Demon Cycle by Peter V. Brett - rest of series

 Hiya Bookworms,

Demon Cycle is 5 book series which I start reading in 2022 and after reading first two books and some of shorts have no time to finish.

This year I decided to do it, cause I was curious how this story end - happy ending or not? 

First two books : The Painted Man (The Warded Man) and The Desert Spear telling us stories of Arlen Bales and Ahmann Jardir, of unexpected friendship, of betrayal, of building armies to fight demons. I rated them 4 stars as both were good reads.

The Daylight War 4 stars, solid read, more background about main characters and we are finding out how friendship between Arlen and Ahmann finished.

The Skull Throne 4 stars, solid read, Jardir is conquering world to build his army against demons, when Arlen challenge him and Ahmann cannot refuse without loosing honor, Ahmann's first wife and Arlen's friends are left to fight without Deliverer.

The Core 4 stars, good finish of the series where Arlen, his wife Reena and Ahmann travelling to the Core to find and kill Demon Queen which is a desperate quest they do not expect to return alive from.

Author added The Nightfall Saga trilogy to give us a chance to find out what happened later. So far I read book 1 called The Desert Prince, but this is a story for another post :)

Till next post peeps!

Start of 2026 reading

 Hi Bookworms,

I start this year's reading with The Age of Witches by Louisa Morgan, which I deemed nice book and gave 4 stars.

Next was my back to classics and my long time ago fave author Gabriel Garcia Marquez  - Of Love and Other Demons - I always took my time with Latin American literature due to emotional impact of it, as teenager I was spending few days to read properly, to understand wholly what author want to say, want to show us, make us understand. This book is rather short read - below 200 pages - but so good. I gave it 4 stars, but I think I should gave it 4.5 really.

I also complete The Keys to the Kingdom series by Garth Nix - books 6 and 7 which were the rest of our buddy reads in Goodreads group. After weaker book 5, them two were enjoyable and good end of series. 4 stars as nice and easy young teen reads.

That's all for today...

Cooking books which I grab this year

 Hello Bookworms,

I do like cooking books, my teenage son is sort of obsessed with going through them in book shops and charity shops and pushing me to buy them LOL!

Here list of few finds we add to our collection:

Gastropub Classics by Trish Hilferty

River Cottage Love your Leftovers by Hugh Fearnley-Whittinstall

1000 recipes, Cook's Bible

One Dish Meals The Easy Way - Reader's Digest publication.

plus

some Weigh Watchers compilation, Pinch of Nom and Bosh! books.

Do you collect cooking books?

Last reads of 2025

Hi Bookworms,

Today rest of books I read in 2025, but didn't mention before. List by amount of stars given:

5 stars

Marina by Carlos Ruiz Zafon -  beautiful, sad book.

4.5 stars

Classic Tales of Vampires and Shapeshifters by edition of Tig Thomas -  good compilation, I enjoyed it.

4 stars

Witchshadow by Susan Dennard - book 4 of Witchlands - I enjoyed it.

Death in the Clouds by Agatha Christie - book 12 Poirot -  solid read, I liked it.

The safety of the Realm by Richard Dee - book 2 The Orphan Detectives -  steampunk story, good read for young readers of genre.

Death on the Nile by Agatha Christie - Poirot book 18 - good one.

The Lord of Stariel and The Prince of Secrets by A. J. Lancaster - Stariel books 1 and 2 - enjoyable reads, interesting characters, good development of story.

The Honjin Murders by Seishi Yokomizo, book 1 of Detective Kosuke Kindaichi - fast, nicely written crime story.

The secrets of Rochester Place by Iris Costello -  really good read, possibly even more than 4 stars.

Blood on the Strand by Susanna Gregory -  book 2 of Thomas Chaloner series - good crime/historical fiction.

Below 4 stars

The Prisoner's Throne by Holly Black - 3.75 stars - I liked first book better, seems missing something.

