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35. Myths and Mortals by Charlie N. Holmberg. 3. This midpoint of the series isn't bad, but it mostly feels unnecessary? There's some maneuvering to get the Big Bad in place for book 3, and to develop the romance between Sandis and Rone, but really, none of this book's plot has to do with the overarching plot. It feels like a needless sidequest.
36. Siege and Sacrifice by Charlie N. Holmberg. 3.5. Back on the main plot from book one, this trilogy climax works better than its predecessor. The answers about where the numina came from are appropriately interesting and satisfying.
37. The Devil Comes Courting by Courtney Milan. 5. I love that this is about romance building from trying to figure out how to transmit Chinese characters by telegraph. I love how Milan handles her leading lady's background as a Chinese woman raised by Christian missionaries and the huge baggage that would come with that in the end of the 19th century. And the love interest's resolution with his family issues genuinely made me mist up. (Note: it helps a bit if you've read the previous books in the series, but not completely necessary.)
38. From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout. 2. Look, if you're going to jump on the vampires and werewolves train, you don't need to make up new names for them. Vampryes and wolven indeed. Derivative and honestly, a mess from a world-building perspective.
39. In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren. 3. Groundhog Day style Christmas romance. The first couple time loops are a lot of fun. Unfortunately, because it's a close-third person romance novel, you can't really montage your way through very easily. Which means that the second half mostly abandons the conceit to follow the last time line without much worry that it's going to reset again. At which it becomes not bad, but much less memorable.
40. After the Wedding by Courtney Milan. 4.5. The forced marriage trope has so many opportunities to go wrong, and Milan nimbly dodges them. Still appreciated this one on the re-read.
41. Echoes of Betrayal by Elizabeth Moon. 3.5. Far too much happens to too many characters, but each individual story line is interesting, and with 7 (or 9?) books' worth of history, I've got enough invested to care.
42. Limits of Power by Elizabeth Moon. 3.5. I'm thoroughly enjoying Arcolin the accidental goblin king, and a bunch of the rest of the arcs, but there are too many different characters for anyone to get a really satisfying arc here.
43. Crown of Renewal by Elizabeth Moon. 2. OK, this was a really disappointing conclusion. There were like ten plots here. At least two of them have zero impact on anything and peter out completely uninterestingly. (Camwyn? Stammel? What?) A bunch are rushed. (Why does Arvid's transformation matter?) Both "main" villains are dispatched far too easily after far too much build-up. But really what pissed me off is I started reading this five book series because I wanted to see what happened with the promised ending from Liar's Oath...and after hinting at it for three books, she apparently decided that none of those people were remotely interesting and dumped them all unceremoniously with no impact on the plot.
44. How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler by Ryan North. 4. There are a bunch of these "invent stuff from first principles" books, but North's framing device that this is for someone trapped in the past and his wry, snarky humor bring an extra sparkle to this one. Perhaps a little more practical mechanics and a little less music theory would be helpful for the actual stranded time traveler, but it's a lot of fun.
36. Siege and Sacrifice by Charlie N. Holmberg. 3.5. Back on the main plot from book one, this trilogy climax works better than its predecessor. The answers about where the numina came from are appropriately interesting and satisfying.
37. The Devil Comes Courting by Courtney Milan. 5. I love that this is about romance building from trying to figure out how to transmit Chinese characters by telegraph. I love how Milan handles her leading lady's background as a Chinese woman raised by Christian missionaries and the huge baggage that would come with that in the end of the 19th century. And the love interest's resolution with his family issues genuinely made me mist up. (Note: it helps a bit if you've read the previous books in the series, but not completely necessary.)
38. From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout. 2. Look, if you're going to jump on the vampires and werewolves train, you don't need to make up new names for them. Vampryes and wolven indeed. Derivative and honestly, a mess from a world-building perspective.
39. In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren. 3. Groundhog Day style Christmas romance. The first couple time loops are a lot of fun. Unfortunately, because it's a close-third person romance novel, you can't really montage your way through very easily. Which means that the second half mostly abandons the conceit to follow the last time line without much worry that it's going to reset again. At which it becomes not bad, but much less memorable.
40. After the Wedding by Courtney Milan. 4.5. The forced marriage trope has so many opportunities to go wrong, and Milan nimbly dodges them. Still appreciated this one on the re-read.
41. Echoes of Betrayal by Elizabeth Moon. 3.5. Far too much happens to too many characters, but each individual story line is interesting, and with 7 (or 9?) books' worth of history, I've got enough invested to care.
42. Limits of Power by Elizabeth Moon. 3.5. I'm thoroughly enjoying Arcolin the accidental goblin king, and a bunch of the rest of the arcs, but there are too many different characters for anyone to get a really satisfying arc here.
43. Crown of Renewal by Elizabeth Moon. 2. OK, this was a really disappointing conclusion. There were like ten plots here. At least two of them have zero impact on anything and peter out completely uninterestingly. (Camwyn? Stammel? What?) A bunch are rushed. (Why does Arvid's transformation matter?) Both "main" villains are dispatched far too easily after far too much build-up. But really what pissed me off is I started reading this five book series because I wanted to see what happened with the promised ending from Liar's Oath...and after hinting at it for three books, she apparently decided that none of those people were remotely interesting and dumped them all unceremoniously with no impact on the plot.
44. How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler by Ryan North. 4. There are a bunch of these "invent stuff from first principles" books, but North's framing device that this is for someone trapped in the past and his wry, snarky humor bring an extra sparkle to this one. Perhaps a little more practical mechanics and a little less music theory would be helpful for the actual stranded time traveler, but it's a lot of fun.
