Gautam Surath
It's been so long since I gave a five star rating I was beginning to think I had become too critical rating books. Tyrants throne has put that fear to rest. Sebastien moves you from lumps in your throat to a smile on your lips with effortless ease at least half a dozen times in this stellar finish to the series. Greatcoats easily creates a space in my shelf for those times when I am low. It's the place I would go to for inspiration when it all looks hopeless. I would live there look at Falcio, Kest and Brasti and find in me the power to be strong. Because they have taught me that a Greatcoat is not a Greatcoat till the right person has put it on!
John rain and Barry Eisler continue along their merry way of solving different peoples problems. We are back in Tokyo and visiting such beautifully described places that Barry should be your guide when you visit some of these countries. Apart from that there is very little of meat in Zero sum. The plot is very simplistic and when you couple it with the simplicity of Rain's ability to solve problems, the book gets a bit sow to read though. If there was one thing I would wish for this series it to find a worthwile adversary for Rain. Here is hoping!
Jon Skovron makes a superb entry into the fantasy genre. Hope and Red at it's core is story about it's characters and not so much about world building. It's the interactions between the protagonists that leave a trace and want to make you discover how to futures will bring them together in the future. Onward
This is the capstone that the series deserved and thank Brandon we got it. I always felt that we deserved so much more of the person who started it all and boy did Kelsier come through or what. I think the best part about this book is that Kelsier is so Kelsier. The fact that he is always looking for an out has never come out better. So while in theory this book does answer many questions its not really the reason to read it. It's just your final ride with the Survivor and the lesson he teaches you are going to stay with you for life. Survive!
Nicholas enters the fantasy genre with a blurb that reads like standard fantasy fare. A small but bustling world, some old have been heroes and many magical creatures. Nothing to make it stand out of the million or so fantasy books. If you happen to pick it up though, you suddenly have more than you bargained for. Nicholas takes you into the world of washed out heroes and makes you a part of their journey and suddenly the world or the creatures are just decoration. This is truly a story of romance, of purpose , of family and ofcourse friends. So come, read and be prepared to spend some time as a part of Saga, a washed out band, whose time has come. Come take a final ride with them with a walk on the Wyld side!
Came here after reading the Hearstriker series and I must say Rachel does not disappoint. Went through the series in a week and I thought the world building was strong the the species all very well developed and explained. As usual, Rachel develops strong protagonists and this is clearly on view even in this early efforts of hers. Enjoyed reading it and recommend you give it a shot
What a fitting finale. We see Bob in all his glory but failing in the end. We see more dragons from all corners of the world but they remain true to character. Amelia comes to the fore and still loses to Svena. Marci reaches her destiny but is not able to take on the Nameless End. In the end its upto Julius to sweet talk his way through and when he cannot succeed the Nameless End is on the verge of Victory. This and many other sub plots dominate the final book but in every outcome Rachel stays true to the series and not a single character behaves out of their nature bringing a fantastic series to a fitting end. The magic system while not in the same class as Brandon's is pretty logical but gets confusing at times. Highly recommended!
As this series progressed I really felt it would be difficult for Rachel to keep the Nice dragon bit going. But this iteration proved me completely wrong. Both arks whether we followed Julius or Marci the story takes interesting turns. The Spirit realm is well defined and we get understand the brilliance of Myron even though he has been playing a negative character for a while. All in all its a book that closes many open loops and the Lucky dragon sidestory just is the icing on the cake. Onwards!
Maybe a couple of books late but we have a finale. I am happy to report that Pater brings the tale to a decent finish and manages to tie up all the lose ends. In all its a fantastic series which broke new ground and had an interesting magic system. Strong and well defined characters were at its “core” and not all of them had physical powers. All in all a highly recommended series
Well that is that! Whew! The question is “Was it worth it?” I would have to say yes but with the caveat that this series was atleast 3 books longer than it should have been. Still it is a series I would recommend to anyone dabbling in Apocalyptic genre and maybe to some interested in military too. In the end what makes this series stand out, as it has from the beginning, is the fact this it may be the closest representation of how the ZA would pan out given that its the “operators” who will have the skill set to survive and even they will struggle with the size of the task. Well that is that!
