Jen's bookshelf: all en-US Wed, 09 Apr 2025 19:51:45 -0700 60 Jen's bookshelf: all 144 41 /images/layout/goodreads_logo_144.jpg Comfort Me with Apples 56179382
It's just that he's away so much. So often. He works so hard. She misses him. And he misses her. He says he does, so it must be true. He is the perfect husband and everything is perfect.

But sometimes Sophia wonders about things. Strange things. Dark things. The look on her husband's face when he comes back from a long business trip. The questions he will not answer. The locked basement she is never allowed to enter. And whenever she asks the neighbors, they can't quite meet her gaze...

But everything is perfect. Isn't it?]]>
103 Catherynne M. Valente 1250816211 Jen 0 to-read 3.58 2021 Comfort Me with Apples
author: Catherynne M. Valente
name: Jen
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/09
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<![CDATA[Rewire: Break the Cycle, Alter Your Thoughts and Create Lasting Change]]> 156739318 __________

Change your mind to change your life

Are you stuck in a habit of believing that you are not good enough?

Do you fixate on a particular narrative about yourself that you wish you could change?

Are negative beliefs holding you back from reaching your fullest potential?

If this sounds like you, then Rewire is your personal guide to unpacking the neuroscience behind why we are subconsciously programmed to repeat certain habits and how we can do, or undo, any type of behaviour in order to achieve peak mental wellbeing.

Neuroscientist Nicole Vignola will talk you through the principles of neuroplasticity and explain how her neurohack methods can help you change your behavioural patterns, enabling you to control how you react to whatever life throws your way, from regulating our stress response through to overcoming self-limiting beliefs.

If there are habits and behaviours that are holding you back from being the person you truly want to be, this book will help you recognise that you are not stuck. It will equip you with the tools to rewire your brain so you can become whoever you want to be. Because the habits you create today will determine who you are in the future.
__________]]>
328 Nicole Vignola 1405958995 Jen 0 to-read 4.25 2024 Rewire: Break the Cycle, Alter Your Thoughts and Create Lasting Change
author: Nicole Vignola
name: Jen
average rating: 4.25
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/04/09
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Margo's Got Money Troubles 199534613
“[An] enormously entertaining and lovable book.� —Nick Hornby, New York Times Book Review

A bold, laugh-out-loud funny, and heartwarming story about one young woman’s attempt to navigate adulthood, new motherhood, and her meager bank account in our increasingly online world—from the PEN/Faulkner finalist and critically acclaimed author of The Knockout Queen.

As the child of a Hooters waitress and an ex-pro wrestler, Margo Millet's always known she’d have to make it on her own. So she enrolls at her local junior college, even though she can’t imagine how she’ll ever make a living. She’s still figuring things out and never planned to have an affair with her English professor—and while the affair is brief, it isn’t brief enough to keep her from getting pregnant. Despite everyone’s advice, she decides to keep the baby, mostly out of naiveté and a yearning for something bigger.

Now, at twenty, Margo is alone with an infant, unemployed, and on the verge of eviction. She needs a cash infusion—fast. When her estranged father, Jinx, shows up on her doorstep and asks to move in with her, she agrees in exchange for help with childcare. Then Margo begins to form a plan: she’ll start an OnlyFans as an experiment, and soon finds herself adapting some of Jinx’s advice from the world of wrestling. Like how to craft a compelling character and make your audience fall in love with you. Before she knows it, she’s turned it into a runaway success. Could this be the answer to all of Margo’s problems, or does internet fame come with too high a price?

Blisteringly funny and filled with sharp insight, Margo’s Got Money Troubles is a tender tale starring an endearing young heroine who’s struggling to wrest money and power from a world that has little interest in giving it to her. It’s a playful and honest examination of the art of storytelling and controlling your own narrative, and an empowering portrait of coming into your own, both online and off.

“A wholly original novel. . . . Thorpe is both poetic and profound in the way she brings her remarkable story to an end.� —The Associated Press]]>
304 Rufi Thorpe 0063356589 Jen 0 to-read 3.87 2024 Margo's Got Money Troubles
author: Rufi Thorpe
name: Jen
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[Selected Poems: Dual-Language Edition (Penguin Classics)]]> 376126 Victor Hugo (1802-1885) was the most famous writer in the world. His legacy includes the nineteenth century's most celebrated works of drama, fiction, memoir, and criticism. But in his day Hugo was know foremost as a poet-indeed the greatest French poet of the age. He wrote with passion about history, erotic experience, familial love, philosophy, nature, social justice, art, and mysticism.

In this new bicentennial edition, acclaimed poet and translator Brooks Haxton offers an exquisite selection of Hugo's finest work: love poems, historical tableaux, elegy, and idyll, including his incomparable "Boaz Asleep," which Marcel Proust praised as the most beautiful poem of the nineteenth century.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.]]>
144 Victor Hugo 0142437034 Jen 0 to-read, own 4.28 Selected Poems: Dual-Language Edition (Penguin Classics)
author: Victor Hugo
name: Jen
average rating: 4.28
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date added: 2025/04/05
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Caucasia 33795 䲹ܳ�Danzy Senna's extraordinary debut novel andnational bestseller—Birdie and Cole are the daughters of a black father and a white mother, intellectuals and activists in the Civil Rights Movement in 1970s Boston. The sisters are so close that they have created a private language, yet to the outside world they can't be sisters: Birdie appears to be white, while Cole is dark enough to fit in with the other kids at the Afrocentric school they attend. For Birdie, Cole is the mirror in which she can see her own blackness. Then their parents' marriage falls apart. Their father's new black girlfriend won't even look at Birdie, while their mother gives her life over to the Movement: at night the sisters watch mysterious men arrive with bundles shaped like rifles.

One night Birdie watches her father and his girlfriend drive away with Cole—they have gone to Brazil, she will later learn, where her father hopes for a racial equality he will never find in the States. The next morning—in the belief that the Feds are after them—Birdie and her mother leave everything behind: their house and possessions, their friends, and—most disturbing of all—their identity. Passing as the daughter and wife of a deceased Jewish professor, Birdie and her mother finally make their home in New Hampshire.

Desperate to find Cole, yet afraid of betraying her mother and herself to some unknown danger, Birdie must learn to navigate the white world—so that when she sets off in search of her sister, she is ready for what she will find. At once a powerful coming-of-age story and a groundbreaking work on identity and race in America, "Caucasia deserves to be read all over" (Glamour).]]>
413 Danzy Senna 1573227161 Jen 0 to-read 4.07 1998 Caucasia
author: Danzy Senna
name: Jen
average rating: 4.07
book published: 1998
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/25
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Good Girl 195644142
A girl can get in almost anywhere, even if she can’t get out.

In Berlin’s artistic underground, where techno and drugs fill warehouses still pockmarked from the wars of the twentieth century, nineteen-year-old Nila at last finds her tribe. Born in Germany to Afghan parents, raised in public housing graffitied with swastikas, drawn to philosophy, photography, and sex, Nila has spent her adolescence disappointing her family while searching for her voice as a young woman and artist.

Then in the haze of Berlin’s legendary nightlife, Nila meets Marlowe, an American writer whose fading literary celebrity opens her eyes to a life of personal and artistic freedom. But as Nila finds herself pulled further into Marlowe’s controlling orbit, ugly, barely submerged racial tensions begin to roil Germany—and Nila’s family and community. After a year of running from her future, Nila stops to ask herself the most important question: Who does she want to be?

A story of love and family, raves and Kafka, staying up all night and surviving the mistakes of youth, Good Girl is the virtuosic debut novel by a celebrated young poet and, now, a major new voice in fiction.]]>
368 Aria Aber Jen 0 to-read 3.74 2025 Good Girl
author: Aria Aber
name: Jen
average rating: 3.74
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/25
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Strange Sally Diamond 62322008
Now Sally is the centre of attention, not only from the hungry media and worried police, but also a sinister voice from a past she has no memory of. As she begins to discover the horrors of her childhood, recluse Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends, finding independence, and learning that people don't always mean what they say.

But when messages start arriving from a stranger who knows far more about her past than she knows herself, Sally's life will be thrown into chaos once again . . .]]>
384 Liz Nugent 1844885968 Jen 0 to-read 4.14 2023 Strange Sally Diamond
author: Liz Nugent
name: Jen
average rating: 4.14
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/03/19
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Men Who Hate Women 48635408
Men Who Hate Women examines the rise of secretive extremist communities who despise women and traces the roots of misogyny across a complex spider web of groups. It includes eye-opening interviews with former members of these communities, the academics studying this movement, and the men fighting back.

Women's rights activist Laura Bates wrote this book as someone who has been the target of many hate-fueled misogynistic attacks online. At first, the vitriol seemed to be the work of a small handful of individual men... but over time, the volume and consistency of the attacks hinted at something bigger and more ominous. As Bates went undercover into the corners of the internet, she found an unseen, organized movement of thousands of anonymous men wishing violence (and worse) upon women.
In the book, Bates explores:

Extreme communities like incels, pick-up artists, MGTOW, Men's Rights Activists and more
The hateful, toxic rhetoric used by these groups
How this movement connects to other extremist movements like white supremacy
How young boys are targeted and slowly drawn in
Where this ideology shows up in our everyday lives in mainstream media, our playgrounds, and our government

By turns fascinating and horrifying, Men Who Hate Women is a broad, unflinching account of the deep current of loathing toward women and anti-feminism that underpins our society and is a must-read for parents, educators, and anyone who believes in equality for women.]]>
366 Laura Bates Jen 0 to-read 4.34 2020 Men Who Hate Women
author: Laura Bates
name: Jen
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2020
rating: 0
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Yellowface 62047984
So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song—complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? This piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller. That is what June believes, and The New York Times bestseller list agrees.

But June cannot escape Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens her stolen success. As she races to protect her secret she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.]]>
319 R.F. Kuang 000853277X Jen 3 2025 3.69 2023 Yellowface
author: R.F. Kuang
name: Jen
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2025/02/19
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: 2025
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<![CDATA[We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse, #1)]]> 32109569 Alternate Cover Edition can be found here.

Bob Johansson has just sold his software company and is looking forward to a life of leisure. There are places to go, books to read, and movies to watch. So it's a little unfair when he gets himself killed crossing the street.

Bob wakes up a century later to find that corpsicles have been declared to be without rights, and he is now the property of the state. He has been uploaded into computer hardware and is slated to be the controlling AI in an interstellar probe looking for habitable planets. The stakes are high: no less than the first claim to entire worlds. If he declines the honor, he'll be switched off, and they'll try again with someone else. If he accepts, he becomes a prime target. There are at least three other countries trying to get their own probes launched first, and they play dirty.

The safest place for Bob is in space, heading away from Earth at top speed. Or so he thinks. Because the universe is full of nasties, and trespassers make them mad - very mad.]]>
383 Dennis E. Taylor Jen 2 4.29 2016 We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Bobiverse, #1)
author: Dennis E. Taylor
name: Jen
average rating: 4.29
book published: 2016
rating: 2
read at: 2025/02/19
date added: 2025/02/19
shelves: 2025, audiobook, science-fiction
review:

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<![CDATA[One More Last Time (The Good Guys, #1)]]> 42092378 Er dachte, es sei das Ende, und seine Waffe war bereit, um dies sicherzustellen.

Aber ein merkwürdiges Angebot seines einzigen Freundes kommt in buchstäblich letzter Sekunde. Die Neugier holt ihn ein, und er findet sich in iNcarn8 wieder, ein Spiel, das behauptet, ein ganz neues Leben zu sein. Als Montana, der überlebensgroße Krieger, hat er nun noch ein letztes Mal Gelegenheit, sein Leben in Ordnung zu bringen.]]>
300 Eric Ugland Jen 2 2025, litrpg 4.19 2018 One More Last Time (The Good Guys, #1)
author: Eric Ugland
name: Jen
average rating: 4.19
book published: 2018
rating: 2
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date added: 2025/02/11
shelves: 2025, litrpg
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<![CDATA[Fate's Reckoning (Cyber Dreams #6)]]> 222673268 A cyber-enhanced operator seeks to take down her creators while maintaining her fragile humanity in the thrilling conclusion of this dystopian adventure.

Fighting her way through the dark underbelly of civilization, Juliet Bianchi has become a top-tier mercenary with a heart of gold and a killer smile. A shadowy, high-priced operative embedded with high-tech AI, she goes by the moniker “Lucky,� and the life she once led as a metal scrapper seems eons behind her.

Now, armed with her very own formidable monoblade and fresh ink warning all others not to mess with her lest they become very dead, she’s taking a step away from business to handle something personal . . .

Not long ago, Juliet went to the wall for her former best friend, Ghoul, and her kin—only to end up betrayed in the worst way. She’s finally discovered where her old ally’s been hiding from both her and the dangerous war-devastated Earth.

