Tomb Raider: The Ten Thousand Immortals by Dan Abnett & Nik Vincent

Today's review will be about:

THE SUMMARY

IN THE WAKE OF YAMATAI'S ENDURING EVIL, LARA IS THRUST INTO A DANGEROUS WEB OF MYSTERY AND INTRIGUE.

Lara Croft wants only to put her horrifying ordeal no Yamatai island behind her. Her modest wish shatters as she's plunged into a frantic race to save Sam. Desperate for a remedy, Lara searches for anything that could help her. A wisp of hope arising from a myth gives Lara purpose: the story of an ancient and mysterious artifact that could heal her friend, and possibly help explain the supernatural events she witnessed on Yamatai.

However, Lara is not alone in her pursuit of the treasure. A nefarious magnate, a shadow society, and lethal henchmen will stop at nothing to exploit the powerful relic for their own ends. The hunt drives Lara across the globe, through a twisted web of conspiracy, suspicious contacts, and life-or-death intrigue, as she seeks salvation for her friend and the truth behind the legendary talisman.

MY REVIEW

I'm sure that many of you were in my shoes when you heard that a new Tomb Raider game was coming out; I couldn't wait to get my hands on a copy! A new Lata Croft, younger than the others, with actual realistically sized boobs?! Count me in!

The first Lara vs. the new Lara. It's amazing to see how much technology has advanced!

I've been a Lara Croft fan since a very young age. I used to watch my dad play the Tomb Raider games, dodging boulders, climbing up cliffs, and even admiring the amazing scenery (when we weren't defending ourselves from bad guys and animals, that is), and I always had time to watch him discover new tombs and artifacts that held a part of Earth's history. I was beyond delighted when I played the game, finding that Lara and her adventures were almost exactly how I remembered them. (I didn't remember them being THAT intense, though.)

"I hate tombs..."
Nice little joke here... :)

It must be no secret to you now that I loved the new game, so when I heard that there was going to be a book about the time following Yamatai, you bet your bucket I ran to the bookstore to secure myself a copy.

This is from a comic book that also came out and is also about Lara after Yamatai. The art style is amazing, and it tells an amazing story.

I'm pleased to announce that this book has everything that a Tomb Raider book should; action, adventure, persistent bad guys, and an artifact that will take your breath away.
Lara's state of mind was the thing that caught me off guard when I read this book. Any loud noise could send her into a state of shock, unable to do much of anything until it passes. I guess I didn't think much about what Lara was going through after she crashed on Yamatai. Since I was only experiencing it through the screen, I wasn't able to see that the things that she was doing would make anyone go insane, let alone have PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder).

This is part of the video game. Yes, that is blood, and yes, it is disgusting.

The only thing that I didn't like about this book was the ending. It seemed to come too easily, and I think that they could have easily made another 100 pages or so (or even another book) instead of ending it. So if you are going to read this book, just keep that in mind.
In conclusion, if you are a Tomb Raider fan like me, you need to read this book. Bad ending aside, I couldn't seem to put this book down. I even missed my stop on the bus one day because I was so stuck in its world!

A LITTLE EXCERPT

"The sound came without any warning. The sharp, loud bang of a rifle firing a single shot at close quarters.
Lara knew the sound. The sudden shock of it shattered her peace of mind.
Her heart started to hammer hard in her chest. She could feel the sweat break out on her forehead and between her shoulder blades. Her throat felt constricted. Her hands began to flutter as she closed the Book. It dropped to the floor, forgotten.
"Please, no!" she said to the empty room. "Not again. I don't need this again." She got up and started to pace. She tried to swallow, but her mouth was dry. She shook out her tingling hands. Her chest felt impossibly tight.
"Damn it, Lara, breathe," she gasped. "Don't let yourself-"
Too late.
She was back on the island. On Yamatai. A hellish storm raged all around her. Lightning flashed. Thunder roared. The rain fell in sheets, hard as hail. She wove her way through the jungle. Sam was missing. All she could think of was her friend. She had to find her friend.
As she approached the monastery, a great fork of lightning lit up the corpses of dozens... hundreds of men. A thunderclap rolled in across the ocean and reached a crescendo right over Lara's head, crashing around her, deafening her, and leaving a tang of ozone in the air.
When the air shock had passed, she studied the bodies for a moment. Recent kills, still bloody, lay on top of older, skeletal remains. She tried not to think about how they had met their deaths. She threaded a path through them and entered the monastery."

Well, that's all for now!

See you next time!

~Sea-Solo

EXTRA! EXTRA!

Watch the trailer for the new (2015) Tomb Raider game!

Star Wars the Old Republic: Revan by Drew Karpyshyn

Today's review will be about:

THE SUMMARY

There's something out there: a juggernaut of evil bearing
down to crush the Republic - unless one lone Jedi,
shunned and reviled, can stop it.
Hero, traitor, conqueror, villain, savior - the man called Revan has been all of these. He left Coruscant a Jedi, on a mission to defeat the Mandalorians. He returned a Sith disciple, bent on destroying the Republic. The Jedi Council gave Revan his life back, but the price of redemption was the loss of his memories. All that's left are nightmares - and deep, abiding fear. What happened beyond the Outer Rim that Revan can't quite remember or entirely forget? One thing he's certain of: Something dark is plotting to destroy the very existence of the Republic. With no idea how to identify the threat, let alone stop it, Revan may be doomed to fail. For he's never faced a more powerful and diabolic enemy. But only death can stop him from trying.

