Jurjen
Having now read 2 romance books and liking both of them, I can say that I'm not huge into the genre. That said, there was a lot to like in this book. Primarily, January's relationship with her father. I thought that her connection to her father was woven into the entire book pretty beautifully–the parallels in interviews, in what she was writing, in the people she met, and daily occurrences–they all worked very well, which culminated with her reading her dad's letters, which was a very moving chapter.
I wasn't hugely interested in her romance with Gus, though I can definitely see how it was well written. The character voices grated me a bit at the beginning (though it smoothed over as the book went on), and some phrases repeated a bit too much for my liking, but overall I had a good time with this book. Very solid character work, and it came together really well in the end.
Gentleman Bastards has that special quality where all you need is Locke and Jean on a page, and no matter what they do, it'll be great fun. The dialogue and characterisation is that good. Locke as a character especially is very dear to me, and the friendship between him and Jean is unmatched in the genre.
As with Lies, the world building and setting of the story is a treat. Although we don't spend as much time in Tal Verrar as we did in Camorr in book 1, the city, and especially the Sinspire, are very atmospheric.
This book is strangely structured, as the first 250 pages are almost one story, then the next 250 pages another, with the ending tying the two together. Although it read somewhat awkwardly on my first read, knowing it would happen made it less obtrusive on my second. The pirate elements are widely lauded, but I'm one of the few people that likes the casino arc more–probably because it's more similar to book 1, which is my favourite of the 3.
Once again, Lynch nails the ending. The emotional beats land just as well as in the first book, and those last few pages–the imagery as well as the emotion, are incredibly memorable. Red seas under red skies. It's such an evocative title. Seeing it on page was as wonderful as it sounds.
Overall, I would say that I like the book slightly more on a reread. Frankly, I could read a hundred Gentleman Bastard books without getting bored. The formula is elite, and so is the execution. Really hoping we get to see the novellas or maybe even book 4 sooner rather than later.
How about right after I finish my reread, how does that sound, Scott Lynch?
A really interesting read. He was much worse than I thought! The ratfuckers existing and being a real thing is so wild. It ends in 72, much sooner than I expected. We don't get to see the Watergate investigation and Nixon's resignation, but the thesis of the book has been well established, and the fact that he resigned didn't end up mattering–his legacy lived on.
Wild to see the montage of Watergate scandals being uncovered side by side with Nixon booming gigantically in the polls, including in credibility and trustworthiness.
I finished the Expanse about a year ago, and jumping back into this world for a last time was pretty great. it feels so lively. Whether it be Mars, Earth, a space station, or a new planet, it all has that distinct Expanse feel, which I love.
As always, Abraham, in his personal writing, as well as SA Corey together, are great at making you care for a new character in a handful of pages and giving them a voice. That, combined with the quality of dialogue, makes any writing reach a high base-level. It then surpasses that base-level by landing emotional beat after emotional beat. Basically all short stories and novellas are bangers. Strange Dogs was probably my favourite. Man, Xan and Cara had it rough...
Very excited to begin their new series this August!
Whereas The Blacktongue Thief was a fun, palate cleansing action-adventure with some dark undertones, The Daughter's War is a melancholic story about a gruesome war, fully leaning into how dark the world is.
The sombre atmosphere with its horror elements complements the worldbuilding well. A world that could be read as goofy (it partially was in the blacktongue thief), instead feels brutal. The depiction of goblins especially reads as disturbing, where they're usually silly creatures in most other books.
In addition to the world, the story shines most in hitting the emotional beats, which it nails every time. The plot is solid, although the pacing is a bit odd, partially due to the narrative voice of the story, which I wasn't a huge fan of.
The story is told by the main character (whom I loved) as it happened to her in the past, and she tells it to an unknown audience, with letters of a side character spread throughout (which were great). At the start of the book, the main character tells of a bunch of bad stuff that have happened to her, so throughout the book you find out how it happened. It didn't work for me entirely, as it pulled me out of the story a couple of times. It also made it feel like it was constantly building up to events because you know they'll happen at some point, but the payoff didn't necessarily work out flawlessly. The narrative voice kind of undermined the plot several times, as we hear the protagonist go “this current situation was bad, but oh boy it was about to get much worse”, which again kinda took me out of it at times.
