This is going to be a monster of a post, so let’s just dive right into it. I hemmed and hawed and ended up deciding that a straight up ‘top five’ or ‘top ten’ really wasn’t going to do it this year. How could I rate some of these darlings over the others? It’s impossible!

I’m going to start with books by authors I’ve already read, because you have to start somewhere. With absolutely no segway. I read three books by C.E. Murphy last year, and I wanted to give all three a shout out – Demon Hunts for the best, most unexpected, yet it totally fits, cameo, Spirit Dances for being one of those rare books that doesn’t utterly suck at depicting canines, and Truthseeker for having fae that don’t bore me or have me rolling my eyes. It might seem like scant praise, but I’m considering this a highlights reel of sorts – trying to come up with the bulletpoints that would have sold me on the books if I hadn’t already read them. All of C.E. Murphy’s books are fabulous, featuring done-right tough heroines, colorful casts, and fantastic magic building.

Deadline, the sequel to Feed by Mira Grant, came out in 2011. Feed is a hard book to live up to, but I think Deadline more then passed with flying colors. It was fast paced, mindblowing, jenga-tower plot of rage-at-the-book-yet-can’t-put-it-down. There is precious little I can say about it without spoiling it. When I finished it about killed me to wait a whole year for Blackout. In conclusion, teacup bulldogs!

Lady Pain is the final book in a trilogy that I’ve been struggling to finish for awhile. It just took me time to move past the abrupt point of view change. I’m glad I did because it brought the story to a good conclusion. I debated about including it here, but I felt like it took me so long to come around to it that it deserves a shout out.

The Hedgewitch Queen(Lilith Saintcrow) is a more or less a traditional fantasy story with some of my favorite tropes – hidden royal bastards, conspiracies, assassinations galore, and a bodyguard crush which turns quite complicated. It’s set in Not-Europe, which leads to a lot of amusement of the ‘I see what you did there’ variety.

Hat tip to Rage(Jackie Morse Kessler) for going into some dark places and bringing a light.

Now on to the new authors I’ve found. Hm, authors I’ve found, authors I’ve lost – funny how we talk about these things isn’t it? Anyway, first up is Dan Wells! I somehow managed to read all three of the John Cleaver books(I Am Not A Serial Killer, Mr. Monster, and I Don’t Want To Kill You - just try going into a bookstore and asking for those books with a straight face) in one year. They are like Dexter, except better. There’s no decline in story quality, no super rough writing, and the books aren’t afraid to dive into  the darkest parts of its subject matter, and it also doesn’t shy away from its supernatural element.

Keeping with a death theme, I also found Death Most Definite and Managing Death by Trent Jamieson. The first book is about grim reapers in Australia dealing with the worst sort of corporate take over – the kind that leaves everyone dead. The second book deals with the fallout, including the main character being put in charge, and dangles an elderich entity of approaching apocalypse over the story. I really want to buy the third book, but an omnibus? Really?

More death! This time with zombies! I’m officially declaring ‘vampire in a zombie apocalypse’ one of my favorite setups. If you dig zombies, vampires, and/or Chuck Wendig, I can’t recommend Double Dead enough. There might be a few cuss words, but at least nobody sparkles.

God’s War by Kameron Hurley showed up on my radar like a stealth bomber, on moment I run across a contest on a blog and the next it’s in my hands.  It’s ‘bugpunk’ if we want to give it a ‘punk’ label – set in the far future on a wartorn planet, where all the technology and magic is based on instincts. Add in a downright brutally tough heroine, her meditative magician partner, and plenty of interrstellar, world-changing conspiracy.

