Book Review: Harley Quinn: Ravenous by Rachael Allen

Harley Quinn: Ravenous by Rachael Allen is the sequel to Harley Quinn: Reckoning and part of the DC Icons series. The DC Icons series has seven books so far and tells stories before the DC hero or villain became iconic. Harley Quinn is the first book in the DC Icons to get a sequel and eventual trilogy. Harley Quinn: Ravenous takes place 3 months after Harley Quinn: Reckoning. Harleeen Quinzel is now officially in college and still dealing with the repercussions that happened last year. This book like the last book starts with a flash-forward which we catch up to a little past the point midway in the book. This book is a little slower-paced than the first book at the beginning because Harleen is trying to be good but spoiler it won’t last for long. There’s a line from The Godfather, “Just when I think I’m out, they pull me back in” Harley is the antithesis of this since she pulls herself back in with her curiosity. The best part of the book is how well Rachael Allen captures the character of Harley. The jokes, the inner monologue, the bisexuality, the ADHD, and many more nuances of the one and only Harley Quinn. Harley interns at Arkham Asylum and we get to meet some villains, King Shark, Mr. Freeze, The Scarecrow, The Joker, The Riddler, and Talia al Ghul. We also meet 2 not yet villains in Poison Ivy and the Queen of Fables. The book is mainly a mystery much like the first book. The ending is exciting and leads the way to the final book called Harley Quinn: Redemption which will be available in Spring 2024. I was blown away when I read Harley Quinn: Reckoning and it made my top 10 books of last year, the follow-up Harley Quinn: Ravenous keeps the same solid writing and Harley Quinn personality that I loved, and I can not wait for the final book in the trilogy Harley Quinn: Redemption. Harley Quinn: Ravenous was published by Random House Books for Young Readers on April 25, 2023. I do want to thank Netgalley and Random House for giving me the first book to review Harley Quinn: Reckoning and introducing me to this series. I was not selected to read Harley Quinn: Ravenous for review, but fingers crossed for Harley Quinn Redemption.

Plot Summary: Harley Quinn has given up her rebellious ways and just wants to be a good student at Gotham University. She’s an intern at Arkham Asylum as she works on her psychology degree. She is still haunted by past actions like the murder of her best friend and her former girlfriend going to prison and knows an accomplice to the crimes is at Arkham Asylum. Harley gets assigned to Talia al Guhl and analyzes her brain waves to determine her age. Talia is in Arkham because of her recent assassination attempt on the mayor of Gotham. Talia sees a kindred spirit in Harley and tells of the Scarecrow who stalks Arkham at night and performs fear experiments on inmates. Talia comes up with a plan to stop the Scarecrow, but can she trust her? Harley is not alone and has a new friend in Pamela Isley who has her reasons to take down the Scarecrow.

What I Liked: How Harley Quinn the character is captured so beautifully. The flash-forward scene at the beginning is a great set-up to the mystery. The Harley and Ivy relationship is a thrill ride of longing and turmoil. I like that Harley clarifies that she is bisexual and does date both genders. I love King Shark’s character and how he is both vicious and sweet. I like how many easter eggs are thrown in for the comic readers. How many throwbacks to Harley Quinn: Reckoning there was in this. The story is headed in the right direction and I want to read Harley Quinn: Redemption now. I enjoyed the Taylor Swift reference at the sorority games and thought it fit very well in the story. The humor is great throughout the book. Harley’s insights on life are too much for me sometimes.

What I Disliked: There was a little too much redundancy. We get a flash-forward at the beginning and spend the next half of the book getting to that point, which some omissions. Past the flash-forward, she has lost the memory we have just read. it was very redundant and the scene repeats itself. I felt the flash-forward should have been her memory and still trying to remember the bits that she can’t. I feel it was a story misstep. Harley and the Joker needed more scenes together, the novel is trying to tell a different background for Harley making the transition from Harleen to Harley more impactful, but still, I needed more between them.

Recommendations and Rating: Harley Quinn is one of my favorite characters from the DCU, And Rachael Allen’s take on her is fantastic. I recommend you check out Harley Quinn: Ravenous and Harley Quinn: Reckoning. I recommend reading Reckoning first since there’s some much reference to it in Ravenous. I read Reckoning a year ago and was lost until I remembered what happened in Reckoning. Harley Quinn: Ravenous will take the Harley origin story that you know and turn it on its head. I rated Harley Quinn: Ravenous by Rachael Allen 4 out of 5 stars.

Book Review: Goosebumps – How I Got My Shrunken Head by R. L. Stine

Goosebumps – How I Got My Shrunken Head is Goosebumps by R. L. Stine is book 39 in the original series order. This book has some scares, quicksand, giant ants, a tiger, and people trying to shrink the main character’s head. This book has more than a few twists, some are good and others are not. The beginning is set up like other Goosebumps where the object comes alive and causes trouble, Like in Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes and Night of the Living Dummy 1 and 2, but this is just a setup and not about the shrunken head coming alive. After a setup scene in America the novel is mostly a jungle island adventure either Central America or South America (it is a made up Island name). The novel takes fish out of water turn as it did in Return of the Mummy where it takes a kid out of his element and makes him live in the jungle. There’s a good prank pulled by the adult airplane captain acting like the kid is going to have to jump out of the plane. The novel is off-putting as you feel the in the back of your mind that you can’t trust at least one person, that is bringing you to an almost remote island. The pace picks up as the danger of the jungle gets real. I like how this title could be How I Spent My Summer Vacation because that is what it is and at the end of the book is going to be a show and tell at the start of the school year. This is a good solid Goosebumps not great but good. How I Got My Shrunken Head by R.L. Stine was published on January 1, 1996, by Scholastic.

Plot Summary: Mark loves the Jungle even though he’s never been there, but his Aunt Benna works in one. His favorite video game is jungle theme ad even has a jungle yell. Carolyn who works with Aunt Benna arrives with a gift for Mark a shrunken head from the jungle. At first, Mark is freaked over the shrunken head. His younger sister is instantly jealous steals it and plays pranks with it. Mark wakes up at night with the shrunken head glowing and wakes the house. No one believes him except Carolyn says she was sent to bring Mark to Aunt Benna. After a rough landing, Mark meets the rest of the team Dr. Hawlings another scientist, and his daughter Kareen. Who tells him that Aunt Benna has been missing for some time and that seeing the glowing shrunken head is a kind of jungle magic that can be used to find Aunt Benna? Can Mark use this new power to find his aunt or could there be more to it?

