The Introverted Detective

 Let's talk about bunnies and war. I'm reading Watership Down, which is an allegory for war using rabbits.  Let's start with the basics. We have a warren near a field. Fiver and Hazel (both male rabbits) go to a field, where Fiver illustrates his prophetic gift - by seeing "a field of blood". There is a sign announcing land development on that field and a cigarette on the ground. There is a lot to unpack here, but this is only the basic plotline. I'll unpack more later. From here, Fiver and Hazel take a group to create a new warren, which looks more like defecting because their leader refused to move everyone. They are later proved right about the whole thing, when only two rabbits from the old warren make it back to tell the tale.  From here (and again, only doing basic plot) they find a bunch of rabbits bred to be killed by snares, free some hutch rabbits, rescue some rabbits from a warren resembling Nazi Germany, then have to fight those same rabbits at the...

 Here we are, at book four and level five of the dungeon crawl. If you don't know what I mean, please go back to the first book (titled Dungeon Crawler Carl) and go from there. I'll have the links to the other books before this at the end of this blog.  To catch you up since the last book, we have four different areas of level five to conquer. Also the AI was mad everyone teamed up to survive, therefore, everyone is in different biomes starting off. Let the chaos begin! The Review Carl, Katia, and Donut are in the air biome, with sand and camel-creatures. The town is Hump Town and the sign says "bang twice to enter". Cue the Picard face palm. The town is about drugs, sex, and money. The castle they need to storm is way above them. The crawlers all have to work together to storm it, and only a small portion of the crawlers are on each biome. Fun. This really does feel like a joke about breaking the AI bubble, as well as a punishment for the crawlers working together on...

 Today we review Bridgerton book eight, which is Gregory in the line of Bridgerton siblings. This will probably be spicy. Let's get into it.  This was a rather tame Bridgerton, featuring Lucy and Gregory (Bridgerton child #7). We have one sex scene, but a lot of adventure. We start with a prologue where Gregory is crashing a wedding. From there, we rewind it back to see how he got there, then continue forward. We have an arranged marriage, blackmail, treason, and a fascinating wedding afterparty.  Review I loved this one. Five stars, no notes. This had me wondering what would happen next. Lucy is arranged to marry someone (who is not into women). Gregory meets her while pursuing her cousin Hermione. After a while, they get the idea that they like each other. Hermione is caught messing around with Lucy's brother at a masquerade ball, so Hermione is off the table by now.  This is where things go off the rails. When Lucy expresses to her Uncle (who doesn't care about he...

 Today I'm reading another Ruth Ware book. Lenora, our main character, goes to a hen party under compulsion. Let's get into it.  This book is Agatha Christie coded. A bunch of people are brought into an isolated area for a hen party. That hen party goes off the rails and one person leaves before the real crap hits the fan. Our main character is in a hospital, remembering what happened. She has a gap in her memory and the police are saying someone is dead. By the end we know what happened. Until then, we get flashbacks between hospital interviews.  Our main character is Lenora, who goes by Nora and used to be called Lee. The frustrating thing is that she is being called Lee by our hen Clare who's getting married and Flo, the maid of honor. Flo is obsessed over "the perfect hen party" to a point that she's basically trying to control the social environment. After some jokes at her expense (a seance where they say "maxwell" says to "buy coffee...

 James Bond is wanted and supposed to be on leave. I am once again reviewing a James Bond in my Gardner collection. Let's talk about it.  Once again, SPECTRE is taking a shot at Bond, this time by putting a bounty on his head. After running into a couple of women who won't go away for anything, he is forced to bring them along. May (housekeeper of Bond) and Moneypenny are kidnapped to get him to come to SPECTRE. One of the women hanging on for the ride is innocent of any agenda; the other is not. By the time Bond figures that out, it is too late. He ends up blowing up the whole place by rewiring a movable bed (where the head of SPECTRE was slowly dying).  This will be a rather short review, mostly because it is a typical Gardner Bond. Five stars, no notes. It's a fun adventure. Bond gets to hang out with Sukie (the woman without the agenda) in the end. Moneypenny and May are safe and going home. May is featured in most Gardner bonds, but usually not to this extent. She'...

 I'm reading an Ian Fleming Bond novel again. I collect James Bond, in case you didn't know. Let's get into it.  This is the book after Bond's wife is killed. Bond is sent on a diplomatic mission to Japan, for intel that they need and don't want someone else to know they have. This leads into a mission to kill a man who created a poison garden. The suicides were allowed to freely walk in and die to piranhas and poisonous trees. Japan is getting a little sick of this, so Bond is sent in to kill the scientist who did this. It turns out to be Blofeld, who killed Bond's wife in the previous book. He becomes Japanese for a while, does his mission and strangles Blofeld, then loses his memory.  This is where the end gets a little weird. The clam diver he stayed with liked him and decided to lie to him. She made sure his old life was not brought up and kept him under a cloud of amnesia, convincing him he was her lover and a fisherman. The end of the book implies he went...