings. It’s also a neat concept for getting him into fights with other monsters.

The book is also filled with a lot of shout-outs and nods for fans of the franchise, and there are a lot of stuff to pick up on in the backgrounds and designs that are fun to see. For example, Dr Hu’s secret base has both mecha-godzilla and mecha-kong hiding in the background, the ship designed to take the heroes to Mars is based upon the P-1 that appears in Invasion of the Astro Monster, Jet Jaguar makes an appearance, and the device set to save Earth looks like the Oxygen Destroyer from the original movie. It’s clear that Gorham is a big fan of the franchise, and is trying to cram as many its and pieces into the issue as he can; which is something that I appreciate as a fellow fan.

Gorham doesn’t just provide the script for the book, but also does the art too. Gorham’s style is pretty standard fare, and he doesn’t do anything weird or wonderful with the art, which is a good thing as it gives the characters and monsters the chance to shine. Some of the best art in the book is of the creatures, and the scenes of Godzilla fighting monsters in the Xilian arena are some of the best moments in the book. Godzilla looks amazing, and the first panel of him fighting on Mars is absolutely gorgeous, but I think that it’s Ghidorah who really steals the spotlight. He looks amazing, and there are some genuinely frightening moments as he towers above everything raining down destruction.

I dare say that if you’re a fan of Godzilla you’ll already be picking the series up, but if by chance you’re not, if you’ve missed it because of the gap between issues, or you’ve been put off by the higher cost of the book, you need to consider picking this series up. We’re three issues in and so far its been three amazing issues, and we’ve already been told what the next two issues are going to be and they sound great! So do yourself a favour and grab this while you can.

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The Siege of X-41: A Marvel School of X Novel by Tristan Palmgren - Book Review

 

'Omega-level mutant Elixir must come to terms with his anti-mutant upbringing while fighting off vampiric mermen and a leviathan of ancient lore in this intense survival adventure from Marvel’s School of X.

'Once, Joshua Foley hated mutants, then he became one. It’s… problematic. When his healing powers manifested, the violent anti-Mutant Reavers rejected him and only the X-Men offered sanctuary. Now he’s surrounded by mutants who still see him as their enemy. A deep-sea training mission isolates him with a select team of new X-Men, which is bad enough, but then the attacks begin. A sect of sea monster-worshiping vampire mermen besiege the base, leaving them stranded and trapped. As the attacks escalate, their chances of survival plummet. Things go from awful to even worse when one of their team begins sabotaging their attempts to call for help, all in the name of a sleeping behemoth soon to awake…'

Super hero comics are a lot of fun. I've been reading them for decades and have always found a lot to love within the medium. It's something that has also translated to film and television well, in both animation and live action. They also make for good video games. But one area where sometimes this genre comes up a bit short of reaching its full potential is in prose novels. Sometimes authors try to give comic novels the same kind of structure as comics, trying to throw in lots of action and spectacle every chapter, and it never really feels right. Aconyte books have been avoiding this, in large part due to the fact that they've been combining their heroes with other kinds of stories. Whether it's giving us a heist story like Black Cat: Discord, or western survival stories like Outlaw: Relentless, Aconyte have been putting these heroes in situations outside their norm. And The Siege of X-41 is no exception, throwing a handful of heroes into a tense horror story.

The Siege of X-41 is kind of a sequel to Outlaw: Relentless and First Team, and follows Josh Foley and Vic Borkowski after their own individual adventures in those books. Both young men are carrying a lot of trauma from these events. Vic was being hunted by mutant haters, had his parents kidnapped, and even lost one of his arms (though it did grow back thanks to his mutation). Josh, on the other hand, used to be a mutant hater. Part of a mutant hate group, he went to anti-mutant rallies and supported the idea pf mutant eradication; until he became one. Ever since then he was held prisoners by the same people he used to support, was tortured by the again and again, and was forced to fight his way to freedom.

After helping the mutant mercenary Outlaw, Josh was arrested for his part in the Reavers. Instead of going to prison, however, he was signed over to the Charles Xavier Institute for the duration of his sentence. Knowing that if he were to try and hide his past it would come out eventually anyway, Josh plans to come clean about his past; but is prevented from doing so when student telepaths revel his secret to the school. Now Josh is an outcast and pariah, hated by his peers because of his past. One student who particularly hates him is Anole, Vic Borkowski.