What I Liked: The danger of being trapped on an island and all the things that can kill you like quicksand and tigers. I like that you’re set up to believe that the shrunken head is possessed, but it is Mark’s jungle magic the whole time. I like the digging through the pile of shrunken heads scene. Kareen has a pretty good twist with her character. I like how the jungle magic was explained, I still wanted more about the tribe that shrunk heads.

What I Disliked: We learned nothing of the tribe and their strange jungle magic. The ending was so set up for the villain/s to get a shrunken head but something else happens, which is such a missed opportunity. The whole climax could have been avoided with jungle magic earlier. The story was missing the fun and humor that most Goosebumps have.

Recommendations and Rating: This story could have been better but was just okay. The story is interesting but there is a lot that doesn’t make sense after the fact. I thought the scare was there but this story was missing the fun factor. I rated How I Got My Shrunken Head by R. L. Stine 3 out of 5 stars. Here’s my full ranking of the 39 Goosebumps books that I have read in order to my favorite to least favorite: 1) A Night in Terror Tower, 2) Stay Out of the Basement, 3) The Headless Ghost, 4) Ghost Beach, 5) Piano Lessons Can Be Murder, 6) The Haunted Mask, 7) The Horror at Camp Jellyjam, 8) One Day At Horrorland, 9) Night of the Living Dummy, 10) Welcome to Camp Nightmare, 11) A Shocker on Shock Street, 12)The Phantom of the Auditorium, 13) It Came From Beneath the Sink, 14) The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, 15) Say Cheese and Die, 16) Let’s Get Invisible, 17) The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight, 18) Welcome to Dead House, 19) Monster Blood II, 20) The Girl who Cried Monster, 21)Deep Trouble, 22) The Ghost Next Door, 23)Night of the Living Dummy 2, 24) My Hairiest Adventure, 25) Be Careful What You Wish For… , 26) Return of the Mummy, 27) Why I’m Afraid of Bees, 28)The Haunted Mask II, 29)How I Got My Shruken Head, 30) Attack of the Mutant, 31) Go Eat Worms!, 32) Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes, 33)The Werewolf of Fever Swamp, 34) Cuckoo Clock of Doom, 35) Monster Blood, 36) The Barking Ghost, 37) The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena, 38) You Can’t Scare Me!, and 39) Monster Blood III.

Book Review: Marvel Wastelanders- Star-Lord by Sarah Cawkwell

Marvel Wastelanders: Star-Lord by Sarah Cawkwell is a Marvel Comics story set in the future. The set-up for this story is the question: what if the bad guys won and Earth was turned into a wasteland? This story is adapted from a Sirius XM and Marvel New Media podcast called Wastelanders by Benjamin Percy. The Wastelanders is a six part series with Marvel Wastelanders: Star-Lord being the first. This story is one of five and the way it ends there is a potential for more. After reading this I hope Aconyte Books writes more in the series. Marvel Wastelanders: Star-Lord has a fantastic beginning that captures the characters of Rocket and Peter Quill (Star-Lord) so well. The banter is perfect as they are instantly in danger and arguing over whose fault it was and how to get out of the situation. The humor is on point and does not let up, I laughed out loud more than a few times. The novel reads at a rapid pace with not many dull parts at all. When there are no action scenes there are humor scenes and sometimes a mix of both making it a very fun read. This novel also serves as a great pallet cleanser for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3. This book like the movie is surprisingly very emotional, and events with Rocket will make you cry all over again. This book is set in the future so the only Guardians of the Galaxy left are Rocket and Star-Lord, the book does fill you in with what happens with Groot, Gamora, and Drax. The novel is filled with twists and turns. There are a couple of twists at the very end that are so good and make you want to read the next book right away. This book features Emma Frost, the sometimes friend and sometimes foe of the X-men equipped with deadly telekinetic powers, Kraven the Hunter, A deadly foe of Spiderman that was raised to hunt and kill, The Collector, a powerful space being that collects objects and people of power, and Victor von Doom aka Dr. Doom, a former scientist that is a genius at robotic wants to rule the world with an iron fist, and is the ruler of the wastelands that is now called Doomwood. I read an advanced copy of Marvel Wastelanders: Star-Lord in exchange for an honest review thanks to Aconyte Books and Netgalley. Marvel Wastelanders: Star-Lord by Sarah Cawkwell is published on July 4, 2023.

Plot Summary: Star-Lord and Rocket are on a mission from The Collector to retrieve an object called the Black Vortex. The Black Vortex is an object that once you submit to it gives you unlimited cosmic powers. The Collector knows Star-Lord and Rocket and doesn’t trust them not to steal it for themselves puts an adamantium collar that will tighten in a week and remove them from their heads if they don’t comply. The collector gives them a map that points to the Black Hills of Earth. They end up getting trapped on a ship and meet Cora a Rigellian recorder bot that helps them escape and joins them on the mission. Now they head to Earth and Peter who hasn’t been there in thirty years notices this is not the Earth he left, there are no trees and no life for miles. They run into trouble immediately and find that Earth’s Avengers are dead Dr. Doom rules this territory. Kraven the Hunter is Dr. Doom’s lead enforcer and hunts and kills all his enemies. Dr. Doom’s robots Doombot patrol the streets. Peter learns that Black Vortex is somewhere in Doomwood formerly Deadwood. Peter and Rocket befriend a local and meet either a friend or a foe in Emma Frost. Can Rocket and Star-Lord find the Black Vortex in time or is it off with their heads?

What I Liked: The story is really solid, not just for a Marvel book just a really solid story. The humor is spot on I kept hearing the voices of Bradley Cooper and Chris Pratt in my head as the lines were delivered. This story is emotional and I was not prepared for it. This book will give you all the feels and a potential ugly cry. I loved the twists in this book especially at the end. Kraven the Hunter has some epic fight scenes and he is quite brutal. This book is a hard PG-13 for brutality alone the knife to the eye scene is a brutal one. The side character of Red Crotter is a great character, I was happy with his arc and how he got to serve the characters. Side characters do not get a lot of love it was nice for this character to have some good scenes and great dialogue. I also liked Cora the recorder bot and her story arc. I liked that Dr. Doom has taken over Deadwood and called it Doomwood. I also like how a little bit of Deadwood’s history is inserted into the story.

