Judicator Jane 7: A LitRPG Adventure by Brian Rouleau
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is almost a pitch-perfect example of a concept taken much farther than it ought to have been taken.

I was sucked right in, tho. Indeed, I couldn't put it down for the life of me. I needed to have the full breakdown, the full conclusion, the total blast-out of Legendary classes. There was nothing in this or any LitRPG world that could have prevented me from sitting it out.

But this? I simultaneously want to think it's an utterly RIGHT ending for Pogg and I also want to think it's a total cop-out.

Fair enough. Considering all that has come before. The humor IS there. So is the serious aspect. It's perfectly in line with the premise. Blind justice and all. Without leading with actual blindness, mind you. That would be a step too far.

But honestly? The whole luck and justice thing MAY have gotten too muddled at this point. Each weakens the other unless the whole concept we need to rely on is the System itself. And if that's the case, then it's all suspect. Times ten.

I'll continue with #8 because it answers THAT particular question, but this one, for all I was actually glued to it, kinda left a bad taste in my mouth.


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ソードアート・オンライン 20: ムーン・クレイドル [Sōdo āto onrain 20: Mūn Kureidoru] by Reki Kawahara
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This one reads as one huge side-story, honestly. One that gives Tiese and Ronie a lot more page time, but a weirdly one-note one when it comes to Kirito. I think their comments about his language could have gone over fine once or twice, but it feels like it was constantly happening here. And there really wasn't any kind of growth. For anyone.

That being said, we get to see more of the Underworld and that was fine as far as it goes.

The plot, tho? Well, it feels rather skipable. It was probably my least favorite story in all of the light novels. Alas.

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Flybot by Dennis E. Taylor
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If any of ya'll are looking for a Bobby ver 2, then don't.

There IS some fun dialogue sequences that absolutely go nerdy in a very fun way, but it is NOT the primary mode of this novel.

IF, on the other hand, you're looking for a snappy and interesting modern-day technothriller featuring people in over their heads with AGI, with a pretty balanced look at what AGI might actually mean or act like in a glorious blow-out of practical jokes leading up to mass tragedies, then you're absolutely looking in the right place.

And interestingly enough? The paperclip problem has been DEBUNKED. Wooo! Finally. No more paperclips. ;)

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BORUTO―ボルト― 7 ―TWO BLUE VORTEX― by Masashi Kishimoto
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I'm excited as hell again. So many people are again willing to help Boruto, be it half-willingly or not. But they ARE helping. Enemy of my enemy, and all.

But that isn't even the best part. The action sequences and the mini-reveals are brilliant. Both for Himi and Boruto this time. I'm really enjoying the hell out of this.

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BORUTO―ボルト― 6 ―TWO BLUE VORTEX― by Masashi Kishimoto
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

All Right!

That turned out awesome. Sarada is really stepping it up, and Boruto himself is crazy cool again.

The amount of reversals in this manga is pretty insane. Fortunately, it IS damn thrilling.


Wow, Sarada. Wow.

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BORUTO―ボルト― 5 ―TWO BLUE VORTEX― by Masashi Kishimoto
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Catching up with the manga. I stand behind it. It's much more advanced in story, consequences, and scale to the rest of the earlier Boruto and Narutos.

It DOES have its faults, but really, it's all a matter of perspective. It's building something big and it still needs to pull off one hell of a hat trick... and at this point, it's a matter of faith for the reader.

That's not to say it won't happen. But if it does? I'm going to be pretty amazed. For now, patience. The Divine Tree needs to grow.



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God's Junk Drawer by Peter Clines
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

There are just a few things I can say about this without spoiling it, so I'll just mention it reminds me a lot of Riverworld with a splash of a (by now) common SF subgenre I see all the time now that (without spoiling) is a clear favorite for Big Reveal SF these days.

Old example: Dark City. New example: Halcyon Years.

Only, in this case, we're doing Lost World and Arthur Conan Doyle and trauma therapy.

Not bad, mind you. But I think I appreciate it much more AFTER the big reveals.

