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What are you reading in 2023?
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Lol have to love the reckless use of library cards. I still haven't caught up from my last one weeks ago. Luckily everything keeps renewing for me!
Eric Carter is a good mid tier urban fantasy. It's entertaining and it has some good ideas going for it (the Aztec lore). I just don't see it being one of the greats like Dresden, Mercy Thompson, or Kate Daniels. There are worse things to read out there but there are also better things to read.I've got 15 things from the library not counting audiobooks or DVD's. I have a lot of catching up to do.
Smaller update chunks definitely work better for now.
- 4 stars. The books in the series are not tightly connected, so it’s ok to read them separately. And I think the 3rd is my favourite so far. The romance is cute and I love the characters.
- 4 stars. I remember an extremely weak romantic line in the first book, so I was a bit cautious reading the second. On the contrary, romance here is sparkling and good, but the plot is not as strong and captivating as it was in the Daughter of the Mood Goddess. Yep, you can’t get both :(
- 4 stars. Well, I expected anything but not what it was and I loved it!
- 5 stars. One of the best series I’ve read. Unique world, magic system, the quest… Interesting, complex and deep characters. And the writing style is just music.
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And I just went to check what I had checked out from the library because I got curious, and OMG 14 books!! Lack of self-control, indeed 😂 (to be fair, I have finished one, I just need to return it, and I'm in the middle of 2 other ones lol)
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The aztec lore is what catches my attention.
I'm almost done with my current read and not sure what I should listen to as my next audiobook, what do you guys think? I'm toying between these:
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Killers of a certain age sounds fun!!
Jo wrote: "I'm almost done with my current read and not sure what I should listen to as my next audiobook, what do you guys think? I'm toying between these:"Psyche and Eros sounds interesting.
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It's time to get back into the regular routine now that my vacation is over. 
Fool Moon -4 StarsAfter listening to the Eric Carter series it got me craving some more Dresden and I was looking for some easy listening after all the nonfiction that I've had this month. These are super enjoyable books and James Marsters as the narrator just bumps it to the next level. The one thing that I will say for the audiobook, and this is very specific for the version I have, please, please, please properly edit these. These were copied from CD to a digital format. What they didn't do was delete the whole "please insert audio disc XX now" and it was driving me bonkers in this one. I'd be all into the story and then suddenly everything would go silent for 30 seconds or so, then I'd here this super snarky voice stating "please insert audio disc...", more silence, and then back to the story. I've encountered this before of course but this time it was just really annoying me.
On to the story itself. Like I mentioned above it was very entertaining. Sure there are some things you just kind of have to roll with. For instance, Harry not knowing anything about werewolves and then just happening to run into all the different kinds, at one time, in the same place. The good far outweighs these things though. For instance the battle in the SIU's headquarters was amazing and it highlights one of the big differences between this series and Eric Carter. Yes, both MC's get the ever living stuffing beaten out of them but it just feels different. When Eric is getting beaten yet again you feel like he is just outclassed. When Harry is getting beaten down you are waiting for him to pull that ace out of his sleeve. How is he going to get out of this situation? What trick is he going to pull? There are actual stakes involved as well. If Harry doesn't get up really bad things are going to happen. When Eric is getting beaten up it's just a beating. Nothing really bad will happen if he doesn't get out. Sure he might lose his life but those don't feel like stakes. You know that the MC won't die because obviously the series goes on. With Harry its the lives of those around him. If he doesn't get back up and keep fighting innocent lives will be lost. It just feels different and adds a layer of tension. Any way I continue both series even if they have their differences.
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 4 -3 Stars
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 5 -3 StarsThis was another one of those con/post con reads for me. I was just looking for some light fluffy reading and this series fits the bill perfectly. Yes, it is indeed bottom of the barrel isekai trash but it is actually kind of entertaining. Not the kind of literature that I would praise to no end but the kind that I want to read when I just want to relax and be entertained. It's a chill slice of life adventure story in a fantasy world. The MC is not really challenged by anything and it's about how he will use his powers to affect the world around him. I really don't have a lot to say about this series besides that it's good mindless fun.
One-Punch Man, Vol. 9 -4 Stars
One-Punch Man, Vol. 10 -4 StarsI figured it was time to get back to this manga after putting it off for a few months for no real reason. It felt good to return to this world and the stories that it's exploring. It's that right blend of seriousness and goofy humor. I'm not going to let this one slide to the side again.
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 1 -4 Stars
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 2 -4 StarsA few years back I started reading this series through fan translations and was interested with this story. Now that the anime is coming out this fall and my library has the official translations I figured it was time to throw myself back into this series. This is the story of an immortal elf and her journey. The series starts with the heroes party returning from a 10 year adventure where they defeated the demon lord. This story isn't about that though it's about what happens next. In particular for the immortal elf that does not share the same concept of time as a human. Before she knows it the party she traveled with is now old and dying/dead. She decides to travel the route they took to defeat the demon lord to explore her feelings and the remember that time. Along the way she picks up a couple of young human traveling partners. It's such an interesting idea to explore. For Frieren getting stuck some where for 6 months, a year, two years, etc is no big deal. She will just continue to explore new magics and life live as it comes. What is two years time to a person who is already 1,000 plus years old. Her human partners though don't feel the same way obviously. Time has a much different meaning for a young human. For the first couple books it's a pretty chill slice of life fantasy series. Towards the end of the second book you get to see a glimpse of Frieren's true power and it is chilling. There was a reason she was part of the legendary party to defeat the demon lord. I am looking forward to exploring this series in manga form and to see what the anime can do. I want to see if the anime can catch that same feeling.
Now for what is next.
Fake It Till You Bake ItI'm drifting back into the world of contemporary romances for a challenge. Hopefully this is the good kind of romance that I like and not the other kind that makes me question why I bother reading any contemporary romance at all.
Outside of that I have more manga that I acquired with my reckless use of my library card. I have more Frieren, some Orochi, the end of Princess Jellyfish, PTSD, Fist of the North Star, etc.
