Islets & Islanders—An All-Accommodating Getaway Package

Even if I took this photo in mid-May, I enjoy having an early sunrise in the summertime. Not so much the late sunsets though for some reason. —Taken with an iPhone 8 

Summer and I do not exactly get along. Sure, there may be more opportunities for adventure and spectacle with a local fireworks show—unrelated to US Independence Day—but it is the extensive heat that sours what is otherwise a low-key season. Walks were something I would usually avoid in summer more or less because, well, I usually end up in a aura of moisture about ten to fifteen minutes in—sometimes after I make it across the street. While it might be a bit of bummer, the little things like a Dairy Queen Blizzard treat,  or going to a family reunion at a lake house make the season worthwhile. The ideal summer image of a tropical island vacation also sounds promising with two games making up a vacation package of easy-going fun.

One of many quirky and lovable characters who reside in the sky islands. —Captured on Switch (Handheld Mode) 

The first stop in this vacation cruise is a journey to the skies where a chain of once-connected islands lies scattered across the clouds in Islets—a game developed by Kyle Thompson for Armor Games Studios. The official website describes the game as “A Surprisingly Wholesome Metroidvania” and, while I think it fits the adventure to a tee, it also does not do the game proper justice. Even if I was alternating between this game and Tears of the Kingdom back in June, I found Islets to be a vibrant and refreshing change of pace. This starts with our main character, a warrior mouse named Iko, who sets forth on a journey to join the sky islands together again and he is far from alone as a competing warrior, an overzealous show-off named Snoot, manages to tear down Iko’s boat by merely revving his own airship. Once Iko crashes onto the lush green plains of Northstable Island, his quest truly begins with a simple tutorial and some low-fi beats from the game’s composer, Eric Thompson.

The controls are very easy to get the hang of—even if I sometimes forgot I could do forward rolls—and the power ups are the usual standard metroidvania fare. Players familiar with Hollow Knight will recognize the double jump and Islets's own approach to wall-clinging abilities where Iko can just climb straight up to the top. When Islets does its own thing, though, it does so it a cool fashion from arrows that can create contrails for platforms to airship boss fights which feel like something out of Cotton, Darius, or Turrican. 

The big innovator which fully gives Islets that refreshing change of pace is the exploration itself. While Iko might not have the expansive move set of someone like the Knight, the act of reconnecting the islands acts a series of power-ups to encourage backtracking. Each time I added an island back to the chain, the journey back through them almost felt like new with additional pathways sandwiched between adjacent ares instead of a mere trek around the map. The visuals themselves, while not as detailed as Hollow Knight or Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, still breath life into the aerial archipelago and the characters who fly about them and the hub town, Sky City. If the links between islands are like powers-ups, the characters and how they develop act as pieces of lore, in which denizens tell Iko about landmarks and points of interest.

An unexpected highlight of Islets, which puts some arcade-like action into a Metroidvania. —Captured on Switch (Handheld Mode)  

Even for a game that makes simplicity shine in everything from world-building and character development to gameplay, there are some rough patches of turbulence—mostly in the form of boss battles. While I found it really cool that said bosses and normal enemies had projectiles that were easy to see—and simple tells of attack prep with a few exclamation marks—the big behemoths felt like they took forever to defeat. Even if these fights get tedious after awhile, the sword-fighting does not feel out of place. The variations between the difficultly levels are not much to write home about either—the more difficult the setting, the stronger the foes are. They also develop more complex bullet patterns between each tier, but it feels more subtle with the most notable difference being in the first boss’s second phase with both easy and normal modes being completely identical.   

The last little niggle deals with Islets own version of health and ammo bonuses—a roulette of additional perks which range from the afermentioned to adding extra power to every other attack and in-game currency you can use in Sky City for other perks. This is another one of Islets’s neat twists to the metroidvania formula and most of them are not that difficult to obtain. The ones that pose some trouble seldom require extreme coordination or reflexes, making Islets easy to fully complete. As for the rewards, even if there is a choice whether to play it safe with a health increase or risk it for gold, the variety in choice sometimes varies greatly. The incremental increases offered both with said pickups and the Sky City stores might prompt players continuously go for the former, but considering how easy it is to gain funds, there is some breathing room. 