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Judicator Jane 6 by Brian Rouleau
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Out of hell, alone, almost friendless, on the opposite side of the world, we've got new peoples to judge, sea creatures to eat you, massive human populations to free from slavery, and the omnipresent need to get back across the world to defeat the prophesied hero of light.

How silly, no? Also, not a bad adventure. Looking forward to the next.

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Judicator Jane 5 by Brian Rouleau
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Well now, welcome to hell. It's a fine place to practice unity.

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would after the turnaround in the last book. Fortunately. But the OP leveling is real. Very, very real.



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Judicator Jane 4 by Brian Rouleau
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Good novel all the way up to the end. But that kind of showdown? I know it is fully set up from the start, but damn... it's annoying. I did enjoy everything else.

Funny bits when people don't know who she is. Deception bits that win wars. All that is pretty great.

But when you get this far and the "baddie" is being manipulated that hard instead of just being pleasantly surprised (my personal hope), it just feels like a setup for a tragedy.

These books have never really been that. So, yeah. I'm annoyed. Not enough to quit. I have to know what happens, of course... but still.

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Judicator Jane 3 by Brian Rouleau
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Pretty interesting worldbuilding regarding the System and the intelligent races within it. Getting to know the elves makes them a bit less stereotypical than you might expect, but beyond that, I love how Jane's Consequences are coming back to bite her. Far-reaching, indeed. But best yet, I love how she deals with her own mistakes head-on.

This class could REALLY be a true nightmare for all peoples, no matter if it's all about justice. Just goes to show, its all in how you use it.



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Judicator Jane 2 by Brian Rouleau
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great start in the first book. The second isn't nearly as funny because it's necessary for characters to grow and not just be wildly OP for hardly any reason. Especially since this IS a LitRPG where leveling is everything.

But I DID enjoy the weird juxtapositions and the heavy reliance on Wisdom versus Justice. It's refreshing.

Subverted expectations are also pretty great, too. :)

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Judicator Jane by Brian Rouleau
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A fun, different kind of LitRPG. Instead of fighting, or any kind of fighting for our Jane, it's a hilarious take on min-maxing. I immediately fell in love with the setup. And with everything that happened soon after, it's absolutely absurd and I loved it.

In fact, I couldn't stop chortling whenever high-level characters built up their fears of the demon army. The terror of the demon lord.

I could almost see a little sweat drop down Jane's brow each time.

Delightful. Utterly delightful. And how she goes around leveling up in her particular way? I swear it's like we're watching Domino from Deadpool 2.

If that tells ya'll anything at all.

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Butterfly Effects by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Interestingly, we get TWO main PoVs in this. Antimony and a greater amount of Sarah. As far as I can tell, this is a break from previous installments. We generally keep things simple. But here, I suppose it's kinda necessary to have a new queen be both the heroine who saves herself AND be the one needing to be saved.

That being said, it was pretty fun. We go off-world again and see ALL the wasps in their natural territory and make new friends along the way. And, very nicely, we get a wrap-up for a poor character who's had it pretty bad up till now.

Well worth the wait.

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Installment Immortality by Seanan McGuire
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

More Mary. Which is never a bad thing. But ghost babysitter turned major hero that got herself scattered to the winds and needing a new deal with the crossroads COULD have turned into something rather big.

As it is, it's a lot about wrapping up the post-lives of some other ghosts, more Covenant crap, and grief.

The grief, I get. A lot has happened in 14 books. But I also want to see some serious growth with all the setbacks, too. There is some, mind you, but this particular book isn't my favorite. I'm looking forward to the future, however.

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Hell's Heart by Alexis Hall
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Funnily enough, I haven't read any of Alexis Hall's other novels, but I've heard of them. Wild romance. Well, here's some great news, romance fans: this will wrap a hand around your neck and pump away at you, too, for this novel can honestly claim to be a wild, obsessional, utterly MAD and tragic romance.

And it also has lots of sex.

Let's get real here. I've read a couple of great SFs that do real homage to Moby Dick, even brilliantly, like Delany's Nova. But this one? It's probably one of the closest translations to the original, only done up as a crazily-sexed sapphic self-destructive ride in Jupiter's lively kaju-infested ocean, complete with massive amounts of fanaticism, profit-insanity, madness-ichor...

and pure, pure obsession.

