#the flavortext in this game is 10/10 love it

[archer-world]

What was your opinion on Cyko: Birth?

OHHHH HO HO BOY

I havent even finished the book yet bc i’ve been busy with school, but at about ½ of the way through, this seems to be enough qualifications.

I won’t include specific spoilers, but I WILL have a list of triggers under the cut.

- formatting, pacing, technical

Pacing was a little slow to start, not introducing the protagonist until several pages into the book. It’s separated by chapters, but also ‘sections’ , which is difficult to digest for kindle readers (maybe it’s easier in paperback ?). The length of it can be chopped to almost ¾ of its length, I was appalled that there needed to be ~400 pages to express a background character’s ‘story’. 

The POV switches from 3rd-person omniscient to 3rd-person limited frequently, and this is normal for when an author wants to get some, but not too much, look at the characters’ thoughts. I just wish the omniscient was used for emotionally-charged moments, instead of just.. Everything. I love omniscient so much, and I especially love when it’s used like this, but that may just be my writing style.

- worldbuilding, background, flavortext/aesthetics

Very descriptive; in-detail on the locations and the layout of the facility. There was a large, yawn-inducing infodump right at the beginning, and yet it barely held any significance for quite a bit of the book*. I would have rather used this writing to focus on the characters instead, and sprinkling in the layout description as necessary, but since none of this setting was at ALL referenced in prior Lunime productions/games, I suppose it’s justified.

- character development

There’s quite a bit of fatshaming in ‘Mr. Whale’, the leading antagonist and first character introduced in the book. The antagonists seem to be single-faceted, and a little hollow*. Several of the children in the book are also written this way. 

I appreciate the attempts to make every character contribute to the plot, but sometimes it can just be put onto a few characters. Learning of all the neat little powers the awakened children have is fun to read (and fun to write, I’d assume), but unless they aren’t going to USE those powers*, there’s no point to writing it.

Several new characters were introduced, including (finally) a use for Tela. The ‘found family’ trope is HEAVILY used here, to the point where it’s almost overwhelming. I almost want some of the characters to be left behind/removed, just because there’s too many characters to focus on, and it leaves Cyko in the dust. Speaking of which,

- Cyko

I can 100% declare that this version of Cyko is NOT at all* similar to either canon, or my headcanon. There’s a lot more anxiety and childish rage/frustrations due to the circumstances, but the more familiar behaviour is starting to sink in around the halfway point when he finally does end up fighting back a bit. He ISN’T called Cykopath in the book.* (Which I appreciate because newsflash, psych/path is a DEROGATORY MENTAL SLUR.)

* from where I am in the book, about ½ of the way through. My opinion may change depending on the 2nd half

TRIGGER LIST:-human experimentation-child death (possibly also animal death later on)-body horror/gore-manipulation/gaslighting-Suicidal ideation/thoughts-verbal + physical abuse, (possibly also sexual if it gets worse later on)-possibly more later.

My Rating: 6.5/10 . I barely even know how it got published lol.

Worth the money? Yes, for the KINDLE price. Don’t get the paperback.

[zarekthelordofthefries]

This is the Hinterland Logger/Timber Shredder from the card game Magic: The Gathering, specifically the Shadows over Innistrad expansion (suggested by @acceptableduraz, who also suggested a few other Magic wolfbois that I will get to in individual dedicated posts). Usually I focus purely on the big wolfed-out form of the werewolves, but I feel like it’s relevant to show off the human form here, too, since it ties into a really cool aspect of Magic’s werewolves -- these are actually two sides of the same card, which is flipped when the werewolf transforms!

This particular werewolf also happens to be a hot, buff lumberjane, and I know that again this is supposed to be about the werewolf form but I can’t help but let that factor into my rating. Although in fairness, she is a hot, buff lumberjane in BOTH of her forms, so technically I’m still in the clear! Otherwise her wolf form is a fairly standard wolf-headed human, but I love that this is a werewolf who uses her abilities for completely practical and nonviolent purposes, and the tied-together flavortext quotes at the bottom of each card are legitimately both funny and badass.

9/10 want to hang out with her and watch her rip trees down