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Restarting another thread from the original tavern.
I just finished Most Secret and Confidential: Intelligence in the Age of Nelson. (affiliate link) It was good, but definitely not a book on the Age of Sail or Age of Nelson that I would recommend for beginners on the topic. It’s best read when you already have a solid understanding of the wars from 1792-1815, and the associated naval battles. The focus on intelligence is quite interesting, and gives you a different perspective on the challenges of the time period. I did find it to be a bit random and disjointed at times; I suppose I prefer history books that read more like a story with clearer chronology. Still a good read though.
Nothing Pirate related, But it is called “The Case For Christ”…Like I said it is not pirate related at all. But you did ask what am I reading.
So Game On
Finishing up Four Weeks In May by David Hart Dyke. Pretty good overall.
I’m about a quarter of the way into my third time reading through The Rise of Kyoshi by F.C.Yee.
It’s based on the character from Avatar: The Last Airbender, one of the Avatars prior to Aang (and later Korra). She had only a few brief but memorable appearances in the shows, but this book and the follow-up, The Shadow of Kyoshi, focus on some of the many issues she had to deal with early in her life – one of the biggest being that pretty much everyone thought that someone else was the Avatar.
It’s a little more “adult” than the shows were, because it’s not limited by what Nickelodeon could air on TV. The violence is ramped up quite a bit, and it goes into a lot more detail on the kinds of things people could actually do with the various bending powers. There’s also significantly more representation included, which the shows (particularly the later seasons of Korra) were only allowed to hint at and imply.
As for pirates, there is a part fairly early on that deals with some. (Minor spoilers follow)
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Kyoshi travels along with the person everyone else thinks is the Avatar so he can sign a political treaty with a large pirate fleet operating in the region. One of the terms is that they meet on an iceberg, which puts the mostly-Earthbending contingent they’re with a huge disadvantage because they don’t have any of their native element nearby. It goes well at first, until the pirate queen decides she’s had enough and springs her trap, which includes several ships hidden inside of nearby icebergs, and waterbenders hidden under the iceberg they’re standing on. As things are spiraling out of control, Kyoshi inadvertently activates the Avatar state, and rips up huge chunks of the seafloor from hundreds of feet below to smash the fleet…
several ships hidden inside of nearby icebergs
This caught my attention – sounds like something I’ll have to include in a game someday. 😉
several ships hidden inside of nearby icebergs
This caught my attention – sounds like something I’ll have to include in a game someday.
There were also some references made by the characters to an incident years earlier where an airbender created a typhoon as a “non-violent” way to disperse an entire pirate fleet and keep them from returning to a certain region. Of course, from the point of view of the pirates on those ships it wasn’t so non-violent, and they were slightly bitter about it. 😀
Something like that probably wouldn’t translate very well into the game as a ship or crew ability unless it was ridiculously expensive, but it might work as a UT or as part of an overriding scenario for a game.
I’ve seen the Kyoshi books, but I haven’t got them. I followed the graphic novels that followed the show, but fell behind on some of them. After reading this I’m def. gonna have to get my hands on those books.
I myself recently read The Last Wish, which I think is the first of the Witcher series of books, and greatly enjoyed it. I’m also working my way through A Veil of Spears, book three in the Song of Shattered Sands. Additionally I’m very slowly getting through the Game of Thrones.
I’m currently re-reading Beyond the reef; part of Alexander Kent’s Bolitho series, very good for Age of Sail enthusiasts.
I have a quite large backlog however, including Leviathan Wakes (first book of The Expanse series), various astronomy and birdwatching related books, other nautical themed books, etc.
Finished:
Think Like A Monk (Jay Shetty)
Currently reading:
Change Your Brain, Change Your Life (Daniel Amen)
Both quite good.
Recently finished Murtagh (follow up book to the Inheritance Cycle). I thought it was quite good and it leaves open the possibility of other stories being told with the characters.
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