Narilka redacts her reading in 2026 - Part 1

Happy New Year everyone!

My Rating System
- Absolutely horrible, don't bother

- Meh, I finished the book somehow but would not recommend it

- An entertaining read

- Highly enjoyable, I would probably recommend this book

- Excellent! The book may not be perfect but it was perfect for me. Possibly a new favorite.

A star is given for a book that falls between those categories.

Currently Reading


Listening To

Books Read in 2026
1. Magic & Murder by Annabel Chase
2. Witchlight by Susan Dennard
3. Vainqueur the Dragon by Maxime J. Durand
4. The Phoenix Unchained by Lackey & Mallory
5. God's Junk Drawer by Peter Clines
6. Night Watch by Terry Pratchett
7. Twelve Months by Jim Butcher
8. Vainqueur the Dragon 2 by Maxime J. Durand
9. Born Different by V Nator
10. Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman
11. The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett
12. Vainqueur the Dragon 3 by Maxime J. Durand
13. The Phoenix Endangered by Lackey & Mallory
14. Predator One by Jonathan Maberry
15. Vainqueur 4 by Maxime J. Durand
16. Monstrous Regiment by Terry Pratchett
17. This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me by Ilona Andrews
18. Kill Switch by Jonathan Maberry
19. Magic & Mystery by Annabel Chase
20. You Are Summoned by Dean Henegar
21. A Hat Full of Sky by Terry Pratchett
22. Joust by Mercedes Lackey
23. A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman
24. The Wizard's Butler by Nathan Lowell

Fun Stats
Books Read: 24
Total Pages Read: 4471
Audio Book Hours: 175h 9m
Rereads: 7
TBR Challenge: N/A

2026 Series Stats
Started: 6
In progress: 20
Up to date: 19
Undecided: 7
Completed: 2
Abandoned: 0

Mount TBR
Start 2026: 268
End 2026: ?

My Personal Incomplete Series Challenge
Keeping my never-ending series list going for yet another year.

Series Stats Summary
Started: 6
In progress: 20
Up to date: 18
Undecided: 7
Completed: 2
Abandoned: 0

In Progress
Discworld: Rincewind - 7/8
Discworld: City Watch - 6/8
Discworld: Tiffany Aching - 3/5
Discworld: Overall - 33/41
Temeraire - 2/9
Joe Ledger* - 8/10
World of the Five Gods - 2/3
Space Team* - 5/11
Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot Mysteries - 2/5
Of Cats and Dragons* - 1/5
Spells, Swords and Stealth* - 4/5
Valkerye Collections - 1/2
Beaufort Scales Mysteries - 4/8
Miss Percy Guide - 1/3
Tear Down Heaven - 1/4
The Magical Mystery Book Club - 1/9
Nine Lives Magic - 1/13
World of Chains* - 1/5
Starry Hollow Witches* - 2/19
The Enduring Flame - 2/3

Up to date and waiting
5-minute Sherlock* - 3/3 - #4 TBD
World of the Others - 3/3 - #4 TBD
Mystwick* - 3/3 - #4 TBD
The Locked Tomb - 3/3 - #4 TBD
Aurelia Ryder - 1/1 - #2 TBD
Innkeeper Chronicles - 5/5 - #6 TBD
The Wizard's Butler* - 1/1 - #2 audio June 2026
Kate Daniels Wilmington Years - 2/2 - #3 TBD
The Dresden Files - 18/18 - #19 TBD
Murderbot - 7/7 - #8 TBD
The Iron Covenant - 1/1 - #2 TBD
Bobiverse - 5/5 - #6 TBD
Dungeon Crawler Carl* - 8/8 - #9 TBD
Stormlight Archives - 5/5 - #6 expected 2033ish
DI Adams - 4/4 - #5 expected 2026
Orlando People* - 2/2 - #3 TBD
Breach Wars - 1/1 - #2 TBD
Beware of Chicken* - 5/5 - #6 TBD
Maggie the Undying - 1/1 - #2 TBD

Undecided/On Hold
The Siege - 1/3
Spellslinger - 1/6
Heretical Fishing* - 3/4
The Band - 2/2 - #3 TBD forever, I'm losing interest
Legends & Lattes - 1.5/2
You Are Summoned* - 1/6
Dragon Jousters - 1/4

Completed in 2026
Witchlands - 5/5
Vainqueur the Dragon* - 4/4

Abandoned in 2026

*Indicates series on audio

A big thank you to @jillmwo for providing me inspiration for my reading theme in 2026:

Read what gives you delight—at least most of the time—and do so without shame.

-From The Pleasures of Reading in an Age of Distraction by Alan Jacobs

I've added that book to my wish list :)

For anyone new to my thread, I read a lot of Fantasy and SciFi though I do mix in other genres from time to time. I try all sorts of stuff with some other book buddies not on LT, which has leaned heavily into litRPG the last couple years. I post thoughts as I go so you'll see many comments behind spoiler tags, hence the "redacted" part of my thread title.

I am super excited by some upcoming releases in 2026, including the latest Harry Dresden novel this month (which I'll read with Mrs Lee in mind) and Dungeon Crawler Carl 8 releasing in May. I'm planning to do a DCC reread leading up so you can expect that ahead of time. I'm also midway through a Discworld reread where I plan to finally finish the series. I'm going to see what I can do to not grow Mount Tooby too badly this year but... lol

Happy New Year everyone! Thank you all for being the most wonderful place on the internet :)

>1 Narilka: Happy New Year and Happy New Thread! I look forward to many Book Bullets in 2026.

Happy New Year!

>1 Narilka: Happy New Year and Happy New Thread!

I hope you will read lots of wonderful books in 2026 🥰

>4 Narilka:. I thought the quote suited your thread and reading habits!!! (And I'm glad that you have the book on your wish list. It's definitely a five-star read.) Happy new thread and forward into 2026!

Happy new year and happy new thread! I hope you find many great books this year!

>5 Bookmarque: I love all the graphics you created for the new year but this one is obviously the best :D Wine + Cheese + Dragon + Books = perfection!

Thanks everyone for the well wishes :)

I finished my first book of 2026 - Magic & Murder. I ended up enjoying this a lot more than I expected to. It's a paranormal cozy mystery set in a magical town in North Carolina. The mystery was well done. I wasn't expecting that solution and it fit nicely. I will definitely be continuing the series, it will make nice breaks when I need a mental palette cleanse between other series/books. I think I'll get a proper review up this weekend.

Next on audio I'll be listening to Vainqueur the Dragon. The audio book is available as an omnibus for the whole series of 4 books. I enjoyed the author's The Perfect Run last year so I'm hoping to enjoy this too.

Apparently I'm on a roll this morning. Review for Magic & Murder below.

Happy reading and posting in 2026.

Happy new year and happy new thread!

>15 Meredy: & >16 Karlstar: Thank you both :)

Witchlight Through Ch 17 It took a lot of pages to get back to Safi and Iseult's POVs. I'm glad they're both together. For now anyway. I don't trust the author NOT to split them up.

It's interesting that this book is giving me a completely different feel than the previous books in the series. Instead of careening from crisis to crisis, we're getting a little more slice of life and what feels like some actual planning on how they're going to save the world.

It's kind of funny that Vivia and Vaness have literally been put on ice. I'm guessing until they're needed for the grand finale.

I started Vainqueur the Dragon. I didn't realize this was a Jack Voraces narration. I like his style and am very much enjoying his voicing of Vainqueur. 4 chapters in and this is very different from the Perfect Run. As if an ancient red dragon wasn't powerful enough, now he's picked up an adventuring class lol And already has burned part of a country side to complete a quest dragon style. This is going to be interesting.

Belated Happy New Year and Thread

>20 hfglen: Thanks!

Something that's bugging me about Witchlight I just remembered and looked up. At the end of book four, Vivia and Vaness were referred to the Queen of Foxes and the Queen of Hawks by the two paladins. Just as they're being frozen in the ice the creepy little girls refer to them as the queen of hounds and the queen of hawks. Is this a retcon or did she forget what she'd done previously or is fox and hound interchangeable in this instance?

Also, I do not remember Monk Evrane being referred to as Merik or Vivia's aunt before. Nor do I remember it mentioned that she speaks with a Nubrevnan accent. She doesn't say "hye" like other Nubrevans do. Now she has an accent and is their royal aunt. Did I miss the aunt thing previously? This... puts her directly in the line of succession and Vivia's father is definitely megalomaniac enough to want to wipe out or control anyone who could threaten his current rule based on action he's taken against Vivia.

>22 Narilka: I've already returned Truthwitch to the library but Evrane is indeed Merik's aunt. She was with him on his ship and played a large part in the plot. She didn't get along with her brother, the King, and I don't believe she was welcome at the capital. There was nothing about accents in the first book though.

>23 jjwilson61: Ahh, thanks for the refresher. I remembered him being on ship with them in the beginning but did not remember the aunt thing at all.

>24 Narilka: Evrane was attempting to heal Iseult's cursed wound

Happy Belated New Year and new thread.

>26 mattries37315: Thanks :)

I'm finding Vainqueur the Dragon a pretty funny read with Vainqueur not understanding humans or human society lol Half way in to Ch 10 The kobolds are adorable. Words I never ever expected to put in writing or say lol That was an accidentally brilliant move for Victor to hire them.

