I'm invested in this series, can't wait until the next one comes out. With Drew Hayes I started with his Super Powereds series, and thought it was great. After that I continued to pick up anything he's written, and have liked them all. Spells, Swords and Stealth of course, I am currently loving his Villains' Code series, and will pick up the last book in his Fred the Vampire Assistant series as soon as it is released. I've listened to all of them on audio, and have thought the narrators on all of them have been good.

Thank you so much for reviewing Gilded Kingdom! I greatly appreciate the time and effort involved. I also thank you for your critique. Proofreading has never been my strong suit, but it is something I am working on. And I am in the process of writing the first draft of the next book. But working full time and being a dad of 2 under 2 leaves me very little time, if any, to write. Once again, thank you so much for your kind words. They mean the world!

Some of your issues with the abilities and updates mid battle are a common problem with adaptation to Audiobook for LitRPG. In the book versions these are in a different font, or bold or in a box, and like a drawing or a map in a traditional fantasy novel and can easily be set aside and returned to without breaking the flow. Whereas the best an Audiobook can do if change the voice.

Alright-so if you binge the book of Astea by next Friday you should join our conversation with Mr. Ahmer! Nah but we’ll be ripping non spoiler stuff. I’m diving into sundered moon right now and the prose style is so polished and the narrative strings are weaved very well. Stoked to hear your thoughts !

So glad you enjoyed this story! Stay metal 🤘

One of your favorites of all time. What an honor. Thanks so much! Cover art is finished. Waiting for my author's proof of Vengeance Borne: Book Five of New Blood to give it another editing read.

Happy to hear that you have been enjoying these indie gems so much! I am definitely gonna put the New Blood series on my TBR after that gush! And ooooh yes, you are gonna love Zammar's duology, I just know it in my bones. Happy reading!

Great video! Happy to see such an awesome copy of Weaveworld displayed so prominently on your shelf. Looking forward to the lots of horror on the horizon! 🎃

So glad the Book of Astea made it to you safely! Hope it's worthy read whenever you get around to it :) I'm hyped for Rob's Performances of a Death Metal Bard, it sounds like it's going to be great fun!

Thanks so much for this opportunity! I really enjoyed it and hope to do it again sometime!

Bill Kilpack is a driving Force

outstanding

Great chat! ❤

Great interview Usman <3

Great positive review! Cheers

Ooooh yes bby!! I will have to admit that I was almost a bit overwhelmed by the album at first because it is such a sensory overload, but the relistens have been amazing. Especially love the little bit of Finnish lyrics, and while I absolutely can't choose a favourite track, I do think the last two have some of the highest highs for me. Thanks so much again for introducing me to Wintersun, I can't believe I never knew of them before you posted about them 🥲🤩

Awesome stuff, Usman! I will admit that on first listen, nothing stood out to me the way Time I does. But I realized Wintersun's music is so dense that it's really made for re-listens. Around six times in, I absolutely love the record! I actually always listen to the whole thing start to finish, so I can't differentiate between the tracks very well. But I do appreciate your breakdown, and totally see you what you mean! Silver Leaves, I think is extra special. Such a sense of melancholy about the passing of time, yet hopeful and uplifting at the same time. The finnish part is just 👌👌

Thanks for this Usman! I’m going to add these albums to my list.

Love listening to you guys. So informative and attention to detail. Love to hear you're guys take on book 7 when it arrives.

Loving that you two are breaking down the series! Can't wait for you to get fully caught up!

Best served cold is my favorite Abercrombie 👌

Just finished this one and thought it’s probably the best one so far, I gave it 5/5, the previous two books were both 4/5s for me

Love to hear that you've been having so many great reads, aside from the DNF. I have had Zanzibar on my radar for way too long, sounds like I need to move it up the priority list! And oooh yes, I am about to finish Eyes of Empire and Joe has done it again. I will never get enough of spending time with Rohan!!

The commitment to The Divine Comedy man, hats off to you. I still haven’t gone back 😅 Very curious to see how Midnight Tides holds up for you.

So good to see you back! And man are you in for a treat with The Great Leveller Trilogy (Abercrombie standalones). They are all top top tier stuff!