Islets might lack the palm trees of a tropical beach resort in both in the literal and figurative sense, but it is still a metroidvania that manages to both accommodate newcomers and challenge the pros simultaneously.

This island reminded me of Windwaker while I was building the mills and cities. I couldn't help but think of Windfall Island. —Captured on Switch (Handheld Mode)

The next destination is a proper cruise from one island to the next where the cities, tourist attractions, and even the agriculture turn the vacationer to a full-time construction worker in Islanders—an indie game developed by Grizzly Games. Unlike the intense focus on finances, budgeting, and proper zoning in similar titles like Sim City, Islanders focuses more on just developing the procedurally-generated islands into livable spaces while aiming for a high score. Each island requires a certain amount of development and points before the player can start an expedition to the next one and the key to a quick getaway is, well, zoning by building type. Each building can benefit from either adjacent structures—like mills and fields—or by the surrounding resources, which can significantly bolster the score. Even if a player reaches the expedition cap, they can still continue to further develop the island with fountains, parks, and towers among other options. 

Even if the sessions can be short—usually between one to two hours—Islanders has quite a bit of depth with its gameplay with situations that require some out-of-the-box thinking. There may be islands where the game provides you with multiple wooden piers (or plateaus) in order to make up for the lack of land mass. Some locales might even provide you with major buildings and exclude the smaller producers—think sawmills without lumberjacks or mills without fields. Even particular buildings like the Shaman’s Hut involve some pixel-perfect placement to get the highest amount of points possible, and to make up for the reduction if there is a mansion nearby. 

This deceptively simple gameplay loop kept me enthralled with Islanders with each session I played while the 3D visuals and music evoked that relaxing island atmosphere. There are both tropical and snowy islands alongside many interesting geographic variations which help keep the game fresh. For those who just want to get creative, the game also includes a “sandbox mode” that takes the scoring system out completely. Both modes make Islanders into a game that embraces the best aspects of summer—a laid-back day at the resort with a crossword puzzle and piña colada. (Other drinks are available.)     

Top: Another one of my favorite builds in Islanders, featuring some of the 
Bottom: A tour guide contemplates a price hike in Islets. —Both Captured on Switch (Handheld Mode) 

From sky back to the seas, the full vacation package contains a duo of pick-up-and-play titles that manage to balance both challenge and difficultly. Islets might have boss fights that feel like in-flight delays, but the journey across and between the sky islands provides a fresh take on metroidvanias for veterans and newcomers alike. The follow-cruise with Islanders suffers the opposite problem with (sometimes) short sessions, but the gameplay is engrossing enough to keep the momentum. Whether you are big into metroidvanis or want the therapeutic experience of constructing an island city without noise pollution, this vacation package has you covered! 

Islets In Sum: Brave Mouse Discovers New Technology. Epic Monsters Still Rampant: 8.5 out of 10 

Islanders In Sum: Urban Development at Its Ideal (Albeit Brief)—Tranquil and Deceptively Easy: 9.5 out of 10 

An Updated Review Timeline and a Brief Amiibo Addiction—Ink for July 28th, 2023

Urban planning makes the best of geographic oddities. —Captured on Switch (Handheld Mode) 

I'm changing the timeline again with regards to rest of summer's reviews partly because of the usual culprit—although that's game's mostly wrapped up (for now)—but also because of one addition to the roster.   

I'm still working on reading through Goldeneye 007: The Making of an N64 Classic by Alyse Knorr and should still be on target to have a review written and published here next month. Islets will also be a review for late-August (or early September), but I'm also tacking on another game which evokes the same laid-back, summer feel. It also revolves around islands with a related namesake, Islanders: Console Edition, and was recommended to me by Ivenne, a friend of the blog and the creator behind the [Un]Official CheapShow Magazine! 

