Marth Muffins
3.75
Legitimately soul destroying. Could've probably been easily cut in half but I loved spending every second with Fitz as he washed his clothes, hunted, slept and has crippling mental breakdowns as he suffers constantly, all described in excruciating detail! Nighteyes, also a big bonus. Conclusion could've been smoother to, it's almost as if Hobb forgot that she should probably have one and just rushed it within the last 40 odd pages.
Would recommend the series to all those wanting to follow abused boys through their early life into early adulthood.
An overall brilliant collection of fantasy stories from Michael Moorcock. I would recommend internal chronological order over published order.
Elric of Melniboné - **
Released in 1972 Elric of Melniboné is a prequel to the Elric Saga but can definitely be read beforehand. It introduces Elric, Albino Prince of Ruins, before he became the wandering antihero of earlier and later books and still has hope that Melniboné can better itself. This introduces many of the important characters in the Elric Saga such as Yyrkoon, Cymoril, Dyvim Tvar and, of course, Stormbringer Elric's sword and Elric's curse.
It is a fun, engaging story with great action and many a moody introspective moment from Elric, he heads to many weird and crazy locations such as the world Stormbringer is found on and Melniboné itself. While great, something didn't fully connect for me as much as the other stories as well as the reason Elric leaves and places who he does in charge annoyed me so this is nocked the book down down a star.
The Fortress of the Pearl - *****
Released in 1989, this is my second favourite story in the collection, Elric journey's into the mind of of a tribe's holy girl alongside the Dreamthief Oone so as to retrieve the Pearl from the fortress in her mind and save himself, the girl and a boy held hostage in the nearby city of Quarzhasaat.
This was a brilliant, if a little long, story that fully dives into the weirdness of Moorcock's Multiverse with the walk through the Dreamland's with Oone and the things they find there. Satisfying all the way through I enjoyed the ending especially.
The Sailor on the Seas of Fate - *****
Released in 1976, this is my favourite story of the entire collection. Escaping capture on a ship that seems to travel between the dimensions of the multiverse, Elric ends up meeting incarnations of himself from other worlds, becoming stranded in a strange pocket dimension all before returning home and traveling to an ancient lost city where his long lost ancestors lived long ago.
This fully embraces the strange possibilities of the multiverse, including a team up with popular Moorcock protagonists Hawkmoon, Corum and Erekose and weird adventures through other dimensions and into ancient eldrich cities in forgotten forests. Definitely my favourite Elric story so far.
The Dreaming City - ***
Released in 1961, The Dreaming City is the first Elric story and it shows. A bitter Elric, cheated by his cousin of his birthright and beloved, plots revenge.
This felt incredibly rushed and ever so slightly out of character for Elric. It seems strange that he'd go from a man seeking to change Melniboné for the better into the man bend on destroying it. It feels as if something is missing to explain why Elric has suddenly become this way which is mostly due to this being written before the previous stories.
While the Gods Laugh - ***1/2
Released in 1961, While the Gods Laugh is an improvement over The Dreaming City. Elric meets a woman from a winged race and together they search for the book of the Ultimate Truth.
This story is better than the previous one with a little more character given to the cast and a fair amount of lovely angst for Elric. This is also the introduction of Moonglum who I understand is important in the later Elric stories. But apart from the ending and Moonglum this story isn't too memorable for me.
The Singing Citadel - **
Released in 1967, The Singing Citadel is a great short story for Elric. Elric is approached by the Queen of Jhakor to investigate a mysterious singing citadel that has appeared in the West of her nation.
I found this story fun with a great central concept behind it as well as further exploration of the workings of the multiverse and the Lord's of Chaos. Some great weird imagery inside the citadel itself but apart from that I've nothing much else to say, great short story.
OverallOverall I'd definitely recommend this collection to fans of fantasy, sword and sorcery, angsty protagonists, Michael Moorcock and weird and fun concepts.
A satisfying conclusion to the Michae A. Stackpole X-Wing series. It gives a resolution to the Lusankya prisoners storyline, various plotlines from the X-wing comic series and to some of the relationships that have appeared over the course of the series.
If you have reached this point in the series then you probably have some sort of love for these characters and I'll warn you, their is a couple gut punches in store for a few of them.
Good spaceship action is almost guaranteed with Stackpole writing and although the return of Isard (it's in the title and in the blurb so you really shouldn't be suprised) was annoying to begin with (she's already dead!) I quickly got behind it though and it led to some fun conflict.
Overall, if you loved Stackpole's previous X-wing books then you should definitely give this one a go!
