A Bright Shore

Title: A Bright Shore: The Eden Chronicles-Book One 

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07B2DN68K/

Author: S.M Anderson

Rating: 4.3/5

Comments:  This is one of those stories of a dystopian culture where a small number of people escape to a new frontier.  I quite enjoyed it, but leftists will find it somewhere between tiresome and offensive with a possibility of triggering.

Fair amount of POV switching which is moderately annoying for me.

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Review: Legends & Lattes: A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes

Title: Legends & Lattes: A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes 

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B09R9FSZB5/ 

Author:  Travis Baldree

Rating:  4/5

Comments:  Picked this book up on a lark but it was pretty entertaining. This is not an epic tale of world-saving, but that doesn't matter because the characters make the story. 

I would definitely recommend it if you are looking for something light and easy to read.

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Review: Servants of War

Title: Servants of War

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09QTXRSGK/

Author: Larry Correia, Steve Diamond  

Rating: 4.5/5

Comments:  This is one of the rare trad-pub books I have read since starting CBR, and to be honest I don't think I've read any trad-pub books that Larry Corriea wasn't involved with in recent memory.  I find trad-pub tiresome these days because the rate of publication is just tragically and painfully slow.  I mean years between entries in a series?   I have to *really* like an author to keep up with his stuff when it's that slow.

So I like Larry's stuff.  That almost wasn't enough to get me through this book.  Story is great, but the narrative flow in the first quarter of the book is just non-existent.  We keep skipping between POV's for no apparent reason and without apparent connection.  I'm sure my regular reader will recognize that is a major point of annoyance for me when reading. At about 20% I popped on Larry's group on MeWe and asked "Does this crap improve because this is almost more than I'm willing to tolerate?"  Fortunately the answer was yes, and I pushed on.

I am glad I did but dang it was hard getting started.

So we have a very unique and unusual world with lots of depth.  There is lots of world building without info dumps (yay!)  There are also believable and relatable characters.

On the downside they have put in no less than 4 or 5 POV's and at least 2 of which I really don't want to read because they're awful characters.  Not poorly written, just objectively evil and I'm not a fan of evil characters.

Anyway in a few years I will probably read the sequel, if I remember reading the book.

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Review: Accorded Nobility

Title: Accorded Nobility (Binding Words Book 8)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09VMKXTZK/

Author: Daniel Schinhofen

Rating: 4.5/5

Comments: Ok, when I get more than 5 books into a series I feel like reviews are kind of superfluous.  I mean if you're 7 books into a series, you must like it, right?  But I guess it's actually likely that people lose interest as a series goes on and the readership attrits and dwindles.

So if you made it through book 7, there's no reason to put off book 8.  Sean and Co  move to a new city, and find new friends, and Sean shows enough self-awareness to avoid some of his previous missteps.

If I have any quibbles with this series, it's that Sean is too unfailingly attentive to his ladies, I mean everyone has an off day, except Sean.  

These books are slice of life, and the pace is deliberately and consciously ... measured.  Some people call them slow, but that's the nature of the beast when you get into slice of life, you go through all the stuff between the big events.  These books make a nice break from other more lean and mean narratives where every word, dot, and tittle move the action forward.

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Review: Between Worlds 3

Title: Between Worlds Three (The Occupation Saga Book 3)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09W5ZNMDM/

Author: J.L. Williams 

Rating: 4.8/5

Comments:  Just about 9 months ago I reviewed book 2.  Unlike I stated in that review I did not wind up reading it as it was posted to Reddit because I have found that consuming a book at the rate of a chapter every couple weeks to be unsatisfying.  Like trying to eat a bowl of pasta one noodle at a time.

Anyway, I think this is a better book than book 2, and I certainly had fewer quibbles with it.  The ending was a big surprise so I'm not sure what he's going to do with book 4.

Worth a look even if you are ambivalent about cross-species relations.

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Review: There's a hole in my bucket

Title: There's a Hole in my Bucket: A Journey of Two Brothers

https://www.amazon.com/Theres-Hole-Bucket-Journey-Brothers-ebook/dp/B08MZRKQPP

Author: Royd Tolkien

Rating: 4.5/5

Comments: This might be the first non-fiction book I've put up here, but hey I read it, it's going up here and if it's not to your taste, carry on.

Mike and Royd are the great-grandson's of JRR Tolkien, and Royd recounts what life was like for them when Mike developed ALS, aka Lou Gehrig's disease, aka Motor Neuron Disease.  It mainly deals with Mike's bucket list which he bequeaths to his brother to do after he passes. Some of the stories are touching, some are funny, a few are horrifying and they are all told out of order, but it all works.  It conveys in the events of the narrative just how much Royd loved his brother in a way that mere words would fail.  I'm not going to even slightly deny that I read this because I am a huge Middle-Earth nerd.  His great-grandsons are not paragons of virtue, but they are genuine, and relatable and I am glad I read/listened to it.

So if you have a wild hair to try something different give this a try.

