Use the Falchion

Yup and yup. I weirdly liked Bariss' arc, but I also didn't like it at the same time. It just felt weird all around. Anyways, I'm enjoying Acolyte. That is all.

Maybe switch Kaladin to be Captain America and put Taln in as Thor? According to Brandon, he's the mostly likely person to be able to lift Mjolnir after all! Sazed would probably be the most 1:1 comparison. (Scholar in base form, hulking warrior of destruction when the situation calls for it, struggling to find peace within oneself), but maybe Zellion could also fit this category. Ohh interesting choice!

Shogun with my dad - My dad likes it more than I do, but he also read the book way back in the day AND watched the previous show. It's weird that he likes it more than the guy who actually lived in (admittedly rural) Japan for two years, but that's life at times. The show has grown on me, but it took some time...and some spoilers. Star Wars Acolyte with my friend and my dad - I also really enjoy Acolyte. It's doing a lot of things well and interestingly, and I'm a fan so far. The review bombing is unfortunate and seems to be spearheaded by misogyny, racism, and anti-LGBTQA+ nonsense, but I'm also not surprised that's the case. I'd like to believe that the show will redeem itself in time, but we'll see. My Adventures With Superman Season 2 - Kara Zor-El looks like Android 18 and I'm 99% sure that's on purpose and that's phenomenal. The show is doing a lot of fun this with Superman and his mythos, and it's a bright, fun show. I wish that it aired on a normal network at a normal time, because nothing about it screams "Adult Swim" other than AS were the people to fund the show. I really hope younger generations can find and enjoy this take on Superman before it's loss to history or something. No progress on The Brothers Sun and I may have to finish that show myself.

Kaladin - Ascends to become Honor. If he doesn't, then Syl becomes able to live in the Physical Realm and the two become a couple.* But I think more things point to him becoming Honor than not. Some things that feel like hints to me with Spoilers for the Kaladin Preview Chapters: Syl - Either replaces the Stormfather once he dies and either starts a relationship with Honor!Kaladin that way or she becomes able to live in the Physical Realm. Shallan - Will free BAM, no idea after that. Maybe wage a personal war against the Ghostbloods? Dalinar - Will win the Contest of Champions but die as a result and become a Fused. He'll quickly be transported off-world and start causing problems that way. Taravangian - Will do something to strike at Kharbranth and/or Roshar and sink it. He'll also kill the Stormfather. He may escape, but he certainly won't do it without getting injured. Cultivation - Might be the Big Bad of the second half, might be trying to retire her position as a Shard. Not sure just yet. Wit - Makes his way off-world, to the ire of both sides. Contest of Champions - Gavinor is the Champion. Dalinar swears his Fourth and/or Fifth Ideal and uses Bondsmith's power of Connection to switch roles in the Contest, taking on the role of Odium's Champion. He'll give the role of Honor's Champion to someone else (like a temporarily sane Taln) who will mercy-kill him. In his last moments, Dalinar will give his bond to the Stormfather (which, depending on whether Odium strikes first or not, may just be the power of the Stormfather and Tanavast's Cognitive Shadow, not the mind of the Stormfather) to Kaladin, who will use this to Ascend into Honor. This will allow Team Honor to win but will result in Odium escaping, because while Dalinar was willing, Odium didn't agree to Dalianr being Odium's Champion. Odium, in a fit of rage, will strike out and either sink Kharbranth or Shinovar and possibly destroy the Stormfather. (If he destorys the Stormfather, then Syl will probably replace him. But that's not a guarantee.) This will result in an extended Weeping period for Roshar that will cause flooding all throughout the world. We call this the Night of Sorrows. Moash - He and Wit will sit on top of Urithiru or another mountain and talk about the nature of beauty right before Wit leaves Roshar. Szeth - He will have a cool back-to-back stance with Kaladin as they prepare to fight against the Stone Shamans who hold the Honorblades. Adolin - He will bond Notum in a time of need, and then BAM's return will allow Notum to fill in more cracks from Adolin while Adolin fills in the cracks from Maya. Other potential Theories. (MASSIVE SPOILERS FOR SUNLIT MAN) *I think there's a not-small chance that Kaladin-as-Honor will romance Lift-as-Cultivation IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE SERIES AT THE VERY MINIMUM. Sanderson isn't afraid of large age-gaps (Roughly 10 years between Wax & Steris, I think over 25 between Susebron and Siri, and eons between Hoid and Jasnah. All of those are larger than the gap between Kaladin and Lift.)

