Unboxing: Watch_Dogs Dedsec Edition

Long time no post!  It's in part due to the fact that I'm actually writing The Rose Queen—I know, me, writing; whatever is the world coming to—and partly because I am a lazy arse.  I'm pretty sure you've already noticed the latter.

I didn't feel like I was making much progress with The Rose Queen to be honest, until I actually paid attention to my total word count last night and realised it's currently at 21,000 words.  So... not a novella then.

Short update aside, that isn't what this post is about (I'll maybe do a dedicated one later on).  Nooo, this post is about the downright huge box that arrived this morning.

Meep.  AC:IV for size reference.

 I normally preorder games from Game due to things like shiny reward points and supporting British game stores, but in this case they'd actually sold out of the Xbox One version(!) so I bought it from Amazon instead.  That comes with the added advantage of coming via Amazon's delivery network, which now they've worked out the kinks is pretty good and means deliveries arrive when they're supposed to.  Anything using the Royal Mail here is at the mercy of the postman—which can mean anything from the delivery driver shoving a "You Weren't In" card through the door when I plainly was, to returning items without attempting to deliver them because they were damaged by postal staff, to outright theft.  (Yes, all three have happened to me; the first and last most recently.)

Rant aside...  I thought the size of the box would be misleading, because sometimes things are packed to the gills with paper and plastic, and the contents are tiny.

And to be fair, when I opened it, this was the first thing I saw, so you can't blame me.  So I dug in, started fishing around in the box and realised...

I hereby claim this box...

It wasn't misleading at all.  I was not expecting that.  The last special edition I ordered was DmC, which came with a hoodie, soundtrack CD and DLC, and all items were separate in the cardboard box.  To have it arrive in a nice box was... unexpected, although possibly shouldn't be because Ubisoft have a history of nice packaging.

The skinny little legs in the background belong to Q, a cat with a pathological love of boxes.  He'd perked up when I bought the box in, and now he was going to nonchalantly come and 'look'.

Once I unwrapped the packaging (so much for Amazon's eco-friendly stuff, the amount of plastic that went into covering this!), I was again surprised.

The box is nicely designed and the inside packaging is designed with a place for every piece of the special edition kit—although in my case, a lot of it had slid down during transit.  You can see the bottom of the Augmented Reality card box beneath the game box, which should have been much higher up, but all the contents were safe and undamaged.

The full extent of the contents is still surprising, considering IMO the price isn't that much higher than a standard Xbox One game.  It comes with a fairly large and very nicely detailed Aiden Pearce figure, soundtrack, AR cards, map, artbook and three badges as well as the steelcase box.  Aiden comes in his own safe packaging to protect him, so he hadn't budged in the slightest in transit.  I've yet to find a good home for him (he's bigger than Shiki and Akira on my desk, so between them doesn't work) so he's gone back into his box for now.  Everything seems nicely detailed: the artbook is hardback and filled with beautiful concept art, the cards come in a staggered file-type packaging with their own box, and the map is made of glossy, good-quality paper and fits neatly into the steelcase box for handy reference.

By this point, I'd moved the packing box and paper contents to one side; you can see Q eyeballing it.  He hopped in not long after and proceeded to traumatise the parrot, who thought a kraken had moved in under his cage...

So, that's the unboxing of the Watch_Dogs Dedsec edition.  If anyone wants closer, more detailed pictures of anything, just let me know and I'll see what I can do.

I've not even had a chance to play it yet!  That's this afternoon's entertainment...

No-Nonsense Reviews - Objects in the Rearview Mirror by F. E. Feeley Jr.

Pros
+ Intriguing, moving story
+ Relatable characters
+ Emotive subject

YMMV
+/- Some references to earlier times in characters' relationship are never expanded on

Cons
- The writing reads a little oddly in places
- The last part of the epilogue felt superfluous

I remember vaguely reading an effusive comment about this book that prompted me to go and check it out on Amazon and, curious, I bought it, but I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

What I got was a surprisingly touching paranormal tale about a haunted house and a loving couple, and I absolutely could not stop reading it.  The characters felt real and spoke in a convincingly human way to each other and to friends in the story, and I really rooted for both their relationship and their sanities to remain intact.  The plot itself is intriguing, although very different from how I'd expected after the prologue, and although I kind of saw the end coming, I didn't expect its execution, which was pleasant.  Even the moral (there is one but it doesn't get in the way, I promise) is good—and is well worth remembering.

