J.M. Riddles's Blog

5/26/2022  Signed hardbacks with the brand new Convergence series covers are now available in my Etsy shop. There are signed paperbacks, too!

Signed hardbacks are selling out quickly. This is the 2nd batch of inventory that I’ve had to order for my Etsy store because the first batch sold out before I could even announce the signed hardbacks on my official site.

If you purchase any signed book from the Convergence series, you’ll also receive a QR code for a bonus cut scene featuring everyone’s favorite sexy villain – Lord Anshar.
Purchases over $35 ship within the US for FREE.

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12/30/2021

Signed paperbacks with the brand new Convergence series covers are now available in my Etsy shop.

If you purchase any signed book from the Convergence series, you’ll also receive a QR code for a bonus cut scene featuring everyone’s favorite sexy villain – Lord Anshar.

Purchases over $35 ship within the US for FREE.

Hardbacks and signed hardbacks will be coming soon! Maybe sometime in late January or early February. Subscribe to this blog or follow my Instagram for updates to know when hardbacks and signed hardbacks become available.

Old cover versions are still available at a reduced price while supplies last. Bonus content is still included.

 

 

 

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12/03/2021

Today is an exciting day because I’m finally unveiling the new covers for the Convergence series! All three books are available now in eBook. Paperbacks and hardbacks, and signed paperbacks and hardbacks featuring the new covers, will be coming very soon.

If you want to know when the series paperbacks, hardbacks, or signed copies with the new covers will be available, please subscribe to my newsletter in the sidebar, or follow me on Instagram. The previous covers will be available for signed copies at a reduced price in my Etsy shop until stock runs out.

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01/21/2021

Signed paperback copies of Wolfmother, the Convergence series’s final book, have just been added to my official Etsy shop. All three books are now available in signed paperback, and, as a bonus, if you buy ANY of the signed copies of the Convergence series from my Etsy shop, I’ll send you a special link and password to a bonus steamy chapter involving everyone’s favorite bad-boy, Lord Anshar. Oh, you know you want it!

Get your signed copies today!

Read the full book 1 synopsis and see what reviewers have to say about the Convergence series on Amazon and Goodreads.

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1/09/2021

Today, I am excited to announce that at long last, Wolfmother, the 3rd and final book of the Convergence series, is now available in eBook and paperback on Amazon!

Wolfmother is the final book of the Convergence series. Don’t miss out on the exciting conclusion!

Add Wolfmother to your to-read list on Goodreads!

Once you’ve finished reading Wolfmother, please feel free to check out these fun polls, where you can vote for the things you liked best about the Convergence series. You can find other extras about the Convergence series here.

Signed paperbacks of Wolfmother are on the way. A purchase of any signed paperback from the Convergence series will grant you access to exclusive bonus content, so please subscribe to this blog to be notified as soon as the Wolfmother signed paperbacks become available.

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11/04/2020

Today, I am excited to announce that at long last, Wolfmother, the 3rd and final book of the Convergence series, is now available for pre-order on Amazon and Smashwords!

The official release for the Kindle format of Wolfmother is set for January 1st, 2021. I don’t have an official release date for the paperbacks and signed paperbacks just yet, but I’m working very hard to try and have them ready to coincide with the Kindle’s January 1st release date, but if they’re not ready by then, I promise, they will not be far behind. Feel free to follow this blog for updates on when the paperbacks will be available for order.

Wolfmother is the final book of the Convergence series. Don’t miss out on the exciting conclusion!

If you haven’t read any of the books in the Convergence series yet, as a special promotion in honor of the release of Wolfmother, you can now get the book that started the series, Torn Apart, for FREE on Smashwords until January 7th, 2021 by using coupon code KT89E.

