Cassie

Siege and Storm is the second book in the Shadow and Bone trilogy, and it is the dictionary definition of middle book syndrome. This book brings so little to the table it is genuinely a Herculean feat.

The story starts out a few weeks following Shadow and Bone's ending, with Mal and Alina on a boat bound for Kerch, ready to start a life away from the clutches of the Darkling, and bide their time to return and stop him. This plan is put out to pasture almost immediately however, as they're tracked down almost instantly to the inn that they've been staying at, and recaptured.

The Darkling now has the ability to summon creatures using his powers, and the Grisha are even more under his thumb than ever following Alina's escape from him. As he's transporting Alina back to Ravka, with the help of a pirate he's hired, he tells her that they're going to be getting her another of Morozova's amplifiers, this time from a mythical sea-serpent, which is a shock to both the reader and Alina, as Grisha have historically only ever had one amplifier.

With the help of the pirate working for the Darkling, the serpent is tracked down and brought low, but then the pirate betrays the Darkling and helps Alina escape from his clutches, stealing the serpent from him in the process as well. Alina then kills the serpent, taking her second amplifier, but this time it's fully in her control.

This all happens in the first 60 or so pages of the book, so by this point, I was ready for a book that was absolutely jam packed with action. But, alas, that wasn't what I was to get from this book. Instead, Alina returns to court to mope about and pretend to lead the Grisha for about 250 pages, while dealing with some of the most irritatingly dumb relationship problems that I've had the misfortune to read for a while.

Her and Mal go through around 3 arguments in this book, and all of them are easily avoided if they just spoke to each other. But no, that would require these characters to have an ounce of spine to them for even a second. Communication issues are a very real thing in relationship, but they're almost never enjoyable to read about, instead just being this really banal piece of storytelling that's frustrating to read.

But hey, at least we get court politics, which were a highlight of the last book, but again, no such luck. Alina takes almost no action of worth throughout this book, instead allowing everybody else to be a driving force behind her in court. This just felt like a carbon copy of the last books court drama, but much more rote and tedious. We keep getting the excuse that she's hunting for the last of Morozova's amplifiers, but that goes absolutely nowhere for the entire book.

But of important note is just how mediocre of a protagonist Alina actually is throughout this book. She, for some mental reason, is still hung up on the Darkling. Why? Your guess is as good as mine. Apparently Alina is red-green colourblind, so the massacre of innocents is A-ok to her. What this leads to is this bizarre love-quadrangle between her, Mal, the Darkling, and Nikolai, but we all know who'll she end up with by the end. If I'm being honest, I could have dealt with an Alina/Mal/Nikolai triangle, but the books insistence that she would have any continued interest in the Darkling is fucking baffling, as by this point, his only redeeming quality is being attractive, and even that's becoming less true as he uses his power more.

But the worst part of this book, by far and away, is that by the end of it, I was genuinely confused why this series was a trilogy. The majority of this book was an utter waste of time and energy, and were I not positive that there's greener pastures ahead in the series, I wouldn't be continuing after this shift show of a book.

And then there's the ending to the book. I hated it. It was so insanely boring, and made the rest of the book even more pointless, as it effectively wiped the slate entirely clean, leaving me confused as to why there even needed to be a middle book. On top of that, there was a major asspull that I really disliked, but I'm going to refrain from going into too much detail because of spoilers

My recommendation is going to be contingent on whether or not book 3 is good, so I'll edit this review after having finished that, but this book just wasn't it. 2/5 stars, with it being saved from being 1-star just by virtue of how enjoyable the opening to the book was.

EDIT: After finishing Ruin & Rising, I can fully recommend this book. This was a hiccup, not an indication of things to come ^^

I have really mixed feelings on this book. I should really enjoy it, since the previous book in the series was one of my favourite reads of last year, introducing one of the most unique and interesting Sci-fi worlds I've ever read, having a main character completely different to any I've seen in the space, and just overall being really well written.

So going into Ancillary Sword, I had really high hopes, and I don't want to say that they were dashed, since that seems a tad extreme, but they certainly weren't met. This book is the definition of middle book syndrome. Almost nothing interesting actually happens throughout the novel, which is a crying shame, because, just like Ancillary Justice, the world is realized brilliantly, with every new detail we get about the culture, the history and the technology elevating the Radch Empire even further than it reached in the first book.

The major issues were, at least in my opinion, almost everything else.

The plot picks up a week after the last books ending, with Breq now being registered as a cousin of Anaander Mianaai, and being raised to the rank of Fleet Captain, and given her own ship to command. She chooses her lieutenants, one of whom is Seivarden from the previous book, the other Ekalu, a previous lieutenant of the ship.

She's sent to Athoek to safeguard it from the other Anaander, but also to guard her old captain's sister, who is stationed onboard the orbital station above Athoek.

The majority of the book takes place on this station, and makes sure that you understand the culture of the peoples that live aboard it through and through. The scope of the story is one of the biggest strengths. Too much epic Sci-fi makes a point to constantly system hop and explore as many planets as possible, even if it's to the detriment of the story. Leckie very clearly feels the same, since the next book in the series, is also set on the same station.

