Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree

 

    Love this book to death. It starts with friends having a drink. Or two. Something I am very familiar with, as a lover of Tequila, especially in the Shots form. And sometimes you hit that point in the night, where you just want to crawl away and find somewhere to sleep it off. 

    That is exactly what Fern, a rattkin, in the fabulous world Travis has created in 3 fabulous books.so far, Fern finds a wagon bed to sleep it off only to wake up and fine the wagon on the move. And away the adventure begins, 

     Character driven series, not an Epic Fantasy in any stretch of the imagination, just those little battle we find ourselves fighting within ourselves,  In a way, Travis has a bit of Dostoevsky in him, if Dostoevsky had grown up in sunny Tahiti and not dreary Russia,   

     The Breadknives in the tittle refers to one particular concept character that is simply brilliant, you have to read the book to access it on your own, but a am positive you will agree with me. The character warmed every cell in my body.

Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots

 

   
This book was a pleasant surprise. Who knew working for a Super Villain could be such a tough job. 

Anna Tromedlov, the temp that could, would have been one of the faceless clipboard holders in the background if you’d been taken to a supervillain’s lair while they plotted your demise. But Anna caught the attention of her boss, The Leviathan, with her strong work ethic and a devious plan that brought bad press to her boss' arch enemy. Superglider. 

   it was a great listen if you want to go the audiobook route, The performance of the book by Ales McKenna was a big part of the pleasure I had experience as I travel back and forth this month on the Skytrain , listening to the tale of Anna as she balanced life and work. A sequel is planned to be publish in May of 2026, 

Singularity trap by Dennis E Taylor.

 

        I had this title since 2015 and a funny thing happened. I began to hate the word "Singularity." as certain right wing-nut began to talk about the "Singularity." Like all the time. And had no idea what he meant by that other than it became a word that ended any discussion on any subject. 

       So this book just sat there on the App for nearly a decade. Now I am a bit mad at my  not so sub-conscience mind for the delay in the listen. A great book about a down on his luck family man trying to strike it rich in the field of space mining. But a mistake on an asteroid changed all that. 

      As a member of First Contact genre, this is about as original as they come. And at the time of this review 3/1 Atlas is making a drive by in our system and to read a this book in November of 2025 felt so right.

     I have yet to not love a single Dennis E Taylor book. If you are a fan of Andy Weir or Douglas Adams, you need to add Dennis E Taylor in your reading rotation. Plus his audiobooks are performed by the fabulous Ray Porter, one of the best in the business. Also,  Dennis E Taylor's  books are  incredibly cheap. Take a chance on an author who keeps his ebooks below $7 as a rule. 

Warlord Chronicles : An Arthurian Myth Re-Telling by Bernard Cornwell

    I have decided to spend the last half of 2025 to do a read of all the latest takes of the King Arthur myth. First up is the always reliable Bernard Cornwell, someone who I spend last year reading his Last Kingdom, figuring it would take 4 months to get thru. It took me 2 months to read the  13 books in the series, Mr. Cornwell write in a very readable way, I want to say literary popcorn. 

     So I headed out to Big Bad Wolf  Book Fair here in Bangkok, Thailand,  My main goal was to find some Graphic Novels in the Thai language, I was successful in that, but they also had table upon tables of books in the English language,  And they had all 3 books in Bernard Cornwell Arthurian tale. I took that as a sign. 

     The tale is told thru the eyes of Derfel, In the series Derfel goes from an orphan taken in by Merlin to a Lord in the service of King Arthur. Hey, I am a sucker for the orphan does good trope, Defer is the POV that is used to spend the tale. Mr. Cornwell write in his afterword that he sought out the earliest tales of Arthur to find characters who have drop out of the story with the passage of time. One such character is Nimue, who play a major role in the life of Derfel. More than Merlin.   If your a fan of Lancelot, be forewarned, Lancelot is portrayed as the greatest traitor in English history. 

     Next up in the reading list will be Giles Kristain's take of the Arthurian tale. 