Never gets old seeing my humble novel amongst so many greats in awesome videos like this! Thanks again for giving it a chance, Usman!

Oh The Divine Comedy - always wanted to read that. 🎉

I definitely need to read The Divine Comedy outside of a school setting. May take me back to college to read it again, but I'd definitely like the opportunity to explore it on my own.

About 2/3 through the audiobook. Don't know how these books keep getting better! 1. Carl's lawyer is the Saul Goodman of DCC. 2. The Miriam Dom/Prepodente scene broke me. 3. Viva la Revolucion, Carl.

WOW! Thanks so much for the kind words about Demon Seed! Putting the New Blood Saga up against Wheel of Time ... wow. OK ... no pressure there. Thank you! Humbling ... just humbling. Did I say wow? My cheeks are sore from smiling.

Love the videos! Considering the background…consider calling the channel “Bags and Books”?

Fairy Unicorn is a top 5 fantasy series for me. lol. Awesome video brother.

I guess just call it Self Pub September or something? Lol. Sounds good, interested to see what horror picks you'll dive into. I'm looking for some good recs for October because why not.

Oh man I love how much you loved Exile of Zanzibar and how dedicated you are to finding these self-pub gems. I’ll be keen to track your progress through He Who Fights with Monsters to see if it’ll be a good second lit rpg series for me after DCC.

Great review dude. Just now catching it. I really can’t wait to chat about this one I feel like there are just so many ways we could go.

I also believe I’m gonna do the night of knives read, it also being my first read thriugh

Love the breakdown. 100% accurate on wanting to reread as you go. I’m mid midnight tides and there’s so much I wanna go back and experience

Awesome breakdown. You reminded me of some of the smaller moments in this book I'd forgotten about but which came back fresh in my brain after you mentioned it. Great video!

Great review! As usual!

Its great to finally get your review. From reading your thoughts on the previous books on the discord, I had a feeling you might enjoy this one, and so glad that you did. I love this book. While the highs of this book may not be as big as some of the others, this books doesn't really have any negative for me, love everything in it. Regarding whether to read Esslemont books along with the main series, I have a write up which slightly long, so I will post in in the discord instead.

Nice review! You're right it's an amazing book, and it's not usually in people's top 3 of the series. That's not cause it's bad, just cause the rest of the series is that good too!! Regarding mixing in Esslemont - Night of Knives after Midnight Tides is fine, no big deal either way. But besides that, I feel strongly that you should just read MBotF straight through, and then read NotME (Esslemont's Novels of the Malazan Empire). Yes there's strong overlap in terms of time period and some characters, but they also both tell their own stories. Frankly Esslemont's writing just isn't as good either, and RotCG in particular is kind of a mess. It's still good and a must-read if you love MBotF, but it interrupts Erikson's flow. You'll see different opinions on this and in the end do what you want, see how it works, nothing is gonna RUIN your experience lol. In the end it's all down to personal preference. For what it's worth, I think the opinion of not mixing them (on the FIRST read in particular) is way more common in the fandom than mixing what hey what do I know I'm just a dude Looking forward to hearing how much you love Midnight Tides!

I recommend the ICE books. They are a great addition, especially if you can't get enough Malazan.

I’ve been waiting for this review, finally!

Here we go. I can't wait for the chat with the boys. :)

Nice to see you carrying on. Despite the fact that some characters die and come back, Erikson manages a lot of gut punches along the way. And as long as you are prepared for a different writing style, reading both sets of books in the publication order is not a bad thing as people who read them as they were being published can attest to. 😁

<3 Thanks for the review my man :) glad you and Colin enjoyed it, I say that as the drop off rate for this book is quite steep and people that like this tend to reach the very end. Midnight tides is a joy to read and I can't wait for you're thoughts there

Solid books. Different. He writes much better than he speaks on his channel.

I recently finished Fletcher's Black Heart Stone and loved it! I'm not a big fantasy reader, but this has really gotten me interested dark fantasy. Look forward to hearing your thoughts on it.

My favorite author. I've been saving Age of Madness trilogy for a reading slump! I'm excited! Read along with the audiobook. The narrator is the best!

In the long run I think I like how it feels like a cozy fantasy that transforms into an epic fantasy