I'm honestly just thinking it's about breaking the "to the death" rules and causing the other participant to forfeit. Taravangian isn't like Dalinar or even Rayse. He doesn't fight fair or honorably and is willing to lie, steal, and kill to get what he wants or thinks he needs. Thinking he's going to play the game like Rayse or Dalinar and choose a champion who can fight and win is going to be the downfall of Team Honor, because Taravangian isn't playing to win the match, he's playing to win the game, and winning for him is getting out of the duel itself. It reminds me of this one meme video from a few years ago. A guy has this children's toy where you put the face of 3D shapes in matching 2D holes i.e. the "cylinder goes in the circle hole while the pyramid shape goes in the triangle hole." Most people, including the girl reacting to this video, would put the appropriate shapes in the appropriate holes. This guy? He just puts all the shapes in the square hole. Taravangian is like that. Everyone assumes he's going to put the right shapes in the right holes, the honorable or odious champion for the fight. But he's going to use a different strategy, play a different game, because he wants a different outcome. That's a valid theory! ...assuming Dalinar and Team Honor were looking for loopholes to exploit. Team Honor is led by Dalinar, a man who is reluctant to let go of power and delegate unless forced to or he's not an expert on the matter and someone he is close to is. No one else is an expert on the matter, and Dalinar most certainly isn't giving up his power to let someone else do something so important. (Which is what I think one of his final Oaths will be about.) That's what makes figuring out who Odium's Champion feels so easy, at least to me. Once you know what Odium wants (out of the contract and Roshar as a whole), who Honor's Champion is going to be (Dalinar), then all you need to do is figure out who would make Dalinar break the rules of the contract. Who has expressed hatred, deep passion, or even pain, on Dalinar's side, who Odium could easily convince with little to give away? You see where I'm going with this, right? From there, the biggest conundrum - and the focus of discussions IMO - is how Dalinar gets out of such a situation and what that means for Roshar.

Isn't it mentioned that he has people watching the doors? Gavilar was also just really good at hiding his associations to people and things. His family didn't know half of what he was up to, and no one outside of Navani knew a fraction of what he thought, for better or for worse. Gavilar also didn't have a complete 180 in his character during these visions. Part of the reason people thought Dalinar was going mad was because of his adherence to the Codes in a way no Alethi really cared about right after his brother's death, and his supposed complete character shift alongside that. (Talking about honor considering his past and the like.)

