Soundtrack Feature: Stranger Things

Stranger Things is an embodiment of 80s nostalgia, with incredible acting, directing and presentation, told through a 2016 filmmaking style. It's been universally praised, for good reason: It's really good. The soundtrack, based on 80s synth, is critically acclaimed. It's a fantastic score showcasing a wide sense of emotions, ranging from joyful times to deep horror. Having the music evoke feelings of nostalgia is not uncommon.

The soundtrack to the first season of Stranger Things was released in two volumes. You can purchase them digitally from iTunes (Volume 1, Volume 2), or pre-order them physically from Amazon (V1, V2). You can also listen for free on Spotify (V1, V2) and YouTube (V1, V2). The second volume features a 5-minute extended edition of the show's critically-acclaimed main theme.

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My full Soundtrack of the Month series has gone on hiatus and for the time being has been replaced by much smaller soundtrack features, which I am simply calling Soundtrack Features. Yes, it's quite original.

Soundtrack of the Month: February 2016

Remember Me is one of the few incredible games I actually discovered through discovering their soundtracks. I found it one day while browsing Amazon. I'd never heard of the game, but the soundtrack was composed by Alone in the Dark expert composer Olivier Derivière, so I knew that at least the music aspect had to be good. Several months later I acquired the game, played it, and absolutely loved it. I bought the soundtrack very soon thereafter.

I fell in love with Remember Me from the very beginning. I entered the game knowing next to nothing about it, which was intentional as the game begins with the protagonist losing all of her memory. The game takes place in the cyberpunk, dystopian future city of Neo Paris, and has a major emphasis on memory-related technology. The story is unique and highly thought-provoking, and the soundtrack is among the greatest I've heard, with a superb blend of orchestral and electronically altered score.

Derivière composed the entire soundtrack, which was then fully performed and recorded by the Philharmonia Orchestra. He then digitally processed and manipulated the music with multiple layers and effects to create a beautiful, half-orchestral, half-electronic sound which perfectly fits the world and story of the game. I love the amount of detail poured into the world, and the music was a major aspect of that.

Featured Tracks

Track 1: Nilan the Memory Hunter – The jaw-dropping main theme of Remember Me. Our protagonist is Nilan, who used to be the most skilled Memory Hunter in the world.

Track 3: Still Human – I consider this as one of the main themes of Neo Paris, even though a different track is specifically named after the city. Perhaps this is more a theme of the slums.

Track 6: The Enforcers – One of the combat themes for Remember Me, playing when you get into a hassle with the law enforcement, called Enforcers.

Track 10: Our Parents – While Nilan begins with no recollection of who she is or was, her proceeding quest does provide some answers. Which or how many, I will not say.



Purchase Remember Me (Original Soundtrack) on iTunes or Amazon MP3.
Or listen to it for free on Spotify or YouTube.

Soundtrack of the Month: December 2015

Continuum has recently become one of my new favorite science fiction series. A unique concept, fantastic characters, and time travelling that actually isn't stupid. At the time of this article's release, I've only seen the majority of the first two seasons, and I'm not currently in the process of continuing, although I have every intention to proceed at a later time. The music of the series was composed by Jeff Danna, and until a handful of months ago the only soundtrack released had been that of Season 1.

The show tells the story of Kiera Cameron, a law enforcement officer (or "Protector") from the year 2077. In the future, she was assigned to stand witness at the execution of eight criminals—terrorists who considered themselves freedom fighters. An anomaly interrupted the execution, which sent the criminals—and Kiera—back in time to 2012, in an attempt on the terrorists' part to try to rewrite history. The story that follows is thrilling and inventive, and all the while supported by Danna's score.

The score of Continuum is fairly subtle, but distinct and an integral part of the narrative. It distinguishes itself from the average sci-fi television soundtrack without inducing a plethora of prominent themes being thrown every which-way like Doctor Who. As a result it's difficult to pick out specific tracks that stand out in comparison to each other, but the album as a whole is outstanding and beautiful. Danna focused on Kiera's theme in particular as a way to transcend both the story told in 2012 and the story told in 2077.

Featured Tracks

Track 4: Kagame's Vision of the City – The scene this track accompanies contains no dialogue, which further emphasizes the music and its emotional impact.

Track 5: Kiera Gets Her Tech – One version of Kiera's theme, and one of the series' main recurring themes.

Track 17: A Working Time Machine – It's difficult to explain the importance of this track and the narrative it accompanies without explaining the context. Basically, watch the show.



For some reason the album's official tracklist is almost entirely out of order. If you wish to listen the tracks chronologically (with some alternate tracks as well), you can do that here.

Purchase Continuum (Original Television Soundtrack) on Amazon or iTunes.
Or listen to it for free on YouTube, or a sample of it on Spotify.

Read composer Jeff Danna's personal notes on the album here.

Soundtrack of the Month: November 2015

Last month I went to see Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, the second installment of the Maze Runner saga. I loved it, and it reminded me how much I loved the first film as well. The Maze Runner is a unique story with unique personality and music. The sounds of the world contributed well to the film, and the end result was impressive, to say the least.

The Maze Runner is not another cliché film adaptation of a young adult novel with a focus on appeasing pre-teen fanboys and fangirls. This film has depth and character, and is brilliantly pulled off. The score is composed by up-and-coming composer John Paesano, who also scored the newly-released sequel.

Paesano's score gives new personality and life to an already impressive story. Mysteries and confusion are beautifully and terrifyingly translated into incredible incidental music that fits perfectly with the film and its themes. The Maze Runner was one of the first majorly noteworthy projects Paesano has worked on, and he made sure his shot counted.

Featured Tracks

Track 1: The Maze Runner – The film's incredible main theme.

Track 2: What Is This Place? – Our protagonist wakes up in a strange place, with no memory of who he is or where he came from.

Track 7: Into the Maze – Let's get this adventure started.

Track 21: Finale – The epic conclusion to The Maze Runner. It's over, right? Or is it only beginning?



Purchase The Maze Runner (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) from Amazon or iTunes.
Or listen to it for free on Spotify or YouTube.

