Final Fantasy VI - Throwback 30

 

Like a lot of people my age in the UK, my first experience of the Final Fantasy series was the PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII. Whilst this was my first real taste of a J-RPG, it wasn't my last, and it quickly developed a love of the genre, and the Final Fantasy titles in general. As such, it wasn't long before I branched out to try other titles; and one of those was Final Fantasy VI.

Whilst Final Fantasy VII may have been the game in the series that got the most attention, and is often called on of the best, that's not to mean that it's predecessor was not successful. Final Fantasy VI is often cited as one of the best in the series, and was lauded for it's gameplay improvements, graphics, and storytelling. 

Despite not having as much direct involvement from series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, who had directed the five previous games, development began on the new game in December 1992 under co-directors Hiroyuki Ito and Yoshinori Kitase. Elements of the game development were split between the two directors, with one focusing on the story and plot elements of the game, whilst the other developed new battle mechanics and gameplay. The results is a game that feels somewhat unique amongst the series, where there is not only a huge roster of characters for players to choose from (fourteen in total), but that none of them are the direct, singular protagonist.

Due to the large number of protagonists, each of which has their own story and motivations, describing the plot of Final Fantasy VI is a little more complex than other titles in the franchise, but deals with a steam-punk fantasy world with warring empires, slave trades, and cataclysmic events that alter entire continents.

As with previous games in the series, Final Fantasy VI uses a similar gameplay mechanic of exploring locations and the over world, battling monsters that appear in randomly spawned encounters. The title saw the return of the Active Time Battle feature, which sees each character in the team recharge their chance to attack at different rates based on their stats, rather than a fixed turn based system. It did, however, create a new feature called the Desperation Attack, in which a character is able to unleash a powerful attack when their health is low. This feature would be used across several future entries, though under different names, and would become something of a staple of the series, allowing players to do more damage in certain fights, but having to weigh that boost with a greater chance of being knocked out. 

Whilst the game was releases under the title of Final Fantasy VI in Japan, it was changed to Final Fantasy III in the United States, as there had only been two other entries in the series released there to that date. There were no major changes to the gameplay itself (something that had been done in a previous release), but some censorship was done in order to remove things deemed sexual or adult. Some nudity was removed, and locations like bars were changed to cafes. Some references to death and killing were altered, changing character's lines. And most unusual of all, the spell Holy was re-named Pearl in order to not offend religious groups. 

At the time of release in Japan the game sold well, and received critical acclaim. It sold more than 2 million copies in Japan alone, and became the country's biggest selling game of 1994. Whilst it did not receive as much attention in other countries, it still sold well, and topped the charts in the US for sales in October, and became the 8th overall selling NES game of the year. Despite this, the game did not sell anywhere near as well outside of Japan, and the vast majority of the game's overall sales occurred there. However, over the years people's views on the title have changed, and the game has gone on to be considered a classic.

Some of this was down to a number of re-releases. The first of these was a re-release on the PlayStation in 1999. Thanks to the popularity of both Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII on the console previous games in the series were given a re-release. Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy VI were released together in the US as the Final Fantasy Collection whilst the game was released on it's own in Europe. This re-release was the edition that I owned, and my first experience with the game. This port also included brand new FMV sequences for the opening and conclusion of the game, but remained largely untouched and unaltered. 

A handheld version of the game was released on the Gameboy Advance, which lost the FMV's of the PlayStation release, but improved upon the graphics, and featured a new translation that brought the game more in line with the original script and names. It also featured a few new additions such new summons, dungeons, and spells. 2014, the 20th anniversary of the game, also saw it released onto mobile devices. And last year saw a release on the Nintendo Switch. 

The number of re-releases of the title, along with it's high critical acclaim places it as an important title in the franchise. Whilst it's the final 2D game in the series, and some younger gamers are quick to dismiss most 2D games, it shouldn't be held back by such views. Final Fantasy VI is perhaps one of the most enduring games in the series thanks to the chances it took. It's sprawling, non-linear story was ahead of it's time, and the new features it introduced informed many in later games. Whether it's a game that you played upon first release, or have only recently discovered, it's hard to argue that it's not a game that very much deserves attention. 

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Dawn of the Dead (2004) – Throwback 20

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The early 2000s was the beginning of a large resurgence of interest in the zombie genre. The ‘not a zombie movie but really a zombie movie’ 28 Days Later hit in 2002, with Shaun of the Dead taking a more comedic spin on the genre two years later, alongside a bloody and brutal remake of the George A. Romero classic Dawn of the Dead, putting zombies back on the big screen.

Meanwhile, The Walking Dead landed on comic shelves in 2003, sparking an avid interest in zombies in that medium. Pretty soon you would be able to find the rotting corpses of the dead in many low budget movies, independent comics, and as video game antagonists in ever increasing numbers. And whilst the zombie genre definitely feels like it went on a bit too long and had ever decreasing returns, the Dawn of the Dead remake was a pretty decent high point of the era.

