A not-quite epic science fiction adventure about a down-on-his luck galactic pilot caught in a cross-galaxy struggle for survival! Space travel just isn't what it used to be. With the invention of Quantum Teleportation, space heroes aren't needed anymore. When one particularly unlucky ex-adventurer masquerades as famous pilot and hate figure Jacques McKeown, he's sucked into an ever-deepening corporate and political intrigue. Between space pirates, adorable deadly creatures, and a missing fortune in royalties, saving the universe was never this difficult!
From the creator of Mogworld and Jam!

This one almost blindsided me. I didn't know that Yahtzee Croshaw, known for his Zero Punctuation series on The Escapist, had a third novel coming up. A friend thankfully let me know last month, and when the audiobook version surprisingly hit on launch day (both previous books had lengthy delays for that), I jumped on it immediately. I can only recommend grabbing the audiobook yourselves, as Yahtzee narrated it himself, with all the usual snark.

The Story:

"A not-quite epic science fiction adventure about a down-on-his luck galactic pilot caught in a cross-galaxy struggle for survival! Space travel just isn't what it used to be. With the invention of Quantum Teleportation, space heroes aren't needed anymore. When one particularly unlucky ex-adventurer masquerades as famous pilot and hate figure Jacques McKeown, he's sucked into an ever-deepening corporate and political intrigue. Between space pirates, adorable deadly creatures, and a missing fortune in royalties, saving the universe was never this difficult!
From the creator of Mogworld and Jam! "

The Review:

Will Save the Galaxy for Food is an incredibly enjoyable science fiction satire novel. I enjoyed my time with it immensely. Not only did it drip with sarcasm and just plain ridiculous ideas, but it also had some very interesting points to make about the dangers of finding oneself obsolete. While it seems like just a comedic sci-fi romp, it actually offers a lot more depth than is immediately apparent.

The protagonist (and first-person narrator) is a down-on-his-luck pilot. During the Golden Age of space adventures, he liberated planets, along with many other pilots. Some turned excentric, adopting the cultures of "their" planets for themselves, others just stand at the space ports waving signs for tourism jobs, just to foot their bills. The development of stargate-esque portal technology has made space pilots pretty much obsolete, and put almost all of the old heroes onto the street with little more than nostalgia to keep them going.

But amidst it all, there is a "traitorous" pilot making his fortune off the backs of his colleagues: Jacques McKeown, a highly popular novelist stealing the adventures of his peers for his books. Nobody knows who he is, however. So it just happens that our unnamed protagonist gets roped into imitating McKeown in a dangerous job for a big-time crime boss (who is very much orange skinned!), and shit hits the fan from then on out. With the syndicate boss's son being a massive Jacques McKeown fanboy and wanting to impress his crush by going on a space trip piloted by his idol, and kept in line by the stiff personal assistant Warden, things are just going downhill from here.

The story takes us to a lot of places. From fending off crime lords over pirates to even other pilots trying to scalp Jacques McKeown, or oddly-cute-but-bloody-dangerous mascots-turned-cannibal, and even cyborg hiveminds and the dangers of teenage hormones, Will Save the Galaxy for Food is chock-full of action, room for sly comments and characters expressing their distaste for one another. I was surprised by how much Yahtzee was able to cram in here will still supporting the nostalgia and end of an era themes.
The characters are surprisingly well-developed for a satire piece too, with miss Warden slowly cracking up a little (while still being a psycho-div through and through) and heroes and villains of the old times seeking simple job opportunities. Our protagonist also turns from seeming like a sleazeball into a reliable hero figure with just slight brain damage as things move along.

I apologize if this review is a bit sparse on details, but you'll really have to see for yourselves just what troubles "Jacques McKeown" gets himself into here. The story follows a neat from-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire style, one thing leading to another and another, and I'd rather not unravel it all. While some developments might appear a bit out of the blue, I never thought that was a bad thing. It is just the kind of weird space adventure I was hoping for it to be. In a way, I got reminded of the movie Galaxy Quest in a few places.