The Devils by Joe Abercrombie

    I will put it out there that I am one of Joe Abercrombie's biggest fans, I have read every book published by Joe and have been pre-ordering his books since Half a King, the YAD Viking inspired Shattering Seas series. I have met Joe at a signing and he was a nice as could be, so nice I thought He was going to pitch me a timeshare. 

     The Devils has a simple plot, one of the oldest literary tropes there is, The Quest. Now, the quest plot combined with the collection of a rag tag group of heroes are right in my reading wheelhouse.  Joe turns the trope upside down by inserting a highly unlikely group of questers. This is kind of a hallmark of Joe's books, he take previous character types and turns them on their heads.  

     The Devils  worldbuilding is fairly simple. Troy did not fall, and Rome did not ascend. Hector beat Achilles  and Troy did not fall for the wooden horse trick. And the Messiah was a woman killed on a wheel. The story takes place after a split in the church and the heroes are enlisted to install a Princess on the breakaway empire in a bid to unite. 

    As the series continues you will get more backstory on the the devils. Joe has brought us character most readers are familiar with, a Vampire, Cursed Knight, a mercenary Pirate and friend to the knight, an Elf, Werewolf. Necromancer aka magician and a bookish monk. Each charged with the duty of getting a street urchin to  Troy and install her as princess. Joe writes in his fabulous humorous style, bringing life to the characters.

     If you liked The Devils and wish to find similar authors who write with a humorous style, I recommend Davis Wragg and  J. .Zachary Pike. 

   

Barkskin by Annie Proulx

     This book took me back to my young reading years,  Yes, before I had even graduated High School. For I was a big fan of James A Michener and doorstop sprawling novels  on Alaska, Chesapeake, and Hawaii to name just a few. Fell in love with those stories that spanned centuries and gave you a sketch of how it was and came to be.. I do not know if these books hold up today, but back then those book filled up a lot of my reading time.

     Annie Proulx's Barkskins  take two Frenchman who are one of the first in New France AKA North Atlantic Coast America,  The tale takes you from the first beaver pelt traders to climate change scientists, The tale spans centuries, mostly focused on Forestry and the exploitation of that natural resource, Some time spans are given short shift, but the time periods seem to be tied to innovations or explorations of the Forestry industry, The readers follows the two sides of the family tree, the French side and the Native American side, The two side share in heartbreak and tragedies, but the Native American side gets the worst it, losing both land and culture. While the French side gains wealth with each century, 

    Ms. Proulx's writing style is always first rate. Beautifully written, the reader experiences both the hopelessness and the hope of each character, Both the chapters and the decades quickly passed as I devoured the book dur to readability and story arcs. 

    I first gain interest in reading this book due to the  National Geographics TV series of the same name. So a Shout out to NG for greenlighting a the TV series and alerting me to this fine story, 

     

  M.R. Carey is one of my favorite authors. Every book Carey has written I have truly enjoyed. This first foray into Fantasy is no exception. The plot is a very reliable trope in the hands of a skilled writer, A Mage is threating a village, and the villagers seek help from a rat tag team of misfits, What Carey has done is expanded the misfit tags. 

  The tale starts first in a very episodic nature. In fact, it put me in the mind of Grimm Brothers' Fairy Tales, the grim ones, not the cleaned-up versions.  The setting is England during the shaky reign of King Stephen, no relation. This Mage has a plan to move up in the world filled with chaos. He discovers an ancient magical source buried under a newly conquered castle. To harness that power for himself requires things to get rather nasty. 

    That one of the things I loved about the book, It keep surprising me in the direction it took. I can't tell you too much because most of the joy is in the reveals, which are quite interesting. All the sources Carey uses to bring the tale to the reader is simply amazing to me. 

   If you are a fan of M.R, Carey, be sure to put this on your reading radar. IF you have not read any of Carey's works, you need to correct that oversight. 

Are the Dodgers Ruining Baseball? Short Answer, NO. Long Answer, See Below.

