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357 reviews
Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike
adventurous
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
You know, I realize something about Litrpg - some offerings are almost discworldian and I think (GNU) Terry Pratchett was way ahead of his time. This book is hilarious, a bloody mess, violent, and utter ludicrous fun.
The dialogue in this book is so witty and underhanded in it's genius. And maybe this is the polyglot in me speaking but I do like a book with a good try at a made up language, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy as a reader, like heck yeah yo go create a whole vowel, diphthongs, lexicons grammar and syntax system - I'll be psyched to try and pronounce it. So, can we get that Goblin tongue on Duolingo or Babel or Fluentu?
Plot and Themes:
To any Freshmen or High School final years studying Economics, this book takes all that theory and turns it into this all-out-practical in a fully developed fantasy world. I'd use this for my students without hesitation. Watch me lesson prep Consumer Behavior and Competitive Markets to this.
There's also a grieving Goddess who's had a mental breakdown. An insane prophecy that followers of the religion clearly misunderstand, a ragtag group of heroes and sundry - quests arise and fall and ensnare professional "fallen" heroes and other unsavories. Ah yes, one cannot quest without a bard.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Gleebek is fugly adorable, poor little runt. Ew.
Gorm experienced the full might of "no good deed goes unpunished" in real time. He's also clanless and suffering from Quest PTSD after the Spider King debacle
Favorite/Curious/Unique Scene:
⚜️Gorm haggling with the Naga barkeep Angusss the-middle-s-is-silent
⚜️“Ah,” said Gorm. “And we have a choice?”
“Oh, there’s always a choice. Choice is a constant.” Flinn grinned, a cold glint in his eye. “It’s consequences that vary.”
⚜️Broke Chymera with nothing of Value in its Hoard. The travesty.
⚜️Meeting Niln The Seventh Hero
⚜️A gathering of ... heroes? For the Mad Goddess.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “This was where you dropped a body that would never be found. This was where you sent a man you didn’t want to hear from again. This was where you holed up when you needed to be unseen for a while. Or, this was where you came to find someone who had done all of those things.” (Gorm on Underdim in Andarun)
🖤 “Ye’ve got no monster, no loot, no quest, no investors, nothing. This isn’t professional heroics. It ain’t even amateur heroics. You’ve just got some fanciful dreams of glory and the writings of a barmy goddess.”” (It's basic orconomics)
🖤 “He was sick of drinking, and sick of being sober, and regretting that those were essentially the only two options he, and everyone else, ever had.” (Gorm has had enough of this BS called life)
Favorite/Curious/Unique Concepts:
■Goldson Baggs Group, Inc, Adventure Capital, Plunder Funds
■ Beef rolls inflation, Search Sprites aka 1Dimensional robot tracker Hoard Adjusters, Hoard Appraisers
■ Dwarven Courting/Reproduction,
■Al’Matra, Al’Thadan, Sten, Mannon and Tandos.
■ Doppelgangers, Tinderkin, Shadowkin, Scribkin, Solamancy, Noctomancy
■Andarun Stock Exchange, Noncombatant papers, FOEs, Official Guide to Professional Heroics,
■Interspecies pairings resulting in Human offspring is MINDBLOWING
GR Rating: 4⭐
CAWPILE: 8
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 LITRPG (Fantasy) Books by 2025
The dialogue in this book is so witty and underhanded in it's genius. And maybe this is the polyglot in me speaking but I do like a book with a good try at a made up language, makes me feel all warm and fuzzy as a reader, like heck yeah yo go create a whole vowel, diphthongs, lexicons grammar and syntax system - I'll be psyched to try and pronounce it. So, can we get that Goblin tongue on Duolingo or Babel or Fluentu?
Plot and Themes:
To any Freshmen or High School final years studying Economics, this book takes all that theory and turns it into this all-out-practical in a fully developed fantasy world. I'd use this for my students without hesitation. Watch me lesson prep Consumer Behavior and Competitive Markets to this.
There's also a grieving Goddess who's had a mental breakdown. An insane prophecy that followers of the religion clearly misunderstand, a ragtag group of heroes and sundry - quests arise and fall and ensnare professional "fallen" heroes and other unsavories. Ah yes, one cannot quest without a bard.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Gleebek is fugly adorable, poor little runt. Ew.
Gorm experienced the full might of "no good deed goes unpunished" in real time. He's also clanless and suffering from Quest PTSD after the Spider King debacle
Favorite/Curious/Unique Scene:
⚜️Gorm haggling with the Naga barkeep Angusss the-middle-s-is-silent
⚜️“Ah,” said Gorm. “And we have a choice?”
“Oh, there’s always a choice. Choice is a constant.” Flinn grinned, a cold glint in his eye. “It’s consequences that vary.”
⚜️Broke Chymera with nothing of Value in its Hoard. The travesty.