I'm a fan of the original novel, so I'm telling you that I'm mightily impressed at the SFnal scope (cyborgs, poverty dystopia, and wild leviathans) overlaying such a beloved classic.

It's rich. And wild, I say. Wild.

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The Faith of Beasts by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Dafyd has really grown into a complex and compelling character for me. I feel the true horror of the human captivity, the scale of the loss and what they have to do to survive, but for me, Dafyd hits the hardest of all.

It's the overwhelming nature of the Carryx empire. They just don't care. They're the ultimate totalitarian boss who can't be bothered to know your name or whether you need time to grieve or eat or sleep. It just needs you to be useful, to breed, and bring forth something useful to their war effort or you'll be written off. Fired. You know... as a race. Set on fire as a race.

It really puts everything in a truly bleak light. But survival does what survival does, right? And when survivors actually make a little headway under the yoke of an alien empire, who's to blame them if they start feeling like they ought to have a little reward or think they have a little power just because they're finally BEING useful?

But that's just it. We're just animals. Beasts. Only as good as we are useful. And perhaps... we're only useful in a certain way.


This novel really made me feel. It took me through so many stages of grief, but for humanity itself. Denial, bargaining, rage, depression... and even acceptance.

This is some serious SF, but I won't deny that it's some hard stuff. Hard stuff to process. It's not light in the slightest. But it IS very good.

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Sweet Harmony by Claire North
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As I read this, I saw nothing but our very real dystopia of debt and health care. And of course, that's entirely the point, dressed up in nanotech health services and a beauty-industry on much more than standard steroids.

It is, of course, a Claire North novella, and so it is also, of course, hard-hitting.

All those bad choices are far less of a real issue than the system that sucks you and and sucks you dry on the promise. And oh, the promises are everywhere and hard-baked into society's expectations. No worse than needing to get more and more expensive clothes to be on the good with your peers, and infinitely worse because the debt directly affects not just your health, but your senses.

It's rather rage-inducing. But so very plausible.

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The Doors of Perception & Heaven and Hell by Aldous Huxley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Huxley.

Of course, it would take a phenomenal writer of his caliber to spearhead the romance of the '60s, the American Enlightenment, the spiritual revolution that eventually went nowhere because that's humanity.

And yet, it was a good dream. A dream of artists and changing one's perceptions with or without hallucinogens, of touching the true nature of reality, of getting down to the true platonic idea. Of seeing the terrain. And not just the map.

No matter who you are, it's still a worthwhile read, if not just for its place in history, then for its place in developing human consciousness.

It's something we've just about lost.

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The Merge by Grace Walker
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I honestly wanted to love this. I love some good body horror as SF, after all. It's a thing.

And making it be a thing between mother and daughter, combining the two together, is a true Freudian nightmare--dressed as a good societal thing. Or husband and wife. Or father and daughter. It's just... so... ICK.

That's what makes for a good dystopian SF horror, right? The ick factor.

But sadly, early on in the read, it became ALL TOO CLEAR that the true horror was gaslighting. It's bad enough, of course, or in some ways, the true mark of our society. Gaslighting, propaganda, lies, lies, lies dressing up the true evil.

And the horror is that we're all fooled into walking off that cliff. Over and over and over.

So why am I just giving this a three star?

Because I was thrown out of the story by how stupid everyone is. Put simply, I tore out my hairs.

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The Infinite Sadness of Small Appliances by Glenn Dixon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

To be honest, I asked to read this only on the strength of the title and the hope it would be lightly diversionary. The hope that it would be something more--rather than exactly like--a Readers Digest novella on the level with dogs-eye PoV of small household grief-and-family-tragedy-processing.

But here we are.

The smart appliances ho-hum and feel for their people. There's even a Lassie moment or two and we get all nostalgic for To Kill A Mockingbird and if you're lucky, there's even some literary mirroring if you're paying attention.

I'm not saying this is a bad book. It IS light and it IS diversionary, but it'd be best read if it had come out 60 years ago.

