Tag: Action Packed

2 Sisters Murder Investigations by James Patterson and Candice Fox

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery, Thriller1 Comment

Publisher: Century (Trade Paperback – 18 March 2025)

Series: 2 Sisters Detective Agency – Book Two

Length: 352 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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The team of iconic crime fiction author James Patterson and one of Australia’s best thriller authors, Candice Fox, once again come together for the outstanding 2025 sequel, 2 Sisters Murder Investigations.

James Patterson and Candice Fox are both very talented authors whose work I have been really enjoying since I started reading more crime fiction.  Patterson, the iconic writer who is known for his various long-running series, has been primarily producing collaborative work with other authors in recent years, including Death of the Black Widow with J. D. Barker, The No. 1 Lawyer with Nancy Allen and The Perfect Assassin by Brian Sitts.  Fox on the other hand, has been on a real roll with her great recent standalone novels, including Devil’s Kitchen, Fire with Fire, High Wire and The Chase.  On top of those previous novels, Patterson and Fox have found time to collaborate on several great books, including the fun 2024 novel, The Murder Inn, and their outstanding previous novel, 2 Sisters Detective Agency, the latter of which, has generated a sequel I now want to talk about with 2 Sisters Murder Investigations.  Following two mismatched sisters who find themselves investigating crimes in L. A. after re-opening their father’s old detective agency, this interesting series was very fun, I was very happy to receive a copy of the second 2 Sisters Detective Agency novel earlier this year.

Plot Synopsis:

Rhonda and Barbara “Baby” Bird are half-sisters—and full partners in their Los Angeles detective agency. They agree on nothing.

Rhonda, a former attorney, takes a by-the-book approach to solving crimes, while teenage Baby relies on her street smarts.

But when they take a controversial case of a loner whose popular wife has gone missing, they’re accused of being PIs who can’t tell a client from a killer.

The Bird sisters share a late father, but not much else…except their willingness to fight.

Fight the system. Fight for the underdog. Fight for the truth. If they can stop fighting each other long enough to work together.

Patterson and Fox produce another outstanding and highly entertaining crime fiction read with 2 Sisters Murder Investigations, which quickly grabs your attention and keeps pushing you forward.  Slick, easy-to-read, and full of excitement, 2 Sisters Murder Investigations was another great thriller from two masters of the genre.

2 Sisters Murder Investigations had an excellent story behind it that sees the dysfunctional Bird sisters, older sister Rhonda and rampart teenager Baby, working together at their family detective agency after the events of the first book.  After an entertaining start that shows that the sisters still aren’t on the same page, 2 Sisters Murder Investigations thrusts them into a compelling new case when the main suspect in a current murder case requests their help to prove his innocence.  Deciding to take on the case against their better judgment, Rhonda and Baby try to help their new client, Troy Hansen, who is accused of murdering his missing wife, and whose unusual demeanour about the case has convinced the entire city he is guilty.

Patterson and Fox’s narrative for 2 Sisters Murder Investigations splits early, as Rhonda’s perspective chapters primarily focus on the Hansen case, which goes in some interesting directions.  Under pressure from both the public and the police to stop helping Troy, Rhonda tries to prove his innocence, but she is quickly stymied by a series of problems, including lethal intruders trying, her client’s unusual behaviour, and a box full of concerning evidence hidden at the crime scene.  At the same time, Baby attempts to help an older man who is being targeted as part of a sinister scheme to force him to sell his house to a corrupt company.  The resulting storylines both go in interesting directions, especially the one around Rhonda and her attempts to help Troy, as the evidence continues to point to her client being a dangerous killer.  The eventual result for this plot thread was very captivating, and there were some great twists here, including an unlikely alternate suspect who suddenly shows up.  While the reveal about the actual killer wasn’t all that surprising, the way that Patterson and Fox set it up was extremely good, and the fast-paced conclusion to that arc, as well as the surprising tragedy, allowed for some captivating and intense moments.  While I liked this main plotline, the secondary storyline with Baby attempting to take on her own case ended up being a little rushed, especially at the end, although I did enjoy seeing how Baby comes into her own and acquires an excellent canine friend.  While this weak ending to the second storyline does rob 2 Sisters Murder Investigations of some of its overall impact, I did feel that this narrative for the sequel was very strong, and all thriller fans, even those unfamiliar with the series or the authors, will have a lot of fun with it.

I really enjoyed how entertaining and exciting the authors made 2 Sisters Murder Investigations, and Patterson and Fox ensure that this was a highly compelling and fun novel to read.  Utilising the multiple short, sharp paragraphs that Patterson fans will be familiar with, 2 Sisters Murder Investigations was a very easy novel to power through as you jump from one compelling scene to the next.  These quick chapters really encourage you to keep going, as the next twists could be only pages away, and I found myself speeding through the story.  It helped that Patterson and Fox did a good job splitting the novel’s focus between the two sister protagonists, which allows for a layered narrative, especially as both characters have different focuses and priorities, resulting in a well-balanced and complex overarching story.  These separate storylines have a certain distinctness given to them, especially as the authors switched up the perspective style depending on whose chapter it is.  For example, Rhonda is shown as more of main protagonist due to her chapters being told in the first person, while Baby’s chapters are told in the third person, which helps to reflect her more junior role in the team.  While Patterson and Fox could have perhaps done a better job at the front of each chapter showing which character is the focal point of the book at that point, for the most part this split is pretty seamless, and I liked the alternating and fast-paced nature of the novel that the author’s writing style allows for.

On top of the great story and exciting writing style, I quite enjoyed how Patterson and Fox revisited the main characters of the series, sisters Rhonda and Baby Bird.  Still in conflict despite the initial successful nature of their relationship, Rhonda and Baby play off each other extremely well as dysfunctional sisters, which allows for a lot of fun interactions amongst the darker nature of the plot.  While you could argue there is a slight loss of character growth between Rhonda and Baby in 2 Sisters Murder Investigations, as they lose some of the cohesion they built up in the first novel, I think their continued bickering and disagreement worked well in the context of the story, as Baby tried to stretch her wings, while Rhonda continues to adjust to being a responsible guardian to a new sister.  Throw in some excellent supporting characters, including Rhonda’s complicated love interest, an obsessed cop investigating the murder, a lonely old man who finds purpose thanks to Baby, and one suspicious client who helped to showcase the unlikely choices those under pressure make, and this was a fun cast that turned 2 Sisters Murder Investigations into a really awesome read.

Overall, 2 Sisters Murder Investigations was a great sequel to James Patterson and Candice Fox’s 2 Sisters Detective Agency, and it was very cool to see the Bird sisters back in action again.  Featuring a fascinating and gripping narrative that you can easily speed through and still have an awesome time, 2 Sisters Murder Investigations was an outstanding novel that is worth reading, especially if you have enjoyed the previous collaborations between Patterson and Fox.

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Burn to Shine by Jonathan Maberry

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Science Fiction, Thriller7 Comments

Publisher: Macmillan Audio (Audiobook – 4 March 2025)

Series: Rogue Team International – Book Four

Length: 19 hours and 9 minutes

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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Bring on the chaos, carnage and craziness with the new epic Rogue Team International from Jonathan Maberry, Burn to Shine, which takes the reader on another dark and over-the-top ride in a deeply addictive thriller.

Readers of this blog will know that I am a massive Jonathan Maberry fan, having had the great pleasure getting to know and power through some of his biggest series.  Thanks to his intense writing, ability to pull together amazing characters and great attention for action and combat, all Maberry’s books really resonate with me, and pretty much all the Maberry books I have read have been 5-star novels in my mind.  Highlights include the dark 2024 science fiction novel, NecroTek, the creepy horror novel, Ink (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2020), as well as the brilliant Kagen the Damned dark fantasy trilogy, made up of Kagen the Damned (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2022), Son of the Poison Rose (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2023), and The Dragon in Winter (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2024).

While the above series and books are all outstanding, my favourite Maberry novels are the iconic and long-running Joe Ledger series.  Following the titular troubled protagonist as he works as a part of an elite government special forces team detailed to stopping terrorist attacks or criminal organisations using advanced and unusual technology, the Joe Ledger novels were impressive and complex thrillers with over-the-top dark elements, that often featured some outstanding science fiction and compelling horror elements.  The original series, which ran for 10 books, features some amazing novels, including Patient Zero, The Dragon Factory, Assassin’s Code, Predator One and Deep Silence just to name a few.  Each of these novels were amazing reads on their own, although I also got really drawn into the ongoing storylines and recurring villains.

Following the end of the original Joe Ledger books, Maberry continued many of his storylines in the sequel Rogue Team International series, bringing back the major characters and setting them up as independent intelligence operatives working for themselves.  This series was also extremely exciting, and I have appreciated the way in which the author has continued some of the complex story arcs and villainous narratives from the first series.  The Rogue Team International books have so far featured Rage (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2019), Relentless (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2021), and Cave 13 (one of my favourite books and audiobooks of 2023), each of which have been pretty damn amazing and filled with some dark and captivating narratives.

Naturally, I was very excited when I saw that there was a fourth Rogue Team International book coming out in 2025 with Burn to Shine.  The fourth book in the Rogue Team International series and the 14th overall Joe Ledger novel, Burn to Shine brings back the protagonist and his team in a big way, as they go toe-to-toe with some of the most dangerous recurring villains.  One of my most anticipated books of 2025, Burn to Shine had so much potential, and I read it the very first chance I got.

After suffering through another set of harrowing losses and intense damage to their already shredded psyche, the members of Rogue Team International are back in the fray.  Led by troubled veteran Joe Ledger and the enigmatic Mr Church, Rogue Team International continue to fight against elaborate high-tech threats and other strange occurrences across the world.  However, they are unprepared for their next dangerous threat, one that has emerged from the organisation’s combined dark past.

A powerful group of military contractors are expanding their influence across the United States, seeking to cause fear, division and political uncertainty.  At the same time, a series of planned attacks have breached and destroyed many of the world’s most secure bio-weapons research facilities, with the stolen diseases and technology being utilised to create chaos and fear through infected humans turned into living disease bombs.

As Ledger and his team try and counter these attacks, their path leads them to the mysterious town of Pine Deep, Pennsylvania, where a multitude of dark secrets are hidden.  Teaming up with old allies, new friends, and some of the more dangerous denizens of Pine Deep, Ledger and his team attempt to strike back against their enemies before a catastrophe is unleashed across the country.  But can even this deadly and unlikely group of heroes stand up to some of the team’s most dangerous enemies, including a ghost from their past who plans to burn the world to ground? 

Jonathan Maberry once again presents a gripping and deeply exciting tale with Burn to Shine.  A compelling continuation of his long-running Joe Ledger/Rogue Team International books, Burn to Shine had another great story that continued the author’s ongoing storylines by heavily diving back into the series’ past.  An excellent addition to the series that is guaranteed to keep you entertained all the way to the end.

Burn to Shine had an awesome narrative that presents its own unique tale, while also reviving multiple elements from the Maberry’s previous works, to create a novel very much designed for established fans of the author.  Starting off strong with an intense action sequence around the protagonists, Maberry also takes the time to establish multiple parallel storylines and plot threads, some of which are set well before the main narrative and showcase the emergence of the book’s antagonist and the formation of their new plan.  This allows for a very rich and intricate first half of the book, as you are given glimpses of the evil facing Joe Ledger and his team, while also watching the protagonists initially start to move to understand the new threat facing them.  This first half ends with an extended sequence inside a secret vault built to contain some of the worst bio-weapons the protagonists have encountered throughout the series.  Following a harrowing and tense descent into the vault while events get even more hectic outside, the protagonists eventually discover hints at the true mastermind of the new plot, as well as the insidious zombie-making weapon from their past that they seek to unleash.

The second half of Burn to Shine goes in some very interesting directions, as all the major characters start to converge around the town of Pine Deep, the centre of all things weird in Maberry’s shared literary universe.  Teaming up with some figures familiar to Maberry fans, the protagonists engage in a series of raids against the various bases of their opponents in some high-octane and particularly brutal sequences.  Due to the various over-the-top technologies and Maberry’s ability to imagine extremely bloody fights, these are some intense scenes, and the author really amps up the risk factor of the fights for his various recurring characters, with some very dark moments.

All this leads up to the big showdown between Ledger and the antagonists of the book, as he comes face to face with them in a very interesting location.  This showdown was very awesome, especially sandwiched amongst the other various conflict-laden storylines, and the author kept you on the edge of your seat as Ledger comes face-to-face with familiar opponents from the past.  While I love all the action and the way Maberry brought back a lot of previous story arcs, I did think that this ending was a tad rushed, and it relied way too much on having knowledge of Maberry’s first trilogy.  I also wished Maberry had taken some parts of this story a little further, perhaps with some greater tragedy, as it was a little frustrating that he didn’t follow through with the telegraphed death of a major character.  Still, this proved to be an excellent and exciting read, and there is also a very interesting final scene that provides some early, long-sought answers about one of the protagonists.

