Rob

Executive Summary: I struggled a bit with this one. I liked it more than the Rincewind books, but it's probably my least favorite of the Witch books so far.Full ReviewI own a lot of the Discworld books and I've enjoyed some of them quite a lot, while others I find to be just OK. The Witch books thus far have been better than most, although I'd probably rank them behind both the City Guard series (although I've only read 1 of those) and the Death series.I started this on a plane last month returning from PAX and kind of got bored and switched to watching Netflix instead. There were parts I enjoyed, but often I'd find my attention drifting when reading it and I was never really itching to pick it back up.Like all discworld books it has some great jokes, and I love the cameos by Death. However my favorite witch book continues to be [b:Equal Rites 34507 Equal Rites (Discworld, #3; Witches, #1) Terry Pratchett https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1407706800s/34507.jpg 583611], which as I understand it is the one least like the others. Maybe once Tiffany Aching shows up I'll like them a bit more.There are still a ton more discworld books for me to read and I hear [b:Small Gods 34484 Small Gods (Discworld, #13) Terry Pratchett https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1390899426s/34484.jpg 1636629] is one of the best. So far I haven't had great luck with the stand alones though, and this is one of the few I don't own because I hasn't been on sale yet. I'll probably pick it up later this year, but for now I have other things I'd rather read instead.

Executive Summary: A bit of a slow start, but overall really good. Nearly as good as his Shadow Campaign series. 4.5 Stars.Audiobook: I believe this is the first book I've listened to by Catherine Ho. She does a good job. She does a few voices that add that little something extra that I've come to expect from a good audio book these days. Definitely worth doing in audio..Full ReviewIf you haven't read Mr. Wexler's [b:Shadow Campaign series 15810910 The Thousand Names (The Shadow Campaigns, #1) Django Wexler https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1355441268s/15810910.jpg 21536059], you should stop reading this right now and read that instead. Go ahead, I'll wait. Trust me, it will be worth it.Wow, you're a fast reader! See. I told you it would be worth it!So anyways, I really love that series and I've been recommending it for years. When this series was announced I was a bit disappointed. It seems like the market appeal for “young adult” was too much to avoid. I worried this book would have all the trappings that leaves most YA books pretty unappealing to me.Then again I liked his Shadow Campaign series so much that I picked up his Middle Grade series [b:The Forbidden Library 17987501 The Forbidden Library (The Forbidden Library, #1) Django Wexler https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1372045701s/17987501.jpg 25223481] and ended up liking that quite a bit too, even though I'm not the target audience.Early on I was struggling a bit with the book. I found Isoka to be unlikeable. This was by intent, but she felt like another cookie-cutter anti-hero. However my initial impressions were misplaced and do a disservice to Mr. Wexler's character development. Mr. Wexler has written Isoka to be complex. There are times when I like her, and times when I don't, but I came to understand her more as the book went on.This was not the case with Meroe however. I loved her pretty much from the first time we meet her, and for me she's the real star of the show. Yeah Isoka is a badass Jedi-like fighter, but Meroe is a delight.The world building for this book is also excellent. I love me a good magic system and this one intrigues me. I don't envy the job of fantasy writers trying to come up with something that doesn't seem too derivative and is still appealing to readers at the same time. I have a lot of questions about the nature of magic in this world, especially after some of the developments near the end of the book.I will say this book is still YA for a reason, and I might have liked it a touch better if it weren't, but it probably starts out even stronger than [b:The Thousand Names 15810910 The Thousand Names (The Shadow Campaigns, #1) Django Wexler https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1355441268s/15810910.jpg 21536059] did, at least once the main plot gets going.I'm eagerly looking forward to the next book and Mr. Wexler continues to be one of the best fantasy writers I enjoy that seems to still be under the radar to many mainstream fantasy readers. Maybe this book will have the broader appeal that is lacking in [b:The Thousand Names 15810910 The Thousand Names (The Shadow Campaigns, #1) Django Wexler https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1355441268s/15810910.jpg 21536059] due to the heavy military action. I'll be curious to see if he can match the level of political intrigue of his Shadow Campaign books that turned that series from one I enjoyed to one I loved. Time will tell.

Executive Summary: I found the book dragged a bit in places, but overall was a pretty good. I learned a ton about Bruce Lee that I never knew.

