April 2018

I’m always hopeful that I’ll find a nice work/life balance each month, but it never seems to happen. Everything appears to be happening at once and there is not much let up anywhere. Still, keeps me busy!

Books Read
I seem to be on an upward trend at the moment, with 8 books read in April, though likely down to additional audiobooks listened to while walking/driving:

  1. The World Awakening by Dan Koboldt – the last in Koboldt’s Gateways to Alissia trilogy. More details, and link to review, below.
  2. Infinity Engine by Neal Asher – the finale to Asher’s Transformations trilogy focusing on Penny Royal and all its devious plans and machinations. Honestly, I hoped for something a little more from this book, but it ticked all the boxes and tied off the story very nicely.
  3. A Call to Duty by David Weber & Timothy Zhan – now the third novel in the Manticore Ascendant series is out I decided to go back to the start. Enjoyed it once again and will likely progress to the second novel for a re-read soon before tackling the latest release.
  4. Restless by William Boyd – a novel that I would never usually pick up, but it was a gift from my uncle and I did find the premise intriguing. Enjoyable, but I had a few issues towards the end as things didn’t quite line up right for me.
  5. Skitter by Ezekiel Boone – the spiderpocalypse is in full force, and Boone makes me skin crawl throughout with his follow up to The Hatching. Great stuff, if somewhat nightmare-inducing!
  6. Burden of Proof by John G Hemry – the second JAG in Space novel, and another re-read. Blasted through this and thoroughly enjoyed it. Looking to re-read the third one in May.
  7. False Idols by Jon Hollins – the follow up to Fool’s Gold, which I read in January. This was much fun again, more so than I thought, and I enjoyed it much more than anticipated. Despite knowing the first was fun, I seemed to convince myself that this wouldn’t match up. How wrong I was!
  8. Valiant Dust by Richard Baker – I had two books on my shortlist for Christmas, and this was the one that I decided against at the time. Still, I managed to get to it in April, and boy am I glad I did. This is exactly my type of novel – mil-SF with a touch of politics, plenty of action, and very interesting characters and setting. Can’t wait to read the sequel when it’s out later this year.

Reviews Posted
The World Awakening by Dan Koboldt – this was a great finale to Koboldt’s Gateways to Alissia trilogy, and while it may effectively tie off the loose ends and finish this story, I’d love to read more about this world and its inhabitants.

Movies Watched
A couple of cinema trips this month, first to watch Ready Player One, which was very good, but not as good as the book (for me, at least), and then to watch Avengers Infinity War, which had my jaw dropped almost the entire time. I’m still processing what I saw and will likely try and get to it again very soon!
After going through a box of old DVD’s from the loft I couldn’t help watching some of the films I found. Splice was good again, and more so that I remember from my initial watch. I love the Tremors movies, so I had to watch the first two (Tremors and Tremors 2 Aftershocks) and plan on getting to the next 3 before watching the latest. We wanted to watch the finale to the Maze Runner films so watched the first two again (Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials), and they were quite good, but perhaps not as good as I remembered. Finally caught Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle, which was ace and much fun.

TV Shows Watched
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (season 3 & 4) – still having much fun with this show, though I must say the first two season were better in terms of at least paying lip service to them doing proper police jobs.
Grey’s Anatomy (season 1) – my wife loved this show and I’ve watched it on and off with her over the years. Decided that I’d see how it was from the start, and liking it so far.

Games Played
Borderlands 2 – still hammering away on this one. Given up with Gaige as her skills were all well and good in normal mode and TVHM, but I just couldn’t get to grips with her in UVHM. I’ve now moved on to Axton, who I think is a better fit for my playstyle already, though time will tell.

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