I have a great deal of love for how Maberry sets out his awesome stories, and his distinctive style always results in an impressive and layered novel, especially when it comes to his over-the-top thrillers.  Featuring a lot of dark, over-the-top elements and an at times near horror vibe, Burn to Shine was another classic Joe Ledger novel, which showcases his damaged protagonists facing off against complicated evil antagonists.  Thanks to the author’s utilisation of multiple character perspectives and scenes set in the past, this proves to be a very detailed book, and I loved the varied storylines that emerged and worked side by side with each other.  This includes a vibrant look at the antagonist’s plans from start to finish, which also involves the re-introduction of previously featured villains.  While not every detail of the antagonist’s sinister and over-the-top plans are revealed to the reader from the start, you get enough to really amp up the stakes of the plot, and it is compelling to see the protagonists act on the limited information they have.  The villainous scheme for Burn to Shine was a tad similar to some schemes from previous Maberry books, but it still produces some particularly captivating moments, especially towards the end.  I also quite enjoyed how Maberry tied the plot into a lot of modern issues, including disinformation, the use of fear in politics, fake news and AI-generated imagery, while giving it its usual excess and ultra-dark flair.  Throw in the author’s impressive action sequences, which are particularly epic, as well as the overly exaggerated villains, and this proved to be a powerful and layered novel that has all of Maberry’s typical charm and intensity.

While I had a ton of fun with Burn to Shine, this was very much a novel for the author’s established readers, although even some of them might get lost at times.  As I have hinted, the main villains of Burn to Shine are figures previously featured in prior Joe Ledger novels, including the series’ big bad, and one antagonist long believed dead.  While Maberry loads up Burn to Shine with a lot of internal recap moments in the protagonist’s head that gives the reader all the context they need to follow the plot, the true threat or emotional impact of these villains is going to be best appreciated by those who have read the previous books, especially Code Zero.  Maberry also takes the story further into his extended universe, as the plot becomes heavily enmeshed with his classic Pine Deep novels and brings in various characters from the original trilogy.  I must admit, as someone who hasn’t had the chance to read Maberry’s Pine Deep novels, I would have been a tad lost here unless I had previously read Ink, which featured several of these characters, and new readers may not quite understand their significance.  Even those who have read all the previous Joe Ledger novels might be a little confused with their inclusion, especially as these Pine Deep characters have never appeared in a Joe Ledger novel before, besides a couple of short stories.  As such, having such a big focus on them is a little surprising, and I felt that it mucked around with the flow of Burn to Shine.  Still, considering how good Maberry is at recapping or reintroducing key characters and storylines, most established Joe Ledger fans should be able to follow along fine, just keep in mind that the author is doing some deep cuts back to his previous novels.

As with all Maberry’s novels, the real heart of Burn to Shine lies in its complex characters, whose powerful stories and dark pasts allow for some deep emotional heft to the plot.  This is especially true for main protagonist, Joe Ledger, whose cracked psyche is always a key part of his appearances.  A very damaged figure, Ledger is a powerful part of Burn to Shine’s narrative and serves as the only first-person perspective character, influencing a lot of the novel as a result.  While on the surface he is a humorous, wise-cracking cowboy, determined to save the day no matter what, deep down he is haunted by all his past experiences, including the deaths of so many loved ones and the trauma of various missions.  Maberry has long perfected balancing the character’s various emotional states in his novels, and while Ledger provides a lot of the book’s humour, his darker side is a constant presence, threating to bubble out.  The author adds in some interesting additional emotional elements for Ledger to deal with this novel, including the return of an antagonist who previously caused him a lot of pain, as well as the protagonist’s battle with the knowledge that he may finally have the names of the people responsible for his earliest trauma.  The later of these is likely to be a big part of the characters’ battle with his vengeful emotional going forward, and it will be interesting to see how Maberry works them in.

Aside from Ledger, Burn to Shine is loaded with a ton of interesting supporting characters and protagonists whose various experiences help to shape the entire awesome story.  This cast includes a huge array of figures from previous Maberry books, and it was fun to see them continue to grow.  The most prominent of these characters include the mysterious Mr Church, whose secretive past has been one of the more intriguing ongoing storylines of the series.  Shown to be almost human in Burn to Shine thanks to the trauma obtained during the previous novel, Cave 13, Church has some excellent appearances in Burn to Shine, especially when it comes to facing down the antagonists.  I loved how well Maberry balanced this more fragile version of Mr Church with his mysterious persona, and the final scene where you get some interesting answers about who, or what, Church is, is very impressive.

The various other members of Rogue Team International are also great parts of the book, including the member of Ledger’s fire team, each of whom have their own distinct personality and complexity in this book.  Maberry provides some great moments for all these characters to shine, and I felt that an interesting early part of the novel where the organisation’s resident psychiatrist, Dr Rudy Sanchez, dives into the trauma all the supporting characters are feeling after Cave 13, added some excellent emotional depth to the plot.  Throw in the fascinating Pine Deep characters I mentioned above, as well as two of Maberry’s more complex and memorable antagonists, who return in a big way here, and the cast of Burn to Shine is very impressive, and you really get drawn into this dark struggles and battles.

Anyone who has read my previous Maberry reviews will know that I had no choice but to enjoy Burn to Shine on audiobook, as it is honestly the only way to enjoy one of the author’s novels.  This is primarily because of the author’s long association with legendary actor and audiobook narrator, Ray Porter, who has lent his epic voice to most of Maberry’s exciting novels, and the result is always something very special.  Porter is the perfect narrator for Maberry’s amazing and intense novels, bringing all the necessary energy, excitement and darkness you need to convey the author’s complex and twisted plots, and he is one of my favourite audiobook narrators.  Porter effortlessly brought Burn to Shine to life from the very first word, and you swiftly get drawn into the story as a result.  Everything from the dark content, the complex story elements, and the extensive action is extremely well conveyed and flows so quickly.  I particularly enjoyed how Porter once again perfectly inhabited all the characters featured in Burn to Shine, with impressive takes on all the unique figures.  Special mention must be given to Porter’s personification of the main protagonist, Joe Ledger, as the narrator has long mastered capturing all of Ledger’s pain, internal conflict and fantastic humour and presenting it to the listener in an outstanding way.  The rest of the characters are also showcased in a really awesome way, and I still love the ultra-calm and controlled voice used for Mr Church, as well as the more sinister and often unnatural voices for the crazy antagonists of the book. I honestly loved every second I spent listening to this audiobook, and it was another outstanding performance from Ray Porter and one of the best audiobooks I enjoyed in the first half of 2025.

Once again bringing all the carnage, complex characters and dark storylines you have come to expect from a Joe Ledger novel, Burn to Shine was another amazing read from Jonathan Maberry, and one I deeply enjoyed getting through.  A very interesting entry in Maberry’s long-running, combined series, Burn to Shine was an ultra-exciting and chilling Rogue Team International novel that proves very easy to power through.  I look forward to reading more of Maberry’s novels in the next few months, and I currently have the tough decision of if I want to read the advanced copy I have of his upcoming release, Cold War, or wait to listen to it on audiobook.

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Templar Traitor by Angus Donald

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Historical FictionLeave a comment

Publisher: Canelo Adventures (ebook – 28 August 2025)

Series: The Mongol Knight – Book One

Length: 411 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Those in the mood for an awesome and intense adventure should check out the soon-to-be-released historical fiction novel from Angus Donald, Templar Traitor, an outstanding book that I had a brilliant time getting through.

I have mentioned several times on my blog that my experiences with reviewing started with historical fiction, which was the main genre that I read for several years.  While I have progressed to a range of other genres since then, historical fiction still holds a very special place in my heart, and I always love to dive back into time and read a great adventure or moving tale set in our collective past.  One of the more enticing recent examples was Templar Traitor by Angus Donald.  Featuring a cool plot about an English knight fighting alongside the Mongolian horde, Templar Traitor is the first book in Donald’s The Mongol Knight series, which I really liked the sound of.  It helped that Donald is an author I have an interesting history with, as his early novel, Outlaw, was one of the first books that I reviewed professionally, and I was very keen to see how he had progressed as a writer since then.

Plot Synopsis:

“Do not lie to me, Templar, or it will be the last thing you do.”

July 1241. Christendom cowers in terror before the threat of a Mongol invasion. The swift-moving, invincible cavalry of Genghis Khan has smashed the proud, steel-clad knights of Russia, Poland and Hungary – and now Austria lies directly in their path.

At a skirmish outside the walls of Vienna, German knights capture a squad of Mongol scouts, and are astonished to discover one of their number is an Englishman – a Templar knight – who has been riding with these Devil’s horsemen for more than twenty years.

Interrogator Father Ivo of Narbonne is summoned to Vienna Castle to draw the truth from the imprisoned Englishman before his impending trial, to find out why he abandoned his Faith, his Brethren and his homeland to become… a traitor to Christendom.

This was a very impressive novel from Donald that nicely sets up a cool new historical fiction series, while also containing an intense and exciting story.  Loaded with action, adventure and some fascinating historical elements, Templar Traitor was an excellent read that I’m very glad I got to check out early.

Donald pulled together a very interesting story for Templar Traitor that cleverly makes use of a real recorded historical event and expands on it to create an elaborate tale of adventure, war and survival from the perspective of an initially eager young knight.  The framing device of the novel starts in Austria in 1241, with the capture of protagonist Robert of Hadlow, a knight from England who rides with the Mongols during their invasion of Europe.  From there, the captured Robert gives testimony to a priest with his own agendas, who is shocked to discover that Robert is a former Templar Knight who had journeyed to Mongol lands many years earlier.  From there the story dives back in time and chronicle of Robert’s life, following him as a young man ejected from Templars two decades earlier to becoming a wandering merchant travelling across Europe, before he is given the unique opportunity to try and establish an exclusive trade deal with Genghis Khan. This first part of the book was a very compelling introduction to the story, and it sets up the early story of the protagonist nicely, including his pressing reasons to undertake such a task, while also providing some fascinating historical contexts of the regions that the protagonist initially journeyed through.

From there Templar Traitor takes on a much more action-oriented edge, as Robert and his lone companion journey deep into Persia and beyond to find the Mongols, while pursued by rival European faction who seeks to secure trade for their own masters.  This resulted in some fast-paced and frenetic sequences, and the protagonist is soon dropped in amongst the Mongols, trying to find a way earn their favour.  Soon accepted as an envoy, Robert finds his place within the Khan’s army and witnesses their culture, people as well as their devastating war against the Khwarazmian Empire of Persia.  To gain Genghis Khan’s favour, Robert finds himself serving as a key figure in the invasion, which allows for multiple battle sequences, as the protagonist finds himself thrust into the centre of the war.  This resulted in a very rich and compelling historical novel, and it was fascinating to see some of Genghis Khan’s most famous battles through the lens of a western outsider.  Donald adds in a rather good twist near the end of the novel that completely alters your entire perspective of the events of Templar Traitor, while also setting up some very interesting storylines going forward.  This ended up being quite a fantastic overall story, and I appreciated how it contained a great, self-contained plot, while also working well as the first entry in a larger series.

Templar Traitor was a very strong historical fiction novel from Donald, and I really appreciated the layered book that emerged.  The use of an older, imprisoned protagonist giving his confession as a framing device for the main plot worked extremely well, especially as the experiences of the older Robert of Hadlow impact his narrative of the past.  The elaborate narrative of adventure and exploration allows Donald to really flex his historical writing ability, and he does an exceptional job exploring and showcasing the landscapes and cultures that his protagonist journeys through.  However, his best writing is saved for exploring the Mongolian armies of Genghis Khan, whom the protagonist spends more than half the book riding with.  Donald did an outstanding job diving into the complex culture and society of the Mongols throughout Templar Traitor, and the novel is loaded with compelling details and vivid descriptions.  This was further enhanced through the author’s decision to frame these descriptions through the eyes of an outsider, and it allows for some very complex scenes of misunderstanding and cultural exchange.

Naturally, much of this examination of Mongolian culture is focused on their military exploits (the protagonist did join a war camp), and you get a very detailed examination of their invasion of Persia.  The intense and bloody battle scenes are a true highlight of Templar Traitor, and you can easily imagine yourself riding amongst the Mongols as they fight through Asia, Europe and the Middle East.  I felt that Donald did an outstanding job of covering the history around this war, and it was an excellent choice to have the protagonist join the Mongols at the height of their power, rather than at the beginning of Genghis Khan’s rule.  I also enjoyed the fact that the scenes between the protagonist and his interrogator in 1241 were based on real events and Donald does an excellent job exploring a figure caught between his Christian upbringings in Europe, and his experiences living with his Mongol comrades.  The compelling narrative about the protagonist’s motivations for journeying into the East, as well as the hidden secrets beneath his main story, was featured extremely well, and I loved the complex layers that emerged around Robert.  This was a really impressive piece of historical fiction, and I really appreciated the skilled way that Donald set out his excellent story.

Overall, Templar Traitor was a great new novel from Angus Donald that is guaranteed to appeal to all historical fiction fans.  Expertly blending intense action with some great characters and a deeply intriguing historical period, Templar Traitor was a joy to read, and I look forward to continuing The Mongol Knight series in the future.

