Micky Neilson

This is generally cheap-feeling, probably rushed to produce, franchise tie-in media and reads like it. Worth it for nostalgia for an earlier era and that's pretty much it, you aren't going to feel the need to ever read these again. Quality, of course, varies.

Jeff Grubb's Liberty's Crusade - Basically the plot of the video game written from the first-person perspective of a reporter assigned to Jim Raynor's group. Grubb's new material is generally interesting instead of forced and it was show more worth reading as a companion piece to the game even if large portions of the text are literally the game script.

Kevin J. Anderson (Gabriel Mesta)'s Shadow of the Xel'Naga - Light this garbage on fire. KJA's work is godawful as per normal. Not only does he not actually have any familiarity or understanding of the world he's writing for, it isn't even good writing on its own.

Tracy Hickman's Speed of Darkness - On the complete opposite spectrum from KJA, Tracy Hickman is an excellent, imaginative writer and it shows. Even though this is clearly not one he was putting his best effort into, there's a high floor for his work. Tried to do a ground-level perspective from characters that are in-game just pixelly mans for you to shoot at, and provide some introspection. Best novel in the anthology.

Micky Neilson's Uprising - Includes some material relating to Proper Nouns that got namedropped with otherwise zero elaboration in the game manual's backstory writing and notable for that, but honestly I barely remember it at all. Obviously didn't make much of an impression on me. Did what the author was hired to do, I guess. show less

~I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review~

So, I’m not a real big fan of werewolf tales after the whole Twilight epidemic, but I loved this story! The Turning focuses more on the elements of “real” werewolf lore, things seen in the classic werewolf movies that I used to enjoy a few years back.

The story focuses on Brandon after he’s bitten and passed the dreaded werewolf curse. He takes pills to help suppress the worst of his urges, but when he boards a cruise to show more Alaska, he finds out how tough it is to keep those urges in check. He meets a girl named Ginny and they hit if off really well (werewolf erotica anyone?).

Systematically, Brandon is being hunted by a torturous type of hunter. He doesn’t just want his targets to die…he wants them to suffer. There’s so much action in this story, right away in the prologue and all the way to the end of the book. Plus, all the characters are very complex.

Read this book to have your faith restored in werewolves, or if you want a good chill on Halloween! show less

Have you ever picked up a book, and within the first ten pages, realize: ah, this is written by a cishet white man who really likes anime?

Halford Ramsey is not a good guy. He's not even a decent guy. He does nothing worth while except recognize that the print of the mysterious Wolf Cult doctrine he's reading came from someone he'd talked with earlier in the comic. He's not compassionate, or thoughtful, or even all there as a character. He's so flat and lifeless that when he becomes a worgen, show more literally nothing changes. The text SAYS there's a change, but it's not discernable. Also, and please note that this is not the clinical term, Halford is written like an extremely bad caricature of a sociopath.

Interesting that the night eleves, who commonly address each other as "brother" or "sister' (regardless of relation), would ever refer to each other as "females." Ralaar says this about Blysyryaia (or however you spell fantasy names), referring to her as "that female" to his friend. It's weird.

Some of the characters have anime hair for inexplicable reasons. Their heads are also concave, with little to no forehead or skull shape.

The art of the guest artists, and the cover, is awesome! I don't dislike the idea behind the art style, either. It's got its good points. The worgens (when on model) look fantastic. Hence, one extra star, because I see the love put into this. And, of course, because I really want to like this, since worgens are my favorite playable race. :( show less

5 stars is too low a rating for this book. If I could go higher I would. This art book is a meticulously crafted compendium filled with a deep dive of behind-the-scenes content like quotes from the artists, anecdotes from the game's developers, and dazzling concept art. It's vivid, vibrant and just all around fun to lose yourself into. Spyro fans of all ages are dangerously missing out if they don't have this book!