Tag: Penguin Random House Australia

He Who Fights With Monsters: Adventurer by Travis Deverell (Shirtaloon)

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Fantasy, Throwback ThursdayLeave a comment

Publisher: Michael Joseph (Trade Paperback – 15 September 2026, originally published 18 May 2021)

Series: He Who Fights With Monsters – Volume Two

Length: 607 pages

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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After falling in love with the first book in Travis Deverell’s He Who Fights With Monsters series, I just had to check out the second volume, Adventurer, which proved to be just as fun, entertaining and addictive as the first entry.

Readers of this blog may remember a couple of months ago I became obsessed with the amazing first volume of the impressive He Who Fights With Monsters LitRPG series.  Written by Australian author Travis Deverell (also known as Shirtaloon), the first volume of the He Who Fights With Monsters series was originally released several years ago but has since been republished in paperback by Penguin.  This series followed an Australian protagonist, Jason Asano, who becomes a deadly fantasy adventurer after being pulled into an alternate version of Earth filled with magic, monsters and all manner of carnage.

The first volume of this series, recently titled Outworlder, served as an excellent introduction to the protagonist, multiple supporting characters, and Deverell’s fantastic fantasy world.  I had a wonderful time with this initial book’s story, which saw Jason learn to become an adventurer as he gets involved with monster slaying, politics, local crime and larger conspiracies.  While a little rough in places, I ended up absolutely powering through this first volume, and I found it to be an extremely fun and impressive piece of LitRPG.  Due to how much pure enjoyment I got from the first He Who Fights With Monsters book, I made sure to grab a copy of the second volume when it was released, and boy was I glad that I did.

Plot Synopsis:

The path from retail middle management to interdimensional wizard adventurer wasn’t easy, but Jason Asano is settling into his new life.

Now, a contest draws young elites to the city of Greenstone, competing for a grand prize. Jason must gather a band of companions if he is to stand a chance against the best the world has to offer.

While the young adventurers are caught up in competition, the city leaders deal with revelations of betrayal as a vast and terrible enemy is revealed. Jason thinks he’s on the sidelines—until it becomes clear he’s already crossed the wrong path. With allies and enemies closing in, one thing is certain: this contest is only the beginning, and the coming conflict will change everything.

Now this was a very cool and relentlessly fun sequel.  This second volume of He Who Fights With Monsters, titled Adventurer, ended up being a particularly addictive read as Deverell loaded it up with a great story, zany humour and clever fantasy LitRPG elements.  I couldn’t stop reading Adventurer at times, and because I powered through all 600+ pages in only a couple of days (which is impressive even for me), I must give this second volume a full five-star rating.

I had an absolute blast getting through Adventurer’s fantastic story, which brings together a range of intriguing plot elements into one brilliant tale of adventure and action.  Once again primarily set in the city of Greenstone, Adventurer’s narrative mostly focuses on protagonist Jason Asano, former Australian retail worker turned interdimensional badass, as he and his friends are still reeling from the death of one of their own at the end of the last book.  Determined to become a better adventurer, Jason focuses on the latest complication in his unusual life, the captured thief Sophie, who, thanks to political intrigue and bad luck, has gained the protection she needs by becoming Jason’s indentured servant (in a mostly non-weird way).  Needing to keep her safe, Jason works to make Sophie an adventurer, and much of the first half of Adventurer sees Jason and his friends training Sophie while also forming a new adventuring party.  At the same time, Deverell works in a compelling side story that sees much of the supporting cast investigating the mysterious interdimensional army that attacked the Greenstone adventurer expedition at the end of Outworlder, revealing a large-scale conspiracy that could destroy the entirety of this magical world.

This first half of Adventurer really drags the reader in, and you are soon quite absorbed in the various ongoing storylines.  The plot around Sophie and her attempts to become an adventurer matches Jason’s training in Outworlder, and it was nice to still get an outsider/trainee perspective on the rules of magic and adventuring.  This training element worked well with the book’s entertaining personal dynamics as Jason forms a team with Sophie and some of their other friends and associates, brought together utilising Jason’s chaotic, yet persuasive manner.  At the same time, Deverell also ensures that there are some storylines going for all the extensive supporting cast, and the separate exploits of several of these characters worked well alongside the main story focused on Jason.  I appreciated how well the author fell back on elements from the first book, even some of the more obscure inclusions, and many of these previous hints are cleverly built into the overlying conspiracy that was a big part of Adventurer’s plot.

While I had a brilliant time with the first part of Adventurer, the second half of the book is where things really kick off and drag the reader in.  Indeed, I read the entirety of this second half of Adventurer in a single day, I was that damn hooked.  Much of this is because the main story follows Jason, his team, and several other major supporting characters as they enter a magical competition for rising adventurers.  Essentially split up throughout a dungeon with many other aspiring adventurers, Jason and his team need to fight through an array of monsters and rivals to participate in the main trial of the competition.  This keeps you extremely hooked, as you are drawn into an extended session of action, exploration and advancement, with some interesting combinations of supporting characters coming together into impromptu groups.  This entire extended sequence was so damn good, and while the winner of the trials isn’t especially surprising, the journey to get there is so much fun and wraps up a lot of key storylines from this second volume.  This proves to be a particularly awesome main plot sequence for this volume, and I loved how it turned out.  I also enjoyed how there was still a little bit of Adventurer left after this dungeon sequence, with the author taking some time to showcase the gains following this major arc, while providing some build-up to the third novel.  While this slightly slows the story down at the end, it ensures that the main cast have all their new abilities ready for the next entry, and this will very much appeal to those readers who enjoy the nuances of the LitRPG genre.  Deverell does make sure to keep some intensity going with a big cliffhanger around a major supporting character, while other threats to Jason and the larger world continue to grow, and by the time you finish Adventurer, you are extremely ready for more He Who Fights With Monsters fun.

I had an amazing time with this second He Who Fights With Monsters book, especially as I felt that Adventurer was a better written novel than Outworlder, with Deverell improving as an author.  The author did a great job building on the best elements of the first book, like the worldbuilding and cool fantasy elements, and there was once again a fantastic blend of adventure, personal growth and underlying intrigue to draw the reader in.  I particularly love the effective way in which the LitRPG elements of the setting are incorporated into the story, and the resulting carnage from the distinctive magical system allowed for some intense scenes, especially in the well-structured and intense extended dungeon sequence, which really was a brilliant highlight of Adventurer. At the same time, most of the rough edges I noted in the first He Who Fights With Monsters novel where gone, allowing for a smoother read, especially as I was also more familiar with the author’s writing style.  I was particularly happy that the weird formatting issues that bugged me in the first book were missing, which was a major relief.

Another thing I appreciated about Adventurer was how well Deverell set it up as a sequel to Outworlder.  While LitRPG sequels tend to just be continuations of the first book without much variation, there was a clear plot delineation between the events of Adventurer and Outworlder, which ensures that it feels like an entirely separate novel.  There is also a great continuation and expansion of many of the story elements, world building and the magical system throughout Adventurer, all of which expands in some compelling and intriguing ways.  Naturally, this does mean that Adventurer is going to be a lot easier to read for those people who already checked out the first He Who Fights With Monsters novel, especially as this sequel starts right after the climactic battle of Outworlder.  However, I did think that Deverell’s writing style in Adventurer would allow new readers to start exploring this series with the second book if they wanted to, especially as there are some recaps about the magical system and character arcs. Still, I would recommend reading Outworlder first, as it will allow you to enjoy the entire He Who Fights With Monsters series a lot more.

As with the first He Who Fights With Monsters book, Adventurer features a huge cast of characters whose adventures form the basis for the plot.  Most of the attention of this book is once again on series protagonist Jason Asano, an Australian retail worker who was dragged to this world of magic and monsters thanks to a summoning ritual gone bad and is now making a new life as an adventurer.  As I mentioned in my review of Outlander, Jason is a complex and unique protagonist who projects an outer layer of silliness and seeming insanity to everyone around him.  However, deep down he is a far more collected and shrewd person who has not only already mastered adventuring but is thriving in this new world thanks to his unrivalled ability to empathise with and manipulate everyone he meets.  His anti-authority streak also comes into play a lot in this novel, and it was fun to see him interact with fantasy beings who usually appreciate a hierarchy (although the amused reactions of several gods to this is quite entertaining).  While I can see how some readers might not enjoy Jason as a character for being too over-the-top or a little preachy with his attitudes, for the most part he is great, and much of the book’s humour comes from his various crazy interactions.  I enjoyed how Deverell provided a bit more of a look at Jason’s past in this novel, including how his feelings of inadequacy towards his brother resulted in his current persona.  There was also some compelling focus on how Jason has finally found his calling and friends in this new world, and it will be interesting to see how future storylines that involve him returning to Earth will play into that.

While most of the book is focused specifically on Jason and his adventures, there are a huge number of additional supporting characters in this novel, including most of the cast of the first book, as well as several interesting new figures.  While in some ways the cast of this novel is too big (I must admit that I sometimes lost track of who was who, especially as they all have normal names rather than memorable fantasy ones), it was fascinating to see the various interactions and specific storylines that emerged around them.  Deverell expertly follows various cast members throughout the book, including Jason’s original companions, members of his new team, various key figures of Greenstone who Jason has interacted with, and even a few antagonists.  The third-person perspective of He Who Fights With Monsters really helped to ensure that Deverell could effectively showcase storylines around these characters without Jason needing to be there.  A good example of this occurred during the major dungeon arc of Adventurer, where most of the cast were across a large space and couldn’t communicate with each other.  This resulted in the various members of Jason’s usual party and other supporting characters being forced to team up with other new adventurers, and it was interesting to see how each character was able to work with people they had never dealt with before.

Supporting cast highlights of this book included Jason’s student/indentured servant Sophie, who fills an important role as the rookie adventurer in this story.  A generally untrusting figure, Sophie finds herself forced to work with Jason, and there was a good focus on her uncertainty about Jason’s motivations.  This allowed for some intriguing interactions alongside the interesting examination of Sophie’s abilities as an adventurer, and I felt that she worked well as a serious foil to the usually silly Jason.  The team that Jason and Sophie help form in this book were also a fun group of supporting characters from the first book, and it was interesting see their teamwork grow throughout the novel.  Jason’s friend and mentor Rufus Remore also gets a compelling arc in this book, as he feels guilty for the death of his team member Farrah at the end of Outworlder, and spends much of the story determined to find the one responsible.  These, and many other character storylines, ensured that a range of different plot points and bits of character growth in this novel, and it was fun following so many figures that had great introductions in the first novel.

The He Who Fights With Monsters series continues to impress me, with this second entry, Adventurer, proving to be a particularly addictive read.  Travis Deverell did an exceptional job with Adventurer, and I had such a brilliant time getting through this novel.  I really am not exaggerating with just how hard I found it to stop reading this outstanding novel, and I got through it so damn quickly.  Due to this, I’ve pretty much committed myself to reading the entire He Who Fights With Monsters series in order as soon as I can (a big commitment considering that the 13th book just came out).  Indeed, I’ve already ordered the third book in the series, titled Hero, and I will probably start reading it the second I get my hands on it next week, which really goes to show just how much I am enjoying Deverell’s amazing novels.

