Count_Zero

Very visually stunning final installment to the manga - with a lot of expansive vistas (and a penultimate chapter that feels like a reference to Angel's Egg - which I appreciated).

Some interesting developments this volume. Additionally, I really want to adapt the setting to the rules for Numenera - not just the Cypher system, but Numenera itself. The two worlds, thematically, have a lot in common,

This is a really impressive conclusion to the series, both in terms of the final chapters of the story proper, and the three side stories (two of which are set between the original series and Zeta).

I really like how Yasuhiko-san put together in the manga how Newtype communication works - something trippy and consciousness expanding, freaky and wonderful all at the same time. It also really shows just how much Lalah and Amuro have bonded - making the ultimate fate of their relationship all the more tragic.

We get so many great meetings this volume - another meeting between Char and Sayla (or rather Artesia and Casval) - the first meeting between Char and and Amuro, and the meeting between Amuro and Lalah Sune. These moments are all just so wonderfully done, made even better by what is saved for the color splash pages - By having Amuro and Lalah's first meeting be in color, the impression that she leaves with Amuro is made so clear. The same way, the first face-to-face meeting between Char and Amuro is so wonderfully done - both knowing that they're on opposing sides of the war, but only Amuro recognizing Char as his arch enemy, and the mud on their knees as free Amuro's car from the ditch making so clear that both have their hands dirty, but with something other than mud.

It's a wonderfully done volume, with some especially done action scenes as well, which also shows just how far Amuro has come as a mobile suit pilot.

This volume is absolutely intense and kind of gut-wrenching, with some of the events that happen this volume.

This is a chunk of the Gundam universe we've never really gotten a good look at - how Char and Sayla were separated and why, how the Zabi family came to power, and what Zeon Dekium was like.

Zeon's depiction is probably the biggest weakness in the volume. I was hoping he'd be more of a two-dimensional character, that he wouldn't be espousing the sort of spacenoid-supremicist fascist ideology that the Zabis were promoting. Instead, the two couldn't be more ideologically identical, with the sole difference being that the Zabis want to be in power, and find Zeon to be an obstacle.

Other than that, even if you haven't been following the manga thus far and you're a fan of the Universal Century portion of the Gundam multiverse, I'd recommend reading this volume.

I'll be reviewing this on Bureau42, so the full review is going to be there. However, the short version is that the manga continues to improve dramatically. The Battle of Jaburo is very well done, and Yasuhiko-san does a tremendous job of pulling off scope here, both in terms of big landscapes (the full page tableau of White Base flying over Jaburo is something I'd love to hang on my wall), and action scenes. Volume V came out just this week, and I've already put it on hold from the Tualatin Library. I look forward to finally getting to read it.

I've got a review scheduled to go up on Bureau42 in a few weeks. In short, I enjoyed this manga, though it has some issues with the flow of the action early on.

This is a very good re-telling of Mobile Suit Gundam, with this volume starting with the fall of Side 7, and the re-entry to Earth, which is a pretty good stopping place for the volume. Some of the plot alterations are interesting, like Garma's base being in LA instead of NYC, and Char launching a commando raid on Luna II as well. I gotta say though, considering how successful the Luna II attack was, I'm surprised the war isn't fought with more of those, and less open battles with Mecha.

This volume is also considerably more bloody then the show is. Now, to be fair, the TV show is just that, a TV show, and there are limits to what they can get away with (even Fist of the North Star had to show all their head explosions in silhouette). Still, it's enough where it definitely shifts the tone of the work a little bit.

I'm definitely looking forward to reading volume 2.

Very fun hard boiled PI story. That fact that it's set in Portland, and made by a writer from Portland helps. I'm looking forward to whenever the next graphic novel in the series comes out, because this is great, and I look forward to reading more.

There's a bit less comedy in this volume then there is in the anime - and I'd definitely consider that a detriment to the work, rather then a bonus. I still enjoyed it, but I wouldn't say that this was superior to the show.

Also, the volume takes a weird detour away from the main story to two other characters which didn't appear at any point in the show. Is this just a one-and-done chapter to pad the volume, or something else?

I'm not the biggest fan of Onizuka's response to the student's bullying. Yes, the perpetrators needed to be taken down a peg, but I wouldn't consider that to be the best way to do it.

Also, I do kind of wish that Onizuka knew more about Social Studies.

A very interestingly done time travel story, and Colin Baker's new companion in this story is, quite possibly, one of my favorite Doctor Who companions of all time.

One of the things I really like about the PC Peter Grant graphic novels is that DC Guleed gets a lot more screen time in the graphic novels than she does in the books, and we get a bunch of wonderful little interludes with Nightingale.

Glad to see Beverly Brook get a prominent role in this one.