Who knows whether any of them will survive the reunion, but it’s a risk Juliet must take. Unfortunately, there’s more. The very corporation that developed the tech she carries has been waiting for her to make a mistake like this. A mistake that might deliver her right into their merciless hands.]]>
483 Plum Parrot 1039488374 Jen 0 to-read 4.67 2025 Fate's Reckoning (Cyber Dreams #6)
author: Plum Parrot
name: Jen
average rating: 4.67
book published: 2025
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[Fortune's Envoy (Cyber Dreams #3)]]> 203675980 A low-born, high-tech heroine endeavors to fight the good fight—wherever it may lead—in the third installment of this action-packed sci-fi adventure series.

Once a scrap-wrangling nobody from Phoenix, Arizona, Juliet Bianchi’s life was forever changed when fate handed her a hyper-advanced AI chip that launched her into the arena of high-powered, high-stakes operators. To her surprise—and everyone else’s—she had a natural talent for cybernetic-enhanced mayhem and mercenary work.

Now, that work will take Juliet where she’s always wanted to off world. Unfortunately, the reason is that her faithful friend Honey and a child prodigy she was caring for have been kidnapped. All evidence points to their abductors heading somewhere near Saturn, but to get there, Juliet will have to endure a blast from the past.

Fortunately, joining the crew of a rundown salvage ship, she soon finds herself accepted by the ragtag squad, who appreciate her recently upgraded talents in both combat and tech. And where she’s going, both will be pushed to the limit. Because Juliet isn’t just rescuing her friend anymore. The future of humanity itself is in her hands . . .

The third volume of the hit cyberpunk series—with more than a million views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible! ]]>
473 Plum Parrot 1039452566 Jen 4 4.58 2024 Fortune's Envoy (Cyber Dreams #3)
author: Plum Parrot
name: Jen
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/10
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: 2025, audiobook, cyberpunk, progression-fantasy
review:

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<![CDATA[The Wandering Inn: Volume 2 (The Wandering Inn, #2)]]> 41180829
Erin is running an inn outside the city of Liscor, but she’s no longer alone. Ryoka Griffin, the City Runner, has business in the south of Izril; she’s out on a dangerous delivery of her own. Yet while both young women have finally found their calling, more and more people are beginning to realize that these visitors from Earth don’t belong here.
Erin must find new guests and old for her inn while expanding her tentative business. Staying safe would also be nice. At the same time, some pesky creatures have arrived to herald winter, and they bring mischief and danger unlike anything she’s ever seen. But as more and more children of Earth begin appearing, the cold of winter is the least of Erin’s worries.]]>
1718 Pirateaba Jen 4 2025, audiobook, litrpg 4.47 2019 The Wandering Inn: Volume 2 (The Wandering Inn, #2)
author: Pirateaba
name: Jen
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2019
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/10
date added: 2025/02/10
shelves: 2025, audiobook, litrpg
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Art of the Short Story, The 78223

Part I. Introduction. The art of the short story.-- Part II. Stories [A-J]. Chinua Dead men's path ; Author's perspective, modern Africa as the crossroads of culture -- Sherwood Hands ; Author's perspective, Words not plot give form to a short story -- Margaret Happy endings ; Author's perspective, On the Canadian identity -- James Sonny's blues ; Author's perspective, Race and the African-American writer -- Jorge Luis The garden of forking paths ; Author's perspective, Literature as experience -- Albert The guest ; Author's perspective, Revolution and repression in Algeria -- Raymond Cathedral ; A small, good thing ; Author's perspective, Commonplace but precise language -- Willa Paul's case ; Author's perspective, Art as the process of simplification -- John The swimmer ; Author's perspective, Why I write short stories -- Anton The lady with the pet dog ; Misery ; Author's perspective, Natural description and "The center of gravity" -- Kate The storm ; The story of an hour ; Author's perspective, My writing method -- Sandra Barbie-Q ; Author's perspective, Bilingual style -- Joseph The secret sharer ; Author's perspective, The condition of art -- Stephen The open boat ; Author's perspective, The sinking of the Commodore -- Ralph A party down at the square ; Author's perspective, Race and fiction -- William Barn burning ; A rose for Emily ; Author's perspective, The human heart in conflict with itself -- F. Scott Babylon revisited ; Author's perspective, On his own literary aims -- Gustave A simple heart ; Author's perspective, The labor of style -- Gabriel García A very old man with enormous wings ; Author's perspective, García My beginnings as a writer -- Charlotte Perkins The yellow wallpaper ; Author's perspective, Why I wrote "The yellow wallpaper" -- Nikolai The overcoat ; Author's perspective, On realism -- Nadine A company of laughing faces ; Author's perspective, How the short story differs from the novel -- Nathaniel Young Goodman Brown ; The birthmark ; Author's perspective, On the public failure of his early stories -- Ernest A clean, well-lighted place ; Author's perspective, One true sentence -- Zora Neale Sweat ; Author's perspective, Eatonville when you look at it -- Shirley The lottery ; Author's perspective, The public reception of "The lottery" -- Henry The real thing ; Author's perspective, The mirror of a consciousness -- Ha Saboteur ; Author's perspective, Deciding to write in English -- James Joyce : Araby ; The dead ; Author's perspective, Epiphanies. Part II[ Cont.]. Stories [K-W]. Franz Before the law ; The metamorphosis ; Author's perspective, Discussing The metamorphosis -- D.H. Odour of Chrysanthemums ; The rocking-horse winner ; Author's perspective, The novel is the bright book of life -- Ursula K. Le the ones who walk away from Omelas ; Author's perspective, Le On "The ones who walk away from Omelas" -- Doris A woman on a roof ; Author's perspective, My beginnings as a writer -- Jack To build a fire ; Author's perspective, Defending the factuality of "To build a fire" -- Katherine Miss Brill ; The garden-party ; Author's perspective, On "The garden-party" -- Bobbie Ann Shiloh ; Author's perspective, Minimalist fiction -- Guy de The necklace ; Author's perspective, The realist method -- Herman Bartleby, the scrivener : a story of Wall-Street ; Author's perspective, American literature -- Yukio Patriotism ; Author's perspective, Physical courage and death -- Alice How I met my husband ; Author's perspective, How I write short stories -- Joyce Carol where are you going, where have you been? ; Author's perspective, Productivity and the critics -- Flannery O' A good man is hard to find ; Revelation ; Author's perspective, O' The element of suspense in "A good man is hard to find" -- Edgar Allan The fall of the House of Usher ; The Tell-tale heart ; Author's perspective, The tale and its effect -- Katherine Anne Flowering Judas ; Author's perspective, Writing "Flowering Judas" -- Leslie Marmon The man to send rain clouds ; Author's perspective, the basis of "The man to send rain clouds" -- Isaac Bashevis Gimpel the Fool ; Author's perspective, The character of Gimpel -- Leo The death of Ivan Ilych ; Author's perspective, The moral responsibility of art -- John Separating ; Author's perspective, Why write? -- Alice Everyday use ; Author's perspective, The Black woman writer in America -- Eudora Why I live at the P.O. ; Author's perspective, The plot of the short story -- Edith Roman fever ; Author's perspective, The subject of short stories -- Virginia A haunted house ; Author's perspective, Women and fiction. Part III. Writing. The elements of short fiction -- Writing about fiction -- Critical approaches to literature. Formalist Light and darkness in "Sonny's Blues" / Michael Clark -- Biographical Chekhov's attitude to romantic love / Virginia Llewellyn Smith -- Historical The Argentine context of Borges's fantastic fiction / John King -- Psychological The father-figure in "The tell-tale heart" / Daniel Hoffman -- Mythological Myth in Faulkner's "Barn Burning" / Edmond Volpe -- "Sociological Money and labor in "The rocking-horse winner" / Daniel P. Watkins -- Gender Gender and pathology in "The yellow wallpaper" / Juliann Fleenor -- Reader-response An Eskimo "A Rose for Emily" / Stanley Fish -- Deconstructionist The death of the author / Roland Barthes -- Cultural What is cultural studies? / Makr Bauerlein. Part IV. Glossary of literary terms.]]>
944 Dana Gioia 0321363639 Jen 0 to-read 4.26 2005 Art of the Short Story, The
author: Dana Gioia
name: Jen
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2005
rating: 0
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Bored Gay Werewolf 75374437 272 Tony Santorella 1838957014 Jen 0 to-read 3.47 2023 Bored Gay Werewolf
author: Tony Santorella
name: Jen
average rating: 3.47
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/04
shelves: to-read
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Here One Moment 208516656 If you knew your future, would you try to fight fate?

Aside from a delay, there will be no problems. The flight will be smooth, it will land safely. Everyone who gets on the plane will get off. But almost all of them will be forever changed.

Because on this ordinary, short, domestic flight, something extraordinary happens. People learn how and when they are going to die. For some, their death is far in the future—age 103!—and they laugh. But for six passengers, their predicted deaths are not far away at all.

How do they know this? There were ostensibly more interesting people on the flight (the bride and groom, the jittery, possibly famous woman, the giant Hemsworth-esque guy who looks like an off-duty superhero, the frazzled, gorgeous flight attendant) but none would become as famous as “The Death Lady.�

Not a single passenger or crew member will later recall noticing her board the plane. She wasn’t exceptionally old or young, rude or polite. She wasn’t drunk or nervous or pregnant. Her appearance and demeanor were unremarkable. But what she did on that flight was truly remarkable.

A few months later, one passenger dies exactly as she predicted. Then two more passengers die, again, as she said they would. Soon no one is thinking this is simply an entertaining story at a cocktail party.

If you were told you only had a certain amount of time left to live, would you do things differently? Would you try to dodge your destiny?

Liane Moriarty’s Here One Moment is a brilliantly constructed tale that looks at free will and destiny, grief and love, and the endless struggle to maintain certainty and control in an uncertain world. A modern-day Jane Austen who humorously skewers social mores while spinning a web of mystery, Moriarty asks profound questions in her newest I-can’t-wait-to-find-out-what-happens novel.]]>
512 Liane Moriarty 0593798600 Jen 0 to-read 3.99 2024 Here One Moment
author: Liane Moriarty
name: Jen
average rating: 3.99
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/04
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<![CDATA[A Soldier's Life (A Soldier's Life #1)]]> 207944665 387 Always RollsAOne Jen 0 to-read 4.55 2024 A Soldier's Life (A Soldier's Life #1)
author: Always RollsAOne
name: Jen
average rating: 4.55
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/04
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Big Swiss 60701439
One day, Greta recognizes Big Swiss’s voice in town and they quickly become enmeshed. While Big Swiss is unaware Greta has eavesdropped on her most intimate exchanges, Greta has never been more herself with anyone. Her attraction to Big Swiss overrides her guilt, and she’ll do anything to sustain the relationship…]]>
336 Jen Beagin 1982153083 Jen 0 currently-reading, 2025 3.69 2023 Big Swiss
author: Jen Beagin
name: Jen
average rating: 3.69
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: currently-reading, 2025
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<![CDATA[The Wandering Inn (The Wandering Inn, #1)]]> 41033158
So reads the sign outside of The Wandering Inn, a small building run by a young woman named Erin Solstice. She serves pasta with sausage, blue fruit juice, and dead acid flies on request. And she comes from another world. Ours.

It’s a bad day when Erin finds herself transported to a fantastical world and nearly gets eaten by a Dragon. She doesn’t belong in a place where monster attacks are a fact of life, and where Humans are one species among many. But she must adapt to her new life. Or die.

In a dangerous world where magic is real and people can level up and gain classes, Erin Solstice must battle somewhat evil Goblins, deadly Rock Crabs, and hungry [Necromancers]. She is no warrior, no mage. Erin Solstice runs an inn.

She’s an [Innkeeper].]]>
1235 Pirateaba Jen 4 4.26 2018 The Wandering Inn (The Wandering Inn, #1)
author: Pirateaba
name: Jen
average rating: 4.26
book published: 2018
rating: 4
read at: 2025/02/02
date added: 2025/02/02
shelves: 2024, audiobook, fantasy, litrpg, serials
review:

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Last to Leave the Room 65213922 Last to Leave the Room is a new novel of genre-busting speculative horror from Caitlin Starling, the acclaimed author of The Death of Jane Lawrence.

The city of San Siroco is sinking. The basement belonging to Dr. Tamsin Rivers, the arrogant, selfish head of the research team assigned to find the source of the subsidence, is sinking faster.

As Tamsin grows obsessed with the distorting dimensions of the room at the bottom of the stairs, she finds a door that didn’t exist before � and one night, it opens to reveal an exact physical copy of her. This doppelgänger is sweet and biddable where Tamsin is calculating and cruel. It appears fully, terribly human, passing every test Tamsin can devise. But the longer the double exists, the more Tamsin begins to forget pieces of her life, to lose track of time, to grow terrified of the outside world.