The King's Revenge by Don Jordan - 3.75stars -  interesting, but few mistakes there.

Lady Friday by Garth Nix -  book 5 in The Keys to the Kingdom series - 3.5 stars  - could be better.

The Essex serpent by Sarah Perry - 3.5 stars - not bad really.

And that's all for today...

My Netgalley reads in first quarter of 2026

 Hiya Bookworms,

During three first months of 2026 I read and reviewed only 4 books.

The Codex Arcarnum by Tasmin Turner.

I gave this book 3 stars. It was a fast read with one or two 'missteps' but interesting enough to keep my eyes open for book 2.

Mrs Hudson and the Spirit's Curse by Martin Davies.

I have to say I was surprised to find out that actually this book is not exactly new as was published in the UK over 20 years ago and whole series contains 8 books (last one published this year in the UK).

I like the storyline and characters in the book. Holmes and Watson seen from different and interesting (I have to say) point of view. I like author's writing style and planning to find the rest of the series and read it. I gave it 4 stars.

Pretenders to the Throne of God by Adrian Tchaikovsky

was third Netgalley title I read this year and have to say/write I enjoyed every chapter. 

Reading took me some time due to reading other books in the same time but also lots of POVs and rather not easy theme of this book. Finding good wording to explain what I felt when reading it was and still is hard. We see city under siege and people in and outside of it. Because of politics, ideologies, religions characters in this book have hard time with trying figured out what they really want and what realistically they can have/achieve in their current circumstances. 

Ending of this instalment of The Tyrant Philosophers series wasn't obvious one which was extra plus point for me here. I gave it solid 4 stars, but I think it was more 4.5 stars really.

The Library of Traumatic Memory by Neil Jordan.

This book received 3 stars from me. 

Why? 

I think my review on Goodreads giving more of my thoughts than my straight after read one I left on Netgalley: 'I'm not sure how to write about this book... For some time we have two story lines nicely connected by men from the same family but living in different times, one in 19th century and the other in second half of 21st century. Book is packed with emotions, but reading it wasn't easy one, I felt like characters living in some sort of matrix, all around them feeling unreal, world, their lives, their memories... Kinda strange even for them. I can't say book is bad, because it isn't. It is sort of scary, unsettling.'

That's all for tonight...

Netgalley reads November and December 2025

 Hi Bookworms,

I'm bad writer... Didn't write my 'reviews' for months now... I apologize.

Here my round up of 2025 Netgalley reads. Not many unfortunatelly.

A Throne Betrayed by Julie Kagawa and J.T. Nicholas

I gave this book strong 4 stars and described it as enjoyable read for fantasy/kinda historical fiction fans. Easy to follow storytelling, interesting characters plus murder. kidnapping, fight for power, love, betrayal, vengeance, death, hard choices and demons attacking declining Empire -all you need for good read.

Made Things by Adrian Tchaikovsky

Strong 4 stars here. Short, nicely written fantasy/steampunk novella. Totally enjoyable, easy to follow story with cute characters.

Cleopatra by Saara El-Arifi

Solid 4 stars, I would say even 4.5. Why? I liked the idea of Cleopatra's story told from her point of view which helped to see her more human, more woman and not two dimensional picture we are often given. We can see her and people around through her eyes. Who she really was? Definitely a woman who lived in very interesting times.

I'll try to update my this year Netgalley reads as soon as I can. 

More November reads

 Hiya Bookworms,

Today few books I read this month.

The Winter Folly  by Lulu Taylor - heavier book, with interesting story, where love helps to find a truth about family story. Strong 4* here.

Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron - dark retelling of Cinderella story, kinda scary in some points, still hopeful, good read. Strong 3.5* here.

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood - light book, romance with science in background. 4* for idea and light writing style.

Pages to Fill by Travis Baldree - short story with Viv's adventure. I enjoyed it. 4* here.

More books soon.