(Gifted) BOOK REVIEW: The Nightjar by Deborah Hewitt 🦅 . The Nightjar is about a woman named Alice who is afraid of birds, and then finds out that she is an Aviarist - a person who has the ability to see nightjars. Nightjars are the guardians of people’s souls. When her friend is hit by a car, Alice has to travel to the Rookery (a magical alternative London) to save her. . The Nightjar is one of those books that at first you have to get into, and then the more you read the less you can put it down. I had to get used to it in the beginning, as it’s adult fantasy so the story is slower paced. The idea of Nightjars reminded me a little of the dæmons from Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials, but I have to admit I’m reading that now, so that may be why I’m making the comparison! Overall, I really enjoyed this one, it was a nice break from the YA fantasy I usually read. Though I would have liked to know more about the Rookery! As far as I can tell this is a standalone book, but I wouldn’t complain if there ever was another story set in the same world, so I could find out more about it. 🕵🏻♀️ . Thank you @jamieleenardone and @panmacmillan for sending me a review copy . . . #thenightjar #deborahhewitt #panmacmillan #fantasybooks #fantasylit #fantasyliterature #bookstagram #bookreview #bookrecommendations #fictionbooks #booksbooksbooks #beautifulbooks #bookcover #bookcoverart #bookworm #tbr #tbrlist #bookstagrammer #bookdragon #booknerd #bookphoto #bookphotography #bookphotograph #bookphotographer #johannasreviews https://www.instagram.com/p/B37YIsXFXEQ/?igshid=migygiy6t9k4
(Gifted) The Nightjar by Deborah Hewitt . What’s your current read? The Nightjar is mine, and I’m almost halfway through! It’s been hard to find the time to read but this book has steadily become more intriguing, and now I’m freeing up more and more time to continue reading! I have a great fear of birds so I can completely relate with the main character, who is afraid of birds and then finds out she is an aviarist - a person who has the ability to see people’s nightjars, which are soul guardians. . Thank you to @jamieleenardone And @panmacmillan for sending me a review copy! . . . #thenightjar #deborahhewitt #panbooks #panmacmillan #fantasybooks #fantasylit #bookcoverdesign #bookcover #bookstagramit #currentread #currentlyreading #bookrecommendation #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagramming https://www.instagram.com/p/B2NWcpFgEij/?igshid=1mgfu9hgdbaz1
I’ve got so many September ARCs and was a tad late getting to this one #TheNightjar by @iamthevimes, which released Tuesday, September 3rd. What a delight! Fascinating alt-London with Finnish folklore elements. #arcreads #bookstagram #readersofinstagram #torbooks https://www.instagram.com/p/B2Ez3HhAAtp/?igshid=wlk3fu93gzi
What was your last five ⭐️ read? • Mine was The Nightjar by Deborah Hewitt! Thanks so much to @torbooks for gifting me a review copy! • For some exciting news- I’ve written a review of The Nightjar and it can be found on the @NovelKnight blog today! Austine has amazingly given me a place to post my reviews for now, and I’m very excited to support her and her blog! So if you’d like to read my thoughts on this beautiful book you can click the link in my bio! • #bookstagram #thenightjar #bookreview #bookish #shelfie #booknerd #bibliophile #readyourshelf #arcaugust https://www.instagram.com/p/B0tTVTzA7RH/?igshid=1upp681fg9o72
BAFTA Nominated in the Audio Achievement category in 2012 and originally part of the promotion for the Wrigleys 5 Gum brand, it’s the continuation of a forward thinking concept that leads on to tackle the Sci-fi horror genre in space. Welcome aboard The Nightjar!
The game is soley a audio driven beast utilising binaural recordings to create 3D sound as the main mechanic. The Binaural approach was originally used by developer SomethIn’ Else for their first 3D audio project Papa Sangre. This was a game which received critical acclaim for innovation in sound and game design along with other multiple awards since its release in 2010.
Since The Nightjar’s full release after the Wrigleys campaign saw both it and Papa Sangre introduced to a completely re written Engine specifically designed by Somethin’ Else to best manage all their 3D audio projects. They call it, the Papa Engine and I have included links and videos within the blog towards the end of the for more info.
THE GAME:
I did enjoy playing The Nightjar but it did take me a few attempts to complete certain stages. Each stage requires you to listening more carefully than the previous one as the localisation techniques become more demanding on your auditory senses and each time I found I needed practice tuning them up my before I was familiar enough with the understanding the spatial localisation in the stage.
