One of the rare weeks where I got to read quite a bit.
Read Dark Matter by Blake Crouch. A contemporary sci-fi thriller. It's my first Blake Crouch book and I knew nothing while going on. A quick and very enjoyable read. Recommended for thriller fans, if they don't mind sci-fi.
After that, read The Magician's Guild by Trudi Canavan. It's a first book in The Black Magician trilogy, though it does have a prequel book and a sequel trilogy after that, but I don't know if they the follows same characters or if they are different stories, just in the same universe.
The whole book takes place in one city, and stakes are very personal instead of some world saving quest. It was also a quick and very easy to read book.
Finally, started the most read / mentioned book of these weekly threads, Dungeon Crawler Carl. The book is hilarious, it gave me some of that Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy feel in the start, but it's a very different book.
It is very much a litRPG (have we finalised on litRPG now? what happened to Progression Fantasy? It was at least a better name than litRPG, or is there some difference between the two?), and one issue with the genre is there is rarely any feel of real danger (with some exceptions). This seems to be going the same way, but again, I am still in the start of the first book of eight book series, so anything can change. This isn't a negative though, this is kind of why I like these books, sometimes you just want to read about good guy getting the win, without worrying about if they will win, but it is something to note if you are new to the genre.
Enjoying it enough that I have already ordered the next books, not sure if I'll actually read them back to back, but I am definitely going to continue with the series.
What about all of you, what have you been reading or listening to lately?
Check Official Bingo Challenge Post and the accompanying Recommendations Post for our Bingo for 2026!
Just finished Resolute by Jack Campbell and The Nameless Land by Kate Elliott.
Resolute is one of many in a space military series. In this one, they're on a mission to go make friends with the aliens. Mostly to get the war hero main character out of Space Congress's hair, heh. I really enjoyed it. Jack is great at writing space combat action, and his aliens break the mold in some ways, too.
The Nameless Land is the sequel to The Witch Roads. It's a pretty cozy tale with a sort of tragic romance involving the main character while she's traveling with a VERY ambitious prince with his eye on the crown (nevermind the heir in the way). There's a fair bit of political maneuvering behind the action.
It's also fascinating from a world building perspective. It's a magical setting with a deadly fog that covered swaths of the land. Different cultures have different ways to cope with the danger. There are wizards of a sort and restless guardian spirits keeping watch after a legendary war against sorcerer-kings.
And the main character is not all she seems...
Excellent read, Kate Elliott is one of my favorite authors.
Glad to hear the praise for The Witch Roads and sequel! I came across it on the "trending" books list on kobo and bought it since it was on sale, happy to know it's worth the attention.