When it was first announced that Dawn of the Dead would get remade, fans of the original film were less than pleased. The Romero version was – rightfully so – cited as an all time classic, one of the best examples of the zombie genre, and one of the best horror films ever made. Having created the zombie genre as we know it, moving away from voodoo slaves made with magic to the flesh eating infected that most people know zombies to be, Romero was an authority on the genre by virtue of having made it. As such, any change to his classic works would be seen as a blasphemy. The creators of the new version knew this, and began to make it clear to both the public and the people they were getting involved in the production that this new version should be seen more as a ‘re-envisioning’ rather than a remake.

Producers Eric Newman and Marc Abraham used examples of other all time great horror films that were heavily changed remakes, such as the John Carpenter version of The Thing or the 1979 Invasion of the Body Snatchers to demonstrate what they wanted to do with Dawn of the Dead. And it was this approach that netted the involvement of writer James Gunn in the project. Having only worked on low budget comedy movies and Scooby-Doo up till this point, Gunn was seen by many as a risky, if not downright foolish pick for the project. Equally, the production would worry fans even more when an unknown music video director named Zack Snyder was selected to head up the project. It feels unusual that there was a time when seeing both James Gunn and Zack Snyder on a project was seen as a dangerous and risky move, though with the manufactured online culture wars that ‘fans’ have made around these two men perhaps people would still be outraged if they worked together even today.

Much like the original film, the remake would tell the story of a group of disparate survivors during the zombie apocalypse as they come together and seek shelter inside a shopping mall. Other than that, however, the film remains largely distinct. One of the biggest changes is the fact that the zombies in this version are fast. Until their bodies rot to the point where they break down, the undead can move just as fast as they could when alive; a revelation that is used spectacularly in the film’s shocking opening scene in which lead character Ana (Sarah Polley) watches as her husband is killed by a neighbour child, before he himself comes charging towards her, intent on feeding on her. For those who went into the film without having seen that piece of information this moment in the movie became a game changer, and showed that whilst the film was definitely taking inspiration from the original it wasn’t afraid to do its own thing.

Alongside Polley, the film included Ving Rhames as a calm and competent cop who takes on a leadership position within the group, Jake Webber and Ty Burrell who play almost polar opposites as a nice everyman and a rich douchebag, Mekhi Phifer as an expectant father looking after his wife, played by Inna Korobkina, and Michael Kelly, Kevin Zegers, and Michael Barry as some mall security guards amongst other survivors. The film also included a few members of the original cast, such as Scott Reiniger, Tom Savini, and Ken Foree, the latter of whom got to say the iconic line of “When there’s no more room in hell, the dead shall walk the Earth”. The cast featured a decent mix of new up and coming actors, and recognisable faces at the time. The movie was also unafraid to have some of the more well known actors fall victim to the rampaging undead, meaning that the audience could never be sure which character would make it to the final credits. And even then, survival still wasn’t guaranteed.

When the film released it was met with rather favourable reactions, something that was never guaranteed during its turbulent pre-release reactions. It sold incredibly well, going above expectations, and ended up stealing the US top spot from The Passion of the Christ (sorry Jesus). Snyder was instantly praised as a first time feature film director, with his eye for action being pointed out across a number of reviews at the time.

Equally, the success of the movie would put to bed people’s ideas that James Gunn could only write more comedic and family friendly features; something he would prove again with his first directorial project, Slither. Whilst some criticism for the film was made in regards to the lack of focus on the mall setting as a metaphor used to critique American consumerism as the original film did, it would launch a number of interesting discussions around whether or not the US’s relationship to shopping and consumerism had changed over the intervening decades, and whether re-treading that same ground would in fact be redundant more than anything else.

Over the years since Dawn of the Dead, Zack Snyder has gone on to direct several other movies, most of which have been high profile comic book films. Whether that be adapting the ‘unadaptable’ Watchmen, or the conversations sparked by a dark and nihilistic view on the DC heroes in his movies, his works since have seemed to have divided audiences more than anything else. But Dawn of the Dead is fairly different. It’s a film that is generally received well, one that fans of horror and the zombie genre enjoy, and that has aged very well over the last two decades, perhaps in part to the slew of sub-par zombie content helping to showcase why Dawn of the Dead is so good. You could even make a strong case that Dawn of the Dead is perhaps the best film in Snyder’s tumultuous career.

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Calypso by Oliver K. Langmead - Book Review

 

'Rochelle wakes from cryostasis to take up her role on the colony ark, Calypso . But she wakes to find the ship deserted, and the interior taken over by a forest. As she explores and finds the last remaining members of the crew, she discovers a legacy of war conducted whilst she slept.

'The engineers and the botanists have different visions for how to build the world. The engineers would build a new utopia of technology; the botanists would have the planet bloom, untouched by mankind. Both will destroy the other to ensure their vision of paradise prevails. And Rochelle, the last to wake on the Calypso, holds the balance of power in her hands.'

Calypso is a book that I'm going to have to talk about in two parts, the story, and the presentation, because this is not your average book; not by a long shot. A story written in poetry form is unusual enough in itself, and something that I myself have only read a couple of times. However, Calypso goes even further than this, and uses the very structure of the words on the page to add to its story.

