Cranky Reader

Tasty little treat

Reviewed: 11-13-24

Found the menu for the business driving a definitely-not-a-hotdog-mobile on social media and looked this up. It’s short, but priced as such. 3 underpaid college colleagues go on a punny road trip and 2 fulfill the moral imperative of their vehicle choice while the other is kind about it. The end made me smile hugely (reminiscent of Kaylee from Firefly).

Steam: Medium M/F. There isn’t much but it’s not a long book and the detail isn’t skimpy. Vibe is fun. Very explicitly handles consent, which is discussed before, during, and even after by way of why they made certain choices.

Narration: Perfectly pleasant in every way.

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Better than the first

Reviewed: 11-04-24

Less gratuitous death of named characters than in the first volume so I enjoyed it more. The dance party was a good time even without having the actual music. The pacing and anticipation is very well done, the story kicks along, so if you enjoyed the tone and elements of the first book, this will deliver. Which is good because it’s a mammoth 66 hours. I should probably rate it 5 stars just for sheer volume that held my interest.

But I won’t because some aspects still bother me. Mostly Torin. Erin the Innkeeper has her good points and usually means well, but has little native curiosity except in measured situational doses. Yet she continues to not realize her skeleton worker is a literal slave. She never once solicits information from him unless she’s berating him. She makes no attempt at 2 way communication despite him clearly being able to understand her. No attempt at sign language, no nothing. It’s really bad and bothers me tremendously. To be fair to her, she’s been told he’s a tool that follows orders, but to be fair to him, when he shows up in armor or with new skills, she doesn’t even consider asking him about anything he has or does, even though it’s clear he’s doing stuff she hasn’t asked him to do. Her ability to let things go is admirable when it’s not her business but Torin is her business. Yet she has no curiosity about how he’s changing or why and I find that oversight comes from a sense of entitlement worse than her barmaid’s overt condescension. Tobin is hers and instead of being a steward she runs him ragged. This makes her … not someone I particularly care to root for. Though I mostly do. I don’t know what the trope term is but she’s the little spitfire that survives danger mostly because she doesn’t know she shouldn’t. I usually find this kind of thing admirable, and I almost do here, except she has no introspection on how/why she succeeds. Her benign neglect of Rags comes and goes with some occasional concern, but she really does keep even her friends mostly at a distance and doesn’t seem to care what goes on in their lives as long as they’re pleased to see her or be at her inn. Maybe her character arc is to be less oblivious? She tries to do “the right thing” but is often oblivious to when she is doing wrong things. Not that she needs to be perfect - again I enjoy that though she’s great at chess, it doesn’t make her great at other things. And there’s a lot less chess in this volume- or at least in the last half. She lives in the moment and doesn’t reflect on much of anything.

Ryoka is the reflector. Other reviewers found it over the top but I found her much more tolerable in this volume because after reflecting, she decides to try and moderate her out-of-proportion excesses. (Had she not, I would have returned it.) She even figures out how to get the winter sprites to converse beyond bullying. There’s a dandy scene of her running into an … unexpected situation … while on a delivery. Things go from bad to worse, she tells someone not to open her alchemical potion, so of course they do, and chaos ensues. Then keeps ensuing. It was and extremely well done sequence. But then a bunch more characters died (maybe not unnecessarily), and that harshed my mellow even though it was realistic for the setting.

Worldbuilding: Slightly enhanced from the last, it’s still basically Ren Faire plus some magic & gaming elements scattered throughout. it’s enough.

Steam: small interlude contains discussions of personal adult relationships but no details, excepting one tail.

Narration: Kudos to a narrator for even attempting this, let alone voicing the characters so well. A lot less of the groaning/anguished tone of voice (to show intensity) that kind of bugs me, so no complaints at all. I hope she got paid well.

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Compelling but…

Reviewed: 10-29-24

Too many characters die.
Debating on whether to invest more time & emotion into this series when both main characters aren’t particularly good people and vast numbers of named characters die. But I do like the compelling pace and kinda bonkers scenarios that crop up. Wasn’t a fan of the big boss battle. Kinda checked out for a lot of that after the characters I was invested in perished. It got to where I was wondering if the seer character could turn back time and undo the last few hours of the book.