⚜️Meeting Niln The Seventh Hero
⚜️A gathering of ... heroes? For the Mad Goddess.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “This was where you dropped a body that would never be found. This was where you sent a man you didn’t want to hear from again. This was where you holed up when you needed to be unseen for a while. Or, this was where you came to find someone who had done all of those things.” (Gorm on Underdim in Andarun)
🖤 “Ye’ve got no monster, no loot, no quest, no investors, nothing. This isn’t professional heroics. It ain’t even amateur heroics. You’ve just got some fanciful dreams of glory and the writings of a barmy goddess.”” (It's basic orconomics)
🖤 “He was sick of drinking, and sick of being sober, and regretting that those were essentially the only two options he, and everyone else, ever had.” (Gorm has had enough of this BS called life)
Favorite/Curious/Unique Concepts:
■Goldson Baggs Group, Inc, Adventure Capital, Plunder Funds
■ Beef rolls inflation, Search Sprites aka 1Dimensional robot tracker Hoard Adjusters, Hoard Appraisers
■ Dwarven Courting/Reproduction,
■Al’Matra, Al’Thadan, Sten, Mannon and Tandos.
■ Doppelgangers, Tinderkin, Shadowkin, Scribkin, Solamancy, Noctomancy
■Andarun Stock Exchange, Noncombatant papers, FOEs, Official Guide to Professional Heroics,
■Interspecies pairings resulting in Human offspring is MINDBLOWING
GR Rating: 4⭐
CAWPILE: 8
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 LITRPG (Fantasy) Books by 2025
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I started this book with high expectations, was pleasantly surprised by about page 99 and then life dragged me by the hair kicking and screaming and demanded I engage with the world and do the thing called work and groceries and unexpected errands and blah blah and before I knew it, 2 weeks had passed and I was in a dreadful bookslump 😰.
But something Arthur Parnassus said to the kids and those smartypants kids said it to Linus and it's been on my mind for the 2 weeks I haven't read:
"Make time to do things you love, so you can be happy" . I knew this book was good. Picked it up again and finished it in 2 sittings, almost cried some chapters - definitely got the sniffles and I feel grounded and ready to get lost in a few thousand pages.
So, what's the deal with the DICOMY sending Linus Baker to Marsyas Island? I think they had a specific expectation because of his sad life and great reports. Yeah suck it losers, Mr Baker is a whole box of surprises.
Linus is in his 40s and set in his ways - but really it's not that he's set in his ways it's. More that he boxed himself in, got comfortable and decided that if no one paid him any mind, then blending in is all that he was capable off. I love how Marsyas Island brings out the real Linus and how Linus in turn brings something different to Marsyas Island and the Orphanage. It was utterly heartwarming
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Now, I will hear no arguments about this and field no questions: Chauncey us the greatest Bellhop the world has never seen. Theodore is the fiercest cutest mini-dragon ever, Sal is the sweetest, Lucy is an Angel, Phee is a little cutie and Talia is the best round person ever.
Thank you for coming to this TedTalk - snacks are available your individual kitchens. Ta.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Scene: I mean where do I even begin?
⚜️Express Yourself Class: Sal's poem
⚜️Miss Chapelwhite, Linus and The Raft
⚜️Linus and Lucy touring Lucy's room
⚜️Philosophy lessons with Lucy and Parnassus.
⚜️Aaawwww Arthur, Linus and the kids in Safari gear on a treasure hunt. Stop the cuteness overload now.
“Phee gave him a thumbs-up.
Lucy said, “You’re not dead?” He sounded strangely disappointed.
“Leaders give positive reinforcement,” Talia told him.
“Oh. Good job not dying?”
“That was better,” Talia said,”
Favorite/Curious/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “The things we fear the most are often the things we should fear the least. It’s irrational, but it’s what makes us human. And if we’re able to conquer those fears, then there is nothing we’re not capable of.” (Mr Parnassus to Sal ... to me basically)
🖤 “Death is wonderful to music. It makes the singers sound like ghosts.” (I love Lucy)
🖤 “You’re very dear, Linus Baker. There’s a surface to you that’s hard but cracked. Dig a little deeper, and there is all this life teeming wildly.
It’s a conundrum.” (Zoe Chapelwhite)
Favorite/Curious/Unique Concepts:
■ Populus tremuloides
■Whatever TF Chauncey is
■ Theodore's buttons
■Linus The Bush Daisy
GR Rating: 4⭐
CAWPILE: 8.5
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Fantasy Books by 2025
But something Arthur Parnassus said to the kids and those smartypants kids said it to Linus and it's been on my mind for the 2 weeks I haven't read:
"Make time to do things you love, so you can be happy" . I knew this book was good. Picked it up again and finished it in 2 sittings, almost cried some chapters - definitely got the sniffles and I feel grounded and ready to get lost in a few thousand pages.
So, what's the deal with the DICOMY sending Linus Baker to Marsyas Island? I think they had a specific expectation because of his sad life and great reports. Yeah suck it losers, Mr Baker is a whole box of surprises.
Linus is in his 40s and set in his ways - but really it's not that he's set in his ways it's. More that he boxed himself in, got comfortable and decided that if no one paid him any mind, then blending in is all that he was capable off. I love how Marsyas Island brings out the real Linus and how Linus in turn brings something different to Marsyas Island and the Orphanage. It was utterly heartwarming
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Now, I will hear no arguments about this and field no questions: Chauncey us the greatest Bellhop the world has never seen. Theodore is the fiercest cutest mini-dragon ever, Sal is the sweetest, Lucy is an Angel, Phee is a little cutie and Talia is the best round person ever.
Thank you for coming to this TedTalk - snacks are available your individual kitchens. Ta.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Scene: I mean where do I even begin?
⚜️Express Yourself Class: Sal's poem
⚜️Miss Chapelwhite, Linus and The Raft
⚜️Linus and Lucy touring Lucy's room
⚜️Philosophy lessons with Lucy and Parnassus.