I love this book. It is one of the finest standalone, mostly self-contained fanstasy stories I've have ever read. [a:Brandon Sanderson 38550 Brandon Sanderson https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1394044556p2/38550.jpg] is incredible at building worlds for his books to explore and likable (or hateable) characters to explore those worlds with. The plot will keep you guessing and the characters will keep you invested. From the unbelieving god to the uptight princess or the old grump of and immortal trying to right what he did wrong in the past and the princess who loves being the most “unimportant” of her family these character are so fun to read about.This might be my favourite Sanderson book yet (although I still love Mistborn and Elantris!).READ IT NOW.
Seed of Destruction
**The introduction to Hellboy and his universe. Fun and engaging while being a lot more wordy then what Mike Mignola usually writes (due to John Byrne's scripting the first 4 issues). Contains the origin of Hellboy and introduces the first main villian, Rasputin.The Wolves of Saint August **An incredible and creepy story with a great villian and disturbing atmosphere. Mignola takes full control and you can tell as there is a lot less dialogue and far more ‘silent' atmosphere building panels that show rather than tell the reader what is happening which I think is an improvement. Introduces Kate Corrigan.The Chained Coffin ***Reveals how Hellboy was created in a short, ten page comic. Interesting and engaging with a fun framing device in a letter from Hellboy to Abe.Wake The Devil **
Hellboy fully comes into its own. A tense, atmospheric vampire tale with a whole load of foreshadowing of later events. Cool fights and great dialogue and art, Mignola really shows what Hellboy can (and will) become.
Almost Colossus
*****
The Homunculus(now named Roger) from Wake The Devil is still on the loose and Liz Sherman is dying after giving it her power. Frankenstien style story with Roger and his brother with their different views on humanity. Crazy giant fight at the end as well.
Overall an incredible collection. Recommended to any comic fans and lovers of folklore or paranormal investigations.
Gives a load of insight into the Targaryen's and their history as well as a metric ton of dragon action, battles, intrigue and sexy times for everyone.
This book is written largely like a history book which may throw some off at first but once you get into it you can have a lot of fun. There is a massive barrage of names, places and events which can be difficult to keep your head around at times but if you can just go with the flow then you should have no problem at all.
The main problem I have is the large tangents that the book goes off on about characters than only play a minor part in the history covered in the book that could really have been cut down more.
Apart from that this book gave a valuable look at the history of Westero's before the main series and the novella's.
I'd recommend it to only for the most hardcore completionists of ASOIAF.
A great continuation to the Thrawn Trilogy!
Fun action, interesting storylines and engaging new and old characters this is the perfect continuation of the Star Wars Saga.
The only real problems I had were that Leia's storyline dragged a bit and Luke and Joruus didn't have much time together. Apart from that it was a good read.
An incredible kick off for the Thrawn Trilogy!
Action, adventure, excitement, politics and space wizards all wrapped together with fun and interesting stories for the original heroes and new engaging characters such as Mara Jade, Talon Karrde and, of course, Thrawn and Pellaeon. Thrawn is a tactical genius that can figure out just about anything from anything (it gets a little much sometimes though) and Pellaeon is his Watson.
The only new character who didn't really do anything for me was Joruus C'baoth who seemed like a generic saturday morning cartoon villian. He also wasn't really in the story very much.
A great book in the Star Wars EU and a perfect place to start if you're wanting to get into Star Wars books!
Read in the Earthsea Quartet collection.
This story is amazing. A story of a girl learning to free herself from the controlling grasp of the priesthood she has been forced to join with the help of Sparrowhawk, The Tombs of Atuan is very introspective. The main character Arha/Tenar spends much of her time questioning herself and her life and whether she really is reborn to serve the Eaten Ones.
A story that is good for all, unless you like a lot of action. If that's the case you might find this slow and boring to read.
Overall a solid maze out of 5.
A fun, interesting and engaging book. The ‘world'-building was great with the different conflicts between Earth, Mars and The Belt creating an interesting story and (without giving anything away) them having to work together leads to some fun clashes.
The only think that really threw me off where the characters and dialogue. The characters were very standard, a hard-boiled detective and an idealistic naive yong ship captain. They are interesting enough but nothing all too new (not that that's a complete negative of course). What really threw me was the dialogue. The writers try so hard to make the dialogue feel ‘natural' that it does a bit of a 180 in certain instances coming off as weird and strange like refering to Daddy Warbucks for example.
Apart form that I really enjoyed his book's fast paced plot, great world building and good action.
A large number out of 10.
What a book.
A warning before you read this, do not expect a story or at least don't expect a story in the sense of Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit. This is a history book, it chronicles the creation of Arda (the world), the birth of Elves, Dwarves and Men and their struggles against the first Dark Lord Morgoth/Melkor for the 3 great jewels called the Silmarils. It also tells the story of the fall of Numenor and has an overview of the events of the Third Age leading up to LotR.
Again this book is not for everyone. Lovers of a plot or characters you can really get ‘into' will not like this. Neither will people who don't like writing full of fancy techniques.
