Rob

Executive Summary: I loved this book. It's everything I had hoped [b:Fool's Assassin 19288321 Fool's Assassin (The Fitz and the Fool, #1) Robin Hobb https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1393886110s/19288321.jpg 26474462] would have been. There are a things I didn't like, that will understandably be much more off putting for some than they were for me however.Audio book: Elliot Hill once again does an excellent job. He does a variety of voices and inflections that make doing this book in audio a good option.Full ReviewI absolutely loved [b:Fool's Fate 45108 Fool's Fate (Tawny Man, #3) Robin Hobb https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388181998s/45108.jpg 2960725]. I'd have been perfectly content if the series ended there. Last year's [b:Fool's Assassin 19288321 Fool's Assassin (The Fitz and the Fool, #1) Robin Hobb https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1393886110s/19288321.jpg 26474462] was enjoyable, but not as much as I'd have liked. It left me apprehensive for this book. I shouldn't have been. That isn't to say bad things don't happen to our beloved Fitz. Any fan of the Ederling books won't be surprised by that. Ms. Hobb sure loves to torment Fitz, though probably not as much as he torments himself.This book grabbed me from the start, and never let me go. I hated every time I had to stop listening. In fact once my hardcover copy arrived, I augmented my audio time by reading as well.For reasons I can't fathom, many people seem to skip the excellent Liveship Traders series and more have skipped the quite enjoyable Rainwild Chronicles. While I wouldn't call it a prerequisites for this book, I would highly recommend reading those books first. There are so many great rewards in the book for people who have. If you haven't, I doubt you'll be lost, but you won't get the same enjoyment in my opinion.It's pretty much impossible for me to get into why I loved this book more than the last one without massive spoilers. I suspect most longtime fans will share my excitement however.That said, despite getting one of my rare 5 star ratings (this is only the second book by Ms. Hobb I've given that too), there are some complaints. Or maybe not complaints so much as things I wish weren't in this book. I found them very upsetting. I'd have preferred some kind of alternative reason used to drive the plot forward. I suspect some people may be more upset than I was, and others may be more indifferent.Overall though, those were very minor things to me in an absolutely fantastic book. I will warn that if you hate cliffhangers, you may wish to avoid reading this book until we're much closer to the release of the next book. It is a pretty big one. With it being the second book of a trilogy, and how the first book ended, I can't say I'm very surprised.Much like the last one, I am both nervous and excited to read the next one and see what Ms. Hobb has in store.

Executive Summary: I thought this was another decent entry to this series where I care more about the world building than the main character and his story.Audiobook: James Clamp does a good job. He reads with good volume and pace. He also does some voices, that adds a little extra that makes audio a great options for this book.Full ReviewThis series has a very unlikeable protagonist. I don't dislike him as much as many do. Mostly I find myself a bit uninterested, which is probably worse. Love him or hate him, the author is doing his job and making you feel something. Don't really care? That's less good.There are times when it appears that Jorg is completely awful only that have it dragged back, or turns out to be his reputation preceding him. Don't get me wrong, he's an awful person. He's just not maybe always as awful as his reputation. Sometimes he's worse.I found it kind of amusing the presumed antagonist for this book is essentially your typical fantasy hero. He's got good intentions, everyone loves him, and he's destined to save the world. So of course Jorg has to oppose him.Much like the first book, I cared more about the world building than anything else. We get some detail on the “magic” but far too hand wavy for my tastes. I am fascinated to know what happened to the builders and I always get excited when there is some old tech found/used.Overall this book was fine, and I moved right onto the third and final one, but I still think his new series (starting with [b:Red Sister 25895524 Red Sister (Book of the Ancestor, #1) Mark Lawrence https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1481038440s/25895524.jpg 45777900]) absolutely blows this one out of the water and would recommend that instead.

Executive Summary: Not as good as [b:The Heroes 9300768 The Heroes Joe Abercrombie https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1375671200s/9300768.jpg 12879765], but still quite enjoyable.Audio book: So in the US Steven Pacey reads the original First Law trilogy, but not the first two stand alone novels. Since I read the trilogy, this is the first time I've had him as a narrator. Now I wish I had listened to the trilogy. Mr. Pacey is excellent. I wish he was the narrator for The Heroes as well. I will definitely be on the look out for other books he narrates in the future.Full ReviewSo this book is almost impossible to review without spoilers, but I'm going to try. It's probably going to be a bit on the short side as a result.This book (like all of his in this world) has excellent characters. That's what makes Mr. Abercrombie's novels so enjoyable. They aren't necessarily likable characters, but they are definitely memorable.This book like the last two stand alone novels has a great mix of new characters with appearances of some old “favorites”. I'll refrain from naming which characters show up, and simply talk about the new ones a bit.Shy is pretty enjoyable character. I actually ran into her before in a short story in [b:Dangerous Women 17279560 Dangerous Women George R.R. Martin https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1370759802s/17279560.jpg 19236677]. Lamb is pretty awesome, especially later in the book. Meanwhile I went back and forth on Temple. I found him very annoying early on, and less so later on.For anyone whose watched Yojimbo (or more likely its unlicensed western remake: A Fistful of Dollars), there is a bit of that feel here. Thankfully this is not a retelling of that story, but likely a nod from Mr. Abercrombie.I found the book a little slow in places. But it was also really awesome in other places that made up for it well.Anyone who was a fan of the series so far, should enjoy this one as well.

