House of the Dragon 3x02 "Queen's Landing" review

    This should have been the finale for the second season of House of the Dragon. It was originally meant to be the finale for the second season but the cuts to the budget meant what was going to be a ten-episode season became just an eight-episode season. This was something that almost caused me to drop the show in its entirety. However, I turned around my opinion and gave the first episode a shot to my considerable delight.

    The episode opens with the body of Jace being brought back to Queen Rhaenyra by her followers, only for this to trigger a mental breakdown from the Queen that Ever Was. Daemon Targaryen can persuade her to leave her fugue before it removes the opportunity they have to invade King's Landing, however. With the Triarchy defeated, at horrific cost, they have a chance to seize the capital from their enemies.

    Meanwhile, Queen Alicent is doing her best to cripple the defenses of King's Landing in hopes of saving the lives of her family. Unfortunately, for her, her treason doesn't go smoothly. Her son Aemond mistakes her concern for sexual attraction (eww, even by Game of Thrones standards) before departing. Aegon Targaryen has already fled the city as well, meaning the war will go on despite her efforts. There is also a gross scene where Master of Laws, Jasper Wylde, attempts to sexually assault her. Really, House of the Dragon? You had to go there.

    Rhaenyra proceeds to get written as an idiot and I have to say that with all due respect to the character. Basically, Rhaenyra leads her and Daemon's dragons to King's Landing and proceeds to invade the palace...by themselves. It's a thing that almost results in the war being won by Aegon's forces by the sheer stupidity of putting them in the clutches of their non-dragon forces. They're not the protagonist of Skyrim and can't slaughter armies by themselves.

    The ending is good, though, and I have to say that I appreciated the episode despite its flaws. It is an excellent finale to season two and an okay episode of season three. Rhaenyra manages to achieve her supposed goal of becoming Queen of the Seven Kingdoms and acquiring the Iron Throne but at horrific cost. Two of her children are dead and the difficulty of executing Otto Hightower shows she might not have the temperament for the violence necessary. Certainly, executing Otto Hightower destroys whatever reproachment that Alicent and he gets.

    Aemond is a character that I feel was done dirty by this episode as while he had mommy issues, I don't think they should have gone full Oedipus here. We also see him single handedly take Harrenhal in a way that is significantly more believable, both in the fact he burns down most of the garrison and then is stabbed to near-death by the Strong suns. Because, you know, it's stupid to invade a castle by yourself.

    In conclusion, "Queen's Landing" isn't nearly as good an episode as its predecessor, but it was an improvement on the majority of season two's episode. A lot of things happen, and we've started to see some serious analysis of while Rhaenyra may become queen, she's not necessarily qualified to become monarch of the Seven Kingdoms. Neither was Aegon, mind you, but that just makes the war even more fascinating.

8/10 

House of the Dragon 3x01 "Salt and Sea, Fire and Blood" review

 
    This review comes a little late due to the fact I wasn't actually sure I was going to review House of the Dragon season three. Season two was deeply disappointing due to the changes at HBO that resulted in the season being cut extra short when I felt a major flaw of the series was that it was already too truncated to fit in all of the events of George R.R. Martin's history.

    There was also the dust-up between Martin and Ryan Condal where the former said he didn't appreciate all of the changes that the latter was making to the series. For me, a guy who just wants a faithful adaptation of Martin's work, it is a big kick in the gullet.

    Nevertheless, I feel like with so much prestige television that there was a decided absence of high fantasy shows with the loss of Game of Thrones itself. So House of the Dragon and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms are really the only places you can turn for the kind of political and magic based content I love. Certainly, Rings of Power proved to be an enormous disappointment and the cancellation of Wheel of Time was a crime against humanity.

    So, what did I think of the first episode of Season Three? I really liked it. I think that it may be the best episode of House of the Dragon period. That is less of a compliment than it might sound because it absolutely should have been one of the two final episodes of season two. That would have paid off on a lot of the plot hooks that had been established in the season as well as provided a satisfying climax that, nevertheless, would have left open the door for all of the possibilities of season three.