Audiobook: Jonathan Todd Ross does a solid job. For nonfiction I always want a forgettable narrator. What I mean by that is I don't want them to stand out because the book should do the talking. I don't want voices or dramatic flair. I also don't want to be lulled to sleep. Mr. Ross accomplished this

Full Review
I don't remember how old I was when I first saw a Bruce Lee movie. I suspect it was Enter the Dragon, and I was probably a teenager. I grew up loving Asian media, especially anime and martial arts movies. This book gave me the itch to rewatch Enter the Dragon for who knows how many times, and even though it's been probably over 10 years I still know a bunch of the lines.

I would often dream of learning martial arts one day, but never followed through (largely because my parents could never afford it when I was a kid and by the time I had the money myself my desire to learn had mostly dwindled).

I still love Martial Arts movies, but I don't watch them like I used to. It's largely in part to Bruce Lee. Moreso than I realized before reading this book. By the time I was growing up those films were pretty prevalent, good, bad and everywhere in between.

I never realized what a pioneer Bruce was. I also didn't realize what a shitty husband he was. They say never meet your heroes, and for good reason. While I never met him, this book showed me that Bruce Lee wasn't quite the idol material he's often made out to be. He made some good movies, and was a great martial artist. But he like all of us were flawed.

He overcame a misspent youth to go on to inspire millions and died tragically young. I've probably watched his son Brandon's movie the Crow 10x more than I've watched Enter the Dragon, and it's a shame that tragedy has seemed to follow this family.

Overall if like me you loved Bruce Lee growing up, you may find this a pretty interesting read. I especially liked some of the family history as well as the inside details on how Bruce finally managed to break through American cinema and launch the Martial Arts invasion in the US.

Story
Another solid entry in this series. There were some pretty interesting developments in this one that has me wondering where things will be going next. I continue to find this very enjoyable, which seems to be the case with anything Mr. Vaughan writes.

Artwork
The artwork is great. It's still not quite as good as Fiona Staples in Saga, but great. The colors however continue to be my least favorite part. The tones of blues are a bit much for me.

Executive Summary: After a slow start and a few stutters at times, this one ended pretty strong and I'll be looking forward to the next installment. 3.5 Stars, rounded up.

Audiobook: Nick Podehl does his usual excellent job, both in terms of his normal reading voice and the variety of voices he does throughout. His narration definitely helped make the slower parts more bearable.

Full Review
I really enjoyed the first book in this series and was eager for this one to be released in audio. I found the first one to be fun with interesting world building despite not always being the best written.

In this volume, the quality of the writing was a bit more apparent. Not only is Corin overly competent for his skill/power level, there is a tendency for one of the characters to go on endless explaining things in minute detail.

There were still bits early on that I enjoyed, but I thought this book was heading for 3 or possibly even 2 star territory. As the book went on however, I remembered why I enjoyed the first so much as I got sucked into the story.

The problems I had early on didn't disappear, but simply were overshadowed by how much fun I was having with the story. I really enjoy the world and the magic Mr. Rowe has created for this series. I like the creative ways in which his characters use that magic, even if his first year students are far too capable compared to other more experienced and powerful characters.

Overall I found this book fun, despite its issues. It's in the “guilty pleasure” category with potential to be something more as Mr. Rowe continues to hone his writing skills. I'll definitely be picking up the next book in this series, and will likely pick up the prequel book he just released once it's available in audio.

Story
This was another really fun entry. It was cool getting to meet some of the jane's parents, and see them having to scramble to explain away all the crazy stuff that happens at camp.

This series continues to be really enjoyable. It doesn't have the deepest story, but it does have a lot of heart and a great message.

Artwork
I didn't like the artwork as much in this one as past volumes. Some of the characters just seemed off to me. I know there has been a lot of turn over with the artwork, but I'm not really sure if this volume was a change or if I just didn't like it as much.