It starts with an innkeeper who takes 3/4 of the book to open up rooms for guests and is never seen sterilizing the water. Erin usually slams doors in creatures’ faces even while they’re speaking reasonably to her, which, ok, this world is weird and you’re new here, but please start listening to the ones who are reasonable. And she doesn’t seem to realize her (literal) skeleton staff is a slave. I find that very troubling. It makes me care less about her.

I usually don’t like chess in books because it’s an unimaginative metaphor for “this character is the smartest” but it’s actually way more interesting here, which is good because it’s a massive thru line. It’s also the case that Erin is good at chess and very little else. And she’s not very curious.

As for the runner, eh. I was with her until she just wanted to punch people, which was fine until got rabid about it. Even now, she regrets her over the top brutal actions for seemingly the first time, but doesn’t seem to regret hurting people, really. She sees that she does wrong but not why it’s wrong, not enough for me to trust that she’ll identify her triggers and make other choices in the future. It makes me care less about her. At least she seems vaguely curious about the world, although the best character for that is the goblin.

The necromancer reminds me of Clive from HWFWM.

worldbuilding: world with magic that young adults from earth are being teleported into without warning, and there’s lots of brutal fighting. There’s some thought given to what would and wouldn’t change with magic but it’s mostly “ren faire with some ghastly lethal animals”. It’s fine but not yet very interesting.

Steam: none

Narration: Pretty well done. Consistent voicing with no errors I can remember which is a feat for 33hour marathon. Sometimes gets overly gritty/angsty for my taste. Audio quality is good.

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Decent adventure, a mostly well meaning advenurer

Reviewed: 07-11-24

Jake, from the Store, magically survives a magical cataclysm/transposition of his workplace to a new earth with haunted forests & dungeons. Fighting thru the monster dungeons or dispatching living beings nets magic (the not gathering) cards or shards that can convert to/from cards. By being a mix of cautious & brash, and helping out where he can, he progresses thru adventures with & without friends.

Worldbuilding: A strength is good pacing and fun and creative magical abilities. Jake means well, mostly, and when he doesn’t mean well at least feel a bit bad about doing some bad things. It’s be better if he didn’t regret then always say “well, it had to be done”. Because no. it didn’t *have* to be done. It’s still a choice he made. He acknowledges that choice then immediately invalidates the ownership of the choice, and the paragraphs of navel gazing about how bad it was, by saying this.

The thing I can’t get over is how erratically everything is priced. It’s 5 shards for street vendor noodles, but jobs only pay 20-25 shards a day? And the nearly completely priced out of availability cards are only 300 shards? Someone could skip a food truck meal every other day for 4 months to get enough shards for a card but so few in the lower classes can get cards? And elsewhere rent is 3 cards/day or 1 card for some kitchy souvenir? There’s no sense to the relative value of things.

It’s also clear that the author hasn’t spent much time feeding someone else every day. The amount of prep, storage, and coordination in making good food isn’t something subsistence people do on the side, as an afterthought. (It is for modern people, but it takes way more work than he thinks.) Also, with months of winter coming up *you don’t need a fridge*. You build a lil shack in the snow to store food. (Visit Scandinavia, they’re all over.) Or a root cellar. Food isn’t a strong point in the story. and when the pregnant character wants to be near a healer for childbirth, it’s not only for the baby. It’s because childbirth with or without modern medicine kills a lot of moms. Every birth is potentially fatal for baby AND mom. This particular bit is a side note in the story but it’s relevant as what Jake/the author knows to be important facts about some situations -food, babies, slavery- is a bit askew.)

Granted, this isn’t a slice of life story, it’s a monster fighting story. The monsters change from chapter to chapter & sometimes they’re people. It’s still not clear if it’s morally neutral or good to slay all such monsters. But there are lots of good/bad monsters and Jake is usually good at knowing one from the other, and when the monster is him.