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Brittany wrote: "Killers of a Certain Age really does sound like fun. I do kind of want you to read Psyche though as I want to know if the retelling is a good one or not, I've heard some mixed things"I've heard some mixed things too. I think I will go for Killers of A Certain Age though, I've had it on like three seasonal TBR posts on my blog at this point so it would be good to finally get to it and I've not read a crime/mystery/thriller book in a long time so it would be a refreshing change of pace! Thanks for the help guys :)
Finished
, I was a little disappointed. I liked the characters, and I did enjoy the story but it felt like it could have been a lot more than it was-it was VERY SLOW, the story only really started to pick up around Chapter 30 or so, so a little over halfway into the book and though the three characters did all converge in the end, it felt like it took way too long to get to that point. Also the ending was kind of abrupt? It ended in a weird place and then went straight to the epilogue, where we see the characters in the future. I was also kind of bummed that we don't really get to hear what Viv did with her career, we hear about Althea and Hannah's work but all we get about Viv is that she got married and had kids which just felt like a bit of a bummer considering we spend the entire book with her and whole arc is primarily about her campaign for the ASEs and her work with the Council For Books in Wartime, I'd have loved to have known if she went into publishing, or wrote books, or what she did for her job after the war. Probably a minor gripe in the grand scheme of things but it did bother me.Anyway, moving on to my next book, which as decided above, will be
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and it was pretty good overall. It has some issues but I enjoyed the world. I wish the characters were a bit more unique and not the expected stereotypes but overall quite enjoyable and I look forward to the sequel.
Brittany wrote: "I totally get how that is annoying Jo! Yeah its great she married and had kids but did she have a career still? That is more interesting! Also too bad it took so long to get going and even longer f..."Yeah I mean the epilogue was set 50 odd years in the future so we are hearing about them all as old women, but still we got told what Althea and Hannah had done with their lives, so it seemed odd to me that all we really got to know about what Viv had done in the intervening years was get married and have three kids. I mean it's hinted in her final chapter before the epilogue that she wanted to go and work in publishing, so maybe she did that, but I would have liked to have more confirmed than just she and her love interest got married and had kids because that seemed pretty inevitable anyway and wasn't the part of her character I was most interested in. Yeah I wouldn't really recommend it tbh, it sounded super interesting and I did learn about a part of history I wasn't aware of before with the ASEs but I've read better WWII fiction in the past few years.
Small chunk of what I've read for the past couple of months.
- 2-4 stars. It feels like all her books are the same, you can even switch the characters and nothing will change. Though the narration is nice and all the books are very easy to read and relax.
- 3-4 stars. I think I like the second book the most, it’s more dark and the pacing is nice, this perfect moment when the world is set, all the characters are introduced, and the book concentrates on action. Overall the series is good enough, interesting experience and the darkest Arthurian retelling I’ve read so far.
- 3 stars. It was a very random pick out of my comfort zone. No expectations, I didn’t even check the rating or the description before reading. Overall not bad, just average.
- 3 stars. I like the idea, parts of the book are interesting. But overall I didn’t have much fun reading, something felt so completely off, and the writing style is just mediocre.
- 4 stars. For some mysterious reason I was so sure I won’t like the book, which led to constantly putting it down or out of my soon to read shelf. And when I finally read it I was pleasantly surprised and actually loved it.
- 5 stars. So cute! Characters are so loveable, the romance line is simple, in this particular case it is a good thing. I literally flew through the book as the writing style is very light and easy to follow. Another rare thing is that there are no sex scenes, which I really appreciate. And a cherry on top - lots of bookish content!
- 4 stars. I was reading lots of romantic stories recently, some are memorable, others are not so much. And in this particular case I remember enjoying reading it, but totally forgot the details.
- 4 stars. That was hilarious, really. I randomly picked the book from the library and was pleasantly surprised how much I loved it.
- 5 stars. I don’t know how the author does it, but her romances are very recognisable, all of them have that bitter-sweet unique feeling, which always touches me and the whole reading experience becomes very emotional. The plot twists are good and timely. About 50% into the book I caught myself thinking, well, looks like a happy ending, the drama is resolved, the lines came to some sort of conclusion, what are the next 50% for? And oh boy how wrong I was!
Another week and more reading has been completed. Forewarning here, there was a lot of manga that was read this week. 
Ghostland: An American History in Haunted Places -3 I was going to listen to something else this week but I just wasn't in the mood for it and settled on this. Yes, it's another nonfiction which is odd for me but it's what appealed to me. This was a study into various ghosts of America and the history behind them. Now the author tried to say that he was unbiased and was going to present both sides of the case. Which he kind of did in the beginning but as the book went along it became more and more obvious he was clearly a skeptic. Overall I thought that the book was interesting and it gave you some interesting history to some famous haunted places. It also dove into how those stories changed over time to fit various narratives and concerns for the time the story was told. By the end though the book started to feel more than a bit repetitive and I was struggling more and more to stay focused. Part of that could be due to the narrator though. On the surface the man has a voice made for audiobooks. He has this nice voice that is pleasant to listen to. Or that is until you start to notice all these weird quirks. He loved using voices for various witness statements so he was constantly slipping in and out of various voices and random through out the book. He also has this weird way of pronouncing W words and in particular WH words. To the point I felt like I was in that episode of Family Guy about Cool Whip. I didn't notice it at first but once I did I couldn't stop noticing it. Especially when the book got into a section about slavery and the word "white" was bantered around every few words. It bugged me to end.
Now for the manga
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 4 -4 StarsMore of this interesting story. It was a bit frustrating as this was the last of the series I had from the library and it ended right before one of my favorite parts from when I was reading the fan translations. Needless to say I have the next three volumes and I now just need to catch up on my other reading so I can get back to this.
Orochi: The Perfect Edition, Vol. 2 -3 StarsI really want to like this series more than I am but it just doesn't have the punch of other Japanese horror manga that I am reading. It just feels like "classic" horror stories which makes sense consider this was originally serialized from 1969-1970. A great example of this is the final story in this volume which is essentially a retelling of The Boy Who Cried Wolf. You know how the story is going to end as soon as you start reading because the story has been done so many times before. Don't get me wrong, this book is not bad and I was entertained but it lacked the punch and the chills of others that I have read.