What I Disliked: The story was great but sometimes how it was told was not. I got a little tired of seeing the word “earlier” and it would bounce back and show what happened earlier. It happens about 6 times in the novel. This was a choice and was probably the way it was in The Wastelanders podcast it was adapted from. I felt it sometimes gave too much of the story away before it had to.

Recommendations and Rating: I can not recommend this story enough. I liked it and was surprised at how good the story was. The novel is a lot of fun that put a smile on my face the whole time. I like that the McGuffin is the Black Vortex, Which was featured in one of the best storylines from The Guardians of The Galaxy comics that crossed over with the X-men. People that read this book that only know the Guardians of the Galaxy from the movies could be a little confused as Star-Lord’s dad is J’son aka Mr. Knife in the comic and not Ego like he was in the movies, but the book does a pretty good version of setting up who J’son is. I rated Marvel Wastelanders: Star-Lord by Sarah Cawkell 5 out of 5 stars. This is my first read by Aconyte Books and their Marvel titles and will not be my last they set a pretty high bar with this book, but look forward to reading more.

This is a link to the Marvel Wastelanders: Star-Lord Sirius XM and Marvel New Media podcast trailer featuring the voice cast of Timothy Busfield as Star-Lord, Chris Elliot as Rocket, and Danny Glover as the Narrator.

About Marvel Entertainment

Marvel Entertainment, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, is one of the world’s most prominent character-based entertainment companies, built on a proven library of more than 8,000 characters featured in a variety of media for over eighty years. Marvel utilizes its character franchises in entertainment, licensing, publishing, games, and digital media.

#Marvel #MarvelEnt #Aconytebooks #Review

Book Review: Dark Nights – Metal by Scott Snyder

Dark Nights: Metal by Scott Snyder is a DC Comics graphic novel event book that brings nightmare forms from the dark universe to do battle with the Justice League. This book introduces The Batman Who Laughs a character that is created from a Batman nightmare where he becomes the Joker. This new villain is an instant classic that will be around the DCU for a while. Every scene with The Batman Who Laughs works well, but he’s not in this book enough. This book is very disjointed from the beginning and gets to about the halfway point until everything starts to click together. The beginning jumps all over the place and then when things start happening I feel like I missed something, or if it was a flashback. I will go for the ride with any crazy scenario the writer comes up with, just have it make sense, is my only ask. The second half of the book is good it still flips back and forth but has a real purpose and direction that is heading for an epic finale. I read Dark Days: The Road to Metal previously and would not recommend that whole book. The only two books you need to read before Dark Nights: Metal is Dark Days: The Forge #1, and Dark Days: The Casting #1. Scott Snyder is my favorite writer in modern-day Comics but I have not enjoyed the Metal saga, it’s missing the focus in writing the Court of the Owls saga. I’m still a fan but Dark Days and Dark Nights have been missed opportunities in his writing for me. Dark Nights: Metal collects DARK NIGHTS: METAL #1-6. Dark Nights: Metal was published on June 12, 2018.

Plot Summary: The Dark Universe breaks through the Multiverse. When it comes in it sends Batman to the Dark Universe. The Justice League has to both save Earth and save Batman. Superman journey’s into the Dark Universe. While teams search for metal objects that can drive hurt and drive the Dark Universe back Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl, Aquaman and Deathstroke, Green Lantern and Mr. Terrific, and Cyborg and Flash. Only the heroes don’t know that the metals can also increase the powers of the Dark Universe.

What I Liked: The Batman Who Laughs is terrifying especially his demon Robins who all look like the Joker and are led by chains. I don’t know why the only thing they say is “Crow”, but I loved the design. The Batman Who Laughs is Batman’s nightmare, and Superman’s nightmare is Batman Doomsday, Which is a combo of Batman and the creature who almost killed Superman, Doomsday. I loved the Batman team-up with a very unlikely foe, I don’t want to spoil that moment but it’s great and a highlight of the book. The ending was great and led to an epic ending. Snyder and artist Capullo teaming up again I liked a lot of the character art in this one and the details in the one-pagers were epic.

What I Disliked: The beginning is very rough and hard to put together. I considered making Dark Nights: Metal a did not finish but was able to push through. I felt like I missed reading something in the beginning because it did not make sense and some of the jumps in the narrative are jarring. The team-up that I brought up in my likes was awesome, but narratively there’s a big stretch of how did this character get to that place. Barrbatos the main villain just wasn’t all that interesting when compared to The Batman Who Laughs.

Ratings and Recommendations: It hurts me to say this but I will not recommend Dark Nights: Metal. The beginning did too much damage to a good solid second half. I liked some parts a great deal and hated others. I rated Dark Nights:Metal By Scott Snyder 2.5 stars out of 5.

Book Review: In the Lives of Puppets by T. J. Klune

In the Lives of Puppets by T. J. Klune is a smart futuristic retelling of Pinocchio. The book is filled with a lot of heart both literally and figuratively. The story is an emotional one with lots of twists and turns. The story is Pinocchio with a combination of Wall-E meets Terminator 2: Judgement Day. The characters are very memorable which makes this story work so well. Rambo is a little robot that I need in my life and was my favorite character by far. This story is a retelling of the classic story Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi but told for a new age with robots. I’m a sucker for a retelling but I need it to be clever as it makes odes to the original, actually being a retelling does not use one element of the story and throw everything else out and call it a retelling, and make changes that honor the original story’s theme. In the Lives of Puppets nails all three of these elements. It has clever odes to the original with what it does to the whale, the Coachman, and the Blue Fairy. It is a true retelling of Pinocchio with a lot of changes but all while honoring the original. T. J. Klune is a member of the LGBTQIA+ and has said that every story he writes will have an LGTBQIA+ relationship. This story has one of the first asexual characters that stay asexual that I have read. The characters can’t have sex since one is a robot so the intimacy is in touch, cuddling, and hugging. It works well and is more powerful than sex and suits the story. The pace of the book is pretty fast, there was one moment where the characters stay at one location a bit too long, but it changed locations soon after I could feel the moment. This is the third T.J. Klune book that I have read. My favorite is still The House in the Cerulean Sea, but In the Lives of Puppets is my second favorite, Under the Whispering Door is my least favorite, but still recommend it. I got a free copy to read In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune from Tor Books and Netgalley. In the Lives of Puppets was published on April 25, 2023.

