Jurjen
Having read the first 3 City Watch books, Death was always my favourite character in those, sporadic though his appearances were. I knew I’d really enjoy seeing more of him. As always, this book is incredibly funny while staying heartfelt. I probably would have liked to see a bit more of Death rather than Mort (although I knew it’s gonna be the series where they can’t overload you with Death because his intrigue and such comes from him being shown infrequently), but I still did think Mort was a solid character. I do think the ending came together a bit strangely.
It’s Discworld and Discworld is good.
Having read the first 3 City Watch books, Death was always my favourite character in those, sporadic though his appearances were. I knew I’d really enjoy seeing more of him. As always, this book is incredibly funny while staying heartfelt. I probably would have liked to see a bit more of Death rather than Mort (although I knew it’s gonna be the series where they can’t overload you with Death because his intrigue and such comes from him being shown infrequently), but I still did think Mort was a solid character. I do think the ending came together a bit strangely.
It’s Discworld and Discworld is good.
Attack on Titan might be my favourite story in any medium, it’s certainly in my top 3 (other 2 probs being Avatar and the world of ASOIAF). I had read a couple of the chapters over the last 11-12 years, but never more than maybe a volume. I think season 1 of the show is the weakest, but I think I might enjoy the manga more? The order of events are mixed up in the show, where you see the training arc before the first major story arc of the series. I’d always imagined that being much better than doing Trost before the training corps arc, but to be honest this way around was fine. Being immersed in this story, knowing where it’s heading as well as the directions the characters are taking, understanding so much of the foreshadowing–it’s really just all fantastic stuff. I’m really digging Isayama’s illustrations as well! Apparently that’s a hot take.
I’ve rewatched the series 6 or so times since season 1 aired, and I reckon I’ll be rereading the Manga a bunch as well. Slowly getting the omnibuses, right now I have the first 3. Fun fact, my sister bought me the first while she was in Japan a few years ago!
Attack on Titan might be my favourite story in any medium, it’s certainly in my top 3 (other 2 probs being Avatar and the world of ASOIAF). I had read a couple of the chapters over the last 11-12 years, but never more than maybe a volume. I think season 1 of the show is the weakest, but I think I might enjoy the manga more? The order of events are mixed up in the show, where you see the training arc before the first major story arc of the series. I’d always imagined that being much better than doing Trost before the training corps arc, but to be honest this way around was fine. Being immersed in this story, knowing where it’s heading as well as the directions the characters are taking, understanding so much of the foreshadowing–it’s really just all fantastic stuff. I’m really digging Isayama’s illustrations as well! Apparently that’s a hot take.
I’ve rewatched the series 6 or so times since season 1 aired, and I reckon I’ll be rereading the Manga a bunch as well. Slowly getting the omnibuses, right now I have the first 3. Fun fact, my sister bought me the first while she was in Japan a few years ago!
I knew I wasn't gonna like this book within 30 pages.
The book is mostly uncompelling and kinda boring for the first 70%, and then the last section feels very offputting, unhinged, and incoherent. There's a few scenes that interest me, either when a character is emotionally attached or when there's dialogue, but both are sparse. The latter especially hurts my enjoyment as I'm a big dialogue reader. I can only listen to an emotionally disattached and boring character, describe a benign and placid environment as actually being super spooky for reasons they don't understand in endless internal monologue for so much.
I don't really get why this series is so much about the CIA being incompetent fucking weirdos, with the scifi elements being underemphasised big time in a lot of this book. I'm not against telling a story about CIA-politicking, but I don't think it's executed well.
There's a new POV introduced in the last 30% of the book, and the character's internal monologue nearly made me DNF the book. Holy fuck it was nearly impossible to read.
Vandermeer seems thoroughly impressed by that little swamp south of Tallahassee. I've been there, it's not that impressive!
In hindsight, I rated b1-3 too highly on goodwill because I like the series conceptually, just not its execution. This is a 3 star (but like, an inch away from 3, a 3 feels generous) and the other 3 books are 4 stars, though they should have probably been 3 stars as well I reckon. I just tend to rate things fairly highly (and a 7/10 is a 4 star by how I do it), but I have my limits, and I am trying to be a bit more strict this year.
I will end on a positive note, there were 3 or 4 chapters where the characters were indeed very emotionally attached and engaging, and suddenly it was very enjoyable to read. But that happened not more than 3 or 4 times.
I knew I wasn't gonna like this book within 30 pages.
The book is mostly uncompelling and kinda boring for the first 70%, and then the last section feels very offputting, unhinged, and incoherent. There's a few scenes that interest me, either when a character is emotionally attached or when there's dialogue, but both are sparse. The latter especially hurts my enjoyment as I'm a big dialogue reader. I can only listen to an emotionally disattached and boring character, describe a benign and placid environment as actually being super spooky for reasons they don't understand in endless internal monologue for so much.
I don't really get why this series is so much about the CIA being incompetent fucking weirdos, with the scifi elements being underemphasised big time in a lot of this book. I'm not against telling a story about CIA-politicking, but I don't think it's executed well.
There's a new POV introduced in the last 30% of the book, and the character's internal monologue nearly made me DNF the book. Holy fuck it was nearly impossible to read.
Vandermeer seems thoroughly impressed by that little swamp south of Tallahassee. I've been there, it's not that impressive!
