Gabriel
Wow this was just perfect. All Out WAR against Negan and the Saviours, always a bit I loved in the show but found a touch lacking in execution was perfect here. Far better pacing, much better writing on the whole. And the Whisperers here are SO GOOD. And we've still got Rick! I love it. Shaping up to be everything I wish the show was during this period and more!
Now this was fantastic. Goes over possibly my favourite period of the show, from on the road after the destruction of the prison, the cannibals, and Alexandria, it's such a fun period. With the cast thinned a little, and a bunch of great new characters introduced, it feels a lot tighter and more enjoyable. I really love the relationships and characters here, the story told is phenomenal, emotional and epic at times, the stakes are still high and the Walkers don't feel like they aren't a threat anymore despite the great feats we see from the survivors against them, and the artwork continues to be exceptional. 10/10!
That was okay. It ended up being... a bit boring, to be honest. I like the characters, mainly Blue Team and Halsey, but their story isn't nearly as interesting as Chief, Cortana, the Arbiter, and Sgt. Johnson, and I find that while I appreciate the more realistic and balanced take on the UNSC... I'm a sucker for the hype and excitement they bring in the original games, despite admitting to the lack of moral complexity for them. I find myself just wanting something else from Halo.
Definitely my favourite Halo book so far. Great character writing, good heart and emotion, great follow up from Infinite, and a good progression from that game's story. Just worrying I'll be waiting a long time to get a sequel to this with how far away Halo 7 seems. I will say it became a little harder to read somewhere in the middle, and the ending was pretty good but didn't have as much going on as I would've thought. Regardless, it was great, and definitely my favourite Halo book I've read.
A well-written prequel to the excellent video game, Halo: Combat Evolved. It fleshes out Master Chief as a character, and the lore and history of the universe in which these stories are told, adding much depth to the game. It takes a little while to get going, but is ultimately worth it for the ultimate deconstruction of Master Chief as a character, highlighting that despite his harsh, inhumane training, he comes out a naturally good person willing to do anything to save those he cares about and respects, even at the jeopardy of his objective - this is what makes him so likeable and human in the games, and I love seeing that develop here, despite him being taught to be cold and careless. I also like the morally grey and completely immoral parts of the book on the side of the humans, with Dr. Halsey's experiments leading to the Spartans being near evil, if you ask me, and incredibly horrific, the motives making it even worse, but she is still a really intriguing character who you enjoy reading about and even feel some sense of sympathy and understanding for despite totally disagreeing due to how well she is written. My only complaints are that it took a bit longer than I wished it would to get going, there was a lot more space battles than the boots-on-the-ground, close quarters battles I love in Halo and wanted more of in this book, and that it could do with something to make it a little bit more if you know what I mean. Regardless, it's still a very good tie-in to the Halo series and is absolutely worth reading if you like the games, it adds a lot to the series and has a lot of good characters and a good story to go with it.
The most completely different and original take on the Alien universe and the Xenomorphs I've seen thus far on my embarkation into the franchise, and easily the most successful since... Alien 3? (Which I did love, I don't care)
What an amazing set of characters, good guys and bad guys, and the main trio, Ahiliyiah, Creen, and Brandun. Taken aback at how much I loved these guys, even Creen who's such an arse, you really come around on him.
Spectacular female leads are to be expected in the Alien franchise, but Ahiliyiah Cooper is remarkable! The only character since Ripley in this universe to be able to capture some of her energy, yet be different, too, so as not to feel like just... medieval Ripley.
It's not a perfect book, I ended up really liking Liyah's partner, but he is a little underdeveloped, and I found some moments in the latter parts of the book almost veering into unbelievable, but there was enough to make me buy the stakes and it was never severe enough to totally destroy my immersion. In fact, the battle I'm thinking of was followed by a much more brutal and realistic one, so this criticism is pretty small and patched up very quickly.
I also love the way this book cleverly sets itself up within the established lore of the Alien universe, and when you begin to discover and piece together how this ended up happening, it's really satisfying and fascinating.
A stellar concept and a more than great execution, enough heart and soul to tug on your emotions, and a big, epic story unlike anything else in the franchise handled really well. Totally works! Highly recommended.
Aaron has done a great job taking the series in a new and interesting direction. Incredibly diverse cast of loveable characters, and some great villains. Also unafraid to shock the reader, and I found myself a little emotional sometimes. Stellar work from one of the best authors of this franchise. RIP.