Plot Summary: Victor Lawson is born and raised by robots. The story goes his parents ran into Gio as they were running from something or someone in the woods, they handed baby Victor to them as they ran away never to see Victor again. Victor is an inventor like his adopted father and has revived two robots Nurse Ratched, a nursing bot that is slightly sadistic, and Rambo, a people-pleasing vacuum droid. Victor is the only human he knows and is okay with that he spends most of his time at the scrap metal junkyard looking for parts or other robots. He finds Hap a combat droid that fights with Victor and wants to kill him, but Haps circuits die before he can. Victor who sees the good in robots wants to fix Hap. Hap is all torn up and has to use wood to fix him. Hap is turned on and is different Victor made him a heart that is made of his blood and wood. Hap can’t remember what he is or his purpose. When Gio finds out what he has done he’s furious and it is revealed that Gio before he went to the forest created Hap and a whole fleet of soldiers whose job was to kill humans. Victor’s blood has a power that is slowly changing his coding and will protect him. We find out the reason he wanted to kill Victor in the first place was that Victor cut himself as he found Hap and he was reacting to the blood. Now a whole fleet is sent out to look for Victor. Gio has a plan but involves him sacrificing his humanity as he meets the robots and removes the heart Victor made for him. Victor must search for his father and try to restore the robot he grew up knowing.

What I Liked: The humor in this book is so good I laughed out loud a couple of times and shared quotes with my wife. Rambo is the biggest source of humor and steals so many scenes. There’s a scene where his talking is going to get the group busted and they tell him to pretend he has no voice modulator and therefore can not speak. at which he starts doing sign language nonstop which is even more distracting. I liked what they did with the coachman in the original Pinocchio he has the traveling puppet show in this version he is a robot and has a traveling human exhibit. I also liked that the whale was a gigantic starship. I liked all the twists and how emotional they turned out to be. Victor and Gio’s story will break your heart. The Victor and Hap love story works well because it is so subtle. The climax worked and was a great conclusion to the rising action.

What I Disliked: The first 40% of the book is almost at one location, and I was starting to get bored by it at the 35% percent mark. It was just a little too long at that location and was slowing down the pace of the book. I will say once the characters leave that location they do not come back. The book talks about sex a little here and the conversations are meant to be mortifying. I think there is a thin line between embarrassment and shame, and I feel sometimes it went into sex being shameful which didn’t fit right with me knowing the main audience of this book it is just a couple of tiny scenes but it threw me out of it.

Recommendation and Ratings: In the Lives of Puppets is a great book with so much heart. It is a clever retelling of Pinocchio that I did not know I needed in my life. The story is magical and I recommend everyone check it out. TJ Klune has made me emotional in two books now In the Lives of Puppets and The House in the Cerulean Sea. I rated In the Lives of Puppets by T. J. Klune 5 out of 5 stars.

TBR: May 2023

May 2023 TBR list: last month I read 6 books and hit my average of 6 books. I feel like I have not read that many books published in 2023, this month is going to change that. I plan to read 4 new releases, three that come from Netgalley. I’m really excited for all the books on my list.

In the Life of Puppets by TJ Klune is a futuristic take inspired by Pinocchio.  Instead of Pinocchio being a puppet it is about robots.  It’s about three robots instead of one. Those that follow my blog know how much I love TJ Klune especially The House in the Cerulean Sea which I think is a fantastic perfect love story.  This book like all his books feature characters and love from LGTBQ community.  TJ Klune is a gifted storyteller an I look forward to reading the advanced copy given to me from Tor Books and Netgally. In the Life of Puppets by TJ Klune was published on April 25 2023.

The Ferryman by Justin Cronin is the newest book by the author of the Passage trilogy.  The Ferrman is a stand alone novel about people living on an island paradise with a catch every one is monitored for their physical and mental well being if it drops  to 10% you ae ferried off the island and recharged.  The Ferryman starts doubting his role as his father who is being shipped off the island and  tells him what really happens during the recharging.  The story sounds crazy and I look forward to reading it.  I received a copy of this book from Ballentine Books through Netgally. The Ferryman was published on May 2 2023.

Marvel Wastelanders: Star Lord by Sarah Cawkwell this is a novel version of a scripted podcast story of Star Lord and the Guardians of the Galaxy set far into the future. Where on a mission by the Collector sent to find the Black Vortex they will encounter Emma Frost, Ghost Riders, Kraven the Hunter. All on a version of Earth ruled by Doctor Doom. I think this is the perfect book to read since the Guardians of the Galaxy volume 3 opens this month.   I got an advanced reader’s copy from Aconyte Books through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.  Marvel Wastelanders: Star Lord is published on July 4 2023.

Harley Quinn: Ravenous by Rachael Allen is book 2 in the DC Icons Harley Quinn series.  I’m super excited to read this book because the first one Harley Quinn: Reckoning was a five star book and made my top ten list of last year.  In That book Harley was in High School and this book she’s in college and interning in Arkham Asylum. Harley Quinn: Ravenous was published on April 25 2023

Dark Nights Metal by Scott Snyder is a DC Events book where the Dark Multiverse is unleashed.  This book rereleases the most terrifying Batman with The Batman who laughs, a Batman and Joker cross breed.  Scott Snyder is one of the best comic book writers in the business, and I’ve never been disappointed in his writing.  Years ago I read Dark Days: The Road to Metal which prepares you for the Dark Nights of Metal ahead.

Goosebumps – How I Got My Shruken Head by R. L. Stine is Goosebumps book 39 in original series order.  What can happen when a kid receives a shrunken head from a remote Jungle Island, a lot especially when the shrunken head comes with dangerous powers.

Wrap Up: April 2023 Book Reviews

Dear Readers, April was a good month for reading and catching up on my TBR, I read 6 books this month. I read almost all the books on my TBR, I switched one book.  My ratings for this month are 1 five star, 4 fours star and 1 two star. I read 2 graphic novels this month, 5 books in a series, 1 horror, 1 advance reader copies (thanks to Netgalley). I also started In the Lives of Puppets, by TJ Klune but have not finished it.

