Mitch

Just finished the first book and my head is spinning a bit. This thing is crammed full of fantastic ideas, rich world building and dozens truly interesting characters. It asks a lot of questions that it doesn't answer and presents a lot of new concepts, characters, and even plots without any fanfare or explanation whatsoever... that sounds bad but it wasn't a negative experience. The style is jarring but it's also immersive, I found myself completely dialled in just to make sure I was soaking up all the details that I would need to know what the $&@! was going on, and for the most part that attention to detail was richly rewarded. I loved this world, loved these characters and loved this story... it's only getting four stars because It was so dense that I had to re-read frequently to make sure I had the story straight. Despite that, it felt epic, engaging, and I loved the style of the writing itself. I'll pick up book 2 for sure.

Few books pull the reader into their world quite like this one does. I think the thing that makes this story feel so special is that by witnessing it, you feel like you're a part of it. Stepping into this world without context puts you in the shoes (or lack thereof) of the protagonist perfectly. The mystery at the core unfolds at a pace that keeps you just ahead of the hero and every page is packed with the most wonder-filled descriptions. You get to inhabit this childlike innocence through Piranesi that makes every discovery he makes so pure. The story was excellent, but the way it was told is what makes this a five star for me. I wanted to frame every page.

The craft on display here is something you don't see often in things that are actually fun to read. Pick it up!

This book grabbed a hold of me like few books ever have. I was wayyy more emotional than I expected reading this, and it has a lot to do with the family dynamics that are at the core of this novel. It's a coming of age story that explores what it's like to raise that child at the same time. Its the pain that loneliness can cause, and the slow loss of yourself to a role you have to play... it's moving forward in the face of grief... and so much more. I was a lot heavier than I expected it to be but I loved it.

That's not even touching on the world and the magic which were excellent... the island setting is basically a mini version of early Meiji restoration period Japan set against a much more modern mage punk world that we only really see through flashbacks.

The magic is basically Avatar the last Airbender, but that comparison doesn't take anything away from the ideas and imagination on display. It feels just as awesome here as it did there.

Loved these characters and felt so much fun for them, which made a lot of these pages really hard to read...

One thing I wish I knew is that while the story is a standalone, there are other novels set in this world and some of the characters who we don't get a ton of time with in this book appear in those books. As a result there's a lot of foreshadowing that doesn't get paid off here. That includes the ending. But don't worry, all the major plot threads are resolved by the end.

Read this book!

Took me a while to pick this up, then it took me a while to get into this. The pace is slow and methodical throughout and there's actually very little tension at all until the last 30 or so pages (at which point it gets pretty tense). That being said, this book was fantastic. The world is so wonderfully realized through the three p.o.v. Characters. It felt like exploring a new city, or growing up. You learn and relearn the world along with the characters in a way that felt genuine and natural. Like the way we gradually discover our own world. It's a very human story told on a small scale and set against an epic landscape, so don't expect epic heroes or maniacal villains unless you want to be disappointed.

It was so consistent throughout, so well crafted... the only thing I can fault it for was the pace, which upon further reflection feels like more of a me problem. Very interested to see where the series goes from here!

I read this out of curiosity about what my wife was reading and was not completely disappointed. This was a fun take on beauty and the beast that started to drag pretty severely about two thirds in and then got fun again near the end. The ending was pretty/very cheesy, and so incredibly obvious that it wasn't obvious but ultimately, as I have said... fun.
(I don't mean fun in a light hearted sense. There's violence, torcher, emotional manipulation etc. but it's definitely entertaining.)

One thing to be aware of, the two leads are kind of... the worst? Tamlin is just wayyy too broody and Feyre is so all over the place, it's hard to get a real sense of her character. (For me at least)
I found myself much more interested in supporting characters like Nesta, Lucien, and Rhysand.

The fae creatures described in this book were fantastic and very fairy (the bogge in particular stands out). The world, history, and politics also seemed really interesting, but are only touched on here. I expect the series explores that more in the following books?

If you, like me have considered reading this series to discover why your partner likes it. I say go for it. I liked it, didn't love it. but it's nice to understand a few more of my wife's references. I don't plan on picking up book two anytime soon but it is on my list now, so there's that!

Really easy to love this book. It's packed with tropes but they're handled so well that they feel fresh. The main character is easy to root for but also flawed enough to be interesting. The rest of the characters were intriguing, and delightfully grey with their own distinct goals and trajectories. The first person perspective keeps you guessing at everyone's motives the whole way through and just like the MC you never know who to trust. It Reminded me of a mix between Name of the Wind and Red Rising in all the best ways. There are a few ridiculously convenient moments near the end (woof woof) that you'll need to suspend disbelief a bit to accept but that doesn't mean you won't be cheering inside. It's been a long time since I've enjoyed a book this much. Highly recommend. Can't wait for book 2!