    The premise for the episode is the Battle of the Gullet, one of the seminal events of the Dance of the Dragons. The Triarchy comes to 'rescue' the forces of Aegon as Corlys Velaryon leads his armada to King's Landing in hopes of decapitating the enemy forces in a single strike. Unfortunately, the chief advantage of Rhaenyra is almost immediately negated by Jace turning against his mother due to his fear that this is a trap to eliminate her. He exercises his status as the oldest male of the house to lock her up and thus take her dragon out of the battle.

    I was not happy with the replacement of Nettles by Rhaena in the larger narrative. I thought she was a great character that didn't necessarily have to Targaryen blood to be a dragon rider. Rhaena is a decent character in her own right, though, as she finds her claiming of Sheepstealer is not the immediate victory she thought it would be. Sheepstealer is a wild dragon and with none of the training provided by previous generations or the Dragon Keepers, it means they are more of a liability than a success.

    The twists and turns of this episode were immense as was the number of deaths that shook up the narrative. It felt like quality Game of Thrones again and I give extremely high marks to the series for it. Death, betrayal, and consequence are one of the major reasons that the series was so successful. I'll miss some of the characters who died but the climaxes for their stories are satisfying in their own ways.

    In conclusion, this was an action-packed and extremely well done episode. The dragons are shown to be the wild, uncontrollable monsters that Viserys said when he gave his "illusion of control" speech. The politics are things that are finally making sense and don't have the characters acting wildly out of sorts. Jace's refusal to believe Alicent would betray her family is a reasonable reaction that worked perfectly in the story as a justification for his betrayal. The Kingsguard siding with him over his mother was also the first reminder in a while of Westeros' misogyny. Overall, a solid episode.

9/10 

Space Marine 2 review

    SPACE MARINE 2 is a game that I should have gotten into a lot sooner than I did. I was one of the original players of the classic SPACE MARINE game that was a classic hack and slash shooter that put you up against endless amounts of Orks as well as the forces of Chaos. The company that produced it went out of business and aside from a pseudo-sequel in BOLTGUN, no one ever thought the property would be revisited (let alone characters).

    The premise for Space Marines 2 is that Titus (Clive Standen), the protagonist of Space Marine, is  now a member of the Inquisition's Deathwatch after the events of the first game. It is not a punishment but certainly doesn't feel like a reward due to Titus' fanatical loyalty to the Ultramarines. Unfortunately, his final mission with the Deathwatch turns out to be a slaughter for his men as they are all killed attempting to poison a horde of Tyranids invading a jungle world.

     Good things come out of the worst events, though, at least in Warhammer 40K and Titus finds himself being upgraded to a Primaris Marine status. Which means he's bigger, faster, and stronger than he used to be. He is also reinducted into the Ultramarines but as a Lieutenant when he was previously a captain. Titus is also still under suspicion by the mysterious Chaplain, who seems to know Titus and support him only begrudgingly.

    What follows is a campaign about Titus attempting to deal with the massive influx of xenomorph-like aliens as well as a conspiracy to use a Chaos device against the forces of the enemy. This is more or less a repeat of the original game with the twist that "oh, it turns out harnessing the forces of Hell tends to backfire against you." This is not a spoiler as it is such an obvious plot element that it would be an enormous twist if it actually worked.

    The game can be played without having done the original but I think my playthrough was strongly enhanced by having done so. Titus has an enormous chip on his shoulder from being held by the Inquisition, tortured, and then put into a bunch of suicide missions for a century. The fact it was done by his fellow Ultramarines means that he unreasonably treats them with suspicion even when they depend on him to lead them.

    Space Marines 2 isn't a game you play for its incredibly deep story and characterization, though. Instead, it is about the gameplay and Space Marines 2 delivers that in spades. There's literally hundreds of Tyranids that can appear on the screen at any time and I initially assumed a lot of the hordes coming at you in the background were just pre-rendered scenery, but, no, you will find yourself overwhelmed by a million xenos. You and two NPCs fight your way through these armies and the controls are similar but not identical to Space Marine's. 

