Review TBD after I think for a while. 🫡

I started Dungeon Crawler Carl last year and was having a really fun time. (I did get distracted which meant I am only a third through but rest assured do plan to go back. I am frankly very easily distracted. It is a curse.) Because of Carl, about a week ago, I randomly wondered what other books in the genre existed. I did what any self respecting person would do and got on reddit. From there I found the Wandering Inn mentioned multiple places by multiple users. (I tend to trust reddit, random strangers, without hesitation. Do with that what you will.)

Unfortunately, each book cost around 10 dollars when I looked it up on my kindle. And while I am not opposed to spending 10 dollars, there are 18 books. I kind of balked and regretfully said farewell to this series until a later date since that was roughly a 200 dollar commitment to read all of them. No offense to any series out there, but 200 dollars is our grocery budget for two weeks. I also lack self control and knew I would just buy the next book in the series if I liked it without hesitation times 18. My husband would've been less than enthused if I informed him we had to scrounge our pantry and eat canned green beans because I'd read away our grocery money. Then I realized the author had every single book available on her website for free. It was serendipitous. I was delighted. The universe had aligned and determined I was meant to read this series.

Fellow reader, I promptly lost all sense of reason and decorum. I started this series rather hesitantly but within two chapters was invested. I stayed up until 2am multiple nights in a row mentally cursing at myself but unable to put this book down. I regretted it bleary eyed at work the following day and would swear I would stop doing this to myself. Rinse and repeat. I read 1200 pages in a week. A week. I was entirely irrevocably consumed. In fact I still am.

This story is litRPG. For the uninitiated, litRPG is DnD adjacent in book form. You usually have a character from our world that gets pulled somehow into a different fantasy world. They can then level up and gain skills. Think of it of being like a character in a video game aware they're in a game but stuck in said game. It breaks the fourth wall since characters usually comment on the world's system and have a different perspective of it than people in the world. In DnD you might call it meta if you had info your character didn't and they act as though they know it when they definitely shouldn't. In this genre, the DnD character and you are the same so to speak. It basically makes for a fun commentary and exploration on gaming and leveling that is excellent if you're a nerd. Also sue me. I like DnD for the story component but get tired of having to make decisions or do math. This is the perfect genre for me.

Our story begins with Erin Solstice legitimately running for her life. In attempting to go to her restroom she ended up in another world. Fun, right? She faced a dragon and fortunately survived. Then she is chased by goblins. She stumbles across an abandoned inn and hunkers down in the rain. As she is there, she begins sneezing and coughing because of how dirty the space is. Her immediate concern is someone will hear and find her. So she decides to clean. Also frankly what else is she supposed to do? Any choice sounds actually insane. She uses the rain outside, finds a gross curtain inside, then scrubs until she falls sleeps on top of a table. Congrats! Erin Solstice is now an innkeeper by accident.

Our story switches mainly between Erin Solistice and Ryoka Griffin. You have reoccurring in world characters like Rags, Klb, Relc, Gazi, and Pisces. That allows flavor to the world since they all have different abilities and perspectives. But we mainly get to see how actual people like us would respond in this scenario. Side note, I would probably be dead very fast.

Erin and Ryoka react very differently to the world. Ryoka refuses to level up and play the game. Erin decides to level up when she can. Both of them are in agreement the entire concept is bizarre. One of them is a runner - think mailman of this world except hand delivery by, well, by running - and is pretty antisocial. She has a broader grasp of the world since she watches and reads. She also literally travels for work so she needs to understand more.

Erin by contrast has a really narrow specific grasp of her world right then and there. She is kind of settled into her space and working on building connections and expanding her options. Her concern isn't trying to figure out nations, maps, history, or any of that. Her concern is how is she going to not get eaten and how is she going to eat herself. Humans also are not very popular or common where she is so that's a cool little bonus Erin discovers.