⚜️Aaawwww Arthur, Linus and the kids in Safari gear on a treasure hunt. Stop the cuteness overload now.
“Phee gave him a thumbs-up.
Lucy said, “You’re not dead?” He sounded strangely disappointed.
“Leaders give positive reinforcement,” Talia told him.
“Oh. Good job not dying?”
“That was better,” Talia said,”
Favorite/Curious/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “The things we fear the most are often the things we should fear the least. It’s irrational, but it’s what makes us human. And if we’re able to conquer those fears, then there is nothing we’re not capable of.” (Mr Parnassus to Sal ... to me basically)
🖤 “Death is wonderful to music. It makes the singers sound like ghosts.” (I love Lucy)
🖤 “You’re very dear, Linus Baker. There’s a surface to you that’s hard but cracked. Dig a little deeper, and there is all this life teeming wildly.
It’s a conundrum.” (Zoe Chapelwhite)
Favorite/Curious/Unique Concepts:
■ Populus tremuloides
■Whatever TF Chauncey is
■ Theodore's buttons
■Linus The Bush Daisy
GR Rating: 4⭐
CAWPILE: 8.5
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Fantasy Books by 2025
The Undying King by Grace Draven
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This one had one of the hottest scenes in all the Grace Draven worlds and one of the most sensual. So yeah, changed me mind - I LOVED it.
A dying hedgewitch mother and a long kept secret. Oh and a girl who can kill with her touch: think Rogue from X-men or Rappaccini's daughter but let's add way more high fantasy some gorgeous scenery, hidden kingdoms and hidden heirs and some kisses and sighs and you have the makings of a good few hours smiling.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Cededa the Fair/Butcher: I'm a simple gal, a king offers to hunt food for you and break a curse and I'm down to pou - I mean clown.
Imogen: Not my favorite of the Grace Draven FMCs but she'll do in a pinch.
Draydus: Give me a book about this sadistic badass mage please.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Scene:
⚜️Filagree collar turned tattoo-map. The path to Tineroth beginning at Imogen's feet.
⚜️Touching Cededa's chest after his training session - this was unbelievably erotic without getting naked or doing the deed.
⚜️Cededa gives Imogen a most intense, nail-biting sweaty lesson and it was EVERYTHING
Favorite/Curious/Unique Quotes:
🖤 ““You don’t run from that which you don’t know. Such cowardice elicits bad judgment. Gain your knowledge first. Then decide to stand or flee.” (Niamh's wise words)
🖤 “I’m no longer in the habit of cutting a throat until I’ve had an answer, so you’re safe to speak” (Why is that soo hot Cededa. Staaaph. What is this allure?)
🖤 “Death’s handmaiden was a girl of banal looks— pretty but not extraordinarily so.” (hey don't be rude you hot arsehole)
Favorite/Curious/Unique Concepts:
■ Niamh's Journal. Bedplay and Primus mages, Living Waters
■Tineroth pendant: Blessed Sight
■ Yinde The Bridge To Teneroth: Defaced Statue
■Otherworld: Castagher, Berberi, Tineroth
■Cededa's Magic mist
GR Rating: 3.5 not rounded up⭐
CAWPILE: 6
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Romance Books by 2025
A dying hedgewitch mother and a long kept secret. Oh and a girl who can kill with her touch: think Rogue from X-men or Rappaccini's daughter but let's add way more high fantasy some gorgeous scenery, hidden kingdoms and hidden heirs and some kisses and sighs and you have the makings of a good few hours smiling.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Cededa the Fair/Butcher: I'm a simple gal, a king offers to hunt food for you and break a curse and I'm down to pou - I mean clown.
Imogen: Not my favorite of the Grace Draven FMCs but she'll do in a pinch.
Draydus: Give me a book about this sadistic badass mage please.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Scene:
⚜️Filagree collar turned tattoo-map. The path to Tineroth beginning at Imogen's feet.
⚜️Touching Cededa's chest after his training session - this was unbelievably erotic without getting naked or doing the deed.
⚜️Cededa gives Imogen a most intense, nail-biting sweaty lesson and it was EVERYTHING
Favorite/Curious/Unique Quotes:
🖤 ““You don’t run from that which you don’t know. Such cowardice elicits bad judgment. Gain your knowledge first. Then decide to stand or flee.” (Niamh's wise words)
🖤 “I’m no longer in the habit of cutting a throat until I’ve had an answer, so you’re safe to speak” (Why is that soo hot Cededa. Staaaph. What is this allure?)
🖤 “Death’s handmaiden was a girl of banal looks— pretty but not extraordinarily so.” (hey don't be rude you hot arsehole)
Favorite/Curious/Unique Concepts:
■ Niamh's Journal. Bedplay and Primus mages, Living Waters
■Tineroth pendant: Blessed Sight
■ Yinde The Bridge To Teneroth: Defaced Statue
■Otherworld: Castagher, Berberi, Tineroth
■Cededa's Magic mist
GR Rating: 3.5 not rounded up⭐
CAWPILE: 6
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Romance Books by 2025
Illusions of Grandeur by Kathryn Ann Kingsley
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Where is Julian Strande?
Is he in this nook?
What about that cranny over there? Tiny window leading somewhere?
Or perhaps that trapdoor over there?
Is he in the tower?
Or did the house eat him?
