Vagabond Treehouse (2023) [Beware of Chicken 3 - December 4th] Showing 5,151-5,200 of 5,829

[Brian]

Timelord Iain wrote: "@Brian: just thought to look up next year's Orphan X & Gray Man books, and Orphan X #9 made me laugh, for a second:

Once a black book government assassin known as Orphan X, Evan Smoak left the pro..."

Interesting.... I am in to read both

[Tonari no Emily]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Tonari no Emily wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Tonari no Emily wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "I was putting the cart before the horse before... things aren't nearly as bad as I feared... things hones..."

OMG I know... We deserve (view spoiler)[ the finding of Maeve... (hide spoiler)]
Finished this yesterday! Really liked it, but at the same time (view spoiler)[ don't like how it ended because it just felt so abrupt... Wondering if that's from the necessity of splitting it into two books. Wasn't a huge fan of the summary epilogue... (hide spoiler)]

[Tonari no Emily]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Chapter 18 of Sleep No More: FUCK... talk about unexpected implications... [spoilers removed]"

Can't think of what specifically you're talking about here?

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Chapter 18 of Sleep No More: FUCK... talk about unexpected implications... [spoilers removed]"

Can't think of what specifically you're talking about here?"

(view spoiler)[Raysel was just un-Elfshot, and immediately thrust back into a dark hole for 4 months, refreshing all her worst nightmares about being lost in a pocket dimension for 12 years... the only upside being, this time Toby did indeed find her in a relatively short amount of time...

I never thought about that potential, between the end of the last book and this revelation... (hide spoiler)]

[Tonari no Emily]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Tonari no Emily wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Chapter 18 of Sleep No More: FUCK... talk about unexpected implications... [spoilers removed]"

Can't think of what specifically you're talking about h..."

I see what you mean (view spoiler)[ I mean I wasn't really thinking about Raysel at this point, but oof. At least she wasn't isolated as well..
But then she kind of has to deal with Simon in her life now which has got to be rough! (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Almost caught up on Buddy Reads at the moment (only things I'm behind on now are Tsalmoth from July, The Twelve Plagues from last week, and Shadow Fallen from today)... and I only have 2-3 Buddy Reads before the onslaught kicks back in, next Wednesday: Cursed, Secrets in Death, and maybe The Wind Runner (technically/optionally)...

So I started doomscrolling my unread audiobooks on Audible, looking for something short I could squeeze in... and eventually landed on Vigor Mortis: Volume 1... I think I picked it up on sale earlier this year, and never had time to read it, or think about it much... it almost sounds like a LitRPG, but don't quite think it has actual skills and RPG mechanics... there IS some sort of randomized skill/ability unlock system going on in the world tho... the book follows a girl who spontaneously gains necromantic abilities, untrained... the covers are a bit cute, but slowly veer into eldritch horror territory... the blurb/character sounds a bit like Worm...



With a moniker like Thundamoo, I wasn't surprised to find the author/series on Royal Road... looks like they're pretty successful... after only 2-3 years of writing, they're making 4-5k per month from Patreon, before taxes/fees... turned a hobby into a career...

Looks like there are 3 volumes on Audible already, with a 4th coming... either the 4th volume or an unannounced 5th will end the Vigor Mortis story (for now)... there are 200 chapters on Royal Road, with the newest from 2 weeks ago, but a post-word post from the author indicates that's the end of the story, until she starts a sequel series with new characters, sometime in the future... in the meantime, she has 2-3 other ongoing stories and a standalone IP already finished:

Vigor Mortis
Hive Minds Give Good Hugs (sci-fi lesbian hivemind story)
Bioshifter: Volume 1 (isekai fantasy / urban fantasy hybrid story where MC is turning into a monster in a dream world, and it's carrying over into the real world)
(4th one is Patreon-only, so far... super new, I think... about a multiversal superhero/alien war)...

We'll see how Vigor Mortis goes...

[Nirkatze]

Always love your little side reviews, Iain...

I picked up The Lost Apothecary yesterday for a local book club, and enjoyed it more than I thought. I was in the mood for some more feminist storytelling, especially after zooming through A Spindle Splintered the other day. But I swear, each time I read a non SF/F book, I think of just how much better the story would be if it WERE an SF/F book. Like, what if at the end of the book, the different storylines across history discovered that the apothecary from the past was actually also the friend in the future? And had somehow found a way to extend her life? And then the future MC got to actually ask her all the questions she'd come up with, in doing the historical research... That'd be a more interesting ending, I think...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

The more I look up stuff about Vigor Mortis / Thundamoo, the more I learn their niche seems to be body horror, interspersed with surprisingingly heartwarming moments...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I’m Soo Jr, sending back field reports ;)

And OMG… I’m loving Vigor Mortis so much… definite WORM vibes… and with the addition of brain slugs, suddenly I’m getting the [Doctor] vibes from Wandering Inn… can’t wait to see where this goes…

[Nirkatze]

Okay, fine, Soo Jr! Adding to TBR... ^^ will keep an eye out for audible sales...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

That's my goal... to turn all mood reads into free Buddy Read points :D

I wouldn't say I've loved Volume 2 as much as Volume 1 (I bought volume 2 the second I finished volume 1 and continued)...

