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    Warlock's Tower

    Warlock's Tower

    Games

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    "Playing Warlock's Tower reveals a challenging puzzler that makes the most out of its minimalist...

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Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2510 KP) rated A Dismal Harvest in Books

Mar 19, 2022 (Updated Mar 19, 2022)  
A Dismal Harvest
A Dismal Harvest
Daisy Bateman | 2022 | Mystery
9
9.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Handy Hidey-Hole Hides Homicide
Claudia Simcoe’s marketplace is serving as the host for a library fundraiser when one of the volunteers makes a surprising discovery. There’s a hidden compartment in the wall, and someone has opened it in the middle of the event. Claudia quickly determines that it was Clark Gowan, a local lawyer. In fact, Gowan had been part of the deal when Claudia bought the marketplace. When she goes to confront him the next morning, she discovers his dead body. Did what he took from the compartment lead to his murder?

Having enjoyed the first in the series, I was looking forward to this one, and I wasn’t disappointed. Claudia is a very relatable main character, and she leads a cast of good suspects. I did find the tenants in the marketplace hard to keep straight, but they were background characters, so that was okay. The plot is strong with plenty of pieces to keep us guessing until Claudia puts it all together. I laughed and smiled my way through the book at Claudia’s observations about what was happening. I grew up near the part of Sonoma County, California, where the fictitious San Elmo is located, so I really enjoyed that as well. If you’ve missed this series, fix that today. If you enjoyed the first, you’ll enjoy this one, too.
  
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ClareR (6106 KP) rated The Atlas Six in Books

Aug 15, 2022  
The Atlas Six
The Atlas Six
Olivie Blake | 2022 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
I liked The Atlas Six. I listened to it on BorrowBox audiobook through my library, and I think that helped a lot - I liked the narrators voice!

The competition between the initiates is brutal - there’s an assumption that only one would survive by the end, and to them this is completely reasonable. It doesn’t put them off at all. This perfectly illustrates the kind of people they are I felt. Pretty ruthless.

There was an awful lot of dialogue that wasn’t really balanced with action. This is a fantasy book, they have magical gifts, and there just wasn’t enough magical action for me, and what there was I didn’t think showed the potential of some characters. Maybe they will be explored more in the second book. I was left not quite understanding what some of their gifts entailed. Some were obvious, others not so much. This first book, in what I assume will be a trilogy, has more of a scene-setting feel about it.

Now their recruiter, Atlas Blakely, really did intrigue me. I wish there had been more about him - perhaps there will be in the next book.

I will read the next book when it comes out. Sometimes a trilogy can be a little slow to start, and there’s enough in this book to make me want to read the next one.