Carlos Fegurgur
Excellence is not a destination; it is a process of becoming.
I was a bit skeptical when I picked up this book. As with most self help books, the title is pretty jarring at first glance, which is the point I suppose in a genre filled with so many promises, quick fixes, armchair psychologists and philosophers, people want jarring to fill the question of 'what is missing' in their being. Stulberg's argument is that the answer to this is what he calls "Excellence". I prefer the term he cites being coined by biologists called homeostatic upregulation (doesn't quite roll off the tongue), which is an innate drive toward flourishing, both now and in the future, with feelings serving as the guide.
If you can accept the premises that we are hardwired to pursue great things, feel our way towards mastery, and long to achieve an alignment between what gives us purpose and what we pursue, then boy is this book for you. While I'm still somewhat on the fence behind the more philosophical reasonings (to me these should be up for debate more than accepted point blank but we have to start somewhere), I can't quite argue with the logical, practical pieces of wisdom this book is littered with. My non fiction ratings these days are pretty much pass/fail and with all the many quotable sections and key takeaways contained within, I have no choice but to give it 5 stars.
For those new to self-help, non-fiction, philosophy, psychology, human flourishing, etc, this book is a treasure trove of recent, concise, and cohesive information, which I would highly recommend as a starting point. That being said, here are a few of the key takeaways that stuck with me:
- Excellence, flourishing, growth, etc, is a process. It is infinite. A constant cycle of learning and striving that ends up looking a lot like love. If we are disciplined, kind to ourselves, show up daily and celebrate wins with a community of other people looking to do the same, then we are well on our way to living a good life.
- There are a lot of interconnected parts related to what it takes to live this pursuit of excellence, but it all starts with what you value. A core belief behind all of this is that you want to do what brings you closer to the things you value in life. If you don't have those...well, it's probably a good place to start first. (This book includes a helpful exercise if it's something you haven't really thought about before.)
- At the end of the day, excellence, is about becoming the best person you can be. There is no single point in time that that becomes true. It is a lifelong endeavor. One that we need to try and enjoy along the way. You'll encounter burnout, fatigue, failure, disruption, and setbacks throughout, all of which require discipline, consistency, confidence, rest, community, curiosity, and joy to overcome.
What seems at first like a more run of the mill, species turned sentient story, quickly expands to an epic tale of struggle, strife, love and belief that takes place over centuries.
This book stood out to me for two main reasons. One, the subject matter is entirely unique even within the fantasy/sci fi genre. It might not be the only story like this out there but it’s very niche amongst an already small niche and handles it well. The authors background in zoology adds a nice touch of realistic detail when it comes to the nuance of spider biology. Two, the storytelling is top notch. The use of time was smartly done and gets to a point where you have no choice but to suspend your disbelief and go along for the ride. The millennia spanning story mixed with the alternating POVs added some depth and tension to already intriguing storylines.
This book was a difficult one for me to review and it’s harder still to articulate what exactly worked for me, but ultimately, I couldn’t put this down. I read it every chance I could get and every chapter ended in such a way that I would want to read just a little bit of the next chapter just to keep the story going. I’m excited to see where this series goes as I have absolutely no clue but if there’s one thing that I’m certain of after book one is that I know the ride will be an enjoyable one.
"Writing isn't about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it's about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It's about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy."
Funnily enough, 'On Writing' is the first work of King's I've ever read. I know the name, am familiar with some, not all, of his work, and can appreciate that he is a famous and well-respected author. Part biography, part personal musings on writing, and part near death reflection, this book was a unique read. I gleaned some useful insights which I am sure will stay with me for as long as I write, and also learned more than I probably would have wanted to about King, the man.
What follows will be more my musings behind writing, the craft, itself and less of the book. Which I'd recommend if you have any interest in a biography of King and be less inclined to if you wanted a strictly non-fictional take on ways to improve as a writer (Hint: read more, write more).
As someone who has a _tentative_ interest in the realm of writing I have always been curious as to the process behind it. How to get "better", what makes a sentence/paragraphy/story compelling, why certain structure works for some stories and not for others, etc. Writing is such a wonderful skill to pursue, because similar to drawing, it's free, something you can do with little to no resources and something you can get better at over time. While King makes the argument that it's almost impossible to go from a bad writer to a good one, or a great writer to an amazing one, he says that there is a middle ground, from good to great, that most people can reach through concentrated effort.
Every author's path to success is more or less unique, to the point that there is no clear cut path to "making it" with your writing. It's a fruitless endeavor, one that you have to pursue for the sake of it, which is something I find alluring. To constantly struggle, improve, strive, fail, and repeat over the course of many years (or a lifetime) with no promise of reward outside of personal fulfillment is one of the great pleasures of life (the others being: sex, drugs and rock n' roll, in no particular order).
