Books Read in 2025
Every year I tend to read a good amount of books and listen to some audiobooks. I’ve always wanted to retain better memory of content I consume (including movies or shows) and these blog posts have been a great way to reinforce what I’ve gone through. These posts offer brief reviews, some thoughts or notable things from the works, and general impressions of the material. Beyond the memory benefits which come from writing these I think it is good to stop periodically after consuming new information and spend some time to think critically and assess the information or story.
I’ll update this post throughout the year as I finish books and things. I’d also love to get recommendations from anyone reading this or to hear your thoughts on any of the books listed. Please feel free to comment! Here are links for past book posts; last year I managed 88 (exceeding my target of ~65) and I don't think I'll exceed that this year!
UPDATE This year's total hit 113! Who knew having a baby could result in so many audiobooks during things like walks and keeping them asleep lol.
New entries will show up on the bottom of this page. PROBABLY SPOILERS BELOW!
December
100 Years of Solitude
Author: Gabriel Garcia Marquez Published: 1967 My Rating: ★★★★☆
I've tried to read this like 4 times. I really like it but it's a bit hard for me to stay focused on. I finally finished it (though I should still give it another read in a few years because there is a lot of depth) and can say it is a really good book and has a really strong first few and last few chapters. The 'magical realism' makes it hard to grasp what's going on from time to time and there are intentional bits of ambiguity but there's also a lot of depth - explorations of human nature, social commentary, experience of 'memory' in a very weird way. The story itself has some great parts and some ugly parts but is almost always captivating and interesting.
AI 2041
Author: Kai-Fu Lee, Chen Quifan Published: 2022? My Rating: ★★★☆☆
This is a fun exploration of what AI might be like in 2041. The authors present a nice format for this book in the sense that they will talk about a particular topic in a very short preface (maybe a couple of pages) where present the gist of the upcoming story, "This will be about LLMs or deep deep fakes or something and here's what a few terms mean." They then present a fictional short story based in the year 2041 which shows some of the possible ramifications, impacts, implementations of that technology. It ends with a commentary on where we are today and some of the directions the technology might follow between now and 2041.
It's a fun read. I don't think it's tremendously enlightening if you are in the space, but for an older audience, it might be a very good way to sort of see what's going on with AI.
There is no Antimemetics Division
Author: qntm Published: 2024? My Rating: ★★★☆☆
This was a really cool book! I loved the first half but the end of it fell apart for me. It was almost a 5/5 review but the last 1/3 or so let me down. Not that it was objectively 'bad', but rather that it didn't feel as fresh or interesting as the first part, it also didn't feel as clean/well-defined as the first part.
Childhood's End
Author: Arthur C. Clarke Published: 1953 My Rating: ★★★★☆
I like this story quite a bit. It is an interesting take on humans avoiding the mutually assured destruction which was obviously a huge topic at the time of writing. I don't think it holds up quite as much now, though it presents a very interesting take on approaches that would lead society to getting past the self-destructive instinct and embracing the 'future'. The ending was weird but had some beautifully written scenes and leaves you with a bit of a huanted feeling.
The writing is very clear, and this, unlike some of his other stories, doesn't feel like it was a short story turned into a novella, but instead feels a good length with good characters, structure, and story.
Lady of Fire (Wandering Inn #16)
Author: Pirateaba Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★★★
This is my first Wandering Inn book since I did my initial marathon reading of the first 15 books.
I loved it. It had a good concentration of really fun and funny scenes, and expanded on the characters whose stories I am most interested in, and the writing continues to feel like it's improving. My favorite scene was Mirsha's birthday where the dragon, the named ranks, and all the people are back together again. The dialogue throughout I thought was hilarious.
Other highlights include:
- The soccer game
- The showdown/aura battle between Erin and Lady Pride
- Treasure hunting quest at the start
- A lot of the development of the plot and characters
While the Wandering Inn is not always released in great books, I think this is one of the better ones and it's very comfortable and enjoyable (after 16 books) to know there will be a few books per year continuing this mammoth story.
As I Lay Dying
Author: William Faulkner Published: 1930 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
I had difficulty getting into this book, but the writing feels extremely authentic, and the story feels very pertinent to what that part of society might have had as experiences. It's in some ways similar to the stream of consciousness in Woolf or Cunningham's books but I found it somewhat easier to follow/go along with. 5/5 for the like dialogue/writing/scenes but 2/5 for the story for me. I'm hoping to try 'The Sound and the Fury' or some of his other works next year to see if those resonate better.
What to Expect the First Year (What to Expect)
Author: Heidi Murkoff Published: 1989 My Rating: ★★★★☆
As a first-time dad, this book has been very helpful. Had we read it closer, we actually would have saved one or two trips to the ER in the first six months. Fortunately, everything's good, but this is a very information-rich book. There are some things which I think might be more favorable to stuff that is perhaps less universally accepted and on the flip side of things actually pushing for good things that are perhaps underappreciated in other books or just dialogue with people. But yeah, as a resource for new parents, just even as a way of tracking what to expect, with progress and development and all that stuff, it was really helpful and useful.
The Secret of Secrets (Robert Langdon, #6)
Author: Dan Brown Published: 2025 My Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
I was really not a fan of this book. I don't think Dan Brown is the best author or anything, but this just felt like a very lazy book that tried to throw all of the psychic, ESP, remote viewing, astral projected, and out-of-body experience, near-death experience buzzwords together. It just felt like a hodgepodge of here's a bunch of stuff and I'm going to pretend it's all super true and reliable, and that we can trust everything that everyone says. It was just lame. Not a fan.
The Lessons of History
Author: Will Durant Published: 1960s My Rating: ★★★☆☆
I really enjoyed this book, highly recommend it. The biggest qualm I have with it is that the references to historical events are substantial, and as someone who's not super well-versed in history, it's hard for me to know if the interpretation of the events is all you know standard interpretations or good faith or if he's admitting a lot of historical things.
I think it's all relatively straightforward. It looks at history through 10 or 12 different lenses of perspectives: history and progress, history and race, and all these other things. And I think it poses compelling arguments for many of the lenses, and I think it's quite good.
Abundance
Author: Ezra Klein Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★★☆
I liked this, but I don't think it is deserving of all the hype. It brings up a lot of really solid points without really giving a fair voice to the potential criticisms or difficulties of implementing them. Overall, I do think it's a very positive book and a book that would be beneficial for many people to read. I do think it just kind of undersells some of the challenges and overstates how cut and dry some things are.
