A Desert Called Peace: A War on Terror Novel That Doesn’t Read the Same Anymore
Rereading Tom Kratman’s A Desert Called Peace in 2026, when the world doesn’t feel nearly as black and white as it did back in 2014.
Rereading Tom Kratman’s A Desert Called Peace in 2026, when the world doesn’t feel nearly as black and white as it did back in 2014.
A review of Mark of the Fool Book 4 by J.M. Clarke, where Alex Roth hits the actual limits of his power and has to find his own way around them.
By Schism Rent Asunder trades naval battles for politics and theology. Still good, still growing its cast, but this is where the brakes go on.
By Heresies Distressed is where Charis starts hanging churchmen and the naval war turns into a ground war. The momentum is well and truly back.
A review of Beyond the Rift by John Ringo and Lydia Sherrer. The series finale sticks the landing, mostly, then runs out of pages to close it properly.
A review of Behind the Veil by John Ringo and Lydia Sherrer. Book three is where the alien plot finally pays off, and it’s the best entry yet.
Off Armageddon Reef opens with humanity losing an extermination war, then hides the survivors in a fake Dark Age. A book I’ve reread several times.
A review of Mark of the Fool Book 3 by J.M. Clarke, where the Games of Roal tournament arc delivers real stakes instead of the filler it could have been.
Betrayed By The Hero’s Party has a lovely cozy LitRPG concept and prose that reads like it came out of a machine. Both of those things are true at once.
Antdustrial Revolution swaps conquest for trade deals and world-building. A slower Chrysalis, and a bridge to whatever the fifth stratum turns into.
A review of Through the Storm by John Ringo and Lydia Sherrer. Great Lynn material, but the middle book trades the alien plot for fame, bullying and doxing.
A review of Into the Real by John Ringo and Lydia Sherrer. The AR gaming premise is fine, but the hidden-identity story underneath is the real reason to read it.
A review of Mark of the Fool Book 2 by J.M. Clarke. Alex finds new ways around the Mark’s limits, and Claygon and Baelin remain the best things in it.
The Hot Gate (Troy Rising Book 3) by John Ringo delivers the best space battle of the trilogy and the one argument I no longer buy. Full review.
Evaluation starts as a mercenary-flavored LitRPG twist, then turns into an overpowered John Wick clone. Here’s why this Brad Botz book earned a 3/5.
Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 5 opens the crawl to trophy hunters and pays off the Carl and Donut bond. Here’s why The Butcher’s Masquerade is a series high.
Dungeon Crawler Carl Book 4 sends Carl after four castles and a caged god. Why The Gate of the Feral Gods is the baggiest, biggest-hearted entry yet.
Dive into the action-packed world of Warrior: En Garde, the first book in Michael A. Stackpole’s beloved Warrior Trilogy. This BattleTech novel kicks off a thrilling saga of honor, betrayal, and giant robot battles in the midst of the Succession Wars.
A review of Lamplighter Academy (Above the Drowning Light #1) by Kal Griffith, a post-apocalyptic Isekai LitRPG that leans on world-building over stat-grinding.
The Dungeon Titan buries you in grief for 80% of the book, then delivers the best fight scenes in the series. Here’s whether the payoff is worth the slog.
The Dungeon Predator is the darkest entry in The Dungeon Slayer yet — a brutal, exposition-heavy book five that tests how much punishment a series can take.