Keeper of the Lost Cities Plot

Sophie is not a normal 13 year old, she has the power of telepathy and can always hear everyone’s thoughts. To go along with that, she’s extremely smart, and has a photographic memory. She’s an outsider because of all of those things. Then, she sees a boy, on a class field trip, who just looks too pretty. And he is looking at her, something feels off and she talked to him.

Turns out that something is off about her life. Fitz, the boy, tells her that she isn’t a normal human, in fact, she isn’t a human at all. There is a secret world of elves and other magical and mythical creatures out there. In our own world, but just out of sight due to magic. But her life as a human will need to go away if she is going to be an elf and live the life that she’s supposed to.

More Details and Harry Potter Comparison

So I don’t want to go into much more. What I wrote is basically the back blurb on the cover, but it’s something that should wet your appetite. And don’t worry, Keeper of the Lost Cities is not another Harry Potter. There are elements that might feel similar. The main character integrates into a new world that they didn’t know existed.

And to continue that comparison, she is a bit of a chosen child, but not in the way that Harry Potter is. I think that chosen child comparison is something people will latch onto, but Shannon Messenger does a better job of writing a chosen child. Sophie is really behind for an elf. She doesn’t know the world, she is expected to know and catch-up to what she doesn’t know. When she gets stuff wrong, elves are disappointed.

Harry Potter constantly should be in trouble, and he is not. Sophie often should be in trouble, and when she is, she gets punished. Her life has many more real elements to it. Characters worry about her. They pester her. They bug her, stuff that you don’t see happen in Harry Potter. People either hate Harry or love Harry, there is nothing between the two. For Sophie, people look to use her, to befriend her because of who she is, avoid her, and expect everything from her. And she is trying to balance all of that.

What Doesn’t Work?

There is very little, if anything that doesn’t work. I should talk about book 8.5 here. Mainly because that might be something that won’t work for some people. Even for me, I found it fairly boring. The point of book 8.5 is that it’s a bit of a recap for everything that has happened. Plus a novella that tells some story where book 8 left off and where book 9 begins. Or at least I am assuming that.

If you read the series in a compressed period of time, most book 8.5 is unneeded. I know what the characters did recently. I don’t need a full recap, no matter what way it is written. And some of the sections are better written than others. It is more the authors notes turned into something in the world that you are reading through.

I don’t even mind that they exist. I mind that there is a pretty important feeling novella in the book. It is different than she could write for the main book. The main books only show Sophie’s perspective. The novella bounces between perspectives. But to get the novella, you get the whole book. And I say now, get the book, just read the novella.

What Works?

Characters

So much works in this series. Sophie is a believable main character and the side characters are strong as well. Often in Middle Grade or Young Adult books, the main character is a paper cutout of a character. It is meant for the reader to put themselves into their shoes. Sophie is not that. She is a fully realized and deeply developed character. And each of the side characters at least the core, are as realized as she is.

I fail to think of many series where this is the case. Especially in that grade range. And I think there should be more. The story is easily digestible for an adult. And while there are intense moments for maybe middle grade reader, it is going to be pull them in.

Story Depth and Intensity

And let’s talk about the intensity. The story, unlike others in it’s age range, isn’t shy about bad things happening. And not like they happen around Sophie. Some of them do happen to other people. And it is character development for those characters. And reasons that friendships become stronger. But often the bad is directed to Sophie. She is not given an easy life. She is not a hero who always steps in and saves the day.

In fact, most of the time, she needs to rely on others to help her. Does she lead, for sure, she is the chosen one after all. But it isn’t a situation where she can do it alone. And that is a struggle for her. To compare her to another fictional character, it is a lot like how Harry Dresden, in the Dresden Files, is always looking to do stuff himself. He does so because he doesn’t want others to get hurt. Sophie is the same way.

World Building and Themes

Shannon Messenger is very good about building out her world. It helps that some of it is our world. But the rest of it, with the elves, dwarves, goblins, orcs, and more is different. But it is still similar. I think it is worked well like good fantasy or sci-fi. It is different enough that you feel like it isn’t our world, but close enough that it can touch on themes and issues that are true for us our world as well.

And I think that is another thing Messenger does well, also. She tells a good story with items that ring true. Now, it is still middle grade, so the depth of an issue isn’t always there. But that is okay, she is writing through the eyes of a 13-15 year old. Sophie is not going to understand everything, so as a reader, our view of these issues in the story should be simpler.

At the same time, I talk about the intensity of the story. And that means that as an older reader of the series, I understand some things that Sophie doesn’t. The story ages up well, that way. It makes the young reader start to think and the older reader understand the depth that is there.

Who is Keeper of the Lost Cities For?

I think that the young end would be twelve for the series. Though you maybe could go younger just reading it aloud and talking about what is going on. But that depends obviously on how you spend time. I don’t want to assume that people do a story that way. But twelve or thirteen is when I’d say a kid would be up for reading it.

As for getting older, it depends. I think a lot of people around my age and younger so mid-thirties and younger. The story is familiar. It feels a bit like Harry Potter, but in my opinion better. And my generation and younger, we read Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Twilight, Divergent, Maze Runner and more. Keeper of the Lost Cities contains all of that and more.

Final Thoughts

I love this series. I am reading a few other things right now, but I fully expect to come back to the series and read it all again. And I already pre-ordered the next book in the series. I want to know what is going to come next, and I want to spend more time with these characters in that world.

I really believe that a lot of people are going to enjoy this series as well. Like I said, the story is different, more meaningful than things it feels similar to. Yet it will hit the same beats that you expect from a Middle Grade or Young Adult series and novels. Plus there is a lot to the story, just in terms of how long the story is.

Have you read Keeper of the Lost Cities?

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What Are Some Pitfalls?

With all of that said, I do think that we need to start on a bit more negative side of things. We need to call out what can create these less interesting characters in a book. Then after that, I will talk about how they can be overcome.

The Mary Sue or Marty Stu

This is one of the more common tropes for new writers. The general idea is that the main character is perfect at anything they do. Jumping out of an helicopter with a bedsheet and parachuting to safety, that is completely absurd. But it’s been done in a book that I read. Every idea the character has is right and everyone else is always proven wrong, I watched a show that ended with a season that was completely full of that.