For A Song of Ice and Fire, I've moved on emotionally. For the Name of the Wind, I don't really like Rothfuss as a person or author anymore, and I'm not invested. When I sold my ASOIAF books, I felt a moment of sadness doing so. When I sold my NotW books, I felt nothing but surprise it took this long. For both series, I'm just not interested in reading series that will most likely be incomplete due to the author's own pride or hubris. Don't get me wrong, I do think we'll see The Winds of Winter eventually, but I honestly think GRRM will die before he writes A Dream of Spring and won't let anyone finish the books. I respect the ever-loving stuffing out of Martin, and his influence on entertainment will still be felt for years to come, but he also has far too many projects going on and these take up a lot of his writing time. (He's also older and probably wants to enjoy the luxuries he's worked for, which is completely fair and deserved!) If Sanderson didn't have Dragonsteel behind him, I think he'd be much in the same boat at this point in his career.* Rothfuss on the other hand...I'm not sure we'll ever see The Doors of Stone, and I certainly don't think we'll ever see any other books that were planned for after the trilogy is complete. Between Rothfuss's editor claiming she hadn't read a single chapter of the book back in 2020 (and then having DAW go under because Rothfuss was her golden goose. And THEN Rothfuss announcing his own publishing press the same year DAW goes under), the entire prologue chapter controversy, Rothfuss's silence on the entire matter for years until his non-apology in October (which was a great time to mention it because he had a repackaged novella coming out the next month), and the hiring ad for an assistant that does far more than just assist in one or two areas from less than a month ago, I'm just not interested in anything else he has to say. To me, Rothfuss's career is like watching a train crash in slow motion, in that it's horrible and you wish it wouldn't happen but you also can't look away. Maybe he'll have a triumphant return to the literary world with Book 3 and beyond, but I think his time in the limelight has passed, for better or for worse. *Heck, I'd argue that when - not if, but when - Brandon starts working on adaptations, he'll have to slow down in the same way. Maybe it won't be as bad as Martin, but it'll be a while before things pick back up again, if they ever do. Hopefully Sanderson can write a few more secret projects and buffer-books in-between now and then, so that his productivity will still feel good.

Do we have a WoB or hints that Nale was instructed to give Nightblood to Szeth? Otherwise, it could just be Nale saying that "hey, these two could have some great synergy, both being single-minded individuals. One's a weapon while the other knows how to use weapons wisely. One wants to destroy evil, and clearly things that don't follow laws are evil, and this guy knows how to follow laws! They'll get along great!" IIRC, Dalinar mentions it to Gavilar in one of the Oathbringer flashbacks. I think it's the one where Adolin is born. (EDIT: Just check, and it is! Part 2, Chapter 49, "Born Unto Light.") There aren't a lot of people who can reference it, looking at it now: Dalinar remembers bits and pieces of it, but Cultivation ripped away a lot more than he thought. Since this memory so clearly had Evi in it, it makes sense that he doesn't recall it, although he seemingly does know what happened. Navani clearly remembers, but none of her memories focus on it, admittedly. Maybe it's her way of trying to help Jasnah, maybe it's just that she has a lot of other things on her plate at the time. Maybe it's the reason why Jasnah and Navani aren't as close as it feels like they want to be. (They're close, but Navani notes a distance between them at times, IIRC.) Gavilar is dead, Elhokar would have been a baby at most, and Adolin was just born. Who else is there that would know or talk about it?

Gardens of the Moon was a tough read personally, but the next three books have some of the single best action scenes I've ever read in all of Fantasy. I still haven't started Book 5, and I finished Book 4 nearly 5 years ago... I just finished up all of the released Mark of the Fool books by JM Clarke a day or two ago. I wouldn't say I devoured the series, as that's an exclusive club* by my standards, but I did read them very, VERY quickly. Maybe I'll change my mind in retrospect, who knows. The series itself is fun and does a lot of what I want from other magic school setting books, namely, exploring the different types of magic. The action is good, the characters are fun, and the world is pretty solidly built. There are promises and payoff, and I'm looking forward to seeing where the series goes. The biggest marks against the book are the pacing and prose. The pacing is weird at times in a few ways. Sometimes there's just nonstop action for most of the book, while other times it feels like we have to wait 80% of the book to get to the good stuff. Some books are well-paced, while others I skipped entire chapters. I'm not sure it got better, but I got used to it. (Granted, not everyone may fill this way.) For the prose, the books are written in a very casual way, as if the author intended it to be read. This isn't as extreme as Project Hail Mary, but it shows sometimes when I read a sentence, get confused, and then have to say the sentence out-loud to understand how it's supposed to sound before continuing. These complaints are minor though, and I found this series far more entertaining to read in the long-run than Mage Errant. *A Song of Ice and Fire (2013 - I have since sold my copies and don't plan on buying any new books in the series), The Name of the Wind (2013 - I have since sold my copies and don't plan on buying any new books in the series), Brandon Sanderson's works (2014), The Wheel of Time (2018), Cradle (2023), and Unbound (2023). Series that come close are: The Expanse (2018 - note that I read up to the released point and haven't finished the series, so I don't count it in the above category), Prentice Ash (2023), Mark of the Fool (2024), An Outcast In Another World (2024),

