The Empire has been Formed!

Greetings everyone! HollowGeek back again with another book review! This may be a quick one, but I'll do my best to write a review worthy of your attentions. Let's get stuck in!

Empire by Graham McNeill is the second book in the Legend of Sigmar trilogy from the Black Library, in the Time of Legends series, and it deals with the early days of the fledgling Empire of Man under the rule of Sigmar Heldenhammer. For those of you who don't remember, Sigmar was the son of the chieftain of the Unberogen tribe, and after the events of Black Fire Pass and the decisive victory of the tribes of man against the rampaging hordes of Orcs, Sigmar's vision of a united Empire of Man is coming along nicely. Yet despite all of the progress Sigmar has achieved, the lands of Man are still not completely united. Enemies abound, and wild beasts still stalk the wilds unchecked and untamed. As if this wasn't bad enough, Sigmar learns of a massive Chaos invasion spreading from the North, intent on conquering the lands Sigmar has fought so hard to protect. Obviously, Sigmar wouldn't stand for this, so he and the leaders of the various tribes comprising the Empire band together to fend off the invading Chaos forces. The resulting conflict surely tested the men and women of the Empire to the max, and Sigmar would need every trick up his sleeve just to survive...

In the vein of the previous Time of Legends novels, Empire is a brilliant piece of literature. Now I may be biased in my opinion of it, but I love the Warhammer novels, and nearly everything from the Black Library has been superb. Graham McNeill does a wonderful job of making Sigmar very human, yet superhuman at the same time. He is not perfect by any means, and McNeill's writing really makes the reader feel for Sigmar as he is forced to go through these punishing trials that would have destroyed a lesser man many times over. Sigmar's true strength comes from his convictions, and his belief that he is destined to unite all of the people in his land into a great and mighty empire, and it is because of these beliefs that he is able to accomplish these seemingly impossible tasks. From slaying an Orc Warboss in Heldenhammer to slaying a hulking Bloodthirster in this book, Sigmar faces challenges that no ordinary man can overcome. McNeill's style of writing lends itself perfectly to the task of explaining how Sigmar has to get over crippling self-doubt and overwhelming odds in order to achieve his dream, and it is a lesson to the reader that no matter what happens, no matter how bleak a situation may look, there is always hope so long as you remain true to yourself and to your beliefs. If you've heeded my advice before and picked up Heldenhammer, then I thoroughly urge you to pick up Empire as well, for if you are anything like me, you have to know the ultimate fate of the protagonist of whatever book you are reading. Empire gets 5 raging Chaos berserkers out of 5.

Malekith: Rise of the Witch King

Greetings everyone, Jay here once again. After a rather depressing few days, I am back to dispense my knowledge of the nerdy and geeky, so let's have at it yes?

Malekith, written by Gav Thorpe, is the third installment of the always great Time of Legends series from the Black Library and is the first book in the Sundering trilogy. Malekith tells the tale of Prince Malekith of Nagarythe, elven prince of the isle of Ulthuan, and his rise and fall to the dark powers. A brief summary: Malekith was the son of Aenarion, the first Phoenix King of Ulthuan, and as such was expected to rise to take up the crown of the Phoenix King after his father's demise at the hands of daemons of Chaos. Aenarion and his wife Morathi, the Seer Queen ruled Ulthuan in a time of war, and as such they raised Malekith to be a warrior and a conqueror. Unfortunately, the assembled nobility of Ulthuan were loath to see another Naggarothi take up rule over the elves and as such they voted to elect Bel Shanaar, another elf prince, in Malekith's place as Phoenix King. This act heralded the beginning of Malekith's fall to darkness. Malekith departed Ulthuan and returned to Nagarythe and for nearly two hundred years he roamed the world expanding his own kingdom and forming alliances with other races, the dwarves first and foremost, whilst leaving his mother Morathi in charge of Nagarythe. Upon his return to his homeland, Malekith discovered that his mother had changed his kingdom into a dark place of blood and sacrifice to the dark gods, and was forced to battle his own people for control of his lands. However, Morathi's corrupting influence tainted Malekith's soul, and he hatched a plan to depose the Phoenix King and take his place as rightful ruler of Ulthuan. This was to end in tragedy for Malekith, however, and in his place, a new creature was born...a being of terrible might and unspeakable power...The Witch King of Ulthuan.