Soundtrack of the Month: July 2015

As the first year of the Soundtrack of the Month series comes to a close, I decided I would return to where it all started. Believe it or not, I wasn't always a soundtrack nerd. I liked instrumental music and a handful of soundtracks, but I really didn't think much of them at all. There was, however, one television series that came along and changed my mind entirely.

Doctor Who is an entirely unique concept and series. Most people either love it or hate it, with no middle ground. However, regardless of how you think of the series, there is one thing that has to be agreed upon unanimously: The music is awesome.

I remember my first time watching the Series 3 episode "Gridlock". It was an interesting premise that I won't describe due to potential spoilers, but I will say that there was a segment where the Doctor (the protagonist) was jumping between futuristic cars, and the most ridiculously cool music was playing. That was the very first time that Murray Gold's score made an impression on me, and it was far from the last.

While every Doctor Who soundtrack Gold scored since the revival of the series in 2005 has been filled with spectacular music and is equally worthy of being featured, I decided after much debate on Doctor Who Series 3, as it was this music that made me fall in love with soundtrack music, and I am forever in its debt.

Featured Tracks
Narrowing this list down to four tracks was ridiculously difficult. Series 3 introduced many new themes with many different styles, ranging from adventurous, to emotional, to terrifying. Enjoy some of the greatest melodies of the music industry.

Track 1: All the Strange, Strange Creatures – Originally intended as a minor sequence for a single episode, this track was chosen to score a trailer for the series, and thus became a classic and recurring theme.

Track 6: Boe – The Face of Boe is one of the more intriguing recurring characters of the show. Who is he really? What is he really? The answer may just have you on the floor laughing. This particularly emotional theme is a reprisal of a track from Series 2.

Track 15: The Doctor Forever – This is the song that made me fall in love with soundtracks, and it still holds a very special place in my heart. It eventually became known as the Tenth Doctor's theme.

Track 23: This is Gallifrey: Our Childhood, Our Home – This song is, to this day, my favorite track from any soundtrack, of any genre, for any kind of media. The soaring themes; the strong emotions; the majestic nostalgia; this is art.



Purchase the Doctor Who Series 3 soundtrack on Amazon or iTunes.
Or listen to it for free on Spotify or YouTube.

Bonus: In celebration of this series' anniversary, I put together a small YouTube playlist of various great soundtrack pieces. It contains tracks for soundtracks I've featured, soundtracks I may feature in the future, and soundtracks I will not feature for one of multiple reasons (none of which are bad music). You can check it out here.

Game Review: The Next Penelope

The Next Penelope: Race to Odysseus is the classic tale of Homer's Odyssey... set in a cyberpunk world with futuristic racing.

It's been ten years since Odysseus departed from the kingdom of Ithaca, leaving his reign to the anarchy of an absent leader. Desperate to save the land she loves, and sick of her suitors' unwavering advances in the absence of her husband, Queen Penelope sets out on a journey to find Odysseus—by exploring planets, racing her suitors, and fighting epic bosses.

The Next Penelope is a top-down racing game that appears to have been heavily influenced by F-Zero. It reminds me a little of Super Laser Racer, another such game that was focused on translating the gameplay from F-Zero into a 2D top-down format. That game, while extremely fun, was little more than a bare-bones F-Zero clone. The Next Penelope adds story, bosses, an upgrade system, a somewhat unique weapons system, and a lot of interesting and fun challenges.

This adventure is not particularly long. If you know what you're doing you can certainly beat the game in under a couple hours. However, the strong difficulty curve your first time through and the endgame bonus levels are sure to keep you occupied for a good many hours. If you strive to complete all of the achievements, as I did, you're sure to have your work cut out for you for a while. The nice part? You'll have fun the entire time.

I've always had a love-hate relationship with Greek mythology. I love it for the lore and the mythos, but I hate it for the arrogance, narcissism and stupidity of a great many of the prominent characters. With that being said, I've had a strictly love relationship with this game since the moment the concept was introduced to me. It's Greek mythology... plus futuristic racing! Add that to the insanely fun gameplay, and you've got yourself a beautiful piece of art.

The game was developed by one man, Aurelien Regard. He created the story, artwork and music all himself, and programmed the entire game. It's always a treat when a game this well-polished and well-designed is developed by a single person or a small team. Such a man is more than worthy of my respect.

Overall, The Next Penelope is a great concept, complemented by great gameplay. The artwork is beautiful, and the sweet elrectonic soundtrack is sure to get stuck in your head. I certainly got my money's worth from it, and I can't wait to see what other great projects the developer comes up with in the future.

Check out The Next Penelope: Race to Odysseus on Steam.
It's also in development for Wii U, and may be released on other consoles as well.

Soundtrack of the Month: March 2015

When attempting to plan future editions of this Soundtrack of the Month series, there is one soundtrack that kept coming up again and again, that I kept getting very close to rejecting. I kept considering it because it's great music, and I kept rejecting it because it was made by an amateur—somebody who had never composed before, and has even stated he can hardly play a musical instrument. However, eventually I came to the conclusion that I don't care that the composer was new when he created this soundtrack, because it's honestly one of my favorite soundtracks... ever.

Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages is a video game mainly developed by two brothers (and a wife/sister-in-law), over the course of five years. Enrique and Paul Dryere were in college and decided to make a game; simple as that. Over the years their project would grow and grow, becoming more and more ambitious, but they didn't stop work until it was everything they wanted it to be, and the result was staggering. The game that came out was an extremely well-polished product, with an incredible 20-hour story, and numerous game modes and features. This game looks and functions like it was made by a large team of people, but it wasn't. It was mainly two.

Ring Runner is very much a game for intellectuals. If you're not a quick learner, you are going to be very lost. The Dryeres packed in so much science and technical details—a lot of it their own science fiction; a lot of it actual theoretical science—that sometimes it's difficult to understand everything that's happening and being said. It most certainly made my head hurt a number of times, and sometimes I had to replay certain sections just so I could be sure of what the characters said. Even the controls are difficult to master, as they're more complicated than the average space shooter.

The game's soundtrack is composed by Enrique "E.C." Dryere, and as I said before, it was his first time composing music. The first track he ever composed is even included on the soundtrack as a bonus track (Track 20: The First Sage). At first the soundtrack might seem to have a slight sort of amateur feel to it, but for me that has long worn off. Instead, I have a strong appreciation for how unusual and unique the style of music is. In fact, it's one of the most unique soundtracks I've heard.