As I alluded to in the beginning of this review, King succinctly mentions that the "secret" to becoming a great writer is to quite simply read and write more. You might, along the way, develop a toolkit of sorts that you bring with you, but by and large the determining factor of your ability as a writer is dictated by your ability to constantly write. It all seems very moot, reading this from the perspective of someone who has found such large commercial success, but the core rings true. Whether or not you can live off your written word is outside of your control, mostly luck and somewhat skill, but whether or not your written word can live on outside of you, is simply a matter of tenacity and consistency, mostly consistency, somewhat tenacity.
What started off as a book about the chemical in the brain for wanting things (dopamine), quickly turned in to a deep dive on the dangers of addiction and the lessons we can learn from those struggling with/recovering from addiction, big or small.
In terms of the book itself, I feel as though when it comes to non-fiction, specifically self-help non-fiction, all that matters is whether or not you got something out of it. That was the case for me here, hence the 5 stars. All these books revolve around a specific idea or core concept and then bring in cherry picked anecdotes, personal stories, research papers, interviews, etc to reinforce their beliefs/ideas/opinions with facts. Some books struggle to find the balance or end up losing the plot in the stories told, or go so far as to stretch the truth entirely. This book felt like it managed to keep things moving in a cohesive way and I appreciated that.
First off, if you feel as though you struggle with addiction, your first step should be to understand that you are not alone and to seek professional help.
Second, if you feel as though you have no issues with addiction at all, then you are most likely addicted to lying to yourself and should probably read this book and/or get some help.
Third, if the thoughts of feeling alone, adrift, lost, etc have ever plagued you, or you've felt like you've been feeling more pessimistic/down as of late. If you can't escape the constant bombardment of the news cycle that lives on your phone, or find your screen time at an all time high, then you probably would benefit from reading this book.
There are tons of nuggets of useful information in this relatively short book, so I do really recommend checking it out. Surprisingly, what began as an attempt to understand my brain chemistry evolved into thoughts surrounding: what being honest with yourselves and others looks like, the role that shame plays in our society and why it's helpful, and how leaning into pain/fear as opposed to running away from it (and towards pleasure) can ultimately lead to pleasure.
Explicit Quote
Circumcising this would have been a crime, she thought, sliding the loose skin back until his full head popped free, like an especially delicious mushroom sprouting from the earth, beckoning her tongue to lick away the pearlescent moisture at its winking slit.
On the merits of storytelling alone this book would be maybe pushing a 1.5. Recognizing that this is entirely a smut book, but not just any smut book, an inter-species? “Monster Bait”...?? smut book has me thinking if this is your jam then it'll be a decent read so for that I'll go so far as to rate this a 2.
As unserious as I found this book to be, I decided to give it a fair shake (pun intended), considering it was a gift. I was left mostly confused having read it as I was before starting it. It's easy to get through for the most part, but you have to be in a certain.... mood.
The angle of it being interspecies and that being a huge schtick was so underplayed and disappointing that it would not change the book in the slightest had they just both been human from the jump. I also could absolutely not buy in to a relationship or the “sexual tension” that built up over the course of this book when it began with you giving a handjob to the person you fall in love with??
The writing at times felt like the author just discovered you can use adjectives for the first time and decided that no sentence was complete until it contained 5 of them in a row, each one synonymous with wet or huge. I have exceeded my quota of reading the words “winking slit” for my lifetime.
There was a single portion of this book I found to be enjoyable when all the elements of storytelling, tension, romance, and smut lined up perfectly...much like how our minotaur lined up his....
All that being said, seeing as I have no other smut experience to compare this to (outside of Fourth Wing I suppose), I would be interested in hearing from others with more experience and/or reading another book that can manage to combine some semblance of a believable romance or storyline in with all the copious amounts of cum and sex that happen between chapters.
If you're not yet sold from this glowing review, read this book if spoilersyou want to give your eyeballs the joys of reading about a human woman receiving over 24 ounces of minotaur creampie.
Now one of, if not my number one, favorite series. These books just do it for me and #6 felt like a culmination of a lot of different elements that showed flashes of greatness throughout previous books, now coming together over the course of a single story. The possibilities are endless and the formula with the level a book works. There are plots within plots and stories within stories. Some of the dialogue is cheesy and the way things shake out can feel very obvious or hand-wavy at times. But ultimately this is a fun, smart ride with likeable main characters and a unique and interesting world that keeps building upon itself in a way that I just can't get enough of.
