Ribbon
The story is a bit more consistent than the first book. Tacca is often boring but the dwarves and adventurer town developing around the dungeon is pretty solid. There are occasional chapters from dungeon fairy bosses, which fleshes out their society a little more.
Audiobook quality is awful. You can hear where different takes are edited together and the audio is not consistent at all. I assume it was recorded from home in an improvised studio.
The exploration of dungeon fairy culture is really cool but once Tacca settles down into a permanent dungeon situation it gets a lot less interesting. The lists of progression options are painfully long and I found myself skipping ahead at times. This book doesn't have an ending to speak of, though it's not really a cliffhanger either. Full series is published as of this writing so that's not a huge problem but still worth noting to anyone who wants to take it one book at a time.
I don't think the audiobook narrator is a good match for this story. Some later chapters focus on some dwarven farmers near the dungeon and that's the only part I think the narrator really suits.
A civil engineer gets pulled into an elf body in another world where elves are an oppressed race. While the subtitle says to expect kingdom building, it takes two thirds of the book to get to it.
Elf Empire combines whimsy, modern American quips, and high fantasy.
* Whimsy: Leo befriends a dragon who acts like a large dog and there are humanoid rabbit folk.
* Quips: He introduces “that's what she said” to this world, among other things.
* High fantasy: Dragons, golems, orcs, wargs, elves, etc. All the staples.
The game system of this world isn't the default/generic type some LitRPG sticks to and Leo struggles to figure it out. It's creative and gives the “alien world” feel... but I tuned most of it out after a couple minutes of listing ability options at the first level. Most of the time the author sticks to detailing only the relevant parts, thankfully.
While the world starts fairly light, we soon get into very heavy topics including racism, slavery, genocide, sexual assault, ableism, and gruesome violence.
Audiobook: Characters yell at each other a lot, which the narrator depicts by yelling farther away from the microphone. It doesn't hurt your ears but it draws attention from the book to the medium itself. Each major character has a distinct voice and Leo has two - a posh British elf speaking voice and an American inner voice.
There are a few errors that made it into the audiobook recording, where “Leo” and “Lily” get mixed up. Always in a “you know what they mean” context but it will annoy sticklers.
This is the slice of life breather book, after all the stress James has been dealing with lately. That makes it my favorite. Some light PVP, dungeon building, cool abilities and gear, real world social interactions, and James and Rue even get to experience DCO as players. It's a downright cozy video game experience!
This book feels more like one and a half books, and the increased length reflects it. James continues to develop his dungeon but also forms relationships beyond just Rue, both with characters introduced toward the end of book two and new ones. His new handler, Steve, is annoying as heck. The rest are good, especially the additions of some well rounded female characters.
James's real world life, and exploring the world that produced such a VR-centric society, gets a lot more attention. Readers who just want the VRMMORPG content won't be happy with the change, but those who like a balance between IRL and game will be pleased.
Book 2 picks up right were book 1 left off, with PvP about to be introduced and James scrambling to prepare. The dungeon war takes up the entirety of this installment, which is exhausting as someone who hates PvP. Some of the players on the enemy side seem fun but others are the typical PvP meanypants types. The real world bullying is resolved but the virtual world bullying gets more unhinged.
We meet more players on both sides of the conflict as James observes their experiences during the war. A lot of different gamer types and personalities are represented, plus we get to see more character build options. By the time the epic battles start, there is a rich cast for which to root.
If you can, try not to look to closely at the cover art before reading. It spoils one of the enemy monsters. The cover art warning continues going forward - if you want to be surprised with what James has to work with, avoid the cover art until later.
James is recruited to play as the dungeon in a new VRMMORPG. During the day he attends high school (dealing with bullies and negligent teachers) and at night he hops in her emersion pod to manage his dungeon (dealing with bullying from the lead developer for some reason.) Time is experienced at an accelerated rate in the virtual world, one day for every hour in real world time, so while the real-virtual time is technically balanced, far more of the book is the video game. Being a dungeon is secret, so his only confident is a drunk, gambling addicted advanced AI fairy.
This first book is focused on dungeon building and watching players experience the dungeon. James's dungeon is “Random” type, so he doesn't know what kind of monsters he's working with until he starts building each floor, and his options are always weird.
DCO is set a few decades in the future. There are lots of references to other LitRPG books and pop culture throughout the years. James doesn't get all the references and sometimes looks them up but other times it's just an easter egg for the reader. If you don't get all the references, that's not going to hamper your enjoyment. But being familiar with “dungeon core” style books might help.