Executive Summary: A strong start and a pretty strong finish, but I found a lot of the last quarter or so on the slow side. This is a pretty solid 3.5 stars that could be rounded up or down depending on my mood at the time.Audiobook: Apparently this book had been released in audio before, but for some reason Brilliance Audio seems to be (re)releasing a bunch of his books recently. Scott Brick does his usual quality job. Whenever you see Mr. Brick's name on an audiobook, you know you're going to get a good reading. Full ReviewI came into this book thinking it was a reread. I did a handful of books by Mr. Crichton when I was in high school, and I thought this was among them. As I got further into the book, I became convinced otherwise.I found the beginning very interesting. A psychologist is brought in to help with a crash that turns out to be a spaceship on the bottom of the ocean. I liked the mystery and investigation aspect of the story, more than the viewpoint of the main character itself though.As the plot develops and we learn more about not only the ship, but the sphere it contains, I found my mind starting to wander. I didn't get attached to any of the characters. I found myself annoyed by most of the scientists. Several of them seemed to be more concerned about being published and/or their place in history than the actual investigation itself. I've always been more of an engineer than a scientist, but I don't know why anyone would want to deal with that.As with the other Michael Crichton books I've read, this one takes science and posits some plausible seeming possibilities. He always seemed to have a knack for the techno-thriller in a way that doesn't feel cheesy and over the top.I'm not sure if I was disappointed with the truth of the Sphere, or if my detatchment from the characters just got to me, but by about the 50% mark, I found my mind starting to wander a bit. The ending was pretty strong though, and probably saved it from me rounding down to a three.I've been wanting to take a break from SFF this year, and while this is definitely still in the Sci-Fi wheelhouse, it's more of a thriller with a sci-fi premise than a pure science fiction book. I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as [b:Timeline 7669 Timeline Michael Crichton https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1405420745s/7669.jpg 1525987] or [b:Jurassic Park 6424171 Jurassic Park Michael Crichton https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1344371661s/6424171.jpg 3376836], but I'm glad I finally read it.

Executive Summary: It almost felt like two different books, but I generally enjoyed both of them. I can understand why a lot of people don't however.

Audio book: Mark Bramhall is excellent. This is my first time encountering him, but he's definitely on my short list of great narrators. He does voices and has great inflections when he reads, making me really glad I opted to go the audiobook route despite also owning the ebook.

Full Review
I love the magic school trope. I can't seem to get enough of it. About all I knew coming in was this book had to do with a magic college, and that many people didn't like the protagonist.

I guess I should have read the description. I tend to avoid it though because too many of them seem to provide too much detail about the plot. Really this could be two books.

The first half is totally the magic school trope I was hoping for. The second half is more “traditional” fantasy. I would definitely have liked more of the school. More detail about the magic, the school, etc. What there was I enjoyed however.

Then the book took a turn. The protagonist I was kind of indifferent towards, but was far from hating suddenly became extremely unlikable. And so did the plot. It really makes me wonder a bit about Mr. Grossman. Maybe he could use a hug?

Things got REALLY depressing. If I wasn't doing this in audio, I might have put it down. I'm glad I didn't though. Thankfully this sort middle transition period was fairly short and the second half picked up.

The second half feels like an homage to The Chronicles of Narnia. I know I read some of them when I was a kid, but I was never enamored with them the way Quentin is with Fillory.

I found this second half good, though not as much as the first half. Part of that was how generally unlikable Quentin becomes. I still don't really get why Mr. Grossman felt the need to do do that. Some sense or reality? The popularity of dark fantasy?

I don't need everything to be shiny and happy, but it wasn't even like Quinton is someone you love to hate, or some kind of lovable anti-hero. Really he just depressed me a lot. This book could really stand to be a whole hell of a lot less depressing.

There is a great story here, but it gets bogged down in places that will likely turn many people away from it. For me it was enough to jump right into the second book, which seems to be largely better received than this one is.

Executive Summary: I found this book good at times, and tedious at others. It rounded out to be a so-so thriller overall.

Audiobook: Much like the other Clancy books he's narrated, Michael Prichard does a fine job, but nothing spectacular. He speaks clearly and with good volume. He doesn't add anything extra to the story nor does he detract from it. Audio is a decent option here.

Full Review
This book is largely split into two parts: Military/CIA thriller, and domestic vigilante action crime drama. I much preferred the former to the latter.

The beginning of this book was a drag. I guess it was meant to give you sympathy to John Clark's one-man crusade, but I mostly just found it soured me on the whole subplot. I guess it's important to explaining how John Kelly became John Clark, but if anything it made me less interested in his origin story.

The parts of this book I enjoyed most were the parts where John was acting as John Clark. The planning and execution of a dangerous and daring mission where his expertise is the make or break point for success or failure. That was what I picked this book up for.

Part of my issue may be the timing. I had just finished another Tom Clancy book not that long ago, and probably wasn't ready for a second so soon, but my hold came in from the library so I decided to go ahead anyways.

At this point, I'll be taking a break from Clancy for awhile. We'll see if I'm the mood again in a few months.