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Secondhand Luck by Kim Harrison
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Pretty decent continuation of a new UF by one of my favorite UF authors.

Specifically, I really enjoy the evolution of the magic rules here. I thought I had a pretty good grip on it from the first novel, but I really appreciate how everything keeps breaking and getting fixed again in the middle of mystery, a dangerous magical stalker, growing friendships, and just trying to do the right thing.

In other words, doing all the things that good UFs do. Plus, it gets into the magical weeds in a fun, fun way.

You can say it's Plucky. ;)

I'm definitely going keep following this.

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The Demon King by Peter V. Brett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Oh lordy, I really fell apart while reading this one. Excellent on every level. Gold-standard epic fantasy.

Maybe it's a bit of the weight of all the history of the the Warded series and a great deal about the fact I've grown to love these kids so much, but being cut off from everything they knew and having to to navigate their way around a foreign country with very alien ideas and ideals, let alone technology, would have been enough for any standard fantasy novel.

It would have been enough to satisfy me.

But instead, Brett went all out and gave us not only a fantastic build-up, making me love all large cast of characters and their complicated setup, but really throws it all into the real shit AND we have to deal with some truly brilliant fights. And the scale? Never fear.

It's DELICIOUS.

This is and continues to be one of my all-time favorite fantasy series. Creative, clever, rich, rich, rich.

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The Hidden Queen by Peter V. Brett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fantastic fantasy.

Sure, it absolutely builds on the great Warded Man series, but directly follows the events of The Desert Spear, which continues with their kids. It's not only a worthy sequel-series, it's absolutely rich in great characters and even more rich in magic, worldbuilding, and action.

The action isn't immediately obvious until much later, but frankly, I don't care. These kids have to deal with so damn much. Rich arabic-type culture and also a fresh medieval culture trying to work together, duels, very interesting intersex normalization subtext, power dynamics, and so much more. Like musical harmony. Or super-sensitivity masquerading as introversion. Or just plain oldschool perception-dynamics.

There's a glut of things to love in this novel, and the cliffhanger at the end is fantastic.



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The Stress of Her Regard by Tim Powers
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think this one is almost as good as Anubis Gates. It's weird, but I really got into this.

Sure, I love myself some Byron and Shelly and Mary Shelly antics as much as anyone. It's GOTHIC LITERATURE, people. Hell, this one is a hell of a lot more gothic than the original gothic stories. Death, being haunted, like seriously haunted by lovers over years and years, of serious family drama, of darkness and noble friendship and seriously erudite learning and poetry all mixed into one of the best historical fantasy period pieces I've read in years.

And how it's driven by a very clever take on lamias/vampires, with equally clever readings of the bible and more ancient histories, and the depth of Power's worldbuilding in general to make the tale shine?

Totally gorgeous. Heads and shoulders above anything else out there. Most are amateurish compared to what Powers can dream up.

His works are truly something else, and at this time in his career, at the end of the 80's, he's in prime shape. Seriously recommended.

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Children of Strife by Adrian Tchaikovsky
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I think this book might be my second favorite of the series.

It's not because I particularly liked the five egotistical scientists who created a whole ecosystem out of whole cloth on their particular alien world. I didn't. In fact, it's super easy to loathe them. And for very good reason, it turns out.

It's not because I think those in the Society, the one made up of many kinds of minds and aliens working together toward an accommodating, positive end, is such a fantastic politicized end I just have to spout hundreds of great things about it to anyone who could be bothered to sit still for it. Or complain about how it's still a FORCED creation by Kern's virus, or how unrealistic even that would be--if it wasn't for the fact that THIS NOVEL specifically addresses that and a handful of other rabbit holes in such a clever and clear way that I was forced to re-evaluate all of my earlier dismissals.

I love this novel precisely because it touches on so many great SFnal concepts, be it forced Darwinian concepts or the Game of Life writ VERY large on a VERY large canvas, to the impermanence and faulty nature of memory, to self-hood in wildly different matrices, or how massively different cultures (Stomatopods!) can STILL find a way to work WITHIN vastly different conceptual fields than their own.

