All The Skills: Book 6: A Deck-Building LitRPG by Honour Rae
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Cleanup of a massive outbreak of scourge, consolidating his new clan, becoming beast with all his legendary cards, and generally just getting better with ALL the skills, this continuation is, quite frankly, more of the same. Big plot progression, let alone minor plot progression, either passes by without much hassle, or is so minor as to be negligible.

Good thing all other things are going to hell, or there'd be no story.

All told, still a fun read.

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Songs of the Dead by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The good: It reads like an interesting post-UF fiction that really leans into the idea of "You're never truly dead until nobody remembers you" and specifically the consequences of artists who dearly want to be immortalized.

It goes well beyond just musicians, of course, but this is where we stand in the first book. Strata being social-archeological, if that isn't clear. :)

I also really love the whole philosophical discussion going on here between old-school art, being forgotten or supplanted or twisted, becoming the staunch old-guard, versus the rebellion, the one that brings in the fresh. And how so much of that can be twisted the other way.

Subtext on writing is there, too. What is cribbed, what is riffed, what is stolen, but it's buried fairly deep behind the music. Art problems are art problems and I enjoy this kind of thing.

The so-so: the spark just isn't that strong? At least, when I read about artists inspiring awe, I would rather have it SHOWN with something truly inspiring and impressive in the text, in a way that is actually surprising. Not just "he sang and the audience was awestruck". I need to be lead to true awe, too, and I'm an easy customer. I WANT to be awe'd.

This book was not awesome. It could have been. The premise is damn good. The particulars, the music history, real history, and the discussion is genuine and neat. But the execution needed to SHINE.

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The Legend of Randidly Ghosthound 13: A LitRPG Adventure by Noret Flood
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Definitely still one of my favorite LitRPGs. In the Nexus, running into a ton of politics while being a drill sergeant to a bunch of monsters who just aren't monstrous enough for this realm, is really funny when you consider just how much of a monster he is now. Planet destroying OP is kinda small, after all.

But what I really loved in this book was the special training session for himself. More of an escape that turns into a massive time dilation as if he's in a black hole that then turned into a "f it, I'm going to ghost myself by training so hard and after years of effort alone in this hellscape I'll arrive back home with only a missing week".

Yeah. Them's beast tactics.

Fun payoff, too, especially with WHAT he's training.

My only complaint is where it ended. I kinda wanted a rather big showdown with a few asshats. Next time, I guess.


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Preaching to the Choir by Adrian Tchaikovsky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Half way through, I was reminded of Charles Stross and a very excellent short story he wrote. And so it turns out, Tchaikovsky admits to a conversation with Stross at a previous time.

This is far from a condemnation. This is high praise, for the concept behind this particular novella is excellent. And creepy. And deliciously evil. :)

No spoilers. It's very much an American butting romantic heads with aristocracy story. And more. Muahahahahaha

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The Dark Healer #4 by Alex Toxic
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Well, it's getting slightly better with a much bigger quest and some travel and more idiots to trounce along the way. But this is not high-brow. Just your normal super-powerful noble magician toying around with modern idiots.

I have to wonder if it's worth continuing, even with the bigger corruption quest.

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The Dark Healer #3 by Alex Toxic
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The slow progression of story is what really stands out here. Which is kinda sad, really. Clan dominance, being OP and only slightly hiding it, training the young to be better necromancers--it's all pretty obvious.

Unfortunately, the underlying expectation of a bigger story isn't really there. At most, it's a gotcha of someone finally recognizing your name from history books. Which isn't that huge.

I think I'll try another book and hope it picks up from there.

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The Dark Healer #2 by Alex Toxic
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It's an okay story. Nothing too special about it except it has all the Godfather vibes with old magical families trying to bring this upstart (ha) down. But clan building time was still fun, so hey.

At this point, I'm losing a little interest. The beginning was better. I'll continue on a bit and see.

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