Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Airport-bought, plane-finished. Still turning it over in my head weeks later.
June 2026
hey, i'm Evan Ashcroft
Welcome to my little corner of the web. I read too many books, own too many board games, and this is where I write about both. Mostly so future-me can remember what past-me thought. If a review is useful to you too, that is nice, but it is not really the point.
No affiliate links. No newsletter popup. No AI slop. Just one person, some strong opinions, and reviews that come out once a month at best.
what i've written about lately
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
The best version of the thing Andy Weir does. I finished it and immediately lent it out.
April 2026
Gloomhaven
Sixty scenarios in with the same group. Would recommend it to fewer people than you would think.
March 2026
Wingspan
The gateway game I keep going back to. Around thirty plays and counting.
February 2026
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
A winter re-read that hit differently in my thirties. Bounced off it at twenty.
January 2026
Spirit Island
Still my most-played cooperative game. Started writing this one back in December.
December 2025
If you want more, there is a full list of books and one of board games. Nothing on this site is behind an email popup.
what i'm on right now
I am reading The Dispossessed. Bought it last winter. Going slow, because it deserves that. In the evenings I have been teaching Ark Nova to a new group. The teach takes forever. They seem to like it anyway.
On deck: Blindsight by Peter Watts, which everyone I trust has been telling me to read for years. And I have finally decided that this is the year I open my copy of Frosthaven. That box has stared at me for two years. Every day it stares a little harder.
the very short manifesto
Reviews are not scores out of ten. They are letters to a version of you that has not read the book or opened the box yet.
If a review here nudges you into trying something new, or warns you off something that was about to eat forty hours of your life, then the site did its job. That is it. That is the whole thing.