I'm aiming for somewhere between 750-1250 words for the combination review and there will be scores. (Spoilers: They're both fun!)   

As for the last item in the queue, I'm aiming to read and review The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane sometime in September.    

So that's the admin done, I thought I'd talk about what the Tears of the Kingdom shenanigans hath wrought... 

Top: A Solid Cast of Links—from the 8-Bit beginnings (rightmost) to when he composed music at sea (leftmost)—with a spider-esque robot lurking nearby.
Bottom: A Better look at the Windwaker Link & Zelda alongside the princess from her Skyward Sword days. —Both taken with an iPhone 8    

One of the things I didn't expect to do while playing this game was to break out the wallet for additional Amiibo figurines. These Amiibos have a Near-Field Communication (NFC) chip located at the base designed to interact with the NFC chip on a Joy-Con or an official Switch Pro controller to allow players to further enjoy additional features with particular games. In both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, they provide a cache of resources alongside a treasure chest containing either a normal weapon or shield, a gemstone, or an exclusive piece of armor related to the Amiibo in question.

Thing is, even if they said there was a restock on Zelda Amiibos upon the game's release, I never thought to take advantage of it. Then again, I wasn't really in the market for them beforehand—I had the 8-Bit Link one already alongside an 8-Bit Mario figure, the Metroid Dread dual-pack, and Mr. Game & Watch—since most of the games I played either didn't use them or had Amiibo-only features that I felt like I didn't need. The ones I already had were close to the regular retail price that the Nintendo Life article lists for the reissued Links (around US $14.99) with the exception of the Metroid dual-pack that was closer to US $30.

But when I found the Link from Majora's Mask on Amazon for around US $38 when it scalpers usually sell it for way over US $100, I can't say no to a figurine from what is my favorite Zelda game of all time! 

Here's the thing, you don't need these Amiibos if you're looking for exclusive armor and weapons in Tears of the Kingdom. You can find chests in caves and the Depths where you can net them without having to shell out money to a scalper or braving a games store as someone over thirty looking for what could be called a kid's toy. Without spoiling anything, the trek is worth it alone no matter how you end up finding them!

...and that concludes my Tears of the Kingdom ramble. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!    

The Shenanigans Won Out in the End...

Much like Return to Monkey Island, the uploaded screenshots won't do Islets any justice—Captured on Switch (Handheld Mode)  

Tears of the Kingdom has been my go-to game for the past couple months and, even if I did manage to do a playthrough of Islets in-between sessions, I don't think I could give a proper review to the indie metroidvania. I started writing a draft yesterday with an intro that (ideally) would transition from praising an open-world game for not having an overwhelming narrative to how Islets evokes a similar feeling for a metroidvania game, but it felt way too ambitious. It probably wouldn't make much sense either. 

I also made a post on Mastodon a couple weeks ago saying that I was on track for both reviews and, I admit, I got ahead of myself. 

In short, I'm pushing back almost everything...

• I'll have a review of Islets up by late July, meaning that I can do a full playthrough on Normal and a more in-depth one on Hard
• Red Team Blues will be a review for earlier in the month while moving Alyse Knorr's Goldeneye 007: The Making of an N64 Classic back into August. (Although it could also be a late July review as well...)
• I'm still aiming for August to finish reading and review The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane for the blog alongside Knorr's book

Hope you all are having a great summer so far!  

A Glimpse Into What Summer Will Look Like This Year...

A in-depth look into the history of James Bond's Nintendo 64 debut, a cyberpunk thriller, and a Metroidvania that takes place in the sky— Taken with an iPhone 8

Sunday won again, but that was more or less me getting distracted by Tears of the Kingdom, which has been a beautiful experience that can sometimes be a little overwhelming. I'm not going to spoil anything here, but I did write a small thread on Mastodon with my initial thoughts on the game. The individual posts are all behind sensitive content filters, but the first one is spoiler-free and provides a window into my foray back into Hyrule. That, and it also highlights the way I played through Breath of the Wild along with how I approach open-world games.