Years That Changed History: 1215
Author: Dorsey Armstrong Published: 2019 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
This was a great teaching company course. I didn't know much about this time period. It had a lot of good information, but I wasn't really a big fan of how it was laid out. It felt like so many topics were disconnected, but also very superficial. Getting just a little bit of an idea of what's going on in the Americas in 1215 is, I don't think, particularly useful.
I almost would have rather had a single lecture devoted to all the stuff that she didn't go deeply into, such as Japan, the Americas, and stuff like this, and then have gone into a bit more depth on medieval Europe and Asia and stuff like that. But overall good. The narrator was fantastic. Lots of good information, just a little bit not what I'd prefer from a lecture series.
Living Inspired!: Motivating Your Kids, Colleagues, & Country
Author: Alex Montoya Published: 2013ish? My Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Kind of a self-help slop sort of thing. Not particularly good. Not particularly compelling. There's some good stories and motivational moments, but I personally really hated the writing style. It's very stream-of-consciousness, with weird grammar or lots of short lines and exclamation points. Probably fine as a seminar that you hear or something like that, a talk or course you go to, but reading it was just not enjoyable.
The Strength of the Few (Hierarchy, #2)
Author: James Islington Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★★☆
Good, but not as good as the first book. Ends on a really strong note, but a lot of it felt a little bit long-winded, and like there was a lot of non-essential events. Some of the more interesting events I felt were kind of spent past.
Managing Risk and Information Security: Protect to Enable
Author: Malcolm Harkins Published: 2012 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
Super solid book. Good for security stuff. Would not recommend unless you're in the industry. Not a lot of super novel stuff, but decent sections, decent information. Probably good for someone who's maybe been in the industry for two or three years.
A Data-Driven Computer Security Defense: THE Computer Security Defense You Should Be Using
Author: Roger A. Grimes Published: 2010s My Rating: ★★★★★
This was surprising to me. I was expecting it to be similar to the "Managing Risk and Information Security" book, but I think the writing was a lot more compelling, and the advice was just a little bit more tangible and a little less macroscopic. Overall, quite enjoyable. I definitely recommend this if you're in security. Probably not if you're super senior, and probably not if you're super junior.
The Will of the Many (Hierarchy, #1)
Author: James Islington Published: 2023 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
Mostly enjoyed this book. The biggest qualm I have is it feels like the first book is really time-compressed. You know, what takes place in like a year and a half or something. I think should take place over like three to five years. Beyond that, though, I think it's really quite a good book. Some fun systems, some fun twists on the fantasy trope, lots of awesome references to real Roman antiquity and stuff. But yeah, solid, not my favorite fantasy, but a really good first novel I think.
November
The Path of Ascension 10 (The Path of Ascension, #10)
Author: C. Mantis Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★★☆
I'm going to review all 10 of the previous Path of Ascension books with this review here. The series is ongoing, but I think the 10th book is a pretty good spot to take a look at the bigger picture.
The Path of Ascension starts with a minor character on a low-level world in this universe. Worlds have levels. The levels determine essentially these things called rifts that contain monsters, treasures, and these sorts of things. The world is sort of revolved around characters gaining levels. Well, they don't themselves gain levels, but they do gain levels. The levels let them get into different rifts, fight stronger things, which gives them better rewards and skills and things like this. Not all people in the world participate in the rift delving, as they call it, but many adventurers do. Others maybe do things like crafting or cooking and they level up similarly by using ingredients of that tier and things like that.
This is the first book that I have read that has this multi-world, multiverse thing that I think does it in a not terrible way. It's also a really unique book in that, in almost any other fantasy lit, RPG world like this, there would be just such extreme corruption at different levels, whether it's from the leadership, from just bad actors, and things like this. Not to say that it's like utopian, but the way the power system works in sort of like the balance of power that exists between the different societies it just feels like surprisingly well thought out and consistent as a literary world.
Overall rating of the series would be between 3 and 4 stars at this point. I love that they kind of pioneered this reasonable world and try to make the fantasy elements seem like they actually fit, and they aren't super broken, like magic and the Harry Potter world or other systems that just kind of break apart very easily. That said, it's not perfect, and I think one of the downsides is if there is not being like constant corruption everywhere or the fact that there are essentially responsible leaders means that some of the mystery that maybe drives other series, like Dungeon Crawler Carl, for instance, just kind of wouldn't exist in this world. So sometimes the story does feel a bit flat, and the character is a bit bland, but I think it's really cool. It's a cool magic system, it's a cool universe that the characters are in, and it's also just kind of cool seeing, in some ways, a very traditional character journey within the main couple of characters.
Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress
Author: Steven Pinker Published: 2018 My Rating: ★★★★★
I really enjoyed this book. It gave me similar vibes to something like "Thinking Fast and Slow" by Kahneman in the sense that I think it's really high-value data presented in a good way.
I do think the last third of the book drags on a bit, and I think there's a little bit too much of a vendetta of his views at certain points, whether it's about religion or other notional things that he thinks are one way or another.
That said, I do think the book itself is relatively inspiring and just kind of a nice positive book that looks at real data and big trends that most people don't know, and I think it's sad that they don't know it.
Blackhatonomics: An Inside Look at the Economics of Cybercrime
Author: Will Gragido Published: 2012 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
I was not super thrilled with this book. It's okay, but it felt just a little bit underwhelming. I would have liked more case studies or honestly more investigation into the criminal side of it at a deeper level. That said, I don't know that tons of that data is available then, and even now, you It's such a messy muddled place that I hesitate to think you could do a really good job going into the economics of cybercrime. As a regular person, there might be some interesting and nuanced takes in here, but overall it was kind of bland.
The Manga Guide to Cryptography
Author: Masāki Mitani Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★★★★
This was phenomenal; I can't recommend it enough. It starts with classic cryptographic techniques, moves into the more advanced topics like Enigma and how those ciphers worked, and then it goes into RSA and symmetric ciphers, ending with Diffie-Hellman and public key cryptography.
It was fun to read, not for super young people, but like a really smart seventh- or eighth-grader, someone in high school. This would be an awesome introduction to cryptography if it's an interest that they have. There's some good follow-along with it, and I think it's just a good way to get up to speed on cryptography if you don't know a ton about it.
The Path of Ascension 9 (The Path of Ascension #9)
Author: C. Mantis Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★★★
See Path of Ascension #10 review for details.