When the two of them, along with fellow students Triage, and Graymalkin, the Jean Grey School exchange student Nature Girl, and their teacher, Karma, are assigned to a field exercise the two boys are both loathed to go; neither wanting to spend time with the other. These feelings are further compounded when they learn that they're being sent to the remote station X-41, a deep sea facility far beneath the ocean. Stuck in these small confines with each other, the two of them are forced to work together. However, when the station comes under attack from deadly vampiric Atlanteans they're forced to put their feelings aside when they're plunged into a deadly fight for survival. With the station damaged, their way home destroyed, and power failing, things have never been so desperate for any of them.

There is a lot about The Siege of X-41 to enjoy. A lot of the book deals with our two lead characters, their trauma, and their inability to move past it unless they're forced to do so for their own survival. This kind of character focus is something that we just don't really get in comics. With so few pages, and with the need to keep readers supplied with action scenes and big moments, a lot of the time we don't get to just sit down with these characters and find out how they're doing beyond a quick surface level glance. This book goes much further than that, and a good portion of the story is given over to how these two young men deal with their trauma.

Vic is the less complex of the two. He's a guy who's visibly a mutant, whose appearance makes him stand out, and as such he can't escape from the prejudice that mutants face. Despite this, he grew up in a loving home, part of a small community who didn't really treat him any different. It's not until the events of First Team that he really had to deal with the horrors that some mutants face. His home life was shattered, his family were put in danger, and he was brutally hurt all because some people don't like the way he was born. And whilst he got to fight against these bigots, got to save his family, and got to deal out some harm to the people who wanted to kill him, he's still carrying a lot of scars from that. This book is where we really see the effect those events had on him. He becomes withdrawn, less outgoing, and starts to struggle with his schooling. And when Josh turns up he becomes the perfect focus for all of that anger and pain.

Joshua, like Vic, carries a lot of trauma around with him. He was part of a group of bigots who were going out of their way to harm mutants. He'd been sold on the lies that mutants were a danger, that they needed to be kept away from 'normal' people, and that people like the Ravagers were doing the right thing. He was indoctrinated and radicalised into a hate movement. That alone would leave someone with a lot of stuff to work through, but then you have to take into account that one day Josh became the thing he'd been taught to hate. Then he was brutalised by people he considered his friends, held prisoner, tortured, used as a weapon. Even his family, who stood by him when he was being a bigot, have turned their backs on him now that he's a mutant. He's lost everything, been a victim of torture for months, and has found himself as the thing he was taught to hate. No wonder he spends so much of this book suffering.

These two characters are a fascinating look into different types of trauma, and how people can be affected by it. Vic becomes cold, and starts to lash out at others, especially the one he sees as being something of a threat because of his past. Josh, in contrast, just wants to retreat away, to isolate himself and keep his head down to avoid everything. They've both lost their way, they don't know what their life has become since these awful events, and don't know where they're supposed to go going forward.

Whilst this would have been enough to focus on anyway, and Tristan Palmgren could have easily has the two of them and their struggles been the main focus of the novel and it be thoroughly entertaining, we get so much more when the book takes a sharp turn into horror. The group that get picked to go to X-41 are chosen in part because their powers aren't useful there. They're being taught that not every situation is going to be one where their abilities are going to help them, and that they'll need to rely on their teammates and their other skills to get by. This is a great lesson to teach, and one that will stand future X-Men in good stead; but it also means that for the most part these young heroes have been reduced to being regular people in a horror story.

The setting of the story, this isolated, old, deep sea station is a perfect place to set a horror story. It takes the group almost a day of sinking down through the ocean, getting used to the pressure in their tiny submersible, to even get there. They can go outside for limited times in bulky diving suits, but they've got a limited oxygen supply. The station itself is cramped, forcing them into close quarters and being unable to avoid each other. It's completely dark outside, and if the hull breaches the freezing water will rush in to kill them. Even without an outside threat this sounds absolutely terrifying. And Palmgren knows this. There are scenes when the team first arrive on the station and they're just checking the place out that feel genuinely tense. They're searching the rooms for the source of a strange noise and it has you on the edge of your seat because the tension is built so wonderfully, and you're so worried about what they might find.

