Happy Friday everybody! It’s been a couple of weeks!
First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.
What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?
If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:
📚 Take a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open it to the first page 📝 Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first 📙 Finally… reveal the book!
Here are the first lines:
Welcome, crawler to the third floor.
The previous level will collapse in 3 hours and 35 minutes.
Do you know the book? If not, here are a few clues for you…
Still have no idea? Here’s another hint to help you out…
Are you still thinking about it? That’s all right – here are some great pictures of books to admire while you consider it some more…
Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman!
(Didja guess it?)
Carl’s Doomsday Scenario by Matt Dinniman
SERIES: Dungeon Crawler Carl #2
LENGTH: 364 pages
GENRES: Fantasy, Science Fiction, LitRPG, Fiction
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY: Dandy House
ORIGINALLY RELEASED: 6 January 2021
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
Join Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as they fight fantastical creatures and deadly mobs to make it to the next level and build the kind of fan following the dungeon masters can’t ignore in the second book in the smash-hit Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman – now with bonus material exclusive to this print edition.
“Greetings, Crawlers! The training levels have concluded. Now the games may truly begin.”
The aliens have come, and they’ve transformed Earth into a multilevel, video game–like dungeon. It’s the newest season of the galaxy’s most watched game show, Dungeon Crawler World. Now on the third floor, Carl and Donut have to fight harder than ever. They’ve already proven that a Coast Guard vet and once-and-forever feline royalty are an almost unstoppable team. Their ratings are off the charts. Viewers can’t get enough. But the dungeon gets more dangerous each day, and now there’s a whole new problem to deal with: Quests.
They call it the Over City. A sprawling, once-thriving metropolis devastated by a mysterious calamity. But these streets are far from abandoned. An undead circus trawls the ruins. Murdered women rain from the sky. An ancient spell is finally ready to reveal its dark purpose. Can Carl and Donut solve the mystery in time?
And can Carl finally find some pants?
Includes part two of the exclusive bonus story “Backstage at the Pineapple Cabaret.”
What books have you been reading lately? What’s on your TBR that you’re currently the most excited about?
As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you have an awesome day/night!
Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings (and was previously hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine where it was known as Waiting on Wednesday) to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. They’re usually books that have not yet been released.
This week’s book is:
Platform Decay by Martha Wells! 📺🛸
It’s a new Murderbot Diaries books! I’m so excited!
Happy Wednesday to all! I hope you’ve had a great day!
But yeah, Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings (and was previously hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine where it was known as Waiting on Wednesday) to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. They’re usually books that have not yet been released.
I don’t want to detract from this book, but I also recently discovered that Patrick Ness is releasing Piper at the Gates of Dusk, which is the first book in a new trilogy called The New World, which is a continuation of his Chaos Walking universe – a trilogy of books that I absolutely adore. I even did a post about how much I love it a while back.
Anyway, I’m not sure how I feel about it. I’m somewhat excited and interested, of course, but it’s been a long time since Chaos Walking (I’m not even getting into that terrible movie adaptationthing that doesn’t exist). But yeah, I’m interested in it, but I’m not sure when or if I’m gonna read it – the Chaos Walking trilogy had a great ending. All I needed to know was what happened to Todd and Viola afterwards, and seeing as the plot summary says they’re married with kids, I’m pretty good.
But yeah, into another awesome looking book – and the one I’m highlighting for this week’s Can’t-Wait Wednesday – The Subtle Art of Folding Space!
The Subtle Art of Folding Space, is the exhilarating debut science fiction novel from Nebula and Hugo-winning author John Chu channels unhinged physics, generational trauma, and the comfort of really good dim sum. This isn’t your usual jaunt through quantum physics.
Ellie’s universe, and this one, is falling apart. Her ailing mother is in a coma; her sister, Chris, accuses her of being insufficiently Chinese between assassination attempts; and a shadowy cabal of engineers is trying to hijack the skunkworks, the machinery that keeps the physics of each universe working the way it’s supposed to.
Daniel, Ellie’s cousin, has found an illicit device in the skunkworks – one that keeps Ellie’s comatose mother alive while also creating destabilizing bugs in the physics of this universe. It’s not a good day.