Vain trying to use a human weapon, oh dear lol At least he impressed his minions.

The back and forth on selling the bodies is also pretty funny. It shouldn't be yet is.

I really hope this ends with Vain achieving level 100 and godhood.

Witchlight Through Ch 50. The author should give lessons on proper use of flashbacks. We're getting snippets of the distant past as the Paladins memories come back, especially for Stix. This is done really well as it is important in the moment and what's happening present day, fills in a major knowledge gap for us readers and the characters, and it doesn't kill story momentum. There's also the letters from Ryber to Kullen that she's trying to help him come up to speed whenever he is freed from the ice that act very well as short breaks between what feels like the natural acts of the story arc. I am assuming Kullen will break out eventually since resurrection is a big theme.

I'm annoyed with the book right now. Iseult has been stabbed and mostly dead but not all dead yet. Given the description of the scene I wonder if this was the author attempting to deal with the trauma of her own near death during child birth. Safi has been fried and is assumed near death. I'm guessing neither is all dead and will either come back or go do stuff in the spirit/dream realm together before coming back. Characters coming back isn't my favorite trope, though reincarnation has been a strong theme in these books since the start and not unexpected. Unfortunately I didn't have the emotional reaction I think these scenes were supposed to have.

On that note, I feel genuinely bad for Merik. It's like he's only around to see how many times he can die and come back. Poor guy.

Vivia was referred to the Queen of Foxes again. Is the author really using foxes/hounds interchangeably or was this missed on continuity edits? This stuff bugs me.

I sometimes wonder if the author realized she made her characters too powerful so has to do things to them so that plot can happen without them resolving it too easily. Aeduan for example. First he's a bad ass assassin and scary blood mage. Then he spends his whole book weakened from a curse, the next book possessed by an exalted one and this book he's so riddled with self doubt that he's causing physical ailments (just like the author did in her own journey). Or is this the author's way of dealing with her own life traumas again? I'm not sure I've ever noticed an author putting this much of themselves almost literally in a book and I wouldn't have noticed at all without reading those blog posts.

I finished Witchlight That was interesting. The ending is satisfying in that most of the world wide stuff is adequately explained though only partially wrapped up. Yes, it's left open for future stories. It was unsatisfying because there are a lot of neat concepts that aren't given enough time to develop and grow. I said it on the last book and I'm saying it again - I wish Dennard had stuck to her original plan for the series and not let a publisher talk her out of it. Those first two books were awesome.

All the world changing events happen in the last book and a half morphs the story away from what drew me to the series in the first place - the core friendship of Safi and Iseult. Even though they're back together, for about half the book anyway, it just isn't the same since their friendship isn't the focus. I'm having a hard time capturing my feelings around this so I may let it sit and try again later. I had originally given the book 3 stars, then went to 2.5 but am thinking 3 again. I'm conflicted.

Next up I'm going old school like I did last year with The Phoenix Unchained.

I'm still working my way through Vainqueur the Dragon. I'm in Ch 26 they've just met the level 60 paladin lol It initially goes about as expected and now V&V are talking her ear off about all her misunderstandings of, well, everything about them.

Victor basically talking Vainqueur into becoming a banker even after the dragon doesn't want it hah I'm sure anyone storing their loot with him will be very protected but good luck getting it back.

And the whole deal with Hell for more demons. OMG it's been incorporated! How appropriate.

I hope they come across some crests soon so they can keep on with leveling. Hopefully by the end of the book.

Vainqueur the Dragon almost done. Through ch 35 I am very glad that battle netted Vainqueur a crest. Now to get one for Victor.

I'm highly impressed the dragon actually gave up gold to bring Victor back. I didn't expect that. Vain does care. And he did it in front of his family who knows the full cost. Adventuring is changing him.

Vainqueur's family is fun. I hope they pick up classes too lol and that we see them again.

Heaven is turning into a corporatized bureaucracy too. Perhaps the two sides aren't so different. That god of madness seemed like he might have let a little truth out too.

I finished up Vainqueur the Dragon. That was a lot of fun :) The two short stories were a nice extra at the end. I liked the one about the kobold rangers better than Vainqueur's misadventure with eating dwarves lol Dwarves make him drunk!

Pink writing Vain/Victor fan fiction /facepalm oh good lord lol

I'm glad the dragons hopped on the adventuring train :D That's going to cause a lot of chaos in that world's future lol It made for quite an amazing Bragging Day for Vainqueur.

The audio for God's Junk Drawer is supposed to release on Tuesday the 20th. Assuming the release sticks (it has moved before) then that will be my next audio book. If not, it will be Vainqueur 2. I'll listen to podcasts in the mean time.

The Phoenix Unchained Through Ch 3. I remember basically nothing of the book so it feels like reading it fresh, though I had it marked as previously read in my catalog. This has a slow start that kept relaxing me to sleep at night. The chapters are also fairly long as the book has 16 in total. Anyway, it fascinates me seeing characters from the previous series mythologized in the 1000+ years that have passed. Kellen as the Poor Orphan Boy LOL I liked this concept in Mistborn Era 2 also. I haven't read a lot of series that do this.

I'm glad that the boys, Tiercel and Harrier, are on their way to help solve Tiercel's "illness." Based on what he's researched and the previous book series, he does need to start practicing High Magic and likely tapped into the Endarkened or something similar. Poor kid.

Ch 4 starts with a whole new character. I'm not sure if this will be a future companion or an antagonist's POV. Finding out soon!

I must say I'm tempted by Vainqueur the Dragon. You've made it sound like an awful lot of fun.

>35 jillmwo: YAY!

The Phoenix Unchained Through Ch 7 So the new POV is our antagonist. Looks like a Wildmage turned Dragon Mage going bad, which was mentioned in the first series though we didn't see it. Somehow I doubt bringing back evil to the world will balance out. It's also too bad the human is ignoring his dragon. She knows.

I'm glad Tyr started practicing. He's going to need it. Too bad the summoning spell hasn't worked out yet. Tyr really needs a real teacher. Perhaps when they get to the elves as I assume that's where they will ultimately head to.

This book is really taking its time with the story. It's quite readable at least and I do like the three main characters well enough. It is a fairly simplistic story so far.

The Phoenix Unchained Through Ch 10 I was surprised that the centaur was killed off. I didn't see that coming at all. I thought she was going to continue to be a support for the MCs.

And yep, Tyr's being sent to the elves for training since they can actually remember the time of High Mages. I wonder if they've kept any of Cilarnen's old books and things. I'm sure Harrier will get some knight/sword training while there too. That seems to be the set up.

I'm glad one of the other tribes that visited Bisochim's oasis feels the wrongness of it. I get annoyed when we switch to this POV because I'm enjoying the buddy road trip of Tyr and Harrier but also know it's needed for the insight into what the other side is doing. Which isn't well described yet, just some vague preparations. Is the fire lady actually going to be an Endarkened or something else entirely? I hope we find out before this book ends.

God's Junk Drawer through Ch 4. The set up feels like the start of a grade B horror movie where college students go off on an expedition for geology class or something, and stumble into a magic cave... which is probably in line with the author's intent as he loves those B horror movies :) It's for astronomy class though. Plus there some other interesting background that I'm fairly sure is foreshadowing for what's to come.

Through Ch 7. I'm officially hooked. The flashback to Billy's childhood event is EXACTLY the kind of thing I love about Peter Clines' books :D I wonder how much explanation we'll get as to the mystery on this. I need MORE!!! With the student group now stuck in this wormhole thing I hope they get some decent exploration time before everything goes to hell lol I'm going to have to rearrange my chore schedule to give myself more listening time lol

>39 Narilka: I almost snagged Junk Drawer yesterday, but a hold came off a book a the library so I didn't. Please keep us posted on how you like it with those spoilers hidden!!

>40 Bookmarque: Absolutely!

>39 Narilka: God's Junk Drawer sounds good. It's going on my list!

I just ditched my library audio, Yellowface, and picked up God's Junk Drawer. Phew, so glad to be with Ray Porter and all the crazy Clines can dream up.

>39 Narilka: Chalk up another bullet!

Should we put up a group read thread?? I'm on chapter 7, but haven't read the spoiler bit up there until I get through the whole thing.

>45 Bookmarque: That's not a bad idea. I won't be able to start it for a while though.

>34 Narilka: Dragons eating dwarves! That sounds like a great adventure hook. Hmm, I don't recall, did Tolkien ever say anything about Smaug eating the dwarves or humans?

Oh yeah, a group read :D

>47 Karlstar: Vainqueur eats a lot of things in the story lol I don't recall Tolkien expressly stating what Smaug ate? I might be due a reread of the Hobbit.

>48 Narilka: I don't recall either. My brain wants to say gold, but I don't think that's accurate.

I finished The Phoenix Unchained. Overall it was an entertaining read though not surprising. It's like the writers have one story to tell and it's just another iteration. This definitely leans to the younger side IMO. I was missing the unicorns so I am glad that Harrier meets one at the end even if it's only to be named a Mage Knight at the last second, which made me roll my eyes. Because of course he is.

And now Tyr is a Dragon Mage. Ooookkkk....

