Welcome to Litsy!

There was not much of a plot here, but the consequences of the actions of the previous two books.

This installment felt very rushed, and characters didn't do much except be wounded and suffer as a result of battles, etc. I wish there was something more concise and a semblance of a plot because the narrative really lacked focus with all the chaos of the events.

At least I finished it.

I haven't enjoyed this second book as much, sadly. The plot makes sense overall, but it is also SO convoluted, especially the last hour or so. It doesn't help that it also feels extremely rushed. Much of the book is Aliisza just fighting with the men to continue to work together, and Kaanyr being repetitively reluctant, on-again off off-again in terms of partnership. I really hope this last book is better.

I believe this series takes place right after the end of WOTSQ and follows some side characters. I have surprisingly enjoyed this, it was nice to see what Kaanyr and Aliisza were up to schemes wise. The plot was a bit convoluted at times but the characters really make up for it.

At first I didn't enjoy Kaanyr's pov as much but some travel shenanigans started and it started feeling like a road trip adventure (but evil)

So far, this is pretty interesting! I missed Aliisza.

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.

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. ⬇️

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)

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

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.

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