198 rooms - he's gotta be somewhere right?
So, where is Julian Strande?
...
"Maybe if you find him…he might be able to finally rest. Or maybe you’ll anger his ghost for defiling his tomb, and he’ll take you to join him.” - Charles
So far I have read two books where Kingsley's obvious love for Alice in Wonderland is used as a blueprint; I loved it the first time - and I love it now. Alice quite literally stumbles on wonderland hiding behind the great big and little doors of the Strande Estate.
With a cat named Loki by her side (how fitting because trickery is afoot), Alice dives headfirst into a dizzying hot adventure with a ghost and a hot alive person.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Oh damn, Charles Monroe is one sweet cuddlebug sexy MF, with a dirty sense of humor, gorgeous, likes pets oh ... and what else, what else, goes to therapy or at least he knows, his faults and I'm missing something - ah yes, alive with a pulse. Excuse me while I licketh mine fingertips at the scrumptiousness.👏 And... he has a secret. He is a secret. A man of mystery.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Scene:
⚜️Charles on Stage practicing his Mirror Trick - making ovaries explode with his adorablenes.
⚜️A ghostly duet with Julian: Alice in the ballroom tinkering with the piano keys. Beethoven
⚜️Charles: "Alice come here." 🔥 that whole scene and Julian watching. Water! I said can I get some water here.
⚜️Onstage in front of a live audience. Swords in torsos, Charles/Julian charisma - what's not to love🤷🏽♀️
⚜️Julian's Taco Night punishment for Alice😈 "Get in the box Alice"
⚜️OMG omg omg Charles and his static effect on the laptop and hatred of technology! Julian WTF man what a twist.
⚜️Billy😥
Favorite/Curious/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “There’s someone naughty in that cage you’ve locked her in.
Someone you’ve hidden away. [...]
I’m gonna pick the lock and let her out to play.” (Blimey can I get a glass of water?)
🖤 “Alice. I need you. And I need you to say yes. Trust me. Jump, and I’ll catch you.” (Oh damn Alice! Do it do it do it)
Favorite/Curious/Unique Concepts:
■ The Twist! That's Prestige Levels😲
■Strande Estate: Circular Void
■Loki The Maine Coon &Inky The Octapus
■Julian's Workshop & and Piano
■Julian's Journal
■Julian's gifts😍 especially the rose
GR Rating: 4⭐
CAWPILE: 8
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Romance (Paranormal CR) by 2025
Is he in this nook?
What about that cranny over there? Tiny window leading somewhere?
Or perhaps that trapdoor over there?
Is he in the tower?
Or did the house eat him?
198 rooms - he's gotta be somewhere right?
So, where is Julian Strande?
...
"Maybe if you find him…he might be able to finally rest. Or maybe you’ll anger his ghost for defiling his tomb, and he’ll take you to join him.” - Charles
So far I have read two books where Kingsley's obvious love for Alice in Wonderland is used as a blueprint; I loved it the first time - and I love it now. Alice quite literally stumbles on wonderland hiding behind the great big and little doors of the Strande Estate.
With a cat named Loki by her side (how fitting because trickery is afoot), Alice dives headfirst into a dizzying hot adventure with a ghost and a hot alive person.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Oh damn, Charles Monroe is one sweet cuddlebug sexy MF, with a dirty sense of humor, gorgeous, likes pets oh ... and what else, what else, goes to therapy or at least he knows, his faults and I'm missing something - ah yes, alive with a pulse. Excuse me while I licketh mine fingertips at the scrumptiousness.👏 And... he has a secret. He is a secret. A man of mystery.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Scene:
⚜️Charles on Stage practicing his Mirror Trick - making ovaries explode with his adorablenes.
⚜️A ghostly duet with Julian: Alice in the ballroom tinkering with the piano keys. Beethoven
⚜️Charles: "Alice come here." 🔥 that whole scene and Julian watching. Water! I said can I get some water here.
⚜️Onstage in front of a live audience. Swords in torsos, Charles/Julian charisma - what's not to love🤷🏽♀️
⚜️Julian's Taco Night punishment for Alice😈 "Get in the box Alice"
⚜️OMG omg omg Charles and his static effect on the laptop and hatred of technology! Julian WTF man what a twist.
⚜️Billy😥
Favorite/Curious/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “There’s someone naughty in that cage you’ve locked her in.
Someone you’ve hidden away. [...]
I’m gonna pick the lock and let her out to play.” (Blimey can I get a glass of water?)
🖤 “Alice. I need you. And I need you to say yes. Trust me. Jump, and I’ll catch you.” (Oh damn Alice! Do it do it do it)
Favorite/Curious/Unique Concepts:
■ The Twist! That's Prestige Levels😲
■Strande Estate: Circular Void
■Loki The Maine Coon &Inky The Octapus
■Julian's Workshop & and Piano
■Julian's Journal
■Julian's gifts😍 especially the rose
GR Rating: 4⭐
CAWPILE: 8
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Romance (Paranormal CR) by 2025
Eric by Terry Pratchett
funny
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
No painful belly laughs with this one. No longwinded chuckles or even a giggle- but I did snort a bit as laughter began but didn't reach its full potential. The book did bring out all the smiles of seeing a long-lost friend.
I'm pretty sure Rincewind was meant to be a tour guide not a wizard - albeit a reluctant tour guide. He always finds himself in situations where he's leading people through strange and new lands. Sure he's usually running for his life on these "tours" but he's a good enough guide to get people back home in one piece, kinda ...of sorts.
