What are You Reading Right now?

I've read a bunch of Stephen King over the years but haven't in a little while (4 or 5 years I think) after a couple of back to back bad experiences when I read the awful Sleeping Beauties then finally got around to the even more awful Under The Dome. I love the guy but he's written some of my favorite books but also some of the worst books I've ever read. But I decided to check this one out though. It's supposed to turn into Fantasy at some point but so far it's about a teenager who lives in Illinois who loses his mom at a young age, watches his dad turn into an alcoholic and then get sober and now the kid is currently dog sitting for an old man in the hospital. Not exactly Lord Of The Rings so far.

 

Apparently I don't have a problem with LitRPGs. Or not all of them anyways. The highlights of what I've read since the last update:

Unbound Series by Nicoli Gonnella. A guy ends up in a game-like world after saving his sister and dying on our world, but things to awry as soon as he enters. His reincarnation is hijacked, he's attacked by an eldritch monster, and he barely makes it out alive. But, being our hero, he does make it out alive, and makes it out stronger than ever. There are a lot of things going on in this book, but if you're looking for pure numbers and constant progression, this is the series to read. Our hero or those around him are almost always leveling up or gaining stats or boosts in some way, and it's almost addicting to see the numbers go up. The characters are pretty well-rounded all things considered, and there's always a sense of progression. Our OP isn't always the strongest character in the story or particular book, although more times than not he is. (And almost always ends up ahead of where he started.) But it's not too annoying, and he's not a jerk, so it's all in good fun. 8/10, and probably the second-best series I've started this year. (The first being Cradle.)



All the Skills by Honour Rae. This takes place in a fantasy world where power is gained and represented by cards. A kid growing up in one of the worst villages in the world happens to witness a murder of a noble and gets a super rare card out of it. This card helps him by giving him levels in skills that he'd traditionally need specific card for or a class that provides subtle but worthy boosts to said skills. Once the opportunity arises, our hero finds himself on a path to power and revenge. The world is pretty unique, and I like the story so far. The characters are a little on the thin side, but considering there are only two books and a few preview chapters of the third one out, I'm willing to forgive it right now. This is the series I'm most interested in continuing. 8/10.



Yumi and the NIghtmare Painter by Brandon Sanderson. Secret Project 3! This was a fun read and probably Sanderson's best romance yet. Reading this in Japan also helped out! It's not Sanderson's usual type of work, but it works for him, and it works for the book. I'm also glad to see Brandon improving his romance writing. It's been a weak spot of his for a while, though having a more romantically inclined co-author in Janci Patterson as well as practicing romance in this book is bound to pay off down the line. Of the Secret Projects, this one is my favorite so far, but it's not by as large a gap as it is for others. The art in this book is GORGEOUS. 8/10.


Legends & Lattes - A story about an adventuring Orc who gets out of the game to start a coffee shop...and maybe find love along the way. It's a nice, light read and a fun one at that. 8/10.


A Summoner Awakens. A mix between Unbound and All the Skills alongside some time travel stuff. In a world where humanity lives in a tower that no one has ever explored and there's a countdown clock, the world ends. However, our hero, due to his unique (and crippling) heart card, was able to travel back in time nearly 100 years (yes, he was old at the time of his death) will all of the knowledge and foresight to hopefully save the world. While our character is pretty OP at times, most of it comes down to experience and foresight rather than just pure power. It's a fine line, and one the book does pretty well. Our main character also thinks like an old man, much to the confusion of his peers, which makes it amusing. 7.85/10.


A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking by T Kingfisher. A book about a girl who lives in a town that accepts Wizards and their lesser counterparts. Mona is a Lesser Wizard of sorts, with her Familiar being her family's Sourdough Starter and having little ability outside of making Gingerbread Cookies dance for customers. When a dark conspiracy threatens her life and her city - and when a corpse is randomly found in her aunt's kitchen - Mona must step up to become a Wizard beyond what she thought capable. This story, despite being heralded as a "cozy fantasy" story, is actually pretty dark at times. There's death, battle, and conversations about being a hero when one shouldn't need to be one. It doesn't glorify action, nor does it glorify the whole "a child shall lead them" trope. It's bittersweet that way, even if all's well that ends well. 7.75/10.


Amelia: The Level Zero Hero - An OP Isekai (portal fantasy) story where a girl who was sent into basically the void for roughly 10 years escapes and finds herself in a video game-esque world. She also finds herself to be the most powerful person in said world, but wants nothing to do with anything. Instead, since she can't go back to earth, she'd rather sit down and retire peacefully. But the world has other plans; Amelia can't get a job unless she gains a class, and she refuses the single class the system offers because it wants her to be a hero.
This book isn't bad, but it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea for a few reasons, but if you're a fan of One Punch Man, you'll like this one. 7/10.



Now to the DNFs or Do Not Recommend books:
Defiance of the Fall - A guy is out camping with his girlfriend and her mixed group of friends when a gaming system invades earth and more or less starts an apocalypse. This one isn't bad, it's just more that I haven't finished it and I'm not in a hurry to do so.

Battle Mage Farmer - Same as above.