    The graphics are an amazing triumph and you can see multiple planets of Warhammer 40K. There's dark Gothic architecture with many cathedrals, factories, and crumbling cities. There's also a Death World full of oversized alien jungles and a Tomb World that is where the honored dead of the Imperium are buried. You even get to spend some time in the Warp, working against the surreal but beautiful environments.

    If I have one complaint about the game, it is the fact that the single player campaign is heavily entwined with the multiplayer campaign so if you play just the former, you miss out on a lot of story content. There's still plenty of people playing the Expeditions (multiplayer missions) so I was able to enjoy both but I wish they'd included the story missions of the multiplayer in the main campaign rather than separately.

    In conclusion, Space Marines 2 is a fantastic game that I absolutely loved from beginning to end. Titus is a great character and his story arc is an impressive one. The architecture and world design is amazing as is the gameplay loop. However, a lot of the game seems set up to serve the multiplayer with the campaign taking a secondary importance to it. That's fine, it's an enjoyable mode but not my preference.

9/10 

 

Penitent (Bequin #2) by Dan Abnett review

    PENITENT is the second book of the Bequin trilogy by Dan Abnett. It is also the ninth book of the Inquisition series that takes place in the Warhammer 40K universe. Unlike the majority of novels in the setting, the focus isn't on Space Marines or big armies, the focus of the Inquisition novels are on slow steady investigation of evil cults as well as powerful conspiracies. 

    The premise for Bequin is Eisenhorn quadrology supporting character Alizabeth Bequin has a mysteriously created descendent, Beta Bequin. Beta has been raised by the mysterious Cognitae to believe she was being trained as an agent of the Imperial Inquisition when she was actually being trained as the exact opposite. Having teamed up with Eisenhorn despite his heretical status, Bequin also has made contact with Gideon Ravenor in hopes of reconciling the two Inquisitors to work against a third foe: the mysterious King in Yellow.

    The book starts almost immediately after the previous one, Pariah, with Bequin attempting to track down information on the secret cabal that has been at work on the decaying planet of Saucer in the French-themed hive-city of Queen Mab. They have an encrypted code book by one of the Cognitae's leaders but few other leads even as Bequin struggles to deal with the immense amount of distrust between the two teams.

    I said the previous book was a coming of age drama and still believe that to be the case here as we see Bequin go from being bounced around between sides to asserting her own agency. Bequin swiftly learns not to entirely trust Eisenhorn and to also realize that Ravenor will always end up siding with his old master regardless of how mistaken the former can be. So, in true Inquisitorial fashion, Bequin starts to cultivate her own operatives in hopes of unraveling the Yellow King's operations.

    I really like Bequin as a protagonist and think she's a character that would be very good for introducing someone into the complicated world of Warhammer 40K's Imperium. A female perspective is hardly unprecedented inside the staggering amount of lore for the setting but it's still pretty rare. She's very prim and proper, which is a nice contrast to Kara Swole and Patience Kys who feel very much like more traditional ladies in men's fiction.

    Those looking for romance in Warhammer 40K are still going to be disappointed as while there's some hints of such with Lightburn and character Comus Nocturnis, but they don't really go anywhere. Still, I like the hints of her and the winged Adeptus Astartes. While I might question the literal logistics of that, he's a great character and Dan Abnett wouldn't be wrong to explore a romance there.

    There is one serious flaw with the book and that is that it loses a lot of its appeal if you're not familiar with the previous Inquisitor books or the Horus Heresy. The reveal of the King in Yellow's true identity is a huge one for those who are familiar with one of the Emperor's court but others will have to consult the wiki. 

    In conclusion, Penitent is a really good book and another great installment in Dan Abnett's work. Sadly, the final volume of the trilogy is stalled from release due to the events of the Amazon series. I hope they get this settled because I'd really like to get the next volume of this series. This is a very good book and highly recommended.