Volume 2 adds another main POV (Lark the spider monster that absorbs aspects of what she eats and slowly/quickly becomes intelligent and more human)... it's a nice counterpoint to Vita, the anomancer/necromancer human that finds herself monstrous/non-human... but it cuts into my Vita Time :D

There are also more side POVs to give another perspective and some insight into important side characters...

Also, all the plot developments haven't been fun/pleasant... things are definitely getting darker, and the consequences of actions are piling up...

From reading the blurbs, I know where things are headed (Vita getting arrested for heresy, since anomancy/necromancy is frowned upon and hunted by Inquisitors)... there's a 2 year time jump between books 2-3, so that's a good pause point to return to my regularly scheduled Buddy Reads...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Looking at the spreadsheet, I just realized how Nirkatze has been catching up to me... you filthy cheater ;)

Short stories game the bonus point formulas... since the formulas round up bonus points... and you can't earn less than 0.1 points if you earn any... so anything less than 100 pages gets a slight boost...

Reading all them 5-30 page October Daye short stories, really adds up...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Uh... what?!?... so much happened in those last 3 chapters of Vigor Mortis, Volume 2, setting up the 3 main characters for the next book and time jump... (view spoiler)[shit hit the fan, and the Inquisitors took Vita into custody... but it might be a recruitment with guards... hard to tell if that was supposed to be her or Galdra in the last chapter... then there was a chapter where Vita's best friend/confidant/partner/"owner"/noblewoman was setup to die by the new king & the church, but her poison magic experiments proved particularly lethal in the new war and only increased her political power... and then we jumped to Lark, who was out exploring when she encountered either Vita or Galda (a Templar), and directed to an out-of-the-way town, where she spent a year protecting it, and being halfway accepted as a friendly monster, which led to her being nominated to join the Templars, by the town priest... (hide spoiler)]

Those 2-3 developments are almost bonkers enough to make me delay my Buddy Reads another day and get Volume 3, but I know Volume 4 hasn't been recorded for audio yet... the ebook came out a few months ago, after the web serial ended...

[Tonari no Emily]

We love the field reports, Soo Jr! lol

I've just finished my reread for TLT... I just want Alecto already... Or at least a publication date!!! I'll honestly probably reread again before the release even if its in the next few months because I'm obsessed hehe

[Tonari no Emily]

Also started Quarter Share.. I'm pretty stuck in so far!

[Narilka]

I'm still working my way through Beware of Chicken 2 and continuing to enjoy it. Slice of life is nice. (view spoiler)[Big D is on his quest. I like all the animal perspectives. Washy had a fun adventure too! The turtle reminded me a little of Orthos :) (hide spoiler)] Though I need to pick up the pace if I want to be on time for Starter Villain.

[Nirkatze]

@Narilka--awww, Orthos!

@Emily--you finished all Locked Tomb reread already? I would have tried to join you in that... or... wait, did you say again? Then I *will* join you in that--how about in the Spooktober thread?

@Iain--I'm coming for you... lol... btw, Soo jr. I have an Audible collection just named "Iain Recs"

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Narilka wrote: "I'm still working my way through Beware of Chicken 2 and continuing to enjoy it. Slice of life is nice. [spoilers removed] Though I need to pick up the pace if I want to be on time ..."

The Orthos connection had alot to do with narrative voice choice, I think...

[Narilka]

It looks like some of the Vigor Mortis series is in this latest Audible 2-for-1 sale.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Is there a new sale?

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Is there a new sale?"

Yup 2/1 credit.

[Tonari no Emily]

Nirkatze, I just randomly did a reread because I wasn't expecting Alecto to be published this year. If it does come out this year, I'll do another reread before the release!

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Nirkatze, I just randomly did a reread because I wasn't expecting Alecto to be published this year. If it does come out this year, I'll do another reread before the release!"

