Books I've Read in 2022

The one good thing about a daily commute is that I have between an hour and two each day just for reading.

Unfortunately, I've only got the idea of writing down everything I'm reading in August, when I realised that I've been reading Ward for so long that I don't even remember which book I've read before it and when. Therefore the list only contains books since August. But speaking of Ward...

Fiction Books

John C. McCrae: Ward

This superhero web serial is 1 944 784 words long, so I might have actually been reading it since the beginning of the year. And it's worth it. Along with the first part, Worm, it is an incredible study of characters and their motivations, as well as creative powers and power uses. If you read it, you will probably start to question whether you even like other superhero media at all.

Tad Williams: Stone of Farewell

This is the second book in the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn trilogy, so I've started reading this book series a bit out of order. My excuse is that I've found it in the free books shelf at a train station before a long journey. Anyway, I quite liked this Tolkien-esque story but I have yet to procure the other two books for myself.

Martina Šrámková: Doba krkavců (Season of the Raven)

A dark fantasy about an ex-witch who tries to live a normal life, but cannot escape her past of a royal assassin. I'll return to it shortly.

Vladimír Šlechta: Krvavé pohraničí (Bloody Borderland)
Vladimír Šlechta: Krvavé pohraničí: Šílený les (Forest Gone Mad)
Vladimír Šlechta: Krvavé pohraničí: Orcigard

A loose series of books which share the location and world events, but none of the protagonists. All of them also read a bit like D&D adventures and could easily be adapted into a campaign.

One thing I'm noticing about Czech fantasy is that it's very dark, all of it. The protagonists generally eke out a victory in the end, but usually at an unreasonably high price, while the world keeps slowly turning to the worse.

In Season of the Raven, Jadwiga manages to save the duchess from painful death and her town from total destruction, but she is forced to seduce and kill again, something she has been running from for years. Also the once blooming economy of the duchy is basically gone due to the machinations of the big bad, and it's far from certain that the duchess will be able to regain control of the fanaticized populace.

In all of the Bloody Borderland books, the protagonist achieves a personal victory, but the world is worse off in the end. Bonus points for Orcigard, which is a prequel with a cast doomed by canon, so the "Everybody lives!" ending is rather bittersweet.

Another example might be Na ostřích čepelí (On the blade's edge) by Miroslav Žamboch, which is another author I like. The protagonist manages to get the settlers to their destination, except about half of the settlers are dead, the way back to civilization is destroyed, so they are completely on their own, and the love interest dies.

I don't think that any translations are available, though, so you will have to take my word that the books are worth the read.

Derek Landy: Skulduggery Pleasant: Resurrection
Derek Landy: Skulduggery Pleasant: Midnight
Derek Landy: Skulduggery Pleasant: Bedlam
Derek Landy: Skulduggery Pleasant: Seasons of War
Derek Landy: Skulduggery Pleasant: Dead or Alive
Derek Landy: Skulduggery Pleasant: Until the End
Derek Landy: Tanith Low in... The Maleficent Seven

Derek Landy is hilarious and very intelligent, as he never fails to remind the readers in his dedications. To his credit, he's right. ;)

His books are very funny, but also dealing with topics like PTSD, addiction, religious fanaticism, discrimination and racism, or shitty parents.

The books are actually so full of clever jokes and light-hearted snark that one might not notice the darkness creeping in until the heroine is suddenly day-dreaming about getting high the second she comes home, the author avatar has to be mercy-killed because he suffered a fate worse than death and the bad guy keeps winning. Then the protagonist switches sides and works with the bad guy, and then the world actually ends. Then it ends again, in an even worse way.

Yeah, I'm not sure why this series is apparently printed as children's books.

What I wanted to say by these long paragraphs is that the whole Skulduggery Pleasant series is great and you should go read it.

Gaming Books

Andrea Sfiligoi: 4 Against Darkness
Andrea Sfiligoi: 4 Against the Abyss

A solo game with wonderfully light ruleset that will let you play quickly and with a single d6. Though the rules are completely different, the feel of the game is like you were running an old-school D&D dungeon crawl.

If you're looking for a combat-based solo game rather than a narrative one, this one is surly a top choice.

Wizards of the Coast: Dungeons & Dragons 5e: Player's Handbook

I will also have to get the Game Master's Guide...

Swen Harder: Reiter der schwarzen Sonne (Knight of the Dark Sun)

A massive gamebook I've got for Christmas. Very nice so far!