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First Impressions: Life is Strange Episode 5: Polarized

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Warning: Do not read this review if you have yet to play the previous episodes in Life is Strange or have an interest in playing this game. This review has spoilers for the game so viewer discretion is advised.

Two days after playing the fifth episode in Life is Strange, I am still recovering.

I previously wrote a post on Life is Strange, which can be viewed here. However, after the fifth episode came out on October 20th, I decided I wanted to write another post about the game. I want to focus not only my thoughts on this episode but on the game overall now that the final episode for this season is out.

But first, let’s talk about Episode 5: Polarized. This episode comes right after Max Caulfield gets drugged by Mr. Jefferson in the junkyard and watches her best friend Chloe get shot. The player wakes up in the dark room, where Jefferson with the help of Nathan has been luring his victims to take photographs. You then go through a series of timelines where you go back to try and stop Jefferson from drugging you and shooting Chloe. However, you soon realize that you haven’t fixed everything yet. The tornado is still going to hit Arcadia Bay so Max tries to figure out a way to stop Jefferson and the tornado. However, she quickly realizes that she can’t stop the tornado without sacrificing Chloe’s life.

In this episode, the gameplay is pretty amazing. Most of the decisions you have to make are big ones that impact what other characters do. Some of these choices you can’t undo. Whenever you make the final decision at the end of the game whether to go back in time and let Chloe get shot, the fate of Arcadia Bay is placed in your hands. You can choose to let Chloe live if you wish, but Arcadia Bay will remain destroyed.

Making the decision to sacrifice Arcadia Bay means Chloe lives but the town still gets hit by the tornado, resulting in everyone else dying.
Making the decision to sacrifice Arcadia Bay means Chloe lives but the town still gets hit by the tornado, resulting in everyone else dying.
Or you could let Chloe die and the town will be alright. You’ll even get to see the blue butterfly one last time.
Or you could let Chloe die and the town will be alright. You’ll even get to see the blue butterfly one last time.

But that is one of the many aspects of the gameplay in this episode the player gets to enjoy. At one point in this episode, Max passes out and has a terrible nightmare. This nightmare reflects on a lot of the choices you have made up to this point. What I love about this part of Life is Strange is how this shows Max’s inner turmoil on the decisions she’s had to make with her rewind power. She knows she hasn’t made the best decisions and this nightmare reflects on that. However, I also see the nightmare as a foreshadowing for the end of the game. Whenever Max goes into the diner where everyone in Arcadia Bay is and faces herself saying mean things, this is a hint that she should choose to sacrifice Chloe and let everyone else live. This part of the episode can be contrasted with Max walking through her special moments with Chloe since returning to Arcadia Bay. That part of the nightmare is where Max’s subconscious is telling her to let Chloe live, even if it means everyone else in Arcadia Bay is gone. I enjoyed the nightmare scenes because of how they allow the player into her subconscious and found them to be very submersive.

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However, there are also aspects of Life is Strange episode 5 that I didn’t enjoy.

One of the things I didn’t like was how they structured the plot. I found that there were too many cut scenes then needed. Whenever Max ends up going to San Francisco because she won the Everyday Heroes contest, I felt as if that wasn’t needed. While it’s nice knowing that one day she could end up an artist, I felt that they could’ve taken that out and fleshed out the game more.

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This episode also didn’t flow as smoothly as the others. It felt very choppy to me as if they were adding scenes into the game because they didn’t know what direction they wanted it to go. And while I did enjoy playing in Max’s nightmare, I don’t think that was needed as well. I felt like it was placed in the game as filter so that we could get a better understanding of Max’s character and so we could get a hint of the two possible ways the game was going to end.

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Overall, while this episode in Life is Strange wasn’t my favorite, the game as a whole I really enjoyed. I felt as if the creators of this game did a really good job of creating a story with a diverse cast of characters. The game also goes into heavy discussion about topics most people shy away from, which allowed me to enjoy it on a more personal level. I quickly became attached to the characters and felt as if I were walking in Max’s shoes.

While I enjoyed my gaming experience with Life is Strange, there is talk that there will be a second season. Even though I can’t deny or confirm this information, if a second season does come out, I will definitely be playing it and write another post about Life is Strange in the near future.

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Book Review: Schizo

Schizo Book Cover

Rating: 3 stars

Miles is the ultimate unreliable narrator—a teen recovering from a schizophrenic breakdown who believes he is getting better . . . when in reality he is growing worse.

