A short series—quick to read, very entertaining—and it keeps you wondering: “So… what happened after that?”

Half a King carries the checks of a classic adventure novel tracing the hero’s journey.

I’ve tried to read productivity books for a while, started with note-taking, time management, and goal-setting… but never managed to finish any of them. This is the first book that not only I finished, but also I found it enjoyable, insightful, and provides practical tips for improving productivity. And not only that, is the first one that I have used a marker on to highlight important passages.

Disclaimer: I started reading this after watching the first two seasons of the Apple TV+ series, which—coincidentally—cover exactly what this first book includes.

The last dystopian novel I read might have been Divergent, a long time ago. I really missed getting hooked on a world like this, and even more so now after not only watching Silo but also the Fallout TV series.

We have been doing a sort of experiment lately. My SO had eye surgery a few weeks ago and the first days se barely opened her eyes and even when she could open them blue light took a toll and make her eyes dry and tired really quickly. Since I still had to work and she had to rest, I suggested her to try out listening to an audiobook. She was a bit skeptical at first, but gave it a try.

I got her Yumi and the nightmare painter; she already read Tress of the emerald sea a few months ago and wanted to read something else from the same author an I got the feeling that this one was good for her too. I had a long plane trip ahead of me at that time too so I tried it out as well, though in my case the book wasn’t new to me since I read it last year when it was released.

She loved it, both the book and the experience, and finished it in a couple of days. Even asked for more! Since Yumi and the nightmare painter is a short book and self-contained, talking to her we decied to try out a longer series together. A friend gave her Steelheart for her birthday last year, so we decided to start The Reckoners.