The Dullard

Similar to the Mary Sue or Marty Stu, the dullard is slightly different. While previous they might be good at everything, this one is just generic. It is meant to have that ultimate self insert into the character. They don’t really have any traits of their own, so that as you read them, they sound like you sound. The biggest issue with the dullard is they can often be overtaken in interest by side characters. And that causes an issue for the author, they either need to make the main character better and more interesting losing the self insertion or make the side characters worse weakening the whole story. I had seen side characters fall of a cliff in terms of depth and interest of writing in a series before because of this problem.

The Out of Place

This one I see more often in RPG’s. A person has an idea for a character that they want. And they really love the character. Maybe it has personal sentiment for them or something like that. And it is something they want to bring to the table in a book or a series. The character, however, doesn’t fit in with the world that is created. A grim dark setting isn’t going to have a crazy happy brightly colored character without people believing that character would be crazy. Or it could be a archetype character that just doesn’t quite fit. But it’s something that shows up in a books as well, and can sometimes be a dullard character who just doesn’t match the depth of the rest of the characters.

The Fixes

The Mary Sue or Marty Stu

This character is one of the easier ones to fix. Give that character a flaw, and a major flaw. Going back to the one example I gave, the character who jumped out of a helicopter, the author gave them a claustrophobia that kind of appeared out of nowhere, and then was fixed the page later. That doesn’t cut it. This really goes back to RPG’s in some ways and how you can learn from them for writing, but give your characters a “dump stat”.

What do I mean by a dump stat? In Dungeons and Dragons and other RPG’s you fairly often have six different stats. For Dungeons and Dragons that is strength, agility, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma. Most heroes in RPG’s will have stats that are 10 or higher in most of them. 10 is the common baseline for what everyone can do. But, a more interesting character will have a stat that is below average. So while a fighter might have 18 strength being well higher than the average, they might have a below average wisdom or charisma.

This idea can be taken into writing as well. Harry Dresden has a massive flaw when it comes to women. Now, is he a womanizer, not really, but his default is to always protect a woman. This, of course, gets him into trouble when that woman might be a vampire or just as dangerous as he is. He even knows he has that flaw, but out of a misplaced chivalry refuses to work on it. It is something that trips him up again and again, but makes him feel more human.

The Dullard

Honestly, it’s a similar fix to the Mary Sue and Marty Stu. Give them a flaw. But also give them depth of character. The self-insert character often lacks motivations in almost any way. Going back to Dungeons and Dragons, there is trick that can help with character creation that can also help with writing. There are four different character traits you fill in when creating a character.

• Personality Trait – Funny, serious, clueless. Give them one or two of these things. They are basically some role playing direction but also a common tone you can use for a character you are writing.
• Ideal – This is something that they hold up on a pedestal. For someone like Harry Dresden it could be that chivalry is not dead. Why you add this in, is because it always gives the character that goal or reference of what they hold most important.
• Bond – Who are they connected to. Going back to Harry Dresden, there is the White Council, his friends, and more. Find that one person or group of people who your character sees as important. The great thing about these characters is that you can then kill them to add in drama to your story, or at least put them in danger. But it could also be something like a bond to a religious organization or any organization as well.
• Flaw – Hey, we’re back to flaws. Give them something that they are bad at. For Harry Dresden that is that he doesn’t want to hurt a woman as that isn’t chivalrous or honorable. I talked about this a lot already, but it helps make your character feel more human and realistic than just an empty shell.

Now, these things don’t need to be explicitly stated in the story. But use them to create a more interesting and realistic character and get away from the dullard self-insertion main character. These characters will have longer staying power if you create them with depth. And this will give you a quick reference for a characters motivations when you get stuck as to what they would do, or what would make sense to do.

The Out of Place

This one is the hardest to fix. And, in my opinion, the simplest answer is save them. If you might just have that character in the wrong story. It might be that this great character is just meant to be in a totally different world and story. Take what I talk about above, create those traits, ideals, flaws, and bonds for that character, jot down some back story for them. When the time comes, when you have the right story, you’ll have that character in your back pocket who is ready to go. And who knows when that story will come to you, but don’t fret about it, it just means you have something already. Just because a character doesn’t fit doesn’t make you bad at writing, it just means that you had the right idea at the wrong time and the right time will come.

It’s Okay to Not Get it Perfect

Finally, it is okay to not get it perfect. If your character is a Mary Sue at some points, that is fine. If a character in a scene stands out like a sore thumb, that is fine. If your character ends up being a little but dull, that is fine. The only way to get better at writing is to write more. And sometimes you need a Marty Stu in your story, or you want someone who stands out, or it is meant as a fluff self-insertion story. My hope is that you leave more equipped to write a better variety of characters and deeper characters that will be memorable. While these aren’t hard and fast character writing rules, they are handy tools that are good to master so that you then know how, why, and where to break them.

What are some of your favorite characters in books, film, television, RPG’s, that have a lot of depth to them? What are some of the best examples out there?

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5 – Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

This Douglas Adams work is just fun and while I love to get transported into big worlds, sometimes it’s nice to just get thrown into a small and silly world, which is kind of what Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is. Sure, it’s the whole galaxy, but we don’t need to know everything about it, so we don’t. This book is very absurd and silly with a lot of great British humor in it. Douglas Adams does a wonderful job of making all the humor work in my opinion and keep the story moving along as well, which isn’t something that can be said for a lot of comedy where it’ll stop and pause on a joke or an absurd moment.

4 – The Reckoners

Not the only Brandon Sanderson that you’ll see on the list, The Reckoners is a super power story, but everyone with super powers is bad. The main character wants to join a group known as The Reckoners in order to take down one of the villains in particular who had killed his father. Can he find the Reckoners, convince them to let him join and become part of their group? This is a young adult series, but really well written. I’m not always a big fan of bad super powered people, something like The Watchmen and The Boys don’t interest me that much as their current shows, but Brandon Sanderson weaves a really good story with that as a backdrop to it. I think that this story works well for both kids and adults as well, as I didn’t read it until I was out of college and I still really enjoyed it.

