Rewinding to 2003 – Is Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Still a Masterpiece?

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It’s funny how things line up sometimes. Last week I wrote a review of The Amulet of Samarkand which came out in 2003, and this week I have a review of the game Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time which also came out in 2003.

It would not be much of a leap to assume I’m perhaps feeling nostalgic for that period in my life, or that 2003 was something of a pivotal year for me in terms of media consumption.

The truth is much more coincidental. I walked into a GameStop just after Christmas hoping to buy a copy of Clair Obscur Expedition 33, and because of a combination of deals on used games, walked out of GameStop with a copy the most recent edition of the PoP franchise, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

I correctly remembered that I still had my old PS2 copy of Sands of Time and thought (also correctly) that it might be fun to give it a playthrough before starting the new game.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a game that looms large in my mind for having a few notable “firsts” for me when it comes to video games. Its approach to “lives”, and being able to “reverse time” and undo a fatal mistake was unique, and even as a (13-year-old) kid I remember thinking the narration and voiceover when the player actually DID manage to die — “That’s not what happened.” or “Wait, that isn’t right.” — was clever and really lent itself to a kind of 1,001 Nights or Scheherazade style of storytelling (although at 13 I may not been able to pinpoint those references).

Also, there was the wall running. Ok, mostly it was the WALL RUNNING!

Many games that have come out since have employed this mechanic, but I think Sands of Time was my first exposure, and the one I will always think of whenever I see it used.

Strangely enough, despite the feeling that this was a “huge” game for me as a kid, I apparently did not play very far into it. Like most games from that era, Sands of Time is only about ten hours long, and my furthest save was only 28% (about three hours) through the game. Like really?

A bit under a quarter-century later, I’ve finally managed a complete playthrough and a few things stood out to me. First off, one of the enemies you fight are Scarab Beetles. I’ve written on this blog before about how The Mummy (1999) kind of put scarab beetles on the map in a lot of ways, transforming them from relatively harmless insects and religious symbols, to vicious monsters which can turn a man into a skeleton in seconds.

As I encountered these enemies within The Sands of Time, I kind of just assumed that they might be the result of perhaps some lazy writing (Sands of Time does not have a particularly impressive plot), and that the developers were perhaps conflating some tropes related to Ancient Egypt with the Islamic Middle Ages simply because of . . . sand?

A little “research” (ahem the first result on google) showed me that there is actually a corpus of Classical Phoenician Scarabs that were being traded in the Achaemenid Persian empire from the sixth century to the fourth century BC. From what I can tell, the styles ran the gamut of Egyptianized, Hellenized, Levantine, and Miscellaneous and were mainly used as seals (I guess for documents?). So ostensibly, our unnamed narrator COULD have come across some ancient scarabs within the crypts underneath the palace, but they probably would not hop up and attack him as we see in the game.

The game also has the player partake in a few light beam puzzles so I don’t think we can fully discount The Mummy‘s influence, but it’s cool to think that perhaps this slightly strange element of the game could tie into some actual history.

When this game originally came out, I remember a lot of talk about the franchise ‘going 3D’ — although again Google tells me there was a 1999 version of PoP that was already 3D but I guess nobody played it? — and the awe with which it was held as a platformer. Aside from the wall running, most of the elements of this game seem pretty standard: spiky poles, spiky pits, pushing boxes onto pressure plates, the aforementioned light beam puzzles and pulling levers to open gates (which will close on you if you don’t haul ass through all the previously mentioned traps).

At first glance, the combat system feels like it should be pretty fun, with lots of flips and acrobatics worked into otherwise simple stabbing, however, the targeting system leaves a lot to be desired, and I died many times thinking I was about to attack one baddie when really I was attacking a different one (don’t even get me started on the camera angles).

The vision/saving mechanism also felt really fun at first, but quickly became tiresome, as the visions themselves seemed to feel as if they should be imparting some story elements, but really were just hints for the puzzles (and not always all that helpful).

The last thing that stood out to me this playthrough was how dated our prince feels (and honestly how misogynistic). Throughout the game, you team up with — and occasionally chase after — the sultan’s daughter Farah. The game means for you to believe that they are ‘gradually falling in love’, but mostly this means that the prince wines like an adolescent boy whenever she doesn’t do as he says, and he tries to ‘flirt’ with her by commenting on her weight.

Yikes.

Pair this with Farah’s scant outfit, and some other scantily clad female enemies (labeled Sand Courtesans), and it starts to feel like perhaps this game is better forgotten by the sands of time, than remembered by them. At first I though perhaps it was just an attempt to fit a mold left by the original God of War, but Sands of Time came out first.

Give Prince of Persia: Sands of Time a Playthrough?

Difficult to say.

Despite A LOT of critiques, I still had enough fun playing to work through the full ten hours (more than I can say about my 13-year-old self) and get to the end. Also, Sands of Time seems to be something of a cultural artifact. Reading the PoP: Sands of Time wikipedia page I’ve learned that the game appears on several lists of “greatest games of all time”, and is the spiritual ancestor of the Assassin’s Creed games (which I love). It’s the basis of a major motion picture (by the same title), and is generally cited as the reason the series returned to prominence in the gaming world.

However, given all the series reboots, and different continuities, I probably could have just played the newest one without having returned to Sands of Time.

That’s all I have for this one. Has anyone played this one recently? Or remember it from when you were a kid? I’ve heard a re-master is set for release in 2026, should anything be changed? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Looking forward to talking about this one!

Until next time!

A Second Look at ‘The Amulet of Samarkand’: Funny, Immersive, with a side of Social Critique

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Goodness, we’re already in our third week of 2026 (or I guess second full week), and I’m happy to say we’ve got another book review ready! Here we go . . .

The Amulet of Samarkand feels like it has lived on my bookshelf for ages, and yet I’ve never seen fit to review it. The book came out in 2003, which is presumably around the time that I originally read it. Goodreads shows me finally ‘shelving’ the book in 2011 (I assume this is when I first made a goodreads account?).

I only gave it two stars.

Not really sure why as, upon my 2025 reread, I felt like it’s at least as good as any of the ‘four star’ reads I finished recently. I clearly liked the book enough to buy its sequel, The Golem’s Eye, although there’s an index card left inside at page 144 of that book and no sign from goodreads that I ever finished it. Clearly I was feeling some kind of way about the series by that point.

I’ll admit that I was not, and am still not, really familiar with any of Jonathan Stroud’s work before the Bartimaeus Series or since, though a quick Google search has shown me that he has written quite a few more books, perhaps the most prominent among them being the Lockwood & Co. children’s series, which has been announced as a series on Netflix.

