Rob

This one started really slow for me, but once it got going it really sucked me in. I liked the world quite a bit and it was cool to see the Cosmere in the future. I'd really love a sequel, the book left me wanting to know what happens next, always a good sign.

The narration was very good. I'm not always a fan of multiple narrators, but it worked well with the story and POV swaps

Another solid entry in this series. After Battle Ground it was a bit of a change of pace. The events of this book take place over the course of a year (though more like 9 months). It feels like a transition book from the massive events of that book to whatever is coming next.

I mostly did this in audio, and James Marsters does his usual excellent job. I mixed in a few chapters from the hard cover I mostly buy to add to my collection. But it was nice to have the option to get in a bit more reading when my audiobook time for the day was done.

Looking forward to next one in this series. I'm glad we're getting more regular Dresden books again, but I'm also going to be sad when the series is done.

I've had this one in my library for a while. I was looking for something short to fill time waiting for another book to come out. This one fit the bill.

Overall I enjoyed it, but didn't love it. It got overly detailed in places for my liking, but was mostly well paced. The book ends in a decent spot, but has lots of open threads being the first book in a series.

I did this one in audio and thought the narration was solid. Nothing special, but a good option.

Executive Summary: This is an excellent book for anyone into gaming and/or 80s pop culture. There are so many little references all over the place. I absolutely loved it.

Audio book: Wil Wheaton is an excellent choice for this book. He just fits the story so well. I like him as a narrator in general, but think this is by far the best thing he's read.

Full Review
I've wanted to re-read this book almost as soon as I finished it. It's just one of those books that just clicked for me.

It's not the best written, and the characters can be a bit eye rolling at times. It also starts a bit slow and feels a bit preachy.

So how is it 5 stars? Because I just never want to stop listening, and soon as I finished it, I wanted to reread it again. I definitely think this is one of those books I'll reread every few years.

This book is a love letter to people who grew up in the 80s. I think anyone born between 1970 and 1985 will find a lot to love in this book. Movies, music, and most importantly games. If you were born outside that range, it may just feel like nothing but nostalgia and little

I was born in 82, so there are definitely a lot of things I didn't experience, or get as well as someone a bit older probably does. But that doesn't matter to me. I've been re-watching 80's movies for the last two weeks, and to a lesser degree listening to a bunch of 80's music.

The relationships in this book may seem strange to anyone whose never made lifelong friendships or fallen in love with someone they met online. I spent the better part of the last decade playing World of Warcraft, and the parallels to life in the oasis are apparent. The oasis really is the next evolution of MMO's and I both hope for and fear the day someone builds something like it.

I know I could never compete in the contest. Despite being a lifelong gamer, I'm just not that good. For me the joy is in playing the game, especially with friends, and not so much the winning. Winning is a bonus.

I could certainly see myself getting caught up and obsessed with it though. Especially at Wade's age.

This book just makes me feel happy, and nostalgic and want to rush out and watch the movies, listen to the music and play the games I love all day long. Very highly recommended.

Executive Summary: This is an excellent book for anyone into gaming and/or 80s pop culture. There are so many little references all over the place. I absolutely loved it.

Audio book: Wil Wheaton is an excellent choice for this book. He just fits the story so well. I like him as a narrator in general, but think this is by far the best thing he's read.

Full Review
I've wanted to re-read this book almost as soon as I finished it. It's just one of those books that just clicked for me.

It's not the best written, and the characters can be a bit eye rolling at times. It also starts a bit slow and feels a bit preachy.

So how is it 5 stars? Because I just never want to stop listening, and soon as I finished it, I wanted to reread it again. I definitely think this is one of those books I'll reread every few years.

This book is a love letter to people who grew up in the 80s. I think anyone born between 1970 and 1985 will find a lot to love in this book. Movies, music, and most importantly games. If you were born outside that range, it may just feel like nothing but nostalgia and little

I was born in 82, so there are definitely a lot of things I didn't experience, or get as well as someone a bit older probably does. But that doesn't matter to me. I've been re-watching 80's movies for the last two weeks, and to a lesser degree listening to a bunch of 80's music.

The relationships in this book may seem strange to anyone whose never made lifelong friendships or fallen in love with someone they met online. I spent the better part of the last decade playing World of Warcraft, and the parallels to life in the oasis are apparent. The oasis really is the next evolution of MMO's and I both hope for and fear the day someone builds something like it.

I know I could never compete in the contest. Despite being a lifelong gamer, I'm just not that good. For me the joy is in playing the game, especially with friends, and not so much the winning. Winning is a bonus.

I could certainly see myself getting caught up and obsessed with it though. Especially at Wade's age.

This book just makes me feel happy, and nostalgic and want to rush out and watch the movies, listen to the music and play the games I love all day long. Very highly recommended.

This is a great mashup of mystery and fantasy with great characters and an interesting world setting. I've enjoyed most of Mr. Bennett's novels that I've read and this one is no different. I hadn't planned to jump right into the next one but decided to keep going.