Princess Jellyfish 2-in-1 Omnibus, Volume 8 -4 Stars
Princess Jellyfish Vol. 9 -3 StarsThis will be more of a review of the whole series but it will include these last two volumes. I started this series in an attempt to branch out into different demographics of manga. This was a highly praised Josei (manga for adult women) manga that I've been curious about for a while now. In the beginning I was really involved in the series. It's a story about an apartment building of otaku women (basically nerdy shut in types) who are facing the possibility of losing their building to redevelopment. Through the help of a cross dressing man they create a fashion brand to raise money to buy the building for themselves. This is a super simplified version of the story and there is a lot more to it than that. There is some romance, some character development and growth, there is humor. It was a slow moving story but I was fine with that. Then everything changed with essentially the last big story arc. Our MC, Tsukimi, signs herself into a deal to save the apartment building in exchange for her leaving and moving to Singapore. I was really on the fence about this arc as it felt like such a big change for the series. I wasn't willing to write it off yet as I was very curious about where things were going. It felt like things were getting set up for something interesting. Then the author threw it all out the window. It felt like the author just had enough of the series and wanted it to end. Suddenly that slow pace has a jet engine strapped to it and we are off to the ending. All that set up for the big story arc, who cares, wrap it up, get back to Amars. Back at Amars, streamline the story to the final goal, bring all the characters from the story for one last appearance, and done. The ending of this just felt so rushed and middle of the road. It felt like it was created to try to appease the fans without committing to any for sure resolution. There is a confession but there is no response to it and everyone just ends up living happily ever after in Amars. It's not a bad ending but it just doesn't feel fulfilling. I'm sure this isn't just me but I wanted some resolution to things. The romance angle, the fashion story angle, the whole last story arc that just got ended, etc. A great example of this is a character from the final arc called Hwa-Young. She was built up to be a very important character to our "villain" of the arc who has been with him since childhood. Once that final story arc starts getting bulldozed towards the conclusion she essentially yeets herself from the story to never be seen again and no one has any reaction to this at all. The guy who she stood beside for almost her entire life, nothing. Tsukimi, who Hwa was taking care of in Singapore, nothing. She was just gone from the story never to be seen again. She didn't even get an appearance at the final event where every other character gets an appearance. The ending just felt like a bit of a stumble in it's rush to wrap everything up.
PTSD Radio 1 (Vol. 1-2) -4 StarsHow do I even begin to explain this bizarre trip into Japanese horror. This isn't a flowing narrative of interconnected stories. This is just a series of vignettes that may or may not be interconnected with the other stories. This feels like everything that just unnerves me about Japanese horror. Nothing is really explained, it just happens. There is no saving you once you have been targeted. Run, hide, pray, it matters not what you do because you are already screwed. Then there is that body horror. Twisting human features into something just horrifying that just unsettles me. Like this charmer:
That is also tame compared to some of the other things that you will see in this as well. Then of course it has that other essential Japanese horror element, hair. A lot of this horror revolves around hair and let me just tell you it's unsettling. Just writing this up and thinking of the book is giving me the chills. Needless to say I am reading on.
Fist of the North Star, Vol. 9 -3 StarsMore of the muscle bound men punching holes through anything, anyone, and everything with a melodramatic story somewhere around here. I'm going to be honest here I'm kind of done with this series. I heard about how great this series was and how influential it was to media in general. I can't deny it's influence but I'm just not feeling the story anymore. Characters that are supposed to be dead aren't. Everyone is someones else's brother/sister/lover/etc and revenge must be had, etc, etc, etc, etc. It was an interesting journey with this series but I think this is where I get off.
Dinosaur Sanctuary, Vol. 1 -4 StarsEssentially this is Jurassic Park meets a slice of life manga and I'm onboard for it. This was one of those random snags from the library and I'm glad I found it. Basically in the late 40's dinosaurs were found to still be alive on this remote island. Thanks to science they were able to breed them and increase their population. These dinosaurs now live in parks where tourists can come and visit them. Our story follows a young woman who is starting her first day as a dinosaur keeper. A person responsible for taking care of these giant creatures. You get to follow her and see what her job entails while learning more about dinosaurs. The author has professional advice on dinosaurs so this is well researched and that professional gives little lectures between each chapter. Giving you a glimpse into the scientific world of dinosaur research and what they do. This is just a fun read and I want more.
The Evil Secret Society of Cats, Vol. 1 -3 StarsDo you like cats? Do you have a cat? Do you like looking at cat pictures or watching cat videos? Then you are already a member, probably unknowingly, of the Evil Secret Society of Cats. This manga is a four koma (four panel) gag manga about a secret society of cats and their plans for world domination. It explains all those weird and quirky behaviors of our beloved cats as actually secret and nefarious plans of this secret society. It's a fun little manga but it does suffer from the usual problem of four koma or any other internet comic. It's great as a daily quick read but as a full length book it gets a little repetitive and ultimately kind of boring as it's essentially the same joke over and over. That being said if you like cats and like reading cat manga I'd recommend this one for you. It might just open your eyes to the evil plans around you.
Up next
For audiobooks I have no flipping clue honestly. I need something for my walk tomorrow but everything I want to read isn't available as an audiobook through my library, has a wait list, or only available on Hoopla where I've maxed out my borrows for the month. Nothing on Libby is speaking to me as it all feels like super serious books. I'm at the point where I'm thinking of just buying something on Kobo. I'm only hesitating because audiobooks are generally $25-30 which for someone who relies on the library seems kind of steep.
For normal books I'm going to be reading
and
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https://www.chirpbooks.com
Also nice updates both of you! I have no particular comments to make but I always enjoy them
Well this has been a week and I don't really have a lot to talk about. Work has been busy since my vacation but this week things picked up even more and I don't see much of a break for at least another month. On top of that I was working through a season of a TV show that I had to get back to the library. Basically that left me with little time for reading. Any way, enough complaining, lets get to what I did get read this week. 
Solo Leveling, Vol. 7 -4 StarsThis is the second last book in the series, as I've found out this week, and it was a giant buildup for the end. Revelations, power ups, etc, etc, etc. Don't get me wrong it was still entertaining but man that ending left me wanting something bad. It literally got to the final fight, the MC and the big bad make eye contact, and the book ends. *deep breathe* Leaving me hanging like that just feels cruel. What I found out about the final volume also leaves me annoyed. The final volume is 272 pages. Of that novel only 62 pages are the actual conclusion to the story. The rest are just side stories with various characters sharing the POV's of events that happened in the story. That just kind of feels a little scummy. My library doesn't have the final volume and I was going to just buy it myself to see how it all ends. Then I saw that little nugget and I'll just wait for it now.
Guilty Pleasures -3 StarsThis book leaves me rather conflicted. I have a bit of a history with this series and it kind of leaves me feeling mixed about things. Back when I was first getting back into reading in the early 2010's, man it's been over a decade of reading already, this was the series that dragged me into the world of urban fantasy. I'll be honest here, Anita was on my list of favorite characters at one point. Then the series started to change and not really for the better in my opinion. We've all seen the discussions about this before so I won't get into here again. This early book felt weird for me. This was before Anita became an action star essentially. This was before the series became a paranormal romance and long before it became pure smut. It just felt off to me. I think part of it is that I have read so much since my first time reading this and I've seen much better but I can't completely discredit the influence this book had on me.