Executive Summary: This was a decent sequel to [b:Kings of the Wyld 30841984 Kings of the Wyld (The Band, #1) Nicholas Eames https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1477027207s/30841984.jpg 51246585] but I didn't like it quite as much as I hoped I would.Audiobook: Katherine Fenton does a pretty good job with the narration. I'm a bit removed from listening to this book, but I think she did a few voices and read the book in a way that helped keep me engaged even when the story was slow.Full ReviewThis was a very different book than I was expecting. While it's a sequel to [b:Kings of the Wyld 30841984 Kings of the Wyld (The Band, #1) Nicholas Eames https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1477027207s/30841984.jpg 51246585], it's basically an entirely new cast of characters.For the most part I found the characters pretty entertaining. However I really found myself missing the characters from the first one, especially Slow-hand and Moog.While the story was a lot more original than the first book, I found it meandering too much. The first part of the book was almost more of a “slice of life” book than an adventure/action story like I was expecting.It could just be that I wasn't in the right mood for this book, because I still found parts of it really entertaining. I love the idea of a bard protagonist, and that element of the book was probably the best.It really is a book with nested stories as you get to learn more about the members of this new band led by Bloody Rose. Some of those stories I liked more than others, and I think that's what led to my attention wandering at times.Overall, I thought this was a good, but not great book. I'd probably read another set in this world, but it would depend a lot on my mood at the time.

Executive Summary: I found the start slow, but once a certain something happened, things really picked up for me. I'm looking forward to the next book.Full Review[b:The Lives of Tao 15981711 The Lives of Tao (Tao, #1) Wesley Chu https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1361886088s/15981711.jpg 19932371] was a pleasant discovery a few years back. It got better with each book, and really stuck the landing. When this series was announced I was really excited to be returning back to the great world building Mr. Chu established in that series.Io is very different from Tao. And Ella couldn't be any more different from Roen. For that reason I've struggled with this series at times. I liked the first book in the series, but not as much as that original series.I feel like the start of this book had some pacing issues as it felt like Ella was basically avoiding moving the story forward. Then something happened and the story took a turn for the better. The world Mr. Chu has built the Quasings inhabiting humans throughout history is fun to read about. Mix in the spy thriller elements and you've got a winning combination. This series does a good job of continuing on the story from the first series, while being different enough to be redundant.I'm hoping that there is less time between books 2 and 3 than there was between books 1 and 2 because I'm really looking forward to see how this wraps up. This doesn't quite leave off on a cliffhanger, but it does set things up nicely for the next book.

Story
I didn't read very many comics anymore. When I was younger I consumed a lot of superhero stuff, but then I pretty much rolled off with a few exceptions. Then along came Saga. I still don't read a ton of comics, but this series has lead me to pick up several other great series.

With the announced hiatus of this series and the lament of friends of mine about the cliffhanger ending, I debated waiting to pick this one up, but inevitably, there was no way could do that.

This was another great entry in the series, but they've all been great. I don't love the cliffhanger, especially with the series hiatus, but if there is any series worth waiting for it's this one.

Artwork
Fiona Staples is easily my favorite comic artist. Her characters are so great, and often so disgusting. She does such a great job matching Mr. Vaughan's vision that I don't think anyone else could draw it properly. I've read a few other series Mr. Vaughan has written and this one easily has the best artwork.

Executive Summary: A great finish to a really fun series. I'm not a fan of the new novella trend, but this series has shown that it can work really well.

Audiobook: Kevin R. Free once again does a great job with the narration. I hope they bring him back for the novel, because he's become the voice of Murderbot to me.

Full Review
If I'm being honest, I feel like the price point for novellas is a lot higher than you get with a typical novel. I've been spoiled by getting doorstopper fantasy novels of over 1000 pages for less than $20. The average audiobook I consume is roughly 15-20 hours. That makes picking up a book that is less than 4 hours for more than a few dollars seem overpriced.

So why do I bring this up? Well I enjoyed this series so much that I went out and bought it anyways because I didn't want to keep waiting for 3rd and 4th installments to be on sale. This series is a lot of fun and it really fit my mood. You get a good blend of humor and action and very light on the science making it my type of Sci-Fi.

This books brings back some familiar supporting characters that had me engaged right from the beginning. It also did a great job in wrapping up some of the major plot points of the series where you could happily end with this installment, but you'll be glad to pick up another one later.

Thankfully the sequel novel has already been announced and I'm really excited for a full serving of Murderbot. I really enjoyed this series and I'll be picking that up on day one.