Leckie's prose is just as good as in the prior book, with her weaving every new environment in front of you effortlessly. It's nothing revolutionary, but it's really good.

Well, so far I've been very positive on the book, so it's time to explain where it went down to three stars. As I said, the worldbuilding is absolutely fantastic. It's just a shame that very few of the characters feel as well fleshed out. Physical descriptions are sparse, rarely going more than one or two sentences, the monogender making it difficult to even pin down the basic profile of a character. I say this despite the fact that I really like the monogender as a concept, I just wish Leckie had given more description for the characters.

The only characters I can say I genuinely like are Breq, who has a really strong voice as a PoV, and is just really fucking cool to boot, and Tisarwat, the young Lieutenant who had a personality transplant with a 3000 year old Emperor. Seivarden was a good character in the previous book, but she's missing for the majority of the story, only really having one major moment towards the end of the book.

The other main issue with the book, is that barely anything happens. There are 3 events of note.
Without specific spoilers, they were the shooting, the bomb, and the standoff. And that was it. The rest was quiet conversations and setup for the last book. I understand that writing a second book in a trilogy is a nightmarish balancing act, but oh my god, I was just interminably bored for the majority of the story.

These two issues compounded to make me really confused when I finished the book. I could point to things I really enjoyed, but I also found myself just sort of disinterested in continuing. I fully intend to see the series through, since the Anaander storyline is fascinating to me, and I really like being in Breqs head. If you enjoyed Ancillary Justice, I'd recommend going into this with tempered expectations. This isn't going to leave you with the same fulfilled feeling that Justice did, but you'll probably have a pretty good time with it.

Royal Assassin is one of the best that I've ever read. I didn't think that Hobb would be able to so decidedly top the already amazing Assassin's Apprentice, but here I am, basking in the fact that she made her previous work look almost amateurish in comparison. She's opened my eyes to parts of her books that I didn't even realize appealed to me, and doubled down on the aspects that I loved.

First things first, let's get the prose section out of the way. If you're at all familiar with Hobb's work, you'll know what you're getting with this. She doesn't do purple prose, but she does exceptionally well crafted prose that enriches the text at every step. Some of the lines that she drops into this book wracked me full of sobs because of the sheer power of the writing. Dialogue is also a massive strength of hers, every single character feeling like their dialect and delivery has been painstakingly considered. Of special note is the Fool, who's every line feels like it's been meticulously crafted to get your mind racing about the possible meaning behind his cryptic speech.

Then there's the story. First off, the court politics. They're so much better in this than they were in Assassin's Apprentice, since Fitz is so much more observant and alert, and finally begins to take a more proactive approach when it comes to involving himself in them. We actually get the opportunity to really see the man behind the curtain, and it's fantastic. But even then, Hobb uses this newfound agency and observant nature as a fog for the reader, blindsiding us with twists that are brilliantly crafted and that she practically screams at both us and Fitz, but neither notice because we don't have the experience the world required to see them. I found myself regularly blindsided by the twists the story took in regards to the court.

But that's only a small part of the whole, and of equal note in my opinion is her handling of the magic systems. If I was to complain in the first book, it would have been the underdevelopment of the magic system, but I was under no illusions that that would be the case for the rest of the series. In this book we have extended periods of time coming to grips with both the Wit and the Skill, and these are also used to give us broader of the characters that surround Fitz, both old and new. These have the potential to be one of the most interesting magic systems that I've ever encountered, and I'm so excited to see how they're expanded upon in Assassin's Quest.

I also really enjoyed how she did combat. If it's small brawls we get the whole thing with almost every detail, but if it's larger scale battles, we get the initial burst, and then a smash cut to the aftermath, the reasoning being that Fitz loses himself in the battle and his future self can't recall the nitty-gritty. I really enjoyed this way of doing large battles, since in some fantasy, the fights can begin to drag on after a while, so this method sates our appetite while not burning us out on the combat.

And then there's the characters. I could probably write a full essay on my love for the characters here, but I don't want this section to drag, so I'm gonna briefly touch on the standouts. But, before I do, I just want to say, there isn't a single character that I dislike in this book. There's ones I hate, but they're still solid characters when all is said and done.

Something that I really appreciated about the book was Hobb's ability to write off screen character arcs that work really well. For instance, Hands was a prick last book, and I didn't like him. But throughout the book, he undergoes a character arc in the background that completely transforms him to be a much more tolerable person, and we don't see the journey, just the slow transition of the character as Fitz notices him around the stable, and when finally we see an interaction with him, his arc has been completed, and it doesn't feel like whiplash from a sudden character shift.

For the characters we do see the arc for, Fitz has to be talked about. Fitz' journey throughout this entire book is one of the most cathartic, yet still painful, arcs that I've ever read. We finally see him begin to come into his own, while weathering painful setbacks and losses, and growing from each one. He's an incredibly well crafted character, and is honestly one of the bests PoVs in fantasy. I don't want to spoil too much of his journey, but this isn't the Fitz we once knew, who was placid and tried to fade into the background. His heritage plays a large part in his story now, coming to the forefront rather than being an insult to put him down.