MY REVIEW

First things first: I would highly recommend that you play the video games Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and maybe even Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords before reading this book. That way, you'll better understand the characters and the world that they live in before starting out on this particular journey with them. (Once again, I recommend it, but you don't have to if you don't want to.)
I was first introduced to this cast of characters through KOTOR, and one of the main characters (Carth Onasi) was actually my very first video game crush. I remember playing this video game non-stop for hours, wandering the many levels of Taris, trying my hand at heroism, becoming a Jedi, and eventually saving the galaxy. One of the things that made it interesting even to this day is the fact that you can carve your own path through the galaxy, choose light or dark, mold and ignore whatever relationships you like. (Of course, I always chose Carth to have the relationship with... ;) )
But this isn't supposed to be a video game review! It's a book review!
Okay, okay. We'll talk about the book now.
We start out the book where the KOTOR game left it. Revan is in Coruscant with his wife, Bastila (I fangirl squealed a little too hard when I read this), the galaxy is at peace after leaving Malak's dark clutches, and all of Revan's friends (including Canderous Ordo, Mission Vao, Zaalbar, T3-M4, Jolee Bindo, HK-47, Carth Onasi, and Juhani) are going on with their lives, but Revan can't shake the feeling that something bad is coming. Every night he dreams of a world covered in storm clouds, a dream that he's sure is a memory, one that he will have to go to the farthest reaches of the galaxy to remember.
(That really sounded like a book back summary. Wow.)
The first chapter (other than the Prologue) doesn't start with Revan. Rather, we're introduced to a new character, a full-blooded Sith named Lord Scourge. (Now, I'm not talking about the dark side of the force, oh no! The Sith are a species that originated on Korriban, with red skin and tentacles.) In the beginning of the book, he is introduced as being ruthless and cunning, unwilling to show mercy to anyone who gets in his way. Through him, you can really see into the mind of the Sith (dark side force now), and see how their society works and thrives without drawing the attention of the Republic. Though I disliked him in the beginning, his wit and determination makes him a very good character in general, despite his dark side tendencies. And, he added just enough of spice and shock to make this book good enough to eat. (Om nom nom nom)

A photo of Lord Scourge as he appears in Star Wars: The Old Republic

Revan is, of course, still a main character (The hero of the Galaxy isn't just going to sit around and wait for wars to happen), and he travels around with T3-M4 and Canderous, in the ever-famous Ebon Hawk, trying to figure out where all of the visions he's been having were from. You get to take a step into his past, find out why he turned to the dark side, and you get a feel at the man that he used to be before losing his memory. Not only that, but you get a peek into Canderous's past as well, discovering where he came from and why he left.
The book is actually written by the same guy who wrote some of KOTOR and KOTOR2, so as you can expect, he knows his stuff. His writing really pulled me in, so I would recommend reading this when you don't have a stop to get off of at, because I almost missed mine.
 Other than all of the above, I really loved stepping back into the world that I have been (basically) obsessing over since I was in Middle School, seeing what some of my favorite characters were up to after KOTOR ended, and just having some alone time in a galaxy that I've loved since childhood. If you like Star Wars, and want to see what the galaxy was like WAY (I mean 3,954 years) before A New Hope, I would highly recommend this book. Trust me, I would write about it all day if I could. but instead I'm going to keep this one as short as I can so that you can get off of your chair sooner and go get this book at your local bookstore.
It's that good.

A LITTLE EXCERPT

"The Galactic Market on Coruscant was as busy as ever, but nobody paid any attention to Revan as he made his way through the crowds. Almost two years had passed since he had been proclaimed the savior of the  galaxy. Though the Senate had awarded him its highest honor, the Cross of Glory, in a ceremony broadcast across the HoloNet, and his name was well remembered, his ordinary and rather unremarkable features had faded from public memory. In the aftermath of the presentation he had become a reclusive hero, eschewing public appearances and declining interview requests from any and all media outlets. He had shaved off his beard, and he rarely wore his Jedi robes out in public, making it even less likely anyone would notice him.
He liked being anonymous; it was one of the reasons he had settled on Coruscant. With one trillion people it was easy to blend into the crowd. That was even truer here in the Galactic Market, the most cosmopolitan section of the Republic's capital world. Merchants and shoppers of virtually every known species gathered to conduct commerce in a kaleidoscope of colors, shapes, and sizes. Red-skinned Togrutas intermingled with blue-skinned Twi'leks; diminutive Sullustans haggled with massive Hutts; fish-like Mon Calamari shared the streets with feline Cathar. Among such a diverse and interesting group, nobody paid much attention to a lone human and his astromech droid."

Well, that's all for now!

See you next time!

~Sea-Solo

EXTRA! EXTRA!

Watch the commercial for the game KOTOR! (2003)