C.T. Phipps's Blog, page 81

Star Wars: The Old Republic: Knights of the Fallen Empire review

    I've fallen behind on my Star Wars: The Old Republic reviews. In large part, this is due to the fact I don't have the same amount of time to game as I used to. I'd very much like to catch up and do reviews of Rise of the Hutt Cartel and the Shadow of Revan. However, due to the release of The Eternal Throne, I figure it's probably a good idea to get the biggest and most important of the expansions reviewed.

    Knights of the Fallen Empire is, in my opinion, a...

Westworld 1x10 "The Bicameral Mind" review

 "These violent delights have violent ends."

    It is an interesting question as to why we create stories and what we get out of them. It is another question as to why so many stories are violent, brutal, and ruthless. To be fair, most aren't. Westworld exists as a kind of erstwhile Deadwood-meets-Game of Thrones in-and-out-of universe but it takes the view this is a place where the absolute worst of humanity gets on display.

    I can't help but think a park...

Calamity by Brandon Sanderson review

    Calamity is the third and final volume of the Reckoners trilogy. My general opinion of it can be summarized as "I really regret this series isn't continuing because I liked it enough I wanted to read more about it." The Reckoners shows just how good a really good superhero novel series can be and ranks up there with Soon I Will Be Invincible for works I really enjoyed. It's not my favorite individually but works well as a collection.

    The premise is the wor...

Star Wars: Darth Vader Vol. 1: Vader review

     I love Darth Vader. Darth Vader is easily my favorite villain of all time and nothing, not even the Prequels, could shake my love of the character. However, it's undeniable that the original Dark Lord of the Sith has suffered some villain decay since the days of A New Hope. Even Timothy Zahn, patron saint of the Star Wars EU, remembered Darth Vader more for his strangling subordinates than his tactical genius.

    Let us not forget that Vader is the one...

Flesh to Shadow (The Kormak Saga Omnibus 1#) by William King review

    Have you ever just wanted to read a story about grim lone badass traveling from place to place, killing monsters, sleeping around, and making the occasional wise pronouncement? If so, I recommend you read the original Conan the Barbarian stories by Robert E. Howard. If you have already done so, then I recommend you read The Kormak Saga by William King as well as the Witcher novels by Andrjez Sapkowski.

    Flesh to Shadow contains the first three novels of Wil...

Firefight by Brandon Sanderson review

    The Reckoners Trilogy is one which I was initially skeptical of. Despite being recommended to me by literally dozens of fans, I didn't know if it would be my cup of tea. I'm a fairly big fan of the idea that superhuman powers would be a net-positive to the world and tend to be on the idealistic end of things despite being a fan of edgy antiheroes. The Reckoners Trilogy is based around the concept of a world which has been devastated by evil superhumans, so it's one which yo...

THE RULES OF SUPERVILLAINY and TO BEAT THE DEVIL free for Thanksgiving weekend

I feel a little bad about not announcing this early Friday but from November 25th to the 27th, two of the best books from Amber Cove Publishing are going to be available for free. They've always been available for free on Kindle Unlimited but I'm pleased to say they're free-free for download.


THE RULES OF SUPERVILLAINY by C.T. Phipps: https://www.amazon.com/Rules-Supervillainy-Saga/dp/1514269392/

Follow Gary Karkofsky as he discovers a magic cloak which allows him to live out his dream of being...

Captain America: Civil War review

    Well, better than never. Here is my review of Captain America: Civil War or Avengers 3: Electric Boogaloo, depending on how you want to think of it. The latter is a trifle unfair since much of this movie's story comes from the Winter Soldier arc by Ed Brubaker and expands on the character of Captain America immensely. Still, this movie is something of a Rorschach Test for fans of the MCU since just about everyone sees something different in this movie.

    For...

The Statement of Andrew Doran by Matthew Davenport review

    Indiana Jones meets Titus Crow.

    This is pretty much the basics you need to understand about Matthew Davenport's Andrew Doran novels. Andrew Doran is a two-fisted adventurer archaelogist who travels the globe looking for artifacts which might be used against humanity by cultists or Nazis. Particularly Nazis. The books are straight forward, serious about their subject matter, and not too different from the Pulps which they draw inspiration.

   ...

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson review

    Before I begin this review I should mention this book has been recommended to me about a hundred times by fans of MY books (The Supervillainy Saga). I knew Brandon Sanderson from his work on the Wheel of Time books but hadn't read any of his other works. So, when I heard he had a superhero trilogy. I was intrigued. So, after reading the first novel, what is it about? The best way I can describe it is Superman vs. Batman done right.

    The premise of the book...