Hamlet
Author: William Shakespeare Published: 1601 My Rating: ★★★★☆
What can you say? It's a classic for a reason.
The Path of Ascension 8 (The Path of Ascension #8)
Author: C. Mantis Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★★☆
See Path of Ascension #10 review for details.
Black Hat Python: Python Programming for Hackers and Pentesters
Author: Justin Seitz Published: 2014 My Rating: ★★★★★
This is super solid. It holds up pretty well in 2025. I don't know if there have been newer versions published, but it's super solid. Really great way to learn about Python for networking stuff in particular. I think it does a very good job there and sort of just showing how you can take Python and use it to solve hacking and pen testing problems. There are some things that I think he is writing Burp Suite extensions, which is great, but I feel like the audience as a whole might have benefited more from just more like web scraping or different approaches there. That said, he used Beautiful Soup, a lot of the standard Python ways to interact with the web. I think it was great. Awesome book, highly recommend it still. And with AI today, I think you can take the examples provided and really run with them.
Kill the Farm Boy (The Tales of Pell, #1)
Author: Delilah S. Dawson Published: 2018 My Rating: ★★☆☆☆
I barely finished this. I was not a fan. I see the appeal. It's got a little bit of the Monty Python vibe, but I just didn't like the characters and didn't like the story.
The Pleasure of Finding Things Out: The Best Short Works of Richard P. Feynman
Author: Richard P. Feynman Published: 1999 My Rating: ★★★★★
Loved this. I had seen some of the Feynman lectures before, but these short works of his I think are really great. It's a fun read, it covers a lot of different topics, and I think it's cool to get his inside take on very monumental things as well as the variety of topics that he touches on. I think my favorite part of this book was when he talked about pranks that he would do with his colleagues and others, lock picking, these sorts of things, and just very fun, very fascinating, awesome seeming guy, incredible stories.
Master and Commander (Aubrey & Maturin, #1)
Author: Patrick O'Brian Published: 1969 My Rating: ★★★★☆
I can see why people like this, but it's not really for me, or at least the audiobook version of this was moderately hard to follow. Not hard to follow in the sense of what's going on, but the nuances when I have such a limited vocabulary around traditional naval ships and battles and terminology were just very dense at times. The story felt kind of slow, but I can see where it was really building up the characters to go on to many, many other books. So maybe when I've got more time and I pick up the physical books, but as an audiobook, if you haven't read it before or aren't kind of versed with what to expect, it may be a bit challenging.
The Path of Ascension 7 (The Path of Ascension #7)
Author: C. Mantis Published: 2024 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
See Path of Ascension #10 review for details.
The Path of Ascension 6 (The Path of Ascension #6)
Author: C. Mantis Published: 2024 My Rating: ★★★★☆
See Path of Ascension #10 review for details.
Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way to Influence and Persuade
Author: Robert B. Cialdini Published: 2016 My Rating: ★★★★★
This is a really good book in the same lineage of thinking fast and slow and influence. Really recommend it.
It's essentially talking about strategies that you can take before going in to ask for a thing, whether it's talking to your boss about a raise, trying to sell someone, trying to get someone to complete a survey, or if you're asking them for help.
I think there's a lot of interesting concepts in here backed up by generally good-seeming studies. It's a little bit, I think, maybe overstating at times, but the concepts and all I think hold up pretty well.
You can look on this blog for a more detailed review of this book. I think there's a lot of great info in there.
The Path of Ascension 5 (The Path of Ascension #5)
Author: C. Mantis Published: 2023 My Rating: ★★★★☆
See Path of Ascension #10 review for details.
October
Pro Azure Governance and Security: A Comprehensive Guide to Azure Policy, Blueprints, Security Center, and Sentinel
Author: Peter De Tender Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★★★☆
This is a good book, but it's a little bit dated. I think it's worthwhile if you're getting into Azure governance. Maybe if you are working at a company in either IT or cybersecurity and are tasked with coming up with cloud standards and Azure to deploy things consistently and in best practice ways. Beyond that, though, I think there's a lot of good online resources that give much the same information. It's nice having a bit of a structured book.
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
Author: Simon Singh Published: 1999 My Rating: ★★★★☆
Pretty good book, definitely dated, the ending with quantum cryptography I don't think really holds up. Nothing seems egregiously wrong, but I don't think the end of the book is particularly strong. I would not really recommend this book today. That said, especially for traditional encryption, public key, private key, that sort of stuff, it's good, just maybe not worth reading today. I mostly read it because I had a copy and wanted to work through some of my books.
Building a HIPAA-Compliant Cybersecurity Program: Using NIST 800-30 and CSF to Secure Protected Health Information
Author: Eric C. Thompson Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★★★☆
Solid book on the important factors that go into building a HIPAA-compliant security program. There are some really good examples within the book - tables and templates to use for different sorts of assessments. I think the way they present the approach to thinking about compliance, what you're protecting, and how you go about doing that is quite good.
The Path of Ascension 4 (The Path of Ascension #4)
Author: C. Mantis Published: 2023 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
See Path of Ascension #10 review for details.
Madame Bovary
Author: Gustave Flaubert Published: 1856 My Rating: ★★★★☆
Being perfectly honest, I was expecting to be very uninterested in this book. The image in my mind was that it was going to be predominantly around emotional, interpersonal relationship sentiments and behaviors. While those elements are certainly there, I also found the story at large to be very interesting—where you have sympathy for both Madame Bovary and her husband, in their different sorts of interpretations of the shared experience they have and how vastly different they are. I think the novel does a really good job of exploring the mental life of both characters, and you can in many ways see how their experiences—and how they feel mentally—translate into the actions that they take.
To review the book, I would say that I was most impressed by how the book gave lots of weight to both main characters and gave some credence to the complexity of many of the interactions and mental experiences. I would contrast this in some part with Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter, which felt a bit more elementary in how it dealt with the characters' mental lives. So yeah, I think this is a novel that holds up, that has a lot of relevance today, and I'm glad I read it.
The Path of Ascension 3 (The Path of Ascension #3)
Author: C. Mantis Published: 2023 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
See Path of Ascension #10 review for details.
The Path of Ascension 2 (The Path of Ascension #2)
Author: C. Mantis Published: 2023 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
See Path of Ascension #10 review for details.