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05/07/2020

As a writer, my stories are my babies. If I lost one, I would be devastated. Like, slip into a severe depression and contemplate quitting as a writer all-together, kind of depression. I have known MANY fellow writers who have experienced this. Their hard drive dies with all their manuscripts on it, and they’re lost forever. Their physical notebook was left on the bus or destroyed when someone spilled a drink on it. Their flash-drive went missing. Their file became corrupted. Their cloud storage got hacked, or everything got cleared out. Nightmare scenario after nightmare scenario. I’ve heard of writers losing their life’s work in some of the most devastating and permanent ways, leaving them distraught and defeated. But, thankfully, I can say the worst I’ve ever had it was losing maybe a few too many valuable paragraphs (usually due to always living in areas with brownouts and working from a desktop computer). I have never lost a significant amount of my work before, but the fear of that happening is real – very real! Fear of losing my work is right up there with my fear of losing teeth, June bugs, and lasers (some of my fears are weird). So how have I, who have been writing for 19 years, managed to avoid such calamity? Well, here is my system to ensure you NEVER EVER lose your writing.

1. Digital is your friend. Believe it or not, a LOT of writers still prefer to write by hand. The ol’ pen n’ paper, or for some of the more hipstery and/or senior writers, the ol’ typewriter. Sit down and let’s have a talk – stop it! It’s 2020. Now, to be fair, I can understand that to write, sometimes you need the perfect mood and the perfect atmosphere, and, yes, the perfect tools, and for some people, they really can’t get the creative juices flowing unless they’re writing by hand (or typewriter). I get it, BUT, if you insist that this is how you HAVE to write, please, please, please transcribe your work to digital ASAP!!! When I was a teenager, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, laptops existed, but not many had them, and I did want the ability to write on the go, so I carried reams of notebooks filled with my writing wherever I went. Even then, I knew this was risky, and so every day when I came home, I immediately typed out and digitally saved everything I had handwritten earlier in the day. Ever. Single. Day. Now, that may be a bit too often for some, but please consider doing this maybe once a week, or, depending on how often you write on paper, maybe after every 2 or 3 writing sessions, that way if your notebook ever gets destroyed or lost, you’ll still have your digital copy.

2. Save it on SEVERAL different mediums: hard drive, flash drive, your phone, cloud storage, or even a private, secure nonwriting-related email. Don’t just save it to once location! I save to my hard drive, a flash drive, and then email myself a copy, that way if anything ever happened to my hard drive or if I lost my flash, I’d still have a copy I could access online.

2. Carry your files on your person. What happens if your house burns down or your cloud storage or email gets hacked, or you get locked out? Yes, I am just that paranoid, but with due cause, I have known writers who have lost work in housefires, who had their cloud hacked, and their emails deleted. The odds may be low, but they’re not zero. Shit happens! This is why I carry a copy of ALL of my written works on a mini flash drive with me wherever I go. I keep it in a secure compartment in my purse or wallet, and I NEVER leave home without it. My husband does the same with his digital projects. He has an easy-detach key-chain with his mini flash drive that he carries with him wherever he goes. If you don’t want to carry a flash drive or you’re afraid such a thing could be easily lost, stolen, or damaged, you can also save your writing files to your phone. Just about everyone takes their phones with them wherever they go these days. It really doesn’t hurt to have a digital set of copies with you wherever you go, that way when a burglar breaks in when you’re not home and steals your computer, they also don’t make off with all your life’s work.

3. Save OFTEN! Make it a HABIT! I used to live in a place with frequent blackouts and brownouts, and I had to learn to save after every single paragraph. Of course, those were in my desktop computer days. These days I use a tablet, but that doesn’t mean accidents can’t happen. Computers and wordprocessors freeze, crash, and randomly reboot without warning sometimes, and for the love of God, never trust the autosave. If saving after every paragraph is a bit too excessive for you, at least consider saving after every page or every couple pages.

