The side blog where I am keeping track of the books as I read them. Will include DNFs if I don’t intend to give the book another shot. Might include rereads.
Exit Strategy: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
Book 4. This was SO good! My favorite of them so far. I spent the last half of the book basically on my bed, kicking my feet like a teenager texting their crush while reading it. Very glad to come back around to the Preservation crew again.
This expanded on what was already known about Mensah as a character, which was nice. And also had so much development for Murderbot itself. MB is such an unreliable narrator of it’s own experience, but it’s done is such a way that it’s easy to see the cracks in it’s own perception, which adds so much dimension to the character.
This felt like a good wrap up to the story arc that was set up in All Systems Red. Excited to see what happens in the next book. Would love to see a return of ART.
Per online recommendations, going to jump into Fugitive Telemetry next and then do Network Effect after. Actually, I already read the short story, Home, immediately after. But for sure next is FT.
“The station approach traffic was heavy, and we were showing a twenty-seven minute docking delay. Twenty-seven minutes was more than enough time for me to do something stupid.”
The Murderbot Diaries: Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
Third book. There might be a short stories I’ve missed? But I’ll go back for shorts later if that’s the case.
This was the slowest start in the series so far. I got a little lost in the first half because real life kept interrupting. Also, my brain kept interrupting. But Murderbot itself is so dryly funny and concerningly relatable that it kept me going. Which was great, because the back half was excellent. The ending had me crying a little bit. Poor Miki.
A note on the writing: I’ve noticed the use of “had had” a handful of times over the three books so far. It’s grammatically correct, but included often enough that I noticed this author doesn’t shy away from using it. Often people will work around using that phrase because it can sound a bit odd on the ear. Nothing wrong with using it, just an interesting stylistic quirk.
“Right, so the only smart way out of this was to kill all of them. I was going to have to take the dumb way out of this.”
Artificial Condition: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells
I adore Murderbot, both the character and the series. I found myself missing Mensah, but ART was such a great addition. I’ll miss ART as well. Hoping some of these characters make reappearances.
Murderbot itself continues to have the human experience, both good and bad, as it goes off into the universe to explore its new found autonomy. Answers to questions can be found, but aren’t always satisfying. Humans are baffling. Bots are also similarly baffling.
Book 1 was more of an adrenaline rush than this book, but I loved both. This felt like a very natural progression to the story. This one kept hitting me in the feelings. Murderbot is probably going to end up on my list of favorite characters of all time at this rate.
“There were a lot of things I was going to have to get over.”
The Murderbot Diaries: All Systems Red by Martha Wells
Went into this knowing nothing about it other than having vaguely heard that there’s a show adaptation. VERY pleasantly surprised. It’s a short book. I read it in one afternoon. Wasn’t expecting to get so emotionally invested, or to get such an adrenaline rush during the action scenes. Just really, really liked it.
An android (cyborg?), calling itself Murderbot, hacks its own system and uses this autonomy to half-ass its “job” so it can spend its time watching copious amounts of tv. It’s hilariously and heartbreakingly bad at interacting with humans.
Story focuses on the cyborg, but it’s really about humanity, autonomy, empathy, and capitalism.
“I hate having emotions about reality; I’d much rather have them about Sanctuary Moon.”
Dungeon Crawler Carl: A Parade of Horribles by Matt Dinniman
Spoiler warning!!!
Book 8. It turns out that I can do audio books, or at least an audio and physical/ebook mix, but only when forced to be on airplane mode. However, this was absolutely THE book to primarily audiobook. Chapter 57 Karaoke was a highlight of the entire series and the audiobook performance really elevates the scene.
I really enjoyed this book. Probably ranking it as my 2nd favorite in the series so far, only behind book 4. The more focused/linear plot in this one was a nice change. Book 7 (and 5 and 6) were so chaotic that they were sometimes exhausting. Book 8 I never found there to be too much happening simultaneously, but also it was never boring.
The last 20% of this book feels like the midpoint of a Greek classic, complete with gods that have an Oedipal complex and other crazy family drama, and gods continuously roping in mortals into their nonsense. Always to the mortal’s detriment. Hell, there’s even funky shit going down involving pigs. Very excited to see how that nonsense gets resolved.
Picked this book up with zero expectations and knowing nothing about it. Going off of the cover only, I assumed it would be maybe a cozy, YA book. I was very surprised both by the vibe and by how much I enjoyed it! This reads like a fairytale, though more Grimm than Disney. (And actually, it may be a retelling of one of the Grimm’s tales. Though I don’t recall which one).
The intro is one of the creepiest starts to a book that I’ve read. Turns out it’s a psychological horror story about a controlling, narcissistic (term used loosely/colloquially), mother who is made infinitely more horrifying because she is a sorceress who can use magic to take over/puppet other people.