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Review: Trojan Nightmare

Title: Trojan Nightmare: A LitRPG Cultivation Series (Apocalypse Cultivation Book 1)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09MWN73TB/

Author: Blaise Corvin    

Rating: 3.5/5

Comments:  This is one of those books that I finished and thought to myself "What did I just read?"

Similar to Paragon of Blood it seems to consciously and deliberately straddle as many genres as possible.  Hell it even seems to straddle most of the same ones.  I don't want to get into spoilers, but the protagonist goes through a few different changes which heavily impact what he is and they mostly left me in a state of being unable to relate to him.  Again it straddled into the System Apocalypse genre which I may have mentioned I really hate, but it wasn't a huge factor with this book.

I might read the next one just out of morbid curiosity.

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Review: Cultivating Chaos 3

Title: Cultivating Chaos 3 (VeilVerse: Cultivating Chaos)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09TZT5T79/

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.

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Review: Paragon of Blood

Title: Paragon of Blood

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09T3S5MGS/

Author: Luke Chmilenko, Alex Knight  

Rating: 3.9/5

Comments:  This story was a little better than "It doesn't suck".   It seems to go out of its way to make sure it doesn't fit neatly into any of the genre's that it flirts with.  It has some litrpg elements, some system apocalypse elements, and a few more genres.  That being said the going out of its way bit seems just a little too deliberate, and rather than seeming innovative it just seems calculated to appear innovative.  Also, I'm seeing a lot of stories where blood is the special effect of the powers and that's just kind of gross IMO.  I think anyone who likes this idea needs to see what happens to a lot of blood in real life.

Anyway, I finished it, but I have no burning desire to see what happens next.  Honestly the core story of power and betrayal is pretty good, but all the other bits that are hung off of it drag it down.

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Review: Vapor Trails

Title: Vapor Trails (Terran Scout Fleet Book 3)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B098RC4WYC/

Author: Joshua Dalzelle

Rating: 4.1/5

Comments:

This is book 3 of the Terran Scout Fleet, and it ties up the story started in book one very nicely.  I like to shift to some gritty sci-fi as a palate cleanser when I have had my limit of fantasy books and this fills the bill nicely.  It does shift POV which in this genre is almost expected, for whatever reason.  There's another series in this timeline which focuses on the events around this protagonist's father which I haven't read, but I might based on this series.

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Review: Law of Family and Battlemaster's skirmish

Title: Law of Family: A Litrpg Portal Adventure (Four Laws Book 2)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09MPSDDYB/
 Author: David Burke

Title:  Battlemaster's Skirmish: A LitRPG Monster Girl Harem Adventure (Tournion Book 2)

Rating: 3.6/5

Comments:  I am putting these two together because my reaction to them is essentially the same.  I liked previous books better than I liked their sequels.  The first books had more interest because we were establishing the world, and introducing the characters. The book 2's had a lot of stuff going on but not a lot of growth in the protagonist and the relationships with the characters introduced in book 1 didn't significantly develop. It was a lot of "Oh my god my sexy waifu I realized yet again for the fifth time this chapter how much I love you.  Let me worship your meaty dripping sex until you are ruined for any other man!"  And there's a lot of sex.  In some cases it seems to be sex for the sake of sex.  I skipped a lot of pages of thrusting, moaning, and pulsing.  In the case of Battlemaster, he seems to be picking up women like a lint roller.  Bordering on Chad in Vaginaland.

Anyway, I am ambivalent about book 3 on both of these.  I guess it will depend on my mood when they come across my feed.  I don't expect I'll be checking the series page regularly to see if they have a new installment.

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Review: Superpowers Unlocked

Title: Superpowers Unlocked: A Superhero Harem Adventure 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09SZRLCXS/

Author: Justin Trublood

Rating: 3.5/5

Comments:

This is not a serious story, this is a very light superhero story, with a lot of sex and magically simple relationships.   I mean all the depth of a raindrop.  It was entertaining, so it didn't suck, but if you apply any critical thinking you will sprain your eyes rolling them so hard.  I thought his other book was a better story, although it had its own issues.

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Review: Challenger's Call 5-7

Title: Challenger's Call 5-7

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086XH83JN/

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08R5Y8XS2/

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09BLFBVDV/

Author: Nathan Thompson

Rating: 4.5/5

Comments:

This series has continued to be a quality story.  I feel like when I get this deep into a series, the reviews become kind of repetitive.  I mean narratively we didn't break any new ground in these books, but the story has advanced and we have a slew of new and fun characters.  Breena continues to be an awesome character.  Honestly if you liked the rest of the series there's no reason you won't like these 3.  I saw on Facebook that he's actually about done with book 8, so that is looking good.

If there is one observation I have, it's that as we go through this story, the original primary villain is being reduced in importance and relative power without actually being defeated.  I would like some resolution with that asshole.

