Name the last three books you have read...

In the more shadowy corners of the world, frequented by angels and demons and everything in-between, Laytham Ballard is a legend. It's said he raised the dead at the age of ten, stole the Philosopher's Stone in Vegas back in 1999, and survived the bloodsucking kiss of the Mosquito Queen. Wise in the hidden ways of the night, he's also a cynical bastard who stopped thinking of himself as the good guy a long time ago.

Now a promise to a dying friend has Ballard on the trail of an escaped Serbian war criminal with friends in both high and low places—and a sinister history of blood sacrifices. Ballard is hell-bent on making Dusan Slorzack pay for his numerous atrocities, but Slorzack seems to have literally dropped off the face of the Earth, beyond the reach of his enemies, the Illuminati, and maybe even the Devil himself. To find Slorzack, Ballard must follow a winding, treacherous path that stretches from Wall Street and Washington, D.C. to backwoods hollows and truckstops, while risking what's left of his very soul . . . .

The first half of the book is very grounded & dark supernatural horror in tone but eventually begins to lean into more fantasy & some sci fi elements to mellow out the dark horror of the story. The protagonist starts off as somewhat cold and unlikable but as the story progresses and you lean more of his backstory you begin to understand why he seems to be unlikable (but really isn't ). Overall interesting & entertaining read.





When the Supernatural nations of the world meet up to negotiate an end to ongoing hostilities, Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, joins the White Council's security team to make sure the talks stay civil. But can he succeed, when dark political manipulations threaten the very existence of Chicago—and all he holds dear?





Harry has faced terrible odds before. He has a long history of fighting enemies above his weight class. The Red Court of vampires. The fallen angels of the Order of the Blackened Denarius. The Outsiders.

But this time it’s different. A being more powerful and dangerous on an order of magnitude beyond what the world has seen in a millennium is coming. And she’s bringing an army. The Last Titan has declared war on the city of Chicago, and has come to subjugate humanity, obliterating any who stand in her way.

Harry’s mission is simple but impossible: Save the city by killing a Titan. And the attempt will change Harry’s life, Chicago, and the mortal world forever.

Two new novels, one big grand story arc. Recommended reads for anyone reading the Dresden Files series.


BONUS AUDIOBOOK CHEAT READ: Had to work three days during Christmas week an none of my regular podcast listening fare that I have as background noise when I work was not available so downloaded an audiobook for replacement background noise.





Rousing pulp action and steampunk come together in a heartbreaking story of high adventure and alternate history. In the year 1870, a horrible plague of vampires swept over the northern regions of the world. It is now 2020 and a bloody reckoning is coming. Princess Adele is heir to the Empire of Equatoria, a remnant of the old tropical British Empire. When she becomes the target of a merciless vampire clan, her only protector is the Greyfriar, a mysterious hero who fights the vampires from deep within their territory. Their dangerous relationship plays out against an approaching war to the death between humankind and the vampire clans. The first book in a trilogy of high adventure and alternate history. Combining rousing pulp action with steampunk style, the Vampire Empire series brings epic political themes to life within a story of heartbreaking romance, sacrifice, and heroism.

Interesting and entertaining enough that I'll eventually check out the other books in the series.

 

I'll get around to checking it out eventually but not anytime soon. Between other books I have on deck to read as well as eventually checking out at least the first Brotherhood of the Wheel novel since it is in the same universe as Nightwise, I'll wait awhile before checking it out.

That was one of the two big pluses from listening to the audiobook I downloaded (actually I got the Kindle version of the book & it came with a free audio download of it as a promotional push to get people to subscribe to Audible) didn't strain my eyes from normal reading & got to "read" or more accurately have a book narrated to me while doing work.

 

Yeah, the lead protagonist of the Brotherhood of the Wheel series makes a cameo appearance in one of the chapters of Nightwise and Ballard the protagonist gives a brief run-down of who the Brotherhood are & what they are about.

The only way I could get into audiobooks on a routine basis is if how & why I did it for that week somehow became the norm for my regular work routine. I use to listen to music as my background noise while working but eventually that became stale especially when trying to find new & enjoyable music to listen to, which eventually lead me down the podcast route. New & varied content to listen to on a regular basis unless it's the holidays or content creator have something going on outside of of their podcast that keeps them from putting up new content.

 

Digital could still be the way to go with your mother by way of some voice assistant set up but again price might be an issue depending on what device/services you got and how easy or hard it would be for her to remember voice commands needed for device/services.

 

Both true crime shows & all the various reality shows are the worst mind fuck to be addicted to IMO. True crime like you said makes you paranoid & it's overly depressing if you spend all your time watching it & reality shows make you numb to the actual dumb shit that people around you are doing are saying in real life. My wife likes watching a lot of those reality shows & again IMO is reason the has a hard time picking up on other people's ignorant bullshit right off the bat the I or the twins do.

 

You'll be pretty much caught up on most of the series once you get to book twelve. Recommend trying to find deals on books 13 (Ghost Story) &14 (Cold Days) that way we can finally have some off the board conversations about the series.