Danielle Thamasa's Blog, page 25

NetGalley Review: Wolfsong by T.J. Klune

Hey all, Sam here.

As promised yesterday, I have two book reviews for you today, but I’ll wait until this evening before posting the second one. I’m trying to keep up on all of my book reviews, especially the NetGalley ones. Yes, I do still have quite a few NetGalley reads that are books that have been out in the world for a little while now, and I am slowly but surely working on my backlog too, but I’m also trying to keep up with the new and upcoming releases. For the past month or two, I’ve done a pretty decent job of it.

Anyway, I’m starting off my reviews today with a fantasy romance re-release. There is a definite improvement for the series covers, that’s for sure. I went through a phase where I read a whole lot of vampire and werewolf and witch type romance stories, but it’s been a little while since I really devoured a bunch of books from the sub-genre, so this was an interesting detour from the more epic fantasy stories I’ve been reading lately.

This book will be released on July 4 (in the US), so there’s not much longer to wait.

The Bennett family has a secret
They’re not just a family, they’re a pack.
Wolfsong is Ox Matheson’s story.

Oxnard Matheson was twelve when his father taught him Ox wasn’t worth anything and people would never understand him. Then his father left.

Ox was sixteen when the energetic Bennett family moved in next door, harboring a secret that would change him forever. The Bennetts are shapeshifters. They can transform into wolves at will. Drawn to their magic, loyalty, and enduring friendships, Ox feels a gulf between this extraordinary new world and the quiet life he’s known, but he finds an ally in Joe, the youngest Bennett boy.

Ox was twenty-three when murder came to town and tore a hole in his heart. Violence flared, tragedy split the pack, and Joe left town, leaving Ox behind. Three years later, the boy is back. Except now he’s a man – charming, handsome, but haunted – and Ox can no longer ignore the song that howls between them.

The beloved fantasy romance sensation by New York Times bestselling author TJ Klune, about love, loyalty, betrayal, and family.

The Green Creek Series is for adult readers.

Now available from Tor Books.

My Thoughts

Rating: 4

It’s clear to me that this book was one of Klune’s earlier works, but now repackaged and reprinted. But I can also say that there was a pull into this story, a compelling characterization that made me want to keep reading.

Honestly I couldn’t tell if the writing style was good because it highlighted Ox’s more “simplistic” mindset and way of thinking, or if the writing style was amateurish. So many sentences were short and kind of choppy. Paragraphs were shorter as well. There wasn’t as much description. But…it made the pages read so quickly. Even though the writing was simple, it was still effective.

Ox sees the world a bit differently than any other protagonist I can recall in my somewhat recent reads. There are so many layers to him, so he is deeper than most would give him credit for, but he doesn’t spend time waxing poetic about things. He just describes things as they are, for the most part. But he also sees certain emotions as colors, which makes me wonder if that’s just the easiest way for him to describe them, or if he actually has a form of synesthesia.

It was interesting that this book covered such a large amount of time. We get some time when Ox is 12 and his dad leaves, then it jumps forward, showing how he and his mom pull together and move forward, before showing how things really start to change when the Bennetts move in.

Most of the first half of the book covers this period from when Ox is 16-23, when things get very intense and dramatic, and everything changes. The rest of the book covers the Bennett pack split up and eventual return.

While there are moments where everything is pretty high stakes, most of the story honestly just feels like friendship and found family and the bonds that connect us all. So much of it just feels kind of cute and fluffy and easy-going. Aside from the moments of pain and drama and intensity, most of this book just feels like a warm hug.

And okay, I should point out that there is a big age difference between Ox and Joe. When they first meet Ox is 16 and Joe is 10, and the connection between them is pretty much immediate…something that often happens in stories that feature supernatural creatures such as werewolves. It doesn’t negate the fact that for a chunk of the book Ox is an adult and Joe is a minor, and Ox is experiencing lustful thoughts and urges towards the young man, which feels a little…yuck.

Still, overall, I read this book fairly quickly, and there are a number of characters I would like to know more about…so yes, I will be continuing this series. I think the rest of the series features folks who are of a more similar age, which will feel a bit less problematic to me. And look, it’s not that age gaps bother me–I’m four years older than my husband. What bothers me is that for nearly half the book, one of the pair is an adult, while the other is a teenager, a minor. When I was studying to be a teacher in the beginning of my college years, if there was a two year difference in age and one person was an adult and one was a minor, then it was never considered to be consensual, and legally was considered rape. Thankfully, Ox doesn’t really act on his thoughts and feelings for Joe until Joe is about to turn 18, but still, it just felt weird to me.

All right, well that is all from me for now. Stay tuned for another review coming later today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

June Wrap Up

Hey all, Sam here.

I read 19 books in the month of June! That obviously doesn’t include the two or three books I’m in the middle of reading and will finish in the next couple of days, because those are technically considered July reads because that’s when I’m going to finish them. But, this certainly feels pretty darn good.

What is sad is that I only have reviews up for 8 of the 19 books, with 1 more review coming this weekend. The rest I’ll need to write up and schedule…probably as bonus posts through the next month or so. It’s a delightful problem to have. I mean, I did write up 14 book reviews in June, and I have roughly 14 planned already for July. Would an extra 11 book reviews be too much? Hmm…maybe not for you, but with it also being Camp NaNoWriMo, that many bonus posts might end up being too much for me. I guess we’ll just see what happens as the month progresses then.

I hope you all had a productive month of reading in June. Below I’ve listed everything I read, as well as my rating for each book. Then there is either a link to the review if it is already posted, or the planned date of review for the books I’ve already put in my blog schedule. The rest of them will be bonuses at some point or another.

All right, let’s get started.

The Grimoire of Grave Fates created by Hanna Alkaf and Margaret Owen — 5 stars

Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne — 5 stars

by Sophie Keetch — 4 stars

Rising Fire by Terri Brisbin — 3.5 stars

A Thousand Recipes for Revenge by Beth Cato — 4 stars

The Twice-Drowned Saint by C.S.E. Cooney — 4.5 stars

Ace: What Asexuality Reveals About Desire, Society, and the Meaning of Sex by Angela Chen — 4 stars

The Cardboard Kingdom #2: Roar of the Beast by Chad Sell – 5 stars

Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo by Grant Faulkner — 5 stars (will probably be a bonus review for July since it is Camp NaNoWriMo, but I don’t know when in July)

Raven of the Inner Palace Volume 1 by Kouka Shirakawa — 4 stars

The Study of Poisons by Maria V Snyder — 5 stars

Garden of the Cursed by Katy Rose Pool — 4 stars (should probably schedule this as a bonus review for July because it is a NetGalley read)

This Doesn’t Mean Anything by Sarah Whalen — 3 stars

The Warden by Daniel M. Ford — 4.5 stars

Gods of the Wyrdwood by R.J. Barker — 4 stars (Also a NetGalley read, so it will probably be a bonus review in July as well)

The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen — 4.5 stars

Dark Water Daughter by H.M. Long — 5 stars (review coming July 2)

Unpainted by Dan Fitzgerald — 3.5 stars

Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: The Last Book on Novel-Writing You’ll Ever Need by Jessica Brody — 5 stars

Overall I’m really happy with everything I managed to read for the month…and I’m definitely excited to see what all I can read in July. I have a pretty hefty July TBR planned, so hopefully I can manage to complete most or all of it.