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The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook by Matt Dinniman

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Throwback Thursday6 Comments

Publisher: Soundbooth Theater (Audiobook – 19 March 2021)

Series: Dungeon Crawler Carl – Book Three

Length: 16 hours and 54 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Matt Dinniman’s elaborate tale of carnage and comedy continues with the third entry in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, another exceptional and highly addictive novel that I could not get enough of.

Those familiar with this blog will know that I recently discovered the sheer insanity that is Matt Dinniman’s epic Dungeon Crawler Carl books.  An outstanding LitRPG series that sees Earth demolished by aliens and turned into a massive, multi-layered fantasy dungeon that the surviving humans need to fight through and descend, all in the name of reality television, the Dungeon Crawler Carl novels are an incredible collection of books with some amazing depth to them as they follow two of the more explosive dungeon crawlers, the gruff Carl and his now sentient cat, Princess Donut.  I powered through the first two books in the series, Dungeon Crawler Carl and Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, in no time at all, and both were epic five-star books.  Due to how incredible these first two books were, I just had to continue the series, and I instantly started listening to the third book, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, as soon as I finished off Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, and boy was it something special.

After the cataclysmic end to the third floor of the dungeon, Carl, Princess Donut, their dinosaur pet Mongo, and new party member Katia have arrived on the fourth floor.  This new floor opens all manner of changes for the crawlers, with sponsorship programs, advanced living quarters, new crafting areas and a leaderboard, all needing to be considered by Carl and his companions.  At the same time, the difficulty of the game is ramping up, and this new level is far more complicated than anything they have faced before.

Known as the Iron Tangle, the fourth floor of the dungeon is a mass of interwinding subway tunnels and stations built from the world’s pillaged railway systems.  Tied together in an elaborate knot, thousands of different lines populate this level, filled with random subway and train cars loaded with monsters.  To survive and find the stairs to the next floor, the crawlers need to work out the elaborate puzzle of the Iron Tangle, including which areas are safe, where the monsters are coming from, and what trains can be used to get to important destinations.  However, the dungeon’s creators have populated this floor with all manner of nasty surprises, surprises designed to swallow all the crawlers they can find.

Faced with a seemingly impossible puzzle before them, Carl, Donut and Katia will need to work with all the crawlers on the floor if they want to decipher the mystery of the Iron Tangle.  Only by coming together can the remnants of humanity survive the horrors before them and find a way to continue descending to the bottom of the dungeon.  But can Carl trust his fellow crawlers, especially now that he has a bounty on his head and a potential traitor in his own party? 

Wow, wow, wow!  I honestly didn’t believe that the series could get even better than the awesome first book, but Dinniman once again proves me wrong by producing a particularly elaborate third entry that I once again fell in love with.  Featuring a clever and memorable new scenario, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook was an exceptional continuation of the series, bringing back all Dinniman’s great characters, complex RPG elements and insane humour, and producing a particularly special story with it. This is another incredible Dungeon Crawler Carl book that gets a well-deserved five-star rating from me.

Like the previous entry in the series, the plot of The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook covers the protagonists’ attempts to journey through a single level of the dungeon, in this case the massive fourth floor, which is made up of an elaborate tangle of monster-filled subway tunnels.  Thanks to The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook having a longer length than the previous novels and not requiring any substantial introduction material, Dinniman is able to spend a substantial amount of time fleshing out the exploration of this level, and the primary focus of the plot focuses on the characters trying to find the various tricks of the Iron Tangle.  While the narrative of The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook is a little slower paced than the previous entries in the series, you soon get engrossed in this complex adventure narrative, especially as there is the usual fun humour, cool character dynamics and the inevitable explosive solutions to all the problems the characters encounter.  Dinniman also spends time expanding on some of the background character plots and wider universe narrative threads that give greater context to the events of the dungeon.  While these parts aren’t as prevalent as in the original novel, you still get some interesting continuation of the wider conspiracies and issues surrounding the crawl and the whole series, which come into play in some compelling ways.

While the first half of the book is very awesome and has some great moments, it is the second part of The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook that really ensures that readers will come away from this novel particularly happy.  Starting with a fantastic and particularly bloody rescue sequence when Carl and his associates attempt to save a bunch of trapped fellow crawlers and initiate a group stand against the horrors of the Iron Tangle, the plan swiftly breaks down in some particularly memorable ways, with the entire dynamic of the dungeon changing in a single moment.  Other great scenes, including a confrontation between Carl and one of his main enemies in the dungeon, also add to the general drama of the novel, and I love how these complex moments, as well as the entire plot of the second half of the book, perfectly flows from the great build up Dinniman featured in the first half of The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, as well as a multitude of other great plotlines the author has been building up throughout the series.

This impressive narrative eventually leads up to the big and massively destructive conclusion of the book, which was a perfect end to such a captivating novel.  Dinniman cleverly builds up the tension in the lead-up to this finale, and you know that the other shoe is about to drop in a big way.  When it does, Dinniman does not disappoint, forcing the protagonist into some elaborate life and death scenarios, including one particularly epic showdown.  I really loved how all these intense and action-packed sequences came together, and you are constantly on your edge of your seat as you wait to see what happens next.  The protagonist’s various creative plans and failed solutions in the face of these over-the-top scenarios really add to the outrageous entertainment value of the book, and I cannot emphasise enough what an awesome conclusion The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook had.  The author also cleverly sets up the events for the next book, with several hints at key moments to come, and you are left eagerly waiting for even more of the series, especially after seeing how crazy and intense things got in this novel.

Dinniman did another outstanding job writing this third Dungeon Crawler Carl book, and I really appreciated how he brought the same energy and level of excitement to The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook.  The reader is once again treated to an amazing amount of complex action, intriguing LitRPG elements, captivating character growth, and the author’s outstanding humour, which equates to a particularly gripping and intense read.  I liked that The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook had a much more effective pace than the second novel, and the entire journey through the floor was very well set out and quite captivating.  While the labyrinthine nature of the Iron Tangle is a little hard to follow at times, I think this worked well in the context of the story, as it helped to underscore the confusing puzzle that the protagonists had to solve, and you really have to appreciate the sheer inventiveness that the author threw into this distinctive fourth floor.

As with the second novel, I felt that people interested in trying out this series really shouldn’t start with The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, and instead they need to read the preceding novels first.  While this third novel does have a bit more internal recapping, as the protagonist thinks back to key events, Dinniman does drop the reader into the story immediately after the closing moments of Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, which will confuse most new readers.  The author again builds on the cool LitRPG elements of the previous novels, adding in even more classic gaming features that the protagonists, and through them the readers, need to keep in mind as the book progresses.  All these features have an effective introduction so that anyone can understand their impact, no matter their experience with RPGs, and Dinniman works them into the wider plot extremely well.  As always, a lot of the dryer LitRPG elements of the book are made a lot more entertaining thanks to the over-the-top explanations, clever jokes, and the general insane manner in which the protagonists utilise them, and those reader’s with less interest in stats, abilities or equipment, will still have fun with the scenes focussed on them, especially as they feature some of the book’s funniest lines.  The rest of the novel also features a great comedic tone, and I laughed so many times throughout The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, especially as Dinniman keeps upping the ante with the plot and forcing the protagonist into even more ridiculous scenarios.

This great humour is well balanced by the often more serious character moments that Dinniman does a wonderful job inserting into the story.  Most of these revolve around the perspective character, Carl, who serves as the voice of the entire story.  A sarcastic, gruff and scarred figure, Carl serves as an excellent everyman protagonist for the series, and you soon get very attached to him, especially as he attempts to be the dungeon’s hero and save everyone he can.  The author builds up some really moving storylines around Carl in this third book, and I loved seeing his continued growth as the team’s unofficial leader, as his accurate insights and tactical ideas really move the plot along.  There are some very dramatic moments loaded in as Carl encounters the various dark sides of the dungeon, and I loved the big anti-authoritarian aspect to the character that Dinniman is expanding upon, especially as he witnesses more and more of the dungeon’s cruelty.  The inclusion of the titular Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, a secret in-game book that gives him hints and ideas to survive in the dungeon, was a fun twist, and I loved how it gave him even more explosive ideas, while allowing the author to explore his rebellious side even more.  Despite being a mostly serious figure, there is still a lot of humour around Carl, mainly from him being the straight man in a very ridiculous place, and you have to love his very reasonable reactions to some of the weird things he witnesses.  Dinniman also continues the very funny trend of having Carl gain a well-deserved reputation of being one the craziest crawlers in the dungeon, mainly due to his tendency of solving all his problems with explosives, and there is a lot of entertainment in seeing Carl’s various plans go further off the rails than intended.

In comparison to Carl, sentient cat Princess Donut is the fun face of the team, and it’s impossible not to love her various antics and over-the-top attitudes.  Her many entertaining quirks, including her obsession with fame, hilarious insights into humans, her long-running grudge against all Cocker Spaniels, her relentless use of all-caps in chat mode, and her general cat-like personality all add a lot of amusement to the novel, and you have to love the odd-couple relationship that forms with Carl.  So many of The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook’s funniest sequences result from Donut’s antics and Carl’s subsequent reactions, and this novel would not be as entertaining without her.  Despite mostly being a comedic figure, Donut does get some serious interactions with the other characters, which help to showcase her character growth and protective nature.  Her occasional vulnerable and honest discussions with Carl really highlight their bond, and she has one of the best moments in the entire book when she overreacts after a friend is hurt.  I really cannot emphasise enough what a great character Donut is, and I really love that Dinniman decided to make this hilarious sentient cat one of his main protagonists.

I also must mention the newest member of the protagonist’s party, Katia, a shy woman who has taken on a shapeshifting race that allows her to act as an effective tank.  I must admit I wasn’t too certain about Katia as a character at the start of The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, due to her understated personality and somewhat random introduction and inclusion to the team in the second half of the previous novel.  However, Dinniman steadily builds up her complex personality as the book continues, and thanks to the continued support of her new party, as well as Carl’s various attempts to hack her race features, she becomes quite an effective crawler, gaining a lot more confidence.  Her unique abilities and likeable personality nicely compliment the already existing team of Carl and Donut, and they end up becoming a well-balanced trio thanks to her inclusion.  The author also sets up an intriguing storyline around Katia’s conflicting loyalties between her previous party and the current group of Carl and Donut, which come into play perfectly during one of the novel’s big moments.  Katia ends up becoming quite an awesome part of the book thanks to these scenes, and I loved the excellent new dynamic she brings to the series.

Aside from these main three characters, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook features a really impressive supporting cast, especially as Dinniman brings back a lot of awesome characters from the previous two novels.  This includes Donut’s pet, Mongo, a giant velociraptor who was once again a fun addition to the plot.  While Mongo does get used a little less in the book thanks to the compact train cars of the setting, he made an impact when he did appear (especially to a certain gnoll) it is very entertaining to see Donut finally able to ride him.  The group’s manager, Mordecai, was once again perfect as the reluctant and exasperated mentor figure, who plays off the personalities of the main protagonists perfectly.  One excellent scene in the book ended up limiting Mordecai’s role in The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, which serves as an effective handicap for the protagonists, while also hinting at Mordecai’s traumatic past, and I look forward to the author expanding on that in the future.

This lack of Mordecai also allows for the author to feature a lot of additional characters, which fits the giant group teamwork focus of the plot, and it was fun to see some of Carl and Donut’s acquaintances from the previous two books return here, especially as several have changed in some very entertaining ways.  I need to highlight the return of antagonist Frank Q, whose big scene with Carl was one of the most powerful moments of the novel, especially as Frank seemingly gets his revenge.  Other previously mentioned antagonists, including some introduced outside the dungeon, are brought back here, often in a big way, and their interactions with Carl are always quite destructive.  Dinniman also focuses on an array of NPC characters in The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, and the dark plight of these poor figures helps to showcase both the protagonist’s empathy and the twisted nature of the entire dungeon process.  Finally, I again need to mention the hilarious AI who runs the dungeon, as the disembodied figure is easily the most hilarious character in the series thanks to his unhinged descriptions, brilliant references, and the twisted way he manipulates the crawlers to get the funniest result for the audience.  I love how Dinniman showed how the AI is starting to crack a little, especially when it begins rebelling against the corporation running the game (how dare they appeal the AI’s decisions), and I laughed so hard at so many things the AI said.  All these characters, and more, were very entertaining to follow, and I love the many rich character arcs and moments that the author cleverly inserted into the novel’s plot.