Mostly I thought the book was good although I was often surprised at how shitty Nathaniel was with regards to commoners and social stratification. Obviously this is his upbringing, but I’m not really sure it’s addressed meaningfully within the story. Bartimaeus tells him not to lose his conscience, but it didn’t really seem like he had one to begin with (or at least only felt he needed to when it was someone he liked).

Also, Nathaniel is mainly driven to action by wanting revenge. Whether it’s small embarrassments at the hands of other more powerful magicians, or (slight spoiler) when an important figure in his life is killed (it’s Mrs. Underwood, she’s essentially fridged). Considering this book is ostensibly for kids, I was kind of surprised to find these themes so prominent within the text, and also, not really admonished in the way I assume they would be today. However, I think it’s around this age range that kids in the U.S. begin reading Greek Myths in school. This is certainly no worse than those.

Bartimaeus is a fun and funny narrator though, and overall the adventure and magic are enough to produce suitable awe for an enjoyable experience. The Amulet of Samarkand isn’t bursting at the seems with awe and magic in the same way as say Impossible Creatures, but there is plenty of wonder to be had within its pages.

The story takes place mainly in London, however the magic and lore seem to derive primarily from Islamic and Jewish folklore. Any fans of the Daevabad series will recognize slightly altered versions of — listed in order of power — Marid, Afrit, and Djinn. Foliot was a new term for me, and many mythologies seem to have different kinds of Imps running around, but it was interesting to see them in this context.

Obviously the most mysterious and interesting (read frustratingly opaque) pieces of ‘lore’ in the book is none other that of the narrator Bartimaeus himself, who hints and teases at his past but never seems to really reveal anything concrete.

I was curious about what Stroud’s inspiration for the character might have been, but was worried that if I looked up author interviews and the like, I might get spoilers, so I tried to figure some of it out on my own . . . with honestly very little success. If you’re interested, I’ve saved what I was able to discover for the end of the review so you can read it after the conclusion . . . Which I guess I can do now!

Give The Amulet of Samarkand a read?

Sure! I’m honestly not sure why I rated this one so low when I read it all those years ago. Who knows what was going on in the mind of 13 year old me. As an adult, I’d say this is a pretty great read for anyone who is just getting into Fantasy and doesn’t mind reading books written for younger audiences. Bartimaeus is funny, and there’s lots of cool magic and worldbuilding to delve into.

There’s also a surprising amount of things to digest surrounding social stratification and dynamics between different social classes. Overall, I’d say the book is against it, but Nathaniel seems pretty caught up in it, which is an interesting tac. I’m also slightly uncertain how much there is to unpack in the book’s focus on (and borrowing from) Islamic and Jewish folklore, but remaining firmly set in London. I assume the commentary is supposed to be shining a light at past abuses, not simply repeating them.

That’s all I have for this week! Has anyone read this book before? The series? Any of Stroud’s other work? What folkloric elements do you hope to see included in the sequels? Which of your favorites did you find in The Amulet of Samarkand?

See you next time! And if you’re interested in reading a little more about what I could dig up surrounding Bartimaeus, please continue reading!

Who is Bartimaeus?

So, one of the more fascinating parts of reading this book, was how Stroud chose to weave this somewhat mysterious figure of the djinn Bartimaeus through history (honestly somewhat reminiscent of B from BRZRKR comics only these books obviously have a much lighter tone).

My initial research just involved googling the name and trying to make out where it came from, or if it meant anything which could give us a hint as to just who this Bartimaeus figure is. I learned that:

One bit of information which seems to keep appearing as the story progresses, is a reference to an “Egyptian Boy”, who was apparently his master (but more likely also a friend). Bartimaeus takes his shape throughout the story many times and seems to feel that doing so honors him.

The boy referenced might be a young Claudius Ptolemy, a Greco-Roman mathematician who lived in Alexandria Egypt during Roman rule.

He’s the Ptolemy referenced in ‘Ptolemy’s theorem‘ in the ‘See Also’ section on the wikipedia page for ‘Pentacles‘, which play a huge role in protecting magicians from demons in Stroud’s work.

Ptolemy was mistakenly listed as a Pharaoh. Famous for writing the Almagest, a treatise that canonized a geocentric model of the solar system (essentially earth being the center of the universe) for like 1200 years until Copernicus came along. He was familiar with Babylonian observations and lunar theory and — here’s where I think we get closest to a positive hit — he’s often referred to by Arabic astronomers, geographers, and physicists in Arabic as Batlumyus.

It would seem that in Stroud’s universe, Ptolemy and Bartimaeus are not one and the same, but a master and djinn pair, with the djinn taking on the role of a mysterious figure from history known as Syrus. A doctoral thesis from Universitat de Barcelona states:

“In half of his extant works, Ptolemy addresses a certain Syrus, a figure of whom almost nothing is known but who likely shared some of Ptolemy’s astronomical interests.” — Tolsa Domènech, Cristian (2013). Claudius Ptolemy and self-promotion: A study on Ptolemy’s intellectual milieu in Roman Alexandria (PDF) (Doctoral thesis). Universitat de Barcelona. S2CID 1912971

Bartimaeus also mentions Solomon quite frequently. The ‘See Also’ section of the wikipedia page on pentacles also references the Seal (or Ring) of Solomon:

“In mystic Jewish lore, the ring is variously described as having given Solomon the power to command the supernatural, including shedim and jinn, and also the ability to speak with animals”.

I still need to read some more on the Seal of Solomon to figure out exactly how it fits, however it seems promising as the sequel’s title — The Golem’s Eye — seems to reference Jewish folklore directly, and the last book in the series is called Ring of Solomon.

That’s all I’ve managed for now. Let me know if anything else is sticking out to you specifically, but of course please try to avoid spoilers, I’ve only finished the first book!

Faux Clarity and Meta Perspectives: ‘Gone Girl’ is a Masterclass in Narrative Control

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Between two book tags, a movie review, and a year-end wrap-up post, it feels like it’s been a little while since we reviewed any books here on the blog. Let’s change that!

I mentioned in my review of The Grownup last October, that I knew Gone Girl by reputation, but had yet to read the book or watch the movie. I’m not sure if the book was on my radar at the time of its release (2012), but when the movie finally came out (2014), it seemed to be all anyone was talking about.

And now in 2026(!) I still feel like it gets referenced quite a bit among my friends and the book people I follow online. I think my friends were mostly just surprised I never went for it as I A) read a lot, and B) am generally keeping an eye out for trends.