Other than the section when Simera dies, the story wierdly lacks tension. The enemy is coming back but its very very slow and the lack of urgency means I don't turn pages quickly.

Easily my favorite part of the book was seeing how the world had changed over the years as a lot of fantasy books don't visit this topic. I read a Reddit thread earlier this week along these lines and thought the group might enjoy it too: https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1qjhn73/as_a_history_fan_the_3000_year...

Next up is a Discworld, Night Watch.

I'm posting my notes for God's Junk Drawer over on the group thread from here on out.

Night Watch I think it's odd timing that I'm reading two books that have timey wimey themes going on heheh It's quantum! Somewhere around 33% So Vimes is stuck in an alternate past that is paralleling his lived past for a few days. Loved that explanation from Lu Tze (and it's nice seeing the history monks again in general). Not a whole lot of commentary, just that it's Vimes' origin story as a copper, the origin of the modern day Watch and a crime book sort of. Pretty sure he does more with Carcer by the end. Quite a mix going on here.

Through 55% I love the descriptions of how Vimes' feet tell him where he is in the city.

I had forgotten that Ventinari had started off as an assassin. An unusually effective one too though he turned his skills more to spycraft before politics. At least we haven't read of him killing anyone on page yet.

Vimes booby trapping the watch house just like he did his own manor at the start of the book was hilarious lol

I finished up God's Junk Drawer and posted thoughts on the group read thread.

Next up is Vainqueur the Dragon 2 on audio.

Night Watch is finished. That was a more serious Discworld entry and has a surprisingly high body count. I think I said this about the last few Discworlds but man Terry Pratchett sure knew human nature and the book feels very relevant given recent events in round world. Anyway, here are some of my favorite quotes.

"But here's some advice, boy. Don't put your trust in revolutions. They always come around again. That's why they're called revolutions."

"What did I tell you about Mister Safety Catch?" said Vimes weakly.

"When Mister Safety Catch Is Not On, Mister Crossbow Is Not Your Friend," recited Detritus, saluting.

There's another one from Lu Tze but I forgot to write the page number down. I'll find it and post later.

And here's the annotations for the book if anyone is interested: https://www.lspace.org/books/apf/night-watch.html

Next up, Twelve Months.

Found it!

It takes a thousand steps to get to the top of a mountain but one little hop'll take you all the way to the bottom

>55 Narilka: Bwahaha!!! This book is on 'the virtual list.'

Twelve Months Through ch 8. I did not expect the emotional punch right at the beginning though in hindsight I should have. Harry reliving Murphy's death :( I totally get the whole losing track of conversations or your mind wandering off at odd times thing too. It happened to me a lot right after my mom died. Grief is like that.

I also thought Harry had asked for a year and a day from Mab before starting the Lara stuff. Looks like that was only the wedding and not "dating." That sucks for Harry. Deep grief plus juggling an unwanted new relationship plus deep guilt over the city's destruction. Molly is right - Harry has got to get over that guilt as quickly as possible.

I also didn't expect we'd check in on Thomas so soon. That was interesting.

Vainqueur the Dragon 2 through ch 5 And we start off with a poop joke lol I shouldn't have laughed but I did.

Aww we are getting to hang out with Vainqueur's niece :) I love it.

Victor has mentored under a mummy and now has his own genie in a bottle. This will be interesting.

Twelve Months Through Ch 23. This is a hard one to really comment much on since it's basically Harry dealing with his grief spread across the months in a series of slice-of-life-ish snippets. Sure, there's some of the fallout of how the battle impacted the city, but not too much. Given general responses I've seen to the book while scanning the internet, this either changes back into a more traditional Dresden novel soonish or people just love the emotions of it.

The scene with Drakul was pretty great.

I do have to wonder if Harry DOES have a death wish with how badly he mouthed off to Mab about Murphy's death. "Get over yourself" indeed.

Vainqueur the Dragon 2 through Ch 9 OMG hahahahahaha they had their demon lawyer out-contract a djinn's wish LOL!!! This is awesome.

Also have to love how the V&V citizens reacted to their rain of slimes lol Some even being adopted as pets.

Twelve Months Through ch 39 I'm glad Harry has finally decided it's ok to let go of his anger over Murphy and heal. Not like the world is going to give him the time to do it on his schedule.

If he thinks he's going to best Mab, he should prepare for disappointment lol Even if he does manage to pull a fast one, which the author will probably do because, them Mab will be ridiculously proud of him and she'll also win. Faeries are tricksey, especially ones as old as Mab.

Vainqueur the Dragon 2 through Ch 19 Victor trying to explain gold devaluation to Vainqueur is priceless lol pun intended :D

Poor little lich has Stockholm syndrome and couldn't kill Vic hahahaha

That was one happy land of a battle they survived. I loved Vainqueur boxing the golem.

Hell realized they have an image problem and so changed their name to Happy Land for some fresh marketing ;) This book is great.

I finished Twelve Months yesterday and enjoyed the ending. The other reviewers were right - it shifts back to a "normal" Harry book at about 70% and doesn't let go :) I wish I'd enjoyed the first half a bit more. I like were this ended and am looking forward to Mirror Mirror. Some speculation Harry technically has the ability to wipe out the White Court one vamp at a time if he wanted. Could you imagine if the other wizards ever caught on?? Oy.

I don't think taking care of Drakul will be very straight forward since he's also starborn. They'll probably need him for dealing with the bigger picture of the Outsiders. Unless the series never deals with that, which would be disappointing. I liked Harry and team helping to "lean out" his court though lol

Wasn't there mention of a Jade Court of vampires at one point? I wonder if they'll ever make a formal appearance.

Somehow I doubt we'll see much of Thomas's child in the future. Butcher is using the old school faery legends and once a child is stolen, that usually it.

Wishing @MrsLee was here to speculate with. She'd have enjoyed this entry to the series. I miss you my friend.

Next up, The Phoenix Endangered.

The Phoenix Endangered started. The prologue is a nice recap. Ch 1 picks up exactly where book 1 leaves off. I hope Harrier can move past his stubbornness or his POVs will get annoying fast. Angsty Kellen wasn't my favorite and I see that echoed at the moment in Harrier. Sure, he just had a lot of info dumped on him so it's understandable but still!

I finished Vainqueur 2. t was a lot of fun :) Mooooon! What a brave slime :D And now very high level and high intelligence for its kind. Too bad it's going to give its crest to Junior but that should be very interesting too.

Poor Vainqueur. The moon is made of lead hahaha

I loved having more of Vainqueur's niece Jolie in this one. I hope she can recover from her trauma soon.

For being so hard to level past like 40 both V&V are doing it quite well. I love all the fun mash up of classes that they end up with.

And Pink Ranger's fan fiction lol She's just not giving up on her whole V&V secret romance is she lol

Next on audio is Operation Bounce House.

Operation Bounce House I wish I had scanned some reviews first. Talk about disappointing that it's not Jeff Hays doing the primary narration! And I enjoy Travis Baldree. I keep seeing BOC characters in my mind even with the mild southern accent since the opening story is set on a farm. Hopefully my brain gets with it soon. Only in Ch 3 and not a lot of comments otherwise.

I feel actively disengaged with The Phoenix Endangered so I'm giving it a rest and trying something else to see if I just need a changed to kickstart my read on this. I started Born Different. It is living up to the title as this is very different. I'm through Ch 5. The entire POV is that of a newborn spider in a RPG-style system and how it reacts to, well, life. It is very creative. It's also very short at 200 pages.

>63 Narilka: We all miss her, but you're right it's especially painful when you read something you wish you discuss with her.

Operation Bounce House Through Ch 7 and I'm still having trouble with Travis Baldree's narration. His hispanic accents are not great and I swear I'm just listening to the characters of Fa Ram cosplaying lol I really hope my brain gets over this soon. Anyway I should have read the blurb better. I didn't realize this was going to be a serious scifi. I am missing the humor from DCC. Or perhaps I haven't gotten to it yet? It's still in the set up portion though that's almost done I think. We know what's going on, kind of why and the farmers are being trained on how to utilize their systems for a different kind of survival.

Given that Dinniman is a horror writer at heart, I'm expecting a high body count and plenty of blood.

Born Different I'm a bit over half way. I don't like the addition of humans coming to the dungeon. It spoils the uniqueness for me. We will see how Click responds. Maybe she'll learn to communicate with them.

Born Different I finished. That was interesting. It was getting going right as it ended. I hope the author writes another as this feels like the start to a series. I had a difficult time imagining the size of the spiders. Apparently they are pretty tiny if they all could live inside a human ribcage. I also don't really see them in their current capacity being a serious threat to a full raid of adventures so I guess that's why they were on the first floor.

The constant listing of stats/skills did get repetitive, especially when there wasn't much of a difference. That's a lot of page space devoted to it in such a short book.

Not sure I'm interested in any other monster POV books though.

Next up, I'm going back to the Discworld with The Wee Free Men.

>71 Narilka: Enjoy the Wee Free Men! I really like the Nac Mac Feegle.

>71 Narilka: What >72 BrokenTune: said. You are definitely in for a treat!