And once again, Palmgren could have left it there, they could have crafted a wonderfully tense story just using this isolated and horrifying location to deal with these characters traumas. But they added more. The ghoulish, vampire-like mermen who attack X-41 are really horrifying things. They're adapted to the deep environment, they can see in the dark, the cold doesn't effect them, they're hard to kill and don't seem to feel pain, and they just want in. The way they keep attacking the station, testing the defences, trying to find a way in so that they can pick off the people one by one made me instantly thing of the Alien franchise. It has the same level of horror you feel watching Aliens, knowing that the small group of survivors who've barricaded themselves inside won't stay safe forever, and that the monsters are going to get in at some point. 

But this is also seemingly not enough for Palmgren, as they then start to introduce cosmic horror too as we learn that there's something huge, powerful, and otherworldly sealed away beneath the ocean floor. Something that the monsters fear and worship in equal measure, and whose release could spell the end of life on earth itself. So yeah, this book goes full on Cthulian horror too. 

I have to be honest, as someone who loves good character focused drama, who finds the ocean terrifying, who loves a base under siege story, and who has a soft spot for cosmic horror this book absolutely ticked all my boxes. And then it's also an X-Men story too! This felt so much like it was the kind of story that we'd never get as a comic, that comic companies would say wouldn't work in that medium because of the long, tense moments where nothing really happens except a build up of horror. It felt like the kind of story that you could only get in this medium, and it proves why comic hero characters can work in this format if the story is creative and engaging enough.

I don't now how Tristan Palmgren came up with the idea of throwing these characters into a horror story like this, all whilst dealing with intense drama centred around trauma, but it's an absolutely genius concept. This is easily my favourite novel in this series, and possibly my favourite Marvel novel that Aconyte have done. Depending on how you look at the cosmic horror elements it may also beat a lot of their Arkham Horror books for how scary it is. If you like super heroes and want to see something different done with them this is the book for you, and if you're a fan of horror you're going to really like this one. The Siege of X-41 has easily become the gold standard for all other Marvel novels to beat.

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The Boy Behind the Door – Blu-ray Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The streaming service Shudder has brought another of their movies to home release, giving those who don’t subscribe to their horror themed channel the chance to catch one of their more popular original movies. This time it’s the turn of 2020’s The Boy Behind the Door, which sees two young friends living through a nightmare when they get kidnapped.

The story begins in happier times, showing our two protagonists, Bobby (Lonnie Chavis) and Kevin (Ezra Dewey), walking through the countryside on their way home from their baseball game. The two young kids talk about their friendship, how much they mean to each other, and how they’ll be ‘friends to the end’. Unfortunately, their nice day comes to a crashing halt when Kevin vanishes. As Bobby searches for him, someone grabs him from behind and everything goes dark.

Bobby wakes several hours later, bound and gagged in a crate in the back of a truck. Managing to free himself, Bobby is about to make a break for freedom when he hears Kevin screaming for help from inside the large building nearby. Unable to leave his friend behind, Bobby enters the house, and begins a deadly game of cat and mouse with the people who took the two of them.

The set-up for The Boy Behind the Door is an absolutely chilling one. This isn’t a horror film that relies on the supernatural or the unknown to frighten its audience. There are no ghosts or ghouls or demons waiting to jump out of the shadows; instead, the film is a very realistic nightmare, a scenario that every parent fears to some degree or another. And I think that parents are going to be the ones most frightened and disturbed by this movie, as they imagine their own Kevins and Bobbys being snatched away by evil people. It’s one of the most primal fears a lot of people have, and the film capitalises on this.

That being said, we don’t have a huge amount of time to really be frightened during The Boy Behind the Door, as Bobby goes from  frightened kid to a determined child desperate to save his friend pretty quickly. Whilst both of the young actors get a chance to shine in this movie, it’s really Lonnie Chavis who gets the most screen time, the hardest scenes, and the best material to work with. We see him desperately hiding from his kidnappers, fighting back against them, overcoming his fears, and grappling with the realisation and the guilt that he’s hurt people. He goes through a huge range of emotions over the course of the movie, and Chavis plays them all so incredibly well. His performance would have been impressive coming from any actor, but from a child of just twelve it’s all the more astonishing.

