Rob

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.

another well done bbc radio program. descent stories.

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.

Executive Summary: I can't get enough of Video Game and Computer history books. As a huge fan of Blizzard and Diablo this book was no different. I would have liked some more information from some of the Blizzard folks, but this book still felt well researched and written.

Audiobook: I'm a bit torn on the narration. Normally I like a narrator who does a variety of voices. However this is non-fiction. Every time Mike Rylander did a different voice for someone in this book, I got distracted from what they were saying thinking about if that person sounds even remotely like the voice he gave them.

I think he does a good job with his volume, inflections and speed but this really kept throwing me off and I think I'd have preferred he simply read the entire book in his own voice.

Full Review
There are mainly two companies that got me hooked on video games: Nintendo and Blizzard Entertainment. I played a lot of PC games growing up, but no other companies put out games that have sucked up more of my time than those two.

I was introduced to Blizzard with a demo of Warcraft 2. I've bought every game they've released since. World of Warcraft has sucked up more of my time than I'd care to admit. Until that game came out however, my favorite Blizzard game had to be Diablo. I spent so many hours both alone and with friends clicking until my fingers were numb.

I knew a little bit about David Brevik and Blizzard North before this book. I bought his (largely failed) attempt to release Diablo 3 under a new IP/company Hellgate: London when I found out he was behind it. For me however nothing beats the original. Most people will probably list Diablo 2 as the best/their favorite but for me it's still the original.

The first half of this book covers the early career of David Brevik and the Max and Eric Shaefer, who would go on to found Condor Games (which was later renamed Blizzard North). It also spent some time talking about the foundation of Silicon and Synapse (which was later renamed Blizzard). He spent some time talking about the development of Warcraft 1, much to my delight, but most of it focused on the Blizzard North folks.

The second half of this book is mostly about Diablo itself. I found a lot of this absolutely fascinating. There were a lot of good interviews, primarily with the Blizzard North founders and what I assume are all former Blizzard employees. It seems that none of the (at the time) current Blizzard employees were willing (or allowed) to be interviewed for the book.

I would love to see Blizzard put out a book of their own (especially if it focused on Warcraft) but I thought Mr. Craddock did a good job despite this limitation.

I have a few other books by Mr. Craddock on my radar as he seems to have written several non-fiction books after my own heart. I'll definitely pick up some of those books in the future.

Executive Summary: I struggled a bit with this one. I liked it more than the Rincewind books, but it's probably my least favorite of the Witch books so far.Full ReviewI own a lot of the Discworld books and I've enjoyed some of them quite a lot, while others I find to be just OK. The Witch books thus far have been better than most, although I'd probably rank them behind both the City Guard series (although I've only read 1 of those) and the Death series.I started this on a plane last month returning from PAX and kind of got bored and switched to watching Netflix instead. There were parts I enjoyed, but often I'd find my attention drifting when reading it and I was never really itching to pick it back up.Like all discworld books it has some great jokes, and I love the cameos by Death. However my favorite witch book continues to be [b:Equal Rites 34507 Equal Rites (Discworld, #3; Witches, #1) Terry Pratchett https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1407706800s/34507.jpg 583611], which as I understand it is the one least like the others. Maybe once Tiffany Aching shows up I'll like them a bit more.There are still a ton more discworld books for me to read and I hear [b:Small Gods 34484 Small Gods (Discworld, #13) Terry Pratchett https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1390899426s/34484.jpg 1636629] is one of the best. So far I haven't had great luck with the stand alones though, and this is one of the few I don't own because I hasn't been on sale yet. I'll probably pick it up later this year, but for now I have other things I'd rather read instead.