Operation Bounce House It's funny. I was just looking to see what chapter I'm in and I didn't even realize I'd started Day 3. Through Ch 22. This is reminding me of Ender's Game only from the opposite POV, that of the planet being attacked. I think it's interesting that from what Lulu and Roger have found, the people on Earth aren't convinced it's real and that there is some controversy. We'll see if Lulu can contact the right people to get more of that angle but I'm not sure she'll be successful in the time remaining. The whole operation is limited to 5 days.

There has been a lot more background on the settlers than I was expecting. And some conspiracy potentials coming out. It does seem odd that some game maker could just decide to offer a game hunting real people on a remote planet and the various world governments not know or anyone stop them. This part does give some DCC vibes.

And now that the game company is dropping supplies so the farmers can fight back... May the odds be ever in your favor.

Ahh, The Wee Free Men has chapters! I'd forgotten :) Through Ch 3 Tiffany is quite a sharp little girl. I can imagine the headache she causes teachers lol Definitely Witch material.

Edit to add a fun quote. Because it's the Discworld hah

Miss Tick sniffed. "You could say this advice is priceless," she said, "Are you listening?"
"Yes," said Tiffany.
"Good. Now...if you trust in yourself..."
"Yes?"
"...and believe in your dreams..."
"Yes?"
"...and follow your star..." Miss Tick went on.
"Yes?"
"...you'll still be beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy. Goodbye."

I wrote a review! For Born Different.

And one for Twelve Months.

A review for Night Watch because it looks like I forgot to post it. I actually did write this one close to when I finished it.

Operation Bounce House The second half of the book is much better than the first. I'm also finally used to Travis Baldree's narration now. I sort of wish I'd eye-read this but also wonder if it would've made much difference. I also wonder if I would have felt differently if it had been a different narrator. Half way through Ch 36 The trash talk by Lulu and Oliver is pretty great. I do hope they can expose the whole thing by the end to the people of Earth so this never happens again but I'm not very hopeful at the moment. I am curious how the meeting with the other faction will go.

Nice nod to DCC with that robot of a cat's head with a tiara :)

It's also interesting that they may have poisoned the settlers after all. In such a short book I wonder if it will be possible to explore all this.

I finished Operation Bounce House. I really liked that ending. The only character I liked throughout the book was Roger the AI and I was really hoping it would find a way for itself and it seems it has. I'm glad. Plus it had a pretty positive view of humanity before all this. At least it's still going to help the farmers. I am a tad sad that it turned out to be rogue AI that poisoned the original colonists. Oliver and Lulu grew on me by the end too. Lulu's insults and smack talk was downright hilarious. I don't need a second book or series in this world. If one is ever written I wouldn't be in a rush to read it. 3 stars.

Up next on audio I'm going back to Vainqueur 3.

Vainqueur 3 Ch 1 already has me laughing lol Vainqueur using his classes to cheat at cards without cheating! lol And orcs trying to isekai their way to reincarnating on Earth OMG! I wonder if that accounts for some dreadfully daft humans ;)

Ch 2 I also think it's funny that Victor is contemplating attending the Scholomance school LOL The author is having a blast with his mash ups.

Through Ch 10. Wow. That was one happy land of a duel! Victor really leveled up in Sholomance :D And quite an entrance into the arena too.

Speaking of, I loved his training montage during the school years lol Got to love time dilation! You just know that chalice is going to be used later. It's our Chekhov's chalice.

Vainqueur arranging speed dating for his minions was hilarious.

The Wee Free Men part way through Ch 7. This is a fun adventure. I can see more of Pratchett's inspiration from myths from the UK too. I kind of wish I was listening to this on audio. I'd love to hear how someone narrates the Feegles lol

Through Ch 10 Tiffany's travels through fairy land is reminding me of the movie Labyrinth, especially the ballroom scene. Actually, the whole story kind of does now that I think about it. She doesn't like her little brother and goes on a mission to rescue him from the fairy queen after he is stolen away. I know this is a common theme in faery myth.

>82 Narilka: I did this one as an audiobook and it was freaking hilarious. I'm glad you are enjoying it

I finished The Wee Free Men earlier in the week and forgot to post. That was fun :) Review below. Here's the annotations: https://www.lspace.org/books/apf/the-wee-free-men.html

Next up, I'm heading back to The Phoenix Endangered. Fingers crossed my break worked.

Vainqueur 3 through Ch 20 Victor's psychedelic trip was hilariously trippy lol Poor guy lost his angel insurance, but it's probably for the best. It's not like he isn't nearly immortal at this point.

The Phoenix Endangered I think taking a break helped as I was able to finish the desert section (Ch 2 & 3) without being as bored as I was before. Fingers crossed it lasts the whole book.

Vainqueur 3 About a third into ch 28. I feel like I say OMG alot with this book but... OMG! "I'm immortal but don't tell anyone." LOL (It's a reference to the author's other series, Perfect Run.) That fight at El Dorado was epic!! A radioactive mummy with timey wimey powers lol And using Furyborn's gold-to-lead conversion power actually won them the day hahaha Poor, poor Vainqueur.

I really liked that when they were caught in the Bermuda triangle by bad guys that it turned out to be a friend of Victor's from school and so they helped out instead :D

I'm glad we finally found out why Happy Land and Malfy are so happy with Victor - angels have been scamming people for so long with their insurance that they've ruined their karma and go to Happy Land upon death /facepalm LOL Heaven has some work to do.

Now someone just needs to sweep what's left of Victor into a pile and pour him from the goblet to be back in business.

>84 Narilka: These books are awesome! I'm so glad you enjoyed it

>88 clamairy: They are loads of fun :)

The Phoenix Endangered Through Ch 5 Yeah, I'm much happier to be back with Harrier and Tyr. I'm glad that Har isn't being too stubborn about the wild mage books and is at least looking at them now. I'm also glad he stood up to the unicorn. She was a terrible bully and he called her on it. Good for him!

I started Ch 8, Bisochim's first POV chapter in this book. I'm starting to wonder... do the authors think their readers have the memory of a gnat or are they padding the book? There sure is a lot of repetitive stuff. We basically got his whole story from book 1 in the first several pages of this chapter. I've been skimming a bit as I read.

Part way through Ch 10. Things have smoothed out. The constant reminder of past events stopped with that Bisochim chapter and now it's just new story. Even though she wasn't Shalkan, I was still a tad sad to see Kareta go. Not that the desert would be great for a unicorn.

And now that Harrier had to cast a spell, he seems easing into his role finally. Naturally, he healed his fighting trainer so he can apprentice :D

>90 Narilka: I've read the first two of the Phoenix books, but not the third, will you be proceeding on to that one?

>91 Karlstar: That is my plan, yes.

I finally finished Vainqueur 3 :D That was fun and funny though with a more serious ending than I expected. I actually felt bad for Ice Fang at the end there. I'm glad the 4th book seems aimed at ending the Fomor. Those psychos need to be gone from all existence. Rather scary that they figured out portals back to our Earth but potentially useful if anyone wanted to go home.

OMG the whole dodo island breeding sanctuary and tarrasque bit was utter hilarity.

It's also sweet that Vainqueur is learning empathy. That has to be unique for a dragon.

And Victor as a dad??? Oy.

I've decided to finally finish off the Joe Ledger series. For my next audio I'm picking up where I left off with Predator One. I may go skim some summaries of the previous books first as a refresher.

Predator One Through Ch 13. I was a tad worried I wouldn't remember much of the previous books before starting this since it had been so long since I'd read them. I needn't have worried :) Enough is coming back and there are little reminders of the important bits of previous entries in this book. This is going down nice and smooth. While I had remembered the Seven Kings and their code names, I'd forgotten that Osama bin Laden was supposed to be one. Too bad their op just got exposed bigly.

I had initially thought I'd downloaded the wrong book because the book's synopsis on the internet is about a baseball game being attacked and that hasn't happened yet but verified I am reading the right book lol Looks like it's going to be crazy advanced technology for the team to fight against along with some regular psycho hitmen based on flash backs. And I suppose whoever is the mastermind behind it. Nice to see Toys mentioned. I remember him as a great villain.

I am slowly continuing to make progress on The Phoenix Endangered. A little ways in to ch 15 Sieges are hard to pull off in books. And it's going to be impossible for Tyr to stay awake and keep his shield up for the sennight he supposedly needs to. I am expecting things to not go as planned soon.

Looks like I had a misunderstanding of sennights. I swear when I looked it up before it was two weeks in duration. Now the internet tells me it is one week:

The term "sennight" is derived from the Old English words "seven" and "night," and it was originally used to refer to a period of 7 nights. However, over time, the meaning of the word has evolved to refer to any period of 1/7 of a week, regardless of whether it falls during the day or night.

This makes the timing more believable and I had definitely mis-timed everything in the first series thinking events were lasting twice as long as they really did! I have no idea how I got that so mixed up. I'm glad I looked it up again.

Predator One Through Ch 31 & Interlude 10 Not sure I needed that torture scene. Ugh. Yep, they're horrible and they've now got this poor programmer doing what they want. Bet they kill him when he's done.

Nicodemus is like the only properly supernatural character we've seen in the series to date if I remember right. He must be either a demon or some human who sold his soul or something. I vaguely remember previously thinking he as a vampire but not sure that's right. I'm guessing he was the jackal that caused the pregnant lady problems.