Did I meantion there were a lot of good books in 2011? There were. The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells was another surprise. Picked it up from the library, fell in love and bought my own copy. A fantastic and well build alien world, a main character with a dark past and a hidden heritage, who finds a home and possibly love. I’m currently cursing Amazon for their delay of two months on the sequel. *shakes fist*

The Black Prism(Breek Weeks) is a bit of an epic book. It took me a month and a half to read. It features a world built realistically around it’s magic system, which itself is built around the colors spectrum, including the ones we can’t normally see! The characters include the world’s magic/religious leader, that leader’s newly discovered bastard son, the leader’s  ’evil’ brother, and an ex-damsel-in-distress. It gets delightfully complicated though, with lots of political maneuvering and looming war.

Spellwright, and it’s sequel Spellbound, by Blake Charlton brought to the table some of the most ingenious wordplay I’ve ever read. The books have their rough patches, but I think the language-based magic system and a few excellent story twists make them more than worth it overlooking the flaws. A dyslexic wizard sets out to save the world, what more can I say?

Wow, I can’t believe how long this post has been so far. I hope it isn’t too boring to read! You know what isn’t boring to read? The adventures of an immortal druid and his smart talkin’ irish wolfhound. How’s THAT for a segway! Hounded and Hexed by Kevin Hearn remind me of the early Dresden Files books, though I feel like they are slightly lighter in tone.  The main attraction is a well balanced Kitchen Sink urban fantasy world, and a sharp wit. Heck, they’re worth reading just for the dog!

And now that I’ve finally cover almost all the books I wanted to, it’s time for an extra special mention – my friend and writing buddy Heather has had a ton of short stories come out this year, and they are all fabulous. The special nod here goes to Bordello Secrets, because it’s a longer standalone. Also, fabulous.

Summer Wars is about a ‘virus’ – an AI released onto the internet of the near future wrecking havoc with the delicate systems that run the world. Summer Wars is about the budding romance between the hot girl in school and an adorkable nerd. Summer Wars also about a family coming together to celebrate the birthday of the beloved matriarch, and about the family’s secrets and conflicts.

It’s also more or less a remake of the Digimon movie Our War Game. But in a good way – trust me on this. Like the director’s previous work, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars transcends any description you could give it. It’s hard to get across in text the depth of emotion movie portrays visually. Energetic and colorful, fast paced and fun – Summer Wars has everything an anime fan should want.

The best non-Ghibli, non-Satoshi Kon, anime movie in years, what makes Summer Wars so special is its cast of characters. Natsuki’s family is vivid and familiar – from the strong personalities to the loners, from the outcast to the serene grandmother who is not to be underestimated. It might not be your family, but you probably know this family. The story’s drama arises naturally from these characters’ personalities[1. When it isn't America's fault...], building on the themes of family and cooperation.

I unfortunately, living in Alaska, I didn’t get a chance to see it on the big screen. While it’s not a movie that you have to see on a big screen, there are a couple of scenes that would have been really spectacular. The animation is fluid, clean and colorful, using an older style that that’s refreshing and undated in the current onslaught of moe. The whole movie is the most excellent example of visual storytelling I’ve seen in recent anime – there’s one long pan in particular that… oh curses. Spoilers. Well, you’ll just have to see it.

One difference that strikes me about Summer Wars and Our War Game is how the internet is portrayed – back when Our War Game came out such a unified internet was fanciful at best. In a world where Facebook and smartphones are everywhere the near-singularity OZ seems more frighteningly plausible, though I hope if such a technology comes to pass the governments have better sense.

Also, all the computers are made by Dell.

Summer Wars is an uplifting, heartbreaking, thrilling movie destined to be a classic ranked among the Ghibli movies, well worth a place in your collection.

In my experience, as a reader, as a reviewer, and as a writer, bad reviews are more useful then good reviews. Go to Amazon, or Goodreads, and pull up the five star and one star reviews for any book. A lot of the five star reviews look the same, all formated in a style I think of as ‘book report’ – three to five paragraphs that recap the summary, often copy and pasted from somewhere, followed by at most a paragraph of ‘I liked it.’