Five Star Reviews:

Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage is a crazy psychological thriller debut novel about the most dysfunctional relationship between a mother and a child ever. The plot will get compared to The Omen, the Richard Donner film from the 1970’s, but where that plot involved a supernatural presence this book does not which makes it a little scarier. The writing in Baby Teeth is really great with a lot of really clever metaphors and passages. The pace of the book is really fast and very hard to put down. The theme and meaning running through the book is selfishness which all main characters have and is manifested in different ways: selfishness in career, selfishness in alone time, and selfishness of love. You could make arguments for which character was the most selfish. The psychological aspect of the book is done really well and is explained that even this C student in Psychology can understand. Hanna is a 7 year-old mute and a big part of the book relies on reading her gestures, which are described so well. I was never lost on what she was trying to convey. The ending was a little underwhelming I think it worked for the story but I was left wanting a little more. This story is crazy in a good way and goes to shocking places.

Four Star Reviews:

Descendant Machine by Gareth L. Powell is a smart science fiction adventure filled with witty dialogue. Descendant Machine is the second book in the Continuance book series. This book explores subjects like AI, black holes, and quantum physics. I do not have a brain for science at all but was able to understand these high levels of science that the book laid out. The story is told through 4 perspectives which works well and keeps it fresh; 3 are with the main action while the other perspective keeps the tension of the ticking clock scenario. The pace of the novel is pretty fast. There are twists all throughout. There’s double and triple crossing from characters. The standout of the novel is the witty sharp dialogue that makes every scene enjoyable. The humor is across the novel that really helps with the pace. I was asked to join the Book Tour for Descendant Machine by Titans books who provided me with a free copy via Netgalley. Descendant Machine by Gareth L. Powell is published on April 11 2023.

Chainfire by Terry Goodkind is a epic fantasy. Chainfire is book 9 in the Sword of Truth book series. This book is the start of the conclusion you can feel the story coming to an end and setting up an epic final battle. The pacing for this book is a little bit slow at the beginning, but steadily increases the pace after a pretty epic battle, and leads to a good paced finale. This book does end in a bit of a cliffhanger, the characters have just found out what happened and of a new danger that wasn’t even on their radar.  The plot involves Richard’s wife Kahlan missing but with no other character remembering she existed. So Richard remembers all of Kahlan’s relationship to the characters he’s trying to prove she existed as well as his own relationship.

Batman: Knightfall Volume 3 – Knightsend by Chuck Dixon is the final chapter in the epic series that covered 2 years of comics. Knightfall started with the super villain Bane breaking every inmate of Arkham Asylum. Where Bruce Wayne – Batman works tirelessly to arrest every criminal, Bane then confronts a weakened Batman and breaks his back. Bruce must make a quick decision to find a replacement and pick Azrael – John Paul Valley a former brainwashed assassin Bruce and Tim Drake – Robin have been working with. He takes down Bane but shuts Robin out as he slowly starts to go insane, which lead us to this chapter with Bruce Wayne’s back now heeled can he take down his former protege that is besmirching the Batman name. The story is split into two parts Knightsend and Prodigal Son. Both parts are good and have a clear beginning and end to each. This book was the easiest to read and the story had a clear vision on where it was going. At 642 pages this was one of the longest book but the best paced by far. The main villains are Killer Croc, Catwoman, Two-Face, Scarface, The Tally Man, and Lady Shiva, but the big fight is Batman vs. Batman. This is the first book that really starts the Bat family.

Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Volume 16 by Len Wein is the end of Spiderman’s adventures in the 1970’s to the 1980’s. Marvel Masterworks takes older comics and restores them with a newer glossy printing. Marriage is on the mind of many Spiderman side characters as Betty Brandt and Ned Leads get married and Harry Osborn and Liz Allen get engaged, putting undue pressure on Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. This issue leads Mary Jane to go on a date with Flash Thompson since Peter is not around. Peter is thinking about sharing his secret, that he is Spiderman, for the first time. This book is packed full of notable villains and great action scenes. The Villains featured are Doctor Octopus, Hammerhead, Kingpin, Jigsaw, The Lizard, and the latest version of the Spider Slayer. This volume also featured a couple of good guys like X-men’s Nightcrawler and The Punisher. The action scenes and Spiderman quips are great and make this volume stand out amongst others.

Two Star Reviews:

Goosebumps – The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena by R.L. Stine is the 38th book in the original series order. This book has one good idea and it is not the Abominable Snowman but a strange mysterious snow with some magic powers to freeze and make more snow. The Abominable Snowman did nothing for me it really wasn’t scary at all, and was barely in the story. The only scary moments are when the kids get lost in a whiteout in Alaska with no shelter. This book takes place in Pasadena, California and Alaska. The hot and cold of the locations work well for the story, as they show the extremes of both sides of temperature. The is one of the weakest for a Goosebumps book.

Book Review: Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Volume 16 by Len Wein

Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Volume 16 by Len Wein is the end of Spiderman’s adventures in the 1970’s to the 1980’s. Marvel Masterworks takes older comics and restores them with a newer glossy printing. Marriage is on the mind of many Spiderman side characters as Betty Brandt and Ned Leads get married and Harry Osborn and Liz Allen get engaged, putting undue pressure on Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson. This issue leads Mary Jane to go on a date with Flash Thompson since Peter is not around. Peter is thinking about sharing his secret, that he is Spiderman, for the first time. This book is packed full of notable villains and great action scenes. The villains featured are Doctor Octopus, Hammerhead, Kingpin, Jigsaw, The Lizard, and the latest version of the Spider Slayer. It also featured less notable villains, The Tinkler, who was brought back from the second issue of the Amazing Spiderman, The Human Fly, Willow of the Wisp, and Stegon, who was bought back from Marvel team ups and is a mutation of a man to Stegosaurus with the power to take old dinosaurs bones and reanimate them to dinosaurs. This volume also featured a couple of good guys like X-men’s Nightcrawler and The Punisher. The action scenes and Spiderman quips are great and make this volume stand out amongst others. I like how further stories are being set up with a lead into the next issue, there’s an art to this and it was executed very well. Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Volume 16 collected Amazing Spider-Man (1963-1998) issues 156-168 and Annual #10.