Driven to the point of obsession to find his missing younger brother, Teddy, and wrapped up in a romance that may or may not be the real thing, Miles is forever chasing shadows. As Miles feels his world closing around him, he struggles to keep it open, but what you think you know about his world is actually a blur of gray, and the sharp focus of reality proves startling.

Written by the New York Times bestselling author of  Tweak, Schizo is the fascinating, and ultimately quite hopeful, story of one teen’s downward spiral into mental illness as he chases the clues to a missing brother. 

I really enjoyed reading Schizo. It talked about issues with mental health people aren’t comfortable talking about. But did it in a way that made the reader interested in continuing to read Miles’s story.

As someone who knows very little about schizophrenia, I found this book a joy to read because it gave me a better understanding of what schizophrenia is and allowed me to look into the mind of a teenager struggling through it. There are very few mental illness novels out there that I’ve heard about so finding a novel like this that not only talks about controversial issues but also relates to the reader is something I enjoy reading.

I also enjoyed reading Schizo because I learned more about Miles’s family and the plot to find his missing brother intrigued me. From what the reader sees of his family, Miles grew up in a very loving home with a family that is always willing to support him. But I like that even though he has that structural support, he’s still shown to struggle with his schizophrenia and not try to seek help from those who love him until the very end. Mental illness isn’t easily treatable and people who have it struggle with opening up to people who can help them. And I love that even though Miles has family support and friends who care about him, the author shows readers that even someone whose life seems almost perfect doesn’t have it easy and struggles just like everyone else. The plot of finding Miles’s missing brother Teddy adds to the story too. Schizo is a novel about schizophrenia and I enjoyed reading how the search for his missing brother connects to his illness. It adds a layer to the story and allows the reader to get a better understanding of schizophrenia.

However, there are some aspects of Schizo I didn’t enjoy. Miles’s relationship with Eliza throughout the book bothered me. Even though the reader understands why Miles deeply cares about her, I felt as if Eliza latched onto him because he was the only guy when she returned who liked her. I believe her feelings for him weren’t genuine and that she just wanted to be with him until someone better came along.

Another aspect of this book I didn’t enjoy was how much it focused just on his mental illness but didn’t give the reader any aspect of his personality. It seems this novel is trying to define Miles as his illness by connecting everything in the story to schizophrenia. But Miles in Schizo has nothing else added to his personality that distinguishes him from it. He is a flat character throughout the story struggling to deal with schizophrenia and every aspect of the novel focuses on that. And I don’t like it. It bothers me because people with a mental illness are more than just their mental illness. But with the way the author has written Schizo, it’s as if his mental illness is the only aspect of his character that is important for the reader to know and the one trait that defines his entire life. It sends the reader the wrong message about mental illness and disconnects them from enjoying the story.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Schizo because it was a quick read that made me more aware of schizophrenia and brought up the importance of discussing mental illness. I look forward to reading more novels like this.

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NaNoWriMo Season Coming Up

National Novel Writing Month logo. Can be found on NaNoWriMo's website, nanowrimo.org.
National Novel Writing Month logo. Can be found on NaNoWriMo’s website, nanowrimo.org.

As the next couple days go by, NaNoWriMo is vastly approaching. I am both excited and nervous for NaNoWriMo to be here.

For those who are unfamiliar with NaNoWriMo, it is National Novel Writing Month. In November, writers who want to participate begin the goal of writing a 50,000 word novel in the span of a month.  During that time, a writer can write about whatever they want. As long as they keep writing towards the 50,000 word count, they are good to go. The novel doesn’t have to be perfect as long as you reach the word count by the end of the month.

I once participated in NaNoWriMo in 2012 where I attempted to write a novel called The Zombies Are Coming! The Zombies Are Coming!  However, I quickly realized in 2012 that I had so much going on at the time that I wasn’t able to fully commit to participating in NaNoWriMo. I had just started going to college and was still getting used to living away from home. And my classes were keeping me so busy that I didn’t have a whole lot of spare time to write. Plus, the Internet at school was bad and gave me a difficult time at uploading my word count every time I worked on my novel.

Since 2012, however, I’ve always wanted to participate in NaNoWriMo again. So I figured since I’ve already graduated from college, why not do it this year? Besides spending my free time looking for a job in my field, playing video games, reading books, blogging, and working, I know I’ll definitely have time to write this novel in November.