All right, well that is all from me for now. There’s a book review coming later today. Let me know in the comments what all you read in the month of June. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

Weekend Writer: Save the Cat! Writes a Novel Chapter Fifteen by Jessica Brody (AND Prompt Share)

Hey all, Sam here.

It is the end of the month…and tomorrow is the start of Camp NaNoWriMo. I think I’m all ready to go. I have my project created on the NaNoWriMo site, I have the documents created in my Google Docs, and I just went to the store and did my habitual new project = new notebook and new writing utensils routine. Plus I took advantage of a deal being offered by Panera, and finally signed up for their Unlimited Sips club so I can keep myself caffeinated for this and all future NaNo projects.

Oh…if you want to see the notebook I picked up, swing by my Instagram (@SamRushingBooks) and I have the post available there.

Okay, well since it is the end of the month, it is time to share some snippets of what I worked on over the month. But, since I had only one chapter left in our writing book breakdown, I’m combining the two together into one superpost.

I guess it would be a good idea to go over what this blog series is about…just in case you’re someone just discovering this blog. Weekend Writer is a weekly series where I talk about creative writing. On the first Friday of the month, that includes using various creativity generators to present some prompts to get those creative sparks flying. Then, on the final Friday of the month, the Weekend Writer post is about sharing some snippets from what we’ve worked on over the month. Aside from that, Weekend Writer is about doing deep dive breakdowns of books, lectures, podcasts, and videos about creative writing or just a general discussion of a topic related to creativity and writing.

Writing often feels like a solitary pursuit, but I know that it is so much nicer when we build up writing communities, whether in-person or online, and help support and uplift each other…and that’s what I try to do here.

All right, that was a pretty lengthy intro. Let’s get started.

SAVE THE CAT!® by Blake Snyder is a popular screenwriting book series and storytelling methodology used by screenwriters, directors, and studio execs across Hollywood. Now, for the first time ever, bestselling author and writing teacher, Jessica Brody, takes the beloved Save the Cat! plotting principals and applies them to the craft of novel writing in this exciting new “workshop style” guide, featuring over 20 full beat sheets from popular novels throughout time.

Whether you’re writing your first novel or your seventeenth, Save the Cat! breaks down plot in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step method so you can write stories that resonate! This book can help you with any of the following:

Outlining a new novel
Revising an existing novel
Breaking out of the dreaded “writer’s block”
Fixing a “broken” novel
Reviewing a completed novel
Fleshing out/test driving a new idea to see if it “has legs”
Implementing feedback from agents and/or editors
Helping give constructive feedback to other writers

But above all else, SAVE THE CAT! WRITES A NOVEL will help you better understand the fundamentals and mechanics of plot, character transformation, and what makes a story work!

Chapter Fifteen: Save the Author! You Got Problems, I Got Solutions

This final chapter honestly reads like a letter or a conversation from Jessica Brody directly to us, the readers, the writers (at whatever stage of the writing process we might find ourselves). She acknowledges that she has put a whole bunch of information into this one book, and that it is sort of a culmination of a decade of knowledge.

So this final chapter is dedicated to some of the more frequent questions and concerns that have come up from her Save the Cat! workshops and from folks implementing the Save the Cat! methodology.

First up — Help! Where Do I Start? The Foundation Beats

With so much information thrown at us at once (although it has taken like two or three months to get through all the chapters here on the blog), it is easy to feel overwhelmed and wonder where exactly you should start.

Ideally we would all start at the beginning, write the Opening Image, then move on to the Theme Stated, and so on and so forth through the story beats…but not everyone writes linearly…and that is perfectly fine.

Brody suggests starting with what she calls the Five Foundation Beats, which are the pillars on which all the other beats rest. There’s also those single scene beats that are easy to tackle, but most need to be placed specifically before the other ones just naturally fall into place.

The Five Foundation Beats are: Catalyst, Break Into 2, Midpoint, Break Into 3, and All Is Lost.

However, before you tackle any of the beats, figure out the three components of your story-worthy hero–a problem (or what makes your hero a flawed hero), a want or goal, and a need. Only when you’ve got a good idea of who your hero is will you be able to figure out what kind of transformative journey they require.

Page 276

On page 277, Brody gives a bullet point list of how she tackles the beat sheet by using the Five Foundation Beats.

Next up: Help! I Need More Structure! Using the Save the Cat! “Board”

If you’re someone who needs structure or something a little more visual to focus on, this section is for you. The suggestion is also as simple as it is in the title of this section…get a corkboard, the biggest you can find at the store. Or there’s actually Save the Cat! software at SavetheCat.com for a virtual board.

You then fill the board with index cards, with each card having a brief description of the scene. Organizing your story beats like this gives you a visual look at the BIG PICTURE of your story.

If you use a physical board, divide it into four rows: Act I, Act 2A, Act 2B, and Act 3. Brody notes that the software is already set up this way. Then using your story beats, you can layout your cards where they belong in the story. Obviously, because of how large Act 2 is, it is split into two, so Act 2A ends with the Midpoint beat.

On pages 280-281, Brody has given a visual diagram showing what your board should sort of look like once you’ve finished outlining. By looking at this diagram, it is clear to see the overall story, and especially to see which beats are single-scene, and what beats are multi-scene.

The specific number of cards used varies by writer and by story. “But a general rule of thumb is to have approximately 30 cards for every 25,000 words or 100 pages of story,” Brody writes (Page 282).

It is also noted that whether you are creating this board during the brainstorming phase or the writing/revision phase, there will be differences. AND, you can always add or remove scenes as you go along the process.

That’s what makes the corkboard such a good option, because it is so adaptable. If a scene needs to move to an earlier or later point, then you simply move the index card to where it needs to go. This is a method I definitely plan to try in the future, because I think it might work for me, and I say that as someone who usually just ponders all the details in my mind until it is finally time to write them down. I feel like I need to transition from a pantser/percolator to more of a plantser (a planner/pantser).

Next: Help! I Might Have More Than One Main Character! A Look at Novel Narratives

It was mentioned before that even if you have multiple main characters, one of them should be your primary.

However, when it comes to the beat sheets, yes, you will need one beat sheet for each of the main characters, so you can track their transformative arcs and figure out how to weave the stories together into a compelling narrative.

On pages 285-286, Brody gives a breakdown on beat sheet count based on the narrative perspectives for your story.