Audiobook performed by Travis Baldree, who is excellent as always.
The events of Little House on the Prairie are retold from Ma's perspective. Corrections are made from Laura Ingles Wilder's story, using historical facts, maps, etc, so it doesn't match up exactly to Wilder's book. For instance, Caroline is pregnant with Carrie half the book and that effects a lot of interactions and struggles throughout. There is a childbirth scene but it's fairly vague in its description.
Descriptions fill in a lot of detail absent in Wilder's book. How things were done and what struggles were hidden from the children. Caroline's thoughts on the two girls are also interesting. No longer is Mary the pretty kill-joy. Laura is more than the loud tomboy. We also get to know why Caroline acted as she did due to things from her childhood. Why does she hate Native Americans? Why is she so much more anxious about everything than Charles?
Late in the book there are a couple supremely embarrassing sex scenes. For someone who grew up with “Ma” and “Pa”, it's like walking in on your parents.
The audiobook is very nice, with singing from both Caroline and Charles.
In a world with four-element magic, street rat Pax awakens a forgotten fifth element in the government enforced RPG Class draft. He's shipped off to magic school, where any deviation from the norm is Very Bad News, and has to disguise his magic to keep from getting caught. His closest allies are a himbo fire mage and cautious water mage.
If you've been craving a magic school story that actually focuses on how magic works and what happens in classes, this is a great choice. Pax quickly learns to hide system notifications until he pulls them up, so the LitRPG elements don't interrupt scenes.
Students are sorted by their elements as well as combat and support based on their power levels. There's also a wide social/wealth range, so there are some scenes of bullying but not as much as many school based stories. Pax makes more friends than enemies.
There is some monster fighting throughout and the awesome cover art does eventually pay off.
A few gripes: The prologue chapters are heavy combat without context, which I found off-putting. Most character descriptions include what mix of human-elf-dwarf they appear to be, but this never really matters in this book. Some repetitive word/phrases. I look forward to reading future books in this series and from this author.
This third book has dropped the farming content to barely any. John and Ellie delegate most of the chores to others and focus on magical research instead. The last quarter of the book is an extended action sequence that seem to annoy and bore even the characters.
I probably won't bother continuing the series.
The Twelve Dancing Princesses is hard to adapt, as it has way too many characters. House of Salt and Sorrows tries to eleviate the problem by killing off a third of the girls before the story even starts. It's not enough. Only three sisters matter (and one of the dead ones.) Trying to keep track of the rest is an exercise in frustration.
The worldbuilding is where this book shines. The story centers around islanders with ocean-centric religious practices. Humans don't have magic but their gods walk the earth and magic lingers some places.
Content warnings: Pregnancy and childbirth, lots of death, mild horror
Manslaughter Park is the first in this series that I feel entirely improved upon the original. Fanny Price is meek at the beginning but still has more agency than her Austen counterpart. She grows over the course of the story and it's very satisfying to watch.
Fanny is bullied by her cousins and aunts, making the first third or so very hard to get through. Once the mystery and investigation really get underway, they're too proccupied with being terrible people in general to focus on being terrible to her.
I only read Mansfield Park once so I'm not sure how closely Manslaughter Park sticks to the narrative. Less than previous books in the series, I suspect.
Book contains a very good dog.
Pakistan is a great setting for a modernized Pride and Prejudice. The values match up pretty well to Regency England. Even knowing where the story is going, Unmarriageable is an engrossing drama.
But I have trouble buying that an English literature teacher who teaches P&P to high school girls is not going to notice her family matches up to the Bennet family exactly.
The audiobook is read by the author, so you get the Pakistani accent adding to the story. Minor characters from P&P have more presence in this book and names range from close to original - “Darsee” instead of “Darcy” - to completely random - “Pinky” for Mrs Bennet. I got confused during the more crowded scenes.
While the book title makes it clear this is Pride and Prejudice related, the story takes place in the Jane Austen Literary Universe. Familiarity with all Austen books is helpful and it can be hard to follow without. Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility are probably the most important to know.
This is a closed circle mystery. The characters are unable to leave the house party due to bad weather and then because the investigation is underway. We get scenes from the perspective of every character present, all but two of which are from Jane Austen novels. Mr Jonathan Darcy and Miss Juliet Tilney are original characters and both very enjoyable. Despite the variety of perspectives, figuring out who done it is a challenge.