I wouldn't say that the ending is anticlimactic, that would be underselling how well Buehlman nails the emotional beats (especially in the last few chapters), but it does peter out rather than end on a bombastic note, which probably fits the story.
Giant war corvids are fucking sick. Some great action set pieces. Chain of dogs-esque retreat. A lot of good stuff. Didn't expect to give this book a 5 star rating, but man i'm a sucker for well executed emotional endings, and I dish em' out like it's candy anyway so fuck it. It's def one of the more flawed 5 star reads though.
A pretty great book, a solid improvement over The Blacktongue Thief, and i'm excited to read more stories in this world.
After 5.5 years, my Ranger's Apprentice reread has ended. It's the series that I reread at least once a year between ages 10 and 14, and it's the series that eventually got me back into the sf/fantasy genre in 2020.
Man, it has aged well. The familiarity with these great characters and the humour. So good. This book specifically is on the lower tier of RA books, though. Of the 10 short stories, 3 or 4 are pretty great (including the last 2 or 3, meaning it ends on a high), 4 or 5 are pretty forgettable, and 1 is unforgivingly racist. That said, it acts as a pretty solid conclusion for these characters, and if Flanagan never touched this world after this book, that would have been fine (reading the last short story just made me annoyed as hell again at that decision in the first sequel book).
Some parts felt a bit fanservicey and overindulgent, for example, the way in which communication between Ranger's and their horses just became genuine dialogue–that was a bit much.
That said, I love love love spending time with these characters that I grew up with, and that can still make me giggle several times a book 14 years after first reading the series. Bless you, John Flanagan. This series is spectacular.
Coming into the book, I knew I'd love it. I knew it followed the same formula as PHM (which I adored), so that was a safe bet. The constant problem solving was fun to experience, though I was slightly less engaged than with the astrophage problem in PHM (because the astrophage as a concept are so fucking cool). I could read a thousand books that follow this exact formula but in different settings, and I'd eat them all up.
My favourite trope of all time is establishing communication/linguistics in a difficult situation (which is what made me fall in love with PHM), and it was done pretty neatly in this book as well, although it was much less the focus.
I had some complaints: as expected, the character work isn't much interesting. Every character is the same person and that person is probably Andy Weir, including his humour lol. There was 1 time jump that felt super jarring and unnecessary. Also between 70-85% through, it was all a bit rushed, and 1 hyped up conflict ended up being a total let down.
Overall, I loved this book, and I'm excited to read whatever else Weir is gonna put out, especially following this genre.
This was my first experience with Guy Gavriel Kay, and it was a pretty great one. I am not much of a prose reader, but his is beautiful. Everything the characters say is filled with so much meaning and emotion. It's not just what they say, but how they say it. Not just the main characters, but basically everyone in the story.
I enjoyed the characters–sandre, devin, alessan, and dianora were probably my favourites–though they were a little too perfect. All women are fantastically beautiful, and everyone excels at everything without much of an issue. This would have bothered me more if it wasn't for the atmosphere of the book, which almost felt like a fairy tale at times. Something else that bothered me a little was that some hugely deterministic plot points kind of randomly fell out of the air, but it didn't hamper my enjoyment too much.
The story dragged a bit in the middle, but then there was the ending, which I think was perfect for the story. Art.
Really excited to read more GGK books later this year!
“What a harvest, prince of Tigana.”
Red Rising was a series that I expected to instantly become one of my favourites, though after finishing book 2, I was underwhelmed.
Book 1 was a very satisfying read, with great character dynamics and interesting battle sequences, though it didn't blow me away. Golden Son was hyped up to me big time, though it left me rather disappointed. I thought it felt directionless, setting up plotlines without following them up, and giving me somewhat generic ones instead. So many of the interesting things happened off-screen as well, which annoyed me big time.
Morning Star was everything I expected the series to be, and more. i do not have the words to describe what I was feeling reading those last 50 pages, but I was feeling everything. Exhilarating, miserable, and triumphant. It could not have ended any better.
As for the book as a whole, the direction of the story was so much clearer, it was paced great, the themes were explored well–but most importantly, the character dynamics from book 1, hat I sorely missed in book 2, were back. Darrow and Cassius are special, and I treasured every scene of them we got.