I'll end up writing a few more posts on the game there as I play it, but for the next game review, we'll be going to a different set of sky islands!

Earlier into the year, I decided to sign up for the Super Rare Club, which is a service from Super Rare Games that more or less allows you to pre-order games earlier than the general public alongside a few other perks like exclusive merch. They are a company that specializes in physical games—like Strictly Limited and Limited Run—but solely focus on indie developers who might otherwise be overlooked. I've been a fan since I stumbled upon Project Warlock, which was Jakub Cislo's take on Doom that added role-playing game elements into the mix (plus magic spells). Some of my favorite Switch games are straight from Super Rare Games's physical releases—The Lion's Song and The Flower Collectors from Mi'Pu'Mi Games, Horace, Deponia (eventually in its entirety), and Dicey Dungeons to name a few. 

So when they announced Islets alongside the featured trailer, I thought that it would be right up my alley between the genre and an art style that fits itself gracefully between Hollow Knight and Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom. 

My plan is to do a run on easy mode first to get the full narrative experience while getting a feel for the exploration and gameplay mechanics. Then, I'll do a playthrough on normal to see how difficult the bosses and combat become to provide a (more) proper review. 

I'm aiming for late-June to write and publish the review—possibly July if I'm sidetracked by more Tears of the Kingdom shenanigans. (Although, I feel like I've made enough progress to take a little break.)  

As for the books...

There was a tie in the results between Cory Doctorow's Red Team Blues and Alyse Knorr's Goldeneye 007: The Making of an N64 Classic. I though that, instead of doing a tiebreaker poll, I would read and review both books starting with Red Team Blues and then doing Goldeneye 007 with the review for the former being slated for June. I'm aiming for July for the latter...

...and I'll also be doing a review of The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane in August—or July if I finish reading it before then. 

Thank you to everyone who voted in the polls! I think this will be an excellent summer for blogging! 

Hollow: A Love Like A Life—A Voyage Into Cosmic Romance

No glare and not as pixelated this time. Also, no overhead light. —Taken with an iPhone 8

Much like being around a crush or speaking in a public forum, I am very nervous about reviewing a romance novel for the first time. It is not even the just matter of it being outside of my comfort zone for my gender—Christine Sneed wrote some good novels which focused on relationships—but its something that I never even considered. I do not think it is a secret that love stories get a bad rap whether in literature, television, or film for presumably lackluster (or rather, generic) writing. Yet, this novel in verse has the power to change that paradigm while making my first journey into the genre go a little more smoothly than I thought.

Hollow: A Love Like A Life is a romance novel in poetry written by Jaz Jazalyn where two spirits, hailing from completely different universes, find themselves in love with one another. The laws that govern both universes, however, prevent them from properly meeting each other, which gives the illusion that their love is completely impossible. Yet, they still both yearn for each other and by the end, manage to make the best out of an improbable situation. It is not exactly a book with a happy ending, but their love is far from unrequited.  

I initially got myself lost at first, unable to make the distinction between the light and shadow spirits. I thought that it was similar to vVilrRuUsS: I Never Forget, where the lack of direction was intentional, leaving the reader to decided who the spirits are in each poem. Then I read it again and paid attention to the section titles. This time, the sense of confusion faded out between the sections “Dreaming of the Light” and “Dangerous Skies”. The distinction is made clear, even if only for a brief moment, and the shadow spirit provides some clarity as to how they fell in love with each other in the poem “Strange Eve”. Their romance may be forbidden, but fate works in strange ways no matter what universe one resides in.