Plot Summary: Doctor Octopus is back and he goes to see his almost bride to be… Aunt May. Doctor Octopus was last seen evading a nuclear explosion while he was fighting Hammerhead. Doctor Ock is being haunted by the ghost of Hammerhead, that he’s trying to rid himself of, but things don’t go so well as he accidentally brings Hammerhead back to life. He will go after Aunt May, Spiderman or Doc Ock. Spiderman beats a dangerous robber that puts up a good fight without powers, he gets powers and becomes the Human Fly and he wants to rob weddings he picks the wedding of Ned Leeds and Betty Brandt to rob and ruin. The Spidermobile is back and it’s possessed. The Spidermobile last scene at the bottom of the Atlantic when he battled Mysterio, is gon when Spiderman goes looking for it, then it stalks him. Kurt Wagner aka Nightcrawler visits New York city for R and R, but he gets caught up in an assignation plot involving The Punisher and Spiderman. Each hero thinks the other was responsible but it was all a ruse to get them together and take them all out. The Kingpin wants to use Spiderman’s life force to bring back his son from the grave, Dr. Kurt Conners helps Spiderman, but an accident sets off his transformation into The Lizard. Stegon captures Billy as he needs Conners to help him bring dinosaurs back to earth. J. Jonah Jamison is sent pictures of Spiderman getting rid of his clone, more convinced than ever Spiderman is evil he teams up with a partner to make a new version of the Spider Slayer to take Peter Parker out.

What I Liked: The Doctor Octopus and Spiderman team up to beat Hammerhead is the best. The Mary Jane and Peter Parker relationship deals with grown up issues. I loved seeing the Kingpin back and has one heck of a fight. The best two part issue is Nightcrawler v. Spiderman v. The Punisher. The Spiderman and Nightcrawler fight was awesome. With Spiderman not knowing Nightcrawler’s transportation ability thinks he killed him. It was a really good story for Nightcrawler which was cool since Len Wein the writer of the issue helped create him. His is kind of the first introduction of Jigsaw one of the Punishers greatest foes. The possessed Spidermobile story was actually not bad and I liked what they did with the car, and how Spiderman returned it.

What I Disliked: The Willow of the Wisp antihero had a good introduction but ended up being pretty lame and the two last issues really brought down a really great volume at the end. It really threw the pace off of the whole book.

Recommendation and Rating: Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Volume 16 was a better volume of the series than previous volumes, the stories for the most part were fun, full of adventure and still kept the human nature of Spiderman. I rated Marvel Masterworks: The Amazing Spider-Man Volume 16 by Len Wein 4 out of 5 stars. At the same time this comic came out they released a revamped version of The Spectacular Spiderman by former Amazing Spiderman writer Gary Conway that explored the human side a little bit more, which I will start reading to get the whole Spiderman story.

Book Review – The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena by R. L. Stine

Goosebumps – The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena is the 38th book in the original series order. This book has one good idea and it is not the Abominable Snowman but a strange mysterious snow with some magic powers to freeze and make more snow. The Abominable Snowman did nothing for me it really wasn’t scary at all, and was barely in the story. The only scary moments are when the kids get lost in a whiteout in Alaska with no shelter. This book takes place in Pasadena, California and Alaska. The hot and cold of the locations work well for the story, as they show the extremes of both sides of temperature. The is one of the weakest for a Goosebumps book. I did not like any of the side characters. This story feature the first divorced parents in a Goosebumps story. I did like the brother and sister relationship and wanted to see more of it. I did enjoy the pranks in this story, which I’m usually highly critical about but of the three pranks I enjoyed them all and thought they added to the story. The final twist was good, it was one that was set up earlier, and paid off pretty well. The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena by R. L. Stine was published on December 1 1995.
Plot Summary: Jordan and Nicole are super hot in Pasadena, California and dream of snow that they have not really seen. Their dad is a nature photographer who just got an assignment in Alaska to try to take photos of the Abominable Snowman. Jordan and is Sister Nicole think there’s no way they get to go but their babysitter can’t and their recently divorced mom is still settling in, so they get to go. The are in a very remote part of Alaska with a town that is one block long. The cabin they are staying at is 7 miles away which they walk to with their guide who has sled dogs. The guide is scared of the snowman who tells a tale of missing hunters. Jordan falls through a hole in the ice and has to be saved. At night they hear the dogs barking all night and see huge footprints the next day that was just a prank, that the guide doesn’t find funny and is ready to leave. They kids find a frozen stream that their dad wants to film, the guide gets spooked and leaves with all the food and most of the dogs the kids run after him and get lost in a whiteout. They’re in need of shelter until the fall in a hole that leads to a cave entrance where they find…

What I Liked: The pranks are great the fake footprints one was the best because of the guide’s reaction to it. The lost in the snow scene was described really well. I liked the brother sister relationship, there was love between them. I liked the idea of the of the magical snow a lot. I wish that idea was explained more.

What I Disliked: The Abominable Snowman was used horribly, it rarely in the book and when it is in the book it’s not well thought out. The twin neighbors and the fight was too real, then the dad sees his kid fighting and does nothing. The third act was just not very well written, feel like Stine liked the title and had to write the third act to fit. It made no sense to go back to pack to Pasadena. I feel like the character of Lauren was just thrown in randomly. The novel was not focused and the setup to go to Alaska took too long.

Rating and Recommendation: The Goosebumps series has had some hits and misses, that this book is a miss. I cannot recommend this book it is one of the worst books so far in the series. I think there’s a lot you can do with the Abominable Snowman, and this book could not think of one. The only clever moment was the temperature so drastically changing. I rated The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena by R. L. Stine 2 out of 5 stars. Here’s my full ranking of the 38 Goosebumps books that I have read in order to my favorite to least favorite: 1) A Night in Terror Tower, 2) Stay Out of the Basement, 3) The Headless Ghost, 4) Ghost Beach, 5) Piano Lessons Can Be Murder, 6) The Haunted Mask, 7) The Horror at Camp Jellyjam, 8) One Day At Horrorland, 9) Night of the Living Dummy, 10) Welcome to Camp Nightmare, 11) A Shocker on Shock Street, 12)The Phantom of the Auditorium, 13) It Came From Beneath the Sink, 14) The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb, 15) Say Cheese and Die, 16) Let’s Get Invisible, 17) The Scarecrow Walks at Midnight, 18) Welcome to Dead House, 19) Monster Blood II, 20) The Girl who Cried Monster, 21)Deep Trouble, 22) The Ghost Next Door, 23)Night of the Living Dummy 2, 24) My Hairiest Adventure, 25) Be Careful What You Wish For… , 26) Return of the Mummy, 27) Why I’m Afraid of Bees, 28)The Haunted Mask II, 29)Attack of the Mutant, 30) Go Eat Worms!, 31) Revenge of the Lawn Gnomes, 32)The Werewolf of Fever Swamp, 33) Cuckoo Clock of Doom, 34) Monster Blood, 35) The Barking Ghost, 36) The Abominable Snowman of Pasadena, 37) You Can’t Scare Me!, and 38) Monster Blood III.

