wolvenbolt's reviews
213 reviews

I loved the first book, and this book wasn't any less or more in quality. Legends & Lattes had this charming feeling to it I couldn't quite place, but after finishing Bookshops & Bonedust, I've now isolated what that feel is:

This feels like you're taking part in a D&D campaign.

Such a wholesome and endearing read, while the first book gave you a snapshot glimpse into the life of Viv putting down the Sword and becoming an entrepreneur, this book features Viv in her mercenary days when she first meets Gallina.

This book took a lot of what was in Legends & Lattes and reskinned it, the Dwarf who helped build the coffee shop in Legends & Lattes is reskinned as an Orc guy in this book that helps Viv fix outside the bookshop by supplying her some wooden planks. Maylee and Thimble are both bakers supplying unbelievably tasting treats to everyone, helping fix and spruce up the bookshop felt very similiar to Viv setting up the coffee shop in the first book etc. It really did feel like the same as the first book but slightly altered.

Regardless, I enjoyed it a lot, and Travis Baldree narrating his own book again is always a treat! 

One of the best books I've read in a while, it's simple and wholesome, using the typical DnD-like fantasy world as a foundation and, instead of throwing in epic stakes and world shattering consequences, it's a small stakes story about a well-built warrior Orc woman who puts down the Sword to start a coffee shop in an city where nobody knows what coffee is.

This story was an absolutely beautiful premise, paired with very accessible prose and loveable characters. You find yourself rooting for everyone, especially little Thimble, God I love that guy! 🥐

But there's other hassles and hurdles they must face, Liv's past keeps coming back to threaten her new way of life. 

I will say I saw some cheap uses of subversive foreshadowing, for a while into the book, it made us believe Liv was romantically interested in Cal, which honestly seemed like a weird and incompatible pairing to me, but then suddenly Tandri and Liv start giving eachother sneaky longing glances, being awkward around eachother, being intimate and it became quite clear Liv and Tandri were attracted to eachother. I did not see that one coming, I usually can, but this felt like it was just thrown in later on because the author felt it needed some romance and he wanted to subvert the audiences expectations. Well, it worked, but did feel cheap.

But honestly, that's the only gripe I have, and it's not even enough to affect my 5 star rating. This is going into my favorites pile 🤓

Audiobook was amazing, very much enjoyed the experience 😊🎧

My review of the ebook:

This is a review for the audiobook:

One of the worst audiobooks I've listened to, it was completely monotone and sounded like the earlier stages of AI voice. It made such a short book such a drag. 

This was a lot better than Fugitive Telemetry, this felt like a return to form and the real feel of the Murderbot Diaries, however it still felt....off?

I can't quite place it, I just didn't enjoy it as much as the first five books. I felt a portion of this book was confusing and disjointed, the redacted parts were super annoying, it got to the point were I thought I missed something and checked to see if I missed a book in between the last one I just finished (like how you watch a TV show and didn't realise you skipped a episode and it feels off and you're confused and you go looking to see, yeah, just like that). I think that was really badly executed.

I liked the new characters that were carried over from the previous books, ART's gang Iris etc, even though I like Iris, I do feel like she's essentially the same character as Mensah at times, this is an issue Wells has with the series were some characters feel somewhat one dimensional and she'll introduce new characters that are very similiar to others which is kinda annoying.

Much like Wells usually does, there are some loose ends unsatisfactorly dealt with, we've had hints over the books that Murderbot has memories locked away, this new memory that surfaced unclearly to Murderbot was affecting it during the course of this book, Breaking it's concentration and occupying it's thoughts instead of focusing on mission, I presumed we'd get near the end of the book and have more information about that memory, but alas we'll have to wait for the next book to see anything more about it.

The series doesn't feel like it is going anywhere. We're seven books into this hella interesting world and there doesn't feel like much is going on at all, I thought it would be like some TV shows where in the first few episodes it feels like there's no overarching storyline or that the subplots connect to eachother and that it's just a glimpse into the events the team have to deal with, until you realise later there are connections to a larger plot that can affect the way everything is. But no, we're seven books in and I can't see anything connecting.

I'm so intrigued by Three, Murderbot finally had another free SecUnit around and they rarely interact and we barely get to see how it's thinking or evolving, I think in the next book or two we might see it with Three with the other ART that is her rival or something that annoys her (I forget it's name). I think they'll develop a dynamic similiar to Murderbot and ART. That'd be fun.

Overall it was fun, it was lackluster but still fun. I definitely think the books are better suited in this short form rather than the size of Network Effect.