The Ring Runner soundtrack is a piece of art. It's an integral part of the game. Not only is it beautiful, but it perfectly reflects both the vastness of space and the universe in which the game takes place. The score that accompanies the Nameless Sage on their adventure is incredible. It might be a little unorthodox, but that doesn't make it any less amazing. I would say that there is only one track in the entire soundtrack (Track 19: A Promise to Keep) that doesn't fit perfectly with the segment of the game in which it is used, and that single track is still a great piece of music on its own.

Featured Tracks

Track 15: Ring Runner – This is the music that greets a player when they load up the game. It's rare that a piece of music can invoke such a feeling of nostalgia before one has even been through the journey. The title music of Ring Runner is somehow able to accomplish this. It expresses the vastness of space, and at the same time lets the player know that they're in for a long, incredible journey.

Track 1: StarEater – This music helps craft the first level of the game. An amnesiac pilot and a mysterious A.I. fly their way out of an exploding space station. In short, the story begins with the destruction of the only location that could ever tell the characters who they are.

Track 7: The Name Solipso – A recurring character, with a recurring theme, is the legendary Sage named Solipso. The first ever Sage free of CIR rule, Solipso has been on the run for hundreds of years, showing up at various locations for only brief amounts of time. One day he crosses paths with the Nameless Sage, and that simple meeting would set in motion events that would change the universe, so to speak.



Purchase the Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages soundtrack on Bandcamp.
Or listen to it for free on Bandcamp or YouTube.

Soundtrack of the Month: February 2015

When it comes to soundtrack composers, there is one who is revered as one of the greatest composers in the history of the world. I am speaking, of course, of the legend Hans Zimmer. For some reason, I have always thought of this man as rather overrated. While he's just as great a composer as everyone says he is, that doesn't make him shine above the rest. There are many other far less-known composers who are just as good, and some who are even better. To tell the truth, while I've always enjoyed Zimmer's scores, I've never found that they particularly stand out. He has a specific style to his music that doesn't always strike my fancy.

However, recently a film came out which he had scored, and the music blew me away. I speak, of course, of Interstellar.

The film was a masterpiece. Coming from Christopher Nolan, who was known for such blockbusters as Inception and the Dark Knight trilogy, was a science fiction film about Earth's final days and the survival of mankind in the universe. I didn't know what to expect going into it. His previous films that I had seen were very dark, and focused heavily on moral ambiguity, but the previews of Interstellar made it look more like a science fiction drama than an intense action film. As it turned out, it was a little of both.

It's hard to fit Interstellar into a box. It's a longer story, but at no time does it feel like a long story. It just feels like a more fully realized and complete story than a regular-length film would be able to tell. I feel that in this way it's comparable to The Lord of the Rings films. The film focuses heavily on story, but also has some sci-fi action sequences and whatnot. It's a brilliantly crafted story, and the score only adds to that.

After the movie released (to critical success), there were a lot of complaints about sound design. In some parts of the film the score plays at very loud volume, and makes the dialogue somewhat difficult to hear. Having imperfect hearing myself, I didn't think it was much different from other films I've seen. Besides, the score being extra loud doesn't make the music itself any less good.

This was the film that redeemed Zimmer for me. I have a bad habit of not thinking too fondly about his works, for the simple reason that people give him too much credit. However, for this film at least, he is just as great as everyone says he is.

Featured Tracks

Track 4: Day One – This song is a rendition of the film's main theme. Interstellar is a very emotional movie, and the music helps nail that point. It's beautiful.

Track 8: Mountains – This segment of the movie is very time-sensitive, and we are constantly reminded of this because Zimmer incorporates an actual ticking clock into the score. It's one of the more creative things I've heard in music composition, and it's both effective and really cool.

Track 13: Coward – This is what I like to call the "Theme of Betrayal". You really can't have a Christopher Nolan movie without some sort of twist (or few) thrown it.



Note: The digital version of this soundtrack includes eight extra tracks. This deluxe edition is also on Spotify.

Purchase Interstellar: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack on Amazon or iTunes.
Or listen to it for free on Spotify or YouTube.

I Am a Whatvian

Disclaimer: I have done my best to avoid any and all possible spoilers in this article. I'm not one of “those people.”

As some of you know, I recently became interested in the British science fiction series Doctor Who. At this point I've seen all of it since the 2005 revival, and I've also checked out various spin-off material and several episodes from the classic series. I know you're wondering: What made me turn away from the sane side of the internet? Well, truth is, I'm still more sane than about 95% of the internet.

Let's start with the age-old question: What is Doctor Who? It's a science fiction television series that initially aired back in November of 1963. It lasted until 1989, when it was officially canceled. There was a movie in 1996 that was meant to revive the series, but it failed. Eventually it was successfully revived in 2005, and has been going steadily ever since. Now, it's important to note, the series was not rebooted in 2005; it was revived. It's the same continuing story.

Now, how can a series go on for that long without rebooting? The main character must be old by now! Well, technically, the main character is even older than you might think, considering he's currently over 900 years old. Enter "the Doctor," a Time Lord from a planet far, far away. He's a traveler. He looks like a human, but apparently his race looked like that first. Doctor Who is the story of his adventures through time and space with whatever people he decides to bring with him along the way.

Time Lords might look like humans, but they are completely different. They have two hearts, and brilliant brains. Enough to baffle even the greatest Earth geniuses. They also don't age—or, at least, their lifespans are massive. In addition, when a Time Lord is about to die, he or she can regenerate into a brand new body. This is how the series has been able to switch actors but keep the same main character over the years. It might sound like a cheat, but it's actually pretty awesome and pulled off very well.

At the beginning of the revival series, many years have passed since the 1996 movie and the classic series. We are greeted by the Doctor in his Ninth incarnation (portrayed by Christopher Eccleston). He just recently returned from a war—the Last Great Time War, fought between the Time Lords and a great enemy—of which he is the only survivor. The Time Lords were fairly frequent throughout the classic series, but now they're all gone. Forever.

So, this is an interesting turn of events. It makes the whole story of Doctor Who a little darker, and a lot more sad; but at the same time it makes the story awesome.