4. Save in more than one file type. I cannot stress this enough – files can become corrupted. Most of us save in a word doc/docx, but it’s also a good idea to save in an RTF or a plain TXT file. That way, if one file type becomes corrupted, you have a backup. After every chapter I complete, I’ll copy my entire manuscript from a docx file and paste it into a new text file and save it, by the time I’m done with one novel, I’ll have around 30 of these text files, each one chapter longer than the last, but each file is its own separate file, that way if my docx file ever becomes corrupted, or one of my TXT files, I have several backup TXT files or several docx files saved on other mediums.

Here’s my paranoid routine in all it’s glory.

-Manual save after every paragraph

-After every chapter, save docx file on my tablet hard drive and my flash drive, and save a copy of the entire manuscript in a brand new TXT file.

-Email myself the latest docx file and the newest txt file (I trust email more than cloud, it’s just my personal preference).

-Carry flash drive or phone containing the latest copies on my person at all times. (Usually my flash drive).

Thanks to my paranoid ways, I’ve managed to survive 19 years as a writer without ever having lost any significant amount of my writing. If you’re a writer and have ever been devastated by the loss of your precious life’s work, perhaps this will be of help to you.

Writing Update: I have finished writing the 3rd and final book of the Convergence series and it is currently in the editing phase. No official release date yet, but please feel free to follow this blog for updates and announcements.

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01/15/2020

I’m going to preface this review by stating four things. I’ve never played The Witcher video games. I’ve never read the books. I have Prosopagnosia (Face Blindness). There will be spoilers.

So recently, I finished watching the new series on Netflix, The Witcher. This series follows three main characters; Geralt of Rivia, Yennefer of Vengerberg, and Princess Ciri of Cintra. The story is based on the novels by Andrzej Sapkowski, which were inspired by Slavic mythology. It’s the story of destiny, adventure, and characters searching for their place in a world where they are all different from everyone else around them.

I think the character development is one of the strongest aspects of this adaptation. Still, you wouldn’t know that by the first episode, which honestly is the hardest to get through. It felt very cliche. Geralt comes off as your stereotypical antihero. He rides into town and stops at a tavern, where they don’t take kindly to strangers, accepts a quest that goes horribly wrong, then sets out on his journey. But, as the story progresses, he shows compassion and a growing sense of responsibility, which results in some satisfying character development.

Yennefer, born disfigured due to her quarter elven heritage, is portrayed as intelligent and driven. We see her struggle to grow as a mage while wanting to find a love that will fulfill her. At first, she attempts to find this love by curing her infertility and having a child. Those dreams are eventually squashed, so she must seek her legacy elsewhere. As Geralt’s main love interest, we’re sure that as the story progresses, she’ll discover that she does, in fact, mean something special to someone.

Sadly, the romance between Yennefer and Geralt falls rather flat. They meet and fall in love almost instantly, and there doesn’t seem to be much chemistry to explain why those two should like each other. I hope that their relationship makes more sense in the books because, in the show, Geralt falls in love with her after they take one bath together. The show spends more time developing Geralt’s relationship with Jaskier, the traveling bard, with whom Geralt also spends a lot of time in the bath, than it does with Geralt and Yennefer. The show takes its time developing the relationship between Yennefer and her mentor Tissaia, or Yenneffer and Istredd. Yet when it comes to Yennefer and Geralt, oh well, destined lovers now, I guess.

Ciri’s character is the least developed of the three, so far. Torn from her home and the only family she’s ever known, she sets out to find Geralt of Rivia, the witcher to whom she was promised by the Law of Surprise. While on her search, she spends a lot of time wandering without purpose and getting those around her into the sort of trouble that can get people killed (and sometimes does). By the end of the season, you can see that she doesn’t want to bring sorrow to any more of the people who have shown her kindness. In the final episode of the season, she, at last, finds Geralt.

Will we learn more about Geralt’s past, and will he and Yennefer find each other again and reconcile? Will Ciri finally learn why Nilfgaard is really after her? I guess we’ll have to watch season two to find out.