This is set to a regency backdrop, which I usually find to be low stakes. Or at least, for the sort of high society stories that usually feature in regency books, the stakes all feel low because it’s just artificial. Caused by social pressures and expectations. Great if you like that, but only rarely my thing. While the bones of the plot fall into that same category, the horror element really elevates it to create a sense of urgency and impending doom.
This is a book about women, and really shows a wide spectrum of women as individual people, both good and bad.
It also touches on societal gender issues. Particularly women’s position within society, all the associated pressures of said position, and how easily their place can be upset. With changing povs between Cordelia, the sorceress’ teenage daughter, and Hester, a spinster and sister to the squire whom Evangeline, the sorceress, has set her sights on. The perspectives really contribute to the book feeling balanced. Where if it was all from Cordelia’s pov, there would not have been much forward momentum. If it was all from Hester’s pov, the horror element would not have been nearly as effective.
Overall, this was a really good book.
It was the calm of a burned-out house or a ravaged field, the calm that comes where there is no longer anything to lose. It was almost like being invincible.
The Narrow Road Between Desires by Patrick Rothfuss
A novella. I haven’t actually read the series yet and haven’t made up my mind on if I will make time for it. It’s been on the TBR for awhile, but not a series I’ve ever prioritized. So this is my first Rothfuss book. A friend recommended this novella specifically and said that I wouldn’t need series knowledge to appreciate it. And it was immediately available on Libby.
I don’t have many strong feelings about this book. It was short and fun. And honestly, if it kept that tone the entire novella, I’d probably say it was too one-note for my taste. But the actual heart of the story leans darker and more “real” with its center on a troubled child. That more serious base really does elevate the story.
Occasionally it felt like the narrative style would change for a line, or a paragraph, in a way that was enough to give me pause. Having not read more by this author, I’m not sure if that’s usual for his style, or if it’s just a feature of this book. If maybe the style was trying to mimic the character of Bast with a flip-flop between unserious and whimsical then attempting to be mysterious and wise.
He wasn’t wise, but he had been burned before, and wary was wisdom’s cousin.
As a side note, the ebook was illustrated, and perhaps my favorite part of the entire thing was this one drawing of a kitten:
Baffled that this is a series, but it is book one of Murder In Moonburrow. I basically got dared to read this one, and I always commit to the bit. Have not committed to the bit hard enough to read the others in this series.
I went in with low expectations and it did meet all of my expectations. Book was so bad it was … well, not good, but bad enough to be funny. It was like if someone shook AO3 and collected some fanfiction tropes and just stuck them together.
The predator and prey shifter dynamic was kind of off putting to read, in that “predatory gaze” is an uncomfortable phrase even if in context it wasn’t meant to be a big ick. The characters had no development and motivations that didn’t make sense. The characters and author seemingly forgot there was a murder mystery happening, so it was solved by a side character off page. Plot points were mentioned once then never brought up again. The sexual tension was neither tense nor sexual. It was mostly just awkward. And the actual sex was bland.
Will not be reading the next book, but did have fun laughing at this one.
“Sorry. I could flop over and pretend if it makes you feel better.”
Dungeon Crawler Carl: The Inevitable Ruin by Matt Dinniman
Book 7. Overall, my feelings about this series are very mixed. I loved book 4. I liked 6 and 5 alright. Book 7 had such incredible moments, but also whether I read book 8 is going to depend on if the Katia pregnancy plot features as it’s put me off some. Would probably have ranked book 7 as my number 2, but between the very slow start to the book and that twist at the end, it’s bumped down to 3rd or 4th. Despite having maybe my favorite individual moments of the series.
Everything going on with the AI was very interesting. I love exactly one goat and his name is Prepotente. He made me actually laugh out loud.
The prep work and battles didn’t really do much for me personally. But the appearance and pov chapters from former crawlers and cookbook authors are a series highlight so far. Volteeg and Milk in particular. Glad Carl finally got a hug. That goodbye with Milk and the former and exiting crawlers was so beautiful I cried a little. Then immediately followed by Sledge’s “I made a difference?” Just wonderfully emotional and touching moments.
It would be like having sexual congress with the Sputnik satellite!
Dungeon Crawler Carl: The Eye of the Bedlam Bride by Matt Dinniman
Book 6. The card game and scenario of this floor was confusing so I just wrote it off as YuGiOh and called it good. This book feels more like a setup for the next book, but it did have a lot of really great moments. We finally get a bit of an answer about Agatha. The AI finally gets a moment alone with Carl. I knew Carl’s dad would show up eventually, but nice to finally get some closure on what happened there. Poor Carl. Also, we still hate Bea in this house.
The AI was a standout character this book. I miss Prepopente.