The story takes readers into a distant future, where the character of Rochelle wakes up on the colony ship Calypso. Rochelle has been in cryo-sleep for the long journey to the moon of Terra Nova, a place that humanity is hoping to colonise, but does not wake to find the promise of peace that was given to her. Instead of having this new world ready for her and the other passengers of the Calypso, she finds the ship in chaos. It turns out that most of the other passengers have died, and that she is one of a small number of survivors. But, she is the last to wake, and the other survivors are scattered and hiding on a ship that has been transformed.

The ship has been taken over by monstrous tendril of sentient plant life, a forest that has grown inside and throughout the ship. With no idea how things could have become this way whilst she slept, Rochelle begins to piece together the history of Calypso, and the events that happened before she awoke. She learns of conflict amongst those living on the ship, rivalling philosophies that cannot co-exist, and have driven those that believe in them into war. Now Rochelle has to find her place in this new structure and, if she can, bring peace to the Calypso.

The story feels familiar in a number of ways. There have been many science fiction stories of people awaking from long journeys to discover that things have spun out of control whilst they were asleep. From something as simple as waking to find you're not where you're supposed to be, as in Alien, to discovering a ship full of horror and mystery as in Pandorum. It's a popular theme that doesn't get used all that often, as such each time it's told there's a chance to put a new spin on things. And this is something Oliver K. Langmead does in spades. 

And this brings me to the second main talking point of Calypso, the structure of the book itself. I've already mentioned that the book isn't written in traditional prose form, and instead uses verse to tell its story. This really comes into its own when we follow different point of view characters, each of which has their own distinct structure on the page. Words will be in different positions on the page, and each character has their own form of rhyme and meter that gives each person their own voice that becomes instantly recognisable. 

This structure is also used to convey certain parts of the story, presenting things in unique formatting to enhance moments or deliver a certain feeling. There's a part where two characters are arguing, speaking over each other. Both people are presented on the page, their words sharing the page but split down the middle. You can read each one in turn, or reader them together. Reading them in turn makes them clear, you can understand their points, but if you read them at the same time, working across the page as normal, it becomes confusing, disjointed, and hard to understand; presenting the notion of people yelling over each other in a way that puts you in that moment yourself. There are other parts of the narrative that include illustrations, and broken, almost disjointed words on the page that are some of the more beautifully presented and more interesting moments in the book. 

Whilst I am singing the praises of the book that doesn't mean it's the easiest read. If you're unused to this style book it can be hard to get into to begin with, and the structure of the story does become a little confusing, though this is also likely by design as there is a central mystery to unravel across the book. There are many books that people describe as being a 'work of art', and prose novels are certainly art; but it's an artform that many of us are intimately familiar with. It's comfortable, it has rules, and whilst the content of the stories can take risks it often feels like the presentation and structure can't. 

But Calypso very much does that. It's not just the story that is important here, but the way that story is presented. It matters where a word is placed on the page, it's important how you read it, and the thought and intention of the structure along with the story comes together in what it very easy to describe as art. Calypso is the kind of book that you're going to want to talk about, it invites discussion and dissection. Very much a one of a kind, Calypso is a stunning piece of work.

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Welcome to Arkham: An Illustrated Guide for Visitors - Book Review

 

'Witness Arkham like you’re walking its streets, peering into its shadows…

'It is the height of the Roaring Twenties. Flappers and young fellas dance the Charleston at raucous jazz clubs gleaming bright with electric lights. Beneath this gilded glamour, bloody turf wars rage, funded by gangsters and crooked cops who frequent rival speakeasies and gambling dens. Amid these changing times, old New England towns hold their secrets close. Off the Aylesbury pike, in reclusive Dunwich, rolling hills hide decrepit farms and witch-haunted hollows. Past Cape Ann, the remote fishing village of Innsmouth rots from within. At the mouth of the Miskatonic River, mist-shrouded Kingsport lies dreaming. All the while, historic Arkham broods on the upper banks of the Miskatonic, its famed university delving into the world’s darkest, most ancient mysteries.

'Welcome to Arkham invites you to venture deeper than ever before into this legend-haunted city, inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu mythos and made famous by the Arkham Horror series of tabletop games. Welcome to Arkham is a complete guide to the city of Arkham and the neighboring towns of Dunwich, Innsmouth and Kingsport, detailing 115 fabled locations and featuring more than 500 illustrations. Walk the streets of Arkham, ride the Essex County Express, hitch a ride to Innsmouth (and pray you can find a way out), or take a ferry down the Miskatonic River, and read between the lines to discover what other mysteries lurk deeper still in the pages of this tattered old book…'

I've yet to actually play an Arkham Horror game, having not found anyone who knows the game or has interest in playing it. I have however, come to really enjoy the world of monsters, cults, and daring heroes that the game has created thanks completely to the work of Aconyte Books. Yes, I have experience with the works of Lovecraft, but the Arkham Horror novel series has been one of the best places to take the concepts that he created and expand upon them; and they've been some of my favourite Lovecraftian reads.

