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Reviews and Comments
Bookwyrm account I love fantasy fiction. Mastodon: @confusedbunny@oldbytes.space Avatar is from Little Monster's Word Book (Mercer Mayer)
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Chris Young commented on Little Monster's Word Book by Mercer Mayer
Chris Young commented on Do Not Pass Go by Tim Moore
Chris Young wants to read The Dispossessed by Ursula K. Le Guin
Chris Young started reading Do Not Pass Go by Tim Moore
Chris Young reviewed South Coast Diaries by Duncan MacDonald
Review of 'South Coast Diaries' on 'Goodreads'
5 stars
I've been a fan of Duncan MacDonald since his Your Sinclair days. Always guaranteed to write absolutely hatstand reviews - including one for an April Fool's megagame Advanced Lawnmower Simulator, a game which he wrote himself and was subsequently featured on the covertape. In later times, he wrote a column for PC Zone and collaborated with a character known as Colin Culk to produce some crazy videos which were increasingly less about games, and more the sort of random nonsense you'd find on YouTube but before YouTube was a thing. In the early 2000s he wrote a blog for the website SeeThru - a project which involved another ex-Your Sinclair writer. It is that blog which forms the basis of South Coast Diaries.
It is, as I'd come to expect from Duncan, utterly hilarious in places and full of surreal characters and situations. I'm led to believe …
I've been a fan of Duncan MacDonald since his Your Sinclair days. Always guaranteed to write absolutely hatstand reviews - including one for an April Fool's megagame Advanced Lawnmower Simulator, a game which he wrote himself and was subsequently featured on the covertape. In later times, he wrote a column for PC Zone and collaborated with a character known as Colin Culk to produce some crazy videos which were increasingly less about games, and more the sort of random nonsense you'd find on YouTube but before YouTube was a thing. In the early 2000s he wrote a blog for the website SeeThru - a project which involved another ex-Your Sinclair writer. It is that blog which forms the basis of South Coast Diaries.
It is, as I'd come to expect from Duncan, utterly hilarious in places and full of surreal characters and situations. I'm led to believe by somebody who knew Duncan, that everything in the book actually happened. It follows his life on the dole whilst living in Hastings, and there's not much more I can say than that without spoilers.
Duncan sadly died before this book was published (it was originally supposed to be released in about 2003 but never materialised). Fortunately somebody must have rescued the text and managed to get it published posthumously. It is a tribute to a great writer and somebody who sadly didn't appear to get the break they deserved.
Good job, bloody good job, mate.
Chris Young reviewed Microbrits by S.L. Perrin
Review of 'Microbrits' on 'Goodreads'
3 stars
A quite interesting exploration of the tangled nature of the UK software industry. However, it contains quite a lot of opinion and rambling thoughts that should have been edited out! Apparently it was originally a blog post which got out of hand, but that's not really an excuse for including paragraphs which say, "I was going to end this chapter here, then I remembered about something else which I will now tell you about". Edit it out, we don't need to know! And stick to the facts, keep your opinion to yourself - if you must micro-review games then it can go into an appendix - the book only needs to tell us that certain titles were "well reviewed by the gaming press" or somesuch.
Chris Young reviewed The Genesis Quest by Nigel Gross (Lemmings Adventure Gamebook, #1)
Review of 'Lemmings Adventure Gamebook 1' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This gamebook follows 8 of the 12 tribes (Outdoor, Egyptian, Highland and Cavelem are not featured) of Lemmings 2, as they try to find their parts of the Great Medallion. In the video game the Lemmings are trying to bring all the parts to put it back together, so the events in the book can be considered to have taken place before those in the game.
You start with 50 lemmings, and each zone requires then to be assigned to various skills (recognisable from the game, so the Classic zone have Blocker, Builder, etc - although bizarrely also Ballooner and Filler). You then choose options and use skills in various ways to guide the lemmings to their piece of the medallion. The lemming skills don't generally get "used up" so it's possible to take along a skill assigned to a single lemming and use it multiple times unless the book …
This gamebook follows 8 of the 12 tribes (Outdoor, Egyptian, Highland and Cavelem are not featured) of Lemmings 2, as they try to find their parts of the Great Medallion. In the video game the Lemmings are trying to bring all the parts to put it back together, so the events in the book can be considered to have taken place before those in the game.
You start with 50 lemmings, and each zone requires then to be assigned to various skills (recognisable from the game, so the Classic zone have Blocker, Builder, etc - although bizarrely also Ballooner and Filler). You then choose options and use skills in various ways to guide the lemmings to their piece of the medallion. The lemming skills don't generally get "used up" so it's possible to take along a skill assigned to a single lemming and use it multiple times unless the book expressly forbids it. All the zones are thematically correct for the tribes, and once you've successfully navigated them to the medallion you get an extra five lemmings. They are a lot harder to lose than in the game!
To complete the book, all eight zones need to be successfully completed.
Chris Young reviewed Wicked Wizard of Oz by Jonathan Green
Review of 'Wicked Wizard of Oz' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
At the time of reviewing, I've played through this once as each character. The book contains four characters and two more are available as "DLC". The standard characters largely follow the same storylines, at least after meeting up with Dorothy, and have a variety of different traits which can help or hinder your journey. There's quite a lot of variety here and with one exception contrary to the usual rules of "do not split the party", splitting up is a good thing, at no point does it seem unfair or suddenly kill you for no reason.
There are two methods for skill checks and combat. One is to use 2d6, the other is to use cards. The card method is more evenly distributed, although there is extra chance of getting very high numbers. You can also keep the cards out of the pack once you've used them which could help …
At the time of reviewing, I've played through this once as each character. The book contains four characters and two more are available as "DLC". The standard characters largely follow the same storylines, at least after meeting up with Dorothy, and have a variety of different traits which can help or hinder your journey. There's quite a lot of variety here and with one exception contrary to the usual rules of "do not split the party", splitting up is a good thing, at no point does it seem unfair or suddenly kill you for no reason.
There are two methods for skill checks and combat. One is to use 2d6, the other is to use cards. The card method is more evenly distributed, although there is extra chance of getting very high numbers. You can also keep the cards out of the pack once you've used them which could help predict results as the game goes on. 2d6 would favour 7, which maybe makes skills of 8 or more easier to pass.
Chris Young rated A World of Wisdom: 5 stars
Six Of Crows (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) by Leigh Bardugo
BOOK ONE of the Six of Crows Duology
Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had …
Chris Young rated Crap Holiday: 4 stars
Chris Young rated Hector and the Secrets of Love: 2 stars
Chris Young rated Oathbringer: 4 stars
Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive, #3)
The eagerly awaited sequel to the #1 New York Times bestselling Words of Radiance, from epic fantasy author Brandon …