Last month I finally completed a long-standing goal of mine for Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes - teaching Dimitri Bolting. Did I need to do this? Not at all. Are there better characters for Bolting? Absolutely! (Basically any natural magic-wielding character is a better choice, and even Felix is a better choice due to his comparatively higher Magic growths. And any character with Witstrike is a better choice!) But it was a fun idea and BOB SAGET I FINISHED IT. As such, Dark Knight Dimitri is complete. This took a year of grinding on-and-off, but it was worth it. As a slight aside, Annettel learned both Bolting and Agnea's Arrow in roughly a week of playing, a mere fraction of the time! Gotta love how Supports play a role, don't you... I've done that, beaten Unicorn Overlord again (way back in April I think), tried out Dynasty Warriors 8, booted up my old copy of Fallout 4 for a quick moment, and just finished the main storyline for Nexomon last week. I'd love to play Mass Effect: Legendary Edition again, but I need to find my copy. ...I also know that I'll get VERY bored with ME 1 and skip to ME 2 and 3, which is exactly what happened last time...sigh... Anyways, I now have to decided between Moonstone Island and Another Crab's Treasure. I'll probably do Moonstone Island first, although I'm excited for both games and really want to enjoy both of them. I'm trying to find a new Farming/Dating Sim game to enjoy after liking Rune Factory 4 nearly 10 years ago and not liking anything since, and I want Another Crab's Treasure to bring me into the Soulsborne fold, a genre I've never really enjoyed. Other games I want to play during the summer: Final Fantasy 16 - I've heard good things about it from my friend and from social media, so I guess it's time Assassin's Creed Origins - The only AC I've actually played was AC 4: Black Flag, and that was the perfect AC game to me. But I got Origins because I've heard so many good things about it. Elden Ring - This is a big MAYBE. Again, I want to like the genre, but I'm not a fan of it, so I don't want to dive right into the deep end. Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn - I've been keeping an eye on this game for a number of years due to it being a game in the Flintlock Fantasy subgenre. I thought it'd be more akin to God of War than a Soulsborne game, but hearing it's the latter gave me a moment of pause. Overall, I decided that if the reviews are good and I like Another Crab's Treasure, I'll check this one out. Other games for later in the year: Sun Haven - I just want to try the game out on the Switch. Like Moonstone Island, this game is part of the search to find new Farming/Dating Sim games that I like. Symphany of War: Nephilim Saga - I'm hoping this game makes me feel like I'm playing Fire Emblem, since we're not getting a new FE game this year other than Unicorn Overlord. Metaphor Re:Fantazio - I'm VERY excited for this game. I'm now holding myself back from too much information so I don't know everything before the game's release. The only thing missing was romance. (The creators said that romance was missing because it's more or less an integral part of the high school experience, and since this doesn't take place in high school like Persona, it's not needed. I fundamentally disagree with this, but I'm an American man, not a Japanese man...that being said, I have a few Japanese friends and they are/were looking for love in their thirties, so I wouldn't call romance a "high school" thing only. Not to mention the interplay of romance and marriage in politics is a well-documented - and oft-scandalized - thing.) Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven - The gameplay looks fun and the story looks interesting. I wish there was a romance mechanic to the game, but alas... Assassin's Creed Shadows - I've heard quite a few controversial things about this game, which really makes me want to play it out of spite if the gameplay's good and the characters are good. It's always fun seeing Yasuke appear. Dark Deity 2 - I helped the first one on Kickstarter, and while I never beat it, I had fun with it. (Fun fact, the creators are Sanderson fans! I caught several of their early-game Easter Eggs early on, such as the Windrunner class and Cosmere University.) I'm looking forward to the second game and hopefully that will release by November/December. (I also hope that Dark Deity 3 has a romance system.) Coromon - I like Pokemon, enjoyed Nexomon, and am looking forward to whenever I get around to it. Fire Emblem Genealogy Remake - It's not coming this year and I'M UPSET.