Most importantly, though: It is a genuinely funny book. The amount of lines I ended up quoting to friends while reading this was just silly. Most of it are sarcastic remarks, situational humor and oh-god-I-want-to-bash-my-head-in-is-this-stupid moments, so quoting them here is a bit tricky. The humor won't work for everyone. Yahtzee's dark and dry british sarcastic yet somehow over the top style works very well for me, but as with his previous books, or Zero Punctuation itself, I know a bunch of people who aren't partial to it. My best recommendation here is to read the sample of the ebook on Amazon or listening to the Audible sample and seeing for yourself. That's the nature of comedy, I'm afraid.

One little thing that stretches through the entire book I enjoyed was that Yahtzee decided to use mathematical terms as a curse and insult dictionary.

In “Pilot Math”, the word multiply (shortened to ply) replaces the most popular swear word, with subtraction (or trac) filling in as an all-purpose noun with scatological leanings. Bracket became a common insult, as did decimal point (or doint) and division (div), which also came to mean male and female genitalia, respectively.

While this may seem a little thing of search&replace all swear words, it helped the world building for me. It was also quite funny to see the characters swear like this, and I'm sure I'll make personal use of some of these in the future. It is such a simple idea yet it carried part of the comedy for me.

Either way, I was surprised by what Yahtzee got going for him here. Jam was ridiculous on so many levels (I mean, it was about man-eating strawberry jam and the fall of human society amidst the jampocalypse...) and Mogworld was very nerdy and video gamey by design. Will Save the Galaxy for Food seems like a great mix of both. It is easily approachable while undeniably nerdy, yet also offers multiple points in regards to real world issues like automation, a shrinking job market, corruption, surveilance states and so on. While it never stood in the way of the entertainment factor, having those snippets of witty commentary made the book a great deal better.
I'd urge you to give it a try. If you in any way enjoy audiobooks, go for it for the (in my opinion) best experience. Will Save the Galaxy for Food is an intelligent amusement park visit with a lot of attractions to show for itself.

Will Save the Galaxy for Food on Goodreads

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The magical kingdom of Lucis is home to the hallowed Crystal, but the menacing empire of Niflheim will stop at nothing to make it theirs. War has raged between the two for as long as most can remember.
King Regis of Lucis commands an elite force of soldiers dubbed the Kingsglaive. Wielding their king's magic, Nyx Ulric and his fellow glaives stand before the crown city of Insomnia, fighting to stay the inexorable advance of Niflheim's imperial army.
Before the overwhelming military might of the empire, King Regis can only salvage his kingdom by accepting an ultimatum—he must cede all lands outside the crown city, and see his son, Prince Noctis, wed to Lady Lunafreya, the former princess of Tenebrae now captive of Niflheim.
As the war of wills rages, the machinations of Niflheim transform Insomnia into an awe-inspiring battleground, pulling Nyx into a struggle for the very survival of the kingdom.

Yes, this isn't a book. No, I don't care about that. I'm a Gamer, and Final Fantasy has been a big factor in my life for various reasons. I want to talk about this movie prequel-thing to Final Fantasy XV, formerly Versus XIII, formerly way different from what it is now. I've got the urge to discuss it, and how it fares in my opinion.
Maybe at some point I'll manage to tackle the various written media tie-ins to the Final Fantasy franchise, like On the Way to a Smile, the Final Fantasy VII bridge-anthology to the Advent Children movie (though that might be awkward as it has never been officially released in english, but in German, French and Spanish it has), or the various Final Fantasy XI or XII novels. For now, though, I'm doing this movie.