The Luggage😂. I am once again asking for and emoji of a case with a hundred tiny feet. We deserve this kindness.
What Do We Want? Discworld emojis for Discworldians.
When do we want it? Before Great A'Tuin reaches his destination
Plot and Themes:
Eric is on an odyssey and he'll be damned if he doesn't get his three wishes stat. Or he'll tell his mom who has a set if lungs on her. Rincewind as per his destiny as "the favored one" is dragged across the disc by meddling external forces who think his life is a piece of putty to be squashed about and flung at the rim.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Death as a beekeeper is not something I had on my bingo-card but you know what it's got a nice symmetry to it : Death keeps the world turning by reaping souls and ensuring everyone meets their demise in a timely fashion. Death is a caretaker for the one insect that has power over the entire planet and its livelihood. So yeah, Death as a beekeeper works.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Scene:
⚜️Into the belly of the Tezuman Empire
⚜️You can always count on The Luggage even in the face of a god (Lowercase g and actually more demon):
⚜️The Tsortean-Ephebian war was hilarious. Actually, I could go for a kebab tight now.
⚜️The Bill, Nowhere, the beginning of the universe... and is that The Creator 😯 oh yeah: Death has a conversation with Astfgl at the end of time.
⚜️"My name is Urglefloggah, Spawn of the Pit and Loathly Guardian of the Dread Portal: How May I Help You?” ... Basically welcome to Hell.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “The problem with being evil, he’d been forced to admit, was that demons were not great innovatory thinkers and really needed the spice of human ingenuity.” (Astfgl, King of Demons)
🖤 “Pre-eminent amongst Rincewind’s talents was his skill in running away, which over the years he had elevated to the status of a genuinely pure science; it didn’t matter if you were fleeing from or to, so long as you were fleeing” (😂 never change dude)
🖤 “Luggage had been pretty annoyed to start with although with the Luggage there wasn’t any reliable way of telling because it spent all its time beyond, in a manner of speaking, the hostility event horizon.” (Luggage to the rescue)
Favorite/Curious/Unique Concepts:
■ Rite of AshkEnte, Fountain of Youth(🤷🏽♀️)
■Quezovercoatl,The Feathered Boa
■Dunmanifestin, Pandemonium, Pseudopolis
■ Wossname Parrot
■The Ephebians Horse: Tsortean Wars!
■Heliodeliphilodelphiboschromenos
GR Rating: 3⭐
CAWPILE: 6.5
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Fantasy Books by 2025
I'm pretty sure Rincewind was meant to be a tour guide not a wizard - albeit a reluctant tour guide. He always finds himself in situations where he's leading people through strange and new lands. Sure he's usually running for his life on these "tours" but he's a good enough guide to get people back home in one piece, kinda ...of sorts.
The Luggage😂. I am once again asking for and emoji of a case with a hundred tiny feet. We deserve this kindness.
What Do We Want? Discworld emojis for Discworldians.
When do we want it? Before Great A'Tuin reaches his destination
Plot and Themes:
Eric is on an odyssey and he'll be damned if he doesn't get his three wishes stat. Or he'll tell his mom who has a set if lungs on her. Rincewind as per his destiny as "the favored one" is dragged across the disc by meddling external forces who think his life is a piece of putty to be squashed about and flung at the rim.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
Death as a beekeeper is not something I had on my bingo-card but you know what it's got a nice symmetry to it : Death keeps the world turning by reaping souls and ensuring everyone meets their demise in a timely fashion. Death is a caretaker for the one insect that has power over the entire planet and its livelihood. So yeah, Death as a beekeeper works.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Scene:
⚜️Into the belly of the Tezuman Empire
⚜️You can always count on The Luggage even in the face of a god (Lowercase g and actually more demon):
⚜️The Tsortean-Ephebian war was hilarious. Actually, I could go for a kebab tight now.
⚜️The Bill, Nowhere, the beginning of the universe... and is that The Creator 😯 oh yeah: Death has a conversation with Astfgl at the end of time.
⚜️"My name is Urglefloggah, Spawn of the Pit and Loathly Guardian of the Dread Portal: How May I Help You?” ... Basically welcome to Hell.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “The problem with being evil, he’d been forced to admit, was that demons were not great innovatory thinkers and really needed the spice of human ingenuity.” (Astfgl, King of Demons)
🖤 “Pre-eminent amongst Rincewind’s talents was his skill in running away, which over the years he had elevated to the status of a genuinely pure science; it didn’t matter if you were fleeing from or to, so long as you were fleeing” (😂 never change dude)
🖤 “Luggage had been pretty annoyed to start with although with the Luggage there wasn’t any reliable way of telling because it spent all its time beyond, in a manner of speaking, the hostility event horizon.” (Luggage to the rescue)
Favorite/Curious/Unique Concepts:
■ Rite of AshkEnte, Fountain of Youth(🤷🏽♀️)
■Quezovercoatl,The Feathered Boa
■Dunmanifestin, Pandemonium, Pseudopolis
■ Wossname Parrot
■The Ephebians Horse: Tsortean Wars!
