Tag: reading

Nettle & Bone

~ Veselin ~ 1 Comment

Nelson Mandela once said that it always seems impossible until it’s done. This book is a fairy tale about an impossible adventure in which princess Marra seeks to help her sister. The sister is stuck into a forced marriage with a king who is torturing her. He is protected by an immortal and almighty fairy godmother and other less visible forces, like an army, and is untouchable. Marra will start a decades long journey where he’ll find support by people and entities with magical powers. Will they succeed on time? After all, a recurring theme in the book is that you can’t help someone who doesn’t want to be helped.

If I were to compare it to other books, Nettle & Bone is reminiscent of Uprooted by Naomi Novik and the first Witcher novel.

Nettle & Bone is an excellent little fantasy with a simple idea and a complex magical system based on millenias of superstition and fairytales. It’s written in a young adult style but covers adult themes like domestic violence. Not sure how to classify it. Fantasy, I guess.

5*/5

January 2025 in Books

~ Veselin ~ 3 Comments

2025 starts well, as if the Goodreads challenge is still usable. I completed many good books last month.

Best books

  1. A Deadly Influence by Mike Omer – I had to read a book that says Instagram is evil. Well written, a bit heavy. 5/5
  2. The Waiting by Michael Connelly – Michael Connelly only gets better with time. His “new” character Renée Ballard is even cooler than Harry Bosch. 5/5
  3. Prisoner of Tehran by Marina Nemat – Liquid anger against the oppressive regime in Iran. 5/5
  4. Night of the Dragon by Julie Kagawa – A slightly romantic finish of a great artifact disposal fantasy. 5/5
  5. Completely nuts by Gilles Legardinier – Low-stakes bubblegum. 5/5

Worst books

  1. Defiant by Brandon Sanderson – Spensa gets misbalanced nerfs and OPs, nothing to read there. 4/5 but really lower.
  2. Rainbow (Дъга 1) – a comic book about the dark twists of ordinary fantasy events. 4/5

Le Cri (Sarah Geringën #1)

~ Veselin ~ 2 Comments

I somehow managed to read a book that’s only available in 6-7 languages, neither of which is English. The title says “The Scream”, and it got creatively translated to “Patient 488” because it starts with the death of a person who has the number 488 on their forehead. The crime scene looks like suicide but officer Sarah Geringën is not going to be fooled and will follow the lead wherever it goes. Unfortunately, some creep shows up who starts extorting her to add suspense to the book. That creep serves no other purpose and annoyed me for hundreds of pages.

The book comes with a subtle sci-fi element. It doesn’t target sci-fi fans, more conspiracy thriller fans, but nevertheless a sci-fi enthusiast could appreciate the absurd scientific theories. It’s unrealistic in the way the Three Body Problem is, which is not a bad book to be compared with.

All in all, I got tricked by the publisher’s “inspired by real events” on the cover and bought a book I shouldn’t have. I was upset that the detective abandoned her craft and started acting Commando very quickly, and I don’t think this is what should’ve happened.

3.5/5 – Not bad, may consider reading the continuation.

2024 In Books

~ Veselin ~ 4 Comments

2024 was the first year in which I managed to go over 100 books. This was a major achievement for me and a result of several circumstances:

  • I reengaged with the gamebook community, which is full of voracious readers (and writers)
  • I discovered the Thraxas and Stephanie Plum series that are super interesting and each book is short, single-thread, bubblegum-ish
  • A few of my friends were inspired to read a lot this year so I was not alone on this journey
  • I ignored several of the latest books by Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie, Zachary Pike, J.K. Rowling, Liu Cixin just because they were too long. Maybe I go back to these works in 2025. Or 2035. Not soon. Ignoring enormous books by otherwise great authors seems to be a good strategy. TL;DR.

Here are the best finds from reading 111 books and 36217 pages:

Best Series

  • Thraxas by Martin Scott – a Pratchett-style comic fantasy series, which I completed entirely in 2024. There are some hints of exploitation in the first 2-3 books.

Top 5 books

  1. We Are Legion by Dennis E. Taylor – Bob starts exploring the galaxy and the opportunities are endless
  2. Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
  3. Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames
  4. Conquer Yourself by Silvia Azdreeva
  5. All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Best Gamebook

Trends

  • Kobolds are everywhere
  • AI is human and should be treated as a life form (yet to find a book say otherwise)
  • Pretty covers sell well

2025

I’m not sure if I’ll try to keep the pace for 2025 yet. I’ll set an official goal to read 52 books, or 1/week for the year.

The Overflow Shelf

~ Veselin ~ 4 Comments

We don’t have lots of space for books and unfortunately I’m able to read and collect them at a pace that’s not sustainable and turns books into clutter. We are experimenting with an overflow shelf to resolve the problem. The way it works is that once I have no space to place a new book, I have to pull out an old one and add it to the overflow shelf for donation.

This is how the overflow shelf looks right now. The local library asked for more Lee Child books and will get some. I hope other people appreciate the latest trend with the Jack Reacher books more than I did.