Rating: 3.9/5
Comments: I have read a lot of Arand/Darren books, and I consider him a friend. I got a bit over-exposed to his books and had to quit reading them for a while. This was a nice little dip back into his universe. I'm not sure about his other current series but I'll check out book 2 of this when it comes out.
Bedroom Activities: FTB
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Rating: 3.5/5
Comments: Cultivating Chaos was the first Wuxia/Cultivating book I read. Loved it. It had the hard scrabble poor boy gaining power and becoming a force to be reckoned with. Plus it had a sarcastic invisible mentor to keep him humble, and a mysterious story arc involving his cousin.
Reading book 4, I now realize that I really liked all of those elements, and at this point most of them are gone, which leaves me wondering where the story is going. There were a lot of parts to this book I just found confusing, and I really don't know where the story is going from here.
Bedroom Activities: FTB
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Author: William Arand, Randi Darren
Rating: 3.8/5
Comments: This book marks the resurrection of the Randi Darren penname for William Arand and it's pretty much classic Darren. If you like freaky monstergirl, dryad, elf bedroom frol-licks, this has you covered.
Now that being said, I have been reading the Sovereign-verse for a few years, and I find the change in writing direction to be a little frustrating. After Right of Retribution 3, we were all set for the LEGENDARY conclusion of the first meta arc, and now suddenly we're doing another SSoSH and WW trilogy.
I mean ok, Vince needs to go to Europe for a bit, fine. But the Euro-trash can't begin to compete with the force from Yosemite, so it feels a little like Andre the Giant smacking around toddlers.
I guess I didn't find a challenge for Vince, just annoyances to be dealt with.
Bedroom Activities: Explicit
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Author: William D. Arand
Rating: 4.25/5
Comments: This is the long awaited, and much anticipated next installment in the much beloved SSoSH series. Much like Aether, there is the problem of how do you make an interesting story if the protagonist can just nuke a gnat from orbit. In this case the answer is to start over. I won't spoil anything more, but if you're a fan of Felix and the gang, you should pick it up.
Bedroom Activities: FTB
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Author: William D. Arand
Rating: 4.7/5
Comments: Cultivating Chaos is one of my favorite series of Arand's. It was the first cultivation/wuxia book that I had ever read, so I didn't understand a lot of the in-jokes and trope contraventions that I put in, but it was fun and fresh. Book 3 meanders a bit, and takes an unexpected turn (or 4) but pulls you right along with it. The ending is a sucker punch that I still don't know how to process.
I docked it .3 points because there wasn't enough of my favorite alchemist.
Bedroom Activities: FTB
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Author: William D. Arand
Rating: 4.5/5
Comments:
This is the final book in the leadup to the conclusion of the Sovereign-verse meta-arc 1 and it pulls a lot of threads together from a lot of different series. If you love cameos from his other books this one outstrips them all on that front.
I liked it, but it didn't have the emotional sledgehammer that the first one did. I'm going to be very excited to see what happens in the next trilogy.
Bedroom Activities: FTB
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Title: Right of Retribution 2
Author: William D. Arand
Rating: 5/5
Comments:
As I'm writing this, this book is just over a week from publication, but I just finished the beta read last night.
Not really much to say, other than I enjoyed it immensely. Warner faces challenges that were unexpected, makes new friends, and generally grows as a character.
I expect this will be one of his best releases ever.
Full disclosure, book 1 is my favorite of his, having supplanted Fostering Faust 3, and Swing Shift (1-3).
Bedroom Activities: FTB
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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
Title: Swing Shift (books 1-3)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07Z849JFS
Author: William D. Arand
Rating: 5/5
Comments
The Swing Shift series is the story of Gustavus Hellstrom, a battle-scarred veteran who is a detective for the Paranormal Investigation Department. The story includes a host of great side characters, including his best friend and fellow veteran Mark Ehrich, Melody Lark, partner Vanessa Flores, and the sorceress cleaning lady Patricia Ash.
My second favorite series after Right of Retribution
Bedroom Activities: FTB
Full disclosure: Mr. Arand is a friend, and I do beta reading for him.
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Title: Right of Retribution – Book 1
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B085BCFZ24
Author: William D. Arand
Rating: 5/5+
Comments
As a father, this book hit me hard in the Dad emotional zone. It is easily my favorite book in the Sovereign-verse. Warner literally metes out divine justice on the low-life scumbags that hurt his daughter. It’s like Death Wish, but with a flaming sword of divine wrath instead of a .44 magnum.
Bedroom Activities: FTB
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Title: Monster’s Mercy 2
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08MKDRF85
Author: William D. Arand
Rating: 5/5
Comments
If you haven’t read book one just go read it. Book 2 takes off right where Book 1 ended. Lots of fun times as Rene tries to come to terms with his ever-expanding circle of family and friends while learning to balance The Mask and Rene Anatolis.
Bedroom activities: FTB.
Full disclosure: Mr. Arand is a friend, and I do beta reading for him.
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Title: Steel Song https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0HBNXVYF7/ Author: Silas Sinclair Rating: 4.8/5 Comments: This one was a Discord re...