In hindsight, I rated b1-3 too highly on goodwill because I like the series conceptually, just not its execution. This is a 3 star (but like, an inch away from 3, a 3 feels generous) and the other 3 books are 4 stars, though they should have probably been 3 stars as well I reckon. I just tend to rate things fairly highly (and a 7/10 is a 4 star by how I do it), but I have my limits, and I am trying to be a bit more strict this year.
I will end on a positive note, there were 3 or 4 chapters where the characters were indeed very emotionally attached and engaging, and suddenly it was very enjoyable to read. But that happened not more than 3 or 4 times.
This was a pretty huge miss. Basically nothing in the book worked for me. The characters and character dynamics felt flat, the way the story progression and some of the directions Novik took it in in the last third were strange, and the actual writing felt quite clunky at times. The most interesting part of this book is the conflict with the Woods, but even that felt underutilised, and had a pretty underwhelming ending. The romance was genuinely bizarre and somewhat disgusting. The last chapter was pretty cool though.
Had my eyes on Scholomance for a while, cus it seemed like it could be fun, but after this experience I’m not sure if I wanna try more of her work.
This was a pretty huge miss. Basically nothing in the book worked for me. The characters and character dynamics felt flat, the way the story progression and some of the directions Novik took it in in the last third were strange, and the actual writing felt quite clunky at times. The most interesting part of this book is the conflict with the Woods, but even that felt underutilised, and had a pretty underwhelming ending. The romance was genuinely bizarre and somewhat disgusting. The last chapter was pretty cool though.
Had my eyes on Scholomance for a while, cus it seemed like it could be fun, but after this experience I’m not sure if I wanna try more of her work.
The first 80 or so pages did very little for me, so I was thinking this read was going to be a bit of a wash. Fortunately, the story picked up and I started enjoying it a fair amount. I think JL Odom’s dialogue is one of her strongest qualities, and there was quite a lot of depth and nuance in conversations between characters, and the character dynamics more broadly.
The story is largely about ethnic strife and prejudice (made clear by the title, “By Blood” referring to an expletive of the dominant ethnic group, “By Salt" referring to one by the oppressed one). Despite this being so core to the story, we get no real sense of the identity of any of the peoples involved in the story apart from some surface level cultural practices/traditions. To really elevate the story, this needs to be much more fleshed out. The pacing also felt a bit odd and the ending was a bit of a dud.
A pretty neat self-published story that won the 2024 SPFBO, glad to have read it. Not sure if I’m picking up the sequel though, we’ll see.
The first 80 or so pages did very little for me, so I was thinking this read was going to be a bit of a wash. Fortunately, the story picked up and I started enjoying it a fair amount. I think JL Odom’s dialogue is one of her strongest qualities, and there was quite a lot of depth and nuance in conversations between characters, and the character dynamics more broadly.
The story is largely about ethnic strife and prejudice (made clear by the title, “By Blood” referring to an expletive of the dominant ethnic group, “By Salt" referring to one by the oppressed one). Despite this being so core to the story, we get no real sense of the identity of any of the peoples involved in the story apart from some surface level cultural practices/traditions. To really elevate the story, this needs to be much more fleshed out. The pacing also felt a bit odd and the ending was a bit of a dud.
A pretty neat self-published story that won the 2024 SPFBO, glad to have read it. Not sure if I’m picking up the sequel though, we’ll see.
When I first read The Heroes, I thought it was the best book Abercrombie had written. Although the Age of Madness shook that up, I still think The Heroes ranks very high on the list. Not just a list of Abercrombie books, but rather of the modern fantasy genre.
What is probably most impressive is how strong and balanced the ensemble cast is. There are about 6 main POVs, and they all feel equally strong. There was never a moment where I was upset that I left Gorst for Tunny, or Tunny for Calder. All POV characters add something different to the narrative, adding up to something even greater than its excellent parts.
As expected of any Abercrombie book, the dialogue, character dynamics and humour is as sharp as ever, maybe even the best in the series. I'm not huge on action scenes, but the action scenes and the larger scale warfare sequences are just so well done. The “Casualties” chapter is so highly regarded for good reasons. The 6 days of conflict is incredibly immersive, getting to see it from all sides imaginable.
The heart of the story is one character in particular, and he might be the best character Abercrombie has written. Not Logen, not Glokta, not Orso, but Curnden Craw. Abercrombie was able to give this man so much life in just a score or so POV chapters. One of the few ‘straight edge’ men left in the North. Because those are the times. But has it ever been any different?
When I first read The Heroes, I thought it was the best book Abercrombie had written. Although the Age of Madness shook that up, I still think The Heroes ranks very high on the list. Not just a list of Abercrombie books, but rather of the modern fantasy genre.
What is probably most impressive is how strong and balanced the ensemble cast is. There are about 6 main POVs, and they all feel equally strong. There was never a moment where I was upset that I left Gorst for Tunny, or Tunny for Calder. All POV characters add something different to the narrative, adding up to something even greater than its excellent parts.
As expected of any Abercrombie book, the dialogue, character dynamics and humour is as sharp as ever, maybe even the best in the series. I'm not huge on action scenes, but the action scenes and the larger scale warfare sequences are just so well done. The “Casualties” chapter is so highly regarded for good reasons. The 6 days of conflict is incredibly immersive, getting to see it from all sides imaginable.
The heart of the story is one character in particular, and he might be the best character Abercrombie has written. Not Logen, not Glokta, not Orso, but Curnden Craw. Abercrombie was able to give this man so much life in just a score or so POV chapters. One of the few ‘straight edge’ men left in the North. Because those are the times. But has it ever been any different?