Executive Summary: There is not much I can say about this book without getting into spoilers, or making statements that may lead people to guess at their meaning. What I can say is much like Ms. Hobb's previous works, this book made me feel. A lot. Audiobook: Elliot Hill is a pretty good narrator. He can be a bit soft spoken however. And he's not great at female voices. I rather wish he didn't try. Still it's more good than bad, and I do think he adds something to the narration that makes the audio worthwhile. If you liked him in the previous books, you should like him here.Full ReviewThis book was difficult for me to rate. I don't give out 5 stars easily, and normally when I do it's a no-brainer. This one not so much. The book has some pacing issues, especially early on. I have no idea of the final page count, but in audio it's nearly 40 hours long. Ms. Hobb's books have always been on the slower side, but there were points in this book where it was a bit too much. That's only a minor gripe though.FitzChivarly Farseer is one of the most real character I ever read. When this series was announced I was both excited and nervous to get to spend more time with him. What terrible things would Ms. Hobb do to him this time? She has really put him through the ringer over the years. However my desire to spend time with him again outweighed my fear.When the series started, I was not happy about the addition of Bee's chapters. At its conclusion, I'm still a bit torn on them, but I think the story could not have been told otherwise. I think part of me was just irritated to have to spend any time in the book away from Fitz. In addition to Fitz, it was really great to see some old friends again, some of whom I never expected to see.This book like [b:Fool's Quest 23157777 Fool's Quest (The Fitz and The Fool, #2) Robin Hobb https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1420496252s/23157777.jpg 42704733] before it, rewards those who have read the entire Elderlings series, not just the Fitz books. If you haven't read Liveship Traders and Rainwild Chronicles, I highly recommend you do so first. There is so much that'll you be missing if you don't.There isn't much else I can say without getting into spoilers beyond this: Ms. Hobb has an incredible ability to make feel strong emotions for fictional characters. Joy, anger, love, hate, cheer, sorrow. I feel so much that I'm drained. Few books do that to me, but hers seem to do it all the time, especially the Fitz books. It is for this reason I decided to give this 5 stars instead of 4.Prepare yourself for an emotional journey. I hope you'll find it as worth it as I did.

Executive Summary: This book just isn't for me I guess.

Audiobook: John Lee is great. I've enjoyed him for several Sci-Fi books. He's probably the main thing that kept me going. If I was reading this instead of listening, I'm not sure I would have made it to the end.

Full Review
I've seen several adaptations of this book in movie or TV form. I recall enjoying those. Maybe I'm wrong? I thought this would be a fun break from SFF books.

Boy was I wrong. There is probably a decent story in here, it's just bogged down by lots of boring dialogue, unlikeable characters and awful pacing.

I found d'Artagnan and the musketeers downright despicable much of the time. They think of themselves as noble, all while aspiring to seduce other men's wives and spend their money. Milady and the Cardinal both felt cartoonish as villains.

I've honestly already spent more time on this book than I'd like, so I'm going to end my review here. Needless to say, this book just wasn't for me.

Executive Summary: This book was pretty enjoyable, but there were parts I found slow. Overall it felt like a pretty balanced biography offering both pro and anti Musk opinions on his success and failures.

Audiobook: Fred Sanders does a good job here. Unlike a fiction book, my main thing from the narrator I want is clearly spoken and good inflection. It can be very easy for the narrator to get in the way of a nonfiction book, and thankfully Mr. Sanders doesn't do that here. Audio is definitely a decent option for this book.

Full Review
I've always been interesting in knowing more about Elon Musk, Tesla and SpaceX. This book proved to be a good resource for that. It's grown a little dated now, especially on the SpaceX front as things are getting very interesting for SpaceX since its publication. I'd love to see an update on both companies in another 3-5 years time.

The similarities of Musk and Steve Jobs are quite startling to me. The author discusses it, and outlines why he feels they are quite different, but I'm not sure I agree.

Musk seems a bit more likeable, but it could simply be that he cares more about his public image than Jobs did. Both seems to be polarizing in that some love them and many hate them. The amount of credit they get also seems to be higher than each deserved too. However I feel that you can't argue that their respective companies wouldn't have been nearly as successful without them.

Even if you don't think Musk offered anything on the technical side of things, his belief in both companies and his willingness to stake so much of his own money on both pushed them through the time periods where either company would have easily failed if owned by someone else.

I was less interested in Mr. Musk's personal life and upbringing, so I found those parts a bit slow. However I think their inclusion is important to the book to get a better understanding of who Elon Musk is, and what drives him.

Overall I thought this was a pretty good book. I've been following both Tesla and SpaceX for a few years, and I'll continue to do so for the foreseeable future. I hope both companies continue to be successful, because I feel like science has always been one of the strengths of America, and it's been something we seem to be taking for granted lately.

