Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Saturday, December 17, 2022

Book Review: Star Wars: Battlefront II - Inferno Squad

 


This is a Star Wars canon novel set after A New Hope, that is told from the perspective of the "regular" (non-sith) imperials. The main character, Iden Versio, leads an elite Imperial unit called "Inferno Squad" which is tasked with tracking down and eliminating the remnants of Saw Gerrera's partisans, who are still carrying out attacks separate from the rebels. The book actually begins with the destruction of the first Death Star, with Iden surviving the battle and crashing on Yavin IV.

The book is actually a setup for the video game Battlefront II and basically follows Iden and her team as they embark on a series of missions to infiltrate and then take down various rebel groups. What is interesting about the book is that it is written from the perspective that the Empire is the peaceful entity in the galaxy and the rebels are terrorists trying to disrupt life in the otherwise peaceful and lawful Empire. The members of the group do start to see cracks in that narrative as the book goes along, but in the end, the team is still resolved to take out the rebels at any chance they get.

The book tells a good story and is a fairly easy read. It is one of the shorter adult canon novels (about 330 pages) and can be read in a couple of days (depending on how much time you have to read). You do not need to have followed the characters in the video games to follow the story or connect with the characters. It is well-written and definitely leaves open the possibility of future novels based around the group. So, if you are someone who reads some, but not all, of the novels, this is a good one.

No comments: