Ribbon Quest

Tea ceremony cozy fantasy

Revisado: 02-27-25

A Coup of Tea is a tea-focused cozy fantasy, specifically a fantasy world version of Japanese tea ceremony. As an ex-princess, Miyara doesn't have many skills to survive but in this culture etiquette and knowledge of tea is valued. This is also a politics focused story, with a couple oppressed minorities, a city council, and a corrupt noble.

The main cast are varied and enjoyable. I had trouble following a few moments but not enough to disrupt the story as a whole. I think it's the type of book that benefits from a reread.

The Audible preview is the most formal part of the book and not representative of the story as a whole. Don't put off reading because it feels too stifling like I did.

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Kill them with Craftiness

Revisado: 06-21-24

Ever stabbed yourself with a sewing needle and it hurts real bad? Now scale that up to the point where it can kill a wolf in one hit. You get the idea.

Gwen is your standard "Earth person reincarnated in a fantasy world" protagonist, except she got a crafting class instead of anything heroic. She sets out to fight monsters and save her town anyway, teaming up with a similarly-minded Butcher girl. It's fun seeing them use their skills for unconventional purposes and turn monster parts into equipment to get stronger.

Descriptions of monster butchering aren't too graphic but the especially squeamish may wish to pass. The audiobook is very fast, to the point where I had to reduce the speed to x.9. Some voices are annoying, especially the "system" voice, but overall it's fine.

The ending is inconclusive enough to be frustrating but it's not a hard cliffhanger.

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So you want to start a cult

Revisado: 12-15-23

If most LitRPGs are like Dungeons and Dragons or role-playing video games, Goddess Reborn is a board game. Sammy's initial followers are whoever happened to be speaking in front of a mirror when she was looking around. They're scattered around several countries where an anti-religion group called the Dominion hold sway. Sammy tries to keep her pawns on the board, gain new ones, and move the pieces closer together, all while avoiding the notice of the Dominion and more powerful gods.

Sammy the isekai protagonist is a college student who's into Tarot and swears a lot. I'm not a Tarot enthusiast so I can't say if the Tarot elements are well done, but at least some of it is intentionally bad. The system running this world didn't bother getting it right and Sammy gets annoyed it's so simplistic here.

Sammy also has her public persona as Samantha, Virgin Goddess of Mirrors. This persona has a soothing voice and comes off as sweet and innocent. In spreading her influence and hiding her identity, she develops even more personas, all very different.

The system messages are very repetitive. Every time Sammy gains a new follower, there are four lines of system text. When she gets daily faith points for followers, a message is given for each one until she fixes it to just give a total. I suspect this book would be an hour or two shorter if the system messages were pruned down.

The audiobook has two readers. The female reader voices all female characters and all general narration. The male reader voices all male characters as well as the system messages. They both do a wide variety of accents/voices. Some characters are a little quieter than others but mostly the production is solid and even.

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esto le resultó útil a 1 persona

Fantasy sanitation worker

Revisado: 12-05-23

If you ever wanted to be a sanitation worker in a fantasy world, this is the book for you. Clyde wants to be a Robin Hood type but fights a lot of mud and poo covered stuff along the way.

Clyde comes off as sarcastic and disinterested. The game system is disinterested and uses outdated slang, which comes off as sarcastic. Most other characters are disbelieving of Clyde's ignorance of the world... and express that with sarcasm.

The game system is my favorite character.

The fantasy sanitation system is actually pretty interesting but that's not exactly what I'm looking for in a book.

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Coming of age... again

Revisado: 12-05-23

A twenty-something woman from Earth is reborn in a fantasy world. Reborn in the most literal sense. It's not written in gross detail but there is a first person childbirth scene from the perspective of the baby. This is one of those books that is about a child but isn't for children. It covers the first twelve or thirteen years of Alanna's life but she has a young adult's capacity for using bad words.

The first third of the book is set on a farm, which is very exciting for a fantasy farming fanatic like me. Alanna has to learn girl chores like washing dishes or sweeping, but sometimes the farm needs all hands on deck. She also sometimes goes foraging in the forest with her brothers. Once her magic is discovered, training with the local wizard takes up much of her time.

Alanna is a bard and it's very much the utility caster type. She learns some healing, create food, create water, and other minor spells that another spellcaster could do better. Magic is rare in this world, so that "other spellcaster" is rarely an option.