I have been having an absolute blast with the Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobooks, and I didn’t even hesitate in choosing to also listen to The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook on this format.  Unsurprisingly, this was another exceptional listen as the audiobook version of The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook really helped to highlight all the best aspects of the book, including the great action, amazing characters and brilliant, over-the-top humour.  Coming in at nearly 17 hours, this was the longest Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobooks yet (they only get even longer from here), although I still managed to power through it in very quick order.  A large reason this audiobook was so good was because the very talented Jeff Hays once again impressed as narrator.  Thanks to his zany voices Hays makes this audiobook truly come alive, and I love how perfectly he inhabits all the crazy and complex characters featured within this book.  There is an outstanding array of accents, parody voices, and over-the-top tones from Hays in this audiobook, and all the voices were a lot of fun, especially for some of the big or exaggerated monsters.  I again need to highlight his excellent voices for Carl and Princess Donut, and it’s just amazing how he can embody both very divergent characters.  I also loved the voice he used for the system AI, especially as Hays brings out all the disembodied figure’s sass, anger and sadistic comedy with his reading of the announcements, especially when the AI gets freaky or mad.  This Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobook also features the voice of Youtube personality The Critical Drinker, who voices a minor character in a well-done, if unnecessary, inclusion.  I felt this entire audiobook came together pretty damn perfectly, including the very funny ad for Soundbooth Theater thrown in at the end, and I honestly don’t think I would enjoy this series nearly as much if it weren’t for these fantastic audiobook productions.  I plan to listen to all future Dungeon Crawler Carl novels on audiobook, and I know I am going to have so much damn fun doing so.

With yet another explosive story, loaded with great characters, clever RPG inclusions and the author’s outstanding humour, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook was extremely epic, and I could not get enough of it.  The best book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series so far, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook was ultra-impressive, and Matt Dinniman did an exceptional job bringing everything together.  I enjoyed this novel so much that I once again decided to start reading the next book in the series the moment I finished this one and then continued after that.  As such, I am currently in the middle of the fifth book in the series, The Butcher’s Masquerade, after loving the fourth book, Gate of the Feral Gods, and both are incredibly awesome and so much fun.

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Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Throwback Thursday8 Comments

Publisher: Soundbooth Theater (Audiobook – 6 January 2020)

Series: Dungeon Crawler Carl – Book Two

Length: 11 hours and 28 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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After falling in love with Dungeon Crawler Carl, the first book in the epic Dungeon Crawler Carl series, I have decided to continue diving into this incredible series of adventure, friendship and adversity, with the second novel in the deeply impressive LitRPG series Carl’s Doomsday Scenario.  Dungeon Crawler Carl was so damn fun, and I chose to start reading this awesome sequel the very moment I finished the first book in the series.

The dungeon crawl to determine the fate of planet Earth has begun, and it is already the highest rated show in the entire galaxy.  However, the games have only just began, as the human crawlers who survived the training levels of the game now must contend with the horrors of the dungeon’s third level. 

The unlikely team of the pants-bereft hero Carl, his now sentient cat, Princess Donut, and Donut’s pet dinosaur, Mongo, have already survived great adversity in their initial forays through the dungeon, but now the game is starting to get even more chaotic.  Starting off the level with the ability to chooses new races and specialised classes, Carl and Donut have some serious upgrades to face the full horrors of the dungeon, and they are going to need it.

This new level of the dungeon, known as the Over City, is the sprawling ruin of a once vast city, laid low by a devastating calamity.  Many creatures still haunt the now destroyed streets, including the horrifying remains of a once popular circus, while in the seemingly safe town they use as a base, murdered prostitutes rain from the sky as part of a malevolent scheme.  However, while Carl and Donut face all manner of monsters and mayhem tackling these horrors and the quests that lay behind them, the greater danger may lay outside of the dungeon, as old and new enemies from the alien races descending on Earth are determined to make Carl’s journey as difficult as possible.  Can these two unlikely companions and their pet dinosaur survive the carnage to come, or is their doomed crawl through the dungeon about to come to an end?

Well damn, now that was a really impressive follow-up to the first book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series.  Carl’s Doomsday Scenario was an outstanding novel from Dinniman that ups the craziness and ensures that you are still absolutely hooked on its brilliant storytelling, intriguing LitRPG elements and awesome humour.  I frankly couldn’t stop listening to Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, and I have to give it another five-star rating for how much fun I had with it.

Dinniman came up with another great story for Carl’s Doomsday Scenario that continues right after the events of the first book in the series.  One of the shorter novels in the series, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario avoids any recap material and instead jumps right into the plot, which covers the entire time the protagonists spend on the third level of the game.  Cleverly bringing in some cool new elements at the start, the protagonists are soon grinding through this new level.  The plot mostly focused around two of the quests that the protagonists choose to participate in, one involving a cursed circus, and the other involving a sinister plot of sacrifice and murder in one of the floor’s main towns.  Dinniman plays through both major plot elements in a similar manner to quests from a particularly deranged RPG game, and you soon get invested in both the scenarios, and the protagonist’s unusual or explosive ways of dealing with the situation.  Both major quest lines involved carnage, exploration, a dash of mystery, and an array of intriguing new characters, and allow for the protagonists to keep getting stronger and more experienced.

These quest-focused sequences are well balanced by an array of events that tie them into the larger series story of the protagonists playing the dungeon game.  The protagonists become involved in several events outside the dungeon which helps introduce long-term antagonists and hints about some of the future obstacles to come.  You also get some interesting updates about some of the recurring characters introduced in the first book, many of whom are clearly going to have a bigger impact on the story in the future.  All these elements blend well into one cohesive and exciting plot, and I loved how well Dinniman balanced the various unique story elements and kept making the overall narrative of the series even more elaborate.  These plots all come together for Carl’s Doomsday Scenario’s big finale, which was as hilariously epic as possible.  Dinniman really ramped up the tension for this final part of the book, and you are constantly on the edge of your seat as you wait to see who survives and how.  An epic story that perfectly continued the overarching Dungeon Crawler Carl narrative, while also providing some very memorable moments that allows Carl’s Doomsday Scenario to stand on its own.

I loved how Carl’s Doomsday Scenario came together, although I must point out that you really need to read Dungeon Crawler Carl first.  The plot of Carl’s Doomsday Scenario directly continues from the events of Dungeon Crawler Carl, and you could honestly combine the two to get one long novel without any issues at all.  Indeed, this story does feel a little like a bridging novel between the introductory first novel and the heavily plot laden third book, although it still works well to tell its own fun story.  While the point-of-view protagonist does recap some events in his head as the story unfolds, new readers trying to start at this second book would likely get lost in some of the plot details.  As such, this is definitely a book for those who plan to read the series from start to finish, and those that are will find that Carl’s Doomsday Scenario features all the very best elements from the initial novel, including a ton of great action, some unique LitRPG elements, and the continued side-splitting humour that made Dungeon Crawler Carl so much fun to get through.

Dinniman makes excellent continued use of the first-person perspective to paint a compelling picture of the protagonists’ journey in this second book, and you really get drawn into Carl and Princess Donut’s adventures as a result.  Thanks to the fact that they are experiencing all these scenarios for the first time, readers with all manner of LitRPG or RPG experience can easily enjoy this novel, and the author does an amazing job combining the more elaborate RPG elements into the larger exciting narrative.  There are a ton of great new elements added in for this book, with things like class and species decisions, quests, elite NPCs, towns and more, adds some additional complexity to the plot which helps to make the story even more interest.  These extensive LitRPG features are perfectly enhanced by the author’s comedic writing, and there are so many great jokes thrust into the story.  This humour is well supported by the book’s overall outrageous nature, and all the over-the-top scenarios the protagonists encounter can be exceptionally funny at times.  Thanks to how well Dinniman writes and combines these elements together, I was so invested in every part of the book, and it was fantastic to see the entire narrative unfold and watch the protagonists evolve with the game.

As with Dungeon Crawler Carl, the emotional heart of Carl’s Doomsday Scenario lies in the partnership between Carl and Princess Donut, and it was fascinating to follow these two unlikely heroes through the dungeon.  Carl continues to be the gruff and over-exasperated central character through whose eyes we see the story unfold.  A tired figure still reeling from the death of his planet, Carl continues to grimly stay alive for Donut’s sake, while also becoming more enraged at the full evils of the dungeon and the corrupt alien corporations controlling it.  I really enjoyed the practical and often quite clever way he addresses the dungeon’s many challenges, and Dinniman does a good job showcasing his evolution as a player, even though he still mainly resorts to explosives and crazy plans.  Indeed, Carl starts to develop a somewhat well-deserved reputation as a reckless figure, which is quite entertaining.

While Carl is the stoic centre of the plot, Princess Donut is the comedic heart of the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, and you just have to love her entertaining persona.  Despite being sentient, Princess Donut is still very much a cat in nature and bearing, and it is hilarious to see her exaggerated personality clash with the more subdued nature of Carl.  Her ability to get them into all manner of trouble with her fun-loving ways and lack of caution adds some great entertainment to the plot (Goddammit Donut!), while her love of attention and popularity perfectly plays into the reality television nature of the dungeon game they are in.  Donut is an outstanding personality foil to Carl, and this allows for some very entertaining moments as a duo.  However, while on the outside she is still the same silly and haughty cat you came to love in the first book, Dinniman has started to showcase Donut’s hidden depths, and there are some great moments when you come to realise that the cat is growing up and become more mature.  A lot of this lies in the heartwarming relationship between Carl and Donut as the two continue to become a true team.  I love some of the scenes when Carl and Donut are vulnerable with each other, especially when they are close to death, and you realise just how close they’ve become and how much they mean to each other.  This connection provides some amazing moments throughout Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, and you continue to become extremely invested in these two’s adventures.

Aside from Carl and Donut, there is an array of additional awesome characters featured in Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, including a combination of figures from the previous novel and some new great characters.  This includes Donut’s pet velociraptor, Mongo, who continues to grow into an even more dangerous killing machine.  Despite some continued teething troubles about Mogo’s inability to control himself, Mogo grows into a key member of the team, and that intense scene where he defends Donut from harm cements him as a wonderfully beloved pet.  The team’s NPC tutorial guide, Mordecai, gets an extended appearance in Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, becoming Donut’s reluctant manager, and I loved the fun mentor role he adds to the cast, becoming the team’s voice of reason, which is often ignored by the protagonists.  Dinniman also adds in an interesting third member of the party later in the book, who gets an effective introduction, even if they don’t play a major role in the plot this time around.  Throw in an array of determined fellow crawlers, aliens who often have beef with Carl, and some complex mobs and NPCs whose unique stories the protagonists get dragged into, and the cast of Carl’s Doomsday Scenario was so damn epic and really enhanced the overall story.

As with the first book in the series, I chose to listen to Carl’s Doomsday Scenario on audiobook, which is frankly the very best way to enjoy this incredible novel, especially as the having the crazy story and the antics of the characters read out is so much fun.  Coming in with a run time of 11 and a half hours, this is one of the shorter entries in the series, and I managed to finish off this audiobook in a few very entertaining days.  I deeply appreciate the fact that Jeff Hays continues as the narrator of this second audiobook in the series, as he really impressed me with Dungeon Crawler Carl.  Hays has an amazing array of elaborate voices that perfectly fit so many of the unique characters featured in this novel, and he carries over several of the key tones from the first audiobook for the recurring characters.  His voices for Carl and Princess Donut are particularly good, and I love how effectively he still captures their complex personalities, including Carl’s frustrations and anger, and Donut’s comedic over-excitement and infectious personality.  His best voice still probably remains the system AI running the dungeon, as the sheer amount of excitement, sarcasm and comedic timing Hays brings to reading out the AI’s notices is so damn good.  Throw in a cool array of new character voices, as well as some modulated tones for characters who have changed race or attributes, and this was such an impressive listen that will have you laughing like crazy.  I cannot recommend the audiobook format of the Dungeon Crawler Carl books enough, so do yourself a favour and make sure to check them out.

My newfound obsession with Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series continues unabated as I powered through the second book, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, in no time at all.  an outstanding sequel that perfectly continues all the amazing story elements from the first book, while adding even more layers to the elaborate scenario.  Fast-paced, constantly entertaining, and with some impressive emotional depth to it, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario was particularly awesome, and I had an absolute blast reading it.  Indeed, I loved it so much that I once again instantly dived into the next book in the series, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, which is proving to be just as incredible as its predecessors.

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Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Science Fiction, Throwback Thursday12 Comments

Publisher: Soundbooth Theater (Audiobook – 21 September 2020)

Series: Dungeon Crawler Carl – Book One

Length: 13 hours and 31 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Have you ever had one of those books or series that everybody seems to be talking up all the time?  Lately for me that series has been the Dungeon Crawler Carl novels by Matt Dinniman.  An intriguing LitRPG series, the Dungeon Crawler Carl books are a funky and hilarious fantasy and science fiction hybrid that places its outrageous protagonist into an unlikely alien reality show filled with subterranean dungeons inspired from classic RPGs.  A series with a very interesting premise, I have been seeing so much online about the Dungeon Crawler Carl books over the last couple of years, with everyone praising it and really talking it up.  Despite not having a lot of experience with the LitRPG genre (except for Ascension by B. F. Rockriver), I decided to check out the first novel in the series, also titled Dungeon Crawler Carl, to see what all the fuss was about, and boy did that have an excellent result.