Another frustration I have is that Jake, especially in part 2, gets separated from his friends so instead of seeing him grow his relationships, we see him form a lot of transient acquaintanceships while he grows his personal power. He even seems to understand that relationships are where power lies - it’s only by joining together that the biggest problems get solved, but as soon as a big thing happens, Jake goes on his way. TBF, there’s usually a Good Plot Reason for this but it’s a thing I personally find frustrating in RPGlit. It doesn’t matter how strong you personally are if you don’t have good friends and allies. Jake has friends & allies but he rarely interacts with them in a team fashion. Or when he does, that team soon gets jettisoned. I would like to see him get back to his friends and see them *do things together*. His friendships with people are mostly in the abstract. He can believe himself to be a good friend while not needing to be a friend. He can sit on his thinking chair too, but I want to see how he and his friends grow to rely on each other instead of all living separable lives to develop individual strength. Aka, this tale has the emotional depth of puddle.

Even with all that, it is still well paced with clever situations that need solving so it’s fun. And I bought the 2nd book too.

Steam: None. There’s an out of the blue smackeroo, mostly powered by relief, that both characters mistake for more than it is, and an off page hookup, But see previous comment on emotional depth. On the plus side, we see several same sex partnerships presented as completely normal, which is lovely.

Narration: TB is an excellent narrator. With the exception of how he pronounces any word with “legion” in the root, it’s a great listen. Well done voicing matches the text & kicks right along.

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Really good story about imperfect people

Reviewed: 06-22-24

A story about how good people can do bad things, and sometimes do good things that turn out badly, and how to apologize, do better, and move on, or how not doing that leads to a radish war.

I like it as an adult and I think kids would like it too. A 12yo is the heroine, who starts by thinking she’ll save the family on her own but learns that cooperation works better, and the family loves each other so it works out. Good story for dealing with jealousy, inadequacy, fear of not being good enough, and how to figure out how to work together & be friends.

Plus, there’s magic. 🪄

Worldbuilding: solid. Doesn’t overreach with unnecessary flourishes. The necessary flourishes are neat. Has good constraints, and seems consistent throughout.

Steam: None. This isn’t that kind of book.

Narration: Extremely pleasant. Quality narration with voicing for varied characters. Tone matches text. Even sound quality.

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It’s only part 1, but it’s a good part 1

Reviewed: 06-12-24

This is half of a 5 star story. It’s common in fantasy series to have the first book be “assembling the team”, but the expectation was set at the start that there was a quest and that the story resolution required finishing the quest. I enjoy a good series arc but I’ve now listened to this twice and the abrupt ending just as momentum built up caught me off guard both times. There are ways to set expectations and that it wasn’t done properly is the main fault of this novel. Having previously read the rest of the story, I can recommend it, but know that this book is entirely “assemble the team” & “get them to the staging point to start the quest”, the end. You will need the sequel to get to the rest of the story.

That said, the story is engaging, the stakes are high and real, the merry band of misfits has, every one, done something horrible before joining up, but they’re compelling and even likeable and it’s easy to invest in their quest and their personal & team growth.

(Slightly spoilerish list of the bad things done by each: murder for hire, forgery sufficient for treason, murder by dint of demon possession, dismissal of half of humanity as inhuman and unworthy of consideration, and aiding the clockwork boys.
/end spoiler)

The plot kicks along and we learn about the characters’ skills and quirks. They way they treat each other evolves well over time They run into problems on the road and need several tricks to get out of or avoid tight situations. There are horrors, but not the kind that put me off. (I don’t like most horror stories. I don’t have problems with the horror elements in this story.) The weird stuff is, to me, quite clever & weird, instead of the same cookie cutter fantasy elements. Even the more classic elements like demons are handled deftly. The pacing is great too, which is why the abrupt ending is so grating.

Steam: low. Lore than zero because there’s some tension, & references to consensual activities such as adults would think about, rather than ignoring it like lots of fantasy authors do. But the most actual action is a kiss and a cuddle. But there’s something there that could progress and the POV characters think about it.

Narration: I find this narrator incredibly pleasant to listen to. Top tier work. Intonation & feeling match the text, there’s good flow and variety in character voices. The production quality is good & I don’t have to max out my speaker volume to hear the story clearly.

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5 people found this helpful

Frustrating but kind of compelling

Reviewed: 06-12-24

I kept listening thru my frustration with the main character, which speaks to the author’s craft and pacing. Normally I would give up. But I kept reminding myself that she was only 15, both traumatized and coddled, and not trained properly in intrigue. Any modern reader would think “don’t take drinks from someone who wishes you ill, and watch for poison”, but she thinks her efforts to be friendly are paying off. So honestly, her belief that she could effect change in a whole kingdom while being a pawn makes total sense.