Zadig
Author: Voltaire Published: 1747 My Rating: ★★★★☆
This was a fun book. It's short. It's very humorous. It takes inspiration from, I think, the Arabic and Asian kinds of tales like or "1001 Nights" or whatever it's called. It's a fun book in the sense that there's a lot of absurdity, much like a Monty Python film, and lots of scenes with funny juxtapositions of wealth or fate or of experience generally. As you're enjoying a funny scene or the description of a horrible circumstance, a character will make a snide or passing remark which unexpectedly has a lot to unpack. They may not have a lot of philosophical depth, but rather an applicability that they naturally sort of apply to real-world experiences that are not as crazy but perhaps equally as absurd or meaningful.
As a story, I think it's fun. It's very roundabout. There's a nice symmetry to it. The dialogue I found to be funny and sharp and it's a light read. I don't think you should read it expecting to come out with some high-brow 'I read Voltaire!' experience or anything super meaningful, but rather as an experience akin to going to a good musical or comedy show which has lines or songs that perhaps stick out to or stick with you for a while.
The Path of Ascension (The Path of Ascension #1)
Author: C. Mantis Published: 2022 My Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
See Path of Ascension #10 review for details.
Candida
Author: George Bernard Shaw Published: 1898 My Rating: ★★★★☆
I found this hilarious. As a former philosophy student, I loved the lambasting of some of the philosophical concepts from the time. I found the travel that Candide went through to be a roller coaster. It was a fun, easy-to-read novella that likely speaks as much to us today as it was when it was written. Overall, I highly recommend reading this. It's short, it's easy, it's fun. Like I said with the Zadig review, it is much like a Monty Python comedy bit today; very sharply written and very fun.
The Color Purple
Author: Alice Walker Published: 1982 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
This is a terrifically written book which focuses on heavy, meaningful, and serious topics and explores them in a way that feels authentic and often striking. That said, I read this at a time when I was not in a great mood to think about and delve into the topics. My rating of 3/5 is probably lower than if I had more leisure time and could read more casually, but I don't want that to diminish from the fact that this seems to be a popular and well-praised book for a reason, and I hope to revisit again in the future at a time where I can read it less for the sake of reading a story and read it more for the sake of thinking about the story.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Author: James Joyce Published: 1916 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
I really didn't enjoy this. I can tell the writing is good, much like something by Virginia Woolf, which I also have difficulty enjoying the read of or enjoying the story of. I can appreciate the stylistic things, but definitely a hard read.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Techniques for Retraining Your Brain
Author: Jason M. Satterfield Published: 2015 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
This was okay. It's a 'The Great Courses' lecture series, there was some great information in it, and I really liked the snippets of therapy sections throughout to demonstrate not just "Hey, here's a technique to read about," but to also see it in practice.
That said, the titles and your techniques for retraining your brain I was hoping for more workbook-like activities and things to do as opposed to "Here are the techniques used in CBT in certain circumstances," and so on.
Overall, good, just not what I was expecting.
September
Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know About the People We Don't Know
Author: Malcolm Gladwell Published: 2019 My Rating: ★★★★★
PHENOMENAL. I wasn't expecting to like this based on a prior Gladwell I read but this was good. I would have started the first chapter or two differently but otherwise A+.
The Feynman Lectures on Physics Vol 3
Author: Richard P. Feynman Published: 1964 My Rating: ★★★★★
♥
How to Defeat a Demon King in Ten Easy Steps
Author: Andrew Rowe Published: 2020 My Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
BOO. Felt very much like 'you are Link in a Zelda game but self-aware and bleh'. Kinda fun but not something I would recommend. Maybe good for middle and highschool?
Mother of Learning: ARC 4
Author: Domagoj Kurmaić Published: 2023 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
This series was really cool! It's based on a character who gets pulled into a 'time loop' of a few months in length which they live through for decades and decades. My favorite part of the story is that the character really goes to good lengths to take advantage of this learning so many things and utilizing the knowledge from loop to loop to great effect.
Other parts were less good, like the character interactions and the believability of a few parts; however they are small marks against an otherwise really good (and long!) take on a not very common sci-fi/fantasy trope. Definitely recommend for someone looking for a good fantasy read!
Mother of Learning: ARC 3
Author: Domagoj Kurmaić Published: 2022 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
See Mother of Learning: Arc 4 Review
Mother of Learning: ARC 2
Author: Domagoj Kurmaić Published: 2022 My Rating: ★★★★☆
See Mother of Learning: Arc 4 Review
Mother of Learning: ARC 1
Author: Domagoj Kurmaić Published: 2021 My Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
See Mother of Learning: Arc 4 Review
Ghostsong (The Singer of Terandria, #3)
Author: Pirateaba Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★★★☆
This is a series in the 'Wandering Inn' "Inniverse" and it feels quite at home in that world. It explore some locations and topics which the main series hasn't gotten into (based on an entirely different continent) and does a great job, in my opinion, of exploring some of the other powers and political elements of the world's society.
The main character I found to be pretty insufferable for the first book or book and a half but they eventually moved from annoying to familiar and I wouldn't mind seeing a few other books in this series. It also is showing the story of some other humans in the world who are not part of "Erin's circle" or the Wistrim group (though I would enjoy seeing a book set there).
Anyways, good series, not as good as the middle part onward of the Wandering Inn (imo) but some really fun parts nonetheless.
Huntsong (The Singer of Terandria, #2)
Author: Pirateaba Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★★★☆
See my review of 'Ghostsong' for the review of the series up to that point.
Gravesong (The Singer of Terandria #1)
Author: Pirateaba Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★★☆☆
See my review of 'Ghostsong' for the review of the series up to that point.
Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
Author: Barbara Demick Published: 2009 My Rating: ★★★★☆
Fascinating accounting of life in North Korea from a few viewpoints. Really educational for me and really well written. HIGHLY recommend.
King of Duels (The Wandering Inn, #16)
Author: Pirateaba Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
Okay, this is gonna be a LOT of word vomit. This is the last book available at the time of my bingeing of the series. I'll try to cover what I remember of my feelings about the series chronologically (don't hold me to this, I am certain to mix things up... also typos, so many typos inbound), and then I will end with some of the overarching feelings I have about the series.
My initial thoughts were that the first book was very mediocre. Interesting in the situation but not the writing. There were things which drive me crazy (a narrator which talks about knowledge from one character who is totally disconnected from another when the story is shifted to the other character's perspective). I read the first book and didn't plan to pick up the rest.
August
Garden of Sanctuary (The Wandering Inn, #15)
Author: Pirateaba Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
See my review of 'King of Duels' (Book 16) for my review of the series up to that point.