With her employer growing increasingly suspicious, Tamsin must try to hold herself together long enough to figure out what her double wants from her, and just where the mysterious door leads to.]]>
312 Caitlin Starling 1250282616 Jen 0 to-read 3.53 2023 Last to Leave the Room
author: Caitlin Starling
name: Jen
average rating: 3.53
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/26
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The Monster Theory Reader 45038249 A collection of scholarship on monsters and their meaning—across genres, disciplines, methodologies, and time—from foundational texts to the most recent contributions
Zombies and vampires, banshees and basilisks, demons and wendigos, goblins, gorgons, golems, and ghosts. From the mythical monstrous races of the ancient world to the murderous cyborgs of our day, monsters have haunted the human imagination, giving shape to the fears and desires of their time. And as long as there have been monsters, there have been attempts to make sense of them, to explain where they come from and what they mean. This book collects the best of what contemporary scholars have to say on the subject, in the process creating a map of the monstrous across the vast and complex terrain of the human psyche.

Editor Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock prepares the way with a genealogy of monster theory, traveling from the earliest explanations of monsters through psychoanalysis, poststructuralism, and cultural studies, to the development of monster theory per se—and including Jeffrey Jerome Cohen’s foundational essay “Monster Theory (Seven Theses),� reproduced here in its entirety. There follow sections devoted to the terminology and concepts used in talking about monstrosity; the relevance of race, religion, gender, class, sexuality, and physical appearance; the application of monster theory to contemporary cultural concerns such as ecology, religion, and terrorism; and finally the possibilities monsters present for envisioning a different future.

Including the most interesting and important proponents of monster theory and its progenitors, from Sigmund Freud to Julia Kristeva to J. Halberstam, Donna Haraway, Barbara Creed, and Stephen T. Asma—as well as harder-to-find contributions such as Robin Wood’s and Masahiro Mori’s—this is the most extensive and comprehensive collection of scholarship on monsters and monstrosity across disciplines and methods ever to be assembled and will serve as an invaluable resource for students of the uncanny in all its guises.

Contributors: Stephen T. Asma, Columbia College Chicago; Timothy K. Beal, Case Western Reserve U; Harry Benshoff, U of North Texas; Bettina Bildhauer, U of St. Andrews; Noel Carroll, The Graduate Center, CUNY; Jeffrey Jerome Cohen, Arizona State U; Barbara Creed, U of Melbourne; Michael Dylan Foster, UC Davis; Sigmund Freud; Elizabeth Grosz, Duke U; J. Halberstam, Columbia U; Donna Haraway, UC Santa Cruz; Julia Kristeva, Paris Diderot U; Anthony Lioi, The Julliard School; Patricia MacCormack, Anglia Ruskin U; Masahiro Mori; Annalee Newitz; Jasbir K. Puar, Rutgers U; Amit A. Rai, Queen Mary U of London; Margrit Shildrick, Stockholm U; Jon Stratton, U of South Australia; Erin Suzuki, UC San Diego; Robin Wood, York U; Alexa Wright, U of Westminster.]]>
600 Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock 1517905257 Jen 0 to-read 4.48 The Monster Theory Reader
author: Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock
name: Jen
average rating: 4.48
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<![CDATA[The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living]]> 29093292 Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780735211735.

A beautifully packaged daily devotional of Stoic wisdom, featuring new translations of the most celebrated Stoics with historical context and practical tips from bestselling author Ryan Holiday.

Stoic philosophy has long been the secret weapon of history’s greatest and wisest leaders--from emperors to artists, activists to fighter pilots. Today, people of all stripes are seeking out Stoicism’s unique blend of practicality and wisdom as they look for answers to the great questions of daily life.

Where should they start? Epictetus? Marcus Aurelius? Seneca? Which edition? Which translator? Presented in a page-per-day format, this daily resource combines all new translations done by Stephen Hanselman of the greatest passages from the great Stoics (including several lesser known philosophers like Zeno, Cleanthes and Musonius Rufus) with helpful commentary.

Building on the organizational structure in Ryan Holiday’s cult classic The Obstacle is the Way, this guide also features twelve monthly themes (and helpful glossary) for clarifying perception, improving action, and unlocking the power of will. Aimed at the high-octane, action-oriented doers of our wired world, this book brings new daily rituals and new perspectives to produce balanced action, insight, effectiveness, and serenity.]]>
416 Ryan Holiday Jen 1 2025, philosophy 4.33 2016 The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living
author: Ryan Holiday
name: Jen
average rating: 4.33
book published: 2016
rating: 1
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date added: 2025/01/14
shelves: 2025, philosophy
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<![CDATA[Writing New Adult Fiction: How to Write and Sell New-Adult Fiction]]> 19358743 Writing the New Adult Novel is the first book of its kind � an instructional guide on writing “New Adult� novels. In 2012, over 14,000 titles were specified as “New Adult� on ŷ � and that number only continues to grow. The popularity of NA novels continues to grow and writers must approach the elements of storytelling in a completely different mindset. Join Deborah Halverson to learn the essential information, steps, and techniques to draw in the crossover audience.]]> 288 Deborah Halverson 1599638002 Jen 0 2023, writing 4.06 2014 Writing New Adult Fiction: How to Write and Sell New-Adult Fiction
author: Deborah Halverson
name: Jen
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2014
rating: 0
read at: 2024/12/13
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves: 2023, writing
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Soulsmith (Cradle, #2) 32283608
Lindon has reached Copper, taking the first step on the road to power, but the warriors of the outside world are still far beyond him.

To advance, he turns to the arcane skills of the Soulsmiths, who craft weapons from the stuff of souls. With new powers come new enemies, and Lindon soon finds himself facing an entire sect of Golds.]]>
284 Will Wight Jen 0 4.34 2016 Soulsmith (Cradle, #2)
author: Will Wight
name: Jen
average rating: 4.34
book published: 2016
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2025/01/13
shelves: 2024, audiobook, progression-fantasy, science-fiction-fantasy, hybernating
review:

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<![CDATA[The Frozen Realm (12 Miles Below #1)]]> 147989313
The only escape from the deadly climate is beneath the surface, but that doesn't mean it's safe...

Monstrous machines lurk in the depths. Unhinged demigods war against them, dying over and over, treating it all like a game. The depths themselves shift over time, more contraption than rock.

When an expedition into the far uncharted north goes terribly wrong, Keith Winterscar and his father get trapped together in a desperate fight for survival. Stumbling upon an ancient war of titanic scale, the two will need to set their differences aside while they struggle against gods, legends, and the secrets of the realm that lies below.

Don't miss the start of this Progression Fantasy Epic set around a pseudo-medieval society clinging to existence on frozen post-apocalyptic Earth. Impossible odds, weak-to-strong progression, dungeon-delving, epic battles, scavenged tech, prophecy, magic, and mystery�12 Miles Below has something for everyone. Grab your copy today!]]>
540 Mark Arrows Jen 0 2024, audiobook, dnf 4.37 2023 The Frozen Realm (12 Miles Below #1)
author: Mark Arrows
name: Jen
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/13
shelves: 2024, audiobook, dnf
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The Flamethrowers 15803141
The Flamethrowers is an intensely engaging exploration of the mystique of the feminine, the fake, the terrorist. At its center is Kushner’s brilliantly realized protagonist, a young woman on the verge. Thrilling and fearless, this is a major American novel from a writer of spectacular talent and imagination.]]>
383 Rachel Kushner 1439142009 Jen 0 to-read 3.51 2013 The Flamethrowers
author: Rachel Kushner
name: Jen
average rating: 3.51
book published: 2013
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/13
shelves: to-read
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Creation Lake 207300960 416 Rachel Kushner 1982116528 Jen 0 3.35 2024 Creation Lake
author: Rachel Kushner
name: Jen
average rating: 3.35
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/13
shelves: currently-reading, 2025, manbooker
review:

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<![CDATA[Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World]]> 25744928 One of the most valuable skills in our economy is becoming increasingly rare. If you master this skill, you'll achieve extraordinary results.

Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It's a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time. Deep work will make you better at what you do and provide the sense of true fulfillment that comes from craftsmanship. In short, deep work is like a super power in our increasingly competitive twenty-first century economy. And yet, most people have lost the ability to go deep-spending their days instead in a frantic blur of e-mail and social media, not even realizing there's a better way.

In Deep Work, author and professor Cal Newport flips the narrative on impact in a connected age. Instead of arguing distraction is bad, he instead celebrates the power of its opposite. Dividing this book into two parts, he first makes the case that in almost any profession, cultivating a deep work ethic will produce massive benefits. He then presents a rigorous training regimen, presented as a series of four "rules," for transforming your mind and habits to support this skill.

A mix of cultural criticism and actionable advice, Deep Work takes the reader on a journey through memorable stories-from Carl Jung building a stone tower in the woods to focus his mind, to a social media pioneer buying a round-trip business class ticket to Tokyo to write a book free from distraction in the air-and no-nonsense advice, such as the claim that most serious professionals should quit social media and that you should practice being bored. Deep Work is an indispensable guide to anyone seeking focused success in a distracted world.]]>
296 Cal Newport 1455586692 Jen 0 to-read 4.16 2016 Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World
author: Cal Newport
name: Jen
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2016
rating: 0
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date added: 2025/01/03
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<![CDATA[Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World]]> 40672036
In this timely and enlightening book, the bestselling author of Deep Work introduces a philosophy for technology use that has already improved countless lives.

Digital minimalists are all around us. They're the calm, happy people who can hold long conversations without furtive glances at their phones. They can get lost in a good book, a woodworking project, or a leisurely morning run. They can have fun with friends and family without the obsessive urge to document the experience. They stay informed about the news of the day, but don't feel overwhelmed by it. They don't experience "fear of missing out" because they already know which activities provide them meaning and satisfaction.

Now, Newport gives us a name for this quiet movement, and makes a persuasive case for its urgency in our tech-saturated world. Common sense tips, like turning off notifications, or occasional rituals like observing a digital sabbath, don't go far enough in helping us take back control of our technological lives, and attempts to unplug completely are complicated by the demands of family, friends and work. What we need instead is a thoughtful method to decide what tools to use, for what purposes, and under what conditions.

Drawing on a diverse array of real-life examples, from Amish farmers to harried parents to Silicon Valley programmers, Newport identifies the common practices of digital minimalists and the ideas that underpin them. He shows how digital minimalists are rethinking their relationship to social media, rediscovering the pleasures of the offline world, and reconnecting with their inner selves through regular periods of solitude. He then shares strategies for integrating these practices into your life, starting with a thirty-day "digital declutter" process that has already helped thousands feel less overwhelmed and more in control.

Technology is intrinsically neither good nor bad. The key is using it to support your goals and values, rather than letting it use you. This book shows the way.]]>
302 Cal Newport 052553654X Jen 0 to-read 4.06 2019 Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World
author: Cal Newport
name: Jen
average rating: 4.06
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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The 48 Laws of Power 1303 Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this multi-million-copy New York Times bestseller is the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control � from the author of The Laws of Human Nature.

In the book that People magazine proclaimed “beguiling� and “fascinating,� Robert Greene and Joost Elffers have distilled three thousand years of the history of power into 48 essential laws by drawing from the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz and also from the lives of figures ranging from Henry Kissinger to P.T. Barnum.

Some laws teach the need for prudence (“Law 1: Never Outshine the Master�), others teach the value of confidence (“Law 28: Enter Action with Boldness�), and many recommend absolute self-preservation (“Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally�). Every law, though, has one thing in common: an interest in total domination. In a bold and arresting two-color package, The 48 Laws of Power is ideal whether your aim is conquest, self-defense, or simply to understand the rules of the game.]]>
452 Robert Greene 0140280197 Jen 0 to-read 4.11 1998 The 48 Laws of Power
author: Robert Greene
name: Jen
average rating: 4.11
book published: 1998
rating: 0
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<![CDATA[Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long]]> 47930
This story of sunshine, weather patterns, old limitations and expectations, and new realities is delightfully innovative in the best gardening tradition. Four-Season Harvest will have you feasting on fresh produce from your garden all through the winter.

To learn more about the possibility of a four-season farm, please visit Coleman's website .]]>
236 Eliot Coleman 1890132276 Jen 0 to-read 4.30 1990 Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long
author: Eliot Coleman
name: Jen
average rating: 4.30
book published: 1990
rating: 0
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James 173754979 A brilliant reimagining of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn—both harrowing and satirical—told from the enslaved Jim's point of view

When Jim overhears that he is about to be sold to a man in New Orleans, separated from his wife and daughter forever, he runs away until he can formulate a plan. Meanwhile, Huck has faked his own death to escape his violent father. As all readers of American literature know, thus begins the dangerous and transcendent journey by raft down the Mississippi River toward the elusive and unreliable promise of the Free States and beyond.

Brimming with nuanced humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a literary icon, this brilliant and tender novel radically illuminates Jim's agency, intelligence, and compassion as never before. James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first-century American literature.

