Liz Marsham

So technically I cheated, and should have read the novel that this graphic adaptation is based on first, but oops, it’s too late now and there’s no going back! Besides, what good is a story based on Tim Burton’s classic Halloweentown tale if it’s not brought to life on the page with spooky illustrations? Burton seems to have had nothing to do with the book, so it’s not quite as dark and angular in style as his original drawings or the stop motion characters that populated the film, show more but the artistic style chosen for Sally’s tale of self-discovery fits perfectly. The colour palette is still dark and moody (being largely set in the twilight world of Halloweentown), but we get lovely pops of colour as Sally visits the other holiday lands and the softer lines emphasize that this is a rag doll’s tale rather than that of a spooky skeleton. Her story begins just as she marries her true love, Jack Skellington, and begins her new life as the Pumpkin Queen at his side. But this wasn’t exactly what Sally signed up for - she loves Jack, but the scrutiny of being the Pumpkin Queen is more than she is used to, and in her anxiety she runs away into the forest and falls through a magical door that even Jack has never seen before. Her rash behaviour sets off a chain reaction of events that brings together all of the holiday lands and reveals that there are even more lands based on ancient powers and concepts, opening up the world of Halloweentown even further than even Burton’s creative mind had planned. Of course, with Sally as our protagonist, it is she who must earn her title as Queen by defeating a new adversary and learning to embrace her new role, all while finding a way to make it hers. We all know that by the end of the story everything will work out just fine, but the inventiveness of the tale is wonderful, and the visual spectacle on the page brings the story beautifully to life. It’s rare these days that I have such high praise for a graphic novel - most being lacking in both character development and storylines, and the artwork rarely living up to my expectations - but this book stands out as a well done effort and well worth the read. And really, we’ll take any excuse to visit Halloweentown again! show less

As a teen my friends and I had a brief obsession with board games, and then graduated to tabletop RPG (role play games). We made an attempt at Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, borrowing bits and pieces from someone’s uncle, but we all found it a little too complicated to make sense of on our own, so we cast around and discovered Heroes Quest, a brand new board game with a fantasy RPG element. We all pitched in to buy it and spent many hours rampaging through dungeons.

When my eldest son was show more thirteen a local games store began organising a semi regular social night for ages 12-18. They hosted a mix of activities including the chance to participate in Dungeons & Dragons ‘one-shots’. I was certain that my son, who devoured fantasy novels and wrote fan fiction, would love D&D and convinced him to give it a chance. So he’d have an idea of what to expect we watched a bunch of YouTube video’s and read through information online, and when I picked him up that evening he couldn’t wait to play again. Shortly after the Dungeon Master invited him to join a group he hosted every fortnight at his home, and my son, who is now 17, has being playing with them ever since.

All this is to explain why I chose to read The World of Critical Role. D&D is a big part of my son’s life, and I am occasionally able to play a game with him. He loves Critical Role and is one of the estimated 1.5M people who watches each 4-5 hour long episode every week. Every so often I join him, because I enjoy it too.

Critical Role is the name for a group of LA based friends who turned their friendly Dungeons & Dragons home game into a live stream on YouTube/Twitch, originally through Geek & Sundry. The stream proved so popular that eventually Critical Role formed their own company, moved into their own studio space, and launched their own streaming channel with additional content and projects including live tours, merchandise, comic books, campaign handbooks, one-shots, limited campaigns, and an animated Netflix series (coming 2022).

In The World of Critical Role, Marsham shares the history of the group, reveals behind the scenes tidbits, and provides cast and character biographies. Much of the book focuses on elements of Campaign 1: Vox Machina which debuted online in 2015 and ran for 115 episodes, until 2017 but only about a third of Campaign 2: The Mighty Nein which began in 2018 and ran for 141 episodes, (with a hiatus due to the pandemic) finishing mid 2021, taking readers through the many highlights – the creative moves, the biggest mistakes, the fierce battles and the tragic losses. Marsham also explores the Critical Role fandom, and discusses why the game attracts and inspires people.

I thought I might end up skimming through some of the book given I’ve only seen a handful of episodes from the campaigns, but I was completely enthralled by it all. It’s funny, informative and even thought-provoking. Beautifully illustrated with photographs and stunning art, I think The World of Critical Role would serve as a good introduction to the entire Critical Role phenomenon, especially the first and second campaigns, and become a keepsake of sorts for ‘Critters’ (Critical Role fans) who can be reminded of, and relive, some of its best moments.

I’m sincerely considering binging on both campaigns which would take me to close to a year if I watch an episode a day. Critical Role is currently just four episodes into Campaign 3 (as yet unnamed) which began October 2021, and I’ve already made a start on it.

Let the adventure begin…. show less

"Everything that we've ever wanted to do in our lives is make characters and stories that people care about. And the end of this campaign was sort of the culmination of realizing that our creative dreams had some true." - Sam Riegel

There's always a risk with these kinds of books that they'll generally just amount to a flowery, cheesy repetition of the wiki page. But this one had a great mix of "oh shit, remember when?" lists, field guide-esque sections, and fascinating insights from the cast show more on their characters, scenes, and D&D itself. The art is plentiful and stunning.

And now, I'm apparently set on all the spoilers I could ever dream of for Vox Machina, and it just makes me want to finish it more!

"Roleplaying games, you walk away changed. Like a good dream, or a really good nightmare. You walk away with this secret knowledge that if you attempt to explain to anybody, it's impossible to share." - Taliesin Jaffe

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A fun overview book that looks at the Critical Role team and the phenomenon around them and their games.

Great content but other than cast photos, the e-galley on my Kindle didn't provide an organized view of the text and any added illustrations.

Thus, I'll recommend the book for content but may increase my rating after I see a physical copy to judge graphic layout et al.