Book Review : The Lies of Locke Lamora

(Book One of the Gentlemen Bandits Series )

So as I mentioned in my christmas update I'm adding a new section to my usual posts that covers books I've read and like or feel the need to comment on. As the title suggests the first book I will write about is 'The Lies of Locke Lamora' the first book in the Gentlemen Bandits series by Scott Lynch.

About:

For those who aren't aware the Gentlemen Bandits series by Scott Lynch, is part of the fantasy-thievery genre. It follows the exploits of a thief named Locke Lamora who uses cunning and trickery as the tools of his trade. The story takes place is a fantasy world where magic does exist, yet none of the protagonists are what passes for this story's version of a Mage. So don't expect many complicated magic battle scenes, it will mainly be sword vs sword type of battle, or in the case of the thieves an escape from such battles. The protagonists of the story are a small gang of thieves called the 'Gentlemen Bandits'. while most other thieves consider them to be small time crooks, their misdeeds however have the rest of the world in fear of their identity as the 'Thorn of Camorr'.

Story:
The story is a very witty one, it is told through multiple points of view. At first most of the points of view are by the Gentlemen Bandits, but overtime you get to see the points of view of their victims and main enemies. Throughout this book you see several flashbacks to the life of Locke Lamora as a child and his entrance into the world of thievery. While at first I considered skipping out on the flashbacks (I've never been a fan of flashbacks), they play a central role in explaining the motivations of the main characters. Personally I loved all the characters even the victims of their crimes, they were all fully developed and had several interesting quirks.

Overall: 
This is an excellent book, it starts off strong and gets you into the action fairly early on. If you are fans of films like Ocean's Eleven, then this is for you. Expect several plot twists and even if you get to the part where you know the plan, the ending will still elude you. The author has a very descriptive style that paints a clear image of the city of Camorr, and the characters. There is a lot of clever humor hidden throughout the story, if you pay attention it really makes you grin to yourself. I highly recommend this book to any fan of fantasy or adventure novels.

Merry Christmas All (Status Update)

This past week and the coming few days I have been taking off gaming due to family and Christmas related events in real life. However I do plan on having several posts ready to go for the new year. At which time I hope to have this blog running at full speed. 

Status Update:

• So I've decided to take a break from Guild Wars 2 due to my getting a bit bored with the content. I may return to playing after a while, so sorry to those who visited this site for my Guild Wars 2 updates.

• EVE Online is currently my main MMORPG. Until now I've been building up my starter character and familiarizing myself with the game. I've gone and joined a Corp and got myself a good money making mining set up. As this post goes up, I have finished learning a number of basic combat skills that will let me move on to more pvp/pve scenarios including Incursions. I've also started getting an Exploration ship set up, to start commenting on my adventures exploring space anomalies and wormholes.

• As for Wildstar, I will soon be putting up my takes on each of the classes as well as a few ideas on what I may roll on release.

• New topic: Novels. I am an avid reader of novels. I have read several amazing series and I will be putting up some reviews on what I have read.

I wish everyone the best of the season, and I am looking forwards to making this blog a bit more active.

Suiting Up

One of the most anticipated MMORPGs of 2014 is Wildstar. It was originally scheduled to come out at the end of 2013, but the developers (Carbine Studios) pushed it back for a spring 2014 release. At first I was saddened by this news. But during the last 6 weeks Carbine has been releasing new Class reveals showing off the various mechanics and how unique each of the Wildstar classes are. After checking out all the re-reveals and new releases all I can says is:

IT IS AWESOME. Not only did Carbine release new class pages with more details and lore about each class, but they also included a youtube trailer for each class, an Ask me Anything reddit thread for each class and a livestream where they showed the effectiveness of each class in PVE, Dungeons and PVP. 

Originally I planned on rolling out with a Warrior at release but now I'm torn between a somewhat familiar Warrior class and the newly revealed Engineer class. The Wildstar version of the Warrior uses a Greatsword

and an Arm-Cannon that doubles as a swiss army knife. While the Engineer is loaded with Tech all the way from its awesome looking Blaster to the Exo-Suit in the screenshot below.

Suffice to say I'm totally psyched for the game to be released. So for those of you who don't know what Wildstar is. Please check out: What is Wildstar to figure out why I'm so excited for it.

Launching into Space

While waiting on the release of Wildstar I decided to try out another Sci-Fi MMO. EVE online is an MMO based in space with complete freedom as to how you want to play.

For my first and at moment 'main' character, I decided to create a Gallente character. My goal with this character is to explore most of the EVE universe to get a better understanding of the game. For the moment I have been focusing on PVE and industrial careers. I started out with a Venture Frigate and now I`m using a Mining Barge to rake in the ISK at a rate of 7 million ISK per hour.

Even though I have been focusing on the Mining and Industrialist Careers, I have attempted the Exploration and PVE combat. Both of which have been very impressive for a ship based MMORPG. EVE online has all the combat roles one would expect in an RPG, the Tank, the DPS and Healer are all here in the form of ships. 

Overall the game is amazing and with a 14day free Trial, I highly recommend at least trying it out just to see if it fits in with your style of gaming. 

If you want to try out this game click here to get the trial and see if it is your fit.

New Games I will be talking about.

From now on I will be making updates about games I'm playing in addition to Guild Wars 2. Some of these are games I'm already playing others are ones I'm psyched for and can't wait to start playing.

First up:  Terraria

This is a 2D Sandbox game that can be played in both single person and online with other players. Right now I've been playing it by myself and I've been having a blast. The premise for Terraria is that you are in a randomly generated world of Terraria and your goal is to collect materials to craft weapons, armor and structures that not only allow you to survive but eventually fully rule over the game world. Pretty much everything you see in the game is destructible under the right conditions so it is fun to see people change entire landscapes as they create immense structures.

Secondly: Saints Row Third
I actually bought this game a while back and I've been playing it during my spare time as a type of stress relief. And I'll say this it is an awesome game. It is definitely an R rated game, but even so it is immensely fun. Customizable vehicles, tons of guns, gangs you control, and general mayhem you can wreck on the game world.


Lastly there is WILDSTAR

Now this is a game I am seriously psyched for. This is an upcoming Sci-Fi MMORPG being developed by Carbine studios. The premise is in a galaxy at war, a planet that was once home to an all powerful alien race who suddenly disappeared is suddenly rediscovered. And now every single race and faction is rushing to this planet to try and exploit the resources and secrets of the planet for their cause. In my opinion this is the game that will beat the great dragon we call WoW.

Look forwards to plenty of updates and screens of my gameplay in the coming weeks.