Book Review: Chainfire by Terry Goodkind

Chainfire by Terry Goodkind is a epic fantasy. Chainfire is book 9 in the Sword of Truth book series. The story is huge but this didn’t feel like i have read 9 books which is a compliment. This book is the start of the conclusion you can feel the story coming to an end and setting up an epic final battle. This book is the part on of a trilogy to wrap up the war with the Dreamwalker Jagang and originally finish up the series but Goodkind added additional books after. The pacing for this book is a little bit slow at the beginning, but steadily increases the pace after a pretty epic battle, and leads to a good paced finale. This book does end in a bit of a cliffhanger, the characters have just found out what happened and of a new danger that wasn’t even on their radar. They were watching the main enemy but forgot deals made with old enemies. Chainfire serves as a summary of events as old enemies come back and an old weapon that was thought safe is being used. Their is a South Park episode that makes fun of Star Wars The Force Awakens with member berries since their was so many call backs to the old Star Wars movies, well this is what this book did. This series to its credit has not done this before, I’ve brought up in past book reviews for this series saying that a recap was needed or would be helpful. Chainfire did it as part of the story and I will say 60% fit and 40% was a stretch. The plot involves Richard’s wife Kahlan missing but with no other character remembering she existed. So Richard remembers all of Kahlan’s relationship to the characters he’s trying to prove she existed as well as his own relationship. The plot is a little TV episodic waking up with someone missing and no one but you remembers, The CW alone has 20 episodes like that. But the reason and the magic behind it are explained really well and make sense with what the enemies are plotting. Chainfire was published on December 1 2005 by Tor Fantasy.

The Plot Summary of Wizard’s First Rule (book 1): Richard Cypher is a wood guide that that has recently lost his father to a brutal murder with no suspects. His father and him had a code where one would leave an item in a jar my the door, the item is a rare vine that should not grow in his land. Richard is on a mission to find the vine and it takes him on the outskirts of the boundary of Westland. While investigating he finds a beautiful woman, Kahlan being chased by four big men. Richard knowing the trails can get to the woman first. He gets to the woman first and ends up defending her and defeating the men. they become fast friends as the woman in mystified by Richard and the way he treats her, it is revealed she is from the other side of the boundary, the Midlands, the boundary is protected by miles of border wall of the underworld, and not used to the kindness from men. Richard takes her to an old healer/ cloud reader friend, Zedd. Quickly Richard finds out that his old friend is not what he seems but a powerful wizard, one of the last of his kind. Kahlan is very important to the cause and Richard is special and anointed the Seeker of Truth, which comes with a powerful weapon the Sword of Truth that is a powerful magical item that focuses emotion into the blade. Richard finds out the true nature of the world that there is a Threat in Darken Rahl that involves tearing down the boundaries and ruling the world. It is up to Kahlan, Zedd and Richard to stop him.

The Plot Summary of Stone of Tears (book 2): The Plot: Two days after Richard defeated Darken Rahl. A creature from the underworld has escaped and it wants to mark Richard so he can open the underworld for the Keeper. Zedd deals with these creatures first and must find Richard and seek side in closing the veil to the underworld. Richard and Kahlan are returning a boy back to the mud people when a creature from the underworld comes for them. They defeat the creature but Richard gets migraines that make it feel like his head will explode they keep getting worse and worse. He meets 3 Sisters of Light that day they can help him but they must collar him and own him to teach him to control his new magic. He refuses and the sister creates suicide right then and there, saying that was chance one you will have two more chances to get help of you do note, you will die.

The Plot Summary for Blood of the Fold (book 3): A funeral is held at the Palace of the Prophets for the Prelate and the Prophet. They were burned by Sisters of the Dark who have infiltrated the Sisters of the Light. Sister Verna who is the a good Sister of the Light and a friend to Richard Rahl the Seeker of Truth, is set up to be the new Prelate she doesn’t know if this is for real or a trick of the Sisters of the Dark, the prophesies foretold that the false Prelate will destroy the Palace of the Prophets. She believes this to be free when she unravels a conspiracy that makes the prophesy come to pass. Richard having just came from seeing Kahlan and confirming she is alive when the world thinks she is dead. Richard waits at the Mother Confesser’s temple and fights the Mriswith a deadly snake like creatures that he saw and killed in the old world but has never seen one in this world. The Mriswith have now started to plague the land, they are being lead by something Richard must find out. Richard has started to embrace the Rahl part of his name he believes that the only way to unite the Midlands is be the supreme ruler, with all of Midland under his rule. He tries for peace by strong arming The Blood the Fold leader, the very same man who thinks he murdered Kahlan, but the Mriswith help him as their ruler wants him to live, and has a purpose for him. The ruler is known as the Dreamwalker and quickly takes over the Sister of the Dark and the Blood of the Fold, he wants Richard defeated and the Palace of the Prophets to be his especially the slow aging spell attached to it. Richard and Verna must fight the Dreamwalker on to different fronts.

The Plot Summary for Temple of the Winds (book 4): Richard and Kahlan are finally reunited and talking wedding. They get three very special visitors One is a man claiming to be Richard’s brother an illegitimate son of Richard’s father Darken Rahl. The second visitor is Nadine a girl from Richard’s village who was sent by the witch woman Shota to marry Richard. The final visitor is an assassin who’s job it is to kill Richard. Through interrogation of the assassin they find that he was not alone, and with a sister of the dark that work for the Dreamwalker. The Sister has started a plague which starts a prophesy for Richard if he does nothing millions will die, if he wants to fight Kahlan will betray him . and Ricard will be no more. When the first victim of the plague dies his spirt takes over his body and talks about the winds This leads them to find out of a spiritual place called the Temple of the Winds that could hold the key to the cure and stop the plague. The price to enter the Temple of the Winds might be too high?