The one and two star reviews are passionate. They are often short, but in that paragraph or two the reviewer will say exactly why they didn’t like the about the book. They show emotion and thought as they pick apart the faults they perceive. You can learn a lot from those reviews, even if you don’t agree with them. The further into a series you get, the more likely those reviewers have been written by fans – their hurt and disappoint show through. Negative reviews are powerful.

When it comes to writing reviews I try to remain fair, even when writing about a book I didn’t like – I try to highlight any good bits, and not make any attacks against the writer – just pick apart the book itself. And I try to give the same consideration to the books I do like, because they deserve more then a mass produced stamp of approval.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World is the epic of our generation. It’s a delightful romp in a world viewed through the filter of Peter Pan Generation. This is a movie with a near-laser focused audience - if you’re too old you’re not going to understand the language, and if you’re too young you’re not going to understand the language AND you won’t understand the fundamental conflicts. It’s a coming-of-age story about people who refuse to let go of childhood. The title character, Scott Pilgrim, is a self-centered jerk, but he is also an avatar of our generation.

A romantic-comedy told with the language and metaphor of video games, which is fitting because that is, in my experience, exactly how my generation tends to frame our world and experiences. I pretty much knew I was going to love this movie from the moment the 8-bit Universal music started up. The music and sound cues in this movie is pure genius – Ramona makes an appearance in one to scene to a track from A Link to the Past entitled ‘Enter Goddess’, and the Item Catch music is used several times. The music in general is badass, and I absolutely love it, it’s relative quality be damned.

The video game language is there visually as well, with sound effects and subtle hints and foreshadowing woven into the background. The sheer attention to detail is impressive. Overall the movie is colorful and vibrant, eschewing the popular washed out look of many recent movies.

The ‘moral’ of the story, as it were, is my favorite part of the movie. Instead of the usual Hollywood message of ‘Love Conquers All’ love is nothing compared to self respect, and even that it merely a decent level up – you still want to fight for what you want. It’s an important lesson for my age group, because we really don’t respect ourselves. We’ve grown up with the poisonous ‘Disney approved[1. Though Disney was hardly the source of the message, and it isn't really fair to blame them... But I seem to be wandering into a Deep Topic here.]‘ message that Love Triumphs, and that nothing is worth working for because it will either fall apart, or be delivered to us regardless of the effort we put into it.

The movie isn’t without it’s flaws – I rather liked the fast pace, but some of the scenes are off beat, and the resolution to the fight with Roxy was… odd. So far I’ve only read the first and half of the second volume of the comic, so I can’t really speak to the value of what was left out. I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series, because as you know the book is always better then the movie.

Shoot entirely on green screen, The Warrior’s Way is a beautiful and highly stylistic movie – it is visually vibrant and colorful. The violence is particular is highly stylized, the blood spray relatively limited and downright artistic at times. I found the majority of the fight scenes to be a little lacking, their flaws more more evident by a handful of really excellent fight scenes – the hallway scene in particular being one of the best action scenes I’ve seen in a long while. My mom, a fellow martial arts movie addict, compared this movie to Kill Bill- I can’t comment on that because I’ve yet to see Kill Bill. The Conservation of Ninjutsu is in full effect, interestingly enough for both sides. I am willing to let this explain why the Big Bad was taken down so easily after being built up into such a imposing force[1. For my own sanity. In short - there were still too many ninja on the enemy side.]. In general the martial arts were pretty solid and entertaining, and they do some creative things with knives, and explosives.

