Review: Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Prima Offical Game Guide

Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Pima Offical Game Guide, is a simple easy-to-use guide to playing and enjoying Animal Crossing: New Leaf.

Positives:

- There's loads in here. If you ever want to look up something from ACNL, this is the place to go.

- It's easy to use and laid out well

- Guides and tips to becoming Mayor of your town, great for first time players and those who haven't played New Leaf.

Errors and negatives:

- All of the fish/bug prices are listed at 4 times what they sell for. A lot of people seem to be confused why. Well, if you think, you buy a piece of furniture from Tom Nook for 2000 Bells. It sells for 1/4 of that price at Retail, i.e. 500 bells. It's the same with fish. They sell for 1/4 of their value. I.e. the black bass sells for 300 Bells at Retail. If they had that on sale at Tom Nook's shop, it would be 1200 Bells. They're just trying to even the guide up.

- Eugene (the koala) is not included in the guide. Lucky for those who don't like him, but unlucky for whoever wrote the villagers down!

- The silver axe is listed as unbreakable. Yeah, I wish. We could actually use it then instead of using it as a keepsake.

- Kicks is listed as a fox and a skunk.

- The megaphone and timer are listed as for sale later than they become on sale in the game.

- Frankly, you can get all the information on the internet, so the guide could be seen as pretty useless. But it's just nice to have, easy to use and obviously easy to access without the internet.

Purchase on Amazon here!

-Beth

Happy Reading!♥

Review: Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

REMOVE

THE TIN WOODMAN'S HEART

STEAL

THE SCARECROW'S BRAIN

TAKE 

THE LION'S COURAGE

AND THEN-

DOROTHY MUST DIE.

   This book was magical. It brought the world of Oz to life with a whirlwind of words, and dropped us straight into the action along with the tornado that brought Amy to the yellow brick road.

   Though it took me a while to finish it, I truly loved this book. There's just something so amazing about Danielle Paige's writing, and how beautifully she recreated Oz and all of the familiar characters like the Scarecrow, the Lion, the Tin Woodman and of course, Dorothy herself. 

But she also brought to the table new characters, one's that you are guaranteed to fall in love with. 

✬✬✬

"I know exactly who I am."

"But you said..."

"I am a fighter. I am a member of the Revolutionary

Order of the Wicked."

It occurred to me - maybe Mombi hadn't

rescued him out of the kindness of her heart. Maybe she

had done it to make a perfect soldier.

✬✬✬

   When I first heard about this book, I instantly thought it would be amazing. And now having read it, I can gladly say it was all of what I was expecting and more.

I definitely suggest this being your next read, because a book like this should not be kept waiting.

Thanks!

- Emma

Happy Reading!❤

Review: The Independent Guide to Minecraft

 

As I've already reviewed a few official Minecraft guides, I thought I'd try an independent one. 

When I first started playing Minecraft, I found this book really useful. But there's some things about it that annoy me, too. So I'm going to list and explain the good and bad points of this book below:

Good 

- They don't copy the style of official handbooks. Everything is laid out and presented differently to them. 

- This book is clear and easy to use, especially for first timers and noobs.

- It is PACKED with stuff. Literally packed. It explains everything from getting started, to the end, to techniques when fighting, etc. The list goes on. Even the most advanced players could find something useful in this book. 

- They have a block ID list and crafting glossary. This can come in really useful when you're just starting out and can't remember the crafting recipes. Personally, I find it better and easier to remember than someone just telling you the pattern. 

- It's not official. Obviously this could be a bad thing too, and I will mention that, but I believe there are some good points to it being independent. For example, you may get tips from the authors that aren't give by developers. There could also be different builds to help you with your house or house design.

Bad

- I have to start with the spelling mistakes. There is a LOT. It's as bad as calling redstone fredstone. I know.

- It's not official. As I said, this could be good and bad. But, for a start, being independent could mean they're not always up-to-date with what's happening in Minecraft. And, as with all games, the creators are going to know more than the players. They're the ones who coded, designed and played the games when they first came out and before they were released. You're less likely to get some inside tips from an independent company.

-Beth

Happy Reading!♥

Review: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

 

 Jane Eyre is a book by Charlotte Bronte, first published in 1847. 