When aliens come to Earth, first contact is far more brutal and unusual than you could ever expect.  Instead of communicating or conquering, the aliens instead instantaneously collapse every single human-made structure down into the ground, killing everyone who was inside.  Only those standing outside at the time survived, and they are given a dire choice: either remain on the planet’s now desolate surface with no shelter, or journey down into the subterranean 18-level dungeon that has been formed from humanity’s repurposed buildings.

For those few million human survivors who journey into the newly labyrinth, they soon encounter a fantasy-inspired dungeon, filled with traps, monsters, loot and other dark dangers to navigate.  These survivors, known as dungeon crawlers, need to keep moving downwards in the hope of reaching the 18th floor and the promised reward it contains.  Death and dismemberment are a near certainty in the dungeon, so contestants will need to learn how to kill mobs, find enchanted gear, learn new combat skills or magic and keep getting stronger, all before the level they are on collapses.  However, this dungeon is far more that a contest of might and magic; it is the most popular reality program in the galaxy, seen by untold trillions of aliens, and only those crawlers who can gain a strong following and rich sponsors are likely to survive.

Into this chaotic situation is thrown unlikely hero Carl.  A simple man caught outside in his underwear as he attempted to retrieve his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, Carl soon finds himself fighting for his life in the most ridiculous of circumstances.  Teaming up with the now sentient Princess Donut, Carl finds that the dungeon has a steep learning curve, and he will need all his resolve, cunning and the friendship of a superpowered cat to survive.  However, as Carl and Princess Donut accidently become two of the most popular contestants in the game, they will need to contend with everyone who wants them dead, both from inside the dungeon and without, as they constantly move downwards.  Dangerously overmatched, completely overwhelmed, and with a distinct lack of pants for Carl, this unlikely duo will need to learn how to survive big and show the universe and the unhinged AI controlling the game that they are worth keeping alive.

Goddammit Dinniman, how could you create something so damn addictive.  It turns out that for once the internet crowd had this 100% right, and Dungeon Crawler Carl was everything they said it would be and more.  A clever, intense and overall hilarious romp through a cool LitRPG scenario, Dungeon Crawler Carl had me hooked very early on and I absolutely powered through this epic adventure novel which I just had to give a full five-star rating.

I really, really loved the cool story in Dungeon Crawler Carl, which starts off quickly and never lets up all the way to the end.  Starting with a quick but effective introduction to Carl, which then leads to the world collapsing and him being forced to enter the dungeon with his cat, you are soon immersed in this new crazy world, with some bloody opening fights setting the crazy tone for the rest of the novel.  After an in-depth sequence that explains the rules of the world, Dungeon Crawler Carl takes off again at a fast pace made even more entertaining thanks to the introduction of the now sentient cat, Princess Donut.  Forced to keep fighting through monsters, traps and other obstacles, the action and excitement never lets up, and I really appreciated how Dinniman naturally flowed the protagonists into fresh scenarios, including unusual boss fights, explosive opportunities, and starting a meth war between goblins and fire-spitting llamas.

The second half of Dungeon Crawler Carl goes in some very interesting direction, as the protagonists encounter other Crawlers, with some very different results, while also ensuring the full and often ultra-bonkers horrors of the first two levels of the dungeon keep coming at you hard and fast.  There is some great character development as the book continues, both literally and figuratively, and it was interesting to see the characters evolve to face the unique threats of the dungeon in their own way.  Dinniman threw in some clever and often hilarious solutions to many of the obstacles the protagonists face (although most of them involve explosives), and you’re constantly on the edge of your seat as you wait to see how they will survive going forward.  There is also some excellent universe expansion as the characters experience the reality-television obsessed world outside the dungeon, which often leads to some hints of the dangers to come later in the series.  These upcoming elements are well placed into the book, which allows the readers to anticipate what is to come, while not distracting from the main plot points.  The conclusion of Dungeon Crawler Carl comes a little after the big events of the book, but it sits in a good place as part of the wider series.  This novel ends up being an exceptional read on its own, while also being an excellent first entry in the series that perfectly sets up the many over-the-top adventures to come.

This proved to be a very cleverly put together novel, and Dinniman really excelled at utilising the unique elements of the LitRPG genre and utilising in his story.  Featuring a very cool explanation for why the protagonists are trapped in a fantasy dungeon (alien reality television show to determine the fate of the planet is an awesome plot idea), you soon get engrossed in the LitRPG themes of the book, as the characters are instantly forced to battle mobs to survive.  Due to the time limits built into the plot, the protagonists are quickly forced to adapt to the new way of living (or dying), and the reader is given a crash course in the mechanics of the game system.  I found these to be quite fascinating, and you really get engrossed in the various levelling, skills, magical items, achievements and other elements of the game, which fans of RPGs of all varieties will be familiar with.  The dungeon itself is a unique blend of classic fantasy creatures and tropes, with exaggerated elements of modern human culture, allowing for modern references to go together with fights against goblins and other creatures.  Dinniman also adds in a great reality television element to the plot, as the protagonists are forced to earn followers and appeal to a wider audience to improve their chances, like The Hunger Games on steroids.  The author does an excellent job of setting these unique elements up, and it’s a great extra edge to the typical LitRPG elements.

Dinniman ensures that these LitRPG elements continue to be quite entertaining throughout the entirety of Dungeon Crawler Carl thanks to a variety of factors, mainly humour.  Nearly every scene in this book is incredibly funny of various levels, including entertaining character interactions, reactions to over-the-top scenarios, various subtle jokes, and a large amount of more noticeable adult humour that reflects the crazy situation and big personalities of the plot.  I personally loved how Dinniman enhanced all the game elements of the book, such as item and mob descriptions, achievements, skill discussions and more, by including comedic summaries loaded with jokes, references and the barely controlled fetishes of the AI running the dungeon.  These wacky descriptions made the more LitRPG-heavy parts of the plot flow a lot better, especially as readers with less interest in RPGs can still have fun with these scenes.  Dinniman works to make various other LitRPG elements more entertaining for casual readers in various other ways, such as ensuring all the scenes featuring the chat function are quite distinct and humorous due to Princess Donut’s insistence of only writing in caps.  I honestly was left laughing out loud multiple times throughout Dungeon Crawler Carl, and the sheer ridiculousness of the story, as well as the often quite inappropriate, yet hilarious jokes, was just too much for me.

While there is a definite focus on comedy and jokes in Dungeon Crawler Carl, Dinniman also adds in some real emotional heart to the story, mainly through the focus on the protagonists.  The relationship between the perspective protagonist Carl, and the now sentient cat Princess Donut adds some excellent and powerful depth to the book, especially as they grow to be a compelling team.  While initially thrown together in unlikely fashion, the grumpy Carl and the amusing Princess Donut, who has all the smugness and confidence of a prize-winning cat, turn into the ultimate odd-couple, made even more entertaining by the fact that the cat is much more powerful than Carl.  Dinniman throws in a lot of very entertaining quirks for both characters that makes you love them; however, it is the more subtle examination of the protagonist’s deeper emotions that help to enhance this narrative even more.  This includes Carl’s deep internal anger, brought on by various factors, the despair he feels at the complete destruction of his world, and his continued attempted heroics, even when it puts him at greater risk.  I loved how both Carl and Princess Donut both grew to become quite dependent on each other as the book continued, and while there is still a lot of growth needed for both, you can see that their bond is going to be the powerful centre of the plot.

Aside from Carl and Princess Donut, Dungeon Crawler Carl is loaded with an outstanding array of characters who each bring their own brand of fun to the plot.  I personally enjoyed the protagonist’s guide, Mordecai, a veteran former crawler who provides advice on how to proceed, while also hiding the trauma of his own adventures in a previous dungeon.  There was also an array of compelling and distinctive mobs, alien night show hosts, and other creatures associated with the production, who on the surface are quite entertaining and funny, but whose deeper tragedies work to highlight just how dark the dungeon process truly is.  There are also some other distinctive fellow crawlers thrown into the plot, and it is interesting to see how humans will react to the terrible situation before them, either becoming heroes or dark villains.  Finally, I must mention the AI running the dungeon, who proves to be one of the more entertaining figures in the book, despite not appearing in person in any way.  His very over-the-top commentary and descriptions for all the game mechanics was ultra-hilarious, and there are so many great jokes there.  However, it was the AI’s more subtle actions that proved to be the funniest part of this electronically ethereal figure’s inclusion, as it guides the game to suit its own interests and desires.  This includes giving very specific items to the protagonists to produce the most amusing story, while other rewards and loot encourage Carl to remain barefoot and lacking pants throughout the game for “reasons”.  I felt that this excellent cast really matched the over-the-top story that Dinniman threw together for Dungeon Crawler Carl, and every character made an amusing and memorable impact on the story.

I ended up checking out the audiobook for Dungeon Crawler Carl, which was honestly exceptional, and I cannot emphasise enough just how effective this format enhanced Dinniman’s great story and outrageous humour.  Narrated by Jeff Hays, who might be one of my new favourite audiobook voice actors, all the action, intensity and the distinctive characters of Dungeon Crawler Carl came across exceptionally well in this format, and I absolutely loved how effectively Hays conveyed the entire craziness of this novel.  The narrator provides an excellent voice for the protagonist, Carl, that served as the base tone for most of the narration, and you really get to feel the protagonist’s fear, determination and continued exasperation, especially when he encounters all the crazy twists and inclusions.  Hays’ voices for the other characters of Dungeon Crawler Carl also helps to make this audiobook stick out.  For example, the tone that Hays choice for Mordecai perfectly fit the tired, old mentor, while his Princess Donut voice is so damn entertaining, especially as you can fully appreciate the character’s catlike nature with Hays’ high-pitched and demanding voice.  Hays also captures all the fun features of weird mobs of the dungeon, including goblins and other sentient creatures, and there are some very striking and funny voices featured there.  However, it is the tone he uses when speaking in the voice of the AI running the dungeon that is the best.  Cheerful and sarcastic, Hays perfectly captures this computer program’s weird sense of humour with his narration, and I loved the boisterous way he reads out the achievements, the skills, item stats and more, especially for more colourful descriptions that require accents or other creepier voice changes.  This outstanding narration worked on so many levels with Dinniman’s unique style, and I frankly could not get enough of listening to Dungeon Crawler Carl on audiobook, which is just the best way to check out this novel.

Overall, I had an exceptional time with Dungeon Crawler Carl, and this series instantly became my new obsession.  Fun, outrageous and constantly exciting, Dungeon Crawler Carl lives up to all the hype surrounding it, and I was really impressed with Matt Dinniman’s ability to craft a complex story that will potentially get better with each new entry.  Honestly the best way to showcase just how much I enjoyed Dungeon Crawler Carl is to reveal that as soon as I finished this first book I instantly started listening to the sequel, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, and then the third book, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, soon after that.  I will probably end up powering through this series in the next few months, hopefully before the eighth book comes out next year, and I cannot wait to see where Dinniman takes this beautifully unhinged plot next.

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The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Murder Mystery2 Comments

Publisher: Hodderscape (Trade Paperback – 29 April 2025)

Series: The Eternal Path – Book One

Length: 646 pages

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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Intriguing author Antonia Hodgson presents one of the best fantasy debuts of 2025 with The Raven Scholar, a powerful and complex novel that hooks you early and refuses to let go all the way to its shocking end.

Earlier this year I was lucky enough to receive a copy of The Raven Scholar, a massive fantasy novel with a very interesting plot idea behind it that will set up the new Eternal Path trilogy.  I had really enjoyed Hodgson’s debut novel, the historical thriller The Devil in the Marshalsea, many years ago, and I really got caught up in The Raven Scholar’s complex and brilliant story.

In the empire of Orrun, a new emperor is crowned every 24 years, with a replacement chosen from acolytes of the eight animal guardians whose blessings have warded and kept the empire in check for generations.  However, the current emperor, Bersun the Brusque, has not had a peaceful reign, marred by an attempted assassination and the subsequent execution of his attacker’s daughter.  His replacement offers a chance at a new era for Orrun, but the sins of the past continue to haunt all involved.

As the next Trials to determine the next emperor begin, seven skilled and revered young challengers emerge for the crown, and it falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor’s brilliant, if unsocial, High Scholar to organise much of the proceedings.  However, the Trials are thrown into chaos when the Raven contender is brutally murdered, and all the evidence points to Neema as the suspect.

Tasked with proving her innocence, Neema is shocked when emperor Bersun decides to make her the new Raven contender.  Suddenly facing six highly skilled rival contenders who have trained their entire lives to compete in the trials, as well as a proxy chosen by the mystical Dragon temple, Neema finds herself fighting for her life in the deadliest contests imaginable.  If she succeeds, she could take the throne, but to do so she must first survive a dark conspiracy infecting the palace, one that threatens all Orrun and could lead to a new age of darkness for the empire.  Nothing is what it seems, and with the animal guardians returning to the world, chaos is about to engulf the trials, changing its contenders forever.

With an exceptional and powerful story that I could just not put down, The Raven Scholar was a particularly amazing fantasy debut that I absolutely could not stop reading.  Clever, twisty, and continuously exciting, Antonia Hodgson really impressed me with The Raven Scholar, and due to how quickly I absorbed its over 600 pages of content, I have no choice but to give it a full five-star rating.