Executive Summary: This is the weakest of the series so far, but still pretty enjoyable. It finished much stronger than it started.

Audiobook: Kevin R. Free once again does a good job with the narration. He adds that extra something that makes the audio a great option for this series.

Full Review
After how much I enjoyed the last novella in this series, I immediately went out and got the final two. I found this one started a bit slow. I didn't like the supporting cast in it nearly as much as in the first two stories.

I did eventually warm up to them by the end of the book. Mickie especially definitely grew on me. I loved the way he started to rub off on Murderbot. The fun dialog and good writing carried the slower parts until I started to care more about the new supporting characters

Overall this was a fun entry but didn't add as much to the series as the last two. There were some minor series developments, but much of this story could have been cut without losing too much in my opinion.

Executive Summary: This book seemed to have less high stakes, but I think in many ways I liked it better. Definitely another great entry in this series.

Audiobook: Kevin R. Free once again does a good job at portraying Murderbot. He nails the sarcasm very well. This book definitely works well in audio.

Full Review
I really enjoyed the first book of this series, but I struggle with the rise in popularity of novellas. I've become so spoiled by 20+ hour audiobooks that a 4 hour book feels like a bad deal.

I managed to get this book as part of a buy one get one sale, and realized that despite it's short length it's one of the best series of the last few years. I feel like the stakes of this story wasn't quite as high as the last book, but I really enjoyed the relationship between Murderbot and the Research Transport ship.

It was this kind of slice of life aspect to the story that endeared Murderbot to me even more than the first book.

That isn't to say there isn't any action. Murderbot takes a job protecting humans who just can't help but get themselves in trouble. Luckily our sarcastic TV loving robot is here to save the day!

I enjoyed this so much I decided to just bite the bullet and buy the rest of the series. I'm eagerly looking forward to the final two novellas and to see where things go from here.

Executive Summary: After a bit of a slow start for me, I found this to be a really enjoyable adventure story.

Audiobook: Ralph Cosham does a really good job with the narration. He adds a few voices and has a good reading voice that makes this a book that works really well in audio.

Full Review
This book has been on my to read list for awhile. In fact I've owned not one but two copies for years. I'm not sure why it took me so long to get around to it. I was motivated to finally read it by the release of the new Netflix mini-series.

Initially I was concerned that a story about rabbits was not going to keep my interest, but it ended up working really well. I did find the start a bit slow, but once I got into it I found myself really attached to all the rabbits. I particularly like Hazel, Fiver and Bigwig. But most of the rabbits were pretty memorable.

This book could easily be a coming of age story, or just an adventure story and not fantasy if was about people and not rabbits. However I don't think it would have felt nearly as epic, or the adventure nearly as compelling had that been the case.

This book is written for a younger audience, but done in such a way as to be a compelling read for older people as well. The rabbits are just so well written that you get swept along in the story and don't

I think my favorite aspect of the book was the stories within the stories. Anytime the rabbits would stop and tell stories about the cleverness and cunning of El-ahrairah. All but one of these stories were incredibly enjoyable. The final story was harder to listen to.

I'm glad I finally got around to reading this book and shouldn't have waited so long. It's truly an excellent epic adventure tale.

Executive Summary: OK, but not great. So far I much prefer his more recent Cradle series instead.Full ReviewWhen Will Wight was first recommended to me, this was the book/series that was mentioned. Instead I got a free copy of [b:Unsouled 30558257 Unsouled (Cradle, #1) Will Wight https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1465881128s/30558257.jpg 51106215] and devoured that series.I decided I should circle back and read this series while I'm waiting on the next book in that series. I struggled a bit with this book. It's not bad, but I didn't like it nearly as much as his Cradle stuff.My main issue is that I didn't really find any of the characters likable. I'm not sure who I'm supposed to be rooting for, but I don't really care about anyone. I think we're supposed to feel more sympathetic about Simon, but I just didn't care about him for most of the book.Things did start to change later in the book. I started to find Simon less obnoxious and more interesting. I did think the world building was both interesting and fairly unique. However since I didn't care too much about the characters, it wasn't enough to keep my full interest as I found myself reading only a single chapter then stopping.I plan to continue on to the next book (especially since I bought the series omnibus), but I'll be taking a break to read some other stuff before circling back.