The Story:

"The magical kingdom of Lucis is home to the hallowed Crystal, but the menacing empire of Niflheim will stop at nothing to make it theirs. War has raged between the two for as long as most can remember.
King Regis of Lucis commands an elite force of soldiers dubbed the Kingsglaive. Wielding their king's magic, Nyx Ulric and his fellow glaives stand before the crown city of Insomnia, fighting to stay the inexorable advance of Niflheim's imperial army.
Before the overwhelming military might of the empire, King Regis can only salvage his kingdom by accepting an ultimatum—he must cede all lands outside the crown city, and see his son, Prince Noctis, wed to Lady Lunafreya, the former princess of Tenebrae now captive of Niflheim.
As the war of wills rages, the machinations of Niflheim transform Insomnia into an awe-inspiring battleground, pulling Nyx into a struggle for the very survival of the kingdom."

The Trailer:

The Review:

Kingsglaive is a chaotic action flick. That's to be expected from a Square Enix / Final Fantasy movie at this point. Advent Children was that, and The Spirits Within was it too, under Squaresoft. Kingsglaive, however, was better than I had expected. While things fall apart quite a bit in the second half (mostly coinciding with Lunafreya's screen presence), I didn't not enjoy it. It made me groan in a lot of places and frustrated me with some of its characters, but overall it was a fun movie to watch.

The movie kicks off with a flashback sequence about the ongoing war waged by the Niflheim Empire. King Regis (played by Sean Bean... Poor guy) of Lucis visits the allied kingdom of Tenebrae with his son Noctis, who is recovering from an incident. Niflheim strikes and dashes the party, killing the queen of Tenebrae, capturing her children and forcing Regis to flee with Noctis.
Noctis, of course, is the protagonist of Final Fantasy XV. This twelve-years-ago intro, and the short post-credits scene that mirrors the game's intro, are the only times you'll see the guy in this movie, though. It is placed parallel / as prequel to the game, showing what happened in Lucis during the prince's absence. Personally, I'm cool with that, as Noctis hasn't been very appealing to me since they apparently lobotomized his character somewhere between when it still was Final Fantasy Versus XIII and it becoming XV.

Now, the movie makes a 12 year timeskip after the intro, and Lucis' capital of Insomnia is on its last legs. The King has grown old and, while his magical abilities and the Crystal residing in Insomnia maintain a powerful shield around the city, he knows that it cannot last much longer. The crown, and the magic ring of the Lucii Kings need to be passed on to Noctis, for the future of the world, because somehow Noctis is the only one who can save the entire world from Niflheim domination. It really isn't explained well or detailed much, which is understandable for a movie but frustrating if you watch it and constantly get told how an off-screen prince is the key to saving the world when it doesn't give you a real idea of how he's supposed to do that.
So Lucis is screwed, and Niflheim keeps pushing the royal elite strikeforce, the Kingsglaive, further back every day. The Kingsglaive is introduced in a nice, bombastic battle against Niflheim troops and, for the most part, monsters with clear references to series staples. Behemoths and Cerberus feature, and the big effing demon Niflheim drops in, for it to wreak havoc with its gigantic missile turrets, is very clearly a Weapon from Final Fantasy VII in design. While never specifically named, this is cool fanservice that I could appreciate a great deal. It pays homage to some popular designs without breaking stride to explain the reference.

And while I'm on it, the movie also features the Morbol, the nasty green tentacled piece of bad breath that everybody sane who's played Final Fantasy will hate. In a cartoon. For kids. On in-universe TV. It also mentions Chocobos, once verbally (something about Chocobo dung), and another time as part of a delivery truck's branding.
Sadly, I felt those parts a bit more jarring than the Niflheim offensive's use of monsters. Most of the movie is set in Insomnia, which doesn't seem to host any monsters whatsoever. Even when all hell breaks loose, you'll only see humans running, no animals, monsters or otherwise. It seems like a missed opportunity to not have a zoo breakout in there somewhere, even if just in the background. The way it is, Insomnia, for all its use of magic, felt really disconnected from the world at large. This isn't just down to the barrier isolating the city, but down to how much Square Enix tried to stick with the theme of realism for it, in a world full of odd monsters.