Now I also want to talk about the audiobook itself. Now this is an older audiobook but it didn't have that whole "insert next CD now" stuff left in it. That being said I didn't think this a great audiobook. Part of it is that the narrator just didn't feel like it suited the character in my opinion. This is purely subjective I know but in my head it just didn't fit. Then there was the accents that just felt... off. Jean Claude wasn't bad, I guess. It was a stereotypical French accent really. It was a couple of the side characters, Ronnie, in particular that just felt weird. This takes place in St Louis and it's what I think is supposed to be a Midwest accent but my brain defaulted to a Newfie accent. That's what I heard and it just sounded out of place. This book also like to use dramatic music while the narrator is telling the story and it just kind of drowned out the narrator in places. While not a horrible experience this audiobook is not what I'd use as an example of what a good audiobook is.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The IDW Collection, Volume 5 -4 StarsBack to this ongoing series and this was an interesting one. Basically we have two side stories collection with the main story sprinkled in between. The first side story collection was Turtles in Time and it was alright, I guess. It wasn't my favorite part of the book honestly. The one upside was a little revelation at the end though. That Donatello has doubts about what they were doing. That he had thought of quitting and just walking away from everything. This little plot point tied in with the main story and led to some interesting story beats. The second side story collection was a crossover with the The Ghostbusters and this was a fun one. Then there is the main story line. I don't want to get into to many details but this was good. It felt like it was finally starting to tie all these various story lines together and man did it feel good. That ending left me shook and want the next volume something bad. Luckily my library has it and it's available right away.
Now for what is next.
Christmas Cake MurderThis is the next audiobook and it will help with a couple different challenges.
UndoneThis is the next novel I'm reading and I'm more than a little hype for this one. We get to see the return of Sarah and I'm curious how all of that will be handled. Considered the author it will involve all sorts of trauma and pain.
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I really enjoyed this book! It was really interesting and the cases were just... bizarre. Lol. It had some excerpts from old medical journals which I liked, but I also didn't because they sometimes read dry and were hard to read because, you know, they're from the olden days. Lol. But overall I liked it!
One of my goals this year is to catch up on some Rachel Vincent books, specifically finish two series I've previously started. The Soul Screamers series is one of them and I finally started my re-read of the series last month! I first read this series 10+ years ago, so a re-read is definitely necessary. And I am happy to report that I loved My Soul to Lose just as much as I did all those years ago! I actually think I may love it even more than I did back then! I really missed this world.
I loved the premise of this one, but I didn't really love the direction the book went in with its story. Idk what it was about it. I just wanted a good old-fashioned Jason Voorhees- type causing chaos, but it was not that at all. That's not to say it was a terrible book, because it wasn't. It just wasn't what I was expecting.
This one is a collection of romantic suspense short stories by Janette Rallison! I love this author's romance books, and these three stories were so much fun! The last one, A Brush with the Law, was definitely my favorite! It was so cute!
This was the last book in a trilogy and it was fine. I like that it took place mostly in CyberCorp Tower in one day. The story was interesting, but I was not a fan of where the romance went. But overall it was an okay read.
I really enjoyed this one! It was an intriguing read with a really interesting world.
The Funtime Show is book 19 in the Ellie Jordan series, and I of course enjoyed it! I love this series and the cases that Ellie and Stacey go on! This one had a bunch of creepy puppets which was, well, creepy. Lol. But I liked it!
I also liked this one! This one takes place in a haunted house attraction where a murder happens! I really loved the setting and the mystery was pretty good.
I was very excited about this book! The premise of a hired clown actually being homicidal and killing the guests... yes, please! Plus the main character is a horror fan? Umm, YES! But I did not enjoy it nearly as much as I thought I would. Had I known this book was filled with "influencers" I probably wouldn't have picked it up. It's just a trope that I don't care about, and this book proved why: it was hard to feel empathic for a bunch of entitled rich kids 🤷♀️ Some of the kills were pretty good though. Lol.
was such a good mystery! I did not anticipate the twist at all! And I really liked the characters, too.
was another mystery, but this one was just fine. Nothing too exciting imo.
Spider and Frost though... Oh my god! It was SO good!! I I read this yesterday and I still cannot get over what an amazing crossover this was! I love Gin and Gwen so it was really cool to see them kick ass together!
I also have a small update :)
- 4 stars. I’m so in love with the narration and the way the author weaves all the classical legends and tales threads into one story. When started reading the series I didn’t like the absurdness and over-exaggeration of good vs evil lines, but now those are my favourite. And Sophie’s character is the best, so witchy yet innocent, evil yet good, at the same time cute and beautiful, she just combines everything unmatchable.
- 3-4 stars. I'm not sure how I feel about this manga. It started strong and interesting, but eventually became a little boring and even annoying. I'm not sure I will continue this one, but let's see.
- 4 stars. It’s not my favourite romance by the author, but it’s also good compared to the vast majority of romantic stories I’ve read so far. And it definitely has her unique bitter-sweet touch to it.
- 5 stars. It was a long overdue re-read and I loved it! Amazing language, gorgeous story, classical touch, darkness, vampires in their original interpretation, I was craving for something similar for a long time and decided to basically go with the re-read.
@Lili so many great books you've read. Four Dead Queens sounds like an interesting one, I'll probably add it to my TBR too. I haven't started the Ellie Jordan series yet, but so freaking tempted now :D.Regarding One of Us Is Lying, totally agreed, twists are unexpected! Actually I never even thought I'm gonna like it, but ended up loving the book, I remember it being very addictive.
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Elena good update too!
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Brittany, I had an inkling about the plot twist but it wasn't till the end of the book. Lol.
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love the author and I quite enjoyed this one. Just dont go looking at reviews or anything. It is better to know as little as possible about it going in.