But, when you've got the foundation of Lovecraft himself, the creations from the game and it's various updates and expansions, and the books, it can be a lot to keep track of. It's not the biggest and more lore heavy tabletop game around, but it is a pretty expansive one in its own right. Rather than keeping copious notes and spreadsheets trying to keep track of everything, Aconyte offers fans a much better way with Welcome to Arkham: An Illustrated Guide for Visitors.

Written by the Arkham Historical Society, this travel guide for new visitors to the town is the perfect thing to pick up to help you learn more about the city, or to prepare yourself for a visit. The book is written within universe for the most part, acting like a regular travel guide to Arkham and some of the surrounding areas in the Miskatonic River Valley, including infamous locations such as Dunwich, and Innsmouth. Each location is given a write up, telling you about its history, and notable buildings and locations in each area, accompanied by beautiful full colour artwork that show of the beauty and horror of the place.

But the book doesn't just cover geographic locations, but includes a ton of easter eggs and nods to the wider world. This includes stuff like playbills, restaurant menus, newspaper and magazine articles, and other bits and pieces that have been collected together to give a wider view of the area. Care and attention is given to making the book feel as real as possible, and each of the pieces included in it is given a little bit of age, weathering, and general wear and tear in order to make it feel like something that someone could have put together themselves rather than the glossy new publication that it actually is. 

For those eagle-eyed readers, however, there's a little something extra hidden amongst the pages of this guide. We all know that Arkham isn't a normal place, that the world of the paranormal and extraordinary seeps through around the edges of your perception. And this book is no different. Early on there's a hint of a missing person case. Scattered throughout the book are bits and pieces that add to this mystery, hinting at answers waiting for an intrepid reader to discover.

Whether you're new to the world of Arkham Horror, or if you're an old hat at the game and know every piece of lore and detail there is, Welcome to Arkham: An Illustrated Guide for Visitors is sure to delight and enthral. Having only read the digital version I can only imagine how good the book looks in person. The digital version is fantastic to read through, or even just flicking through the pages to stare at the gorgeous art. But this is definitely a book that I'm going to want to see in person too. It has the feel of something a little bit special, something that elevates the world of Arkham Horror in new and creative ways. 

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The Glass Box by J. Michael Straczynski - Book Review

 

'Riley Diaz was born to fight back. When she's incarcerated under the authority of a shadowy new defence act, Riley is sent to one of a growing number of American Renewal Centres (ARCs)--institutions modelled after psychiatric facilities--for mandatory re-education. Forced therapy, involuntary medication, solitary confinement, restricted rations, and more are all in the ARC program's bag of dirty tricks designed to break down dissidents. Give in, and you go free. Resist, and ... Riley declares a one-woman war against the gaslighting and manipulation in a struggle to take down the ARC program and its white-coated collaborators. 

'Despite being isolated and resented by her fellow inmates, Riley eventually wins their trust, and forms a heartfelt, life-and-death bond with a mysterious patient known only as Frankenstein, who is as enigmatic as his namesake. Sometimes breaking an unjust system starts with one person willing to stand up--when standing is the hardest thing in the world--and saying "no." Riley Diaz is willing to stand behind that word, regardless of the cost, in order to put her fist through the Glass Box once and for all.'

Dystopian fiction is one of those genres that felt a lot different a decade or more ago. The worlds where an openly cruel and corrupt government were standing upon the backs of the oppressed, where bold-faced lies were being used to keep them in power, where the marginalised were treated as less than human, all felt a bit too fake. There was a sense that the real world would never get that way. But in 2024 I doubt there are many that would argue that we're not close to being in a dystopia ourselves, and those that do are probably the ones benefitting from it. As such, The Glass Box can sometimes be an unpleasant read thanks to how real it can feel.

The Glass Box takes readers to a dark world where the government is an oppressive force, and we see this through the eyes of Riley Diaz, a young woman who has been raised by her parents to question authority, and to hold the government to account when they do something wrong. The main problem is that this is a world where even legal, peaceful protest can be incredibly dangerous, where simply speaking out can land you with an arrest. It's at one of these protests that Riley is arrested, and taken to one of the moany American Renewal Centres, where people that the government considers either undesirable or agitators are put through a forced re-education.

However, Riley wasn't just arrested by chance. She wanted to be taken to one of the Centres so that she could find out what happens inside in order to try and reveal the truth to the world. The biggest flaw in her plan, she has no idea how she's going to get back out. Thus begins Riley's life in the Centre, where the powers that be set out to turn her from an agitator into a peaceful, productive member of society who will never again question her government. 

The Glass Box is a book that's a hard read at times. It's frighteningly real and eerily reflective of where things are in our modern day to the point where it makes larger parts of the book get under your skin. A lot of the things that Riley believes in the book are very reasonable things, yet her government is against them in the worst possible way, where violence is a tool they'll be more than happy to deploy. I don't know if Straczynski was looking to current events for ideas when he was writing the book, or if things just lines up by chance, but some of the events felt so relevant and familiar that a quick Google search could find similar that has happened in real life.

