SEPTEMBER READS

Even though I participated in yet another readathon, some changes to my work schedule and other things I had going on made September fly by and kept me from finishing a couple of things I'd meant to get to. 

1. FOUR SCORED


This was a 5/5 for me

Andrew D. Meredith did it again with the second entry into his NEEDLE AND LEAF series. It's not perfect, but I just love this world and the characters that live in it. Things got a lot more ambitious this time around and I can't wait to see where future books go. 
 

2. The Alloy of Law


4/5 for a solidly entertaining return to Scadriel

Although I can see how this second era is a little divisive among fans of the original trilogy, I found myself really enjoying the new characters and new take on this familiar setting. Little tweaks to the magic system(s) in this world also kept these aspects fresh while still making some fun callbacks to the previous books. 


3. Ascendant


A fun 4/5 read

Although Cahill's dragon rider fantasy didn't fully work for me, I ended up having a lot of fun with Miller's take on the subgenre. Things can be a little tropey in some regards, but I felt as though the pacing and execution of this story made for a very enjoyable read. I also appreciated how the ending serves as both a satisfying conclusion to the adventure as well as an intriguing setup for the next books in the series, which I will likely be continuing. The audio performance for this one is superb, so I hope that remains to be the case with the sequels as well. 
 

4. NPCs


A fun 4/5 read

Even though I found the tabletop RPG elements of the story to be a bit distracting, I ultimately ended up enjoying the creativity of what the author is doing with the characters and world. There are some fun ideas on display here coupled with a competent audio performance. I don't know if I will continue with the series, but I am glad I got to experience this adventure and finally sample some of Hayes' work. 
 

BONUS: Agile 2 (Chapters 4-5)


This is still sitting somewhere within the  2/5-3/5 range for me

I continued on with this book early on in the month and then kind of stalled out a bit. The next couple of chapters did improve somewhat for me, but I still feel like the authors are so afraid of coming across as too prescriptive that they barely give any advice at all even though they clearly have opinions on how things should be. I do plan to continue, it's just hard to find the motivation to pick this up especially now that I have to spend part of the week in the office, meaning more of my time is eaten up by work when it comes to my commute. 

Going into October, I want to finish TRESS OF THE EMERALD SEA and also get to a couple other things I've been anticipating. I don't know how much I will realistically get through, but I intend to take the time I need to enjoy what I do read. 

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