Executive Summary: After [b:Changes 6585201 Changes (The Dresden Files, #12) Jim Butcher https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1304027244s/6585201.jpg 6778696] this book almost had to be a let down. It's still enjoyable but not nearly as much. It does offer you some insights into the supporting cast that we haven't had until this point however.James Marsters Audio book: All is now right with the world. Or at least the Dresdenverse. They are “retiring” the John Glover version and releasing a new version read by James Marsters. I was lucky to get an early review copy.As expected it was waaay better. Anyone who was upset at the change can now get this new version and be content. This 3rd reread of the book was easily my favorite, and I'm sure that's largely thanks to James Marsters.John Glover Audio book: I sort of feel bad. John Glover seems like he could be a decent Narrator. He does a few voices. He's got a reasonable voice for Harry. But he's just not James Marsters. He doesn't put in the same passion. He doesn't yell out when Harry's casting magic. His voices all sound wrong. I wouldn't mind listening to him read another series, but not this one.Full ReviewThis book is pretty much impossible to review without major spoilers from [b:Changes 6585201 Changes (The Dresden Files, #12) Jim Butcher https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1304027244s/6585201.jpg 6778696], so if you're not up to this point of the series my review may not make a whole lot of sense. :)NOTE: All spoilers are for previous books in the series, not THIS one. I hate reviews that spoil the book and normally avoid spoilers of any kind in all of my reviews.So at the end of [b:Changes 6585201 Changes (The Dresden Files, #12) Jim Butcher https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1304027244s/6585201.jpg 6778696] Harry is dead. Or is he? I spent an agonizing year wondering just what the hell was going to happen next in the series.The result was a book that could be both frustrating and fun. I liked to see what everyone does with Harry out of the picture..It's also frustrating because Harry's been accumulating power as the series goes on but with him being dead, all of his powers are gone and we have to sit by with him and watch things go to hell without him being able to do anything.This does offer a chance for everyone to step up their games, and we learn a lot more about Mort whose only been a very minor and rarely used character to this point.The pace of the plot is still pretty fast, and the second half of the book is really good, but I found the first half to be be a bit slow/frustrating.Overall I think this is one of the weakest of the later book, but still much better than a few of the early ones. The main problem is, it really feels more like a transitional book after all the changes of well, [b:Changes 6585201 Changes (The Dresden Files, #12) Jim Butcher https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1304027244s/6585201.jpg 6778696].It's 3.5 for me, rounded up because I love this series.

Executive Summary: My first by Mr. Bradbury, but won't be my last. Then again since I'll be reviewing [b:Something Wicked This Way Comes 248596 Something Wicked This Way Comes (Green Town, #2) Ray Bradbury https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1409596011s/248596.jpg 1183550] for SFFAudio later this month..that was probably going to happen anyways. :-DAudio book: Mark Boyett's voice reminds me a bit of Rod Serling, which as I get into a bit below seemed a perfect fit. I know there are multiple versions of the audiobook. I'm not sure how easy they are to get a hold of, but this one seems like a good option.Full ReviewI've never read anything by Mr. Bradbury before. I'm not really well read in the “classics”. There is too much modern stuff I want to read, and in general I prefer fantasy to Sci-Fi. But when Brilliance Audio was releasing some of his better known works on Audio CD (although the production itself was done by Audible) last year, I jumped at the chance to finally give him a try.I've been in a bit of a reading funk this year, and was trying to figure out what to read AFTER this book to get me out of it. Since it was short though, I wanted to listen to it sooner rather than later, write up my review then move onto something else.Apparently I just needed to listen to this. Apart from one story (Way in the Middle of the Air) which made me really uncomfortable and showed it's age. It appears to have been eliminated from several of the more recent editions of this book, and I wish I had skipped it as it really adds very little to this collection.Everything else was enjoyable. A bit depressing, but enjoyable. Mr. Bradbury paints a bleak picture of a future that thankfully never came. This isn't hard sci-fi by any means, but more like dystopian space opera.I would have never thought something bleak would lighten my mood, but the stories were that good, and the prose are excellent. They reminded me a lot of the Twilight Zone, although I know these stories predate that show. I think The Silent Towns could easily have been an episode of the show, as could several others.I think my favorite of the collection is Usher II. I can't pretend to get all the references apart from Poe and Lovecraft, but his tale of revenge for censorship is quite good. I'll have to check out the Poe story [b:The Fall of the House of Usher 175516 The Fall of the House of Usher Edgar Allan Poe https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387708966s/175516.jpg 15570703] that seems to have influenced it.Overall this is an excellent collection of stories, and if like me you haven't read it/anything by Mr. Bradbury, this seems like as good a place as any to start.

Executive Summary: A satisfying conclusion to an enjoyable series, albeit not quite as good as the previous book.