8.5/10
I think I would do this book a greater justice by keeping my review on the shorter side to express how much of a profound effect it had on me, and how it is truly one of the greatest pieces of fiction I have consumed in my life. Never before has a book made me sob, but this book did, not just from sadness, but happiness, and pure awe in how magnificently perfectly planned and executed this grand story was.
A high fantasy story dealing with religion and faith, you wouldn't expect it to be so thoroughly planned and mapped out, but it truly is. At a certain point, this book became shock after shock, every chapter making me say aloud, “oh my god!” No, not from cheap shock value, but from staggering reveals that suddenly seemed to make everything make sense. The artistry behind this book beyond the wonderful prose, style, and characters from Brandon Sanderson, is the meticulous planning. No stone is left unturned, and nothing done was ever unplanned. Everything has an explanation – there's always another secret!
This ending was seriously no better than it could have been. Every character arc was divine, the story wrapped up flawlessly and without a single loose end not intentionally left open, it made me feel all the things I wanted to feel, and in a story remarkably grand and extravagant as this, it felt logical, almost grounded, as every extreme moment of fantasy had layered logic and a perfect in-universe science behind it. Right now, this has got to be my favourite book. An immaculate, satisfying, heartfelt ending, to such an exciting, fun, and wonderful trilogy. This. Is. Art.
4/5 - despite conflicted thoughts & opinions.
The Well of Ascension is a hard book to review with the varied and complicated feelings I had on the novel throughout my reading of it. It's tough to follow up from such a legendary book as the first Mistborn: The Final Empire, which I understood when going into this, but I had faith in Brandon Sanderson who has pleased me so greatly with the last book, and perhaps a little too much in some areas.
Starting slow but interesting, the book deals with the fallout of the last entry expertly, with incredibly fun to read politics and a great deal of focus on Elend Venture which is a pleasure to see. What stagnates immediately and later becomes a big issue of focus with the book for me is the direction of Vin and her romance with Elend. Which earlier on, whilst amicable, seems strained. I don't mind this as an idea as they'd struggle after the events of the destruction of The Final Empire undoubtedly, and all the losses they suffered to get there. What I could not predict, however, was the direction this ended up taking.
Around maybe 150-200 pages into the book, there is a hard pivot that made the novel almost unfinishable for me. I'm going to struggle to word my feelings very well, but I will try. Expanding upon the new character in this book of Zane, he plays an odd role. An insane maniac, as much as the book will later try to tell us he wasn't insane (I think what is meant is that the source of his insanity turned out to be real), he cuts his skin to deal with his insanity, and is a secret brother of Elend's – a Straff Mistborn. This was an interesting idea for a character if you ask me. Until what is done with him is unfortunately done. Oddly enough, he plays this ultra edge-lord role of a love interest for Vin. Somehow manipulating her to an intense degree, he manages to cause a wedge between her and Elend, and make her think she should instead be with him, not Elend.
“Zane, however, represented what she felt she had to become. For the good of everyone involved.”
Discovering the secret of who Zane is, she not only proceeds not to tell Elend of his brother, she continues to seek him out, becoming strangely infatuated, and comparing him to Elend repeatedly. She doesn't just compare the two, she compares them in ways that seem to show Vin showing a preference for stereotypical masculinity, such as Zane being harder and stronger. This puzzled me, as I felt that Elend not strictly conforming to traditional masculinity yet still displaying great strength and morality was one of the things she loved about him, so this being something to pull her towards him felt rather odd and forced. Instead of interesting drama between Vin and Elend, we instead get this juvenile relationship drama that feels right out of a BookTok story I'd never willingly want to read. As Zane becomes more and more unlikeable, and as Vin finds out more and more secrets and is at one point blatantly displayed his manipulations (he goads her into killing hundreds of men and almost Cett and his innocent son for falsehoods), she instead still decides that she needs to be with him, not Elend. It is only at the final moment she decides to leave with Zane that she finally chooses Elend. When she is then surprised by the level of his depravity, I cannot understand how she saw none of it coming, and how she was so easily used. I understand wanting to do this sort of manipulation type story with Vin's background, but not only was it not what I wanted, I didn't remotely buy it.