If she can confront her mother’s legacy and overcome her family’s generational trauma, she just might find a way to preserve the skunkworks and reconcile with her sister… but digging into her family’s past is thornier than it seems, and the secrets she uncovers will force Ellie to choose between her family and the universe itself.
Are you looking forward to The Subtle Art of Folding Space? What books are coming out in the near future that you’re looking forward to?
As always, thank you all so much for reading and have a fantastic day/night!
Hey all and Happy Friday! It’s been a few weeks since I last did this.
First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.
What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?
If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:
📚 Take a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open it to the first page 📝 Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first 📙 Finally… reveal the book!
Here are the first lines:
The transformation occurred at approximately 2:23 AM, Pacific Standard Time. As far as I could tell, anyone who was indoors when it happened died instantly.
Know the book? If not here are a few clues…
Still got no idea? Here’s an extra hint or two to help you out…
Are you still thinking about it? All good – here are some lovely pictures of books to admire while you do so…
Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman!
The apocalypse will be televised! Welcome to the first book in the wildly popular and addictive Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman—now with bonus material exclusive to this print edition.
You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what’s worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic intergalactic game show. That’s what.
Join Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as they try to survive the end of the world—or just get to the next level—in a video game–like, trap-filled fantasy dungeon. A dungeon that’s actually the set of a reality television show with countless viewers across the galaxy. Exploding goblins. Magical potions. Deadly, drug-dealing llamas. This ain’t your ordinary game show.
Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the Dungeon. Survival is optional. Keeping the viewers entertained is not.
What books have you been reading lately? What’s on your TBR that you’re currently the most excited about?
As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you have an awesome day/night!
“Sometimes you need to take things on faith,” she said quietly. “Even if you think you have no faith left, I promise you, you do. All of you do. It’s easier, I think, to stay lost. But when you’re found, when you open your eyes, you can finally see the truth for what it is.”
RELEASE DATE: 26 October 2018 (e-book only) / re-released 4 February 2025 (for print)
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
A spine-tingling standalone novel by bestselling author TJ Klune – a supernatural road-trip thriller featuring an extraordinary young girl and her two unlikely protectors on the run from cultists and the government.
There’s nothing more human than a broken heart.
In the spring of 1995, Nate Cartwright has lost everything: his parents are dead, his only brother wants nothing to do with him, and he’s been fired from his job as a journalist in Washington, DC.
With nothing left to lose, he returns to his family’s summer cabin outside the small mountain town of Roseland, Oregon, to try and find some sense of direction. The cabin should be empty. It’s not.
Inside is a man named Alex. And with him is an extraordinary ten-year-old girl who calls herself Artemis Darth Vader. Artemis, who isn’t exactly as she appears.
Soon it becomes clear that Nate must make a choice: let himself drown in the memories of his past, or fight for a future he never thought possible. Because the girl is special. And forces are descending upon them who want nothing more than to control her.
My Review
I didn’t get that. Not before, Art had told him. I don’t think any of us did. Not until they felt a heart beating in a chest like I have. Not until I felt the bones beneath my skin. We’re not alike. Not really. We’re separated by time and space. And yet, somehow, we’re all made of dust and stars.
The Bones Beneath My Skin has been on my TBR for about a year, and I’m very glad I finally got around to reading it. It was weird and wonderful and exhilarating to read, and I had a pretty good time with it.
It’s been awhile since I’ve read TJ Klune, which was a large part of why I finally wanted to read this. I read and reviewed both The House in the Cerulean Sea and In the Lives of Puppets almost three years ago now, in 2023. Far too long to go without reading a TJ Klune novel, and I’m glad I finally rectified it. I didn’t enjoy this one quite as much as the other two, but it’s still a bit of a banger, and a must-read for fans of Klune’s other works.
Alex reached down and picked up his rifle, snapping it free from the harness. Nate grabbed a dropped metal baton.
“You know how to use that?” Alex asked.
“It’s a stick,” Nate said. “You hit people with it.”