This world evens out to feel cozy. It feels like an offshoot of Legends and Lattes except with levels. Rest assured it is not. It starts small but expands. There are characters who die in shocking brutal ways. There is movement of mass war and political scheming mentioned. But it is also 1200 pages. Pirateaba takes her time to explore her characters and give you a sense of scale. She builds slowly but surely the epic scope of this story. So you do get a lot of the mundane and ordinary which is quite literally my bread and butter. I love cozy mixed with huge overarching plots and plans. Please, let me watch an innkeeper build an inn and make friends while also seeing nightmares lurking far away but growing steadily closer. Absolutely I want to see a rude runner defy the world by refusing to level and still holding her own. I want to glimpse coming war and people being sketchy as well. Give me magic and tactics.

I have no complains except I wanted it to be 2000 pages. I wanted it to be longer and more involved. I wanted to immerse myself in it and do nothing else. Alas I have to work and endlessly wonder about this story while I work. Have you ever wondered if you should save all your time off and use it all so you can just binge a 27,000 page series? No? Just me? Cool. Anyway I will eventually be buying it on my kindle and also the audio version of these books because I am that unwell. It just may take me a year or so to acquire them all. In the meantime don't mind my screen time. I am reading. It doesn't count. 🤞

Maybe I am maturing by narrowing down what I like in my romances. Or maybe I was just in the wrong mood when I read this book. Because unfortunately this book didn't hit the way I wanted it too which is a shame since it should have. It had all the components that should've worked. I wanted Finley Fenn but make it less angsty more cozy. And it did do that. But equally I fear I just like emotional turmoil and agony. It gives my decrepit heart joy.

This story follows a half orc named Orek (stop snorting, okay snort a little because I cackled writing that) who is surviving. I do feel bad for the orc, man, .... halfing (it is the most accurate term okay?). He got the raw end of the deal. As he is living among orckin which recieves a salute, a standing ovation, he discovers Sorcha. She was unfortunately kidnapped and sold. Needless to say, that is not an enviable position. In fact it is a dire one. Orek, being an actual decent person, rescues her and abandons his kin. He takes her to the nearest town except turns out humans suck. Nobody helps her. So she asks him to protect her while she tries to get home since it is a three to four month journey. And Sorcha is a practical girl. Even though she is loosely trained to fight by her father, a knight, she is a woman alone. Considering she just got kidnapped and sold, she needs all the help she can get. Considering Orek can't go back to his clan (because being murdered isn't an appealing choice shockingly) he agrees. Also she is nice and pretty, and he is just a man.

So they start their journey home. Of course, they fall in love. And if you know anything about orc romances, you know they are smutty. So they spend their time quite happily together. They also have a raccoon friend they rescue. I do love raccoons. They speak to my soul. This develops into something deeper and more meaningful. But alas the leader of the orc clan doesn't take kindly to losing "his" human. So danger remains to court them as they entwine together.

There was legitimately nothing wrong with this book. It was fun. It was a fast read. The writing was elegant and clean. But I just finished it knowing I will probably forget about it by the end of the month. Personally that is fine with me. Some books are meant to entertain. Regretfully I just really wanted a new author to fill the void Finley Fenn left in my heart. And this is not that author. If you want a chill, cozy tale with a lot of spice and some angst (not enough for me mind you) then this will be your vibe though.

I am going to pretend I am maturing though and that is why this book was fine but not revolutionary. We will ignore that I just really like my characters to suffer. That isn't at all concerning. It is a perfectly normal desire. Everything is fine here.

“You have compromised me, madam, and I demand you take responsibility for the damage you have wrought on my reputation and my virtue,” he thundered. “And I demand you do it now, in front of these witnesses here present. I will accept no other compensation. Indeed, there is none other that would suffice.” (Jeffree, 28)

“Of course not! I would hardly embark on such a reckless course of action! I only married Jeffree at his insistence. He demanded I take responsibility for his tarnished reputation!” Isemay waved this aside. “Very well then, I took Jeffree for my role model,” she said, sounding unconcerned. “You took Jeffree for your role model?” Sabina repeated, quite thunderstruck. (Sabina, 496)

What happens when two people meet that have both sworn not to be married? Obviously they get married but solely because they have no other choice. And obviously both blame each other for their predicament.