The next thing I’d like to examine is the pacing. To be honest, it’s not good. It’s actually kind of a mess. Some episodes seem to drag out at a slow pace, and other episodes are just confusing. Now, as I prefaced above, I have face blindness, so when a story is told in a non-linear fashion, and you can’t remember the character’s faces, it REALLY throws you off. It took me 3-4 episodes before I realized that this story was not running on a parallel timeline between the different characters. I’m not the only confused person. Many online guides have been made since this series was released to clarify what’s going on with the timeline. Like me, those who haven’t read the books or played the games were confused. The reason the timeline isn’t linear is that the showrunners didn’t want to front-load the first few episodes of the season with too much character backstory and not enough action. I get it. I write, and I also have used non-linear timelines to set up a story, but there are ways that this can be done that are far less confusing. Thankfully, by the end of season one, everyone’s backstories and the source of the conflict seems to be established, and all the characters are up to speed with each other. I think I’m safe to assume that from here on, the story should be linear and easy to follow. It was just a very rough first season.

The visuals in this series were honestly kind of disappointing. I understand as a Netflix series and not an HBO series that they may have had a more limited budget. The CG monsters looked pretty standard as far as quality goes, but the design of the dragons was just terrible. Imagine a humanoid looking dragon. It’s unpleasant to behold. Monsters and dragons aside, my biggest issue was with the costumes. YIKES! Pick an era! There is NO consistency in the costume design for this show. Some of the clothes look turn of the century, some medieval, and some completely modern. The hair and makeup were much the same, with contemporary styles mixed in among medieval up-dos and bare faces. Geralt’s white wig, sometimes gray, looked very fake and stiff in many shots. And don’t get me started on the Nilfgaard armor. Holy shit, they look like walking scrotums! What the hell kind of armor was that? Is that supposed to be rumpled leather? That’s a terrible idea for armor! I have heard that the costume designer for season one will not be back for season two, so make of that what you will.

The world-building isn’t much to write about yet. A few locations are explored, but as a viewer, I don’t feel like we’re given much time to form attachments to any of the places presented so far. We know little about these warring kingdoms except that things may not be what they seem. It is strongly hinted that the buried elven civilization will be explored further in future episodes, but for this first season, we meet a few elves; briefly, they don’t add much to the story, and then they’re gone. Slovic mythology does play a part in the story. I was pleasantly surprised that one of the episodes, and the concept of the Law of Surprise, was heavily inspired by the fairytale of Hans the Hedgehog. That was honestly my favorite episode, and I think this show is at its best when it incorporates more fairytales and mythology into the story.

As far as plot goes, season one is just one giant set up. Setting up characters. Setting up places. Setting up conflicts. You are definitely left feeling like the journey of these characters has only just begun as the first season draws to a close.

Overall, I’d rate this series, or at least this first season, as 7/10, and to be honest, part of me wants to rank it lower than that. The first season of this show has a LOT of issues, but the reason I’m willing to rate it a little higher is that I am intrigued. I do want to keep watching and see what happens next, and I did enjoy the show. If it was less than a 7, I wouldn’t want to keep watching, but I do believe that going forward, the show is set to improve. We should get more plot development with the next season. The characters are established and ready to begin their personal journies, and we might even get some better costume designs in the upcoming season. Because of all that, I’m willing to stick it out and see where it all goes. It was fun. I was entertained, and at the end of the day, that’s what matters most to me, so I would say, give it a watch, at least the first season, and see how you feel about it for yourself.

Side note: as someone who loves Power Metal, I highly recommend you watch this cover of Toss A Coin to Your Witcher.

01/07/2020

Do you love fantasy? The Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off hosted by Mark Lawrence is a competition that has been introducing the world to new self-published fantasy authors for over five years. Would you like to sample the first few chapters from over 70 SPFBO entrants from both this year and the previous years? Check out the SPFBO Sampler put together by Jon Auerbach. Get it free! https://dl.bookfunnel.com/ett75g3wn3

Learn more about the Sampler on Fantasy Book Critic!

And, yes, the first few chapters of Torn Apart is featured under Romance.