I would have just graduated college back in June of 2012 when this book came out, and wouldn’t start this blog for another 3-4 months, and even then I’d only post on it like once a month. 2014 when the movie arrived was little better with just a smattering of posts in January, April, June, and July of that year. Most (if not all) of my posts from that time seem to revolve around small publications and Independent authors (with the exception of Ryan Holiday’s Trust Me, I’m Lying which was a huge book for me).

My goodreads account shows only 4 books read in 2012, and another 4 in 2014.

Looking back at this actually kind of fascinating. As I mention in my Jackalope Wives review, I was working seemingly quite hard to “get into books” as a profession, and yet my posting about books seems pretty scarce. That review mentions that I was writing for Amazing Stories and working on freelance editing gigs during 2014 as well.

It seems I may have been so focused on the small literary world I could see and interact with right in front of me, that I didn’t really notice or have time for the massive phenomenon that was Gone Girl. I missed the forest for the trees so to speak . . . which probably explains a lot about why I never “made it” in publishing (hahah).

Another reason I often hear for why people are surprised I hadn’t read this one yet is that the story is — to my mind — a bit “meta” in a way which someone with my English-y background might enjoy.

And my friends were right! I absolutely did enjoy the kind of meta-commentary I was picking up. I really noticed it with Amy’s diary posts, Nick’s positioning as an out-of-work journalist, Amy’s positioning as the daughter of two publishing giants, and the literal subject of a children’s series. Amy’s explanation of being a “Cool Girl” and the sort of hipster way they talk about other couples. Amy in particular has a sort of faux clarity; a misunderstanding that if she is able to point out a cliche, she is therefore above it (which we find out to be wholly untrue).

And later as things really begin to heat up, and lawyers and the press get involved, the whole story really becomes about controlling the narrative, which is just great considering all the twists and turns this story puts the reader through. Even if we are able to sus out (correctly) where something is going ahead of time, it’s usually so audacious that we dismiss it right away. At no point is the reader ever in control of Gone Girl‘s narrative. Flynn is in control the WHOLE TIME!!

I don’t think I’ve ever been so divided about two characters in a book. Neither Nick, nor Amy, are good people. Yet at different points of the story, you find yourself rooting for each of them to ‘win’ even though they don’t have any moral ground to stand on. Aside from the twists (yes multiple), I think this character work is what really shows Flynn’s skill as an author. That we are made to care for each of these two characters no matter what new (and often awful) piece of information is revealed is simply incredible.

I think my only critique is that sometimes Nick seems a little too oblivious early on to be able to pull off some of the stunts he is able to later in the book. I think his backstory as a journalist/reporter and his understanding of how the press works definitely give him the skillset to accomplish things the way he does, but it does kind of leave the reader wondering where the heck were these skills earlier the story?

Give ‘Gone Girl‘ a Read?

Absolutely. I think this one is a rare case in which all the hype which has surrounded it for so long is legitimately earned. It’s a great story with expertly written characters which you never really come to like, but ultimately root for all the same. Equally compelling is the way in which the reader never quite ‘figures’ this one out. Even if you do guess important twists, you dismiss them so quickly that when they reappear you’re still shocked that the author ‘actually did that’.

My Bookish Things in 2025 + Goals for 2026

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It’s 2026!

And boy does it feel like 2025 has been A YEAR. As the ‘Winners & Losers of 2025‘ episode of NPR’s It’s Been A Minute podcast describes it:

“Politics feels off. The entertainment industry here in Los Angeles where I am feels totally off. It feels off all the way from New York as well. Yeah. And so everything feels off and yet we’re all still dancing.”

Indeed a lot of ‘dancing’ has happened in 2025. In some ways perhaps more than I’ve ‘danced’ in any of the years since I began these ‘wrap-up’ style posts in 2022. I generally think of 2021 as a kind of record in terms of ‘productivity’, with nearly a book a week read, quarterly newsletter posts and stories going out, a 1st draft of a novel finished, and a short story self-published on Amazon.

But 2025 may have been even BUSIER if such a thing is possible.

2023 may have been the year that we ‘switched back on’ after the pandemic, but 2025 feels like the year that we finally got back to full power. EVERYTHING seems to have happened in 2025.

In the world outside of my reading and writing habits, the things I struggled with the most in 2025 were inflation and stagnant wages. It feels like everything has become soooo expensive. And the money coming in just isn’t there.

So it might make sense that I’ve used ‘art’ as a bit of an escape. I’m sure I’m not the only one.

But also ‘making art’ this year has felt pretty brutal as well and I think that’s because it’s hard to make art when things aren’t going well. It’s commonly held that ‘suffering’ (or at the very least STRESS) is needed to be productive artistically. I generally hold that the opposite is true.

But if we’re just looking at numbers and output, 2025 seems to bear out the more commonly held belief.

In any case, I don’t want this post to be all doom and gloom. I have had plenty to be thankful for this year, and many amazing opportunities have come my way despite the general pallor of the year.

I was lucky enough not to have any major issues with my house (Ok literally as I was typing up this post my washer stared leaking water everywhere), and we finally (at the end of January) opened the makerspace/recording studio which I manage, and have — in just a year — seen over 360 visits without any major marketing pushes or grand opening events. And I also completed a library certification!

In guitar-world, I participated in a six-session Grateful Dead jam, learned some 22 songs, and a whole host of things about my instrument. I also participated in my first ‘Flash Band‘ which saw me jamming with a bunch of other local musicians, and will culminate in a concert come February.

So yea . . . BUSY.

But we’re here to wrap up my reading and writing for 2025 and set goals for 2026, so let’s do that!

Writing in 2025

Last year, I had essentially two writing goals:

  • A post a week on this blog
  • 2,000 words a week (abt 500 words per week day) on the 2025 novel

Had I actually hit that goal, I would have had somewhere around 106,000 words of fiction, and . . . whatever I managed to type here on the blog (in 2024: around 63K over 59 posts)

I DID manage to keep up about a post a week on the blog, with 57 posts totaling in about 62,000 words.

My fiction writing was a little more sparse, but honestly, still quite good all things considered. I did not write 2,000 words a week, but DID manage somewhere near that for 38 of the 53 weeks. That’s 80K towards the new novel, about 75% of what I was hoping to accomplish.

Between the blog and the novel, I wrote about 142,981 words which . . . technically more than 2021 (142,341) which I think is my highest output year ever?

Some highlights for me on this blog were:

Of course I had fun doing #WyrdAndWonder and #JurassicJune and #Blaugust as well, but I think that is kind of expected by now.