Alternate cover edition of ISBN 9780385550369.]]>
303 Percival Everett Jen 0 to-read 4.47 2024 James
author: Percival Everett
name: Jen
average rating: 4.47
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/27
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Hell Is a World Without You 202087804 Superbad-meets-Siddhartha playfulness of USA Today best-seller Hell Is a World Without You. During the time of Pizza Hut buffets, 9/11, and all-night Mario Kart parties, a grieving teenager faces a mortal crossroads: fire-and-brimstone certainty vs. forbidden love. And whether or not you’ve ever begged God to delay the Rapture (so you could have time to lose your virginity), that kid’s story is about you.]]> 314 Jason Kirk 1735492647 Jen 0 to-read 4.51 2024 Hell Is a World Without You
author: Jason Kirk
name: Jen
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/26
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Umbra (Sentient Stars, #1) 206755811 Umbra is the first book in the Sentient Stars trilogy, an intergalactic, space opera, adventure story, with a slow burn enemies to lovers romance, told from 3 POV’s with fully sentient starships, a militaristic society, alien worlds, and a signal in the darkness that threatens to destroy humanity.

Earth That Was has faded into myth. After millenia spent wandering, humans are no longer nomads. Twelve tribes stand allied under the United Tribal Axis; but there is a signal in the darkness that threatens to destroy everything.

All Skyla wanted after leaving the Navy was to be left alone. Just her ship, the stars, and a new adventure. But when a strange virus disables her ship, she is thrown into the middle of a conflict she doesn’t understand, forcing her to take on responsibilities she swore she never would again.

Hinata always followed the rules, honor above all else. He always won, until he didn’t. Sentenced to exile for his failures, he is determined to prove himself, until a mysterious woman arrives on his station and chaos threatens to break already fragile alliances.

Freyja was always angry, an outcast, playing the part of admiral and black ops operative. But she is tired of being a pawn in the Empress� games and when she’s stranded on the wrong side of enemy lines after a vengeful battle, she’s forced to ally with her adversaries to clear her name.

A Rogue.
A Commander.
And an Admiral.

Brought together by circumstance, held together by duty.
Can they find a way to work together to save humanity?
]]>
381 Amber Toro Jen 0 to-read 4.32 Umbra (Sentient Stars, #1)
author: Amber Toro
name: Jen
average rating: 4.32
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<![CDATA[When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s]]> 195790601
With the Soviet Union extinct, Saddam Hussein defeated, and U.S. power at its zenith, the early 1990s promised a “kinder, gentler America.� Instead, it was a period of rising anger and domestic turmoil, anticipating the polarization and resurgent extremism we know today.

In When the Clock Broke , the acclaimed political writer John Ganz tells the story of America’s late-century discontents. Ranging from upheavals in Crown Heights and Los Angeles to the advent of David Duke and the heartland survivalists, the broadcasts of Rush Limbaugh, and the bitter disputes between neoconservatives and the “paleo-con� right, Ganz immerses us in a time when what Philip Roth called the “indigenous American berserk� took new and ever-wilder forms. In the 1992 campaign, Pat Buchanan's and Ross Perot’s insurgent populist bids upended the political establishment, all while Americans struggled through recession, alarm about racial and social change, the specter of a new power in Asia, and the end of Cold War–era political norms. Conspiracy theories surged, and intellectuals and activists strove to understand the “Middle American Radicals� whose alienation fueled new causes. Meanwhile, Bill Clinton appeared to forge a new, vital center, though it would not hold for long.

In a rollicking, eye-opening book, Ganz narrates the fall of the Reagan order and the rise of a new and more turbulent America.]]>
432 John Ganz 0374605440 Jen 0 to-read 4.08 2024 When the Clock Broke: Con Men, Conspiracists, and How America Cracked Up in the Early 1990s
author: John Ganz
name: Jen
average rating: 4.08
book published: 2024
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Super Supportive 219634436
But even if he's lucky enough to be one of the few humans granted magical abilities by the extraterrestrial System that's been running things on Earth for decades, his goal of being a battlefield support hero is still a long way off.

He's got determination on his side and maybe a murderous alien desk clerk, too.

The universe is a complicated place. Alden's about to meet it.

Updated weekly on Royal Road]]>
3400 Sleyca Jen 0 4.64 Super Supportive
author: Sleyca
name: Jen
average rating: 4.64
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/22
shelves: currently-reading, 2024, super-hero
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<![CDATA[The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory]]> 176883 The Politics of Reality includes essays that examine sexism, the exploitation of women, the gay rights movement and other topics from a feminist perspective.]]> 192 Marilyn Frye 089594099X Jen 0 to-read 4.15 1983 The Politics of Reality: Essays in Feminist Theory
author: Marilyn Frye
name: Jen
average rating: 4.15
book published: 1983
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/19
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World]]> 58950736 From a New York Times investigative reporter and Pulitzer Prize finalist, “an essential book for our times� (Ezra Klein), tracking the high-stakes inside story of how Big Tech’s breakneck race to drive engagement—and profits—at all costs fractured the world

We all have a vague sense that social media is bad for our minds, for our children, and for our democracies. But the truth is that its reach and impact run far deeper than we have understood. Building on years of international reporting, Max Fisher tells the gripping and galling inside story of how Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other social networks, in their pursuit of unfettered profits, preyed on psychological frailties to create the algorithms that drive everyday users to extreme opinions and, increasingly, extreme actions. As Fisher demonstrates, the companies� founding tenets, combined with a blinkered focus maximizing engagement, have led to a destabilized world for everyone.

Traversing the planet, Fisher tracks the ubiquity of hate speech and its spillover into violence, ills that first festered in far-off locales to their dark culmination in America during the pandemic, the 2020 election, and the Capitol Insurrection. Through it all, the social-media giants refused to intervene in any meaningful way, claiming to champion free speech when in fact what they most prized were limitless profits. The result, as Fisher shows, is a cultural shift toward a world in which people are polarized not by beliefs based on facts, but by misinformation, outrage, and fear.

His narrative is about more than the villains, however. Fisher also weaves together the stories of the heroic outsiders and Silicon Valley defectors who raised the alarm and revealed what was happening behind the closed doors of Big Tech. Both panoramic and intimate, The Chaos Machine is the definitive account of the meteoric rise and troubled legacy of the tech titans, as well as a rousing and hopeful call to arrest the havoc wreaked on our minds and our world before it’s too late.]]>
400 Max Fisher 031670332X Jen 0 to-read 4.27 2022 The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World
author: Max Fisher
name: Jen
average rating: 4.27
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/17
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<![CDATA[Black Pill: How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American Politics]]> 199798813 This tour de force of investigative journalism—in the vein of The Next Civil War and Why We’re Polarized—depicts the United States of America as a country at a crossroads with the battle between the right and left spilling out from the darkest corners of the internet into the real world with often tragic consequences. Award-winning journalist and CNN correspondent Elle Reeve was not surprised by the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. With years of in-depth research and probing interviews under her belt, Reeve was aware of the preoccupations of the online far right and their journey from the computer to QAnon, militias, and racist groups. At the same time, Reeve saw a parallel growth of counterforces, with citizen vigilantes using new tools and tactics to take down the far right. This ongoing battle, long fought mainly on the internet, has spilled out into the real world with greater and greater frequency, culminating in the attempted coup on January 6th. Combining her years of on-the-ground reporting, Reeve clearly illustrates this shocking sweep of violence, where this cultural shift came from, and where it is going. She also introduces us to a shocking but powerful cast of characters, such as the creator of 8chan—an online hub for conspiracies and misogynistic rhetoric—and the white power leader who is still pulling the strings from a prison cell. Uncovering the hidden links between these events and how we can prevent further upheavals of this nature, Black Pill is a necessary read for any supporter of democracy.]]> 304 Elle Reeve 1982198885 Jen 0 to-read 4.17 2024 Black Pill: How I Witnessed the Darkest Corners of the Internet Come to Life, Poison Society, and Capture American Politics
author: Elle Reeve
name: Jen
average rating: 4.17
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/17
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<![CDATA[How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth]]> 105733131
Over the past twenty-five years, the directors of The Moth have worked with people from all walks of life—including astronauts, hairdressers, rock stars, a retired pickpocket, high school students, and Nobel Prize winners—to develop true personal stories that have moved and delighted live audiences and listeners of The Moth’s Peabody Award–winning radio hour and podcast. A leader in the modern storytelling movement, The Moth inspires thousands of people around the globe to share their stories each year.

Now, with How to Tell a Story, The Moth will help you learn how to uncover and craft your own unique stories, like Moth storytellers Mike Birbiglia, Rosanne Cash, Neil Gaiman, Elizabeth Gilbert, Padma Lakshmi, Darryl “DMC� McDaniels, Hasan Minhaj, Tig Notaro, Boots Riley, Betty Reid Soskin, John Turturro, and more.

Whether your goal is to make it to the Moth stage, deliver the perfect wedding toast, wow clients at a business dinner, give a moving eulogy, ace a job interview, be a hit at parties, change the world, or simply connect more deeply to those around you, stories are essential. Sharing secrets of The Moth’s time-honed process and using examples from beloved storytellers, a team of Moth directors will show you how to

� mine your memories for your best stories
� explore structures that will boost the impact of your story
� deliver your stories with confidence
� tailor your stories for any occasion

Filled with empowering, easy-to-follow tips for crafting stories that forge lasting bonds with friends, family, and colleagues alike, this book will help you connect authentically with the world around you and unleash the power of story in your life.]]>
352 Meg Bowles 059313902X Jen 0 to-read 4.02 2022 How to Tell a Story: The Essential Guide to Memorable Storytelling from The Moth
author: Meg Bowles
name: Jen
average rating: 4.02
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/16
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Memories (Continue Online, #1)]]> 41126222 this edition

A man broken by despair and depression, Grant Legate finds himself in a once-in-a-lifetime situation after receiving an Ultimate Edition copy of Continue Online. All he wishes for is a distraction from the thoughts plaguing his waking hours. He dives in headfirst, unknowing of the AIs intentions. They offer him the chance to play as one of their own, a NPC deserving of a proper send off. What he discovers during the journey shakes Grant to his very core.]]>
374 Stephan Morse Jen 0 to-read 4.05 2015 Memories (Continue Online, #1)
author: Stephan Morse
name: Jen
average rating: 4.05
book published: 2015
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/14
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Ghost Chrysalis (Cyber Dreams #2)]]> 198712961
Juliet Bianchi was once just another working drone, struggling to survive in a world where megacorporations reigned, information was power, and that power was worth killing for. Then she stumbled upon a kidnapping gone wrong and ended up with a stolen AI chip that took her from the bottom of the barrel to a top-tier realm of mercs, freelancers, and assorted unsavory folk.

With a little help from her embedded AI, Angel, Juliet quickly proved herself as an operator in that adapting, overcoming obstacles, and kicking some serious ass. Now known as “January� to others in the caper biz, she’s still dealing with a betrayal that put her and her crew in danger—and emptied her coffers to boot. If she’s ever going to get out of Tucson (and maybe off-world), she’ll have to get back on the horse and start pulling some paying jobs.

When she’s hired to infiltrate Grave Industries, Juliet quickly discovers she may have to pay a price of her own. The job requires her to become an entirely different person in body and mind, and the deeper undercover she goes, the more she fears her new identity will control her life far longer than she’d like . . .

The second volume of the hit cyberpunk LitRPG series—with more than a million views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!]]>
402 Plum Parrot 1039441815 Jen 5 4.57 2023 Ghost Chrysalis (Cyber Dreams #2)
author: Plum Parrot
name: Jen
average rating: 4.57
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/13
date added: 2024/12/13
shelves: 2024, audiobook, cyberpunk, progression-fantasy
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The Perfect Run 57065516
Ryan only sees different routes; and from Hero to Villain, he has to try them all. Only then will he achieve his perfect ending... no matter how many loops it takes.]]>
667 Maxime J. Durand Jen 1 4.32 2021 The Perfect Run
author: Maxime J. Durand
name: Jen
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2021
rating: 1
read at: 2024/12/12
date added: 2024/12/12
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<![CDATA[Foundations (Tower of Somnus #1)]]> 61400806 First contact gone wrong. Humanity judged and found wanting. Unlimited power up for grab.

The Galactic Consensus arrived on ships as large as skyscrapers, crafted from glittering alloys that no human scientist could even begin to understand. They followed the trail of century old television transmissions to welcome us into the galactic community� only to recoil in horror at what they found.

They concluded that humans were unfit to be trusted with the advanced technologies that member-states of the Consensus freely traded with each other, installing a relay to warn other ships that we were under embargo, but more importantly, allowing humans entrance into the Tower of Somnus, a multiplayer game of sorts that could be played in one’s sleep. The hope was that humanity would learn proper behavior from playing the game with our more civilized neighbors.