Now, the only place to start watching the Doctor Who revival series (which I recommend doing over starting at the beginning of the classic series) is at the beginning of the 2005 season. At that time they had a very low budget, the CGI was pretty awful, the acting wasn't too great, but you need to get through it first, no matter how cheesy it might seem at the beginning. Believe me, it's worth it. This is the kind of series that you cannot watch out of order.

Why do I love this show, you ask? Well, for numerous reasons.

1. The Story

Doctor Who has one of the best stories of anything I've ever watched, read, or played. It's the story of a lone Time Lord traveling the universe and all of time with his companions, for no other reason than to explore. Of course, there are over-arcing stories, usually with key story points in the season finales. These are brilliant, but so are the individual episodes.

The writers of Doctor Who are some of the best writers I've encountered in my years of watching television. Logic as we know it doesn't exist in the Whoniverse, because the time-travel theories are all out of whack and so many things just don't make sense, but that's the way things work in that universe. It's not the same as our universe, and it's not even supposed to be, and that's just something you have come to grips with. Earth might exist and play an important role in that universe, but it's not our Earth. After all, the world wasn't actually invaded in 2006.

However, the fact that the Whoniverse works so very different from our universe is part of why the story is so good. The writers get to do things that people would never think of. Writing for Doctor Who allows one to let their imagination run wild, and create things so far outside the box, but things that at the same time are so very brilliant. Basically, by the time you get a few seasons into the series you'll know exactly what I mean.

2. The Characters

Doctor Who has a brilliant cast of characters. The current showrunner and head writer Steven Moffat is amazing at creating characters you will never forget, and all the characters introduced before he took over were often brilliant as well.

The Doctor is one of my absolute favorite fictional characters. If someone were to ask me my favorite action hero, I would say the Doctor in a heartbeat. While he does have a habit of saving the world time and time again (not to mention the entire universe now and then), he's not always a hero. He has great power, with all of his technology and brilliant brainpower. Being the last of the Time Lords, he is quite possibly the most important person in the universe; but with great power comes great responsibility.

A number of times, far too much power has been placed in his hands, and he doesn't always make the right choices with that power. He's flawed; he's just as human as anybody. (Though technically, he's not actually a human at all.) He faces all of the emotions, struggles, and internal battles that anyone would face in the situations he's placed. Speaking of which . . .

3. The Emotions

What goes along with the story and characters in Doctor Who is the emotions. When I said that the writers were brilliant, I neglected to mention just how much they can get under your skin. This television series is more emotional than any other I have ever watched.

Something Doctor Who is known for on occasion is devastating emotion. The kind that makes you want to find a corner and sob for a while. But the story is sooooooooo freeeaaaking gooooooood! This amount of emotion adds to the brilliance. While so many episodes have happy endings, sometimes they're not so happy. Sometimes they're bittersweet, or sad, or even downright devastating, but it makes for amazing story.

For all of the amazing episodes with Happy Happy endings, just one Sad one in every few is just as memorable as all the rest, if not more so. I apologize for using this word so much, but it's brilliant.

4. The Music

I didn't notice the music of Doctor Who really until the third season. That was when I noticed it and thought, “This is actually really, really good.” As time progressed I fell in love with the show's soundtrack, and I've purchased nearly all that have been released. I listen to the music almost every single day, and as a matter of fact, I'm listening to it as I'm typing this article.

My brother's favorite composer is Howard Shore, who is the creator of the beautiful Lord of the Rings and Hobbit scores. I agree that Shore is one of the greatest composers in the entire world, but my personal favorite is Murray Gold. He has a unique style, and it's brilliant. I've never fallen so much in love with a soundtrack that I immediately went and purchased it. That is, not until Doctor Who.

5. It's Very Clean

Doctor Who has always been partially directed at children, and that is how it can be one of the best science fiction series of all time, and also be one of the cleanest science fiction series of all time. I must emphasize, however, that being partially directed at children does not at all mean it's a “children's show.” In fact, it can be enjoyed even more by an adult than by a child. (I mean no offense to any younger kids who might read this—I mean you'll probably enjoy it even more when you're older!)

There is, however, the occasional content to which people I know may object. The creators of Doctor Who are very much for the acceptance of homosexuality, and so that comes up every now and again. It's not explicit, and if all else fails, you can just ignore it. There is one (occasionally) recurring bisexual character who would be found offensive regardless of the fact that he's bisexual. Just ignore him (even though he can be rather hilarious at times).

6. It's a Legacy

Doctor Who is coming up on fifty years this November. Fifty years! It's been around for a loooong time. It is the longest-running science fiction series in history, and it's one of the most well-known science fiction series, both for the classic and revival series.

I haven't watched a lot of the classic series, but I've really liked what I've seen. Of course it has cheesy effects and stuff—all science fiction did in the age that it was made! However, I would watch classic Who over classic Star Trek any day. For old 60s-80s science fiction, it was brilliant. Not to mention, it's the same main character that I love so much from nowadays. Unfortunately a lot of episodes of the classic series are missing from the BBC archives, so it's impossible to watch them all in order, but I've really enjoyed watching what I've seen.

Doctor Who has withstood the test of age. When there were talks of reviving the series that led up to it actually being revived in 2005, everybody was on board. Even the network was on board, which shows that British television networks are about a thousand times better than American networks, who care considerably more about money than the content they produce. What started as one simple sci-fi show in 1963 has turned into one of the greatest series in the history of the universe.

Also, because the series has been around for so long, it has built quite a lot of lore. Planets, universes, various things stretching across billions (er, trillions) of years of time, and it's constantly being expanded even more. In addition to the television series there are books, graphic novels, audio plays, and just about every kind of media out there.

So, there you have it. That is a summary of why I love Doctor Who so much. I still reject the term “Whovian,” which is used to describe fans of the series, but I will definitely say that I am a fan, and you should be too.

(Special thanks to Adam Bolander, Eli Johnson, Ashley Procko, and Taylor Bomar for your proofreading and constructive criticism!)

Crescent by Homer Hickam

Crescent is the second installment of Homer Hickam's Helium-3 series. It is highly recommend that you read the first book first.