At first, when I quickly realized that NaNoWriMo was approaching, I freaked out. I had one or two novel ideas in my head, but had done nothing to get these ideas outlined and ready to go. However, I had these past two days off from work this week and was able to outline my ideas on paper.

And it was while I was outlining my two novel ideas that I was able to decide which novel I wanted to write for NaNoWriMo this year.

Since I am an avid lover of young adult literature, I decided that I wanted to do my own version of Beauty & the Beast, which I’ve decided to name The Swan & the Crow.

The Swan & the Crow centers on two high school teenagers named Steph and Max who unexpectedly fall in love. Steph, a young teenage fuckup, never thought a boy like Max would ever be interested in dating a girl like her. And Max never thought he’d be dating a girl like Steph who was anything but perfect. Dealing with some issues at home, Steph goes out at night after school with friends to get away from her problems. It is while she is out at a party with some friends that Steph meets Max, the perfect role model at school who everyone idolizes. But Max doesn’t want people looking up to him and just wants to live a normal teenage life. It is while at the party where he meets Steph that he finally discovers a wild side to himself that he wants to explore. As months go by and their relationship is nowhere close to breaking, Steph must make a difficult choice that could change their lives forever.

The Swan & the Crow is a story I’ve had in my head for a while now.  Beauty & the Beast is one of my favorite fairytales and I’ve always wanted to write my own story based off of it. I’ve had this story in my head but have never taken the opportunity to actually write it. And now that I actually know that I want to participate in NaNoWriMo this year, I’m going to write it.

While I’m still trying to figure out how exactly I’m going to do that, I have a basic outline for some of the chapters written out and prepared. While I’m not going to post my outline for my story on here, I plan on posting the chapters so that they can be read and appreciated by you guys.

Are any of you guys participating in NaNoWriMo this year? If so, what are you planning on writing about?

I’m really looking forward to NaNoWriMo this year and can’t wait to get started.

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Book Review: Hunting Shadows

Hunting Shadows Charles Todd Book Cover

Rating: 3 stars

A dangerous case with ties leading back to the battlefields of World War I dredges up dark memories for Scotland Yard Inspector Ian Rutledge in Hunting Shadows, a gripping and atmospheric historical mystery set in 1920s England, from acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Charles Todd.

A society wedding at Ely Cathedral in Cambridgeshire becomes a crime scene when a man is murdered. After another body is found, the baffled local constabulary turns to Scotland Yard. Though the second crime had a witness, her description of the killer is so strange it’s unbelievable.

Despite his experience, Inspector Ian Rutledge has few answers of his own. The victims are so different that there is no rhyme or reason to their deaths. Nothing logically seems to connect them—except the killer. As the investigation widens, a clear suspect emerges. But for Rutledge, the facts still don’t add up, leaving him to question his own judgment.

In going over the details of the case, Rutledge is reminded of a dark episode he witnessed in the war. While the memory could lead him to the truth, it also raises a prickly dilemma. To stop a murderer, will the ethical detective choose to follow the letter—or the spirit—of the law?

When I first started reading this book, I was really excited because the premise sounded very promising. And for the first couple chapters, Hunting Shadows had me hooked. However, this book overall was a big disappointment for me.

Normally, I really enjoy reading books like this. I love murder mystery novels. I love these reads because they take a look into the justice system and how the law works. And while these books aren’t an accurate representation of what our system is like, they do paint an interesting picture and give the reader a better understanding of the process investigators have to go through in order to catch the bad guy. They move quickly, leaving no question unasked.

But this book just didn’t sit right with me. Having not read the first fifteen books in the series might have something to do with it. However, I think the pace of the novel was another problem I had with it. I just couldn’t get into reading this book because it was too slow. It started off climatic and then dropped the reader down to a slower pace. The reader briefly gets an insight into the killer’s head only to be dropped into the story where they don’t get to see the killer until the last few pages of the novel. And when the killer is introduced, the reader becomes disappointed because he isn’t what the reader expects.

Another problem I had with Hunting Shadows was the time period. I know the novel was supposed to take place in the 1920’s, but I really didn’t like the time period in this story or the setting overall. It was just okay. Didn’t add anything to make this book any more interesting for me and want to continue reading.