This book in a vacuum is probably around a 4 star for me, but the series as a whole has just gotten progressively better and better with each installment building upon the last. Dungeon Crawler Carl up to this point is a 5 star for me and I encourage anyone who feels like they would be even remotely interested in this to give books 1 and 2 a try. It helps that each book has a distinct feel to it that keeps things feeling fresh while having an overarching plot/mystery. It's the most strongly I've felt about a series in recent memory and usually by the 3rd or 4th book of a long series I'll start to tap out but I'm currently already reading Book 6 and I. CANT. STOP.
Another very solid installment. I am simply so entertained while reading these and feel like they capture the rpg/dungeon mechanics so well, to the point where the plot points feel smart and not forced which can be easy to mess up when given the ability to have literally any skill/item/monster affect the story.
My one and only gripe is this is the longest book thus far and you start to feel that. Parts of the story feel a bit drawn out to drive home a few of the more “meta” points. As the series grows and things expand I expect the series to become larger and larger in scope but right now everything is given in such a structured and engaging way I can't help but fly through these stories.
If you're on the fence about crawling through this dungeon with Carl and Princess Donut, I'd just tell you to give it a shot and read, read, read! 3.5/4 (closer to 4 though so rounding up)
If you're unsure of whether or not this niche sub genre of progression fantasy/lit rpg is for you then you'll for sure know by book 3 of Dungeon Crawler Carl. The author really finds his stride here with both the characters and the world they inhabit. I flew through this book and finally can see and understand the appeal.
This book is the longest in the series so far and it feels that way. Parts of it go on a bit too long and while the author does make a mention of this at the beginning of the story, some parts are just too confusing to parse through which left me skimming over some explanations.
Complaints aside, everything else worked really well for me in this book. This book does a great job of capturing and using elements of video games/rpgs in such a natural way. They feel like thoughtful additions as opposed to obvious cop outs. The balance between explanation and plot progression is well done, given that pretty much everything we encounter is new and needs explaining.
Overall, this was my favorite of the series so far. It expands upon what makes it so unique and really starts to come in to its own in terms of weaving an interesting and engaging storyline through an overarching mystery dungeon/progression system. 4/5.
The second book of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series and while I had a good time with the audiobook of the first one, I definitely prefer reading the physical version, especially given that this series relies on video game tropes in the form of: achievements, quest text, stat/item information, etc. Being able to read through as opposed to listen to all of those details is a huge plus for me.
If you're not familiar, DCC is basically the story of Earth being captured and turned into a video game-esque inter galatic reality tv show. If that isn't enough to get you to want to read this series then you are probably not in the target demographic.
This series so far is thoroughly entertaining and I'd compare this to a formulaic Marvel superhero movie or any typical action movie. The plot is minimal and just enough to move things along. There are shallow side characters that add variety. The progression of the main characters are slow but satisfying.
Overall, this book is a quick and easy read with an enjoyable power fantasy progression. There's enough thought and foreshadowing of a larger over-arching plot to keep you wanting to learn more but the stakes and scope are all relatively small and feel minor at this point. Lots of promise with not much payoff is how I'd describe this book and series so far. 3.5/5
Hyperion is on the “lower end” of 5 stars for me, closer to 4.5 but I'll round up seeing as I enjoyed this book immensely from start to finish. It reads as a collection of short stories with an overarching plot interwoven which I found to be not only well done from a plot perspective but also from an execution standpoint. There was just the right amount of time spent in the “present” and each short story felt fully fleshed out and compelling on their own. Some of the short stories were as impactful as entire novels I've read.
I will say that as a huge caveat, this book was written in the late 1980s and it...shows. While I don't think it was enough to detract from the story as a whole, there were definitely a lot of issues when it came to female characters. If this book came out today it would probably be severely ridiculed for some of the scenes but thankfully these sections don't take up huge portions of the story.
Outside of that I pretty much enjoyed everything else. The plot overall as well as within each sub story were some of the better sci fi stories I've read in recent memory. I feel as though I now want to read primarily sci fi the next couple of books I choose just to experience the level of immersion I felt here.
Was pleasantly surprised by this one! I don't know if it makes sense to describe a mystery novel as cozy but that was the vibe I got here. Having heard of but never read Agatha Christie's work before I knew she was an original and prolific voice in the whodunnit sphere and now I see why. Not to toot my own horn but I guessed who the killer was at the beginning and reading it with that assumption in mind made little details stick out that I think people would get on a reread and made the book that much better for me. The character of Poirot is a delight and her use of a separate POV character makes for an entertaining ride as the reader. This book is entirely plot driven which is what I would want from a murder mystery book and she does it very well.