Another week, another update
Undone -5 StarsWith this book I feel like this series has hit its stride. In the last two books in the Will Trent series the books were good but there was just something missing. Some element that just made them miss that 5 star mark. What it was I can't really tell you but what ever it was this book finally hit it. If I was to hazard a guess a lot of it came down to the MC, Will, himself. In the first book we were introduced to Will but I never felt we got to actually know the character. In the second book we got to see some more of the character but again that connection just wasn't there 100%. In this book I feel like we not only get to finally see his character but we get to see movement. Now in usual Karin Slaughter fashion it's not all sunshine and rainbows but I like that. This felt like the start of something. This was that moment where you can say that someone started to change. Now of course this is not just the Will Trent series you have other characters and you also have a string of violent and twisted crimes. That moment of growth and change was there for his partner, Faith, as well. We got see more of Amanda and yup, scary as well. We also get the return of the MC from the Grant County series and I have to hand it to the author. This reappearance was handled really well in my opinion. It's set up that it has been 3.5 years since the end of Grant County and the MC is a shell of her former self which makes sense considering what happened. What I loved here is that the character wasn't immediately thrust into the limelight as being this character that the whole books hinges around. This character straddles this line between side character here for a book and being part of the central cast of characters. This was all done while letting the reader know what happened in those 3.5 years and laying the groundwork for the character to work their way into the central cast of figures. All with the usual box full of secrets and hints at other things. Overall this book was just a joy to read and I can't wait for the next one.
Christmas Cake Murder -2 StarsOn the other end of the spectrum we have this cozy mystery and this book was just dull as dishwater. Now I will admit that I am jumping into things essentially at the end of the series and I only picked this up for a challenge. I haven't read the rest of the series so I don't have that intimate connection with the characters that a normal reader might have. That being said what I found here was just boring and poorly written. Normally I'm pretty forgiving when it comes to cozy mysteries since I know that they all follow a pretty standard formula but they can be entertaining. This was just people talking for 90% of the book. Not just people, the nicest people in the nicest town in the entire world. This level of happiness and politeness was so much that it slipped into that uncanny valley place. These people just felt fake and plastic. This felt less like a normal small town and more like a small town from a horror book/movie. The one where everyone in town is super nice but are secretly cannibals, crazy cultists, or some other horrifying group waiting to harvest your organs or sacrifice you to some dark being. Any way, the book revolved around primarily 4ish people who basically say there giving each other compliments while eating food for the entire book. I know that in cozy mysteries that the tense/violent stuff happens off page, hence cozy mysteries, but in this book everything happens off page. The primary driving factor in this book was the town recreating this Christmas ball for a local beloved senior citizen. How did this all happen? No flipping clue. Like I said it was kind of discussed as a group and then things just happened off page. Speaking of the mystery, this was just a dud. The book was just the characters talking like I said and then a murder happened at the 86% mark. It's not even a mystery as the murder happened right in front of the sheriff and the guy was immediately arrested. Oh and I can't even call it a murder as the victim actually lives. Just... what in the hell was that? It's like the author got so wrapped up complimenting her characters and sharing her recipes with the reader that she forgot the mystery part of the book. Then at the last second tried to crowbar it in. There was a bit more to it but the way it was set up there was no indication that there was even a mystery going on. Then the author tried to pull a twist and suspenseful ending but it was just clumsy and rushed as it was all crammed into the last chapter essentially. Just bleh but it was super helpful for numerous challenges.
Orochi: The Perfect Edition, Vol. 3 -3 StarsThis book was just two short stories and the first one was meh. It was a convoluted revenge story with a plot twist telegraphed from a mile out. Now the second story was really good. Or at least until the ending that was but more on that later. In the second story we get to meet this young boy who has the world nicest dad. This man is super kind to everyone and everything. He has become a real role model for his son who looks up to him. Now dad served during WWII, keep in mind this book was originally written late 60's, early 70's) and his son knows he served in Guadalcanal but father will not speak of what happened there. One day the young man learns a horrifying truth about his father. He learns that his father and other men on the island survived by resorting to cannibalism. This shakes him to the very core and he starts to question whether he can even trust his father. How can this super nice fan do something so horrible? It's a wonderful exploration into this dark subject. The problem comes at the end because I don't think the author knew how to end it. The story sets up a tense moment, not going to spoil anything here, and then just ends with no resolution. Now this by itself is not a bad thing as an open ending can be interesting but this just felt like there was a couple of pages missing somewhere. There was the start of an ending and then nothing. No clues what happens next, no hints at what happened, it just ends halfway through the climax. It just didn't sit well with me at all.
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 5 -4 Stars 
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 6 -4 Stars
Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Vol. 7 -4 StarsMore Frieren and I can't really talk about anything without spoilers but this series is just a fantastic read.
Now, what is next. Well I've already got a couple of books on the go.
The Bookshop on the CornerI'm currently a little over 30% into this book and I'm enraptured with this book. I picked this up to help with a couple of challenges with no real expectations. It's not my favorite genre but I'll give it a whirl. The authors little blurb in the beginning about her love for reading just resonated with me. Then the MC's simple joy for reading is just infectious. As an introverted book nerd I can't help but feel this bond with this mousey little librarian and her love of books. I'm genuinely excited to go out for walks just so I can hear more of this book.
The Amazing Mrs. PollifaxI'm returning to this series and this book moves at a blistering pace. I'm a little over 25% of the way into this book and it's just flying along. I love the absurdity of this series and how it places it super straight. This should be another fun ride.
After that I have to start working on my next batch of things that need to be returned to the library.
Mod
This month I'm doing ARC August, so trying to just read books I received as ARCs. Some of these are already published now as I have a hefty backlog. But here's what I've managed so far this month.
2 of them are for my finish a series challenge too so bonus.
I'm currently reading
and listening to
Mod
Mod
I think you'll really like it, maybe bump it up on the list :)
This was a bit of interesting week of reading full of all sorts of emotions.
The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax -5 Stars Man this book was just a blast to read. This was just a nonstop blast of action from beginning to end. Full of spies, double agents, gypsies, and secrets. There is a communist defector who has made it to Turkey where they had sought refuge at the British consulate. While there they disappeared and now ever spy agency on the planet wants to make contact with this defector. What they don't realize is that this defector is actually an American spy. The solution, send in the agent no one suspects, Mrs. Pollifax. I just love that this little old lady is this agent of utter chaos. As soon as she gets on the scene everything goes pear shaped and kicks off a country wide chase. This series is just so much fun.