I found it hard to keep track of Alanna's physical age. The narrative reminds us sometimes but she has the mind of an adult so she feels older. The book occasionally changes from Alanna's perspective to other characters, still first person. The character is made clear at the start of each section and the voices are distinct. A small child won't be told everything, so it helps give context for things happening around her.

The worldbuilding is cool. Border farms, small towns, big cities, and everything in between all feel distinctly different. Two religious sects are fleshed out as well as several professions. It also has, quite honestly, the most interesting take on fantasy world birth control I've ever read.

There is no grand climax or resolution in this book, but also no cliffhanger. It definitely feels like a web serial. The author's Goodreads lists five books currently.

The audio sample includes a lot of really annoying shouting. That never returns after the prologue. Don't let it deter you from enjoying this audiobook.

Content warning: Pregnancy loss

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Hugs, Tea Parties, and Adventure

Revisado: 12-05-23

Threadbare is the most Adorable golem you've ever met. He has so many levels in the Adorable skill, you might have to pass a Willpower check to not turn to mush in his presence.

Being a newly created toy golem, Threadbare cannot read the system prompts that invade his vision. He has no mouth so he cannot talk to his girl or anyone else to ask questions. Nodding in response to questions seems to make the little girl happy. Thinking "yes" makes the text disappear. Threadbare is the most agreeable little guy.

The premise is adorable but there is a lot of swearing in Stuff and Nonsense, so don't pick it up for young kids. It's more appropriate for teens and adults who want something cute but cheeky.

It's not all hugs and tea parties though. Threadbare has many adventures - on his own, with his girl, and even with the family's very large housecat.

Be cautioned this book ends on a cliffhanger. You'll want more but thankfully this is a complete series, at six books.

The audio is great. The narrator would be right at home reading a Winnie the Pooh or Paddington story. Which makes it even funnier when he cusses.

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Farm is always busy, even if you aren't farming

Revisado: 09-30-23

This book feels a lot more frantic than the first, as Arnold is juggling so many projects. Even delegating, he has tons of meetings to get updates and make decisions. Most of the characters we met in the first book return, so I recommend reading them back to back. It's really satisfying seeing Arnold work to resolve his farm projects and figure out what he might want to do next.

I don't know if more books are planned, but this book has a good ending if it is indeed the end.

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Social-focused LitRPG

Revisado: 09-30-23

This is a system-heavy LitRPG with an unusual focus on social skills. There is the standard dungeon diving but local politics and intrigue take center stage. Kandis's early adventuring party is pretty weak personality-wise but we get some more interesting characters later on.

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The tale of a boy and his dog... er elf and dragon

Revisado: 08-31-23

A civil engineer gets pulled into an elf body in another world where elves are an oppressed race. While the subtitle says to expect kingdom building, it takes two thirds of the book to get to it.

Elf Empire combines whimsy, modern American quips, and high fantasy.
* Whimsy: Leo befriends a dragon who acts like a large dog and there are humanoid rabbit folk.
* Quips: He introduces "that's what she said" to this world, among other things.
* High fantasy: Dragons, golems, orcs, wargs, elves, etc. All the staples.

The game system of this world isn't the default/generic type some LitRPG sticks to and Leo struggles to figure it out. It's creative and gives the "alien world" feel... but I tuned most of it out after a couple minutes of listing ability options at the first level. Most of the time the author sticks to detailing only the relevant parts, thankfully.

While the world starts fairly light, we soon get into very heavy topics including racism, slavery, genocide, sexual assault, ableism, and gruesome violence.

Audiobook: Characters yell at each other a lot, which the narrator depicts by yelling farther away from the microphone. It doesn't hurt your ears but it draws attention from the book to the medium itself. Each major character has a distinct voice and Leo has two - a posh British elf speaking voice and an American inner voice.

There are a few errors that made it into the audiobook recording, where "Leo" and "Lily" get mixed up. Always in a "you know what they mean" context but it will annoy sticklers.

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Slice of life gaming

Revisado: 08-29-23

This is the slice of life breather book, after all the stress James has been dealing with lately. That makes it my favorite. Some light PVP, dungeon building, cool abilities and gear, real world social interactions, and James and Rue even get to experience DCO as players. It's a downright cozy video game experience!

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