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The Mortons by Justine Larbalestier and Scott Westerfeld

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, ThrillerLeave a comment

Publisher: Penguin Random House Australia (Trade Paperback – 21 July 2026)

Series: Standalone

Length: 454 pages

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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Get ready for one of the more unique crime fiction reads of 2026, as the superstar writing team of Justine Larbalestier and Scott Westerfeld present The Mortons, a complex and addictive read about a very messed up family.

Plot Synopsis:

A darkly funny, action-packed gothic thriller following a modern-day, old-money crime family with murderous intent. It’s The Secret History meets The Sopranos, with a dash of Saltburn!

Meet the Mortons: In this family, murder is currency – and business is booming.

The Mortons are a modern-day, old-money dynasty with impeccable taste, from their exquisitely crafted cocktails to their expertly tailored vintage garments. They are also stone-cold killers.

They, along with the other crime families, send their progeny to Helshire College, where legacy students learn to exercise control over their wealthy peers. Jessica Morton has always excelled at Helshire, secure in her knowledge that she is the prodigy of her generation. Now, having committed her first kill, it should be Jessica’s moment, her honour.

But that kill will cut more ways than one – and it will set in motion a series of consequences from which there is no turning back.

Sharp and hypnotic, The Mortons is an epic novel of alliances and power, loyalty and kinship, and the consequences of ruthless ambition.

The Mortons was an exceptional and highly addictive crime fiction thriller that provides a dark look at humanity through the eyes of a born and raised killer.  The first adult fiction collaboration between Australian young adult fiction author Justine Larbalestier and her husband Scott Westerfeld, also an established young adult author, The Mortons was a brilliantly twisted and complex read that I honestly couldn’t put down as I moved between shocking moments.

The plot of The Mortons is centred around protagonist and sole point-of-view character Jessica Morton, a murderous prodigy hiding in plain sight at the elite Helshire College.  A member of the Morton family, an extended clan of killers who manipulate, threaten and assassinate others for power and influence, Jessica is the rising star of the family, determined to do the rest of the Mortons proud.  However, after she is ordered to perform her first kill and murder an underperforming cousin, Jessica’s carefully planned life begins to change as she balances new feelings with her family duty and expectations.

The authors do an excellent job setting up much of The Mortons’ key story elements in the first half of the book, and I really appreciated the effective introduction to the protagonist, the titular Morton family, and the wider hidden world of family-controlled violence and manipulation.  There is some good early character work, especially as the protagonists deals with her apparent guilt, while also finding out some secrets around her family and Helshire.  Things become even more complicated when Jessica is sent on an important mission for the family.  This part of the book provides some of the more intriguing looks at Jessica’s personality, and the authors play up new uncertainty about her role and her family.  It also leads up to one of the book’s main, shocking moments halfway through, which changes the protagonist’s entire trajectory.

After this big moment, the second half of The Mortons is just one intense and highly addictive thrill ride, which I honestly got through in one extended sitting.  Faced with several traumatic events, Jessica’s storyline goes in a very interesting direction as she struggles with who she truly is.  I really enjoyed the additional emotional uncertainty of the plot in this part of the book, while additional revealed motivations from several supporting characters add to the general chaos of the plot, until a big moment changes everything once again.  I was very impressed with Larbalestier and Westerfeld for the big twist towards the end of the book, as it changed everything you thought you knew about the plot and altered everyone’s motivations.  The authors follow this twist up with some very dark moments guaranteed to leave you shocked, before leading up to the complex and thought-provoking conclusion.  The ending itself is a little low-key, but there is an intense beauty to it which fits The Mortons’ various character arcs extremely well.  It also leaves the story open to allow potential sequels from the authors, although The Mortons works quite well as a standalone story and adding more might remove the overall impact of this excellent book.

Larbalestier and Westerfeld crafted together a slick and emotionally charged novel here with The Mortons.  Blending a deeply personal character driven story from a damaged protagonist into a larger tale of family expectations and criminality resulted in a great read, and I loved the intense amount of drama and intrigue that the authors loaded into this book.  The underlying setting of the hidden crime families secretly influencing the world and training together alongside normal wealthy students a Helshire was very clever, and I loved the extended look at the sinister Mortons.  The authors do a wonderful job of initially showing the Mortons as a cool, if dangerous, family to be a part of, although the full depth of their evil becomes more apparent as the book continues.  This slow reveal of the titular family ties in nicely with the overarching themes of self-determination, nature vs nurture, and generational trauma, all placed in the context of a cultish criminal dynasty.  I did think at times that The Mortons had a young adult feel to it, especially the sequences examining first love and Helshire.  While this is to be expected considering the authors’ young adult fiction background, it might not appeal to some more mainstream thriller fans.  Still, I really enjoyed the easy style of The Mortons, and its complex characters and clever twists makes it a fantastic read for all crime fiction readers.

A key highlight of The Mortons is the distinctive characters contained within, especially the various murderous members of the Morton family proper.  The compelling collection of family-orientated killers and the people they associate with, was an impressive part of the book, and the authors do an amazing job of showing how dangerous and manipulative they can be, while also examining other parts of their personality.  As the book’s primary protagonist, much of The Mortons’ focus is on Jessica Morton, who goes through a particularly intense journey in this novel.  Initially shown to be a diligent Morton, Jessica finds herself drawn between family loyalty and other connections after her first kill.  The authors do an amazing job of initially introducing Jessica and her cold personality, before bombarding her with new experiences and thoughts.  This includes her first flourishes of romantic love, as well as other personal connections, all of which play against her family’s beliefs.  Jessica’s internal struggle is a big part of the book’s plot, especially once you understand how it’s being manipulated by others, and I really appreciated how effectively the authors dove into this protagonist.

Other key characters I have to highlight include Jessica’s roommate, Faraday, a party girl who finds herself drawn towards the mystique of the Mortons without fully understanding the dangers, and Jessica’s adopted cousin, Sebastian, who provides an interesting human perspective on the dark family.  These characters, and more, are all extremely well written, and their take on love, death, and the trauma of being or knowing the Mortons becomes integral to the plot in some many excellent ways.  I was so damn impressed with all these complex character moments, all of whom add to the powerful emotional depth of The Mortons.

Thanks to its captivating story, intense characters, and killer charm, The Mortons stands tall as one of the more intriguing and distinctive crime fiction reads of 2026.  Justine Larbalestier and Scott Westerfeld prove to be an incredible writing team, and there is so much depth and complexity in this brilliant joint adult thriller debut.  The Mortons comes highly recommended as a result, and readers are guaranteed to have an incredible time with this book, although you likely won’t be prepared for all its devilish twists.

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He Who Fights With Monsters: Outworlder by Travis Deverell (Shirtaloon)

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Fantasy, Throwback Thursday1 Comment

Publisher: Michael Joseph (Trade Paperback – 7 July 2026, originally published 23 February 2021)

Series: He Who Fights With Monsters – Volume One

Length: 755 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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Looking for something to scratch your LitRPG itch?  Then dive into the acclaimed world of He Who Fights With Monsters, the first entry in an impressive series from Australian author Travis Deverell.

Fantasy fiction has a lot of interesting subgenres to it, with one of the more distinctive being the popular LitRPG genre, which throws ordinary humans into RPG settings.  This often results in some awesome narratives, where self-aware characters attempt to survive in fantasy worlds where the game system and its components are part of the setting.  While I so far haven’t read a ton of LitRPG books, it is a subgenre that I’m getting a lot more into recently, especially as there are a ton of awesome and often bonkers LitRPG books out there.  It’s thanks to this interest in the wider LitRPG genre that I made sure to pick up a copy of the first volume of Travis Deverell’s He Who Fights With Monsters, a long-running series that is considered a major recent addition to LitRPG fiction.

Travis Deverell is an Australian author who rose to prominence through writing on the Royal Road web novel site.  Also known as Shirtaloon, Deverell’s work on Royal Road formed into the He Who Fights With Monsters series, which has previously been released through independent publishing.  I was lucky enough to receive a review copy of the new trade paperback first volume of He Who Fights With Monsters released by Penguin Random House Australia (through their Michael Joseph imprint), I was quite intrigued by its fun sounding plot.  As such, I eagerly dived into this first book (titled in this release as Outworlder), and swiftly got drawn into this cool new series.

Plot Synopsis:

It’s not an easy career jump, going from retail assistant manager to interdimensional adventurer. Jason doesn’t have much of a choice, though, when he wakes up naked confused in a world of mystery and magic.

It wasn’t prophecy that brought him here. He wasn’t chosen. It was the wrong place, the wrong time and the very, very wrong guy. The wizard who summoned him by accident does not react well.

In short order, Jason will have to fight monsters, face cultists, escape cannibals and find some pants, preferably not in that order.

The good news? He has powers. The bad news? They’re kind of evil.

With no idea where he is or what he’s doing, he’s going to need friends, and fast, because in this world, power isn’t just about magic and monsters.

Jason will have to deal with politicians, noble houses and crime lords to survive. He’ll need to master his powers, evil or not, hopefully without becoming the worst monster of all.

Now that was a particularly epic and ultra-fun read.  I must admit that I didn’t quite know what to expect from He Who Fights With Monsters, but I honestly loved every second I spent with it.  There was something about this great first volume that quickly drew me in, and I soon got stuck powering through the novel’s wildly entertaining and compelling story.  A remarkably addictive read that serves as an outstanding introduction to the He Who Fights With Monsters series, I am so very glad I got a copy of this book.

The plot behind this first volume of He Who Fights With Monsters was extremely fun and awesome, and I was really impressed with how effectively Deverell dragged me into the action.  Starting off with a classic LitRPG set-up, with protagonist Jason Asano awaking in a strange fantasy land with no idea how he got there.  Equipped with a gaming interface and character abilities, Jason is soon forced to fight off monsters and cannibalistic cultists in a series of escalating misadventures while trying to figure out what is going on.  I quite liked this start to the story, although I felt it didn’t get going until Jason met up with several fellow adventures who, after some mutual saving and unlikely victories, agree to help Jason and teach him about this new world.

From this initial starting point, Deverell soon creates a rich and complex larger narrative and surrounding setting, and the reader gets an excellent crash-course in the magical system, how the world is set up, an explanation for how Jason is there.  With no other option, Jason accompanies his new friends on a journey to a nearby major city, and starts the process to become an adventurer, which includes taking on quests, fighting monsters and finding his own unique magical style.  The author keeps building in more world-building elements in this first half of the book, and you start to get a better idea of Jason’s personality, as well as hints about future threats.  The plot gets particularly interesting once Jason arrives at this volume’s central location of Greenstone, a major city where Jason endeavours to become a professional adventurer and soon gets in embroiled with a whole new range of supporting characters.