I also didn’t like the main character Rutledge. Not having read the rest of the books in this series might have something to do with it, but I also think part of it is because I just couldn’t connect to his character. For a Scotland Yard inspector, he wasn’t too bright. Some of his actions throughout the novel didn’t make sense to me. For example, the man he suspects to be the killer he takes him along with him while he continues his investigation into these murders only to discover that he actually isn’t the killer. And even after the guy is obviously in the clear, he still suspects him until he is able to find the murder weapon. Rutledge isn’t the inspector I was expecting to be the main character in Hunting Shadows and that really disappointed me and made it harder for me to continue reading this book.

However, there are some aspects of Hunting Shadows I did enjoy. The beginning of the story really got me interested in continuing to read this novel, despite how it all turned out. The reader gets to see into the killer’s head as he spots his first victim and sees how he reacts to seeing that character.

Another aspect of this book I enjoyed was how descriptive Todd is of the setting. While I didn’t enjoy the time period in this story, Todd definitely knows how to create atmosphere in a novel. The reader sees this throughout the book starting with when Rutledge gets lost to when Rutledge goes to find the murder weapon.

Even though I was overall disappointed in how Hunting Shadows turned out, I still give it three stars because Todd knows how to get the reader hooked at the beginning of a story and can create atmosphere that can mess with the reader’s emotions. This book was an okay read, but not one I’ll be reading again anytime soon.

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Reliving Memories: Kirby’s Dreamland 2

Game Boy Kirby's Dream Land 2 Front Cover

Every video gamer remembers the first video game they beat. Whether you started playing video games in your youth or just recently started playing them, this one facet of your gaming life is something you don’t forget. For me, the first video game I beat was Kirby’s Dreamland 2.

Released in 1995 on Game Boy and developed by HAL Laboratory, Kirby’s Dreamland 2 is a platform game. It centers on a pink ball of fluff named Kirby who has the ability to swallow his enemies and imitate their abilities. The player travels on seven islands in this world each with their own boss that you have to fight and defeat before going to the next.

As a child, Kirby’s Dreamland 2 was a video game I had a lot of fun playing. I spent hours playing it and was able to beat it in no time. You add the cute animals that help Kirby through each of the levels and I was hooked.

Kirby fighting one of the bosses with the help of Coo the Owl. Found this image on Arcade Bros. website.
Kirby fighting one of the bosses with the help of Coo the Owl. Found this image on Arcade Bros. website.

For me, when I say I beat a video game, I mean that I got through the whole game. I made it through all the tough boss battles, dialogue (if there is any), and saw the credits roll. Even if I don’t collect all of the items to get a one hundred percent on the game, I still consider the game beaten if I’ve gotten through every other aspect of the game. I play video games for fun and getting all of the items in one game doesn’t give me any sort of pride or sense of accomplishment. Instead, I start getting bored playing video games if I have to go back and get every single item in order to get a one hundred percent in the game.

And as a child, I was proud of beating Kirby’s Dreamland 2. I enjoyed playing the levels because they weren’t too difficult and it was a good game for me on family road trips. As a child, I played this game many times on road trips when going to visit my grandmother in Pennsylvania. The drive to her place was twelve hours and playing Kirby’s Dreamland 2 made the trip go by faster.

I also enjoyed playing this game because of the music. The music entertained me and made game play light and fun. Seeing Kirby absorbing enemies and using their abilities was also an added bonus.

Rick the hamster and Kirby using the umbrella to kill an enemy. http://linkrandom.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-look-into-video-games-rick-kirby.html
Rick the hamster and Kirby using the umbrella to kill an enemy. http://linkrandom.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-look-into-video-games-rick-kirby.html

Playing Kirby’s Dreamland 2 now, I feel a sense of nostalgia remembering the many times I was able to beat this game. Kirby’s Dreamland 2 holds a special place in my heart. I recommend it to anyone looking for a quick and easy game to play on any occasion.

 

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Blogger Recognition Award

Blogger Recognition Award

I was tagged by Eleanor at her blog BookMarked and would like to say thank you for tagging me. This is the first time I have ever been tagged on my blog and really appreciate being nominated to take part in this award.