Reading 2025

As for my reading? It looks like I’ll be finishing out the year with 33 books read (9,160 pages), just two books shy of my 35 book goal. I did read at least two Cosmere stories, Tress of the Emerald Sea and Sixth of the Dusk, but I’m still woefully behind there.

Another goal I worked towards this year was to read more things I already own before purchasing new books. There’ll be more to come on this in future posts, but I actually think I did a pretty decent job.

Anyway, the longest book I read was Onyx Storm. The shortest was The Grownup. Most popular was Gone Girl (review to come).

A few books which stood out to me this year (for being good):

Books I wished were better:

Writing in 2026

It’s clear to me that my 2,000 words of fiction a week goal is perhaps slightly too ambitious. Not only did I not meet it, but after a full year of trying I’m pretty burnt out. However, 3/4 of the way there is feeling quite close, and some quick math says that if I can just keep things up until the end of February, I’ll be across the finish line.

So, writing goals for 2026 might look a little something like this:

  • A post a week on the blog
  • 2,000 words a week on the 2025 novel until the end of February
  • Re-read The Last Draft and Refuse To Be Done in March and April
  • May or sometime after: Begin revisions on 2025 novel

I honestly have no idea what my revision process is going to look like for this book since — despite claiming I’d learned a whole bunch of revision strategies back in 2022 — I have virtually no idea what first steps might be. I’ve been receiving feedback each week as I’ve been drafting so I think a lot of the necessary course corrections were happening in real-time.

But it also means that the original chapters I wrote for this were started (by now) a full year ago. So perhaps step one will just be to read the whole thing through once and see where I’m at. We shall see!

Reading in 2026

Once again, I was only JUST SHY of hitting my goal for 2025, so for 2026 I think I’ll just keep it the same (35 books), and see how I do.

In my End of Year Book Tag (2025) post, I mention keeping up with my book club reads, finishing the Bartimaeus books, and maybe starting Harry Potter. I’ve also challenged myself to re-read the Murderbot Diaries before splurging on Apple+ so I can watch the show. Antimatter Blues and the Silo books seem to be calling as well.

Finally, I’ve been watching a lot of Youtube videos about capitol “L” literature (aka literary fiction). Consequently now I’d like to give some of that a try. We’ll see if I do.

The End

What are y’all’s goals for 2026? Reading? Writing? Go ahead and post them in the comments. I’m interested to see what ya’ll have been doing. Until next week!

More Than a Meme: Revisiting the 1986 Guitar Classic ‘Crossroads’

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If you play guitar, and spend any amount of time online, it seems like the 1986 movie Crossroads, will eventually find you. Whether it’s a gif of the epic showdown between Steve Vai and Ralph Macchio, or some joke about the movie comparing it to Karate Kid, it feels a bit inevitable.

Yet somehow, even though I’ve been a musician in some form or another since elementary school, I’d never seen it. But it was free to watch on Tubi so I decided to give it a shot.

Boy oh boy, I was not disappointed.

It might be pretty easy take one look at Ralph Macchio’s dated hairstyle, and the ridiculous swagger he seems to infuse into his every movement during the beginning of the film, and dismiss Crossroads as just a weird artifact from an even weirder time (aka the 80’s). Ry Cooder, who wrote the film’s award winning soundtrack, has said the film “went down the tubes” and Wikipedia says the film only grossed 5.8 million which probably did not cover the cost of making it.

But once the film actually gets going, it ends up being quite enjoyable.

Joe Seneca’s character, Willie Brown, toes a hard line between wise old blues master, and cunning con artist. Until the last third of the movie we’re never really sure if things are as he says they are.

The myth and legend surrounding ‘The Blues’ has always been an interest of mine, so it was impossible not to get swept away the story. Macchio’s Eugene ‘Lightning Boy’ Martone makes an easy audience stand in, also fascinated with the blues and somehow able to track down the infamous Willie Brown, who (in the movie) traveled with legendary blues guitarist Robert Johnson.

In college I read a biography of Robert Johnson for a class (but now that I look for it on my shelf I can’t find it). I thought it was very interesting how this film imagined his life, and how they incorporated the crossroads legend into it.

In reality, Robert’s life as a traveling blues musician likely meant that long stretches of time might pass between when he had first arrived in a town, and when he might come back. Blues musician Son House remembered Johnson as a little boy who was a competent harmonica player, but embarrassingly bad at guitar. When House heard him next, likely about two years later, Johnson had acquired a more mature sound, likely from studying with Isaiah “Ike” Zimmerman.

And at the time, playing secular music in opposition to liturgical music, already meant that you had sold your soul to the devil. It is not hard to see how, after not seeing Johnson for so long and him returning with such skill, made the legend that he had gone to the crossroads to sell his soul for guitar mastery. Johnson’s song “Crossroad“, though never mentioning the devil in the lyrics, probably encouraged the myth, as did his song “Hellhound on My Trail“.

While Willie Brown is mentioned in Johnson’s lyrics, and played guitar on a few of Johnson’s recordings, I haven’t seen anything that points to them traveling together. It seems that Willie Brown’s character is probably more based on Johnny Shines, who traveled with Johnson from 1935 to 1937.

But these artistic licenses just bring the story together into a more cohesive whole.

Only one scene sort of took me out of the film and that was when Jami Gertz’s character, Frances, (slight spoiler) leaves to continue her own journey out to L.A. Machio standing in the pouring rain looking so depressed really just seemed a bit over the top to me, despite the whole vibe of the movie being a bit overdone. And that it’s this event that gives “lightning boy” the sorrow he needs to really become a bluesman just felt a bit bad. Like her whole character was just to move that one plot forward? Maybe it’s technically not a fridge, but it has that feeling.

Give Crossroads a Watch?

Ultimately, I’d say yes. Whether you’re a guitarist/musician or not, the film has a certain fun to it, and though I had a few critiques, it holds up pretty well (despite being almost 40 years old!).

If you ARE a guitarist or musician, then I’d say it’s absolutely homework. Even if just to help you better understand all the memes!

That’s all I have this week! Has anyone watched this movie before? What was your favorite part? Do you listen to much blues? Who’s your favorite blues musician? As always, please leave your thoughts in the comments. I look forward to talking about this one!

Until next time!

Reindeer Book Tag!

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Well, looks like we’re going to keep this book tag magic alive one more week (last week I did my End of Year Book Tag for 2025!). This week we’ve got The Reindeer Book Tag, in which the categories are named after . . . well Santa’s reindeer. Fun!