Next up: Help! I’m Writing a Series! The Series Beat Sheet

If you guessed that writing a series means also coming up with multiple beat sheets…yep you’re right. Not only do you need a beat sheet for each book within the series, but you’ll also need an overarching beat sheet to cover the entire series.

Brody does make sure to note that the Series Beat Sheet doesn’t have to have all fifteen beats, but it should track the larger arc of the hero or heroes. And it should have a structure similar to a three-act structure.

Think about trilogies, for example. Each book will have three acts and fifteen beats, but the first book, as a whole, is often the setup book, depicting an Act 1 world for the series. It brings us and the hero into the story, introduces all of the players, and lets us know what’s what. Then it usually ends with a Catalyst, a Debate (or a choice for the hero), and a Break Into 2, effectively setting up the second book in the trilogy, or the Act 2 book. Then the second book in the trilogy usually ends with an All Is Lost moment, followed by a wallowing Dark Night of the Soul and finally another decision: a Break Into 3 that leads us to the final installment. And don’t third books in trilogies always feel like one giant Finale? It’s where we find the most epic battles, the most characters lost, the highest stakes, and the greatest victories!

Page 287

For a four-book series the possible Series Beat Sheet would be: Book 1 – Series Act 1, Book 2 – Series Act 2 (up until a Midpoint twist), Book 3 – Series Act 2 (up until the Break Into 3), Book 4 – Series Act 3.

And yes, while juggling all of this, you also have to contend with the character arcs for the hero, not just with each individual book, but also across the whole series.

When you plot a series, every book has to count. You can’t have a series with one or two important novels and a bunch of filler novels. Every book has to have a purpose. A why. A Theme Stated and a lesson learned for our hero. And they can’t all be the same. Related and interlinked, yes, but not the same.

Page 288

Yes, series are complex, but don’t worry…Brody believes that you can do it, and you can create a phenomenal story.

Next: Help! My Hero is Unlikeable! How to Save a Cat

Okay, so in another chapter it was discussed that the hero has to be someone with flaws, someone who needs change. So obviously, sometimes you have to start with a hero who isn’t a peach, but you still need to make sure that the reader will stick around, so how do you show off that your unlikeable hero actually has something that will make the journey worth the reader’s time?

As I mentioned in the introduction, “save the cat!” actually started as a fancy writer trick designed to take an unlikable hero and make them a little more likable. It originates from the imaginary scenario that you’ve got a douchebag of a hero, desperately in need of some de-douchebagging, walking around doing douchebaggy stuff when suddenly he sees a cat stuck up in a tree. He stops, he climbs up in the tree, and he saves the cat, at which point you, the reader, stop and go, Wait a minute; this guy can’t be all bad. He’s got a good heart. And voila! Now you’ve got a redeemable unlikable hero–instead of just an unlikable one.

Okay, so you don’t literally have to save a cat! It’s just an expression that means you need to employ some writerly sleight of hand to convince your reader there’s something worth rooting for in your hero.

Page 289

So give your hero one redeeming quality action or hobby. Give your hero a (really bad) enemy or situation in their life.

Characters are never unlikable for no reason. They don’t emerge that way from the womb. We all start as a blank slate. So what was drawn on that slate to turn the hero into the person we meet on page one of the book?

Page 292

Finally: Help! I’m Stuck! Some Parting Words of Wisdom and Inspiration

Regardless of what stage you’re at, you will get stuck in this process. I guarantee it. You will have good days and bad days. You will write scenes you love and scenes you throw away. You will change your Catalyst beat a million times until you come up with the right one. You will get to the end of the novel and realize your Fun and Games is all wrong.

It’s called a creative process for a reason.

Page 293

Give Yourself Permission to Write/Plot Badly

There’s no such thing as writer’s block or plotter’s block. There’s only perfectionist’s block. (Thank you to author Emily Hainsworth for this brilliant, brilliant phrase!) We’re terrified that what we write or plot will be horrible. Well, then, just give in to that fear and let it be horrible. Write something horrible. Plot out a dreadful, disgusting, cringe-worthy beat sheet. Let yourself SUCK!

Page 293

Be Flexible! Beats Will Change

Author Terry Pratchett says, “The first draft is just you telling yourself the story.” In fact, some people even call the first draft “the discovery draft.” Because that’s what you’re doing. You’re discovering the story. You’re exploring the world. You’re getting to know the hero. Plotting a novel and thinking you can stick to everything you planned is about as delusional as plotting your life and thinking nothing will ever go astray.

Page 294

Be flexible and let your beats change as your story and your hero come more and more into focus.

And when you get lost, remember to come back to your wants and needs. They are your signposts on this journey. As you drive toward the Midpoint, keep your sights on what your hero wants. And then, as you drive toward the Final Image, keep your sights on what the hero needs. These two things will help guide you through the dark spots on the road.

Pages 294-295

Don’t Compare Your Work in Progress to Someone Else’s Finished Masterpiece

Novels don’t spill onto the page in finished form. Usually (at least for me!), they spill onto the page as grotesque, misshapen Rorshach test images that I have to squint and tilt my head at for hours on end to attempt to make any sense of.

And along the same lines, try not to compare your beat sheet in progress to any of the beat sheets featured in this book. Remember, those are analyses of stories that are already finished and perfected. I can guarantee you they don’t resemble anything like the outline the authors started with when they first sat down to write (if they even started with an outline!).

Page 295

This is the difference between a Before Beat Sheet and an After Beat Sheet. Before is what plotters create before they start writing, and it is basically a road map for the story ahead. Whereas an After Beat Sheet is an analysis of a finished, revised, edited novel to study patterns in the story.

Page 295

Final Image

You, my friend, are the true hero of this story. You are the reason I wrote this book. Right now, yours is the only transformation that matters to me. So, go out there and be the storytelling superhero that I know you’re destined to be.

Page 304

I honestly feel like this was an extremely useful and beneficial book…and I know I got a lot of information from it. I hope that you all found it valuable as well. So thank you for this, Jessica Brody. I look forward to picking up your YA version in the near future.

And now we move on to the prompt share portion of today’s post. If you missed out on those prompts, you can find my June Prompt post at this link. You can always share late. It’s fine. I just give myself a schedule so I don’t slack off.

While I liked the prompts for June, and I will definitely do something with them in future, this month I dabbled a little more with my upcoming Camp NaNoWriMo projects. Harbingers of Death has two perspectives, and I shared the first of those as the March Prompt Share…so here’s a snippet from the other POV.

Battles and battlefields were nothing new to one who had lived on them for longer than anyone should reasonably remember. This one was thankfully not one that was soaked with the essence of past events, soaked in the lingering echo of all the war and death from previous generations, previous countries, previous feuds or bids for power or petty hatred. 