Or I could just point to the time-hopping structure of the plot, all weaving together a picture both wonderful and strange and gorgeous and terrible, point at the wild cast of characters on every side, and just sit aghast at what became of them all at the end.

And make no mistake: Tchaikovsky weaves it all together in a very cool way and the ending is wild. Like, top-SF wild.

I 100% recommend. Perfect for all of ya'll who like to make a heaven of hell and a hell of heaven.


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Realmbreaker by Actus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Definitely feels like the peak of the series. Anything else after this needs to be from other's PoVs.

Our heroes just got way too-powerful.

But as for it being, fundamentally, a buddy-buddy novel, it's pretty damn good. No complaints. Friends who kill massive armies together, stay together.

The romance aspect of these books are rather... muted. But whatever. It's nice reading about an uncomplicated romance that's akin to another bromance--without complications. That's the nice part.

Of course, when you're almost dying every day, it's the little things that count.

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Dawnfall by Actus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Truly fun if what you want is a series of training montages, OP power development, and friendships.

There really isn't anything in terms of grand arc plot stuff, but after having walked the void with a significant upgrade, it's a quite well-deserved kind of vacation. Full of pain and suffering that somehow equates to bright joy.

You know, because you're doing what you love. :)

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Voidwalker by Actus
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A slower fantasy. The inherent idea of having a best friend as an eldritch horror SHOULD have a more funny base, but this isn't that. It's friendship, mentorship, and a bit of light adventure in a school-like system.

If it sounds fairly average--it is. But it's also still pretty entertaining. All the characters are developing. Not bad.

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Fringe Runner by Rachel Aukes
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I guess I wanted something more from this. I won't say it isn't competent enough as an Expanse-lite romp, but it's simply a bit too bland for me. It's space-opera, but it doesn't have any hooks beyond sex, extra-real characters (those with faults), pirates, and rebellion.

It might be enough for the general reader, but I've read an amazing number of great SF and this is pretty ho-hum. Hell, Doc Smith from 80 years ago was writing much more interesting romps.

Alas. I don't think I'll continue on.

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Unmapped: An Epic Fantasy LitRPG Adventure by Dakota Krout
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A truly fun novel. I'm SO glad it's focused so much on massive skill gains. Better yet, from one Master level skill to MANY, MANY. Muahahahahahaha

Oh, and finally, we get now understand WHY Joe has been so damn cursed for the whole series.

Gods hate this ONE tiny trick.


Oh, and the whole cheese thing has me tittering still. Endless tittering.

So, just so people know what to expect: JOE IS WORKING WELL WITH PEOPLE. This is more of a breakthrough than gaining multiple master classes. A world boss getting boomed was a second-best feature.

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Untapped by Dakota Krout
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Muahahahahahaha this is great. It TOTALLY makes up for the last two novels in quality. That's not to say the last one wasn't bad, especially with the full-out world battle, but this one dove right back into what I most loved about the series from the start: ritual magic, hidden tweaks, learning, complexity, ahem-rule-breaking, and core mc-funny wordplay that really puts the cheese in cheesy.

I really loved forcing Joe to build up his foundations of magic since he's been a horribly lop-sided mess. The fact that he's doing it WHILE training a bunch of old friends and annoying them with songs is a great side-benefit.

All in all, I can't even BEGIN to tell you how much I love not having to deal with the dwarves anymore.

Ahem.

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Thunderplump by Dakota Krout
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This novel does a couple of really awesome things. It wraps up THIS particular dwarven cycle.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

It's funny, actually, how many dwarven problems can be tidily wrapped up just by killing them all. It's almost magical.

Come on Bifrost, take me away!



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Thesaurize by Dakota Krout
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I definitely think this one makes up for book 9. F**k the dwarves. At least with this one, Joe just focuses on his own stuff. You know, floating around, touring the world, building temples for fast travel (who cares about gods), and attempting to save the girl who'd been a real jerk many times in the past.

Right. WHY is he working so hard, again?

Well, at least he can skill up his ritual magic. Get better. Blow shit up better. And actually have a good time with his friends. With wordplay.