I originally found this tag over at MyBookWorld24. It seems there may be multiple versions? The latest I could find that was still active was this post.

But you’ll notice the questions don’t quite line up. I think mine are from the other one which doesn’t appear to be live anymore. Rather than rewrite the tag I just used what I had in my notes (aka the old category definitions).

Anyway, enjoy!

Dasher

Implies speed and energy. Recommend a book you read in one sitting?

Already I’m stretching a bit on this one, but I’ll have to go with Martha Wells’ All Systems Red. This novella isn’t the same kind of page-turner as something like Fourth Wing (I challenge anyone to finish that book in one sitting), or a Dean Koontz novel, however it his highly engaging and also . . . not very long.

Very easy to finish on a long drive without even realizing you’re going to, and then rue the long drive home because you didn’t think to request the sequel at the same time and it has something like a three week wait on Libby. Not talking from personal experience or anything.

The first in the Murderbot Diaries, ASR is certainly a very character driven story — although it does have plenty of thrilling action — which stars probably the most relatable cyborg in Science Fiction, one which only does things in order to get back to watching shows.

Who doesn’t feel that DEEPLY in this year of our lord 2025.

Even putting this aside, there are so many aspects of this story which seem to predict our current mode. Reading it (again for the 3rd time) in 2025, I was stunned by how Wells was able to extract the signal from the noise.

All around a great book. Hoping to follow up with the sequels soon as I have a bit of a bet with myself of finishing them before buying myself Apple+ to watch the show. Wish me luck!

Dancer

Conjures images of gracefulness and rhythm. A character you feel is very graceful?

Oooh. It’s been a while since I’ve had the opportunity to preach the Green Bone gospel. It’s also been a LONG while since I’ve read these books, so hopefully my memory isn’t faulty. When it comes to a character that conjures images of gracefulness and rhythm, Kaul Hiloshudon or simply Hilo, just makes the most sense.

Four years ago (wow!), to promote the last novel in the series, Jade Legacy, author Fonda Lee introduces her characters and describes Hilo as:

“. . . the second brother and the middle child of the Kaul family. He starts out as the horn, the leader of the clan’s warriors. Hilo is a formidable, cunning, street fighter and he also has to step into responsibilities that he never anticipated. He is big-hearted, and he’s charismatic. He’s ruthless with the clan’s enemies and he’s also very caring and protective of his family. Hilo was my favorite character to write and one of the things that I’m most proud of in this trilogy is the decades of development of Hilo’s character.”

The man Hilo becomes — a man who by the end of the series will have you weeping — is undeniably incredible, but the Hilo who I feel best matches the “dancer” theme, is the Hilo we meet at the beginning of Jade City. The one Fonda Lee describes as “a formidable, cunning, street fighter”. In this stage of Hilo’s life, he is young, confident, and much to everyone’s chagrin, as good as he thinks he is. He’s slick with two C’s (I don’t think that’s a saying). A smooth operator. Just a fucking badass.

Just the man, though probably not a man you’d want to call a “dancer” to his face.

Prancer

Suggests a lively and spirited action. Recommend a book you feel took you on an adventure?

Of the books I’ve read (relatively) recently, His Majesty’s Dragon feels the most adventure-y. There’s ships, sailing and naval battles (in like the first two chapters), then dragons and the . . . dragon equivalent of naval battles!

Though the most intense scenes of His Majesty’s Dragon take place high above the ocean’s waves, the reader can still feel the salt of its spray as Novik’s MASSIVE dragons are essentially just flying naval ships. Seriously these things are so big that they can fly a crew of twelve and sometimes have like little structures built into the saddles.

And while the kind of Regency era language makes the book feel like it might become a Jane Austen novel at any moment, the wholesome and organic bond which grows between dragon and rider is the stuff of pure fantasy. An adventure through and through!

Vixen

Traditionally denotes a female fox, suggesting cleverness. Recommend a book/character that was cleverly written.

I had a few good options for this one, but I wanted to keep my answers to things I’d already reviewed on the blog.

So Gillian Flynn’s The Grownup takes the prize here. I’m really starting to think that Flynn’s sole purpose in writing (life?) is just to come up with twists we aren’t expecting. Even the first line of this story feels like a twist, and while the twists in The Grownup might not be as gut-punching or soul-wrenching as some of her other work (I am SO close to finishing Gone Girl), anyone who tells you they spotted this ending a mile away is simply lying.

Comet

A celestial body implying brilliance and speed. Recommend a book with a cover that has a light source on it. (mybookworld24 had a book with a lit Xmas tree on it)

If we take this one extremely literally, I think we can go with Mickey7 here. The cover features a man floating through space, and a big planet (which he is possibly falling towards). Some kind of sun or star lights of up the horizon, just peeking out along the curve of the planet outline.

Cupid

The Roman god of love, indicating affection and warmth. Recommend a novel which gave you a loving feeling.

You’d think with all the Romantasy I’ve been reading lately this would be an easy pick, however most of these books feel a bit more lusty to me than love-y.

So, I’ll steer clear of Romantasy for a bit and reminisce about Penric’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold. Desdemona and Penric don’t really have the type of relationship that the moniker “cupid” might imply, but they form a kind of bond all the same. Plus there’s humor, and magic, and just an all-around great story.

Donner

Deriving from the Dutch word for “thunder”. Recommend a book you want to read on a rainy day.

Veronica Roth’s When Among Crows and To Clutch a Razor might be good choices for this one. They’re not exactly cozy-rainy-day-reads; they’re actually quite brutal and violent in parts. But I think in order to get the mood right, there’s lots of fog and rain in the book (I guess I’m being literal again!).

Blitzen

The German word for “lightning”, indicative of swift motion. Recommend a short read.

I feel like I’ve been reading a lot of novellas recently, so you’d think I’d maybe go with something on that list but no, I’m gonna be a bit silly and recommend something from The Experiment Publishing‘s ‘Shortest History’ series.

The Shortest History of Music and The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs are the two I’ve finished so far. They’re essentially subject 101 style books and I’ve honestly enjoyed them quite a bit. Although TSHotD is technically not the shortest book about Dinosaurs I’ve read. That would be Kenneth Lacovara’s Why Dinosaurs Matter, also a great choice!

Rudolph

Noted for his glowing red nose that cuts through the fog and darkness like a guiding light. Recommend a red holiday cover that’s pretty to look at.

In my Mid Year Freak Out Book Tag 2025, I mention the Godkiller books as the most beautiful book covers I’ve bought this year, and mostly I still think that’s true, but for the sake of variety (and because I didn’t by it THIS year), I’m going mix it up and choose Tress of the Emerald Sea for this post.