Katherine ‘Kat� Debs, a hereditary employee of one of the megacorporations that ruled the world, eked out a meager existence in a massive arcology of glittering glass and chrome. She dreamt of one day earning enough money to buy her freedom, and was more than willing to break a law here or there in the process. When she is offered an opportunity to enter the Tower of Somnus free of corporate control, she jumps at the chance. After all, the 'game' was more than just a status symbol, players retained the fantastic powers they earned in the game in the waking world as well.

A perfect opportunity to take control of her destiny, or die trying.]]>
463 Cale Plamann 1637661053 Jen 0 to-read 4.32 2022 Foundations (Tower of Somnus #1)
author: Cale Plamann
name: Jen
average rating: 4.32
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[The Mine Lord: A New Epoch for the Dwarves of Ice-Cloak]]> 209282784 A New Epoch for the Dwarves of Ice-Cloak

When a young dwarf named Yorvig travels to a mining claim in the wilds of the Red Ridges, he learns by hard experience that his fellow prospectors are more focused on ore than survival. Thinking he alone can hold disaster at bay, Yorvig plots his way to becoming captain of the mine. He only expected to lead in a fight against starvation, but far greater danger arrives in forms both fair and foul. The mine grows beyond what they ever imagined, and while Yorvig's authority must grow with it, the challenges of love and loyalty will not make it easy—nor will the old foe who is determined to drive their folk from the Red Ridges for good.

The Mine Lord is a standalone novel set in the same world as the author's four book The Dwarves of Ice-Cloak. Originally released as the popular fantasy web serial of the same name, The Mine Lord is now available in paperback and e-book formats. Also available is the short companion novel Jackal of the Waste.]]>
567 A. Trae McMaken Jen 0 to-read 4.45 The Mine Lord: A New Epoch for the Dwarves of Ice-Cloak
author: A. Trae McMaken
name: Jen
average rating: 4.45
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: to-read
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Mistrunner (Mistrunner #1) 197490834
Ninety years ago, Earth was consumed—and irrevocably transformed—by a cloud of alien nanites known as the Mist, bestowing humanity with uncanny abilities and enhancing technology far beyond early twenty-first century science. But these advancements came at a high Billions are dead. The planet has been overrun by vicious monsters. And alien overlords await the opportunity to swoop in and exploit what remains of Earth and its people for all their worth.

Mirabelle Braddock was born into this much-changed world. In the megacity of Nova, built above the flooded ruins of New Orleans, she lives a privileged, though isolated, life as the niece of Jeremiah Braddock. Jeremiah survived the onset of the Mist to become one of the planet’s most dangerous men, and he intends to use his hard-earned power to accomplish a single train Mira to withstand Earth’s imminent Integration into the larger galaxy.

Soon, the alien factions waiting in the wings will descend and strip the planet bare, leaving little more than a wasteland. To ensure Mira’s survival, Jeremiah has given her a unique Tier 7 Nexus Implant, granting her abilities heretofore unseen. Further augmented with cybernetics and an arsenal of advanced weaponry, Mira has the potential to become the most powerful being on Earth—and possibly even save the world from its seemingly inevitable destruction.]]>
492 Nicholas Searcy 1039433359 Jen 0 to-read 4.22 2023 Mistrunner (Mistrunner #1)
author: Nicholas Searcy
name: Jen
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Falling with Folded Wings (Falling with Folded Wings #1)]]> 63188324 Stranded on a hostile planet, one man finds himself thrust into a fight for survival that could decide the fate of an entire world . . .

As an engineer on the arkship Pilgrim-9, bound for the Tau Ceti solar system, Morgan Hall thought his life would revolve around maintaining and repairing the ship and supporting the needs of the five thousand colonists aboard. But when he’s roused early from a 240-year stasis, he’s confronted with chaos.

Along with his shipmates, Morgan is brought down to a planet teeming with peril. Forced to fight for their survival without any of their tech to hand, they must adapt quickly to overcome countless threats in a world where magic is as real as science. Eventually, they begin to create a new existence for themselves.

But just as they’re beginning to feel at home, Morgan and his fellow humans discover the planet is already inhabited by intelligent life-forms—and this native species is cunning, powerful, and all too lethal . . .]]>
539 Plum Parrot 1039417132 Jen 0 to-read 4.24 2022 Falling with Folded Wings (Falling with Folded Wings #1)
author: Plum Parrot
name: Jen
average rating: 4.24
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Electric Angel (Cyber Dreams #1)]]> 192416931 Enter a frighteningly familiar dystopian world with the first book of a new series from the author of Falling with Folded Wings and Victor of Tucson.

In the year 2107, the world has both made astounding leaps forward and reduced humanity to its most basic existence. While the megacorps and those who rule them enjoy lives of extraordinary comfort and ease, most people barely scrape by, doing whatever they can to keep going.

Juliet Bianchi is one of the latter. She works cutting metal in a scrapyard and doesn’t have much to show for it except for a small group of equally bereft, fiercely loyal friends. Still, she maintains a bright disposition, possessing more hope and optimism than anyone would expect her to—and she’s going to need it . . .

When Juliet stumbles upon what looks like a botched kidnapping, the victim dispatches his abductors and lives just long enough to give her a stolen AI chip. This gift soon transforms Juliet from a worker bee into a killer queen. Armed with far more power and skill than she can comprehend—let alone control—she finds herself drawn into a shadowy world where survival itself counts as victory.

Juliet has never been one to push people around. But when it comes to fighting the corrupt corporate overlords, she’s more than happy to push back.]]>
369 Plum Parrot 1039432956 Jen 5 4.43 2023 Electric Angel (Cyber Dreams #1)
author: Plum Parrot
name: Jen
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2023
rating: 5
read at: 2024/12/10
date added: 2024/12/10
shelves: 2024, progression-fantasy, cyberpunk
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Where I End 204294822 At night, my mother creaks. The house creaks along with her. Sometimes in the morning we find her in places. We never see her move. We just come upon her.

Aoileann is cursed. She has no friends, never gone to school. She has never left this windswept craggy isle off the coast of Ireland.

Her mother is cursed: a silent wreck Aoileann calls the “bed-thing.� Alongside her grandmother, Aoileann’s days are an endless monotony of feeding, changing, and caring for the bed-thing.

Their island seems cursed, whispering secrets only Aoileann hears. Then Rachel, a vivacious artist from the mainland, arrives with her colicky newborn. Rachel arouses yearnings Aoileann cannot fully comprehend. Soon, the unfolding of her mother’s secret tragedy and Aoileann’s pursuit of her own dark desires are both destined to unleash a maelstrom upon all three of their lives.]]>
256 Sophie White 1645661857 Jen 0 to-read 3.68 2022 Where I End
author: Sophie White
name: Jen
average rating: 3.68
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/09
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Hurricane Season 46041168 A New York Times Notable Book (2020)
A Guardian Best Book of 2020
A Literary Hub Favorite Book of 2020

The Witch is dead. And the discovery of her corpse—by a group of children playing near the irrigation canals—propels the whole village into an investigation of how and why this murder occurred. Rumors and suspicions spread. As the novel unfolds in a dazzling linguistic torrent, with each unreliable narrator lingering on new details, new acts of depravity or brutality, Melchor extracts some tiny shred of humanity from these characters that most would write off as utterly irredeemable, forming a lasting portrait of a damned Mexican village.

Like Roberto Bolano’s 2666or Faulkner’s greatest novels, Hurricane Season takes place in a world filled with mythology and violence—real violence, the kind that seeps into the soil, poisoning everything around: it’s a world that becomes more terrifying and more terrifyingly real the deeper you explore it.]]>
224 Fernanda Melchor 0811228037 Jen 0 to-read 3.93 2017 Hurricane Season
author: Fernanda Melchor
name: Jen
average rating: 3.93
book published: 2017
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Reasons Not to Worry: How to Be Stoic in Chaotic Times―A Practical Guide to Stoicism for Self-Improvement and Personal Growth]]> 78296954 In this heartfelt and soul-searching work, brimming with warmth, humor, and insight, the beloved Guardian columnist spends a year exploring how to pursue a rich and meaningful life, turning to the wisdom of the Stoics for insights into the deepest questions of existence.

Like many people today, Brigid Delaney was searching for answers to timeless questions: How can we be good? Find inner peace? Properly grieve? Tame our insecurities, such as the fear of missing out? Determine what truly matters?

Centuries ago, the Stoics pondered many of these same questions. And so, at an important inflection point in her own life, Brigid decided to let these ancient philosophers be her guide. Brigid is rash where the Stoics are logical; she runs on chaos, while the Stoics relinquish control of things beyond their reach. Over the course of a year, she dedicated herself to following the wisdom of Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius. She hoped to discover how best to live--how she could use the wisdom of these ancient thinkers to navigate life in the modern world.

In Reasons Not to Worry, Brigid shares what she learned, showing us how we, too, can draw on the Stoics to regain a sense of agency and tranquility and find meaning in our lives. From learning to relinquish control to cultivating daily awareness of our mortality to building community, Brigid's insights are very funny and very wise.

Stoicism can be a tough medicine to swallow, but no longer. Thoughtful, timely, surprisingly practical, and filled to the brim with ways to learn how best to be in the world, Delaney's guide provides compelling and sensible reasons not to worry.]]>
304 Brigid Delaney 0063314827 Jen 0 to-read 3.85 2022 Reasons Not to Worry: How to Be Stoic in Chaotic Times―A Practical Guide to Stoicism for Self-Improvement and Personal Growth
author: Brigid Delaney
name: Jen
average rating: 3.85
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/09
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Lunar Interlude (Cyber Dreams #5)]]> 217511045 A cybernetic mercenary sets her sights on the corporation that forced her transformation in this dystopian sci-fi from the author of Victor of Tucson.

Juliet Bianchi has evolved from a lowly scrap cutter to a fully-loaded, combat-ready dark side operator. Known as “Lucky,� she takes high-risk jobs for high-tech upgrades (you know, like weaponry, super reflexes, mind reading, etc.) that make her nearly invulnerable. Nearly.

Juliet is looking forward to some downtime to recover, recoup, and reunite with her mates from the space salvage trawler Kowashi. But after a while, she gets that old itch she can never quite seem to to infiltrate, and hopefully subvert, the all-powerful WBD megacorporation that created the AI that changed her life—and find out just what the hell she might be becoming.

To do that, Juliet must assemble a team of expert covert mercs to get her inside WBD’s formidable defenses. And to do that, she’ll need the help of the last person she’d ever Tanaka—the man who delivered a brutal beating she almost didn’t survive back on Titan. No one ever said being a hyper-advanced, cyber-enhanced master spy/thief/warrior was going to be easy . . .

The fifth volume of the hit cyberpunk series—with more than a million views on Royal Road—now available in paperback, ebook, and audiobook!]]>
431 Plum Parrot 1039453856 Jen 0 to-read 4.59 2024 Lunar Interlude (Cyber Dreams #5)
author: Plum Parrot
name: Jen
average rating: 4.59
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/08
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<![CDATA[Jovian Reverie (Cyber Dreams #4)]]> 210487296 There’s no such thing as a cyborg vacation in the fourth installment of this action-packed sci-fi adventure from the author of the Victor of Tucson series.

Juliet Bianchi used to be a lowly scrap scrounger in Arizona. But when she was accidentally implanted with a beyond-awesome AI chip, her life changed dramatically—what with all the nanotechnology, bodywork, and other badass enhancements. Now she’s a high-powered weapon-for-hire in hiding as . . . what else? A not-so-lowly scrap scrounger!

When a new gig calls for her to climb aboard a swanky cruise ship on its way to Io, Juliet is more than happy to live the high life for a little while. And it gives her a chance to test out her latest upgrades, which just so happen to include telekinesis and mind-reading. Unfortunately, with great power comes some sort of responsibility.

Because when Juliet tries out her new mental mojo on a crowd of passengers, she picks up some unwanted intel. It seems there’s an assassin onboard who’s on their way to make a hit. Juliet will have to balance being a cold-blooded mercenary herself with stopping a fellow killer. And then things actually get complicated . . .

The fourth volume of the hit cyberpunk series—with more than a million views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible! ]]>
473 Plum Parrot 103945383X Jen 0 to-read 4.60 2024 Jovian Reverie (Cyber Dreams #4)
author: Plum Parrot
name: Jen
average rating: 4.60
book published: 2024
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/08
shelves: to-read
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The Perfect Run III 60001274
Ryan Romano has done it. He has gathered information about all the villains threatening New Rome. He listed all the people he wants to protect. He knows which places he has to blow up and which car he has to steal. All that's left is going back in time one final time, achieve the perfect sequence of events, save everyone, get the girl, and defeat the ultimate enemy.

It's time for the Perfect Run.]]>
656 Maxime J. Durand Jen 0 to-read 4.55 The Perfect Run III
author: Maxime J. Durand
name: Jen
average rating: 4.55
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/06
shelves: to-read
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The Perfect Run II 59130176
Ryan "Quicksave" Romano has begun a new time-loop. His goal? To prevent New Rome's destruction at the hands of the vicious Meta-Gang. To do so, our favorite courier must explore both sides of the law: to become a corporate superhero in one loop, and a scenery-chewing supervillain in the next!