This storyline with Zane not only goes on far too long, it goes way too far, and also takes precedence over the large-scale political and epic war story, as Luthadel is under siege, eventually leading to a great battle that only gets to finally occur after the Zane storyline is wrapped up. I find it really difficult to understand the necessity for this storyline and the depth with which it is written. It personally makes me very uncomfortable and turned a sizeable portion of this book into a hate-read for me.
Thankfully, just a little while after Zane dies, the rest of the story takes centre stage again, and Vin slowly redeems herself for me, after turning from my favourite character to my second least in terms of enjoyment (I dreaded her chapters for every time we read her perspective, her thoughts led to Zane), with Zane at the very bottom, it would take a lot to redeem her from me. She is back on her path now firmly by the end, but I must say, I've grown to love Elend and Sazed much more, and will need time to come around to her again. She very much got on my nerves here in this one.
After this plotline is resolved, the book absolutely whips around into some of the most exciting and emotive prose I have consumed in a little while. The Defence of Luthadel is phenomenal and is a truly heartbreaking, epic, exciting, and tragic battle, and Elend and Vin rekindling their love, marrying, and travelling together is fun to read as well. As the book goes on, Vin becomes this awesome hero as she returns to save Luthadel, figuring out the key to controlling the koloss and saving Elend's people. Elend is reinstated as the leader of Luthadel, and Vin has more epic fights, cutting Straff Venture in half, etc. It's a very satisfying and exciting part of the book, but there are also many upsetting losses, such as my beloved Tindwyl who was a top five in this book for me.
Eventually, it all comes around to the Well of Ascension, and the thrilling mystery of Kwaan, the man who plotted Alendi's death, and the Hero of Ages comes to the forefront. Sazed slowly pieces it all together, and the results of this are jaw-dropping, as the power of the Well is given to a new mysterious foe, and we discover that the Lord Ruler, even if still certainly twisted and evil in his own way, was defending mankind. The entire religion had been formed and manipulated all these years to free this being, and now they are free. It is here that, with Elend nearly dying, this mist figure that has pursued them and killed Elend then gives Vin the hint she needs to save him, and he comes out of it a Mistborn. Now, Vin thinks she knows where allomancy came from.
Devastating, shocking, epic, exciting, the last nearly two hundred pages of the book are an absolute thrill and joy, and it is a testament to that fact that I am up right now at 3:30AM writing about it. I cannot, however, ignore the glaring issues with the middle of the book especially, which really soiled my experience with it. It seems I am not entirely alone in this, although I seem to feel it more strongly than many, and for that I am saddened, but at least thankful it was worth slogging through to get to the marvellous final stretch of the novel. Worth it, regardless of my issues. I would love to rate it higher, but I have to deduct points for the Zane story, and what it did for my beloved Vin.
4.5/5
Whilst I may not like certain arguable retcons about Maul's past, pretty much everything else about this comic is marvellous, and you can tell it would've been one of the best arcs in the show.
Wrapping up a true loose end, it is really satisfying for that reason, but it truly does feel right out of ‘The Clone Wars' series, it perfectly captures the vibe and tone, and I was imagining the season 6 cast when reading this!
Amazing action as always, one of the best qualities of the show, with some brilliant fight scenes. Aayla and Mace against Maul, Obi-Wan, and Tiplee against Dooku. And the amazing battle between Sidious, Dooku, Grievous, and Maul and Talzin. I adore how much Sidious appeared in the show as it went on. And I love his scheming and planning and how pure evil he is. Everyone was great here.
The art was pretty good, very solid, although I think it would've been fun to have it drawn to better match the series. Their costumes were accurate, which I did love.
All in all a great read that truly fills in a major gap in the show, making me wish they'd spend more time doing a few seasons of the show finishing off the loose ends and unfinished stories rather than just doing the final season as they did.
Oh. My. God. PERFECT!
I am in love with this series already. This whole universe sounds incredible and I'm excited to try more heroes, but really, I'm in love with this Spider-Man. Is it just me, or is adult Peter Parker, married to MJ, with two children, way more of an interesting story than his teenage years?
This concept is fantastic, a whole world of heroes who never got their powers until now, much later, it's phenomenal. I love how both mature and fun this series is, it's really funny, sweet, charming, yet also mature enough to feel grounded, realistic, and for it to truly matter when anything happens.
The artwork is magnificent, the pacing is excellent, all the little twists and changes, a more heroic Green Goblin, Uncle Ben alive and playing a different role, J. Jonah Jameson totally different, Peter significantly older and in a different place in his life, yet the essence, core, and best parts of each character or story is kept alive.