The Bookshop on the Corner -5 StarsI had picked this up to help with a particular challenge I was stuck on. It wasn't necessarily a book that I would ever read but it didn't sound entirely outputting for me either. Basically I had no expectations going into this book outside of "read it and get that challenge moving again". I... I.... I uhhhhh... I really, really liked this book. I was charmed rather early on and in the most unexpected way. This book had an author's prologue of sorts which is not something I normally bother myself with but I was walking already and didn't feel like messing with my phone at the moment. In this prologue the author speaks of their love of reading and man did I relate to this hard. Not all of it but you felt the author's love for reading and it was relatable. We are then introduced to the MC, Nina, who is a librarian in her late 20's facing a challenging time in her life. The library she is working at is closing and getting merged into this new, high tech, multimedia center thing and it's just not working for her. She is that stereotypical mousey, introverted librarian and man did I relate to her a lot. Her love of reading is so relatable but it was more than just that. It's hard to explain but I think we all as readers, as adult readers especially, have to put down the book and deal with real life. That will sometimes lead us away from the book for a time but in doing so we are forced to deal with the real world and it can be scary at times. I don't know if it makes sense but I connected with her in a way. So our MC, with the encouragement of friends, ends up buying this van with the dream of changing it into a bookmobile. In the process she ends up having to move to Scotland and this is where we are introduced to the romance in this novel. Now I normally hate, no, loathe love triangles but this one worked for me. Part of it was that it didn't feel like a full blown love triangle. It wasn't like both men were dating her at the same time and she was all indecisive about which hot man she was more attracted to. It was rather romantic in a way and she tried to make it work with one man, that didn't work (no spoilers), and then, after some time, realized that there just might be something with this other man in her life. Listen, I'm not normally into romance novels, just not my jam really, but every once in a while one will come along, sneak past all me defenses, and land a direct hit on that weird soft squishy part of me. That was this book. Yes, it was cliched but it was also romantic and I liked it. Between the books, the characters, the location, the romance this just worked for me and I loved every minute of it.
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands -3 StarsI headed into this book with a lot of trepidation but a bit of curiosity of well. See this book is about the oil sands here in Alberta and in particular that area during the massive boom of the mid 2000's. This was when I entered the work force as a civilian for the first time and while I wasn't working up there I was still in the industry. It was a time, a very busy and wild time. I was worried about how the book would portray things and it did a pretty good job of it I think. I was worried that this book would paint things with great big strokes of generality and it kind of did but it also tempered itself by the end. This book was about what it was like for a young woman to work in a male dominated industry in a remote location. Lets cut to the chase here, it isn't pretty and there isn't a lot this book has to say that I have seen or heard before. To be perfectly honest, I've heard much, much worse. Some first hand, some second hand. I won't get into details but it made me reflect on a lot of things. How things were back then, how things are now, and just how complicated things are. It's super easy, and done so often, where that brush comes out and we get broad statements like "all men are evil", or "capitalism is evil", or "the oil sands are evil" and those statements are a massive oversimplification of a very complicated situation. Like so many things in life really. This was one of those books that just crawled inside my head and set up camp for several days. Even now, nearly a week later, just thinking of it gives me pause.
Komi Can't Communicate, Vol. 24 -3 StarsYup, it's official, the magic of this series has worn off for me. There is still a sweet story somewhere in there but it's just buried under so much pointless fluff and a never ending barrage of shallow characters that it just gets lost. We might get one chapter of something sweet and then we get 20+ chapters exploring that event from the POV of every character possible. Then we get another 20-30 chapters of just filler. Then if we are lucky maybe something story related. This is just starting to feel like the author is milking things as long as possible.
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Part 1—Phantom Blood, Vol. 1 -4 StarsYup, it's time, it's time to dive into this franchise. For those not in the anime/manga sphere this franchise is a giant meme. It's everywhere, it's meme'd to death and back again. It's one of those things that you can't really escape in the anime/manga fandom. Even if you have never watched/read this franchise you have heard the name of Jojo. It should conjure up images of super buff men and just some weird and random things. Basically the franchise is broken down in to different parts and each part focuses on a different member of the Joestar family and their story. This part, Phantom Blood, takes it back to the very beginning of all the madness. This is where we meet Jonathan Joestar (see, JoJo) and the infamous Dio. We also get to see the start of one of the long running jokes in this series with the character Robert E.O. Speedwagon. Yes, REO Speedwagon. There are so, so, so many references in this franchise to popular things from the 80's and earlier. This is where it all began. The rivalry between the Joestar's and Dio, the magic, the weirdness, everything. It also means that in the beginning things are a bit slow as it has to set things up before everything got weird. Still, this was fun and I am looking forward to my time in this franchise.
Now, what is next. Honestly, things are shaping up to be a bit of a rough week.
The Edge of SummerThis is my current audiobook and it's another romance. Unlike Bookshop on the Corner I am not feeling this one at all. There is a bit to much drama, a bit to much "our knuckles touched for 0.00000005 milliseconds so that must mean true love", a bit to much "Does he like me? I can't like him but I want to like him, blah, blah, blah, blah" stuff going on for me.
A Walk in the DarkI'm trying to get started on this one as I need to get it back to the library this week. I'm having a bit of a hard time getting into it though.
Finished
and I really enjoyed it, it was such a blast to read. I loved the characters, they had a great group dynamic and it was so much fun to see older women still being badass and excelling at what they do and really showing them in a positive light. I didn't love one of the narrators, she had kind of a grating, nasally voice, but thankfully the narrator who did the large majority of the book was good. All in all a very successful trip outside one of my usual genres! I will definitely be looking up more Deanna Raybourn in the future.Next up I'm moving onto one of my most anticipated reads of the year:
. I love Madeline Martin, and it's been far too long since I last listened to anything narrated by my fave Saskia Maarleveld (in fact, I think it was Madeline's last book!) so very hyped for this. Hoping it will live up to it!
Mod
Good to know Killers of a Certain Age was a fun one Jo! I too hope that one lives up to its hype as it is one I want to listen to as well.
It's one of those unexpected books that make it fun to be a reader. It's one thing to read a book that you know you will enjoy. It's something special to find a book that you love in an unexpected genre/setting/whatever.
Brittany wrote: "I love how much you loved that bookshop book Gord! Too bad about Komi.Good to know Killers of a Certain Age was a fun one Jo! I too hope that one lives up to its hype as it is one I want to liste..."
Yeah I don't usually read much in the crime/thriller genre but this one was definitely well worth it. I hope you enjoy it too :)
I just finished Heroes of the Empire by Israh Azizi (YA Fantasy) and it is the best book I've read so far in 2023. Some of the tropes: morally gray characters, warrior academy, hidden powers, unique magic system, doppelgangers, political/royal intrigue, slow burn...
@Gord I love your thoughts on The Bookstore. I have it on my TBR and so tempted to read now.I totally agree with you on Komi series. It was so new, magical, whimsical and fresh at the beginning, but I lost it somewhere around the 2-3 tome.