I have to clearly say though that the city of Insomnia was beautifully crafted. It felt like a living city with a complicated network of roads and paths, lots of commerce and movement. I enjoyed the architecture of it all, and couldn't help feel impressed. Where Tenebrae has a lot of green and floating islands to show for itself, Insomnia is a large, modern city that is easily relatable.

Beyond that, we don't see much of the outside world. We are told that the Kingsglaive consists of immigrants who were able to "borrow" a bit of king Regis's magical powers and now serve to defend the kingdom. Their old homes were conquered and/or destroyed and they aren't as well-regarded in Insomnia as they'd deserve to be, which causes conflict within their own ranks at times. But we never actually see what they've lost or left behind, which is a shame.

Nyx, Crowe and Lazarus

Like the title of the movie implies, the Kingsglaive is central to the story. While it mostly focuses on Nyx Ulric, the arguably most capable Glaive, who fills the cocky, self-assured hero role of the cast, other members like Libertus Ostium and Crowe Altius are close seconds with bigger parts to play. The three share a deep friendship, which ends up the catalyst for things breaking apart further as the Kingsglaive doubt the king's capabilities and intentions more. Next to the trio there's a Glaive named Luche Lazarus, who is a big jackass and its immediately clear that he's up to no good. The foreshadowing there is pretty heavy-handed.
Command of the Kingsglaive goes to Titus Drautos, who I thought was actually a pretty cool character. It wasn't easy pinpointing him up til the end, but I liked him for what he was and represented.

After the disastrous, Weapon-aided initial assault that introduced the central Kingsglaive characters, Niflheim sends an envoy to Insomnia, who is no other than the Chancellor of the empire. Ardyn Izunia is, without a doubt, a villain. Yes, there's an emperor on the throne of Niflheim, and there's a more obvious and direct villain in the movie, but there is not a shadow of doubt in my mind that this character will be the main villain of Final Fantasy XV. His whole attitude, presence and tone are so obviously sinister and treacherous, it cannot be any other way. I've played enough Final Fantasy titles before to know the drill. It reminds me of how Kefka Palazzo stole the show from emperor Gestahl in Final Fantasy VI, for example, or how Seymour Guado usurped basically everyone in FFX. Those characters only needed to enter the stage for the audience/player to realize they're bad news and probably pulling the strings behind the unfolding evil.

Is it tropey as all hell? Yes, yes it is. But I don't mind that, as long as the character is designed and written in a way that cultivates that doubt and foreshadowing in a cool way. Which, in this case, I think it did, even though Izunia barely appears beyond his first, pretty good scene.
He offers a ceasefire to king Regis, under the condition of marrying his son Noctis to princess Lunafreya of Tenebrae. Regis thinks he failed Luna and her brother in the flashback, and the two characters know there's more at stake for the world as a whole, so Regis decides to go along with it to save more than just Insomnia, while trying to alter the deal behind the scenes using his Kingsglaive.

Regis I've come to appreciate a great deal in this movie. He's a composed, wise ruler who actually cares about things and is aware of his own limitations. He isn't vainglorious, not hot-headed, knows his role and has his priorities straight. I thought he was well-written and his visual design appeared regal and combined his growing physical frailty with a sense of nobility that made him look like a worthy king. He's got my vote of confidence.

Now, before I get to Nyx Ulric, the primary protagonist, let me talk about Lunafreya Nox Fleuret. Because, oh my god, she's awful. She's easily the worst part of the movie. I don't usually get upset about "damsel in distress" scenarios, but Luna's story here was pretty much that, ad nauseum.
First off, she gets captured in the intro scene. Then she gets detained at the palace of Tenebrae, and her brother (who is a bag of dicks) supports that and has become Niflheim's lapdog. Then she gets used as a political bargaining chip, gets forced to agree to marriage (though to be fair, she wanted that all along so hey, no harm done), gets captured again, makes nonsensical decisions, babbles on about not fearing death and needing to do her duty, gets rescured time and again, up until the very end of the movie, where she makes even more dumb decisions and proves unable to listen to her protectors ("stay hidden" followed by her running into the open, "fly you fools!" followed by her standing to watch anyway, etc).

