Book Review: Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace

The plot of Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace asks what unfinished business might make effectively a superhero unable to find peace and pass on. Wasp, a desperately lonely archivist of ghost behavior, is tasked with finding out what happened to the world long ago from any ghost that might talk to her, in addition to fighting upstarts each year who want to take her life and her place.

But she meets the dangerous, unnamed ghost of a supersoldier on the hunt for someone he has lost in the underworld. And he thinks Wasp can help.

Video Game Review: Windbound

During the Nintendo DS and Nintendo DS Lite era, I thoroughly enjoyed the Lost in Blue games, wherein you play as one or two characters shipwrecked and marooned on a deserted island. You search the island for food and resources to make tools and improved weapons, all of which help your explore farther outward from your home base in your efforts to escape the island. Recently, I had an itch to get back into the resources management and survival aspect of Lost in Blue, so I went looking for something similar.

The closest I found was Windbound, an adventure RPG available on the Nintendo Switch, which to my eye looked like Lost in Blue but with sailing. So like The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker, a sailing mechanic I found very fun for exploring. Windbound promised the ability to upgrade your ship, hang glide, and explore islands. There were negative reviews, but what games doesn't have those? I jumped in anyway.

That... that was a mistake. Let me explain why.

Everything I loved about Outer Wilds

The title of "my favorite video game" has long been held by Beyond Good and Evil, but it's been a month since I finished Outer Wilds, and I think... this might be my new favorite game. At least top three. This article won't be a video game review so much as a wild romp through annotating the parts that interest me. There will be spoilers. Brace for impact.

Book Review: The Tangled Lands by Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias S. Buckell

Introduction The narrative of The Tangled Lands, written by Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias S. Buckell, follows the separate but intertwined stories of a handful of people living in or attempting to leave the Blue City, so named for the blue fires whose smoke detects those who have recently used magic. Choked with bramble and briar, … Continue reading Book Review: The Tangled Lands by Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias S. Buckell →