Patrick

I was surprised to learn I'm in the minority of readers who thought that book 2 more enjoyable than book 1. I had a great time reading this book. First time reading this type of book structure, the constant context switching kept me wanting more. Islington was good about leaving some type of cliff hanger on any of the POVs and made me want to keep reading to see what would happen.

I enjoyed all three worlds similarly, but if I had to pick a favorite I'd go with Luceum. I love that we got to see Vis in a world where he finds a family and live out his dream of running away from the hierarchy. My favorite moment in maybe the whole book was when he confided in his troupe about the shame he feels running away from suus after watching his family get executed. "You were not a warrior then." ;-;. Dad campfire scene reminds me of when Kakashi talked to his dad in Naruto and I LOVE that trope. So much of the trauma of Vis' past gets leveraged in this book and it really makes me feel like he was growing emotionally. My one gripe is that he Vis seemed a little too disinterested in the workings of will while in Luceum.

Obiteum was cool and felt high stakes at times but felt slow in others. Rip Ahmose. Why didn't Vis just control him to stop him from killing himself? The part where Vis is questioning the monarch and runs away from Neq made me laugh soooo hard for some reason "SIAMUUUUUUNN!!!!". Caeror carried here, sad he "disappeared" so early. How tf did Vis know to go back to Qabr to enter that room? Let me just completely ignore the golden glowing sarcophagus in the middle of the room that's described to be SUPER important and grab these new cool weapons! ???. Weird section but I'll look over it.

Res. Lot of good, and a lot of wtf moments here. I think my biggest issue I can't get over is Vis' morals. Book 1 had them so clearly defined and I feel like he stepped on a lot of his past self. I understand his top motivation was finding out what who was responsible for Iudicium (which is snuffed out later in Res so... what's his motivation now?), but for all his previous anti-will standards to be forgotten to avenge Callidus felt like a bit of an overreaction. Like dude, when he saw Relucia in the sapper? He makes a point to show how much he HATES sappers and how inhumane they are, then suddenly he's threatening torture/slavery to get answers? Then she's all "it's for the greater good" and he's like "despicable.". Then when ka's like "it's for the greater good" he's like "ok I'm down". I understand its much more nuanced than that but still... Speaking of confusing moments: Eidhin is all "I know my line and will never cross it". Then at the end of the book when Vis chooses against Eidhin's line he's all "I'm still going to support and follow you." ??? Anways, I loved Ostius' character, reminds me of Jack Sparrow's demeanor for some reason lol. Vis is now officially a Disney princess with Diago. Eidhin's dad said "I would do ANYTHING to save my son" and Vis is surprised when he found out he lied to him to save his son? lol i just think that's funny. Oh yea. Aequa. That moment had me SHOOK. I understand why people are upset by the way it happened but I think I'm in the minority who thought the shock value that scene created outweighs the killing of a fleshed out character. I'm more upset at the AFTER. Oh woopdeedoo I'm just gonna snap both my legs back into place and continue the mission like nothing happened! Let me still accomplish all my goals!

I know I've been complaining a ton but overall this book was a great read and improved upon many the aspects I loved about the first book. Lots of questions at the end of this book, its going to super suck waiting another couple years. I love how Vis manifests differently in the different worlds but stays (sorta) the same. I could yap a bunch more about my theories but I'll just leave at: that neckalce Ostius gave Vis and Rurarc gave Vis feel too similar and suspicious. Wonder where all this will go!

The absolute biggest grievance about this book is the age of the children. I get it, they're supposed to be the greatest minds the universe has seen... still... bro it broke my immersion so often. Add 10+ years to all the characters and this book reads so much easier. Main plot points were pretty predictable but I wasn't expecting the ending - glad they gave Ender more meaning beyond a genius-general. I'll prob watch the movie!

Damn this one was much better than I was expecting it to be. Since Carl wasn't the deckmaster and didn't have to rack his brain on all the possibilities of the cards, strats, etc, it gave Carl room to breathe. I think that was desperately needed since there's now, at minimum, 3+ moving parts in every plot point. This book feels like the start of the actual plot that's going to take place in the final installations of the series. The pacing was great on this one imo. That part when you find out Bea hid Carl's half-brother away from him is crazy. Actually made me feel ire which is p rare in a book with a talking sex-doll head. Speaking of which, Samantha's mother cursing bit went from overplayed back to funny again. My only fruitless gripe is that the author still never puts Carl in a situation where he has to be the bad guy. I thought it would happen with Sister Ines and Paz but nope! You find out Sister is actually a psychopath so Carl's decision to betray them wasn't actually all that bad... a similar moment: 1 door left on the floor, Carl and Ren's team are the only left. Carl's going to have to kill another crawler to progress to the next level... Nope! Ren kills herself! See what I mean? Wonder when the plot armor is suddenly going to strip and I'll actually fear what'll happen next. Anyways, Raul's beach scene was the funniest shit I've read in this series so far.

The novelty wore off a bit and for some reason I didn’t really care much about any of the quests (70% of the book). Still dumb fun and amusing. Hoping the plot picks up soon.

Sheesh. Did NOT expect Katia tiara thing at the end there. Welp I'm no prophet but I'm guessing Donut is the one to survive floor 9. The Prince Rupert's drop level was a cool idea. This book was good for the most part but it was pretty damn dull in parts I expected it to go crazy in. Pony is a cool character. Carl keeps sending ppl to their death lol. This book had so much long term foreshadowing and hid a lot from the reader to the point of confusion. Like there was soooo many things happening at the end it was impossible to follow completely. The signet story line is over (thank god - I wasn't too big a fan). The river raged thing is interesting but idk what it means other than a mental snap. Mongo moonwalked AND got a gf in this book tho so it def deserves flowers. I think the straightforward "Carl crazy plan working" is fading and I think that's the dopamine hit I itch for, not the multibook plotline intergalactic politics but.. that's not going anywhere.