C.T. Phipps's Blog, page 106
October 17, 2015
Witch Bane review
I'm a big fan of Tim Marquitz's The Blood War Trilogy, a grimdark fantasy series following an alliance of loosely-allied nations against a genocidal army of magic-wielding wolfmen. I also loved his grimdark apocalypse novel, Dirge, which followed a master thief charged with stealing a mystical artifact during a zombie apocalypse. So, I was interested in what his latest fantasy novel would be like and whether it would live up to the example set by previous volumes.
&nbs...
October 15, 2015
Batman: Arkham Knight storyline review
This article will contain spoilers for Batman: Arkham Knight's storyline.
There is a temptation in comic books to attempt to do the definitive story for a character. This is why so many stories are either the origins of superheroes or some life-defining moment like facing the most dangerous opponent of their lives. The later, especially, can lead to a glut of supervillains who are the best at everything or have some personal connection to the heroes.
Arkha...
October 12, 2015
Batman: Arkham Knight review
Batman: Arkham Knight is an incredibly hard game to review. When its good, it's very-very good. It's like Batman firing his grappling hook at the tallest building in Gotham and sending him sailing upward into the sky. When it's bad, well, it's pretty damn bad. This is the buggiest game I've played since Assassin's Creed: Unity and there were a couple which threatened to make it unplayable for me. Thankfully, I managed a workaround for the game but the fact I did meant the g...
October 9, 2015
Ronin Games review
The Wearing the Cape franchise is one of my favorite superhero novel franchises out there. It, along with Ex-Heroes and Confessions of a D-List Supervillain, helped inspire me to write The Supervillainy Saga. As a result, I've always been a first day buyer of the books whenever they come out. I appreciate that this is becoming a lengthy well-detailed world with as much complex history and physics as any other science-fiction/fantasy franchise in the genre.
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October 7, 2015
Metro 2033 review
Having been recommended this game on several occasions by friends and internet acquaintances, I've been remiss by not reviewing it earlier. It's especially problematic because I love shooters, the apocalypse, and imaginative world-building--which Metro 2033 has plenty of in spades. I purchased the Xbox One remastering so I've got both it and its sequel, Metro: Last Light, which I will review separately.
Based on a 2002 novel by Dmitry A. Glukhovsky, Metro...
October 6, 2015
Sketch for THE GAMES OF SUPERVILLAINY cover
I'm pleased to say I've just got the sketch for THE GAMES OF SUPERVILLAINY cover by Raffaele Marinetti.
This cover shows characters Mandy Karkofsky and Diabloman, who are the main (anti)hero Merciless' wife and second-in-command respectively. Raffaele is a great artist and really managed to capture the heroine and villain in my head. I can't wait to see what he does with future books.
The Games of Supervillainy will be out early this November.
October 3, 2015
The Fantasy Book Critic Reviews ESOTERRORISM
I'm very pleased to say one of my favorite websites has chosen to do a review of my book, ESOTERRORISM. The Fantasy Book Critic, a great website for news and articles as well as reviews about all the best fantasy on the internet.
What did they think?
They loved it!
Overall I very much enjoyed Esoterrorism as it was written with few things in mind, if you are looking for a fast-paced, action heavy thriller, then Esoterrorism will hit the bullseye. If you are looking for a change from the usual ur...
September 29, 2015
Grimdark Magazine 5# has two articles by me
I'm pleased to say Grimdark Magazine, a great fanzine I have a lot of respect for, has seen fit to include two articles by me in their latest publication. These are, "WHO IS THE GRIMDARK HERO?" which analyzes what sort of protagonist is found in those types of books as well as a review of THE WITCHER 3. There's also some really great interviews with folk like PETER ORULLIAN and JAMES A. MOORE.
Hilariously, Peter Orullian references our review of BLACKGUARDS: TALES OF ASSASSINS, MERCENARIES, A...
September 28, 2015
Sea of Quills review
Sea of Quills is the sequel to the extremely successful Mountain of Daggers book by Seth Skorkowsky. Both are part of the Tales of the Black Raven series, which follows the adventures of Ahren, a sailor turned cat burglar who has managed to becomr the world's most infamous rogue. The books are set in a Hyborian-style fantasy setting distantly related to the Renassiance but including many qualities from other time periods as well as both monsters and magic.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 review
If you want to read about the Social Satire of this game, go here.
Modern Warfare is a series which is far smarter than it has to be and often gets far less credit than it deserves. The premise is, five years after the events of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, the Ultranationalists have won the civil war against the Loyalists. They have lionized Imran Zakhaeve and raised him up as a martyr to the cause despite the fact he was a monstrous psychopath. The Ultranationalist-rule...