It was pushed to 2024, awhile back...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Home now, and buying up sales items... already got:

Hive Minds Give Good Hugs
Vigor Mortis: Volume 3
Oh, Great! I Discovered How to Cultivate a Farmer in 52 Easy Steps
Milk Run
and renewed my membership early... been doing alot of BOGO credit sales this year... I expect to find more Nathan Lowell on sale (already have the Trader's Tales and Shaman's Tales from previous sales, and now Smuggler's Tales is on sale...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Or not... just the one Lowell book... so I jumped the gun on more credits, but not bad idea to have them... plenty of pre-order fodder floating around...

I saw a number of other good books on sale, but none I needed:

Recursion
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches
Spelunking Through Hell
etc

I was almost temped by the Alex Hawk Time Travel series:
A Door Into Time
Lost in Kragdon-ah
Return from Kragdon-ah
Warrior of Kragdon-ah
Prince of Kragdon-ah
Mists of Kragdon-ah
Tribes of Kragdon-ah
Armies of Kragdon-ah

The titles give me real John Carter of Mars vibes...

[Ann-Marie]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Or not... just the one Lowell book... so I jumped the gun on more credits, but not bad idea to have them... plenty of pre-order fodder floating around...

I saw a number of other good books on sale..."

Even Audible is telling me to read The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches for Spooktober next month!

[Nirkatze]

LOL! To be fair, Very Secret Society was a very nice cozy book... I can definitely be tempted into a reread, especially to try the audio...

Damn, I may have to get that Alex Hawk series... I really did enjoy the Middle Falls books, and I like the John Carter of Mars story...

[Nirkatze]

Hm... so far everything I've cross-referenced in the 2-for-1 sale is also available on Chirp... I don't mind paying a dollar more if it means the author gets that extra dollar...

[Narilka]

I'm around 75% through Beware of Chicken 2 (view spoiler)[Tiger has transformed into a human. I was surprised and a little sad. Being a cat would have so many advantages! I wonder if any of the other animals will end up doing similar in the future. Is this a genre staple? Seems that Washy transforming to a dragon was pulled out of mythology. (hide spoiler)]

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Narilka wrote: "I'm around 75% through Beware of Chicken 2 [spoilers removed]"

This series is it's own thing... if anything, I think it spits in the face of general isekai tropes?... Usually, I think the main character enters another world of magic or cultivaton or RPG rules (work in many forms), and is a bit of a misogynistic asshole and builds a harem... like all the people OUR MC here hates and defeats almost on accident, while going about his day :D

[Nirkatze]

Timelord Iain wrote: "Narilka wrote: "I'm around 75% through Beware of Chicken 2 [spoilers removed]"

This series is it's own thing... if anything, I think it spits in the face of general isekai tropes?...."

LOL I like this version a lot better then...

Though when I think of Isekai... I think of Escaflowne and Fushigi Yuugi being some of the earlier Isekai, and that was more "damsel in distress dropped in random world and everything goes to shit" ... but there's still a harem building.

[Nirkatze]

Man, I am so bummed... I just got an email from my library saying that due to gov't funding cuts, they're lowering hoopla credits from 8 to 4 starting next month.... >.< I feel like I should be in mourning... seriously considering getting one of those library memberships at places you can pay to have an annual membership...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "Man, I am so bummed... I just got an email from my library saying that due to gov't funding cuts, they're lowering hoopla credits from 8 to 4 starting next month.... >.< I feel like I should be in ..."

That sucks... certain sub-groups of the government have definitely been at war with libraries/librarians/knowledge, lately... so much news about banning books and even trying to criminalize librarian actions...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "Timelord Iain wrote: "Narilka wrote: "I'm around 75% through Beware of Chicken 2 [spoilers removed]"

This series is it's own thing... if anything, I think it spits in the face of g..."

There's definitely alot of male wish fulfillment going on in the genre...

[Narilka]

Nirkatze wrote: "Man, I am so bummed... I just got an email from my library saying that due to gov't funding cuts, they're lowering hoopla credits from 8 to 4 starting next month.... >.< I feel like I should be in ..."

If you find a good annual library membership please post here. I've been meaning to search and keep getting distracted. Sadly my local library system isn't very well stocked in SFF.

[Choko]

I second Narilka! Interested as well...

[Tonari no Emily]

this article lists some. I think I have access to the Houston Library (it's Harris county at the very least) and most things are on there. It's a bit of a wait on some popular books though.

I need to find a good Hoopla one

EDIT: adding the actual link LOL https://bookriot.com/out-of-state-lib...

[Tonari no Emily]

Okay so Harris County Public Library and Houston Public Library are indeed separate ( I was confused because Houston is in Harris county but I guess its for the surrounding cities? Idk Houston is huge and confusing and there are islands of non-Houston surrounded by Houston and I have a different city address but my utilities are provided by Houston so its a mess really lol)

ANYWAY that is to say I also got access to the Houston Public Library and it's pretty good doing some browsing. There's Hoopla access but it seems to have fewer books than my local library access, surprisingly...

