K.N. Salustro's Blog, page 22

Star Federation Database: Yukarians

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One of the three dominant races of the galaxy, Yukarians originated from the planet Yukara, located within the Aurora Star System. The territory they control is the second-largest independent sector in the galaxy, greater even than human-controlled space. Unlike the reclusive Hyrunians, however, Yukarians have maintained open relations with the Star Federation and have granted movement through a significant portion of their territory as part of an alliance with the military. It has been spec...

Review – Updraft

[image error]I was instantly pulled into this book. The world building is so strong, making the reader feel as though they are present in the city of bone towers alongside Kirit, the main character and narrator of the novel. Wilde’s fantasy world is a fascinating, captivating one, and Updraft is a book that is easy to get lost in.

Kirit as a main character also works especially well. She’s a little slow on the uptake many times throughout the book, due mostly to her concerns that (justifiably) focus on he...

Resolutions for 2017 #poweredbyindie

My “Year in Review” post for 2016 was pretty pessimistic. Given how that year went, that’s probably surprising to no one, but hey. It’s a new year. While I’m personally of the opinion that it’s going to be a hell of a ride, I’m cautiously optimistic about getting a few personal projects and goals accomplished. So, in the spirit of cautious optimism and starting out on a brighter note than 2016 ended on, here’s a look at some of my resolutions for this year.

Star Hunters Book #3

I am aiming to...

Review – Death’s End

[image error]Wow. If the Dark Forest ended with surprising optimism, it’s stomped out here. This is a beautiful but incredibly bleak book, terrifying in several senses and depressing in others. There’s thrilling tension but oh my… the sheer brutality of the events that unfold is breathtaking.

In the middle of all of this is Cheng Xin, who is such a stark contrast to the singular, selfish way of thinking that the rest of the universe adapts in order to survive. I admit that I wasn’t too keen on her as a ch...

Review – It Takes a Thief to Catch a Sunrise

[image error]This book was SO GOOD. It opens with the main characters, master thieves and lovers Jacques and Isabel, pulling a heist. Immediately, you’re pulled into their world, and get to watch them pull off this job, even improvising when it goes wrong. The pacing is wonderful from the very first chapter, and it’s a hard book to put down.

Jacques and Isabel are two very strong, very compelling characters. They shift effortlessly in and out of the disguises they adapt, but on they’re own, they have a po...

Year in Review – 2016

Well.

The default opening line is, I think, that 2016 sucked. In a lot of ways, it did. In a lot of ways, it didn’t. It was just another year. And now, here we go again.

I find myself not as hopefully optimistic as I was in December, 2015. I find myself tired, mostly. I managed to move, which was a big life decision that I’d put off for longer than I probably should have. I went through a difficult time following that, but now have a stable job that’s within my field, even though I’m still ge...

2016 Reading Roundup

My personal reading challenge this year was a bit different from last year. Rather than trying to hit a book for certain categories, I had a set number of books that I wanted to read. Technically speaking, I fell a little short of my 25 book goal, but considering the upheaval in the first half of the year, I’mokay with that. Plus, I did find some really good books this year!

Here’s a recap of what I read:

Saga (Vol. 2-5)

I continue to adoreSaga and can’t wait for the next volume to come out.I...

Review – “The House of the Four Winds”

[image error]Based on the cover alone, I expected a great pirate story with some fantasy elements mixed in. The summary promised as much. Sadly, I did not get what I was expecting. Or at least, I did not get it to the extent I would have liked. But it’s not a bad book.

The novel starts a little slow. The opening makes sense, introducing the overarching characters that will make up the rest of the series in addition to Princess Clarice, the main character of this starting book. From there, it takes a while...

Thoughts on “Buan: A Company of Heroes”

[image error]This is the second book in the Buan series. For me, it’s another one for the Did Not Finish shelf.

I’ll be keeping this brief as I did not make it very far into the book before putting it down. As I noted in my review of the first Buan book, I was hoping the writing would be more mature this time around. Unfortunately, it wasn’t.

As before, there was too much detail in all the wrong places, leading to dragging pacing, incidental plot, and characters that feel flat. They and the narrator also...

As promised, that time I broke a romance…

Last week, I talked about singular moments in video games and how, no matter what kind of game you’re playing, there is always the chance for you to engage with that game in a special way and have a totally unique experience. I ended by saying that I had a very vivid memory of a time I broke a game and found a moment that never really should have occurred. For those who have been waiting, here it is.

The memory that I have is of the time I tried and failed to romance a man in Dragon’s Dogma:...