Anyway, the characters were definitely the highlight of this novel. Our POV main character is Nate Cartwright, a young journalist seeking a stay at his inherited cabin to clear his head and figure out where to go next, after suffering some devastating losses. He has the biggest character arc of the bunch, and I loved watching him fall into a found family with Alex and Art. Found families always seem to be one of Klune’s strong suits, and The Bones Beneath My Skin continues this trend.
The other two protagonists – Alex Delgado (not his real last name, but I’m not gonna spoil it) and Artemis Darth Vader – are also phenomenal. Art is especially a treat, and I loved her dialogue. The established father-daughter dynamic was also wonderful, and I enjoyed all of their interactions. The interplay only gets better once Nate started being drawn in – these three are a fantastic trio. Some of my favorite scenes in the book are just the three of them hanging around the cabin doing stuff and talking. The chemistry and dialogue between everyone is also off the charts.
“You’re not toast,” she said. “You can be Nathaniel Cartwright. Then you can be someone else. And then if you don’t like it, you can be Nathaniel Cartwright again. You’re not toast. Bread doesn’t have a choice. You do.”
“Jesus Christ,” he muttered.
I also liked a couple of the minor characters, when though they don’t really appear much, or hold a lot of impact to the story. Eddie the gas station guy was great, and I also really liked Nate’s former coworker Ruth. I would have liked to see more of them, because I really liked the scenes with them and Nate, but I understand why they didn’t appear all that often. They kind of felt like they were only there to move the plot forward, though, which is a little unfortunate.
The story is also very engaging, and the pace is perfect. I like how the book starts off a little slower, and then around the halfway point, abruptly begins to ramp up. It just works so well.
The last third of the novel does slow down a bit though, and the plot feels like it goes on a little tangent for a bit, but it also feels necessary and connects nicely to the climax of the book. The ending was fine, but it didn’t hit right for me for some reason. I’m not sure why. It was still a solid read overall, however.
“I wondered what you would be like. Humans. What you would be capable of. How your minds would work. How your hearts would beat. You are animals. Fierce and wild. You are harsh and brutal and beautiful. There is no one like you in all the universe. You have the power for such destruction within you. And such joy. It’s a dichotomy that shouldn’t exist, and yet here it is. Within you. Within all of you.”
But yeah, I quite enjoyed The Bones Beneath My Skin and, as I mentioned above, I’m glad that I finally got around to reading it. Fans of softer sci-fi, aliens, found family, books with LGBT+ stuff, and of course – fans of TJ Klune – will probably like this novel.
As always, thank you to everyone so much for reading, and I hope you have an awesome day/night!
Two weeks in a row with this! Happy Friday everyone!
First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.
What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?
If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:
📚 Take a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open it to the first page 📝 Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first 📙 Finally… reveal the book!
Here are the first lines:
He sang along with the radio.
Something about taking a sad song and making it better.
After, he laughed until he could barely breathe.
Know the book? If not, here’s another hint or two…
Still not know? Here are some wonderful photos of books to look at while you consider it a bit longer…
Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 The Bones Beneath My Skin by TJ Klune!
RELEASE DATE: 26 October 2018 (e-book only) / re-released 4 February 2025 (for print)
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
A spine-tingling standalone novel by bestselling author TJ Klune – a supernatural road-trip thriller featuring an extraordinary young girl and her two unlikely protectors on the run from cultists and the government.
There’s nothing more human than a broken heart.
In the spring of 1995, Nate Cartwright has lost everything: his parents are dead, his only brother wants nothing to do with him, and he’s been fired from his job as a journalist in Washington, DC.
With nothing left to lose, he returns to his family’s summer cabin outside the small mountain town of Roseland, Oregon, to try and find some sense of direction. The cabin should be empty. It’s not.
Inside is a man named Alex. And with him is an extraordinary ten-year-old girl who calls herself Artemis Darth Vader. Artemis, who isn’t exactly as she appears.
Soon it becomes clear that Nate must make a choice: let himself drown in the memories of his past, or fight for a future he never thought possible. Because the girl is special. And forces are descending upon them who want nothing more than to control her.
What books have you been reading lately? What’s on your TBR that you’re currently the most excited about?
As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you have an awesome day/night!
Hey everyone and Happy Wednesday! It’s been a bit since I participated in a Wednesday (the day if the week) themed post.
Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings (and was previously hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine where it was known as Waiting on Wednesday) to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. They’re usually books that have not yet been released.
GENRES: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction
PUBLISHER: Tor Publishing
RELEASE DATE: 9 December 2025
BOOK DESCRIPTION:
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson―creator of The Stormlight Archive, the Mistborn saga, and countless bestselling works of science fiction and fantasy―comes Tailored Realities, a new short fiction collection including the never-before-published novella Moment Zero.
Spanning the genres of fantasy and science fiction, this collection features stories from beyond the bounds of Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere universe.
Along with the never-before-seen novella “Moment Zero,” Tailored Realities will include “Snapshot,” “Perfect State,” “Defending Elysium” (a novella set within the world of Skyward), and five other stories that were originally published individually elsewhere—never before collected into one volume, and many never before available in print.
Are you looking forward to Tailored Realities? What other books are coming out in the next few weeks that you’re looking forward to?
As always, thank you all so much for reading and have a fantastic day/night!
Hey everyone, Happy Wednesday! It’s been a couple of weeks since one of these from me, but there are still books coming out lately that I’m interested in!
Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Tressa @ Wishful Endings (and was previously hosted by Jill @ Breaking the Spine where it was known as Waiting on Wednesday) to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about that we have yet to read. They’re usually books that have not yet been released.
A highly anticipated, sweeping debut set in a unified Korea that tells the story of three estranged siblings—two human, one robot—as they collide against the backdrop of a murder investigation to settle old scores and make sense of their shattered childhood, perfect for fans of Klara and the Sun and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves.
In a reunified Korea of the future, robots have been integrated into society as surrogates, servants, children, and even lovers. Though boundaries between bionic and organic frequently blur, these robots are decidedly second-class citizens. Jun and Morgan, two siblings estranged for many years, are haunted by the memory of their lost brother, Yoyo, who was warm, sensitive, and very nearly human.
Jun, a war veteran turned detective of the lowly Robot Crimes Unit in Seoul, becomes consumed by an investigation that reconnects him with his sister Morgan, now a prominent robot designer working for a top firm, who is, embarrassingly, dating one of her creations in secret.
On the other side of Seoul in a junkyard filled with abandoned robots, eleven-year-old Ruijie sifts through scraps looking for robotic parts that might support her failing body. When she discovers a robot boy named Yoyo among the piles of trash, an unlikely bond is formed since Yoyo is so lifelike, he’s unlike anything she’s seen before.
While Morgan prepares to launch the most advanced robot-boy of her career, Jun’s investigation sparks a journey through the underbelly of Seoul, unearthing deeper mysteries about the history of their country and their family. The three siblings must find their way back to each other to reckon with their pasts and the future ahead of them in this poignant and remarkable exploration of what it really means to be human.
Are you looking forward to the release of Luminous? What other books are coming out in the next few weeks that you’re looking forward to?
As always, thank you all so much for reading and have a fantastic day/night!
From award-winning authors Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone comes an enthralling, romantic novel spanning time and space about two time-traveling rivals who fall in love and must change the past to ensure their future.
Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, becomes something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.
Except the discovery of their bond would mean the death of each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win. That’s how war works, right?
Cowritten by two beloved and award-winning sci-fi writers, This Is How You Lose the Time War is an epic love story spanning time and space.
My Review
Words can wound-but they’re bridges, too. (Like the bridges that are all that Genghis left behind.) Though maybe a bridge can also be a wound? To paraphrase a prophet: Letters are structures, not events. Yours give me a place to live inside.
Oh my stars. I finally read it. I finally read This is How You Lose the Time War. And though it wasn’t the five star – or even four and a half star – read that I was kinda expecting it to be, I still greatly enjoyed it and am very glad I read it.
I’ve been peripherally aware of this novella for years; since sometime in 2020, I believe. But it didn’t quite catch my attention until the Bigolas Dickolas Incident of 2023 on Twitter (sorry “X”). If you know, you know. And like, I actually found out about it on Twitter (not sorry “X”) from the actual Twitter thread it occurred on, as opposed to like an article or YouTube video first. So it’s been on my TBR since this time – it’s just taken me forever to get around to reading it. And I finally did!