I actually think the cover is a bit plain looking when you see it as an image, but it is beautiful to see in person, and the entire book itself is just a glory to behold. I especially enjoyed the random pieces of artwork placed throughout the book which add to the experience. They seem to be placed just off center from whatever scene they depict, possibly so that when you’re reading you have the chance to imagine the scene for yourself?

In any case, the inserts are simply amazing. Also, color and the beautiful but somewhat alien visuals are kinda this book’s whole aesthetic. And to tie it back to our tag, there’s a whole ocean of red spores with red storms and giant red crystals . . . Shine bright Rudolph. Shine Bright!

Tag You’re It!

Once again, I’ve failed main premise here. If you’re reading this, TAG! You’re it!

What are some books that fit these categories for you? Any other fun tags you’ve seen during 2025?

As always, leave your thoughts in the comments. Looking forward to discussing this post!

End of the Year Book Tag 2025!

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All I have by way of an introduction for this post, is just to say, “It’s that time of year again!”

We’re staring down the barrel of the approaching new year, but it isn’t quite time for wrap-ups or reflections just yet. It’s time for cramming and squeezing every last drop out of 2025. I’ve done this tag back in 2023 and last year in 2024, and always had a good time. It’s fun.

Remember, I found this tag originally on Peat Long’s Blog back in 2023, and the original creator appears to be booktuber Ariel Bissett.

Here. We. Go!

Are There Any Books You Started This Year That You Need To Finish?

I’ve just started the second book in Jonathan Stroud’s Bartimaeus series, The Golem’s Eye. A review of the first book, The Amulet of Samarkand, will be posting soon, but I don’t know if it will happen before the new year.

I’m also (for whatever reason) reading a For Dummies guide about keyboards (piano, organ, MIDI controllers etc.) I’m learning way more than I probably will ever need to actually know and honestly enjoying myself quite a bit, but it is a bit frivolous, so hopefully I can wrap that up before the new year arrives and move on to some other topics that are more pressing.

Do You Have An Autumnal Book To Transition Into The End Of The Year?

I never have good answer for this one. Maybe that’s a goal for 2026. I’ll have to set myself a calendar reminder for like October to search out a good fall/wintery book. In any case, I’ll just refer to my answers from 2024 and 2023 . . . Winternight Trilogy or Payback’s a Witch.

Better luck next year.

Is There A New Release You’re Still Waiting For?

I kinda had my eye on Tailored Realities, however it just published a few days ago so I guess I’m not really “waiting” for it.

In the first little bit of 2026, I’m looking forward to a January release of the sequel to The Last Phi Hunter, called Way of the Walker, and a February release of Boy With Accidental Dinosaur.

What Are Three Books You Want To Read Before The End Of The Year?

  • The Golem’s Eye
  • Gone Girl
  • Blood Over Bright Haven

The Golem’s Eye I already mentioned up above.

Back in October, I read Gillian Flynn’s The Grownup, and wanted to see what all the fuss was about with Gone Girl. I’m about 85% through and I get it. This book is GOOD. Unfortunately, I’m only getting to read it in snatches when I’m at the desk at work (shhh) which is less and less often now that the makerspace is picking up (slightly). In any case, really looking forward to how it turns out. Already it has twisted and turned in ways I couldn’t imagine (or rather thought briefly would be crazy and then discarded because who would do that? Apparently Gillian Flynn would lol)

Blood Over Bright Haven is a book club pick that I don’t really know much about. But I AM excited to meet up with the club again so . . . need to get on it!

Have You Already Started Making Reading Plans For 2026?

Uhhh top priority should probably go to American Werewolves by Emily Jane since that was a Net Galley book which released back in September (oops!). I don’t really have a great excuse except my Kindle died and I’ve been to lazy to find the charger.

My only other plans are to just try to keep up with book club books, and continue my journey through books I actually own.

I’ll probably try to finish out the Bartimaeus trilogy since I’ve got a good start on it.

I’ve been kinda itching to do a reread of Harry Potter. Oooh and the Old Man’s War books. Oh and I promised myself I’d get Apple + if I finished the Murderbot Diaries and the Silo books. Maybe we should tack on Antimatter Blues so I can finally watch Mickey 17.

I guess I’m having a bit of a sci-fi era in 2026!

Tag You’re It!

This is usually the part of the post where I tag some internet friends and hope they will also complete the tag and link me back. But it’s kinda late in the year, and I did absolutely zero work making any new friends this year, so I’m just gonna say, if you’re reading this, tag you’re it!

That’s all I have for this week! See you next time! Is there anything you’re hoping to get finished before the new year? New titles your looking forward to for next year? Plans for 2026?

Leave your thoughts in the comments!

All Systems Red: Still The Most Relatable Cyborg in Science Fiction

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I’ve got a bit of a bet going with myself. Reread the Murderbot books and I’ll have earned out the $12.99 a month I’d give to Apple to watch the show (I might also try to finish the Silo books as well just to really be an overachiever). But a quick Google shows me this is a bit of a dumb bet, as apparently the show only covers the first book?

How?

In any case, I’ve taken another — according to goodreads, my third — look at All Systems Red and am finally sitting down to write a review for it.

I reviewed Network Effect back in 2021 in the lead up to the announcement of the winner in August of 2021. And apparently missed the mark completely. Network Effect DID win the award, beating out Black Sun, Harrow The Ninth, and The City We Became (I still haven’t read The Relentless Moon or Piranesi).

In that post, I mentioned that Murderbot was probably one of my favorite characters in fiction because of how relatable the character felt. I said then:

“It doesn’t want to fail its contract because this will make it harder for it to sit around in its repair cube (or really anywhere) and watch its favorite TV show . . . Who here has not undertaken extreme measures in the pursuit of laziness?”

I wrote that in March of 2021, and All Systems Red first entered the scene back in May of 2017 (though apparently my first read through wasn’t until April 2018).

Rereading All Systems Red near the end of 2025, it is phenomenal to think of how clearly Wells found the signal through the noise. I suppose that 8 years ago, we had social media feeds, and endless supply of media at our fingertips, and all the technological components which would go into a voice like Murderbot, which had all been around for about a decade. And yet, the unbearableness of being seen by other people, the strain of muddling through even basic interactions, the want to just be left alone . . . The begrudging acceptance that being by yourself isn’t actually what you need . . . And most importantly, the desire to exist outside of corporate interests . . .

It’s all incredibly “of this moment”. It’s startling in how much more this has seemingly become mainstream.