And there's the baseball game attack. Poor Ghost and Ledger :( Even though this was written years ago, all I could think of was the drones using AI to dodge Ledger's attacks, not a human. While it's possible that tech existed back when the book was written, I'm pretty sure it does now.

Finished The Phoenix Endangered! That was an unexpected cliffhanger. I'm not too worried about Ancaladar but I really wish Tyr would at least try to cast some spells and prove his theory.

I was sort of waiting for Ancaladar and the other dragon to meet. I guess it's saved for the last book. We need some baby dragons :D

Nice hint that they found that the bond doesn't have to last forever and kill both partners when one dies. Hopefully they uncover the details on that in the final book and can save Saravase from Bisochim. Unless they reform Bisochim, which I am doubting.

There's a good story here. I just wish the pacing were better and that the authors didn't feel the need for constant reminders of the past.

Next up I'm heading back to the Disc for Monstrous Regiment. It is one of my favorites :D

Predator One Through Ch 67 I hope Aunt Sally pulls through. She really is a bad ass and has earned the fear of her subordinates lol

The DMS is taking quite a beating. Poor Bug's mom. She almost had the right idea but... yeah.

With Joe checking out of the hospital I hope this is when the team starts to kick ass and take names. And while I'd love for the Nicodemus thread to end in this book I'm sure he's going to last until book 10.

Maburry is a great writer. That little speech the bad guy gives the doctor was very convincing.

Predator One Through Ch 77. I think I caught a hint. During their conversation, Lilith called Church "San Germain." That's I think the French pronunciation for St. Germain. So either she's referring to him as the Count that is an ascended master, who would be hundreds of years old this point, or an actual Catholic saint?? I'm not familiar with that name associated with a saint so I internet searched and sure enough, there is a Germain of Paris and a Germaine Cousin (female so likely not this one). So. Church is pretty darn old regardless and I'm guessing the polar opposite to Nicodemus. Which probably explains their ongoing conflict.

Finished! That was pretty dark towards the end there. I hope Galt actually stays dead this time.

I'm glad Rudy got to defeat his demon, literally, though not permanently. Now I'm back to wondering if Nicodemus is part vampire since the silver melted.

And that's two bad ass dogs. I'm glad Ghost didn't get quite as badly beat up this time. I hope we see the second dog in the future too, seems like Banshee is more than just a dog.

Joe and the DMS took a hell of a beating. Even Toys might have some redemption going on. Just because Church is likely more than just human doesn't mean he couldn't get hurt. I would be interested to find out if his hands ever heal on their own and maybe he wears the gloves long term as an affectation.

It was nice that Maberry threw in a happy moment at the end there with the baby's christening. It had gone pretty dark otherwise.

Next on audio I'm going to finish up Vanqueur's series.

Vainqueur 4 Victor does a great job rolling with the insanity :) I'm only part way through Ch 5 and apparently Victor's real super power is playing up to frighteningly powerful beings egos to get them pointed in the right direction LOL It's quite a skill :D Even the system got a little snarky on some of his charisma checks and how easy they were lol

V4 half way through Ch 17 Got to love how that goddess is pimping out Victor's advisor skills lol It's also pretty cool that the gods want to mentor his children/train up their own chiefs of staff lol

I loved how Victor/Vanqueur/Kia "ran" through Furybon's dungeon and basically ruined all his special traps lol And all in the hope of finding some Plot Armor. haha!

I finished Vainqueur 4 I generally liked it. The dragon conclave was pure awesome lol I love how they're concerned over minion rights (of sorts) and princess conservation.

Poor Kia was robbed of the final battle yet again.

That was a fairly emotional ending. I admit I don't like the fade to black on this one, I wanted to see Victor ascend! Based on the afterward, he does. He had to keep his promise :) We'll see if the author goes back and writes more about all of Victor's kids. Too bad Vainqueur didn't have any.

Next for audio I'm heading back to Joe Ledger in Kill Switch.

I started Kill Switch. I'm not far in, only through Interlude 2 which is right after Ch 3 Without reading the book blurb, I like that we have the idea of the title already. Kill Switch and all the power globally going off. That will be wild.

I'm already intrigued by this new character in the interludes, Prospero. I'm assuming he's our new bad guy and this is some of his history. Is he just deluded or does he really think he's contacting a cosmic horror?

This will be fun :)

I finally finished Monstrous Regiment. This was a harder one to read given the state of the world and I kept setting it aside so sorry for the lack of updates. Guess I should actively avoid military fantasy for a while. I still enjoyed that ending a lot. I'd forgotten the big plot twist at the end. Makes a lot of sense in hindsight.

Here's the annotations: https://www.lspace.org/books/apf/monstrous-regiment.html

Next up is This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me.

Kill Switch Half way through Ch 15 It appears that Prospero did indeed make his "god machine." Now the question is if it works as intended and actually opens a door to other dimensions (while also causing global EMP-type effect) or if people are just experiencing weird side effects from abnormal electromagnetic frequencies.

I feel bad for the kid. His dad really doesn't like or love him based on that flashback. Makes me wonder if he was actually adopted? I know the kid feels that way but it hasn't been explicitly expressed otherwise and we're supposed to doubt this kid's grip on reality currently.

>104 Narilka: I did this one as an audiobook last year and was practically peeing myself with laughter. I knew NOTHING going in, so I found it brilliant. Might not be too funny right now, though. I'm glad you got through it.

>104 Narilka: I just checked and apparently this is one of the Pratchetts that I've not yet gotten around to reading. I must fix this.

>107 jillmwo: I hope you enjoy it when you get to it :)

Kill Switch I'm getting Threshold vibes from this :D The Peter Clines series.

Finished Part 1 Yeah, the dad seems to be one of the villains here. Or quasi-villain. He's playing both sides, or trying to. I wonder if he knows any of Church's background and what a dangerous game it is. I'm assuming that's him under Bell's name too. First name is the same and he feels the same.

This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me Through Ch 6. The authors were right, this is a very different book for them. I'm slowly getting into it. I hope the world building starts to tone down. I wasn't expecting info dumps as they are more smooth in the author's previous works. I get it though, this is more epic so needs more set up.

I keep wondering if the at the end of the series Maggie's adventures, or parts of them, will magically end up in the third book once she returns home. Or if any of her changes will alter the books afterwards.

It's an interesting choice to become an information broker in a fairly brutal world. Being effectively immortal helps a ton I'm sure, even though she hasn't really tested it because ouch. Not sure I'd have made the same decision in the MC's position.

I indulged my inner book geek. My copy of This Kingdom is the gorgeous hardback. I usually take off the dust jacket when I read hardbacks but also hate that I can accidentally get fingerprints on the book that way if I'm not careful. Soooo I bought a multi pack of reusable book covers :) They are fabric, supposedly washable and stretch to fit most books. It fits my hardback well. I can get a photo later if anyone is interested.

Kill Switch It's tinfoil hat time :D Maberry is having fun mashing together conspiracy theories in this one. Through Ch 24 Of COURSE they live on Montauk Island, NY LOL That's the site of a real AF base that was doing some classified experiments, supposedly dealing with the paranormal. It's one of the inspirations for the show Stranger Things. The conspiracy theory part is that it had to do with, among other things, inter-dimensional travel. Not a lot of declassified documents from it yet which is only adding to the theories.

Majestic program documents have been a little declassified, yes it's a real thing, and it's about alien contact and suspected reverse engineered alien technology. I think that a previous Joe Ledger book was inspired by this. Is this the successor to that one? Hmm! I'll have to go find my old notes.

I wonder if this will also mix in bits of MKUltra as that gets talked about with Montauk often. Lots of declassified documents on this one. It deals with mind control experiments that were pretty horrible.

Plus there's the mystery around Antarctica in general in our world.

Really any of those could apply to what Joe and team experienced on their mission. It could also explain Prospero, if the poor kid was being dosed unknowingly with something to make him smarter.

>111 Narilka: That appears to be a gorgeous cover!

>113 clamairy: It is really pretty. Even the cashier commented on it when I bought the book. I'm also glad that publishers have embraced sprayed edges.

>110 Narilka: I'm looking forward to this one so I shan't read your spoilers. The cover is a definite plus point!

>115 Sakerfalcon: Sweet :) So far, so good. Not a story spoiler but generally what to expect if you're curious This is a slower burn for an Ilona Andrews book. Part 1 is a lot of set up and world building. Things get going in Part 2, where I just finished, and they're keeping the world building going but it smooths out and feels more integrated into the story.

Now for book spoilers. This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me Finished part 2/Ch 17 Aww, the stelka brought Maggie a fish. I guess that means it's going to adopt Maggie as its human hehe And Maggie seems clueless.

This is interesting. So much talking about the book timeline vs what Maggie is experiencing. I'm looking forward to when things diverge and go off the rails because you know they're going to lol Either as the climax for this book or the set up for the next or both. Probably both :)

I'm reading this with a group of friends. They all mentioned some guy back at the beginning of the book in the garden that I'd forgotten about entirely. I would have to go back and reread that part. Pretty sure we haven't seen him again yet. One of them also thinks that Reynald could be an imposter. I think that Reynald is exactly who he's supposed to be. He's the obvious romantic partner at the moment too which I wasn't expecting. I thought maybe the head of the thieves would be the option after that midnight visit but he's not been involved in the story much so far.