Our story begins with Isemay, Sabina's younger sister, about to marry a Duke. Unfortunately Jeffree's relative Leland accuses Isemay of having an affair before the wedding takes place. Sabina decides in the heat of moment to claim she was having an affair with Sir Jeffree to save Isemay's reputation. Sir Jeffree, who might I add, has taken and upheld a vow of abstinence is horrified. This claim goes about as well as you'd expect. In order to avoid punishment, varying from being branded, dunked, to losing a hand, Sabina reluctantly marries the knight. Please note, setting of story is fantasy medieval so the punishments for illicit sex are severe. Sabina notes that of course it only applies to women not men which is a fun little piece of sexism.

So they get married, two proud prickly people, that are rather unlikable to everyone else. From there unfurls a slow love story of two people discovering they (gasp) like each other and are glad they're now married. The story explores Sabina's awful previous marriage since she is a widow. It also explores Jeffree's upbringing since he studied to be a knight and it wasn't a great childhood. You get to see all the interdynamics of family and different layers of common vs court. The trauma elements of cheating from Sabina's past to isolation on Jeffree's past were well done. It was touched on without being the primary focus on the story.

Alice Coldbreath remains a favorite author of mine. I love the differences in characters motivations and backgrounds. I like how they interact as well across multiple books. For example, you get to see Sabina's reaction to Kentigern giving her the crown vs Aimee's experience. Sabina also finds the contests boring as hell whereas Aimee was enthralled. I enjoy the middle age components combined with fantasy. It is the best of both worlds to me. You don't have to wonder about historic accuracy but it feels familiar enough to be easily immersive. Her works are cozy which is my kyrtonite.

It was fun to travel with Sabina and Jeffree around the countryside for contests and to watch them become fond of each other. I suppose I am a sucker for two unlovable people becoming each other's biggest fan. Their honesty was delightful. I also love domestic things because I am that type of person. So in short, this was exactly what I wanted and I have not a single critique to offer for better or worse. I'm sure there are several issues with the book, but I frankly don't care. I remain annoyed and impressed by how much I love Coldbreath's writing and world.

Eve and I understand, though, that at its heart, a house is no more than what is inside of it, and what protects it, and who’s built it, and who lives in it or has lived in it. We all had our part. Mama had her part. Of course she did. (162)

If you feel uncomfortable and wretched reading this, good. That is the point. Horror is supposed to disturb the comfortable. And us white people with our privilege and superiority need to be troubled beyond words. We need to wonder what we have missed. When we failed to fight. When we failed to look. When we justified or apologized and didn't even bother listening. Hurt is a rot that carves away autonomy and agency. Those who lack the protection the system offers us deserve to be seen regardless of how painful it is. It is the minimum we can do to acknowledge harm, mitigated and unmitigated, done so we can shoulder the weight along with them. I cannot fix the systemic racism endured. But I can speak that they exist, acknowledge how you are dehumanized and rejected, simply because skin color. It is the minimum I should be doing.

River Solomon gives us a chance to do this. Faer work tackles unflinchingly how a house is haunted because of those within. And that nobody is removed from culpability in this. We all hold blame in ignoring or removing ourselves from this underlying reality. None of us are free until all of us are free. This book will not release you when you finish it. It cannot. The horror contained within its pages remains lived by those in our community. That is why this book has fundamentally changed a piece of me because it will remain with me. It will be part of my identity, the creak of floorboards, the pounding of my heart, looking behind and around me always. It will be my eternal reminder we all contain monstrous inclinations and none of us are exempt from the cruelty.

(This is the ending of a blog post I wrote. This book was painful and incredible and well worth the read.)