As with the previous books in the Time of Legends series, I was very impressed with Malekith. Gav Thorpe's writing style is superb, as is true with nearly all of the authors of the Black Library books. He really makes you feel as though you are living thousands of years in the past and actually interacting with the great characters in the series. Thorpe's portrayal of Malekith as a noble yet tortured individual who only longs to live up to his father's example and who believes himself to be the rightful rule of the elves is spot on, and I really did feel empathy towards Malekith. Though his mother was an evil and twisted sorceress, Malekith was at heart a truly noble, if arrogant, elf, and he truly only wanted to bring peace to the elven lands of Ulthuan, and it is because of these qualities that I found myself drawn into his story. Though Malekith is portrayed by the rest of the elves as cold and murderous, he is capable of great compassion and kindness, as he demonstrated when he befriended the High King of the dwarves Snorri Whitebeard. Malekith truly cared about Snorri, and his loss drove Malekith into the deepest depths of grief. Because of these events, and because of the warping influence of his mother and his own ambitions, Malekith's once proud and beautiful soul became blackened by a need for revenge and power, and these factors drove him to murdering Bel Shanaar and attempting to become the new Phoenix King. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is a fan of the Time of Legends series or for anyone looking for a great fantasy novel.

Musings

Hello everyone. Me again. In lieu of a more geek-centric post, I'd like to talk about something a little more serious...expectation. This may come across as kind of whiny, and for that I apologize, but I need to get this out. Ok, here goes. Recently, I went through a rather disappointing series of events in my personal life, which caused me to question what I was actually doing with my life and with my future. Now instead of mourning for a short period, as is normal and healthy, I instead threw myself wholeheartedly into finding a way to fix this problem. I went out and gave my resume to businesses and people and succeeded in finding a job. I went on tours of schools and found out about alternative programs to go into that would help me to have a career. I did research into more schools to apply to in order to further my education. I was feeling like I was at least being productive and trying to grow as a person. And then something happened today which shattered all of the good feelings and all of the hard work that I had done...and now I am back to feeling the desolation and grief that I thought I had gotten over. Now, I am not a brilliant man, but neither am I dumb. I work as hard as I can in school and in everything that I do. There is a saying that I have always tried to hold on to: "Hard work never goes unrewarded". This saying should hold true in every aspect of life; yet perversely, it seems that all of my hard work has availed to nothing. I have achieved little in life, apart from graduating from college. I have even begun to question whether or not I should continue being a nerd/geek. I know that it is unreasonable to think that I can completely get rid of the part of myself that is a nerd/geek, but at this point it seems as though I have little alternative. I try to be the best I can in all walks of my life: student, son, friend, and brother. Yet it seems that I have only succeeded in disappointing the people in my life that I care about. In the face of such odds, it is becoming harder and harder to get up in the morning and face the day. I know that I need to work even harder to succeed in this life, and to give more than I have in order to achieve my goals. I can't afford to feel sorry for myself, but it seems that there is something deficient about me. I'm tired, readers, so tired of feeling like the world has beaten me into the dirt. At the risk of sounding melodramatic, how much disappointment can one person take, before he or she just yells "ENOUGH" and gives up? I just need something to go right for a change....because it seems that nothing in my life has gone right. So that's it, my ranting and raving for the night is over. Please keep me in your thoughts, readers, because I need all the help I can get. Regular postings will begin again soon. Until next time.

Gears of War 3: It Ends Here

Greetings nerdlings! It's been some time since I did a video game review and I think we are past due for one, so here we go with one of my favorite games for 2011: Gears of War 3.

Gears of War 3 is the final installment in the immensely popular Gears of War series, developed by Microsoft Studios and Epic Games for the Xbox 360. Just like the previous two installments in the franchise, Gears of War 3 is packed with insane firefights and brutal combat with horrific alien monsters, and it is truly marvelous. The story of Gears of War 3 (now abbreviated as GoW3) is a direct continuation of the first two games. You play as Marcus Fenix, the quintessential badass marine of the COG and hero of the story, as you attempt to stop the Locust infestation on the world of Sera. In this game, however, the COG have been disbanded and you are left drifting on a ship with the remnants of the military, only this time you have more than just the Locust to worry about. Turns out the Locust have evolved into a new species known as the Lambent, and they are just as mean as their predecessors, if not more so. They also are highly explosive...but more on that later.