The film doesn’t just star these two great child actors, however, and also features Kristin Bauer van Straten in the role of the lead kidnapper. Of the two people who take the young boys she’s the one who gets the most screen time, and as such she becomes the face of this very real evil. I love the fact that the film acknowledges that the image of the frightening man taking your children away isn’t always the correct one, and that women can also be abusers. It’s a nice little twist on what many other films in a similar vein do, and she brings a level of skin-crawling creepiness to the role that a male actor just wouldn’t. She comes across as so unrelentingly evil, so happy in the awful things that she does, that you never once feel sympathy for the awful things that come her way, and may even begin cheering when Bobby manages to inflict some wounds against her.

The two directors, David Charbonier and Justin Powell, who also wrote the film, do a good job at keeping the viewer interested during the long, quiet scenes towards the start of the film. We spend a good portion of the early part of the movie following Bobby as he sneaks through this house, and the use of long hallways, shadowed spaces, and lingering shots makes the audience feel uncomfortable as we wait for something terrible to happen. Once things ramp up, Charbonier and Powell manage to keep things feeling tense as the film shifts from a slow creep to a desperate race to survive.

The one area where this new Blu-ray release is let down is in the extras. The film comes with a music video and a series of bloopers, and that’s it. The music video is barely more than a minute in length, and feels more like a dialogue-free trailer more than anything else, and the bloopers are incredibly dull. There aren’t really any ‘funny’ moments in them, and most of it is actors sneezing, messing up their lines, or moving in the scene incorrectly. Watching through both extras felt incredibly dull, though thankfully they’re both very short. If you’re picking up this set hoping to see some behind the scenes making-of stuff, or were hoping to watch through with an informative commentary, this is not the release for you.

The Boy Behind the Door is a horror film that will frighten a lot of people, but especially parents of younger children who have probably imagined a similar nightmare scenario for their own kids. The movie uses a very real, very well founded fear to drive the horror forward, and thanks to some stand-out performances by the main cast, manages to be engaging and effective throughout. Sadly, thanks to a lack of any real extras of any note on the new release, the film is slightly let down.

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Godzilla vs Mighty Morphin Power Rangers #2 – Comic Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The second issue of IDW Publishing‘s Godzilla vs Mighty Morphin Power Rangers picks up where the last issue left off, with the Power Rangers having been transported to a world in ruins where giant monsters reign supreme, forced to fight for their lives against powerful foes as their enemy, the moon witch Rita Repulsa, makes plans from the shadows.

As with the first issue of the series, the second issue starts in the middle of the action and doesn’t really slow down; even the brief moments of dialogue and exposition that occur seem to be sandwiched between big moments, or take place in the middle of fights themselves. This is leading me to the conclusion that perhaps this isn’t going to be a series that really slows down at all, and that writer Cullen Bunn is going to cram as much as possible into every issue.

The second issue opens with the core five Power Rangers having just entered this new dimension, having witnessed the Green Ranger and the Dragon Zord lose a fight to Godzilla. Never being ones to stop and think much before jumping into a fight, the Rangers deploy their zords to take on the titanic monster. When that doesn’t work they have to form the Megazord, giving fans a fight they’ve been waiting for since the series was announced.

Unfortunately, all this is playing into Rita’s hands as we learn that Godzilla is the only thing protecting Earth from the Xilian invasion and the monsters that they’re deploying against humanity. Sadly, the Power Rangers have pretty much been trained to see a monster and immediately kill it. Child soldiers, what are you going to do eh? Over the course of the rest of the issue we get to learn a little more about the invasion of this version of Earth, witness some more fights, and get some surprising monster reveals setting up for an even bigger third issue to come.

Due to how fast the issue moves, and how much of it is centred around fighting, there’s not a huge amount of stuff that I can say about the plot that doesn’t give away too much. What we do get goes pretty quickly, and we get some brief snippets of information about this other version of Earth, but a lot of those details are things that we’re left to fill the blanks on ourselves. That being said, Bunn seems to know what the reader will enjoy, and sets out to deliver some pretty dynamic fights across the issue, and adds in some firm favourite monsters from both franchises.

