Is this ironic or serious?

Finished Wheel of Time book 2 volumes 1&2. 9/10
I love the descriptions. yes, some are unnecessary, but they add to the world.

I started book 3 yesterday.

★☆☆☆☆ Metacentrum. Wspomnienia kapitana żeglugi wielkiej / Konieczny, Cezary
★★★★★ Wilki. Historie prawdziwe / Figura, Michał
★★★☆☆ Leśny niezbędnik rodzinny. Poradnik survivalu i bushcraftu / Wyrzykowski, Marian "Radar"
★★★☆☆ Średniowiecze w liczbach / Janicki, Kamil
★☆☆☆☆ Think Straight: Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life / Foroux, Darius
★☆☆☆☆ Amerykański reset. Stany (jeszcze) Zjednoczone od podszewki / Sarnacka-Mahoney, Eliza
★★★☆☆ Wybuch wojny światowej / Oskierko, Maksymilian

All books read in 2025 – here.

The Dark Defiles

It took me far too long to read this book, and while my eyes having a hard time with the font, even more so when large sections were mostly or even almost entirely in italics, had something to do with it, the main reason is the complexity coupled with the time that passed since I read the other two in the series. Then again, I doubt that this series can be properly understood without rereading, and possibly not even then, and I never do that, so I'll just say that the improvements from one book to the next are huge and this last one keeps only the best elements and shows just how much thought and planning went into it all. Worldbuilding, character development, thrilling combat, emotion, it has it all and it's excellently written. The Grey Places remain memorable, but so are so many other parts and events, identifying some that aren't possibly being harder.
However, I still couldn't quite follow what was going on, some things seemed to just come out of nowhere, and even some explanations left me with more questions than answers. Sure, part of that is my fault, considering how much I must have forgotten and the fact that I let myself be lulled into not paying enough attention even then, along with the difficulties I have in keeping track of those characters with complicated names and maybe even the fact that I'm not keen on many of the key explanations being more in the realm of science fiction rather than fantasy, but that can only account for a part of the problem, the rest clearly having to do with inadequate or even missing explanations. Some characters seem to understand more than I did, but it's even explicitly stated that others gave up even trying. Plus that the way the different story arcs were concluded, quite suddenly, separately, and openly, hardly offered any closure. And the very end left me quite literally stunned... But, just like the book and the series as a whole, still somewhat in confusion rather than revelation.

Rating: 4/5

"The Ancestor's Tale: A Pilgrimage to the Dawn of Life" by Richard Dawkins.

I took advantage of a recent long-distance bus trip to continue reading The City and The Stars by Arthur C. Clarke. The passengers aboard the bus were civilized and fairly quiet, thank goodness! I managed to completely lose myself in the book and I took that as an encouraging sign that I was still enjoying the story very much. ;)

During my reading session, I stumbled upon a handful of words whose meaning I needed to look up. Reading is fun, but is also educational! :P Here are the new words I discovered during this reading session:

"The warmth, the profusion of scent and color, and the unseen presences of a million living things, smote him with almost physical violence."

"It was idle to speculate, to build pyramids of surmise on a foundation of ignorance."

"Although it lay in the full gaze of the sun, the whole of that great depression was ebon black."

"They passed into the shadow of a broken wall, and entered a canyon where the mountains of stone has split asunder."

Wheel of time book 3 - Dragon Reborn
9/10
I like the focus on the other main characters.
yes please

Yesterday I finished reading physical book El Enigma Tunguska by Antonio Las Heras by Nowtilus publisher.

I used my recent stay in the hospital to read all seven books of "The Chronicles of Narnia".
It's an ok series.