It's only when I added it to my Goodreads read list that I discovered that this is actually book #2 in the author's "Memoirs of the Human Wraiths" series, but it reads nicely as a standalone novel.  Although I marked the final paragraph of the epilogue as a 'con', I'm not sure if it may actually relate to the first book (which I'll very likely pick up now), or if it'll become relevant further along in the series, but as it is, it just feels a bit redundant and nonsensical.

Also, I don't often comment on covers, mostly because I barely notice them when they're Kindle novels, but the cover artwork is beautiful.

I've not seen that many new ghost stories (or maybe I'm not looking in the right place?), but it's nice to read a good (and genuinely creepy) example of the genre.  I'm really hoping that the author writes more!

• Goodreads page for Objects in the Rearview Mirror
• Objects in the Rearview Mirror at Dreamspinner Press

Footnote: while I was reading this book, we discovered that the toilet paper in the downstairs loo had decided to empty itself onto the floor for no apparent reason.

No-Nonsense Reviews - Forest of the Forsaken: The Witch's Snare by Joanne Brothwell

Pros
+ Interesting modern premise
+ Had good moments making the reader doubt themselves

YMMV
+/- The relationship between characters developed too quickly

Cons
- Disappointing ending

I picked up The Witch's Snare based on its premise as being a modern-day Grimm's Fairy Tale, which it most definitely is, but for the most part I considered it to be a 'middle of the road' kind of read.

It was well-enough written, well described with good sex scenes, but I found the development of the relationship between the two main characters too fast to be particularly believable.  Luckily it wasn't as incest-y as the description seemed to imply (I don't like incest stories, but I'll give anything a try once) and there wasn't any interaction between the characters before the plot started.  Although, considering the suspicions of both main characters, that they agreed to go along with the plot at all felt a little weird and slightly off—if I had the suspicions they did, I'd have run a mile.

The witches themselves were nicely creepy, particularly in the middle of the story, and I found myself second-guessing my theories a lot, particularly in an "is she-isn't she" kind of way which was nice, even though rationally I already knew the answer.  That's always the downside to reading a story based on an established tale.

Considering the nature of the plot I'd say there are little surprises in store, but some twists were interesting, but the ending came too abruptly and too neatly for me.  I'd have liked a little more and, although everything was explained, it somehow didn't feel explained quite enough to be fully satisfying...

• Forest of the Forsaken: The Witch's Snare on Goodreads
• Joanne Brothwell's Author Page

No-Nonsense Reviews - The Carr Family series by Susan Coolidge

Pros
+ Easy to read and hard to put down
+ Fairly short books
+ Likeable characters

YMMV
+/- Victorian novels, so heavy on the morality
+/- The fourth book moves focus to a secondary, less likeable, character

Cons
- The third book does not give a good account of Americans (particularly children) abroad

I was given the first three of these books as a child (there is a fifth, which I've not read), although I only really remembered the first two and part of the third.  When I first got my Kindle I found these free on the Amazon store, but I only remembered I had them recently and decided to re-read them.

The first three stories revolve around Katy Carr who starts out wild by Victorian standards, but with a kind heart, and follows how she is eventually 'tamed' with the aid of a sainted cousin and a life-changing event.  Even when she's bratty Katy is likeable, and she grows into a sensible young woman who still retains a little fire and temper while still being the model of Victorian womanhood.

It was obviously written as a kind of manual for how young Victorian women should be and can be pretty heavy-handed with it, but it is typical of its time, so to judge it too harshly for it or view it with modern eyes would be to do it a disservice.

The first two books aren't too bad, but the third makes American travellers to Europe seem unbearable, particularly the child, Amy, who becomes a complete and utter brat—definitely my least favourite out of the four I've read.

The fourth breaks away from following Katy to follow her younger sister Clover instead, which is an interesting change but I didn't find Clover, sweet as she is, as engaging as Katy and it doesn't hold the interest as much as the first three.

They're interesting reads for a snapshot of Victorian America, and they're apparently semi-autobiographical too, and they make an interesting change of pace, but I think it'll be another fifteen years before I feel the need to read them again.

• What Katy Did on Goodreads
• What Katy Did At School on Goodreads
• What Katy Did Next on Goodreads
• Clover on Goodreads