Cole is about as down on himself as a protagonist can be, managing to turn self-criticism into an actual character class. Alongside his friends Leo and Tandy, he drunkenly signs up as an adventurer and is promptly thrown into a trial dungeon to prove they’re worthy of joining the guild. Joining them is Richard, an immortal banana slug whose idea of encouragement mostly involves emotional damage.

The progression side of things is solid enough. Much of the book revolves around the party learning new abilities, losing them again, levelling up, and generally trying to survive long enough to become competent adventurers. If you enjoy the slower early-game grind common to LitRPGs, there is plenty of that here.

For me though, the characters never really clicked. Richard’s constant snark felt more mean-spirited than funny, and much of the group’s success seemed to come from luck rather than clever decisions. By the time the story reached its conclusion, I realised I wasn’t especially invested in whether they succeeded or not.

The narration was a mixed bag. Jeremy Frazier captures Cole’s anxious, self-doubting personality well, though I found the delivery a little whiny early on before settling into it. Jessica Threet provides a second perspective, but a few of the character voices didn’t quite land for me. There were also some inconsistent pronunciations between narrators, a handful of obvious retakes left in, and a few minor production noises that pulled me out of the story.

Overall, there are some interesting ideas here, and I can see why the characters might resonate with listeners who enjoy flawed, anxious protagonists finding their confidence. It just never quite found its footing for me, and by the end I wasn’t left with enough curiosity to continue the series.

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These Quick Takes slice each listen down to the essentials and whether I’d press play again, all in under 100 words. Read fast, judge faster, and pick the one that promises the exact level of chaos or calm you need right now.

Here are the quick takes.

Caput Mundi

A solid middle grade fantasy with a really interesting central idea of a magical metal – enarii. It starts a little gently, but once it settles into its world it becomes an easy, engaging listen. The pacing works well for younger readers, the mysteries are simple but effective, and there is just enough emotional weight underneath to keep it from feeling too light. The narration leans soft and calming, which fits the tone nicely, even if it occasionally risks sending you off to sleep a bit earlier than planned. Read the Review

The Son of Lubrerum

A strong continuation of the Firefax saga, blending historical fiction, family drama, and plenty of assassin-fuelled action. The historical detail remains impressive, and the Firefax family dynamics are every bit as engaging as the larger conflicts around them. The large cast can be a little challenging to track at times, but the excellent narration from Vas Eli helps keep everything moving smoothly. Read the Review

The Beach

Still a strong concept, a hidden beach in Thailand that slowly unravels into something less idyllic. It plays better now as a cautionary “paradise with strings attached” than pure escapism. Narration-wise, the Michael Page version works far better than the Alfie Allen one, which never quite fit the tone for me.
Read the Review

Cleave the Sparrow

Cleave the Sparrow is one of the strangest audiobooks I’ve listened to in a while. Political satire, philosophy, religion, quantum mechanics, and existential musings all collide in a story that often feels like a hallucinatory fever dream. I definitely didn’t understand all of it, but I never stopped being curious. Confusing, ambitious, occasionally absurd, and probably worth a second listen if you want to untangle what just happened. Read the Review

The Dragon’s Banker

Come for the dragon, stay for the accounting. An interesting fantasy built around economics, trade, and business strategy, though I found it drier than expected and would have loved a stronger narrator. The bonus novella, Forego Quest, was a fun extra. Read the Review

Last Save Dave

A really fun start to a LitRPG series with a likeable underdog hero, clever save-point mechanics, and an excellent narration from Garrett Michael Brown. The ending feels more like the end of an opening act than a complete story, but I enjoyed the characters enough that I’ll happily keep following Dave’s adventures through the remaining worlds. Read the Review

That Lesbian Vampire Pirate Story

Losing an ear in a bar fight is apparently the first step towards becoming a vampire pirate. A fun short story that expands the Blood & Ancient Scrolls world, with great historical flavour, plenty of personality, and a confident narration that suits Sadie perfectly. Read the Review

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Last Save Dave follows a middle-aged plumber who is abducted by a minor deity and entered into an intergalactic competition where the winning champion saves their world and everyone else gets vaporised. Armed with a hefty pipe wrench and the ability to create save points and reload them after death, Dave quickly discovers that dying is going to be a fairly regular occurrence.

And he dies a lot.

