Dave Stone > Recent Status Updates

it's weird to read a history book about a time you were alive for.
Also I thought these games came out earlier than this. I remember where I was when I first saw Diablo, & Star Craft thought it was years before they say here. I thought that was 94... but I had a lot of other stuff going on back then so who knows

This book isn't as bad as my long breaks would make it seem. Murderbot, Harry Dresden, and Beware of Chicken have all taken priority over this one

Novella / short story
This is part 2 of The Law but this time Harry has to defend Tripp the scumbag mobster.

So a New Murder Bot, AND a new Harry Dresden came out on the same day.
...but witch one to read first?

light on sex scenes with more story. This has a more "Terry Prachetty" vibe than Villain for Hire.

the first 30% of this book is "Villain for Hire Series" set in Transylvanian instead of Metropolis.
Substitute Super Villain with Mad Scientist but keep the humor the same. Think Young Frakenstein with more "Great knockers!" jokes and them make it a harem.

Wish I was enjoying this book as much as everyone else did. This thing is cringe

WOW! a really likeable guy turns into an entitled prick so fast you'll wonder if if wasn't just faking the likeability all along.

I know I've just started, but this is some of the worst dialog in a Jan Stryvant book. I know Jan doesn't go in for witty repartee but this is awkward and klunky.
I have faith, I know this guy can write good but so far...

Quick reminder that a lot of what I'm reading these days is on Royal Road & Patreon. Bog Standard Isekai 6 is getting good, and Benjamin Kerei (Oh Great, I reincarnated as a farmer) has an amazing Xianxia / cultivation series called The Magistrate in it's 3rd book of the trilogy. and as always Beware of Chicken is like candy.

a little less than either books 1 or 3.
Not bad, just... it's like a sugarfree desert compared to the sweetness of the other two.

That opening chapter almost cost Drew Wells a big fat DNF.
Be so, so careful how you start a book. Opening with a dying teenager weeping in a hospital bed as he rages against the injustice of his congenital defect is just too harsh.
Isekai almost never need the last moments of the previous life. and even fewer books need children of cry as they die.
IF you can choke that down, it gets better

Inching my way along. The story is pretty good with one or two WTF moments.

I'm enjoying this more than the slow progress indicates.

enjoyable

Pretty good. slightly better than book 1 so far.

Phew! What a slog!
2 hours left on the TWENTY FIVE HOUR audiobook. This has been a real challenge that I nearly DNF'ed several times.

Ack! This book. It's up and then back down. It keeps getting good, but then not staying good.
My most consistent problem with this thing is the MC. Sometimes he's written as a lovable grouch, other times he's just a legitimate A-hole.
Right now there is an uncomfortable moral dilemma that isn't that funny.

Slowly inching my way through this sucker. I like where it's going. Seems to be over it's rough patch.

getting good again

Don't know what happened, but I've lost interest in this book. It doesn't seem any different, but the joy of reading it fell off.

Book hit a rough patch with the baby dragon. I'm not gonna write it off yet. -but I am taking a break

It works / I like this so far.
LitRPG / NPC awakening / Non-Human MC / Light comedy

This update is for the audiobook narrated by Johnathan McClain.
(Not John McLain who is also a narrator who does a lot of westerns)
-I like this. I can see how others could find this annoying, but I like NPC to hero stories. Also the humor is mild without too many puns. The world is neither too dark nor too cutesy-poo.

FYI - Bog Standard Isekai Book 5
is now complete and available on Royal Road. It's really good, and no waiting for the next chapter to be written.

Medium Good
This is a series of vignettes. Not even short stories, because those would have a feeling of completion. This is all about a guy with severe PTSD living in a wrecked city and getting grief.
Fun times

Funny thing is,...
that I'm less inclined to rush out and get Twelve Months after reading Battle Ground again (halfway)
I remember the premise of 12 months, but not all the terms & conditions that Mab and Laura set up, or the little things that alienated Ramirez ect. So, I decide to do a refresher read and realized I'm not as impressed with Harry and I was as a younger man.
Might wait for the audiobook

On page one,
this book tells you that the MC is having a dream. More like a nightmare. Everyone is crying and the son the MC hasn't had yet is keeps saying how sorry he is and he wants to die.
-I'm just NOT in the mood for this shit. DNF in under 30 seconds. Maybe one day I'll try it again, but not anytime soon.
You get 1 chance to make a first impression. Waste it at your peril.