But not is all as it seems. What is this heavy secret that the Dynamis corporation keeps hidden from him? Who is this person who seems to remember events from the previous loop? And most importantly, where did his cashmere suit go?]]>
653 Maxime J. Durand Jen 0 to-read 4.57 The Perfect Run II
author: Maxime J. Durand
name: Jen
average rating: 4.57
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/06
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[The Crystal Shard (Forgotten Realms: The Icewind Dale, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #4)]]> 66693 344 R.A. Salvatore 0786942460 Jen 3 4.13 1988 The Crystal Shard (Forgotten Realms: The Icewind Dale, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #4)
author: R.A. Salvatore
name: Jen
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1988
rating: 3
read at: 2024/12/05
date added: 2024/12/05
shelves: audiobook, fantasy, d-and-d, 2024
review:

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<![CDATA[The Spine of the World (Forgotten Realms: Paths of Darkness, #2; Legend of Drizzt, #12)]]> 171471 416 R.A. Salvatore 0786914041 Jen 0 to-read 3.91 1999 The Spine of the World (Forgotten Realms: Paths of Darkness, #2; Legend of Drizzt, #12)
author: R.A. Salvatore
name: Jen
average rating: 3.91
book published: 1999
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/04
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[The Silent Blade (Forgotten Realms: Paths of Darkness, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #11)]]> 239105 Winner of the Origins Award for best game-related novel of 1998, "The Silent Blade" marked the return of Drizzt to the wind-swept tundra of the Forgotten Realms world. This deluxe reissue features a new Todd Lockwood cover and an introduction from "The New York Times" best-selling author Philip Athans, who has served as Salvatore's editor for almost a decade, starting with the original release of this book. "From the Hardcover edition."]]> 416 R.A. Salvatore 0786913886 Jen 0 to-read 4.13 1998 The Silent Blade (Forgotten Realms: Paths of Darkness, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #11)
author: R.A. Salvatore
name: Jen
average rating: 4.13
book published: 1998
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/04
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Siege of Darkness (Forgotten Realms: Legacy of the Drow, #3; Legend of Drizzt, #9)]]> 239103 337 R.A. Salvatore 0786901640 Jen 0 to-read 4.19 1993 Siege of Darkness (Forgotten Realms: Legacy of the Drow, #3; Legend of Drizzt, #9)
author: R.A. Salvatore
name: Jen
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1993
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/04
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Passage to Dawn (Forgotten Realms: Legacy of the Drow, #4; Legend of Drizzt, #10)]]> 111023
To what? To where?

I ride the waves along the sword coast now, the wind and spray in my face. My ceiling is the rush of clouds and the canopy of stars, my floor, the creaking boards of a swift, well-weathered ship. Beyond that lies the azure blanket, flat and still, heaving and rolling, hissing in the rain and exploding under the fall of a breaching whale.

Is this, then, my home?]]>
339 R.A. Salvatore 0786907509 Jen 0 to-read 4.10 1996 Passage to Dawn (Forgotten Realms: Legacy of the Drow, #4; Legend of Drizzt, #10)
author: R.A. Salvatore
name: Jen
average rating: 4.10
book published: 1996
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/04
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[The Legacy (Forgotten Realms: Legacy of the Drow, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #7)]]> 227454
But Drizzt did not achieve this state of peace without leaving powerful enemies in his wake. Lloth, the dreaded Spider Queen deity of the evil dark elves, counts herself among them and has vowed to end the drow's days of pleasant security.]]>
352 R.A. Salvatore 0786939842 Jen 0 to-read 4.21 1992 The Legacy (Forgotten Realms: Legacy of the Drow, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #7)
author: R.A. Salvatore
name: Jen
average rating: 4.21
book published: 1992
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/04
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<![CDATA[Starless Night (Forgotten Realms: Legacy of the Drow, #2; Legend of Drizzt, #8)]]> 239102 I can find no answers in Mithril Hall....The apparent serenity of Drizzt Do'Urden, the brooding quiet, will show me nothing of the future designs of the drow. yet, for the sake of my friends, I must know those dark intentions. And so I fear that there remains only one place for me to look...

The Underdark. A place of brooding darkness, where no shadows exist, and where Drizzt Do'Urden does not wish to go. The noble dark elf must return there, though, must go back to find his friends in the gnome city of Blingdenstone, and on to Menzoberranzan, the city of drow. Only then can Drizzt discern what perils might reach out from that dark place to threaten his friends in Mithril Hall.

he finds allies where he least expects them and enemies he htough long gone. His scimitars slash at monsters too evil to reside under the sunlight of the surface world, while his inner strength wrestles with the tumult of emotions assaulting the noble drow when he looks once more on his dreaded homeland. All the while Drizzt must fend off the weight of guilt he carries for a dear friend lost to him forever.]]>
320 R.A. Salvatore 1560768800 Jen 0 to-read 4.14 1992 Starless Night (Forgotten Realms: Legacy of the Drow, #2; Legend of Drizzt, #8)
author: R.A. Salvatore
name: Jen
average rating: 4.14
book published: 1992
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/12/04
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[The Halfling's Gem (Forgotten Realms: The Icewind Dale, #3; The Legend of Drizzt, #6)]]> 68396 352 R.A. Salvatore 0786938250 Jen 0 to-read 4.19 1990 The Halfling's Gem (Forgotten Realms: The Icewind Dale, #3; The Legend of Drizzt, #6)
author: R.A. Salvatore
name: Jen
average rating: 4.19
book published: 1990
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/26
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Streams of Silver (Forgotten Realms: The Icewind Dale, #2; Legend of Drizzt, #5)]]> 66692
Bruenor the dwarf, Wulfgar the barbarian, Regis the halfling, and Drizzt the dark elf fight monsters and magic on their way to Mithril Hall, centuries-old birthplace of Bruenor and his dwarven ancestors.

Faced with racism, Drizzt contemplates returning to the lightless underworld city and murderous lifestyle he abandoned. Wulfgar begins to overcome his tribes's aversion for magic. And Regis runs from a deadly assassin, who, allied with evil wizards, is bent on the companions' destruction. all fo Bruenor's dreams, and the survival of his party, hinge upon the actions of one brave young woman.

Streams of Silver is R.A. Salvatore's second book in the Icewind Dale Trilogy, based on the FORGOTTEN REALMS fantasy setting.]]>
342 R.A. Salvatore 088038672X Jen 0 to-read 4.17 1989 Streams of Silver (Forgotten Realms: The Icewind Dale, #2; Legend of Drizzt, #5)
author: R.A. Salvatore
name: Jen
average rating: 4.17
book published: 1989
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/26
shelves: to-read
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Unsouled (Cradle, #1) 30558257
Lindon is Unsouled, forbidden to learn the sacred arts of his clan.

When faced with a looming fate he cannot ignore, he must defy his family's rules...and forge his own Path.]]>
294 Will Wight Jen 4 4.16 2016 Unsouled (Cradle, #1)
author: Will Wight
name: Jen
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2016
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/24
date added: 2024/11/24
shelves: 2024, audiobook, science-fiction-fantasy, progression-fantasy
review:

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<![CDATA[Sojourn (Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy, #3; Legend of Drizzt, #3)]]> 66695 320 R.A. Salvatore 1560760478 Jen 1 4.22 1991 Sojourn (Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy, #3; Legend of Drizzt, #3)
author: R.A. Salvatore
name: Jen
average rating: 4.22
book published: 1991
rating: 1
read at: 2024/11/23
date added: 2024/11/23
shelves: 2024, audiobook, fantasy, d-and-d
review:

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<![CDATA[Reborn as a Demonic Tree (Reborn as a Demonic Tree #1)]]> 192553534
An odd start to a new life. Almost as strange as the humans flying through the skies on flaming swords and challenging the heavens. After all, this is a world where humans could chase the goal of immortality through the art of cultivation.

But Ashlock is merely a sapling in a desolate courtyard, left alone with his thoughts and unable to speak to those passing him by.

Unless he does something about it...

Every day, he grows stronger as he cultivates and uses a suspicious daily sign-in system that grants him powerful skills, mutations, summons, and items, all in exchange for credits earned from eating flesh and watching the seasons pass by.

But his peaceful life and man-eating ways can only go unnoticed for so long. His Qi-rich bark makes him a target for many young masters. If that isn't bad enough, tensions in the demonic sect are at an all-time high with the Beast Tide festers on the horizon.

Ashlock's only option is to grow faster and stronger than any tree has ever done in the history of the nine realms—all while trying to avoid being turned into firewood.]]>
618 Xkarnation Jen 0 to-read 4.31 2023 Reborn as a Demonic Tree (Reborn as a Demonic Tree #1)
author: Xkarnation
name: Jen
average rating: 4.31
book published: 2023
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/23
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Human Insanity (An Outcast In Another World, #1)]]> 59006940
After being thrown into the wilderness of Elatra, a hostile fantasy world ruled by levels, stats, progression, and bizarre video game logic, he finds himself entirely out of his depth. Armed with nothing but a sword and the clothes on his back, he sets out on his the first day, and almost dies. On the second day, he almost dies again. On the third, he began to notice a worrying trend. And almost dies.

It doesn't get any easier from there.

Overcoming the wilds is just the first step in his journey; the society of Elatra is incredibly hostile to humans, having just come off of a devastating war that left over half the population dead, and getting the locals to trust the last human in existence is a struggle in and of itself. Between being powerless in a world that hates him and suffering under a System that is altering his mind in unwanted ways, Rob quickly finds that monsters aren't nearly the biggest thing to worry about.

As far as LitRPG isekai adventures go, Rob drew the short straw in many ways. But that's okay - all the bullshit in the world won't keep him down. He'll carve out a place in this world with his bare hands if necessary. He'll survive, and then he'll thrive.

Whether anyone wants him to or not.]]>
696 KamikazePotato Jen 0 to-read 4.37 2021 Human Insanity (An Outcast In Another World, #1)
author: KamikazePotato
name: Jen
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/23
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Seize the Day: A World Conquest Isekai (Empress #1)]]> 209739201 When an ambitious teenage girl from Earth finds herself in a magical realm, she could be the hero—but she’d prefer to be the villain.

When power-hungry Everly is reborn into a medieval world where elemental magic rules and she receives her elemental servants—the oddly sadistic Eris and the fun-loving Titania—years earlier than one typically would, she knows she’s destined for a command of necromantic magic the likes of which her peers can only dream.

Though she’s the bastard daughter of a count and a precariously positioned concubine, Everly is determined to be a conqueror, warlord, and queen. She could be the hero of the realm, the person to save everyone, with her protectors—the Silver Lance—and her beautiful mage lover by her side.

But Everly’s no hero. She’s an aspiring villain, seeking the freedom that comes with doing wrong. And before long, she’ll make everyone fear the name of the Empress . . .

The first volume of the hit portal fantasy series—with more than 400,000 views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible!]]>
383 J.V. Simms 1039457916 Jen 0 to-read 4.08 Seize the Day: A World Conquest Isekai (Empress #1)
author: J.V. Simms
name: Jen
average rating: 4.08
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/23
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<![CDATA[System Change (System Universe #1)]]> 61588227 Fight, survive, adapt, and rely only on yourself.

That is Derek’s creed, and what's got him through the System Integration on Earth.

Everything changed when the System came. Cute bunnies and beautiful butterflies became savage killing machines. Then the Invaders arrived with a single goal: to obtain ownership of this new habitable planet.

War has raged ever since.

None of this mattered much to Derek, aside from making living a little more perilous. He mostly kept to himself. He was the weird guy who owned a cabin that occasionally came into town for a drink and light conversation. After System Integration, that didn’t change much—he only got stronger.

After years of fighting monsters and Invaders alone he’s become quite adept at surviving. Who needs others to get in the way or worry about?

Until one day, Derek goes against his better judgement. He decides to lend some help on a mission that doesn’t seem too hard� He should have stuck to being alone…]]>
422 SunriseCV Jen 0 to-read 4.40 2022 System Change (System Universe #1)
author: SunriseCV
name: Jen
average rating: 4.40
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/23
shelves: to-read
review:

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Mimic & Me (Mimic & Me #1) 193793223 I’ve become a monster…sort of.

Betrayed and left for dead by a group of slaving nobles, I thought there was nothing left for me but bleeding out as I counted the number of bricks on the ceiling. But fate had different plans.

A gelatinous, gluttonous mimic found me right when I was about to die. But instead of eating me, he started demolishing the food in my pack - sandwiches, cookies, and everything else! Encouraged by my (admittedly forced) generosity, he fused with me, enhancing my body and turning me into a half-man half-mimic monstrosity.

Once a poor, down-on-my-luck scout, I now have new capabilities far beyond anything anyone on Basania has seen before.

