NEO HYPER Book Club #2 (28 may - 11 jun)

[Guu]

Okay! So we have another Bookclub, and once again I’m late!

Welp, let’s do this!


An Alliance Forged in Blood
By Gildarts and Strazio Rockwell

Okay! Well, I needed to read more of Marie’s stuff, and it’ll also be good to see some work by Strazio! I’ve seen the title in passing, but I have yet to read it, so here we go! Bullet point reaction!

~Okay, so immediately, this is not Starzio himself. I knew Gildarts played a secondary in this, but surprised to find all of this was NPC.

~The mention of Dante’s Abyss made me check the date of when this was published, geeze… This topic was an oldie!

~You can never trust old lady mystics, BUREAUCRATS THE LOT OF ‘EM!

~So I didn’t check Isaac's description until after I read this post so the blood attack I did not expect.

~And the chase is on! Cue Benny Hill music!

~I remember Christa from the Secondary Sega. A lot more action oriented than I remembered, but then again, my memory is crap. Maybe she killed a thousand orcs.

~I did like that little detail with the bartender. Good character moment.

~"Oh, howdy boys. I thought I smelled some dirty mutts enter town."
It’s not a bad line, but it would have been more effective if you described their reactions briefly before going straight into the action again. Just so it has a chance to land. Just a short blurb of them shooting a glance at each other or having a moment of realization. Either that or shorten it, because it’s long enough that to feel like there was a few seconds pause. Just imagine in a movie, the hero stops dead in her tracks to say a witty one liner, and the action stops for like 2-3 seconds before going right back into the fight, just would feel clunky to stop and start for so long, any reaction would be a good transition.

But eh, I’m no expert. Take it for a grain of salt.

~Combat is alright! <3

~Good incorporating Isaac’s pacifism! I’m guessing the next post their conflict.

~Well, he tried to talk her out of needlessly killing…

~I applaud the scene at the bar, very fun!

~Also, starting a drinking contest when you’re immune to alcohol. XD
Being a pacifist doesn’t mean he can’t cheat at bar games apparently.

~Oh! Okay, Christa is mostly immune, too! Okay, I guess it’s a race to see who’s stomach explodes. XD

~Also, noticed that Starzio writes Christa with a lot more cursing.

The really trippy part? This post came out before that game did…

~More clashing of world views, nice, nice.

~”Several large thugs had surrounded the duo and they looked none too friendly. Each of them members of a local gang and each of them meaner than the last.”
Maybe insinuate that they are part of the local gang from their descriptions and not outright saying it? Just a suggestion

~Jesus, what a massacre. I’m reminded of Kill Bill Part 1 now…

~Helping innocent woman, make sure she’s plastered!

~Yeah, I’d expect blood powers would save your ass when you get shot. Also, lucky he didn’t hit the brain.

~Off to christa’s place! I’m guessing the Hospital isn’t the best option considering the town full of thugs…

~ Did I mention I do like the character dynamics between these two? The choice of match up was obviously planned and not something that came together on a fly.

~I loved the care and detail that went into Christa’s apartment. I loved the maps that decorated her walls. I need to do this with Isabelle eventually…

~Isaac gets in bed under command of his new friend. Take that out of context.

~Though, I do love the mystery of it, did christa sleep on the floor, or did she just not sleep? Wouldn’t be shocked either way. It is a nice detail, a character quirk of sorts.

~Haha, “Trap.” Was it that obvious? XD

~Nice that Isaac has gained some respect for his murderous comrade. Kind of surprising considering how much friction they had earlier, but I guess her charisma won him over eventually.

~Isaac's friend took the words “disarm him” way too literally.

~Though in all seriousness, that was pretty gruesome.

~Christa being kind of creepy, just sitting in the middle of the room watching him sleep… then again, I have a phobia relating to people watching me when I’m unconscious so that maybe just me.

~We’re off to see the Omni! The wonderful Omni of the Omniverse. We’re off we’re off we’re off….

~Woah, did Christa just murder a friend? I mean, she kind of assumed a little much with those shots…

~Heh, craziness, this whole post.

~ To tangled… OH FUCK! I REMEMBER ISAAC NOW! HE WAS ALSO IN SECONDARY SAGA! OH GOD! THIS IS A GODDAMN PREQUEL TO THAT!

~God, everyone was probably laughing at my earlier statements, damn…

~I start to read the next post and I still can’t believe I didn’t piece that together sooner. I even mentioned earlier how this took place soon after DA which was around the time the Secondary Saga began...

~You will remember this as the day that you almost caught Christa and Isaac.


This is a very great read! Had a fun time all the way through! The two had a pretty good chemistry which is impressive considering how unalike these two are.

My only problems with it were the tiny nitpicks I already pointed out in the reactions, and there were minor flow issues, like Christa cursing like a sailor in Strazio’s posts but mysteriously softening up on the language when Gildarts was up to bat. Not huge problems, I know better anyone that these kinds of communication errors are kind of natural in collaborations.

I rate this with a solid Great!