“Did you hear that?” It took a minute to pinpoint the question as coming from Ingrid standing about ten paces away, her sword and shield still held up in preparation for another wave, one that we both already knew was unlikely to happen…and yet we were still keyed up on adrenaline, ready to take on more foes if they chose to come our way.

“What’d you hear?” The echoing thumping of my heart was still taking up most of my focus, as I tried to calm the ecstasy of combat thrumming through my veins. 

Ingrid slowly lowered her sword, but kept her shield held high as she turned around, surveying our surroundings. “I could have sworn that I heard a scream, one like none other I’ve experienced…in this lifetime, at least.” As she spoke, she moved nearer to me while also circling around where I stood. It was clear that she was searching for something specific, though what it was I couldn’t imagine. “Are you certain you heard nothing?”

I shook my head. “We both know I’m a battlerager. I get caught up in my immediate surroundings and everything else fades to the dullest of hums. I heard nothing more than weapons clashing upon shields and armor.”

“Damn. I was afraid you would say that. It had to have been a banshee that I heard.” Ingrid let out a heavy sigh. “I’m going to die today.”

All right, well that concludes this creative writing book deep dive. We’ll be starting a new book next week. That is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

Book Review: Unpainted by Dan Fitzgerald

Hey all, Sam here.

And today I’m not here for a NetGalley read and review. Instead, I am here for a book that will be out TOMORROW. That’s right. This book is releasing on June 30th, so now is the perfect time to pre-order/pick up your own copy.

I follow author Dan Fitzgerald on Twitter, and in preparation for this release, he asked for folks who’d be interested in reading and reviewing. And I am always game to help signal boost, especially when it is for authors and book lovers and cool creative people.

And that’s it on the how-it-happened story. I’m mostly trying to get caught up on NetGalley reads and reviews, so I’m not fully open for accepting other read and review requests…but…with that being said, I will still consider it if anyone out there asks. Depending on my reading and blogging schedule for the month, I still might be able to squeeze it in. Also, I am always happy to host a cover reveal, just a general book announcement, a Q&A, or a discussion style post. Just reach out to me in the comments here, or find me on Twitter or Instagram (@SamRushingBooks), and we’ll see what we can make happen.

All right, enough of that. Let’s get started.

“I’m ready.”

In the hermetic society of the Painted Faces, pale, unblemished skin is rewarded with station, wealth, and power.

Tera would almost rather go unpainted than enter into an arranged marriage with a total stranger, but that would mean giving up the only life she’s ever known. Not to mention her share of her family’s Pureline fortune.

She’s always thought love was a fairy tale and sex a joyless chore, but the alternative might be worse.

Enter Aven, a soft buttercup of a man, the kindest and most considerate person she’s ever met. A tropical honeymoon awaits, and with the help of her intimacy consultant, Tera is determined to make the best of this awkward ritual. Amid the island breezes, she and her new spouse form a bond neither of them knew they were capable of.

But trouble stirs beneath the polite veneer of the Painted Faces’ society, threatening to tear them—and their entire world—apart.

Unpainted is a queer arranged marriage fantasy romance, a standalone in the Weirdwater Confluence universe. It features a dual POV, magical currency shenanigans, mind magic, and inordinate amounts of steamy, fluffy goodness with a soft femdom dynamic. Coming June 2023.

Content warnings

Unpainted contains numerous explicit, consensual sex scenes, including light bondage and sex toys, as well as drug use and minor violence. It is intended for an adult audience and should not be read by anyone under 18.

Author’s note

Unpainted has cameos from several characters in The Living Waters and The Isle of a Thousand Worlds but contains no spoilers, and no prior knowledge of these books is required to enjoy Unpainted .

My Thoughts

Rating: 3.5 stars

I’m just going to say this right here at the top of this review…3 stars is not a bad rating. It doesn’t mean the book was bad or anything like that. All too often I see people treating anything under 5 stars as if it means the book is terrible, and that’s simply not true. 3 stars, or 3.5 stars in this book’s case, means that the book was good but not great. I enjoyed my time with it, but something was missing that kept it from being one of those AMAZING reads.

Fitzgerald says that this is a standalone set in the same world as other books he’s written, and that you don’t need prior knowledge of the world or other characters and stories before jumping into this one. This is my first book by Fitzgerald, so I can attest to the fact that you can follow along well enough without having read the other books in this world.

However, I think personally, I would have enjoyed this more if I had more of an understanding of the world and the culture and everything else going on. I could follow along well enough to get through the book, but I love lore and worldbuilding and all of that, and this book didn’t delve deep into that.

I can say that we jumped into the lives of Aven and Tera very quickly, starting with their arranged marriage and then the two of them heading off on their honeymoon. Probably the first half of this story is these two soft sweet adorable characters getting to know each other emotionally and physically.

There was lots of lush descriptions of food and different activities the pair experience during the days, and then the intimacies they get up to in the evenings. I’d definitely recommend this book for more mature readers. It isn’t that the content is crude or crass or anything, because both of these characters are very gentle and respectful and caring towards the idea of being ready and comfortable with the physical aspects of their relationship. But the scenes do have a certain amount of explicit content, including some usage of toys and light bondage. And yes, there is some drug use as well.

So, while the first half was basically just character and relationship building, the second half was mostly plot and action and intrigue with moments of romance/intimacy scattered throughout. I think I would have liked better pacing overall.

Oh, and I didn’t even mention the diversity and representation in this book. Aven is Bi and Tera is Aspec, and there are other characters who are LGBTQIAP+, and it all felt very normal and natural (which it is), and accepted in this world (which, personally I feel like it should be here in our world. Sorry to get political, but LOVE = LOVE). I really enjoy books that are wonderfully diverse and nobody bats an eye at it. Although the state of one’s skin, both in color tone and in clarity, are present as a tier system in this world. Pure unblemished skin is revered, and there is a ranking system for the color/tone of one’s skin in terms of aspects in society, including business and marriage prospects.

Still, I enjoyed this book. It was a fairly quick read, only taking me a couple hours to finish. I was interested in the characters enough that I wanted to keep reading, even when I was waiting for something other than adorable cuteness of honeymooning. I just wanted a little more depth of worldbuilding and a more evenly paced tale. But Unpainted was still an enjoyable tale, and if it sounds interesting to you then I’d definitely recommend it.

That is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

July TBR

Hey all, Sam here.

Okay, the June TBR actually went pretty well. At least in terms of me having a reading plan for the month…and I mostly stuck to it, even though there were a couple minor adjustments and rearrangements, so… let’s try again for July.

Starting with…the NetGalley reads I’m hoping to read and review this month. Because, once again, there are a number of releases coming for July that I’ve already been approved for. Actually a couple I’ve already started reading and prepping for review. It actually feels really nice to already be working on posts for next month.

