Paved with good intentions by Peter McLean

Series: War for the Rose Throne (#5)

Format: 265 pages, Paperback

Published: January 15, 2026 by Arcadia

Fantasy/own

This takes place after the previous books, and yes I did miss Priest. But you do not have to have read those to understand this one. It is a new chapter.

Eline kills her husband because he was a controlling, abusive ahole. But then she also realises that she killed her husband and this is bad. The Queen's Men show up and offer her a deal and it is a bad deal, but it is better than being hanged.

Take a job at a local brothel and solve who killed a Duke.

Little bit of mystery, thriller in a dark fantasy setting. The world feels very bleak. But Eline is tougher than she thinks and grows a lot in this book.

I liked it.

Eline is a mother, a wife, and a survivor. But her life is about to change dramatically. Following an act of horrific - if righteous - vengeance, Eline is blackmailed into the service of the Queen's Men. She knows it will be a hard life of violence and fear. But Eline will do what it takes to survive, and to protect her children . . . and if she's lucky, she won't die in the process.

But the Queen's Men aren't just asking her to risk herself. They're asking her to risk everything she knows and loves. And if she fails . . . civil war and the deaths of everyone she loves will be just the beginning.

Audio: The Gate of the Feral Gods by Matt Dinniman

By: Matt Dinniman

Narrated by: Jeff Hays

Series: Dungeon Crawler Carl, Book 4

Length: 18 hrs and 3 mins

Release date: 09-16-21

Publisher: Audible Studios

Scifi, fantasy, action/own

What do I love most about this series? I have no idea. Maybe it is Donut writing in all caps, I can hear her voice in my head still. Maybe it is the total craziness, probably.

How to explain this one, well as insane as previous books. Feral gods, camel people, Carl blowing things up, people thinking Carl is crazy....Carl probably is crazy. Donut being the best cat in the world. I have seen these tees with Donut riding Mongo, and omg I want one!!!

Carl trying to take it all down from the inside. How, I have no idea. He is a tiny human being used as entertainment for trillions and trillions.

These are fun!. These has to be listened to as audiobook. THIS IS PRINCESS DONUT SPEAKING. When you know you know.

Obviously amazing narration

You failed a quest less than five minutes after you received it. Now that’s talent.

A floating fortress occupied by warrior gnomes. A castle made of sand. A derelict submarine guarded by malfunctioning machines. A haunted crypt surrounded by lethal traps. It was supposed to be easy. One bubble. Four castles. Fifteen days. Capture each one, and the stairwell is unlocked.

Here's the thing. It's never easy. Carl and his team can't go it alone. Not this time. They must rely on the help of the low-level, I-can't-believe-these-idiots-are-still-alive crawlers trapped in the bubble with them. But can they be trusted?

Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the fifth floor of the dungeon.

The Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook by Matt Dinniman

Series: Book 3,  Dungeon Crawler Carl

Release date: 05-14-21

Length: 16 hrs and 54 mins

Publisher: Audible Studios

Categories: Science Fiction & Fantasy

Narrated by: Jeff Hays, The Critical Drinker

I just realised I am 5 books behind on reviewing, oops. Ok Carl, make it fast

Carl and Donut enter a new level. This time there are trains, and stations filled with monsters, and trains filled with monsters. Did I mention monsters?

They will make crazy plans. Donut will be Donut. They will make a new friend, and Carl´s rep for being crazy will get worse. I mean this man is trying to save as many as he can!

Honestly, I can not explain this craziness. It is funny, it is wild, it is a ride you will not want to leave.

Oh and the narration is great

The top ten list is populated. The sponsorship program is open. The difficulty is ramping up. The first three floors were nothing compared to what Carl and Donut now face.

The Iron Tangle. An impossibly-complicated subway system built out of the world's subterranean railway systems, all combined and then tied together into a knot. Up is down. Down is up. Close is far. The cars are filled with monsters, the railway stations are less than safe, and the exit is always just a few stops away.

But there is hope. For the first time, the crawlers are all working together. The loot is better than ever. And the secret to unraveling it all may be hidden in the pages of a seemingly-useless book. Welcome, crawlers. Welcome to the fourth floor of the dungeon.

I Who Have Never Known Men by Jaqueline Harpman

Original title: Moi qui n'ai pas connu les hommes

Format: 188 pages, Paperback

Published: January 1, 2019 by Vintage

Sci-fi/fiction/dystopia/own

This book was amazing and just blew me away in its quietness. Its prose was lyrical, and I had as many questions going in as going out. That I understand is something that people would have an issue with. But for me it just made the book better.

It starts with an unnamed character being in a dungeon prison with 39 other women. They have been there for almost 15 years. They have fuzzy memories how they ended up there, they have been drugged and she was only a little child while the rest were women.

They are not alone to touch each other. There are guards patrolling outside the bars. They get whipped if they do something wrong. And they have no idea where they are or why.

It is a dystopic nightmare. No one is speaking to them, time has no meaning. One tried to hang herself but was stopped. Someone is always watching. The years tick by.

And then the questions start piling up. Wtf is going on? Why? And things happen that have me questioning more things. This is actually the sort of book that makes me want to analyze it and write about it. I actually think I have to read it again and take notes on everything.

Honestly simply amazing. It might not blow you away at once, but it will reach a point where you just need to know. And then when you do, you realise that this book is fantastic

“Survival is never more than putting off the moment of death.”

“Perhaps, somewhere, humanity is flourishing under the stars, unaware that a daughter of its blood is ending her days in silence.”

For a very long time, the days went by, each just like the day before, then I began to think, and everything changed’

Deep underground, thirty-nine women live imprisoned in a cage. Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only vague recollection of their lives before.

As the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl - the fortieth prisoner - sits alone and outcast in the corner. Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others' escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground.