C.T. Phipps's Blog, page 27

Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power 1x1 "A Shadow of the Past" and 1x2 "Adrift"

    THE RINGS OF POWER is fine, specifically 1x1 "A Shadow of the Past" and 1x2 "Adrift", are fine. This is something that I feel is both damning as well as an argument against all the criticism the show has unfairly received before it has even begun. The show is breathtakingly beautiful, the soundtrack is extremely enchanting, and the characters are entertaining as well as competently acted. However, for those hoping to be transported back to JRR Tolkien's Middle Earth, the show basically feels...

House of the Dragon 1x02 "The Rogue Prince" review

    HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 1×02 “THE ROGUE PRINCE” is, as the title indicates, the second episode of the House of the Dragon series from HBO. The prequel to Game of Thrones, it is a chronicle of the Dance of the Dragons civil war detailed in George R.R. Martin’s Fire and Blood. I very much was excited for this episode and started writing my review as soon as I finished watching it for the second time. Why twice? Because one view isn’t enough.

    The first thing that I must comment on is the fact th...

Middle Earth: Shadow of War review

    MIDDLE EARTH: SHADOW OF WAR is the sequel to the highly popular and enjoyable MIDDLE EARTH: SHADOW OF WAR. It was a somewhat blasphemous and fascinating take on the classic Tolkien Legendarium, having its protagonist seek to use necromancy as well as other dark magic to fight the Dark Lord with his own power. You know, the one thing that is constantly warned against by Tolkien as self-defeating but we kind of would be curious as to how it would go.

    Since this is a direct sequel, a brief r...

How I returned to Wraith Knight

    Well my original idea for Wraith Knight was to do three books like the Dragonlance Chronicles or the paperbacks I read in the Nineties but the Game of Thrones' bad ending, decision to expand the United States of Monsters, and a lot of disillusionment with Ragnarok Publications caused me to not finish the trilogy.

    So I decided to resume writing Wraith King because I was inspired by the House of the Dragon trailer but I had a severe problem that was not going to be easily solved: I had forg...

House of the Dragon 1x01 "Heir of the Dragon" review

    HOUSE OF THE DRAGON is the prequel series to HBO's fantastic (for the first few seasons or so) GAME OF THRONES. It's a pretty distant prequel as well, taking place two hundred years before Daenerys Targaryen attempts her epic quest to assume the Iron Throne, which absolutely ended wonderfully and everyone lived happily thereafter. As you can see from my intro, there's some bitterness and ill-feeling leftover from Season Eight's finale which many fans share. Can House of the Dragon recapture ...

Two new title releases and good news!

I'm now pleased to say the third (and not final) volume of Space Academy is now released in Kindle form! There's a lot of good news that comes with this volume because it is also coming with Podium and I signing a deal with six books in the series (that's three more) to be narrated by Jeffrey Kafer! Yay!

SPACE ACADEMY DROPOUTS

I'm now pleased to say the third (and not final) volume of Space Academy is now released in Kindle form! There's a lot of good news that comes with this volume because it i...

Dragonlance: Dragons of Deceit by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

 

    DRAGONS OF DECEIT by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman is the best Dragonlance book since THE SECOND GENERATION. Unfortunately, that's saying quite a bit since that includes DRAGONS OF A SUMMER FLAME, THE WAR OF SOULS, and THE DARK DISCIPLE books. I haven't read THE LOST CHRONICLES yet, but I feel like it is hard to capture the magic of THE DRAGONLANCE CHRONICLES and DRAGONLANCE LEGENDS.

    Anyway, Destina Rosethorn, my one complaint being her name sounds like it came from Harry Potter fanfic...

Why I'm watching House of the Dragon

    To quote another story about a dysfunctional family of great influence, "Just when I think I'm out, they pull me back in!" I watched the extended Comic Con trailer for House of the Dragon, and it was like all the old feelings I'd suppressed from my days as a Game of Thrones superfan came running back. 

    We'd broken up for good reasons. Season Eight was a dark period in our relationship but let's be honest, it hadn't been good between us in a while. Things had been treading water for a w...

Slaying the Dragon: A Secret History of Dungeons and Dragons by Ben Riggs

    Dungeons and Dragons and its parent company in the Eighties, TSR, had a fascinating story that has mostly been shared around by gamers at cons as well as word of mouth for decades. This isn't the story of the Satanic Panic that both vilified gamers and drove sales through the roof. No, this is a story of the internal politicking that led to the rise of TSR as a corporate entity under Gary Gygax, his loss of the company to Lorraine Williams, and how it was ultimately acquired by Wizar...

The Anarchism of the Dresden Files

    The Dresden Files justifiably gets a lot of criticism over the years (reasons vary according to individual readers). I, on the other hand, love the books and they remain one of my all-time favorite series. Their action, humor, and world-building are things I've only found a few series like and it has been a major influence on my own writing.

    However, one area I'll always give the books credit is their handling of anarchist sentiment. What? You don't think it’s an anarchist series? ...