Once these sections pass, the difference between light and dark is rendered unclear once again as they become more enamored with each other. There is the spark of inspiration, the wish for a chance to meet, the encounters within their own dreams, followed by intensifying feelings that prompt both jealousy and doubt between the spirits. All things which, in a reality-based romance novel, may be symbolized by antagonistic characters, unfortunate accidents, and strict families among other things. Yet, there is little mention of those aspects in Hollow, which added to the tension to their relationship and lack thereof.

An aspiring reader may wonder how these spirits manage to maintain a strong bond if they cannot communicate across universes. Much of it comes across as inferred telepathy, and one poem titled “Infinity” suggests that one does end up imitating the other. Another set of poems near the end of the novel suggest that their telepathy ends up manifesting itself through text messages and social media posts. This would be the closest thing to them properly meeting each other, meaning that whatever secret language they use evolves throughout the narrative. It may not make sense, but Jaz Jazlyn puts the same level of ambition into making their relationship work as she did to ensure that no account was left behind in vVilrRuUsS’s large-scale apocalypse. That level of dedication makes this supernatural love story into something both emotional and heartwarming.

Jazalyn’s proper romance novel also comes with some solid, inspirational pieces of verse, One of my personal favorites is the poem, “I Changed After Loving You”, where the spirts reflect on how their chance encounter inspires them for the better. I feel like this idea could apply to any relationship or long-lasting friendship where meeting them carries that very same effect. Even if things do not end up working with the person that they like or were friends with, that initial impact is the potential driving force for something better especially if they look solely at the positive. For the spirits, this reflection only renews their faith in each other regardless as to how many universes divide them.

The other poem that personally stood out was “Who I Really Am”, in which the spirits promise to be completely honest with each other—flaws and all. I feel, in a universal sense, this is the most difficult and nerve-wracking thing to do, even if your ideal self in a relationship is your genuine self. I think part of it also comes from fearing disapproval not just from partners but friends, co-workers, and family as well—even for the simplest of differences. These anxieties do not bother the spirits since their genuine honesty acts as a sort of buffer for the emotional intensity they experience as their relationship develops.     

From a novel on self-love to a full-on romance in poetry, Jaz Jazlyn captures the reader’s heart through her ambitious tale where light desires an encounter with shadow. These spirits carry that determination throughout Hollow: A Love Like A Life to ensure that they can reach some sort of happily ever after—even if the path there is somewhat meandering. It is a love story may be a better fit with Neil Gaiman’s books than with other romance writers, but this cosmic, sentimental tale stands on its own with each verse lighting the night sky as part of a constellation.  

In Sum: Not a Bad Start to a Cruise Across the Stars—3.5 out of 5 

Hollow: A Love Like A Life is available through book retailers including Barnes & Noble and Amazon.   

Outside of the Literary Comfort Zone—Ink for May 8th, 2023

Last weekend, I wrote that I would be doing just one review for the week and that would be, well, it. 

Instead, I decided to read through the second of three and belt out another review for Thursday and bumped vVilrRuUsS: I Never Forget to Tuesday morning. Rose: Future Heart, I think, is the first time I reviewed something in the romance genre—or close to it anyway—but Hollow: A Love Like A Life is the real test. Whereas Rose: Future Heart was a journey of self-love and empowerment, Hollow is more of proper, supernatural romance between two spirits.

So I'm fully venturing outside of my literary comfort zone for this one, but not unprepared...   

I asked a friend of mine what they thought made a good romance novel and they gave me some very solid points to work from. I felt like those qualities could also act as a narrative framework for what I'm looking for with Hollow: A Love Like A Life. 

Like last time, I plan on aiming for Thursday or Friday since, while the books may be challenging to critique, the format that I set up for them works amazingly well! 

Admittedly, I'm also doing some research on my own based on my friend's advice... 