The story is an interesting one – a powerful warrior has his heart melted by the innocence of a baby, and then goes on the run from his clan to protect the said. He ends up in the old west[2. Does that imply that the conflict between the warring ninja clans is the Bakumatsu/Meiji Restoration?], where he gets stuck with the job of laundry man and falls in with the circus. Naturally he develops a romance with the knife thrower, until her past comes back to haunt the town and the shit hits the fan. Where the movie let me down was, I think, mostly in the editing – some scenes go on far too long, and others repeat, bogging down the pacing. The other problem was that it felt like they director of the film was afraid of it, and kept reigning it back from really awesome and amazing scenes. There were a couple interesting scenes in the trailers that were cut, along with The Line. Once I learned that this was this director’s first movie[3. He is also the writer.] it seemed obvious – a lot of the things that would have been awesome in a more experienced director/writer’s hands end up being ham fisted. It all leads up to an Escaflowne Ending in which the main character breaks all of his character development to that point in order to poetically wander off into the sunset. The more I think about it, the angrier I get. At least the movie itself ends on a good note with the fantastic Arctic Ninja Epilogue.

This is a movie that had a lot of promise, but unfortunately that promise wrote a check that the movie did not cash. Even so it was fairly entertaining and pretty to look at. I recommend anyone whose interested in this sort of movie check it out when it hits dvd.

Seriously far too adorable.

While the graphics are the best part of the game, the gameplay still shines. The controls are easy to pick up on, while the platforming is deceptively simple. Said younger sibling only had to beg for my help once a World to complete the game, while I took on some truly complicated platforming challenges in my quest for 100%. There’s no Game Over, just an incremental loss of the beads collected on that level. I know that feature has gotten a lot of flack from so-called ‘hardcore gamers’, but I found it alleviated some of the frustration over trickier jumping segments. Some of the levels are really long and twisting, especially if you’re going after the hidden treasures. Starting from the beginning every time the control ignored a button press would have resulted in a thrown controller.

The controls were probably the biggest flaw. Well, not the controls themselves but rather the controllers – after about fifteen minutes of play my thumbs would hurt, and at least three levels have a section that requires you to hold down one button and press the jump button with the same thumb. They also seemed a touch unresponsive.

The story is simple, but I found I liked it that way because then it wasn’t distracting me from the addictive gameplay. And there is some depth – it’s only inferred by the cutscenes and left out of dialogue entirely who the ultimate villain is. I suppose I would have liked a little more, but it works out, managing to strike a reasonable balance between younger, newer players, and the old school hardcore crowd. The game is relatively short – I finished it with just short of 100% after fifteen hours, and it’d probably only take me an hour or two more to get those last few fabrics. A focused player might be able to breeze through the game in about seven hours.

I cannot stress how much fun this game was! I give Kirby’s Epic Yarn an A, 4 out of 5 stars, 8/10, or what ever score system is popular these days. It’s not perfect, but it’s a great game for all skill levels and I really had too much fun to care.

I was apprehensive going in to Tangled. Disney claims it as it’s 50th animated movie, and it has had a… tangled history[1.Such as it's 'boys are the only audience that matters' name change.]. The trailers didn’t help either, featuring juvenile, pop culture-y jokes.

80% of what you see in the trailers is not in the movie. The remaining 20% is utterly out of context. This is the best Disney movie since The Emperor’s New Groove. Hands down. Yes, I’m putting it above The Princess and the Frog – TP&TF was a wonderful return to form, but here Disney takes a crack at a much needed update to that form.

Tangled is a gorgeous movie, and the longer you look at it the prettier it becomes. The clothes are insanely detailed, and the locations are lush, and the lantern scene alone ought to earn this movie a few awards(but probably won’t. *shakes fist a Pixar*) Stylistically the character designs are somewhere between Classic Disney, Modern CG, and straight up Anime. The music is excellent, but then it’s by Alan Menken so why wouldn’t it be? A few of the songs are a tad… bland. Excellent, but bland.

The writing is where the movie shines. It’s as sharp witted and comical as the best of XKCD, while maintaining a heartbreaking depth. I applaud the movie for not going for the easy jokes – they ignored a groin shot joke! I couldn’t believe my eyes. The script and story were both highly polished, and the actors deliver it near note-perfect. The dialogue flows so naturally that if you’re not paying attention you might miss the character’s names entirely except for Flynn’s, which is because it becomes a character-development plot point. My one complaint is of a pet peeve of mine – I’m really sick of stories opening with ‘this is the story of how I died’ or some such. Overdone, boring, and it bleeds the tension out of the last scene.