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Review: Dangerous Gamble

Title: Dangerous Gamble (Luck's Voice Book 4) 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09R7ZH1QM/

Author: Daniel Schinhofen 

Rating:  4/5

Comments:  This is the big finale of the first arc of Doc's Weird West adventure, and it's good.  All the big confrontations that have been building for the last 3 books erupt across the page like a herd of buffalo.

At this point it's book 4, so if you've made it this far, you should keep going.  If you haven't tried it, give book one a shot.  

Oh and if you like Posey, well you're going to love this one.

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Review: The Vixen War Bride Series

Title: The Vixen War Bride Series

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B094X4D8RK 

Author: Thomas Doscher 

Rating: 4.5/5

Comments: I found this series by one of the most unexpected sources, a Facebook advert.  Since I read a lot I see a LOT of book adverts, and most of them are worthless but occasionally I'll see one that piques my interest and it will go in the TBR pile.  Most of them are DNF's that I never even bother to review.  Vixen War Bride is an exception and a welcome one at that.

The absolute core of the story is the culture clash and language barrier between the soldiers and the Va'Shen and Doscher puts it together in a way that is just perfect.

People who have talked to me about books know I hate it when a story switches POV.  Most of the time it's gratuitous and doesn't really add to the story. The worst, for me, is when we switch to a character who is immediately killed for a quick emotional shot but is the literary equivalent of a grind time sink in a video game.  "We know you're an epic hero who has conquered the Tyrant, but could you go kill us 100 cows please?  The game developers need to stretch out the play time but don't have any ideas on how to do that creatively."

I'm happy to report that with this series, most of the POV switches are done to move the main narrative along and the switches between the happy couple are absolutely necessary for you to understand the unintended consequences brought about by their mutual ignorance of language and culture.

Speaking of Ben and Alacea, Doscher does a great job making them deep and believable characters and while he borrows a lot from existing cultures, he makes it feel authentic.

Besides the main couple there are a host of side characters which add a lot of emotion and humor to the tale, which takes it from a "it doesn't suck" to "this is great".

Anyway if you want a culture clash tale, you could do a lot worse.  I am looking forward to book 4.

Oh and it looks like these are the first 3 from this author.  I applaud his success and hope to see more good stories from him.

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Review: Brambles and Thorns

Title: Brambles and Thorns (The Infinite World Book 4)

Author: J.T. Wright

Rating: 3/5

Comments:  I had to let myself cool off for a day after finishing this one, and then I went back and looked at my review of the first three books.  Now I can probably write this without descending into a froth of profanity and invective.

This book was around a 4/5, right up until the last page.  To say the end was abrupt would be a massive understatement.  I literally redownloaded the book and checked it again.  Then I went on the Kindle cloud reader and looked at it there.  THEN I went on his Discord and asked if it was for real.  It was for real.  I broke a personal rule and said on the author's forum that it was a shitty way to end it.

Honestly I have rarely been so enraged by the way a book ended.  It was like 820 pages of foreplay with no happy ending.

If you liked books 1-3, I would pass on this one until book 5 is out so maybe you can get a satisfactory payoff.  Or find out where he's posting updates online and go there (I think he has a Patreon.) Based on the fact that book 4 took 14 months to produce, I wouldn't get too excited to see book 5 any time soon.

For myself, I doubt I will bother. This experience has tainted the entire series for me. 

If I just base my feelings on the first 819 pages, it wasn't bad.  Like most books that try to have multiple POV's you get dribs and drabs of the other important characters, enough to let you know they're not dead, but not enough to make them meaningful.  Cullen, Tersa, Kristin, Orion and the rest make brief appearances, but they don't do anything important.  Then you've got random scenes from people we've never seen before and don't care about and just kind of waste our time.

What a fucking disappointment.

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Review: Backyard Starship

Title: Backyard Starship

Author: J.N. Chaney, Terry Maggert

Rating: 3.7/5

Comments:  Basically this is a classic story of boy finds spaceship, boy becomes interstellar sheriff.  It's really not bad, but it's very inconsistent.  I assume the jarring shifts are where the 2 authors transition, but you would think someone would have said something in editing or beta reading.  It's a constant bait and switch as you think "Ok, so this is where the story is going" and then they wrap up that bit with a couple sentences off screen, and go on to something else.  It doesn't suck, but it's I found it unsatisfying as a story.  I honestly doubt I'll read the next one despite liking the characters.  

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Review: Challenger's Call 1-4

Titles:

Downfall And Rise

Brace For the Wolves 

Woad Children
 

Lighting Distant Shores
 

Author: Nathan A. Thompson

Rating: 4/5

Comments: This series is LitRPG, which I am ambivalent about, but the crunchy bits are pretty minimal, so it's not a real issue.

Overall the story is very solid with nice character growth and very interesting characters.  The inter-personal relationships are believable if sometimes a little too naive.  The author has a gift for making sweet but funny characters (Breena I'm looking at you).  He also has a penchant for confusing the reader as you don't always understand what's going on, but it holds your interest because you want to find out.

Solid series, I pushed through the first 4 books without a break.

Bedroom Activities: None

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