ThatBookIsOnFiyah

  4/5 stars. Another highly enjoyable book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. This story covers the highly anticipated 9 th level Faction Wars where Carl and Donut have entered their own team in this ancient battle of opposing forces from across the universe. Another interesting feature of this Crawl’s Faction Wars is the surprising addition of an NPC team into the fray. The addition of former crawlers coming back to help the Princess Posse in Faction Wars added an extra dimension to the story that was unexpected, particularly with those individuals who had been authors of the Cookbook in earlier crawls. Personally, I found the previous two entries much more emotionally moving and intriguing in their plotting and story development, but this story was entertaining with ‘aha’ moments, intriguing backstory reveals, and times of sadness or poignancy. In particular, the moments that Carl had with the former Cookbook authors and the emotional connections he made with each of them felt ...

4.5/5 stars. I have seen a great deal of divisiveness about this second entry in the Hierarchy series, and I do not really understand the negative sentiments. It has been a year or so since I read The Will of the Many, which I thought was one of the best books I read last year. It was certainly the biggest surprise for me because it was the first book I had read by Islington. For this new installment, I enjoyed all three of the POVs, although there were times in each of them when I experienced lulls and was looking forward to getting back to the other storyline; however, as a whole, I thought the author did a wonderful job with each point of view and revealed a little more information about the history of the world that was unique to that person’s events so that as the reader, we get a fuller picture of the past and the present than either of the three main characters of the story. I will be intrigued to see where Islington takes the story in each of the three realms, and with each of...

4.75/5 stars. This sci-fi thriller novel from a TV writer/showrunner (Rake) and a prolific sci-fi novel writer (Hart) creates a straightforward story of a two-year mission to Saturn’s moon Titan for the purpose of dropping a satellite into the atmosphere of the moon. The extended plan - to eventually create a human settlement on Titan. This plan is the brainchild of one of our civilian-astronaut main characters, Padma Singh, a brilliant young physicist. The mission is funded by wealthy entrepreneur, and Presidential candidate, John Ward. The story is told from multiple perspectives, including the three professional astronauts (Mike, Della, Alonso), three civilian astronauts (Padma, Ryan, Stitch), John Ward, and his personal assistant Camila. Everything seems to go fine with the preparation and the mission itself until the spacecraft reaches Titan. At that point, the mission seems in jeopardy, but everyone survives only with limited communications for the trip back to Earth. Events fr...

Book Review: The Once and Future Me by Melissa Pace 4/5 stars. At times, early in this story, I wondered at the ideas and whether the historical fiction was written solely to be commentary on the evils of mid-20th Century psychiatric practices. As the story developed, I began to wonder if the events we were witnessing were actually happening or if they were only constructed in the main character's head. The author does an excellent job of keeping the reader wondering and on the edge of their seat as the action unfolds. This story was wonderfully paced and well-written with fascinating questions the author raises throughout the book. First about the unfortunate mental health practices we have overcome in humanity's past; then later, whether the direction we now seem to be going in other aspects of government and technology are similar in nature to those formerly poor choices.  As I mention, the author synthesizes the seemingly different ideas into a common thread by considering ...

Book Review: The Feeding by Anthony Ryan 4.5/5 stars. Anthony Ryan is one of my favorite fantasy authors. This novel is his second foray into the thriller genre after last year’s Red River Seven, which was a very good story. This futuristic post-apocalypse SciFi/horror thriller might be even better. Ryan is an excellent writer. He has a penchant for very fine prose that keeps the reader engaged and actively reading for what will happen next.  The protagonist of this story, Layla, is a young woman caught in a day-to-day survival with her found family. The city surrounded by a protective wall depends on the Crossers, the elite group of selected individuals who are chosen to leave the city to travel the dangerous land, that is occupied by creatures who hunt humans, in order to trade with other settlements where humans are still able to survive. In desperation to save her ‘father’ from an infection, Layla sets out to become a Crosser to find the antibiotics he needs to survive. This is...

Book Review: Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke by Eric LaRocca  4/5 stars overall. This novel consists of three stories that deal with individuals’ need for companionship and community while also addressing aspects of faith and religion.  4/5 🌟. The first story, Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke, deals with the need of a woman to feel wanted, having been abandoned by her family when she came out to them about her sexuality. Her loss of that community leads her into a dangerous online romance with a sadistic woman who becomes her savior figure. The relationship does not end well. Written in a series of emails and Instant Messenger conversations between the two characters, LaRocca keeps you wondering what will happen next.  5/5 🌟. The second story of this triptych, The Enchantment, tells the story of an estranged couple who reunite when their teenage son commits suicide in a very gruesome manner. The parents stay together for their lost son and encou...

Book Review: The Widow by John Grisham 4/5 stars. John Grisham writes about intriguing legal situations, populates those stories with a variety of lawyers, and creates an atmosphere that reflects the world around us. With his recent forays into non-fiction stories of wrongly convicted men and women, I am not surprised to see that this story becomes a mystery like one of these true-life events. For the first half of this novel, Grisham is setting up the story to come, but it honestly becomes a bit tedious in the telling. I understand why the story was told this way, but it was not until about the halfway point that the story really found its focus and started moving forward.  The main character of this story, Simon Latch, a bankruptcy attorney living in a small city in Northern Virginia, barely making enough money to support his family and his gambling habits, is not a likeable person. In fact, there were times during this story when I was ready to DNF this book just because of his ...