The save-and-reload mechanic is the heart of the book and one of the things I enjoyed most, even if at this early stage it is a bit of cheat mechanic. It’s tempered in that he has limited uses, but it feels like he is never in any real danger. Every resurrection costs a talisman, so Dave is constantly balancing the temptation to spend resources on levelling up against keeping enough in reserve in case things go horribly wrong. Which they frequently do.

The setup has some obvious Mario inspiration running through it. A plumber to save the day, though instead of uppercuts and Goomba stampings, he’s swinging a wrench around. He’s got various powerups, multiple lives, and even a sort of plumber’s crack Spidey Sense that warns Dave when danger is nearby.

A lot of this first book is spent building foundations. Dave gradually learns how the competition works, gets to grips with his abilities, and starts assembling a team of fellow champions. Lyra, a cat-person competitor who will eventually become a rival, and Reggie, a lovable dog-person who immediately gets on her nerves, and a few others from different worlds.

That slower progression worked for me, though it does create the book’s biggest weakness. While there is a climactic battle towards the end, the story never quite feels finished. It feels more like the point where the author decided to stop rather than the natural end of a complete arc. Given the competition spans a thousand worlds on a gigantic world tree, there is clearly a lot more story still to come.

On the audiobook side, Garrett Michael Brown was an excellent choice. I enjoyed his work in Interstellar Gunrunner, and he was a perfect fit here as well. His slightly rough, working-class delivery suits Dave perfectly and helps sell the character from the very beginning. I noticed the occasional minor background noise during the recording, but nothing significant enough to distract from the performance.

Overall, this was a genuinely fun listen and a strong start to what looks like a very promising series. The ending felt a little undercooked, but the characters are easy to like, the save-point mechanics are interesting, and I finished the book wanting to jump straight into the next one. That is usually a good sign. I suspect this one will end up in my relisten rotation more than once.

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Having enjoyed the main Blood & Ancient Scrolls books and other short stories in the world, I was more than happy to jump into another.

That Lesbian Vampire Pirate Story follows Sadie “The Goat” Ferrell, a New York cutpurse whose life takes an unexpected turn after a bar fight leaves her missing an ear. Most people would probably take that as a sign to stay home for a while. For Sadie, it’s the kick in the pants she needed to become a pirate. Before long Sadie has taken charge of a local gang, acquired a ship, and started making a living the traditional pirate way by taking other people’s stuff.

I loved the whole atmosphere of this one. Belasco does a great job bringing 1860s New York to life. I found myself wishing we still insulted each other with half as much creativity as some of the old street slang the gangs used to sling around.

There are pirate battles, criminal gangs, vampires (of course), and a touch of spiciness, though less than the title may imply. It works both as a standalone adventure and as an introduction to characters who will appear later in the series. A clever way of going about it without it feeling like a lore dump or exposition.

The narration from Carmen Seantel and Hel was a good fit for Sadie’s confident, self-assured personality. Different voices from the main series, but ones that suited the material nicely.

Overall, this was a fun little detour into the world of the am’r. Short, entertaining, and packed with pirate action, vampire intrigue, and plenty of personality. It adds some nice background to the wider series without needing to have listened to the previous books before jumping in.

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Picking up right aftrer from the events of the first, the colonies appearing close to victory before events take a sharp turn. As the war reignites, Vergara balances large-scale historical events with the smaller, more personal struggles of the Firefax family. Plenty of action throughout (they are a family of assassins after all), and the family dynamics were just as an engaging part of the novel, giving it that well-rounded and well-crafted feeling as the first.

One of the standout features, like in the first book, is the amount of historical detail woven into the narrative. Vergara clearly has a strong interest in the period, and the book is packed with references to eighteenth-century politics, military campaigns, treaties, languages, and historical figures. Despite the alternate twists introduced by the Firefaxes’ involvement, the setting still feels rooted in its era.

The action scenes are well written and easy to follow, and the descriptions throughout the book do a great job of bringing both the characters and locations to life. Vergara has an almost lyrical, very lush tone at times that adds so much depth. Even during quieter moments, it was easy to picture the world Vergara has created.