God Games will be in the Wisdom Saga, so in the one after the Thunder Saga. Hopefully we'll get it by Christmas! Man of the House seems to be cut, but like other cut songs such as "Ismarus," we'll see clips and pieces of it show up in other songs. The Fandom Wiki has a list of all of the current song titles, synopses, and lyrics from Tiktok for them. However, it's not always accurate and is subject to pieces of demos for future songs. (It had Scylla's voice listed as someone months before the role was revealed last week and a LONG time after said listed applicant confirmed she did NOT get the role of Scylla.)

I joined right before or around the release of the Circe Saga, so I can't speak for anything before that, but if promotion's anything like the Underworld Saga, we'll get a few more fun teasers and whatnot. (I'm assuming a voice reveal for Scylla, some more background music stuff, and maybe a teaser that's in-person like the 2022 stuff I've seen on social media.)

The Last Horizon Book 3 aka The Knight came out on Tuesday! It's easily the best in the series so far, with the highs hitting higher, the emotional moments hitting stronger, and the puns being even greater. This is because of three specific reasons IMO: 1. We know the characters. The Captain was fun because we were meeting the main cast, and since the book was about Varic, we got to know him pretty well. The Engineer, while fun, didn't fully work for me because we didn't know Mel as well as we did the others. (What did work for this though, was the fact that Mel felt like an outsider because she didn't know the others well. But this only partially works, because Shyrax has the same problem and fit right in.) In The Knight, we've known Raion for three books now, so we care about him and his story. 2. Will's more comfortable with the story. Moreso than the previous two books, this one balanced the "apocalyptic ending of the universe" with the "Saturday Morning Flash Gordon Adventure cartoon" vibes pretty well. It explored what Raion and a few others wanted while also being willing to laugh and even make fun of itself a little. And the Bloopers! THE BLOOPERS! I don't think I've laughed so hard at them since the Waybound! 3. I had a third point, but I forgot it. Maybe I'll edit it back in. Overall, The Knight is a fun addition to the series, and I hope more fans of Cradle will check out The Last Horizon! (Also, there's a very fun nod to what I believe are some of the mechanics of the Willverse and to Cradle in-particular towards the end of the book, as pointed out by Will's brother Sam.)

For all the Epic: The Musical fans - The first trailer for the Thunder Saga just dropped, and it releases on July 4, 2024!

Maybe Brandon can save those interludes for Arcanum Unbounded 2. Although between the Interludes, Rock's novella, Dawnshard's probable inclusion, and potentially Silence Divine, there's a lot of room taken up by the Rosharan system...

I bought the Kindle version of Batman: Beyond the White Knight and preordered the Kindle version of Batman Beyond: Neo Gothic. (Releasing June 11.) I've been on a Batman Beyond kick for the past year or so now, and I decided to check these two out. I liked Neo-Year last year, so I'm relatively excited for Neo Gothic next week. I'm not the biggest fan of the whole White Knight universe. Don't get me wrong, I love the concept of it and I love seeing elseworlds/multiverse/alternate universe stuff being fleshed out and explored, and I'm actually a big fan of the Bruce/Harley relationship, but it just never grabbed me the way it did others.