However I loved it. The initial happiness of the Elves beening shattered by Morgoth and the unwinnable struggle the Noldor take up against him, the terrible deeds carried out by Feanor and his sons, the love between Beren and Luthien being tests again and again, the tragic story of Hurin's children and the eventual fall of Gondolin and the remaking of the world.
Not your typical book, but not a bad one either.
Two fun interconnected adventures with Thrawn and Vader in the Galactic Civil War period (set between series 3 and 4 of the Rebels cartoon) and Anakin, Thrawn and Padme during the Clone Wars (set between Series 5 and 6 of the The Clone Wars cartoon).
Has some interesting set up for possible future events too with the main villians.
However, Thrawn wasn't present nearly as much as you'd think he would be with the title of the book and especially during The Clone Wars story where he feels more like he's just there because he needed to be for the book top be a Thrawn book. Also the way the force is used with the double vision bits was a little weird.
Overall I really enjoyed this book and it's given me a couple ideas for possible new stories that could be happening with the Chiss, Mitth'raw'nuruodo and Ezra Bridger.
Elantris is Brandon Sanderson's debut novel about a decayed city of fallen gods. It opens with one of the main characters, Raoden prince of Arelon (yes I hate the name Arelon but I can forgive it), being taken by the crippling Shaod and thrown into the dead city, Elantris. At the same time Raoden's bride to be, Sarene, arrives in the capital, Kae, to find herself a widow and a high priest, Hrathen, of an opposing faith has arrived to convert Arelon and save it from invasion.
And so the story begins.
As ever Sanderson focuses on character over flashy action. Raoden tries to make the best of a terrible situation, Sarene tries thwart Hrathen's plans at every turn while also trying to become accepted in Kae's court and Hrathen tries to convert Kae while in turn questioning his own faith.
If you expect frequent action sequences like the Mistborn Trilogy then you'll be disappointed. There is very little action until the climax as most of the book is spent plotting, planning and posturing.
Raoden really is just a nice guy (and not in an annoying way). He cares deeply for everyone, no matter who they are or were. This is shown through his various interactions with the occupants of Elantris as he brings a little hope back to their lives.
Sarene is a manipulator. She uses peoples perceptions of her to manipulate their actions and try to halt Hrathen's conversion attempts at any cost. She is also deeply self-conscious, fearing she won't fit in in this new country and new court, especially after the experiences she had back in her homeland of Teod.
Hrathen is a logical man. He uses logic to try and convert Arelon so he can ‘save' them from themselves (and the oncoming invasion). However he begins to question if he truly believes what he preaches or if its just a job to him now.
Unlike most Brandon Sanderson stories this doesn't really focus on the magic so much as the politics of Sel.
Apart from a rushed climax and the name Arelon I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone interested in fantasy, Brandon Sanderson or the Cosmere. I would recommend reading Mistborn first though to get you into his books.
25000000000/:)
This is a collection of issues 1 to 4 of Star Wars: Jedi Council - Acts of War featuring both the Jedi Council and acts of war.
The basic plot is that a new member of the Galactic Republic called the Yinchorri is causing a bit of bother invading people and causing the deaths of 2 Jedi. In response most of the Jedi Council goes to stop them (which is strange considering when they were alerted to the possible return of their ancient enemies the Sith they only sent Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan to check it out) and fun ensues. All the while Emperor Sheev laughs evily in the background as Maul looks on, confused.
Overall this is a pretty enjoyable short adventure in the Star Wars Legends timeline here nothing really major happens other than some Jedi die and Ki Adi Mundi is added to the Jedi Council. If you can get a hold of it for cheap then go right ahead it's a fun enjoyable time.
One criticism though is there are too many characters as it tries to showcase each member of the Jedi Council to varying degrees of success.
Story also found in Star Wars Omnibus: Rise of the Sith collection.
This was... Interesting.
I never really intended to read this book, I'd heard it was weird and it was classed as a romance novel so I never really thought about reading it. That was until reaching the end of Solo Command and coming to a message reading “The story of Han Solo and Warlord Zsinj continues in ‘The Courtship of Princess Leia' by Dave Wolverton”. After the first four X-Wing books hinted at Zsinj's power and finally getting to see him in action in the Wraith Squadron Trilogy I desperately wanted to know how Han took him down and I guess I found out.
The book revolves around Leia considering a marriage to Prince Isolder of the Hapes Consortium (which may be known to fans of the New Jedi Order and Legacy eras of Star Wars Legends), a matriarchal society which is incredibly sexist towards the men of the Hapes Cluster and while men aren't treated terribly they are just dismissed as “mere men”.