     First, a bit of History. I know that there is a large portion of the baseball community if it hasn't happened within a week ago, it does not matter. But bear with me, First, Ohtani announced He would opt out of his Angel's contract., the Dodgers sat on their wallets for 2 years in 2022 and 2023. Despite the fact they had needs. Dodgers got bounced from the first round both years in the playoffs because of this. 

     Dodgers were going to sign Ohtani no matter what. They had set up the roster with a load of expiring contracts in 2024 just so no matter how high the bidding went; the Dodgers would match and go beyond. Before you go all " Dodgers deferred all his salary" it was Ohtani who offered that. Why? Because Ohtani in a Unicorn. He was the only player who along with his ability to play baseball at a high level, Ohtani brought along a Market to expand to. Ohtani has off field endorsements that more than what the 70 million a year the Dodgers own. You combine Ohtani's New Balance contract with his Calvin Klein, those alone goes over the 70 million mark.

  

     The Dodgers did not invent the deferred contract. Check out the New York Mets and who gets deferred payments this year, I hope you all celebrate Bobby Bonilla Day. Mid-season the Mets will cut 62-year-old Bobby a 1 million dollar deferred check from his Mets playing days. And will continue to do so until 2035 when a final payment will be made to a 72-Year-old Bobby.  But there are two other player who get deferred payment in 2025. Adam Ottavino will get 500k this year until 2031, then Adam will get a final 1 million dollars. The last is the great Bret Saberhagen who get a cool 250k in 2025 until a final payment in 2028. I hope that 250k is not really needed by Brett, but if he had made a couple of bad financial decisions that 250k might come in handy, 

      The Dodgers are signing everyone one and it is not fair to the other teams seems to be the rallying cry on the internet. First to the idea there is not parity in baseball. Last year there was 3 team that were out of it mathematically in August. The Rockies, the White Sox and the A's. Everyone else was a hot win streak away from the last Wildcard slot. I remember in August the Reds got to within 3 games of the Brewers for the division led going into a home and away set of games. If the Reds had just gone 4-2 in the stretch the Reds would have been division leaders. But for some reason the Reds can't beat the Brewers when it matters most.  0-6 and dropped out of the division race and lost valuable ground in the Wildcard race. My point is that in August 3/4 of MLB teams had a chance to get into the playoffs in late August of 2024. 

    Don't blame the Dodgers for having a plan and executing it. The Padres were arguably the second-best team in the MLB last season and had the 4th best attendance record in 2024.  Do you think the Padres had a plan to build on that success in 2025?  I think the plan was for the Padres owners to pocket the profits from 2024, what do you think?  The Dodgers were the #1 team in attendance both at home and on the road. What better way to reward the fans who supported the Dodgers than by getting better and fixing the flaws in the 2024 team. Don't you wish you could see the plan your team has in place to become successful? 

     

 Because I can see the Dodger plans fairly clearly. First, the Dodger built redundancy into the roster, If August rolls around and the injury bug has not hit the Dodgers as hard as last year, they will have players to trade at the August deadline when teams are willing to give up prospects out of desperation. Second, the Dodgers have a lock down bullpen because every pitcher in the starter's rotation will have inning limits. The whole staff will be 6 innings at most, 5 2/3 innings will probably be the average, The Dodgers don't have one inning eater in the whole staff. 

   

     Well thank you for reading my rant. To all the fans of other teams I beg you to figure out what your team plans is to at least get that last wildcard slot. Because once you get in the post season anything can happen. I remember in 2023 Mookie Betts and Freddy Freeman combined for 1 hit in the series lost to the Padres which got them bounced out of the playoffs despite the Dodgers 107-win season. Nothing is written in stone yet. 

My Favorite Books of 2024. Part 2

     There are 5 books in continuing series that went beyond the trilogy model.  I was surprised when Michael J, Sullivan decided to return to his Literary Character Duo of Royce and Hadrian in Drumindor.  Released in November of 2024, and I really needed a return of old friends in light of November's events. Dennis E Taylor returned to the Bobiverse series with Not Til We Are Lost. Again, this installment had all the elements that makes this series so good, Humor, plot and thought-provoking dilemmas with Pop culture shout outs sprinkled throughout. If you are a fan of Douglas Adams and Andy Weir you will like Dennis E Taylor.