The Plot Summary for Soul of the Fire (book 5): Richard and Kahlan are finally married by the Mud People and has reunited with Zedd. The wedding bliss does not last long as Richard feels something not right…with a chicken. This isn’t the only thing two of the Mud People children has died by mysterious circumstances, and everyone with magic has started to lose it. Zedd ask Richard and Kahlan about the Chimes, the beings from the underworld that saved the world from the dark magical plague, the Chimes manifest in water, air, and fire . Zedd freaked out that Kahlan said them out loud, but in his research the Chimes can only stay in this world if called by the third wife, Kahlan is Richard’s second since he was married to Nadine in the last book and did not last. Zedd with prelate Ann knows that somehow the Chimes are here but he knows Ricard will be safe in the Wizards Keep, so he makes up a creature the Lurk and fakes an illness so Richard and Kahlan will race off to the Keep while Zedd can defeat it. On Richard’s way to the keep he runs into Du Chaillu a slave girl he was chained to and saved, she comes to Richard pregnant and calls him her husband, with her rules they are married. The Chimes are in this world.

The Plot Summary of Faith of the Fallen (book 6): After the aftermath of the last book with Kahlan getting brutally injured and can not use magic to heal her, Richard takes her to his old town when he was Richard Cypher a woods guide and not the Seeker of Truth. When he arrives the town doesn’t want him, that lies of The Order have spread and he is ruining their better life. Richard who just came from a town that rejected him for The Order has but him in an odd place where he doesn’t want to fight anymore or yet, because people don’t know what freedom is. Nicci a Sister of the Dark and one of Dreamwalker’s ,the leader of The Order, disciples, is on the fringe since for some reason the dreamwalker can’t always enter her mind. She defies him killing a leader in his army as an example. Nicci is called on by the Dreamwalker while she investigates how Ann a Sister of the Light and her old Prelate have escaped and the Dreamwalker can’t enter their minds. She finds out it is Richard is the key, when the dreamwalker can’t enter her mind she was thinking of Richard. She finds Richard and place a spell on Kahlan that if any harm comes to her it comes to Kahlan as well. She convinces Richard to come with her to live in the heart of The Order to convince him of it’s gifts she goes back to where she grew up. Kahlan and Cara take their anger out on the army of the Order who’s invading the Midlands.

Plot Summary of The Pillars of Creation (book 7): Jennsen has been sheltered her whole life, kept away from secrets of her mother. Jennsen is a Rahl half Sister to Richard Rahl. But Jensen is so sheltered she did not know that Richard is good and killed their father Darken Rahl to save people and the land. She meets the chief strategist of Richard’s new new enemy the Dreamwalker, and he tells all about The brutal Richard Rahl as he saves her from soldiers that were hunting Rahl family members. Since they pose a threat and have an immunity to magic. Jennsen is convinced she must kill Richard to free from her threat. She and Richard find out that Jennsen is not the only sibling and their are dire consequences if Richard is killed that will effect all lands.

Plot Summary of Naked Empire (book 8): Richard having come to terms with his sister half Sister Jennsen who is resistant to all magic, comes to know a family secret that Jennsen is not the only one that his ancestors would banish the non magic off spring to it own land. The land was protected from the boundary but Kahlan brought all boundaries to save Richard almost 2 years ago. The Dream Walker knows the power of the non magic and can use them to populate an army of non magic and the non magic can enter restricted area that old deadly magical artifacts. Richard runs into one of the banished that escaped. he tries to persuade Richard to help but fails. Richard moves on feeling the effects of the gift and something else, The man shows back up and alerts him he poisoned him so that he can help liberate his people the complex poison needs three vials of the antidote who are now under enemy control he must fight an army to live.

Plot Summary of Chainfire (book 9) Richard is badly injured by an arrow very close to the heart. Nikki uses unproven subtractive magic to remove his blood and the arrow. This magic has created a blood beast, that is a creature from the underworld that wants Ricard’s magic blood. The beast can come in multiple forms and their is no known way to stop it. The beast is not the only thing that happened because of the accident. When he wakes up from the healing his wife Kahlan is gone and no one but Richard can remember her. All traces of her are missing not just physical but any references to her in book of prophecy are now blank. Richard goes to extreme links to prove to others he is not crazy and that his wife is real and alive. Richard so desperate for answers goes to Shota, the which, who said if she ever saw him again she would kill him on site. In these desperate times will require desperate measures. while Richard is chasing ghost Jagang is setting up for the final battle with all the prophecies saying all hope is lost with out Richard as the leader.

What I Liked: The explanation of the magic was very well done and made a lot of sense once all was revealed. Nikki’s battle scenes were so freaking awesome it reminded me a lot of Kahlan’s battle scenes in Blood of the Fold. The scenes were epic and I felt I could visualize everything clearly. There’s a reason Nikki was once called Death’s Mistress and it is shown in this book. The shota scenes are always great and this was no exception. She has slowly been becoming my favorite recurring character, I want her to show up more. Chase and Rachael has more scenes in this book talk about favorite recurring characters all in one book. The ending was great and am really excited for the next books since the stakes are raised. I liked the old enemies and old weapons coming back. I loved the Cara, Nikki, and Richard dynamic. I liked Cara’s defense of Richard, I may think you’re crazy but will still protect you from others. I thought the Blood Beast was a pretty terrifying creation and will be interesting how it effects the series going forward.

What I Disliked: The opening scenes were really slow paced and felt like a tv episode troupe, it was reminding me of the series low point the demented chicken, but it did not last too long as it showed the wider world impact on Kahlan being gone. The memories were 60% effective but the 40% that weren’t were really redundant and overkill. This book could have lost 50 pages in memories and would have been a 5 star book.

Rating and Recommendation: Chainfire is book 9 in the Sword of Truth series and has been one heck of a ride. The series overall sits at a 4 out of 5 stars average. So far out of the 8 previous books I have six 4 stars and two 3 stars. I like that I can feel the series setting up for an epic battle and so far where this book left off I’m super excited about reading the next one. The series has had some hits and misses but it is pretty solid and I recommend it. Chainfire by Terry Goodkind I rate 4 out of 5 stars. Here’s my ranking of the books in the Sword of Truth series so far… after reading 8 books. 1) Stone of Tears, 2) Temple of the Winds, 3) Naked Empire, 4) Faith of the Fallen, 5) Wizards First Rule, 6) Chainfire, 7)Blood of the Fold, 8) Pillars of Creation, and 9) Soul of Fire.