THANK YOU MARVEL!
this was really good. actually bought a physical copy, which always makes the experience of reading a comic far more special.
the art is amazing, especially the beautiful depictions of Leia, Mon, and Luke. I hope they allow this storyline to get bigger and bigger so it can have some meaningful development for the characters and I pray it goes in a direction I enjoy.
2/5 - Major Spoilers Ahead
‘Revan' is a controversial book.
It mostly surprised me that such a novel could be so hated about such a titular and famous character as Revan, and from such a prolific author, Drew Karpyshyn, could be so despised. But I started to get it when I began the novel...
This book oddly enough decides to retcon the two ‘Knights of the Old Republic' games in bizarre, needless, unnecessary, and damaging ways, and treats characters from the games rather poorly at times, especially Bastila Shan.
Firstly, let's begin with the implication of the ‘truth' behind Revan and Malak's turn to the dark side. It turns out, as this novel implies, that they found themselves on Nathema and then being captured and brainwashed by Vitiate, thus turning them into puppets for the Emperor of the Sith Empire, and this is why they become Sith Lords.
This is needless and only cheapens their turn, if you ask me. Such a compelling storyline I adore is the idea that Revan's crusade against the Mandalorians is arguably justifiable and at the least understandable, yet the horrific war and alure of the dark side slowly corrupts and turns Revan and Malak, leading them into becoming the Sith we know and love in the first ‘Knights of the Old Republic' game.
Secondly, let's discuss the poor writing of Bastila. In the first game, Bastila is a fierce warrior and powerful Jedi, yet there is darkness in her, she has ego, and takes herself far too seriously, and is ultimately taken by Malak and easily corrupted and turned to the dark side. However, through her connection to Revan, and their love, she is turned back to the light.
You may delve deeper and link her return to the light being due to Revan and love as inherently sexist, but I do not believe that is intentional and is looking into it a little too much. She's a very strong and independent character in the game, and has a lot of fire and her own individual personality that makes her unique and likeable.
However, in this book, she is pregnant. That is no issue. But when Revan leaves to search for his old memories and Dromund Kaas, he convinces her to stay behind for the sake of their baby. And then, when the son is born a few years later, and she is given the opportunity to leave with Meetra Surik and search for Revan, she yet again decides to stay behind and take care of her son.
This is a fair decision, but I'm not sure it aligns with her character very well, and really reduces her. For comparison, in the Yuuzhan Vong wars, Mara Jade Skywalker fights right up until the birth of her and Luke's son, Ben, and does all of this with a debilitating terminal illness. Leia fights throughout the Thrawn crisis whilst pregnant with Jacen and Jaina, and also fights in the Dark Empire crisis with Anakin being born.
I think, yet again, this is quite reductive for Bastila, and the idea that pregnant women or mothers can't offer anything except the protection of their child is a little silly, if you ask me, and also is dissatisfying for a fan of her and Revan, like myself. I would've preferred the plot point removed all together, and either seen Bastila search with Revan, or at the very least with Meetra later.
None of this even takes into consideration that, despite having visions of a planet and knowing he has lost memories, Revan doesn't truly know of any great threat that he is searching for just yet, and to keep Bastila safe in this way just feels unnecessary and forced, very contrived just to get her out of the book, and it really, as I keep saying time and time again, totally reduces her to nothing but what seems to be a housewife.
As the book goes on, Revan, Scourge, and Meetra decide to confront the Emperor, and I can't help but repeatedly think, ‘why don't they go back and tell the Council or the Republic of their findings?'
Listen, I get that the Jedi of this era are kinda assholes, especially to Revan, but I don't think it's a good idea to pursue Vitiate, especially with what they know about him, risking absolutely everything when they could at the very least go and tell the Republic about the Sith Empire so they're aware at the very least.
I feel like trying to justify this decision is just kinda silly. They really, really should've got more backup or something. I realise how Revan calling the Jedi to fight an army would be perceived as similar to the Mandalorian Wars, but I feel like this is too great for them to not even try, or at least not alert the Republic, and use the lessons from that war to not make the same mistakes.
It just feels short-sighted and dumb. Illogical.
The ending also feels distinctly lame.
Not only does the entire battle feel a little stupid, that they actually thought this was a good idea somehow, it's very underwhelming as it's clearly just... setting up the game's story, which I can see why some would like but... I dislike this direction.