[Tonari no Emily]

Nirkatze wrote: "Best wishes to Emily... but I am also no stranger to life getting busy and making comments tough...

Almost done with Half Share also... 2nd book I am finding very uncomfortable. It feels like a YA..."

Yeahhhhhhh getting that feel from Half Share. On the one hand I just want to let it slide because I'm having fun, but on the other I can't suspend my disbelief of this being an 18 year old... And a rather naive one at that? Definitely a self-insertion fantasy

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Tonari no Emily wrote: "Nirkatze wrote: "Best wishes to Emily... but I am also no stranger to life getting busy and making comments tough...

Almost done with Half Share also... 2nd book I am finding very uncomfortable. I..."

That's definitely a running thread... I won't say it entirely goes away, but the first trilogy ends with officer academy, and then there's a bunch of time jumps throughout the 2nd trilogy, so he's 30s/40s throughout those...

I didn't have too many problems with disbelief, until I started the Shaman trilogy, which follows a backwater planet and a pre-teen boy that is a true shaman, all of a sudden and very wise beyond his years...

[Tonari no Emily]

I'll likely read the rest then! I think I can deal with it for the other stuff :D

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

I really liked the 2nd trilogy, until the last 10% (spoilers)...

The 2nd trilogy starts with him on a dysfunctional ship, and having to fix it with his usual Ishmael charm... when things start coming together, he actually has to pretend (view spoiler)[to be running a harem (hide spoiler)] to protect some of his underlings, until everything is sorted out...

[Nirkatze]

Tonari no Emily wrote: "this article lists some. I think I have access to the Houston Library (it's Harris county at the very least) and most things are on there. It's a bit of a wait on some popular books though.

I need..."

Thank you for that article and the info about Houston Library, Emily!

The article I was initially browsing was this one:
https://www.9thstreetbooks.com/how-to...

Has a chart with the $$ and what online resources available...

[Nirkatze]

Tonari no Emily wrote: "I'll likely read the rest then! I think I can deal with it for the other stuff :D"

I do want to get back into the series again too--I love the slice of life, and if book 2 was the worst of the harem, I can just try to ignore most of that... and with the spinoff series focusing on other characters maybe I can get away from it...

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Today, I've been reading Oh, Great! I Discovered How to Cultivate a Farmer in 52 Easy Steps... took a bit of work to get back into, after my other reads... but it's been fun...

I'm near the end, now, and the sex dungeon joke from the first book has just come back to bite the MC in the butt... looks like, due to game mechanics, he's going to have the largest sex dungeon in the kingdom/world, and as the town expands, it's going to multiply, as new buildings spawn... OOF :D

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Nirkatze wrote: "Tonari no Emily wrote: "I'll likely read the rest then! I think I can deal with it for the other stuff :D"

I do want to get back into the series again too--I love the slice of life, and if book 2 ..."

I think most of Ishmael's harem ways play out in book 2-3... book 4 it's a hypothetical harem / plot armor... and books 5-6 he's in monogamous relationships and I don't think bedability is mentioned as much?... I think I made up a new word... spellcheck doesn't like it...

I'm on the side books now, going to probably start Shaman 2 next later today... then there's the Smuggler trilogy... the Smuggler trilogy becomes relevant in the 3rd Ishmael trilogy I think... from what I know, much of the 3rd Ishmael trilogy takes place in lawless reaches of deep space, hunting the lingering villains from the 2nd trilogy (background syndicate linked to many of the plots of the 2nd trilogy) and get revenge for the thing I didn't like from the last 10% of the 2nd trilogy... also the return of the dynamic mercantile duo from the first trilogy...

Not sure what the 4th Ishmael trilogy is about... just came out this year... I think it's Ishmael on a new ship?...

[Tonari no Emily]

I'll probably sprinkle them through the next few months :)

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Shaman’s Tales 2 is wild… it immediately jumps ahead 15 years to the death of the little boy’s wife in childbirth, then the first 20% of the book covers the next 18 years up until his daughter graduates from school… I think the plot of the book focuses on overturning planet/corporate law that says only sons of shamans can be shamans…

[Narilka]

I finally finished Beware of Chicken 2. It was nice but too long. Apparently I prefer my audio books in the 8-12 hour range.

[Timelord Iain, Tech Support]

Web serials originally posted on Royal Road definitely meander at their own pace, since they release chapters instead of books…

It’s nice that Ilona Andrews edit their Innkeeper books before release to try and tighten up a bit…