■Heliodeliphilodelphiboschromenos
GR Rating: 3⭐
CAWPILE: 6.5
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Fantasy Books by 2025
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
To light a candle - you must cast a shadow. - Master Hand
As I read I wished I could experience each chapter over again for the first time as I was reading it for the first time - how wild is that? To be hit with Nostalgia before the book is even a day old memory in my mind is a new experience. Better late than never. My foray into the world of Earthsea and Ursula Le Guin is bringing a tear to my eye. Not because it's sad or tragic - it is in a very subtle way. But because it is just that good
What's in a name? So much. Too much. Faefolk will not part with it nor share it lightly and here in the world of the Earthsea, a rite of passage is to be given your true name into adulthood.
Themes in this coming of age tale include pride , arrogance, envy, rage, hate, vengeance and perceptions: of weakness and strength. Desire for praise, Desire for acknowledgement and overall desire for acclaim - Ged's frame of reference is challenged and altered. Self-awareness becomes a power in its own right in this book.
And finally, Balance must be sown in every aspect of wizardry and magery.
Characters:A Scene or Summary
How to train your mage: lots of walking and sailing and not much talking. It's easy to forget that his journey begins when he is 15, not because he acts older or is too powerful to be defined by age but because being a teenager is inconsequential he has his name, his true name and he has wizardry and that is enough to allow him navigation into the world.
Ged is destined for something awesome or terrible, maybe both.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Scene:
⚜️Duny becomes a war-wizard, Sparrowhawk- out of need and a 100 Karg hoarders encased in spooky mist and receives his true name.
⚜️Oops boasting his way into accidental necromancy. Now choose between Re Albi and Roke😥
⚜️Ged finds a true friendship in Vetch
⚜️Master Hand and the tolk speech does little to dissaude his pride but Master Name's speech seems to impact Ged.
⚜️The otak-hoeg chooses Ged as a place of warmth, safety and rest.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “You want to work spells.You’ve drawn too much water from that well. Wait. Manhood is patience. Mastery is nine times patience.” (Oigon - every bit the sensei)
🖤 Sparrowhawk: “Do clothes make
Jasper: “No, though I have heard that manners make the man ...” (I have a feeling about Jasper)
🖤 “They say, Sparrowhawk, that a man favored by a wild beast is a man to whom the Old Powers of stone and spring will speak in human voice.”” (Vetch on Ged's favor and power)
Favorite/Curious/Unique Concepts:
■ Isle of the Wise. Masters of Roke, Nine.
■Six Hundred Runes of Hardic, Old Speech
■ Weatherworkers, witchwives, Seamasters
🎵The Creation of Éa / Deed of the Young King
■Festival of Sunreturn
GR Rating: 4⭐
CAWPILE: 8.5
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Fantasy Books by 2025
As I read I wished I could experience each chapter over again for the first time as I was reading it for the first time - how wild is that? To be hit with Nostalgia before the book is even a day old memory in my mind is a new experience. Better late than never. My foray into the world of Earthsea and Ursula Le Guin is bringing a tear to my eye. Not because it's sad or tragic - it is in a very subtle way. But because it is just that good
What's in a name? So much. Too much. Faefolk will not part with it nor share it lightly and here in the world of the Earthsea, a rite of passage is to be given your true name into adulthood.
Themes in this coming of age tale include pride , arrogance, envy, rage, hate, vengeance and perceptions: of weakness and strength. Desire for praise, Desire for acknowledgement and overall desire for acclaim - Ged's frame of reference is challenged and altered. Self-awareness becomes a power in its own right in this book.
And finally, Balance must be sown in every aspect of wizardry and magery.
Characters:A Scene or Summary
How to train your mage: lots of walking and sailing and not much talking. It's easy to forget that his journey begins when he is 15, not because he acts older or is too powerful to be defined by age but because being a teenager is inconsequential he has his name, his true name and he has wizardry and that is enough to allow him navigation into the world.
Ged is destined for something awesome or terrible, maybe both.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Scene:
⚜️Duny becomes a war-wizard, Sparrowhawk- out of need and a 100 Karg hoarders encased in spooky mist and receives his true name.
⚜️Oops boasting his way into accidental necromancy. Now choose between Re Albi and Roke😥
⚜️Ged finds a true friendship in Vetch
⚜️Master Hand and the tolk speech does little to dissaude his pride but Master Name's speech seems to impact Ged.
⚜️The otak-hoeg chooses Ged as a place of warmth, safety and rest.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “You want to work spells.You’ve drawn too much water from that well. Wait. Manhood is patience. Mastery is nine times patience.” (Oigon - every bit the sensei)
🖤 Sparrowhawk: “Do clothes make
Jasper: “No, though I have heard that manners make the man ...” (I have a feeling about Jasper)
🖤 “They say, Sparrowhawk, that a man favored by a wild beast is a man to whom the Old Powers of stone and spring will speak in human voice.”” (Vetch on Ged's favor and power)
Favorite/Curious/Unique Concepts:
■ Isle of the Wise. Masters of Roke, Nine.
■Six Hundred Runes of Hardic, Old Speech
■ Weatherworkers, witchwives, Seamasters
🎵The Creation of Éa / Deed of the Young King
■Festival of Sunreturn
GR Rating: 4⭐
CAWPILE: 8.5
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Fantasy Books by 2025
Una Herencia Peligrosa / A Dangerous Legacy by Juan Gómez-Jurado
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
The Lightning Tree by Patrick Rothfuss
mysterious
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
In another timeline and dimension - I can see Bast in a 3 piece suit, driving a classic Ole American in Los Angeles, owning a club and asking: What is it you desire? - man the opening scene made me wish I was a kid with a petty grievance in need of a plan only Bast can craft.