She's a complete void of character agency. She takes things as they come, doesn't rebel, doesn't have any bright ideas bar one at the very end, which I still cannot decide if it was intentional or down to idiocy, and the only time she actually acts on her own accord to hopefully save the day it is to jump out of a flying transporter and almost falling to her death, only to be rescued by Nyx who chides her for her lunacy.
She's the epitome of the obedient little princess bride who can't harm a fly, and has no discernible skills of her own. I am honestly happy this story was told as a movie instead of part of the actual game, because Luna is bound to be the subject of the most infuriating escort mission in gaming history otherwise.
Throughout the whole movie, she felt dumb as bricks, had nothing intelligent to say and only spouts stuff about her duty being her destiny and how she's not afraid of dying for her cause... which, of course, is never actually elaborated on. Her cause is to support Noctis in saving the world, and that's that it seems. But hey, at least she looks kinda pretty and wears a dress with plenty of skin shown, so fans will probably idolize her anyway.

Comparing Luna here with the old character of Stella Nox Fleuret, who was written out of Final Fantasy XV when it changed its title from Versus XIII, and replaced with Lunafreya, I can only internally weep. If this is the story Square Enix wanted to tell now, then yes, I agree that the kickass Stella with her magical skills and mysterious aura wouldn't fit the bill anymore. They had to replace her with a boring dress-puppet. Yes, I'm still not over Stella's removal. Fun fact: One of the scenes from the movie involving Luna and Nyx seems to be modeled after one involving Stella and Noctis from footage 5 years ago. That's how much was changed over the years.

Anyway, Nyx Ulric has his hands full saving Lunafreya and keeping her safe for a rendezvous with his commander. Whereas the first half of the movie shows off mostly politics, introduces characters and puts the lens on Regis and the Niflheim antagonists, the second half quickly deteriorates into a gigantic action piece. It gives Nyx and his fellow Kingsglaive ample opportunity to show off their skills, which include creating small barriers, throwing fireballs and, most notably, using their glaives to teleport-jump all over the place, something that Nyx excells at.
It is chaotic, but fun to an extent.

While the action itself seems well executed and animated, I have to object to the confusing camera work and overabundance of special effects. Yes, it is magic, yes it should be flashy, but don't blind the audience with lights and pull their attention from A to B to C to D to E while constantly changing the camera angles and throwing glitter at them. Those instances got more and more frequent as the movie neared its climax, and I can't say I was a fan of that, even though I liked the teleport-jumping in theory. The way it was visually represented felt overbearing and exhausting, and often glared or blurred the action to the point where it was tough to pay attention to what was happening.

Initially I didn't much care for Nyx Ulric. He seemed like the generic cocky bastard hero that has come so many times before. In a way, yes, he is exactly that. As the plot progressed he is shown to be much more capable than that, however. He's quick to put 2 and 2 together, makes daring maneuvers, catches on to traps and uses all he knows to do his job. Especially towards the very end, when he is on his last legs and applying for support by the Lucii gods, he is shown to be strong of character and morals, which made me glad. He didn't take the easy route but instead shows defiance and selflessness, working towards a cause rather than personal glory.
I have to admit to liking his character a great deal, and thought him to be written pretty well. While he begins as a show-off, he backs it up with all his actions throughout the movie and turns into a good protagonist to cheer for. To me, he seems like a far more interesting protagonist than Noctis.

Now we should talk Action. The movie is full of it. Explosions, mayhem, teleport-daggery, magic swords, giant statues fighting Kaiju-esque Weapons a big final boss battle, thrilling escape scenes... They put a LOT of flashy action setpieces and destruction into the film, showing off just how adept at CGI Square really is nowadays. They blend motion capture with 3D animated scenery to the point where I had to ask myself if I was really looking at 3D renders rather than live action characters in a real environment. Technically this movie is a marvel, even at its meagre 23.976 frames per second (which, sadly, added a lot of motion blur and confusion to fight scenes. Yes, this movie would've benefitted from being 48 or 60fps instead). It is a well choreographed, if a bit overdesigned, piece of bombastic action that should get the audience's blood pumping.