Some of these books you may also recognize from my Let’s Chat About Books (Especially Anticipated Releases) post. If I manage to finish all the books from that post, then I’ll be writing up another one, because it gives me goals to work towards and it seems like right now I’m doing pretty decent on working towards those goals, which is pretty cool.

The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem (July 18), Ghosted by Amanda Quain (July 25), The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero Lacruz (July 25), The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec (July 25).

Thankfully most of my NetGalley reads for July are actually books out in the second half of the month, so I have a little bit of time to get everything put together. Several of my reviews for the early part of the month are either overdue reviews, or reads from the end of June.

This first grouping of books has some fascinating sounding diverse fantasies, a ghost-filled reimagining of a classic novel, and a mythological historical tale, and they are all books I’m very excited to be reading soon.

Bonesmith by Nicki Pau Preto (July 25), The Valkyrie’s Shadow by Tiana Warner (July 25), Ravensong by T.J. Klune (Aug 1), Guardians of Dawn: Zhara by S Jae-Jones (Aug 1).

This second grouping of NetGalley reads takes us from the end of July to the beginning of August, because with books coming out at the start of the month, it’s probably best to try and get them read a little bit early.

So I definitely have some fantasy tales with action and mythology and romance and even one that’s pitched as “Sailor Moon meets Cinder” and that just sounds really interesting to me. Oh, and obviously one of the books in this section is the sequel to one that I’m reading now and should be reviewing in the next week or so, which means I have to finish that book before I can read the next one.

Next let’s talk about a few of the books that aren’t on my NetGalley list that I’m hoping to read. This section is the one that I’m most flexible on, although the first book mentioned is one I NEED to read before we go to Gen Con because the author will be there.

The First Binding by R.R. Virdi, The City of Dusk by Tara Sim, The Final Strife by Saara El-Arifi, Against All Gods by Miles Cameron.

Now for the Sim, El-Arifi, and Cameron books, I do have the sequels on my NetGalley Lists. The sequel to The Final Strife came out, I believe, last month, and the sequel to Against All Gods is out in July. Thankfully the sequel to The City of Dusk won’t be here until the end of August. So, the faster I can get around to these first books, the sooner I can read the sequels.

The other thing to note is that these are all larger fantasy reads, like 400-500+ pages each, so I don’t know how easily I’ll be able to squeeze them into my July reading schedule, especially with Camp NaNoWriMo happening, but I’m certainly hoping that I can read all the books on my list.

Oh, I should also say that I plan to do some manga reading in July, with a special focus on One Piece since the live-action series is coming to Netflix at the end of August, and I’d like to have read the volumes that are being covered so I can have an understanding of the characters and the world and all that.

But it should be another fun month of reading, and I’m really excited to see what all I accomplish between the reading and the writing for the month of July. It should be a pretty epic month.

Are there any books on your must-read list for July? Let me know in the comments!

Okay, well that is all from me for now, but don’t worry, I’m coming back for a book review later. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

WIP Wednesday – June 28

Hey all, Sam and David here today.

There has been so much going on over here at Free State of Geek, both individually and together. We normally get up to quite a bit of stuff, but it seems that since we are on opposing work schedules, we get even more done when the other person is at work. Yes, we’d both love to have more time together, but we’re taking advantage of the free time we do have when we’re apart.

Anyway, welcome back to our mid-week check-in post series, which we call WIP Wednesday. It’s a place to talk about everything we’ve been reading, writing, watching, playing, printing, doing, and more. Basically it is something we use to keep track of all of the things we get up to each and every week so we don’t forget things, particularly when it comes to the big end of year wrap-ups and all that.

Oh, and feel free to share what you’ve been up to lately in the comments, because we would love to hear all about it!

Okay, that’s enough chit-chat from us. Let’s get started with the weekly breakdown.

Sam

Reading: The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L Jensen, Unpainted by Dan Fitzgerald, Dark Water Daughter by H.M. Long

I have reviews for Dark Water Daughter and Unpainted coming in the next few days, so stay tuned for those.

Basically, I didn’t do as much reading as I did last week, or I did a bunch of reading but I was having some focus issues that meant not completing as many books. I had one 600+ page book that I was hoping to read in a couple days and review last weekend, but the beginning was so world-building and info dumpy that I was really struggling to find that draw into the story like I was hoping to find. So I set it aside to read something a bit faster. I’m not saying that the chonky fantasy isn’t good, but it wasn’t good for me at that moment when I was trying to read it. That happens sometimes, and it’s fine.

I still have a number of in-progress reads in varying stages of completion: Garden of the Cursed by Katy Rose Pool, Duel with the Vampire Lord by Elise Kova, Gods of the Wyrdwood by R.J. Barker, Wolfsong by T.J. Klune, A Crown of Ivy and Glass by Claire Legrand, The Valkyrie’s Daughter by Tiana Warner

Hey, is it obvious that I’m really into a fantasy romance/romantasy mood right now? Because I am. Sadly I have to balance that with my desire to keep as on top of my NetGalley reads and reviews as I can, and I have work to think of and all that, so…I’m not necessarily reading as deeply and quickly as I’d like to, but that’s fine. The point is that I am finally back on my read-lots-of-books-all-the-time groove, so I’m just going to go with it.

Watching: “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” Season 3 (in progress), “Secret Invasion” Season 1 (in progress), “Charmed” Season 1, Season 2, and Season 3 (in progress), “Critical Role” Campaign 3, and BookTube videos.

Writing: Camp NaNoWriMo starts this weekend, and I think I’m as ready as I can be for it. I still have a little more research I want to do for the Cozy Vampire Fantasy project, but that’s easy, and I can do it during the month of writing if I need to.

So I have my goal set at 30,000 words written in the month of July. Now, while I’d love to say that that means writing 15,000 for Harbingers of Death and 15,000 for Sink Your Teeth Into Some Good Books, I’m not going to restrict myself in that way. If while I’m writing, I feel the draw to one story over the other, then that’s what I’m going to focus on, and if that shifts day by day, then that’s fine. For my writing updates through the month, I’ll try and give rough word counts for both stories, just in case anyone is curious about my writing focuses.

Other: We got to play a little bit of Diablo IV again the other night. We’re in the middle of the Act III quests and all that, but then we have plenty of side quests still to do, and plenty of areas still to explore in order to complete all the tasks for the regions so we can max out our renown and everything. It’s going to take some time, especially since we can’t manage to play more than an hour or two at a time.

The only other thing of note for me in this section is that one of our friends went out of state for a convention, and David and I got to puppy-sit for a few days, so we went over to our friend’s house a couple times a day to check on the dog, let him outside to go to the bathroom, and then play with him for a bit and check on his food and water. I’m glad we’re in a position to be able to help our friends out with simple things like that. Plus, it gets us out of the house for a little while…and we get to spoil some cute puppies and kitties, and that’s always fun.

David

Watching: The rewatch of FMA:Brotherhood continues. I am almost done with it and I will need to pick another anime to watch through or rewatch. I think preferably one I have already seen so I can paint miniatures while it is playing in the background.