The art on the issue is provided by Freddie Williams II and Andrew Dalhouse, who worked on the first issue too. As with the first issue, the art feels different to the other various Power Rangers comics on the market at the moment, setting it apart on the shelves. The two of them really shine in the moments where we have giant robots fighting huge Kaiju, and whilst there’s nothing wrong with the regular humans it’s these titanic battles that are the highlight for sure.

With this series set to be only five issues long I knew that it would have to move at a quick pace, but with two issues down and the story never slowing down for a second I’m starting to hope that this pace doesn’t continue forever. It just feels a bit too fast and hectic to the point where it doesn’t seem like the heroes, or the reader, really gets a moment to breath and take in what’s happening. Perhaps a moment like this will come over the next three issues, as I’m sure a calm moment will help to make whatever big conclusion is to come feel all the bigger; but if the pace continues like this it’s going to make for a very overwhelming story when collected all together.

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Alien: Colony War by David Barnett - Book Review

 

'Political tensions boil over on Earth, spreading to the outer fringes of known space as the UK colony of New Albion breaks with the Three World Empire. When an oil-drilling facility on nearby LV-187 is destroyed, its French colonists slaughtered, the British are blamed. Military forces arrive from the Independent Core Systems and combat erupts.

'Trapped in the middle are Cher Hunt and Chad Mclaren. Cher is trying to find out who was responsible for the death of her sister, Shy Hunt (of McAllen Integrations from Alien: Into Charybdis). At the same time Mclaren, accompanied by the synthetic known as Davis, follows in the footsteps of his late wife, Amanda Ripley, seeking to stop the weaponization of Xenomorphs. When a horde of the deadly aliens overwhelms both groups, however, their only hope may lie with Royal Marine Corps unit known as "God's Hammer."'

The Alien series has always done social commentary, whether it's looking at the corruption of large companies and the way they treat those who work for them as expendable resources, the over confident military system that thinks it can solve every problem with superior technology being beaten by 'primitive' foes, or incarceration and the way prisoners are treated. This is a series that has always had something to say, even if some folks miss those themes and focus on the killer aliens and the horror. Alien: Colony War is possibly one of the more overt books in this regard, and because it's taking a look at politics rather than corporations (though the two are so often linked) it seems to have thrown a few people and garnered some mixed reviews. However, thanks to some interesting political commentary, some good characters, and set-up for bigger things in the future, I think this is one of the more interesting entries in the series to date.

Alien: Colony War ties into several other novels, such as Alien: Isolation, and Alien: Prototype, as well as a few of the comic series that have explored characters such as Amanda Ripley, Zula Hendricks, and Davis. As such, if you're not completely up to date with everything there will be some sections of the book where you'll be having to play catch-up (I was in this category), but David Barnett does give the reader all of the important information that you need as the story unfolds; meaning that you're not going to come out of the book without understanding what happened.

The story begins on a private towing and salvage ship, the Clara, which is secretly transporting a cache of Xenomorph eggs they found on a salvage mission. They wake up in the Weyland Isles System, a part of space that has been colonised by the British. They learn that whilst they were asleep in cryo someone snuck onto the ship and stole the eggs. Unfortunately for them, they don't have long to ponder this issue as the ship was also sabotaged, and they crash onto the planet below, New Albion.

At the same time we're introduced to Merrilyn Hambelton and her daughter Therese on the French controlled world of LV-187, a small colony set up to mine the vast quantities of oil beneath the planet's surface. The colony came under attack by Xenomorphs a few weeks before, the creatures killing or capturing most of the colonists. Merrilyn and Therese have manged to survive by hiding and sneaking around, but their odds of survival are going down.

We're also introduced to Cher Hunt, a journalist who is looking into the death of her sister. After receiving cryptic messages about the incident she travels to New Albion hoping to find answers. It's here that she meets her contact, Chad McLaren, husband of Amanda Ripley, and the rogue AI Davis, who's inhabiting the body of a synthetic dog. Chad and Davis outline the details of Cher's sister's death and the existence of the Xenomorphs. The three of them decide to head to LV-187 to try and find proof of their existence, and evidence that can be used against those trying to weaponize the creatures. Little do they know, they've just entered a web of political double-dealing and plots that could plunge this part of the galaxy into war.