Square have always been ahead of the game in that regard, with Final Fantasy VIII back in the day featuring one of my all time favorite FMV scenes (among many other great ones, mind you), and who can really complain about Final Fantasy X's incredible Blitzball intro scene? But then The Spirits Within happened and almost bankrupted Squaresoft, making the merger with Enix necessary.

For some reason even that near-fatal experience didn't detract from Square's desire to pursue near photorealistic CGI graphics and amp up the graphical fidelity aspects of their titles. Some of their games, especially on Playstation Portable, were so full of stunning prerendered cutscenes that they had to recycle a lot of playable sections to get the game itself to fit onto the small storage capacity of the UMDs. Final Fantasy XIII, my most-loathed mainline title in the series, was so concerned with flashy CGI scenes and graphics that it really didn't have much to offer in terms of gameplay. Even the battles were overchoreographed with lots of flashy lights.

So it was inevitable that Square Enix would make yet another movie tie-in to Final Fantasy. Next to the messy The Spirits Within and the Final Fantasy VII sequel Advent Children, Kingsglaive looks pretty good. It is probably the most appealing of the three when it comes to demographics beyond fans of the series. It isn't overly bloated with terminology (like with the creatures it features), even though it references events from past generations. It can be a bit confusing at times with its magic shenanigans, but not more so than the usual action fantasy flick that hits cinemas. The biggest problem is that, after the movie is over, the story definitely isn't. The movie plot continues in the game, and while that particular chapter is done and over with, a full resolution isn't forthcoming.

It does, however, introduce all the relevant information to enjoy the character action. The cast appears well-contained and wrapped up neatly, doing its own thing away from the game's main cast. And unlike Advent Children, you don't need to know anything going into the movie to understand the characters, and aren't bludgeoned to death with flashbacks. The scenario is familiar enough (a kingdom on the brink of collapse, an empire conquering the world, a princess in distress, the underdog hero stepping up his game) for a more casual audience while giving enough fluff and fanservice for series fans to be happy about.

Still, while I can clearly say I enjoyed it surprisingly much, there were many, many moments in the almost 2 hour movie that had me groan, facepalm and want to bang my head against the wall. Come to think of it, almost all of them had to do with Lunafreya and her nonsense. It doesn't help that she is one of only two relevant female characters, the other being Crowe, and her relevance soon fades.

Libertus, who added a lot of comedic relief early on, seemed overacted, with his voice actor being very shouty most of the time, even if it didn't fit the mood of the scene. His subplot, after leaving the Glaives over his disillusionment with the king, is almost irrelevant. You see him walk into a rebel conspiracy meeting with a grand total of four people attending, only one of which is seen again later. The whole rebel conspiracy was poorly written and glanced over to the point of it not being necessary in the movie at all. It is an extension of the growing unrest within the Kingsglaive immigrants, but doesn't really support the movie. That whole subplot felt like excess weight that needed to either be elaborated on or trimmed away.
On top of that, Libertus is constantly shown taking painkillers, but I didn't feel that was relevant either. I expected some conflict to come off of that, but it really didn't. It was a cheap way to try and make him appear more vulnerable, but the lack of commentary on it really didn't work.