In terms of story, GoW3 does it right. The characters from the previous two games are still around, including Marcus, Anya, Dom, Baird, and my favorite, THE COLE-TRAIN (WHOOOOO!!!) Anyone who is familiar with the previous two Gears games knows how great these characters are, and it is a delight to see them back in the final installment. They are well fleshed out and compelling as ever, and the banter between these COG soldiers lightens the mood of an otherwise bleak game. The world is literally falling apart, and the characters of the story are just trying to find a way to survive. Toss in the fact that Marcus' father Adam, previously thought to be deceased, has resurfaced and the fact that he tells Marcus that he has a "cure" for the Locust problem, and all of a sudden you have a race against time to save Adam Fenix from the Queen of the Locust. The story is compelling and tense and it draws you in from the moment you start playing. That being said, I will add one small caveat, and that is this: unless you are a fan of the previous Gears games, you won't really care about the characters and the story as much as someone who has played the first two games, mainly because if you have played them, you are more emotionally invested in seeing what happens to the main characters. Still, as a fan of the Gears franchise, I give GoW3 a 5/5 for story.

Now on to the graphics. GoW3 takes full advantage of the processing power of the Xbox 360, and it looks even better than the previous installments. Character designs are crisp and detailed and the environments are equally stunning. From the giant oil tanker on which you start the game to the hidden hive of the Locust Queen, all of the environments are well rendered and intriguing. Some of my favorite locales were the COG outpost and the abandoned hotel, because they were compelling not only visually, but technically as well, meaning that they were fun to play. In terms of graphics, I give GoW3 a 5/5.

Gameplay in GoW3 remains largely unchanged, however. The COG soldiers still move exactly the same, still fire exactly the same, still run exactly the same. The only improvement is that there are new guns, which grant new execution methods. Despite the lack of originality in this department, I can't help but realize that if it works, then why fix it? Also, the whole "storm run" thing is kind of a trademark of the Gears series, as is the cover based shooting. Because of this, I am willing to be a little more forgiving. Regardless of the unchanged gameplay, GoW3 still remains a great game because of the environments you get to explore and the things that you get to do, including the enemies you have to fight. Once you get to the Lambent Berserker, you'll know what I mean. The other saving grace of GoW3 has to be the multiplayer. Vastly improved over the previous two games, it offers new game types and new achievements and goals to shoot for. My favorite of the new game types is Horde Mode and Beast Mode. Horde Mode pits you and three friends against increasingly difficult waves of Locust and Lambent enemies, and it is a blast to play. Beast Mode, on the other hand, is much like Horde Mode, except you play as Lambent and Locust yourself and attempt to slay the COG players. It is a refreshing change from the normal "soldiers versus monsters" game types. Because of the multiplayer alone, I give GoW3 a 4/5 for gameplay.

In closing, GoW3 is a fantastic game, and is worth buying just for the new multiplayer, as well as to see the end of the story. While it will appeal more to the hardcore Gears fans like myself than the common lay-gamer, I still think that people unfamiliar with the Gears series will enjoy it. I highly recommend this game to everyone who loves a good third-person shooter, and with the release of the new DLC "Raam's Shadow", there is even more to do once you complete the campaign. So I urge you to go out and purchase Gears of War 3. You'll like what you see. Until next time!

Bonus!

Hello everyone, Jay here! Bonus blog post (don't you all feel special)! I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about something that has been plaguing me for a long time: Being a geek in today's world. Now personally, I have noticed that there is still a stigma surrounding being a geek, despite the fact that most of the most successful people in the world are, in fact, geeks themselves. I have found that in my own life it is sometimes hard to balance the geeky side of yourself with the side that needs to be a responsible and productive member of society. The image of a nerd living in their parent's basement doesn't really hold up anymore. The fact is that most geeks/nerds/what have you are quite capable of living fully functional and productive lives. But recently I have experienced a number of events that has shaken my belief that I can be productive and successful and nerdy at the same time. These events have been disappointing in nature and have caused me to question whether or not I can really do what I have set out to do. The fact remains that to be successful in today's world, one must sacrifice a lot. This realization led to me believe that I could not be a geek and successful at the same time, and it was a monumental crisis. For as long as I can remember, I have been nerdy. It is a part of who and what I am. Yet despite all of the joy that being a geek has brought me, I am left to wonder whether or not I can continue to be as I am now. To that end, I realized that I needed to change. At first I thought that change would have to be the permanent death of my geeky side, but I am now beginning to understand that if I were to do that, to slay the geeky side of myself, then it would be almost like committing suicide. I would like to think that I don't have to resort to such drastic measures in order to be successful in this life, and I would like to think that somewhere out there someone else has either gone through or is currently going through what I have described here. Perhaps the answer is not to completely kill off your nerdy side, but instead to perhaps suppress it. Hell, if I could be successful whilst embracing my geeky side, then my current problems would be solved. So I pose this question to you all: Can a man be successful, whilst remaining true to his geeky self? And if so, how?