While I can see the reason some people might have liked the book, I really struggled through it. The story itself was plausible but the narration is just not up my alley. There are times when you can see shades of King in Brian's style but it's just not going enough. All in all it's unlikely that I will read another book of his
I would say Dan Brown is back. In fact in some parts Origins does one better than Da Vinci Code. Dan sticks as close to the truth as possible all through the book but just goes into fantasy probably in the last 10 pages of the book leaving you to wonder which parts are real and which fiction. The mixture of art and science cannot be matched by anyone else I have ever read and that is saying a lot. Hope he can continue to find such inspiration. Highly recommended
Merged review:
I would say Dan Brown is back. In fact in some parts Origins does one better than Da Vinci Code. Dan sticks as close to the truth as possible all through the book but just goes into fantasy probably in the last 10 pages of the book leaving you to wonder which parts are real and which fiction. The mixture of art and science cannot be matched by anyone else I have ever read and that is saying a lot. Hope he can continue to find such inspiration. Highly recommended
This series has so far set very high standards and you just cant help feel that Larry was either pressured by time to deliver something or he has just got bored with this franchise and is working on other stuff. On the whole the book just meanders till we hit the lost city of monsters where it suddenly comes to life for a few pages before ending in a sputter. Larry please take your time for the coming books!
As with most books its tough to maintain the pace and narrative when you move from the main protagonist to add multiple new people into the plot. In this case, its the offspring and Kate who come back into the picture. And its handled pretty well all things considered. But now we are primarily reading to know the ending rather than the tale really being gripping. All in all still recommended.
A superb end to what has been a pretty good series. Somehow we always knew it was going to end badly and Michael does not sway away from the path at any point. A new world needs to rise from the ashes and the planning of the holocaust is clockwork. We see the seeds of what was shown in the second book come to fruition with each of the children now performing several roles for their father. A highly recommended series. Now to take the net logical step to Mageborn.
Picked this randomly from a shelf of books and got hooked onto the series. We need more of these that fuse Science fiction and fantasy with a higher focus on the latter. The unraveling of the storyline is done with such precision that you are always trying to look for clues that reveal the endgame. The handling of multiple identities is also handled extrememly well never causing confusion. If anything, its the lack of realistic behavior that lets down what could have been a brilliant book. At any rate a recommended read
This series is called a prequel to the Mageborn series but this was my takeoff point for anything by Michael Manning. And I must say it was a superb takeoff. A well balanced tale of zero to hero while building an all round surrounding cast. The world building was pretty slow and not too much is revealed in this first installment. However, the strong female characters were refreshing as was the internal conflicts of Daniel. There are two reasons it does not make the cut to 5 stars. The first is that the magic system is a bit shallow and never seems to make much sense. The second and the bigger reason is that you never live Daniels life. It forever feels like a story narration (which it is), but never gets emotional enough. Onwards
Absolute consistency from Book 1 to the end of this book. Scott manages to end the series nicely with the least expected result for the reader. The science fiction part of this franchise gets stretched to its limits in this book but that does not take away from the end result. All in all, Scott has delivered a trilogy that makes for great reading but will be forgotten in the longer term of this genre. Highly recommended for a long flight though.
Scott manages to maintain the pace and maybe actually push it a little further. The new planet that promises paradise but there are many who want to share it. Characters get a much better background and world building continues. While the protagonists are well constructed its the relationships between the come out superficial thus reducing the emotional content of the book. All said, cant wait to hit book 3. Onward
Went back to a reacher book after a really long time and that too because of the movie. Must say the consistency of character is really good. Reacher, given that this is the 18th book, is still the same man he was in the first. What's also consistent is the shallow storyline but then that is not really the purpose of a Reacher book. What however seems to be lost is the flavor of places in the US. Cant have everything can we!
Oh I quite liked this one. Out of a quite dark corner of my “to read” collection came Dark Matter. And while some of the thoughts are similar to other plots, its the ending of the book that throws you into a moral dilemma. Normally branches in the time continuum are quite confusing but somehow Blake manages to keep things simple and yet intriging. Highly recommended read