#BooksRead2026 57: The Stimulated Mind, by Dr. Tommy Wood. Really interesting book delving into the mind and things we can do within our daily lives to protect against dementia down the road. There’s a lot to take in here, and certainly can’t do all of it, but think there is a lot that can take on

#BooksRead2026 56: The Bone Door, by Frances White. A decent read. Not an easy one. It tries to maintain the innocence of Hop against trauma after trauma. I do think that this does simplify the emotions of the characters. Hop, relentlessly cheerful. Thistle, perpetually angry. Bear, afraid.

#BooksRead2026 55: The Hand Of Chaos, by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Fifth book in the Deathgate Cycle. This took an age to read. It feels like a rehash of the first book, and not that enjoyable. Definitely a step down from book 4. The big goings on (Sartans going to learn about necromancy.

#BooksRead2026 54: This Way Up, by the MapMen. Interesting book about maps. It has the feel of a podcast (which obviously the authors present), which means each chapter feels disconnected from the others. It also means that because they approach each chapter differently, there’s a number which

What a model of Christian behaviour, Preach on with the message of “Go fuck thy neighbour”.

Secret Drug Addict@scrtdrugaddict.bsky.social · 2w ago

How to write a novel: Step 1: Words. Step 2: No, more than that. Step 3: No, more than that as well. Don’t stop there. Step 4: Whoa whoa whoa. You can’t just put random words in. They have to make some sort of sense. Step 5: Coffee Step 6: I meant one coffee. Not like, 12. Step 7: Still more words.

#BooksRead2026 53: Green City War, by Adrian Tchaikovsky. The premise of this sounded great. Freelance raccoon detective in a city of animals under the human city. Strayed now again into a noir feel. However…Tchaikovsky likes world building. And I feel continually disrupts the momentum of the story

It’s been an odd rugby match, but good to see England starting to stride away now. They looked like were going to throw it away because of 20 daft mins in the second half #EngvArg

#BooksRead2026 52: Fair Play, by Louise Hegarty. There are some books which just don’t suit. This is one of those. Really didn’t like it. A mish-mash of blandness. It’s just something that doesn’t work.

#BooksRead2026 51: The Zorg, by Siddharth Kara. Interesting history read about Britain’s shameful slave trading. I feel it could have been better though, and expanded on. And the wrap-up of “40 odd years later this story led to the end of Britain’s slave-trading” felt it was shoved on at the end.

#BooksRead2026 50: Quite Ugly One Evening, by Chris Brookmyre. Another decent foray alongside Jack Parlabane. Do enjoy his crime novels.

The #NZLFRA rugby match is a helluva way to open this championship. NZ looking like the force of old, and yet somehow France are still in the lead!

#BooksRead2026 49: The Art Of Uncertainty, by David Spiegelhalter. Some interesting thoughts here, let down by poor formatting (frequently referring to graphs/figures on the following page) and some impenetrable writing which badly needed more explanation to understand what was going on.

#BooksRead2026 48: The Seventh Bride, by T. Kingfisher. Much like previous books I’ve read of Kingfisher’s, very reminiscent of a fairytale. I found it alright. Not sure it had much that stood out or will be particularly memorable.

#BooksRead2026 47: The Brain At Rest, by Dr Joseph Jebelli. Interesting neuroscience book on the value of rest. Well-written, but felt quite anecdotal - would have preferred a bit more of the scientific proof behind the advice, rather than links to multiple studies in bibliography.

#BooksRead2026 46: The Book That Wouldn’t Burn, by Mark Lawrence. Enjoyed this opener. Quite a lot of confusion - the time jumps, the kids being lost in the mechanical, the bug things, the Mayland intervention at the end. Hopefully the follow ups will show the payoffs of those strands.

www.maptap.gg June 8 95🏅 99🎯 99🎯 90🌟 99🎯 Final score: 959

#BooksRead2026 45: The Bone Shard Daughter, by Andrea Stewart Decent opener to this trilogy. The timeline felt a little off, with some chapters feeling as though months had passed inbetween them and the relationships or backstory having new elements which was annoying.

-Let me get this straight. We’ve brought Grond along to break into Minas Tirith. -Yep. Good Grondy. He’ll knock the doors down, no problem. -Okay, but now we’ve found out that Minas Tirith isn’t built yet. We can just waltz in and do whatever we want. Kill. Plunder. Which leaves me one question.

#BooksRead2026 44: Serpent Mage, by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Fourth book of the Deathgate Cycle. This is the book which sold the series to me all those years ago. And the next two I never got a chance to read. Samah’s a dick. 3 more to go.

Finished 007: First Light. It’s…I like the story. But the gameplay is poor. The close combat fighting is clunky and having to punch people 50 odd times before they fall down is annoying. The sneaking is terribly inconsistent - with some actions alerting all the guards, and other times you can throw

#BooksRead2026 43: Fire Sea, by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. 3rd book in the Death Gate cycle, and Haplo and Alfred are starting to feel like Haplo and Alfred. The nostalgia train continues.

I have shiny new books coming (they're just not announced yet), but before they do, I'm going on an adventure to self-publishing land with my fantasy romance, A Sport of Wings. All the details - so far - are here: anna-stephens.com/2026/05/27/n...

New Horizons

There has been A LOT going on in the background over the last two years. The Dark Feather, book 3 of Songs of the Drowned, came out in March 2024 and the paperback in February 2025. I have, of cour…

anna-stephens.com

#BooksRead2026 42: Elven Star, by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. Second book in the Deathgate cycle. Bit more humour in this one with the intro of Zifnab. Haplo takes up a larger part, but remains in the “not sure I like this guy” camp. The elves, humans and dwarf are all a bit stupid.

www.maptap.gg May 20 93🎉 98🎯 95🏅 95🏅 90🌟 Final score: 936

#BooksRead2026 41: Dragon Wing, by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman. Read a few of the Deathgate cycle series when I was young, but never managed to find all of the books to read through them all (or in the right order). So, to relive my teens, I have acquired a set to finally find out the whole

www.maptap.gg May 17 95🏅 100🎯 95🏆 98🎯 85🌟 Final score: 934

www.maptap.gg May 15 91😁 95👑 97🔥 96🔥 72🙃 Final score: 884 Failed on the last one, otherwise might have been above 900.

#BooksRead2026 40: Assassins and Templars, by Steve Tibble. Interesting history book about the assassins and the templars, though I do think missed a trick by not connecting it to Assassin’s Creed from the outset (mentioned only in last chapter). The author was also trying to make out the assassins

#BooksRead2026 39: No Life Forsaken by Steven Erikson. The latest Malazan saga continues. And like all Malazan books, it baffles and bedazzles in equal measure. Scenes and characters that seem to serve no purpose. Confusing exchanges. New powers. Odd decisions. Loved it all. Who needs to understand