Making soap as a business in a fantasy world. Now that's more my speed!

I'm starting to feel attached to Maggie and the people she's turned into her found family. I'm going to be upset if something happens to any of them. Thankfully, being an IA book, there should be a HEA at the end of book 3 even after everything goes sideways :D

Kill Switch Through Ch 53 And there is the speculation about mind control :D I initially thought that maybe Nicodemus had taken over Rudy when he attacked Joe but if he was hit by some frequency weapon that impacted his brain... that works too. Seems more likely considering that other people have been also taken over/reporting similar experiences.

Gateway was an actual classified project that's been partially declassified. Heck you can buy the Gateway tapes or take a class to try to learn/experience your own OBEs. So was the psychic spies program of the US which was started to counter Russia's program. I would not be surprised if other countries have done similar, actually I'd be more surprised if they didn't try, but those are the ones with documents easy to find online.

Maberry is having a blast mixing and matching and expanding upon them :)

I'd forgotten that Junie had a conspiracy podcast when we first met her. I'm looking forward to that conversation. I'm also curious if Prospero isn't a brother of sorts, if they were "created" in the same program.

It also feels like someone is playing politics with the DMS to get them moved out and move forward with their own agenda. Not that the President is happy with the team right now anyway.

This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me Just started Ch 18. Boy do I know my timing lol Things just went sideways :D Time to see what exactly it is!

Through ch 22 Well that thing in Ch 18 didn't have as much impact as I thought. Sure it moves up Maggie's timeline but no other disruptions.

This book has a LOT of exposition telling us about things. I can't wait for Maggie to really start experiencing them. I was initially thinking that her time in this world would mimic the books and our third book would be when it went outside of Maggie's knowledge. Now I'm hoping that happens in this book. And I stopped reading last night before chapter 23 so that I could get a good nights sleep :D My friends report that Ch 23 is when Big Things Happen. Fingers crossed!

Kill Switch Through Ch 74 That conversation with Junie was everything I'd hoped for :) Very satisfying.

I'm not entirely convinced Prospero actually died in that fire but it looks like we aren't going to find out any time soon since I see we're out of Interludes. Unless he has activities in the current day. I really want to know and also appreciate the mystery of it as he's a potential hook for a future book.

I theorized right that he and Junie are "related". Maberry gave us all the clues pretty well.

And Toys just took out a hit squad of Closers. That was pretty bad ass. I feel for the guy too. At least he has a cat now for company. Hopefully he can find some redemption in these stories at some point.

I am still giving Bolton the side eye. Especially with how poorly he treated his son in front of everyone. He would be a good character to help thrown the DMS off its game and play politics if he wanted.

I wasn't convinced that ISIL had the Kill Switch until that call with Lilith. I was pretty sure that the power interruptions were side effects of the experiments in Antarctica given the timing of the Dallas power outage with Joe's initial experience. Perhaps its a bit of both.

This Kingdom Will Not Kill me My friends were right. Ch 23 changed everything. I finished. I did not expect a torture scene from IA. That shocked me.

It was pretty well telegraphed that Everard desires Maggie as more than just as a knowledge holder that I wanted to faceplam every time she went off about that, both in her head and to him. It's a very IA romance lol

I loved the solution of Solentine's family adopting Maggie lol Her favorite cousin!

I'm still deciding who I think the author is, if we've even met him yet. The obvious pick is the mystery man from the garden because he seems like he knows Maggie as something else and that Silveren seems to have healed unexpectedly after being stabbed. However, this world has magic so he could have access to a magical healer and he already has a magic power to control those big beasts. It hasn't been mentioned if a family line could have more than one power so far though I kept expecting to have the description of Maggie's eyes changing and her having a secondary power in addition to regeneration so there is that.

I liked all the characters. IA's heroines all seem kind of samey since Hidden Legacy (Maggie and Catalina be swapped their statement of facts is so similar) so it's the supporting cast that differentiates things for me and I really enjoyed Maggie's found family. I'm really glad Clover seems to be safe in that epilogue. Someone will need to sound the alarm and fetch Solentine & Everard. It's not the worst cliffhanger I've read. I don't think Maggie is truly in danger, not like she was with the Butcher. I guess we'll find out in a year or so!

That was enjoyable. It has not bumped out Innkeeper as my favorite IA though ;) I really like the character art too. I referenced it a few times as I read. The little shorts were nice to see other POVs from.

Character art: https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/an-accurate-stelka-guide-to-the-humans-of-kair-to...

Bonus 1: https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/bonus-scene-a-lady/

Bonus 2: https://ilona-andrews.com/blog/bonus-scene-not-a-hair-on-her-head/

Next I'm going old school with The Baker's Boy. It's been on my shelf forever. This will be my first time trying JV Jones.

The Baker's Boy This is an inauspicious start. Half way through Ch 1 Can't say I was expecting something bordering grim dark. The planned rape in the prologue and the general assault and groping of a minor. Oy. We'll see if this gets any better of it could be a DNF. I'm not really into grimdark these days. I know it's early, and it could just be to grab the attention, so I'll give it a bit longer.

Kill Switch Through Ch 107 Yep, called it about Bolton. I'm glad he's the true bad guy. This will be interesting.

I am glad that Church recruited the son. No idea what kind of role they'll give him in the future, he's not a killer but he's not totally useless either.

I wonder why they can't fully take over Joe with that technology. Perhaps it's part of his compartmentalized personality that is slightly protective?

I think Joe might have seen Prospero in his own dream walk in the weird place. This whole mess appears to have unlocked a new talent in Joe. I wonder if it disappears after the machines are turned off.

I'm surprised they could take over Junie with her altered DNA. I didn't expect that.

I also see the beginnings for Rogue Team. The group is basically gone rogue right now :D

Hopefully Joe will mess up the machinery in time to save Toys/Hu/Bunny/Top/etc. since they're all in messed up situations right now.

This is an exciting ending. I have no idea if I hope that the DMS reforms or what lol

Kill Switch is finished. I called it! Joe did see Prospero in his dream walk and then met him again for real. I like how it's left ambiguous as to what happens to the kid. In the beginning I thought the kid made up the whole "I'm not human" thing as a way to cope with his shitty childhood but he isn't entirely human is he. As much as I was hoping he'd get to meet Junie first so he could have one pleasant experience in his life, I think they just let him go dimension hopping. Perhaps we'll find out in a future book.

Whew, Joe is restored! I guess the best the dream walkers could do was block his worst killer instincts.

I admit some sadness over Hu. I think Joe might have had some psychic-ness turned on during his encounter with the God Machine as it sounds like he saw Hu's soul leaving.

I really enjoyed seeing the alternate realities Joe visited. It shows how it could tie into/spawn off those other series that are alt-universe Joe :D Perhaps I'll go read them one day.

I'm also so glad that Church gave them all a paid vacation. They all needed to relax. I hope Bunny, Top and the others can recover for whatever comes next because I'm sure it's going to be a doozy.

This is easily my favorite of the series so far. I'm really looking forward to cycling back to Joe next month.

In the mean time, it will be Starry Hollow Witches 2, Magic & Mystery. Something light and fluffy sounds nice about now.

I'm still on the fence about The Baker's Boy. I finished Ch 1 and started Ch 2 The whole wanting to chop off the boar's balls and parade them around (yes really) was just weird. Then there's a time jump of 5 years and Baralis mentioned needing to stop a pregnancy in the queen? Did he murder his own unborn child?? It wasn't specific and no mention of a 5 year old heir yet.

Has anyone else read this? Does it get better? Was it all for initial shock value or does the general ick-ness stick around?

>124 Narilka: I read it a long time ago and even at the time, I didn't find it very memorable. My review for book 2 even says that, basically. Decent writing, decent characters, not very memorable. I probably gave it too high of a rating. As for the ick factor, I don't recall, unfortunately.

>125 Karlstar: Hmm. I agree that Jones' writing is decent. The book does flow. It's just that in a world of Geoffries I need a couple Starks to balance it out :) I think I'm going to pause and try out Joust instead.

>124 Narilka: I read the trilogy and found it a bizarre mix of grimdark sadism and classic fantasy tropes. The ickiness persists throughout the trilogy, but there are some good and heroic characters in the mix. There's also frequent "humour" in the dialogues of the two guards, Bodger and Grift, if that is to your taste (it wasn't to mine).

>127 Sakerfalcon: Thanks for this. I'll think it over before deciding if I'm going to DNF. I will at least go back and finish Ch 2 before deciding. But not yet :)

I am finding Joust intriguing. Part way through Ch 3 Whew, it's not rapey!

I find the difference between a slave and a serf very interesting. It took some mental adjusting to thinking that the serf belongs with the plot of land and can't be sold/freed without selling the land. And i guess they can never be free in this set up? Sad.

Luckily Vetch is "rescued" to be a dragon's boy to take care of the dragon and its rider. Learning about his new life and duties has been interesting. Thankfully he's treated much much better now.