And then we have the Lucii / ring plot device throughout the final stages of the movie. There is little info given about the line of kings, or why they turn into mighty guardian spirits, though it wasn't really needed for the film. What bothered me, however, was the gigantic battle at the end, involving statues of those kings starting to move like hyperactive action figures, fighting the Weapons. While incredibly cool on paper (heck, I loved Pacific Rim and this was oddly reminiscent of that), it also served to create a LOT of chaos around the actual plot-relevant characters. There are scenes where Nyx and General Glauca are riding their respective Kaiju and it is never really made clear if they are controlling them or not.
While on the ground, especially during the final blows of their duel, the big things mirror their fight in the background, at least in part, which is a cool element to have but, in my eyes, overshadowed the more grounded duel. I get that they tried to make this battle titanic and depict massive stakes for Insomnia, but they didn't need to have a giant kaiju battle constantly distracting viewers from the fight that they were, hopefully, emotionally invested in. Glauca, too, was well-done as a character, with some great use of moral ambiguity.

Point being, the movie started drowning in overblown action after the halfway point, with the whole city being on fire and destroyed by the final 20 minutes. Those apocalyptic proportions were full of eye-candy, but detracted from the substance of the plot, all while shoving Lunafreya back into your face. God, I hate that woman so much...
But then, seeing the emotional payoff for Nyx and Glauca was satisfying and, to a degree, saddening. There was a lot of stuff in this feature film that appealed to me, even as I wanted to punch Luna in her pretty face for mucking things up. It wasn't a bad film to watch by any means, especially if all you want is a big, pretty action flick with magic and a clash between reality and fantasy/scifi elements. It won't win any awards for outstanding writing, though it is in places surprisingly good, but possibly for its excellent visual fidelity.
If you intend to play Final Fantasy XV, I would not in any way recommend skipping the movie. If you don't care about the game at all, your mileage will vary, but if you like dumb action movies, this might be right up your alley.

Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV easily exceeded my expectations. But then, they weren't high to begin with. It surprised me enough to make me consider rewatching it, and even to possibly buy a Bluray copy for my shelf. I might just have to put a Pepe the Frog sticker on the cover to hide Lunafreya from view...

Kingsglaive on the Official Website

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In the world of Draenor, the strong and fiercely independent Frostwolf Clan are faced with increasingly harsh winters and thinning herds. When Gul'dan, a mysterious outsider, arrives in Frostfire Ridge offering word of new hunting lands, Durotan, the Clan's chieftain, must make an impossible decision: Abandon the territory, pride and traditions of his people, or lead them into the unknown.

We all knew that changes would be inevitable for the upcoming Warcraft movie. The lore is convoluted in a lot of ways, and with the previous expansion to World of Warcraft, Warlords of Draenor, things got even more complicated for the early days of the orc tribes before their exodus to Azeroth. Adding time travel didn't help, either.

As a result, I'd recommend putting all you know aside for Warcraft: Durotan, prequel novel to the movie. Things have been changed and adjusted to make the material more approachable to a new audience, and while hardcore fans may groan about it at first, I believe it is a good thing overall. Let the movie franchise stand separate, and just nod in recognition when you encounter familiar elements or easter eggs. You'll be happier that way.

The Story:

"In the world of Draenor, the strong and fiercely independent Frostwolf Clan are faced with increasingly harsh winters and thinning herds. When Gul'dan, a mysterious outsider, arrives in Frostfire Ridge offering word of new hunting lands, Durotan, the Clan's chieftain, must make an impossible decision: Abandon the territory, pride and traditions of his people, or lead them into the unknown."

The Review

Durotan's main concern is the Orc Chieftain the book is named after, and his Frostwolf Tribe. First presented as the heir to the clan's leadership, Durotan is soon forced to take on his father's role himself, and find ways to deal with the world's changing nature. As the hunts grow less successful and the elements themselves turn against the orcs, a warlock called Gul'dan appears to offer the Frostwolves a choice:
Join him and his Horde and leave the world of Draenor behind, or die alongside the doomed realm.
Gul'dan, however, is not to be trusted, so Garad and his son Durotan both refuse him, and decide to stay true to their own identities and brave the seasons.

As a result, the bulk of the story deals with the changing ways of the Frostwolves to cope with colder winters, scarce food supplies and the forces of nature unleashed, as well as rival orc clans that seemingly turned to cannibalistic attitudes to survive. Durotan has to come into his own as the legendary chieftain that he is destined to be. Maintaining his authority is challenging, as is keeping up the morale of his whole clan, as well as balancing the old traditions with new ideas needed for survival.

