Having enjoyed all 6 existing books in Joe Abercrombie's First Law series I find myself always craving for more. That is why I picked up Sharp Ends despite the fact that I tend to not like collections of short stories. Add on that Steven Pacey narrated the audiobook and there was no way I could resist this one. The Abercrombie/Pacey audiobook combo is one of the best that I have ever listened to and the two of them just bring out the best in each other. Pacey's narration of these characters is just superb and I highly recommend that you give the entire series a listen even if you have already read it. To my delight many of my favorite characters from the prior books do make an appearance in these short stories including, but not limited to, Glokta, Logen, Dogman, Bethod, Whirrun, and Nicomo Cosca. However, in the end, the short story format left me wanting more and feeling unsatisfied as favorite characters appeared and were gone before I knew it.

The Symphony of the Ages is a long fantasy series about three friends prophesied to save the world. It starts when a boy finds himself a thousand years in the past where he meets and falls in love with Emily. They shared one night together and then he was inexplicably gone. She sets out with a broken heart to find him and in one of the few realistic aspects of the series ended up a prostitute called Rhapsody. She eventually studied to be a Namer, a loremaster who can speak true names which gives them some power, and a musician. While running from a former evil client and his goons she meets The Brother, whom she names Achmed the Snake, and his friend Gunther. An Assassin by trade The Brother was forced to work for one of the evil Fedor because it had his true name. By renaming him Rhapsody has unknowingly freed him and the three flee into the center of the earth, literally walking and crawling from one side of the world to the other. The discover that there is a prophecy about "The Three" who might be able to save the world from destruction by the Fedor. Rhapsody also falls for a guy who might be evil, is half insane, and as a young man got sent back in time for a single night...lots of us make bad relationship decisions.

​​​​​​​In the Bitterbynde books the world of Erith is a dangerous place full of wights, both Seelie and Unseelie, and the Faeran themselves are barely a memory. The title character of the Ill-Made Mute has no memory, no voice, and a face that is horribly scarred from paradox ivy poisoning. At night the servants share stories of Seelie and Unseelie wights, how to escape them, and most often about people who died. Although Erith is a fantasy world the author pulled these stories from real tales, mostly from the British Isles. These stories become very important as the Mute journeys in search of a name, her memory, and something to remove the scars left by the poison. Naturally this all turns into a greater quest that will determine the fate of both faeries and humans. The series really stands out due to a poetic writing style that blends well with the tales of Eldritch lore.

​​​​​​​"Damn strange" is how one of the characters in Imajica responds when he hears an odd tale recounted to him and that phrase is certainly applicable to Imajica itself. This story is ambitious, complex, and bizarre on many levels. Within this tale our world is known as the fifth dominion and it is the only one of the five dominions that remains unreconciled. For centuries, the Tabula Rasa has kept the powers of the other four dominions at bay but the time for another possible reconciliation approaches. The Tabula Rasa will go to any extreme to prevent such a reconciliation as the other dominions are full of strange and powerful creatures that are not welcome here.

The Engines of God was my introduction to Jack McDevitt and I could hardly put it down. I really got caught up in both the stunning scenery and the action sequences. Its almost like a cross between Star Trek and Game of Thrones; they explore fascinating new worlds, go where no human has gone before, and in true GoT fashion not all characters make it out alive. We call them the Monument Makers. Throughout the galaxy they build amazing structures, the purpose of which we can only speculate. Priscilla Hutchison is a pilot for the Academy and her current assignment is with a group of xenoarcheologists. They've made an amazing discovery about the monument makers and following a single clue, she pilots a ship in search of the Monument Makers. To say more about the plot might ruin it.

​​​​​​​Eye of the Moonrat has its fair share of fantasy tropes and while Cooley's writing style is rather simplistic he has created a complex and interesting world that you want to learn more about. The main character, Justan, is your standard fantasy teen who is struggling to live up to the reputation of his father. He is trying to qualify for entrance into the battle academy and despite putting significant effort into his training he just doesn't seem to have what it takes to get in. However, Justan does have some compelling abilities that make him unique and this book slowly reveals just what he could be capable of. There is more to Justan than meets the eye and some influential individuals have taken notice of him and begun to manipulate his destiny.

It's a scenario most online gamers are familiar with, two teams of five trying to outwit, outshoot, and outplay the opposing team to move up in the rankings. Overworld is clearly a descendant of League of Legends and Heroes of the Storm but it's played in an immersive virtual reality accessed through your djinni, an implant in your brain. For Marisa, "Heartbeat" and her four friends that make up the Cherry Dogs the game is more important than reality. They aren't high in the rankings but Marisa has made a few radical plays that have generated some buzz in the community and they hope to be invited to upcoming tournament. When they aren't playing matches they're training, replaying the matches of their competition, and at night they go clubbing and party hard. Typical slacker teenagers until one of the Cherry Dogs uses a new "drug" called Bluescreen.

​​​​​​​Chains of Command picks up the story about one year after the end of Angles of Attack and Earth is still hanging on. Andrew Grayson finds himself training new recruits to backfill the depleted ranks of the space borne infantry but it is obviously too little too late. The Lankies retain control of Mars and regularly send siege ships toward Earth. The rag tag remnants of the NAC and SRA space fleets are barely able to repel them and every encounter is successful by only the slimmest of margins. Unfortunately, mankind knows it is losing the overall war of attrition and the status quo is unsustainable. This leaves only two choices available for regaining our solar system and they both involve attacking Mars. Take a chance and launch the assault now with what remains of the space navy or risk a blind raid in an attempt to recover the modern warships that were taken when the former NAC military and political leadership jumped away leaving everyone else behind to die.

​​​​​​​Things have gone to hell for humanity. We have been driven back time and time again by the Lankies and we have no colonies left beyond 30 light years from Earth. As we set up defenses on the new border the Lankies suddenly jump all the way to our solar system and deal us a crushing blow by taking Mars. This wipes out the majority of our fleet and effectively cuts off our remaining colonies from Earth. Staff sergeant Andrew Grayson is now stranded on the colony moon of New Svalbard along with a small task force of ships and little food. Caught between a rock and a hard place Andrew knows they will all starve to death if they stay where they are but they would be blindly jumping into an unwinnable space battle if they try to go home.

For five years now humanity has been falling back. Although we have had limited success in ground skirmishes against the Lankies we have lost every single space battle against them. Colony world after colony world has fallen and their siege ships appear to be indestructible. Once they arrive at a planet they are able to land troops and terraform it to their needs quickly and efficiently. Despite this harsh reality, the North American Commonwealth and the Sino-Russian Alliance remain bitter enemies and they continue to fight against each other over the colony planets that do remain under human control. Even Earth itself has deteriorated as the two-front war sucks away all the resources and civil unrest has become the norm.