Author: Michael Simon
Rating: 3.6/5
Comments: This is a pretty decent book, but I have some quibbles with it. Most aren't major, but one, consistently bothered me. Unfortunately it's a foundational plot point for the whole story, which is why it scored lower than it might have otherwise. Without getting into spoiler territory, the circumstances whereby the protagonist and his band of misfits get isolated from their command structure were, let's just say implausible to me. I haven't decided if I'm continuing to book 2.
Bedroom Activities: FTB
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Author: R.M. Olson
Rating: 2.5/5
Comments: I picked this up because it was billed as a wet navy story in space, which I honestly love. One of my favorite series is the Alex Carew series which you can find under the author tag Sutherland. The problem is, other than some cursory mentions of traveling through space, and the mention of rat-lines, it's never explained why this is analogous to a wet navy book. Sutherland gives a great pseudo-science explanation of why his ships sail the Dark. David Drake's RCN series also captures the essence of the Age of Sail.
This really doesn't. I couldn't even get to the half way point. Between the apparently arbitrary inclusion of rat-lines inside the ship, and the author's contemporary political leanings (or maybe it's not really his political leanings, he's just framing the story this way, I don't know) I was just turned off by the book.
I'm a bit disappointed, I always love a good space ship story.
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Author: Seth Ring
Rating: 4.5/5
Comments: This is a book 2 review, which I am trying to avoid, but in this case, I was undecided about how I felt about the series after book 1. Book 2 clarified my feelings that I like the series. The story in the second book really expands and matures, and most importantly, it has some unforeseen developments. I will be reading book 3 when it comes out May 14th (2025).
The parts I really like are the relationship between Mateo and his friends, the unorthodox way Mateo's powers work, and the aforementioned unforeseen development. I still hate the Empire that they're attached to.
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Author: R. Wayne Jones
Rating: 3.4/5 (first book rating 3.9/5)
Comments: This is the author's first book, and he essentially volunteered for this because he messaged me on Discord and told me he had published a book. That shows he's either insanely brave, or unaware that I have earned my title of curmudgeon. Out of respect for his courage, I'm going to focus on being constructive with my commentary in the off chance he reads this.
Ok so the good parts, the characters are, for the most part, engaging. He avoids the lewd scene trap that is all too often tripped by new authors. He makes the protagonist and Sally Love Interest interactions (mostly) believable in portraying an attraction. The world setting is, again mostly, interesting. The book one plot arc, is decent.
Now for the bad part, the book suffers from things being inconsistent. The characters' behavior is inconsistent. The world has inconsistencies that you could, pardon the pun, drive a truck through. When I mentioned this to another author, he responded with "So it's like every first book ever."
I'm going to avoid the trope of "the ugly" and make my third category "Stuff that made me go 'WTF'?" This is stuff that made me think "He needed either an editor, or better research." There was a lot of this. I mean every chapter had holding down my suspension of disbelief with a submission hold metaphorically saying "It's his first book, just go with it." I'll give you some examples that have stuck with me. The rig "The Long Haul" which is central to the story, is a massive mechanical behemoth, -=with three cars, fifteen foot tires, armor, and self-defense turrets. It is described as having a six speed manual transmission. If you know anything about trucks, this is simply not plausible. A normal tractor trailer rig in the US today would have 15 to 21 gears, and those aren't for show, it needs them all. Then later we're told it has a V16 radial engine that's 12' (or maybe 20', it changed; see previous paragraph). An engine is either a V form, or a radial, I can't even conceive how you could have an engine that's both. Then there's the "Vault" on the 3rd floor of car 3, which is described as being extremely heavily armored. So car three is going to be very top-heavy and unstable. There's more and varied examples of all of this, but I'm not going to keep going.
As with most first books, it really needs a good competent editor, and it is obvious it didn't get it.
Now after all of this, my final opinion is that Mr. Jones has some talent as a writer, and he needs to battle through it. Give him another 3-4 books of experience, and enough cash flow to engage with a good editor and he could carve himself out a niche.
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Author: Rhett C. Bruno, Jaime Castle
Rating: 3.25/5
Comments:
I struggled through to the end of this. I wanted to like it, but it was just kind of a slog. I kept expecting it to get funny, but it came across like a comedian who's trying too hard. I almost gave it the 3.5 rating, but honestly it doesn't deserve it. I can't see any circumstance where I will look at the sequel.
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Author: Tom Elliot
Rating: 4.5/5
Comments: This is something I never expected to find, a system Apocalypse book that I don't hate. It actually recognizes that humans are social animals and non-sociopaths benefit from having social connections. It takes a novel approach to non-combatants, at least from my reading, and doesn't make them helpless cannon fodder.
Surprisingly, I will be looking forward to the next book.