It really is a hero's journey to greatness, a character piece and showcase of what made the Horde leave Draenor for Azeroth. The prologue sets the tone for the novel, firmly rooting it around the Frostwolf Clan's respect for nature and the spirits. That theme is maintained throughout, which I loved. Experiencing shaman Drek'Thar commune with the elements, seeing Durotan find love, or feeling the deep friendship between orc and wolf, all of these parts I found enjoyable and satisfying.

Sure, it isn't the same story we already knew about the characters. The roles of many of them are very different from the games, but taken together, they are all working in their positions and felt well-balanced and properly used to make the journey of the Frostwolves an exciting and relatable one.

It is a classic tale of hardships to be overcome that can be enjoyed by anyone, I believe. No further knowledge is required to understand the struggles of Durotan, and the easy writing style helps making it even more accessible. Even if you have never even heard of Warcraft before, this book (and by extension the upcoming movie or its novelization) could be an ideal starting point.

It must have been difficult for Christie Golden, who has a few Horde-related books to her name already (Lord of the Clans especially), to set aside all her pre-existing knowledge and expectations for the characters to write this novel, but I am glad that she did. It is a success, in my eyes.

Unto the Dark Portal, and off to Azeroth, I say. I'll be looking forward to reading the Movie Novelization by the same author, and have to say that, for the first time, I am actually excited for the movie.

Warcraft: Durotan on Goodreads

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Remember that I am a Gamer? Well, this extends to video game novels as well. Here's the Bioshock prequel novel "Rapture".

The Story:

"It's the end of World War II. FDR's New Deal has redefined American politics. Taxes are at an all-time high. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has brought a fear of total annihilation. The rise of secret government agencies and sanctions on business has many watching their backs. America's sense of freedom is diminishing…and many are desperate to take that freedom back.

Among them is a great dreamer, an immigrant who pulled himself from the depths of poverty to become one of the wealthiest and admired men in the world. That man is Andrew Ryan, and he believed that great men and women deserve better. And so he set out to create the impossible, a utopia free from government, censorship, and moral restrictions on science—where what you give is what you get. He created Rapture—the shining city below the sea.

But as we all know, this utopia suffered a great tragedy. This is the story of how it all came to be…and how it all ended."

The Review

Rapture is an excellent prequel novel to both Bioshock and Bioshock 2, featuring many familiar faces. It does a fantastic job weaving the story of Rapture, taking game mechanics and collectibles into account, dropping hints here and there, and overall managing to show us Rapture before its fall, and during it.

While the main Rapture plotline, including those of Andrew Ryan, Atlas and Sofia Lamb, are deliberately left open to be explored in the games, Rapture managed to come to a satisfying conclusion for me, by focusing the story on Bill McDonagh and his family.
Bill's involvement in the war for Rapture is framed by audio diaries in the game, which gives a decent enough view of his character and key points in the pre-game history of the city under the sea. However, the book does a far better job showing us exactly who he is, including his origins, his family, his hopes and doubts - and his trust in Andrew Ryan.

While many different characters are depicted in Rapture, the stars of the novel are undoubtedly the city itself, Andrew Ryan's descent into paranoia and Bill McDonagh, who may be considered Ryan's conscience throughout the book. I found it very easy to sympathize with McDonagh, which made the book a success to me. In general I thought the character setup worked nicely, especially in context to their eventual roles in the games, and they all acted more or less like you would expect them to, considering their characteristics and circumstances.

Even though it does not conclude the overall Rapture story arc, being a prequel and all, it ended on the right note for this particular storyline, and I think that, even without playing the games first, this is a scifi novel that may very well appeal to fans of the genre as a whole.
For fans of the Bioshock games, picking this book up should be a no-brainer, and I'll recommend it wholeheartedly.

Bioshock: Rapture on Goodreads

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