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Champion by Plum Parrot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Another world, new games. At least, everyone else thinks it's serious, but Victor really IS playing games. Funny ones, too. Pretending to be weak or stupid to get better concessions in politics, trouncing the hell out of duels...

It's very fun.

And satisfying, as well. We get the best of underdogs and being overpowered all at the same time.



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Sojourner by Plum Parrot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was really fun. We go from being mentored by a rather hands-off godlike being who just prefers to throw his charge into political traps, prisons, and deadly struggles--but nicely. He's a very nice, wise, and highly perceptive old man. Even now, I have a hard time NOT liking the guy in any way.

But damn. Consequences are rough.

I'm really enjoying all the characters and situations. Indeed, it's set up in such an interesting way I often don't know WHERE Victor's next upgrade or level-up might come from. It keeps it fresh.



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Tenacity by Dakota Krout
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I come back to these specifically for the heavy ritualist hacking techniques in a fantasy setting.

Not, I should note, for the endless nasty grousing of antagonistic dwarves constantly hampering our hero's efforts.

Seriously, if I were him, I'd have let the entire dwarven community just go to whatever hell it wanted to achieve. This amount of backstabbing against a bona fide hero from the very start is just... ugly.

And sadly, our hero isn't exactly THAT likable anyway, so it's just a matter of assholes being assholes to each other. And yet, they still work toward making a functioning town?

Sigh. Oh, wait. This is meant to reflect reality, no? Right. Makes sense now.



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Earthshaker by Plum Parrot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I admit I always love it more when we get to see complex new worlds, seemingly impossible odds, and still seeing Victor trounce them all. It's a good formula. It works. But more importantly, if pulled off right, it's just plain fun.

And this was definitely fun.

To think the whole shaking of earth bit was just that ONE TIME. And it seemed SO necessary then, too! Ah, but the consequences...



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Podkayne of Mars by Robert A. Heinlein
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

From the start of this novel, well into when they made it to Venus from Mars, I kept thinking this would make a GREAT young adult mini-tv series, right up there with the best light adventures we've ever had. We've got the plucky Pod, her brilliant and naughty younger brother, and her war-hero ancient Uncle who takes the kids on a little adventure across the solar system.

Sound old-fashioned?

Sure, but classic storylines usually do. The trick is in how WELL the story comes off, the depth of character and worldbuilding, how much twisting of expectations goes on, and how much heart it has.

This has lots of heart. And that's why I think it'd make a great, non-problematic SF adventure that's not horror in disguise. It's discovery, tweaking the noses of racists and rich assholes, a bit of politics that's nine parts freedom and one part intrigue, and all outside-the-box thinking.

It's Heinlein at his prime. And I mean that quite literally. This book came out right after Starship Troopers and Stranger in a Strange Land. And Heinlein is, oddly enough, a chameleon in his writing.

How else would we go from Starship Troopers, a novel that is slightly subversive but easily mistaken for a novel about TRUE DUTY and chain of command and heroism, to Stranger in a Strange Land, a novel that becomes a paragon of 60's counter-culture, free love, empathy, and a satire about all things religious at the same time, to Podkayne: a novel that's about as light and free as a feather, thumbing its nose at all authority and duty for the sake of family?

All three novels came out as fast as a shotgun blast from the author. Two of them won the Hugos for best SF novel of the year.

So why isn't this one more talked about? It's very modern. It has most of our modern sensibilities, with only one or two examples to the contrary. I mean, it's not like we all assume taking care of children is all a woman's work. And I'd like to point out that Pod ropes in her brother to help out where it was needed, too. The reality is: she's still a character that WILL go all out when a thing needs doing. And it's clear.

And if it wasn't for the end of the novel, I'd STILL love to see a high-production mini-series made of this. Kept ENTIRELY as it was depicted. The details are what make this powerful.

Post-Mars rebellion, freedom fighters becoming politicians, can-do attitudes all around, and no patience for rich assholes. And above all, a great, light adventure that makes a point of STAYING mostly light. Accessible.