The book is gripping because of this, and I started to really connect with Riley and wanted things to go well for her. Because of that it ended up being a book that I struggled to put down, and I was pushed on to read more, to find out what horrors were coming next and if it would break her spirit and resolve. It's a book that not everyone is going to have an easy time reading because of this, and I couldn't blame some people for wanting to put it down at points, but I think it's also an important read that has a lot of relevant and needed messages within it. 

The Glass Box is a thought-provoking read, one that will have you considering your own views, and how strongly you yourself might stick to your own convictions and morals when faced with frightening, almost dangerous choices.

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Valdemar by Mercedes Lackey - Book Review

 

'The refugees from the Empire have established a thriving city called Haven with the help of the Tayledras and their allies. But the Tayledras have begun a slow withdrawal to the dangerous lands known as the Pelagirs, leaving the humans of Haven to find their own way.

'But even with Haven settled, the lands around Haven are not without danger. Most of the danger comes in the form of magicians: magicians taking advantage of the abundant magical energy in the lands the Tayledras have cleansed; magicians who have no compunction about allying themselves with dark powers and enslaving magical beasts and the Elementals themselves.

'Kordas, his family, and his people will need all the help they can get. But when a prayer to every god he has ever heard of brings Kordas a very specific and unexpected form of help, the new kingdom of Valdemar is set on a path like nothing else the world has ever seen.'

The Valdemar series has been going for a long while now, with the very first book having been published back in 1987 (making the series as old as me). And whilst I have come to it very, very late there are fans who have been reading along with it since the very beginning. As such, depending on your own experience with the series you're going to have a very different time reading Valdemar, the third and final novel in the Founding of Valdemar trilogy. For those like myself, every new development in the story is a surprise, something new to be discovered, but for those who have read all of the other books it's more a game of waiting, as fan favourite characters, locations, and creatures slowly make their appearances.

Valdemar has a very big, very important one, something that fans have likely been waiting since the first book in this trilogy to finally make it's appearance. The Companions. As a new reader to the series, I'd heard a little bit about these creatures, but knew next to nothing, as such, their introduction here made for a truly interesting new experience. 

The people of Haven have built their new city, having settled in a new land at the end of the last book. However, just because they've found a new home it doesn't mean that things are perfectly safe for them. There were hints of monsters and dangers in the last book with twisted creatures and living forests, and Kordas and his people were given a warning that their new home wasn't completely safe. But those warnings perhaps didn't quite prepare for what would be discovered in this volume, as dark magicians and cruel magic users stalk the borders of Haven. 

It's with these new dangers looming that Kordas, now a king to his people, prays to all of the gods he's ever heard of for help. A prayer that is soon answered. The scene in which the Companions first appear is a fantastic one, and contains a great deal of wonder and awe that had almost been missing up to now. So far most of the larger than life events and wonders have been connected to danger in some way, so having those feelings linked to something like the Companions instead was the shot of hope that the people of Valdemar, and the readers, needed. 

But, this is a Founding of Valdemar novel, which means that it's not just high fantasy and magic that take centre stage, but the smaller details too. This book deals a lot with how Valdemar functions, how the young nation governs itself, the way they make their decisions, what the people think of it. All of the stuff that's either going to be hugely interesting to you or will put you off. However, this is nothing new to the series, and if you're on book three it's likely that these details are something that interest you, and have been parts of the first two books that won you over to the series. 

With things having moved on around a decade since the last book it's interesting to jump back into this world and see how things have changed, especially for the characters that we've spent a great deal of time with. I loved seeing how Kordas had settled into his new position as King, something that should have been easy for his considering his past leadership positions, but has still been a challenge for him; especially when it comes to his own son. 

Having only really dipped my toe into this world recently I'm glad that I took a chance with the first book in this trilogy, and that my first experience with the world of Valdemar was with the founding prequels. I got to experience things brand new, the same way that the characters did, with no expectations of what was to come or informed guesses as to where the future would lead. It was a wonderful experience that has resulted in me being eager to read more of this world, and to easily making this trilogy a recommendation to any fantasy fan.

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Disciples of Chaos by M.K. Lobb - Book Review

 

'Damian Venturi isn't aware of it yet. But as small shifts start to crack the foundations of the Ombrazian power structure after the Rebellion's attack, cracks are beginning to show in Damian's own facade. Uncontrollable anger is bubbling to the surface and can't always be pushed down. Can he keep everyone safe, even from himself?

'Rossana Lacertosa should feel victorious. She accomplished everything she set out to do, and more. The Rebellion's attack set countless prisoners free and brought attention to the unfairness in the Palazzo's structure. And Damian is back by her side where he belongs. Yet the war with Brechaat rages on and government officials are hellbent on keeping the status quo. Then an Ombrazian general arrives from the front lines, and orders dozens of arrests, shipping Roz and Damian's friends up north. Determined to free those who matter most, Roz and Damian set their sights on Brechaat. But their journey is dogged by strange magic, and Damian shifts further from the boy he used to be.

'The complications of love, magic, faith, and war will keep readers eagerly turning the pages as they head towards the gripping conclusion in the Seven Faceless Saints duology.'