Audiobook: Another fantastic job by Tim Gerard Reynolds as usual. Any book that is narrated by him automatically moves

Full Review
I rarely do an entire series at all once, but more often am juggling numerous series at a time as each book comes out. I like to support the authors I enjoy and there is always plenty of books to keep me busy while I wait.

That said, it's far easier to read an entire series all at once. I became a fan of Mark Lawrence thanks to his book of the Ancestor series, and I read those books as they came out. Now I've gone back and binged on first his Broken Empire series and now this one.

I enjoyed this one far more. Both share really intriguing world building, but this one had far more likable characters and a much more intriguing plot. Oddly enough I found the second book the strongest of the three, but all of them were quite good.

I didn't like this series quite as much as Book of the Ancestor, but it cemented Mark Lawrence's new books as must read for me. I'd be very much interested in reading another book or series set in this same shared world, or pretty much whatever else he puts out.

This was the first book that I've gotten on audiobook. I'm not sure if there are multiple versions, but I got the bbc one. It was well done. There were multiple voice readers, one for each of the major parts.

To the book. I thought this was a descent book, though I still think Ender's game is the best in the series. There are some twists and turns, but its very long in parts. I think it would have been much harder to read than listen to.

I enjoy pretty much everything John Scalzi writes. This one was fun, but nothing special. I probably liked it better than his last book, but not as much as some of his others. It was slow at times, and the dolphins were a bit too much. The cats were great though.


As usual Wil Wheaton's narration is a great fit for Scalzi's snark.

Executive Summary: There were parts I enjoyed more than others. I think I like the way they used the core of this as the basis for parts of the 4th season of the show more than the story itself. 3.5 starsAudiobook: I was never a huge fan of Jefferson Mays until he was unavailable for [b:Cibola Burn 18656030 Cibola Burn (The Expanse, #4) James S.A. Corey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405023040l/18656030.SY75.jpg 26109318] and they replaced him with Erik Davies. They have since had him re-record that book, but not this novella. Mr. Davies is fine, but I'd rather they had Mr. Mays redo it. Maybe when the collection comes out they'll have him redo this one.Overall it's fine in audio, but nothing special.Full ReviewBobbie and Avasarala are my favorite Expanse characters. So it's kind of shocking I hadn't read this already. Any excuse to get extra Bobbie Draper, even if it was mostly in a cameo fashion should have been up on my list.Sadly though it mostly focuses on her teenage nephew, who kind of got on my nerves for most of the story. That was probably intentional, but it didn't help me love this book.I think they did a much better job with the seed for this story in the TV adaptation. That version was much more enjoyable to me. That said, I thought it was worth reading. You get some more glimpses of Mars than you have in most of the novels because the action has largely been happening elsewhere.

Executive Summary: I enjoyed this more than [b:Queen of Fire 18405221 Queen of Fire (Raven's Shadow, #3) Anthony Ryan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1417350958l/18405221.SY75.jpg 26039753] but not nearly as much as [b:Blood Song 13569581 Blood Song (Raven's Shadow, #1) Anthony Ryan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1421573407l/13569581.SY75.jpg 19148922] or [b:Tower Lord 18138189 Tower Lord (Raven's Shadow, #2) Anthony Ryan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1382486392l/18138189.SX50.jpg 25481154].Audiobook: I was happy to see Steven Brand return to narrate this book. I really liked his narration of the original trilogy and was disappointed when he we replaced for books 2/3 of Ryan's The Draconis Memoria series. He did a great job as usual, so I'm glad they didn't go with someone else.Full Review[b:Blood Song 13569581 Blood Song (Raven's Shadow, #1) Anthony Ryan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1421573407l/13569581.SY75.jpg 19148922] is one of my all-time favorite fantasy books, and [b:Tower Lord 18138189 Tower Lord (Raven's Shadow, #2) Anthony Ryan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1382486392l/18138189.SX50.jpg 25481154] wasn't far behind. It was for that reason that I felt like [b:Queen of Fire 18405221 Queen of Fire (Raven's Shadow, #3) Anthony Ryan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1417350958l/18405221.SY75.jpg 26039753] was a letdown. Everything felt so uneven. Slow at the start then rushed at the end.When his new series came out I was a bit reluctant to give that a shot. However that turned out to be pretty good from start to finish, but still not at the level of [b:Blood Song 13569581 Blood Song (Raven's Shadow, #1) Anthony Ryan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1421573407l/13569581.SY75.jpg 19148922].When this book was announced I had similar mixed feelings. Could he recapture the magic of his earlier books, or would it be more like [b:Queen of Fire 18405221 Queen of Fire (Raven's Shadow, #3) Anthony Ryan https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1417350958l/18405221.SY75.jpg 26039753]? The answer turned out to be somewhere in between.I probably should have reread the series as much of the details have escaped me so many years (and so many books) later. Eventually I got my bearings, but probably not as much as if I had reread.This book has a lot of setup, and we get a bit of perspective from the preludes to each section. Thankfully like his earlier books all the chapters are from Vaelin's perspective.Vaelin is older and wiser, but given where the series had previously left off, he's not quite the warrior he once was that earned him his infamy. Faced with a new threat, we get a bit of a different approach than in the past.Overall I enjoyed this book a lot, and there were parts of it where I was finding excuses to listen, but there were a few slower parts as well. Either way I'm happy to report that my concerns were mostly assuaged. I'm optimistic that this continuation of the series might help to redeem some of my disappointment from how the first trilogy was wrapped up.