Wow, I've never thought you haven't read JoJo yet :) Though actually I also picked it quite late and it was fun indeed.
InLoveWithWords wrote: "I just finished Heroes of the Empire by Israh Azizi (YA Fantasy) and it is the best book I've read so far in 2023. Some of the tropes: morally gray characters, warrior academy, hidden powers, uniqu..."Sounds interesting. I wonder why the book is so underrated.
I've recently been on a re-read spree.
- 5 stars. I really enjoying re-reading the series. So old-fashioned and so good!
- 5 stars. Strangely enough, one more re-read of old fantasy classics. I think it’s vibe :) The first two books in the series are probably my favourite.
- 3-4 stars. Hah, one more re-read, so nostalgic. When I first read those 5 short stories, I was in such a calm and peaceful mood, so much needed recently!
- 3 stars. Unfortunately, I thought I will enjoy it more. Turned out to be just meh. Not as enjoyable as Riordan’s books. I also love Rick Riordan’s style better.
- 5 stars. A Mesmerising Asian Fantasy Tale. A great combination of asian mythology, folklore, and a touch of magic, with lots of layers. The book creates very imaginative scenes, to be honest, I’ve almost read it whole in one sitting, so captivating it was.
Mod
Oh! I love seeing how much you enjoyed song of silver! I have that one on my tbr
@Brittany yay for the re-read, go for it! And also Song of Silver was something I craved for some time.
One more small update :)
- 5 stars. It’s a re-read before starting the second book. I actually forgot how good it was. It has a very solid descriptive language, the author draws amazing images if rural fantasy Japan. And the cultural aspect is just… oh so good!
- 3-4 stars. I decided to re-read the series before starting the last book once again. Though the series is not perfect, especially the first few books, I found myself enjoying reading, and actually discovering new details that I missed earlier. I was satisfying.
- 4 stars. It is almost 5, though still 4 because of the first half of the book. But I do understand why it was needed to write it that way. It’s a solid, huge series with a very detailed and unique world, so the first part introduces lots of characters, scenes and lines at an extremely fast pace, that I couldn’t properly enjoy them.
- 3 stars. This book (and probably the series) has so many similarities to other really popular ones like Harry Potter and The Howl’s Moving Castle. The narration and pacing are not the best, but overall the book is fine and pretty cosy.
- 4 stars. The series is so adorable and… how to put it, clean and naive, at the same time comfortable and cosy. I enjoyed how the characters fallen in love in the first book and learned to love each other in the second. Recently I had some problems with gay theme in books, but here it’s very natural and makes the story charming.
Elena wrote: "InLoveWithWords wrote: "I just finished Heroes of the Empire by Israh Azizi (YA Fantasy) and it is the best book I've read so far in 2023. Some of the tropes: morally gray characters, warrior acade..."This book is a true classic fantasy. It is written by an indie author, and it was her debut.
Time for that weekly update and I've read things this week.
A Walk in the Dark -3 StarsAs I mentioned last week I was having a hard time getting into this one. At some point the story picked up enough for me to actually power through this book. I'll be honest I don't remember how this book ended up on my list but I think I picked it up with the expectations of something more horror based. This isn't a horror novel, it's more of those young YA/middle grade survival stories and it was alright, I guess. It's been a week since I read this and it's almost faded from my memory. Kids go into the woods on a school activity, storm comes up, kids get into difficult situation, face inner demons, grow as people. There really wasn't a whole lot about this novel that was bad per se but at the same time there just wasn't anything that stuck out for me as being really good either. If I didn't have to write this up I'd probably have already forgotten this book. A couple negatives I'd say about the ending though that kind of bugged me a bit. There was a certain "villain" kind of character that just kind of vanished from the story. It was implied that he might have been scared away by our MC's but there is also a very real chance that our MC's might have killed the character. The author tries to downplay that aspect but no, there is a very real chance that the kids left a body out there in the woods. There is also a romance in the story that just kind of pops up out of no where and feels really out of place. Overall this was a very solid "meh" that is going to easily be forgotten.
The Edge of Summer -3 StarsLast week I got a little gushy over a romance novel that just worked for me. This is another romance novel but there will be no gushing over this one. Probably some ranting, definitely some complaining as this was just not the kind of romance that I enjoyed. Where to even start with this painful train wreck of a story? Basically this is a summer romance where our FMC travels to Cape Cod for an internship at a Marine Conservation group. While there she stumbles across MMC who is course hot and hunky. What follows is a summer of misunderstandings and poor communication. Oh and our FMC comes with a semi trailer of baggage after the death of her best friend the year before. Most of my issues with this book involve the FMC. I really did not like her at all. She just grated against me so many times. Yes, there were times where I empathized with her but more often then not I wanted to reach through the page and either throttle her or slap her upside the head. An early example, she goes out to a party during the week, gets drunk, sleeps in, and ends up being late for work. Of course she gets punished and has some mundane task to get done. She gets the work done and decides that the best course of action is to simply leave work early. Are you kidding me? You screwed up, you came in late, your boss is upset, you know your boss is upset, and you decide to just peace out early because you feel like it? Are you an idiot? I'm not saying you have to kiss your bosses butt but put in an effort to show that you are indeed remorseful for your actions as you imply.
Then there is the romance. The MMC is, well, he is borderline perfect. He is a hot hunky lifeguard, he can cook, he can can fix his truck, he can plumb. Honestly it would probably be easier to come up with a list of things he can't do. Most of my problems though with this romance though comes from the FMC. The MMC clearly states he is not in a place to date someone but our FMC gets it into her head that he has to be madly in love with her because their knuckles touched for 0.0000000000005ths of a second. Or the time she gets insanely jealous because the MMC is talking to an ex. This is after she is told by people not to worry about it by various people. That there is nothing going on there and there was indeed nothing going on there, ever. She sees them talking though and decides to storm off in a huff and not talk to the MMC for a few days. That is a mature response of course. Instead of, oh I don't know, talking to the MMC and finding out what is going on. This entire romance is just plagued with miscommunication or no communication at all. It's just maddening.
This part is a bit of a spoiler but I want to address something about that truckload of baggage.