3 – IT

I like Stephen Kings work a lot. And IT is probably about the most iconic thing that he’s done. There are others, Carrie and Misery are two that come to mind that would be up there as well. But in terms of the one that I like the best, it is IT. One thing I love about Stephen King is that he does a wonderful job creating two types of characters. The first is the protagonists who have their flaws, they are good, but not perfect people by any mean, and sometimes have some very big flaws. And then he also creates amazing bad guys as well, obviously in IT there is Pennywise, but Henry as well is a great bad guy who doesn’t have redeeming qualities, while King’s good guys might be shades of grey, his bad guys are all bad. I also like that IT lands the ending pretty well. Sometimes Stephen King’s books just kind of fizzle out, but IT is strong through the whole of the book. Including the ending.

2 – Stormlight Archive

I have the newest book in this series just waiting for me to read it. Stormlight Archive is an epic fantasy series by Brandon Sanderson that just tells and weaves together such an interesting story. There are a lot of moving parts, but they come together really well. And like you’ve probably notices already, I like flawed characters, but I also like how this series has some characters that are paragons of good or honor. It doesn’t mean that they are perfect, but they hold themselves to such a standard that they strive to be. I also like that this book doesn’t shy away from being what it is, a truly massive and epic story. The audio books are 50 hours, and it feels like there’s no wasted space, unlike some epic fantasy series (cough cough Wheel of Time cough cough).

1 – Dresden Files

Such a great series, I talk about it all the time, but with the new books, it’s still the same. I do have a slight knock on the new books, it really feels like it should have been a single book, but it was getting too long for what would be considered a normal Dresden book length so it was split into two. The first of the two books is still great, but it feels almost like the first act for the second book. That said, I love Harry Dresden and the series and how Jim Butcher manages to create such an engaging world and characters with depth. I think he does a great job creating flawed characters who grow and change, and get new flaws over time, or sometimes who know they have a flaw and will still refuse to work on it it. Yes, these are pulpy summer reading books, but there is so much more going on than that as well.

Those are my Top 5, and writing about them really makes me want to dive into all of them again. Thankfully I have done Dresden Files book that I need to read still and the next book in the Stormlight Archive. And as always, I do have some honorable mentions.

Daughter of Smoke and Bones
Stardust
Harry Potter
Wheel of Time

What are some of your favorite books or series? What epic fantasy should I checkout next, I do need to get back to the Runelords series.

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10 – Good Omens

I like some humor in by books and this one has a good amount of it. Good Omens is the story of an Angel and a Demon who are working together because they don’t really want to see the apocalypse come around. Unfortunately, nothing is really working like they think it will and can you actually avoid the apocalypse? Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman do a great job with this story and it’s a fast and really enjoyable read.

9 – Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy

More humor, this time even more absurd as Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy asks you the big questions in life as you fly around on a crazy space ship that just doesn’t quite do what you think it will. And you’d think that the universe would have some normal parts, but that’s very questionable. Douglas Adams is an author who’s writings I generally enjoy. The other Hitchhikers books are fun, though not as good. And Dirk Gentley’s Holistic Detective Agency is a new side of crazy. If you’re up for something completely absurd, anything by Adams is worth checking out.

8 – Daughter of Smoke and Bones

You’ll also see a fair amount of fantasy on the list, and Daughter of Smoke and Bones is the first one to kick it off. And it’s very different in terms of fantasy. It’s not your normal knights on horses riding off with the wizard to slay the dragon. No, this takes place partially in a modern world. The story is interestingly woven together, and while there are some stumbles in writing where it dumps backstory for too long, it’s very enjoyable. It also feels so different from standard fantasy. Laini Taylor does a good job on the story and a good job creating a world that feels unique.

7 – Swallows and Amazons

This is a series that I grew up on. We read through it multiple times growing up and it’s just a ton of fun. It’s a kids style adventure story, almost kids on bikes, but because that was really the common term for the genre. It follows three families of kids as they go exploring the lake country of England, camping under the stars, and having crazy adventures. Good wholesome fun for the whole family. Arthur Ransome really can tell a tale of adventure. Now, I will say that there is some from the times that shows up in the writing, considering they were published in the 1930’s and 1940’s, mainly in Missee Lee, and while that one is a fun romp, it is skippable in terms of the story as a whole.

6 – Stardust

Back to another story by Neil Gaiman, this one again leans into the comedy, but also a lot of fun world building. What happens when the normal world and a world of magic collide. Stardust is an absurd story of that. It has high stakes adventure, romance, and so much going on in the story. If you’re looking for something that is just a fun romp, Stardust is that, and you can blow through it quickly. Again, one that leans into that British absurdity in it’s humor like Good Omens and like Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

5 – Harry Potter

I wish JK Rowling would just go away at this point in terms of her world. She’s ruining the world that she created by continually trying to fill in holes in her world and just in general, but I won’t get into that further, because the series itself is still enjoyable. Yes, there are massive plot holes, but for a series, it builds over time and they are almost always enjoyable. I like how the stories grow up with the characters, the first one is a pretty light and simple romp and story, but in the last one, they are dealing with much weightier things. I still recommend the series for kids who need something to read, and since I’ve read them a few times now, it’s something that I can breeze through quickly.

4 – The Reckoners

Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite authors. The man is a machine when it comes to turning about books, and while I like some of his epic fantasy stuff better, you’ll have to find out what it is, I love the Reckoners series. It’s a good young adult superhero book where it isn’t just your normal superheroes out there saving the world, the powers affect the heroes negatively so that if you have powers, you are a villain, and the Reckoners are a group of people who are taking down the worst of the worst, but you have to find out the weakness of those with super powers. Really well written, some heavier things to think about, and a ton of fun.

3 – It

Only Stephen King book on the list, though, I do enjoy a lot of his stuff, and I really need to read some of them again like Dreamcatcher. But It is a book that I can just read over and over again. He does a great job of creating the horror and the tension in the book while also having a kids on bikes adventure feel to it, almost like you get in Stranger Things. Pennywise is a great villain, and there’s a lot of depth to the story. It’s a big book, but it tells such a good tale that if you’re thinking about reading some horror or want to see what Stephen King is all about, I think that this one is a great starting point.