Second-Chance Swordsman by Jakob Tanner - This book is BAD. I finished it mostly out of sheer boredom and determination, but BOY HOWDY WAS THIS BOOK BAD. A 21-year old knight is sent back in time 5 years to prevent the apocalypse. The problem isn't the premise, as that worked with A Summoner Awakens. No, the problem is the writing and characterization. Our hero is the closest thing I've seen to a Mary Sue/Gary Stu since I tried Throne of Glass by Sara J. Maas. (Book 2 of that series. Book 1 wasn't bad.) He's a master at everything, gets all the lucky loot, everyone likes him, and he's the best ever. But beyond that, the other characters are SO. FREAKING. GIMMICKY. His best friend is a crybaby. That's it. That's his only thing...oh, and I guess he also is in love with his childhood best gal friend, who is hinted on having a crush on the MC. Said Gal Friend? Bossy and mean, but is so out of love and a need to protect the orphanage they grew up in. The bad guys are so cartoonishly evil it's not believable. (Yes, despite the fact that we see that cartoonish level of evil in our real world.) Villains can at least do themselves the decency of self-justifying their crimes most of the time. These villains are more like "I kick puppies because I'm evil and can kick them" versus "I kick puppies because they make too much noise and I'm trying to work." Both are evil, but at least one tries to justify, even if it's not working. This book is a 4/10 at most. I do not recommend it.

There were a few more samples that I read that I didn't care for. The most memorable of those involved a giant of a teenager being put into a gaming world while the world looked for a cure for his height. (He was 8'9") I stopped reading pretty soon after the narrator - in the voice of said teenager and main character - described his aunt as smoking hot. I was pretty sure they would go the whole "we're not actually related" route later in the book/series, but that's not something you bring up at the start of a book. It creeped me out.

How is the series? Wexler's an author whose work I've been meaning to catch up on. (I really dig The Shadow Campaigns!)

 

An un-official prequel to John Carpenter's The Thing (one of my top 3 favorite movies) written by the guy who runs the Outpost 31 fan site. No aliens though, it's the origin story for RJ MacReady (name changed to MacCarter for legal reasons) that starts with his time as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam and the events after he comes home that led to him eventually heading to Antartica in 1982. So far it's pretty entertaining.

 

Nearly finished the Hunger Games. They're excellent books, I can't stop reading.

 

The Electric Circus

 

I rather enjoyed the electric circus.

 

OMG, that is hilarious... how old is Stephen King? I loved his short stories on the Green Mile... ironically I became a Corrections Officer. My most favorite Stephen King book is, On Writing: A memoir of the Craft, part biography, part collection of tips for the aspiring writer. I really wish Tom Clancy, RIP, wrote a similar biography, I'm currently enraptured by Jack Ryan and John Clark characters. Also interested in the writer John Carr, I just binged The Terminal List on Amazon Prime, James Reece's tale is nothing but amazing... modern day John J. Rambo. Chris Pratt would have been a great Indiana Jones... I haven't watched Indy 5 yet, but I think he would have been a perfect replacement.

 

I loved Hunt For Red October and Cardinal Of The Kremlin, at one point I'd read all of Jack Ryan books but stopped after The Bear And The Dragon. Not because I didn't like it or anything like that but when the next one came out I was on to other things and the next one ended up being a prequel instead of a continuation which didn't really interest me at the time. There have been times I considered reading some of the ones that came out later but it's been so long since I read that series that I'd really need to go back and read the other ones again and that's a LOT of reading. Especially since some of those books are giant bricks of paper.

That Stephen King book ended up being pretty decent by the way. It was just slow in getting started, as in about 1/3 of the book. And the fantasy world wasn't the most imaginative thing ever compared to something like his Dark Tower universe but overall it was a decent read.

 

Sadly I finished the Hunger Game And have started The Adventures Of Sherlock Homes.

 

I read Solaris by Stanislaw Lem this days. Really liked.

 

I'm half-way through The Black Arrow by Robert Louis Stevenson, and its just as good as Treasure Island.

 

I had been listening to audiobooks of Agatha Cristie's Poirot mysteries. But I got the point in the series where Cristie got tired of Poirot and started reducing his presence in his own mysteries. It's kind of crummy when the character you read the books for gets reduced to a cameo in the story.

I'm about to start Clive Cussler's Fire Strike audiobook. Love The Oregon Files series.

 

I stopped at Dead Man's Folly. But I remember that at least one or two before that also had Poirot in them sparsely. One of them, he appeared right in the beginning, but then disappeared for many chapters, then appeared again at the end. Another, he just wasn't in the book until halfway through. It was a while ago so I don't remember which was which. One of them, I think a local cop ended up doing most of the questioning, then Poirot would come in and make the big announcement, revealing the killer. But I know Dead Man's Folly was definitely where it became very noticeable.

 

I never got that far into the Poirot books, I haven't read them in order since mostly they're stand alone stories but I followed a guide I found on the web which told you which books you shouldn't read without reading another one first because of continuity/references/etc. I might avoid some of the later ones now because I wasn't a fan of Doyle doing something similar with the Holmes novels. The short stories always had Holmes front and center but the novels he would be missing for large portions. In a couple of them he just bookends the story and the bulk of the novel is an explanation/confession by another character giving all the backstory leading up to the case. I loved The Hound Of The Baskervilles but it's almost a Watson novel instead of a Holmes one.

 

Somewhat entertaining so far but has some weird timeline retconning. It takes place in 2004 when the book was published but it's also 2 years after Ghostbusters II which should place it in 1991.

 

Started the 14th book of the series, after this only five more and the unfinished final book to go. Honestly I wasn't sure I'd read them all or even get this far in the series when I started but I've been enjoying them so much I'll definitely finish.

 

I've read crossovers of Sherlock Holmes with War Of The Worlds, Dracula and even Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos but I never thought I'd see a crossover with Hellraiser. Can't wait to see Holmes meet Pinhead.