I'm back! With a vengeance.

Greetings fellow bloggers and readers! HollowGeek Jay here again, back after a year of hardship and turmoil, all of which is too heavy to get into. Besides, you're all here for the geeky and nerdy advice I dish out, and from now on I'll be more regular in my posts, that is a promise. And with that I think we'll get started on another book review. Strap in and lets do this!

Next in the series of Warhammer book reviews is the novel Heldenhammer by Graham McNeill. This novel is the first in The Legend of Sigmar trilogy, part of the Time of Legends series, and it deals with the rise of Sigmar Heldenhammer, the first Emperor of the Empire of Man. I shall attempt to summarize the book in as much detail as I can spare without spoiling too much. In the beginning however, Sigmar was the son of the chieftain of the Unberogen tribe, one of the many tribes scattered about the lands of the Warhammer mythos. Sigmar led a comfortable life, surrounded by friends and family, and going to war with the myriad beasts that threatened his way of life. This was not to be Sigmar's destiny, however, as events rapidly spiralled out of his control, beginning with the death of his friend Trinovantes, and culminating with the death of the love of Sigmar's life at the hands of Trinovantes' twin brother Gerreon. From that day on, Sigmar vowed to love no other and to devote himself to the lands of his people and to forge an Empire of Man that would last for ages.

Sigmar's rise from simple tribesman to Emperor was nothing less of meteoric, and he succeeded in uniting the various tribes of man under his banner, though in many cases it wasn't easy. Sigmar's dream of a united Empire of Man couldn't have come at a better time, as shortly after the tribes became united under Sigmar's rule, he learned of a vast Orc army that was heading towards Unberogen lands. Sigmar knew that he had to stop this army of murderous beasts in order to save his fledgling empire, or all of his people would die. Thus begins the rise of Sigmar Heldenhammer, Emperor, a man whose actions will change the fate of the world...forever.

I loved this book. Graham McNeill is one of the most prodigious authors in all of the Black Library, and there isn't a book he has written that I haven't loved. As you all know, I am a huge fantasy fan and McNeill delivers fantasy at its finest. The story of Sigmar is fascinating to me, because he is not perfect by any means. He is arrogant, wrathful, and brutal in his execution of his dream, and that is what I love about him. It is a story of his growth and evolution into the man he needs to be. McNeill does a wonderful job in introducing all the characters in the book by giving them all unique personalities and traits, and it is this rich backstory that draws the reader in and makes them care about each individual person. McNeill also does a great job in introducing a major threat in the form of the Orc army that forces Sigmar to reevaluate his priorities and to grow into the man who would one day be Emperor. The fight scenes in the book are so vivid and well written that you feel as though you are actually there in the midst of battle. In addition, the struggles that Sigmar has to go through in order to grow are very visceral, and I really felt sympathy for him. This is a very well written book and should be an example to those who are trying their hand at writing great fantasy.

In summary, Heldenhammer is another fantastic offering from the Black Library, and I heartily recommend it to anyone looking for a great fantasy epic. Even people who are not familiar with the Warhammer world should pick this book up, for you won't be disappointed. And who knows, perhaps it will draw you in and make you a Warhammer nerd like myself. Also, the second and third books in this trilogy, entitled Empire and God King are out now, and further the story of Sigmar, so after you are done reading Heldenhammer, go out and buy those too. You won't be sorry you did. The Legend of Sigmar trilogy gets the HollowGeek seal of approval: 5 brutal hammer kills out of 5.