Executive Summary: This series has been up and down for me, but Mr. Weeks really stuck the landing with this book.Audiobook: Simon Vance is one of my favorite narrators and does another excellent job here. Not only does he have a great reading voice he does a variety of voices that really make an audiobook above and beyond for me.Full ReviewI'm still not sure how I feel about Mr. Weeks as an author. After nearly rage-quitting his Night Angel series, I wasn't sure I wanted to read another book by him again. However the recommendation of friends and the cool sounding magic system made me consider giving him another try to...mixed results. I loved the magic system but [b:The Black Prism 7165300 The Black Prism (Lightbringer, #1) Brent Weeks https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327921884l/7165300.SY75.jpg 7534979] felt very juvenile throughout.Despite that, I continued on and liked the later books a lot more....until I didn't. I thought the series took a step backwards with [b:The Broken Eye 12652457 The Broken Eye (Lightbringer, #3) Brent Weeks https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1376583941l/12652457.SY75.jpg 17766175]. I could never drop that feeling of a juvenile tone.So while I was looking forward to this book, I wasn't expecting to enjoy it quite this much. Anyone who follows my reviews knows I don't give 5 stars lightly. The easiest measure for me of a 5-star book is one where I'm finding reasons to listen to just “1 more chapter”. I'll do a bit of extra work or just sit and stare at a wall for a few minutes if it means finding out what happens next.There was a lot of that here. And this was a loooong book. I'm still not sure how I feel about Mr. Weeks as an author. I don't recall being annoyed in this book as I was during the past ones. Has he finally turned a corner? Should I try out whatever series he puts out next? I'm still not sure yet.I am however glad I gave this series a try and stuck with it.

Executive Summary: Started and ended really strong with a few lulls in the middles that cost it from possibly being a 5 star read for me.

Audiobook: I'm a huge fan of Tim Gerard Reynolds. He does a fantastic job with every book I've ever listened to him narrate, and this one is no different. He does a variety of voices and always is easy to understand and hear.

Full Review
I got this one as a gift a few years ago, but it was pretty long and the second book doesn't seem to be coming out soon so I was in no rush to pick it up. I found myself at a point where I was trying to pick out an audiobook of the about 30 hours waiting for a new release on April 5th and this fit that bill nicely. I'm glad I finally picked this one up.

I'm a sucker for the fantasy school trope. This isn't quite that. In fact there is very little magic to speak of in the book for the most part. Instead what we get is more like Ranger school.

Aedan at times seems like your stereotypical chosen one, but it turns out there is a lot more going on than meets the eye initially. I thought the supporting cast was really good. You have your typical school bullies and enemy turned ally tropes, but I seem to just eat that up. I liked his lab partner in medical class the best, although I don't recall her name because I'm terrible at names.

As someone who loves puzzles and tends to favor rogues and rangers when roleplaying, I loved the idea of the school with it's training of both the mind and the body taught in a school that seems full of mysteries.

There is enough different going on here that kept me listening to an extra chapter here and there throughout most of the book. I did find a few lulls at points in the middle however.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and will definitely pick up the second book on release day. Based on his website maybe that will be by the end of the year or early next year. I sure hope it's this year!