Highly recommended. Heinlein is a master of his craft.


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Magma Heart by Plum Parrot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A good continuation of the warlord path, continuing the conquering of the evil empire. The undead empire. And leveling up is always fun... especially when you start breathing magma.

Good stuff. Simple, lots of action, great near-defeats and enough asspulls for any drama. :)



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Battlemaster by Plum Parrot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Maybe not the best of the series, but if you want to see a change toward leadership skills and large-scale battles with Victor leading them, then this is your book. Rah, rah, war, war.

The beginning was rather interesting to me, though. We got our first clear carry-over to the other LitRPG series I'd just read by the author. A clear invite to mesh this and that together seamlessly. It was rather amusing and I WANT to see it happen.

But war... war never changes.

Or rather, war kinda pushes all other considerations out the door.

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Titan Blood by Plum Parrot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Stuck in a higher-tier world can do WONDERS for your level. :)

I had a great time reading this one. There's always something satisfying about falling in love with dragons, making enemies of civilization-destroying jerks, and eating still-beating hearts. Satisfying. Very.



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Spirit Hunter by Plum Parrot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Like many of these long-run LitRPGs, this simply gets better with more experience and story under its belt. You might say its spirit gets quite a bit stronger.

And it's true. A lot of wrapping-up of old storylines happen here, revenges, spirit-balancing, recognition that the dark side is actually rather dark, and that, yes, it IS good to balance everything if you don't want to become an evil motherf**ker.

It's fun. No doubt about it. Adventure, through and through.

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Dungeon Delver by Plum Parrot
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Solid and fun dungeon delving. Not like we needed a title like that to SPELL IT OUT or anything.

Axe, rage, spirit cores leveling up, and pure adventure. We've even got a ton of friendly townsfolk and traveling people to refresh one's spirit between adventures!

Sound a bit usual?

Lol, it is, but that's precisely the charm it needs. There are plenty of reversals, etc, but the core is quite comforting and well-written. I'm enjoying it quite a bit.

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薬屋のひとりごと 16 [Kusuriya no Hitorigoto 16] by Nekokurage
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Fun fact from when I was a kid. Snakes taste like chicken. Not at all bad. Just ask Mao Mao. Tho, I did have some salt with mine. I bet she's jealous.

Great volume. Big changes. And the tragedy... shaping up.

Of course, I did watch the anime, so I'm pleasantly surprised both are in line with each other. Except for one thing: did the anime give us a more or less satisfying end to this arc, ASIDE from the manga? Did it push ahead? *grumbles*

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薬屋のひとりごと 15 [Kusuriya no Hitorigoto 15] by Nekokurage
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Learning more and more about foxes. But beyond that, I'm smelling a lot of tragedy on its way.

Worse, I love some of the characters that might get it.

Not so worried about Mao Mao, of course, but damn. This hits hard.

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薬屋のひとりごと 14 [Kusuriya no Hitorigoto 14] by Nekokurage
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Quick escalation here. The darkness of the past really came to hit Mao Mao and Jinshi where it hurts the most. This is where it gets really good. Exciting, not just delightful.

Edge of seat time.

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薬屋のひとりごと 13 [Kusuriya no Hitorigoto 13] by Nekokurage
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Lots of great side-stories here, keeping it light between the bigger story arcs. And there's ice cream. Ghosts. Ghostly ice cream. (not really)

Delightful as ever, however.

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Les Carnets de l'Apothicaire, Tome 12 by Nekokurage
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Muahahahahahaha.

From outright adventure to a *very* revealing situation, you'd think all the secrets would come spilling out. But nooooooo Mao Mao can be rather discreet when she wants to be. Much to Jinshi's displeasure.

Such a delicious volume.

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薬屋のひとりごと 11 [Kusuriya no Hitorigoto 11] by Nekokurage
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I so love complex and multifaceted stories that show even monsters in new, even heartwarming lights. It may never redeem them. Not even close. But it's like a bright light in a fathomless void. Bringing contour and depth to what would otherwise be a featureless evil.

And that's art.

Oh, and learning all about Jinshi's little secret is quite delicious, too.



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