I might take a break before starting book 7. These books have such good characters, but I do wish there was more down time in the narrative to enjoy them. It occurred to me near the end of this book that, while I enjoy the character work, I’m not actually very attached to anyone but Carl and Donut. And I think the issue there is the pacing. Book 4 was such a stand out because it felt like things slowed down enough to take a breath and start developing relationships with these side characters. I don’t know. Maybe just feeling a bit burnt out by the pacing. But I also want to find out what happens to this lucky idiot and his cat.
Dungeon Crawler Carl: The Butcher’s Masquerade by Matt Dinniman
Book 5 of Dungeon Crawler Carl. This book was good. Book 4 is still my favorite of the series, but this is easily my second. It focused more on emotional moments for the characters. The long anticipated Bea reunion happened. Donut and Zev plotted a revolution. And most importantly, Donut finally got fireball.
Bizarrely, in the first half, Carl judging kids art was my favorite part. So funny. Why is there always that one kid named Keith or Kevin or Kyle who is just a little shit?
I really enjoyed Carl just being pissed off. Also, that the larger universe politics is coming into play. This was the strongest book so far in terms of character work and themes, but just didn’t land as strongly for me as book 4 because the internal book plot was so all over the place. It made it hard to focus.
Considering the Signet plot has consistently been what I cared about the least over this series, the ending was a really pleasant surprise for how invested it made me in the outcome in those last 50-ish pages.
Favorite characters are now Carl, the AI, Prepotente, and Samantha.
From chaos we were born and into chaos we will succumb.
Dungeon Crawler Carl: The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman
Book 4. This book made me understand why so many people love this series. This was excellent. Something in the writing shifted this book that I can’t quite find the words to explain. Partly the descriptions felt more like they are being experienced rather than told, and partly Carl as a character was more open to both the other crawlers and to the reader. Maybe something about narrative construction? I’m not exactly sure.
The plot got me interested immediately in the group project but all your group partners are barely competent vibe of this floor. And then eventually turning into the actually functional group project vibe by the end.
Mordecai being consistently ready to throw hands is very endearing. Nice to see him becoming a character rather than just exposition.
I was vibing with this book for the first half and then suddenly it turned into the Untitled Goose Game and I might have lost my shit laughing. It was just so unexpected yet totally in character for the series.
Carl skyrocketed himself into the spot as my favorite character this book. Loving the plotting against the system and the planned chaos.
….
Still, you could do that. You could take a terrible situation and still find moments of peace, even joy.
Dungeon Crawler Carl: The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook by Matt Dinniman
Book 3 of like maybe 7. My favorite of the books so far. It seems to be shifting away from being as heavy on the game info and into more interpersonal issues, which is a good change.
I don’t remember most of this book until the 40% mark, but then the back 60% was the best of the series so far. Moments finally got an emotional reaction from me, which I was really hoping for in this book.
Mordecai was missing for almost all of this book but it was my favorite version of him so far. Not because of his absence, but the attempt at throwing a chair at someone’s head finally gave him some personality.
Carl has become my favorite character. And still enjoying the AI nonsense. We hate Bea in this house.
I think the end fight would be more impactful for readers who find the fighting aspect of these books more interesting. Meanwhile I got very invested in the two sentence mention of Agatha the shopping cart lady.
New achievement! I’m on a train! Choo Choo, Motherfucker.
Book 2 in the Hierarchy series. In the best way possible, I am crashing out over this book. There was one point where I had a minor freak out and told my friends I was chewing at the bars of my enclosure and if they don’t read this book, then I would eat my ereader. I need to discuss.
It took me 4 days to calm down enough to start writing this note.
I enjoyed book 1. The reading experience was top notch, but after a couple days of sitting with the book, I had some critiques. Specifically, the school aspect felt like the author didn’t want to actually write a school, just a plot device. I was ok with this because, generally speaking, I don’t go in for school narratives. The main character suffered from a bit of Mary Sue syndrome in that he was mysteriously good at everything. This issue was tempered by hints of Vis being an unreliable narrator, but was still an issue. And minimally developed side characters. Just to name a few. When recommending book 1, I told people I enjoyed it, but book 2 could drastically change my opinion of the series because I didn’t have full confidence in the writing or direction of the story.
I trust this author knows his characters and has a clear vision for the narrative now. Book 2 was an improvement on book 1 in almost every way, while being incredibly ambitious.
It picks up almost immediately where book 1 ends, with Vis having been copied so there is now a version of Vis in three different, though somehow connected, versions of the world. The broadening of the world from this isolated school was a much needed change from the first book and was done extremely effectively. Each individual world feels incredibly distinct and is built quickly both by what details are included, and in how the three versions contrast with each other. This is true also for the three versions of Vis, who somehow all manage to feel like they are realistically from the same starting point but progressively have such different lived experiences that they are increasingly diverging. And yet, no matter how much each version changes, they are each still identifiably Vis.