Hell's Wardens (The Wandering Inn, #14)
Author: Pirateaba Published: 2024 My Rating: ★★★★☆
See my review of 'King of Duels' (Book 16) for my review of the series up to that point.
The Empress of Beasts (The Wandering Inn, #13)
Author: Pirateaba Published: 2024 My Rating: ★★★★★
See my review of 'King of Duels' (Book 16) for my review of the series up to that point.
The Witch of Webs (The Wandering Inn, #12)
Author: Pirateaba Published: 2024 My Rating: ★★☆☆☆
See my review of 'King of Duels' (Book 16) for my review of the series up to that point.
The Titan of Baleros (The Wandering Inn, #11)
Author: Pirateaba Published: 2023 My Rating: ★★★★★
See my review of 'King of Duels' (Book 16) for my review of the series up to that point.
Precious Little Sleep
Author: Alexis Dubief Published: 2017 My Rating: ★★★★☆
SUPER GOOD BOOK ON UNDERSTANDING WHAT TO EXPECT WITH BABY SLEEP. It has been HARD for us these first 6 months but this at least gave us ideas about what to expect and different strategies to try. Definitely recommend it, just wish it had some magical solutions to share as well!
Flowers of Esthelm (The Wandering Inn, #3)
Author: Pirateaba Published: 2020 My Rating: ★★☆☆☆
See my review of 'King of Duels' (Book 16) for my review of the series up to that point.
The Wind Runner (The Wandering Inn, #10)
Author: Pirateaba Published: 2023 My Rating: ★★☆☆☆
See my review of 'King of Duels' (Book 16) for my review of the series up to that point.
Tears of Liscor (The Wandering Inn, #9)
Author: Pirateaba Published: 2023 My Rating: ★★★★☆
See my review of 'King of Duels' (Book 16) for my review of the series up to that point.
Blood of Liscor (The Wandering Inn, #8)
Author: Pirateaba Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★★★☆
See my review of 'King of Duels' (Book 16) for my review of the series up to that point.
Rains of Liscor (The Wandering Inn, #7)
Author: Pirateaba Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★★☆☆
See my review of 'King of Duels' (Book 16) for my review of the series up to that point.
The General of Izril (The Wandering Inn, #6)
Author: Pirateaba Published: 2019 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
See my review of 'King of Duels' (Book 16) for my review of the series up to that point.
The Last Light (The Wandering Inn, #5)
Author: Pirateaba Published: 2021 My Rating: ★★★★☆
See my review of 'King of Duels' (Book 16) for my review of the series up to that point.
July
THE FIRST TIME DAD SURVIVAL GUIDE: Practical Advice on Infant Care, Child Development, Financial Planning and Balancing Work & Family
Author: H.S. Gray Published: Unknown My Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
AI SLOP. TERRIBLE. DO NOT RECOMMEND.
Winter Solstice (The Wandering Inn, #4)
Author: Pirateaba Published: 2021 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
See my review of 'King of Duels' (Book 16) for my review of the series up to that point.
A Brief History of Chronomancy (Arcane Ascension, #6)
Author: Andrew Rowe Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
This is a fun book - it has similar vibes to "Mother of Learning" (also reviewed here). A big departure from the normal Arcane Ascension books but it's not bad, it almost feels like a 'filler' to setup the end of the story arc.
Flowers of Esthelm (The Wandering Inn, #3)
Author: Pirateaba Published: 2020 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
See my review of 'King of Duels' (Book 16) for my review of the series up to that point.
Fae and Fare (The Wandering Inn, #2)
Author: Pirateaba Published: 2019 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
See my review of 'King of Duels' (Book 16) for my review of the series up to that point.
Unfettered (Unfettered, #1)
Author: Shawn Speakman Published: 2013 My Rating: ★★★★☆
This is a collection of short stories by major fantasy authors. It's fun and enjoyable. I recommend it!
June
Charlotte’s Web
Author: E.B. White Published: 1952 My Rating: ★★★★☆
A classic.
How to Feed the World: A Factful Guide
Author: Vaclav Smil Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★★☆
Not as good as 'How the world really works' but it's a solid book on food production and some interesting ideas about it.
You Will Rock As a Dad!: The Expert Guide to First-Time Pregnancy and Everything New Fathers Need to Know, Family Health, Positive Parenting
Author: Alex Grace Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★☆☆☆
AI SLOP. TERRIBLE. DO NOT RECOMMEND.
Lies My Doctor Told Me: Medical Myths That Can Harm Your Health
Author: Ken D. Berry Published: Unknown My Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Terrible book, bad advice, I can't believe my algorithm recommended this to me. Bad. Bad. Bad. I hope SEO magic picks up that Ken Berry seems like a TERRIBLE physician and promulgates bs ideas.
The Refugees
Author: Viet Thanh Nguyen Published: 2017 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
This is a short story collection, most are pretty decent but I don't think, for the most part, they are exceptional.
The Wandering Inn (The Wandering Inn, #1)
Author: Pirateaba Published: 2018 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
See my review of 'King of Duels' (Book 16) for my review of the series up to that point.
The World As I See It
Author: Albert Einstein Published: 1934 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
This started so strong then got kinda repetitive. Really intersting to see the various takes Einstein had in his speaking and writing. From very pacificist moments to his approach to Isreal coming to be a country and everything in between; it's a fascinating few outputs of an incredible man but it does not feel cohesive or to be of similar quality.
May
An Education in Magical Affairs: An Isekai LitRPG (I'm not the Hero #3)
Author: Tommy Kerper Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
This is a medicore litrpg series. It has some cool notions (basically a broken class story) but the writing starts out kinda sloppy. It gets better but the 'big bad' doesn't feel that fleshed out, it feels like a lot of it is in progress as he's writing and not super thought out. That said, it's somewhat entertaining and there are some moments. Biggest issue is the characters imo.
Secrets and Strife (I'm Not the Hero #2)
Author: Tommy Kerper Published: 2024 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
See "An Education in Magical Affairs: An Isekai LitRPG" for full review.
100,000 + Baby Names: The Most Complete Baby Name Book
Author: Bruce Lansky Published: 2004 My Rating: ★★★★☆
I mean, it's just a bunch of names. But it's also a bunch of names. It has some good organization stuff too. Not amazing but helpful for sure!
I'm Not the Hero (I'm Not the Hero #1)
Author: Tommy Kerper Published: 2024 My Rating: ★★★★☆
See "An Education in Magical Affairs: An Isekai LitRPG" for full review.