While I did quite enjoy the first half of He Who Fights With Monsters, I think the second half was stronger as Deverell didn’t need to explain the key concepts of his world as much and instead was able to unleash Jason and his full personality onto the unsuspecting city.  Jason soon finds himself experiencing multiple challenges and threats as he joins the Adventurer’s Society and becomes a player in local politics.  At the same time, Deverell sets up several intriguing secondary storylines around the other supporting characters, which blend well with the main adventure.  There is some excellent progression in the protagonist’s abilities and insights in this second half of the book, and I found it quite amusing to try and deal with the various threats and influences of the city.  Several of the ongoing storylines set in Greenstone come together in impressive fashion towards the end of the novel, especially as there is an extended series of fights with a dangerous new threat.  The author throws in some last-minute tragedy, as well as some moments that hammer home the underlying issues of corruption and stupidity that Jason was fighting through most of the book.  I felt that this volume ended on an interesting and compelling note, and there are several open storylines left to explore in the next volume of the story.

I rather enjoyed the writing in He Who Fights With Monsters, although it was admittedly rough in places.  It was a little obvious that Deverell was writing for an online audience, which resulted in some interesting style choices, most of which you get used to as the book continues.  For example, I initially questioned the author’s choice of writing this story in the third person, as I felt that a first-person perspective would have been a better choice.  However, the author made this third-person perspective work, as it allowed him to set up several storylines outside of the Jason’s perspective, while also showcasing the supporting character’s view the protagonist.  This book also had a great flow to it, with lots of action, compelling worldbuilding, and some very entertaining sequences.

All this resulted in an excellent blend of excitement, intrigue and humour, which was honestly addictive enough to keep me coming back and power through the over 700 pages within this volume.  This very compelling writing allowed me to overlook a lot of the book’s initial roughness, although I cannot forgive the weird error that resulted in various sentences of the book having noticeably different spacing.  I’m not sure if this was an issue with the Penguin release of He Who Fights With Monsters, or it’s just been carried over from the online edition, but it kept taking me out of the story, especially as the first few times I thought it was a deliberate choice to attempt to show a character talking quickly.  Whatever it was, I hope it’s not in future volumes, as it looks quite amateurish next to the rest of the fantastic formatting and artwork.

On top of the exciting story, I felt that a major highlight of He Who Fights With Monsters was the compelling worldbuilding.  The author clearly put a lot of thought into this compelling new fantasy world, which serves as a mirror to ours, filled with monsters, adventurers and magic.  Many of these elements were quite clever in concept and utilisation, as Deverell did an outstanding job introducing all these ideas to the reader.  He Who Fights With Monsters’ magical system, which involves adventurers absorbing various essences and slowly unlocking abilities associated with them, was particularly clever and helped to standout.  This cool system allowed for the author to introduce to some interesting power combinations, especially for the protagonist, and you quickly get the hang of its peculiarities and enjoy all the possibilities around it.

I also was very impressed with how the author worked the LitRPG aspect of the book into the narrative, introducing a credible reason why the protagonist had a game interface into his head, and ensuring that his ability to accept quests, loot corpses and more, seemed quite natural in the context of the story.  This great use of the LitRPG concept, as well as making the setting a real world with real people rather than a video game, ensured that there were some real stakes to the story, and helped to turn it into a particularly captivating adventure.

Another very interesting part of the He Who Fights With Monsters are the characters, especially the protagonist Jason Asano, who I had heard in advance was a bit of a divisive figure for readers.  I initially didn’t see any issues with Jason, who at first seemed to be a typical fish-out-of-water fantasy protagonist whose lack of knowledge about what is going on allowed readers to learn about the world and magic system at the same pace.  Even after the initial parts of the book, Jason seemed liked an entertaining main character, with a quirky sense of humour and insights into the fantasy world born from gamer experience.

However, once you get to the part of the story set in Greenstone, I began to understand why some readers didn’t like him, as Deverell starts to showcase his ability to read people and manipulate them.  Despite being framed as a good guy, there is a certain arrogance behind how he interacts with a lot of characters, including being quite dismissive of well-established aspects of the new world he finds himself in.  Jason also came across as kind of conceited when it came to dealing with the inherent inequalities of the fantasy world.  While in a lot of cases this was justified, especially when dealing with incompetent or corrupt adventurers and nobles, it honestly came across as a little preachy at times.  Still, this slightly annoying character trait wasn’t enough to reduce my enjoyment of He Who Fights With Monsters, and I quite enjoyed seeing Jason develop as an adventurer.  While there is a certain amount of plot armour in how quickly he advances, I felt that Deverell hit the right mark in Jason’s development in this first book and ensured that it filled the bounds of a typical progressive fantasy book.  I especially liked the character build that Deverall gifted Jason, turning him into a shadowy affliction specialist with various evil-themed powers.  Watching Jason attempt to balance his pleasant nature with the scary abilities he needs to work with was a key part of the character’s arc in this first volume, and I think it was a compelling and memorable bit of character development.  I’m very curious to see Jason evolves as the series continues, and must highlight how fun it is to have an Australian character in a big fantasy series.

I do quickly want to mention the larger cast of this first He Who Fights With Monsters book, as Deverell introduces a large group of supporting characters throughout the novel.  While most of these characters are very overshadowed by Jason and his antics, there are still some entertaining or complex figures here, whose own personal storylines work into the large plot of the novel.  I quite enjoyed seeing some of their relevant storylines, and it also ensured the reader got several outsider perspectives of Jason and his actions, which helped to highlight just how weird the protagonist seems to the inhabitants of this new fantasy world.  Many of these characters were quite likeable, and I rather got attached to Jason’s initial party in this world, Rufus, Farrah and Gary (the three of whom get a short story at the end of this volume).  While there is no major named antagonist in this first book, Deverell introduces some fun secondary villains who serve as a good initial opponent for Jason alongside the multitude of monsters he faces, especially as he is forced to deal with politics, intrigue and criminal networks.  All these characters, and more, added a lot to the larger story, and the resulting interactions produced some great moments.

With a highly entertaining blend of action, complex world building and a certain chaotic energy, the first volume of Travis Deverell’s He Who Fights With Monsters proved to be an exceptional hit that I couldn’t stop thinking about.  Featuring an outstanding LitRPG adventure set around a compelling protagonist, He Who Fights With Monsters was really something special, and I really couldn’t stop reading it at times.  I’m definitely planning to keep reading this series now that I’ve powered through the first volume, and I cannot wait to see what crazy antics and moments happen in the rest of the series.

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Operation Bounce House by Matt Dinniman

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Five-Star Books, Science FictionLeave a comment

Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio (Audiobook – 10 February 2026)

Series: Standalone

Length: 10 hours and 49 minutes

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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The always inventive and uniquely funny Matt Dinniman kicks off a big year with the epic and outstanding read, Operation Bounce House, an incredible and heartfelt novel with one of the most distinctive plots of 2026.

In the last year, I have become one of the many readers/reviewers that has irrevocably fallen in love with the writings of Matt Dinniman.  A clever and hilarious author, Dinniman has gained attention from the world thanks to his intriguing contributions to the LitRPG franchise, producing some very compelling and over-the-top books.  This includes his most famous body of work, the beloved Dungeon Crawler Carl series, which has attracted a diehard group of fans thanks to its addictive overarching plot, complex characters and bonkers humour.  I personally read the entire Dungeon Crawler Carl collection in one straight go last year, with the then seven books in the series, including Dungeon Crawler Carl, Carl’s Doomsday Scenario, The Dungeon Anarchist’s Cookbook, The Gate of the Feral Gods, The Butcher’s Masquerade, The Eye of the Bedlam Bride and This Inevitable Ruin, all getting very easy five star ratings from me.  Due to how unbelievably addictive the Dungeon Crawler Carl books are, I just had to check out Dinniman’s latest read, the standalone novel Operation Bounce House.  Due to both my experiences with Dinniman and its very cool sounding plot, Operation Bounce House ended up being one of my most anticipated releases of early 2026, and boy did it not disappoint.

In the far future, humanity has expanded out amongst the stars, with massive ships sent to colonise remote planets.  Many planets were found and settled, but few experienced the hardships of New Sonora, where tragedy forced the colonists to adapt through minor changes to their genetics.  Now, after years of isolation, New Sonora is on the brink of opening its public transport gate back to Earth.  However, this attempt at reconnection will cause hell to reign down upon the peaceful planet.

Young New Sonoran native Oliver Lewis has only ever wanted to live peacefully on his family farm, where his biggest problems are his uncertain love life, his sister’s plans to move to Earth, and the slow decline of his family’s aging fleet of ‘honeybee’ agricultural robots.  However, the craziness of a futuristic Earth comes abruptly crashing down on him when a deadly mech descends on his farm, remotely piloted by a petulant child trying to kill him.

As more mechs land on New Sonora, it becomes clear that something disastrous is befalling the planet.  Instead of New Sonora’s promised independence, the governments of Earth and their proxy, the Apex Corporation, have declared that New Sonora is home to anti-Earth terrorists, and have initiated a plan to wipe out the entire population in a shameless landgrab.  Worse, the Apex Corporation has decided to maximise their profits by starting the online hit Operation Bounce House, in which bored Earth gamers are given the opportunity to design and remotely pilot their own armed mechs to massacre the supposed terrorists on New Sonora, all from from the comfort and safety of their own home.

Oliver and his friends decide to fight back.  Utilising a hidden defence protocol left behind by his grandfather, the fleet of honeybee robots are converted into deadly war machines, armed with impromptu but effective weaponry.  But even with these new weapons, can the remaining New Sonorans survive the relentless wave of mechs coming for them, or do they have to find another way to bring the pain to their long-lost cousins from Earth?

Operation Bounce House was another exceptional novel from Matt Dinniman, who takes a break from his Dungeon Crawler Carl books with a unique and heartfelt standalone novel.  Exciting, well-written and extremely clever, Operation Bounce House was an inescapably addictive read that I absolutely absorbed, and which gets an easy five-star rating from me.

Operation Bounce House honestly has one of the more unique science fiction plots of 2026, as Dinniman sets up a powerful narrative of survival, sacrifice and friendship.  Starting with a quick introduction to the protagonist and main point-of-view character, Oliver Lewis, and his sassy farm robot Roger, the plot quickly gets explosive when the two encounter a remotely piloted mech on the outskirts of their land, which serves as a harbinger for a larger force of mechs coming for the planet.  Perfectly utilising a single protagonist perspective to tell the main story, the reader is soon very much enmeshed in the resulting story of survival and the fun interactions between Oliver and Roger.  These opening sequences do an excellent job of setting up the larger story of Operation Bounce House, and you get addicted fairly on, especially once Dinniman started expanding the world building and introducing more characters.

After this effective introduction, Dinniman starts to the throw the readers into the action, including an extended sequence to a nearby town.  A lot of these initial action sequences are quite bleak and really showcase the stakes of the war and the innocence of the protagonists.  Dinniman cleverly cuts these sequences with some deeper dives into the history of future Earth and New Sonora, all of which is relevant for later revelations in the plot.  Many of these deeper dives include transcripts of an in-universe documentary series, The Rhythm Mafia Tapes, which are scattered throughout the plot and provide humanising shots of the main characters and the world that is being destroyed.