Many of the side characters, particularly school classmates, get much needed development. He mostly recovers from the underdeveloped character issue in this book, but one particular character (Emissa), who I felt was the worst offender in book 1, is given an attempt at character rehab that I don’t think quite sticks the landing, but overall this feels unimportant.
The plot is confusing, understandably, throughout most of the book as Vis has to discover what is happening in each of the 3 separate plot lines. But the concepts from each world interconnect and by the end of book 2 it feels like the shape of everyone’s machinations can be seen, if not the detail. This leaves it in a strong position as a setup for book 3.
Dioggo is best boy. ♥️
“Inaction picks a side. Estevan was wrong about many things, but not that.”
“My father once told me that men become their choices, not their intentions. I wonder what he would say to me now.”
Dungeon Crawler Carl: Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman
Book 2 of who knows how many. This was better experienced in book form rather than audiobook. Still feeling kind of confused and overwhelmed by the data side of things, but it was easier to pay attention in the ebook format. The dark scenario is still presented in a light and fun way. I like it, but something about this series is just slipping off my brain so quickly it’s difficult to have a strong opinion on the books as I forget everything but the largest plot beats so fast.
The character work is good. And I finally hit a point where I like Carl well enough. Somewhere around the halfway point of this book I started to appreciate him. Favorite characters are Mongo and the game AI.
“Fun fact. There is not a single dentist from your world left in the dungeon. A few made it to the first floor, but every single one of those fuckers is now tits up.”
This ended up becoming the second and final book in my audiobook experiment. Partially read this one via ebook but didn’t have much reading time and my Libby book lapsed so finished the book via audiobook since it was available immediately through Libby. Overall, this audiobook narrator’s style was more to my preference than most, with the tone and the speed of reading. It is less like a voice acting performance and more like someone reading out loud. This is slightly easier for me to focus on the actual information than a more performative audio. But overall, I felt more lost trying to track the plot than I feel when reading with my eyes.
I picked up this book because I saw on social media that it had similar vibes to the game Hollow Knight, which I love. I agree that it does scratch a similar itch. This is set in a decaying kingdom, and a large portion of the plot is driven by the protagonists fulfilling societal roles, which leads them to slowly uncover the ancient lore of the kingdom. I love the slow piecing together of the complicated history and political structure that remains following ages of internal conflicts. It also reminded me of Perdido Street Station, for its dream-like quality and general “weirdness.” But The West Passage is a more digestible read.
This isn’t hugely character driven, although the main characters are very distinct. The society is interesting in how it is extremely based on the role someone occupies. The society in this book also has an interesting take on gender identity, as it is also role based. People within the society will accept or reject positions based off of their gender identity, as certain roles are women only - not that they don’t accept anyone, but if someone accepts the position, society considers them to be a woman. Characters will reject an apprenticeship because to accept would cause them to become a woman within the social structure. Others seek out certain apprenticeships because they do not want to be considered a man. This is not an overly important or emphasized, but it is an important detail and is a fascinating part of this world and contributed to the real strength of this book - creating an extremely fleshed out world.
Overall, I enjoyed it a lot and will likely reread it either as a physical copy or ebook in full to fill in the gaps I missed during the audiobook.
“They are the dreamer, we the dreamed. Does the dreamer guide the dream, or the dream the dreamer?”
Book 1 of … I don’t actually know how many. This was one of two books I was reading at the same time while trying out audiobooks. Unfortunately, what I’ve learned is that audiobooks really aren’t for me. Can’t focus on them enough to actually keep track of the plot. That said, the narrator for this audiobook has excellent range, and I think it would have been nice if I’d only listened to a couple of chapters of the audiobook instead of the entire thing. Just to appreciate the artistry without detracting from the information. Would absolutely recommend the audiobook version to anyone who enjoys books in that format.
Trying to form an opinion on this book when I missed so much of it is difficult. Overall, it was ok. It reminded me strongly of old Ratchet & Clank games, except less PG, in a good way. It leans in very heavy on just straight up info dumping the tutorial/game rules/exposition, which isn’t to my personal preference. I just can’t bring myself to care about the stats and dungeon world building. When half the book seems to be dedicated to just explaining the games rules, it just doesn’t seem worth the effort. The amount of detail about the “game play” takes a decent premise and bogs it down. I’d rather just play the video game version and go through a 10 minute tutorial level.
However, the humor is usually funny enough and I really like the “voice” of the game AI.
Book 2 will be read as an ebook to compare the experience. Not sure yet if I’ll continue this series after book 2, but trying to give the series a fair shot.