I must admit, going in I didn’t know what to expect from The Raven Scholar, but I ended up being extremely impressed with the elaborate narrative Hodgson pulled together.  Set around a wonderfully expansive fantasy story about a tournament of skill and brains, Hodgson had to do a lot in this book, and I feel that she ended up creating something very special and particularly addictive.  Starting with an intense introduction that provides some key context for the later events of the story, Hodgson pulls a very interesting move of inflicting a dark fate on the protagonist of this initial part of the book before jumping the plot forward several years and presenting a new main perspective character.  The impacts of this introduction are well felt throughout the rest of the book’s plot, and I love the various secrets, hidden hints and impacts these first couple of chapters had.

Hodgson then moves the narrative of The Raven Scholar into the elaborate period of the tournament to determine the new Emperor of Orrun.  Primarily shown from the perspective of High Scholar Neema Kraa, an isolated figure who suddenly finds herself in the middle of proceedings when the initial Raven contender for the throne, an old rival of Neema, is murdered, and Neema is considered a potential suspect.  Attempting to investigate the crime, Neema finds herself placed as the new Raven contender and must try to survive the intense trials to come.  I love a good tournament arc in fiction, and this proved to be an extremely fun one as each of the participants had to complete several different tasks chosen by each of the participating temples, as well as compete in a series of duels between each task.  This allows for an interesting combination of physical and mental assignments, which proved to be very compelling, as you tried to see who would take the throne.

While the tournament is the narrative highlight of The Raven Scholar, it is only one part of the story, as Hodgson creates some very interesting additional arcs throughout the plot.  Namely, Neema finds herself investigating a dark conspiracy within the palace following the murder of her former contender.  The author uses her past crime fiction experience extremely well here, crafting together a very elaborate and intense mystery narrative that the protagonist is constantly dragged into.  It doesn’t take too long for her to realise the scope of the conspiracy before her, as well as who the participants in it are, although there are a lot of hidden secrets and motivations that come out as the story continues.  I really loved all the impressive twists and turns that resulted in this part of the book, and the massive overarching conspiracy blends extremely well with the tournament part of the story, with the revealed antagonists using elements of it to try and take out the Neema and other problematic contenders.  I also really appreciated how so much of the big moments of the plot flowed on from the complex introduction to the story, and Hodgson does an amazing job hiding hints at what is to come throughout the entire book.  Everything leads to the big finale of The Raven Scholar, where all the secrets come out and you are left shocked by what occurs.  I honestly didn’t see every twist coming, and I loved how Hodgson kept subverting expectations about where the plot would be going.  The book ends on a very interesting note, and you will come away very excited to see where the series goes from here, especially as the story can only get more complex and twisted.

The Raven Scholar was a really well written novel, and I must highlight how well Hodgson combined her elaborate fantasy world and it’s defining tournament, with complex characters and excellent intrigue and mystery.  The range of elements in this novel is very impressive, and I liked how well Hodgson brought them together, allowing for quite a well-layered book.  The author’s ability to insert an array of subtle hints and important details throughout the book was also amazing, with a variety of seemingly inconsequential statements, conversations or observations coming back into play at later parts of the story.  Some of these were particularly clever and I really appreciated seeing all these cool elements coming into play as the story continued.  This powerful narrative is further enhanced by the author’s intricate fantasy universe, which makes good use of its zodiac inspired system of animal guardians to create a very compelling tournament background.  The scenes throughout the tournament are a true highlight and I loved the intense action and the high stakes that accompanied them.  Throw in the machinations of several of the animal guardians, as well as the complex past of some of the characters, and there is so much to absorb and appreciate about this elaborate book.

I also really enjoyed the impressive cast of The Raven Scholar, whose unique stories added some excellent additional detail to the plot.  The main protagonist, Neema Kraa, was a great central figure in the book, especially with her complex past, poor social status, and the fact that her current advancement came as a result of her worst actions.  Neema spends much of The Raven Scholar trying to redeem her past mistakes, and her eventual placement in the tournament allows her the chance to prove herself.  You really get invested in Neema’s struggles as the book continues, and I liked how she kept evolving to meet the challenges before her, becoming a major contestant to the throne.  The rest of the contenders are all interesting in their own way, and I appreciated the compelling storylines and history that the author built around them.  This includes the Fox contender, Cain, whose complicated romantic past with Neema becomes one of the more interesting recurring plotlines in the book, while his bold nature and inappropriate sense of humour made him a firm favourite of the reader.  I personally enjoyed how Neema twisted his past a little as the plot continued, ensuring that his arc went in some surprising and dark directions, and you really feel drawn to him, especially when he annoys all the other more serious figures in the book.

Other key characters include the Tiger contender, Ruko Valit, who was a dark figure in the plot, especially as he deals with the treachery that led him to become a favourite in the tournament.  A determined and arrogant figure, Hodgson works a great potential redemption arc around Ruko, while also cleverly hinting at the destructive role he will have in the future.  Ruko’s sister Yana was a key early figure in the novel, and while you don’t get the chance to know her too well, the consequences of the actions taken around her haunt many of the characters to come.  The rest of the cast are also cool, although I will limit myself by highlighting a really sinister hidden antagonist, as well as certain animal guardians who visit the realm and interfere with some of the contenders in dramatic manners.  I personally felt the various aspects of the Raven for example were fun, not only with how part of them influences Neema, but with the narrator role the main body takes on for part of the book, which includes footnotes.  All these figures, as well as the many other compelling figures featured within the plot, help to make The Raven Scholar something very special, and I look forward to seeing how many of the fantastic character arcs Hodgson started here, continue in the future.

Overall, I found The Raven Scholar to be an extremely cool and outstanding book, especially as author Antonia Hodgson weaved together a particularly intricate and captivating narrative.  Loaded with intriguing details, clever twists, amazing characters, and so much excitement, I quickly fell in love with The Raven Scholar, and I could not stop reading it, powering through hundreds of pages at a time.  I honestly cannot recommend this book enough, and I enjoyed The Raven Scholar so much that I had to include it on my recent list of top books from the first half of 2025.  I cannot wait to see how Hodgson continues this series going forward, but I am already certain it is going to be something really awesome and very memorable.

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Mort by Terry Pratchett

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Comedy/Satire, Extended Universe, Fantasy, Five-Star Books, Throwback Thursday1 Comment

Publisher: Gollancz/Penguin Audio (Audiobook – 1987)

Series: Discworld – Book Four/Death – Book One

Length: 7 hours and 18 minutes (Planer version)/7 hours and 57 minutes (Clifford version)

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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My dive into the always outstanding Discworld series by the legendary Terry Pratchett continues with one of the earlier classics, Mort, a clever and highly entertaining novel that still hits hard after all these years.

Readers of this blog will be aware of my obsession for all things Discworld, which I have been a mega fan of for many years.  I have had the very great pleasure of reading all the books in the Discworld series multiple times, and I honestly love everything about them, so much so that I even named this blog after a key setting in the series.  I’ve recently been having one of my periodic re-reads of the series, which has seen me finally review some of my favourite Discworld entries, including Pyramids, Guards! Guards!, Moving Pictures, Small Gods and Men at Arms.  The next entry in the series I decided to reread was the wonderfully compelling Mort.  The fourth book in the series, this is one of the earlier Discworld novels and serves as the first book in the Death sub-series.

They say that death comes for everybody, but on the Discworld that statement couldn’t be more true, as everyone will eventually encounter Death, the black-robed, scythe wielding skeleton who personifies the end of life.  However, not all encounters with Death are the same, as terminally unqualified teenager Mort is about to discover, as instead of taking his life, Death offers Mort a job.

Suddenly saddled with the responsibilities of being the apprentice of Death, Mort finds his life a lot more complicated.  Reaping the souls of the recently departed is one thing, but learning to walk through walls and deal with the unlikely whims of his new master is another, especially as Death seems determined to set Mort up with his adopted daughter Ysabell.  However, the big problems begin when Mort impulsively decides to change fate and save the life of a young princess destined to die.

Forced to find a way to stop the diverging threads of reality while keeping the princess alive, Mort soon discovers that being the Grim Reaper isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.  Worse, with the real Death suddenly discovering the joys of life, Mort’s own humanity is starting to slip away.  Can Mort and a group of unlikely companions save reality, or will he have to face his final judgement at the hands of the universe’s most unyielding employer?

Mort was a particularly impressive Discworld novel from Pratchett, especially as it was probably the book where the author finally found his true writing groove.  Fun, thoughtful and featuring a clever and concise story, Mort was an outstanding read, and I once again powered through in very short order.  As such, Mort gets a very well-deserved five-star rating from me and is a particularly awesome Discworld novel to check out.

I loved the very impressive story that Pratchett came up with for Mort, which takes the concept of Death finding an apprentice and going to the extreme with it.  Starting at an initially slow pace that introduces the key characters of Mort and Death, you soon get invested in Mort’s tale of young man coming into his own in a very unusual field.  Things get interesting quickly when Mort decides to save the life of a young princess destined to die and soon splits reality down the middle.  This leads to a very addictive middle section, as Mort attempts to save the princess while also ensuring reality doesn’t split apart.  At the same time, Death, who finds his time freed up thanks to his assistant, begins to wonder around the world learning about humans and trying to have fun.  The resulting outlandish interactions with Death are a great counterpoint to Mort’s storyline, especially as this results in the apprentice starting to obtain his own powers, often with hilarious results.

Everything cleverly and quickly leads up to the big final third of the novel, where a less-than-human Mort and a scrappy Ysabell attempt to do a disappeared Death’s duty, while also finding a way to save the doomed princess, whose own attempts to stay in reality have been less than successful.  At the same time, fun supporting character Albert, Death’s manservant, returns to his old profession on the Disc and tries to find the original Death, who has found his own unlikely niche in the mortal world.  This final third of Mort is extremely fun, fast-paced and surprisingly impactful, especially as the author keeps raising the stakes for the protagonists, and you are very much unable to stop reading it as you try to see where all the entertaining storylines are going.  However, it’s the inevitable showdown between Death and Mort that really ties everything together perfectly.  Their intense, deeply personal and perfectly showcased duel is amazing, especially as it expertly builds off all the character growth in the novel.  Ending on a hopeful note that sets the tone for a great character going forward, you come away from Mort very happy and with an interesting new outlook on life and its always-grinning counterpart.

I really enjoyed how Mort came together, especially as this is the Discworld novel where Pratchett perfects the style and storytelling methods that make his later novels such a treat to read.  As such, Mort is an early classic in the series, so much so that it is a perfect entry point for new Discworld fans, who get to see a lot of key ideas develop here, while also being introduced to the author’s humour and clever storytelling.  Mort definitely benefited from Pratchett developing a more concise storytelling style here, keeping the narrative a little more focused than the previous novels, and this works as a well-crafted standalone read.  Pratchett also does an outstanding job combining cool fantasy elements with outrageous humour and complex characters, and the result is a very entertaining read that will appeal to a wide range of readers.  Part coming-of-age story, part examination of an extreme mid-life crisis, Mort’s narrative hits a lot of generational notes, and while some of his ideas about splitting reality and the nature of the Discworld are a little complex, Pratchett ensures that readers can completely follow his thought all the way to the fantastic conclusion.

As with all Discworld books, Pratchett imbues Mort with an amazing level of humour, and I loved how intensely funny this novel was at times.  Despite Mort essentially being a novel about mortality and destiny, this is a very light-hearted novel thanks to the entertaining characters and the unusual situations they find themselves in.  There are several different levels of humour contained within Mort, ranging from obvious jokes and over-the-top situations to well-setup references or clever name gags, as well as the subtly funny footnotes that really dive into the absurdity of this flat world that lies atop a giant turtle.  Some of the funniest parts of Mort lie in the usually hardboiled and cynical inhabitants of the Disc suddenly encountering Death in unlikely scenarios.  This becomes particularly prevalent later in the novel when Death leaves the job to Mort and wanders the world looking to understand “fun”, and the various scenes with Death fishing, going to parties, getting drunk, gambling and even searching for a job, are particularly hilarious, especially as everyone else involved in these situations is either deeply unsettled or completely terrified.  Other great jokes involve wizards coming to terms with an apparently animated statue, very long-running bar tabs, fun, if short-lived, political intrigues, unlikely deaths, and the young protagonist upsetting everyone by unwittingly walking through walls.  I laughed myself silly multiple times in Mort, even though I had heard all the jokes many times before, and you are guaranteed to have a lot of fun with this great Discworld entry.

