natreviews's Reviews (445)

Where to begin...
Let me start with the highlights. Basically everything Fortiche has put in. You can see the love they have for the show and by how they talk in Section 6 of this book. They go into enough detail for those who understand the industry can see how it's made, but high enough of an overview so people outside of it can still follow along. You can see how inspired the were to work on this project.

Now, the lowlights. Pretty much everything that didn't detail how Riot and Fortiche started working together and Section 6 was so high overview that it felt out of place. This is a book called "The Making" and it barely went into how it was made. For example, the drug Shimmer is a huge thing in the show. It transforms multiple characters, the show shows how it's addictive and basically built an enterprise. So you'd think the book would include how they decided what effects it would have on people, the different stages of shimmer addiction, how they transformed it from League of Legends to adapt it for Arcane. But nope. Just throw some sketches on a spread and call it a day. They really abandon the making part of it. I was really expecting something like The World of Cyberpunk 2077, while even though it didn't go into the making of the game, you could tell by the information provided how decisions were made in terms of world building. That's what this book really lacked. Main characters at most got a spread dedicated to them with no details on how they were adapted from game to show. Things were mentioned in the book as happening in the show that never happened. It's interesting to see how the writing of this book is really it's weakest point (not shading the author, this was mainly the interviews done with Riot's team that probably were taken out of context or couldn't include the full thing so only did a snippet).

If you wanted to see more of the making, read section 6 and that's it. The rest has really cool drawing and sketches, but you won't really get anything out of reading this that wasn't shown in the show, which is a shame. 

This is jammed pack with useful information. Nothing too in-depth, but more in-depth than sex ed. I was surprised at the inclusion of trans and gender non-conforming people, but mainly still used language that was female centric. I read this front to back, and probably won't again, but would be a good go to for information about a particular topic I need and will be used as a reference text. 

When I started this book and seeing how we were going to Ballidare I thought "oh great, this is going to be boring." Very happy to report that it was anything but. Yes, in parts it is slower than The Unbroken, but it quickly pays off and ramps up in the final act. Like the last book, new doors have opened and it will be very interesting to see how this plays out. 

What a great book! I originally picked this up after finishing watching Arcane and holy shit it is a great companion read! Very much if Arcane dove into the cities conflict and was allowed to get DARK! If you liked the writing of The Locked Tomb Series, you will love this writing. It's amazing seeing the gray areas every character operates in, and you can see everyones motivations clearly. Amazing read and I am so excited to read the next book. 

I think I would've liked this as a teen, however it just isn't my vibe. 

I am happy I read this, but it took a while. I understand half of it is because of the time it was written, but I didn't realize the story took place over YEARS making it seem slower. Now I can cross this classic off and maybe revist it if need be. Felt very much like a school read you had to slog through. 

A beautiful retelling of the fall of Troy with a sapphic twist! I was not sure expecting to like this as much as I did, so all the better! 

Ouran High School Host Club's campiness meets Vampires. This does have some spice in it, so definitely recommended for older audiences, but it is very cute and silly at the same time

A great retelling of Macbeth with a great monster twist. Maybe the monsters were the men all along. 

This book took a while to get into, but eventually it picked up. I really liked the relationship between Leo and Tate and how the story is laid out. I just wish it was a bit faster at some points.