Crescent does not pick up where Crater left off, instead taking place three years later. It's still the exact same world—same futuristic moon colony—with the exact same characters, but you can tell how much it's changed. War has broken out on Earth, on the moon, and everywhere in-between. Crater Trueblood, our protagonist from before, is a part-time helium-3 miner and a part-time soldier, fighting under Colonel John High Eagle Medaris against the crowhoppers, genetically-engineered troops sent by the UCW—the Unified Counties of the World, an alliance formed by over thirty nations on Earth. The reason for the war was that the UCW wanted control over the moon, and the residents of the moon were not going to let that happen.

With that little bit of premise, I will not tell you the story. If you are eager to learn it, you can look up a synopsis on any book-selling website, or check out most other reviews. I, however, would just recommend reading the books. What I will tell you, however, is that Crescent is amazing and it was definitely worth the wait. The main characters are now a few years older, and you can tell how much they've changed. Crater is no longer the super-naive kid anymore, but instead has grown into a wiser, slightly pessimistic young man who has seen too much in his short time. While the characters have clearly grown up, you can tell that they're the exact same people, just older. I, more than anyone, know how much even a simple year can completely change a person.

Crescent is an adventurous tale, once again taking the reader back to this alternate future that I love so much. I feel like it's a little more mature than Crater was, possibly simply because the characters themselves are older. The book can be humorous at times, and the author gave multiple nods to the first book through inside jokes. My biggest complaint with the entire book is that it ended. I mean, come on! It was so very good the entire way through, and then ol' Homer had to go ahead and end it! When I finished the last chapter I jumped out of my chair and started shouting at the author for ending the book, and ending it where he did of all places.

Now, of course, the next Helium-3 novel is to be the final book in the series. I am going to be truly sad when it's over, because I love this trilogy. I assume that the next novel will once again jump ahead in time a few years, and I absolutely cannot wait. Unfortunately, I have to. It comes out in a year.

Congratulations, Mr. Hickam, your world has once again stolen my heart. I eagerly look forward to the final installment, though I'll probably cry at the end because the series will be over. You're a brilliant writer. Keep up the good work.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to make some turnip paste.

Revisit: Crater by Homer Hickam

A year and a quarter ago I reviewed a book called Crater. It was written by Homer Hickam, the retired NASA engineer who penned the bestselling autobiography Rocket Boys, which was later made into the hit film October Sky.

My original review was a mistake. I focused too much on the book's faults, to the point that people who read my review thought I was saying it was cliché and cheesy and basically written for children. I made sure to state that I loved it, but because of the way I wrote it, people basically thought it had just been a guilty pleasure of mine. That's definitely not true, because my guilty pleasure is Colleen Coble novels.

What bothers me the most about my initial review is that the author himself misinterpreted it, and suggested that I might enjoy his novel The Dinosaur Hunter instead; to which my unspoken response was, "Dinosaurs? How boring! I want to go back to the moon!" (As a disclaimer, The Dinosaur Hunter is probably pretty good; I'm just not interested at the present time.)

While it's true that parts of Crater seemed a little bit cliché or cheesy, it's a brilliant novel and I think it deserves a revisit. I recently acquired the sequel, Crescent, and I decided that before reading it I would reread Crater, and then set the record straight on my blog.

To begin, I love this book. I only read it the first time about a year and three months ago, but it feels like it's been so much longer, to the point where a huge part of the book was downright nostalgic.

Crater takes place on a moon colony in the 22nd century, and the book spans over a decent portion of the moon, exposing the reader to what the future could be like. The author, being a former NASA engineer, put all of his scientific knowledge into making an intriguing and brilliant world that actually makes sense in the reader's mind. As the characters traveled the vast world, I often wished that I could be there as well, exploring the reaches of the moon.

The main character is Crater Trueblood, a naive teenager who was older than me the first time I read the novel, but whom is now pretty much the exact same age. Sometimes his character felt a little too naive, but he also had some great character development throughout the book.

At the beginning of the book Crater is sent on a mission with a convoy from his mining colony to the great Armstrong City, and from there even to outer space, and the closest to Earth he's ever been. It's a long journey with many hitches along the way. The story is beautifully written, even when you take into account the minor cliché elements.

Crater is a brilliant, suspenseful, and even somewhat tragic story. It takes place in an epic and well-crafted future universe, and the characters are great and memorable. Honestly, I haven't looked forward to any book in a long time as much as I've looked forward to the sequel.

I strongly apologize to anyone who read my initial review. Crater is awesome.

The Circle Series: Visual Edition by Ted Dekker

If you know me, you probably know I've been a Ted Dekker fan for a long time. Some of his stories I can't stand, while others are simply amazing. One of Dekker's most well-known works is his Books of History Chronicles, which ties several of his series and standalone novels together. That all started with the Circle Trilogy, released back in 2004. It was the Circle that introduced readers to the wondrous fantasy world of Other Earth, and it set the foundations for many spectacular stories to come.

The Circle Series: Visual Edition contains the complete graphic novels Black: The Birth of Evil, Red: The Heroic Rescue, and White: The Great Pursuit, based on their counterpart novels of the same names. The fourth and final novel in the literary series, Green: The Beginning and the End (or Green: The Last Stand) has not yet been adapted into graphic novel format. This is fine, and actually a good thing, because it works better as the standalone sequel to three of Dekker's series, and should only be read after reading all of its predecessors.

The Visual Edition is surprisingly pretty good. I actually liked the art style once I got used to it. It still follows the same story as the novels, of course, but it feels largely abridged. This is needed, so that it will even fit in comic format, but it doesn't feel like it tells the full story. It would be confusing and probably cheesy to people who have not already experienced the story.

My biggest complaint with the Visual Edition of the Circle Series is that it's not a good place to start the story for those who have not read the novels. Because the creators had to skip a lot of content, the plot feels slightly rushed and confusing. In addition, my favorite scene from the novel White was removed altogether.

In conclusion, it's a fun and cool way to revisit the world of the Circle, but only to those who have already experienced the trilogy. I would not recommend it those who haven't yet taken the plunge.

