Highlights and Lowlights - February 2026

A lighter month of reading, but here we go?

Books are rated using a very primitive rating system:
?+? are good, and more ?+? are better
?-? are not good, and more ?-? are worse

I?m happy to answer questions about anything here.

Highlight: The Dragon Never Sleeps - Cook

Lowlight: nothing applicable here

February 2026
( ++ 1/2 - ) Last Dragon Standing - Aaron [Heartstrikers #5; DFZ #5]
( +++ ) A Liaden Universe Constellation Vol 4 - Lee & Miller
( +++ ) Advocate - Ford [Warden #3]
( +++ 1/2 ) The Dragon Never Sleeps - Cook [Re-read Project #5]

Now Reading:
Long work - Lies Weeping - Cook [Black Company #12]
Collection - The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke

===========================================
February 2026
( ++ 1/2 - ) Last Dragon Standing - Aaron [Heartstrikers #5; DFZ #5]
A fitting and satisfying end to the first arc in Aaron?s DFZ universe. I expect to start the next arc at some point. These are ?popcorn books?,
and they are entertaining. I can?t say too much here without seriously spoiling the earlier books. The minus is due to a lack of character development amongst all characters, and the few places where 5-7 pages
were spent on some tedious conversations.

( +++ ) A Liaden Universe Constellation Vol 4 - Lee & Miller
Wonderful collection of 8 stories in the Liaden Universe, 6 of which
were very-good-to-excellent.

( ++ 1/2 ) Advocate - Ford [Warden #3]
Aelis is a recent magic college graduate and her first assignment is to
be Warden to a rural village and its surrounding area. She is both
learning and progressing, but she still has her moments of arrogance.
(Ford does well presenting both the moments, and her progression in
minimizing them.) Arch-Magister Barden Jacques wears lots of hats - he
is the most dangerous Warden alive; he is a very powerful magic user; he
is a former teacher and mentor to Aelis; and he has been charged with
heinous magic crimes. He has called in Aelis to be his Advocate ? a type
of magic-using partner to his defense lawyer ? simply because ?Aelis, I
know firsthand that you will be a pain in the ass?. This book is roughly
2/3 about Aelis being the Advocate, and roughly 1/3 about Aelis trying
to fix a spoiler-filled problem from the previous book. Good stuff, lots
going on, will definitely read the next one.

( +++ 1/2 ) The Dragon Never Sleeps - Cook [Re-read Project #5]
This is a wonderful standalone space opera - fast-paced, dense,
featuring immortal starships, interstellar intrigue, clones, and galactic-scale power struggles. Somehow with a zillion characters and
species and multiple plot threads, Cook never loses the plot or the characters. And it all fits well in one volume, and with a satisfactory resolution at that. There are several viewpoint characters, and the main protagonist (?Turtle?) is a real treat. Also, all characters with
surname ?Tregesser? S-U-C-K. Down with Tregessers! Guardships are very interesting. Fascinating universe.

Now Reading:
Long work - Lies Weeping - Cook [Black Company #12]
Collection - The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 3/7/26 3:15 PM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:

In article <10ohu81$1orp4$1@dont-email.me>,
Tony Nance <tnusenet17@gmail.com> wrote:

Highlights and Lowlights - February 2026

A lighter month of reading, but here we go?

Books are rated using a very primitive rating system:
?+? are good, and more ?+? are better
?-? are not good, and more ?-? are worse

I?m happy to answer questions about anything here.

Highlight: The Dragon Never Sleeps - Cook

Lowlight: nothing applicable here

February 2026
( ++ 1/2 - ) Last Dragon Standing - Aaron [Heartstrikers #5; DFZ #5]
( +++ ) A Liaden Universe Constellation Vol 4 - Lee & Miller
( +++ ) Advocate - Ford [Warden #3]
( +++ 1/2 ) The Dragon Never Sleeps - Cook [Re-read Project #5]

Now Reading:
Long work - Lies Weeping - Cook [Black Company #12]
Collection - The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke

===========================================
February 2026
( ++ 1/2 - ) Last Dragon Standing - Aaron [Heartstrikers #5; DFZ #5]
A fitting and satisfying end to the first arc in Aaron?s DFZ universe. I
expect to start the next arc at some point. These are ?popcorn books?,
and they are entertaining. I can?t say too much here without seriously
spoiling the earlier books. The minus is due to a lack of character
development amongst all characters, and the few places where 5-7 pages
were spent on some tedious conversations.