Cradle is great! It was my top read of 2023, with Will Wight being my top author of 2023. I discovered Will Wight when he did his Kickstarter video in 2022, lightly poking fun at Brandon's Secret Project video. I think I may have heard of the series before then, but only in passing. I decided to fund his Kickstarter due to how amusing it was without knowing much else, and I promptly forgot about it. On one lucky Saturday in March 2023, as I started Spring Break, and I remembered Will's Kickstarter. My copy of the first book had yet to come in, so I downloaded the sample of Unsouled on my Kindle App while waiting on something else. I devoured the sample and said to myself "whelp, I'm buying this book ASAP." I did, and by Sunday evening, the entire book was finished. I then CONSUMED, the rest of the series, reading all 11 books out within 6 days. I ate, slept, and read. I hadn't been on a book-binge like this since I discovered Brando Sando himself. It. Was. GLORIOUS. Very soon after that, Wight announced The Last Horizon series and had a Kindle sale - and by sale, I mean he gave away his entire bibliography for free. I downloaded every book of his I could. (I skipped a trilogy, but I bought those later.) Cradle introduced me to the Progression Fantasy and LitRPG subgenres, both of which I'm still heavily reading. (As in, since March 2023, a majority of my read books are in those two subgenres.*) Thanks to Will Wight, I went from reading maybe 5-10 books in 2023, with half of those being Sanderson's books, to reading over 60 books, with Sanderson being the third-most read. (Will at the top with 15 books and Nicoli Gonnella writer of the Unbound series in second place with 8 books read.) Now, when people finish Sanderson's works and wonder what to read next, Cradle and the Willverse are near the top of the list. I genuinely believe that once Stormlight is on hiatus, Cradle can be the next series to fill that void. (Chances are that it won't, sadly, but I believe it can be.) My Cradle playlist: "Fool's Gold" by Aries "Elevate" by DJ Khalil (Originally a MHA theme-song for me, but it works brilliantly with Cradle also) "Parasite Eve" by Bring Me the Horizon (during THAT MOMENT in "Reaper") "Standing" by STIM ft. RJ Pasin "AmEN!" by Bring Me the Horizon (this is new and not exclusive to Cradle, but it works.) On Will's other works: The Last Horizon - Thoroughly enjoying, although it's very different from Cradle. Eagerly awaiting The Knight. Traveler's Gate Trilogy - I read House of Blades and...I didn't like it. I'll finish it eventually, but I'm fine taking my time. The Elder Empire Trilogies - I'm saving these for a rainy day, but I'm also a little hesitant to start them in earnest. I know whichever one I start with will shape my perspective going forward, and that sorta scares me. Someday I hope Will writes a LitRPG series. I know Will wants to bring something special to the genre if he's going to write pure LitRPG series, but I also know that a lot of his fans would love and devour the series because it's his. Currently, more than I think any other author right now, Will is the one author I want Brandon to collaborate with.** I think the two could create something really special together. Granted, this helps Will far more than it'd help Brandon, I think it could help Brandon explore some new subgenres and worldbuilding ideas. So, yeah, I'm a fan of the guy. *In the Progression Fantasy and LitRPG subgenres, outside of Cradle, my recommendations (with top reads bolded) are: Unbound series by Nicoli Gonnella. LitRPG. My second-favorite series of 2023 and my top reread series of 2024. The worldbuilding is really good for the subgenres it's in and the progression is cool. Felix is pretty overpowered, but Gonnella does a decent job at leveling up the enemies he's fighting to match that. Behind the Cosmere and Cradle, this is probably my third-favorite series currently. (9 out of 12 books currently released.) Manifestation series by Samuel Hinton. Progression Fantasy. This series is probably the most like Cradle in several ways to me, especially with the beginning. (You've got a magically-crippled