I know 2020 is a complete shit show so far, and I hope you are all safe and well. I sure have my own struggles – apparently my optometrist have no clue why my glasses which are supposed to be good, aren’t actually good and give me troubles. It greatly affects my everyday life and reading (thank fuck for audiobooks). But I try not to let that get in my way and not to take too much painkillers for my headaches… Life is fun, huh? Anyway, I’m not here to whine about myself, but to tell you all about what we were up to in May!
Book Reviews
In case you missed any of our reviews in May you can read them by clicking on the title! 🙂 We had a lot of reviews this month, so it was easy to miss one or two.
The Chosen by Jakob Tanner – 3.5/5

Jen is getting at the bottom of her requests. Or more like I’m catching up with her posting them, lol. Anyway, she reviewed this LitRPG.
“This was really fast-paced, it’s entertaining and the POV character, Clay has a likeable voice which makes him easy to root for. I enjoyed how fun it was and all the nice touches that made it feel like an actual game.”
Camelot by Giles Kristian – 3.5/5

After reading and loving Lancelot, there was no question wether I’ll read Camelot. I mean, I had a Netgalley ARC sitting on my Kindle, would have been such a waste…
“Overall, I have mixed feelings about Camelot. There were aspects I enjoyed but I also felt underwhelmed at the end. Lancelot definitely put the bar high and I don’t think Camelot was able to live up to it. Even so, if you enjoyed Lancelot, I don’t see why you shouldn’t also read Camelot. It has some nice – if a bit predictable – twists, battles, backstabbing, drama. Underneath it all, Camelot is the story about dreams, about unyielding loyalty and the notion that you never should give up.“
Exile by Martin Owton – 3.5/5

Another review from Jen this month. We got a request to review this one and we are sorry it took so long for us to get there!
“This was a nice comfortable fantasy read that entertains without being too predictable. It’s worth checking out if you are looking for something on the noble bright edge of the genre.”
Tales of Ioth by D.P. Woolliscroft – 5/5

It took me a bit longer to get to the latest book in the Wildfire Cycle series than I would have liked, but it definitely was worth the wait. If you haven’t started reading Dave’s books yet, why not?!
“I’ve been really impressed by the quality of the content in Tales of Ioth. Don’t get me wrong, Woolliscroft presented exactly what I expected of him and then some more. These stories not only give us a better picture of the characters we already know, but also we get to know Alfaria and the Alfjarun culture a bit more. If you like the Wildfire Cycle, then you definitely shouldn’t miss Tales of Ioth and all these brilliant adventures.”
Bring the Fire by Craig Schaefer – 4/5

This is yet another book I was supposed to read ages ago. I finally read the last book of the Wisdom’s Grave Trilogy and boy what an ending it was!
“Bring the Fire, being true to its title brings a fiery end to The Wisdom’s Grave trilogy. We get all the answers and then some more, action and heroic battle. If you already got this far, then you can be damn sure you’ll enjoy the hell out of endgame.”
SPFBO
SPFBO 5 – The Conclusion
As you know, SPFBO 5 ended in April. But we looked back at everything that happened before we moved on. I shared a few interesting stats, and my team mates shared some of their thoughts regarding SPFBO 5. We also highlighted our favourite books from the overall 300 entered into the competition!
If you missed anything during Phase 1, you can check out everything that happend with us on my SPFBO 5 Phase 1 page and you can get to know the team better here! If you’d like to see how we did in the Finals, then my SPFBO 5 Finals page is for you!
SPFBO 6 – Introducing Team RockStarlit BookAsylum
SPFBO 5 hardly just ended and we are already getting ready for SPFOB 6! It officially kicked of on June 1st, but we had time in May to get ready. As you can see, Team RockStarlit BookAsylum will be back for another year! We’ve got a new process and two new team members. Come and say hi to them 🙂
As usual, here is my SPFBO 6 Phase 1 page, where you can see how we devided our books and can follow our process. Check out what that process is and get to know my team!
Other Bookish Posts
Cover Reveal
I had the pleasure to bring you not one, but two covers in May!
Brass Knuckles & Tattered Wings by Martin Svolgart
A King’s Bargain by J.D.L. Rosell
To Be Continued…
10 weeks, 5 authors, 1 story. In To Be Continued… I asked 5 authors (self-published and traditionally published alike) to write a story together based on my prompts, without knowing about each other. They each had 2 weeks to write their part before I forwarded it to the next person to continue. Each part is somewhere between 500 – 1500 words long.
After The New Sound, it was time to have another story written by awesome authors! So far we posted 2 out of 5 parts of The Butcher Queen:
Part 1 by Cameron Johnston (author of the Age of Tyranny series, published by Angry Robot)
Part 2 by Phil Williams (author of the Ordshaw series)
Storytellers On Tour
The World Maker Parable by Luke Tarzian

We really hoped this tour will be a success, because if someone, Luke Tarzian definitely deserves to get a bit of love from the community. Seeing all the reactions througout the week, I can say The World Maker Parable tour had been a blast.
Disenchanted by Brianna Sugalski

We celebrated the recent release of Brianna Sugalski‘s dark YA fantasy, Disenchanted. We had several interviews, reviews and even two BookTubers joined us! Once again it was my role to close the tour with a spotlight and collecting what our Roadies had to say during the tour!
Duckett & Dyer: Dicks for Hire by G.M. Nair

we brought the highly amusing Duckett & Dyer: Dicks For Hire to a wider audience in celebration of the recent release of book 2, Duckett & Dyer: The One-Hundred Percent Solution. As usual, our Roadies brought a wide selection of content to this show!
The Jealousy of Jalice by Jesse Nolan Bailey

We celebrated the recent release of The Jealousy of Jalice which is Jesse Nolan Bailey‘s debut dark fantasy. As usual, our Roadies brought a wide selection of content to this show!
Music Musings
Music Monday
If you missed any of them, give them a listen and read my personal notes/thoughts/ramblings regarding them 🙂
- May 4th: BROACH: Set Me On Fire
- May 11th: Crobot: Low Life
- May 18th: P!nk: What About Us
- May 25th: Seether: Fake It
I think that’s it for May. I hope to see you all in June!
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