Finally, Christan Cameron came out with his 6th book in his Historical Fiction Chivalry series, Emperor's Sword. William Gold is the main character of this series, a person who gets 2 mentions in the Historical Records, once in a gaining his Knighthood on the battlefield and again decades later receiving some lands for rendered service, Cameron uses the empty spaces in the story to have Willian Gold turn up in all the struggles in Middle Age Italy, France and England. Nice to read and learn at the same time. There was 2 long running novella series that I was happy they got new installments. Penric & Desdemona series by Lois McMaster Bujold saw Penic and the Bandit added to the story of the Learned Penric. Anthony Ryan added Sword of Storms, the 6th novella in his Seven Sword series, if you are a fan of talking swords, you need to add this novella series. 

     I found four books starting new series that I found to be outstanding. Tide of the Black Steel by Anthony Ryan, and Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett, both who are authors I am a big fan of, came out with solid entertaining starts to new series. There were two new authors I found that had excellent starts to a new series. Silverblood Promise by James Logan and Mai Corland's Five Broken Blades had starling different settings but what they had in common was a quest plot with the gathering of the misfit characters to accomplish the long-arc goal, it is a literary trope I absolutely love. Both books pull off their quest trope in fine style.

     Finally, a shout out to the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, which I found in 2024 thanks to the Buzz. I was resistant to the hype at first because I am not a gamer, and I had a feeling I would miss a lot. I could not be more wrong. Believe the hype, it is well deserved.  

My Favorite Books That Came Out in 2024, I am sure I missed some. Part 1

     As a reading year, 2024 was very, very good to me. 2024 saw the return of one of my favorite tandem authors. I was rewarded with a few trilogies that got their concluding chapters. Others had the second book in the series that held on to the promise of the first book. And I had a few First in the series that knock my socks off. 

  My absolute favorite book of 2024 is the return of James SA Corey with a new series, I been waiting patiently for Dan & Ty's new series as their previous Expanse Series became my favorite Science Fiction series of the 21st Century, at least so far. Mercy of Gods deliver the goods, great characters, plot and pacing, 

     There were 3 series that came to an end in 2024 that left me well satisfied. Shauna Lawless concluded her Gael Song series with Land of the Living & the Dead. reads like Ancient Ireland Historical Fiction with Fantasy elements, Lawless imagines an obscure Irish historical figure as one infused with M powers from Irish Mythologies. It all works to keep a reader like me who likes the blend of Historical Fiction and Fantasy genre. Claire North Finished her Songs of Penelope series with Last Song of Penelope, a brilliant retelling of the Odysseus story which focus in on the women and goddesses mentioned but not expanded upon. Claire North took these brief mentions of Penelope in the Odysseus and gave her a more meaningful role in saving Ithaca. from the machinations of the suitors. John Gwynne finished his Norse inspired series The Bloodswore with Fury of the Gods. John Gwynne is one of the finest Epic fantasy writers around. All these writers have become favorites of mine and I look forward to whatever comes next. 

    I also had 4 novels of 2024 that continued the promise shown in the first in the series. My favorite book of 2023 was Mark Lawrence's Book That Wouldn't Burn and the second book in the Library series was just as good. The Book that Broke the World had everything I wanted in a second book. fleshed out the world. moved the plot along with adding some delicious twists. David Wragg's Company of the Wolf was the second book in the Tales of the Plaines series. It was Wragg's book cover that first led me to this author, who, for the life of me, I don't know why he is not more popular. If you are a fan of Joe Abercrombie, you should put Davis Wragg on your to be read list in 2025. M.R. Carey came out with his second book in the Pandominion series. I thought I was done with Quantum timelines, but Mr. Carey dragged me back in. This is the 3rd time Mr. Carey has done this, written a series in a sub-genre I thought had run out of new ideas. Another book I really liked in 2021 was Jay Kristoff's Enpire of the Vampire and in 2024 the second book in the series came out., Empire of the Damned did what a good second book should do, make me want the next book as soon as possible.