Zoe Hana Mikuta - Gearbreakers / Godslayers

Audiobook Review + Zoe Hana Mikuta

YA NA / FF / Post-apocalyptic / Mechas / First Person Present Tense.

Love betrayal combat mechas.

Can it get any better?

 

Apple TV - Sugar - Season 1

Series Review + Apple TV + Sugar

Ah... What to make of this...

Good, but...

Xiran Jay Zhao - Iron Widow 1 - Iron Widow

Audiobook Review + Xiran Jay Zhao

Iron Widow is the first part of a duology / trilogy / series (?) with the same name. It describes Wu Zetian's rise through the ranks, in a Chinese inspired scifi / fantasy setting featuring a mystical 'spirit power' (a kind of paranormal energy source) and very large mecha-like creatures called 'Chrysalis'.

Adrian Tchaikovsky - Children of Time 03 - Children of Memory

Audiobook Review + Adrian Tchaikovsky

The third installment in the series, and (at first) very confusing, but in the end it all makes sense.

Again, Tchaikovsky takes a 'what if' and spins it all the way to its logical conclusion, in this case it's the Ship of Theseus concept.

Apple TV - Sugar - s01e01

Series Review + Apple TV + Sugar

Season one episode one. Very weird, but I love it. I've just finished episode one, and... this is weird.

Who is John Sugar? What is John Sugar?

Adrian Tchaikovsky - Children of Time 02 - Children of Ruin

Audiobook Review + Adrian Tchaikovsky

Book 2 in the Children of Time series. I'm probably one of the few who hasn't completed the series yet, but let me start by saying that Adrian Tchaikovsky plays the 'what if' game very well.

Book 1 featured intelligent spiders, and book 2 added intelligent octopi (?) and bacteria to the mix. (Not much of a spoiler as that's pretty clear from the start).

Amy Kaufman - Red Star Rebels

Audiobook Review + Amie Kaufman

First person, present tense, YA. romance / science-fiction. Classic recipe, and typical Amie Kaufman.

But... Published in 2026, this book is a bit of a let-down compared with her earlier co-op work with Jay Kristoff, especially the Aurora series, or The Illuminae Files.

A.J. Hackwith - Hell's Library 2 / 3 - The Archive of the Unwritten / The God of Lost Words

Audiobook Review

The third and final book of this trilogy. That, by itself, was a bit of a surprise, as these books had all the hallmarks of the start of a long, extensive, giganormous series of books.

But nope. It's a trilogy. (And there's nothing wrong with that.) Perhaps I'm over-conditioned by those endless multi-volume series. I think Hackwith could have gotten away with it, but she chose not to.

A.G. Slatter - All the Murmering Bones

Audiobook Review

This... is a weird one.

Take some dark, gothic fantasy elements, combine it with a family drama and a self-apreciating voice, and tell a tale that moves towards and touches upon horror territory.

Alexandra Bracken - Passenger 1 - Passenger

Audiobook Review

Book 1 of the Passenger series, in which the heroine is kidnapped from her own time (our time) and - obviously - travels through time.

Faith Hunter - Junkyard Cats 4 / 5 - Junkyard Roadhouse / Junkyard Riders

Audiobook Review

Faith Hunter (better known for her Romantasy stories) does a pretty good (Scifi) Apocalyptic series of novellas, all titled Junkyard Something.

D&D - Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master - The Lazy Anthology (xe 2018, English)

RPG Book Review + Books

As Dungeon Master / Game Master, you're the heart of any role playing game. As DM / GM you run the world, play all the NPCs, and you decide which rules apply when.

That's a lot of work... sometimes a bit too much. This book tries to address that potential problem, by helping you to only prepare what is necessary.

D&D - Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master - The Lazy Anthology (xe 2018, Dutch)

RPG Book Review + Books + Dutch

Na al het uitzoeken en voorbereiden is het tijd om het resultaat te laten zien: The Lazy Anthology. Oftewel... drie de boeken tesamen in een enkele, full color hardcover.

Nuttig? Nee. Praktisch? Nee. Voordelig? Nee. Maar man, wat blijft het een goed gevoel om een hardcover vast te houden 😁 Maar ja, behalve de looks gaat het ook nog om de inhoud: waar gaat Return eigenlijk over?

D&D - 5e Basic Rules (2018, somewhat prettyfied)

RPG Book Review

5e is the closest thing to AD&D 2E that we've seen thus far. 5e is even easier to use, and just as much fun. And... you can start playing D&D 5e without spending a penny. My personal copy of the 5e Basic Rules has a few minor modifications, just to make it more practical.

(I have some mixed feelings on 5e5 AKA 5e24, the 2024 incarnation of the ruleset. Note that these Basic Rules are based on the 2014 set of rules.)

Viola Grace - The Covert Dragons

Audiobook Review

Once you have a Rakuten Kobo Plus subscription you're going to try to maximize its usage. Let's read / listen to tons of free books - as long as the subscription lasts - right? On top of that, I was investigating the typical romantasy concepts. Free and with a purpose, right?

Well... yeah. Right. Unfortunately, lots of the better stuff isn't free, and lots of the stuff included in Kobo Plus isn't very good... Will Viola Grace change my opinion?

D&D - Raise the Dead (d20 2003)

RPG Book Review

There's life after death... as long as you are a D&D character.

This book is all about raising the dead. Which might be a friend. Or it might be an enemy, to be raised to interrogated... or to be killed off again, who knows. This softcover book four adventures, all focused on raising that one dead friend.

V.E. Schwab - Shades of Magic - A Darker Shade of Magic / A Gathering of Shadows / A Conjuring of Light

Audiobook Review

This is a well known series, in which the last of the Antari (dimension hopping mages) discovers his ancestry, and fights an all consuming magic evil.

It's pretty good, but I didn't find it as exceptional as it is often made out to be. Still good though.

Apple TV - Murderbot - s01e01..s01e06

Series Review + Apple TV

It's on Apple, and Apple appears to be doing a banging good job when it comes to SciFi shows. Severance. Silo. For All Mankind. Foundation. 3 Body Problem. Pretty good.

You can now add Murderbot to that list.

Kalayna Price - Alex Craft 1 - Grave Witch

Audiobook Review

Dabbling in romantasy lately, are we?

Well. It's only for scientific purposes. And if the story is half-decent, then why not? I can always skip the random porn inserts that seem to haunt modern day fantasy novels...

D&D - Forgotten Realms Adventures (2e 1990)

RPG Book Review + Forgotten Realms

Welcome to the Forgotten Realms. Back in 1990 TSR released Forgotten Realms Adventures, a hardcover book to help players and DMs update from (A)D&D to AD&D 2nd edition.

Content wise it's a little thin, but it was the very first TSR / D&D / RPG product I ever bought. For me, it's the book that started it all.