The only challenge I had was keeping track of the cast. There are a lot of characters, alliances, and shifting loyalties at play, and I occasionally found myself checking my notes to remember who was who. Whether that’s a result of the story’s ambitious scope or simply my brain at the time of listen, I’m not entirely sure, but it’s something worth mentioning. I generally keep copious notes while listening so have lots to help keep me on track.

Vas Eli once again delivers a strong narration, helping distinguish a large cast of characters and keeping the story moving at a good pace. His smooth, easy to voice makes for an easy listen, with no production issues or mistakes that I noticed.

Overall, The Son of Lubrerum is an entertaining blend of historical fiction, family drama, and action. It expands the world established in Firefax while continuing the story of one of the more intriguing families I’ve come across in historical fiction. With one book left in the trilogy, I’m interested to see how Vergara brings the Firefax saga to a close.

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Not a criticism exactly, just something worth knowing going in.

The Dragon’s Banker follows Sailor Kelstern, a merchant banker in a world on the verge of replacing the standard precious metal currencies with fiat money issued by the crown. While there are dragons, elves, dwarves, wizards, and all the usual fantasy trappings, much of the story is focused on business deals, trade routes, financial manoeuvring, taxes, audits, and the challenge of converting a dragon’s hoard into the new economy without losing too much of it along the way. It’s basically an empire-building story wrapped in a fantasy setting.

Sailor Kelstern is tasked with helping a dragon convert its mountain of metal wealth into this new paper money. When a dragon asks you to do something, well I guess you always have the option to decline and get a permanent tan. The idea was solid, and looking back now I am finished listening, I enjoyed the various schemes, trading companies, and business ventures come together. There is also a decent amount of competition and sabotage from cut-throat rivals trying to undermine the whole operation before it can get established.

The main problem for me though was that it all felt a little dry. As mentioned, I did go in expecting a lot more dragon. But I think part of issue I had with it was the narration.

I did not realise before purchasing that the audiobook was narrated by the author. I bought it based on my enjoyment of his other series, My Big Goblin Space Program, and didn’t actually listen to the preview. It is not a bad performance by any means, but I could not shake the feeling that the book would have benefited from a more experienced narrator. The various character voices tend to blend together, and the delivery never quite adds the extra energy needed to lift some of the drier material.

The included bonus story, Forego Quest, was a fun poke at fantasy tropes. It is completely unrelated to the Dragon’s Banker, and follows The Chosen One, capital letters fully deserved because he is literally the chosen hero for every prophecy, quest, and world-saving adventure imaginable. I wouldn’t say hilarious, but amusing enough, so it ended up being a fun little addition.

Overall, this is a perfectly solid fantasy novel with a unique economic focus. If the idea of trade routes, financial systems, and business strategy in a world of dragons sounds appealing, there is plenty to enjoy here. Just go in expecting more banking than dragoning.

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Scarred by fire and shaped by a preacher who mistook scripture for permission, Timothy grows into a man fluent in silence, survival, and violence done without witnesses. When the preacher falls and the West begins to whisper his name, Timothy rides into a land where faith is currency, mercy is rationed, and every road remembers blood.

Outlaw factions gather in the hills. Pinkerton agents follow trails that refuse to stay straight. Power consolidates quietly, guided by those who understand that belief—properly handled—commands loyalty more effectively than fear.

Timothy moves through it all unseen, listening more than he speaks, learning how violence organizes itself and how men justify what they are willing to do. He understands how close patience can stand to judgment before one replaces the other.

Dead Man’s Gospel is a psychological Western about belief weaponized, restraint mistaken for weakness, and the discipline required to survive a world that confuses faith with authority.

Some men seek absolution.
Others learn to live without it.

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The story starts around Wilder Crick, the least likable US presidential candidate imaginable in history, a man who seems to hate basically everyone while obsessing over the idea that reality itself is fake. To prove the point, he shoots himself in the face during a live presidential debate to prove it.

After that, Tom a reluctant reporter following Crick ends up dragged into Crick’s strange post-death orbit and becomes presidency itself, while the story starts spiralling through ideas about consciousness, ego death, pain, religion, quantum mechanics, and the nature of reality. There are also random philosophical tangents, strange future-history elements, discussions half pulled from Plato’s cave and half from somebody explaining the universe to you at 3am while absolutely blasted.

