I finished Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman last week. It’s the first book of Dungeon Crawler Carl series.

I mentioned the week before that the litRPG doesn’t have high stakes, since you know nothing is going to happen to your character and it’s just going to get stronger and stronger, but I failed to realise that this happens when you don’t care about any side characters. Which is not to say that something happens (or doesn’t happen) to side characters, but that the side characters are well written that you care about them.

Started The Novice by Trudi Canavan. The second book in The Black Magician trilogy.

The first book was completely focused on one place and one task, this book expands the world, and different characters are doing completely different things so it’s interesting to see how things will develop. I am still in the start though, and while the book feels as quick to read as the first one, it has quite a bit of bullying in it (at least in the start, where I am), and I am not a fan of reading that, so the progress is going pretty slow. Going to stick with it though, cause it feels like the kind of book where our protagonist is going to become super powerful, with somewhat “good” ending.

What about all of you? What have you all been reading or listening to lately?

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  • alternategait@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    2 months ago

    I’m about to finish Becoming by Michelle Obama.

    I started When the Moon Hits Your Eye as a little breather between the Singing Hills Cycle.

    • alternategait@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      2 months ago

      Kind of hilarious to reach the part about the eclipse parties on the night of an eclipse (though I know that one was solar and this one was lunar.

  • hasnt_seen_goonies@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I just finished sky full of elephants, and I really didn’t enjoy it. I thought the premise was so good, but everything about the execution left me cold. I didn’t feel like the author wrote interesting characters to remember. I don’t feel like the world building made any sense. I don’t feel like the themes were deep at all, and the language/sex/drug content means that surely it’s not for kids. A huge bummer.

  • Elextra@literature.cafe
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    2 months ago

    Katabasis by RF Kuang. Listening not reading. Its dark academia fantasy and the first time I’ve been introduced to any of her novels. Its a decent listen so far. I might try out the Poppy Wars since I heard those are great

  • Secret_Music@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
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    2 months ago

    Currently reading Geek Love by Katherine Dunn. A story about a family of carnies and circus freaks. It’s interesting but it’s been a slow read for some reason. Haven’t read as much as I should’ve for years (trying to fix that) and it’s just not my usual thing I guess. I don’t usually read more than one book at a time but I’m thinking I might move on to some others on my list and come back to this from time to time.

  • B0NK3RS@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    finished Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman last week.

    I finished up the most recent DCC book a little while back (and they are great) but my god the paragraphs of game guide description stuff is too much…

    • dresden@discuss.onlineOPMEnglish
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      2 months ago

      I mentioned it above in another comment, but I actually liked those item descriptions, and found them to be funny. It is possible I’ll eventually get tired of them though, but enjoying them for now.

  • zout@fedia.io
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    2 months ago

    Finished “the wandering inn” by Pirateaba. I thought it was a really thick book, but it turns out I had downloaded a bundle, so I tought I wasn’t even 20% through when it read “end of volume one”. So now I’m reading volume two I guess since I’ve kept on reading. I really liked the first volume even though the fantasy genre is something I’ve been avoiding for the last year or so.

  • tobyond@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    2 months ago

    Finished Behemoth by Scott Westerfield. Fun little series, just an easy summer read.

    Finished A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett, and this is fantastic. My favourite book of the year so far. Honestly the Ana and Din Mysteries are exceptional.

  • misericordiae@literature.cafe
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    2 months ago

    I plowed through The Odds by Jeff Strand last week. Both this and the other book I’ve read by him (Allison) are what I call “popcorn horror”: hits the ground running, kind of fluff, sort of action-y, slightly humorous while still being pretty horrific. It wasn’t my favorite, but it was kind of exactly what I needed to get me out of my slump.

    I’m currently partway through A Murder of Quality by John le Carré. Not a particularly noteworthy murder mystery so far, but I’m enjoying it anyway.

  • dkppunk@piefed.socialEnglish
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    2 months ago

    Still working through Want submitted by Anonymous Curated by Gillian Anderson

    I am not a big nonfiction reader but love this book so much! I read a few submissions a night and it’s just delightful.

  • FilesForWallabies@piefed.socialEnglish
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    2 months ago

    I stepped away from my regular queer literary fiction and romance since a couple sci-fi books came through my holds. I think I’m back on the saddle after a summer of being unable to get deep into books.

    I quickly listened to All Systems Red for book club and I’m in the middle of Project Hail Mary. I’m enjoying them both. Next on the list is Martyr!

  • USSEthernet@piefed.socialEnglish
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    2 months ago

    Currently reading Dungeon Crawler Carl: The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook. Finished listening to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe. Started listening to Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Life, the Universe, and Everything.

  • theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 months ago

    How did you find DCC in the end, did you enjoy it?

    I’m just about to roll over into book 6 of He Who Fights With Monsters. I said it somewhere before but I think it is probably better than DCC in my opinion.

    There isn’t a lot in it and if you hate the item descriptions or stat regurgitations in DCC like a few people in this thread are saying then you will hate the excessively long stat lists that this has too, but I love it!

    Just got books 7 - 12 so that I can just keep on rolling through. I am going to return to Dresden once I’m through with this but it is going to be another 150 hours or so before that happens xD

  • TrackinDaKraken@lemmy.worldEnglish
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    2 months ago

    I just finished Clover Blue by Eldonna Edwards.

    A boy grows up in a hippie commune and along the way learns the truth about… everything.

    I’m the same age as the protagonist, and I grew up in Northern California. I’m familiar with the towns, and the trees and the sky mentioned, and the time. This story could be about me in an alternate timeline.

    I’d love to see it as a movie, it’s a rich and beautiful world--maybe my own memories filled in the blanks--but as we all know they’d probably ruin it. So, I’ll happily keep the movie in my head.

    • TrackinDaKraken@lemmy.worldEnglish
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      2 months ago

      Having enjoyed this book, I’m reading her first book, This I Know. I’m about 1/4 of the way through and it’s good too.

      I recommend both.

      I usually read sci-fi or sci-fi adjacent, but I thought to try something different, I’m glad I did.