2 – Stormlight Archive

Second Brandon Sanderson series on the list, this is a massively epic fantasy series, I mean massive. The third book in the series, the audiobook for that is over fifty hours, it’s insane. But the story in it is amazing. Sanderson weaves together several different characters into a story about the end of the world, but also about how it could be saved. There are spren, creatures that embody everything, there are wind spren that you can see when it’s windy outside, light spren, dark spren, death spren(?), and more that people research, and it’s just a unique twist to the world. I feel like there are a lot of fantasy tropes, but also so many amazingly different things that make the series worth spending the time on.

1 – The Dresden Files

I really enjoy urban fantasy which Daughter of Smoke and Bones is in some ways, and Neverwhere, which just misses the list by Neil Gaiman, is as well. But the best urban fantasy that I’ve found has been The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. He weaves a masterfully grand tale and always world ending events that keep the stakes high, but without feeling silly like so many massive series can. Harry Dresden is just a well created character, you know he’s going to win, but it’s going to be hard along the way. Nothing ever comes to him easily, and that’s fine, and he’s never going to be a perfect character, he’s written well with flaws and that makes him seem such more real, as do all of the characters in the series. Definitely a big series, definitely an easier series to read, one to checkout if you’re having trouble finding good urban fantasy.

Now, I’ve mentioned a few other books that I like as well that almost made the list, Dirk Gentley’s Holistic Detective Agency is just out there and weird but really enjoyable. I have liked Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan is massive and enjoyable. Classics like Dune, Lord of the Rings, and Chronicles of Narnia all just miss the list as well. How about what, what are some of your favorite books? Have I sold you on checking out any of my favorites?

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5 – The Reckoners
The only YA (young adult) series on the list, and one of the two series by Brandon Sanderson. The Reckoners is a super power series, but done in an interesting way. Super powers became a thing, but they weren’t heroes, in fact, they were all villains. There is a team, called The Reckoners who are out there figuring out the weakness of bad guys and trying to take them down to basically free the normal people from being under the super powers thumbs. David, isn’t a Reckoner, but he desperately ones to become one. Is he going to be able to help them in a way to get into the group? It’s a well done series and while it’s a bit darker in how it handles super powers as compared to Marvel or DC, it doesn’t beat you down with bring dark.

4 – Stardust
The lightest book on the list in terms of tone, Stardust is just a fun romp through a wild and crazy fantasy world. I generally like Neil Gaiman’s works, but they can be pretty big and heavy, Stardust is a much smaller work, but tells an interesting and light story. The blend of the real world and this amazing fantasy and how they interact is interesting. There are a few lines that just crack me up when I read them in the book, and you really do feel the sense of adventure that is being created in the book. The movie, while different, is also not bad and keeps a similar tone to the book. If you want a lighter fantasy read, Stardust is a lot of fun.

3 – The Stormlight Archive
Another series, I kind of feel like I’m cheating by putting them on the list, but I feel like sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts, and if I were to talk about it separately, it wouldn’t fully tell the story. The Stormlight Archive is an epic fantasy story by Brandon Sanderson. You get prophecy, you get visions, intrigue, and so much more, but it’s all put together well. Sanderson is probably better known for Mistborn, but I like Stormlight Archive considerably better. The scale is just so big, but the story is well done, and the characters are flawed. You’re going to see this as a theme, characters who are flawed who feel more real, and in Stormlight Archive, you have heroes who do great things, but they are still flawed characters.

2 – IT
I love Stephen King. And IT is my favorite out of the books that he’s written. The structure of interweaving the kids and adults stories together works well. It’s an interesting horror story but also has an epic story as well. Pennywise is a great antagonist. I sometimes, also, have an issue with Stephen King’s work because he doesn’t always land the story as well as he could in the end, and I think in IT, you get a good complete story. Again, with complex characters who have flaws and because of those flaws you care about them more. Now, IT is a beast of a book to read and is definitely weird and disturbing, so it isn’t going to be for everyone, but if you are interested in trying horror, I highly recommend it

1 – The Dresden Files
I’ve talked about this series before, and I’m completely caught up series finally this year. Thus far, there are 15 books in the series, and it’s a ton of fun to see the series come together. The start of the series is a bit more of a stand alone, but when Jim Butcher hits his stride, the story is quite complex and well written. It’s a massive fantasy world with interesting characters and flawed characters, which I think really makes the series work. Harry Dresden is a good guy in general, but he has his flaws and you get to see the character grow in realization without fixing all of his problems. To me, that’s what I want in good story telling, good depth of character and characters who feel real. The series, since it is so long, does have a hiccup or two in the storytelling, but as a whole, it is telling a very interesting story.

Nothing new to this year, besides finishing off The Dresden Files this year, but let’s see in the honorable mentions?

The Wheel of Time
Harry Potter
Ascend Online
Lord of the Rings
Daughter of Smoke and Bones

Any books from my top reads that you love? Any that you’ve been wanting to check out? Let me know in the comments below.

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***Disclaimer***
These rankings are the opinion of yours truly, and if you don’t like them, that’s okay. We all have different tastes in games and that is great. There are some games that I’ve only played as a demo, and I felt like I got enough of a feel to put them on the list, thanks GenCon for all the demos. These are living rankings so next year I’m sure that things will change, so I’ll probably be doing another one next year. Thanks to Board Game Geek for letting me enter/rate my collection and games I’ve played. Thanks to Pub Meeple for creating a tool that pulls in those games that I’ve rated and creating a ranking tool. Again, the numbers and names will be linked to Cool Stuff Inc and Amazon if you’re interested in the games.

20 – Sagrada
Sagrada is a very pretty game in which you are drafting dice in order to create the most beautiful stained glass window out there. However, you have certain rules as to how you can place those dice, such as certain colors being required in spots or certain numbers being required. To make it even trickier, you can’t have the same number or the same color orthogonally adjacent to one another. So, your stained glass window soon becomes a puzzle. To add to that, you are also looking at scoring in four different areas. Each player has a private objective that they are trying to score, but there are also three more public objectives that players are trying to get as many points from. That seems like a lot of things to stay on top of, and it is, thankfully, the game gives you ways to move or manipulate dice, so hopefully you can fill in your whole stained glass window. Sagrada is a pretty game on the table with the translucent dice, and a fun game to play. it is definitely lighter, but there is enough going on that I feel engaged throughout the game, and I’m always hoping people won’t draft that one die that I really need. They normally do, but I’m hoping that they won’t. The game also scales up well, so it’s fun with two players and it’s fun with four players. There is an expansion that takes it up to six, but I haven’t tried that yet.