Disciples of Chaos, the conclusion to the Seven Faceless Saints duology, begins almost immediately after the events of the first book, and drops readers straight into thigs. So, if you haven't read the first novel this book is not going to be fun straight out the gate. I, unfortunately, realised too late that this was the second part of a duology, and it wasn't until the book arrived and was sitting there, waiting to be reviewed that I realised my mistake. (The joys of brain fog!). However, rather than trying to jump in half way through the story I managed to track down a copy of the first book; and would advise anyone in a similar situation to do the same as the first book is really rather good. 

Where the first book was more akin to a murder mystery story, and focused more on that than the wider world, this volume expands things quite a bit. We spend time learning more about the war, as well as the people behind it who are controlling things and keeping the conflict going. This coming in the second book felt like a really good choice, as it means that after spending a decent amount of time settling into this world and these characters stories we could then jump outwards onto bigger things without it feeling like you're being bogged down by lots of lore and information.

One of the things that I really enjoyed about this particular part of the story was that it moves at a decent pace. A lot of stuff happens, and our cast of characters seem to be propelled from one action piece or location to another with a sense of fury. There's always the feeling like danger is looming just around the corner, or that something bad could happen at any moment, and it really helps to keep momentum and to have you invested in making sure that the characters make it out alive.

Speaking of the characters, Damian and Roz do not have it easy a second time round. Damian has a pretty tough time in this volume, and his slip towards chaos is something that's hard to read, but makes a great deal of sense in the narrative. We see him start to fail, start to lose himself, and it raises the stakes considerably. 

Disciples of Chaos was a satisfying conclusion to the story, even if there were times when it was hard to see what our lead characters went through along the way. It's an immersive and engaging fantasy story with some great lead characters whose relationship is sure to draw you in. 

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The Passing of Akira Toriyama – How he inspired my love of an art form

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Over the weekend the news broke that Akiray Toriyama had passed away at the age of 68, and thousands of people across the world grieved. A manga artist, writer, and character designer, Akira Toriyama’s work had a long reach, having worked on projects such as Dragon Quest, Chrono Trigger, Blue Dragon, and most famously, the Dragon Ball franchise. His work spanned more than five decades, and his style not only became instantly recognisable, but would inspire other creators across multiple fields, and around the world.

My first exposure to Akira Toriyama’s work came when I was eleven years old. Like a lot of people of my generation here in the UK (and for some in the US), my first experience with anime came when the children’s television network Cartoon Network (which was still free for everyone to watch at the time) aired the first episode of Dragon Ball Z. Despite the show being a continuation of a five season, 153 episode story, I was still absolutely hooked by that first episode. I didn’t know anything about these characters, their world, or the rules of anime, but I was drawn in by the bright and colourful characters, the over-the-top action, and an animation style that was so unlike anything I’d seen before. Yes, there had been more action oriented shows that I’d grown up with, things such as 90’s Spider-Man or X-Men: The Animated Series but against to the high octane action and violence of Dragon Ball Z these shows didn’t even begin to compare.

I began to watch Dragon Ball Z religiously. By the end of that first week the show had dropped the revelation that the lead character, a defender of the Earth named Goku, was actually an alien, and killed him. His young son, who was possibly the most powerful fighter on Earth, had been taken away by Goku’s once enemy to be trained to defend the Earth from a coming pair of alien warriors who would kill everyone. This was not how most kids’ shows start off. As the years went by and I watched more of the show, things would only get weirder and wilder as it introduced more and more powerful villains, special transformations, and gave viewers fights that would last weeks or more as you waited for episodes to air (and that’s weeks when airing daily!). Akira Toriyama’s work introduced a whole new style of storytelling and art form to me via Dragon Ball Z.

And because of Dragon Ball Z I found myself watching other anime, also on Cartoon Network. I watched Tenchi Muyo, and Gundam Wing when they aired and whilst neither drew me in as much as Dragon Ball Z I did watch a lot of them. I don’t know if it was a coincidence of timing, me noticing it more, or if the airing of Dragon Ball Z had started something, but other channels began to show more anime series too. I remember watching Digimon, Cardcaptors, and Yu-Gi-Oh! when they came on, my viewing habits definitely shifting more towards Japanese-created shows. The people I was friends with in school at the time also began sharing anime DVDs around this time, leading me to get to watch things like Ninja Scroll and The Grave of the Fireflies (which I watched way too young and it wrecked me).

But it wasn’t just television and film that Akira Toriyama changed for me, as I also started paying more and more attention to video games that fit into a similar vein. There were of course the Dragon Ball games, half of which my friends and I couldn’t get hold of legally, but an enterprising and clever friend hooked us up with thanks to emulators on floppy discs. But most JRPGs began to draw my attention at this time too. I tried out my first Final Fantasy game around this time and sank an unhealthy amount of time into it. This would become something that I would do a lot, and whenever I was shopping for a new video game and I saw one that had an anime style cover or was inspired by manga I would be drawn to it over most western games. Even as my gaming tastes changed over the years I’d still find myself coming back to these kinds of games, especially the Dragon Quest series, as it would feel like returning to some of the only happy times of my childhood.