A couple of weeks ago, I checked the mini-library I usually pass on my walks to see if they had any romance novels I could study from and decided on what I thought was the closest facsimile: The Good Luck Girls of Shipwreck Lane by Kelly Harms. Both the title and the premise gave me Return to Monkey Island vibes and with Shipwreck being more of a rom-com than a straight-up romance, I could still look for some of those same key factors but in a more familiar genre.  

I'm not sure if I'll rank it on Goodreads since I'm not the book's intended audience, but I do plan on reading that one to the end. Maybe I'll give a proper review on the blog, but I'm not sure about that yet. 

Okay, that's the admin done with...

The video of the week goes to John Rodgers for one of his recent adventures alongside the River Brent. He's become a sort of go-to channel for my post-work Sunday afternoons with his walks across London, and even Paris (although I feel like he's done more than that), which I find very relaxing. He has a way of bringing tranquility to the city's heavily populated streets, making even the most mundane bits of architecture shine with historical relevance.    

Those familiar with CheapShow will be no stranger to one of the locations featured during the video. It was actually through their live show for episode 300 that I learned who Rodgers was during their YouTube parody intermission, (I caught Paul mention his name in the live chat.)  

John Rodgers also has his own blog, the Lost Byway, in case you're interested in reading more from him.

Other Videos I Watched...

• Pixel Vixen in Japan is back with the second installment on how to speak Japanese for retro games shopping
• Rebecca Watson reviews Solaris
• Banjo Guy Ollie experiments with ChatGPT, allowing the program to write some Irish tunes for him to play
• Even more Taskmaster recommendations (and some I discovered along the way)—putting rain boots on a spider, finding someone's occupation through just yes or no answers but with a twist, high-five one of the hosts but specifically be the third person to do so, and yoga ball billiards     
• MsMadLemon plays a Saturday morning session of Robocod (James Pond 2) for the Amiga 
• Mr. Wright Way goes to Japan for some game hunting and more
• Ashens looks at cheap Coronation-themed things

Other random links...

• The Cozy Mystery anthology, A Warm Mug of Cozy, is still accepting submissions for stories until May 31st  
• Highly inspired by MsMadLemon's own blog, Jason (or BloodRayne on Mastodon) decided to join the blogging bandwagon with his own blog, "We don't tape the top 40" where he talks about his family (and how they inspired him), electronics, computers, and more! It has a memoir feel to it to, which I really like     

Hope you all have a great week!

Rose: Future Heart—Love's Labour's Hope

Mostly glare free, but slightly pixelated. It is a nice cover though. —Taken with an iPhone 8

Love. It is an overwhelming concept for some and a highly sought after notion for others that gets constantly debated and explored. Universally, it could be a little bit of both—at least I think so anyway—but is there a strict definition of what that sort of affection or passion could be? There is a book out there, which helps answer this particular question… 

Rose: Future Heart is another poetry novel from Jaz Jazlyn, which follows a Rose personified as a woman as she deals with her own internal conflict about how she views and experiences love—both as interpersonal intimacy and as a source of self-motivation. This personal clash between seeing herself as an independent person who rejects romance and as someone who desires affection plays out throughout the poems and—unlike in vVilrRuUsS: I Never Forget—these poems have a clear link between one another. This is another great stylistic choice by Jazalyn who wants the reader to know about how the Rose deals with her initial resentment about love and how she transforms that into a form of self-empowerment.

To call this a book of mere poetry cliches does this novel a disservice as some of the poems and verse allude to a deeper trauma. Once the Rose realizes where her psychological pain stems from, her voice becomes more grounded and confident with the verses becoming more orderly by the novel’s end. She is fearless in noting similar cases in the poem “The Criminal Country” with this revelation and it fits right into the narrative. For me, this realization that made Rose: Future Heart a poetry novel worth reading for the depth of both the poetry and storyline.

There are many notable poems in Rose: Future Heart, but admittedly I enjoyed “Entertainment Made Me Love Like That” where the Rose examines how her desire for romance stems from music, television, and film. It is not a long poem—and it could be considered cliched for its critique of showbiz—but I feel like it can be considered a universal feeling, considering how many stories carry some sort of romantic subplot. Later on, the poem “Love is not Entertainment” acts as the Rose’s realization that love is not just about intimacy, prompting her to think about what her own definition of love is.