The plot of Operation Bounce House eventually devolves into a relentless and bloody siege, with the protagonist and other surviving New Sonoran locals defending the Lewis farm from waves of oncoming mechs.  However, their unique strategies escalate the situation beyond their control, with all of Earth and the Apex Corporation focused on them.  This results in even more carnage, tragedy and hopelessness, and you are unbelievably hooked the entire way through the second half of the book.  I don’t want to go into too much detail about the conclusion of Operation Bounce House, but I will say it is crazy, and nothing goes the way you’d expect.  The big finale sequence is the perfect way for the protagonists to respond to the war around them, and it was one of my favourite parts of the entire book.  Dinniman also lays down several impressive swerves and revelations, many of which perfectly tie back to story and worldbuilding elements he cleverly laid down earlier in the plot, and you are constantly left guessing about where this bloody standalone story will go next.  Readers are guaranteed to come away from Operation Bounce House very satisfied with its ending, and I honestly wished for a longer story.

Dinniman presented another outstanding narrative in Operation Bounce House, and I really enjoyed how this powerful story came together.  Most readers are probably coming into this novel as fans of Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl books, and as one of those people I can guarantee that if you loved the author’s previous works, you’re going to love Operation Bounce House.  This new novel has a similar style in some places to the Dungeon Crawler Carl books, especially when it comes to the over-the-top story elements and outstanding character work.  Dinniman also once again showcasing his exceptional abilities at worldbuilding, and I was very impressed by how quickly and effectively Dinniman introduced the setting and brought you into the crazy scenario, loaded with dark action, complex tragedy and some incredible personal history.  There are so many compelling details featured within this setting, and I loved how well the author utilised these details and history in the larger narrative.  Dinniman makes sure to feature some similar themes his readers may be familiar with, including his love of RPGs, his anti-corporation messaging and his focus on the uncertainty around artificial intelligence, all of which are taken to fun new extremes in this novel.  The book also works as a dark parody of the current streaming culture, with interesting comparisons between crass online personalities and humble farmers, there are a range of clever messages thrown into the story about the future of modern society.

While there are some notable similarities to the author’s previous work here, I do think that Operation Bounce House also serves as an evolution of the author’s writing ability, and I really appreciate him branching out into something more straightforwardly science fiction.  I was very impressed with how well Operation Bounce House works as a standalone story, as there was a lot of detail expertly crammed into this read.  In many ways Operation Bounce House was a somewhat more grounded and personal story than the Dungeon Crawler Carl books.  Thanks to a smaller cast and the carnage focused on the protagonist’s local area, there is a lot more emotion, and I appreciated the focus on family, friends and local community.  Dinniman also provided some more subdued humour for most of the book, which I think helped to raise the impact of the stakes at time.  There are still of course a ton of funny moments in this book though, especially when it comes to fighting back against the mech controllers in unique ways, and things do get very out of hand at times.  Dinniman also ensures that the action is extremely unique, especially considering the context of the conflict, and his depictions of overpowered mechs attacking older robots and lightly armed people were realistic, brutal and intense.

One of the most impressive things about Operation Bounce House was the complex and deeply moving character storylines that Dinniman was able to work into this standalone narrative.  Featuring a well-written cast of colonists defending their homes against insane gamers, you really get absorbed into their powerful story of loss, despair and family.  The story is primarily told through the eyes of main protagonist, Oliver Lewis, a young man who is forced to transform from a farmer worried about everyone leaving him behind, to a traumatised resistance leader trying to save the last sparks of his planet.  Thanks to powerful first-person perspective, you fully witness Oliver’s growth into a reluctant leader throughout the book, while experiencing his sadness and loss.  Dinniman does an excellent job writing Oliver as an everyman character, and while he steps up, he isn’t as overpowered or strategic as some of Dinniman’s other protagonists, allowing for a more relatable story.  I deeply enjoyed the compelling and full narrative that Dinniman wrote around Oliver in this book, which was loaded with love of family and friends, and he worked well as a main character for this plot.

The rest of the natives of New Sonora serve as a wonderful supporting cast, with all of them having a great out-of-their-depth edge to them.  Most of the main cast are Oliver’s friends who find themselves the unlikely faces of a revolution.  Featuring several excellent characters, each with their own distinctive arc, whose relationship with Oliver and each other defines them in the chaos to come.  Standouts include Sam Amboya, Oliver’s best friend and one of the main comic reliefs in the plot.  A dedicated friend and soon-to-be parent, Sam is one of the emotional hearts of the story, whose survival you become very invested in.  I also really enjoyed Oliver’s sister, Lulu, who serves as an interesting and more worldly foil to her brother.  A sassy and confident figure, Lulu has some interesting scenes around her, including her fame in an adult vocation that works surprisingly well in building her up as an independent and charismatic woman.  These great New Sonoran characters, and more, prove to be excellent focusses for the plot, who the reader can really get behind.  The Rhythm Mafia Tape interludes provide some great snapshots and help to build up the defenders as real people.  Dinniman perfectly matches these likeable farmers with some very over-the-top antagonists, primarily the Earth based mech pilots participating in Operation Bounce House, as well as some shady corporate overlords.  Dinniman clearly had fun introducing a range of sadistic gamer characters and corporate managers, who while exaggerated, seem like a natural progression for some current trends.  These antagonists contrast in very entertaining ways to the New Sonoran defenders, and it was amusing to see many of them get their just-deserts thanks to the unique tactics of the protagonists.

While all these human characters are amazing, I honestly found that one of the best figures in the book was a robot, which is typical for a Dinniman novel.  This character is Roger (short for Roger-Roger), the Oliver family hive queen, an AI robot used to manage the farm and the other honeybee robots.  Roger serves various roles in this novel, including a key deliver of exposition about the larger setting, as well as a great comedic figure due to his role as a strict tutor and disciplinarian for the adult Oliver and Lulu (and their friends).  However, when the mechs invade, he starts following a hidden “perimeter defence protocol”, turning him into the control nodule for the protagonist’s entire defence network.  Dinniman writes some intriguing narratives around Roger, as the new protocols allow him to expand his learning capacity and overcome his coded limitations to make him a truly terrifying weapon.  Roger’s history, and the fear that future Earth has for AI, also serves as a fascinating central narrative thread for Operation Bounce House, and it proves interesting to see Roger transform from a simple farm robot to a major threat to all humanity.  Despite this, there are some heartwarming personality traits attached to Roger, and he honestly proves to be one of the more loveable figures in the novel, especially when seen through the protagonist’s eyes.  All this allows for quite a powerful and personal narrative, with Dinniman once again showing his aptitude for creating distinctive and complex characters.

While I was lucky enough to receive a physical copy of Operation Bounce House, I just had to listen to the audiobook version of it, especially after loving the Dungeon Crawler Carl series on this format.  Unsurprisingly, the Operation Bounce House audiobook was also extremely awesome, and listening to the plot really enhanced the unique scenario, elaborate plot and crazy characters.  I ended up powering through Operation Bounce House’s near 11-hour runtime in a very short amount of time (it’s a great book for a road trip), and there was frankly not a single second that I wasn’t enjoying this great audiobook experience.

Part of the reason that this audiobook was so damn fun was the incredible narration that accompanied it, with two outstanding and familiar voice actors coming along for the ride.  The primary narrator for Operation Bounce House was Travis Baldree, who Dinniman fans would be familiar with due to his appearances in two of the Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobooks, including The Eye of the Bedlam Bride where he had one of the series’ funniest lines: “I need a baby seal”.  Baldree continues his exceptional work in Operation Bounce House, successfully voicing the tense plot perfectly, ensuring that the story moved along at a tight clip while also expertly enhancing the book’s tight humour.  Baldree also does an outstanding job with the various characters, with a compelling range of voices attributed to the entire cast.  My personal favourite was probably the amazing tone he gave to Roger, which helped showcase his robot nature while also still containing some excellent emotion and humour.  I also enjoyed how his various human main characters had a good rural rasp to their voice, that fit nicely with the agricultural nature of their world, and Baldree unsurprisingly did justice to the various Latino characters featured in the plot.

On top of Baldree’s outstanding central narration, we also get the legendary Jeff Hays, the voice of the Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobooks, voicing several secondary characters.  Hays, who is just so damn good, has a ton of fun with these characters, including one of the main antagonists, who he gifts a particularly entertaining and arrogant voice, which was just perfect.  The combination of voices coming out of this impressive narration team was so damn amazing, and they really turned this audiobook into something special.  This is frankly the absolute best way to enjoy Operation Bounce House, and I cannot recommend it enough.

Matt Dinniman has fun showcasing a new, unhinged narrative with the wonderfully powerful Operation Bounce House.  An outstanding standalone science fiction novel that perfectly showcases Dinniman’s ability to craft elaborate universes and intense character arcs, Operation Bounce House was just incredible, and I still cannot get over some of the clever twists and intense action.  A deeply impressive read, and an outstanding novel to check out before Dinniman’s new Dungeon Crawler Carl novel, A Parade of Horribles, which I am currently reading as I write this review.

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Redbelly Crossing by Candice Fox

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Murder Mystery, ThrillerLeave a comment

Publisher: Penguin (ebook– 31 March 2026)

Series: Standalone

Length: 432 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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One of Australia’s best-known thriller writers, Candice Fox, returns with another brilliant and complex outback crime fiction read that sees two estranged brothers get caught up in an intense and dark murder, Redbelly Crossing.

Candice Fox is a very impressive author whose compelling work I have been deeply enjoying in recent years, especially as she has some interesting range with her varied crime fiction releases.  This includes complex American thrillers like The Chase, Devil’s Kitchen and Fire With Fire, to unique Australian outback thrillers such as High Wire.  She has also continued her exciting partnership with the legendary James Patterson, with some recent releases including 2 Sisters Detective Agency, 2 Sisters Murder Investigations and The Murder Inn.  All these books have been a ton of fun to get through, and I always make sure to keep an eye out for anything new from Fox, especially as it’s likely to be a guaranteed hit.  As such, I made sure to read her next book, Redbelly Crossing, as soon as I could, and boy was it something special.

Plot Synopsis:

Blood is thicker than water. But too much leaves a trail . . .

Russell and Evan Powder are cops.

The brothers haven’t spoken for five years, since a violent confrontation tore their family apart.

Now they are both assigned to the murder of a young journalist, Chloe Lutz, in the small town of Redbelly Crossing (population 205).

It’s the last thing Russell wants. This is supposed to be the week he repairs things with his teenage daughter Bridie. Now he’s had to drag her on a murderous ride-along to the middle of snake-infested nowhere.

But a big case like this is just what Evan needs after a terrible mistake nearly tanked his career.