Cozy yet with this undercurrent of wild magic. I love the themes of knowledge-seeking, sharing, truth, half-truths, omissions and colorful renditions. The depiction of The Bluff and The Lightning Tree where kids go to ask of Bast feels like a solid ancient thing. I wish I lived in the pages of this novella.
Characters:A Scene or Summary
The keeper and retriever of secrets.
I am totally and completely inlove with Bast. Martin whyyyy would you throw rocks and my dude like that? There, that's better. Now thats out the way, Bast is a curious creature. He is all knowing and shares his knowing. He has a code and rules and he is one who contemplates.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Scene:
😉No idea why, but Bast washing his shirt at the river was really captivating (besides the birthday suit swim).
😍Bast chopping firewood at the William's farm for 6 carrots ...and ... ahem, well yes.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “Oh come now, a little sweetness is all any of us have sometimes. It’s always worth it. Even if it takes some work.” (Bast could convince me to do anything)
🖤 “You pay with gifts and favors. You pay in secrets …” (The master of quid pro quo)
🖤 “It was baffling. These creatures. They were fraught and frayed in their desire. A snake would never poison itself, but these folk made an art of it. They wrapped themselves in fears and wept at being blind.” (Bast on the Human Condition)
Favorite/Curious/Unique Concepts:
■Waystone Inn, Celum Tinture
■ Fae: Felurian, Kvothe’s shadow cloak, glammourie, grammerie
■The three rules of Basts' Blacktree/Lightning Tree
■ Bast's Antler knife
GR Rating: 4⭐
CAWPILE: 8.5
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Fantasy Books by 2025
Cozy yet with this undercurrent of wild magic. I love the themes of knowledge-seeking, sharing, truth, half-truths, omissions and colorful renditions. The depiction of The Bluff and The Lightning Tree where kids go to ask of Bast feels like a solid ancient thing. I wish I lived in the pages of this novella.
Characters:A Scene or Summary
The keeper and retriever of secrets.
I am totally and completely inlove with Bast. Martin whyyyy would you throw rocks and my dude like that? There, that's better. Now thats out the way, Bast is a curious creature. He is all knowing and shares his knowing. He has a code and rules and he is one who contemplates.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Scene:
😉No idea why, but Bast washing his shirt at the river was really captivating (besides the birthday suit swim).
😍Bast chopping firewood at the William's farm for 6 carrots ...and ... ahem, well yes.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “Oh come now, a little sweetness is all any of us have sometimes. It’s always worth it. Even if it takes some work.” (Bast could convince me to do anything)
🖤 “You pay with gifts and favors. You pay in secrets …” (The master of quid pro quo)
🖤 “It was baffling. These creatures. They were fraught and frayed in their desire. A snake would never poison itself, but these folk made an art of it. They wrapped themselves in fears and wept at being blind.” (Bast on the Human Condition)
Favorite/Curious/Unique Concepts:
■Waystone Inn, Celum Tinture
■ Fae: Felurian, Kvothe’s shadow cloak, glammourie, grammerie
■The three rules of Basts' Blacktree/Lightning Tree
■ Bast's Antler knife
GR Rating: 4⭐
CAWPILE: 8.5
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Fantasy Books by 2025
Queen of the Wildwood by Angela J. Ford
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
"My thoughts flickered back to our first meeting, and I recalled the connection I had felt even then. This only seemed right, an inevitable conquest before the brutality of life ripped us apart.”
This book feels weaker than her later offerings. But, it was good enough to wake me up though, not enough to make me want to read the whole series just yet.
There's a whole lot of regret here, accidental death and redemption. The magic is a bit ... eh meh but it's okay. And music, like most Ford books, somebody knows how to sing or play an instrument and does a whole song (no dance thankfully).
I will say this about Angela J. Ford, she establishes the world in her books pretty fast and solid like a brickhouse. And her ability to do gloomy meets gothic meets ethereal energy is pretty on point.
Characters: Two Sentences, A Scene or less
Yula: wild magic, isolated and caged but she also has this thing where she's trigger happy and resorts to killing first asking questions later.
Aelbrin: You sexy beast. What?🤷🏽♀️ C'mon let me have this.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Scene:
The transmutation of the appeasing rune into the "evil" rune of The Dark Queen.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “I have wanted you for a very long time, my rose girl, and now you’re here, determined to sacrifice yourself away.” (uhm …love you Aelbrin, damn)
Favorite/Curious/Unique Concepts:
■ Feast of Mabon
■Mother Tree
■ The Forest's Teeth
GR Rating: 2.5 rounded up⭐
CAWPILE: 5⭐
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Romance Books by 2025
This book feels weaker than her later offerings. But, it was good enough to wake me up though, not enough to make me want to read the whole series just yet.
There's a whole lot of regret here, accidental death and redemption. The magic is a bit ... eh meh but it's okay. And music, like most Ford books, somebody knows how to sing or play an instrument and does a whole song (no dance thankfully).
I will say this about Angela J. Ford, she establishes the world in her books pretty fast and solid like a brickhouse. And her ability to do gloomy meets gothic meets ethereal energy is pretty on point.
