Ramsey's Book Reviews

  • Includes from January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003 
    
Date Finished: ONGOING			Title: Edgar Allan Poe's Complete Tales and Poems

     Date Finished   Title  
Author/Console
 October 6, 2003  Books of Magic 2  Carla Jablonski

     October 5, 2003  Books of Magic 1    Carla Jablonski

     October 3, 2003  Transcendance  RA Salvatore

     September 29, 2003 Gauntlet: Dark Legacy  PS2

     September 26, 2003  Faith of the Fallen 	 Goodkind

     August 24, 2003 Legend of the Dragoon  PS2

     August 23, 2003	 Soul of Fire  Goodkind

     July 26,2003		 Ender's Game  Orson Scott Card

     July 15, 2003	 Smooth Transitions ...  Becker

     May 30, 2003  Fiend Folio

     March 27, 2003 The Seventh Gate AuthorWeis and Hickman

     March 20, 2003 Into the Labrynth W eis and Hickman

     March 18, 2003 Timesplitters 2 PS2

     March 17, 2003	 Sega Soccer Slam PS2

     March 14, 2003  Hand of Chaos Weis and Hickman

       March 4, 2003Serpent Mage Weis and Hickman

     March 2, 2003	 Fire Sea Weis and Hickman

     February 28, 2003  Blood Omen PS2

     February 26, 2003 Savage Species 	 Eckelberry, Redman, and Wilkes

     February 24, 2003  Elven Star Weis and Hickman

     February 22, 2003  Halo  XBOX

     February 17, 2003 Dragon Wing Weis and Hickman

     February  5, 2003   Queen of the Damned Anne Rice

      February  3, 2003  Dungeon Issue 97	 Paizo 
Publishing

      January  15, 2003  Dragon Issue 304	Paizo

    	January   7, 2003 Frequency PS2

    


    
 
 First: A bit about my ratings.
 10 - Best book I've ever read. Everybody should read it.
 9 - One of the best books I've ever read.
 8 - A great book. I didn't find much I didn't like.
 7 - A good book overall, but one or two things bugged me.
 6 - A Good book overall, but I didn't like parts of it.
 5 - I liked some things, but didn't like other things.
 4 - I didn't like most of this book. But it had some good parts.
 3 - The majority of the book was crap, but one or two parts saved it.
 2 - I disliked the entire book. I couldn't find much to like.
 1 - One of the worst books I've ever read.
 0 - Worst book I've ever read. Nobody should ever read it.
 
    
Date Finished: ONGOING			
	Title: Edgar Allan Poe's Complete Tales and Poems
       Author: Edgar Allan Poe
	Pages: 842
   Dimensions: 2.17 x 9.20 x 6.56
   Paper/Hard: hard
     Released: September 2001
    Publisher: Castle Books
         ISBN: 0785814531
...


Date Finished: July 26,2003:		Title: Ender's Game Author: Orson Scot Card
 This is the best book I've read in a really long time. Of course, its one 
of the few books that I've read at all recently - go figure. Anyway, I 
think its interesting to see what can happen to our child prodigies when 
we don't allow them to be kids. Of course, that's not even really what the 
story is about - not really. Anyway, This book receives one of my highest 
recommendations at 9.9 and stands as a must read.
 
    
// some more dragons/dungeons

    
Date Finished: July 15, 2003:		Title: Smooth Transitions ... Author: Becker
 Becker's thesis. To tell you the truth the paper had just as much info in 
it as this thesis did. I wonder why I even put this tehsis in here other 
than the fact that I haven't posted anything else in such a long time. 
 

     Date Finished: May 30, 2003:		Title: Fiend Folio
 Mixed feelings here. I guess there are some cool monsters in here, but 
really there isn't much in here that I wanted to see. I guess with 3.5 
coming around ... I was leary about this book. There are some very 
powerful demons n stuff - which is always helpful. Anyway, I give it a 
6.7.

    
 // some dragons/dungeons to  include here.

    
Date Finished: March 18, 2003:		Title: Timesplitters 2  Console: PS2
 Not even my game but I beat it and unlocked the majority of the 
characters in it. That was a total waste of my time. The major fun in this 
game is the multiplayer anyway. I always thought that mutliplayer on a 
console for a first person shooter would be weird but it really hasn't 
been that bad. I give it a 7.5.
 
     
Date Finished: March 17, 2003:		 Title: Sega Soccer Slam Console: PS2
 This game is funny. After unlocking everything and realizing that my 
friends seriously didn't want to play the game with me much anymore, it 
became less fun. I don't play it at all now, but I don't really have 
friends who play sports games anyway. Anyway, I give it a 8.9 initial play 
and a 7.6 replay - solo.
 
