Bookish Wednesday: Best of 2017

Hey all I’m back with a short post for this week’s Bookish Wednesday. It’s my Best of 2017!

Best Novel Overall: Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson. This should come as no surprise to anyone who reads this column frequently. I love Sanderson for his amazing works of fiction that are simply outstanding. Oathbringer is the third in the Stormlight Archives sub-series of the Cosmere mega-series, and covers so many amazing events that has huge impacts on the rest of the Cosmere potentially. So many interesting things happened in Oathbringer that when I was done with it a full week and half before it released for sale, thanks to Tor sending me a review copy, I was left with the realization that I had just made myself wait even longer than most people would have to wait for the next in the series. I’d call it a buzzkill to the emotional aftermath of finishing that book, but it wasn’t. I’m just excited to see what fellow 17th Shard members will dig up.

Best Debut Work: Morningwood, Book 01 in the Everybody Loves Large Chests series, by Neven Iliev. I mentioned it briefly in my post on this book, but I loved listening to this in audiobook form. Jeff Hays did an amazing job at narrating this book. I can’t wait for further entries in this series to come out in Audiobook format, so I can enjoy the various hijinks that will occur and the mayhem that follows.

That’s it for this week’s Bookish Wednesday.

Bookish Wednesday: Morningwood by Neven Iliev

This week for Bookish Wednesday I’m back with what might be my favorite work from a debut author of the past year. It’s Morningwood, Book 01 in the Everybody Loves Large Chests series, by Iliev!

Plot Synopsis: Large chests are said to encompass all manner of hopes and dreams. Men covet them. Women envy them. But one fact holds true – everyone wants to get their hands on some big ones. The same holds true for one intrepid adventurer – a strapping young lad by the name of Himmel. Armed with his grandfather’s trusty longsword and the dream of being the strongest, he sets out on the journey of a lifetime! It is sure to be a long and dangerous road, fraught with danger! And it all starts with a simple test – reach Level 5 in the dungeon called the ‘newbie zone’ and earn the right to become a full-fledged adventurer! However, such things get hopelessly derailed when his adolescent mind beholds an exposed chest for the first time. A fateful meeting that would inevitably lead his life in a direction he never even dreamed of!

Plot: Now hold on before you start thinking I’ve absolutely lost my mind and reaching for the shotgun or pitchfork.  I want you to really look at the two definitions of the word Chest depicted in the picture above. Got it? If not just read the first chapter, it’s pretty freaking short, so even if you read at a like 10 words a minute you’ll finish it in no more than 10 minutes. (I might be exaggerating a bit). Now hopefully with your hands free of any sharp or explosive implements, I want to say that this isn’t what you’re thinking. It sounds incredibly immature, and I’ll say that the author wrote that for his actual Amazon page’s book description, but he did it for a very good reason. Go read that first chapter, you’ll get it. Now with all that said and done, EBLLC is a masterwork of comedy that pokes fun at the LitRPG and Video Game genres as a whole and it’s a hilarious ride.

That being said, there are some really risque parts, and fight scenes can get detailed. So kids absolutely, without question, not read this. It is NOT for kids. It’s a fairly short book, but I loved every freaking minute, I recently listened to it again while I was sick right before the Christmas weekend, and was having to hold back my laughter to avoid starting a coughing fit. Let’s just say that Josh Hays does an awesome job with this book.

Characters: I won’t get into the cast, because that would be spoiler territory. That being said I like our Lead Character quite a bit. He’s absolutely not what he appears to be. And after reading the book please don’t kill me for that last sentence. Neither is the rest of the cast, but I will say I enjoy every main character.

Overall: If you love Video Games, at all, and you aren’t a kid, you have to read or even better yet listen to this book. It’s an absolute must listen to for any gamer.

For those who like: Video Games, Comedy, Action, Adventure, LitRPGs, Stupendous Plot, Superb Cast of Characters.

Not for those who don’t like: Any of the above, but serious it’s a must listen to.