Night Shift Dragons by Rachel Aaron
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Series: DFZ (Book 3 of 3)
Genre: Urban fantasy
Published: 5th May 2020 (Aaron/Bach, self-published)
Night Shift Dragons delivered a spectacular and hugely emotionally satisfying conclusion to Rachel Aaron’s follow-up urban fantasy series set in the insanely cool, quirky and vibrant free city of the DFZ.
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The featured image above was specifically designed by Felix Ortiz for Novel Notions’ Top 20 List.
Hello everyone! This is the first time I’m listing my top reads for the year 2019. Initially, I wanted to opt for Top 10 but having read 100 books and rated a lot between 4.5 and 5 stars, I felt that I would struggle to limit it to ten. The parameters for my list are as follows:
With exception of #1, none of these are ranked. I’ve merely listed them in the chronological order of when I’ve read them this year. I’ve also included my favourite classic read of the year as we’ve started the Novel Notions Classic Club in July. All of these have been reviewed by me on Novel Notions and Goodreads.
ARC provided by the authors in exchange for an honest review
The Once King by Rachel Aaron and Travis Bach.
My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Series: FFO (Book 3 of 3)
Genre: LitRPG fantasy
Publication date: 12th November 2019 (Independently published)
Gripping and thoroughly satisfying, The Once King, concluded the FFO trilogy with yet another compulsive read.
The entire series has been incredibly fun and addictive with lots of action and humour, while packing some solid emotional punches at the same time. Tone and style-wise, FFO is similar to Aaron’s earlier series like Heartstriker, Eli Monpress, and Paradox; they tended towards being lighthearted and hopeful. While Aaron and Bach had worked together on every book she has written, this was the first time that they shared the writing process, and the result was fantastic. So much so that I finished reading The Once King in one day, I just didn’t want to put the book down.
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Part-Time Gods by Rachel Aaron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Series: DFZ (Book 2 of 3)
Genre: Urban fantasy
Published: 11th June 2019 (Aaron/Bach, self-published)
Rachel Aaron’s talent in creating effortlessly enjoyable and engaging character-driven stories with fascinating worldbuilding is yet again evident in Part-Time Gods, the second book in the DFZ trilogy.
I probably sound like a broken record by now, but Rachel Aaron is my go-to author whenever I needed a pick-me-up. There is just something inherently comfortable and engaging about her writing and her stories that allow me to immerse myself into an intriguing world with its compelling characters right from the start, and it doesn’t let go until the end. I’ve pretty much devoured every single book she’s written in no more than 2 to 3 sittings and over a couple of days at the most, depending on the length. As Part-Time Gods is not a long book, by fantasy standards, I finished this in a day. And it was a great sequel.
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Fortune’s Pawn by Rachel Bach
My rating: 4 of 5 stars.
This is a full trilogy review for Paradox including the 2nd and 3rd titles, Honor’s Knight and Heaven’s Queen.
The one thing I’ll always credit Rachel Bach/Aaron with is her ability to thoroughly entertain me with her stories, and the Paradox trilogy is yet another proof of that.
By now, most of you will already know that I swear by Rachel Aaron’s books. They are go-to comfort reads; I’ve never picked up one of her books and not found it enjoyable. Her knack of creating great characters is matched by her ability to create worlds which at first glance seemed familiar but is packed with imagination. It’s as if her love of all things geeky brought together some pretty cool influences in her worldbuilding.
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Hi everyone, TS here! This is the first time Novel Notions is hosting an interview on a co-authored series. Forever Fantasy Online is both the name of this LitRPG trilogy and the first book. Its sequel, Last Bastion, was released yesterday and I have to say that the book was fantastic and an improvement over the first book (which was a fun and great read as well) in every way possible.
Rachel Aaron and Travis Bach have kindly agreed to answer a few burning questions that I have, and so let’s get right to it.
I received an advanced reading copy from the authors in exchange for an honest review.
Last Bastion by Rachel Aaron and Travis Bach.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
“Bastion was supposed to mean safety.”
It seemed, however, that Rachel Aaron and Travis Bach decided that safety will be a bit boring for the fictional characters and the readers. Hence, they gave us a heart-pounding, fast-paced, action-packed and dangerously addictive MMORPG-style adventure in the world of Forever Fantasy Online with a great cast of characters.
The story picked up immediately from the ending of the first book. Our main characters, James and Tina, arrived at the city of Bastion to seek refuge and find some answers after the world of FFO was suddenly released from the Nightmare. A term used by the NPCs who are supposedly real people to describe their entrapment in the game environmen, the Nightmare is so named for the dreadful never-ending cycle ofreliving the quests the players undertake, oftentimes dying a painful death over and over again. What greeted the player characters, however, was a city on fire and laden with corpses. Not exactly their idea of a safe haven from the constant danger and fighting they’ve encountered in the past few days.
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I received an advanced reading copy from the authors in exchange for an honest review.
Forever Fantasy Online by Rachel Aaron and Travis Bach.
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Excellent characters, an engaging story and geek humour. What more can one ask for?
Forever Fantasy Online is one of my first LitRPG novels, but thanks to the powerhouse couple of Rachel Aaron and Travis Bach, it will not be my last. I will start by talking just a bit about my experience with RPGs as this will provide some context for my review. While I had been quite a geek during my younger days, my RPG days (via books and PC) ended over two decades ago, and I did not have any exposure to multi-player online RPGs. Neither have I been in the anime scene to appreciate the inspiration of this trilogy, which is a hugely popular anime series called Sword Art Online.
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Minimum Wage Magic by Rachel Aaron
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Rachel Aaron has become one of my go-to authors when I need a pick-me-up. She has such an uncanny knack of writing stories that are just so effortlessly engaging, immensely enjoyable and just plain fun.
Minimum Wage Magic is the start of a new series taking place in the DFZ, a huge metropolis setting first introduced in her self-published Heartstrikers series – my current favourite urban fantasy of all-time. In Heartstrikers, the author’s characterisation was possibly the best part of the storytelling. Couple that with the most interesting worldbuilding in urban fantasy that I’ve come across, and you will get an addictively fun ride with great characters that you either want to root for. Or alternately, strangle with your bare hands.
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Time really flies huh? Another year is coming to an end soon! This year I’ve read and reviewed 129 books. It’s been another fantastic reading year. Considering the high amount of 4.5 and 5 stars books I’ve rated this year, I’ll even say that this year miraculously ended up being my best reading year so far. There will be four rules I set in this list in order for me to give appreciation to more authors rather than having only a few authors hoarding this list.
All the books listed below received a rating of 4.5 or 5 out of 5 stars from me. Without further ado, here are the top 20 books I’ve read in 2018! (All full reviews of these books can be found on my Goodreads page; some are already available on this blog.)