I like cookbooks. They are the fusion of my love for cooking and food, and my background in technical writing. I also love fantasy fiction & roleplaying games, with The Elder Scrolls series in particular. So, when I first played Skyrim and found there was cooking in the game, one of my first thoughts was “Man, an Elder Scrolls cookbook would be neat!” So, when one finally came out, I knew that I needed to check it out. Much as with the second Von Bek novel, I should have been looking at the Monkey's Paw.

Let's start off by focusing on the positive – there are some things this cookbook does very right. The book has several spice blends that look interesting. Additionally, each recipie includes a difficulty ranking from 1-10, presented with a Skyrim/ESO-style skill bar. This, in particular, feels like an innovation that more cookbooks could use, on top of the usual prep time, cook time, and total time information.

All of that said, the book has some problems with recipe presentation. For example, the multiple bread recipes in the book do list the rise time with the prep and cook time. However, they don't indicate in the recipe where to have the bread rise, and then if there's one rise or two. Now, if you have experience making bread, that's not necessarily an issue – as you may be able to intuit where to let the bread rise. However, if you are inexperienced, that's a problem – and it's especially an issue when dealing with a cookbook where the target market is “People who like the Elder Scrolls games and want to cook more, but don't due to lack of experience.”

However, that leads to the other problem – a lot of the recipes here are slight modifications and re-skins of some fairly common or classic recipes – stuff like rice pilaf, or shepherd's pie with goat instead of lamb, mutton, or hamburger.

All of this is especially an issue when it gets to the brewing suggestions – there are a variety of recipes here for brewing your own mead. Again, this is neat – I could see more than a few people who maybe have some experience making beer wanting to branch out to mead based on playing Skyrim – or electing to start brewing based on Skyrim, and maybe starting with mead. However, if you've never made mead before, if anything in these recipes is omitted that is a big deal (equivalent to the number of rises for bread, for example), you, like I, would not know if that's missing.

All of that makes for a real deal-breaker that keeps me from recommending this book for purchase.

This review was originally posted on my blog: https://countzeroor.com/2021/01/03/the-elder-scrolls-the-official-cookbook-book-review/

A very interesting and well written biography of Gary Gygax, though it don't spend much time on his Post-TSR career.

Satoshi Kon's manga Opus is a brilliant work of fiction. Probably the only work of fiction I've encountered that really gets across the interaction between a writer and their characters in the same approachable way that Opus does is the film Stranger Than Fiction. However, I think that Opus does it better.

In Stranger than Fiction, Spoilerthe lead of the story discovers he's a fictional character, and after eventually meeting his creator, and reading the work that will result in his death, decides to accept his fate.

In Opus, by comparison, mangaka Chikara Nagai ends up being confronted by the story's protagonist, Lin, over Nagai's planned ending, where Lin will sacrifice himself to defeat the story's antagonist - Masque. Lin steals the story's conclusion, forcing Nagai and one of the supporting characters from the story, Satoko, to find Lin, and to allow the story to conclude in a fashion that prevents the villain from abusing the fourth wall as well.

Ironically, the story of Opus is also incomplete. The magazine that Opus was serialized in was canceled before Kon could finish the story, and Kon was working on a final chapter for the story for a graphic novel release, but was delayed while working in the anime industry... and was unable to put the finishing touches on that chapter before his death of pancreatic cancer. This makes the final chapter, where Nagai confronts Kon himself over leaving a work half-complete both darkly comic and tragic, as this series ultimately lacks an ending for reasons very much outside of Kon's control.

Anyway, this is a fantastic work of manga, and one that is definitely worth picking up for fans of the medium, of Kon's work, and of literature alike.

This is a spectacular science fiction novel. Long story short, rather then re-tread my own writing on the topic, I'm just going to send you to my video review I recorded.

http://blip.tv/countzero/book-review-the-dervish-house-and-my-definition-of-cyberpunk-5405844

Enjoy.

Interesting start to the series. In particular, I think the first 12 issues handle the “big names” among Forgotten Realms characters (Elminster, Alias), fairly well. I'm looking forward to the next volume. Expect a longer review on Bureau42.com

I'm really not sure what to say about this book, as it's gorram crazy in a lot of fun ways. I've been meaning to read it for a while, I'm glad I read it. Also, I'll say this is certainly weird.

Great continuation of the story - very emotional and heartfelt.

Really fun and interesting mix of science fiction and fantasy... and it also has a lot of smutty content, so this definitely isn't for the prudish. The narrative moves really fast, the characters are very fleshed out, and in particular the relationship between the two leads feels very real. Some of the designs of the other characters (particularly the TV-headed) robots, feels odd for aliens which are technically from a Science Fiction world, yet design wise they scientifically shouldn't work. This isn't a big problem (I was able to roll with FLCL), but it made the tone a little weird. Not bad weird, just weird.

I really like the shift in inking and coloring when the story shifts from the past to remarks from participants in the present.