Sam and me have also been watching some more of Star Wars: Clone Wars. Its kind of cool to watch everything that was going on during the period between Episode II and III. I think Kenobi’s level of sass is amazing. I did notice Asohka seems to be stuck repeating the obvious. Like saying “The lights went out.” When everyone present can see that. Reminds me of Galaxy Quest “I got one job on this ship, its a dumb job, but Im gonna do it.”

Painting: I painted a small female figure that was a test print for the resin printers. I am painting a sexy Mirko right now, and because I have a hard time finishing one thing before starting another I have also started painting the 3 Troggoths from Age of Sigmar. When I got those ones along with a bunch of others they were partially painted so they should not take long to finish. So far I am happy with my progress. I have my base coat on them and now for both Mirko and the trolls I can start adding all the little details. I will share pictures next week when I have a few more done.

Once I finish these trolls I have the Oathsworn figures next on my list to finish. After those I want to get started on the Witcher: Old World figures. I am looking forward to it and hop I can take plenty of good pictures for you all next time.

Printing: The printing is going well overall. Have a couple of new machines being added to the arsenal. I am printing a bunch of little bone rats. I think they are going to be a nice surprise for those who find as at GenCon. I am thinking of printing some of my coins and stuff to hand out as well. Just handing out Bardic Inspirations like the bard I am.

I am also looking into maybe doing some can holder cups and seeing how they do. The ones I am looking at are suppose to not need supports so that will be great. Depending on the colors I use to make them I wont have to do anything extra to them. I do have most of the machines going right now

Gaming: I put a little more focus on to my Barbarian on Diablo 4. Going for the dual wielding build and seeing how it goes. I am not getting a lot of super cool gear yet as I am still at the lower levels and Halfway through the First Act. It has been fun so far to just got deep into enemies and just start swinging.

I am probably going to try putting some time into Tears of the Kingdom again. I was taking a break for a bit since all i have been doing is trying to find all the shrines I can and then I will start seeking out better armor and ingredients to upgrade them. I think my favorite armor is the gliding armor. I was told if you upgrade it high enough you will no longer take fall damage.

Well, that’s all from us for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and we’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

Tabletop Tuesday: Betrayal at House on the Hill (2nd Edition)

Hey all, Sam and David here again today.

Hello, and welcome back to another edition of Tabletop Tuesday, the series on our blog where we focus on all things tabletop. This could be a review of a board game, a card game, a dice game, or a tabletop role-playing game. Or it could be a discussion about some aspect of TTRPG gaming or etiquette. Or it could be us talking about accessories to help level up your game night. Whatever it is, it is guaranteed to focus on tabletop gaming.

This is something that both David and I love. We met thanks to a friend’s Dungeons & Dragons game, and our whole relationship has featured numerous tabletop game days and tabletop gaming conventions (we’ve gone to Gen Con every year that we’ve been together). So, it completely makes sense now that we’re doing this blog together, that we have at least one day where we focus on our love of tabletop.

Today we are back with a tabletop game that has a changing board layout, but that also features rolling dice to alter the game, as well as drawing cards that could be useful items….or they could be visions, signs, omens, or clues for what’s to come.

If you’re a fan of B Rated Horror Movies…or even if you aren’t…let’s talk about Betrayal at House on the Hill…

RE-PLAYABLE NARRATIVE BOARD GAME: Tile by tile, terror by terror, build their own haunted mansion and then try to escape it alive. The game is for 3-6 players and takes about 60 minutes to playMODULAR BOARD PIECES: The Betrayal at House on the Hill tabletop game features 50 blood-curdling scenarios. Each trip to the house promises fresh horrors and a new story is created every time you playHAUNTED HOUSE TRAITOR GAME: Players must work together to survive the nightmare…but beware! The house turns one player against the others in this cooperative strategy gameMINIATURES BOARD GAME: This second edition of Betrayal at House on the Hill includes 6 pre-painted plastic explorer figures, 80 cards, 149 tokens, 44 room tiles, 2 haunt books, and moreIMMERSIVE NARRATIVE: Get ready for an unpredictable and thrilling exploration of the haunted house. Encounter witches, dragons, zombies, and other spooky and bizarre B-movie horror clichés

The creak of footsteps on the stairs, the smell of something foul and dead, the feel of something crawling down your back — this and more can be found in this award-winning and highly acclaimed tabletop game of strategy and horror. Avalon Hill Betrayal at House on the Hill Cooperative Board Game Second Edition includes 50 fiendish scenarios and dozens of danger-filled rooms. You will return to the house again and again — as often as you dare — and never face the same game twice. Gather friends together for a game night of monsters, miniatures, and modular board pieces in this immersive, story-driven hidden traitor game for 3-6 players, ages 12 and up. Avalon Hill and all related trademarks and logos are trademarks of Hasbro, Inc.

Includes 1 rulebook, 2 haunt books (Traitor’s Tome and Secrets of Survival), 44 room tiles, 1 entrance hall/foyer/grand staircase tile, 6 pre-painted plastic explorer figures, 6 two-sided character cards, 30 plastic clips, 8 dice, 1 turn/damage track, 80 cards (event, item, omen), and 149 tokens.

There is a 3rd Edition of this game out as well, and it does feature some upgrades in the art, layout, coloring, and overall design…but we have, and have been playing the 2nd Edition for a number of years now. We also have the Widow’s Walk Expansion, and we have the Dungeons & Dragons Edition, which is called Betrayal at Baldur’s Gate.

So this is a game we enjoy playing, and it has a lot of replay value. There are 50 different haunts in the base game, and the Widow’s Walk expansion adds an additional 50 haunts. In all of the times we have played it…we have never played the same haunt twice, which is pretty fun.

Also, the house’s layout changes each time you play, because the tiles are drawn in a different order, and will place the tiles at different spots within the house.

We absolutely love games that you can play over and over without it really feeling repetitive.

Now I (Sam) am not a huge fan of the horror genre. I can read or watch things that have horror as a sub-genre, but overall, it’s not a genre that is interesting to me. Especially when it comes to TV shows and movies, the music always seems to give away the “scary” moments, and oftentimes any gore or violence seems a bit too much or a bit too exaggerated. I say all these, because I DO enjoy playing this game (probably because there’s no soundtrack going in the background. Plus it’s a bit cheesy and campy most of the time…and you’re playing with friends, which always makes it a good time.

There are a lot of pieces and parts to this game, so it can be easy to misplace or lose pieces if you don’t keep track of things. Our game box is filled with little snack and sandwich baggies containing all the cardboard pieces…but you can actually find people who have made organizing inserts to put in the game box to help keep everything a bit easier to find than how we do it.

