[Tea]nderthal/Rex

I read the first two of this series because I'm on a litrpg kick. I love manga with this vibe (Solo Leveling, The Beginning After the End, etc) and since starting Dungeon Crawler Carl, I've been reading around for more like it. This isn't dcc by any means, but its still a fun read.

Jim, our protagonist, awakes after definitely getting killed to find himself in a room where he must choose a class for himself. Rather than doing so, he gets into a tussle with a demon and falls all the way down to the world of mortals to an abandoned town called Windfall. He claims the town and becomes the mayor.

There isn't a complexity of plot in this so far like what you see in dcc, but it has potential to get there. The first book, The Mayor of Noobtown I liked a lot. It was interested to see the screen system and leveling stuff and I was rooting for Jim. But book two, Village of Noobtown, fell a little short. It was bogged down in the economy of the town (something I understand needs worked out, but which I would have loved to have left in the managerial hands of an NPC and dealt with off page).

Overall, 3.5 stars

Content warnings are just fantasy typical violence. Mild objectification of women tho.

Influencer by day, grave robber by night, Poppy is doing everything she can to make the life she never had for her daughter in a well-to-do neighborhood. So when she's offered five million dollars to steal the corpse of beloved rockstar Eddie Michaels, she can't say no. It's a sketchy job, but the money is worth it. At least, until Eddie wakes up. A gory death-fest from start to finish, the tagline says it all: never meet your heroes.

I listened to the audiobook for this title and Mara Wilson does a great job coming off as self-centered and self-important and portraying the feeling of not being in control. She brings Poppy to life as the messy person she is under that camera-ready exterior.

What's worse? Parasites, zombies, or mind control? Don't worry. You won't need to pick and choose with this one folks.

5/5 stars.

Content warnings: kidnapping, mind control, body horror, forced self-harm, self-harm, and honestly just all kinds of abuse.

I never read Divergent but this feels like something that people who liked that and also acotar would really enjoy. Its a female power fantasy set in a dystopia with an underdog main character.

Fia is Riftborne, essentially an underclass among the sidhe, and so she never expected more from life than to keep her uncontrollable abilities in check and live a quiet life an the apprentice to an apothecary.

Until she slips up and is noticed by the (very attractive) general of this world military themed spy/assassin branch, Laryk Ashford. He takes a special interest in her and guess who gets force enlisted? correct.

I didn't really vibe with the whole military angle of this, like I don't like anything about it.

However, that cliffhanger? If we get to be on the side of the guys who destroy the colonial military I've seen so far in book one, then I'm back on board.

Otherwise, this was very much giving 2010s dystopian romance with that brand new romantasy (wearing thin) spin.

3/5 stars in the hopes that I'm right about the entire colonial power burning to the ground (otherwise more of a 2.5).

In all the comparisons to Murderbot, they mean Moss. Moss is so Murderbot coded.

I'm now emotionally attached to this fantastic green conversationalist.

I can't say that I end up liking every single cozy book out there but I did really like this one. There a touch of romance, but just a touch.

It's mostly about Torian and her desire to save her sister from an environmentally-deadly disease, and Moss, who after being abandoned and alone for over a century, is determined to find both friends and agency.

The two come together and the adventure is one that is so very much what I wanted it to be (and more! there is some really cool world-building in this!) Highly recommended to fans of Thorne's other works, and for fans of cozy found families in space.

5/5 stars.

This has a similar vibe to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab in the beginning. But its a much more romantic book. Khiran and Anna actually care about one another.

That's really the heart of the plot. Anna saves a woman's life despite having no reason to do so and gets eternal life. Her journey over centuries and her love for the one who gave her that life is what we're reading.

I actually thought for a minute that this shapeshifting god was going to be more genderfluid, but the representation is overall pretty masculine.

The book was still touching. The journey was interesting and the end genuinely felt like an extension of the world. I would imagine if the other gods and the tension between them is handled well, that the next book will be a fun (tragic) clash.

4/5 stars.

Content warning for genocide, colonization, enslavement, attempted assault, and other historic tragedies (war, death in childbirth, starvation, etc).