C.T. Phipps's Blog, page 112
July 31, 2015
What is Grimdark?
Grimdark is in the eye of the beholder.
No, not that kind of beholder.On a more simpler term, grimdark is a term which was initially bandied about by the gaming community of science-fiction and fantasy as an insult for books which were "trying too hard to be taken seriously."
The term originally comes from the over-the-top hardcore dystopian science-fiction/fantasy setting Warhammer 40K. However, something (black) magical happened when a...
July 30, 2015
Game Of Thrones: Episode Five: A Nest of Vipers review
The penultimate episode of Telltale's adaptation of the Game of Thrones series is the shortest one released by Telltale, clocking in at about an hour and a half rather than the usual two hours. I don't really mind this as I'm more than willing to pay five dollars for that amount of gaming experience.
Telltale's version of George R.R. Martin's setting is a good deal toned down from the original source material, which is saying something given the number of...
July 29, 2015
The Blood War Trilogy: Requiem review
I was a big fan of Tim Marquitz's Dawn of War (reviewed here) and its follow-up Embers of an Age (reviewed here). The premise of the books is a Deconstruction of the traditional bloodless epic fantasy where a bunch of mindless, brutal killing machines like orcs or goblins assault a pure and good fantasy kingdom.
Here, we see just how horrifying a race of completely evil monsters would really be as well as how the nature of war would cause terrible changes...
July 28, 2015
Fallout 3 review
"War...war never changes."
With the news Fallout 3 is going to be included with Fallout 4, it seemed the perfect time to review this grimdark post-apocalyptic science-fiction classic.
I should note, before I get into this review, it's interesting how the public's perception of games can shift on a dime. While Fallout 3 is still well-regarded, generally the fandom's opinion is that its spin-off, Fallout: New Vegas, is much-better. Frankly, I can't help but t...
July 27, 2015
The Blood War Trilogy: Embers of an Age
The Blood War Trilogy is a grimdark epic fantasy series by Tim Marquitz (Demon Squad, Dirge), which follows the events of a multi-faction war which is sparked by the sudden acquistion of numerous powerful magical weapons by hostile belligerent nations. It follows numerous heroes, cynical and idealistic, as they struggle to deal with the massive events going on around them.
I loved the original Dawn of War (reviewed here) and was very impressed with its dep...
The Wheel of Time: The Shadow Rising review
The Shadow Rising is the fourth novel in the Wheel of Time series, following the events of the climatic third book which has seemingly killed the Dark One's strongest Forsaken as well as resulted in the crowning of Rand al'Thor the Dragon Reborn for all of the world to see.
The book opens with Rand struggling with his new-found position as the King of Tear as well as his friends' struggle to deal with these new changes to his personality. Perrin has begun...
July 26, 2015
Grimdark Magazine issue 3# review
Grimdark Magazine is an ezine I very much enjoy. I'm a big fan of grimdark storytelling and I think this magazine is contributing a lot to getting the term to become more accepted as a code for dark, gritty fantasy fiction. I don't think grimdark is going to replace terms like low fantasy, sword and sorcery, or even dark fantasy as terminology but it sounds good as well as gives a hint to the reader that no punches are going to be pulled.
One thing I'd als...
July 23, 2015
Grimdark Magazine issue 2# review
I was a big fan of Grimdark Magazine 1# and thought the ezine had a lot of potential. Any magazine which contained an interview with Abercombie and fiction by Mark Lawrence deserved to be able to call itself the publication for grimdark fiction. However, the defining moment for any publication isn't the first issue but whether or not it'll be able to repeat success on a regular level.
What do I think of the second issue?
Not as good as th...
