Review: Biomedical Self-Engineering

Title: Biomedical Self-Engineering: Book 2

Author: Jon Svenson

Rating: 4.25/5

Comments

This is kind of an odd series in that it’s gamelit sort of, but the protagonist has no experience with the concept so Carl is occasionally confused by what he’s seeing.  I think a main part of my enjoyment is that I identify with Carl on a lot of levels.

The basic premise (since I didn’t review Book 1) is that Carl (age 73) can absorb and utilize DNA from other animals to create special powers for himself.  For every DNA sample he gets, he can utilize points to modify himself.

So I really enjoyed book 1 as it followed Carl as he tried to figure out what was going on, and fix his health issues, and find love again. (Book 1 5/5)

Book 2 is a lot of the same, but I’ll be honest, some of the things that happen with the inter-personal relationships didn’t make a lot of sense to me.  Eh, it was minor.  I’ll read book 3 when it comes out.

Bedroom Activities: FTB

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FTB/Explicit/None – Fade to black bedroom activities vs “Onscreen” vs No activities

 

Review: The Way of Kings

Title: The Way of Kings

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Rating: 2/5

Comments

This is probably going to annoy some people (assuming anyone reads this) but I guess we’ll agree to disagree.

I am a big fan of first person stories.  Shifts of POV (point of view) annoy me because it is pulling me out of the story of a character and stuffs me in a different story.  I derive the most enjoyment from stories where I become emotionally connected with the protagonist. 

In the Way of Kings, there are not one, but TWO prologues with different POV’s. Ok, I deal with that, it’s the prologue.  But that gave me two POV’s before the book even really starts, one of which is presumably dead since it’s 4500 years ago.  Then by chapter 3, I had THREE more POV’s.  So I’ve read 4 chapters (effectively), and started a 5^th, and I still have no idea who the protagonist is, what’s going on, and most importantly, WHY I SHOULD CARE about these people.  Oh yeah, and one of the characters that got a chapter in the actual book apparently died, so I guess I shouldn’t care about him.

I was vacillating about continuing when someone on Discord said “yeah, it jumps around  a lot, it’s a little confusing”.  Urk!  Sorry Sanderson fans, hard pass for me.  Might be a great story, but not for me.

Bedroom Activities: ?

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FTB/Explicit/None – Fade to black bedroom activities vs “Onscreen” vs No activities

 

Review: Becoming Monsters Book 1: Growing problems

Title:  Becoming Monsters Book 1: Growing Problems

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B084ZQF48C

 

Author: AI Love

Rating:   3/5*****  (See comments)

 

Comments:

 

So I read this because I heard about it on Discord, with positive comments.  I realized going in it wasn’t going to be my what I would normally read, and fully expected to put it down quickly.  The fact that I finished it is somewhat surprising to me.

 

AI Love is very upfront with her kinks and writes to cater to them.  You can read about them in the warning on the Amazon page if you wish.   She says upfront she’s writing Litrpg-porn and she absolutely is.  This had landed her book in the erotica dungeon on Amazon, which is why you won’t see it on a recommendation list.

 

Now, why did I read the whole book when almost none of the activities cater to my preferences?  There are a few reasons.

1. The story is actually pretty solid, if somewhat standard Litrpg, we’re living in a game now fare.
2. The author has a gift for humorous turns of phrase.  There were several times I actually chuckled at the way she described something.
3. The characters are good.
4. The author takes some real risks by making the MC devoutly religious and overtly pro-life.
5. She knows her firearms.

 

So now to my rating asterisks.

 

For me the rating is 3/5.  I probably won’t read the sequel, but I might, just because it was entertaining.  Depends on my mood.

If you share any of her kinks, of which there are many, you will enjoy this book.  So 5/5 for that group.

If you don’t like explicit books, or porn,  0/5, don’t even pick it up.

 

 

Bedroom Activities:  Explicit, plentiful, varied

 

Review: The Honor of Duty

Title:  The Honor of Duty

 

Author:  A. R. Rend

Rating:  4.25/5

 

Comments:  This is a new pseudonym for William D. Arand, and he started it with the intention that he’d drop books here that don’t fit his usual audience.  He then promptly told his Patreon about it and everyone knew about it for months in advance and his usual audience grabbed it up.