19 – Dice Throne: Season One
Alright, here it is, the first season of Dice Throne. As compared to the other ones, which in the future might just be Dice Throne Season Two when I finish getting all the characters, Dice Throne: Season One comes with six different characters that all play in fun and different ways. The game is still a yahtzee style dice rolling battle where you are trying to knock down your opponent before they can take you down. But characters like the Paladin can heal more and has buff abilities, whereas the Pyromancer is just about doing damage and doesn’t really do defense. This is fun, because it makes you adjust how you are going to play the game. The Shadow Thief for example, is all about getting combat points to put cards into play, but the more combat points they have, the more damage that they can do on some attacks. I think technically you could play this as a three versus three game with each team facing off against the other, but I prefer the game as a one versus one game. All the characters feel pretty balanced and it seems to be a luck of the roll as to who wins but there is enough dice manipulation that you feel like you can go for your ultimate ability if possible. I haven’t done this yet, but this game seems like ti would be amazing in a tournament format, so I’m hoping to get one of those done this winter. I really love all the Dice Throne stuff, and some of the Season Two characters are more interesting, but with what I got for Season One, I got more characters, so that’s why it’s higher.

18 – Dead of Winter
It’s zombie time, and Christmas. You and your group of survivors are huddled in your base in the town VFW (not part of the game, but I gave it a location), you’ve barricaded the doors off but the zombies keep coming, and you’re going to need to get food eventually. Dead of Winter is a zombie survival game where each player has their own objective as to what they want to do, or have in their hand, by the end of the scenario in order to win the game. However, the scenario has things you need to do as well, and there keep on being crisis that happen. And then you need to feed the colony as well. So life is tough for you as players as you run around to various locations, searching for what you need, and hoping not to get bitten by a zombie or get frost bite (bitten by a cold zombie). To make matters worse, you’re beginning to suspect that there might be a traitor in your midst. That’s Dead of Winter in a nutshell, a semi-cooperative game where each player has a secret objective that they need to complete, and there might be a traitor in the game. The odds of their being one are fairly low, because you mix it into 2 x [The Number of Players] cards, but most of the time there is one. Everyone is suspicious of everyone else, and then there are crossroads cards. These are cards that have you make tough decisions in the zombie filled world, like, do you let in some strangers to your group, you get more actions, but more mouths to feed as well. This is a big game with a lot of decisions to make in it, and if the scenarios weren’t hard enough, the daily crisis and personal objectives make the whole game even harder.

17 – Deranged
This game isn’t even out yet, how do I have it on my list so high? Because that’s how awesome the long demo at GenCon was. In Deranged you are stuck in a small town, because you are cursed, and you only have a limited amount of time before you can escape. But in order to escape you have to get rid of your curses. And if that wasn’t hard enough, there are monsters floating about down there that want to try and kill you. And then, if you die, you come back, because you know you’re in a cursed town that never wants you to leave, and you are cursed again. Plus, it’s possible at night time that you are going to become a deranged monster who has lost their humanity and then you can’t escape, but don’t worry, you can get your humanity back, you just have to kill another character, which will cause them to come back with another curse. This game is a ton of fun as you play cards that might advance time to the point where you hit night and become deranged. This game feels like a lighter horror game that offers a lot of decisions and plays pretty quickly with teaching the game and playing through it. The demo I played wasn’t the full game, but I got a really good taste of it going through a day. The aesthetic on this game is great as it has not a Lovecraftian feel, but definitely an early 1900’s feel. The game play is slick as you use cards for their abilities, but you have to weigh the choice of a good power or keeping back a card to play on defense if a monster is going to attack you or maybe a deranged is in your area. It’s coming to the US in Quarter One of 2020, I believe, and I’m waiting excitedly to be able to get my hands on it.

16 – Aeon’s End: War Eternal
I’m a big fan of deck building games that have theme, aka. not Dominion. And though I did have Ascension on the list that doesn’t have theme, the ones higher than it definitely do. In Aeon’s End: War Eternal, the standalone expansion to Aeon’s End a game I haven’t played, you are taking on the role of various breach mages who are trying to stop the town of Gravehold from being destroyed by one of several monsters that might be after it. You have the power, and you can acquire and gain more power to deal damage, cast more spells, and get more powerful spells throughout the game. Aeon’s End: War Eternal at it’s heart is like most deck building games where you have a market of cards where you can spend your money to buy either attack spells, artifacts that do something, or buy better and more money. But the way you cast your attack spells is unique because you have breaches that you have to cast your spells through, and depending on your character, you might have more breaches available to start than another player. However, the biggest difference from this game as compared to other deck building games is that you don’t shuffle your deck. When you play your cards on your turn, you play as many of them as you want at and then you sort how they go into the discard pile. So if I want, I can clump a group of money together in hopes that when I draw my hand after going through the deck, I’ll be able to get a hand with a lot of money in it. So you there is another area to strategize in this game as compared to a normal deck building game. The theme comes through well, and I like that the different giant monsters you are fighting have different goals. One of them is trying not to do direct damage to the player or the town of Gravehold, but is trying to dig under the city so that it collapses. This is a game that feels like it has a ton of replayability, and it has a legacy version that I really need to play.