Ending any tale was an exercise in narrowing possibility, closing off maybes, until in one moment every thread that had been seeded passed through the eye of the same needle.
3rd and final book of ‘The Library Trilogy' by Mark Lawrence. I thought the series overall got weaker as it went along and this last installment was a representation of the series as a whole. It did a lot of things good but not great and sadly I felt like had the weakest plot of all 3 books.
I really like Lawrence's writing and his characters are engaging but the plot here felt convoluted and I don't think there was enough of a runway for him to fully flesh out the ideas he was trying to get across. This left the book feeling jumbled as we're bouncing around multiple POVs all attempting to converge after a massive buildup but it just falls flat, in my opinion. Too little, too late, as they say.
I think the last 20 or so pages were done well enough to salvage things, but overall I can't shake the feeling that this book, and series as a whole, will go down as something I will ultimately forget about in a week or two. 3.5/5
Great start to the reading year! Read this in anticipation of the show adaptation coming out this month and could not have been more pleasantly surprised.
My first GRRM book and while I understand the flack he gets for not having finished GoT yet, I can see now why his writing style resonates with so many. I haven't read GoT and it wasn't on my TBR having watched the show but this book just shot it way up!
The story is heartwarming, wonderfully told and captures more sense of adventure in three separate novellas than some full length series do. Being three novellas combined into one I would have thought there would be some weak link or a feeling of meandering somewhere but they got better and better. Dunk and Egg make for a great duo and now my only wish is to follow them around on their adventures of gallantry and chivalry throughout the seven kingdoms.
“If you can see a thing whole,” he said, “it seems that it's always beautiful. Planets, lives... But close up, a world's all dirt and rocks. And day to day, life's a hard job, you get tired, you lose the pattern. You need distance, interval. The way to see how beautiful the earth is, is to see it as the moon. The way to see how beautiful life is, is from the vantage point of death.”
What a book to close out 2025.. an absolute banger from Ursula K. Le Guin.
I'll start with what I didn't like and that's because there isn't much to say here. If you're not a fan of lengthy back and forth discussions or internal monologuing of the philosophical and scientific variety then this book might not be for you. Although Le Guin does a fantastic job at never letting any of the science-y mumbo jumbo get in the way of the main ideas and boy does this book have some good ones. Honestly, the main con for me was that the ending wasn't totally satisfying but given everything else we get along the way I have no issues really.
The entire book essentially takes place going between time and space following the POV of an alien scientist Shevek. His story isn't one of much strife or hardship in an external sense but rather one of the constant struggle of ideals that his society is based on. The shared collective society that the planet he inhabits was built upon and the capitalist utopia that is the foreign planet of Urras. This book has a lot of great commentary on how different societies function in general, their pros and cons, with a large skew towards favoring a more anarchist, anti establishment way of life.
To speak abstractly and butcher an unnecessary analogy, this book felt like getting a movie per chapter as opposed to modern day books with chapters feeling like episodes leading up to a season finale of a tv show. Each chapter is individually impactful and that makes it thoroughly engaging in its entirety. It's a book I'll definitely be rereading in years to come and one I'll be thinking about for a while yet.
On the whole I very much enjoy the Earthsea books and Le Guins style of fantasy in general. It's descriptive and straightforward while simultaneously being vague and imaginative.
Book 2 follows a young priestess by the name of Arha who with the help of Sparrowhawk manages to face one giant metaphor in the form of a labyrinth that she worships. (That's my entire pitch for if you'd enjoy reading this or not.)
This book in particular just felt too short for me. Whether or not that's due to having a bias towards more modern fantasy books having a 500+ page runway to elaborate on things remains to be seen. I'll most likely continue with the series since the reward to time investment ratio is so high. 3/5.
The first book of this series, The Will of the Many, quickly became one of, if not, my favorite book so far and so this sequel had big shoes to fill and while I don't think it quite reached the heights of the first, it left enough of an impression and did a great enough job following on, expanding upon, and setting up the rest of this series that I have to give it a 5/5.
Without spoiling, this was one of the more impressive feats of writing and interesting takes I've seen on multi POV storylines and while the jumping around might inevitably lead to some weaker or less developed POV plots, I thought Islington did a pretty admirable job keeping each one feeling engaging and fleshed out.
While I do think this is a rare instance where the author might have been better served by having either a longer runway (talking 1,000 pages +) or split this book into multiple itself, I can't fault the ambition. This is still shaping up to be a favorite fantasy series of all time for me and I'm excited to see how this all gets wrapped up.