 

I am typically a beta reader for Will, but I was not for this book.  He was concerned I wouldn’t like it because it is so far outside his normal  stories, so I read it when it was released like everyone else.

 

I’m not going to rehash what the story is about, because I don’t do that.   What the story  IS, is a very typical William D. Arand story, in a very atypical world (not part of the Sovereign-verse, or Veil-verse) where many of the social roles are reversed.  Women are soldiers, shop keepers, artisans, and such, while men manage the house, raise the children, and such.  As is typical, he works the story together well, and has interesting characters to whom he does horrible and  wonderful things. All while giving us the bare minimum of details needed to move the story along.

 

All that being said, I am not sure I can say I like it.  I enjoy books where I can form some sort of rapport or feel some kind of connection via a shared experience or common thread.  I’m not sure I ever found that thread with Phillip.  I guess Will was correct to be concerned I wouldn’t like it.  It’s not the first book of his I haven’t enjoyed but I can acknowledge that it’s a good story without liking it.

 

Bedroom Activities:  FTB

 

 

Review: Ascend Online 2 - Hell to Pay

Title:  Ascend Online 2: Hell to Pay

 

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/d/B072HLLTF6/

 

Author: Luke Chmilenko

Rating:  4/5

Comments: 

UPDATE April 2021:  Luke has redone the order of the books on Amazon.  What was book 3 is now book 2, and this book is listed as a "side story".  I think this will be a much better way to present it.

I read this immediately after Ascend Online, and didn’t look at the description close enough.  This is not actually a continuation of the story from book 1, it’s a totally separate book set in the same game world.  He says this in the blurb, which I did not read until after I finished the book.  The actual story from book one isn’t continued until book 3, but I suspect (having not read it yet) that there will be a link between the two storylines at some point.

 

So story-wise this is completely different from book one, but it’s a good story.  The downside is it restarted the story, it didn’t continue it, so I’m not sure if I’m going to grab book 3.  For lack of a better phrase, the momentum is gone, so I don’t know if I’ll bother.  This should have been put out under a different title or something.  It shouldn’t be called book 2.

 

Bedroom Activities:   None

 

 

 

Review: Ascend Online

Title:  Ascend Online

 

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/d/B01M01ET8E/

 

Author: Luke Chmilenko

Rating:  4/5

Comments:  Ok, I’ve read a lot of books set in the “game world” genre.  I mean a lot.  This one, well, it suffers from a lot of the same issues in that death isn’t really a deterrent to doing something stupid, so there’s a lack of dramatic tension.  I mean if the worst that can happen is you respawn to try again, is there really much risk?  He kind of covers the game mechanics side of it to give it some kind of reasoning, and such, but ultimately, what’s at stake if you can just log off and rage quit?

 

So if you take that part out of the equation, and just take it as a fantasy story, it’s pretty good.  The magic is interesting, and it’s couched as “all new” so nobody knows how anything works, so the characters are discovering their powers, which is interesting.

 

Anyway, if you like “VR game” books, this is pretty good.  If you don’t, well you won’t miss anything groundbreaking.

 

Bedroom Activities:   None

 

 

Review: Don't Give a Dwarf - book 2

 

Title: Don’t Give a Dwarf (Dwarf Bounty Hunter Book 2)  

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/d/B08KTYNY5T/

 

Author: Martha Carr, Michael Anderle

Rating: 4/5

Comments:

I started this series after I read her collaborations of Finegan Dragonbender and Lone Valkyrie series.  (Links below) (This series is unrelated to the other two)

 

This is book 2 of the series, and it’s pretty good Urban Fantasy.  There’s really no love interests in it, other than the snarky exchanges between the protagonist and his FBI agent “partner”.  There are a lot of gadgets, sarcasm, “Good old boy” talk, and general mayhem.  The protagonist, the amusingly named Johnny Walker, is a recently unretired bounty hunter who takes the toughest jobs out there.  He occasionally has legendary grade plot armor, but this is in the vein of James Bond, so that is to be expected.

 

Worth a read if you like the genre, but I think the other two series are better.

 

Finnegan Dragonbender (first series)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08394VXCB

Lone Valkyrie (second series)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086DQ223R

 

 

 

Bedroom Activities:  None