Verity is a standout as well, as we finally get to know the reclusive King-in-waiting, destroying himself to save his kingdom. He's one of my favourite characters in the book, and steals every scene that he's in.

Burrich is just as good, if not better than he was in the prior book, and is just my favourite character in the series so far. His devotion to Fitz is beautifully written, and the pain that he carries with him is heart wrenching the few times he shows it. I adore him so much.

Then lastly, there's Regal. I hate Regal. He's an inhuman spiteful little shit. He makes Ramsay Snow look like a kitten in comparison. He is one of the most evil characters that I've ever read. He draws genuine fury out of me so often it's shocking. I have had to put the book down for a bit to calm down after he's done something. I'm desperately hoping to see a very brutal and drawn out end for him in the last book.

I've barely touched on the characters, but they're all phenomenal, and I don't know how Hobb nailed each one so perfectly. There's still Nighteyes, Molly, Patience, Kettricken, the Fool, Rosemary, Chade, the list just goes on and on, and it's great. Just for the characters alone, you should read it.

The world is also expanded in staggering ways. We get more of the history, both political and mythological. But mainly, we get the current political climate shown to us, through Fitz' work as a kings man. We're introduced to new leaders, and get our first glimpses at what the raiders true motivations might be, whilst also being shown that not all Outislanders are scumbags. It's wonderfully executed, and as with Assassin's Apprentice, leaves me parched for more, since no amount will satiate my desire to see the wonders hidden in the world.

The only major thing that I can say might be an issue for people is the pacing. This book is slow as shit. I really appreciated that about, but I've been told before that I don't have the best gauge for what good pacing in a story is, since I can just sit there and read character moments ad nauseum if they're done well enough, which as I said before, they all are. That being said, the pacing won't be an issue for people until the middle of the book, since the beginning is actually really fast paced.

Overall, this was an absolutely perfect book in my opinion, and I'm gonna be recommending this to anyone who'll bother listening to me about it. 5/5 stars, but only because I can't give it more.

Ah, Gideon the Ninth. What a book. I originally picked this book up a year ago, and made it to the end of Part 3, decided I was going to back to it eventually, and then proceeded to forget to do that. Which is heartbreaking, considering the fact that now that I've read it, it's one of my favourite books.

Tamsyn Muir has crafted one of the most interesting SFF universes that I've experienced in recent memory, and I'm ungodly excited to see more of it down the line. It feels like she was a massive fan of 40k, who decided she wanted an ending to the mythos, so she made her own universe that was similar to it, yet distinct enough to not be a direct rip. She then proceeded to make it gay as shit.

And hoo boy, does this book slap. Spoilers for the rest of this review, I have nothing bad to say about this book. I loved every single facet of it, every character, every line, and if I could go back to not remembering it so that I could have the joy of experiencing it for the first time again, I would.

First things first, Gideon, our protagonist, is probably one of my favourite fantasy protagonists ever put to page. I don't think any author has managed to make the reader understand a PoV character as quickly as Tamsyn does here, because by the end of the first chapter, the reader will have a near perfect understanding of who Gideon is. But by no means is Gideon a shallow character. Quite the opposite actually. Without getting too deep into spoilers, there are truths about herself that Gideon isn't quite ready to admit to herself, and watching her unravel herself from her traumatic childhood is a genuinely beautiful story.

And then there's Harrow. Oh Harrow, my beloved. A character designed for you to loathe, and then love. The smartest woman in any given room, who shows just how stupid she is by ignoring the asset she has in Gideon. Again, I don't want to spoil anything, because you should read the book, but her and Gideon's animosity towards each other is such an entertaining dynamic because of how different the two of them are to each other.

The prose is beautiful in the book, and challenged me quite a bit at points, throwing words at me that I'd never even heard, let alone read, before, so it was quite fun having my vocabulary expanded like that.

The world is probably my favourite aspect of the book. Having the universe be set in our solar system, but so far into the future that the names of the planets as we know them have been lost, is an amazing touch, that adds a surprising amount of weight to the story.

The magic system within the world is also really cool, as there's multiple different forms of necromancy within the universe. For instance, one of the houses style of necromancy comes in the form of freezing the person's aging, allowing people to live forever. Some of the cooler aspects of the magic system are massive spoilers, so I won't go too deep into those, but needless to say, it's fantastic.

But let's get to my one issue. My big, glaring, issue. And that is that Tamsyn Muir has refused to apologize for the sheer agony that the ending of this book put me through. I bawled my fucking eyes out. I don't think I will ever emotionally recover from the beating my heart took from the last 20 pages of this book, so I will be pursuing legal action. It was absolutely fantastic, I couldn't have asked for a better ending.

All in all, read the book, you're doing yourself a massive disservice by not at least experiencing the first in the series, because it really is an absolute treat. If you couldn't tell from the rest of the review, this is a 5 star book, and I'll be recommending it to anyone who'll listen to me.