As We Fall Through Time: The extraordinary tale of time travel, betrayal and a love that echoes through the centuries by Claire North
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I went through several evolutions as I read this, but with one caveat: I've always trusted this author to do right by me, no matter what the subject or genre or weird direction they take me. I just sit back and enjoy the ride.

And this one wasn't my cup of tea for a grand stretch, but I trusted the author and the author didn't lead me astray.

My original complaint? Well, for a time-travel novel, it was truly stuck on the romance bit. This shouldn't be a surprise, going by the title, but it was slow going, eventually evolving into a tragic mystery and then into a more mundane mystery and then into a cataclysmic mystery that eventually resolved into a huge, rather brilliant novel that connected all the pieces together AND rather blew my mind at the climax.

And things that are eventually revealed tickled me seriously. With no spoilers. The PoV changes are what do me in.

I'm still laughing.

And yet, this isn't a comedy. It's about as serious as serious can get and it has the emotional gravity of a very different kind of novel. And I love every moment of it.

Now. After getting through what I thought were the slow parts, the parts I scoffed at, it all comes together, wonderfully, and I even cried.


Ahem. And once again, I'm forced to repeat that I must trust certain authors. Explicitly.


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1% Lifesteal, Book One by Robert Blaise
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So, this is a rage-inducing setup to create the perfect edge-lord. Poverty, betrayal after betrayal, hardship, torturous body-horror, and many insults after injury on a never-ending cycle, it really sets us up to root for watching our MC plow through everyone and everything.

Yep. It's a blood for a blood god kind of book.

So, of course, it's amusing to see that this 1% lifesteal ability is just an underestimated ability that everybody discounts because it IS so weak. You know, assuming that the wielder isn't punching WAY above his weight class.

And by the end of this book, guess what he's doing? Muahahahahahaha. Of course, he had to go through multiple hells to get there. But every edge lord has their origin story.

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Paris by J.R. Mathews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I feel like I've got four novels in one and I love them all equally. And on top of that, they keep intersecting with each other to create a much, much bigger story than any of them on their own. And then we get the great feeling like each character is living life on their own special cheat code that is never so overwhelming that there's always a new challenge that's actually challenging.

Be it assassinating an Egyptian god, or building an empire to supplant the powerful French monarch, live a life in a French Hogwarts, become a monkish underworld kingpin, become a dragon warrior, or preparing for war on four fronts, including Outsiders, Earthly titans, a pirate empire, and the French.

It's kinda funny that the French front is actually the most dangerous. But that's what you get when it comes to Medieval alternate history magic systems. :)

Great stuff here.

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The Rhine by J.R. Mathews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The story stays fresh and sure as hell doesn't slouch in the plot department. It knows what readers want. Progression novels tend to develop power creep RATHER quickly, so the whole Superman problem tends to make these types instantly boring UNLESS some seriously clever plots liven it up.

In this case, it's the Doppelganger skill. Why take your plot in one direction when you can take it in three or more completely different directions at the same time with the same character literally spread yourself thin for the pure challenge of it? And accidentally expand your empire in the meantime?

And it's still a great alternate history fantasy, so it's amazingly fun on many levels.

Still one of my new favorites.

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Venice by J.R. Mathews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The book says they go to Venice, it's true, but it's even more true that they went to Carthage and vast amounts of land in Northern Africa. Fascinating stuff. And it's really worth noting that the main LitRPG character is given some really interesting reversals that limit his powers quite naturally in the plot. It really grounds him. And we make lots of new friends because of it.

Cute ones, especially. And one that stays REALLY close to him.

Tons of great fantasy tropes and especially power-progression tropes, but they all feel really natural in this book. I call that a big win.

This is an extremely strong LitRPG made even more fascinating for being placed in 11th century alternate Europe. With magic. :)



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Portal to Nova Roma by J.R. Mathews
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

While I wasn't quite enthusiastic about an AI as a MC, it really didn't matter after the intro. He's just as autistic as the rest of the LitRPG characters everywhere else. And therefore just nerdy and obsessive enough to min-max his future.

Or in THIS particular case, his trip to an alternate Earth past that happened to develop monster cores and magic and the system.

And he goes to Constantinople. Nova Roma. Or at least, the decaying remnant of the old seat of Holy Power in its full decline. And that's nearly as fascinating as the fantasy/SF features.

Indeed, I had a fantastic time across the board. This is quickly becoming one of my favs.

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Mark of the Fool by J.M. Clarke
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This one might not be for me. I want to like the premise of being able to learn any extra skill very fast, and have loved it in other series, but the way it's exploited here is uneven and kinda slow.

I suppose that's to be expected with a fool, or at least someone with a fool mark, but it just seems to be bouncing off me at the moment. Alas. I usually like things like this. The twist has a lot of promise, after all.



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