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Author: E.M. Hardy, LitRPG Freaks
Rating: 5/5
Comments: This is a fairly straightforward setup. You have the apparently weak and disrespected protagonist without any apparent potential. You have his best friend who's capable and unfailingly loyal to our Hero. All good things, great basis of a story. What I found exceptional with these books (1 and 2) was the pacing and the banter and repartee between the characters. The pacing is fast without being too fast, and the banter is great.
I will be looking for book 3 because I read 1 and 2 in two days.
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Author: Alexey Osadchuk
Rating: 4.9/5
Comments: This is kind of an odd beast. It's an isekai but the protagonist has some power before being reborn. He's isn't so much reborn as inserted into the body of someone else who has met an unfortunate end. It is actually really good. Only the first of the eight books is on Kindle Unlimited, but I bought and read all 8 of them in less than a week. Strong characters, good plot twists, and a good over-arching arc.
I am only putting up a review for the first one, but I give the whole series a recommendation.
Bedroom Activities: FTB
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Author: J.A. Sutherland
Rating: 4.75/5
Comments: This book is one I have been anticipating for years. Mr. Sutherland had put it up for pre-sale back in 2023, and then had a bout of clinical depression which utterly derailed his writing. He worked past the depression and has gotten back in the writing groove. After having all my creative energy destroyed during the Great Hiatus of 2024, I have a lot of sympathy for him.
For those who are unfamiliar with this series, it's heavily inspired by the Golden Age of Sail but in space. The stories are great and I was curious to see if he could match the previous books' quality. I was pleasantly surprised. In typical Carew style, the stories have great emotional impact, but also have a signature dry humor. My only real quibble is that the pacing during part of it was a little slow. Fortunately for me, he says he's well into book 8, and I will be waiting for it with as much patience as I can muster.
Bedroom Activities: FTB
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Author: RW Krpoun
Rating: 4.5/5
Comments: I read this back in July, during the Great Hiatus of 2024 and I'll be honest, I don't remember a lot of specifics. I do remember finishing it and I enjoyed it. Grog stories are great and this one lived up to the standard.
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Author: Kos Play
Rating: 2.9/5
Comments: I'm not including a link to this book because I wouldn't do that to you. It wasn't terrible until you got to the end, and then it really screwed the pooch.
A 3 means I finished it and question whether that is wise. In this case it doesn't earn a 3 because I know it was a waste of time.
The protagonist is contemptible, and you're really only reading this out of morbid curiosity and the vague hope that he might redeem himself.
Just save your time.
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Author: KamikazePotato
Rating: 4.5/5
Comments: Generally, I have made a decision that I'm not going to bother reviewing books that are deep into a series unless they really suck (Looking at you Infinite World book 4).
This however is the last book of the series.
A good book or a good series can be utterly ruined if the author can't bring it to a satisfying conclusion so wrapping up a series is really a high risk endeavor for an author. The master of the satisfying conclusions is of course Professor Tolkien, but any comparison to the Professor is inherently unfair.
All in all Mr Potato brought it all together in a satisfying manner. The protagonists have to pull out some surprises, there are some unforeseen twists and turns, and at the end, an actual conclusion.
If you haven't read the series, I don't regret the hours I spent reading it, so take that for what it's worth. If you have, I think you'll enjoy the epic conclusion.
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Author: Seth Ring
Rating: 4.25/5
Comments: This is a new series from the author of Battlemage Farmer (which has reached Plaid Power level).
Pretty good series, but there are certain parts which evoked an extremely negative response. They are perpetrated by the bad guys which is why it wasn't an instant DNF. I'll see how I feel after book 2, but I will read it.
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Author: Marc Alan Edelheit
Rating: 4/5
Comments: This is one of the books that I read in an effort to branch out from my usual fare. It's not LitRPG, GameLit, or Isekai.
All in all, very good. It's got some skipping around, and the pace could be faster, but the world is interesting and the characters are good. If I had to describe it, it's kind of an alternate history with magic. There are many elements that are clearly inspired by the real world, but it's neither annoyingly plaigiaristic nor incongruous, so it meshes together seamlessly.
Book 2 is out next month and I will most likely pick it up
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Author: Casualfarmer
Rating: 4.5/5
Comments: This might have been my most anticipated book of 2024. I was thrilled that it did not disappoint. After the last book's explosive ending, this book inevitably had to be a slower pace, and that's managed in a very good way. It's a "back to the farm" and "kick back" kind of book. A lot of the mysteries we've been reading about for 3 books are fully fleshed out and revealed, which is pretty fascinating.
Looking forward to book 5!
Bedroom Activities: FTB
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Author:M. Tress
Rating: 4.5/5
Comments: This is my first review after the Great Hiatus of 2024.
Full disclosure, M. Tress is someone I've conversed with more than once on Discord, and it goes back long before he started publishing books.
This book was one of the more innovative stories that I have read in the last few years. It has good characters and a really interesting storyline. His best book so far.
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Reading Roundup So as I said, I am not going to put up full reviews of books that are deep into a series unless they're exceptional (goo...