Forbidden by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee

Many years have passed since civilization's brush with apocalypse. The world's greatest threats have all been silenced. There is no anger, no hatred, no war. There is only perfect peace... and fear. But a terrible secret has been closely guarded for centuries: Every single soul walking the earth, though in appearance totally normal, is actually dead, long ago genetically stripped of true humanity.

Fleeing pursuit, with only moments to live, a young man named Rom stumbles into possession of a vial of blood and a piece of cryptic writing. When consumed, the blood will bring him back to life. When decoded, the message will lead him on a perilous journey that will require him to abandon everything he has ever known and awaken humanity to the transforming power of true life and love.

But the blood will also resurrect hatred, ambition, and greed.

Set in a terrifying, medieval future, where grim pageantry masks death, this tale of dark desires and staggering stakes peels back the layers of the heart for all who dare to take the ride.

With one month from the release of the series' second installment, I finally finished Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee's highly-acclaimed Forbidden, which I first started reading in October 2011.

The first in the Books of Mortals trilogy takes place in an alternate future in which fear is the only emotion genetically allowed. Although the setting and story are certainly good, the book failed to meet its hype. The book was slow, and even got to be quite boring in many places. It's a struggle to get through, making an unpleasant experience.

The antagonist is a man named Saric. He was given a serum by alchemists that brings back some of his emotions, but only the horrible ones. Basically, he was turned into a beast in a world that knew only fear. He sickened me to the point that I truthfully say I have never hated anyone, real or fictional, more than I hated Saric. That is not how to write a good bad guy! A well-written bad guy is one who you can see reason behind; one you can sympathize with. Ted Dekker has a trend of writing antagonists who are mentally unstable and/or retarded, and no offense to him, but that is the most annoying kind of bad guy in any story. By the end of Forbidden I literally wanted to butcher Saric.

There was a flaw in the story's concept. It's an awesome concept for a setting, but it's not possible to get rid of all emotions except fear. Among the characters who could only experience fear, I saw other emotions as well, such as confusion and desperation. Those could be considered attributes to fear, but that's irrelevant, because they're also emotions separate from fear. If someone in that universe suppresses their fear, they can still be confused, causing a major flaw in the idea of no emotions but fear. Other emotions are necessary in order to have only fear, and that in itself is contradictory.

Forbidden was good, but there were a lot of things I had a problems with; all those listed above, in addition to all of the blood, gore, and sexuality. There's nothing necessarily wrong with having blood, gore, or sexuality in a novel, as long as they don't go overboard. I, for one, am someone very easily grossed out, and there was a lot of gore that I wasn't comfortable reading. The authors could have been just as realistic in their writing while just being less explicit. I know that, because they've done so in the past. As for the sexuality factor, the main evil character, due to his dark emotions, was quite a pervert, wanting to bed every woman he laid eyes upon. He very nearly raped one of the main characters at one point. Another reason to be irritated at Saric and his idiocy.

Yes, yes, as everybody told me, the book improved massively by the end. The pace quickened, the story developed, and everything turned out really cool. But does a book getting good by the end classify it as a good novel? Unfortunately, not this one. If the entire first half of the book had been retold in half the length, it would have been twice as good. Considering the story got good by the end, I'll be eagerly awaiting the release of Mortal, the second in the series. Poor, poor Forbidden, however, is left with only three stars out of five. If not for the second half of the book, it would have been left with two.

Crater by Homer Hickam

A mining colony on the moon, a teen sent on a deadly mission, and a secret bigger than two worlds. It’s the 22nd Century. A tough, pioneering people mine the moon for Helium-3 to produce energy for a desperate, war-torn Earth. 

Sixteen-year-old Crater Trueblood loves his job as a Helium-3 miner. But when he saves a fellow miner, his life changes forever. Impressed by his heroism, the owner of the mine orders Crater to undertake a dangerous mission. Crater doubts himself, but has no choice. He must go. 

With the help of Maria, the mine owner’s frustrating but gorgeous granddaughter, and his gillie—a sentient and sometimes insubordinate clump of slime mold cells—Crater must fight both human and subhuman enemies. He’ll battle his way across a thousand miles of deadly lunar terrain and face genetically altered super warriors in his quest to recover an astonishing object that will alter the lives of everyone on the moon.

Crater was written by Homer Hickam, the author of the autobiography Rocket Boys that was adapted in 1999 as the film October Sky. I saw the film years ago and loved it, and that's how I instantly became interested in this novel when I heard that Homer wrote it. The story of October Sky was about Homer's life as a young man: his father was a coal miner and wanted him to become one as well, but Homer saw his future along a different path, and eventually became a NASA engineer. Many years later, after the events of his autobiography, Homer retired and became a writer of both fiction and nonfiction. Though at this current time I've only read this one that he's penned, the book descriptions of many of his books imply that he uses much of his knowledge from both his life as a coal miner's son and his life as a NASA engineer when writing his stories. This is definitely one such story.

Crater is of a lower reading level than I have read in a while—young adult, for sure—and sometimes it just seemed childish or cheesy. The narration would often mention some key piece of technology but would fail to even hint at what it actually looked like or how it worked. Sometimes it would fail to mention what certain things even did. A lot of the main character's mission that was assigned near the very beginning of the book doesn't make complete sense until you know what exactly a cycler is and how a works—and that's something you don't find out until you have about fifty pages left in the entire book. These aren't details that would be considered plot spoilers; these are details that the narration seems to think readers should already know from the beginning but can't, because it's usually referring to technology that the author himself created.

In addition, several parts of the story were cliché. Early in the book the protagonist, Crater Trueblood, enters a sort of futuristic race, and his main opponent is one that everyone knows will win. The opponent is the type that uses as many forms of "foul play" as they can while making sure not to officially break any rules. With the help of his gillie and some ridiculous luck, Crater barely crosses the finish before his opponent. By that time they'd been the only two competitors still in the race. Does that sound familiar? Also, the main character is just a teenager, but he's extremely smart and can think of (and design) improvements for almost everything man-made he comes across. I suppose in the next book it will be revealed that General Caesar Augustus Nero—a character who, as you can obviously tell from his name, will turn out to be evil—is actually his father, long thought dead. (Yes, that is sarcasm.)