RULES: 

  • Select 15 other blogs you want to give the award to. Do some digging if you must! Find those blogs. You cannot nominate yourself or the person who has nominated you.
  • Write a post to show off your award! Give a brief story of how your blog got started, and give a piece or two of advice to new bloggers. Thank whoever nominated you, and provide a link to their blog. List who you’ve nominated in the post.
  • Make sure to also attach the award itself! (You can do this by right-clicking, saving, and uploading the image above).
  • Comment on each blog and let them know you’ve nominated them. Provide a link to the award post you created.
  • Provide a link to the original post on Edge of Night. That way, anyone can find the original guidelines and post if needed, and we can keep it from mutating and becoming confusing!

These are the 15 Blogs I Want to Nominate Because I’ve Enjoyed Reading Their Posts:

1. BlueChickenNinja

2. The Little Book Affair

3. Rare Horror

4. Nerdy Book Club

5. Taking Words for a Stroll

6. Confessions of a Gamer Girl

7. P.Rose Copeland

8. Renegade Press

9. Butterfly Mind

10. Alec Nevala-Lee

11. Writers Without Money

12. roamwildandfree

13. The Politics of Writing

14. follow your bliss

15. SevenFlorins

Now it’s time for me to tell you how I started my blog:

Basically, I am a book nerd and video game player. I just recently graduated from college with my Bachelor of Arts degree in Writing for Print and Digital Media with a minor in English Literature. While I was in college, I had started a blog Healthy Body Peace of Mind where I talked about my issues with struggling with heart disease and living a healthy life style. But I didn’t want to continue writing that blog. While I didn’t mind writing about my personal health, I wanted to focus more on the things I love to do: books and video games. As someone who reads books and plays video games on a daily basis, I wanted to write about these experiences and show my readers a diverse blog that could showcase both of my passions. I came up with the name for my blog Vook: Books + Video Games because I wanted to come up with a unique name that combined the words books and video games. And that is how my blog was born.

Advice to those who just started blogging:

Find a topic that you are passionate about and write! Don’t write about something just because it interests you but write about something you have a strong passion for. Focusing your blog on something you care about will make your blog that much more interesting to your readers and will bring out the best writer in you. And let the words come to you. Don’t write because you feel obligated to. Write whenever you feel the words come to you and when you are ready to show what you’ve written to the world. And write in a way that will intrigue and interest your readers in wanting to read more of your posts. That is the best advice I feel like I can give to you because as a new blogger myself, I am still learning and working on making my blog better.

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Book Review: If I Stay

If I Stay Book Cover

Rating: 4 stars

Warning: This book review contains spoilers of some of the events that unfold in this book. Viewer discretion is advised for those interested in reading If I Stay.

Just listen, Adam says with a voice that sounds like shrapnel.

I open my eyes wide now.
I sit up as much as I can.
And I listen.

Stay, he says.

Choices. Seventeen-year-old Mia is faced with some tough ones: Stay true to her first love—music—even if it means losing her boyfriend and leaving her family and friends behind?

Then one February morning Mia goes for a drive with her family, and in an instant, everything changes. Suddenly, all the choices are gone, except one. And it’s the only one that matters.

If I Stay is a heartachingly beautiful book about the power of love, the true meaning of family, and the choices we all make.

If I Stay was a wonderful read that kept me going until I finished. It was a read that took me only one day to complete because I wanted to know what happened next.

There are many reasons why I enjoyed reading If I Stay. One of the reasons I enjoyed this book is because I loved the portrayal of Mia and Adam’s relationship. Throughout the book, the reader sees Mia’s relationship with her family is perfect. She gets along well with her parents, who seem like the kind and understanding parents every teenager wishes for during their youth. And her younger brother Teddy idolizes her. She lives a charmed life where she goes to school and is extremely talented at playing the cello. She has only a few friends, but yet is extremely loved by those closest to her. Her relationship with everyone around her is perfect and this is one of the many flaws this book had to me.

However, her relationship with her boyfriend Adam is different from the rest of her perfect life. In If I Stay, Adam and Mia’s relationship is far from perfect. The reader can see that both Adam and Mia love each other. But they aren’t perfect for each other. In If I Stay, the reader sees the problems with their relationship through the rocky start their relationship took and the fights Mia and Adam got in during the time they’ve been together. But despite these two aspects of their relationship, the reader can see that Mia and Adam love each other. So while they might not be perfect together, the love they have for each other is enough for them to get through their troubles.

If I Stay is also an enjoyable read because of the background information about Mia the reader is given. Throughout the book, Mia gives the reader intricate details about her life and reminisces on her memories as she tries to decide whether to live or die. These memories are each a piece of the puzzle that allow the reader to get a better understanding of Mia as a character and allow the reader to get a glimpse of what her family is like before the accident.