There are a lot of threads in Alien: Colony War, a lot of things going on in the background and characters to keep track of. If you're looking for a simple story of a group of characters fighting the Xenos to stay alive you do get that here, but of that's all you're after this book might be giving you more than you were expecting. In a lot of ways this feels like a middle part of a series, a stepping stone in a larger story; and that might put some casual readers off. We have the history of returning characters like Chad and Davis, and their history with the Xenos and other important figures to deal with. There's also the feeling like this book is setting up a lot of stuff that's going to be important going forward, with an ending that seems like it's going to reverberate into the rest of the Alien universe for a long while to go.

But how does it read if you're not abreast of everything? Well, it's still a good book, and you shouldn't be put off reading it just because you don't know everything. The stuff that happens on LV-187 is good, scary Xnomorph stuff, with a small group of survivors trying to stay alive long enough to escape the ever growing hive. There are some great tense moments as the characters are sneaking through the dark halls of the facility, trying to get to the next place they hope can provide shelter, and when the Xenos come they're fast, brutal, and frightening; which is everything you need from this kind of story.

Barnett also does a decent job of getting you invested in the characters quickly, thanks in part to Merrilyn and Therese. This mother daughter relationship gets you attached fairly fast, and it's a common type of relationship to the series. It hearkens back to Ripley and Newt in Aliens, and I like those kind of themes coming back from time to time, as motherhood and family are important parts of the franchise. There are some less savoury characters that make appearances on the colony too, and whilst at first you don't like them they do begin to grow on you over time and win you over because they're not outright evil, and you end up sighing with disappointment when they invariably meet an awful end because you actually find yourself wanting them to stick around more.

The characters and the sections of the book that I've seen receive the most discussion is the politicians on New Albion and the themes of British patriotism and imperialism. It's pretty obvious from the book that David Barnett is not a fan of 'Britain', and I say that in the sense of the kind of people who voted to leave the EU, who trash the streets when their teams lose at football, who vote Tory, and who we in the UK like to describe as 'flag-shaggers'. The book has a very negative view of this new upsurge in isolationism that Britain has, and transcribes it to the narrative here. Instead of breaking away from the EU, New Albion is declaring itself independent, trying to recapture the 'glory' of the British Empire. I guess they'll be doing some genocides then.

These sections of the book are very on the nose, and the leader of New Albion, Maurice Pepper, was instantly Boris Johnson in my head. In the few scenes he was in Barnett managed to inject him with the same kind of mannerisms and jumped up sense of self importance that Johnson has. It was surprisingly well done, and did make me instantly hate this man. So if that was the goal, it was achieved brilliantly. The political parts of the book aren't the main focus, and there's definitely much more of the book given over to Xenomorphs and the traditional elements of the series; but these sections are important and seem to be setting up larger changes to come.

There is something else in this book that I've seen people talk about, and it is a pretty big spoiler for the ever unfolding lore, so if you don't want spoilers jump ahead to the next paragraph. Some folks learnt in this book that the death of Amanda Ripley as we were told in Aliens is in fact a lie. I don't know how much of this was known before this point as I'm not fully up to date on all the comic releases, but we get told here that Amanda Ripley didn't die as an old woman a few years before Ripley came back, and is instead in cryo to stop cancer from killing her after spending years fighting Weyland-Yutani and the Xenomorphs. I've seen some people disliking this, and I can understand this reaction, but I kind of like it. I like it because this series is always expanding and changing, so having characters like Amanda out there that can be used is always a good thing. I also like it because it makes the second film so much more tragic. Ripley was suffering because she thought her daughter had died. She went to LV-426 in large part because of that loss. And all of that happened whilst her daughter was still alive, and walking a similar path to her. It makes it feel all the more tragic because she could have had that reunion she wanted so badly, but missed out on it. I also don't agree that is messes up continuity, as Amanda's death was faked for her protection, and we got told of her death bu Weyland-Yutani, who we know are not to be trusted. It changes things, yes, but I don't think it breaks things. And I think it adds some interesting developments to the series and the Ripley family.

I've seen some criticism of this book online, some folks who didn't like some of the new developments as mentioned in the above paragraph, and some people who weren't as fond of the political stuff. But these elements mixed in with the more traditional fight for survival story made this more interesting for me. I found that it tried some new things and did stuff differently, and because of that I think this is an enjoyable read that Alien fans will want to try out.

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