09/08/2019

I’m going to preface this review by stating that I am a HUGE fan of the original movie The Dark Crystal (1982). Like many Dark Crystal fans, when I heard they were making a prequel to one of the most beloved movies of my childhood, I felt a mixture of excitement and skepticism. I am not a fan of CG. The thing I loved the most about Jim Henson movies like the Dark Crystal or Labyrinth was the charm and beauty of the practical effects and puppetry, and I did not want to see that sullied with flashy modern computer animation.

[NOTE: I tried my best to avoid revealing major spoilers, but there was no way to review each episode and not have at least a few spoilers, so please watch the series fi rst before reading this review.]

Then the first trailer came out…

and I was very, very worried. Yes, there is fantastic puppetry, once again designed with concept art provided by Brian Froud (as well as Toby Froud), but there also appeared to be an overabundance of CG. Now, don’t get me wrong. I know Jim Henson used digital effects, even back in the day (such as the CG owl during the opening credits of Labyrinth), and I’m sure, were he alive and making movies today, he might have eventually gone full George Lucas. I just feel like a heavy CG aesthetic doesn’t work for the Dark Crystal. The original movie, admittedly, was rather light on story and very heavy on atmosphere, and my hopes for this new series was that the story would be more fleshed-out, but that the whimsical atmosphere would be maintained, and by the looks of this trailer, I had my doubts.

But, before I do too much grumbling, I am aware of some limitations and can be forgiving. This series has been in pre-production hell for over seven years. Netflix probably couldn’t afford to give them the sort of budget (adjusted for inflation) that the original movie had, and the series producers are trying to build a MUCH bigger world. I am aware of this, so I will cut them a little slack. At the end of the day, I’ll forgive the overabundance of crappy CG as long as the series delivers a good story.

Be aware; this review will contain a LOT of nitpicking. It doesn’t mean I dislike the show, but I am a fantasy writer, so there are some things I can’t ignore and will therefore critique.

So, let’s begin with episode one. It was good, not great. The tree of exposition was annoying, some of the dialogue felt forced, but at least all the characters were likable (well, the ones that were meant to be liked). There was WAY more CG than I wanted to see. WAY more.

With episode two, I noticed that the Chamberlin, who used to be characterized by the mmmMMmm sound he always made in the original 1982 movie, has dialed back that annoying trait. Thank god. They use it sparingly now. His character is more developed and more of a schemer. He was always a slimy schemer, but I like that the prequel has taken that up a notch. One thing I am very glad to see is that this series is not pulling any punches. The original Dark Crystal could get dark at times, and this series has not tried to tone down the grittier aspects of the world of Thra. I don’t want to spoil things by getting into too many specifics, but we do see murder, torture, and implied mutilation. Sweet!

By episode three, I am forming a stronger opinion on the characters and the atmosphere. The most important aspect of a story is its characters, and I am so happy to say that I love them all. You like the characters you’re supposed to like, and some of the characters that seemed two-dimensional at the start begin to develop and become more interesting. As for atmosphere, while the original Dark Crystal could be dark and mysterious at times, it was still a Jim Henson production, which meant there were always moments of lighthearted fun and charm sprinkled in to break up the tension, and, yes, we still get that. There are several moments when the puppet characters are simply there to remind you that they’re damn cute and that not everything in this danger-filled world is quite so bad. I do have a gripe about the “crystal of exposition.” I feel like that writing could have been better, but overall, I am warming up to the series.