Dragon Ball Z was also the very first manga that I read. I remember seeing the first three volumes of the books on the shelf at my local Waterstones, and grabbing them on the spot. This was a few years after Cartoon Network had switched over to being paid for, and I’d not been able to watch Dragon Ball Z for a long while. I read all three that same night, and whilst it would be a long time before I was able to get more volumes, it did start me reading manga in general and I would go on to read several other series over the years and would discover some stories that have stuck with me ever since.

In writing this I’ve even unlocked some long forgotten memories, one being of the time we were visiting family in Italy and a television advert came on to promote a Dragon Ball Z multi-part magazine collection that would slowly build up a set of the DVDs (the first time I’d seen this concept). I was supremely jealous of this and made sure that whenever we visited a shop that holiday that I kept my eyes open for a copy or two.

Another is how when in France on holiday with my family I found a vending machine that would drop out capsules containing random miniature Dragon Ball Z toys that I spent way too much on. But the one that sticks out in my head the most is actually my very first exposure to Akira Toriyama’s work, even before that first episode of Dragon Ball Z aired. A few years before, whilst still in primary school, a friend brought in a stack of Dragon Ball Z cards that she got when visiting her family in Japan. I was enraptured by the designs and the artwork, and she ended up giving me a holographic Imperfect Cell card. A card I kept for years and have since sadly lost.

I may not be a ‘weeb’ by any means, I don’t dedicate my life to reading manga or watching anime, but I always have time for them both. Japanese comic and animation have become genres that I love and that mean a lot to me, and is art that has helped to shape me into the person I am today and it all stems back to Akira Toriyama’s work. That’s why when the news broke that he’d passed it made me cry a little. The first celebrity death that ever has. Akira Toriyama helped to make me into the person I am today, and the memories connected to his creations are some of the only ones from my teens that aren’t painful to me. So for that all I can say is thank you so much Akira, you’ve touched my life in wonderful ways, and the lives of many others. You will be sorely missed.

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A Botanical Daughter by Noah Medlock - Book Review

 

'It is an unusual thing, to live in a botanical garden. But Simon and Gregor are an unusual pair of gentlemen. Hidden away in their glass sanctuary from the disapproving tattle of Victorian London, they are free to follow their own interests without interference. For Simon, this means long hours in the dark basement workshop, working his taxidermical art. Gregor's business is exotic plants – lucrative, but harmless enough. Until his latest acquisition, a strange fungus which shows signs of intellect beyond any plant he's seen, inspires him to attempt a masterwork: true intelligent life from plant matter.

'Driven by the glory he'll earn from the Royal Horticultural Society for such an achievement, Gregor ignores the flaws in his plan: that intelligence cannot be controlled; that plants cannot be reasoned with; and that the only way his plant-beast will flourish is if he uses a recently deceased corpse for the substrate.

'The experiment – or Chloe, as she is named – outstrips even Gregor's expectations, entangling their strange household. But as Gregor's experiment flourishes, he wilts under the cost of keeping it hidden from jealous eyes. The mycelium grows apace in this sultry greenhouse. But who is cultivating whom?'

There are certain stories that have resonated so well with readers that they're guaranteed to stick around forever, being retold, or re-imagined in so many ways that people can be deeply familiar with the story without ever having read the original. Frankenstein is one of these stories. The birth of science fiction, the original story was written hundreds of years ago, and whilst most people have never read it, will know the name, and will instantly conjure images in their minds of the patchwork 'monster' the titular doctor created. And Frankenstein serves as the inspiration point for the new novel A Botanical Daughter, but doesn't hold the story slave to the original text, with author Noah Medlock having created something truly unique and magical.

The story centres on taxidermist Simon Rievaulx and botanist Gregor Sandys, two Victorian gentleman husbands who live together in a botanical garden on the edge of town, caring for the plants within and keeping away from the bigoted and judgemental eyes of those around them. They're free to explore their love for each other in their own little garden of Eden. However, there's something missing from their lives. They want another person with them, a child of sorts. Coming together, the two of them use their talents for gardening and experimentation to craft a living being made of body parts, plants, and fungus.

There have been a lot of stories that have drawn upon the central theme of Frankenstein, of the creation of a new being from pieces of bodies. Some of these will even use some form of technology in the process too, and there have been more than a fair few versions of the creature that have been cybernetic in nature; but I don't think I've ever seen a version done like this, one that incorporated flora and fungi in order to bind the various parts used and to breathe life into the creature. It adds a unique and creepy flavour to A Botanical Daughter that makes the book stand out immediately. It also creates a character, Chloe, who I'd love to see depicted in a visual medium. The descriptions for the character created a vivid image in my mind, but I'd love to see her brought to life in another form, where I could see her moving and interacting with the world with her unique biology.

As with most stories like this, however, things are not always easy when creating new life, and there are a number of troubles that the characters go through over the course of the book; mainly interpersonal ones. It was nice to see Medlock explore the shifting relationships between the characters as the story progressed, focusing on how people change over the course of the book. However, there were times where I was hoping for more of this, and wanted the book to go into greater detail. But, the fact that the book did spend some time on this where other stories would not makes it even better than I was hoping for. 