The only problem? My new bodymate’s insatiable hunger for cake and human flesh.]]>
668 Cassius Lange Jen 0 to-read 4.22 2023 Mimic & Me (Mimic & Me #1)
author: Cassius Lange
name: Jen
average rating: 4.22
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/23
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World]]> 61108472 The first comprehensive, global history of Silicon Valley, from railroad capitalists to microchip assemblers, showing how Northern California created the world as we know it

Palo Alto is nice. The weather is temperate, the people are educated, rich, healthy, enterprising. Remnants of a hippie counterculture have synthesized with high technology and big finance to produce the spiritually and materially ambitious heart of Silicon Valley, whose products are changing how we do everything from driving around to eating food. It is also a haunted toxic waste dump built on stolen Indian burial grounds, and an integral part of the capitalist world system.

In PALO ALTO, the first comprehensive, global history of Silicon Valley, Malcolm Harris examines how and why Northern California evolved in the particular, consequential way it did, tracing the ideologies, technologies, and policies that have been engineered there over the course of 150 years of Anglo settler colonialism, from IQ tests to the "tragedy of the commons," racial genetics, and "broken windows" theory. The Internet and computers, too. It's a story about how a small American suburb became a powerful engine for economic growth and war, and how it came to lead the world into a surprisingly disastrous 21st century. PALO ALTO is an urgent and visionary history of the way we live now, one that ends with a clear-eyed, radical proposition for how we might begin to change course.]]>
720 Malcolm Harris 031659203X Jen 0 2023, library, hybernating 3.91 2023 Palo Alto: A History of California, Capitalism, and the World
author: Malcolm Harris
name: Jen
average rating: 3.91
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/23
shelves: 2023, library, hybernating
review:

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<![CDATA[Exile (Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy, #2; Legend of Drizzt, #2)]]> 66678 343 R.A. Salvatore 0786939834 Jen 3 4.24 1990 Exile (Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy, #2; Legend of Drizzt, #2)
author: R.A. Salvatore
name: Jen
average rating: 4.24
book published: 1990
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/23
date added: 2024/11/23
shelves: 2024, audiobook, fantasy, d-and-d
review:

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<![CDATA[Homeland (Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #1)]]> 50027 Discover the origin story of one of the greatest heroes of the Realms—Drizzt Do’Urden—in this thrilling first installment of the Dark Elf Trilogy

Drow ranger Drizzt Do’Urden, first introduced in The Icewind Dale Trilogy, quickly became one of the fantasy genre’s standout characters. With Homeland, Salvatore pulls back the curtain to reveal the startling tale of how this hero came to be—how this one lone drow walked out of the shadowy depths of the Underdark; how he left behind an evil society and a family that wanted him dead.

As the third son of Mother Malice and weaponmaster Zaknafein, Drizzt Do’Urden is meant to be sacrificed to Lolth, the evil Spider Queen, per drow tradition. But with the unexpected death of his older brother, young Drizzt is spared—and, as a result, further ostracized by his family. As Drizzt grows older, developing his swordsmanship skills and studying at the Academy, he begins to realize that his idea of good and evil does not match up with those of his fellow drow. Can Drizzt stay true to himself in a such an unforgiving, unprincipled world?

Homeland is the first book in the Dark Elf Trilogy and the Legend of Drizzt series.]]>
343 R.A. Salvatore Jen 4 4.26 1990 Homeland (Forgotten Realms: The Dark Elf Trilogy, #1; Legend of Drizzt, #1)
author: R.A. Salvatore
name: Jen
average rating: 4.26
book published: 1990
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/23
date added: 2024/11/23
shelves: 2024, fantasy, d-and-d, audiobook
review:

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Home Is Where the Bodies Are 194020321
After their mother passes, three estranged siblings reunite to sort out her estate. Beth, the oldest, never left home. She stayed with her mom, caring for her until the very end. Nicole, the middle child, has been kept at arm’s length due to her ongoing battle with a serious drug addiction. Michael, the youngest, lives out of state and hasn’t been back to their small Wisconsin town since their father ran out on them seven years before.

While going through their parent’s belongings, the siblings stumble upon a collection of home videos and decide to revisit those happier memories. However, the nostalgia is cut short when one of the VHS tapes reveals a night back in 1999 that none of them have any recollection of. On screen, their father appears covered in blood. What follows is a dead body and a pact between their parents to get rid of it, before the video abruptly ends.

Beth, Nicole, and Michael must now decide whether to leave the past in the past or uncover the dark secret their mother took to her grave.]]>
256 Jeneva Rose Jen 4 3.77 2024 Home Is Where the Bodies Are
author: Jeneva Rose
name: Jen
average rating: 3.77
book published: 2024
rating: 4
read at: 2024/11/23
date added: 2024/11/23
shelves:
review:

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<![CDATA[The Eye of the Bedlam Bride (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #6)]]> 125887685
It is bedlam on the eighth floor.
As management reels from the unexpected conclusion of the seventh level, the surviving crawlers stumble onto the eighth and find themselves scattered. It’s a map based on Earth’s final days before the collapse, where ethereal, intangible ghosts of humanity go about their lives, oblivious of the impending doom. Living amongst these ghosts are monsters based in Earth lore. “Legendary� creatures tied to the geographical location they inhabit.

Each team of crawlers is given a task: find and capture six of these beasts. The captured monsters will be turned into cards. Cards that can be summoned into battle again and again. The stronger, the deadlier, the better.

At the end of the floor, the bad guys will also have decks, and they will have some of the most powerful cards available. So it’s crucial to assemble the toughest squad possible.

But, like always, there is a catch. There’s always a catch.

As Carl and Donut know all too well, just because someone is captured, it doesn’t mean they have been tamed.

Her name is Shi Maria. She’s easily the most powerful monster in their area. If they want to survive, they must capture her. But she is no ordinary beast. She’s intelligent. She was once married to a god, a god who is now missing. Her special attack is known to drive one insane. They call her the Bedlam Bride.

“Beware, beware. Beware the Eye of the Bedlam Bride”]]>
694 Matt Dinniman Jen 3 2024, litrpg 4.68 2023 The Eye of the Bedlam Bride (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #6)
author: Matt Dinniman
name: Jen
average rating: 4.68
book published: 2023
rating: 3
read at: 2024/11/23
date added: 2024/11/23
shelves: 2024, litrpg
review:

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Just Like Home 57693472
Coming home is hard enough for Vera, and to make things worse, she and her mother aren’t alone. A parasitic artist has moved into the guest house out back, and is slowly stripping Vera’s childhood for spare parts. He insists that he isn’t the one leaving notes around the house in her father’s handwriting� but who else could it possibly be?

There are secrets yet undiscovered in the foundations of the notorious Crowder House. Vera must face them, and find out for herself just how deep the rot goes.]]>
344 Sarah Gailey 1250174724 Jen 0 to-read 3.32 2022 Just Like Home
author: Sarah Gailey
name: Jen
average rating: 3.32
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/22
shelves: to-read
review:

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The September House 64623481 A woman is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare in this compulsively readable, twisty, and layered debut novel.

When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street—for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee.

Margaret is not most people.

Margaret is staying. It’s her house. But after four years Hal can’t take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, he’s not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine—who knows nothing about the hauntings—arrives, intent on looking for her missing father. To make things worse, September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.]]>
352 Carissa Orlando 0593548612 Jen 0 to-read 3.87 2023 The September House
author: Carissa Orlando
name: Jen
average rating: 3.87
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/22
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Heroics 101: A Superhero Slice-of-Life LitRPG (Magical Girl Undergrad Book 1)]]> 212707720 In this imaginative progression fantasy, when a small-town superhero heads to college, she’ll have to juggle coursework, supervillains, and romance.

Anika DuPont just knows she’s bound for stardom. As Magical Girl Understudy, she’s already a big deal in her hometown, and now that she’s eighteen, she’s heading to Tokyexico University, where the real action is. Every superhero on Earth is jockeying for better roles in a global reality show created for the amusement of alien children, and Annie’s trying to keep her secret identity hidden while she makes her way out of dead-end Little League roles.

On her own for the first time, Annie begins to settle into her new college routine. There’s plenty of studying to do, parties to attend, friends to make, and supervillains to fight. And that’s all in between leveling up for new skills awarded by the Style System in order to take her from kid stuff into the superhero minor leagues.

As she grows into her new powers—and her rivalry with her high school sweetheart/nemesis Peter aka Professor Panic intensifies—a new distraction enters stage Intro to Drama classmate Bianca, who’s as talented and awkward as she is beautiful. Can Annie still make all her dreams of fame and fortune come true, or has this small-town super met her limits?

The first volume of the hit LitRPG fantasy series—with more than 600,000 views on Royal Road—now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible! ]]>
419 Aest Belequa 1039470335 Jen 0 to-read 4.21 Heroics 101: A Superhero Slice-of-Life LitRPG (Magical Girl Undergrad Book 1)
author: Aest Belequa
name: Jen
average rating: 4.21
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/21
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Azarinth Healer: Book One (Azarinth Healer, #1)]]> 63260494
Unfortunately, there aren’t too many career options for hungry brawlers. Instead, the plan is to quit her crappy fast-food job, go to college, and become a fully functioning member of society. Essentially - a fate worse than death.

So maybe it's lucky that she wakes up one day in a strange world where a bunch of fantasy monsters are trying to kill her...?

On the bright side, ‘killing those monsters right back� is now a viable career path! For she soon discovers her new home runs on a set of game-like rules that will allow her to punch things harder than in her wildest dreams. Well, maybe not her wildest dreams, but it’s close.

With no quest to follow, no guide to show her the way, and no real desire to be a Hero � Ilea embarks on a journey to discover a world full of magic. Magic she can use to fight even bigger monsters.

She’s struggling to survive, has no idea what will happen next, and is loving every minute of it. Except, and sometimes also, when she’s poisoned and/or has set herself on fire. It’s complicated.]]>
708 Rhaegar Jen 0 to-read 4.50 2022 Azarinth Healer: Book One (Azarinth Healer, #1)
author: Rhaegar
name: Jen
average rating: 4.50
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Ar'Kendrithyst (Ar'Kendrithyst, #1)]]> 60556442
Luckily, the adventuring city of Spur is alive and green, and well outside of Ar’Kendrithyst’s shadow.

Follow Erick Flatt as he tries to make a nice life with new friends in a new home with his daughter at his side, but this land is rarely as kind as its people, and Erick will need to change if he wants to live the life he wishes to live.]]>
968 Arcs Jen 0 to-read 4.09 Ar'Kendrithyst (Ar'Kendrithyst, #1)
author: Arcs
name: Jen
average rating: 4.09
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[The Primal Hunter (The Primal Hunter, #1)]]> 60111529
It was a day like any other when suddenly the world changed. The universe reached a threshold humanity didn’t even know existed, and it was time to finally be integrated into the vast multiverse. A place where power is the only thing anyone can truly rely on.
Jake, a seemingly average office worker, finds himself thrust into this new world. Into a tutorial filled with dangers and opportunities.

His new reality should breed fear and concern. His fellow coworkers falter at every turn. Jake, however, finds himself thriving.

Perhaps... This is the world Jake was meant to be born in.]]>
716 Zogarth Jen 0 to-read 4.28 2022 The Primal Hunter (The Primal Hunter, #1)
author: Zogarth
name: Jen
average rating: 4.28
book published: 2022
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Defiance of the Fall (Defiance of the Fall, #1)]]> 57866482
The whole planet was introduced to the multiverse by an unfeeling System... or God. A universe where an endless number of races and civilizations fought for power and dominion.

Zac finds himself stuck in the wilderness surrounded by deadly beasts, demons, and worse. Alone, lost and without answers, he must find the means to survive and get stronger in this new cut-throat reality.

With only a hatchet for his weapon, he'll have to seek out his family before the world collapses... or die trying.

Experience the start of the hit LitRPG series with over 20 Million views on Royal Road. For the first time, Defiance of the Fall is now available on Kindle, Kindle Unlimited, and Audible narrated by Pavi Prozcko.

About the Series: Jump into a System Apocalypse story that merges LitRPG elements with eastern cultivation. Class systems, skill systems, endless choices for progression, it has everything fans of the genre love. Explore a vast universe full of mystery, adventure, danger and even aliens; where even a random passer-by might hold the power of a god. Follow Zac as he struggles to stake out a unique path to power as a mortal in a world full of cultivators.]]>
765 TheFirstDefier Jen 0 to-read 4.37 2021 Defiance of the Fall (Defiance of the Fall, #1)
author: TheFirstDefier
name: Jen
average rating: 4.37
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/20
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[The Butcher's Masquerade (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #5)]]> 60233239 Attention. Attention. The gates are down. The hunters are loose. Run, Run, Run.