With episode four, I have to take a moment to complain that often the characters are too quick to swallow some very obvious lies. Are the Gelfling supposed to be this damn naive? It kind of jangles with my suspension of disbelief, but I suppose for the sake of the plot everyone falls for lies very easily. Also, the Skeksis have a habit of plotting and scheming right in front of all the Podlings – like, aren’t you afraid they’re going to give away all your secrets? They spend so much time panicking that their evil deeds will be revealed, yet talk at the top of their lungs in front of their servants all day. I’m waiting to see if this comes back to bite them in the ass in later episodes (Update: it doesn’t). I dislike when characters have to be stupid to progress a plot, and there’s a bit too much of that for my liking. Other than that, more great development of secondary characters and the introduction of some exciting new characters such as the Skeksis, Hunter. I have to say that some of the effects at the end of this episode were disappointing. There was great puppetry work, but then the Hunter would run up the trees doing all sorts of acrobatics, all in very animated looking CG, and it really takes you out of the story when one moment you’re seeing puppets duking it out and the next you get this ridiculously jarring animation. It is not a seamless blend. Save the CG for the background guys.

Episode five is where the pacing really begins to pick up. Don’t get me wrong, I never felt the pacing to be slow, but when it starts to kick it up a notch, you certainly notice. This is the episode where all the introduced characters finally learn each other’s stories and come together for their common cause. There’s more good development for secondary characters and several tense moments and an action-packed chase scene. There were a few issues. You see several characters breaking into the Skeksis castle to free a prisoner, but you don’t see them free that prisoner or how they escaped. Eventually, they all show up later to save the main protagonist, and I kept hoping I’d get some retrospective flashback as to how they broke out of the castle, but it never happened. Hopefully next episode or I’ll feel like I got cheated out of what might have been an exciting scene. Also, these heroes that save the protagonist show up out of nowhere and land on the roof of a high-speed carriage…how? Did they teleport? That carriage was moving faster than a landstrider. How did they go from trapped in the castle to magically appearing on the roof of a high-speed vehicle? My husband’s explanation is “Wings.” Well, fine…I guess that could work. Speaking of landstriders – they’re all CG, and it’s pissing me off. In the 1982 movie, they had actors on stilts wearing suits, and it looked great. I guess actors aren’t fast enough? But even for the closeups, the landstriders are always CG now. Come on, guys! Couldn’t you give a stilt-walker a job? I bet Toby Froud would have done it for free! Also, there’s Gelfling blood, which I wasn’t expecting, but was pleasantly suprised to see. In the 1982 movie (and if you’re a fan of the Dark Crystal universe this shouldn’t be a spoiler) Kira gets stabbed, but we don’t see any blood, because, ya know, PG. In this series, which is also PG, we actually get to see some blood, and my sadistic little heart approves. And if anyone wants to complain that this series is too mature for children, the original Dark Crystal wasn’t strictly meant to be a children’s movie. Jim Henson wanted his movies to be enjoyed by people of ALL ages, not just small children. I highly recommend you watch Defuntland’s 6-part documentary on Jim Henson to get a better idea of his artistic vision. Also, if you’ve ever taken your kid to a PG-13 Marvel movie, you can just sit down and be quiet about the Dark Crystal.