A Botanical Daughter manages to intertwine together beauty and horror in its narrative, much in the same way Chloe's fathers manage to do so when creating her. The prose has some wonderfully descriptive, beautiful moments, and some parts that get under you skin and chill you. If you were to ask me what I'd want to see in a Frankenstein inspired story I'd never have thought about queer love stories, plant human hybrids, or the Victorian era, but it turns out that these were all things I really wanted, and for A Botanical Daughter showed me what I'd been missing out on. 

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Dogman – Film Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Writer and director Luc Besson has delivered some much beloved movies over the years. He’s given us action stars with long legacies in the form of La Femme Nikita and  Léon: The Professional, he’s toyed with historical retellings with The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, and he’s been downright silly with The Fifth Element. These films all have long legacies, and people tend to think of them fondly thanks in part to the level of passion that Besson puts into his work. Dogman, his latest quirky action drama, more than has the ability to join these other movies as a film that people will remember decades from now.

Dogman tells the story of Douglas ‘Doug’ Munrow, who we first meet as he’s pulled over by police in the pouring rain. Dressed in a fabulous cocktail dress, sporting a curly blonde wig and flashy jewellery, what makes the sight unusual is the fact that he’s bloody and wounded. That, and the dozens of dogs in the back of his van. It feels like this opening scene is one of those set-ups that is designed to grab you and appeal to your sense of curiosity, and if you come away from this moment thinking ‘what the hell?’ your desire to learn more will keep you hooked as we get into the meat of the story.

After being arrested, Doug, played wonderfully by Caleb Landry Jones, is put into a cell as the cops try to figure out what to do with him. A criminal psychiatrist is called in to talk to Doug, to find out what happened to him and why his home is filled with dead bodies. Thus begins a series of flashbacks that delve deep into Doug’s life, that reveal his abusive childhood that began his love for dogs, that explains why he’s in a wheelchair, that explores his career as a jewel thief and drag performer, and explains why a dozen gangsters have been killed in elaborate and bloody ways in his makeshift home in an abandoned school. If that description sounds wild and confusing to you then it gives you a slight sense of how bizarre the story of Dogman is.

Dogman is not your average film, and more than once it feels like you’re shifting from one genre to another. The opening moments are dark and moody, and make you think that you’re going to be watching a gritty thriller. And whilst the film never quite loses that edge, it does sometimes slip into the background so that the film can try something different. From the first time that we see Doug using his highly trained dogs to help out a local business owner, using them to deliver a warning to a local gangster by way of phone delivering Jack Russell, and a German Sheppard crotch grab, it’s clear that Besson is going to inject a lot of fun into proceedings, and honestly, it’s the moment that hooked me for good.

Over the course of the flashbacks we get to know Doug well, beginning in his childhood with a stand out performance by young actor Lincoln Powell. The tragedy of Doug’s youth paves the way for a story of learning to love yourself, and to moving on from your trauma. However, things aren’t easy for Doug, and he comes up against several hurdles.

When the film eventually introduces his discovery of drag it becomes a heart-warming tale of found family as the other Queens flock to him, and several real friendships are formed. And through it all Caleb Landry Jones is absolutely captivating, able to convey the deep emotional pain of Doug, yet making him believably eloquent and surprisingly deep. It feels like you could sit down with Doug and talk to him for hours on end and come away absolutely fascinated by the experience, which makes the fact that his psychiatrist does that all the more believable. This is the first film of Jones’s that I’ve seen, but I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for more because of his performance here.

Whilst the film is essentially the story of Doug’s life, which borders on Forrest Gump levels of silly at times, it’s also a Luc Besson movie, and so action is never far away. When the film deals with why Doug’s home is filled with corpses the movie reaches an all new level of fun. His dogs lure people into traps, some are dragged into the wall like they’ve just been grabbed by the Xenomorph, and there are a few shots that elicited vocal reactions from me because they were so well made and so creepy that I began to wonder if the movie had turned into a horror film. Besson puts his action stamp onto Dogman and it’s absolutely wonderful.

On occasion, before writing a review for a film, I will have a look over what other people have said about it, skimming through a few articles to see if my enjoyment or dislike of it is an outlier or not. When looking at some scores and quotes for Dogman I came away wondering at what point a lot of reviewers began to hate films for having fun. I’ve seen Dogman mocked and ridiculed for not being deep or highbrow, and criticised for telling a somewhat silly story. And whilst it’s not a film that takes itself too seriously, and has a plot that feels like several different movies stitched together at times, it’s never dull, it’s never boring, and by the time it ended I was sad that it was over.

Besson has made ridiculous films in the past (The Fifth Element) and they’re beloved classics, but doing so in 2024 seems to be the point where it brings out the nastiness in people. So whilst you might see it getting some lower scores, or even people openly mocking it, if you like a film whose main goal is to entertain the audience, and genuinely want to have a great time then Dogman is a film that you’re going to want to watch. Luc Besson has made some beloved films in the past, and Dogman more than has the ability to become one that people talk about in the same way.

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