(view spoiler)
The Moth Keeper -4 StarsI snagged this on a whim and man this book is adorable. It's from the author of the Tea Dragon series of comics which is also adorable. This is about a fantasy world where one tribe lives during the day and one lives during the night. The tribe that lives in the night follow the moon god and within the tribe there is the role of the Moth Keeper. A lonely role where an individual is responsible for these moths that are gifts from the moon god. This solitary role is key to the tribes survival and we follow our MC who is a young girl who just entered the role. This is a tale of self discovery and change that is simple but adorable. After finishing this book I immediately requested everything that that library had from this author I hadn't read yet.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The IDW Collection, Volume 6 -5 StarsThis volume blew my mind. I've been a casual fan of the turtles since I was a kid when I loved watching the 80's cartoon. I remember all three of the movies that came out in the 90's. Outside of that I've dabbled in some of the various other iterations of the turtles. That 80's cartoon is more or less my basis for my turtle knowledge but I was aware that other iterations could be a bit darker. There were events in this comic that I just never expected followed by twists that I could have never predicted followed by hints and setup for the next big story line. I was just shocked at the end of the main story in this one and was left wanting more and wanting it now.
The Boxer, Vol. 1 -5 Stars
The Boxer, Vol. 2 -5 StarsI was not prepared for how much I enjoyed this manhwa at all. This was a random snag from the library and I devoured both volumes in one evening. The crazy thing about this is after two volumes I still know nothing about the MC. We know his name, maybe, and that he had a troubled upbringing, again maybe. I will tell you this about the MC though, he unsettles me a lot. I can't really explain it but there is something just unsettling about this character. After two volumes he has only spoken maybe a handful of times. I've never seen him express any emotion at all. He always has this neutral dead look to him at all times. I'm just hooked into this story and want more. That's where there is a problem. This is a newer release and currently there is only three volumes out. My library has the third volume on order so it will be a wait for that one and the fourth volume comes out in October. After that, I've got no idea. I suppose I could track down the webtoon version of the story but I like physical books.
Now for what is next.
Deep StormThis is my current audiobook and I have some mixed feelings about this book. This is a techno thriller and so far it's alright. There is a lot of techno babble in this book. It comes in either science related babble or medical related babble. The one odd thing I've noticed so far is the MC. This is book one in the Jeremy Logan series which to me would indicate that the MC is Jeremy Logan. So far Jeremy Logan has shown up once and that was in chapter thirteen. I'm now currently on thirty three and have not seen him since. I'm not sure he is ever going to show up again either which is rather odd.
Connections in DeathThis is the non-audiobook that I'm currently working on and of course I am loving it. Shocking I know.
FrightmaresThis is the other novel I have to tackle this week so I can get it back to the library.
Mod
- 5 stars. I really enjoying re-reading the series. So old-fashioned and so good
and gave it 3 stars. Definitely my least favourite of the bridge kingdom series and I am unsure I'm going to continue with this series.I've started
on graphic audio for a re-read and I'm reading an ARC of
physically.
YA Addicted Book Club
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I learned an important lesson from this book. Don't listen to nonfiction books about serial killers while waiting in line at an anime convention. It creates odd situations shall we say. Situations such as everyone around having fun, excited, etc and in my ear I have the narrator telling about how the killer hacked a body to pieces and worse.
This was the last nonfiction book I needed for my monthly challenge and I was rather excited for this one. We've all heard of the classic and probably more than a few lesser known serial killers. This serial killer operated in the 2000's and it's a name I never heard of before. Needless to say I was interested in learning more. The subject matter itself was interesting and yet infuriating. Learning more about the killer and just getting a glimpse into what he had done, might have done, and how he did it was chilling. What was infuriating was how this case was handled by pretty much everyone but the FBI. The level of incompetence I heard described made me think of cases from a much, much earlier time. The police basically failing in simple basic investigation. The DA wanting to insert himself into the case for clout even though he had no experience with interrogation tactics and just him being in the room was an ethics violation. The correctional facility failing to take any basic safety precautions with such a dangerous convict. Failures that lead to one escape attempt and eventually the convict committing suicide. It was so frustrating to listen to. Especially because we have no idea how crimes this many actually committed due to him not being interrogated properly.
As for the book itself, it was alright. This was one of those nonfiction books that was really close to feeling like a text book at times. There were more than a few times where it felt like the narrator just picked up the official report and was reading it out loud to me. Speaking of the narrator, she had a voice that made me think of a safety training video. Those ones that we all have to listen to at work that sounds like the narrator could not be more bored to have to do this. It was just that monotone voice. It made this book feel a lot longer than it was.
I stand by my last statement that this book fits in with things like Dresden and Sandman Slim. It just has a lot of the same beats and a similar vibe to those series. Now that being said there is just something missing from this series to elevate it to the same level of those series. Don't get me wrong, the books (so far) have been very entertaining but there is just some element missing from them. I know it's not very helpful for those that might be interested in reading the series and are using me as the canary in the coal mine (just joking) but I just don't know how to describe it. The world building is interesting, the lore used in this is interesting, the main character is alright, the side characters are alright, it's just missing something. I definitely plan to keep on reading at this point as it seems to be setting up some interesting things.
We are finally finished the big battle city arc and have started the final arc of the series. That means we are finally getting into the Egyptian stuff. Honestly I've lost track of all the rules for these battles. It seems like one big series of McGuffins pulled out the butts of those that are battling. I'm not complaining as it makes for some interesting reading but I really feel that the author is more concerned about the rule of cool then actual rules. Regardless, I'm coming up on the end and I am very curious to see how things all wrap up. I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that it involves some battles.
I snagged this one as an easy option for what could be considered a pretty difficult challenge. That and I've been curious about Swamp Thing for some time. I have thoughts and opinions about this and they might not be the most popular. So this was the American debut of Alan Moore and is praised to no ends. In my opinion it was... alright. First, this isn't the actual start of the Swamp Thing story. Its the stuff that Alan Moore wrote which means that you get dropped into things mid story line (20 volumes into the story) and left to fend for yourself. The writing itself was alright. It was comic book writing. I know that sounds bad but there was a lot of thing being treated a whole lot more serious then it should be for such a goofy premise. I'm this evil villain who wants to destroy the world by raising the oxygen levels in the atmosphere. Fear my might plant wrath. I'm also not a big fan of the art work in this. I've never really been a fan of it honestly. I'm no art major but in my opinion this art just feels messy and hard to read. I completed the challenge, I still am curious about Swamp Thing, but I'm not sure if I want to read more of this.
Up next...
This is my next audiobook. I'm just in a mood for more Dresden and I was meaning to reread this series this year.
Outside of that I've got a monster stack of manga from the library that I need to work through. That whole thing about plans, lack of self control, lack of respect for boundaries, and a reckless use of my library card. It's one of those situations again.