I've recently started reading the latest book under the pen of Nick Cole and Jason Anspach titled Forgotten Ruin. And while I'm having a blast with it, the book couldn't escape the comparisons with Legionnaire, another first in series by Cole & Anspach.
Reincarnation Of The Strongest Sword God is a Chinese web novel written by Lucky Old Cat, 天运老猫. It's a mix of Chinese martial arts, LitRPG, and science fiction, and currently on Volume 29 and Chapter 2850. It is still ongoing.
The premise of the story is very simple. The protagonist who spent last 10 years of his life trying to make a name for himself and achieve greatness in an online game called God's Domain gets fired because of hostile takeover. And he starts over. 10 years in the past. This magical device was never explained but it serves as the central point that allows Shi Feng to take advantage of certain situations in the game because of his memories of, let's call it his past life.
From here on the adventure begins, and the story never disappoints.
This is not so much a review, as it is my impressions of the game while still playing it. That said, the game is currently free on Epic Store, and I can't recommend grabbing it hard enough.
What I like about the game so much is that the gameplay itself is part of the story. It's a semi-randomly generated universe in which you slowly keep uncovering its secrets.
This is the official description:
"When FTL meets Foundation... and Dune
Crying Suns is a tactical rogue-lite that puts you in the role of a space fleet commander as you explore a mysteriously fallen empire.
In this story rich experience inspired by Dune and Foundation, each successful run will uncover the truth about the Empire... and yourself as well."
To me, the story looks like a cross between John C. Wright's Superluminary trilogy and Johan Kalsi's Foundation.
In certain ways it reminds me of Endless Space with that difference that more emphasis is on the story than strategic micro/macro managing of your resources, economy, influence etc.
And the game is beautiful, and so is the music in it.
So, if you play computer, or for that matter mobile games, like Space Opera or Military Sci-Fi, I urge you to go get the game while it's free. It'll remain free one more day until January 14th, 2021 at 5 PM (CET I presume). If you're late, it is still worth the purchase in my opinion.
Five stars
The World Armada, John C. Wright
The Space Vampires, John C. Wright
Dune, Frank Herbert
The Man Who Was Thursday; A Nightmare, G.K. Chesterton
Four stars
The LawDog Files, D. LawDog
The LawDog Files: African Adventures, D. LawDog
Potovati z Orwellom, Jože Biščak
Suicide of the West: An Essay on the Meaning and Destiny of Liberalism, James Burnham
Solomon Kane: The Right Hand of Doom, Robert E. Howard
Ship of Fools: An Anthology of Learned Nonsense about Primitive Society, C.R. Hallpike
Three stars
Flying Sparks, Jon Del Arroz
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 1, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 2, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 3, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 4, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 5, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 6, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 7, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 8, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 9, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 10, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 11, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 12, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 13, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 14, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 15, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 16, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 17, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 18, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 19, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 20, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 21, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 22, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 23, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 24, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 25, Lucky Old Cat
Reincarnation of the Strongest Sword God Volume 26, Lucky Old Cat
Jordanetics: A Journey Into the Mind of Humanity's Greatest Thinker, Vox Day
Prisoners of Darkness, Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
Two stars
Lonestar: Heart of the Hero, Mike S. Miller
One star
War Crimes, Christie Golden
Catch-22, Joseph Heller
Recently a news broke out that a remastered version of the original Mass Effect trilogy is in the works. ME1, ME2 and ME3 would all come in a neat new single package called Mass Effect: Legendary Edition, and include all the promo material, and DLCs for the three games.
That was all well and nice, and it did give me at least a sliver of hope that Bioware might decide and actually rework the ending of ME3, so that it gives at least a modicum of satisfaction beyond the colour of final explosion.
Still it didn't seem like that was all. And now we know why. Today they published a new "Official Teaser Trailer" for the "Next Mass Effect".
In the trailer we can see Liara climbing a mountain and discovering a piece of armour with markings of N7 on it, an elite unit Commander Shepard was a part of.
This could mean all sorts of things. For starters maybe they come to their senses, and decide to bring Shepard back from the dead, like they did at the start of ME2. But in any case, it seems Bioware is abandoning it's Andromeda dream and focusing on what made their space opera/military sci-fi franchise great in the first place. At least I hope they do.
In light of that, a remaster of a more than a decade old game series makes sense. By giving it a fresh new coat of paint it provides an opportunity for the new generation of gamers to dive in, and experience it for themselves before the new game is released. A way to build up interest after the disaster that was ME: Andromeda, and even more so unrelated Anthem.
I returned to the main storyline of Nick Cole's and Jason Anspach's military sci-fi book series called Galaxy's Edge after a little over two years. And it was as if I never left.
Prisoners of Darkness, book number 6 in the main series picks up the story immediately after the end of Sword of the Legion.
Since there will be potential spoilers, consider yourself properly warned.
The recurring theme of the series about "Points" being omens of ruin brought upon the Legion by the House of Reason takes the center stage in PoD. Cole & Anspach are not here to reinvent the wheel, but instead to provide entertainment for their readers.
The book is a breeze to read through, while the story continues to expand. The new and ominous threats that were in the previous books only myths, legends and rumours don't take the center stage, but they do make their presence known.
If in the past the theme was that maybe parts of the Republic were corrupt, but the rest was either ignorant or stupid, this time around it is shown that there really is no saving the Republic, neither from the enemy, nor from itself. It's just too corrupt, too stupid, and too ignorant all at the same time.
The newly formed Empire on the other hand has its own set of problems, but we only get to see a glimmer of those.
Still the story focuses on Major Owens who was designated fall guy for successfully thwarting the Empire, and thus sent to a prison planet, where he discovers he's not the only Legionnaire to be sentenced to forced labor just because he did things right. What is more, the Republic he spent his life fighting for, is actually working with the slavers, and the prison planet is the prime location for all those whom Republic deems undesirable for one reason or another - wrongthink included.
On the other hand we have members of Victory Squad who are determined to save their wrongly convicted superior officer from hell even if it means going against the Republic. Even if it means working side by side with smugglers, pirates, and slavers.
All in all, Prisoners of Darkness provides entertaining read for anyone looking to get their dose of military sci-fi. What it does lack in comparison to the previous instalments, is the ability to play on the reader's heart strings. The moments are still there, but they are few and far between.
I give it 4/5.