Magic & Mystery This is the perfect break :) That New Joisey accent already has me laughing. About half way through Ch 3 The fact that someone is turning the town's most eligible bachelors into frogs is really funny LOL I'm glad that the head of family has directed the newspaper to investigate since werewolves only "track meat" hahaha That poor sheriff, no respect.

That's a very interesting magical aptitude test for Ember. It's going to be fun to see how she unlocks her magical gifts throughout the series. And to find out which ones her daughter has inherited.

I finished Magic & Mystery. It's a nice, fluffy mystery. Review below that summarizes my thoughts well.

I haven't felt like reading much the past few days. I did start You Are Summoned today on audio though I only finished Ch 2. I like that the cover has happened already and seems to sum up the book's premise well - an average guy from our world randomly gets summoned into a fantasy world as a minion of sorts and when the summoning is over is returned to his originating world. I have no idea where this will go but it's an interesting idea.

Joust Through Ch 7 It's taken me a while but I finally get the Egyptian inspiration. That's really cool. I don't remember the last time I read something inspired by ancient Egypt.

It's really nice that Ari is spending time to get to know/befriend Vetch. Vetch hasn't really had anyone since becoming a serf so hopefully this will help. It also seems the dragon really likes him too.

I have to admit that the administrator out outmaneuvering Kefti was satisfying.

Joust Half way through Ch 10 For some reason I keep expecting the dragon and Vetch to start communicating telepathically and yet I don't think that's going to happen lol Wish my brain would let the idea go.

The whole rescue of the falling jouster was spectacular. I feel bad for his dragon, she was mistreated. Good for Vetch for taking the opportunity as it happened. I'm sure he gets his egg and will hand raise his own dragon.

You Are Summoned through Ch 13 I'm glad the calibration summons are done. Now the MC can really learn about this system he's stuck with. If I did the math right, he should be about half way to his first level, however that works.

This whole set up would be very frustrating. If you're only gone from our world for a minute each time, that would still be too much since you can't control when/where you're summoned at all. I hope he gets some longer summons soon as a whole book of really short summons will get old quickly.

You Are Summoned through Ch 42. The real world stuff is taking off. The summoning parts are interesting too though the summonses are still pretty short.

It's very interesting that Rico can buy an item that will stop the summons entirely but Minerva doesn't think he'll do it when he has the money. I'm not sure I'd want to live 1000s of years with constantly being summoned, never mind the real world headache that would cause. Though with that much time, Rico should figure something out to look less suspicious to government, both for giving himself a more plausible income stream and the longevity.

I do like that the author is giving Rico realistic reactions to things. The explanation for why all this isn't so traumatic is a good one. I like that he has to actually work out on Earth to improve himself for being summoned.

You Are Summoned through Ch 57 I like that Rico has that contract so he has a much longer summoning. It's nice to actually spend time with some of the other characters.

This author sure has a type of names for gnomes lol Just like in Cat Core it was Fitzizzle Fizzlefitz or something hah At first I was wondering if there was a mini cross over but I don't think so. It doesn't seem to be Florence's universe.

Joust has been such a slow read that I started my next Discworld in an attempt to get me to speed back up again. So you can expect some Hat Full of Sky updates soon too.

Through Ch 13 Vetch's devotion to the newborn dragon is so touching. I love everything about it. I guess it's lucky that everyone is bringing in new dragonettes as it should make it easier for him to hid her in the general chaos. I really hope Vetch tells Ari as I think Ari would be OK with it and it would make things easier.

I finished You Are Summoned. That was an interesting choice of the author for that ending. I think that ending with all the leveling updates and what not kind of spoiled the excitement of his last summon. I wish that had been the opener for the second book instead as I'm more open to lots of exposition at the start of stories vs the end.

It was also an interesting shift in tone as we go from the short summonings to the very long, almost epic war scenario. Even though I liked being with one summoning for longer, I don't really feel that attached to any of the characters.

The book went more meta than I expected with Rico choosing a summoning class while also being a summoned creature himself.

I can see this series being sort of frustrating over all. Since Rico is summoned and exits on death or the exact terms of his summoning agreement being met, you don't really get to find out what happens after of any of the situations. Since he has that bidirectional agreement with the gnome I assume we will find out via conversations in future books the aftermath of their war. The set up for some real world shenanigans going on all went out the window the second half of the book due to the extended summons.

Overall, interesting concept for a series. I'm glad I tried it though I'm in no rush continue.

Next up I was going to continue Joe Ledger but then I noticed that the audio for DCC 8 releases on Tuesday. So two days of podcasts and I'll be starting A Parade of Horribles next :D

A Hat Full of Sky Tiffany goes on an apprenticeship of sorts. Through Ch 7 The Feagles masquerading as a "man" to travel was hilarious.

I forgot this one was on the serious side. Seemed they might have killed one of Miss Level. Or that's what was implied.

Miss Level's backstory of being in the circus was pretty great. What a way to hid her unique circumstances.

Kind of funny that the hiver is basically playing out Tiffany as an angry, entitled teenager.

I wrote a review for You Are Summoned.

>138 Narilka: This series (within a series) is so awesome! I'm glad you are enjoying it the second time around.

A Parade of Horribles Started! Through ch 8 The full recap by Samantha was both funny and sad. Being in her head explains a lot of how she acts. I hope we get an answer to why her memories/mind do that. Is it self protection to prevent a really bad memory or something imposed externally?

That snake lady has some balls with her legal trickery. And Donut just ripped them off and handed them back to her LOL There is no way she's going to last long. Either a hitman will get through or Donut with some help (Quasar maybe? Princess Posse?) will figure out some legal loophole.

These races are already fucked up. Talk about no time to figure anything out. Thank you Prepotente!

I can't wait for them to get to a safe room and see their new loot and stuff.

I have really missed Jeff Hays narration.

I finished A Hatful of Sky. That was highly enjoyable. Very philosophical, all the commentary about everything being story. It's very true when you really think about it.

Tiffany has really grown in this one. She is going to be one hell of a witch. I think I enjoyed this even more on reread than my first time through.

Review below. Now that I have some momentum I'm going to try and finish off Joust.

A Parade of Horribles Through Ch 11 I think the AI is becoming more unhinged the more it gets introspective. That's so weird. I think it's dropping hints for the future, though if it's this book or the end game... RAFO!

Those loot box and reward descriptions though LOL Everything I'd hoped for :)

Mordecai said not to pay attention to the weird prophecy he just spewed for Carl and Donut. I'm thinking it's going to end up being important but will I remember it at all by the end??

>143 Narilka: I’m only on the fourth one of the series so I haven’t read the spoilers. I started the series in January and am really enjoying it.

>144 catzteach: It just gets better and better :) You'll be introduced to one of my favorite characters in book 4. Enjoy!

A Parade of Horribles I've just started race 2 this morning. Half way through Ch 18 Donut giving Prepotente advice was so touching. Poor Pony. I hope he does ask Donut for advice on the social side of things more. It's nice to see them bond.

Through Ch 29. WTF just happened??? That was one hell of a tv appearance. OMG. I need a physical copy so I can easily flip back to stuff lol I almost want to relisten to that whole chapter again. Carl just caused a bombshell of information to be revealed.

>144 catzteach: I almost forgot! If you can do audio books, the narrator for these is one of the best I've heard. I love his performances :) Let me know when you hit "the scene" in book 5 and I'll send you a YT video ;) You'll know when you get there.

A Parade of Horribles Through Ch 38. Carl switching to "worship" Eris makes a lot of sense, even without all her threats and potential rewards. He causes so much chaos wherever he goes he's basically accidentally spreading her, um, religion? (does that word really qualify here? I don't think so but can't think of anything better) anyway. It sounds like she has the potential to restore Earth in its entirety. This will be interesting. Of those 4 options, Carl being "de-feeted" is probably the best considering no one dies and they have pretty great prosthetic limbs. Though I doubt the AI would let it happen.

That war mage really had no idea what he was getting into by asking the crawlers for help LOL I almost feel bad for the guy but... nope :D I do like how the author took a little short story he wrote for the hardbacks, the Pineapple Cabaret, and is making it into something bigger for the whole series. Time to actually go read those. I keep meaning to and keep forgetting.

And yet another possible hint about Samantha/the Scavenger.

We got a sneak peek at floor 11, seems like this will be a 2 floor book. I wasn't expecting that though if this is going to be a 10 book series, something had to be done for that.

So how is the AI "feeding" itself so it can expand so fast?

My hubby picked up a hardback copy for me while he was out yesterday. I can now go back and forth to my hearts content :)

>147 Narilka: aw, how sweet.

>148 fuzzi: Yeah, I guess he can stay ;)

A Parade of Horribles through Ch 49 WTF! Just running over the mercs is NOT OK. And I don't think that Carl getting upset and wanting instant justice was entirely uncalled for. I know those NPCs are all trash talk and weren't in Faction Wars but man Carl is one of the few people fighting for the npcs as well as the crawlers. I get the anger.

Did I miss something? Has someone explained why the pig is important or is that not revealed yet?

Their solution to the driver situation absolutely makes sense in hindsight. I can't believe I didn't think of it lol Donut's certainly used that spell before, multiple times.

It's nice that the teams are crossing over to various tracks and can sort of work together.

