Book Spotlight - Blood And Other Matter by Kaitlin Bevis

 I've really enjoyed this author's Daughter of Zeus series - all 6 of the books - so when she endeavoured into a new genre (horror/mystery) I was curious to see what kind of story she would write.

I was not disappointed. As far as weiting style goes, she is consistent. The Daughter of Zeus series was written for a YA audience, and so was this, so those familiar with Ms. Bevis's work will not have a hard time getting into this.

Like with her previous books, she does a good job with narration and internal dialogue, so the characters feel real. It's hard to not feel bad for Tess considering what she has to deal with, and the author does a great job of keeping the reader on the edge of their seats, wondering who is behind all this - as someone who has read a fair amount of mysteries, it's nice that the culprit isn't obvious. The various viewpoints are presented well - Tess, her friend, the asshole football players.

The story is nicely-paced, and the ending... OMG. I won't spoil it, but I can honestly say it never occured to me that THAT would happen. Though I would love to read more mytholgical books from Ms. Bevis, I am also absolutely up for reading more of this kind of book too, or whatever else she may decide to write.

Kaitlin Bevis's website - http://kaitlinbevis.com/

Where this book can be purchased - https://amzn.to/2QbFIXN

Kaitlin Bevis's other books - https://www.amazon.com/Kaitlin-Bevis/e/B00875POAG

M.M. Kin Video Game Review - Final Fantasy II

 The first time I played this game, it was the emulated version for the Famicom/NES - translated into English as it had only been available in Japan before.

It was pretty damn weird, the leveling system. To increase your HP you had to basically attack yourself or others in your party, and your magic would gain strength by using the spells. Fortunately, this kind of stat-increasing would not be used in any other FF games, at least those I played (1-7)

The story itself is typical for the FF series - not that that's a bad thing. Your characters are on the run from an evil empire that wants to take over the world. It's been a long time since I played this game, or the GBA update, so I admit there's not a huge amount I remember about the details. You did have key words to remember from conversations, mentioning these keywords to other NPCs would garner you information.

It was an all right game compared to others in the series, and the GBA version did improve it a bit. Not something I recommend unless you're a hardcore FF or RPG fan. Like the other Advanced versions of the FInal Fantasy games, the updated version comes with a bonus dungeon (FF1 and 2 were released together in the Dawn of Souls remake so you can play both games if you get this title)

Grade

FF2 (Nintendo/Famicom) C+

FF2 (Gameboy Advance) B