Executive Summary: After a bit of a slow start, I liked this a lot more than I expected to. I guess I'm not quite done with Brandon Sanderson's non-Cosmere stuff after all. 4.5 Stars.

Audiobook: I don't believe I've listened to a book by Suzy Jackson before, but she does a good job. Her normal reading voice is a good fit for the main character and she does a few other voices as well making audio a good option here. I particularly liked her voice for Kimelynn.

Full Review
So after Mr. Sanderson's Reckoner series, I swore off his non-cosmere books for good. My tastes and Mr. Sanderson's work was starting to diverge apparently. When this was announced as a YA sci-fi series, I said: “Nope, not for me.” I didn't even add it to my to-read pile in case I changed my mind later.

Fast forward oh, 6 weeks after it was released and I bought it. So obviously I have really great willpower!

The reality was that I was looking for something light and fun to listen to for my Christmas week driving (14+ hours round trip plus a bunch in between visiting friends and family) and this seemed to fit that bill. Even if I didn't like it very much, there was very little chance of it bringing down my holiday spirits.

Early on I was pretty so-so on the book. I didn't regret buying it, but I was thinking I might have been right to avoid it. Once the main story got going however I started to change my mind. For one thing the dumb humor that drove me nuts in the Reckoners books wasn't here.

There are jokes. Most of them aren't great, but they weren't purposely bad and annoying. Humor isn't Mr. Sanderson's strong suit. In my opinion his best humor often comes when he's not trying too hard.

So as always the world building is fantastic. Since it's sci-fi there is no magic system. However this is far from hard sci-fi so you could almost count his space ship technology as a sort of magic and in that regard I really enjoyed it.

I thought the characters were all pretty good too. I particularly enjoyed Kimelynn. She's my favorite. Spensa was far more likeable than David from the Reckoners series.

I'm interested in the bigger picture of what's going on with humanity. We get some insights near the end of the book, but mostly I had more questions than answers.

So now I'll be picking book 2 up on release day. Maybe Mr. Sanderson and I aren't drifting apart as I thought. I guess I just didn't like his Reckoners books that much.

Executive Summary: A very well written and fascinating look at the rise history of computers and the internet and those who helped to shape it.Audiobook: For any nonfiction book I simply want a narrator who reads at a good pace and tone and is mostly unremarkable. Dennis Boutsikaris was that for me. He did a good job at keeping me focused on the history and not his narration.Full ReviewI added this book to my list after listening to Mr. Isaacson better know work: [b:Steve Jobs 11084145 Steve Jobs Walter Isaacson https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1511288482s/11084145.jpg 16005831]. Jobs was fascinating and that book was well written, but I always feel like he gets way too much credit as an innovator.This book was a nice counter to that. While Jobs is mentioned as appropriate, he focuses mostly on the people whose technical knowledge led to the personal computer, the internet and eventually the smart phone.That said, he does spend time talking about the important of those like Jobs. People who are are to recognize, nurture and market a good idea so it has a chance to make an impact. In fact one of his main themes in this book was how much better innovation works in a team setting than it does with a lone genius.The book is pretty extensive in its coverage. It starts back with Eda Lovelace and ends with the rise of smart phones and social media. There were a lot of details and people I was already familiar with from other computer history books I've read, but there was a lot of material in this book that was new to me.I'm awful at names, so I can't rattle off all the key people, but the way Mr. Isaacson's went about telling the history worked really well for me. I love that he spent time on both the hardware and software and even did a brief chapter on video games. Overall I found this an excellent book both for people completely unaware of computer history or for people like me who are looking for a deeper dive than some other books on the subject.