Episode six evokes one word – RUSHED. This episode rushed a lot of things. The first thing they’re rushing is character relationships. Deet and Brea are besties now. How? Why? They just met five minutes ago in the dream space, and that’s the extent of their knowing each other. But, ya know, besties now I guess. Also, the show is implying a love triangle between Deet, Rian, and Hup. I think they’ve done a sufficient job of conveying why Hup might have a crush on Deet, but there’s no good reason why Deet and Rian should be crushing on each other so soon. Rian’s girlfriend just barely died, and Deet’s only briefly met Rian a couple of times before this point, and there wasn’t much depth to their interactions, so the idea of there being a romantic connection feels rushed. Another thing that happened way too quickly was the spreading of information. The Skeksis secrets are now out, and one moment, our heroes are telling the paladins to spread the word, and in the next scene, the Chamberlin is getting attacked by the Stonewood Gelfling village. How the hell did they find out so fast? A brief montage of the Gelflings spreading the words would have helped, or some way to convey the passage of time, but nope. One scene everyone finds out, and the next everyone just knows and acts accordingly. Now, as I mentioned with the last episode, there was a prisoner rescued from the castle – off-screen. We never get a flashback on how they did that, and AGAIN we have an “it happens off-screen” moment. The Skeksis apparently have a battle with dozens of their armed Gelfling guards and win, but we don’t see this. I’m sorry, but I NEED to see a dozen Skeksis wrecking the shit of some armed Gelflings. Like, how did this battle go down? WE DON’T KNOW! WE’LL NEVER KNOW! THEY DIDN’T SHOW IT TO US! Is this a budget constraint thing? Did they not have the money to film these scenes? This is a fantasy movie. You don’t skimp out on battles and exciting escape scenes! That’s the meat and potatoes of good fantasy, and we’re just getting the empty broth. Another thing they rushed was a fight that was supposed to take place between Seladon and Fara. I got really pumped when they mentioned trial combat by air. Did we get it? No. Seladon just yanks Fara out of the air (from the ground) and in the words of my husband; “She went down like a bitch.” And that was the end of the fight. Don’t get me pumped for aerial combat and then not deliver! My final complaint about this episode is another logistical issue. Lore, a lumbering rock monster with legs too tiny for his body, somehow manages to rescue our heroes from one of the Skeksis’s high-speed chariots by catching up with it and pulling it open…um…how? They show him on his way, and he is NOT moving very fast. Those tiny legs are NOT running fast enough to keep up with that chariot, but there he was, right in the nick of time. Somehow. This episode isn’t all bad. I like Seladon’s character development, and I’m grateful that they show the other Gelflings having a moment to grieve for the people they lost. Too many times when things are poorly written characters never believably process grief and often have an “Oh, well, they’re gone. Hey, look a shiny button!” kind of attitude, but I can appreciate the show writers giving these characters a moment to express believable emotions. My husband was appalled that there was a scene where we see a Skeksis taking a piss, but I had to remind him that in a Jim Henson production – muppets pee.

Episode seven was a vast improvement over episode six. For one thing, there’s a fight scene at the end involving the Hunter, that while not particularly dynamic, they didn’t skip over it. One of the Gelfling clans has a skirmish (of sorts) towards the end as well, and the scene was well shot. They’re still trying to push a romance between Deet and Rian that feels forced as hell. Boy, he’s sure getting over that dead girlfriend fast. Guess Gelflings just heal quicker. I’m on #TeamHup. Sadly, I predict Hup’s going to die some heroic death foreshadowed by his moment of self-doubt about his bravery in one of the earlier episodes. My writer senses are tingling. They’re also setting up a potential romance between Brea and Rek’yr, and honestly, I don’t mind. They have better chemistry than Deet and Rian and something more legitimate to bond over. Rek’yr’s clan worships death, and Brea has the super sads because she lost her mother. I guess grief makes you hot. This was a good episode that didn’t skimp on the action scenes, and what new character development is made, happens at a more measured pace. One thing that is bothering me is how the hell are the Hunter and the Heretic alive? It’s established that the other Skeksis are only alive because they’ve been leeching off the crystal or the essence of the Gelflings, but the Hunter rarely goes to the Crystal Castle, and the Heretic has been banished entirely, presumably for hundreds of years. What’s been keeping them alive this whole time?