Then a dark discovery leaves Evan with only one way out; to bury the truth Russell is so determined to uncover …

Redbelly Crossing was an outstanding piece of Australian crime fiction from Fox, who effortlessly creates an elaborate and twisty read with some real-life emotional heft attached to it.  One of the best Australian mysteries so far released in 2026, Redbelly Crossing is a brilliant standalone novel that had me hooked from start to finish.

Fox pulls together one of her more complex and compelling narratives for Redbelly Crossing, as she goes back to her outback thriller roots with an emotionally charged, character-driven story.  Primarily told through the alternating perspectives of the Powder brothers, volatile Russell and the disgraced Evan, you are quickly drawn into both the murder and their chaotic lives, as they inadvertently reunite for the first time in years to solve a crime.  Fox does an excellent job setting the scene for the main case, which presents an intriguing murder mystery on its own, and the reader is soon quite curious about who killed Chloe Lutz.  This great early interest in the mystery is then further enhanced by the drama around this central plot point with the family turmoil represented by the two protagonists, which only becomes even more intense when Evan makes a discovery that change his motivations around investigating the case.

The rest of the book sees both Powder brothers working at cross purposes, with Russell doggedly trying to get at the truth, with Evan attempts to hide certain facts from him to ensure certain evidence don’t come up.  This adds quite an interesting angle to the investigation, as the reader has access to all the information about the murder, while both protagonists only have fragments of it.  The resulting convoluted investigation is well matched by the dive into each of the protagonists’ troubled pasts, as Fox carefully doles out the full history of the brothers and their relationship, as well as the events that led to where they currently are.  Things seem to come to head with a cool action sequence in the second half of the book; however, Fox is only just starting with the twists, as the case goes in some dangerous and extremely personal directions.  There is a great reveal closer to the end of the book that really changes everything, especially with how it drives one of the brothers, and the resulting carnage, emotional turmoil, and conflict will leave everyone reeling one way or another.  Fox brings Redbelly Crossing to a captivating ending that readers will find bittersweet and a little heartbreaking, but which is a fitting end to such a compelling and powerful tale.

I really enjoyed how Fox pulled Redbelly Crossing together, and I felt that this was one of her better books, especially as she drew a compelling line between family drama and murder mystery.  Making great use of the narrative’s dual perspectives, Fox effectively drags the reader back into her classic outback setting, while also diving deep into two protagonist brothers and the events that formed them and tore them apart.  The character work around the two Powder brothers, Russell and Evan, is particularly good, as Fox paints them as two highly damaged figures, broken apart by their mistakes and the trauma caused by their abusive father, who is still a dark presence in their lives.  Fox really explores their trauma and how it impacts their current personalities, with Russell a highly competent investigator who acts overly aggressive to compensate for his past weaknesses and his homosexuality, whereas Evan attempts to do the right thing, but his mistakes allow him to be dominated by his father, who keeps corrupting him.  Their competing desires, and the family drama around them, drives both Russell and Evan on separate courses for much of the book, and while their attempts to do right by their family should make them better, it often leads to new conflicts and deeper sorrow down the line.

I really appreciate just how well Fox balanced this family turmoil and character uncertainty with the larger mystery of the plot, especially as a lot of secrets lie with the characters’ pasts.  This focus on history and generational trauma was a big recurring theme of Redbelly Crossing, and Fox covers it extremely well.  The author also did an amazing job diving into the lasting trauma and uncertainty surrounding murder and those it leaves behind, especially when it comes to these older cases.  Much of this was because Fox was carefully referencing two real-life unsolved Australian murders in her plot, with many of the key details of these historic cases brought across into Redbelly Crossing.  This was a bold decision from Fox, but one which pays off, as it increases the impact of Redbelly Crossing’s narrative, especially after you finish the book and read in Fox’s words why she decided to use these details.  This inherent drama, when combined with the author’s twisty writing style and her ability to create powerful characters, shaped by their past and their personal troubles, helps to turn Redbelly Crossing into something extremely special that you won’t be able to turn away from.

Candice Fox continues to showcase why she is one of Australia’s most talented and versatile authors of crime fiction with her latest exceptional read.  Redbelly Crossing was a complex and layered read that combined a great crime fiction story with powerful character moments, all wrapped up with a striking outback setting and some intense elements taken from real-life.  A captivating and impressive read, Redbelly Crossing was a particularly strong novel from Fox, who really pours her heart into this latest novel.  Highly recommended with a story guaranteed to stick in your mind.

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Hotel Lucky Seven by Kotaro Isaka

On By The Unseen LibraryIn English Translation, Thriller2 Comments

Publisher: Harvill Secker (Trade Paperback – 12 November 2025)

English Translation: Brian Bergstrom

Series: Hitman – Book Four 

Length: 291 pages

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

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One of Japan’s most entertaining thriller authors, Kotaro Isaka, presents a great new entry in his shared crime fiction universe, with the wonderfully unhinged and entertaining Hotel Lucky Seven.

Kotaro Isaka is an amazing author who has dominated the Japanese crime fiction scene for years, thanks to his amazing and over-the-top thrillers that are filled with distinctive characters and entertaining narratives.  In recent years, Isaka has gained more of a Western following as several of his books have been translated and released in English.  This includes his best-known novel, Bullet Train, which was adapted into a particularly entertaining film with Brad Pitt a couple of years ago.  While I loved the film, I am also a major fan of the original Bullet Train novel, which is very different from its adaptation in its own awesome way.  Having really enjoyed Bullet Train when it came out, I’ve tried to read the other translated Isaka novels that have come out in his Hitman series, including the cool prequel novel Three Assassins.  While I did miss out on The Mantis, I made sure to grab a copy of Isaka’s latest book, Hotel Lucky Seven (released in Japan under the title 777).  Serving as a direct sequel to Bullet Train, Hotel Lucky Seven follows the terminally unlucky assassin Nanao, as he finds himself in a whole new mess.

Plot Synopsis:

A luxury hotel full of assassins – what could go wrong?

Nanao ‘the unluckiest assassin in the world’ has been hired to deliver a birthday present to a guest at a luxury Tokyo Hotel. It seems like a simple assignment but by the time he leaves the guest’s room one man is dead and more will soon follow. As events spiral out of control as it becomes clear several different killers, with varying missions, are all taking a stay in the hotel at the same time. And they’re all particularly interested in a young woman with a photographic memory, hiding out on one of the twenty floors.

Will Nanao find the truth about what’s going on? And will he check out alive?

In this original, gripping and inventive follow-up to the international bestseller Bullet Train, Kotaro Isaka demonstrates his unparalleled gift for unique characters and unexpected twists.

Hotel Lucky Seven was another very impressive outing from Isaka, as he once again wows with his outrageous array of assassins, fighting for their lives amongst a complex conspiracy narrative.  Slick, relentlessly entertaining and very addictive, Hotel Lucky Seven was an amazing read, and one that I powered through in less than a day.

Isaka created another very fun over-the-top story for Hotel Lucky Seven that quickly drags you in with its fantastic action.  Initially focusing on the main protagonist, Nanao, who has only recently recovered from his near-death experience on the deadly bullet train, the book sees the constantly unlucky character enter a hotel for a routine delivery, only to find himself in the middle of another quickly deteriorating situation.  Forced to kill someone while delivering a birthday present, Nanao soon find himself drawn into a larger confrontation involving Kamino, a young woman with an impressive memory, who is trying to escape her underworld boss.  Having accidently killed or incapacitated Kamino’s bodyguards while trying to flee the hotel to save his handler, Nanao soon finds himself reluctantly helping Kamino contend with a band of assassins known as the Six.  This proves to be a great central focus for Lucky Seven, which Isaka further enhances with intriguing chapters focused on other amusing characters like the killer team of Pillow and Blanket, two effective body removalists who are stalking the halls of the hotel on their own mission, as well as some interesting interludes around a famous politician in the restaurant who is being interviewed by an ambitious reporter.

These interlocking storylines come together nicely as the book continue, and I liked how well the various chapters flowed into each other.  Isaka keeps loading up the action as Nanao uses his unlikely combat skills against the various members of the slowly dwindling six as he desperately tries to escape the hotel.  After some very entertaining antics, as well as a couple of over-the-top deaths, the author sets up for the big conclusion, with the surviving characters coming together for a big confrontation.  While the story had been very fun, if relatively straightforward, up to this point, Isaka throws in an excellent twist that makes you re-evaluate the rest of the book.  There was a ton of great build-up throughout the entire story, with your perspective of one character completely changing in the best ways.  This really enhanced the overall impact of the entire story, and I came away very satisfied and intrigued by this impressive piece of Japanese fiction.

I really enjoyed the great style that Isaka utilised in Hotel Lucky Seven, which is reminiscent of the rest of the books in his Hitman series.  Made up of fast-paced chapters that switch between the several main characters, Isaka moves his exciting story along very effectively, quickly grabbing the reader’s attention with his complex characters, entertaining action, and great humour.  Serving as both an enjoyable sequel to Bullet Train and a fun standalone crime thriller, this is a very accessible novel for any reader to get into, even with its subtle yet noticeable Japanese aesthetics.  Indeed, I felt that Hotel Lucky Seven had more of a certain cinematic edge than Isaka’s previous novels, no doubt a result of the success he had with the Bullet Train film, and this help to make this book a lot easier to appreciate for new readers.  It also helped that some of the characters, such as killers known as the Six, would be fun to cast in a film adaptation, and the over-the-top figures terrorising a hotel with blowguns were particularly fun.

Speaking of awesome characters, I personally loved seeing the return of the unlucky killer Nanao, who was the best part of the original Bullet Train novel (where his role was a little less central than Brad Pitt’s in the film).  Serving much more a central role in this sequel, Nanao was the heart-and-soul of Hotel Lucky Seven, and it was very fun to see him continue to get in trouble while trying to do the right thing.  The rest of the characters are a little more serious, well as serious as people living in a world of killers can be, and I liked the certain philosophical edge that several of them had when it comes to their actions, especially the fun killer duo of Pillow and Blanket.  Throw in a couple of interesting additional villains, none of whom are really what they seem and who benefit from some layered backstories and misdirection with their intentions.  This extremely unique cast really fit the light-hearted vibe that Isaka loaded this excellent thriller with, and I had a wonderful time seeing their murderous antics and complex interactions unfold.

Overall, I had a wonderful time with Hotel Lucky Seven, which was one of the more entertaining and compelling thrillers I read last year.  A very worthy sequel to Bullet Train, Hotel Lucky Seven was another incredible read from Kotaro Isaka that will keep you hooked right to end with his awesome action, brilliant humour and fantastic storytelling.  It honestly will be interesting to see if Hotel Lucky Seven gets a film adaptation at some point, which honestly could turn into something very fun if they get a good cast for it.

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Quick Review – Gone Before Goodbye by Harlan Coben and Reese Witherspoon

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Quick Review, Thriller1 Comment

Publisher: Century (Trade Paperback – 14 October 2025)

Series: Standalone/Book One

Length: 340 pages

My Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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The unique writing team of acclaimed author Harlan Coben and world-famous actress Reese Witherspoon present a compelling and very exciting thriller, with Gone Before Goodbye.