Crater is full of inconsistencies, clichés, and sometimes just ridiculousness, but in all honesty, it was the first book I've read in a long time that I've actually enjoyed reading. I read a lot of books recently that I loved, but it was the story or characters or ideas or setting or author's writing ability that I loved, not the actual reading part. For nearly a year and a half now reading has been a chore for me. I've grown to hate it, but I press on anyway to enjoy the wonderful worlds and tales that I fall in love with. My ability to read left entirely with my ability to focus, so even reading a little bit takes an excruciating amount of effort and time. Crater, though at times it was difficult to get through, (to an average person it could be probably read easily in a weekend) is a super easy read. I enjoyed reading it like I haven't for any other book I've read in a very long time.

The book had its faults, but enjoying the reading part of it really helped me to enjoy the rest, and the faults weren't nearly bad enough to ruin the book. The story and setting, when you look past the thin outer skin, is actually incredibly cool. Sometimes the book seemed a little bit like an Isaac Asimov novel, though of course on a far less mature level. The main character, Crater Trueblood, changed a lot throughout the story. He sometimes really surprises the reader, either with his level of immaturity or his level of maturity.

The author, Homer Hickam, harnessed loads of his scientific knowledge into the novel. Putting a bunch of techno-babble into a book geared toward the reading level of Crater is absolutely ridiculous, but for those of us who enjoy reading books at this level and also know a decent bit about science (so we can barely grasp what some of the techno-babble is about), this book a very enjoyable experience. Homer is a wise man, and I often felt myself wanting to save entire paragraphs or conversations as quotes, rather than just a character's line or two, as is traditional for quotes.

In the end, through its faults that I have probably made sound far worse than they actually are, Crater was a fun novel with a great story, cast and setting. If you enjoy young adult fiction and science fiction, check it out. I was expecting a lot from the author, so for a while into the reading I can't deny that I was disappointed. By the end, however, I was wondering when Hollywood will get enough sense to make this into a movie. I definitely can't now deny the awesomeness of the story and setting. Homer Hickam might not be an expert at converting his knowledge into all the correct words for a novel everyone will love, but his knowledge of space and the moon makes the technology he created seem all the more believable. I look forward very much to the next novel in the Helium-3 saga.

Crater: A Helium-3 Novel was published on April 10, 2012.
This book was sent to me for free from Thomas Nelson Publishing. http://www.BookSneeze.com/

If you read this review within the first couple days of its posting, you can follow this link for a chance to win Crater on Free Book Friday. The link also includes an interview with the author. Enter soon, though, because the giveaway ends on April 20.

Update 7/4/13: I gave this book a second review. You can read it here.

The Skin Map by Stephen R. Lawhead

Kit Livingston's great-grandfather appears in a deserted alley during a tumultuous storm. He reveals an unbelievable story: ley lines throughout Britain are not merely the stuff of legend or the weekend hobby of deluded cranks—they're pathways to other worlds. To those who know how to use them, ley lines grant the ability to travel the multi-layered universe of which we ordinarily inhabit only a tiny part.

Well, I should've known this would be a unique book as soon as I saw that the description used the term, "the stuff of legend." There is no way anyone in their right mind would use a term like that in their book description. Okay, maybe they would, because they would need to be in their right mind if they were to write a book as... interesting as The Skin Map was.

The Skin Map by Stephen R. Lawhead is the story of three people. Or should I say, it is three stories, each with their own character, and only connected in subtle ways. One story follows Kit Livingstone, a very confused man who is not in his own world. The second story follows Wilhelmina Klug, a very confused woman who is not in her own world. Kit and Mina were very close at one time, but then were separated into different worlds and lost. The third story follows Arthur Flinders-Petrie, the man who created the legendary "skin map", and who also died a long time ago.

The Skin Map isn't a bad book, it's just filled to the rim with plot holes. It's obviously a British novel, as a lot of it takes place in London, and it has British spelling rather than American. It is one of those books that starts each chapter name with, "In which...," which is very annoying, in my opinion. Not only is it not necessary, but it sometimes gives away spoilers.

The book was long and, to tell the truth, boring at many parts. Through the entirety it felt as if the whole, long book was only leading up to where the story actually began. This was confirmed, as it seemed like the story just finally began in the last few chapters. Too bad for me, I need to wait until the second book comes out (The Bone House, coming in September) to see what the story actually turns into.

In short, the book was long, boring, and hard to get through. It was filled with plot holes, but every once in a while there were some really cool parts. The very end was good, but that was because the entire rest of the book simply led up to it. Three storylines, later turning into four, all started merging at the end... but then, you know, the book ended. It wasn't all that well written, either.

Would I recommend this book? Well, I can't tell you that until I've read the sequel. The Skin Map leads up to it in a way that I doubt someone who started the series with the second book would understand. So if The Bone House is good, then yes, I would recommend The Skin Map.

The Skin Map was publicly released on September 1, 2010, but was re-released for paperback on May 31, 2011.
This book was sent to me for free from Thomas Nelson Publishing. http://www.BookSneeze.com/

For any of my readers who are Facebook friends with me, I wrote a document talking about some of the major plot holes in The Skin Map. If I knew how to change the settings so that everyone, not only Facebook friends, could read it, I would. The document can be found here.

Reuben Horst

Invitation to the Game

The thing about this book is there are almost no front cover images from the various versions that don't contradict the story in some way. That can be very annoying. Sorry, just saying.

Update: Turns out this novel was re-released in 2010 under the title The Game, and it actually has a cool cover image. You can check it out here.

For me, Invitation to the Game by Monica Hughes is a classic. I absolutely loved it the first time I read it several years ago, and this time I loved it as well. I actually reviewed this book on a past blog when I read it the first time. If you weren't around when I started this blog (shame on you!), the story of what happened to that blog can be found here. This is just a little bit random, but looking back, my writing skills have really increased in just nine or ten months.

I was first introduced to Invitation to the Game by my librarian. I instantly knew it wouldn't be a "regular" teen science fiction novel, because, well, my librarian introduced it to me! This is the librarian that doesn't really want any books about fishing in the library but has an entire section on quilting. She is definitely not a science fiction fan.

But, alas, she actually recommended the book. I believe she said it was the only science fiction book that she liked. I was a little unsure when I started reading it, but after a short time I realized that it really was . . . you know, cool!