main character who has to basically discover an ancient way to catch up to everyone else and goes hard when she does. Later books focus on the "advancing together" theme that Cradle does.) (3 out of at least 4 books currently released) Song of Chaos series by Michael R Miller. Coming-of-Age Progression Fantasy. One of my top reads of 2024. If you like the "boy and his dragon" stories, then you'll like this one...since that's exactly what it is. Fun fact, Michael R Miller is going to Dragonsteel Nexus! So (3 out of at least 4 books currently released.) All the Skills by Honour Rae. LitRPG. Another "boy and his dragon" series, although more focused on gaining skills and leadership as the series continues. I loved Book 1, really liked Book 2, and felt good about Book 3. I'm still excited for Book 4, but it's going in a different direction than originally promised, IMO. Still, it's worth checking out! (Although I wouldn't read this AND Song of Chaos too close together. They're too similar IMO.) (3 out of at least 4 books currently released) Ultimate Level 1 by Shawn Wilson. This...isn't the best. But if you like characters that eat/consume enemies to gain power (like Felix from Unbound or a certain character from Cradle), then this series will be good for you. My biggest problem is that the main character goes from "all I've wanted to be is a baker" to "I'M TOTALLY DOWN FOR KILLING THINGS FOR POWER BECAUSE IT FEELS SO GOOD" really, really quickly. (2 out of at least 3 books currently released.) Tree of Aeons by SpaizZer. LitRPG. A dude is accidentally killed, due to a role of the dice, becomes a Spirit Tree. This series is interesting. It's written weirdly but not necessarily poorly. (5 out of at least 6 books currently released.) A Budding Scientist in a Fantasy World by Acaswell. LitRPG. A 16-year-old girl who loves science is Isekai'd into a fantasy world in the middle of the night and must survive. What sets this one apart is how focused it is on breaking down the science behind the magic and the System (hence the "budding scientist"), and how methodical the main character is. She clearly outlines her thought process behind the skills and classes she chooses, making it feel far more like she's actually choosing something rather than the plot going "our character wants skill A and now has Skill A because the plot demands Skill A." (1 Book out of at least 1 currently released.) A Summoner Awakens by Kerebos. LitRPG. This is one of those "sent back in time to prevent the apocalypse" stories, but at least the characters are interesting, and the magic is pretty cool. Unintended Cultivator by Eric Dontigney. Xianxia. This is probably the only Xianxia series I'll ever like, and it's not for lack of trying. Amelia the Zero Level Hero by V.A. Lewis. LitRPG. A girl who got Isekai'd into a Doom-esque hellscape finally escaped to a game-like world, where the System keeps trying to force her to be a hero. She refuses, instead wanting to simply relax. If you like One Punch Man and Mob Psycho 100, you'll enjoy this one. For the above books, if you want to know when the next ones in the series are coming out: These aren't the only series in the genres I'm reading, but these are the ones I recommend the most. And yes, I've tried out the fan-favorites like Dungeon Crawler Carl (I'll try this one again eventually), Primal Hunter (didn't grab me), Wandering Inn, and various others. I've either not cared for the samples I read, or I've finished the first book and have no desire to read beyond that point. Maybe I'll try again someday, but I've got a lot more samples to try and actual books to read, so I'm not holding my breath. **Leigh Bardugo is a very close second. Around 2022, Brandon stated that Bardugo outsold him and has done so before. (IIRC, they traded the top spot every now and then.) Granted, Sanderson's popularity has exploded since 2022, but Bardugo has a relatively popular adaptation and booktok on her side, so I'd say they're still pretty equal. The two don't have a major overlap in fans, at least not on Brandon's side, so I think the two could really benefit from each other's audience.