Dracula
Author: Bram Stoker Published: 1897 My Rating: ★★★★☆
AWESOME. Had never read it before. Cool spooky vibe, really nice writing style, very cool scenes.
He Who Fights with Monsters: Book Twelve (He Who Fights with Monsters, #12)
Author: Shirtaloon Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Man I still hate the main character but as a story it's okay. It's cool to see what happened after the climax of the last book and the end had a really nice solution to some stuff; but it's very mediocre otherwise and feels like it could just end or should have already. I'd like to see other things in this world not this main character. It feels like they just want to keep on extending it.
The Hours
Author: Michael Cunningham Published: 1998 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
Much like the Virginia Woolf review below, I can see why this is a beloved book, but it just doesn't resonate for me.
Drop Dead Healthy: One Man's Humble Quest for Bodily Perfection
Author: A.J. Jacobs Published: 2012 My Rating: ★★★★☆
This was a really fun book. I enjoyed the approach to health that the author takes and the exploration of so many different topics. There are a few things in here that I hope to take away and practice in my own life. You can actually see my blog post about it. In short, I think it's a great, great fun read.
Future's Edge
Author: Gareth L. Powell Published: 2025 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
This is a new sci-fi that has some strong elements. It presents a novel way of traveling between the stars, it presents an interesting pseudo-apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic human society amongst the stars, it does a good job showing a battle against a foe that is so much more capable than one's own society, and it has a nice resolution to it all.
That said, I don't think the characters felt very good, and the story was rough around the edges for me.
April
Philosophy of Religion (Bolinda Beginner Guides)
Author: Charles Taliaferro Published: Unknown My Rating: ★★★★★
Fantastic introduction to the philosophy of religion. I had the opportunity to take classes from Professor Taliaferro at St. Olaf and very much enjoyed his classes and his insights. And I think a lot of his personality and passion shines through in this introduction to the philosophy of religion.
To the Lighthouse
Author: Virginia Woolf Published: 1927 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
I get why people like Virginia Woolf. I am not one of them. I tried, and I even read The Hours by Michael Cunningham to see a different take. I read about Mrs. Dalloway, I read about Virginia Woolf, and I want to like it, but the style of writing is very hard for my mind to latch onto. I think some of what's shown, the monotony of life, the drama of things as simple as a dinner with family and friends, showing those moments can be really cool, but living in the heads of the characters and going from topic to topic is really hard for my brain.
The Stars, Like Dust (Galactic Empire, #1)
Author: Isaac Asimov Published: 1951 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
I think this is my least favorite Asimov. It felt kind of rehashed in some ways? It was okay, but nothing really stuck out like the Foundation series did for me or the Robot series.
The Fates Will Find Their Way
Author: Hannah Pittard Published: 2011 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
The story was good, but the author's writing felt kind of all over the place. It was challenging at times to get past the asides or commentary, but the book itself was pretty interesting.
Horus Rising (The Horus Heresy, #1)
Author: Dan Abnett Published: 2006 My Rating: ★★★★☆
I really liked this. I had never read anything in this universe before, let alone did I know that this was one of the longest series out there. While I don't plan on continuing the series, I do think it was a really fun read, showing a really cool world, and I think a lot of the sci-fi/fantasy things out there do a poor job showing a late-stage society. I think this one does a generally good job of it while also giving you a fun story!
What to Expect When You're Expecting
Author: Heidi Murkoff Published: 1984 My Rating: ★★★★☆
This is a great book for preparing for pregnancy. Full of great information, even if you don't like the author's particular recommendation, it gives you lots of things to think about or look into to try to make the best decisions you can throughout pregnancy.
A Thousand Splendid Suns
Author: Khaled Hosseini Published: 2007 My Rating: ★★★★☆
I haven't read anything by Khaled Hosseini before and this was a great introduction. I think he does a great job portraying the hardships and the very rapidly changing environment in Afganistan. It also shows how the larger global focus or political leadership in the country can lead to such dramatically different experiences living in the country. Much of the book shows the tremendous hardship and pressure, especially coming from what started for some of the characters as an emerging progressive world where opportunies were coming in, women were getting education and society was growing.
It's startling to see how quickly that changed - not just how it changed but how far the pendulum swung in the other direction. It's not like "oh there was an economic downturn and people were hungry". It was a political change and people went from getting by or even thriving to "you're number one goal is trying not to get killed, not blown up, and hopefully getting out of the country". The police are against you, your neighbor is against you, and so on.
Very powerful book, very hard to read at times, and a very interesting picture into Afghan society during these years.
March
My Chinese-America (SFWP Literary Awards)
Author: Allen Gee Published: 2014 My Rating: ★★★★☆
I didn't love every story in this short story book but I enjoyed enough of them to give it a good ranking. One gets the impression that Allen Gee has lived a very interesting life and had some crazy experiences. His writing style is really nice and some of the stories have excellent scenes presented in a very interesting way (the Walmart fight being one that sticks out almost a year later as I write this).
The Travels Of Marco Polo
Author: Marco Polo Published: 1298 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
This was a really fun book, having never really known about Marco Polo apart from the things you learn in elementary school. It was cool reading a translation of his work and seeing both the fantasy and reality, and just the very different world in which Marco Polo and his society lived in.
I did a bit of research in Wikipedia, and it was fascinating how some of the stories and how they did actually map to real things. The flip side is there were so many clearly contrived or presumably contrived things that it just felt very silly, but given the time and sort of how big the world was, it seems understandable.
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall or able to talk to Marco Polo in here, like his honest thoughts. Was this written partly for just the fun of it, or because he had heard stories and believed them? I don't know, but I think it's a very fun read. It's also quite easy if you're looking for a fun blast from history. Would definitely recommend it.
East of Eden
Author: John Steinbeck Published: 1952 My Rating: ★★★★★
Okay this is the first book I read this year which really blew me away. I found the story to be continually engaging, the characters to be well written, the location and time and atmosphere to be well detailed, and all of those things together to be an excellent book. There are a few 'fatherly' figures (and one or two motherly ones - all of whom notably weren't that relation to the main characters) who offer a very strong platform for the much 'weaker' (in the moral/character/spiritual kinda sense) characters to exist and not so much 'become better' but to see the world better and make some important decisions.
There are a few overlapping stories which, I think, overlap in ways that don't feel contrived and feel like they could happen. Steinbeck also presents characters with real flaws - the two main brothers and their horrible initial relationship and how each (even the so-called 'good' one) fail eachother in different ways and try to make things better in their own way.
The depiction of the valley in California and the time which passes from the start to the end of the book (and the historical context of the other events from the civil war onwards) is really believable and feels detailed enough so that you have strong images of what it is like without being overwhelmed with descriptive prose.
I am so glad a friend (thanks @rfhacker) convinced me to read this and I hope to explore more Steinbeck in the future!
The Universe in a Nutshell
Author: Stephen W. Hawking Published: 2001 My Rating: ★★★★★
Even better than 'A Brief History of Time'. Presents tremendous concepts in great, clear prose. Filled with big picture ideas, specific examples, great explanations where possible, and just puts an incredibly cool face on the Universe and how we know what we know about it.
A Brief History of Time
Author: Stephen W. Hawking Published: 1988 My Rating: ★★★★☆
Pretty solid!
February
Leonardo da Vinci
Author: Walter Isaacson Published: 2017 My Rating: ★★★★☆
I loved this read. Walter Isaacson does a fantastic job researching Leonardo and puts together a wonderful biography which seems to capture not just his excellent work but also strives to provide the empahsis, motiviation, intention, and important minutae (if that isn't too oxymornic to say) of his life. This is a phenomenal introduction to Leonardo's work but also provides a really nice picture of history in Italy at the time of his life and insight into the political and economic forces which impacted people living at that time.
Wind and Truth (The Stormlight Archive, #5)
Author: Brandon Sanderson Published: 2024 My Rating: ★★★★★
I am writing this review quite a long time after I read these books. It's been the better part of a year. Actually, almost exactly a year since I started my read of The Stormlight Archive, and about 10 months since I finished Wind and Truth.
My review, in short, is that these are phenomenal, wonderful epic fantasy and I highly recommend them.
However, considering the length of this, I don't think that's a good enough review. So I will highlight some of the thoughts I had throughout the series, and then will cover some things that I think were amazing and some things I didn't like as much.
The first book, The Way of Kings, I thought was really well done. It introduced some very cool fantasy concepts, such as the stormblades and stormarmor, and that sort of stuff. It also portrayed a very interesting world, it set up some mythological things without getting too in the weeds. Despite there being lots of downtime for the main character, like Kaladin and Shallan and those folks, there was enough action interspersed that I think it made for a really strong first book in the series. I think my favorite part was the 'bridge crew' sections with Kaladin.
Words of Radiance was another strong entry, though I think it's either the worst or second-worst of the series. There's a lot of interesting developments, especially on the political front. We see the leadership of the Alethi kind of fall apart, while things like Surgebinding become generally known, and we see different characters bonding and spren.
We don't have quite as much action or, I think, meaningful progress as in the first book. That said, it introduces a lot of the complexities of the world they live in and starts introducing a lot more of the puzzle or mystery sections, which I think is really cool.
Overall, again, really strong book, just maybe not my favorite in the series.
Oathbringer is another really strong book, perhaps my favorite after the first. Most stories feel like they are becoming fully formed - perhaps minus some of the Shallan - and they feel really good and polished. While I would have loved to see Kaladin continue being an epic character (especially in the next two books), I think the transition that they start in this book and finish in the next two book is actually well done, so I'm willing to go along with it. Again, the world is really coming into form. Some of the 'otherworldly' characters are also receiving some clarity and one of my favorite moments is the battle which culminates in Dalinar saying 'no' to Odium! Really well done.
Rhythm of War feels much like a build-up to the final book, and in many ways is very well done. Almost all of the characters—except perhaps Shallan, Adolin, and Kaladin—have extremely compelling stories. With the exception of Taravangian at the end of the book doing his Odium thing - although his 'killing' of Odium was really cool! It's cool to see Urithru develop and the continued 'discoveries' of what is there. The culmination of Dalinar doing his Honor thing and setting the 10 day timer at the end of book is a really cool way to set up the final story..
Wind in Truth is a fantastic culmination of the series. I think the book does a really good job bringing all the storylines together and had some great twists and reveals. I loved the revelation about Shallan and her heritage and the implication that Kaladin was not the first to bond to spren, etc. I think the way the story unfolds is outstanding and it there are moments of hope and hopelessness throughout the 10 day battle. The '10 day' framing was also a fun way to do the last book, highlighting the many things happening each day and building up to the end. The end itself is really cool, the way Dalinar breaks his oath at the end in order to trigger what will become the second half of this series was a phenomenal twist that didn't feel contrived.
My biggest qualm throughout this book was Taravanguien and the kind of Odium subplot. I always get frustrated with these sort of omniscient dealing with mortals scenarios. While they can be cool sometimes when they become major story devices, I think they are ultimately frustrating. Similarly, while I think Kaladin's subplot which boiled down to the mantra of "repeat the word therapy" over and over was a bit tired out at this point, I do think the functional end of his story is good; I just think they could have done so much more with his character or added more nuance to his story. I do think his 'journey' at the end was really cool though.
In terms of the big picture things, this really does feel like a "The whole world is at war" kind of the biggest conflict is happening. We get great perspectives on both sides, and I think overall it's just a really fantastic book.
Some big takeaways for me:
- The magic system was really cool.
- There were some EPIC battles.
- There were some great plot twists (Dalinar & Odium, Taravangian & Odium, Shallan (despite mostly hating her story until the end), Adolin's shardblade spren, etc.
- Epic scale and scope.
HIGHLY recommend this series.
As a sidenote, there are a few smaller stories in this which follow Lift and a few other characters. I think they are good but much more like baby 'The Hobbit' stories next to the 'LOTR' of the main series.
The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
Author: Philip K. Dick Published: 1965 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
This was a really weird sci-fi. I didn't strongly dislike it, but I also didn't really feel myself taken along for the ride. I think the most interesting part is probably just generally more common in Philip K. Dick's writing anyway, which is sort of the weirdness of the subject and some of the paradox or impossible situation stuff. That said, this story did not particularly speak to me.
January
Rhythm of War (The Stormlight Archive, #4)
Author: Brandon Sanderson Published: 2020 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
Read review for 'Wind and Truth' to get my recap of this series.
Dawnshard (The Stormlight Archive, #3.5)
Author: Brandon Sanderson Published: 2020 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
Read review for 'Wind and Truth' to get my recap of this series.
Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3)
Author: Brandon Sanderson Published: 2017 My Rating: ★★★★★
Read review for 'Wind and Truth' to get my recap of this series.