Executive Summary: This is one of three books from the Dresden Files series I've given 5 stars to, and if you follow my reviews, you know that's something I try not to do lightly. I really enjoy it start to finish.Audio book: I could just copy paste this section from book to book. James Marsters is great. If you've been reading my previous reviews or listening to this series yourself you know that. Highlights in this book include him actually yelling during one scene and this crazy french accent.Full ReviewSo I finally arrived to what was for years my favorite Dresden book. I'm still not quite sure, but I think [b:Changes 6585201 Changes (The Dresden Files, #12) Jim Butcher http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1304027244s/6585201.jpg 6778696] edges this out for best in the series.This is the book that turned me into a herald for [a:Jim Butcher 10746 Jim Butcher http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1205261964p2/10746.jpg]. I couldn't shut up about this series for awhile. I would tell anyone who would listen they should read this series. (NOTE: This happened a second time after [b:Cold Days 12216302 Cold Days (The Dresden Files, #14) Jim Butcher http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1345145377s/12216302.jpg 17189468] last year.)Now this isn't a life changing book or something. It just one of those books I have trouble putting down. Page-turning fun. In fact I spent at least 2 hours doing nothing else but listening to the ending. Normally I'm driving, riding my bike, running errands or doing stuff around the house. I ran out of stuff to do to keep listening, so I just sat in my easy chair and finished it.Gone is the stranger coming to Harry's office. Gone is the introduction to some new characters/aspects of Harry's world. Mr. Butcher simply takes all the building blocks he established in the previous books to tell a really fun story, with a truly awesome ending.I'm probably overselling this book. Only one of my friends I've since recommended this to seems to love this book as much as I do, and he stubbornly refuses to admit [b:Changes 6585201 Changes (The Dresden Files, #12) Jim Butcher http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1304027244s/6585201.jpg 6778696] is a better book. Still, if you don't thoroughly enjoy this book, why are you still reading this series?Murphy calls Dresden to check out a crime scene off the books. A woman is dead. It turns out a lot of them are. They appear to have committed suicide, but something just seems off.If you know this series, you know if there is one thing that turns Harry Dresden from well reason detective to charge in first ask questions later neanderthal, it's when someone is hurting women. Especially in his town.Harry is going to do whatever it takes to put a stop to it, even if it kills him. We finally get to see Harry be a true badass in this book. There have been glimmers before, but nothing quite like this. With my vague memory of the next few books, it's something we won't quite see again until [b:Changes 6585201 Changes (The Dresden Files, #12) Jim Butcher http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1304027244s/6585201.jpg 6778696] either.This book shows that both Harry Dresden and Jim Butcher have both matured into something more then when they started.

Executive Summary: Another enjoyable entry in the series. He mixes things up a little bit and I enjoyed it more than the last entry, probably because of its connections to tech. Audiobook: One of the things I love best about this series is the narration of Kobna Holdbrook-Smith. He does his usual fantastic job here, that really makes this series a must listen for me.Full ReviewI was late to picking up the Rivers of London books because I didn't have a great track record with Urban Fantasy. As such I'd been slowly consuming the series whenever I was in the mood for something light and fun. It took me about 3 years before finally catching up late last year. When this one came out earlier this year I didn't pick it up right away more out of habit than anything else. I ended up saving this for a time when I just wanted something short and fun and this fit the mold.Looking back at my review for [b:Lies Sleeping 36534574 Lies Sleeping (Rivers of London, #7) Ben Aaronovitch https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1517326409l/36534574.SY75.jpg 58260751], I enjoyed it far less than my friends seem to. I don't really remember the details anymore, but I apparently felt it more of a stand alone story. This one fits that mold as well, but enjoyed it slight more.I found the first part of this book a bit confusing at first and then a bit frustrating as he kept shifting the focus when I wanted to know what would happen next. This is something I'm used to in multiple POV stories, but not from this series with its single POV.As someone who works as as Software Engineer, but not for any of the Big Tech companies, I can only assume he does a good job in portraying the kind of environment that they often work in. For me I've never had that “we have all the amenities on sight so you never want to leave thing” going on. I did find some of the supporting characters very familiar however.I loved the inclusion of Ada Lovelace and the Babbage machine. I've actually seen a working Babbage machine at the Computer History in California and I've been fascinated by them ever since. I loved the blend of technology and magic in general of this book.I think that for me is why I ended up enjoying this one more than the last, because it is also pretty stand alone. There was some pretty interesting new world building elements. I'll be curious to see how that plays in future novels.I'm now once again caught up on the series. I'm not sure if I'll pick up the next one on release day or once again save it for when I need a fun, light read, but I'll be picking it up either way.

