Adam is a Digital Creation Specialist - Children who never has enough shelf space for his board game collection, wall space for his photographs, or stomach space for his baking. Once he’s got a book in his clutches (preferably a fantasy, or humorous non-fiction one) absolutely nothing else is getting done that day. Working in a library is a blessing and a curse to his free time.
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Back in March, I made a post about some of the nerdy cookbooks we have in our collection here at VPL. Since then, we’ve added more, and there were options that I just didn’t mention the first time around. The last time around, I highlighted some books that did a little of everything and a couple that focused on gaming. This time I’ve ended up with two based on shows and one on… kind of a show? More of a personality. But before I launch into the full three-course meal, let’s start with some hours-d’oeuvres, the books that either didn’t make it to me in time or that I just feel need a quick mention.
First up, the one that didn’t make it: Heroes’ Feast, the official Dungeons & Dragons Cookbook. Would I have wanted to make some halfling dishes? Maybe find out what Dragonborn eat? Or try some cuisine eaten by Drow in the Underdark? Whatever I would have made would likely spice up a game night. If you’re a D&D fan, throw a hold on this and roll your percentile dice to see what recipe you should cook from it.
So the Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom has been out for just over three months now, and at the time of writing this, I still haven’t beaten the thing. It’s a game of Gleeok1-sized proportions with so much to do and/or faff about with. I’m enjoying the heck out of it, and so is my fiancée, who doesn’t get that into games very often. I shouldn’t be surprised about that, though; we both got really into the game’s predecessor, Breath of the Wild. And I’ve been playing Zelda games since Ocarina of Time3, only skipping Spirit Tracks for mainline releases4. So, while I don’t know if I count as a super fan of the series, I’m at least at least a long-time player.
But this post is only partly about the games. What I want to discuss here is other media surrounding the series, which means I’m starting with a collection of manga. These mangas take the admittedly fairly basic stories of the Zelda games and imbue them and their characters with more personality, expand the lore behind the game, and, perhaps most importantly, give silent protagonist Link a personality and voice. So naturally, I’m going to start out of order and talk about The Four Swords, wherein Link gets split into four versions of himself by the titular sword, each with a different personality. This manga makes the story of one of the most remote Zelda games, Four Swords Adventures, accessible to more players. This game required every player to have their own Game Boy Advance and a link cable to connect it to the Gamecube, making the cost of entry pretty high, but it was an absolute blast if you had a group that met the requirements. It’s co-op but with a competitive aspect of who could collect the most force gems5. This aspect is explored in the manga, where Link’s clones aren’t necessarily always helpful in the quest to rescue Princess Zelda from the Sorcerer Vaati6. The villain alone makes this one worth checking out, as Vaati has only appeared in three Zelda games, and two of them required friends to play with7 while the other has only recently been released from Game Boy Advance prison to the Switch online expansion pass. Sadly, we can’t help you play the game, but we do have a good selection of games for newer consoles than the GBA.
Some stories just won’t die. Whether studios or publishers churn out sequel after sequel, or wait a few years to simply reboot the thing, some franchises have been going on for ages in our current media landscape. Then there’s archetypical stories and legends that are so old and well-known that they’ve been adapted into countless versions, sometimes only having a tertiary connection to the source material. And of course, there’s the nostalgia factor; reviving long-dead (or dormant, I suppose) media to serve it up to a new audience, or, more realistically, to recapture the old one and have them get their children into it.
Let’s start with an enduring tale: The Legend of King Arthur. Even if you’ve never read or watched any media that has its basis in this legend (however loosely), you’ve likely at least heard of the guy who pulled a sword out of a stone. Or was it given to him by some watery tart? Apparently, there are different versions of the legend, and even Excalibur wasn’t always Excalibur. Here though, I’d like to highlight a classic retelling of the tale, and a more modern follow-up that plays with the formula in an interesting way.