There is another set of connecting poems, “Silent SOS” and “Me No — Know Me”, that I enjoyed partly for that fact alone. The distance between the poems allows for the link to act like a left-hook since, in “Silent SOS”, the Rose shouts “Me No, Know Me” as a means to keep rejecting romance regardless of how it would aid her. This saying in the namesake poem gets directed at a person who is highly unkind to the Rose and helps in shaping the revelation which comes later. Both these poems reinforce the narrative’s focus on the Rose and allowed me to appreciate how she deals with her internal struggles to come out empowered by defining what love is for herself.

While it is not a conventional love story, Rose: Future Heart is a poetry novel about how important it is to love oneself while not letting others define what the word means to you. Jaz Jazlyn does an almost impeccable job at illustrating the Rose’s personal battles with the concept, from resistance to acceptance on her terms. Even if you are not the usual audience for anything romance related, this book could help motivate you to steal your heart back from cynicism alongside your own traumas.

In Sum: A Romance, in which the self becomes the love interest, and deconstructs the idea into something greater—4.0 out of 5   

Rose: Future Heart  is available through book retailers including Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

vVilrRuUsS: I Never Forget—An Apocalypse Full of Ambition

Sadly, I couldn't get the coffee cup in shot this time. Glare mitigation took priority. —Taken with an iPhone 8

One of my favorite scenes in Douglas Adams’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, is when Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect find themselves at the mercy of Prostetntic Vogon Jeltz who makes them sit through a poetry reading before they get shoved out of an airlock. It was funny to watch the reactions of both the mostly non-plussed Arthur and writhing Ford, but it also made me appreciate how science fiction could change the way one saw the world through the power of comedy. Decades since the publication of my favorite novel, a new author by the name of Jaz Jazalyn seeks to do the same thing, but instead of comedy, she does so through the power of verse.   

 vVilrRuUsS: I Never Forget is a poetry-driven, fiction novel where three distinct viruses infect the masses throughout the course of what could be considered a long apocalypse. The first one sets the stage by making everyone criminals in one form or another, while the second messes around with people’s memories, and the third one could be considered the panacea that protects the survivors by enlightening them on the past. 

This is probably the best interpretation of events as the poems lead themselves into discussing civil unrest, what it means to love and be loved, the definition of God (at least, presumably in the Christian sense), the state of mental health, and a few other topics. In a way, it is like Jaz Jazlyn covers the stories of everyone impacted by these viruses, meaning that no account is left behind. Even with no proper protagonist, Jazalyn makes up with the world-building alone, verse by verse.      

As I read through the book, I could not help but feel slightly lost in-between viruses. If the gap between pandemics was long enough, it started to read as more of a poem anthology than a poetry novel. Considering the novel’s ongoing apocalypse, this may be intentional and that the reader might also be infected by proxy. If Jaz Jazalyn did plan out the novel with this idea in mind, that sort of artistic ambition makes this book worth the read alone. 

My personal favorite from this novel is a poem called “.M.A.C.H.I.N.A.T.I.O.N.S.” where the words form themselves into something resembling a hat. At the hat’s peak, the words make the it look like it has a plate attached to it and what slips into the hat, well, does not exactly bode well. It reminded me of the idea of a “tin foil hat” on first impressions and one could easily think it has conspiratorial roots. Considering the first words that get fed into the hat, I thought so too, but with how these viruses impact the populace, it might not be the case. It may be that survivors, both infected and clean, are trying to figure out what kind of world they are living in by patching available memories together. 