Public Service Announcement: Ch 57 is pure awesome and is now mandatory listening for anyone who reads this book. Even if you go traditional or kindle, do yourself a favor and find an audio version of Ch 57.

Through Ch 63 All these races are exhausting. I'm glad this isn't the whole book. There has already been mention of floor 11.... Though as insane as the races are, the real story is everything that happens between the races and all the stuff in the wider galaxy.

OMG, I think the thing they did with Li Na worked!!! They can get people out of the damn game!!!!!!!! ALL THE EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!!! I AM YELLING CARL!

I keep hoping to get an update on Katya and whatever is going on with that wife of Carl's at some point. I really hope Quasar and the Princess Posse are working their magic.

A Parade of Horribles Through Ch 72 That ended up being a sweet and sad romance for Dong and the mantaur. At least they went out in style. Even Grull approved.

I love how they totally took apart the fan guy's scheme to kill Imani lol "Everyone in the universe knows but you" or words to that effect.

I really, really hope getting everyone to the Cabaret is going to be OK in the end. Stupid AI is making me doubt.

Why do I get the feeling that Carl's plan to split the party is a Very Bad Idea. Or at least very stupid. Don't split the party Carl! Even temporarily!

I can't wait until we see what Samantha's done to Carls bedroom lol Oh lord. A swing?

I finished Joust a few days ago. I really enjoyed that ending but oh boy was this book slow. I really wish Vetch had trusted Ari sooner. It all worked out really well though. I can see why a friend called this book cozy as it doesn't seem like there is any real danger to Vetch or his dragon. The story is a slice of life fantasy focused on the care and feeding of dragons and their Jousters from the point of view of a dragon boy. There are larger political events happening in the world, and Vetch's early life is grim, but the story doesn't dwell on either of those for long.

Anyway, I sort of want to continue the books, as I would like to know how things go for them since their escape to Alta. I don't own any other books in the series so may look to do that this coming fall or winter.

I had started The Phoenix Transformed as my next book and I'm having trouble getting into it. It's just like the first chapter of the previous book. The prologue is a great recap and then Ch 1 is all about desert people we've never met before and don't care about (the first POV already dies) and then lots of Bisochim remembering events of the last book even though we just had a recap. I guess it makes it easier to skim but I don't find it engaging. I'm debating going back to a Discworld for some reading momentum as that worked well last time.

The Phoenix Transformed through Ch 2. It's not all bad. So Bisochim brings back the big bad and instantly regrets it. I bet he joins up with team Good Guys at some point.

At least in Ch 2 the boys don't spend too much time ruminating over the last book. I like that Harrier is bullying Tyr into getting his act together because they need to get going. I know Tyr suffered quite a loss but evil doesn't wait. Pretty sure Ancaladar will be found/return by the end.

>152 Narilka: I liked Joust, and book 2, not picked up 3 yet.

>154 fuzzi: It's good to hear that book 2 holds up.

A Parade of Horribles Through Ch 87/End of Part 1 Wow. That was one hell of an emotional roller coaster. Talk about dipping into the horror side of things. As insane and sadistic as the AI seems, I think it's still on the Crawlers side. I just gave Carl some Really Big Hints. I hope so because I suspect it's going to need their help to deal with shit going on outside the planet. If everyone lives that long.

It is a relief and sad that so many escaped. The number of Crawlers is getting so small that anyone else who dies is going to be impactful. I really hope we get to catch up with those who exited before the series ends.

It's so sweet that Imani and Chris finally had their moment. I'm glad Louis is getting out. Not sad for Samantha, she'll find someone else to annoy lol

I finished A Parade of Horribles. I feel wrung out. That beautiful bastard did it. Carl broke the dungeon :)

So the AI used the parade to convey it's feelings about what it knows about itself and what happened to its species. That was interesting.

So many freaking reveals. So much info. It's going to take a reread to let it all sink in.

Pony's secret skit was awesome :)

I still can't believe that Carl summoned Scolopendra and how they dealt with her. Emberus is smushed. The gods are really running amok. The AI has no idea what's going on in its dungeon, sort of, and is spreading. You know, I kind of like the idea of the universe being controlled by the AI and not the mega corporations. Louis and others ended up in Sheol?? WTF! Seems like the people on earth might be the safest ones in the galaxy right now with those in the dungeon a close second, even with its death trap floors. I hope we get an update on Quasar & Katya. I would not be surprised to find out that other orc sister that was dumped in an ocean managed to swim ashore.

Umm. The Scolopendra Club (Floor 18?) was literally inside Scolopendra. Is that still active now that she's a crawler and no longer a boss mob?

Book 5 is still my favorite. Book 7 and this one are neck and neck for second place.

I'm taking an audio break for a day or two. Book hangover!

I opted to start The Wizard's Butler for my next audio. Something cozy sounded nice after the chaos of DCC. This is a reread as the second book releases on audio next month. Half way through Ch 6. It is a joy being back at Shackleford House. Ahh, poor Mulligan! Trying to work out what's really going on. Lucky guy :) It seems service suits him well. Plus Mr Shackleford can use someone who puts him above his money unlike his niece.

The descriptions of the house are to die for. That place would be amazing to tour like a museum.

The Phoenix Transformed ch 3. Harrier has FINALLY decided to embrace being a wild mage. It's very sweet that he's helping herd all the escaped animals after that storm.

I don't know what it is about this series but when I read it before bed it puts me to sleep in like two pages lol

To help keep my reading momentum going, I started Going Postal. I forgot it had chapters! That makes tracking progress much easier. Through Ch 3 Moist von Lipwig is quite a name for a character. I could only imagine how he'd be teased. I do love a well done con/heist story. Just who is pulling the con though? It seems Ventinari might have gotten one over on Moist ;)

I'm almost caught up to where I stopped in the series the first time through.

>158 Narilka: Thanks for the heads-up about the sequel. This is one of the books I borrowed via Prime Reading and absolutely loved. It's often hit or miss with those. Revisiting it via audio is an excellent idea.

>161 clamairy: I hope you get a chance to :) The sequel is out in ebook and print already. It's just waiting for the audio release.

Going Postal Through ch 6 OMG When Moist realizes that making stamps is like printing money LOL I wonder if that was an inspiration for the second Moist book.

It's nice how his past cons have made him uniquely qualified for this job. Err, sort of haha

>159 Narilka: This is not a good recommendation! :) "I don't know what it is about this series but when I read it before bed it puts me to sleep in like two pages lol"

>164 Karlstar: It's a great recommendation as a soporific!

>165 clamairy: Exactly my thought lol

The Wizard's Butler Through Ch 16 Even knowing how this ends, it makes me sad every time Shackleford has an episode. Dementia is such an awful disease.

This is such a smooth and easy listen, so very cozy. I'm glad I opted for a reread ahead of the second book.

Going Postal An interesting note on chapters. It goes 6 >7 quondame: >7A >9 jillmwo:. Apparently there's a superstition around the number 8 in Discworld. Probably due to the 8th color of magic. That's as lovely tie back to the very first book :)

Anyway, through Ch 11 Moist is having so much fun running the con of his life lol And it's all legal. Not even burning the place down can stop him! Of course he had to get the front page photo of him rescuing the cat. It was practically a job requirement!

Not a lot of deep philosophy in this one though it gets touched on with that one golem that dies.

It is a very interesting examination on government functions and business though.

>168 Narilka: Good catch on the chapter numbers. Prachett often presents his books in chapter free form, which has lead me to even later night reading than is my wont.

I finished The Wizard's Butler this morning. It was a satisfying read. I'm glad it's not a long wait for the Cat. Review below.

>170 Narilka: added to my Wishlist, to be read.

>170 Narilka:. I read that one with a book group in the early part of last year. It led to an interesting conversation with the group over the importance of food in the story. I think the next one is now out with the title of The Wizard's Cat.

>171 fuzzi: Yay! I hope you enjoy it when you try it.

>172 jillmwo: Yep. I'm waiting for the audio book, which releases next month. There will be catly shenanigans soon!

I finished Going Postal. Two books in one day! That was a lot of fun. I have definitely worked at companies that had a Reacher Gilt in their senior management. Oy. All that nonsense about synergies and stuff.

I had completely forgotten what Moist did to "win." It all worked out really well.

I'm surprised that Gilt took the door to "freedom." I'd forgotten that too. I wonder if that also ties in to Moist's next book.

Review below. I'm going to see if I can push through that Mercedes Lackey book now with some extra momentum. I'll also be starting a new thread since this one has gotten long.

Before I start a new threads, here are some quotes I enjoyed from Going Postal.

Steal five dollars and you're a common thief. Steal thousands and you're either the government or a hero.

People flock in, nevertheless, in search of answers to those questions only librarians are considered to be able to answer, such as "Is this the laundry?" "How do you spell surreptitious?" and, on a regular basis, "Do you have a book I remember reading once? It had a red cover and it turned out they were twins."

Sometimes the truth is arrived at by adding all the little lies together and deducting them from the totality of what is known.

Never promise to do the possible. Anyone could do the possible. You should promise to do the impossible, because sometimes the impossible was possible, if you could find the right way, and at least you could often extend the limits of the possible. And if you failed, well, it had been impossible.

>175 Narilka: Excellent, and I love the review in >174 Narilka:.

>176 clamairy: :)