She is kind and somewhat industrious. Her bone deep kindness makes her likeable and her efforts to learn the language improve her odds. Her willingness to shovel up animal droppings saves her.

However I was frustrated with the dogwhistles of “goodness” sprinkled throughout. Waking up early is coded as good. Callouses mean being good. Being kind to servants is good, actually, but she never fully understands the constraints placed on servants because even when she acts as one because she has enough money to walk away. She can call on the prince at need and get him to listen. She doesn’t abuse her power but she likewise rarely acknowledges that it is power. Letting someone go after serious wrongdoing sounds like being hood but
it’s not. Confusing justice with being mean happens a lot. Her friends advise her well that someone who is dangerous to her in the way that he is, is dangerous to others & should be thwarted. She does, ultimately, start to figure out the balance between malice, justice, vengeance, and the like but she’s 15.

And for all that everyone thinks she’s honest, she barely learns anything about who can and can’t be trusted with honesty and truth, which is crucial to surviving politics. I think it’s this last thar frustrated me most. She rarely spoke when she should have, and said weird things when she managed to speak at all.

Worldbuilding: Lightly magical medieval kings & princesses. The magic plays a big role in the plot but almost none on society as a whole - at least thru our heroine’s eyes, but she’s a lot blinkered in what she bothers to notice, so maybe that was about the POV being of a 15yo. It felt nascent, like the author didn’t know what to do with the background magic, only the plot magic. It’s easy here for men to get away with hurting women but structurally, there’s very little direct misogyny, which is nice, although many of the jobs are populated along standard gender assigned roles, women seem to be able to have most kinds of jobs -again egalitarian where it serves the plot, but unexamined in background characters. Again, I don’t know if the author intended that, did it out of cultural habit, or if it was deliberate because of POV. Basically a lot of status quo fantasy story elements as background except where it served the plot to change it up. The prince is getting her out of the frying pan as soon as he can, but is he pulling her to safety or to the fire?

Content warnings: serious violence pops up a few times, animals are killed, and casual violence is seen to be allowed. If choosing this book for a child, you could read ahead, and offer them a summary and let them skip over details of the really detailed brutal stuff in the last third which doesn’t last long. I wouldn’t want some of those images in my head as a tween. I wouldn’t argue that they’re superfluous, but I would argue that not all kids need to be given those ideas in specifics. That her home court allows her to be served violence with impunity, then she moves somewhere where the king is ostensibly kinder than her own court but allows the majority of violence to continue with impunity is not really examined at all in this book. I probably won’t read the sequels, but if I did, I would look for this to be examined by someone other than the heroine & king of thieves, if not addressed.

Basically its an ok tale, that’s much less misogynistic than the standard, but still full of casual gendered elements that I found grating but are probably more like a fish feeling water for most. I think the main character bordered on TSTL but was more genuinely 15 than many other such heroines, and given how much her family went out of their way to not teach her anything directly, fully understandable. But I didn’t really enjoy the story.

Steam: None. There is almost no romance. What there is proves to be a bit stalker-y. But there’s no time given to two people being engaged beyond formality. Which is good because she’s 15 and we don’t know the prince’s age, but he seems to be a full adult, which is gross.

Narration. Pleasant voice but either mistakes is pronunciation, which *might* be dialect were irritating. Maybe some people say that silent letter.

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Fun but timeline is wack

Reviewed: 05-30-24

If you want a cheerful gay romp with some (kinda off page) monster fights, this is decent fun. There’s also an unapologetic triad, so bonus points for that. All the featured characters are like-able and eager. But pledging eternal troth within days of meeting, while also being colleagues with an age gap is concerning. This story should have taken at least 6 or 8 weeks or even months to play out and it happened in that many days. I eyerolled hard every time someone said “finally” — my dude, you’ve known each other for 47 minutes; there is no history to suggest “finally” is an appropriate time descriptor for a new action you’re just getting around to. It’s fun but there’s no real tension because there’s nothing keeping any of them apart other than them just having met 48 minutes ago.

Basically a fun book but could have used a more reasonable timeline, had more together time, and more magic details, and been a stronger offering.