    
Date Finished: March 27, 2003:		Title: The Seventh Gate Author: Weis and Hickman
Date Finished: March 20, 2003:	   	Title: Into the Labrynth Author: Weis and Hickman
Date Finished: March 14, 2003:		Title Hand of Chaos 	Author: Weis and Hickman
 I'm lumping these together because I'm writing this summary after the 
fact. This is definitely one of the most invigorating stories that I've 
read in awhile. I don't like every single element in all the stories, but 
how often does that happen. I would DEFINITELY put it into one of my 'must 
read' series for fantasy. I give it a 9.8 overall.


    
Date Finished:	March	  4, 2003:	Title: Serpent Mage	Author: Weis and Hickman
 Alfred- poor Alfred. In any case. Book 4 of the Death Gate. This book was
not as moving as some of the other books, because I didn't identify too
well with the secondary characters. However, a great evil presents itself
in this book, and I like their style of evil. I give this book an 7.8 but
the series as a whole is growing more interesting and indulging - up to
8.4


    
Date Finished:  March     2, 2003:	Title: Fire Sea 	Author: Weis and Hickman
 Book 3 is done already. As you can see, the pace that I'm reading this
series is increasing. Necromancers appear in this book, and I was confused
at the beginning of the book. My suspicions came true later and this world
was surely not one I'd want to live in. The ending is awesome. The
discussion over 'higher powers' could give a lot of spiritual people
something to think about. I give this book a 8.3, but the series moves up
with it to 8.3.


    
Date Finished:	February 28, 2003:	Title: Blood Omen 2	Console: PS2
 A brutal game with some cool coup de grace moves. I played Soul Reaver 2
and I thought the same thing when I played that game, but it was just so
fun being so evil. Of course, after a time, you don't even bother to kill
the peasants because they offer so little blood and take time away from
trying to beat the game. I guess it took me a couple hours a night for a
week to beat the game, but it was definitely fun game play. Observation is
key in some places in this game. The boss battles were unique - although
not always clear cut (maybe that's good or bad?). In any case, play this
game, and if you can, play it to the finish, because the abilities are
just cool. I give it a 9.5 as most mature gamers should play this one.


    
Date Finished:  February 26, 2003:	Title: Savage Species 	Author: Eckelberry, Redman, and Wilkes
 Other than the leveling charts, this book wasn't really that useful to
me. Of course, if I wanted to spend a lot of time figuring out how to
level a monster, I could probably use the guidelines in this book, but
having a better play tested ECL, is probably a better way to figure that
out. In any case, I liked the leveling charts for monsters like the
minotaur and they're probably the most useful portion of the book. I give
the book a 9.3 for anybody who adds monsters as PCS to their camp. If you
don't, then don't buy the book.


    
Date Finished:  February 24, 2003:	Title: Elven Star	Author: Weis and Hickman
 #2 in the death gate. This book is stating to add some flavor to the
world and helped me understand a little better who some characters
were. As I read the books I begin to identify better with Haplo. It was
amusing to see Zifnab (er Fizban anybody?). I give the book a 7.3 and the
series moves up to 7.3 as well.


    
Date Finished:  February 22, 2003:	Title: Halo 		Console: XBOX
 An amusing game where little creatures run around and scream as you shoot
them in the back!! We beat the co-op level in just one night but we had
fun. It has almost no other multi-player value like timesplitters 2 or red
faction 2, but it was fun to play on co-op. I give it an intial value of
7.3


    
Date Finished:  February 17, 2003: 	Title: Dragon Wing	Author: Weis and Hickman
 My dive into the death gate cycle begins here. And what can I say? I
didn't enjoy this book as much as it was pumped up to me by my friends :/
That's such a shame. I give this book only a 5.3


    
Date Finished:  February  5, 2003:	Title: Queen of the Damned	Author: Anne Rice
 Not quite like the movie but fun. The secondary characters take on more
life in the book, as opposed to just being people who are standing
around. As with harry potter, perhaps this is a movie that is better read
with some knowledge ahead of time about who people are. Of course, then
you must be prepared for the changes the movie made to the book. In any
case, if you've read the other two, I recommend finishing the series - and
I plan to. I give it a 8.2


    
Date Finished:  February  3, 2003:	Title: Dungeon Issue 97	Author: Paizo Publishing
Date Finished:  January  15, 2003:	Title: Dragon Issue 304	Author: Paizo


    
Date Finished:	January   7, 2003:	Title: Frequency	Console: PS2
 This game is weird. Basically, there is an tunnel separated into several
'tracks' You fly down this track at varying speeds. Inside the tracks are
'spots' that you must hit a button that corresponds to the spot. The
object is to go through the tracks hitting spots. Simply, you're trying to
unlock songs. When I first began playing, I thought that nobody in the
world could defeat it at expert. With a little bit of practice, I soon
found myself beating the game at expert and unlocking secret (not
bonus) songs. Crazy! Anyway, this game introduced me to freezepop and for
that I am greatful. Its not something I have played much now that I have
beaten it, but it has been fun. I give it a 9.7 for initial play and only
a 6.3 for replay value.