Top 10 Reads of 20181) [b:Red Sister 25895524 Red Sister (Book of the Ancestor #1) Mark Lawrence https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1481038440s/25895524.jpg 45777900] - 5 Stars - (My Review)2) [b:Wrath of Empire 28811018 Wrath of Empire (Gods of Blood and Powder, #2) Brian McClellan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1507140487s/28811018.jpg 49026466] - 5 Stars - (My Review)3) [b:The Infernal Battalion 25845205 The Infernal Battalion (The Shadow Campaigns, #5) Django Wexler https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1498788742s/25845205.jpg 45746689] - 5 Stars - (My Review)4) [b:Age of War 18052169 Age of War (The Legends of the First Empire, #3) Michael J. Sullivan https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1516720471s/18052169.jpg 25336191]- 5 Stars - (My Review)5) [b:Blackflame 35023786 Blackflame (Cradle, #3) Will Wight https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1493626673s/35023786.jpg 56310116] - 5 Stars - (My Review)6) [b:Skyward 36642458 Skyward (Skyward, #1) Brandon Sanderson https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1531845177s/36642458.jpg 58411143]- 4.5 Stars - (My Review)7) [b:The Calculating Stars 33080122 The Calculating Stars (Lady Astronaut, #1) Mary Robinette Kowal https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1539850192s/33080122.jpg 53735352] - 4 Stars - (My Review)8) [b:Jade City 34606064 Jade City (The Green Bone Saga #1) Fonda Lee https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1513357590s/34606064.jpg 55755047] - 4 Stars - (My Review)9) [b:The Consuming Fire 34942741 The Consuming Fire (The Interdependency, #2) John Scalzi https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1518468399s/34942741.jpg 56211540] - 4 Stars - (My Review)10) [b:The Core 16096968 The Core (The Demon Cycle, #5) Peter V. Brett https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1487946539s/16096968.jpg 21905325] - 4 Stars - (My Review)For the rest of my review here's the report generated by my GoodReads Parser Application and some general comments about the numbers. ^_^***** Yearly Report ****Year: 2018Total Books: 101Rereads: 8My reading is up for the first time in several years, at least in terms of total books. I did slightly more rereading this year than last, but I've kept it below my goal of 10 or less so as to focus on new stuff. ****** Format Breakdown ******Total AUDIO_BOOK Count: 61 (60.40%)Total BOOK Count: 7 (6.93%)Total EBOOK Count: 14 (13.86%)Total GRAPHIC_NOVEL Count: 19 (18.81%)Part of total increase appears to be a huge spike in Graphic Novels this year. I nearly doubled the number I read in 2017, accounting for a 5% increase of my total consumption. That 5% drop seems to have come off of my audio books, despite their total also being up this year. The number of physical books read continues to decline while ebooks consumption doubled.******* Genre Breakdown ******Total FANTASY Count: 57 (56.44%)Total HISTORICAL Count: 2 (1.98%)Total HORROR Count: 2 (1.98%)Total HUMOR Count: 1 (0.99%)Total NONFICTION Count: 6 (5.94%)Total SCIFI Count: 31 (30.69%)Total THRILLER Count: 2 (1.98%)Hey look I read a lot of fantasy and a fair bit of Sci-Fi. I kept that line from my 2017 review, because it continues to be very true every year. Despite reading 10 more fantasy books in 2018 than 2017, my percentage dropped slightly. Sci-fi consumption was also slightly down (in terms of percentage). So instead of last year's 90%, I'm down to a much more reasonable 87%!The biggest deltas this year seems to be in terms of nonfiction and some horror. The latter is something I don't typically read unless it's basically dark fantasy.******** Author Gender Breakdown ********Total MALE Count: 74 (73.27%)Total FEMALE Count: 26 (25.74%)My ratio is about 2% better than last year, but still pretty unbalanced. I'm not necessarily looking for a 50% balance, but it'd be nice to get it closer. I added a few more new female authors to my list whose books I'll be picking up just as soon as they are published.** Ratings ****Average Rating: 3.83Total 1 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 2 Count: 3 (2.97%)Total 3 Count: 16 (15.84%)Total 4 Count: 73 (72.28%)Total 5 Count: 8 (7.92%)As far as book selection, my average is up a bit this year again. It's once again hovering just under a 4 star rating for the year, so I'm doing pretty well. Of the 4 1&2 star rating books, three were book picks made by someone else. This is my first ever 1-star rating since joining Goodreads over 6 years ago. I'm even more stubborn about 1 star ratings than I am about 5 stars. I usually find some aspect of every book I like, but [b:Night's Master 882258 Night's Master (Tales from the Flat Earth #1) Tanith Lee https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1230090855s/882258.jpg 457123] was a total miss.I had 2 more new 5 star books this year than last year. Of the eight books I gave 5 stars to, three of them were rereads. The percentage of 4 star books was also up this year. So I continue to doing a good job with my book selections overall.Years Published:Total 1818 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 1940 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 1962 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 1975 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 1978 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 1985 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 1986 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 1987 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 1989 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 1991 Count: 2 (1.98%)Total 1996 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 1997 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 1998 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 1999 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 2000 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 2001 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 2002 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 2003 Count: 2 (1.98%)Total 2004 Count: 2 (1.98%)Total 2005 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 2007 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 2010 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 2011 Count: 2 (1.98%)Total 2012 Count: 2 (1.98%)Total 2013 Count: 5 (4.95%)Total 2014 Count: 4 (3.96%)Total 2015 Count: 5 (4.95%)Total 2016 Count: 13 (12.87%)Total 2017 Count: 15 (14.85%)Total 2018 Count: 30 (29.70%)Decade Published:Total 1810 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 1940 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 1960 Count: 1 (0.99%)Total 1970 Count: 2 (1.98%)Total 1980 Count: 4 (3.96%)Total 1990 Count: 6 (5.94%)Total 2000 Count: 9 (8.91%)Total 2010 Count: 77 (76.24%)Most of my reading continues to come from books published since 2010, and a good number (30) of my total were published in 2018. Only about 5% of the books I read were published before I was born.Additional Stats:Number of Books: 40Total Pages: 9561Longest Book: [b:Jade City 34606064 Jade City (The Green Bone Saga #1) Fonda Lee https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1513357590s/34606064.jpg 55755047] - 600 pagesShortest Book: [b:Frankenstein; Or, the Modern Prometheus 18488 Frankenstein; Or, the Modern Prometheus Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388194510s/18488.jpg 4836639] - 151 pagesAverage Pages: 239.03Number of Books (Excluding Graphic Novels): 21Total Pages (Excluding Graphic Novels): 6653Average Pages (Excluding Graphic Novels): 316.81Number of Audiobooks: 61Total Audio Hours: 990Longest Book: [b:Shōgun 402093 Shōgun (Asian Saga, #1) James Clavell https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1397228842s/402093.jpg 1755568] - 54 hoursShortest Book: [b:All Systems Red 32758901 All Systems Red (The Murderbot Diaries, #1) Martha Wells https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1484171189s/32758901.jpg 53349516] - 4 hoursAverage Hours: 16.23Another good year for me, and better than I remember since most of my 5 star ratings occurred earlier on in the year. Here's to hoping for a great year of reading in 2019!