Tenth of December
Author: George Saunders Published: 2013 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
There are some fun short stories here. Nothing I was 'blown away' with but really solid writing with some stories I found to be good! The biggest gap for me was subject matter of the stories not being super captivating. But there were a few that really connected and, for a book of this size, even a few is great!
Edgedancer (The Stormlight Archive, #2.5)
Author: Brandon Sanderson Published: 2016 My Rating: ★★★☆☆
Read review for 'Wind and Truth' to get my recap of this series.
Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive, #2)
Author: Brandon Sanderson Published: 2014 My Rating: ★★★★☆
Read review for 'Wind and Truth' to get my recap of this series.
Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality
Author: Edward Frenkel Published: 2013 My Rating: ★★★★☆
This is a really good book. However, I chose to do it as an audiobook. In retrospect, this was a bad idea.
While I think the math is mostly accessible, it is not accessible without, at least for me, taking time to reread certain sections, pause, and think about what's really meant.
Overall, though, this is a really good book. The author is clearly both phenomenally talented and passionate about the subject. And I think the subjects he brings up and the interdisciplinary kind of direction of the subjects he was looking at are all really cool and fascinating.
I definitely recommend this book if you like math, though I would not recommend the audiobook.
BONUS REVIEWS
Games
Final Fantasy VII: Rebirth
I enjoyed the first Final Fantasy VII Remake. I think it did an amazing job showing the world, and in particular the city of Midgar. The Intergrade story, which focused on Yuffie, was also fun and enjoyable and built upon the gameplay styles.
Rebirth does all of that and more. One of the weaknesses of the remake was it felt overly serious at times, but with dialogue moments and story moments that were quirky and fun, and just didn't quite feel in place. Rebirth feels more like a fun game that sprinkles in serious elements. The characters come forth more as people with personalities, and while there are plenty of darker moments, whether it is Cloud suffering with his Mako poisoning or dark plot moments, the game feels more 'fun' as a game and like people living in a world than people who are deadset on just accomplishing their goal in an unrealistic way.
One of the starkest differences is the role of mini-games. In the Remake, there were some mini-games, and I think they were well made. I particularly enjoyed the Fort Condor mini-game. However, in this, there are SO many mini-games. Some are optional, some are parts of the plot, many are tied into the quests or side-quests, and they are for the most part really fun!
In terms of gameplay, I think this game was moderately longer and definitely has more variety. In terms of the way the story unfolds, I think it does just as good of a job as Remake did with Midgar. It follows, with MUCH better fidelity than I expected, the original game's storyline! When I first played the original game and got out of Midgar, I remember having my mind blown by how things seemed to change in just a single moment. Where you went from a relatively contained city to suddenly this open world where you could walk and go to so many places, and the story didn't feel so linear.
When I started playing Rebirth, and it locked me into the flashback sequences from Calm, I was worried that it was going to be like the remake or Final Fantasy X, where despite there being a relatively large world, it wasn't something you could easily traverse or explore. However, as soon as I walked out of Calm and saw the actual world, and realized I could actually walk to almost anywhere, it evoked some of the same feelings I had when first playing the game in like 1998 or something. They made the world massive, but they made there be some purpose. Whether it was the hunt-style quests or discovery-style quests or collecting ingredients for crafting, there was plenty to explore and find (Unlike FFXVI which while massive and stuff to pick up, felt very 'empty' apart from some hunts and a few quests).
When we then left Junon and ended up in a whole new map, and then made it to the Golden Saucer and a whole new map, and made it to Nibelheim and a whole new map, and got the Tiny Bronco and could explore the entire ocean on a whole new map, it was so much fun and really made the world feel large. All of this is to say that one of my biggest worries with this game was that it wouldn't feel like you walked out into the world and had so many choices before you were completely baseless. The way they implemented it was wonderful.
Similarly, my concerns that they would really muck with the story and make things feel very different or rewritten were largely a baseless fear. They kept virtually every scene, and the changes they made were mostly minor and felt pretty targeted towards this bigger multi-verse mystery that they're trying to incorporate.
My biggest complaint is that while the crafting system was fun, it offered such limited use. Another minor gripe was that I don't want them to riddle the quest or side quests with unnecessary detail. Many of them did just feel like fetch quests, or it felt like you kind of discover things that are ultimately inconsequential. Perhaps the biggest gripe I had was that despite there being items and treasure trusts all over the place, so few had useful items or accessories that would be fun or add variety to the gameplay. I wish that the items you found, well maybe not really impactful, gave you different options. An accessory that just did some really weird stuff, but was not something you would never equip. It may be something that either adds randomness to encounters or things like
Overall, I cannot recommend this game enough. I love Final Fantasy VII. I like the remake and I like Rebirth. I cannot wait for the final game.
Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions
I am so glad they made this game. I played the original on PlayStation many, many times, and while I loved the job system and the battles and the difficulty and the side quests, I always found the story, while really captivating, just somewhat confusing. And part of that was because they had a horrible translation.
I wanted to play the remake at minimum just to hopefully get a full presentation of the story, and man did it deliver. The story made perfect sense (or as much sense as a Final Fantasy game can make) and on top of that the gameplay felt amazing. I explored more than I've ever explored before. I never used to do the deep dungeon section, I never really did poaching, but the mix of achievements and in-game progress things you could find made it worth exploring and trying new things. So while I played this game several times, I got more out of it this time than I had before and I thought it was just a really wonderful and faithful remake. They kept much of the same story and gameplay elements. While polishing the characters, adding some voice acting, changing the names of some things to make them make more sense, and otherwise just making the game ever so slightly better while remaining true to the spirit of the original.
Cannot recommend this game enough. It's not a super long game, it's a wonderful play if you like tactical games, if you like RPG games, or if you're looking for something you can do a battle per day and walk away from. This is a game for you.
Sonic Generations
I am not a big Sonic guy, so this was a bit of a different experience for me. I played this on Steam because I found myself being up very late with not much to do and wanted to spend the time with something more than an audiobook for a little bit.
This game was fun. I wasn't expecting a ton having just not really been a big fan of the Sonic games, but this was fun. It offered a ton of stages and mini-games within the stages. It had a good sense of exploration and progress while having a bit of a story element and really nice visuals.
Overall, I think I would recommend it. It's got good music, fun, sharp gameplay. One downside was it's not very difficult and I was expecting it to be harder, but overall it was really fun.