Characters: Two Sentences, A Scene or less
Yula: wild magic, isolated and caged but she also has this thing where she's trigger happy and resorts to killing first asking questions later.
Aelbrin: You sexy beast. What?🤷🏽♀️ C'mon let me have this.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Scene:
The transmutation of the appeasing rune into the "evil" rune of The Dark Queen.
Favorite/Curious/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “I have wanted you for a very long time, my rose girl, and now you’re here, determined to sacrifice yourself away.” (uhm …love you Aelbrin, damn)
Favorite/Curious/Unique Concepts:
■ Feast of Mabon
■Mother Tree
■ The Forest's Teeth
GR Rating: 2.5 rounded up⭐
CAWPILE: 5⭐
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Romance Books by 2025
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I finally got to meet Nanny Ogg, the Nanny Ogg and let me just say, she had me cackling. I'm a ride or die for Granny Weatherwax we go way back, eh ... well as far back as 3 books ago when she was getting her grandaughter into wizard school. Still, that's real witch legend G-Weatherwax.
These three witches are a coven, the coven no matter how uncovenly they are and I love them for it. It's Headology 😉
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
Discworld plots be plotting the way they plot. This one ia no different. The picture gets painted from all 4 corners of the canvas moving inward until the hilarious climatic end that's a dot or x marks the spot right at the center.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
🧙♀️Granny Weatherwax from Equal Rites is here! I feel like she's my own magical granma and I haven't seen her in a while and look, what ho!? Witches!
🧙♀️I feel like I've met a Magrat Garlick before. Or I might be a Magrat to some degree.
🧙♀️Nanny Ogg is an unlikely empress- what a family.
■I take it back. Lady Macbeth has nothing on Duchess Felmet Oohwee, now that's a snake.
■The Fool is a genius but tradition being what it is...oh well.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
🧙♀️Granny Weatherwax watching one of them plays
🧙♀️Three Good witches and Three good gifts
🧙♀️The coven's Invocation in Nanny Ogg's washhouse
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “Back down on the plains, if you kicked people they kicked back. Up here, when you kicked people they moved away and just waited patiently for your leg to fall off” (yep. Sounds about Ramtop-esque)
🖤 “Words are just words. Brief syllables. Sticks and stones may break my bones—’ he paused, savouring the thought – ‘but words can never hurt me.’ ‘My lord, there are such words that can,’ said the Fool. ‘Liar! Usurper!
Murderer!’” (That Fool is no fool)
🖤 “Nanny believed that a bit of thrilling and pointless terror was an essential ingredient of the magic of childhood.” (Nanny Ogg be my grandma please🙏🏼)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ Ramtop Mountains, Bad Ass😂 Hogswatchnight, Hangdog
■The Crown👑, The Ghost, The Duke
■Taxes, headology, Witch's thrall, Greebo
■Nanny Ogg's Discworld club bangers:
🎵‘The Hedgehog Can Never be Buggered at All’.
🎵A Wizard’s Staff Has A Knob On The End.
■Discworld Theatre
GR Rating: 4.5⭐
CAWPILE: 9
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Fantasy Books by 2025
These three witches are a coven, the coven no matter how uncovenly they are and I love them for it. It's Headology 😉
Plot/Storyline/Themes:
Discworld plots be plotting the way they plot. This one ia no different. The picture gets painted from all 4 corners of the canvas moving inward until the hilarious climatic end that's a dot or x marks the spot right at the center.
Two Sentences, A Scene or less - Characters:
🧙♀️Granny Weatherwax from Equal Rites is here! I feel like she's my own magical granma and I haven't seen her in a while and look, what ho!? Witches!
🧙♀️I feel like I've met a Magrat Garlick before. Or I might be a Magrat to some degree.
🧙♀️Nanny Ogg is an unlikely empress- what a family.
■I take it back. Lady Macbeth has nothing on Duchess Felmet Oohwee, now that's a snake.
■The Fool is a genius but tradition being what it is...oh well.
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Scene:
🧙♀️Granny Weatherwax watching one of them plays
🧙♀️Three Good witches and Three good gifts
🧙♀️The coven's Invocation in Nanny Ogg's washhouse
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Quotes:
🖤 “Back down on the plains, if you kicked people they kicked back. Up here, when you kicked people they moved away and just waited patiently for your leg to fall off” (yep. Sounds about Ramtop-esque)
🖤 “Words are just words. Brief syllables. Sticks and stones may break my bones—’ he paused, savouring the thought – ‘but words can never hurt me.’ ‘My lord, there are such words that can,’ said the Fool. ‘Liar! Usurper!
Murderer!’” (That Fool is no fool)
🖤 “Nanny believed that a bit of thrilling and pointless terror was an essential ingredient of the magic of childhood.” (Nanny Ogg be my grandma please🙏🏼)
Favorite/Curious/Ludicrous/Unique Concepts:
■ Ramtop Mountains, Bad Ass😂 Hogswatchnight, Hangdog
■The Crown👑, The Ghost, The Duke
■Taxes, headology, Witch's thrall, Greebo
■Nanny Ogg's Discworld club bangers:
🎵‘The Hedgehog Can Never be Buggered at All’.
🎵A Wizard’s Staff Has A Knob On The End.
■Discworld Theatre
GR Rating: 4.5⭐
CAWPILE: 9
StoryGraph Challenge: 1800 Books by 2025
Challenge Prompt: 150 Fantasy Books by 2025