Gone Before Goodbye was a very interesting read, that caught my attention when it was first announced thanks to the combination of it being Reese Witherspoon’s debut novel, and my previous experiences with the always impressive Harlan Coben.  I have had a great time with some of Coben’s previous novels, including I Will Find You, Think Twice and Nobody’s Fool, so I was very curious to see how this book turned out.

Plot Synopsis:

Maggie McCabe is teetering on the brink.

A highly skilled and renowned Army combat surgeon, she has always lived life at the edge, where she could make the most impact. And it was all going to plan … until it wasn’t.

Upside down after a devastating series of tragedies leads to her medical license being revoked, Maggie has lost her purpose, but not her nerve or her passion. At her lowest point, she is thrown a lifeline by a former colleague, an elite plastic surgeon whose anonymous clientele demand the best care money can buy, as well as absolute discretion.

Halfway across the globe, sequestered in the lap of luxury and cutting-edge technology, one of the world’s most mysterious men requires unconventional medical assistance. Desperate, and one of the few surgeons in the world skilled enough to take this job, Maggie enters his realm of unspeakable opulence and fulfills her end of the agreement.

But when the patient suddenly disappears while still under her care, Maggie must become a fugitive herself—or she will be the next one who is … Gone Before Goodbye

Gone Before Goodbye proved to be an exciting and enjoyably fast-paced read that drags you in quickly thanks to its unique plot, multiple twists and compelling medical focus.  Starting off with some good introductions to the key characters and highly damaged protagonist, you are soon drawn into the damaged life of Maggie and the mysterious job she chooses to accept.  After some useful exposition sequences in the hidden Russian compound that help to highlight how far the protagonist is out of her depth, things inevitably go downhill, and Maggie is forced to flee with the help of some unexpected allies.

What follows is a quick paced sequence of events across the world as Maggie and her family attempt to uncover the dark conspiracy that has been woven around them.  The authors do a good job of tying the current events of the book into Maggie’s complex past, including the death of her husband and their controversial medical company, and the various threads come together nicely as Gone Before Goodbye nears it ends, with lots of action and character growth thrown in for good measure.  The dramatic conclusion wraps things up nicely, and I especially loved the fantastic final twist, which was a particularly dark, but clever, way to end this entire novel.

This book comes together quite nicely, and you can really see the interesting combination of styles between Coben and Witherspoon here.  The fast-paced, character-focused storytelling, loaded with sudden twists, thrilling action and complex dramatic moments is classic Coben, who endeavours to quickly grab the reader’s attention and hook them early.  On the other hand, the inclusion of a strong military doctor protagonist is clearly Witherspoon referencing her parents, and I liked how this new author utilised something close to her and her family in her very first novel.  The resulting medical scenes are some of the best parts of the book, especially as the authors endeavoured to provide some detailed realism to the resulting sequences, and I enjoyed how they tied into Gone Before Goodbye’s larger narrative.

Gone Before Goodbye is further enhanced by some excellent and distinctive characters, including the damaged protagonist, some fun villainous figures, and the very entertaining biker character Porkchop, Maggie’s father-in-law who steals the show with every scene he’s in.  I did think that Gone Before Goodbye did come off a little too cinematic at times, and you can tell that the authors are thinking ahead to the inevitable television adaptation, especially with memorable characters like Porkchop.  Still, this cinematic forethought doesn’t take the reader too much out of the story, and the resulting book is a compelling thriller that is a lot of fun to get through.

The team of Harlan Coben and the debuting Reese Witherspoon’s first outing was an amazing success as Gone Before Goodbye was an entertaining and captivating thriller read that will appeal to a lot of readers.  Clever, twisty and filled with some great characters, Gone Before Goodbye was a ton of fun to get through, and I cannot wait to see what both authors have to write going forward, either by themselves or as a very distinctive team.

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Best Offer Wins by Marisa Kashino

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Thriller1 Comment

Publisher: Doubleday (Trade Paperback – 2 December 2025)

Series: Standalone/Book One

Length: 275 pages

Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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First-time author Marisa Kashino provides one of the more entertaining and devious debuts of 2025, with the wonderfully twisted and deeply addictive novel Best Offer Wins.

Plot Synopsis:

How far would you go to get the perfect home?

There was a time when Margo thought she knew. But that was before a soul-destroying eighteen months of house-hunting hell.

Now she’s not sure. Her life, her marriage, her family, her career are dangerously out of control and all she needs is a new home to get them all back on track.

So when the ideal house comes up, desperate measures are called for. A little online stalking. Some sneaky surveillance of the property in question. Befriending the owner. All reasonable enough, right?

But soon it’s clear that nothing is off limits, because when your best offer might not win, then you just need to do what it takes…

Best Offer Wins was an outstanding and captivating debut novel that dives into a very relatable topic in the most insane way possible.  Perfectly encapsulating the dark side of desire and desperation, Best Offer Wins was an impressive first outing from Kashino, who crafted an excellent thriller narrative that is both twisted and hilarious in equal measure.

I loved the crazy crime fiction story that Kashino envisioned for Best Offer Wins, which keeps pushing its delightfully deranged protagonist over the edge and dragging the reader along.  The book starts off quick and fast with a great introduction to main character Margo, and you are soon drawn into her desperate desire to break into Washington D. C.’s housing market.  Finding the perfect house, Margo attempts to ingratiate herself with its current owners, only to face backlash and humiliation when her scheme is revealed.  Still desperate to obtain the house, Margo takes her obsession to the new level and soon embarks on a campaign to find dirt on the current owners and force them to sell to her.

Kashino paints a fantastic picture of the protagonist’s overwhelming obsession at this point of the book, as her need to have the house and the perfect life it represents pushes her to take greater risks to get what she wants.  You honestly don’t know just how far Margo will go, as she manipulates, lies and even resorts to blackmail to get what she wants.  Things continue to further devolve as, after finding out some damaging truths, she decides to go all in to get her way, which has devastating results for everyone around her.  I loved how this final third of Best Offer Wins comes together in a way which is so fantastically over-the-top and crazy.  While I did see the shape of Best Offer Wins’ big twist in advance, getting there is so damn fun, as is the full extent of the protagonist’s plot.  I really loved how well Kashino wrapped her compelling book up, especially as she leaves the book on an excellent dark note, and readers will come away very satisfied and entertained by the entire outrageous narrative.

I have to say that I was really impressed with Kashino’s writing ability in Best Offer Wins, considering that this was her very first book.  The author debuted a crisp and engaging style in this novel, expertly utilising the first-person perspective of her slowly deteriorating protagonist to fully tell her tale.  The author cleverly makes obsession and desperation the central themes for Best Offer Wins, which works as they are so relatable to the reader through the housing market aspect of the novel.  I’m sure I’m not the only reader that struggled with house hunting in recent years, and while I personally never resorted to murder or blackmail (I can’t speak for my wife/editor though), the feelings of despair and loss that accompanied missing out on a house your heart is set on were very understandable.  Utilising the emotions behind this real-world issue in the plot and then turning it into a fast-paced and relentlessly entertaining novel that keeps you constantly on the edge of your seat thanks to perfectly escalating series of events really showcased Kashino’s excellent writing talent, and the resulting narrative was something very special.  I can think of a better way to highlight just how well written this book is than to reveal that I read it in one solid reading session, as there was honestly not a single moment when I wanted to put Best Offer Wins down.

I can’t move away from discussing how good Best Offer Wins was without mentioning the main character, Margo, who was simultaneously one of the most entertaining and most despicable protagonists of 2025.  Starting off as a seemingly normal figure whose early unusual quirks and behaviours can be explained away by her depression over the housing market, you soon begin to realise that Margo really isn’t a good person.  Not only does she quickly start pushing the boundaries of social norms when it comes to getting her dream house, but thanks to her narration of events you realise how little she thinks of the people around her.  Her casual self-discussion about how she manipulates her husband and the clear distain she has for the other people in her life is very off-putting, and even some intriguing insights into her troubled childhood that explain her obsessions really don’t raise too much sympathy for the reader.  Despite this, there is never a single moment where you consider turning away from Margo’s story, mainly because of just how entertaining she is, and due to how far she is willing to take things, uncaring of the impact it has on those around her.  Margo’s story is essentially a slow-motion trainwreck, and you really can’t turn away as she goes further and further to get the house she wants.  However, as you near the end of the book you begin to realise just how calculating and targeted the protagonist truly is, as Margo soon gets everything she wants in a particularly diabolic manner.  I had such a brilliant time following Margo in this novel, and Kashino did an amazing job writing an outstanding story around this complex and twisted protagonist.

Overall, I felt that Best Offer Wins was a particularly incredible debut thriller from Marisa Kashino, who delivered something particularly special here.  Combining a twisted narrative with a topic a lot of people are going to have strong feelings about; Best Offer Wins was a highly entertaining and powerful read from start to finish.  Compelling, clever, and very deranged, Best Offer Wins hooked me so damn fast, and I cannot recommend this novel enough.

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Star Wars: Master of Evil by Adam Christopher

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Audiobook, Extended Universe, Science Fiction, Star Wars, Tie-in Novel3 Comments

Publisher: Penguin Random House Audio (Audiobook – 11 November 2025)

Series: Star Wars

Length: 15 hours and 27 minutes

My Rating: 4.75 out of 5 stars

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Prepare for a dive to the dark side with the captivating and impressive new Star Wars novel, Master of Evil by Adam Christopher.

2025 has been a pretty good year for Star Wars fiction, with several awesome new books introduced to the existing canon.  My favourites have so far been The Mask of Fear by Alexander Freed and Sanctuary by Lamar Giles, although I have also just finished the outstanding and deeply compelling new release, Master of Evil.  The second Star Wars book from tie-in fiction author Adam Christopher, whose Stranger Things novel, Darkness on the Edge of Town, I previously had the pleasure of reading, Master of Evil is an exciting and complex book that I have been looking forward to for a while.  A very interesting read set in one of the best periods of Star Wars lore, Master of Evil had a great plot behind it, as well as a particularly epic cover.

Plot Synopsis:

After Revenge of the Sith, a newly forged Darth Vader hunts for the secrets of life and death under the watchful eye of Emperor Palpatine.

In the wake of Emperor Palpatine’s rise to power, the true nature of his most sinister enforcer remains a mystery. Darth Vader is a dominant yet illusive figure: the shadow cast by a malignant Imperial regime, unknowable to even its top officials. But even as his humanity gives way to myth, Vader remains haunted by the promises of the dark side, seeking the ultimate power that his master has hinted at but withheld—the power to conquer death itself.

On the volcanic world of Mustafar, Vader undertakes a dark ritual, bleeding a kyber crystal to forge his lightsaber. This act unleashes a power far greater than he anticipated, giving him a glimpse into the limitless potential of the Force.

Vader is determined to follow this vision, even if it means defying his master’s orders. Yet he finds the Emperor is suspiciously supportive of his mission, even sending Vader to the Diso system to investigate rumors of a Force-wielding shaman able to raise the dead. At his side are a cadre of the Emperor’s scarlet-robed Royal Guard, led by Colonel Halland Goth—a decorated soldier with a very personal interest in Vader’s mission.

