C.T. Phipps's Blog, page 110

Hitman: Agent 47 review

    I'll be honest, I didn't go into this movie expecting much. I'm not a big fan of the Hitman franchise because I've always been a story-orientated player and the idea of playing a seemingly static character like 47 never appealed to me. Since seeing this movie, I've done some research and found out my initial opinion of the franchise was wrong and I should probably give the games a chance.

    Hitman: Agent 47 opens with an over-long introduction which explains...

With Sword and Pistol review

    With Sword and Pistol is a collection of four novellas by Edward M. Erdelac which, if not for the final story, could have easily been classified as a Sword and Sorcery work. As such, it's now, instead, a collection of three Sword and Sorcery stories as well as one dark urban fantasy one. This dissonance is kind of annoying but is mitigated heavily by the fact three of the four stories are very good.
 
    The fourth?

    Mostly good.

 &n...

Mad Max: Fury Road review

    I'm a huge post-apocalypse fan. I'm not a fan of "realistic" apocalypse stories but I do love stories where it transforms the world into a pseudo-Wild West scavenger society full of bandits. As such, I'm a huge fan of Mad Max but not necessarily for the same reasons many other fans are. I've always been invested in the world-building more than the action itself. Which is good for this film since it has copious amounts of both.

    The premise of the film is si...

Tales from the Borderlands: Episode 4: Escape Plan Bravo review

    Having just finished the penultimate episode of Tales from the Borderlands, I am grinning ear-to-ear. In a very real way, I'm kind of disappointed by this episode but only in the context that the ending was so perfect that I don't think Episode 5 can improve on it. In my case, Rhys chose to make a deal with the Devil and became the one who knocks. I'm going to be very disappointed when this is, inevitably, reversed but for a few shining moments, it's good to be king.

 &...

"Is Dark Urban Fantasy a Genre?" - an essay by me

Urban Fantasy Investigations was kind enough to do an article with me called, "Is Dark Urban Fantasy a genre?" Which is my analysis of whether or not Urban Fantasy has gotten to the point it can be divided into different subgenres. Sadly, the article misspelled the title of my book in the intro but that's a small deal.

Read the Essay Here

Demon Squad: Collateral Damage review

    Collateral Damage is the eighth novel of the long-running Demon Squad series by Tim Marquitz. The series follows the adventures of Frank Trigg, the Devil's Nephew (later revealed to be his son). It's a series which reads like a combination of the Dresden Files and Hellblazer, two great tastes which go great together. It's also a series which swings dramatically between ultra-serious and zany irreverance, often in the same page. I've enjoyed all of the previous books and com...

Interview with CT Phipps (me) on Contagious Reads

I'm pleased to say the good folk at Contagious Reads were kind enough to interview me for their website. They asked a lot of fun questions and I had a blast answering them. Please check it out when you have the time.

C.T. Phipps interview

Demon Squad: Exit Wounds review

    The Demon Squad series by Tim Marquitz is a series following the adventures of the Devil's Nephew (later revealed to be his son), Frank Trigg. Set in a world which God and the Devil have abandoned to fight an extra-dimensional war against beings similar to H.P. Lovecraft's Great Old Ones.

    The Best of Enemies dealt with Frank and his lover Kara breaking up upon the death of the latter's father at the former's hands. Exiled to God's prison dimension at the e...

The Blade Itself review

    The Blade Itself is the first volume of the First Law Trilogy, a collection of low fantasy novels which helped bring the concept of grimdark to mainstream attention. While very few authors willingly admit to writing grimdark, this trilogy is generally one you can point to and say, "This is what the genre is supposed to be about." For those who want to avoid the question of what grimdark means in regards to this novel, I'll instead say The Blade Itself is an excellent, easy-...

The Subversiveness of Aiden Pearce

Warning - this review will contain spoilers for the storyline of Watch_Dogs.

    Aiden Pearce is a controversial character from Ubisoft Entertainment. As the protagonist of Watch_Dogs, he has been derided by many as being boring or flat. I couldn't disagree more. In fact, I'd argue that Aiden Pearce is one of the most subversive characters Ubisoft has ever created. He is a character who challenges the idea of the video game escapist fantasy and illustrates how even a "successful...