But these heavy topics are only really apparent upon thinking about the story afterward. In the moment, the reader is mostly distracted by the spectacle of Murderbot’s existence. All Systems Red doesn’t read much like an Alien movie, or Blade Runner, but Murderbot’s milieu kind of feels like it could loosely belong to these two properties. Murderbot is a sort of vaguely defined cyborg with organic and in-organic parts. And throughout the story we find that it’s the organic parts that are kinda starting to dominate Murderbot’s actions over the in-organic/robotic parts. There are also people in this milieu who are human, but augmented with machines.

Obviously, there are questions here about “what it means to be human”, but in this installment, they’re asked, but not answered. Since I have read most of the other novellas already, I know certain questions will be addressed in later books, but in this one, we’re mostly laying groundwork.

But this doesn’t mean that All Systems Red is not a complete story. It is. It just does what any good story does, ask more questions than it answers.

This is usually the part during a review where I start to throw criticisms at the work. I don’t really have any. I’m sure there are problems, but I’m not sure what they are. I did read a review which essentially stated that Murderbot has too many feelings, and there wasn’t enough action in the book. I think this person fundamentally misunderstood what they were reading.

This book has explosions. Bullets are fired. Fighting happens. The fight scenes in this book are surprisingly tactical. But the real action of this story takes place in Murderbot’s mind. In their relationship with the other characters.

Give ‘All Systems Red‘ a Read?

Yup! In 2021 I stated that Murderbot was one of my favorite characters in fiction. By 2025 that hasn’t changed. If anything this — third — read through has only allowed me to better understand why that is so. I’ll admit, I was somewhat startled by Well’s ability to really foretell the zeitgeist of 2025. And equally impressed by how much groundwork is laid in this first installment for what is to come!

Has anyone else read this one? What where your thoughts? What parts surprised you? Which ones are old hat?

Leave your thoughts in the comments. I’d love to talk some more about this one!

Until next time!

I’ve Read 500 Books! Let’s Celebrate With a Review of Andrew Ford’s The Shortest History of Music

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According to Goodreads, I’ve read 500 books!

I’m only at 450 posts on the blog, so somewhere along the way I must have missed some lol (also not all my posts here are about books so I’ve really missed some lol).

Anyway, The Shortest History of Music… by Andrew Ford has been on my radar since I finished The Shortest History of the Dinosaurs back in June of this year. My library system had a copy which I checked out right away, and then just sort of held onto it for like five months . . . Ooops.

But much like TSHotD felt like a sort of intro course you might take in college, so too was Shortest History of Music a pretty broad spectrum of musical topics crammed into a neat 221 pages. I was lucky enough to be able to take a few music history courses back in college, covering Classical Music, World Music, and Jazz, Blues, Pop and Rock History (interestingly the jazz and blues history courses were in my English dept classes), but I was a music undergrad a little over a decade ago now, so I was very curious to find out how my own knowledge would stack up, and to find out what “the kids” are learning these days.

Turns out, quite a bit.

The subtitle for this book is: “From Bone Flutes to Synthesizers, Hildegard of Bingen to Beyonce — 5,000 Years of Instrument and Song“

That is quite a bit of time to sum up, and Ford approaches the task from a few viewpoints:

  • its cultural impact (the tradition of music),
  • its form (notation and technique)
  • its economic impact (sale of music)
  • its elevation (modernism)
  • its capture (recording tech)

If you’ve noticed this list looks quite a bit like Ford’s table of contents, you’d be on to something. I basically just tried to put that table of contents into my own words after reading the book. Obviously the description of the section on modernity is a bit weak, but that is more just a failure of my ability to contextualize it, not the writing itself. If anything, Ford writes one of the most insightful definitions of Modernism I’ve read yet:

“. . . excitement for the new tempered with nostalgia for what is lost.” pg 189.

Ford is writing here about a piece called ‘Piano Burning’. The score for this piece instructs the performer to light a piano on fire, and to play whatever they want until they can no longer play the piano. Ford notes that the composer Annea Lockwood, has described stagings of the piece tended to “begin in a carnival atmosphere but would invariably end with the audience falling quiet to listen to gentle crackles of the fire, as though in mourning for the instrument.”

I certainly did not learn about that in music school.

I also quite enjoyed this book’s assertion that:

“Operas tend to change composers. The dramatic imperative, the need to tell a story, to communicate dialogue to an audience: These are useful distractions, and artists are most themselves when they are least self-conscious.” pg 160.

This line is in reference to Richard Wagner’s opera Tristan und Isolde in which the composer had begun experimenting with a unique approach to chromatic harmony. What I love about the line, is that it seems to hint at the same conclusion I reached towards the end of Part 1 of my review of The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics. The best music, the music that survives, tells a story.

Focused as he was on telling the story, Wagner’s craft was allowed to flourish in the background, uninhibited by the normal forms or ‘rules’ music is ‘meant’ to follow. The music that was made was the music that best suited the tale.

I spent a long time thinking about how this works in reverse as well. When writing, is there a kind of musical imperative that seeps into story? In poetry, it would seem the answer is obviously yes, but how about in just prose?

This post is getting a bit long so I’ll quickly just list a few other high points of the book and some things I’d like to research further because I’ve finished this book (and of course I do have one criticism).

Mostly, I think this book does a pretty good job of pulling from a broad spectrum of musical experience. Within its pages we learn about musical traditions from all over the world, whether it be sixth century Chinese guquin, or fifteenth century Spanish vihuela. A big swing I think this book attempts to take is in closing the gender gap in Classical music. More traditional music history texts focus on the men (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven etc.) while ignoring the women. This book allows for a wider view, including names like Fanny Mendelssohn, Francesca Caccini, Barbara Strozzi, Harriet Wainwright and Pauline Viardot. I was particularly interested to learn about — from genres outside of classical music — Piedmont blues musician Elizabeth Cotten, and gospel guitarist Sister Rosetta Tharpe.

My only real critique of this text, is that — even though the book purportedly wants to go in the opposite direction — the parts of this book that felt more well researched and nuanced in their arguments were the parts of the book that talked about classical music. Ford spends about a paragraph on almost all of rock’n’roll, and doesn’t really talk about Hip Hop at all aside from mentioning how popular it is. It would seem that if it is one of the most popular forms of music of all time, it would warrant a bigger chunk of the book.

Give ‘The Shortest History of Music’ a Read?