Content warning: Death of a child discussed. Unpleasant but historically accurate views on certain minority groups voiced by characters.
Gory, cozy, and funny. Maud must learn what she is and adapt to her new unlife. She'd like to be left alone to work on new crafting projects that just happen to use body parts and blood as major materials. Unfortunately angry villagers and clergy would rather she not exist.
Maud is great but there aren't really any other well developed characters. Most folks don't survive long enough to leave an impression and her undead minions aren't exactly strong willed.
Content warning for lots of animal and human deaths, although many don't stay down for long.
Audiobook is delightful.
In this version of Sense and Sensibility, Mr Dashwood was a private investigator who dies unexpectedly in the night. Marianne is an aspiring private investigator, Elinor is a self-taught chemist, and Margaret reads and writes mysteries. All three sisters have an active role in figuring out what's going on.
Mr Brandon has been aged down to a twenty-something medical student. The two Elizas have been combined into a friend of his who unexpectedly died a year ago. These are the biggest changes to the characters.
The mystery isn't quite as tidy as the one in Pride and Premeditation. A few elements aren't quite subtle enough but others seem very abruptly thrown together. I still enjoy the book thoroughly.
John Sutton was brought to another world a decade ago, fought in wars, and grew powerful. But that's over and he's settling down as a farmer. When he embraces the quiet life, the world begins to heal (Doom Points go down), but when he uses too much magic it gets worse. So he's an overpowered protagonist but he avoids using that power.
John grows some crops but the biggest focus in farm life is starting up a dairy. The setting has a frontier town feel like from an old Western and the narrator for the audiobook really leans into it. Locals are standoffish and bandits are the real law of the land. There isn't a “romance” but John does develop a fondness for the young woman who was taking care of the farm since the last owner died.
There is some violence and death, as one might expect from a Western. Antagonists treaten sexual assault but none is carried out.
Absurdity is certainly the main draw with a book like this. Unfortunately the humor did not hit with me. The humor is rooted in: absurdity, pop culture references, swearing, and innuendo. Three of which I do not care for.
Barry cannot move on his own and cannot do anything beyond talk and see for most of the book. He's also delicious.
Warning: Cliffhanger ending.
This is an amazing resource for anyone wanting to write about servant life in the Regency period. It goes into extreme detail on a surprising range of topics, right down to the butchering, storage, and cooking of nearly every animal people of that era/location would eat! The ebook does not have chapter breaks so navigation can be difficult. Language was preserved from the original writing, so spelling and grammar can be hard to understand until you get used to it.
Freshman Drive is less LitRPG as it is science fiction with some kind of nanobot based system. The system encourages better habits like eating well, doing laundry, and maintaining good hygiene. In exchange it excelerates the healing of Deke's sports injury. The stats don't have much context or effect events. He eventually gets abilities to play basketball better.
The story centers around jocks and cheerleaders in a college setting. Deke's nerd friends are the only really likable characters, but the constant references to legally-distinct-Firefly get old. Early on there isn't a whole lot of basketball but in the last quarter there are a lot of games described in detail and I found myself skimming heavily.
I think this book is well written and technically very good, but it's very much not for me. It covers Deke's freshman year of college, so presumably this will be a four book series.
Content warnings: Depression, self harm, domestic abuse, needles, steroids, gross bodily fluid stuff
For anyone who enjoys seeing the wild things authors do with public domain properties, Pride and Premeditation is an excellent addition to the genre. The story is still set in the Regency period but moves from the English countryside to London and all characters go down a rank. Mr Bennet is a barrister and Mr Collins is a soliciter in his law firm.
Character personalities are similar to the original but the timeline is condensed to a week and some elements are dropped entirely. Even knowing the source material well, the story is fresh and exciting. Don't get your hopes up for a Jane/Bingley romance - the two don't even meet until the book is nearly over.
Diehard Austen loyalists won't enjoy this but it's good fun for the casual fan.
Despite how it seems from the blurb, the bulk of this book takes place prior to the magic academy. The journey there drags, especially since teleportation magic exists and the adventurers have a high level mage.
The book is mostly first person, from Nico's point of view. The tone shifts between a believably inhuman dragon to extremely human, including some modern slang. It made it difficult getting into the story. Some chapters change to third person limited, from the perspective of Cami or one of the adventurers. These often rewind the action to overlap with what we've already seen from Nico's perspective.
Be warned, this book ends on a mild cliffhanger.