Picked this up as part of my ever growing obsession with older fantasy novels of the mass paperback size/variety and since I had heard this was used as inspiration for one of my favorite current fantasy series.
Off the bat this book has a lot of what I like about older fantasy novels. There's an inherit whismy to the story. Things are ‘just so..' nothing overly explained and we jumped straight in to the action. We're shown not told which I appreciate. The telling comes later but feels natural and the confusion at the beginning is later rewarded.
It also has some drawbacks, namely between male and female characters interacting. Part of the fantasy here is definitely that our 19-20 year old male protagonist is the most handsome-est, kind-est, smart-est, good-est boy and the beloved princess who wants absolutely NO PART OF HIM, falls madly in love based on the philosophical questions he asks himself.
Overall, this book does a great job at that, the philosophy aspect. Outside of the magic system itself being one giant ethical nightmare, we are faced with the questions of what it means to be good especially when given power and responsibility to and over others.
“Men who believe themselves to be good, who do not search their own souls, most often commit the worst atrocities. A man who sees himself as evil will restrain himself. It is only when we do evil in the belief that we do good that we pursue it wholeheartedly.” Gaborn grunted, considering. “If I may be so bold, Your Lordship, I'm glad you question yourself. Men don't become good by performing an occasional kindly deed. You must constantly reexamine your thoughts and acts, question your virtue.”
Is an example of a quote that stuck with me and one that can be found throughout the book. Outside of these nuggets of knowledge, however, the book meanders a bit and lacks the well-roundedness we see from modern series, in favor of hoping that you stick around for the full ride, which I'm somewhat undecided on at the moment. 3/5
My issues and admirations of Into the Labyrinth seem to center around the fact that this was a self published debut novel (to my understanding). Bierce managed to do in ~200 pages what many traditionally published fantasy novels fail to do in entire trilogies. Bierce manages to create such a compelling world and magic system that I couldn't help but feel invested even if I wasn't able to fully connect with the characters. The downside to the length is that I think we lost out on a lot of the inter-character relationships that can help build up plot points, motivations, emotional beats, etc. This leads for instance to more one note side characters and villains, which I can ultimately look past given the overarching plot trajectory itself manages to rise and rise from beginning to end.
Ramblings aside, the writing, dialogue and character interactions in general might feel off or clunky at times, but I can't help but appreciate the world Bierce has managed to create. It's whimsical, intriguing, with just enough nuance and mystery to have me already a few chapters into the sequel shortly after finishing the first.
Bolstered by a whirlwind ending tied up with a pretty bow, Servant of the Empire managed to eek its way into 4 star territory. This book felt like an instance where its length added to the experience overall. The more time spent in the foreign land of Kelewan, the more tidbits and world building we got to see unfold at a natural pace and that kept me engaged with the story. This did however have the drawback of making it feel like things we're moving along too slowly at times, plot lines going nowhere or points revisited ad nauseam.
In general I'd say this book was a step up from the first and honestly I could stop after this one with how wrapped up everything feels by the end. The romance in this one felt rewarding, but at times strange and confusing. There was less action and plot overall but still managed to tie in tons of political intrigue. My thoughts on this book could probably be summed up with the phrase “I'm just happy to be here.”
As someone who thoroughly enjoyed the first four books of the Riftwar Cycle, I think I found myself wanting to like this one more than I did. I was glad to be back in this world and exploring the strange customs on the other side of the Rift that were only hinted at in the first series.
The world building is once again fantastic, but as opposed to the original saga, the characters felt a little one dimensional in this one. The plot is another strong suit of this book as there are interwoven plans, schemes, and fallouts throughout with apt pacing to match. It's also a good thing this is a fantasy novel because the amount of belief you must suspend to make it through the sheer plot armor disguised as “customs” or “honor” is almost too much to bear.
Regardless, this book is a return to a land I had been wanting to revisit and expands upon it in such an engaging and interesting way that I have no choice but to carry on and read the rest..
3.5
Another addition to the ‘good not great' collection of books I've read recently. The Silverblood Promise starts off very character focused with excellent world building. The vibes are high from the jump so to speak, however, what started off as a fairly interesting protagonist becomes one note fairly quickly as we learn behind the motives and beliefs he has. It all felt pretty surface level and the “no self forgiveness and my father never loved me” schtick got old pretty quick.
Outside of a hero with conflicting motives and a villain with no depth I enjoyed this book quite a bit. The world is easy to imagine and comes to life as you read. We are met with an adorable sidekick/companion in flea. The plot is pretty interesting and has just enough mystery/reveals to keep you engaged throughout.
All in all a fun read with a movie like plot/setting that has me ready for the sequel.