Mia’s character development throughout If I Stay also contributes this book to being a worthwhile read for me. In the beginning of the book, Forman hints to the reader that Mia has already made her choice. However, as Mia reflects on her life and what she has to gain and lose, she chooses a completely different path than what the reader expects from her. She chooses the hard path, knowing that she will face uncertainty and loss by continuing to live her life. She will experience pain that she has never before faced in her perfectly charmed life. She knows that both her parents and brother are dead, but still chooses to live, knowing she will have to come to terms with losing them and living the rest of her life without them. But she chooses that path anyway because there are people still alive that love her and want her to live.

Another aspect of If I Stay I really enjoyed was all of the music references. Forman really did her research on music and I love seeing books that find some way of incorporating music into the story. I also loved the music references because music was a big part of Mia’s life and it’s one of the things that bring Mia and Adam together.

What I didn’t enjoy while reading If I Stay was how perfect Mia’s life was before the accident. Mia had two supportive parents who both loved her and supported every decision she made and a younger brother who deeply worshipped the ground she walked on. Her relationships with peers at school were perfect and she was an extremely talented musician. To me, her life was just too perfect. There was never one moment before the accident where Mia’s life took a drastic turn and that bothered me. If I Stay is a young adult novel, but the young adult in the novel never seems like an angsty teenager to me. Everyone goes through things in life, but Mia’s life doesn’t at all describe any of the struggles most teenagers go through during this phase in their life. And this bothers me because nobody has that perfect of a life.

Another aspect of If I Stay I didn’t enjoy was the ending. Throughout the book, Mia had already made up her mind that she wasn’t going to stay and that she was going to die like her parents and brother. But I feel as if Forman doesn’t really allow Mia to make her choice. While Mia is watching these events unfold in the hospital, she tries to avoid seeing Adam because she’s scared she’s going to change her mind about leaving. But whenever Adam comes to see her in the hospital, she’s in the room watching as he tells her to stay. And in that moment, she goes from watching him talk to her to being back in her body. I don’t feel like she gets a choice in the matter because I feel as if Adam made her choice for her. It is when she watches him agonize over the thought of losing her that she says she can’t take any of this anymore and goes back into her body, knowing that living is going to be harder than it was before. I feel like she makes this choice because she saw Adam there and was able to picture her future if she decided to stay. And that frustrates me not because I didn’t want her to live but because I felt as if her choice was taken away from her because of how quickly she changed her mind.

However, I really enjoyed reading If I Stay. As a young adult reader, it was the type of book I was itching to read and can’t wait to read more of Forman’s novels and the next book in this series Where She Went.

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First Impressions: Bioshock

Bioshock 1

Bioshock is a first person shooter, adventure game. Developed by 2K Boston, Bioshock takes place in the 1960’s and centers on the main character Jack. After surviving a plane crash, Jack makes his way into an underwater city named Rapture. Created by the business magnate Andrew Ryan, Rapture was intended to be an isolated utopia. However, the discovery of ADAM, a genetic material that gives people superhuman powers resulted in the cities rapid decline.

Jack’s first glimpse into the city Rapture.

In Bioshock, Jack is trying to escape from Rapture, fighting hordes of enemies obsessed with ADAM and creatures like Big Daddies while interacting with the few humans who remain to learn more about Rapture’s past. Playing as Jack, the player gets to use not only weapons to shoot enemies down but also different superhuman powers, such as Incinerate and Telekinesis. These different abilities give the player a vast array of opportunities to kill their enemies, giving the player a unique gaming experience.

Bioshock 65

Bioshock is truly an amazing gaming experience. As a rookie computer and first person shooter video game player, I was immediately hooked into playing this game. Bioshock had just all of the right elements to get me immersed into the world of Rapture and wanting to learn more about what happened to this beautiful city.

Bioshock is a video game that interested me from the start because of how interactive the game can get the player. This interaction can be seen through fighting enemies and listening to the diary entries of the different people who once lived in Rapture. Fighting enemies gives the player a sense of interaction because you get to kill enemies from a first person perspective. You play as Jack and get to control his movements as he kills his enemies using all of the different abilities in his arsenal. The diary entries also provide an interactive experience in Bioshock because they give the player more detail to the story. These journal entries help explain pieces of the puzzle that aren’t already unlocked for Jack and tell the player more about the people who lived in Rapture and what happened to them.