Jane Eyre lived a lonely and tragic childhood. She cannot remember a time when her parents were alive, and is rejected by her Aunt. She is sent to Lowood school at the age of 10, and remains there until she turns 18. Jane wishes to discover the wider world, and advertises to become a governess. She is quickly accepted into Thornfield Hall and meets Mr Rochester, the owner of the house. 

They both quickly discover that they were destined to meet, and chose to become married. But Thornfield hall, as Jane soon discovers, hold a shameful secret - one that could keep Jane and her beloved Mr Rochester apart forever. 

♥

No sooner did I see that his attention was riveted on them, and that I might gaze without being observed, than my eyes were drawn involuntarily to his face; I could not keep their lids under control: they would rise, and the irids would fix on him. I looked, and had an acute pleasure in looking - a precious yet poignant pleasure; pure gold, with a steely point of agony: a pleasure like what the thirst-perishing man might feel who knows the well to which he has crept is poisoned, yet stoops and drinks divine draughts nevertheless.

Most true is it that 'beauty is in the eye of the gazer'. My master's colourless, olive face, square, massive brow, broad and jetty eyebrows, deep eyes, strong features, fir, grim mouth - all energy, decision, will - were not beautiful, according to rule; but they were more beautiful to me: they were full of an interest, an influence that quite mastered me - that took my feelings from my own power and fettered them in his. I had not intended to love him; the reader knows I had wrought hard to extirpate from my soul the germs of love there detected; and now, at the first renewed view of him, they spontaneously revived, green and strong! He made me love him without looking at me.

♥

Although I have read Jane Eyre twice before, and loved it, it still intimidates me before reading. It contains 592 pages, so you can see why. 

This novel is timeless, and absolutely timeless classic and it will live on in generations to come, I am sure of it. It is one that warms and wrecks the heart, a true love story of complete agony but amazing strength. It is, and will remain to be one of my favorite books. I love it from the top to the bottom of my heart, it is a true masterpiece. And, as Jacqueline Wilson says, 'It still speaks to me as it does to so many women'.

Another reviewer, Sarah Waters, 'You have to be a grown-up to really get it.' But I disagree, I don't think you have to be a grown-up. I just think you have to know how to love. 

Beth

-Happy Reading!♥

Review: Minecraft Handbooks

 

Minecraft Handbooks are books to guide you through the wondrous game of MINECRAFT. Today I will be reviewing the Official (Updated) Beginners Handbook, and the old Redstone and Construction Handbooks. I will review them in different sections, starting with the Beginners Handbook.

You are alone in a mysterious new world, full of hidden dangers. You have only minutes to find food and shelter before darkness falls and the monsters come looking for you. What do you do? 

The Official Minecraft Beginners Handbook is a brilliant way to start playing survival minecraft. Whereas creative Minecraft is pretty easy to explain to a newcomer and start playing on, survival can be somewhat hard to grasp. But this book goes through your first day in Minecraft using simple steps, explaining everything from creating tools to monsters and animals. And once you've completed your first couple of days in your new virtual reality, you can start farming, mining, breeding animals and exploring the area surrounding your little house. 

I think this book is easy to use and very well explained, and also contains some great extras, such as interviews with Notch, the Minecraft creator, and Jeb, leading developer. 

 Here's everything you need to know to get connected to the electrifying possibilities of redstone.

For those of you that don't know, redstone is essentially power and electricity in Minecraft. This book explains how to collect redstone and use it to create simple things such as torches, pistons and piston doors. But for those of you that want to go a step further, it also includes community creations such as the Super Stopwatch by JL2579 and Cubehamster, and the Color Map Display by Sethbling. 

There's nothing that can't be built in Minecraft, but with so many possibilities, where do you start? And how will you ever match the creative flair of the experts?

Construction has to be - personally - my favorite part of Minecraft. So I can tell you now that this book is great - I consider myself creative with my builds in Minecraft, but these are something else.  Fyre UK are an incredible building team who work with Block by Block and many other people all over the world, to bring Minecraft and real life together. They have worked with Mojang to create this book, and it includes some of their builds, along with instructions on how to build a Decorative Garden, and simple wooden house. Whatever level of creative-ness and love for building you have, I think this book has something for everyone, and can be of use to even the best builders. 

-Beth

Happy Reading (and gaming!)♥