Out of all the things about this book, I think the two main characters are probably one of the strongest aspects of the book (we’ll get to the other in a bit). But it would have to be, in order for the book to be this compelling, considering how character focused it is. Which is very, by the way. This is a very character focused story – it’s all about how two characters interact with each other and how this ignites change in both of them.
Words can wound – but they’re bridges, too. (Like the bridges that are all that Genghis left behind.) Though maybe a bridge can also be a wound? To paraphrase a prophet: Letters are structures, not events. Yours give me a place to live inside.
Out of the two of them, I’d probably consider 🍓 Red ❤️ to be the technical main character. She has the most chapters, and a pretty decent chunk of the plot of the This is How You Lose the Time War is her character arc front and center. I also think that I preferred her over the two of them, I loved how long and emotive her letters to Blue were, and loved her personality.
The deuteragonist, 🫐 Blue 💙, was also a pretty fun and interesting character, and I was surprised she wasn’t my favorite considering I prefer the color blue to red in real life. But, I dunno, I guess I just didn’t like her letters as much. Especially at first. But I guess the less emotions in her letters (particularly in her first ones and compared to Red’s) just shows that she’s a bit more reserved about her feelings than Red is, even if Blue was the first to reach out.
Regarding the plot… I’d say that I definitely preferred the characters to it by a pretty good amount. The 📖 plot 📖 just wasn’t as strong, and for almost half the book, feels pretty nonexistent. This changes in the second half of course, and an incident close to the end makes you consider the amount of plot actually happening in the first half in a new way. But it’s still extremely light in the book’s first half. Which is why I was really happy when it did feel like plot was finally happening; in some ways, the beginning of this book was kind of a slog for me to get through.
There’s a kind of time travel in letters, isn’t there? I imagine you laughing at my small joke; I imagine you groaning; I imagine you throwing my words away. Do I have you still? Do I address empty air and the flies that will eat this carcass? You could leave me for five years, you could return never-and I have to write the rest of this not knowing.
I liked the budding🌹 romance 💘 here well enough. Red and Blue had a surprising amount of chemistry for two people who hadn’t properly met. Their letters to each other were also beautiful, though I really had to suspend my disbelief in some of their construction. I also found the pet names to get a little annoying after awhile. However, I thought the varied terms of address in the letters’ salutations to be awesome.
The 🖋️ writing 📃 was actually what I felt to be the strongest part of This is How You Lose the Time War. Yes, the character interaction and development was crucial to this story. But I think the novella’s writing is what actually carries it for me. The 💜 purple prose 💜 here is lyrical and lovely and so intricately written. This is some of the best purple prose I’ve read in a while, actually. I had so much trouble choosing quotes that I liked for this review. There was just too much great writing here.
But maybe this is how we win, Red.
You and me.
This is how we win.
So yeah, even though it wasn’t a perfect hit for me, I still greatly loved this book. And I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested, especially to those who like well-written science fiction and romance. Even if you’re not usually into sapphic fiction, I still encourage you to give this one a shot.
As always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have an amazing day/night!
First Line Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers (formerly) hosted by Wandering Words, but I saw it over at One Book More.
What if instead of judging a book by the cover, author or most everything else, we judged it by its content? Its first lines?
If you want to join in, all you gotta do is:
📚 Take a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open it to the first page 📝 Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first 📙 Finally… reveal the book!
Here are the first lines:
When Red wins, she stands alone.
Blood slicks her hair. She breathes out steam in the last night of this dying world.
Do you know the book? If you don’t, here’s a few more hints…
Still not know what it is? Ruminate on it a bit more whilst admiring these nice pictures of books…
Annnd the book is… 🥁🥁 This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone!!
From award-winning authors Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone comes an enthralling, romantic novel spanning time and space about two time-traveling rivals who fall in love and must change the past to ensure their future.
Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, becomes something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future.
Except the discovery of their bond would mean the death of each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win. That’s how war works, right?
Cowritten by two beloved and award-winning sci-fi writers, This Is How You Lose the Time War is an epic love story spanning time and space.
What books have you been reading lately? What’s on your TBR that you’re currently the most excited about?
As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you have an amazing day/night!