It’s not really clean or straightforward in any way, but it all kind of joins together as it goes. The book bounces around constantly, throwing disconnected ideas at you that later loop back together in ways that somehow feel weirdly inevitable. It has that absurdist logic where nothing makes sense right now, but twenty minutes later your brain quietly goes “oh… alright then.”

The whole thing gave me the feeling that the author was either incredibly smart, completely unhinged, or possibly both at once. A lot of the philosophy and physics discussions sailed directly over my head at times, though not in a smug “look how clever this is” way. More in a “I think this audiobook just unlocked a university lecture I was not prepared for” sort of way.

It feels less like a traditional novel and more like experiencing somebody else’s hallucinatory thought process in audiobook form. Like the literary equivalent of being cornered at a party by someone who starts explaining the meaning of existence and somehow keeps getting more convincing the longer they talk.

On the narration side, Brad Grochowski handles the chaos well. Nothing flashy production-wise, but solid enough that the performance never gets in the way of the increasingly strange material.

I am still not entirely sure I understood all of it, and this absolutely feels like one of those books that would reveal more on a second listen. But even when it drifted into total absurdity, I never really stopped being interested in where it was going.

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A young hero meets an untimely end in his final battle. He finds himself revived as a spirit, sent back to witness his own life’s last days once more.

Drafted into the military from a small remote village on the outskirts of the kingdom, armed with little more than a couple of swords and the life lessons his parents tried to instill in him before they passed, Rivo and his cousins are sent to venture across a kingdom on the verge of collapse to confront an unknown enemy with unnatural powers.

His journey ends with his tragic fall, a heroic sacrifice to save a kingdom in peril.

Through new eyes, Rivo watches his final moments unfold all over again: the friends he made, the battles he fought, and the secret love he never realized was there all along.

Join Rivo in the countdown to his last battle, a hero desperate to win back his life… and the heart of the one who loved him in silence.

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Richard ends up chasing this idea of an untouched island in a national park, very much off limits, very much the sort of place you are not supposed to be trying to turn into your personal paradise. And for a while, it does feel like that fantasy. Long days, fishing, lounging around, a kind of loose, aimless “we’ve found something special” energy.

Maybe it’s me being older now, but it felt more uncomfortable this time around. What used to read like escapism now feels more like entitlement wearing flip-flops. That whole “hidden paradise” idea starts to look less magical and more like people treating a real place like a backdrop they are entitled to occupy.

The group dynamics, the drifting relationships, the casual attitude to being there in the first place, it all starts to tilt from carefree into a bit off. Even the free-love, drop-out vibe reads differently with a bit of distance.

There is still an interesting tension underneath it all, that sense of paradise being fragile and self-destructive, but I found myself less sympathetic to the characters than I probably was on first read. It feels less like lost innocence and more like people confidently ignoring the consequences of their own choices.

On audiobook, I tried the Alfie Allen version first and it just didn’t land for me at all. Nothing personal, but it felt miscast for this kind of material. I switched over to Michael Page and that was a much better fit, more grounded, more natural pacing, and it let the atmosphere do its job without getting in the way.

Overall, it still works as a readable travel fantasy that slowly unravels into something darker. These days it feels less like escapism and more like a cautionary tale about people who think they’ve found paradise and immediately start putting up fences around it.

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Living in the Soul (with a Bear) is a luminous theological memoir that follows one man’s lifelong spiritual journey beyond doctrine, dogma, and fear. Raised a Christian but uneasy with institutional religion, Peter Harpley explores belief as something lived rather than declared—shaped by childhood vulnerability, profound moments of grace, and an enduring sense that God is present not in authority, but in love.

Blending personal narrative with accessible historical scholarship, the book re-examines Jesus through the eyes of modern historians, unpicking myth from meaning and uncovering a wisdom often obscured by centuries of doctrine. Along the way, Harpley confronts Christianity’s uncomfortable legacies—patriarchy, violence, and exclusion—while reclaiming lost voices such as Mary Magdalene and the mystical traditions sidelined by orthodoxy.

At the heart of the book is an image both tender and unsettling: a childhood bear named Scrappy, a symbol of innocence, protection, and divine love that accompanies the author into adulthood. Through solitude, failed relationships, and deep reflection, faith slowly clarifies—not into certainty, but into trust.

Honest, questioning, and quietly radical, Living in the Soul is written for seekers, doubters, and anyone who believes that God may be found not in answers, but in the soul itself.

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