A series so known for its grande action sequences, I think Red Rising is at its best in the little moments. The melodrama of two friends talking, divided by war. Finding something worth living for when all seems hopeless. That is what made me fall in love with this book, and not in the action scenes that were, I must admit, written well technically. It's the way Pierce Brown wrote these characters with such sweeping personalities, and so much grit and heart. From Roque, to Cassius, to Darrow and Sevro, to Victra and Jackal.
I won't be picking up the sequel books for another while, but I'm excited to get to them, which I did not expect to say after finishing book 2.
Omnis vir lupus.
Deciding to pick up the first Ranger's Apprentice book in early to mid 2019, which was my first reread of the series in 3 or 4 years, is what eventually got me back into reading fiction. So, just for that alone, thank you.
It's been about 5 years since picking up book 1, and I have finally finished the reread, and yes, childhood me was not wrong. This really is the best Ranger's Apprentice book, and it's the Avengers Endgame of my youth.
I am not much of an action fan, and I only really like it when it's written in a creative and clever way, where they have to solve a difficult puzzle, and that is exactly what Flanagan excels at with this series, with this book maybe showing that better than any other series.
As with any Ranger's Apprentice book, the character dynamics, dialogue, and humour are great, though the Halt-Will-Horrace dynamic is under-emphasised a little (especially compared to the last 2 books in the series. Instead, we get a lot more time with Horrace kind of on his own in a new environment for him, without a mentor helping him along the way, which was cool to see. Will had to do that in b5 and b6, and now it was Horrace' turn.
This book has the biggest cast of main and secondary characters out of any books in the series, and it is able to pull it off for the most part. That said, I think another 100-200 pages could have added a lot to the story. A lot of events happen a little too quickly, with some big time jumps spreaded throughout. I would really like to read this book as an adult fantasy novel of about 700 pages, with more tension and stakes. That said, for what it is, this book is pretty perfect.
I'm gonna read the short story collection some time soon, and then it's really over for this saga. Unless we are counting book “12”. But we are not counting it because of that one decision that made 14 year old me beyond upset. I'll probs pick up Brotherband again sooner or later. Those books rock too.
Malazan is a lot of things.
The dense worldbuilding, the unexplained events, the lack of hand-holding–it can be, and is, quite daunting.
But as soon as you begin to understand the world and what is happening around you, an incredible story unfolds.
Malazan is a lot of things, but at its core, it's a story with so much damn heart and some incredible characters. I loved feeling the brotherhood of the Bridgeburners and being in the presence of characters with as much gravitas as Anomander Rake, Brood, Tool, and Itkovian. Every scene with any of these was wonderful.
As cool as the “big” scenes are, the smaller scenes and the emotional depth of the story are what really made me a fan.
I do have some complaints. I like this book about as much as I did Deadhouse Gates, but I think Memories of Ice' flaws are a little bigger. Some plotlines feel disjointed regarding the bigger story, and they sometimes don't flow well into another. Some POVs feel out of place, and some decisions characters made were dumb for the sake of the plot, which made the consequences feel a bit artificial.
But despite these flaws, I enjoyed this book a hell of a ton, and I'm 100% committed to finishing this series.
reading this while i'm writing my thesis was a bad idea, but it is what it is.
I didn't expect to like this book as much as the first, but I did! This sequel expanded on the world, and tied the worldbuilding well to themes of the first book; cycles of violence and the cyclical nature of vengeance, using two new characters to do so in a neat way.
I appreciated how the book gave more depth to side-characters in book 1, while not forgetting the main characters–overall the character work was very strong.
My two favourite parts of the first book were the setting of this unimaginably large library, as well as the underlying mystery in the world. These aspects were slightly under-emphasised, but still present. The byblical mythos stuff/founding myths is just so intriguing.
Missed not having the magic bird but the magic cat made up for it.
This review is mostly gonna be negative, so i'll preface off by saying that I did enjoy it. This book had a stronger thematic approach than the first (a very well written approach to how power corrupts), the worldbuilding is excellent, the character-work strong, and there were some truly exhilarating scenes. It was a fun read, and I'll continue the series. That said, it left me very disappointed.
It went wrong for me early on, and it didn't really recover. The first 100 pages have two false starts, both hint at plotlines that I would have rather read than the one we got. This led to me not being very emotionally invested in the story, and overall, it felt very directionless to me.