Executive Summary: Another great entry in this series. Can't wait for [b:Apex 20424928 Apex (Nexus, #3) Ramez Naam https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1422812013s/20424928.jpg 30020583]!Audio book: I'm was bummed that [a:Luke Daniels 2978188 Luke Daniels https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1331514576p2/2978188.jpg] didn't read this one. But that's not meant as a slight against Mikael Naramore. What it really means is that Mr. Naramore had extra work to do in order for me to be happy. I'm pleased to report he does a good job. Fairly early on, I was over the fact of the narrator change. In fact if he had been the narrator for the first book, I'd have no reason to complain. It's my first time listening to a book read by him. He does a good job with voices and inflection to make the audio book a good option to do this book in my opinion.Full ReviewI wish there were more books like this. I'm not a big sci-fi reader, but this sort of near-future plausible technology books. The only other author I know writing this sort of thing is [a:Daniel Suarez 1956402 Daniel Suarez https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1265394868p2/1956402.jpg], and his last few books Much like the first book, for me the large part of my enjoyment stems from thinking about the ideas presented here. It's one of those rare books that I keep thinking about even when I'm not reading it.This book does a pretty good job further exploring the ideas introduced in the first book and setting the stage for the final book while managing not to suffer from “middle book syndrome”.The characters are once again interesting and conflicted. The ideas presented here are not black and white. That's largely the reason I think this book sticks with you even after you put it down.I like that despite the fact that there are some pretty scary things that could occur if such a thing were possible, Mr. Naam makes it a point to explore some of the positive as well. That more the feasibility of the technology makes this book feel more realistic. There are good people out there. I'd like to hope more good than bad. People would use this technology for the betterment of humanity just as they would use it as a means to gain power, wealth or any other thing they might desire.Much like the last book, my main complaint is that the negative side effects of the drug seemed to be mostly ignored in favor of abuses it allows humanity to do to one another. He does explore the addiction aspect a little bit. However that seems to be something that the drug/technology enables you to do, rather than an effect of its use.Overall this is as enjoyable as the first. I hate to use a term like “more of the same” because that has a negative connotation to it. Personally I'd love a lot more of this type of story and eagerly look forward to reading [b:Apex 20424928 Apex (Nexus, #3) Ramez Naam https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1422812013s/20424928.jpg 30020583] this week. I'm so eager to read it in fact, that I'll be foregoing my preferred audio format in favor of the eBook due to the complete lack of information on it's release.

Executive Summary: Overall I enjoyed this stand-alone novel more than the First Law books themselves, despite the lack of likable characters. It's Kill Bill meets Ocean's 11 in a medieval setting.

Audio book: I believe this is the first audio book I've listened to narrated by Michael Page. I think he does a pretty good job. He is clear and easy to understand. He does a variety of accents and voices. I would definitely listen to another book read by him.

Full Review
I enjoy Mr. Abercrombie's writing quite a bit. But it's rather bleak. This book has only despicable characters.

First, we have the protagonist, a former mercenary bent of revenge.

Then we're got her assortment of “friends”:

- A ‘master' poisoner and his assistant

- A Northern Barbarian whose best skill is killing.

- A serial killer with an obsession for numbers. Rain Man he's not.

- Another mercenary whose loyalties are fluid based on whose paying the most.

- And a “retired” torturer

You know it's a bad sign when the most likable character is probably the serial killer.

That doesn't mean the characters are badly written. They are certainly quite entertaining too. Nicomo Cosca is especially amusing. But with no one really being likable to me, I wasn't sure what/who I was routing for by the end.

That sort of makes it a weird book to me. Typically even if the main character is “bad” they have some redeeming qualities or something to make them into a sort of anti-hero.

Monzcarro Murcatto may have had some redeeming qualities once, but now she is bitter and angry and won't let anything stand in the way of her revenge.

I think Mr. Abercrombie does do a good job in taking some minor characters from the first series and promoting them to larger roles in this stand alone novel. I think this also ties thing together nicely with the First Law trilogy without really spoiling things much.

I'd highly recommend reading First Law BEFORE tackling this book. Sure it's stand alone, but there is a lot of context and references you'll miss if you haven't read that first.

As a fantasy book, this was pretty light on the fantasy. It could almost have been an alternate history book if it weren't set in Mr. Abercrombie's First Law universe.

At its heart this is a revenge story. Monzo is determined to make the ones who wronged her pay. It makes for a fun romp full of unexpected consequences and lots of action.

Overall I really enjoyed it. Plus considering I wasn't sure what outcome I was rooting for, I ended up really liking the ending.

Executive Summary: I'm torn on this. It has many of the elements that first interested me in the story, but the main character is so off-putting that I'm not sure I want to continue anymore. I'd probably give this a 2.5 stars. I've rounded down. I may decide to round up later, but probably not.

Audiobook: Nick Podehl does an excellent job as always, however the audiobook is not without its flaws despite that. This series spends a ton of time on the game stats aspect of the main character.

This results in a lot of repetitive dialog. I found this is made worse by the inclusion of sound effects. I think some listeners may enjoy those additions, as it gives the audio a bit more of a video game feel. For me personally however, I find myself more annoyed than anything at them.

If I was reading the book instead of listening, I'd probably skim all of those sections. If you're big on the details of the gaming, you may feel differently.

Full Review
I'd categorize this series as guilty pleasure reading. I know it's not exactly the best written or offers deep characters. That said I've enjoyed each book less than the previous.

Richter is a total dude-bro. I've been encountering these kind of gamers for as long as I can remember. I don't like playing with them, so I really don't want to follow the adventure of one in what might otherwise be a pretty interesting world/game. For the last two books the world building/gameplay aspects of the story has been enough to keep me enjoying it.

This book may have hit my threshold for it. I often found every time I was settling in and just enjoying the story, Richter would say something obnoxious. Sometimes it was just lame jokes, but more often than not he's making some stupid sexist comment. I can't tell if this is meant to be satire/commentary on people Mr. Kong has gamed with, or if he truly thinks Richter is “cool”. I suspect it's the latter.

At this point, I'm torn on the series. Part of me wants to know what happens next with the village in the mist and the world its part of, but I'm not sure I can stand Richter enough to continue on. Maybe I'll change my mind the next time I'm looking for a guilty pleasure read. We'll see.

