If you’re reading this on December 27th, the Badger Company is free for a limited time on amazon, go and get it (link on the front page).
It’s been an interesting year, what with me finally releasing a book, but you take what you can get.
Red Mist Volume one is completed, so go on and read the 486-page behemoth on Royal Road. It will stay up there, never going KU.
I really wanted to do a video categorization of the many books I read this year, but instead, I’m going to list each one, give a short summary of my feelings on the book itself, and then a rating of how good the book is and if it helped me as a writer. My tiers here are going to be…
Caveat: You should also know that I write fantasy and scifi and my major books that I wrote this year are Sect Leader and Red Mist which are about as far apart as they can get.
Book Rating:
F – Probably don’t read
C- Average
B- Good
A- Great
S Tier- Groundbreaking, read it now
Let’s start off with the book I just finished: The Selection
This was off a recommendation from a friend. A good friend. They said “Hunger games plus the bachelor” and I liked the concept.
Where it fell flat was that it was not those two put together at all. I thought the various contestants or the selected ones would fight each other in duels en masse. If you’re writing that? Let me know.
Rating F
Worth it for the Romance angle alone.
Gamer Girl
I bought this one on a whim, again trying to understand YA fiction as an author. It reminds me that it’s important to have a grovel section and a happily ever after or a happy for now.
C rank as a book.
It’s a bit too dated in the references to recommend it
Worth the candle series
S rank
As an Author(and dungeon master) the book is worth every second(or candle, if you will).
I wish that I could read this again fresh. Like nothing else here.
Sixteen ways to defend a walled city
My writing group made me read this. I regret nothing.
S rank as a book
S rank as an author. Everything Malcolm is now derived from how K.J. Parker wrote this book
He who fights with Monsters Series
A rank as a series. I’m at book five and it’s well-written. I have stopped listening to other things because of this series.
It’s need to read for anyone who writes or enjoys litrpgs.
Orconomics/Son of a Liche
S Rank.
Read it. It’s top of my list besides worth the candle for a reason.
The Wandering Inn
Picture this: an older Soldier working on his run times in Fort Benning, airborne school. Listening to the wandering inn for hours on his training runs. He cries more than once because of things said in this book and the sequel.
It’s S rank for a reason.
Rise of the Cheat Potion Maker, Book 1: A Cultivation LitRPG Saga
Solid work. Very silly.
B rank.
It’s just like… exactly the silliness I needed. Maybe not the best thing you need as an author but it’s great.
Primal Hunter
I heard this was great, and it’s pretty good. It’s a solid B for me, but Travis Baldree makes it close to A rank.
The hype is real.
The Lost Metal
I’m a cosmere fan, and this is the most cosmere aware book out and it came out last month. Solid Sanderson. Came out around my birthday.
A rank.
Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?
Council of the Eternal Hiatus made me read this one and it’s alarming. Solid A tier, but more informational than otherwise.
Swarm: An Army Building LitRPG/LitRTS Series (I Don’t Want to be the Hive Queen, Book 1)
In the same vein as the Potion Maker, this is just silly fun. I’m excited for the sequel.
B tier.
Small Town Crafter
In the same vein of the Potion Maker, this is just silly fun.
B tier. A bit better than Swarm for me.
Paranoid Mage Series
It’s good but hard to detach the artist from the art, so I’m not going to keep up reading the series.
C rank
Petition
S rank. Debut author. Great youtube channel, great gal.
The Night People
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S Rank. Great author I may be biased because she’s in my group and I’ve read some sex scenes that she’s written. This one does not have that, or I don’t recall it, but it’s good clean fun.
Daughter of the Moon Goddess
I’m not always surprised by how a book goes, but that was this book. I predicted one ending and it went sideways. Also, it is not cultivation no matter how much I thought it was.
The Menocht Loop
It’s weird being a fanboy of someone that is a vocal member of a lot of social groups you’re in as an author but hey.
A rank
S rank for time loops (hey I’m writing one of those 😉
Dreadgod (really all of cradle)
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So much had been written about this. I find it hard to see faults with Will Wight. The man is a legend.
S rank as a reader.
S rank as an author.*
(I will buy whatever book this man writes the day it drops.)
Jakes Magical Market
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B Tier
Read it. It’s quite nice. Its special warfare meets shopkeeper.
In summary, a good year for audiobooks, with several standout books. I’m looking forward
English