Worldbuilding: A bit thin. Not being over saturated with detail is fine, but even my “I don’t need battle details” could have stood to see a few more battle details, or at least some reasoning behind why it’s ok to remove the protective spells on what could be a Big Problem. My biggest gripe is the speed with which this triad came together then jumped into both work & play, in part because of the familiar bond. Like, they’re not even fully moved in, have literally 1 day of (failed) training before going out on a job when policy gives them 6 weeks to settle in? Don’t make rules then immediately discard them. Either don’t write that rule in or have a better reason for breaking it than a known mid-grade hazard. Then all the interruption? I wish there were either better reasons for delaying/interrupting or less delaying. The sex scenes were fun, they didn’t need to be cut off to make this story work. The sex didn’t drive the tension and it didn’t have to. It could have happened earlier then got more inventive with how to incorporate a third, or ramp up the 19yo’s experience rather than just “ok we’ve done it now, we can be in loooove”.

Steam: Medium-Hot, M/M/M. There’s a fair amount of descriptive action on page action thru the back half the book. Consent isn’t badly done but it’s a 19yo employer with his 30-something employees that just met 49 minutes ago so while I don’t have a problem with quick hook ups, the almost immediate “I love you forever” with this person I met 50 minutes ago is now “as important to me as my ex of 5 years that I still love” wasn’t sold as well as it maybe could have been.

Narration: Good performers. Solidly done.

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3 people found this helpful

The tournament arc

Reviewed: 05-21-24

Love the series. Even started reading ahead online. But one thing I like about it is the deemphasis on fighting and this volume has lots pf fighting for the sake of fighting. It’s interesting to see how things contrast so much with life on the farm but also I don’t enjoy it as much.

The series is still a comfort read and I like the emphasis on cleaning up and cooperation making a better path forward. Fighting is not the best use for cultivation. Living a good life that you and others can enjoy is, and I remain annoyed by the assertion that the best one can get from growth is fighting. People who have grown well and get the resources they need to thrive should fight less. The Blade Of Grass gets that, and that makes her stronger. That said, the break the rocks scene is very satisfying for reasons of justice.

As much as all fantasy novels are “but I would be a *benevolent* dictator, at least Jin tries to be benevolent and not too dictatorial. I do like how the author is pretty good at treating women mostly equally, though some women are basically male characters in female form, Women in this setting still have lots of cultural baggage impeding their progress that most can’t ignore, even when fighting — the kinda slimy announcer is concerned about the female contestants being ladylike. Again, a contrast to the farm, even tho Jin makes gendered assumptions sometimes too, he’s better than most. Anyway, the story keeps my interest but the tournament arc was never going to be my cup of tea.

Steam: Low. Some events happen for some characters off page but it’s mostly flirting.

Narration: continues to be excellent and very soothing to listen to. Really good at matching emotional tone.

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Great, cosy series.

Reviewed: 05-19-24

I love hanging out in this universe with characters that want to build and grow rather than take & dominate. Even though the magic characters can work faster or better, they all do what they can & take care of the ones who can’t, and usually accommodate differences with equanimity. The most bloodthirsty character is the queen bee.

I like how Bi De calls all houses “coops”, how the magistrate is competent so people like him rather than demanding people like him. I enjoy how one guy with ultimate cosmic power has to create a network of spies to find one guy, and the author has him *almost* get clues multiple times. I like how MeiMei & Jin respect each other, and find their dopey quirks entertaining, and do chores without squabbling. I like how each character finds peace differently. I like that Jin’s chi causes things to grow so his chi infused milk goes bad faster but Mei’s chi is cleansing & ultra pasturizes it. I like that BiDe is allowed independent growth and respects home all the more. I like that Washy is so food motivated that he helps grow more food rather than eating it all.

Steam: low, off page, but there is a playboy bunny costume and some lustful thoughts. Healthy relationship maintenance happens. The fox is a bit of a s e x pest but all the characters we invest in, including the fox, *take no for an answer* even when it gives them the sads.

Narration: incredible. The voices are well done and consistent. The emotional tone is on point. The baseline narrative is relaxing/refreshing. It’s so pleasant to listen to that when I’m in a slump with other books, I listen to this again. And again. Story & Narration really hold up.

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