Even as the Emperor’s true motivations reveals themselves, Vader falls deeper into obsession. His journey takes him far across the galaxy, chasing rumors and phantoms. But no matter how far he travels, he cannot escape the shadows within his own soul. Haunted by the echoes of his past, Vader circles the true resolution to his quest: only once all weakness is purged can he become a master of evil.

Adam Christopher presents one of the more unique and compelling Star Wars novels of 2025, with the awesome and complex Master of Evil.  Following several highly damaged characters as they move towards a dark collision course, Master of Evil had me hooked very early on, and I had an outstanding time with this novel, especially on its audiobook format.

I really enjoyed the exciting story Christopher came up with for Master of Evil, which drags the reader in with captivating Star Wars lore and some very personal character elements.  Starting off with an interesting prologue set around Count Dooku, the story soon skips to immediately after the events of Revenge of the Sith, focusing on the early days of the Empire.  While some early scenes are shown from the perspective of Vader, much of the novel is primarily shown through the eyes of new character Colonel Halland Goth, a Royal Guard assigned to Vader.  Tasked with reporting back on Vader’s actions, Goth accompanies him on his quest to find a Force-wielding shaman and learn more about the dark side of the Force.  While there is less of a direct focus on Vader and his inner thoughts than you’d expect based on the synopsis, Christopher does an excellent job of setting up Vader as a sinister and conflicted personality in this novel, especially with a cool scene on the planet Diso, where Vader clashes with the shaman. 

Following this first part of the book, the middle of Master of Evil slows down a little, as Christopher continues to develop his new characters and their motivations, as well as set up an interesting investigation arc as Goth tries to find out who or what Vader is.  There is a less direct Vader here, but I really got stuck into this part of the book and enjoyed the author’s compelling examination of his protagonists and their personal growth, as well as the early politics of the Empire and the manipulations of the Sith.  This eventually leads to an extended final third of Master of Evil, where several different groups attempt to find an abandoned Separatist spaceship filled with various secrets.  There is an excellent mixture of storylines here, with Goth chasing Vader and his chance of survival, other interested parties trying to get the treasure of the ship, and Vader accessing dark power hidden within.  While much of Vader’s adventures are told through the eyes of others, including clone troopers assigned to him, there are several fantastic scenes here where we directly see Vader access the dark side of the force hidden in the ship.  These scenes are particularly powerful, as we are given direct access to Vader’s conflicted mind, and the resulting Force visions give some outstanding insights to his psyche.  The other big character-driven storylines of Master of Evil also go in some fascinating directions, and Christopher loads them with action, self-discovery and tragedy, all of which is quite moving and addictive.  The conclusion of Master of Evil is particularly emotionally charged, and the novel ends on some complex notes that dedicated Star Wars fans are going to really appreciate.

I felt that Adam Christopher did an excellent job pulling together a compelling, character-driven Star Wars novel that was part adventure, part intriguing lore dive, that makes full use of its setting and examination of complex figures from the films.  The excellent story moves along at a swift clip throughout the entire book, and you really get dragged into the well-balanced mix of action, intrigue and emotionally charged pieces of Star Wars lore.  While parts of the book are a little slower to build up future story elements, for the most part Master of Evil was a very compelling novel that didn’t have any real wasted space. Despite some reservations I had before I read this book that Master of Evil was going to be way too lore-heavy for casual readers, I felt that Christopher produced a Star Wars novel that was actually pretty accessible.  Anyone with a good basic knowledge of Star Wars (or who has at least watched the original and prequel trilogies) will be able to follow this story along closely and have an excellent time with it. 

While I do think that Master of Evil is accessible to new readers, Christopher does feature some deep cuts into Star Wars lore that will primarily appeal to established fans of the series and its associated tie-in books and comics.  There are a lot of references to various bits of Star Wars fiction set before and after the events of Master of Evil, and Christopher has fun mentioning other books and comics.  For example, there are multiple references to the events of Charles Soule’s Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith comic, the first volume of which mostly takes place just before this novel.  Indeed, Christopher replicates one of the key sequences from this comic in one of Master of Evil’s opening scenes, which honestly made for a gripping read, especially on the audiobook format.  There are also a ton of clever references to the main films either side of this book, Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, including some re-enactments of a couple of major scenes from another character’s perspective.  I also loved some of the vision sequences associated with Vader’s hunt for the dark side where he envisions alternate versions of established events, many of which come out in darker and more sinister ways.  This combines well with the book’s fascinating look at the early Empire era of Star Wars history, and this was a very awesome novel for those readers who love a lot of lore in their tie-in fiction.

While I had a lot of fun with the story, Christopher’s obvious strength as a writer in Master of Evil was the impressive and complex characters that he was able to utilise in the plot.  This excellent book featured an array of compelling characters throughout the plot, including a mixture of new protagonists and some iconic figures from the films.  I personally really liked the dynamics of characters that emerged, even if there were less appearances from established figures as I would have expected.  These new characters ended up providing a great outsiders perspective for the reader, and it was fascinating to see their associated views about the Empire and Darth Vader, especially when they start digging deeper into the mysteries of the Sith.

Of these characters, the most prominent is Commander Halland Goth, a Royal Guard, who finds himself enmeshed in the chaos of Vader’s quest.  Halland proved to be a compelling and complex character, whose evolution of perspective throughout Master of Evil was a powerful part of the book’s emotional depth.  A loyal soldier who wants to serve the Empire, Halland is slowly dying due to a painful disease, which forces him to make various compromises to achieve his goals.  However, the more he comes to see of Vader and the true nature of the Empire, the more Halland changes, and Christopher wrote a good redemption arc around this protagonist as the book continued.  While Halland is a great character, my favourite was his loyal protocol droid TC-99, also called Nines.  Nines, who has been heavily modified by Halland, has a very distinctive personality, which is a mixture of the established timid protocol droid mentality, and that of a close confidant to Halland ready to help him as he slowly dies.  Nines quickly steals the show with his sassy humour, caring personality and various quirks, as well as his ability to upload other droid minds and skills to help Halland achieve his goals.  Throw some other fun supporting characters including a manipulative ISB agent, a couple of clone troopers uncertain of their place in the new Empire, and two conflicted minor Force users, and this was an exceptional cast of new characters that Christopher wraps a unique narrative around.

While much of this book’s focus is on the new characters, this is still a Darth Vader novel, and he unsurprisingly turns out to be an excellent part of this book.  While there is a lot less direct focus on Vader and his perspective of events as you’d expect, he was still a consistent presence in the novel as he went about his own goals.  While I know some readers will dislike the minimalisation of Vader’s direct appearances in the plot, I personally enjoyed how Christopher set him as a mysterious and intimidating monster whose thoughts you can’t easily guess at.  It was fascinating to see all the other characters have no idea how to deal with him or his role in the Empire, and the constant threat and fear that felt as they talked to him was palpable at times.  While he was mostly shown from other characters’ viewpoints, there were a few chapters that do feature Vader’s direct perspective, which tended to be some of the book’s best sequences.  Many of these direct scenes involved Force visions or explorations of the Vader’s psyche, and it was quite powerful to see him interact with figures from the past in his mindscape.  Christopher tries to show a somewhat conflicted Vader in Master of Evil, one who has embraced his desire for power, but who still has some flashes of good in him, occasionally helping his subordinates.  Despite that, some of the later scenes show Vader making a very final choice about his place in the galaxy, which allowed for some impressively heartrending moments.  As such, I felt that Christopher did an exceptional job of showcase this iconic figure and his unique motivations in Master of Evil, and he served as a great dark centre to the story.

While I did receive a physical copy of this novel, I instead sought out an audiobook copy of Master of Evil.  Master of Evil is a particularly good example of how epic a Star Wars audiobook could be, as Christopher’s amazing story is deeply enhanced by the combination of an outstanding narrator and the wonderful use of classic Star Wars sound effects and music.  I always enjoy how well the iconic audio features from the films are utilised in Star Wars audiobooks, and especially impressive in Master of Evil.  The always awesome score from John Williams was perfectly inserted into various chapters of the books, often at climatic and key moments of the plot, and the resulting boost to the emotional impact of these scenes is always quite impressive to behold.  The inclusion of various distinctive Star Wars sound effects was particularly important to the ambience of Master of Evil, with crowd noises, blaster fire, spaceship sounds and the thrum of the lightsaber helping to drag the listener into the plot.  However, the most effective sound effect utilised in Master of Evil are the respirator sounds of Darth Vader.  The iconic breathing sounds add some major impacts to the story, especially in the scenes where the various perspective protagonists are attempting to describe the intimidating nature of this awesome villain, and there is a certain level of dread that invades the audiobook whenever Vader can be heard.  The sudden appearance or lack of this sound in scenes involving Vader is also quite impactful, and I really appreciated how the effect was modulated and altered to back up some key story details.

While the impressive music and sound effects are a major factor in why Master of Evil’s audiobook is so damn good, much of the credit for its success needs to go to narrator Marc Thompson.  Thompson is easily one of the best regular Star Wars audiobook narrators (and one of my favourite overall audiobook narrators) due to his outstanding vocal range and ability to replicate many key characters from the films and television series, and he has previously impressed me with his work on Thrawn, The Rising Storm, Scoundrels and Dark Disciple, just to name a few.  His work in Master of Evil was just as exceptional as always, perfectly voicing the book’s cast, and moving the story along at an exciting and tense pace.  I felt his voice for some key Star Wars characters, such as the Emperor and Count Dooku, was particularly impressive, and he also managed an outstanding Darth Vader, with the help of some vocal enhancements.  His excellent voice work was particularly useful for several sequences where iconic quotes from the films were read out in the context of this story, giving them the emotional weight they had in the original films.  There were even some moments where Thompson needed to have alternative character say these lines (for example, Anakin and Obi-Wan switching dialogue from one of their Revenge of the Sith scenes in a vision), and the narrator’s take on both actors’ dialogue was just perfect.  Even some of the voices that Thompson used for the new members of the cast, such as Holland Goth, were powerful and effective, and I liked how he presented them.  My favourite was the voice he used for Nines, which was entertainingly similar to Alan Tudyk’s K-2SO from Rogue One.  I particularly loved how well Thompson changed Nines’s voice to reflect the different droid personalities he uploaded into himself, and it helped turn Nines into one of the more entertaining, and heartfelt, characters in the book.  This unsurprisingly outstanding performance from Marc Thompson let me effortlessly fly through Master of Evil’s 15-and-a-half-hour runtime, especially with the cool music and sound effects, and I had such a great time listing to this audiobook.  As such, the Master of Evil audiobook comes very highly recommended, and it is a guaranteed hit, especially for those who already know and love the Star Wars audiobooks.