15 – Second Chance
Another flip and write (roll and write) game, they are so popular right now, and I do like them quite well for a relaxing game to sit back and play. In Second Chance, you are flipping two shape cards every turn, and players pick one of the shapes and can rotate it, flip it, mirror it, whatever they want to put that shape somewhere on their board as long as it touches another shape they’ve put in play. The goal of the game is to fill in as many of the squares in as possible in this Tetris like puzzle. But sometimes you really need a specific shape and you get two shapes that you can’t use. In that case, you get a, you guessed it, second chance. A single card flip that has a shape that only you can use. If you can use it, you are still in the game, if you can’t, you are out and you can start counting up your open spaces. Second Chance is a fun game and a very relaxing game to play. I like to doodle as I fill in the shapes so that each section looks different than other ones do. Kristen likes to do specific patterns in how she fills in her shapes. The game plays fast, and because everyone is using the shapes, though with a unique starting shape, there is no downtime for anyone in the game. Like Criss Cross before, Second Chance is a game that people will play once and then want to play again. If you’re looking for a very accessible roll and write (flip and write) game, Second Chance is definitely that.

14 – The Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game
When I started ranking everything, I thought that this game was going to be higher on my list. But it dropped, I like this game a lot as 14 is really good. I think the reason is that while this game offers a lot of interesting choices, it doesn’t have the same weight of decision making that some of the other games do. In this game you take on the roll of Harry Dresden and other characters from The Dresden File books as you work through a book to try and solve the mystery that is going on. You can focus on two areas, the first is solving cases with your investigation cards. These cards have a cost and then they put clues on a case according to various rules on the card. The other is attack, which works like the investigate cards, but goes on the bad guys instead of the cases. Your goal, at the end of the game is to have more cases solved than there are bad guys left on the board. It’s tricky though, because everything costs something, and you have a limited amount of fate points (as they are called) to spend. But you can get them back by discarding a card and getting back the cards cost in fate points. That works well as a mechanic, but can lead to someone having to discard several turns in a row, which can be boring. Thankfully, discarding does a bit more than that, it also has another action that it triggers for the players. For someone characters it might be adding in damage to a certain bad guy, either the nearest or farthest, or do the same thing with a case. Plus, each character has a one time ability that feels like them. This game, while being a big puzzle, is very thematic and a lot of fun as you try and recreate the book on the table.

13 – Hanamikoji
This is the first of two two player games on the list. Technically the other can be played with four, but it’s a two player game. Hanamikoji is, however, only a two player game. In this game you are trying to win favor of various Geisha by giving them gifts. Each Geisha is worth a certain number of points and wants a certain type of gift. If you have more gifts in front of that Geisha at the end of the round, you win their favor. How you get gifts in front of them is where the meat of this game is, though. It is actually only just cards, but you have four different ways you can play down cards. You can discard two that won’t be used for winning a Geisha’s favor, you can play one face down that will be used, you can play down three cards, your opponent picks one that they get and you get the other two to use for winning favor, and finally, you can put down two groups of two, and your opponent picks one of them. The trick of this game is that you want to keep everything and often times you are helping your opponent. Can you manipulate things to where you’ve gotten enough favor points from the Geisha or have won the favor of enough Geisha? I feel like most of the time the game is over in two rounds of the four actions, but it’s always a struggle. And you really want your opponent making the hard decisions for you. This is a fast game that is abstract, but it looks good on the table, and because of it’s speed, you generally want to play multiple times. There is also enough hidden information that you can never fully solve the puzzle of how to play it.

12 – Welcome To…
The last roll (flip) and write on the list. This is my favorite of that genre because there is a bit more to sink your teeth into. In the game you are building your perfect 1950’s neighborhood so that people come to your development over that Stepford neighborhood over there. And of course, to do that, you need to set-up your neighborhood correctly. Do you go for a lot of parks, do you try and build swimming pools, are you advertising your neighborhood? But most importantly, are you building those white picket fences, because a neighborhood isn’t a neighborhood without them. This is another one of these roll (flip) and write games that everyone is using the same resources. Everyone gets to pick which one of three combinations of an action and a house number to use each turn, so the game can play up to 100 out of the box, since there are 100 sheets with the game. This game still plays fast, but I like it since it gives you more options as to what you can do and how you want to try and get your scoring as compared to games like Second Chance and Criss Cross. I also like it, because I can quickly tell people what the game is about with that 1950’s neighborhood reference, and everyone gets an idea. There are also expansions that I haven’t played yet, but I have the spring one and a fallout, I mean, bomb shelter, one ready to try. I’m excited to get those to the table soon as they add in a few new things to the game which seem fun.

11 – Star Wars: Rebellion
This is the other two player game, though technically it can be played with four people, basically just splitting up the two sides of the Empire and Rebels. I wouldn’t do that. In this game if you are the Empire, you are trying to build up enough troops and search the galaxy for the rebel base. You get some help from that with your probe droids, plus you are trying to mess over the rebels in whatever ways you can. The Rebels are trying to create unrest in the empire and complete missions to undermine the empire. If they can complete a certain number of them for points before the empire can find them and wipe them out, they win the game. Of course, you can also build Death Stars and blow up planets if you want as well. This game is described by the Dice Tower as Star Wars in a box. And I have to agree with them, it is only the original trilogy, but that’s all I want to play. I don’t need to have mechanics for a romance subplot between Hayden Christenson and Natalie Portman. It’s a game of cat and mouse as both sides try and disrupt the other, but both sides ultimately have bigger goals that they are working towards. Plus, you can customize the characters you are playing with as you go along. Maybe you get Chewie but not Han, or who needs the Emperor when you have Grand Moff Tarkin? But each of them brings an ability that they are better at, so you have to balance that. Along with that, you get to have epic space battles and ground battles that take place on and around these planets which can swing who is leading. Star Wars: Rebellion is a big, long, and thematic game that I’d recommend to Star Wars fans who like to board game. I’ve enjoyed playing both sides as well, though I’ve had better luck as the Empire, just made one mistake as the Rebels, though, and I could have won.

Man, there is so much to say about these games. I really do love them all and I want to sit down and play them all. I’m excited to do my top 10, because I had a game in there that surprised me after I had done all of the sorting. But you’ll have to wait for Friday for that game.

If you have a game that you like out of this section of the list, let me know what it is. Or what game do you want to try?

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Just in the way of a quick synopsis, The Dresden Files follows around Harry Dresden a wizard private investigator. He mainly does things like find lost objects or missing people, stuff that’s pretty easy. But the Chicago PD bring him in time to time to consult on cases when things seem weird and that is too often in Chicago. The series starts out with him doing a few one off cases, but soon he figures out that there is something larger at play and now he’s having to deal with fae courts, vampires of all sorts, and basically anything else that might go bump in the night.