My first Splicer kill in Bioshock.
My first Splicer kill in Bioshock.

Another aspect of Bioshock that gets the player immersed into the game is the music. The music in this game is truly creepy and made me feel as if I were playing a horror game. Having this music to the game while fighting enemies gave me chills. This music contributed so much to my feelings of horror that when enemies appeared out of nowhere, I found myself jumping in my seat.

The one aspect to Bioshock that I’m still getting used to is the player controls. Since I don’t have a whole lot of experience playing first person shooter and computer games, I’m not yet used to how controls in these types of games work. Because of my lack of experience, whenever I find myself facing Splicers and other enemies, I often end up feeling turned around and confused trying to get the controls down so that I can kill them. The player controls also have me frustrated too because I find myself getting stuck at parts in the game because of them.

However, Bioshock is a truly marvelously beautiful game. My experience with it has so far been a wonderful one and I can’t wait to see where this game takes me.

 

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Book Review: The Girl in the Spider’s Web

The-Girl-in-the-Spiders-Web

Rating: 4 stars

This fall, Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist return in the highly anticipated follow-up to Stieg Larsson’s The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest.

In this adrenaline-charged thriller, genius-hacker Lisbeth Salander and journalist Mikael Blomkvist face a dangerous new threat and must again join forces.

Late one night, Blomkvist receives a phone call from a trusted source claiming to have information vital to the United States. The source has been in contact with a young female super hacker—a hacker resembling someone Blomkvist knows all too well. The implications are staggering.

Blomkvist, in desperate need of a scoop for Millennium, turns to Lisbeth for help. She, as usual, has her own agenda. In The Girl in the Spider’s Web, the duo who thrilled 80 million readers in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest meet again in an extraordinary and uniquely of-the-moment thriller.

When I first saw that there was going to be another book in the Millennium Series, I jumped for joy. Having read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire, and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest, I was very excited to see what was going to happen next for Lisbeth and Blomkvist.  However, I was also very surprised. I didn’t expect there to be another book in the series because the author of the original three books Stieg Larsson died in 2004. So when I found out about The Girl in the Spider’s Web, I was very excited to see how David Lagercrantz would continue Larsson’s story.

And what a story it was. Lagercrantz did an excellent job in writing this book with the same style and feel as the rest of the series.

What I love about the series the most is Lisbeth and Blomkvist’s relationship throughout the series and The Girl in the Spider’s Web doesn’t disappoint in continuing to grow that relationship. What I love about their relationship is how both characters come from different walks of life. But yet, they are able to form a connection with each other out of the oddest of circumstances and still able to live their own separate lives.

I also love Lisbeth as a character. I love her character because she just doesn’t give a shit. She has her own personal views and she sticks by them until the end. Lisbeth has a way of handling things and disregards what others tell her to do and I love that about her character.

Another aspect of The Girl in the Spider’s Web I enjoyed was all of the action that took place in the story. Like the rest of the series, this book has a lot of action that keeps the reader on their toes and makes them want to continue reading to find out what happens next. It is a thrilling read that any crime loving book nerd would be interested in checking out.

I also love how The Girl in the Spider’s Web switches perspective. Not only do we get Lisbeth and Blomkvist’s perspective but we also get to see the story from the villain’s point of view as well. I love reading books like this where you have those changing perspectives because it gives the reader access to what the main antagonist is thinking. Having these different perspectives allows the reader to get a better understanding of the antagonist’s actions and see them as more human capable of making bad decisions.

The one thing with The Girl in the Spider’s Web that I didn’t enjoy was the ending. I didn’t like the ending because I want to know what’s going to happen next. Yes, they caught most of the bad guys, but I still have questions about what’s going to happen. I also didn’t like it because it sounded final as if this book is going to be the last book in the series. While there is the possibility of there being another book after this one, Lagercrantz leaves us hanging with no details or hint of there being another book after The Girl in the Spider’s Web.

However, I overall enjoyed reading this book just as much as the rest of the books in the series. Seeing Blomkvist and Lisbeth’s characters once again was really nice and I really enjoyed reading a book in this series again. David Lagercrantz did a wonderful job with this book and I can’t wait to see what else he’s written. I highly recommend reading The Girl in the Spider’s Web to anyone interested in reading a book with a set of diverse characters and an action packed story that will keep you wanting more.

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