As with all of Pratchett’s novels, Mort features an excellent array of entertaining characters, whose unique arcs add some excellent power to book’s overall narrative.  The cast of Mort was particularly compelling and well-rounded, and I think that Pratchett did a great job of introducing some excellent new figures while also making use of one of the best side-characters in the entire series.  Unsurprisingly, most of the novel’s focus settles on the titular character of Mortimer (Mort), a young teen who unexpectedly finds himself the apprentice of Death.  Shown at the start of the book to be an awkward and unusually thoughtful figure, Mort’s storyline revolves around his attempts to fit in, learn his unlikely trade, and the interesting relationships that form thanks to his new position.  Pratchett works in a very compelling coming-of-age narrative around Mort, especially as he grows into his new role and gains the confidence that comes with finding oneself, while also walking the fine line between morality and duty.  However, there is a definite dark edge to Mort’s storyline towards the end, as Mort starts to lose his humanity and becomes more like Death, and it falls to the rest of the characters to keep him human.  Pratchett did a really good job introducing and building up Mort as a complex young character, and he ended up being one of the author’s better one-shot protagonists.

While much of the book is focused on Mort, the character who constantly steals the show is Death.  The literal personification of death on the Discworld, Death appeared in the first three novels in the series, serving as an ethereal and often entertaining figure on the sidelines who occasionally haunted the author’s original protagonist.  Pratchett cleverly expands on Death in this book, showcasing him as a wise and implacable figure doing his duty in a dispassionate way.  However, his interactions with humans, especially Mort, soon start to change his personality, especially as he becomes curious about life and tires of his eternal station.  This allows him to become a particularly entertaining figure in the second half of the book, as he roams the Disc in unlikely situations, trying to learn how to have fun.  His various ponderings on mortality and human nature result in some hilarious moments, and there are so many fantastic and funny interactions that occur here.  However, it is the final third of the book where you get a real sense of Death’s character; at first, he wistfully tries to embrace life, only to leave that behind when confronted by the actions of Mort.  The anger and sadness that accompany his return to his role and his confrontation with Mort is extremely powerful, and you can’t help but feel for him as he faces an impossible choice, as well as rejection from those he loves.  An overall excellent first deep dive into the character of Death from Pratchett, and you can really see why the author wrote several more books around this character going forward.

Aside from Mort and Death, the rest of the main cast of Mort is quite concise and contains an excellent blend of distinctive and impactful characters.  This includes Death’s adopted daughter, Ysabell, a seemingly spoiled princess and lover of over-the-top romance, who is initially antagonistic to Mort.  Despite her attitude, Ysabell soon turns into quite a likeable and sympathetic character, especially when certain traumas from her unusual life become apparent.  Due to her having some of the more emotionally poignant dialogue and character moments in the book, Ysabell is an excellent part of Mort, and I liked how Pratchett paced her storyline.  The other major resident of Death’s domain featured in this story is Albert, the mysterious servant determined to hide his past from Mort and Ysabell.  Pratchett does an excellent job of setting him up as a bigger figure within the Disc’s history, and his explosive return to form after some entertaining scenes between him and a threatening Mort are a highpoint of the book.  Other major characters include Princess Keli, a young princess who finds her sudden reign made even more difficult due her convoluted existence, and young wizard Igneous Cutwell, who serves as a great foil to the more serious Mort and Keli and becomes an excellent comic relief for the book.  Throw in an array of over-the-top minor Discworld characters whose lives briefly become that much more interesting due to their interactions with either Death or Mort, and Mort has an especially fun cast that Pratchett uses to great effect within this masterful novel.

I must once again highlight the amazing audiobook formats that are my favourite ways of enjoying the Discworld series.  I honestly have so much fun with the Discworld audiobooks, mainly because the format does such an incredible job of showcasing Pratchett’s legendary humour and inventive worldbuilding, and there is frankly no better way to enjoy this cool series.  Like the rest of the series, Mort has two particularly awesome unabridged audiobook versions, both of which come highly recommended by me.  This includes the old-school version narrated by the legendary Nigel Planer, who provided his voice to over half the unabridged Discworld audiobooks.  As with all the Discworld books he narrated, Planer does a remarkable job in this early entry in the series, and I loved the impressive array of voices that he utilised in Mort.  Due to this being the first Death audiobook, Planer had a ton of fun featuring his amazing Death voice, which combines beautifully with some of the other new character tones he had to come up with for this novel.  His great voice work also helped to showcase some of Pratchett’s excellent jokes and key bits of humour, and you really get drawn into the author’s brilliant story and fantastic writing with this classic audiobook release.

Despite my love for the Planer version of Mort, which in some ways is still the definitive audiobook version of this novel, I must also really hype up the new Mort audiobook that was recently released.  Part of the recent rerecording of the Discworld audiobooks I have spruiked in previous reviews, this new version of Mort was extremely awesome, and in some ways it surpasses the old-school version.  Coming in with a runtime of just under eight hours, around half an hour longer than the Planer version, this was a brilliant listen, especially with the impressive combined voice work of Sian Clifford, Peter Serafinowicz and Bill Nighy.

Sian Clifford (of Fleabag fame) did an excellent job as the main narrator for this audiobook, reading out most of the story and the voices of the associated cast.  This results in a swift, well-voiced and deeply compelling version of Mort, and I loved how effectively Clifford brought the story to life and helped to showcase the author’s great humour.  You really get drawn into the cool narrative as Clifford reads it out, and I enjoyed her fresh take on many aspects of the audiobook.  Despite Mort being a rather male character dominated entry in the sub-series, Clifford did an excellent job portraying the cast, and there are some great voices featured here, including of some iconic figures from other sub-series (her Rincewind voice was sufficiently terrified and grovelling).  Clifford clearly has fun when it comes to some of the more outrageous members of the cast, such as Albert, while her take on Princess Keli was excessively regal, and captured both her irritation at the events unfolding around her, while also showcasing her fear and uncertainty.  I must also highlight the voice Clifford provides for the main character, Mort, as the narrator really paints a great picture of a gangly, uncertain teenage boy who starts to come into his own as he gains confidence, and more.  I particularly enjoyed the clever voice changes that Clifford did later in the book, especially when Mort started becoming more like his employer, and the corresponding changes to Death’s voice were just perfect.  This was honestly some amazing voice work from Clifford, and I look forward to listening to her narration of the other Death audiobooks, especially once Susan is brought in as the main character.

While Clifford is amazing, I felt that Peter Serafinowicz clearly stole the show in Mort, playing his character to perfection.  Voicing the recurring character of Death in all the new Discworld audiobooks whenever he appears in the plot, Serafinowicz hits listeners with a deep and final tone that perfectly portrays the Discworld’s Grim Reaper in all his bony glory.  For most of the audiobooks, this is just a fun extra inclusion, as Death only appears in a few hilarious scenes.  But for Mort, this is much more of an involved role, as Death is one of the book’s main characters, and so much of the book’s humour and complex narrative is based around Death interactions with humanity.  As such, Serafinowicz has a ton of fun voice Death through various unusual situations and emotional states, all while keeping up the foreboding Death voice.  The clever and subtle changes to this voice that Serafinowicz makes are extremely impressive, and the humour that results from hearing Death engage in these unlikely scenarios and conversations cannot be overstated.  I also must highlight one brilliant sequence where Serafinowicz hilariously hummed the classic funeral march in his Death voice in response to the text describing Death walking away humming a tune.  Details like that in Serafinowicz’s performance, as well as the increased utilisation of Death in this audiobook, really enhanced the overall impact and humour of Mort, and I loved every second I spent listening to it. 

The final actor featured in this audiobook is the legendary Bill Nighy, who also has a recurring role in all the new Discworld audiobooks.  Nighy has a very important job of narrating all the various footnotes that Pratchett includes in his text, and his gentle voice really brings out the subtle humour hidden in these footnotes.  While Nighy doesn’t get much to do in Mort due to author only featuring a few footnotes in this novel, he still makes an impact, and I’ve really enjoyed how expertly he enhances these clever inclusions.  Honestly, all three of these narrators did an outstanding job in this new version of Mort, and I deeply appreciated how well their compelling performances blended into one impactful listen. As such, Mort is best enjoyed on audiobook, and whether it be the classic Planer version, or the new one with extended cast, you will have a wonderful time listening to it.

As the above rambling pages no doubt prove, I have a lot of love for Mort which was an excellent early Discworld novel from Terry Pratchett.  Featuring some excellent storytelling and fully embracing the clever writing style and comedic charm that made the later Discworld novels so damn awesome, Mort was a brilliant read, and one that proves impossible to put down.  An outstanding novel that really shows how impressive Pratchett could be as an author; Mort comes highly recommended and is guaranteed to be enjoyed by any reader.

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The Malevolent Eight by Sebastien de Castell

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Comedy/Satire, Fantasy4 Comments

Publisher: Acardia (ebook – 27 May 2025)

Series: Malevolent series – Book Two

Length: 397 pages

Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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The always entertaining Sebastien de Castell unleashes one of the funniest books of 2025 with the dark fantasy novel, The Malevolent Eight, a compelling and impressive sequel that I couldn’t get enough of.

Over the last couple of years, I have really become attached to the amazing Sebastien de Castell, a leading fantasy author with some outstanding stories under his belt.  Known for his impressive and varied stories, including his Greatcoats, Spellslinger and Argosi novels, de Castell has a brilliant imagination, and I love the range of complex settings and narratives he brings to life.  Some of my favourite de Castell books are from his recent The Court of Shadows fantasy murder mystery series, which serves as a sequel to his original Greatcoats books.  These include the witty and entertaining Play of Shadows (one of my favourite books of 2024) and the particularly clever Crucible of Chaos (one of my favourite audiobooks of 2024), both of which were real highlights of my reading calendar last year.  However, for this review I’m going to focus on a far more entertaining series of de Castell’s that I have had a blast with.

This series is the Malevolent collection of books, which contain dark magic, over-the-top characters and ridiculous humour.  Starting back in 2023 with The Malevolent Seven, this series followed seven morally questionable mercenary mages who come together into an unlikely team to defeat a group of dangerous wizard brothers.  However, their attempt to do the right thing spectacularly backfires on them when they are tricked into allowing the hosts of heaven and hell to simultaneously invade, turning their realm into the battleground for their final war.  I ended up having an exceptional time with The Malevolent Seven, and I really got drawn into it’s clever, if outrageous plot.  Naturally I was keen to see how the series continued, and the recently released sequel, The Malevolent Eight, has long been on my to-read list.

After a great betrayal, the mortal realm is in peril as the heavenly Lords Celestine and the dark Lords Devilish have simultaneously invaded, determined to fight their long-anticipated final battle on this unclaimed ground.  As both sides recruit as many additional human soldiers and followers as they can to their cause, the survival of humanity seems to lie in the hands of an unlikely group of rogue magic users.  Unfortunately for everyone involved, humanity’s saviours are the damn fools who caused this calamity in the first place, the insane mages better known as The Malevolent Seven.

At the head of this misfit band is Cade Ombra, a man who has known power and betrayal from both the Celestine and the Devilish and is determined to allow humans to remain free from their dual influences.  Forced to work with the most emotionally unstable group of mages and wonderists in the mortal realm, including a destruction-loving lighting slinger, a fallen angel, a righteous devil trying to serve the Celestine, an uncertain blood mage, a roguish rat admirer and their newest member, a vampiric kangaroo, Cade begins to wage a surprisingly moral war on both the Celestine and the Devish.

However, The Malevolent Seven aren’t the only beings attempting to disrupt the plans of the two invading armies.  Another group of mages, as well as a mysterious woman from Cade’s past with unimaginable power, are also fighting for their own purposes, and looking good while doing so.  Forced to contend against angels, devils, and ambitious mages, Cade will need to outthink all his enemies, while also ensuring that his own chaotic allies don’t make everything even worse.  However, the harder he fights, the more Cade begins to realise that he may have to sacrifice everything, especially when it becomes clear that the origin of the apocalypse lies in his gilded past.

De Castell continues to deeply impress with this brilliant, if somewhat unhinged, novel, as The Malevolent Eight was an exceptional dark fantasy sequel that comes very highly recommended.  Taking all the comedic craziness from the first book and amping it up to eleven, The Malevolent Eight was a perfect follow-up to de Castell’s previous narrative that takes the reader on an exceptional adventure you just won’t be able to look away from.

After having a ton of fun with the awesome first book in the series, I honestly wasn’t too sure what to expect with The Malevolent Eight’s story.  However, not even in my wildest dreams did I imagine just how unhinged, wild and downright insane this sequel’s plot would get as de Castell pumped the narrative all the way up to 11 and beyond.  Starting with a fun and particularly bloody sequence that not only reintroduces the unruly protagonists but also showcases the dark scenario that they find themselves in for this book, the readers are quickly thrust into The Malevolent Eight’s plot, and frankly after the first series of crazy events, you find yourself pretty hooked as the self-proclaimed Malevolent Seven’s attempt to fight both the armies of heaven and hell.  However, as the story progresses, the unconventional heroes soon find that there are far more dangerous beings involved in this war, including a mysterious mage with previously unknown destiny-altering magic.