I'm not a Cubs fan, or much of a baseball fan for that matter. I was only vaguely familiar with the “Billy Goat Curse” that is the premise for this story.As a pre [b:Changes 6585201 Changes (The Dresden Files, #12) Jim Butcher https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1304027244s/6585201.jpg 6778696] story, things feel a bit more of “the old” Dresden. Dresden gets a case, and digs deeper into things. There is almost no action in this one though.Overall it's a decent, but unremarkable story. There are several other Dredsen short stories I think are much better. Hopefully Mr. Butcher will release a [b:Side Jobs 7779059 Side Jobs Stories From the Dresden Files (The Dresden Files, #12.5) Jim Butcher https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1269115846s/7779059.jpg 10351697] 2 that will include this and several other short stories he's written since then. Otherwise I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to read this story unless you can borrow [b:Naked City: Tales of Urban Fantasy (Riverside Series) 9727729 Naked City Tales of Urban Fantasy (Riverside Series) (The Dresden Files #10.9) Ellen Datlow https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1312232941s/9727729.jpg 14616573] from somewhere easily.

Executive Summary: Another excellent book by Mr. McClellan. The first trilogy was good, but this one is so much better so far.Audiobook: Christian Rodska does another excellent job with this book. He does a variety of voices and accents that really give the audio version that extra something that makes this series a must listen for me.Full ReviewWhen I reviewed [b:Sins of Empire 28811016 Sins of Empire (Gods of Blood and Powder, #1) Brian McClellan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1472056794s/28811016.jpg 49026464] last year, I called it Brian McClellan's best book to date. If this book isn't better than that one, it's a very close tie. We're talking too close to call. Either way it was another easy 5 star rating for me.Much like the last book it's split up into three subplots following Vlora, Ben and Mikael. There were times when I was annoyed to leave one story for another, but then I got sucked into that subplot and I was just as annoyed at leaving that story as well.If had to choose however, I'd probably give the slight edge to Mikael. I'm a sucker for the spy stories. Ben is a very close second though, in particular because I think he's had the most interesting character development of the series thus far. Vlora's story was also quite good, just slightly behind the other two.I don't feel like this book suffers at all from middle book syndrome either. I'm very eager to get my hands on the third book, but I felt like he got each story to a good stopping point while setting things up nicely for the ending.There were some more fantastic world building, a few really great surprises, plenty of actions and a bunch of interesting characters that got me finding reasons to keep listening just a little bit longer each day.I'm hard-pressed to recommend this series if you haven't read his original Powder Mage trilogy first, but I think it is written in such a way that you could. You'd miss out on a lot of backstory and detail that way.Either way I'll continue to recommend Brian McClellan while eagerly awaiting the final book of this series to see if he can pull off a 5-star conclusion. Given the last two books, I suspect that he will.

Executive Summary: While not quite as good as the last two books, Mr. Wexler finished this series quite well. It's easily one of the best fantasy series of the last several years. I highly recommend you pick it up.Audiobook: Richard Poe once again does a good job here. The issues with his volume I've had in the past seem to be resolved. I'm not sure if that's his doing, or just improvements to the recording process or both. He's still a bit on the quiet side, but nothing like I remember from the earlier books. Audio is definitely a good option here.Full ReviewFor the last few years, the new books in this series have been coming out every summer. And every year when I look at my top reads, the most recent entry has been near the top. Last year we were deprived of another entry, but that just starts out 2018 on a strong note.I thought the first book ([b:The Thousand Names 15810910 The Thousand Names (The Shadow Campaigns, #1) Django Wexler https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1355441268s/15810910.jpg 21536059] in this series was good, but a bit heavy on the military action (and rather light on the magic). I enjoyed book 2 more than the first, but it was a bit overly heavy on the politics. Of course that didn't stop me from writing possibly my all time favorite (and one of my best liked)reviews.However it was [b:The Price of Valor 23435269 The Price of Valor (The Shadow Campaigns, #3) Django Wexler https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1423008261s/23435269.jpg 42905071] where this series really started to shine for me. Mr. Wexler found what I feel was the perfect balance of military battles, political intrigue and an interesting magical system that made it one of my top reads of 2015. I don't give 5 star ratings to books likely, so that fact that the final 3 books of this 5-book series have gotten one should tell you how much I liked it.The characters are fantastic. This is especially true of Winter. I think the main reason I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as the last two, was that her story felt like it took a little longer to get going. Luckily Marcus and Recinia's chapters more than made up for it. I found myself listening a bit longer each day just so I could squeeze in an extra chapter here or there.I'm not a huge military fan, but the way Mr. Wexler writes these battles make it more than apparent how much he is. I'm not going to rush out and start reading books about the Napoleonic wars, but maybe if they demons granting magical abilities, I just might have.Overall I thought this was a fantastic series, and I'm glad a friend got my little side reads group to pick up the first one 5 years ago. It's a shame that Mr. Wexler isn't better known at this point, but I think he's been writing some of the best fantasy books of the last few years. If you haven't given this series a look yet, I highly recommend you do.

