Books Galore and More

Every break from school, I have made it a goal to read at least two books. Generally, I end up maxing out at around seven books. Crazy, right? I mean, that's a lot of words on pages and stuff. But I still manage to read a handful. I've read four during this break. I started off with Brandon Sanderson's Elantris, then read Warbreaker by the same author. Libraries ought to have more of a science fiction/fantasy selection since what they have in that genre has been published at least 10 years ago. After reading Warbreaker, I moved onto The Hunger Games trilogy. I haven't managed to finish Book three just yet, but for those of you that haven't read it, the pace is phenomenally well done. The plot moves ever forward; there are no points where the focus is lost. The reason I haven't finished is because I have managed to get myself distracted by video games again.

I swear, I am only doing this to witness a story so that I may write better stories of my own, so that I may become as good a writer as an artist. Honest.

The videogame binge started with Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, which is pretty awesome, especially when you can climb up landmarks such as the Colosseum and the Pantheon in Rome. But since it is designed as a sandbox game with markers to dictate where the story moves forward, I lost interest; Ezio's character build didn't interest me enough to stick it through. Its the one complaint I have about the game; it's central character doesn't show more than an intense interest in bringing the Borgia brothers down. It's an alright plot for an exceptionally well rendered game, one that sells based on just how fun gameplay is, and the awesome multiplayer, but the story behind it is hard to follow. Ezio just doesn't have enough flaws to make him interesting, and neither does Desmond for that matter.

This is why I decided to splurge a little and buy a used copy of Alan Wake. Going from open-ended format to linear story-telling was a bit of a shock, but the well-rendered settings as well as the well-told story kept me occupied. I beat the game in a day, and returned it, not sure whether I was satisfied. The game was too short for my liking. The character showed changes, yes, but they were subtle, if anything. I exchanged Alan Wake for a copy of Final Fantasy XIII. Knowing I was in for it in a huge way, I started in slowly. Unfortunately, like any good book, movie, videogame, or TV show will do to you, the characters kept me playing for days. Final Fantasy XIII is truly an epic game, with a well thought out plot, along with likable characters capable of human emotions. Each has a flaw that one can relate to, and after a few hours of playing, every character seems like an old friend. Well, maybe with the exception of a way too bubbly redheaded girl.

That's it, other than the fact that today, I found out about a town in New York called Tuckaho. Boy, I bet that gets vandalized a lot.