This story is fairly self contained, something that is generally uncommon these days where everything is a series. There are hooks to build out the world further and continue on with the characters but the mysteries of this book have been addressed in a satisfactory manner and I feel like it'd be easy to stop or take a break without needing to jump right into another book to find out what's next.

Andrew Fallaize does a solid job with the narration. He does a variety of voices to add a little extra to reading of the book.

Slow at times, but overall enjoyable. It's always refreshing to get a stand-alone story (although I guess she's since written a prequel or something). I don't necessarily feel like I need to read the next book, though I may look into it at some point.

I really enjoyed when the focus was on Ead more than some of the other subplots, but I feel like the payoff for those subplots made them worthwhile by the end, even if I was less interested in them at the time.

The world building was pretty good. Initially the magic is not super detailed but you learn a fair bit about it as it goes along.

The audio was enjoyable. Liyah Summers does a variety of voices for the main characters.

I generally pick up every new John Scalzi book as it comes out, and the Old Man's War series is largely the reason why. I really enjoyed the world he built and the characters that inhabited it.

It's been 10 years since The End of All Things was released, so my memory of things was pretty bad. It seemed like a re-read of Zoe's Tale in particular might have been a good idea. That said I didn't feel lost and there was enough background provided in this book for me to pick up without re-reading any of the previous books.

I really enjoyed the main protagonist (who I guess was a character in Zoe's tale?), Gretchen Trujillo and her assistant Ran. The book has the usual Scalzi banter and a fast paced plot that is light on the science.

The book is self contained but certainly seems to be set up for more books in the series, which I'd welcome.

I loved wrestling as a kid and watched the WWF through most of college. But after a while I got tired of it. Woman's wrestling in particular was not very good. A young teenage boy was titillated by all the T&A and hot woman, but otherwise uninterested in that aspect. So I completely missed out on AJ Lee's run in the WWE.

In the years since, I would periodically read about the goings on in WWE, in particular this group of nerds called The New Day, who would dress up like Super Saiyans or play the Final Fantasy victory music when they won. I also started to hear about how the Woman's division was actually good, if not BETTER than the men's.

2020 started making me nostalgic for the good old days (which maybe weren't that good, but I was younger and things were simpler). I started watching a lot of documentaries on Wrestling, and then started following the storylines while not actually watching the show again.

Then I saw some of the woman's matches and I found myself pulled back in. The woman's division is by far the best thing they got going. A lot of this it turns out was due to what AJ and a few others had done to create the path for this current generation's female superstars to take things to such a high level.

I had watched this sadly cancelled Starz show called Heels. CM Punk had a small role and I knew who he was, even though I had missed his run in the WWE too. When I was looking up who played one of the female wrestlers on the show I discovered that AJ Lee was Punk's wife. And that was all I knew about her until maybe 2 months ago. Turns out that's one of the least interesting things about her.

CM Punk had famously left the WWE on bad terms, but time (and money) heals all wounds and he returned a few years ago. Then they started to set up a story hinting at the possible return of AJ Lee. When it actually happened, I started reading up more about her and discovered she wrote this book.

I mostly do audio books these days, so it was great to see that she read her own book. AJ is very funny and that comes across in her reading.

AJ is very brave in the stuff she admits in this book. Although as she mentions in the book, after some of the stuff she did in her run in the WWE, there isn't anything that embarrasses her anymore.

There is a lot of wrestling in this book (in particular the last third or so), but much of this book focuses on her childhood, family and her (and her mother's) struggles with mental health. In particular both AJ and her mother are bi-polar.

When I was younger my mom had bouts of depression including a stint in mental help facility. I didn't understand it. It was embarrassing. Or so I thought as a young kid. There is a negative stigma on mental health that is only starting to change in recent years.

I also learned many years later as an adult that my grandmother was bi-polar when she went off her meds are started behaving in ways I had never experienced. Our family had never talked about it. No one explained to us when we were a kid. So I can really identify with some of what AJ went through.

I think some of changes in the stigma on mental health has begun to change thanks to people like AJ. Hearing a WWE crowd cheering for Therapy in 2025 was not something I had on my Bingo card.

The book was fascinating, funny and inspiring. I don't know where AJ Lee's stint in WWE will end up, but I'm interested to find out.

4.5 Stars.

I really enjoyed The Art of Prophecy, but found The Art of Destiny uneven and didn't always keep my attention. This one was a pretty solid finish to the series. There were a few lulls keeping me from giving it a 5, but nothing like the last book.

I came to really enjoy the world and the cast of characters and am sad to be leaving them, but I think that's another sign of a good book.

I'll be curious to see what Mr. Chu writes next.

4.5 Stars.

I really enjoyed The Art of Prophecy, but found The Art of Destiny uneven and didn't always keep my attention. This one was a pretty solid finish to the series. There were a few lulls keeping me from giving it a 5, but nothing like the last book.

I came to really enjoy the world and the cast of characters and am sad to be leaving them, but I think that's another sign of a good book.

I'll be curious to see what Mr. Chu writes next.