Literally putting Revan in stasis for hundreds of years so he can reappear later feels so silly and fanwank. Like they know how popular Revan is and need to find some crazy logic and story to bring him back in the Old Republic game, so had to work their way back from that idea to forcing this odd story in.
Meetra Surik's end feels very underwhelming. Her following Revan to the end is fitting, and I like them both being redeemed yet still fighting together. But again, this feels so underwhelming for fans of ‘Knights of the Old Republic', her having such an unceremonious death after having little character in the book was really annoying.
I didn't even notice she had died at first!
Scourge was a pretty good character. I like how he slowly realises how insane Vitiate is, decides to join Revan and Meetra to betray him, only to kill Meetra and betray Revan, pretending to serve Vitiate to serve the ultimate goal of betraying him when Vitiate is truly defeated down the line. Now this is a clever idea I like the sound of, for sure.
He was also just pretty likeable and interesting. I loved how he was introduced and how his story progressed as he evolved and developed under Revan's influence.
There was a lot to enjoy, the action was really solid, the planets were awesome, and I actually didn't mind how Revan himself was written, nor Canderous, who it was awesome to see again, and I like how the story begun after the first ‘Knights of the Old Republic' game, and then progressed to after the second.
Various fight scenes were awesome, such as Revan's duel with Vitiate before others join them. I love how Revan using the light and dark side of the Force was described as two rivers passing through him, even if I'm not really the kinda person that views the Force that way.
And Revan wearing his helmet again was pretty sick, despite his green lightsaber being noticeably lame compared to his red and purple duo, as well as just his original red lightsaber anyway. Let him keep the unique colours!
All in all, I was pretty disappointed with various story decisions of this book.
Yet I also... kinda had fun with it?
I listened to Marc Thompson's unabridged audiobook, and the stellar production certainly helped make this an easy listen, doing the entire first half of the book one day, and the entire second half of the book the very next day, and it was entertaining enough as a book, yet I just can't wrap my head around much of the decisions made for the story.
I generally dislike the direction the book takes the story in, enough that it really dampens my enjoyment of the book, and therefore my rating, which I feel, to be fair, I can't rate too highly for what this book does to Revan and the games I really love, as well as Bastila Shan, who deserved so much more than what she got.
I'm sure this will be an entertaining enough read for those of you that haven't played the games, or perhaps have only played the Old Republic MMO, but I can safely say I totally get why this book is so hated, even if it isn't the worst novel ever.
I just can't see how Drew could fumble a Revan focused book so hard!
I don't think anyone could've quite prepared me for this book. As someone whose favourite TV series in the world is Doctor Who, I've never quite been impressed by its novels like I have Star Wars. So you can imagine I was surprised when this turned out one of the greatest reads of my entire life and one of my all-time favourite books.
Transcending the barriers of television and contemporary prose, Steven Moffat establishes a style so him it shines off of the page. With a mysterious narrator left unknown until the end of the book (I figured it out!) and various format-breaking decisions like deciding to tell the story in out of order chapters (follow the narrator's instructions and turn the page like any old book regardless!), Moffat displays his mastery as a Doctor Who writer with how effortlessly he constructs such a complex and layered read that is somehow also a breeze to read, and shows his absolute domination in understanding each facet of the Doctor.
This is a thrilling read no matter how big a fan of the series you are, but if you're as deep in as I am, having seen 99% of the classic series, most spin-offs, listened to a lot of Big Finish, and seen the entirety of the revival, you will be shocked repeatedly by how well fun fan service can be slotted in that is actually insightful, deep, and meaningful, and contributes to the overarching narrative and story. It feels totally outside of the ongoing story arcs of Matt Smith's final season, as we receive a different point of view in the book than we did in the episode, and it reads even better for it.
Steven Moffat KNOWS we have experienced this story before, so we get a new version of the events. Expanded sequences, new stories, and different viewpoints and insights into any scene from the episode. It is never, ever a retelling for one second. In fact, Moffat sometimes AVOIDS retreading by flat out writing around bits you already know by offering new moments or different things to focus on or figure out, or at least give a new perspective to enhance it.
With new thrilling mysterious and exciting things to look out for, plenty of self-aware jokes and borderline fourth wall breaking commentary, this book is constantly exciting and expands upon the lore of the entire series and expanded universe, not just this one episode it is ‘adapting'.
Masterful work from my dearest Steven Moffat.