A lush jungle teeming with danger. Savage dinosaurs seeking blood. A fallen princess intent on vengeance. A mysterious, end-of-floor celebration for the top crawlers, dubbed “The Butcher’s Masquerade.�

The sixth floor. The Hunting Grounds.

As the remaining crawlers battle for their lives, a new, terrible threat looms. Outside tourists are finally allowed to enter the game, and they are here and ready to hunt. Among them is Vrah, a famed and veteran hunter, intent on collecting the biggest trophy of her career.

But their prey is far from harmless, and this season they are fighting back.

Dungeon Crawler Carl and Princess Donut return in book five of the acclaimed litrpg series.]]>
732 Matt Dinniman Jen 5 2024, audiobook, litrpg 4.69 2022 The Butcher's Masquerade (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #5)
author: Matt Dinniman
name: Jen
average rating: 4.69
book published: 2022
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/19
date added: 2024/11/19
shelves: 2024, audiobook, litrpg
review:

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<![CDATA[Saint Death's Daughter (Saint Death, #1)]]> 57757152
To make matters worse, family debt looms � a debt that will have to be paid sooner rather than later if Lanie and her sister are to retain ownership of the ancestral seat, Stones Manor. Lanie finds herself courted and threatened by powerful parties who would love to use her worryingly intimate relationship with the goddess of death for their own nefarious ends. But the goddess has other plans…]]>
692 C.S.E. Cooney 1786184710 Jen 0 to-read 4.09 2022 Saint Death's Daughter (Saint Death, #1)
author: C.S.E. Cooney
name: Jen
average rating: 4.09
book published: 2022
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: to-read
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Rose/House 52263339 Dust jacket illustration by David Curtis.

Arkady Martine, the acclaimed author of the Teixcalaan Series, returns with an astonishing new novella.

Basit Deniau’s houses were haunted to begin with.

A house embedded with an artificial intelligence is a common thing: a house that is an artificial intelligence, infused in every load-bearing beam and fine marble tile with a thinking creature that is not human? That is something else altogether. But now Deniau’s been dead a year, and Rose House is locked up tight, as commanded by the architect’s will: all his possessions and files and sketches are confined in its archives, and their only keeper is Rose House itself. Rose House, and one other.

Dr. Selene Gisil, one of Deniau’s former protégé, is permitted to come into Rose House once a year. She alone may open Rose House’s vaults, look at drawings and art, talk with Rose House’s animating intelligence all she likes. Until this week, Dr. Gisil was the only person whom Rose House spoke to.

But even an animate intelligence that haunts a house has some failsafes common to all AIs. For instance: all AIs must report the presence of a dead body to the nearest law enforcement agency.

There is a dead person in Rose House. The house says so. It is not Basit Deniau, and it is not Dr. Gisil. It is someone else. Rose House, having completed its duty of care and informed Detective Maritza Smith of the China Lake police precinct that there is in fact a dead person inside it, dead of unnatural causes—has shut up.

No one can get inside Rose House, except Dr. Gisil. Dr. Gisil was not in North America when Rose House called the China Lake precinct. But someone did. And someone died there. And someone may be there still.

Limited: 1000 signed numbered hardcover copies]]>
128 Arkady Martine Jen 0 to-read 3.58 2023 Rose/House
author: Arkady Martine
name: Jen
average rating: 3.58
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[The Gate of the Feral Gods (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #4)]]> 57905101 New Achievement! Total, Utter Failure.

You failed a quest less than five minutes after you received it. Now that’s talent.

A floating fortress occupied by warrior gnomes. A castle made of sand. A derelict submarine guarded by malfunctioning machines. A haunted crypt surrounded by lethal traps.

It was supposed to be easy. One bubble. Four castles. Fifteen days. Capture each one, and the stairwell is unlocked.

Here's the thing. It's never easy. Carl and his team can't go it alone. Not this time. They must rely on the help of the low-level, I-can't-believe-these-idiots-are-still-alive crawlers trapped in the bubble with them. But can they be trusted?

Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the fifth floor of the dungeon.]]>
586 Matt Dinniman Jen 5 2024, audiobook, litrpg 4.58 2021 The Gate of the Feral Gods (Dungeon Crawler Carl, #4)
author: Matt Dinniman
name: Jen
average rating: 4.58
book published: 2021
rating: 5
read at: 2024/11/18
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: 2024, audiobook, litrpg
review:

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Faust 406373 Faust reworks the late medieval myth of a brilliant scholar so disillusioned he resolves to make a contract with Mephistopheles. The devil will do all he asks on Earth and seeks to grant him a moment in life so glorious that he will wish it to last forever. But if Faust does bid the moment stay, he falls to Mephistopheles and must serve him after death. In this first part of Goethe’s great work, the embittered thinker and Mephistopheles enter into their agreement, and soon Faust is living a rejuvenated life and winning the love of the beautiful Gretchen. But in this compelling tragedy of arrogance, unfulfilled desire, and self-delusion, Faust heads inexorably toward an infernal destruction.]]> 503 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 0385031149 Jen 0 to-read 3.90 1808 Faust
author: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
name: Jen
average rating: 3.90
book published: 1808
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Stray Cat Strut 1 (Stray Cat Strut, #1)]]> 57735991
Catherine 'Cat' Leblanc is an orphan that is about as far from super-rich as one can be. When the Incursion alarms start blaring and the sky starts raining hungry xenos, it's just another blemish on an already piss-poor afternoon.

A cyberpunk magical-girl alien-invasion LitRPG.
It’s exactly as wild as it sounds.]]>
395 RavensDagger Jen 0 to-read 4.16 2021 Stray Cat Strut 1 (Stray Cat Strut, #1)
author: RavensDagger
name: Jen
average rating: 4.16
book published: 2021
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: to-read
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Blue Core: Book One 57924083
Updated 6/10/21 with fewer typos.]]>
1102 Inadvisably Compelled Jen 0 to-read 4.43 2021 Blue Core: Book One
author: Inadvisably Compelled
name: Jen
average rating: 4.43
book published: 2021
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: to-read
review:

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<![CDATA[Magic's Mantle (Ard's Oath #1)]]> 198812221 456 Bruce Sentar Jen 0 to-read 4.51 2023 Magic's Mantle (Ard's Oath #1)
author: Bruce Sentar
name: Jen
average rating: 4.51
book published: 2023
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[Love Addict's RPG V1.00 - The Tutorial Girl: A Dating Sim LitRPG Slice of Life Romantic Comedy Harem Series]]> 204523889 Oliver Chase only has two things going for him; an addiction to dating sim RPGs and a spotty mental health history.

Stuck working a dead-end job, another lonely Valentine's Day passes Oliver by. There's a coworker he's kind of into, but irl flirting isn't as easy as choosing the right dialog option and clicking a button, sadly... but what if it was? After a lonely night jackin' it under the influence of Special Californian Gummies�, Oliver awakens to what appears to be a complete psychotic breakdown. System notifications, menus, stats, and so much more RPG crap gets injected into his life faster than you can say, 'I Can't Believe It's Not Schizophrenia'.

Even crazier, Oliver starts earning 'Love Points' through having romantic interactions with certain girls, which can then be spent on skills ranging from passive buffs to reality-warping insanity. He wants to make the most of these new powers, but he won't earn enough to do so if he isn't working multiple angles, and between his chill coworker, his evil boss, and the girl who ruined his life? Well...

It's best to start with the tutorial.]]>
772 Punished Kom Jen 0 to-read 4.64 Love Addict's RPG V1.00 - The Tutorial Girl: A Dating Sim LitRPG Slice of Life Romantic Comedy Harem Series
author: Punished Kom
name: Jen
average rating: 4.64
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: to-read
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Mob Sorcery 197230901
Working for the mafia has a short life expectancy, though. Especially in a world where the masquerade shattered long ago. Demons run banks, birdfolk ferry people across town, and the police possess crack teams of sorcerers to keep the peace. Bad news for Vince and his dreams of mafia wealth.

Not to mention the corrupt mayor backing the mafia's rivals, or that Vince's usual employer doesn't appreciate his moonlighting. Plus, the don's sister is a wild one.

Vince might not become a made man, but his future with the mob will make him or break him.]]>
446 K.D. Robertson Jen 0 to-read 4.56 Mob Sorcery
author: K.D. Robertson
name: Jen
average rating: 4.56
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[On Astral Tides - Book One - From Humble Beginnings: A Modern-day return of magic LitRPG (On Astral Tides - From Humble Freelancer To Astral Emperor 1)]]> 219347639 Chosen by the Gods, Akio must rise� or fall!

A Heavenly messenger warns of an upcoming apocalypse, thrusting Akio into a new reality filled with endless dangers and miraculous opportunities.

But those who dwell within jealously guard their wealth and power.

Accompanied by an enigmatic and beautiful Faerie princess, the only chance for Akio - and Earth - is to gather companions, level up, and become the unlikely saviours of both their worlds.

When you start from nothing, the only way to go is up!

On Astral Tides is a Light Novel inspired LitRPG containing territory control and alliance building, social aspects, relationships and romance.]]>
1349 Ship Teaser Jen 0 to-read 4.35 On Astral Tides - Book One - From Humble Beginnings: A Modern-day return of magic LitRPG (On Astral Tides - From Humble Freelancer To Astral Emperor 1)
author: Ship Teaser
name: Jen
average rating: 4.35
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: to-read
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Manacled 60039506
Fanfiction for Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling.
Words: 370,256]]>
945 SenLinYu Jen 0 to-read 4.61 2019 Manacled
author: SenLinYu
name: Jen
average rating: 4.61
book published: 2019
rating: 0
read at:
date added: 2024/11/18
shelves: to-read
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<![CDATA[A Journey of Black and Red (A Journey of Black and Red #1)]]> 54655512
It takes much to survive in this merciless world, but she will not let that deter her. The southern belle has a bite, and she is willing to learn and to grow in this hostile new world. She will use whatever means necessary to reclaim her freedom, be it guile, charm, or those intriguing new instincts that make blood so delectable.]]>
412 Álex Gilbert Jen 0 to-read 4.41 A Journey of Black and Red (A Journey of Black and Red #1)
author: Álex Gilbert
name: Jen
average rating: 4.41
book published:
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/18
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Chasing Sunlight 203643465
At least, that’s what he claims when he charters an expedition east beyond the bounds of civilization. The Illuminated King has an abiding interest in such legends, while the Reflected Council is more interested in the treasures that they are convinced he has found, out there in the dark. The truth is shrouded and motives uncertain as Jonathan and the agents of both Crown and underworld take the airship Endeavor to the strange and exotic lands out there in the darkness.

Wonders and horrors both lie between the human lands and his ultimate things long-forgotten and long-dead, that which could not be recorded on any map. They are temptation and terror to the wise and foolish alike, but not to Jonathan. He only has one goal in mind, and will not brook anything that stands between him and sunlight.]]>
522 Inadvisably Compelled Jen 0 to-read 4.19 Chasing Sunlight
author: Inadvisably Compelled
name: Jen
average rating: 4.19
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date added: 2024/11/18
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<![CDATA[The Crippled King (The Dwarves of Ice-Cloak, Book 1)]]> 63142576
Mocked as the King of the Cripples, the epithet could become Naen’s true heritage as the ragged refugees prepare their mine to withstand the vengeance of dwarven kings.]]>
389 A. Trae McMaken Jen 0 to-read 4.60 The Crippled King (The Dwarves of Ice-Cloak, Book 1)
author: A. Trae McMaken
name: Jen
average rating: 4.60
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<![CDATA[What Fresh Hell (The Gods are Bastards, #1)]]> 43796463
The times are changing�

Incorporating elements of a Western, a Victorian romance, hints of steampunk and inspiration from the early novels of H. Rider Haggard and Arthur Conan Doyle, all set in a world of classic sword and sorcery, The Gods are Bastards is a genre-blending fantasy epic.

Set in a familiar high-fantasy universe of wizards, dragons and elves, the action takes place roughly fifteen hundred years after the medieval stasis in which most high fantasy is set, during an era much like Earth’s Industrial Revolution. Mass production of enchanted goods has revolutionized all aspects of life, energy weapons have made blades and armor all but obsolete, and the world is connected and illuminated by magical analogues of trains, telegraphs and electric lights. With progress has come social and political upheaval: the scattered feudal kingdoms of yore have been consolidated into a now-precarious Empire, the clerics of various gods have organized themselves into a mighty Universal Church, and the first stirrings of modern education and an Enlightenment ethos have taken root in a young University. On the other hand, dragons are nearly extinct, elves have been herded onto reservations, and the days when a person could make a living as a wandering adventurer are long since over.

It’s a new world, and the people of the Empire must learn to live in it, or fall to ancient threats they have tried to forget…]]>
384 D.D. Webb Jen 0 to-read 4.11 2019 What Fresh Hell (The Gods are Bastards, #1)
author: D.D. Webb
name: Jen
average rating: 4.11
book published: 2019
rating: 0
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date added: 2024/11/18
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