I really like Urban Fantasy, and Dresden Files is a very good series in that genre. Too often or too much of urban fantasy seems to lean into that light fluffy writing with a bit of pulp, whereas The Dresden Files are heavily pulp but keep a serious tone and really create depth of character. Now, this isn’t through all the books, the first couple, especially, since they aren’t as obviously tied into the main plot of the rest of the books, and are early in Butcher’s writing career don’t hold up quite as well, though, they are still very enjoyable. And his short story book, Side Jobs, you get some more of his earlier writing and while I enjoyed them a good amount, I can see how they might not hold up as strongly as some of his other work.

Besides the genre, I really like the main character. Harry Dresden is a good character, generally a good person, and definitely a flawed person as well. I think that is one thing that I really appreciate about Butcher’s writing of Harry. Harry has a pretty obvious character arc as he grows, and there are still things that he recognizes as hang-ups for him that he just doesn’t address or that he has accepted are part of him. This rough around the edges works well for the gritty world that the series is set in. And I think that’s a strength, not just of Harry in the series, but other characters as well. Each character has their own flaws, and while there are some who seem to have less flaws, their flaws just look a bit shinier and are harder to see. I’ve been listening to, and have read enough, to notice when books create a character that is either too perfect or too generic, and Harry is definitely not perfect or generic.

One thing I wasn’t sure how it would go throughout the books is finding a good way to increase the stake throughout. I’m not going to go into spoilers, but things start to get big and there are a lot of issues surrounding the fae, vampires, wizards, and other parties. Whenever that happens, I start to get worried. You can end up with it getting too big too quickly, and if a problem is solved, that means now you have to come up with something even crazier and bigger. In the Dresden Files, I feel like it’s balanced well. There is definitely a building feel to larger things, but there are some books where the stakes seem a bit smaller again mixed in without. The slow build and those that keep the story from growing to quickly make the series better. You can feel that it’s building towards something even bigger, and while there was a moment where you could feel like it drops off again, there are so many open questions in the series that it works to take a little bit of a step back.

I’m not sure how many books are going to be in the series, but I’m definitely looking forward to the next one. If you want to know more about the series, or get into some spoiler territory, you can join me with Malts and Meeples as I play through the Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game which does a solid job of telling the Dresden Files story. I’m really waiting for this to get picked up for a good television show as well or movie series. We had one SyFy channel series, and while the actor who played Dresden did a good job, the rest of the cast was just decent, and all in the all, it was too procedural to really be a show that captured the spirit of The Dresden Files.
Like I said at the beginning, I love this series. There are currently 15 books and 2 books of short stories. You definitely don’t need to read the short stories, though they are fun to fill in some gaps of the stories. And, random aside, one cool thing about the series is that each of them takes place about a year apart, so there are stories and things hinted at that we don’t ever see. It’s a bit of a haul to get through the series, but I haven’t regretted it, and I’ve read some of the books, especially early in the series, several times. I think if you’re looking for a good urban fantasy series you’re going to be hard to pressed to find something that works better than Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files.

What do you think of the series? What is your favorite book out of all of them?

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Join me as I take on the Dresden Files Cooperative Card Game. I take a crack at the first scenario, Storm Front, based off of the Dresden Files book by Jim Butcher of the same name. This game is a cooperative game that plays well solo and plays quickly. It’s a challenging game that often can come down to some luck, but if you are smart about it, you can set yourself up to succeed in the end.

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Bottoms up.

There are two big things to note that we did, since there were two of us, when when we went through and picked events, we always selected, a ticket for yourself and one other person, and only process it if you can get both tickets. This meant that we would get into events with the other person always, and since it was our first year, it’s a good way to get a feel for what is going on and both of us will be able to keep track of it better. In future years, I could see us branching off and doing our own thing, or if we get more people to join us, then we might also see more splitting up on events.

The other thing we did was we had both of us grab the events in our wishlist, so that when the moment came to process everything, we could both hit submit for processing and whomever got onto the wait list higher would make the purchase. Turns out that the other person I’m going with was able to get in about 1000 people higher on the list than I was.

Even with that, there were several events that were sold out that we were interested in. Out of the fourteen or fifteen we had our our lists, by the time we were at the top of the queue, we were down to nine that we could get into. Once the wishlist is processed, we didn’t have to worry about our spots, so we decided to drop two and got down to seven events that we’re doing.

Overall, it ended up costing us $46 for those few events. GenCon charges for the events that you get into because, otherwise, you’d end up with people signing up for a ton of things and then just skipping out on them or doubling up on things and picking whatever one they felt like doing more. While I don’t love dishing out extra cash when I did already for the con itself, I get why, with 60,000 people that you’d need to do that.

So what are we doing?

Thursday: 3 PM
Role Player Adventures – Role Player is an interesting game where you are rolling up a D&D character, basically, and using abilities to manipulate your stats. The original game to me felt like half a game, but with a name like Adventures, I’m assuming we’re going to use our characters for something, such as adventuring, instead of just rolling them up. This one is also interesting because it’s a prototype of a game that they’ll be coming out with.

Friday:
9 AM
Savage Dresden – Our one RPG on the list, Savage World is the system that we’re going to be playing in, and I don’t know anything about that system. But the world we’re playing in, the the world of Dresden Files, and if you can’t tell, I really like the Dresden Files series, so I’m excited to play an RPG in that setting, though it won’t actually have Dresden in it.
6 PM
Village Attacks – Our most expensive game on the schedule. But this was the game that I really wanted to get into, and the other person I’m going with was excited with as well. And you do get something out of it more than just playing a game. You get a scenario with it, now you obviously need to own the game, which I don’t. But Village Attacks seems fun, because you’re playing the monsters dealing with the Villagers who are coming after you with pitchforks and torches while you just try and live your best life.