Executive Summary: I didn't enjoy this one quite as much as [b:Red Sister 25895524 Red Sister (Book of the Ancestor, #1) Mark Lawrence https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1481038440s/25895524.jpg 45777900], but it was still really goodAudiobook: Heather O'Neill does another fantastic job. I love her voices. She reads with good inflections and volume. She definitely makes this series a must listen for me.Full ReviewI finally took the plunge with Mark Lawrence with [b:Red Sister 25895524 Red Sister (Book of the Ancestor, #1) Mark Lawrence https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1481038440s/25895524.jpg 45777900] back in February and this is now the 5th Mark Lawrence book I've read this year. It's the first I got on release day, and won't be the last. In fact I'm ready for [b:Holy Sister 38099642 Holy Sister (Book of the Ancestor, #3) Mark Lawrence https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png 59773612] to come out tomorrow :)I love the idea of a warrior nun. Not only is Nona Grey a fantastic protagonist, most of the other Nuns are Novices are fantastic as well. It probably helps that I love a good fantasy school trope, but Mr. Lawrence's spin on it is pretty unique compared to all the others I've read.The world building is really intriguing, but not explored as much as I'd like. I want to know more about the ancient people and their technology. I was also hoping we got some more information on the magic system in this book, so I was a bit disappointed in that regard.My main gripe was that the primary antagonist felt a bit too much like your standard spoiled rich kid who hates the protagonist simply for being poor. I know those people exist in reality, but it just feels a bit overused, especially in the fantasy school trope. It would have been nice if there was more depth to her character.That aside, I'm really eager to see where things go in what I believe is the final book. I think I read that Mr. Lawrence has already finished writing it, so hopefully it will be out early next year. I've seen comments about this ending on a cliffhanger, but I thought compared to the first book this one ends in a much better place. Do I want to know what happens next? Of course I do. I want all of the next book right now in fact, not just the next few scenes.I'll likely sustain myself by reading The Red Queen's War trilogy. Some of my friends say it's better than this one. All that I know is that this series is great, and I think it's a far better place to start with his work than [b:Prince of Thorns 9579634 Prince of Thorns (The Broken Empire, #1) Mark Lawrence https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327917754s/9579634.jpg 14466531].

Executive Summary: This one started slow but finished pretty strong. One of the more enjoyable novellas of the series so far.Audiobook: Jefferson Mays does his usual good, but not great job. I like him, but he's never been a narrator that I seek out either. Full ReviewMuch like some of the others I thought this started a bit slow, but it picked up a lot faster than [b:The Vital Abyss 26170028 The Vital Abyss (The Expanse, #5.5) James S.A. Corey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1440610192l/26170028.SX50.jpg 45335194] which I read earlier in the week.This ties into the later books, in particular [b:Tiamat's Wrath 28335698 Tiamat's Wrath (The Expanse, #8) James S.A. Corey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1522779721l/28335698.SY75.jpg 48382890], so I was able to better remember some of the characters and events that tie back to this better than I did with some of the others.That may be why I enjoyed it a bit more. It's not as good as the Churn, but given some of the events in [b:Tiamat's Wrath 28335698 Tiamat's Wrath (The Expanse, #8) James S.A. Corey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1522779721l/28335698.SY75.jpg 48382890] I thought it added enough to make it worth picking up.

Executive Summary: This book really raises the stakes for the series, and I'm looking forward to picking up the next book soon.

Audiobook: Kobna Holdbrook-Smith is fantastic for this series. Whoever hired him did a great job. He is Peter Grant to me. However he's not just a one-trick pony and adds great voices to all the characters. This is a series I will always do in audio.

Full Review
I generally don't read a lot of Urban Fantasy, but for some reason I've read two different Urban Fantasy books this month. This one was far and away the better of the two.

I've been enjoying this series, as it's take on Urban Fantasy has been (mostly) different enough to stand out. Yes Peter is a cop so you have the sort of “required” mystery angle, but I feel like this book focused more on the big picture rather than simply some one and done case like many Urban Fantasy books do.

Not only that, but this book had some huge developments that will be a major impact on where the series goes from here.

Peter is a pretty good character, but this series shines the most with the great supporting cast. I love the mystery of Nightingale, the creepiness of Molly, and the camaraderie he has with partner Leslie. You also get a lot of fun magical characters as well.

There was some interesting world building here to go along with the usual snark and Harry Potter jokes. I think the subplot was maybe a bit slow at times, but it's such a quick, light read that I was never bored.

Overall, I'm eager to jump into the next book of the series, but I have a few big audiobooks coming out in April so it will probably have to wait until May.

Executive Summary: After a bit of a slow start, I think I enjoyed this one slightly more than the first. Looking forward to get to book 3 soon.

Full Review
I originally came onto this series after a recommendation in a thread about books similar to Firefly. Two books in, I'm hard to agree with that. Sure you have a crew flying around ship, but that's about where the similarities end for me.

For one thing, the characters are far less likable in this series than on Firefly. I recall coming to like them a more by the end of the first book, but whether it was the gap of time, or their general selfishness, I found myself disliking them again at the start of this book as well. You have no real closeness between any of the characters at the start.

They aren't really friends or comrades, so much as a bunch of people with no other place to go. At least sometimes. There has definitively been developments in both the characters and their relationships as the series has gone on.

Despite all of that, it was still a fun an enjoyable book. I'm not really into Steampunk, but this is fairly light on that. I'm almost more inclined to call this flintlocke fantasy much of the time. You do have airships and various mechanical based magic though. Whatever it's subgenre may be, I find the world building fascinating.

There is plenty of politics and mystery. First, you have the religious cult-like Awakeners and their determination to wipe out all Daemonists and anyone who opposes them. However their political clout seems to waning.

That is no help for the secretive Daemonists however, who must still hide their study of magic from all but a few if they wish to live. Then there are the mysterious Mane. They are considered to be violent and dangerous, but what are their true motivations?

Finally you have the typical mysterious pasts of the various crew members. All of this adds depth and flavor to the main story of salvaging a valuable treasure on a downed airship. The pace of the story is fast and the writing is excellent.

