Litsy

Vanity's Brood: A House of Serpents Novel | Lisa Smedman

so-so

This was very similar to the first. The plot meandered and repeated itself with MC losing the McGuffin and then finding it only to lose it again, and finally having it back. This installment focused heavily on MC retrieving his FLI and his children from a pocket domain of a snake god. While the descriptions of the domain were interesting, this has little to do with why I began to read these books in the first place.

Doppoetry There were some cringeworthy revelations that I was not keen on. But overall, it was a fine series. 6h

4 likes1 comment

Mattsbookaday

Dating and Dragons | Kristy Boyce

so-so

Dating and Dragons, by Kristy Boyce (2024)
⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

Premise: After moving to a new school, a teenager develops a crush on a member of her new D&D party, which has a strict no-dating policy.

Review: This was a mixed bag for me. On the plus side, it has some great intergenerational family content and an easy-to-root-for couple. ⬇️

Mattsbookaday But, the love interest is too perfect by half and the main conflict in the story comes to nothing. So, this was an enjoyable enough way to spend a few hours, but nothing special.

Bookish Pair: Boyce‘s Dungeons and Drama (2024), which also involves teenagers playing D&D is much more successful 3d

7 likes1 comment

Doppoetry

Viper's Kiss: A House of Serpents Novel | Lisa Smedman

so-so

Viper's Kiss was a lot better than the first installment but the plot was extremely convoluted and outlandish, even for a fantasy novel. Again, most of the story has very little to do with Yuan-ti politics, and the information about them is peppered with really odd, shock value information. (Did not need to know intimate details about their anatony)

Doppoetry I am glad I spoiled myself on my favorite character's fate because otherwise I would be raging.

I don't even care about spoilers at this point, a pregnant half-snake woman should not be fridged to give the male MC motivation. 4d

5 likes1 comment

Doppoetry

Venom's Taste: A House of Serpents Novel | Lisa Smedman

pan

Unfortunately this was very boring and unengaging. This didn't focus much on political intrigue as much as MC meandering through the barely perceivable plot that poorly connects the yuan-ti to it. There is an attempt at character development but MC is just too rigid to change much.

I will continue the series to see if it gets better but I have little hope for that

5 likes

Doppoetry

Venom in Her Veins | Tim Pratt

so-so

The writing and dialogue felt stilted in parts and the narrator barrelled through the book as if he was in a rush. There was a good discussion about Nature vs Nurture and the definition of evil etc which i found interesting. Although the shady caravan leader suddenly growing a conscience felt off.

5 likes

NotCool

Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Club: Time to Party: A Graphic Novel | Molly Knox Ostertag

pick

Cute middle grade graphic novel about D&D. Recommend for Dimension 20 fans.

9 likes

Abe

Game Master's Book of Instant Towns and Cities: 160+ Unique Villages, Towns, Settlements and Cities, Ready-On-Demand, Plus Random Generators for Npcs, | Tim Baker, Jeff Ashworth

pick

Great collection of cities/towns for a verity of environments for dungeons and dragons!

8 likes

Doppoetry

Dating and Dragons | Kristy Boyce

This post contains spoilers

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so-so

This one was also okay. Some sections went on too long, especially the third half of the book. The dialogue felt awkward at points. The romance scenes were cringey and the reasoning behind the streamed games felt uninspired.