Fiction Reviews
25 reviews found
Of Blood and Fire
by Ryan Cahill
Of Blood and Fire made me work for it, and I'm still not convinced I should have had to. The first three quarters move like a guy assembling IKEA furniture with no instructions and forty extra screws ...
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The Infinite State
by Richard Swan
Richard Swan's first foray outside the Empire of the Wolf reads like someone handed George Orwell a Star Wars budget and told him not to waste it on spectacle. This is 1984 filtered through Andor's pa...
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The Demon Star
by Jesse Aragon
Jesse Aragon wrote the kind of debut novel that should be illegal, the kind where you finish it and immediately go check the author bio for a typo, because surely someone doesn't just walk in off the ...
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Time of Contempt
*Time of Contempt* is the best Witcher book yet, and it's the first one that fully admits what this series actually is. This isn't five standalone novels, it's one long story getting doled out a fifth...
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Blood of Elves
*Blood of Elves* is the first time this series asks you to trust it instead of just enjoying it, and the trust mostly gets rewarded. This is the first true novel, and the pace shift is real. Where th...
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Sword of Destiny
*Sword of Destiny* is a rougher, more scattered read than *The Last Wish*, and also a more honest one. It spends less time proving Sapkowski can build a world and more time showing you who's actually ...
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The Last Wish
A short story collection translated from Polish has no business reading like a single unified novel, and *The Last Wish* pulls it off anyway. I finished the last page more attached to this world than ...
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Foundation
by Isaac Asimov
Foundation is a book you respect more than you feel. Asimov hands science fiction one of its founding ideas, then never bothers to give you a single person worth caring about while he works it out. S...
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1984 (Audible Original)
Andrew Garfield's Winston Smith is the reason I'm no longer willing to write off audiobooks as a lesser way to experience a story. I'm not much of an audiobook guy. Outside of *Dungeon Crawler Carl* ...
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Scion
Azure isn't the reason to read this book. The world he's trapped in is, and it's good enough to earn five mugs almost on its own. I went in knowing this wouldn't be another Hierarchy book. This is Is...
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The Strength of the Few (Hierarchy, #2)
The Strength of the Few is a more ambitious and more demanding sequel than its predecessor, and that ambition is both its greatest strength and its biggest hurdle. Where the first book allowed readers...
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Dungeon Crawler Carl
Dungeon Crawler Carl was a wild ride, my first audiobook that actually clicked, and that alone made the experience memorable. The narration (by Jeff Hays) really brought the characters to life, especi...
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The Red Rising Saga
by Pierce Brown
Pierce Brown's Red Rising saga is nothing short of a masterpiece, an epic tale that combines the pulse-pounding action of a sci-fi thriller with the poignant introspection of a character-driven drama....
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Reign of The Empire: The Mask of Fear
The Mask of Fear is a gripping and ambitious entry into the Star Wars canon, set in the tumultuous period between Revenge of the Sith and Andor. This first installment of the Reign of the Empire trilo...
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Gilead (Gilead, #1)
Gilead is a masterpiece of contemporary American literature. It is a work of extraordinary spiritual and emotional depth, offering a tender exploration of mortality, faith, and the beauty of ordinary ...
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The Mercy of Gods
Let me start by saying that I have never read a book by James S.A. Corey before, nor by either of the authors who write under that pen name. I know of their previous series, The Expanse, and have only...
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The Will of The Many
I stumbled across The Will of the Many around Christmas 2023, while lining up my TBR for 2024. It made the list, but when the new year started, I dove headfirst into the Red Rising saga, becoming inst...
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Light Bringer (Red Rising Saga, #6)
by Pierce Brown
Light Bringer by Pierce Brown is a powerful entry in the series, blending the emotional weight of past choices with explosive action and political intrigue. The characters are more layered than ever, ...
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Dark Age (Red Rising Saga #5)
by Pierce Brown
Dark Age by Pierce Brown delivers a dark and intense chapter in the Red Rising series. The story plunges deeper into chaos and conflict, with characters facing brutal challenges and moral dilemmas. Br...
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Golden Son (Red Rising Saga, #2)
by Pierce Brown
Absolutely loved it. Great follow-up to Red Rising which really increases the scope of the story. I was already hooked after the first, but now I'm not going to be able to stop until I consume everyth...
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Iron Gold (Red Rising Saga, #4)
by Pierce Brown
Iron Gold by Pierce Brown is a thrilling continuation of the Red Rising saga. The story expands the universe with multiple perspectives, adding depth and complexity to the characters and plot. Brown’s...
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Morning Star (Red Rising, #3)
by Pierce Brown
What a satisfying conclusion to the first Red Rising trilogy. Almost makes me not want to read the follow up series because of how great this ending was....
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Red Rising (Red Rising Saga, #1)
by Pierce Brown
Absolutely loved this story. The characters, the plot, the set up for future books. Fantastic....
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Dark Matter
by Blake Crouch
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch is a thrilling science fiction novel that explores the concept of multiple universes and the consequences of a single decision. It's a rollercoaster of a ride that will lea...
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Recursion
by Blake Crouch
One of my goals for 2023 is to read more books, specifically fiction. I usually end up reading a few theology books every year, and enough podcasts that surely they count for a few audio books. But I ...
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