Somehow Mr. Wooding keeps his hooks in me despite writing characters I have trouble liking and caring for. Much like the last book though, I think I'm coming around on them again. We'll see if that holds up in the next book, which I hope to read much sooner than I did this one. If you haven't checked this series out yet, I highly recommend it.

Executive Summary: I'm a sucker for the magic school trope, and this version seemed to hit everything just right for me. I only have a few minor complaints or this might have been a 5 star read. 4.5 stars.

Audiobook: Nick Podehl is great as always. He does a variety of voices that really makes this a must listen. The second book is out in ebook, but not audio yet. I'll be waiting for the audio even though I really wanted to continue right into the second book.

Full Review
You'd think there would be no way to write the magic school trope without it feeling like a rehash of the countless other books/series that have done it before, but somehow I keep finding and enjoying new variations on the idea.

Mr. Rowe's take is no different. In particular I really enjoyed the magic system he created to server as the foundation of his school. Learning magic is part escape room, part D&D (or well I guess maybe all D&D).

There is also a good mystery element to this book that drives the main plot beyond our protagonist attending magic school and learning how to harness his newfound magic powers. The school wasn't the focus here so much as the setting. There looks to be a lot of interesting aspects to the world beyond its walls.

I thought the characters were all pretty good. Their is a decent variety of both male and female characters and all of them get their chance to shine, not just the protagonist. I appreciate a lot of the quirks/social anxiety of Corin. I'm not as bad as he is, but I can understand where he's coming from.

I'm terrible at names, so I can't remember anyone else whose name isn't included in the blurb. Corin's friends are made up of a summoner, and elementalist (I think?), a guardian and someone who refuses to divulge their attunement, but runs around with guns. I thought they all had something interesting to add to the story beyond being just a means of flushing out the magic system.

My only real complaint is the writing is a bit clunky at times. I'm not someone who thinks too much about the prose of books I read, so long as I'm being entertained. This book was very entertaining, but there were a few times when the dialogue or repetition of words pulled me out of the story, albeit very briefly.

Overall I found this book a lot of fun and plan to continue just as soon as the second book comes out in audio. As this is indie published, that's always a crap shoot. It does appear the author got word it was being recorded earlier this month, so hopefully that means it will be out sometime soon. I'll be eagerly awaiting its release.

Executive Summary: This was a decent sequel to [b:Kings of the Wyld 30841984 Kings of the Wyld (The Band, #1) Nicholas Eames https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1477027207s/30841984.jpg 51246585] but I didn't like it quite as much as I hoped I would.Audiobook: Katherine Fenton does a pretty good job with the narration. I'm a bit removed from listening to this book, but I think she did a few voices and read the book in a way that helped keep me engaged even when the story was slow.Full ReviewThis was a very different book than I was expecting. While it's a sequel to [b:Kings of the Wyld 30841984 Kings of the Wyld (The Band, #1) Nicholas Eames https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1477027207s/30841984.jpg 51246585], it's basically an entirely new cast of characters.For the most part I found the characters pretty entertaining. However I really found myself missing the characters from the first one, especially Slow-hand and Moog.While the story was a lot more original than the first book, I found it meandering too much. The first part of the book was almost more of a “slice of life” book than an adventure/action story like I was expecting.It could just be that I wasn't in the right mood for this book, because I still found parts of it really entertaining. I love the idea of a bard protagonist, and that element of the book was probably the best.It really is a book with nested stories as you get to learn more about the members of this new band led by Bloody Rose. Some of those stories I liked more than others, and I think that's what led to my attention wandering at times.Overall, I thought this was a good, but not great book. I'd probably read another set in this world, but it would depend a lot on my mood at the time.

Executive Summary: I'm a sucker for the magic school trope and I really loved this book. I kept making time just to get in an extra chapter here and there so it was a pretty easy 5 stars for me.Audiobook: I believe this is the first book I've listened to that's been narrated by Heather O'Neil. I thought she did a good job. She speaks clearly and with good inflection. She also does a few voices. Audio is definitely a good choice for this series.Full ReviewI've owned a copy of [b:Prince of Thorns 9579634 Prince of Thorns (The Broken Empire, #1) Mark Lawrence https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327917754s/9579634.jpg 14466531] for a few years now, but still haven't read it. Why? I kind of got burned out on “grimdark” fantasy and I've heard the main character isn't very likeable. When [b:Prince of Fools 18693743 Prince of Fools (The Red Queen's War, #1) Mark Lawrence https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1385072473s/18693743.jpg 25595312] came out, I skipped that too, because I wanted to read the original series first since they were set in the same world.What was my excuse with this book, completely unconnected to his previous two series came out? Habit I guess? I can't speak to his other books, but from what I understand this book is far less grimdark than the previous two. Either way, I absolutely loved it. I was sucked in right from the beginning with one of the best first lines I've ever read:“IT IS IMPORTANT, when killing a nun, to ensure that you bring an army of sufficient size.“I'm a big sucker for magic school tropes. This one is pretty different from the rest. First of all it's set in a convent (as may be evident by the above quote). Secondly the girls are more akin to warrior monks than they are mages.I like a well defined magic system. This seems to have the possibility of one, but we've learned very little of how the magic works. It is definitely intriguing, and I hope we learn a lot more in the rest of the series.I also thought the characters were excellent too. Nona is a girl off to a bad start in life. This doesn't appear to be because she's a bad person, but rather than she's unfortunate enough to be put in bad situations with an unwillingness to sit passively by. The supporting characters are pretty great too. All of the full nuns have new names based on inanimate objects. From Abbess Glass, who feels that lying is totally fine so long as it serves the right purpose to Sister Kettle who serves as somewhat of a mentor to Nona. There is a good variety of novice girls, each with different backgrounds and personalities that make them fully fleshed out into an interesting group to follow along with Nona as she “levels up”.Like many magic school books, this book has some of the usual tropes. Rival girls who get in Nona's way simply because of her background or abilities. However while this book does touch on some of those tropes, it doesn't dwell in them.Much of this book is learning more about the world, training up be a badass, and wondering just what happened to end up Nona for her to end up where we find her at the beginning of the book.There are a few interludes, including the one at the beginning that taunt the reader with hints of what's to come, while not really revealing too much about how we're going to get there. I'm really looking forward to finding out.I'm not sure if my enjoyment of this book will get me to finally go back and check out [b:Prince of Thorns 9579634 Prince of Thorns (The Broken Empire, #1) Mark Lawrence https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1327917754s/9579634.jpg 14466531] but I'm more inclined to do so than I was before picking this up. I suspect however that I'll enjoy this series far more than that one.

