Camille Prescott reads science fiction novels and plays board games, and writes about both in detail: close, personal reviews of what she has read and played, plus occasional dispatches from the rest of her life.https://camilleprescott.net/en-UShttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/nemesis/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/nemesis/Semi-cooperative sci-fi horror where trusting the wrong person at the wrong moment can end you in a single turn. We played the Alien soundtrack in the background and I don't think I'll ever play it silent again.Thu, 20 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTNemesisCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/dune/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/dune/A 1979 design that still makes you betray a friend mid-sentence better than almost anything published since. You need six people at the table and a free afternoon.Thu, 13 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTDuneCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/oathsworn/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/oathsworn/The boss battler that made me finally admit I care more about the story chapters than the fights they lead into. Also the standee-vs-mini decision nearly broke me.Wed, 12 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTOathsworn: Into the DeepwoodCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/the-hunger-games/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/the-hunger-games/I read this one late, after the movies, after everyone had already had their Katniss opinions. Still got me anyway, and it's a sharper book than the reputation suggests.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTThe Hunger GamesCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/blindsight/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/blindsight/A crew of barely-human specialists gets sent to make first contact, narrated by the one guy on board with half a brain and no real stake in whether any of it works out.Fri, 10 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTBlindsightCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/blood-rage/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/blood-rage/Vikings drafting cards toward Ragnarok, and my group's running joke about how badly you can lose your way to first place if nobody's paying attention.Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTBlood RageCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/the-case-against-playing-games-solo/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/the-case-against-playing-games-solo/I own three games with dedicated solo modes and I've played all three exactly zero times alone. Here's my mildly contrarian defense of never doing it.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTpersonal_essayCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/cascadia/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/cascadia/My reach-for-it-on-a-two-person-night game. Twenty minutes, tile and animal drafting, and just enough tension to feel like a real decision every turn.Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTCascadiaCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/nine-years-in-still-not-from-here/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/nine-years-in-still-not-from-here/A grocery store cashier asked how long I'd lived here like it was an easy question. I've been doing the math wrong for years, apparently.Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTpersonal_essayCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/the-forty-minutes-before-bed/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/the-forty-minutes-before-bed/Same lamp, same chair, same forty minutes, most nights for years now. I finally tried to work out why I protect this specific window so fiercely.Tue, 02 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTpersonal_essayCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/the-quantum-thief/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/the-quantum-thief/A heist novel set on a walking city on Mars, narrated by an amnesiac thief who does not explain a single piece of technology to you. It works, mostly, and it's a workout.Wed, 27 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTThe Quantum ThiefCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/teaching-marcus-a-game-he-cant-win-gracefully/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/teaching-marcus-a-game-he-cant-win-gracefully/The man who got me into this hobby eight years ago still cannot lose a negotiation game without narrating his own betrayal like a wounded prophet. I love him for it.Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTpersonal_essayCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/i-was-wrong-about-left-hand-of-darkness-the-first-time/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/i-was-wrong-about-left-hand-of-darkness-the-first-time/I gave it five stars the first time through and meant it, but I meant a slightly different book than the one I just finished rereading.Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMTpersonal_essayCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/the-gods-themselves/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/the-gods-themselves/Three linked novellas about a free-energy exchange between universes that happens to be quietly killing the sun. The middle section is the reason to read this one.Sat, 21 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTThe Gods ThemselvesCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/the-plague/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/the-plague/Not science fiction, but close enough kin that I stopped fighting the urge to put it on here anyway. A quarantined town, a doctor who keeps working anyway, and no miracle cure.Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTThe PlagueCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/the-new-guy-at-thursday-game-night/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/the-new-guy-at-thursday-game-night/Our Thursday group has had the same five people for years. Then somebody's coworker showed up, and I spent a whole session watching how a new person changes a table that's calcified without meaning to.Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTpersonal_essayCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/rulebook-i-couldnt-stop-copyediting/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/rulebook-i-couldnt-stop-copyediting/I brought a pencil to game night to fix a rules dispute and ended up marking up the whole booklet instead. Nobody asked me to do this.Sun, 01 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMTpersonal_essayCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/thinking-fast-and-slow/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/thinking-fast-and-slow/My second nonfiction detour this year. System one and system two, and I've been quietly diagnosing my own bad decisions with it ever since.Sat, 21 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTThinking, Fast and SlowCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/the-left-hand-of-darkness/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/the-left-hand-of-darkness/A human envoy on a genderless planet, and a friendship built across a frozen continent. I went in braced for a thought experiment and got something that actually moved me.Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTThe Left Hand of DarknessCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/use-of-weapons/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/use-of-weapons/Two timelines, one going forward and one going backward, meeting in the middle at a chair. I did not see it coming and I still think about it.Fri, 06 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMTUse of WeaponsCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/lotr-fate-of-the-fellowship/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/lotr-fate-of-the-fellowship/Matt Leacock takes the Pandemic engine to Middle-earth, and Sauron's influence spreads across the map exactly like an outbreak. It should feel derivative. It mostly doesn't.Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTThe Lord of the Rings: Fate of the FellowshipCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/revelation-space/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/revelation-space/A dead civilization, a dying ship's captain, and an archaeologist who's the only one who came back from the shroud with his mind intact. Slow to load, then it doesn't let go.Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTRevelation SpaceCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/behave/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/behave/The only nonfiction book I've read on the beat, and it took me three separate weeks of nightstand time to actually finish. Worth every one of them.Fri, 02 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMTBehaveCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/magical-athlete/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/magical-athlete/The ugliest board in my collection and one of the most requested games at my table. I've started using it as an actual personality test for new players.Wed, 31 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTMagical AthleteCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/the-insert-i-rebuilt-for-a-game-i-dont-even-love/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/the-insert-i-rebuilt-for-a-game-i-dont-even-love/Three hours with a craft knife and foam core, for a game that gets maybe two plays a year. I stand by every minute of it.Fri, 26 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMTpersonal_essayCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/kemet-blood-and-sand/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/kemet-blood-and-sand/The tile trays alone nearly earned this a bonus star. The board underneath them, less so.Sat, 29 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTKemet: Blood and SandCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/why-i-wont-read-a-book-on-a-screen/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/why-i-wont-read-a-book-on-a-screen/Everyone in my life reads on a tablet now and thinks I'm being precious about it. Maybe. I still won't do it, and I've finally worked out why.Tue, 18 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMTpersonal_essayCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/scythe/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/scythe/The retail edition's double-layered player boards nearly made me a component person against my will. The game underneath them is even better.Tue, 28 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTScytheCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/heat-pedal-to-the-metal/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/heat-pedal-to-the-metal/The racing game that finally converted a table full of people who insisted they don't care about cars. Setup is under ten minutes and I still think about the heat management between sessions.Thu, 23 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTHeat: Pedal to the MetalCamille Prescotthttps://camilleprescott.net/articles/what-the-french-broad-sounds-like-in-october/https://camilleprescott.net/articles/what-the-french-broad-sounds-like-in-october/Nothing about books or games this time. Just a walk I take every fall, and why I keep taking it even though it never changes much.Tue, 21 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTpersonal_essayCamille Prescott