Episode eight provides several new plot developments, but not all of them are good. The first thing that stood out to me about this episode, and it’s a problem throughout is logistics. Deet and Rian reach the home of the Gotten at high speed because Deet flew them on the breath of Thra, but how did the Hunter make it all the way to the castle while carrying Brea and being shot-through with arrows? Did he take Rek’yr’s flying creature the whole way back to the castle or did he walk? I have no idea, but the distance of the Crystal Castle to anything at any point in this story always seems to be a matter of what’s convenient for the story. For example, also in this episode, Aughra’s eye hitches a ride along with one of the Ascendancy’s mini servants to the Crystal Castle, seemingly within minutes as there’s no establishing a passage of time. When Aughra’s done spying, the little mini spider servant is shown bringing back her eye to where she was at the Stonewood village in literally the next scene. Is this castle next door? As in, twelve feet away? Sometimes it’s a journey that takes days from any other civilization and other times it seems so close you could throw a rock at it. This series never makes any effort to establish a passage of time. Logically, the events since this story began should have taken place over the course of many weeks or months, but due to establishing shots (or lack thereof), dialog, and scene jumps, it honestly feels like everything, since this story began, has taken place over the course of 3-4 days, which does not help with the feeling of being rushed from which this series suffers the most. I’m also not fond of the new plot development with the Ascendancy. Supposedly, the Ascendancy hates the Skeksis because the Skeksis once defeated them and threw them out of Grotten. How the hell did a handful of Skeksis beat an entire army of giant spiders who have mind-controlling mini-mes? It’s another one of these off-screen events like the time the Skeksis defeated an entire castle worth of armed guards, and we’re just supposed to believe these decrepit birds are such great ass-kickers. I’m sorry, but no, I don’t believe it. In the original movie, they were nothing without the Garthim doing all the fighting for them. Mostly they just screamed and acted scared at the mere sight of a Gelfling, but in the past, though the Skeksis are presented the same, we’re supposed to believe that they’re these amazing warriors too? Sorry, I’m not buying it. The Hunter, maybe, the General, possibly, but not the rest of them. Another problem I had with the Ascendancy was, why not just pull the damn things off off their faces? There are several scenes when the unafflicted characters don’t even bother to try pulling the smaller (and also likely much weaker) spiders off the faces of their friends and family. If I saw my friends and family covered in mind-controlling spiders, I’d try to pull the damn thing off or smoosh it or something! The Ascendancy are threatened by the Nurloc who are poisoned by the darkening and eating them, but why haven’t the Nurloc eaten all the Gotten Gelflings yet? Shouldn’t the Grotten Gelflings have all been wiped out by the poisoned Nurloc long before the Ascendancy arrived? They clearly established that the Nurloc were already starting to get sick from the darkening when Deet first left home, so Deet’s family should have been worm-food long before this episode, but…okay. One good thing was that there was a moment when we see a landstrider as an actual puppet for a brief close-up scene, but for distance shots, it was back to CG.

Episode nine was much better than episode eight. My theory about the Arathim/Ascendancy was right, and I like the fact that this episode doesn’t skip on a fight scene during another escape from the castle. Though, again, it makes it hard for me to believe the Skeksis were capable of defeating a castle full of guards or a bunch of Arathim in the past when they didn’t come out too great in this fight. They also mention even more Skeksis living outside the castle than just the Hunter and the Heretic, and I find that pretty exciting because, so far, I’ve enjoyed the inclusion of new Skeksis characters.

Episode ten, and the final episode of the season is a great conclusion for season one. We see an epic battle between the Gelfling and the Skeksis, several moments of brutal puppet-on-puppet violence, and quite a few character deaths. I approve. A good story needs high stakes, and this series has proven time and again to pull no punches. The series conclusion is satisfying but also ends on enough of a cliffhanger to leave an opening for a 2nd season. If the show is not greenlit for another season, you can probably mentally fill in the gaps as to how Thra ended up in the state it was in by the time of the events from the Dark Crystal movie. At the time of writing this, there is no news on whether or not Netflix has approved the show for a second season. I hear Netflix has been struggling financially this year, so I hope this show is successful enough to warrant another season and perhaps a bigger budget.

Overall, I’d give The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance 7.5/10. I know I nitpicked a lot of the issues with plot, pacing, and the CG, but the thing that saves this series is the characters and the puppetry. There is more CG than I’d like, but thankfully the puppetry that is there is dynamic, creative, and pleasing to the eye. The best part of this series is the characters, whether good or bad, you love the characters and are invested in their stories. Compelling characters can save any story, and that’s the biggest strength of this series. I think Age of Resistance is a worthy prequel to the 1982 movie, and though its got its flaws, it is well worth the watch, and I highly recommend it.