Despite my one criticism, I’d say yes. Ford’s writing is extremely readable, and this author has a great sense for how to weave many smaller compelling stories into one — 5,000 year old — narrative. Ford’s insights into capital M Modernity, and the importance of storytelling in music really resonated with me. Also there were about a thousand things I noted down to google later.

Even with a (IMHO) solid background in music history, I found that The Shortest History of Music still had quite a bit to teach me, and I genuinely hope that THIS is the text colleges will begin using for music courses. It seems up-to-date in its information and research, and posits a wide view of scholarship on the subject.

That’s all I have for this week. Has anyone read this one before? What are your favorite genres of music? Your favorite songs? Do you have any favorite stories that incorporate music? Or any music you feel tells a great story?

Leave your thoughts in the comments. I’m looking forward to talking about this one!

Until next time . . .

Dark Lord’s Guide to Dating: The Romantasy Book That Had Me Feeling All Kinds of Ways

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To put it simply, this book had me feeling all kinds of ways at different points throughout, but overall, I’m glad I read it.

I’ll start with the things I liked first.

Just right off the bat, I think the premise — taking what might be a relatively mundane and common thing (dating advice) and applying it to uncommon/fantastical circumstances (aka a “Dark Lord”) — is fun, and alluring. And generally speaking, stories set from what would traditionally be considered the villain’s point of view, are right in my wheelhouse. For instance, I loved John Scalzi’s Starter Villain, and books like Django Wexler’s How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying or graphic novels like Brandon Sanderson’s Dark One have been burning a hole in my TBR for quite some time (I will get there! I will!).

So we’re off to a good start there, and the actual writing itself keeps the good things coming. This is my first Tiffany Hunt read, and I’d say Dark Lord’s Guide to Dating (and Other War Crimes) definitely recommends her as an author. This book is well crafted with prose that are easy (and fun) to read. A huge part of this book is what we SEE, whether it be shadows casually wisping around the male lead’s body, or the ominous loom of his fortress over an otherwise idyllic landscape. Oh and of course all the once-overs and caught stares (and ya know . . . casual nakedness).

There’s a lot to describe, and many opportunities for (I would think) bungled metaphors, purple prose or even just crude language; however, Hunt never seems to hit a bad note. Her writing is clear, unapologetic, and economical (also well edited, even really famous authors have a spelling error or two in their works these days, but thinking back I don’t think remember encountering even one!). Just generally smooth, and delightful to read.

I also really enjoyed the alternating perspectives between Arabella and the titular Dark Lord, Kazimir. I’m not exactly new to Romantasy (or Romance in general), however I wouldn’t say I have as deep a knowledge of it as some other genres I read, so I’m not really that aware of whether or not this is a common structure (as it definitely IS say for just regular High Fantasy), but I felt like it was really critical here, as it allowed the reader to really see how each character grows and develops.

And this is probably the part that is most well done about Dark Lord’s Guide To Dating. In many ways, this story is essentially Beauty and the Beast, with the heroine trapped in the monster’s lair, only to fall for said “monster” in the end. In B&B, it’s The Beast who really has the noticeable change arc, becoming more refined in order to woo Belle, and by the end of the story, literally changing shape and regaining his humanity.

Kazimir and Arabella both need to change in order to make this romance work, with Kaz becoming slightly more heroic and “good” as the story progresses, and Arabella giving up some of her naivete and becoming more “evil” by the end.

For me, where the story ran aground a bit, is in its variety and worldbuilding. Based on some of the little references and allusions dropped here and there, it’s clear that Hunt has a good knowledge of traditional Fantasy, and Romantasy more specifically. The powerful artifact they are attempting to (ahem) turn on throughout the story is a circlet, and a pretty clear homage to Lord of the Rings, as I would assume is Kazimir’s whole vibe and position as a “Dark Lord”. There’s a quip early on in the book about not being able to distinguish which princess named Violet is which, which I’m assuming is a nod to Fourth Wing and its legion of imitators.

And while all this reference and allusion to other works of Fantasy and Romantasy is fun, I was still hoping for some little scrap of worldbuilding that would make THIS world memorable for its own sake. Perhaps the closest I came was with some in-world folklore about magical roses (ayy speaking of Beauty and the Beast). I was kind of fascinated by this, but unfortunately I don’t think it went deep enough.

In terms of the variety (or lack thereof) I mentioned earlier, this book has A LOT of training sequences, which I get. These can be great scenes for building a relationship between the lovers. And it gives them an excuse to fight, quip, challenge each other and grow. It also gets them moving, and probably more importantly, sweating (ow ow lol). And it teaches the reader how the world’s magic system works.

But it also isolates them from the rest of said world, feeding into the problem I just described. A big part of Fantasy (for me) is the awe experienced while reading it. Of visiting new places, and experiencing things that push the limits of imagination. I think these training sequences may have actually been alright, if they hadn’t all (more-or-less) taken place in the same darkly lit dungeon.

As a bit of an added aside, not really a positive or negative critique of this book but just something that sort of enhanced my experience, I stumbled across this Youtube video while reading: Why Are Male Characters All Written Like This Now?. Toldbyreem also posted an earlier video about what she thinks is the more idyllic male hero: What Makes Mr. Darcy The Perfect Romantic Hero?

When watching the criticism video, I felt like many of her complaints described Kazimir pretty well, however, then I watched the second video which painted a more elevated version of the romantic hero, I thought Kaz fit these criteria as well. I’m not sure what to make of this . . .

The last thing I’ll mention in my review is the spice. Of the Romance and Romantasy books I’ve read so far, this one is probably the horniest. And mostly, I think it works. I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler to say that one of the scenes takes place in a library, and those poor books got a show they did not ask or pay for (not in front of the books!). Also, it never occurred to me before how close “shadow magic during sex” is to . . . well tentacles really.

But hey, love as thou wilt . . .

Give “Dark Lord’s Guide To Dating” a Read?

Yea! As you can see by just the length of this review, there is a lot to unpack within Dark Lord’s Guide to Dating which . . . is honestly why we do it.

Personally, I enjoyed Hunt’s easy prose, and the allure of the book’s initial conceit, but where I thought the book really shined was with its two lead characters, and the growth we could see between each of the two perspectives. Where I thought the book struggled was in its worldbuilding and variety of scenes. I wanted to see more of Kaz and Arabella’s world, to dig deeper and discover what really separates it from the legion of other similar settings.

That’s all I have for this one! I’m curious if anyone else has read this already? What did you think? Was it too spicy? Or just right? What Romance, Fantasy, or Romantasy tropes are you tired of? Who’s your perfect leading man?

Leave your thoughts in the comments. Looking forward to talking about this one!