Was that where Aaron overexplains the magic system? She did a lot of that but seems to have learned better lately.

There were indeed a few minor episodes of that (some combination of
Amelia, Marci, and Myron), but I agree she's gotten better. The too-long conversations I'm remembering involved Justin and Marci trying to
convince someone (or each other) of something - lots of pleading,
circular, repetitive stuff. One was trying to convince Algonquin to stop
being stupid - it seemed to last forever.

( +++ ) A Liaden Universe Constellation Vol 4 - Lee & Miller
Wonderful collection of 8 stories in the Liaden Universe, 6 of which
were very-good-to-excellent.

If you enjoyed "Block Party", you may want to know more of Don Eyr the baker. His story is told more completely in

Bread Alone: Adventures in the Liaden Universe - Number 34

Excellent - thanks. I have never seen any of the Adventures series. Are
they originals, and not excerpts? I'm excitedly wondering if there's a
whole lot more new (to me) Liaden to read.

( ++ 1/2 ) Advocate - Ford [Warden #3]
Aelis is a recent magic college graduate and her first assignment is to
be Warden to a rural village and its surrounding area. She is both
learning and progressing, but she still has her moments of arrogance.
(Ford does well presenting both the moments, and her progression in
minimizing them.) Arch-Magister Barden Jacques wears lots of hats - he
is the most dangerous Warden alive; he is a very powerful magic user; he
is a former teacher and mentor to Aelis; and he has been charged with
heinous magic crimes. He has called in Aelis to be his Advocate ? a type
of magic-using partner to his defense lawyer ? simply because ?Aelis, I
know firsthand that you will be a pain in the ass?. This book is roughly
2/3 about Aelis being the Advocate, and roughly 1/3 about Aelis trying
to fix a spoiler-filled problem from the previous book. Good stuff, lots
going on, will definitely read the next one.

Sounds interesting! Added the first book to my "to buy" list.

I hope you enjoy it. Aelis took a little getting used to - I don't know
if it's a first-novel thing, or a new-setting thing. But she progresses.

Tony


--- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On 3/8/26 1:45 PM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:

In article <10ojnv1$2a0n5$2@dont-email.me>,
Tony Nance <tnusenet17@gmail.com> wrote:

On 3/7/26 3:15 PM, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:

In article <10ohu81$1orp4$1@dont-email.me>,
Tony Nance <tnusenet17@gmail.com> wrote:

Highlights and Lowlights - February 2026

A lighter month of reading, but here we go?

<snip snippety snip>

( +++ ) A Liaden Universe Constellation Vol 4 - Lee & Miller
Wonderful collection of 8 stories in the Liaden Universe, 6 of which
were very-good-to-excellent.

If you enjoyed "Block Party", you may want to know more of Don Eyr the baker.
His story is told more completely in

Bread Alone: Adventures in the Liaden Universe - Number 34

Excellent - thanks. I have never seen any of the Adventures series. Are
they originals, and not excerpts? I'm excitedly wondering if there's a
whole lot more new (to me) Liaden to read.

I believe the "Adventures" volumes are self published and largely gather up odds & ends from websites, non-Liaden anthologies and the like. There
is some overlap, "Block Party" forex, but I don't recall seeing the
Don Eyr novella or shorts elsewhere.

Oh cool - great to know, thanks.

We also meet a "Luck" whose path
intersects with the bakery, and being such is not necessarily "lucky"...

Yes - luck can be bad too. Many Liadens are aware of that, of course.
Tony

<snip snippety snip>

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.12
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)