Saturday
9 AM
Ice Cool North American Championships – This one is just a bit silly, it’s the penguin flicking game that I really like. However, one that I’m just okay at. But they have a North American Championship there with a chance to go to the World Championship in Latvia. It should be a silly time, I don’t expect to do all that well, but I’ll put some effort into training, plus I can say that I competed North American Championship.
8 PM
Hobbit Drinking with Marc Gunn – I don’t know much about Marc Gunn, but apparently he does nerdy drinking songs. That should be fairly entertaining event to just sit back and enjoy. A good laid back thing after an a morning of competing at penguin flicking.

Sunday
10 AM
Harry Potter Miniatures Game – I know nothing about this game, other than that it’s a Harry Potter game. It seemed like something interesting to checkout on Sunday when things will be slowing down as a lot of people will be leaving early. We’re actually staying around that whole day, so that should be fun. All I know is that I want to be Neville.
2 PM
Marvel Legendary – Now, you know I’m not a huge fan of this game, but it’s a play and win event. So you have a chance to come out of it with something, and the other person is a huge Marvel Legendary fan. I’ve grown to like it a bit more, but it’ll be nice to not have to learn how to play a new game again.

That’s my GenCon schedule. GenCon also does one nice thing, and that’s that you can buy generic tickets. Using the generic tickets, you can get into an event you didn’t sign up for, if there is still room. So I got $6 worth of those, they come in as $2 tickets, so if an event costs $4, I’d need to use 2 tickets. But I feel like that’s a pretty nice schedule for GenCon and I’m really excited for it.

Next article on GenCon will talk about different places or things that I’m thinking about doing around the Con, since we won’t want to be there all the time, or only eat the Con food.

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Synopsis: The Dresden Files are a series that follow around Harry Dresden as he deals with many crazy supernatural things in Chicago. There is a big overarching story that I won’t go too much into because that would be spoilers. But he works with the police to solve these crimes and mysteries. It also helps to know that Harry is a Wizard.

Let’s meet the main characters:

Harry Dresden – The aforementioned wizard, Harry is a tall man who diffuses his own stress with his own special brand of humor, which normally just gets him into more trouble. He’s not a built person, but is lanky and has good functional strength.

Karrin Murphy – Small spitfire of a police officer. She’s had to be patient as she has worked her way up in the Chicago PD, but she has made her way up. She’s athletic and doesn’t put up his Harry’s crap or anyone’s crap, but is still a very caring person.

Susan Rodriguez – A reporter who is pretty and also investigates the paranormal or supernatural. She’s onto the fact that Harry might actually be what he says and hounds him for information.

Bob – A talking skull that is a wealth of knowledge that is in Harry’s possession. Also a quite pervy spirit who inhabits the skull.

Michael Carpenter – A large strong man with a large family. He is a man of faith who is very even keeled but not afraid to step into a situation, help Harry out and make a difference when evil is threatening Chicago or anywhere in the world.

Waldo Butters – A small coroner who knows some about the supernatural. He also really loves polka and can’t stand injury, though has no problem working on a corpse.

“Gentleman” Johnny Marconne – A mobster who runs basically all the organized crime in Chicago. He helps out Harry at times and gets in Harry’s way at other times, depending on what is most useful for him.

Ebenezar McCoy – Harry’s mentor, teacher, and friend. Took Harry in when his first teacher went evil. He’s an old wizard with a ton of power and very respected. Also part of the White Council which oversees the wizarding community.

There are really a plethora more characters who could make sense to talk about and cast, but this is limited spoilers as well and does focus on a lot of reoccurring characters throughout the series.

So who would I want to play them?

Harry Dresden – Tom Ellis
Tom Ellis, who plays Lucifer in Lucifer, is sufficiently tall. He also has that long frame, that comes with height, but isn’t too built. He’s very polished looking as Lucifer, but if his hair was a bit longer and messier and, like Harry, had a beat up look about him most of the time, I think that he’d make a good Harry Dresden.

Karen Murphy – Maggie Lawson
I really only know Maggie Lawson from watching Psych. But in that show she’s very much a character who has to put up with Shawn’s crap as a fake psychic detective. The only thing I wonder about is if she can be as grouchy as Murphy is sometimes. But Lawson can definitely play a character who is caring.

Susan Rodriguez – Melissa Fumero
We’ve seen her in a comedy in Brooklyn 99, and while Susan isn’t the most comedic role, I think that Fumero would have the acting chops to pull it off. What I think works really well with her is that she’s an intense character in Brooklyn 99 who is always needing to do the best, I think that Susan possesses a lot of those similar qualities.

Bob – Paul Bettany
He’s the first person I thought off. He does a good job as J.A.R.V.I.S. and Vision in the Marvel movies, but I think it’s more his Knight’s Tale Chaucer that he could channel into Bob, this spirit who has been around for so long but also has this surprisingly pervy human side.

Michael Carpenter – Adam Copeland
You’re more apt to know him as Edge from WWE. So clearly you have someone who is going to have a larger build. Edge, though, just has a very friendly looking face and with a few beard hairs turning grey, he would make a really believable family man who is also strong and tough.

Waldo Butters – Elijah Woods
Frodo as an eccentric coroner? That doesn’t make a ton of sense, but the actor who was in Dirk Gentley’s Holistic Detective Agency, that makes perfect sense. Woods has shown that he’s up for those odd roles and has done a very good job with them. I think he’d make a lot of sense continue in those odd roles as the worried and polka loving Waldo Butters.

“Gentleman” Johnny Marconne – Ben Mendelsohn
You might know him as Sorrento in Ready Player One or Orson Krennic in Star Wars: Rogue One. He’s done a good job of playing those skeezy bad guys before who are slick. Marconne definitely has that feel and while I would think of Marconne being a bit younger personally, I think that Mendelsohn’s acting shows that he could deal with the role very well.

Ebenezar McCoy – Brendan Gleeson
Older, bigger, and still tough as nails. Gleeson fits that quite well I’d think. I’m not extremely familiar with Gleeson’s work, but if you’re not making McCoy quite as crazy white haired as he has been in my brain, just older and tough as nails, Gleeson fits that to a tee.

There are so many more characters to cast, and I really want to go through and figure out all of them, but that would be semi-spoiler heavy to describe who the characters are. So instead, I’ll hold off on those and maybe do another post to talk about them, just be warned there would be spoilers.

So what do you think of my casting, who would you cast in their place if you disagree?

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