Han gets jealous of this and decides to ‘convince' Leia (kidnap) to come on a romantic getaway with him to his newly won planet, Dathomir (which may be familiar to fans of The Clone Wars as were all those Witches live) alongside Threepio and Chewie. Dathomir also has a matriarchal society due to only the women being able to use the Force.
Luke and Artoo track down Han with help from Isolder and they are all shot down over Dathomir by Zsinj and we now have a plot.
Characters. Everybody is mischaracterised in this book, everybody. Han is a crazy kidnapper who won't take no for an answer (he also has some really weird comments and jokes “I've seen so much darkness lately”), Leia jumps between stuck up and arrogant, being genuinely useful and a sobbing emotional wreck within the same page, Luke is probably the most accurate of the big three but still he occasionally reverts from episode VI Luke to whiny farmboy Luke, Threepio is annoying as ever and even sings at one point (“What a man Solo!”), Chewie is a massive coward, Lando is never mentioned and Artoo beeps occasionally to remind us he's there.
The new characters are a little strange too. Isolder is a sexy hunk that listens to your feelings and will defend you to the death, Zsinj and Melvar are incompetently evil, all the Dathomirians and Hapains don't understand why everyone is so angry that they treat men terribly.
A lot of weird stuff happens too. Threepio starts singing, Han kidnaps Leia, Han wrestles a hundred metre long Wuffa Worm out of the ground, Luke goes into a strange acid trippy Force hallucination, Rancors start using armour and weapons etc.
Admittedly some of the stuff with Luke and the Force is quite interesting and learning about the old Jedi Order (before the Prequels decided to go in a different direction) was good.
Overall though I liked it. I wouldn't say it's good but it's strange and if you go in not really expecting much and ready to laugh at the weird bits then you should have a good time.
P.S. The fact that the kept calling the Iron Fist a Star Destroyer instead of a Super Star Destroyer in some of it's appearances really annoyed me.
We by Yevgeny Zamyatin
3.5 Stars
If this review had been written 2 ‘entries' into We I would've told you I hated everything about it, the way it was written, the countless unfinished sentences and the use of maths (ewwwwww!) and given it 1 star.
If you'd asked me halfway through the book I would've given you a solid 4 stars after getting used to the style and getting more interested in the plot and characters as well as getting over the maths and seeing and even appreciating the reason for the unfinished sentences.
However, after taking a small break from reading it and coming back and having to readapt to the book and not completely understanding what was going on during the books climax (which may have been the point) I knocked it down half a star.
This book is considered one of if not the first modern dystopian novel and inspired both 1984 and Brave New World. The plot is incredibly similar to 1984 although the world of We is more ‘Sci-fiy' than 1984's post WWII feel and has an actual bonafide 1920's rocket ship and all the wacky science that makes it fly.
George Orwell admitted he lifted the plot for 1984 from We and you can tell although I do think 1984 is a better book (great artists steal) but that doesn't mean you shouldn't read this one.
Overall I'd recommend it to Dystopian and Political fiction fans who liked 1984, Brave New World and others.
Still as good as I remember it being since the last time I read it.
The adventures of Pippin in Minas Tirith, Merry's time with the mustered Rohirrim and Dernhelm, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and the Grey Company's travel through the Paths of the Dead and how they all converge back together is still as fun, exciting and interesting as always.
Frodo and Sam's time in Mordor is also interesting and the ways they struggle in getting to Mount Doom is heartbreaking to read and even though I know the end more than one part of my body clenches when I read the climax, worrying if they'll make it or not.
The conclusion is great and resolves all the remaining plot threads and shows just how far our 4 Hobbits have come (also 2 of my favourite characters, Bill the Pony and Fredegar ‘Fatty' Bolger return at the end so I'm happy with that (if only Tom Bombadil did too)).
There is also a large history and language section found at the back of the book called the ‘Appendices'. Personally I've only ever read the history parts as I'm not all to interested in the make up of Quenya and Sindarin (hey I know their names though!) but the history is incredibly interesting and fleshes out the Second and Third Age histories of Numenor, Gondor and Arnor, Rohan and the Dwarves massively if that's your thing (which it is or me!). It also gives you a chronology (a Tale of Years if you will) of the Second and Third Ages as well as the events of the books and what happens to the Fellowship after the end of the story. The maps are also helpful.
All in all its more of the same so if you didn't like the previous 2 then you'll probably not like this one, However, if you did enjoy the previous one then your mostly likely going to enjoy this one as well.
This may have taken me a little while to read but that isn't a negative sign, I just like looking at the pictures a lot. Not for that easily offended or squeamish this book is vile, violent and vulgar and its fucking incredible because of it! A morbidly obese pope, a sex party were anything (really anything) goes, God himself and his, shall we say, mentally challenged descendant all make an appearance.
If this sounds like your sort of thing pick it up, you'll probably regret it.