Another web site review

The site I am looking at today is Another Book. This site has a decent list of authors. Books are listed by book, author, series, realms and creatures. Reviews are written by readers and you can leave comments. Unfortunately there are a number of books that have no reviews. There were also some notable authors missing from the list. While the idea of creating a web page about books by using a book like background sounds nice it doesn't really work well on this site. All of the lists are on one side only with what is basically a blank page on the left. This makes for a rather bland page. All in all I think there are much better pages out there that provide more information in a more interesting way.

Which Fantasy Book is Which

So your interested in reading Fantasy books. How do you find a good book? Well you could do what I did and walk up and down the library stacks looking for a little "fantasy" sticker. That's if your lucky enough to have a library that uses them. Or you could stand in the fantasy book section of your local bookstore and take a chance on dropping hard earned money on a crappy book. Another option is to go on-line and look for fantasy book websites. So this week I am starting a series of reviews on fantasy book websites since school has kept me from doing any reading for entertainment.
This first site I found is Best Fantasy Books. I found this to be a very comprehensive site. While I'm not overly impressed with the pages set up I am impressed with the number of reviews here. A quick look through the top 25 books list shows a variety of authors many of whom I have read. Yet there were a number I have not had a chance to read and I will be going through the list more carefully when school break comes. I was a little disappointed with the review of Robert Jordan as I am a former fan but more on that another day. There are a variety of lists here including one for Kids/YA. I checked out the authors blog and while many of the recent reviews are for books leaning toward the younger set it was still worth the read. I definitely recommend this site and will be going back often. More later.

Fantasy Games

I know there are a large number of fantasy based games in the world but I have two that I have played extensively. The first is World of Warcraft. My son got me hooked on this one and I played for quite a while both as Horde and Alliance. Unfortunately my studies have left little time for playing so our membership is on hold for the time being. The other is Runescape. I know how could anyone spend much time playing a java based on line game but it is fun.
As plot lines go WOW has a decent one. The developers have managed to create a deep and diverse history which you can delve into or not based on your interests. I will mention that I have read one of the WoW books and found it just ok. Runescape has some pretty decent story lines as well.
In graphics WoW wins hands down with very realistic worlds although as my son can testify there are several glitches that have provided him with amusement. While Runescape has made many improvements over the original it has a long way to go.
If you can only play one, and with the time required to really get into a game you probably will, the decision often comes down to money. If you have $50+ dollars to drop on WoW and don't mind the $15 a month fee then go for it. If you prefer to save your money for more important things like food then Runescape is free or p2p of only $6 a month.
Also if you are just starting out in the world of MMORPG's then Runescape is the way to go as it provides an excellent introduction to on line game play.

Past summer reading

I spent this summer reading all six of L.E. Modesitt, Jr.'s Corean Chronicles series. I had previously read the majority of his Saga of Recluse novels and found I enjoyed his mixing of Fantasy with Science Fiction. He doesn't disappoint with the Corean series. As with the Recluse novels he starts with the basic fantasy novel and then slowly adds science fiction elements almost as teasers. As with the the Recluse novels the novels are not in chronological order. The first three novels deal with the "present" and the last three deal with the events alluded to in the first three books as the ancient past. Many times writers try to use a surprise ending for the shock value but the ending to this series gives a surprise that really works. I would definitely recommend this series whether your into Fantasy or Sci-fi you won't be disappointed.