Speaking of the last scene – a lot of my friends scoffed at the apparent deus-ex-machina, but as this movie’s TV Tropes page reminded me it was actually a continuity nod to the original story. I can think of a dozen other things they could have done there, but in retrospect I like the continuity nod.

There was much talk about Tangled’s rebranding to be more ‘boy friendly’, and a lot of worry over the character of Flynn. I’m happy to report that the spotlight is solidly on Rapunzel and her journey to her journey to discovering her destiny, which she comes to nearly entirely by herself. She is a princess that rescues herself AND her prince! The dynamic between her and Flynn reminds me of Farah and The Prince from Prince of Persia : The Sands of Time(the video game, not the movie.) The animal sidekicks were hilarious – Maximus developing into an ensemble dark horse.

Is it worth seeing? Oh definitely. You’ll be doing yourself a favor by seeing this movie. Is it the best movie of 2010? Hard to say, because there were several great movies this year. Oh why not! I laughed harder then I did during Megamind. Best movie of 2010! Go see it.

Now, I know it’s the popular thing to rag on Dreamworks, but personally I love Dreamworks. With only a couple of exceptions(Cars, The Incredibles) I’ve enjoyed Pixar movies as art, but found them lacking. Dreamworks movies are fun, they take chances and don’t hold back. Well, when they aren’t being completely stupid that is. Well, even when they being stupid they still try to put out the extra effort.

Megamind is, at its heart, a movie about destiny. The movie starts off with the title character being sent off into the universe not knowing what his destiny is supposed to be, and ends up deciding that his destiny is to be a villain after repeatedly being ostracized at school. He clings to this destiny, until the movie’s events force him to reevaluate it. Pretty much every major character has a Screw Destiny moment. The movie also makes an interesting comment on nature verse nurture right at the beginning – Metroman ends up in the lap of luxury, but his parents are rather neglectful, while Megamind had a whole prison full of attentive caregivers[1. It's my own theory that he was adopted by the Warden, and then just ended up spending all his time at the prison because the Warden didn't know what else to do.].

I also appreciated how the ending does not compromise Megamind’s character. He’s still himself when the credits roll, when it would have been so easy for Dreamworks to take a more Hollywood-accepted way out. He wins on his own merits – being smart, resourceful, and adorkable.

Visually the movie has Dreamswork’s signature style. It’s also impressively detailed, especially in the background water and explosion effects. I saw it in 3D because there were no other available showings, and while the 3D was fairly well done it did give me a headache in places because my eyes couldn’t focus on all the little things floating about the screen. I absolutely love the soundtrack, which go figure – Hans Zimmer! I should start basing which movies I go to see on which ones he’s worked on. Another jawdropper from the credits(and why it is always a good idea to watch all the credits) – apparently Guillermo del Toro was a creative consultant for this movie! Knowing that I can see his influence.

Funny, sharp, and thoroughly entertaining. This movie was exactly what I’d hoped it would be[2. Doctor Horrible envisioned by Dreamworks.]. It’s the first movie in awhile that I’d be happy to see multiple times, back to back. It’s become a sort of movie version of an ear worm for me, capturing my imagination and making me want to play with its action figures. If that’s not a recommendation, then I don’t know what is.

Kick it.

Yeah, I shelled out for the Limited Edition. It's shiny.

Visually it’s beautiful. The Fable series has always flirted with uncanny valley in it’s character designs, but for one I think they got something, and the locations are rich in detail. I just wish the game was giving me more opportunity to explore them, like Fable 2 did. Speaking of locations, I really miss the locals from Fable 2 – I had been looking forward to see what happened to Bloodstone, Westcliff, and the Spire, and so far there has been not a peep about them. I feel like there is a lot missing from Fable 3, and lots of unanswered questions – why didn’t the Hero of Bowerstone reel in Reaver[2. Assuming the 'Good' outcome is canon, which so far it seems to be]? What happened to Garth, and Hammer? What is Theresa really up to? Because I doubt Xanatos would be content with just playing narrator.