Story
I liked the first half of this volume more than the second half. Once again I was surprised at the direction it took. I continue to be surprised at the way story has unfolded. At this point I'm really interested to see where it goes next, but first I'll need to see if I can get a copy of the next 2 volumes as my library doesn't have them.

Artwork
The artwork continues to be fine, but not mind-blowing. So far I feel like this could easily be a novel instead of a comic.

Story
I started this one incredibly confused. Where was Ms. Marvel? Eventually I found out, but I can't recall if I was forgetting something important from the last volume or what. I'm still not really sure. I didn't read it that long ago, but I found the start of this pretty jarring.

Once I got my bearings, this was another enjoyable volume. It's a little bittersweet for me since it was announced this week that Ms. Wilson will be leaving the series next year. That means I don't have much longer with her as the writer.

This is the only superhero comic I read, in particular since I really enjoyed her novel, and I'm going to be sad to see her run come to an end.

Artwork
I've lost track of the artists at this point. I have no idea if this the same one as last volume or another new one. I think the art has been solid no matter who they've gotten to do it though, and this one is no different.

Executive Summary: This was very interesting. I enjoyed his stories about Malcolm in the Middle and Breaking Bad best, but he's lived a pretty interesting life so far.

Audiobook: Byran Cranston does an excellent job in narrating his own book. He pulls out a little Hal and some Walter White when appropriate, among some other extras that make doing this in audio a bonus.

Full Review
I picked this up on sale last month along with several other nonfiction books. I (like many people I image) loved Breaking Bad. I first encountered Brian Cranston on Malcolm in the Middle. Or so I thought.

I vaguely remembered his role on Seinfeld, but never put together that's who he was until much later. When I first heard about Breaking Bad I thought “the goofy dad from Malcolm in the Middle?”, but he showed he has a lot of range.