9/10 

Available here

Pariah (Bequin #1) by Dan Abnett review

    PARIAH by Dan Abnett is the first book of the Bequin trilogy, which is the sequel to both the Eisenhorn and Ravenor series. If you're not familiar with those, you don't need to read them in order to appreciate the books but they strongly enhance the experience. The premise for the books is they are in the Warhammer 40K universe and follow the adventures of Inquisitor teams as they attempt to root out heresy in the grimdark future.

    The premise is that Beta Bequin, who may or may not be related to Alizabeth Bequin from the Eisnehorn trilogy, is being trained as an inquisitor in the crumbling Hive City of Queen Mab. A female perspective is fairly rare in Warhammer 40K and Beta is a fascinating character that has both a mature and immature set of qualities. In many ways, she's an intelligent and old soul but in others she's painfully naive as well as judgemental. There's a kind of 19th Victorian noblewoman quality to her that works surprisingly well in the Imperium.

    Beta quickly finds things may not be as they appear because the school she attends is raided by what appears to be law enforcement despite the Inquisition being above such petty concerns. Beta is forced onto the streets of Queen Mab and doesn't know who she can trust (hint: no one)  or who is telling the truth (hint: no one). What follows is a coming of age story as she slowly develops the skills she needs to navigate the complicated politics and intrigues around her.

    Dan Abnett does a wonderful job of establishing the character with a unique voice and unique attitude compared to all of his many burly men, sneaky Inquisitors, as well as noble officers. He gets to reintroduce most of his older characters from the previous two trilogies as well as show them utterly flabbergasted by a woman they continue to underestimate (including the women on the team).

    The setting of Queen Mab is a delightfully original one that feels like it takes place in the future, past, and present simultaneously. There's a Victorian air to the place but also a sense that the Hive World is crumbling at an extraordinarily slow pace. It gives you a sense of the Imperium's immense age as well as how the fact it is a civilization on the decline. The world-building is tremendous.

    The supporting cast of the book is tremendous. I love the character of Lightburn, who is a heretic that has been branded with "cursedom" that leaves him socially ostracized but in a unique position to serve as a mercenary to criminally minded citizens. I also appreciate the handling of the Ecclesiarchy in the setting, which is the Catholic Church equivalent of the Imperium.

    In conclusion, Pariah is a fantastic book. It's a great place to begin Warhammer 40K even though it is the 7th book in a series technically. Beta Bequin is a fantastic character and the city of Queen Mab is a fantastic character. We get to see a variety of weird and fantastic characters in a society that is full of decadent nobles, drugged-up artists,  as well as impoverished peasants. Fun for the whole family.

9/10 

Available here 

Tales of Supervillainy: Villains Out Shopping is out!

 
The 11th Supervillainy Saga book, TALES OF SUPERVILLAINY: VILLAINS OUT SHOPPING is now available for purchase. An anthology collecting the funniest and craziest tales of the superheroes of the Supervillainy Saga. You don't need familiarity with the series to enjoy its hilarious handling of superhero tropes but it helps.

“What do villains do in their spare time?”

 The Supervillainy Saga has primarily centered around the misadventures of Gary Karkofsky AKA Merciless: The Supervillain without MercyTM. Nevertheless, each volume has revealed more heroes and villains that have made the world almost as complex as publications that have gone on for decades.

TALES OF SUPERVILLAINY: VILLAINS OUT SHOPPING is an anthology with over a dozen tales of these individuals alongside some wholly original Gary stories. Mr. Inventor, Gizmo and Ms. Terri, Nighthuntress, Kerri Karkofsky, Damselfly, Diabloman, plus the Freelancer all have stories within. We also get stories of Gary up against monsters ranging from Cthulhu’s daughter to...William Shatner? That can’t be right (but it is).

This is a collection of both old and original stories set within the Supervillainy Saga. Enjoy the wild and zany antics of the best and worst of C.T. Phipps’ creations.

Available here