That's quite a Slouch of Villainy you've got going on there Logan.

Writing wise I am very impressed. Mostly. The main story – the revolution is powerful and driving, the characters behind it a rich and colorful cast. My only major complaint is that Logan is a rather wimpy villain. Just who is his other parent, Dastardly Whiplash? So far all he’s done is twirl his mustache while being a dick. Either he’s under mind control and being very obvious about it, or he’s intentionally trying to start a revolution, which would undermine a lot of what the game is trying to get across about the cost of such an upheaval. In either case the game needed a scene, or just a hint, to set up that he hadn’t always been such a cold jerk. In some respects Lucien was a much better villain – while the game could have set him up better, if you take the extra steps you get treated to portrait of a man descending into insanity. The ultimate lesson seems to be that if you live in Albion, don’t give your son an L name.

As for the gameplay – the combat is nice and fluid, and I enjoy that they’ve finally balanced the weapons so that rifles and hammers don’t utterly suck to use. The Sancturary is probably one of the best menu screens I’ve ever seen, except for two things – could it have killed them to include the ability to see my items in a list? And just quickly saving is kind of a pain. I don’t understand why they changed how you do Expressions, because they worked beautifully in Fable 2; the whole befriending process has become a tedious chore. And I think the whole Road to Rule idea was a complete misstep, robbing me of that customizable control over my character’s growth that was so core to the first two games. I recall the developers talking about how they wanted to move away from RPG elements, but the Road to Rule is a huge step back towards the tradition RPG mold. The only feature of the Road to Rule that I really enjoy is the plinths marking my Hero’s progress and growth.

All in all, there’s some awesome stuff and some disappointing stuff. I still love it to pieces, which is why I’m going to be so hard on its faults. Now I need to get back to writing so I can finish this NaNoWriMo thing and get back to the business of saving Albion.

…Oh, and can I mention how much I love that they fixed the female character model? Being forced to play Brawn Hilda if you wanted any sort of combat ability in Fable 2 was really annoying.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village is one of those games that doesn’t seem like much at first, but then turns out to be darn near perfect. The story reminds me of something that I just put my finger on. The warm coloring and charming aesthetic take me back to golden-washed afternoons, curled up with thin mystery books – The Boxcar Children, Encyclopedia Brown, Hawk the Cowdog… With a heavy British flavor added. There was one huge, spoilery plot element I saw coming a mile away, but it knowing it hardly ruins the fun. The puzzles are deceptively difficult – they are challenging, but not impossible. Most usually have some trick to them, which is worked into the description and hints.

Therein I discovered something about myself, one of those revelations that makes me sit up and go ‘wow’. As I played the game I started to notice that I’d have an answer for every puzzle reasonably quickly, but then I’d second guess myself and in some cases spend hours struggling with a puzzle. Basically the dyslexia kicked in, jumbling up the wording of the instructions and causing me to doubt the answer I’d come up with, which was usually the right answer.

It’s damn frustrating. I’m not sure how I finished that game without breaking something – probably because I knew it wasn’t a problem with the game, but a problem with me. It seems the more I turn a critical eye to what I read and play the more I come to grasp not only the elements of writing, but elements of myself as well. I didn’t even know that my dyslexia was effecting my reading as strongly as it was until I picked up Carol Berg’s Flesh and Spirit. It doesn’t come up often, so I forget that I do have this problem and that it does affect just about everything I do. It seems to me that instances like this one are good, as they remind me to pay attention to these things, to read carefully when something just doesn’t make sense, and to trust my instincts as well.

Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a wonderful game, the right mix of challenging and fun. I’m itching to save up to get the next in the series. Oh DS, why must you have so many wonderful games?