Determined to find out more about their new opponent, Cade leads The Malevolent Seven to both the Lords Celestine and Devilish to find out what they know and soon begins to understand his unfortunate role in the outbreak of the apocalypse.  After some hilarious interactions with both sets of lords, the protagonists embark on a series of missions, only to encounter betrayals, hidden secrets, the consequences of Cade’s lies, capture, revelations and a surprisingly humorous torture sequence.  This leads up to the big conclusion of the story, as the protagonists find themselves in the middle of a battle against three separate sides trying to claim their world for various purposes, all while manipulative figures work from the sidelines.  This big finale for The Malevolent Eight gets a little overcomplicate and convoluted, especially as we dive into alternate realms and different realities, but the entire thing is highly entertaining to behold.  It finishes off on an interesting conclusion, which has a nice hopeful note to it (especially in comparison to the previous book), while also hinting at some dark events to come.  This is an overall quite entertaining and wild story that really highlights de Castell’s creativity and ability to craft over-the-top narratives.

I deeply enjoyed the wonderful style that de Castell utilised in The Malevolent Eight, as the author pulls together a chaotic and hilarious dark fantasy that hits a lot of over-the-top notes at the same time.  Perfectly told from the single perspective of main character Cade Ombra, The Malevolent Eight is a balls-to-the-wall blast, loaded with insane action, excessive blood, crazy moments and fantastic humour.  De Castell keeps the pace of the story moving pretty fast throughout The Malevolent Eight, and the reader absolutely powers through the fantastic combination of carnage, intrigue, and hidden motivations.  Working well as a sequel to the previous book, The Malevolent Eight cleverly returns to the author’s fun setting, which has been drastically altered due to the rival inter-dimensional armies fighting across it.  Serving as the perfect background to such an entertaining and oddball dark fantasy narrative, de Castell makes perfect use of the changed setting and existing book history to go all out with his narrative.  While a seemingly simple and insane book on the surface, de Castell also adds in some impressive extra depth to the story, including through its complex magic system and the inclusion of several alternate realms that allow or some interesting inclusions from the author’s wider fictional reserves.  There is also a great moral greyness to the entire setting, as even the most noble of people or beings in this setting is generally pretty flawed or evil in their own way, and I frankly loved how cynical things got at times.

While this is a rather dark story, loaded with brutal combat and destructive magic, de Castell keeps the overall tone of The Malevolent Eight pretty light thanks to the excellent use of humour.  This is an insanely funny book, and while there is a certain subtly to some of the comedy contained within, for the most part de Castell utilises over-the-top scenarios (such as a swearing kangaroo), unhinged dialogue (the one swearword said kangaroo can say) and silly over-reactions for his comedy, which frankly fits the overall crazy feel of The Malevolent Eight.  The author gets a consistent amount of humour out of all the crazy antics of his characters, which stays pretty damn funny all the way through and never gets too tiring or overplayed.  Highlights of The Malevolent Eight’s humour for me included a very cleverly written demonic contract that spelled out the terms of a deal with the protagonists with some unique caveats, a particularly entertaining torture sequence where the protagonist causes more discomfort for his torturers than himself, ill-timed relationships with the book’s apparent antagonist, and so many crazy conversations between the seemingly sane point-of-view protagonist and every single person he encounters.  While I’m slightly salty about de Castell’s description of the Australian accent being “halfway between some poncy foreign nobleman and an inebriated fishmonger” (ok fine, it was pretty funny), this was quite a hilarious read, and I honestly laughed out loud multiple times in public as I read through this crazy comedic book.

One of the things I appreciated about The Malevolent Eight is the way in which de Castell made it accessible to all readers, even though who didn’t read the preceding novel.  While those who have checked out The Malevolent Seven are probably going to get the most out of this novel, especially as they can continue the hilarious character arcs from the first book, I feel that new readers can easily jump into The Malevolent Eight without any real context and still follow the story perfectly.  Indeed, I quite enjoyed how well de Castell cleverly and effectively recapped the events of the previous book, especially after a two-year gap between reading The Malevolent Seven and The Malevolent Eight.  Established de Castell fans will probably appreciate the references to the author’s other series, as a new major character in the novel is from the author’s Spellslinger universe and utilises that series’ unique magic to great effect in this novel.  While those readers who have read the Spellslinger books will no doubt find this inclusion really cool, people who are less familiar with this series can still follow The Malevolent Eight’s plot without any issue, especially as the events of the other series don’t really come into play here.  As such, I would recommend The Malevolent Eight to any fantasy readers looking for a dark comedic turn, although for the sake of completeness, try The Malevolent Seven first.

As with The Malevolent Seven, this excellent sequel features a fantastic cast of compelling damaged characters whose unique and often quite outrageous stories helped to ensure The Malevolent Eight was an impressive read.  Cleverly building on the storylines of the previous book, The Malevolent Eight features the immoral characters who make up titular Malevolent Seven attempting to be heroes in this book, often with mixed results.  This includes main protagonist and point-of-view character Cade Ombra, the leader of group and a man with quite a complex past.  Shown in the previous book to be a power hunger survivor with a conscience, The Malevolent Eight really dives into his characterisation even further as you look at his past as an arrogant holy warrior and his eventual fall from grace to work with demons.  His complex past becomes a key part of The Malevolent Eight’s plot, especially as much of the current issues lie in his past mistakes, and it was quite moving to see Cade attempt to make amends, especially as it gets him into even more trouble.  Despite this, Cade is still a massive bastard at times, and his manipulative nature and evil strategic mind are some of his greatest weapons.  Serving as the apparent straight man to a group of crazy friends, Cade sees himself as the sole voice of reason in the entire book, and it was fascinating to see his compelling perspective unwind throughout the book, especially when he faces certain realities about his friends and what he must do for redemption.

The rest of the cast of The Malevolent Eight is pretty crazy in comparison to Cade (at least from his perspective), and it was so much fun to see these outrageous personalities interact with each other.  My favourite supporting character is still the rude and crude Corrigan Blight, a thunder mage who serves as Cade’s unwieldly second.  Despite his outward appearance as an idiot controlled by his element (I mean, he is), Corrigan is a surprisingly deep figure and his ability to act as Cade’s conscious really highlights their great friendship.  The rest of the returning members of The Malevolent Seven, which includes a rat mage, a fallen angel, a holy demon and an uncertain blood mage, are slightly less well featured in this book, although de Castell does dive into their uncharacteristic attempts to be heroes, and their always fun interactions as a group allowed for some amazing moments.  I also must mention the newest member of team, Temper, a giant, swearing, vampiric kangaroo who has joined the team since the events of the first book.  Temper was quite a surprising figure to behold, and de Castell cleverly keeps the kangaroo’s origins somewhat hidden from the reader for much of the plot, allowing you to really enjoy his random presence without thinking too much about it.  This main cast was so much fun, and de Castell tops it off with a new magic user from Cade’s dark past with surprising connections to the Spellslinger universe, Cade’s former demonic benefactor whose intrigue, and paella, is to die for, and a variety of high demon lords and celestial beings whose motivations are never black and white.  These characters, and more, ensure that The Malevolent Eight is an exceptional read from start to finish, and I deeply enjoyed seeing these crazy characters in action.

Sebastien de Castell was in rare form with his impressive new dark fantasy novel, The Malevolent Eight.  A bold sequel that takes all the best elements from the first book and amps them up to a hilarious new height, The Malevolent Eight was an extremely entertaining read, with some brilliant comedic charm that worked well with the damaged characters and very dark fantasy elements.  Outrageous and excessive in all the best ways, The Malevolent Eight was such a great read and I couldn’t get enough of de Castell’s latest ultra-fun offering.  Make sure to also keep an eye out for de Castell’s other 2025 novel, Our Lady of Blades, later this year, which I strongly feel is going to be even more amazing.

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Battle Mountain by C. J. Box

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller1 Comment

Publisher: Head of Zeus (ebook – 25 February 2025)

Series: Joe Pickett – Book 25

Length: 327 pages

My Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

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Last year I had the very great pleasure of reading my first novel from C. J. Box, Three-Inch Teeth, which was a wonderfully fun thriller.  The 24th book in Box’s long-running Joe Pickett series, Three-Inch Teeth saw a gang of vengeful criminals attempt to kill several of their old enemies, including the book’s protagonists, using an elaborate contraption that simulated a deadly bear attack.  Naturally, such a fantastically over-the-top narrative greatly appealed to me, and I had a blast getting through this amazing book.  After this excellent introduction to the series, I was keen to read the next Joe Pickett book, especially as I just had an incredible holiday around Wyoming, the main setting of the series. I couldn’t wait to see more depictions of this beautiful landscape after being back in the less-than-picturesque office for a few weeks, so I just read the 25th book in the series, Battle Mountain, which featured another amazing and exciting story.

Plot Synopsis:

Outlaw falconer Nate Romanowski is off the grid and out for revenge in this riveting new novel from #1 New York Times bestseller C. J. Box.

The campaign of destruction that Axel Soledad and Dallas Cates wreaked on Nate Romanowski and Joe Pickett left both men in tatters, especially Nate, who lost almost everything. Wondering if the civilized life left him vulnerable to attack, Nate dropped off the grid with his falcons in tow to prepare for vengeance.

When Joe gets a call from the governor asking for help finding his son-in-law, who has gone missing in the Sierra Madre mountain range, he enlists the help of a local, a rookie game warden named Susan Kany.

As Nate and fellow falconer Geronimo Jones circle closer to their prey, Joe and Susan follow the nearly cold trail to Warm Springs. Little do Nate and Joe know that their separate journeys are about to converge . . . at Battle Mountain.

Battle Mountain was a highly exciting and entertaining thriller from Box, who once again amps up the action and takes his readers out into the wilds of Wyoming.  An intense and compelling novel that readers are guaranteed to power through, Battle Mountain was a lot of fun, and I’m really glad I decided to continue this cool series.

This latest book from Box had a great multi-layered narrative to it that set up some interesting story developments, while also moving the series along in a big way.  Coming off the tragic end of Three-Inch Teeth, which featured the murder of major protagonist Nate Romanowski’s wife, Battle Mountain starts with Nate on his own and hunting for the culprit, long-time enemy Axel Soledad.  As Nate and his friend, Geronimo Jones, begin their hunt anew, the main protagonist, Joe Pickett, is tasked with finding the governor’s missing son-in-law, who was taken near the infamous Battle Mountain.  However, Joe is unaware that his target has been kidnapped by Soledad, and his actions to find the missing man could lead him right into the middle of his enemies most ambitious and destructive scheme.

Box did a good job setting up both main storylines, and you soon become quite intrigued by the separate journeys the two main protagonists embark on, especially as one stays within the law while the other is an unsanctioned revenge mission.  The two diverging paths of this story complement each other quite nicely, especially as Box also throws in some additional perspectives, including from the antagonist, the Governor’s kidnapped son-in-law, and a young woman working at the site of Soledad’s next attack, which provides key information to the reader and helps to increase the stakes of the narrative.  After some fun action-packed scenes, where the protagonists get closer to their respective goals, Box brings all these story elements together for the big conclusion, which ends in the expected shoot out.  This conclusion is relatively short and sharp, but provides a satisfying ending to the plot that leaves the series wide open for the future.

I quite liked how Battle Mountain turned out, although it did lack the fun, over-the-top nature of the previous book in the series that I read, Three-Inch Teeth.  However, Box makes up for that with a darker, grittier tale of revenge, as one of the characters embarks on a dark hunting mission to finally kill his long-time enemy.  The darker tone helped to make this a more addictive story, which, when combined with the fantastic action, ensures that you can just power through Battle Mountain in no time at all.  I really enjoyed how Box initially split his narrative and set up the key characters of the book, with Joe Pickett being the more noble protagonist, Nate Romanowski being the figure of righteous vengeance, while Axel Soledad proving to be a particularly nefarious and manipulative overarching antagonist.  Battle Mountain had a great flow as a result, and the cool tension in the lead up to the big conclusion, ensured that you couldn’t put the book down, especially near the end.

As with most of the books in the Joe Pickett series, Battle Mountain works very well as a standalone novel, although established readers of the series will no doubt get a lot more out of it, especially after tragic ending of Three-Inch Teeth.  While there are some ongoing character elements that are addressed, I felt that Box did an excellent job reestablishing all the characters, including once again hyping up Soledad as a great villain, while also ensuring that all readers get the emotional stakes of the plot.  I liked how Battle Mountain’s tone and focus matched the previous novels in the series, with a particularly enjoyable focus on the natural beauty and personality of the people of Wyoming.  I personally loved this book a little more thanks to my very recent journey to the fantastic state of Wyoming, especially when Box references locations and local elements I can now relate to (for example, bison-caused traffic jams), and you can really feel the love that the author has for this state (it’s mutual, by the way; I visited a bookshop in Wyoming with every single Joe Pickett book proudly displayed on the shelf).  This depiction of Wyoming does include a large look at the politics of the state, which as you can imagine is a bit fractious.  However, Box ensures it’s not too overwhelming, and readers can interpret or focus on it as much as they want.  An overall excellent addition to the Joe Pickett series that I feel any thriller fan could have fun with.

Once again loading up the action, outrageous characters and fantastic depictions of some of the most beautiful country in the United States, Battle Mountain was another awesome book from C. J. Box, that I had a lot of fun with.  Exciting and extremely fast paced, Battle Mountain was a very easy book to get through, and I look forward to seeing what cool adventures Box has planned next.

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