With some outstanding action and cool characters, Master of Evil proved to be an excellent and compelling Star Wars novel, and one I had an amazing time getting through.  Adam Christopher excelled at diving into some interesting bits of Star Wars lore, and I really enjoyed his fantastic take on this compelling period of Star Wars history.  While some readers will probably be disappointed in chapter’s focusing directly on Darth Vader, Christopher still tells an impressive narrative for those who are open to it.  An overall awesome new Star Wars novel that resulted in one of the better audiobooks of 2025.

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Everyone in this Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson

On By The Unseen LibraryIn Australian, Comedy/Satire, Five-Star Books, Murder Mystery1 Comment

Publisher: Penguin (Trade Paperback – 30 September 2025)

Series: Erenest Cunningham – Book Four

Length: 355 pages

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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The over-the-top investigations of Ernest Cunningham resume in the outstanding and highly entertaining Australian crime fiction novel, Everyone in this Bank is a Thief by Benjamin Stevenson.

For the last few years, the Australian crime fiction scene has been the playground of Benjamin Stevenson. A comedian and performer with his brother, Stevenson started writing back in 2018 when he debuted his first crime fiction novel Greenlight (also released as Trust Me When I Lie and She Lies in the Vines), which Stevenson expertly followed up a year later with the great sequel Either Side of Midnight.  While these initial books were really good, for me Stevenson’s best work has been his Ernest Cunningham novels.

The Ernest Cunningham series follows the titular character, a crime fiction expert from a notorious family, who finds himself caught up in some real-life whodunit situations. The first book in the series, Everyone in My Family has Killed Someone (one of my favourite Australian novels of 2022), was particularly impressive, and it cleverly combined the author’s great sense of humour with a compelling mystery. Stevenson continued to impress the following year, with Everyone on this Train is a Suspect (one of my favourite books and pieces of Australian fiction of 2023) a worthy sequel that further parodied various crime fiction subgenres. Stevenson even released a short, but impactful, Christmas entry in the Ernest Cunningham series last year with Everyone this Christmas has a Secret, which saw a Christmas variety show get very bloody, and which ended up being one of my favourite pieces of Australian fiction in 2024. Due to how wildly entertaining these books were, I just had to get the fourth book in the series, Everyone in this Bank is a Thief, when it came out this year, and it was one of my most anticipated reads for the second half of 2025, especially with its fun title and awesome plot concept.

Ernest Cunningham, murder mystery expert and Australia’s least likely detective, has so far solved three murders, each in its own outrageous scenarios.  But even he is unprepared to solve a case in the middle of a bank robbery.

Trapped in a small-town bank while trying to get a loan for their new detective agency, Ernest and his fiancé Juliette find themselves at the mercy of a masked armed bandit, who has locked down the bank and demanding access to the vault.  The only problem, the bank’s chief of security who knows the code is missing, and Ernest was just in the process of being hired to find him.

Besieged by the police and with no chance of escape, Ernest is determined to get his fellow hostages out alive by discovering out the vault’s code.  However, as he begins his enquiries, he quickly discovers that the armed man holding them hostage isn’t the only criminal he’s dealing with.  There are many different things that can be stolen in this bank, and all the trapped hostages have their own plots in motion.  However, only one person is there to steal a life, and when bodies start turning up, Ernest once again finds himself in the middle of a murder investigation.

With all the suspects trapped in the bank with him, Ernest works quickly to solve the murders before the police end the siege.  All the people in the bank are suspicious, but is the killer the bank robber, the silent priest, the greedy film producer, the teen gaming prodigy, the dying teenage girl and her mother, or a member of bank’s staff? To find the truth, Ernest will have to uncover everyone’s secrets and work them into his established rules for a murder mystery.  But can he solve the crime before the killer takes him out, or is this one crazy investigation that even Ernest Cunningham cannot survive?

Benjamin Stevenson once again deeply impresses as Everyone in this Bank is a Thief was a brilliant and highly addictive novel that perfectly combines over-the-top mystery with the author’s distinctive humour.  Clever, wildly entertaining, and just a little silly, Everyone in this Bank is a Thief was so much fun to read, and it gets a full five-star rating from me.

What another brilliant and hilarious story.  Everyone in this Bank is a Thief was such an entertaining read, and I loved how crazy and exciting Stevenson made it.  Starting off with an interesting introductory note from the protagonist that sets the scene and foreshadows some of the events to come, you are quickly taken to the bank setting in small-town Australia, where Ernest and returning character Juliette are tasked with investigating the missing head of security, who has changed the code to the vault.  Stevenson does an effective job of introducing the locked room scenario, as well as the various suspects in these opening chapters, before the bank is taken over by the masked armed robber.  With everyone gathered as hostages and the bank surrounded by police, Ernest finds himself taking on the task of finding the combination to the vault to fulfil the robber’s unusual request of a single dollar from the bank’s vault.  This initial investigation provides a lot of hints about events for the future, before the story takes an enticing turn when someone dies in a spectacularly unusual situation.  This inspires Ernest to take on an unadvised secondary role in the case, which moves the story into an entertaining new direction.

The second half of the book is even more compelling, and you power through it fast as you can to get to the conclusion.  It quickly becomes apparent that there are multiple murders associated with this case, in addition to the other simultaneous heists taking place throughout the bank, all of which Ernest needs to uncover to solve the entire case.  The author selectively reveals some of these secondary crimes earlier in the plot, which allow the story to move forward, while also moving the suspicion away from some of the potential suspects.  While Stevenson continues to work in even more details about the suspects and the circumstances of their heists, there is also a certain amount of personal drama added into the mix, especially once Juliette realises the lengths Ernest has gone to solve the case, with some excellent moments leading up to it.  The interplay between the main plot and the author’s notes that hint at the future become even more entangled and urgent as the book continues, especially as the events of the two start to catch up, and Stevenson works in the usual concern about the protagonist’s survival a little earlier than usual.  Everything leads up to the classic summation gathering, where all the remaining secrets are revealed in hilarious and over-the-top fashion.  Featuring a big and deadly climax that all of Ernest’s investigations seem to require, the book ends on an entertaining note, with the series still having the potential to go forward.

I really enjoyed this new novel from Stevenson, which was an excellent continuation of the Ernest Cunningham series.  Working well as either the fourth book in the series, or an excellent standalone novel, Everyone in this Bank is a Thief was a lot of fun, with the concept of a crime fiction expert using the tropes of the genre to identify the killer in a humorous situation still as effective as ever.  Told in the form of a true-crime book by the protagonist as he recounts the events of the bank heist, the narrative features a classic closed circle of suspects as Ernest investigates several murders, including an actual locked-room mystery, as well as several adjacent thefts, all while trapped in the murder scene.  The result is an over-the-top mess of an investigation, as the various big personalities trapped in the bank clash with Ernest’s unusual methods and style, much to the audience’s glee.  While there is a lot of focus on the book’s humour, Stevenson also does a great job pulling together a complex mystery with a lot of compelling suspects.  There are a lot of intricate details and clues loaded into the story, often hidden by the more comedic interactions, and all these elements are well used later in the book, whether in solving the murders or examining the various hidden motivations of the other characters.  The eventual reveal of the killer also proves to be quite clever, and there is some fantastic build-up to the discovery, even if the methods the protagonist uses to uncover them, as well as the crimes itself, are a tad ridiculous.

As with the previous books in the series, Everyone in this Bank is a Thief is a great satirical take on classic crime fiction novels, with the author and the protagonist both keen to utilise and honour the well-known tropes of the genre.  While Stevenson once again features a fun takedown of old-school detective fiction murder mysteries, he also takes his protagonist outside of his crime fiction wheelhouse with the murder taking place amid a heist.  Forcing the protagonist to apply heist tropes alongside his established rules for classic murder mysteries results in a great hybrid case, with a lot of jokes and references about both subgenres of crime fiction.  Stevenson naturally goes overboard with the heist elements, with several concurrent thefts happening in the bank, all of which could serve as a potential motive for murder.  I loved the outrageous variety of thefts that were worked into the plot, especially as most weren’t typical fictional robberies, and it was quite impressive to see Stevenson work them into the novel’s larger murder mystery.  The series’ usual pre-narrative hints of events and murders to come, with accompanying page numbers, were missing in this latest novel, instead replaced by the alternate focus on the protagonist’s plight, as he instead uses the introduction to reveal that he is trapped in a safe and slowly running out of air.  The humour of this situation, as well as build-up of suspense to when Ernest gets locked in the safe, added some extra fun and drama to the plot, and it was an interesting twist on the usual Ernest Cunningham book.  I really enjoyed how Stevenson continues to experiment and alter the initial story and writing concepts he introduced in Everyone in my Family has Killed Someone, and this book was a worthy addition to this series, especially with the new focus on heist fiction in addition to other comedic differences.

As with the previous books in the series, Everyone in this Bank is a Thief features a memorable and over-the-top cast of characters.  This includes series protagonist Ernest Cunningham, a writer and crime fiction expert who has accidently found himself in the middle of several murder investigations.  Attempting to continue his unlikely career as a professional detective, Ernest proves to be an intriguing and entertaining protagonist, especially with his cynical outlook on the world.  Much of the book’s humour comes from Ernest’s entertaining observations of the people around him, and he has a unique way of solving crimes that mocks traditional murder mysteries in all the best ways.  There is a compelling addictive element to Ernest’s need to solve crime in this latest novel, which often forces him to make some stupid decisions, and the author adds in some interesting and entertaining self-reflective moments that I quite enjoyed.  There is also and quite entertaining look at Ernest’s notoriety and semi-fame in wider society, which plays into the story in several fun ways, including making him a potential target for murder.  I loved how much Ernest has developed over the series, and this proved to be a great extra inclusion to his story.

The rest of the cast of Everyone in this Bank is a Thief is also quite impressive, with my favourite being Ernest’s patient fiancé, Juliette.  A strong-willed, intelligent supporting character who has been Ernest’s love interest since the first book, Juliette often finds herself trapped in these elaborate murder investigations alongside her partner.  Her latest outing in Everyone in this Bank is a Thief was particularly fun, as Stevenson used some interesting shenanigans to showcase Juliette’s feelings about Ernest’s antics, especially when he gets caught up in an investigation.  The real brains and emotional heart of this novel, Juliette was extremely awesome, and I love how well she complements Ernest as the protagonist.  The rest of the cast, the majority of whom are fellow hostages in the bank, also prove to be a ton of fun, especially as all of them are thieves in one way or another.  While I’m going to limit my discussion about these supporting characters to avoid spoilers, I will say that Stevenson came up with an awesomely eclectic group of suspects, red herrings and rogues here, and uncovering their associated ploys and schemes made for some great reading.

Overall, Everyone in this Bank is a Thief was outstanding fourth entry in the Ernest Cunningham series, and I had such an epic time getting through it.  Benjamin Stevenson has perfected his formula for highly entertaining murder mysteries, and the intricate blend of complex mystery, excellent humour and outrageous characters makes for quite an impressive read.  One of the best Australian crime fiction novels of 2025, Everyone in this Bank is a Thief comes very highly recommended, and I cannot wait to see what Stevenson writes next.

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