Winions are also the name of the fans in the fandom!

Shoutout to the Winions! (Divine Intervention is called God Games!) Here's to hoping for a June release! Because if Jorge can stick with the consistent "every other month" pattern, he can finish Epic on Christmas and start a new project in the new year!

Bring Me the Horizon's new album, Post-Human: NexGen. A lot of songs I like on it, some I don't care for, and others that are just there. Overall, I think it's more varied and experimental than Survival Horror due to its effortlessly switching of genres* and styles, but not as impactful or topical due to the timing. *I firmly believe we're in a post-genre music era though, so a band or artist switching genres and styles within an album or even between albums feels pretty normal nowadays.

Finally beat Unicorn Overlord this weekend! Ended up romancing Rosalinde, then beating the game again with Yanha and doing Post-game stuff, before going back to my Roselinde playthrough for redoing the Post-game level and beating the Colosseum. Overall, I'm very happy with Roselinde's romance. I've seen a few other characters, but few characters are romantic in their supports rapports, have a nice confession, AND have a cute ending IMO. (Roselinde, Celeste, and Melisandre are the best that I've seen.) It helps if said character can benefit from the Ring of the Maiden incredibly well, but that's not entirely necessary. I'll probably go through the game again to get the few characters I missed and romance someone else - probably Celeste or Melisandre, while also working on new team compositions, but I'm pretty happy with my time in the game for now. The biggest things missing from this game is a solid post-game or NG+ content. I'm fine when a game has one or another, but this game really only has one post-game level, which is great for training, but that's it. My best end-game teams: I'm not ready to go back into Unicorn Overlord, Cassette Beasts, or Fire Emblem Engage just yet, so I'll look around for my copy of Three Houses and see if I can romance Shamir again. (It's almost always Shamir or Marianne.) I was going to romance Rhea, but Shamir and Byleth have the whole "babies ever after" ending I just can't get over.

My thoughts exactly!

Yup yup! I read each book as it came out years ago, starting with Book 2 or 3 I believe, but I never read the final book. I bought it, but I've put it on the backburner because I didn't want the series to end. I also have the first book of the Ashes of the Sun trilogy, and I've read the prologue and maybe the first chapter a year or two ago, and I've been itching to get back to it. I won't allow myself to read anymore of that until I finish Shadow Campaigns first, and I won't let myself do that until I finish a few more books on my list. I'm trying not to buy anymore books, but I'm halfway through a decent-at-most LitRPG series that's been calling me. So it's looking to be: Sixth of the Dusk reread (tonight) New Progression Fantasy series Book 2 LitRPG Series Books 3 & 4 Decent-at-best LitRPG series books 4 & 5 Shadow Campaigns Book 5 Ashes of the Sun Book 1 All-in-all, I could probably get to Shadow Campaigns by April 1, especially since my school district has Good Friday and "Easter Monday" off, but we'll see. I have a few Kindle samples to try out as well, and the reading of Secret Project 5 may put a wrench in things.

I read the first three books (aka the "original trilogy" before Brown turned it into a 7-book series) and I loved them! I haven't really felt the need to revisit them, which isn't uncommon. Only two authors have made me feel that. (Sanderson and Will Wight.) But those who get into the series LOVE IT. Reading a lot of LitRPG stuff this week. I finished 6 books during this Spring Break while ALSO playing the ever-loving-stuffing out of Unicorn Overlord and still being relatively social, so I feel pretty accomplished. Crown (Unbound 9) and All the Skills 3 were the two highlights of the 6 books so far, and I eagerly await the next installments in these series in September and August respectfully. I've got a few more things to try out, and then it's onto some Flintlock Fantasy and Epic Fantasy by Django Wexler I've procrastinated for far too long on.

I lowkey happy that Brandon's Mainframe endeavor isn't as successful as he'd like. Mainframe aka Audible-exclusive products, while a decent idea, mostly wasted its stories and mediums. Not only do they miss an entire market by being Audible-exclusive, but most were told like how normal books read. Compare Lux and that one Legion: Death and Faxes to The Original and Dark One: Forgotten. The latter two are told in a way where the format aids the story, while the first two are just stories that happen to be audio-exclusive. Lux would have most assuredly sold better if it had a physical release as well. Had Mainframe succeeded, Brandon probably have put the Secret Projects on Audible sooner, and we would not have gotten the victory recently gained if so.