Some reviews I have read have advised it can be frustrating to navigate certain levels leading to multiple re-tries, however I feel this is more down to us collectively not being as used to localising sound without any visual references when playing games. You will need to try and localise sounds in the same way you would in real life situations, and this is likely to be the most challenging and exciting aspect for the majority of people who play this game, and when you do you will still need two hands to play as well.
Once you get the feel for it though you really can’t go wrong. It’s also important to note you cannot do this game thinking in a linear fashion and relying on visual nods, or anything else other than your hearing. The visual tools you do have are very much secondary components and are provided in a bare bones, no frills fashion to walk/run and allow you to turn anywhere within 360 degrees. After a while you can suss when your about to be eaten, it’s like the alien beast it right beside you. Well…it actually really is!!
AUDIO RESPONSE:
I did hear some clicks and glitches when playing, using headphones as recommended and although they did distract me a little from time to time, it wasn’t a constant occurrence and did not impact my overall experience. To contrast, I never heard any drops or glitches using a streaming service such as Soundcloud or IPlayer, or other games on my ipad.
I noticed a delay in the guide dialogue at certain points when you’ve failed a stage. A good example of my meaningwould be when he gives you a warning a creature is close to eating you up but by the time its mentioned you’ve already heard multiple bones crack, guts splatter and a scream that would definately confirm your lunch! After completing some stages the game would crash, however this is very rare in my experience and shouldn’t detract from having a go at playing the game.
AUDIO QUALITY:
All sound has been developed by seasoned audio guru Nick Ryan. He is one of the audio elite and is undeniably one of the best all round audio heads in the industry. Nick has a growing protfolio being involved with 3D sound in a variety of mediums not just games and also acts as a supervisor, creative director and composer on vaious projects. Some have been incredibly specialist, achieving wonderful things with sound that have not been done before. Please check him out, link at the end of the blog.
All the audio had a very clean, clinical and moderately thick texture to it. I was using a set of semi pro headphones which I am very accustomed to and use on a variety of sound design and music projects, and the only thing I could say that I would of liked to of heard more in the production was analogue warmth. If there has been analogue processing of any kind, whether it be outboard gear or vitual emulations, I couldn’t hear the kind of texture analogue warmth produces. It could be it has been used sparingly not to over cook the sounds but I would have personally liked a bit more of a tickle on the top end. I am aware though that more or less of something is a higly subjective thing when it sounds this good already :-)
It just sounded a wee bit too clinical in the top end of the frequency spectrum even after taking audio compression into account and I just can’t hear much warmth in there if it has been included.
That said, the audio library that has been developed is a very beautiful set of sounds that are incredibly well thought out and engaging to make the environment sound as authentic as possible. Aside from my potentially self indulgent moment with analogue warmth, being able to maintain such high standards in audio production and rich texture to the sounds after compression to a small app is something I find truely inspiring. I believe detail is retained because of how closley the game designers and Nick worked together on the Papa Engine as well as the development of this game to understand the approach that would be required to acheive such high standards in audio quality and innovation.
NOTABLE LEVELS:
THE HOLD - Where it ramps up becoming even more fun locating sounds. React quickly with your senses!!
AIRLOCK - I hear something lurk in the darkness and I’m trying to find the airlock in a spacesuit. Creepy and not straight forward!
THE LIFE RAFT - Pay attention to where you place your footing, The the capabilities of the 3D audio engine clearly demonstrated here.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
The ending has a twist of sorts but I would have liked to have experienced more levels to fleshout the tension a little more that was being built. The end comes a little too soon in my opinion and there’s definitely scope for more story either as a series involving this particular ship and its own story arc or sequels that derive from this game’s end point.
The potential for what this kind of game can achieve is pretty exciting, opening up the chance as Nick mentioned in his BAFTA video for those who may not be able to use or rely upon their vision as well to still enjoy computer games though audio. I am interested to see how far these types of games will go and if they will expand the genres and reach into the wider commercial domain.
I am currently working my way through the very first Papa Sangre and at some point I shall be posting about how it contrasts with The Nightjar being the first two games using the Papa Engine. Please check the links and feel free to let me know your thoughts on the game.
This is in the tree in front of my house!! Can you tell what it is from this angle?? #ufd #urbanforaging #urbanforagingdetroit #thenightjar #theweedeater #infidelxcastro #aprayingsista #dhh #mushroom #mushroomgarden #mushroomhunter #mushroompicking #mushroomspotting (at Detroit,MI)
So after seeing 5 gum's video about The Night Jar, I just had to go check it out on the app store. The game is amazing so far. Not just because Benedict Cumberbatch is sort of like your guide through it, but you're basically thinking up how everything looks through audio only and the it's amazing and refreshing! I'm just at the third chapter but I already know it's going to be worth the $5 I spent on it.