Cranston was a working actor for most of his life, but he's a huge name these days. He has a lot of interesting stories about his life and his career. I found this to be an entertaining book. If you're a fan of the actor, you may find this one worth picking up.

Executive Summary: This book wasn't really for me. It's more about the journey than anything else, and I found the journey full of lulls. 2.5 Stars.

Audiobook: I'm generally not a fan of authors reading their own work. I think this story might have been better with a different narrator. Mr. Crowley isn't bad per-say, but his voice is kind of soothing and when the story was slow, it was easy to sort of lose my concentration.

Full Review
There have been a few books whose point is the journey that I've liked, but those are few and far between. This one was OK, but I often found myself bored.

I love the portrayal of the crows, in particular the titular character. However I guess I don't find crow life very exciting. My favorite parts were some of the relationships that Dar Oakely had. In particular I liked his first real relationship with a human.

Often though I found I just didn't really care what he was up to. I think this is one of those books where you'll just love the prose and sort of slice of crow life, or you'll find it mostly boring as I did. Despite being well written, it just wasn't a great fit for me.

Executive Summary: A slow start, but a strong finish made this a pretty enjoyable read. 3.5 Stars.

Audiobook: This is the first book I've listened to narrated by Jeff Harding. I thought he did a really good job. He does a few voices and reads with a good cadence and volume. This is definitely one of those books that works well in audio.

Full Review
Their on a mission from god! When Jake Blues finds out his childhood home is going to be closed unless he can raise $5000 in short order he convinces his brother Elwood to help him get the band back together and crazy hijinks ensue.

OK, so I might have gotten some of those details slightly wrong, but every time they said “We're getting the band back together” (and this happened a fair bit) I just kept thinking of the Blues Brothers movie.

Instead of Jake and Elwood we have Golden Gabe and Slowhand Clay Cooper who set out on adventure to reunite their once great band of adventurers, the legendary Saga, in order to save Gabe's daughter from an angry horde.

I thought most of the characters were a bit cookie cutter, but still fun. Clay was a sympathetic protagonist, and Gabe made for a fine catalyst, but neither are especially memorable in the pantheon of fantasy characters. The rest of the band is about the same. They all fill their role, but nothing we haven't really seen before. The long exception is probably Moog the Wizard. The crazy wizard isn't exactly new, but I still found him a lot of fun.

My favorite character however probably has to be the bandit leader Jane. She's a pretty minor character, but is very memorable. I hope she plays a larger role in sequel.

The world building felt like it was based on D&D manual, which works well for me. There was a variety of classes and monsters straight out of the manual.

That said, the book was still a lot of fun. Nothing like some old and out of shape heroes stumbling their way through a dangerous world full of monsters.

Despite very familiar themes, I was hooked in by the end eager to find out what would happen next. This book was far from groundbreaking, but I enjoyed it enough to continue on with the series.

Story
Once again this volumes provides a bunch of answers only to immediately create even more questions to take their place.

And now that I'm caught up with the trade paperbacks, I'll have to wait to find out what comes next. I'll definitely be picking up the next volume of this just as soon as I can borrow it from the library.

Artwork
Once again, the artwork is good, but the blue color tones overtake everything. I think after four volumes I'm starting to get used to it though.

Story
At first this had a bit of a Stranger Things vibe. A group of 4 preteens riding around on bikes in the eighties. However once the story got going, the similarities ended there.

So far the premise has been pretty good. I'm really curious what is going on and why. I'm glad I can jump right into the second volume, because I have a TON of questions.

Artwork
I think the artwork on this is pretty good. It's not as good as Saga, but still pretty well done. The colors are a bit confusing at times. Everything has a sort of blue or pink overtone to it. It's good, but different from most comics I've read.

Story
I'm not sure how I hadn't heard of this series until recently, because it's really good. I might even like it more than Saga, as blasphemous as that sounds.

Really though, it just means I really enjoy Brian K. Vaughn's work a lot. I'm really curious to see where things go from here. I like the way he's handling the time travel so far. I have no idea who to trust beyond the paper girls themselves.

Artwork
Once again, I enjoy the artwork, but the colors continue to stand out. It's all just so dark blue. It's kind of a muted effect over everything. It's still enjoyable, but I find it a bit distracting.