Executive Summary: I enjoyed this, but not as much as the first one, and not nearly as much as his Shadow Campaigns series.

Audiobook: YA books seem to love to do multiple narrators. I've found it a bit of a mixed bag. As both protagonists are female, I didn't really find it necessary to have distinct narrators for each POV. However both narrators were fine.

Catherine Ho returns as Isoka, while Nancy Wu was added to read Torrie's chapters. Both read at a good pace and we recorded at a good volume. While the narration doesn't make this a must listen for me, it's definitely a solid option.

Full Review
I'm not generally a fan of YA books, but I'm a big fan of Django Wexler after thoroughly enjoying his Shadow Campaign series.

I thought the first book of this series started a bit slow, but picked up by the end. This book was a bit similar because we're introduced to a new POV, Torrie and for me her early chapters were kind of slow.

Isoka's chapter picked right up where we left off in the last book so I was a lot more engaged in those from the start. I did find Torrie's chapters to get a lot more interesting by the middle of hte book and by the end I was enjoying each of them about equally. If anything I maybe enjoyed the end of Torrie's chapters the most.

I will say the YA romance was a bit sappy at times, but I guess that's because I'm not the target demographic. For me I'm most interested in the world building. The ancient technology and the really cool magic system.

We got some additional details about the Ghost ship in this book, but not a great deal. It was enough to keep me interested in story though.

Overall I thought this book was enjoyable enough, but not quite as good as the last one or his previous adult series.

Executive Summary: A bit of a slow start, but overall really good. Nearly as good as his Shadow Campaign series. 4.5 Stars.Audiobook: I believe this is the first book I've listened to by Catherine Ho. She does a good job. She does a few voices that add that little something extra that I've come to expect from a good audio book these days. Definitely worth doing in audio..Full ReviewIf you haven't read Mr. Wexler's [b:Shadow Campaign series 15810910 The Thousand Names (The Shadow Campaigns, #1) Django Wexler https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1355441268s/15810910.jpg 21536059], you should stop reading this right now and read that instead. Go ahead, I'll wait. Trust me, it will be worth it.Wow, you're a fast reader! See. I told you it would be worth it!So anyways, I really love that series and I've been recommending it for years. When this series was announced I was a bit disappointed. It seems like the market appeal for “young adult” was too much to avoid. I worried this book would have all the trappings that leaves most YA books pretty unappealing to me.Then again I liked his Shadow Campaign series so much that I picked up his Middle Grade series [b:The Forbidden Library 17987501 The Forbidden Library (The Forbidden Library, #1) Django Wexler https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1372045701s/17987501.jpg 25223481] and ended up liking that quite a bit too, even though I'm not the target audience.Early on I was struggling a bit with the book. I found Isoka to be unlikeable. This was by intent, but she felt like another cookie-cutter anti-hero. However my initial impressions were misplaced and do a disservice to Mr. Wexler's character development. Mr. Wexler has written Isoka to be complex. There are times when I like her, and times when I don't, but I came to understand her more as the book went on.This was not the case with Meroe however. I loved her pretty much from the first time we meet her, and for me she's the real star of the show. Yeah Isoka is a badass Jedi-like fighter, but Meroe is a delight.The world building for this book is also excellent. I love me a good magic system and this one intrigues me. I don't envy the job of fantasy writers trying to come up with something that doesn't seem too derivative and is still appealing to readers at the same time. I have a lot of questions about the nature of magic in this world, especially after some of the developments near the end of the book.I will say this book is still YA for a reason, and I might have liked it a touch better if it weren't, but it probably starts out even stronger than [b:The Thousand Names 15810910 The Thousand Names (The Shadow Campaigns, #1) Django Wexler https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1355441268s/15810910.jpg 21536059] did, at least once the main plot gets going.I'm eagerly looking forward to the next book and Mr. Wexler continues to be one of the best fantasy writers I enjoy that seems to still be under the radar to many mainstream fantasy readers. Maybe this book will have the broader appeal that is lacking in [b:The Thousand Names 15810910 The Thousand Names (The Shadow Campaigns, #1) Django Wexler https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1355441268s/15810910.jpg 21536059] due to the heavy military action. I'll be curious to see if he can match the level of political intrigue of his Shadow Campaign books that turned that series from one I enjoyed to one I loved. Time will tell.