3.5 stars rounded up for a strong finish. I took a huge break from listening though because the middle of the book wasn't grabbing me as much.

Executive Summary: I struggled with this one at times, but ultimately found it as enjoyable as I probably could in the year 2020.Audiobook: Steven Pacey does his usual excellent job. Not all of the American Abercrombie books have had him as a narrator, but I was happy to see him used for this series. He does some voices and generally just reads in a way that gives the audio that extra something for me.Full ReviewI've largely been avoiding darker stories this year because there is enough darkness going on. So I didn't jump on this one right away given Mr. Abercrombie's tendency towards dark fantasy.There were parts of the book I found a bit slow. In particular, he used a literary style or technique in this book (not sure of the correct way to describe it) that I first encountered in [b:The Heroes 9300768 The Heroes (First Law World, #5) Joe Abercrombie https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1375671200l/9300768.SY75.jpg 12879765]. I'm not sure if the novelty of it wore off, or if I generally cared less this time around but I found it kind of dragged a little by comparison.Much like his other books it can be difficult to have anyone to root for, since most of the characters tend to be pretty self-serving. If anything I'm rooting for Rikke, and I found her part of the story pretty enjoyable.Overall this was a solid entry in this series, and I'm looking forward to reading the next one. Hopefully the world is a lot less dark by the time it comes out.

Executive Summary: A decent lawyer/mystery/thriller story that I enjoyed more than the movie. I'll likely continue on in the series at some point.Audiobook: Adam Grupper does a really good job. I'd never heard of him before be he does some voices and reads with good inflections making him the kind of narrator that makes listening better than reading for me. I will say however the audio obviously comes from a CD because there are the tell tale audio cues for the end and beginning of a disc, often in the middle of a chapter. That could make it annoying at times, but at least they made it so the chapters were intact rather than simply ripping the CD to whatever breaks they originally had. Knowing how much time is left in a chapter is something I find very helpful and I hate it when older books aren't properly split.Overall I'd say the audio is a good choice and I'll likely try to get more of this series in audio if I can and (hopefully) with the same narrator.Full ReviewI was a huge fan of [a:John Grisham 721 John Grisham https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1583932591p2/721.jpg] growing up. He tends to write about lawyers fighting for the little guy standing up to big corporations or defending the innocent from injustice. Mickey Haller is a different kind of lawyer. I remember watching the movie awhile back and thinking it was good, but not great.I didn't realize that not only is Mickey Haller written by the same author as Harry Bosch (which I've also been reading lately) but apparently they are set in the same universe. Reading this book you never would know that either. I assume those connections come later on.It'd been so long since I've seen the movie I no longer remember any details beyond Matthew McConaughey played Haller. So for me it was a bit of a surprise as things unfolded. Mickey is likeable despite his clientele. He generally gets along with not one but two ex-wives. He's not going to win lawyer of the year, but he does care about doing the right thing. Just so long as he makes a buck while he's at it. The animosity with him and very cops did get a bit old at times though.Without getting into details, I felt that the ending of this was pretty elaborate. So it wasn't too surprising to me that they largely rewrote it for the movie. As is typical I liked the book better, but I thought both version were pretty enjoyable. I plan to revisit the Bosch series (which seems plagued with inconsistent narration) and will likely return to this series as well. I tend to like legal stories but I kind of got tired of Grisham awhile ago. If nothing else, these kinds of books are nice to break my usual habit of nothing but Sci-Fi and Fantasy books.

It was ok. I didn't love the “rating system” gimmick. The ending was fairly predictable. Some of the world building was interesting, but that's about it. I hope the other books from the Kickstarter will be better.

I'm generally a Michael Kramer fan, but he didn't feel like a great fit for this book. I'm not sure exactly why. His narration was fine.

Similarly, Kate Reading narration of the inserts was also fine.