Review: Moon Knight: Age of Anubis: A Marvel: Multiverse Missions Adventure Gamebook

Moon Knight: Age of Anubis: A Marvel: Multiverse Missions Adventure Gamebook by Johnathan Green
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an adventure gamecock based on the Marvel Character Moon Knight where you (the reader) team up to stop a rampaging mummy and the plague it brings to NYC (with a few other mythological encountered on the way) … I haven’t don’t one of these for so long that it gets +1 just for nostalgia. The only downside here is that you have to keep track of stats, objects, boons and achievements on a separate piece of paper to play this game right (and you need two 6 sided dice), so it is not just choosing options (so replayability is good +1). And of course you are playing alongside a superhero in NYC. There are 300 scenes to piece together with 15 possible endings and only 4 ways to win (so there are a lot fo dumb ways to die). I played through a few scenarios (win/loss 1:2 … die rolls were horrible) and had fun each time (+1). The storyline was interesting and fast paced (if not particularly detailed). There is an added advantage with reading on an ebook/kindle because the links to jump to the next part of the adventure are right there with the options (so you don’t have to fumble back and forth for the pages). YMMV (it's meant to be a cheesy comic book type story), but I am giving this one two thumbs up!

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#AgeOfAnubis #MoonKnight #NetGalley

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Review: Ordinary Discipleship: How God Wires Us for the Adventure of Transformation

Ordinary Discipleship: How God Wires Us for the Adventure of Transformation by Jessie Cruickshank
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I struggled with the book; however, I believe that was primarily because of the differences between my own experiences and interpretations sources against what was presented in the book, that it was difficult to connect to the material. Perhaps to most significance would be the decision to hand discipleship and disciple-making to Dr Campbell’s Hero’s Journey myth; of which I am actually a huge fan, but my understanding of what it is and how it is used seem to be at odds with how the author uses it. It would have worked better for me to simply acknowledge an inspiration before changing the name (eg. Disciple’s Journey) and steps involved (instead of just the latter). An example of a smaller irritant would be the brief discussion about iron “folding" and creating something from the inside out. While I am pretty sure the author meant steel, that type of oversight is distracting for somebody with a material science background. Despite my issues and reservations, the material as presented is generally solid.

This is meant to be consumed as a physical book; layout is a huge part of the presentation with calls-outs and lists liberally distributed throughout the book. In addition, each chapter provides a space for journaling at the end. There are nine (9) chapters with the first introducing the journey steps and the last restating them in review. The intervening chapters are each dedicated to a specific step on the journey. Each chapter opens with a Bible verse, a personal experience, a discussion with call outs for “Personal Reflections” and “Disciplemaker Pro Tips” before ending with discussion questions and journal space/inventory. In addition, the author uses bulleted list to great effect in summarizing many of the concepts covered (making it a very practical guide for discipleship). Overall this gives the whole book a very polished and professional feel (there will also be some additional artifacts available on the associated website, that is currently focused on marketing).

1. Experience the Journey
2. An Ordinary Person
3. Answers the Call
4. Teams with Others
5. Learns New Things
6. Feels the Struggle
7. Experiences Revelation
8. Lives Changed
9. Discerns the Season


I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#OrdinaryDiscipleship #NetGalley

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Review: A Reluctant Druid

A Reluctant Druid by Jon R. Osborne
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Performance: ****

Story: **

This is basically 10 hours of info dumping a mashup of various esoteric traditions and mythologies (which was actually well researched and interesting so I gutted through it instead of marking it DNF).  Way too much course language and pseudo erotica for me (YMMV) and the basic plot was very mechanical and derivative without adding much to the overall entertainment value.  Over all this comes across as a Pagan Fantasy where stereotypes pretty much dictate how the judeo-christian antagonists are portrayed and the good guys are free loving naturalists from the 60's (aka hippies).  However, the narration was decent and I am a fan of the genre over all with some of the obvious inspirations on my favorites shelf ...  so I am rounding UP!  And I doubt I will continue the series.

#AReluctantDruid #FreeAudiobookCodes #KindleUnlimited

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Review: True Winter

True Winter by Q.K. Petty
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I love the premise … a secret organization (The House of David) that travels the world to collect powerful artifacts in order to sequester them away in some “warehouse” in order to protect us all from the people that would abuse them (yes … I know it has been done before but I still love the concept). The twist here is that there is a counter organization that works toward free access to these same artifacts despite the danger (aka caveat emptor). The House is organized with an absolute head of house that priorities and assigns tasks and goals for the org. Four (4) Tennins armed with weapons of Archangels. Twelve (12) Judges imbued with splinters of the cross (aka Fingers of God) that grants them superhuman abilities … with each Judge training an Acolyte. And various support elements such as clean up crews in the background. Seditio, the opposing organization, is more nebulous and apparently run by a mysterious Mary with a psycho-terrorist second known as Whiteface.

The book opens with a mission to retrieve the “Chains of Peter” in Mobile AL; after which we see a flash back to the MC’s (Eden Dowler aka The Grim Reaper) first mission to retrieve the “Blood of Mary,” both of which are deadly to the unworthy/impure. This pretty much sets the [fast] pace for the first half of the book as the House attempts to retrieve the Aegis of Zeus and the Sword of Joan of Arc before the story turns extremely (and somewhat unexpectedly) dark for the last half of the book. By the end you see something of a personality switch between Eden and his acolyte Orion (which quite frankly was not done that well). There are a few twists and turns, much of which is signaled ahead of time if you are paying attention, until we get to the tragic end with a hint of things to come (it is a series after all).

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

#TrueWinter #FourSeasons #NetGalley

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