Oh, and they have made some serious upgrades to the character cards since Sam bought our edition. Our copy has the sliders to put on the character cards to keep track of attributes, but any little bump or movement can cause the slider to shift, which can sometimes make it difficult to keep track of where your Speed or Sanity or Might or Knowledge is. They actually have these Upgrade Kits, which replace the sliders with spinning dials….which means you actually just fully replace the character cards. The 3rd Edition of the game has a different character card setup as well (and they’ve even changed out the character roster, so it’s all new haunted house explorers).

All in all, this is a fun and ever-changing game. After you understand the basic setup and rules, it’s fine that the rest of it changes with each play-through. It’s actually really fun to sit around the table, slowly exploring this big creepy house, just wondering when things are going to take a dark turn, and wondering when one of your fellow players, your fellow explorers, is going to turn on you or be forced to turn on you….or perhaps you’ll all have to turn on each other. (We had that happen one time…the house suddenly took off into the sky and parachute backpacks appeared in the house, but there was one fewer backpack than there were people in the house…so it was a race to the packs and a fight against your fellow explorers…because somebody was going to die (or somebody was going to get killed).

This is definitely a staple on our gaming shelves, and is a game we enjoy playing again and again. It’s just a lot of run, and a lot of that is because of the replay value.

Well, that is all from us for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and we’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

Manga Review: The Great Cleric Vol 1 by Broccoli Lion and Hiiro Akikaze

Hey all, Sam here.

We’re starting to put together some plans behind the scenes here at Free State of Geek. It’s too soon to announce any specific details or anything, but we’re excited about the possibilities. So if we can get all the pieces in the proper places then some big and pretty cool stuff will be happening with Free State of Geek, and it’ll be awesome. Hopefully it won’t take much longer than a handful of months to put the plans in place, but we’ll keep you posted.

In other news, hello, and welcome back to the beginning of another week. It’s time for another Manga Monday post. And today I’m finally getting around to starting the reviews from the manga I read during Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon back in April. Yes, sometimes it does take that long to get around to reviewing something. Especially in the case of manga, because I’ll read 5-10 volumes at one time and then I’ll need to wait for an open slot in my review schedule to talk about it. Most of my reviews from the past few months were read at the end of December/beginning of January.

Okay, let’s go ahead and jump into the review.

The award-winning light-novel series is now getting a manga adaptation! A salaryman collapses from a gunshot wound. When he comes to, he finds himself reincarnated in another world as a fifteen-year-old healer named Luciel with a talent for holy magic. In order to survive in this new world, he must build up his body and endure intensive and strict physical training, not to mention awful flavors! His masochistic zombie streak takes root in Volume 1 of The Great Cleric!

My Thoughts

Rating: 4 stars

So earlier this year, I found an article that was a list of manga, and I can’t even remember what the subject of the article was, but I found quite a few I wanted to check out, and thankfully we managed to find the first volumes of them on a trip to the bookstore. The Great Cleric was one of those.

This is an isekai fantasy series, and it follows someone who is shot and then reincarnated in a fantasy world. In this world he is known as Luciel and he has a talent for holy and healing magic.

Through the course of this first volume, he undergoes some healing training, and ends up joining two different guilds, one a healing guild and one an adventuring guild. He is doing so much training and work and effort to strengthen himself so he can survive and thrive in his new world and life.

About the only problem I have with so many of these isekai adventures is that they follow main characters who work workaholics in their old life and after coming to a fantastical world and being given magic powers, they once again just become workaholics.

I think that’s why I like isekai like The Saint’s Magic Power is Omnipotent and The Savior’s Book Cafe Story in Another World, because yes Sei is a bit of a workaholic, but she also takes time to learn about her new world and experience it and enjoy it. And Tsukina doesn’t want to work hard and study hard and be a Savior; she just wants to read books and have her little book cafe, and that is just great.

But, I can say that I’m definitely intrigued by this one, and I want to see Luciel achieve greater healing magics, and become respected within the adventuring guild for the skills he has. And while I’m annoyed by the continued pushing of the hustle and grind workaholic mentality, it will be interesting to see what comes from all of these training montages.

So, this is a series I plan to continue at some point. I just don’t know when I’ll be making another manga trip to the bookstore.

Well, that’s all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.

Mid Year Book Freakout Tag (2023 Edition)

Hey all, Sam here.

So…I did this tag in 2017, 2018, and 2019…and then for some reason just skipped it the past couple years. But you know, what, let’s bring it back.

The rules are super simple…answer the prompts. Well, I guess technically you need to think about the fact that all of the prompts are about things you’ve read and blogged this year, but really, that’s all. I give myself the added challenge of not being able to use the same book twice.

Let’s do this.

Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2023

This was such an incredible read. I’m so glad that I was approved for it on NetGalley and got to read it early. I’m a big fan of Celtic lore and mythology, and I especially find myself drawn to stories about the Morrigan, so this was definitely something I wanted to read. And now I’m counting down until the release of the sequel, Clarion Call. You can find the review for Ravensong here on my blog.

Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far in 2023

I don’t know that this book technically counts as a sequel, but I’m going to count it as one. I originally read Poison Study, the first book in this world back in late 2006/early 2007…and here we are in 2023 getting to see that book from the male lead’s POV. Reading Yelena’s side of events was interesting, but getting to read Valek’s side of the story now was fantastic. I’ll have the review for this book up soon.

Most Anticipated Release for the Second Half of the Year

I did do a Most Anticipated Releases post for the second half of this year recently, so you can find a lot more books there. But obviously the prequel companion to Legends & Lattes is at the top of my list, but I’m currently reading Dark Water Daughter (which releases July 11th in the US) and really enjoying it, and of course I’m excited for the upcoming release by Susan Dennard, so these are probably my current top three anticipated releases.

Biggest Disappointment

I’m not going to spend a lot of time talking about either This Doesn’t Mean Anything or Breaking Time, but the former I had decent expectations about and it didn’t live up to it, while the latter I didn’t expect much from and it didn’t even meet those low expectations…so disappointing.

Biggest Surprise

This one both was and wasn’t a surprise. I expected to love it because it featured a diverse magic school. But I don’t always enjoy anthologies and this one was also centered around a murder mystery. But I ended up enjoying every single story, and I even found some authors who I need to look into more, so I can try out some more of their writing. I also have a review up for The Grimoire of Grave Fates, so you can check out all my thoughts there.

Favorite New Author (or New to You Author)

So….I own four other Rebecca Ross books aside from this one, but Divine Rivals ended up being the first one that I’ve read from this author, so it totally counts as a New to Me author. I guess I just had a feeling that I would like her books, and so far I haven’t been disappointed. I’ll hopefully be reading more books by Rebecca Ross soon.

Newest Fictional Crush

I always struggled with figuring out this category, and now I can vocalize that it is because of the connotation of the word crush…and as an asexual person that’s because I don’t experience the same feelings when it comes to crushes and such.