I'm not a big action guy at all. I think most action scenes worked great in book 1 because there was a lot of creativity to them, and I generally prefer smart/tricky action scenes rather than big and epic ones (unless I am very emotionally invested). That's something I sorely missed in this book. Almost all action scenes felt like fairly generic scifi battles, and because I wasn't emotionally invested, they felt a bit flat.
I think a big twist 75% into the story was built up poorly, largely because there was a lot of telling and not showing. Another thing I thought was lacking compared to b1 was interesting character dynamics. I would have liked seeing a lot more of Cassius, as the Cassius/Darrow dynamic was one of my favourite parts of b1.
The series continues by having its part be greater than the whole.
The first 100 pages showed me 2 potential stories that I would have loved to read, and instead, it gave me one I've read dozens of times before. I guess I am the one person who doesn't think this book is better than the first. A shame.
I've been eyeing this series for years, and I just had a feeling that I would love it, and this first book does not disappoint (especially considering its seen as the worst in the series). Some books just have that cool factor that is kind of intangible, and this one definitely has it.
The setting and worldbuilding works very well, and the plot is fun (although it's obviously fairly derivative). I'm not in love with the voice of Darrow, which is a shame as it's a first person POV book, but it got better as the book went on. The greatest flaw of this book is that its first third is basically identical to the first third of The Will Of The Many, which I read in January, and it just does it quite a lot better.
A lot of the plot and action sequences do feel a little bit too easy, basically everything goes right. Darrow is just too smart and strong compared to everyone else. It's the point I suppose, and kinda fun to read, but a bit overly much at times.
The climax fell a bit flat, but still a very solid read. The book coulda done with another 100 pages though.
That ending has me really excited for the sequel next month!
The first 150 pages were fantastic, so much theorising and trying to draw literary/historical parallels. It kind of slowed down for me a bit in the middle, and some sequences near the end were a bit of a miss, but it pulled the curtain back from some of the world's mysteries while leaving you with so many more questions very well. Also, it nailed the emotional beats. V good read!
This series is different from most others i've read in that there's very little attention paid to the characterisation, with almost all attention paid to grande scifi ideas. It's incredibly dense of it. Sometimes, that density, combined with playing around with timelines kinda made the book get lost in the sauce, but when it hit, it really, really hit, especially the ending. The story was wrapped up in a thematically sound way, weaving excellent characterisation in with the themes for what felt like the first time in the series. Those last 100 pages were beautiful.
Excited to watch the show next month, really hope they nail it.
Ps. This book gets a much higher rating than book 2 solely cus i didn't have to suffer through a “biggest fucking loser in the world looks for his waifu” arc for 200 pages like the last book. This time, it was only 25 pages. Good going, Cixin Liu!
Solid read, very fun. 8/10.
I can't help but constantly compare it to Kings of the Wyld, which I adored. Where KOTW had 5 stars in basically every aspect, Bloody Rose trails it with a consistent 4, especially in the character department (man the KOTW characters were amazing).
The final chapter and epilogue ended on a banger though. Excited for book 3, which hopefully won't take too too long anymore.
It was a pretty okay book but very disappointing compared to the first which I loved. The ideas explored were a lot less interesting, despite the prologue introducing a character with a super interesting premise; that premise was ignored for the next 500 pages and instead i got to experience Cixin Liu's incel fantasies of a guy chasing his imaginary waifu (completely unironic)
Then, in the last 40 pages, that interesting premise was finally explored, and it was super cool, but yea, the entire book should have been about that.
There were some pretty great action setpieces and individual storylines, but a lot of it was pretty meh.
No clue why this book is seen as so much better than book 1. Book 1 was a lot better imo.
Man.
One day, i'll have words to review this book and series, but that ending has left me speechless. That day is not today.
Royal Assassin left a somewhat negative impression on my mind, which had me doubt whether i'd read more Realm of the Elderling books, but I haven't a doubt now.
Fucking great book and series.
I can finally say that I have read the Lord of the Rings! Return of the King is definitely my favourite of the lot, especially the second half. Tolkien's writing isn't really for me, I don't find his style very engaging, but despite that, he was able to write some fantastic sequences and character moments that I enjoyed a lot.