There is another poem of note shortly after “.M.A.C.H.I.N.A.T.I.O.N.S.” titled “Of the Trash” that had a sort-of cyberpunk feel to it. There is an unknown group that is all-knowing, all-seeing, and all-powerful, and the speaker seems to be rallying people against it by calling out every presumed injustice. It does feel similar to the way some cyberpunk novels involve a drastic power struggle between the affluent and the working class, but that is about it. In a way its a sort of turning point in the novel where the masses are now aware of the multiple pandemics.

 vVilrRuUsS: I Never Forget is an interesting science fiction novel in verse, where chaos exists in both the world and the text itself. It may be a hard sell for those who are into the typical apocalypse novels, cyberpunk thrillers, and dystopian literature, but this is far from Vogon poetry. If you are looking for a unique science fiction experience, or just enjoy a good set of poems, Jaz Jazalyn has you covered. 

In Sum: Artistic Drive meets Dystopia Mayhem—3.5 out of 5

vVilrRuUsS: I Never Forget is available through book retailers including Barnes & Noble and Amazon.   

One Book Down and Figuring out how to Review Them

I finished my first read-through of Jaz Jazalyn's vVilrRuUsS: I Never Forget and, as I was typing out a small write-up for Goodreads, I feel like I have a format figured out. 

So here's what I'm thinking...

• Each individual review will be around 350-650 words.
• I'll highlight my favorite poems and what makes them stand out from the rest—of course, without spoiling the text.
• I'm not going to go (super) in-depth with the poetry analysis, considering that they're also fiction pieces. 

I feel like this should help with providing thorough reviews while keeping me from stressing out too much or overthinking things. That, and it'll probably be better than just slapping a huge post with three reviews, giving me a little more time to pace them evenly.

I'm still poised to do a weekly post for Sunday, so do look forward to that! Hope you all have a great weekend! 

An Unexpected Opportunity

I know the titles are a little pixelated and somewhat hard to read, but it was the best way to get all three of them on-screen. That and admittedly, I like getting a coffee mug or tumblr in shot. —Taken on an iPhone 8

So I started the week off by saying that I was going to buckle down and write out the Axiom Verge 1 & 2 review, which I did and much earlier than I expected too. Part of that reason was because, on Monday morning, I received an e-mail from an indie author who wanted me to review her poetry novels.

To which, I replied, "Yes!" I also did mention the review I was working on, more or less to ensure that I could dedicate my time to giving these books the proper treatment. A little over an hour after I posted the Axiom Verge review, she sent them over...

So Who is the Author?

Jaz Jazalyn is a writer who specializes in both fiction and poetry. The three works in the photo above are hybrid novels which combine the two—with the each poem driving the narrative forward. 

What books did she write? 

vVilrRuUsS: INever Forget—a dark science fiction novel in which viruses wreak havoc on humanity, causing some to become criminals or even mess with their memories. 

Rose: Future Heart—a dark fantasy, romance in which a rose, personified, attempts to overcome her own past to forge a promising future.  

Hollow: A Love Like A Life—a supernatural romance in which two spirits, one from a "light" universe and the other from a "dark", are infatuated with one another but cannot be together due to (presumably) the laws that govern said universes. So they figure out ways around those restrictions.

(I should note that each of these brief synopses are a paraphrased combination of the briefs she sent in her e-mail plus the blurbs on Goodreads.)

So how will the reviews work?

They'll be similar to how I did the one for the Little Book of Sound Chips: Volume 2—admittedly, I still need to update my Goodreads and StoryGraph entries for that one. 

Unlike that book, these reviews will be shorter but I'm not sure yet as to what the minimum word count might be. I may combine them all into one huge blog post while doing each book individually for the literary socials.

Which means that I'll have an order in which I can complete them in, starting with vVilrRuUsS since sci-fi is definitely within my comfort zone. I'm not sure about the other two yet. I may follow the above list or I might just do Hollow first, but we'll see once I finish the first book.

What I can say for certain is that I plan on reviewing these all within the month of May! Keep your eyes peeled and thanks again to Jaz Jazalyn for the opportunity!