However, I can say that I absolutely loved the delightful, fierce, bookish, and warrior ladies that I found in both Can’t Spell Treason without Tea and The Warden. So Reyna and Kianthe, and Aelis and Maurenia are both partnerships where you have one half being more magical and bookish and one being a little more warrior/mercenary, and I just really enjoyed them. I’ll be reviewing the former book as soon as I can fit it into my blogging schedule…which might make it a bonus post sometime, because my blogging calendar is pretty packed for the next couple months.

Newest Favorite Character

I loved Amina al-Sirafi. Okay, I already knew I loved Shannon/S.A. Chakraborty’s writing, and I had heard so many people raving about how wonderful this book was….and I am so happy that I found it to be just as incredible. It was also a book that consumed me and that I read so quickly, even with it being a nice sized fantasy read.

Book That Made You Cry

This prompt is for a book that made me cry…but the nice thing is that tears don’t necessarily mean being sad. Reading I Am Ace was so incredible, and there were so many passages I had to mark, and so many moments where I couldn’t help but tear up because what I was reading had so much meaning and impact to me.

Book That Made You Happy

I simply had to include the graphic novel adaptation of Animorphs for a book that made me happy. I was absolutely obsessed with this series as a kid, and each one was something I was so happy to read. Now, as an adult, I’m definitely loving the opportunity to experience these characters and this story again but in a slightly different format.

Favorite Book to Film Adaptation

I actually haven’t read a bunch of books that have been adapted to film this year, and these ones aren’t exactly adaptations. They are prequel stories leading up to the “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” film. But I loved each of them for how they added more depth and detail to the characters central to the movie, which was really cool for me. I do have reviews up for all of these, so you can find The Road to Neverwinter, as well as The Druid’s Call and The Feast of the Moon reviews at these included links.

Favorite Post You’ve Done This Year

We’ve done a lot of blog posts this year, but here’s a small sampling of some of my favorite ones:

Welcome to the Free State of Geek!

Tabletop Tuesday: Date Night Dungeons – Wight Wedding by Urban Realms

Weekend Writer: Save the Cat! Writes a Novel: Chapter One – Why Do We Care? Creating the Story-Worthy Hero by Jessica Brody

Weekend Writer: February Prompt Share Time

Most Beautiful Book You’ve Bought This Year

Well, this category has to go to my FairyLoot Exclusive Editions…and I couldn’t choose just one, so here’s a photo dump of all of them I’ve received so far this year. I imagine that the June books will be here in about another week or so (I hope).

New Release You Haven’t Read Yet But Want To

There are so many recent (and not so recent) releases I still really want to read…so I’m narrowing it down to books released in the last month. I already own a physical copy of The Lost War by Justin Lee Anderson, and I have my NetGalley ARCs for The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence and The Malevolent Seven by Sebastien de Castell, so hopefully I can squeeze them into my reading schedule here soon.

Book You Need to Read by the End of the Year

I absolutely cannot believe that I haven’t read Babel by R.F. Kuang yet. And I need to read The First Binding by R.R. Virdi before Gen Con, so hopefully I’ll be tackling that soon. With all the hype and buzz around Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, I want to read it very soon. Finally, I picked up Putting the Fact in Fantasy edited by Dan Koboldt earlier this year, and I’m doing a pretty decent job of reading non-fiction and writing craft books, so I’m wanting to get to this one sooner rather than later.

Okay…if you want to do this book tag…then TAG YOU’RE IT!!

Other than that, I do believe that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more bookish content.

NetGalley Review: The Warden by Daniel M. Ford

Hey all, Sam here.

The reading and reviews just keep happening, and it honestly feels so very nice. I can feel my reading drive returning. It feels like the return of a long-lost friend, and I’ve missed wanting to read this much. I am loving it, and I think I’ve read like 15 or so books already this month, which is incredible after so many months of only reading a few books.

I can also say that I am looking forward to having the next two days off of work. I’m doing pretty well with picking up the tasks of the job, and we do seem to get a decent amount of downtime some days where I get to read at work, which is also really nice. But I’m ready to spend a couple days not going anywhere and just relaxing on the couch with a small stack of books and “Charmed” being binged on the TV across the room. Because, you know, I don’t need to fully focus on a show that I’ve already seen numerous times, so I can read at the same time.

All right, let’s jump into today’s review, which is a book that was released April 18 in the US.

A Most Anticipated Book of the Year for GoodReads and FanfiAddict
A Best Science Fiction & Fantasy Editors’ Pick for Amazon

For fans who have always wanted their Twin Peaks to have some wizards, The Warden is a non-stop action adventure story from author Daniel M. Ford.

There was a plan.

She had the money, the connections, even the brains. It was become one of the only female necromancers, earn as many degrees as possible, get a post in one of the grand cities, then prove she’s capable of greatness. The funny thing about plans is that they are seldom under your control.

Now Aelis de Lenti, a daughter of a noble house and recent graduate of the esteemed Magisters’ Lyceum, finds herself in the far-removed village of Lone Pine. Mending fences, matching wits with goats, and serving people who want nothing to do with her. But, not all is well in Lone Pine, and as the villagers Aelis is reluctantly getting to know start to behave strangely, Aelis begins to suspect that there is far greater need for a Warden of her talents than she previously thought.

Old magics are restless, and an insignificant village on the farthest border of the kingdom might hold secrets far beyond what anyone expected. Aelis might be the only person standing between one of the greatest evils ever known and the rest of the world.

My Thoughts

Rating: 4.5 stars

I’ll just say it here: I felt an immediate draw into this story. It had this sort of classic fantasy feel to it, following a wizard settling into a new position and going over old lectures and lessons. So there’s an academic aspect, but then there’s also a bit of community, as well as some magic and mystery and action and travel/adventure.

The story elements all started to weave together, with all sorts of events happening that left Aelis thinking that she needed to look into it more, but then even more dangerous or more pressing issues would arise. It made it delightfully difficult to figure out what was going to happen too easily, and I loved that.

But I will say that at times it felt like the story was coming together a bit slowly, and so that might not be something that is appealing to everyone. Even when things felt a bit slow, I was still super interested and invested, because I was growing attached to all of the characters, because there’s the whole community of Lone Pines, as well as traveling merchants and mercenaries and such. It was such an intriguing and diverse bunch of people to learn about.

Tun, Pip, Rus, and Maurenia were some of my favorite secondary characters in this story.

It really did feel a bit like a Dungeons & Dragons adventure at times. There are similarities when it comes to the different schools of wizardry. And I guess I could say that it would have been nice to have a little more description into the actual act of spellcasting, but overall it was still handled decently enough.

I realize that this story, the characters, the magic system, the writing, might not be for everyone, and that is totally fine and valid. I just know that I had an enjoyable time reading this book, and I have added the sequel to my to-read list, so we’ll see what happens with that next year.

Well, that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.