In the future, 2154 to be exact, the world is practically run by machines. (Sound familiar? At first it seems like a typical science fiction story setting.) Thousands of occupations that were once filled by human beings are now filled by robots. This leaves thousands, probably millions across the world, of people unemployed, and they're pretty much dumped in a designated area (DA for short) and told to stay there.

A sixteen-year-old girl named Lisse, fresh out of school, fails to land a job, as does seven of her friends (which she's shocked about, since they're all such bright students). They are driven to a city (it never specifies which) and let off in their designated area. They are given just enough government credits to survive every month, and are told that if they ever leave their DA, the Thought Police will track them down in mere moments.

That's how Invitation to the Game starts out: a group of teens trying to survive in a dark and savage world. I believe if the author had spent more time exploring this world and all of the interesting pieces of future culture, then the book would've been a lot better, but it was written over twenty years ago, so I doubt I can change her mind.

The group actually fares well for a while, until in a night bar they heard of something called 'The Game', and it perked their interest. On a few occasional nights since then they go to taverns and such and ask about this 'Game' that has capital letters. Eventually they find something about it, but not in any of those dirty, scum-infested bars.

The Game is a treasure hunt. You're given clues every time you play, and the clues are all for a prize in the end, which nobody knows what it is. Only those invited can participate. It sounds sort of weird and maybe a bit boring, but the teens continue looking for information about it.

And then they get invited to it. They don't know how, or why, or even if they should accept or not. Soon they find it is amazing beyond what they had imagined before.

I'll stop the story synopsis at that point, as I don't want to tell you the entire story. Whether or not I made it sound great or horrible, I loved the book both times I read it. It's full of adventure, and jam-packed with various emotions such as intrigue, depression, joy, hatred, triumph, and realization that in the end it can all work out if you work together (the long version of saying "teamwork").

The plot was great, and I didn't really see the ending twist coming (though I'm the type of person who doesn't usually see twists coming). I've fallen in love with the author's portrayal of the future (though I certainly hope our future doesn't turn out that way), and if there were other books that take place in the same universe, I'd read them for sure.

Monica Hughes is a great author. There are many things that I think she could have done better, but altogether it was a spectacular novel. I'd recommend it to people at any age.

Reuben Horst

Afterlife: The Resurrection Chronicles

The first time I ever heard of Merrie Destefano is when she added me as a friend on FaceBook. My first reaction was to send her a message asking who the heck she was (as I do for all other people who I have no clue who the heck they are). She simply replied saying she was a new Christian author who had a book coming out soon.

So I guess I just shrugged and sort of reluctantly accepted. Several times afterward I've heard things about her novel, Afterlife, but I had no clue what it was about. From the title and the cover, I didn't feel too interested. I might someday get around to reading it, but for that time being I certainly had enough to read.

Later I read Merrie's description of her own novel, and I got slightly interested. Then later I entered a sweepstakes on a website to win a signed copy of the book. After that, I practically forgot about the book. Still remembered it every once in a while, but never got too interested.

Well, that was until a week or two ago when I found out that I won that sweeptakes. One out of five winners, not including the grand prize winner who won a $100 Amazon gift card (unless that was included with one of the people who won a signed book). This was a few months after the sweepstakes ended.

It was right then, after I read the email from the website, that I realized that if I hadn't won, I might never get around to reading the book.

I started the novel. It takes place in a strange world. It's actually our world, in the far future. The book never gives a date, which I believe is intentional. These days the hottest products and stuff you can buy are electronics, computers, video games, awesome things from ThinkGeek, et cetera. In this strange future, the hottest item you can acquire is not exactly an item. It's a longer life.

Every time you die, you have a chance to resurrect again. You can live up to nine lives, having a lifespan of around 500 years. Every time you die and resurrect, you can a new body and a new life. You lose many memories, but you remember many as well. Dying and resurrecting is a good way to escape your current life, whether due to depression, or being chased by the government.

There are many rules to follow, though, and one of them being that after resurrection, you must be looked after by a "Babysitter" for a week until you become stable.

Enter Chaz Dominguez, long-time Babysitter and descendant of the man who "invented" resurrection. His brother owns the resurrection company, Fresh Start, but he is just a plain old Babysitter.

But there's nothing really boring about being a Babysitter. You can break more laws than anyone otherwise would guess, and use many strange weapons, as long as you do not abuse your authority and powers.

Chaz was recently given another "Newbie" to look after for their first week of new life, and she seems like just another normal Newbie. But after a while, Chaz starts to believe there's something else about her. Something's not right about her, and his is just nagging him to find out what.

Alas, an adventure starts. An adventure of mystery, suspense, and trial. A government plot is discovered, a top secret organization arises, and guess what I'm going to say. Like I've said for almost all of the rest of my book reviews, the main character is thrown into it all. Chaz, his brother Russel, his Newbie Angelique, and some mysterious space-police dude.

Actually there is no mentioned space travel. That was a joke. The last character mentioned is a high-ranking officer in the current law-enforcement system on earth. His name is and was Skellar. He was not trustworthy or too bright. No wonder the characters didn't trust him.

The story overall blew my mind. I do say that a lot too, and it's true. It was one of those novels that drew me in and didn't let go unless I forced it. By the awesome ending, I'll say the book is really amazing.

There's an occasional "damn" or "hell" in the book, but I don't mind it much. People swear a lot worse in modern-day television and movies. Besides, I don't even consider "hell" a swear word (don't see how it is).

The book took me a while for me to stop saying "huh?" This was a very strange future. There was technology such as resurrection, amazing virtual reality technology, a strange and extremely powerful weapon called "liquid light", and even more. I was having trouble thinking of this as an actual world.

Well, until I thought of it in Star Wars terms. This story isn't any more wacko than our old favorite science fiction TV and movies. It's almost more believable, the way it's written.

Anyway, I thoroughly loved this book. If you're into science fiction and/or thrillers, you'll love this book too.

Strange enough, in the amount of time it took me to write this review, I had enough time to read another whole 400-500 page novel (it takes a long time for me to write, I guess), so expect another review in the next several days. I might start it today. Maybe finish it too, but I don't know.

Anyway, see ya around!
~Reuben/Arkatox~