There was so much that I loved about this book. The concept is so good, and handled so well. It's tragic, poetic, funny, fantastic, and relatable all at once. The thing I enjoyed most is how the main character's curse is used to explore some familiar human experiences in the extreme. I won't spoil any details of the curse/curses here but they work as great allegories for how some people genuinely experience the world and posed some excellent philosophical questions throughout the book that I'm still thinking about.

It's very much folklore/fable and the story feels fresh and new while also possessing a timeless quality that makes it feel like it's always existed. It reminded me of A Picture of Dorian Gray meets the Story of the Magic Thread/The Boy and The Golden Thread.

If this book could have been a bit shorter I would have given it 5 stars... there are some great reveals and twists but once I got the gist of where it was going, I was ready for it to be over about 80 pages before the end. Not that those 80 pages were bad! This book is beautifully written and highly quotable all the way through... but with a story that feels so clear and simple at its core, and characters that are so well defined from the moment you meet them, the excess was more noticeable. I also felt like the ending pulled some punches, that ultimately diluted the experience for me.

I'd still highly recommend this book to anyone interested in an imaginative, fantasy fuelled, introspection inducing character study.

I think on its own, this book could work as an fascinating introduction to the setting, but if you (like me) are already familiar with the setting, politics, lore, and magic of Ebberon (and Sharn in particular) you'll probably be a little bit disappointed. I love Ebberon as a setting, it's so consistent and well realized it's a perfect playground. I liked this book, it's a fun read with some cool concepts set against an incredible backdrop.

Loved these books, but they're definitely of a time and place. I always recommend them cautiously. These books are great at what they do I.e. cheesy, brooding, pulp fantasy. There fun twists, cool characters, epic world ending stakes... if you can develop a taste for the flavour there's a lot to enjoy but the genre has come a long way since these were first released.

Equally odd and interesting it felt like one of the truest feeling fake histories I've ever read. It feels a little more like a reference book than a novel at times but that's not a bad thing. It's so convincing that you can almost imagine that this world really could have been our own. It's slow and dense and I loved it. It's so unlike anything I've read in this genre and I'm glad I made the effort.
It's rich and rewarding. Definitely worth the read.

This felt like two different books. One half is Naruto meets dark academia and one half is hyper violent historical fiction. Both probably would've been worth reading on their own but together they're less than the sum of their parts. I've seen people talk about this like it's a feature and intentionally jarring but it completely took me out of the story. I'd note that knowing too much of the real history that this story is largely based on was a big part of what took me out of it. It made immersion difficult with so many obvious parallels to our world, it also made it very heavy and sad which is how war crimes and atrocities should make you feel, but not what I'm typically looking for in a fantasy novel. I thought the protagonist was interesting but everyone else felt flat, as if they were just fulfilling a narrative purpose rather than having any goals or purpose of their own. I liked it? It felt like this book wanted to say something and then forgot what that was. Could've just been over my head.

My favourite kind of sci-fi is the kind that finds ways to get the real world sneak up on you, before your own prejudice can get in the way. This book does that beautifully with wonderfully drawn, likeable characters and a grounded compelling story. It's slow but fascinating, challenging and certainly worthwhile.

I read the first book in this trilogy for the hype and was disappointed by the uneven tone, pacing and the copy/paste feel of its historical inspirations. I liked the first half well enough to pick up the second book and was pleasantly surprised to find a more confident tone, better pacing and a story that started to really pull me in despite really disliking the MC. This book felt like the author lost interest in their own story halfway through. It dragged and felt rushed at the same time... so many themes and characters went unexplored, there was a ton of build up that led towards several deeply unsatisfying conclusions. For all its historical references and allegories it didn't seem to have much to say about any of it. The ending should have been devastating, but I felt so little for these characters I was just glad to be done. Rin's POV is exhausting in this book, and despite being basically a god she feels like both a spectator and a victim which made reading her feel like a chore.

If you've studied or read any of the history that these books are based on I honestly wouldn't bother reading them. Anything original, is ultimately insignificant to the larger plot. If you're unfamiliar with the history, I think these books could be engaging reads, big political twists, betrayals, heartbreaking atrocities... it's interesting because the history is interesting.

My biggest problem with this series as a whole, is that it's essentially just adding magic to history, but the magic adds nothing, changes nothing... We just swap technology for magic and away we go. There are a couple of notable exceptions to this but overall, the plot just follows Chinese history through the 20th century then ends. There was a point in this book where it felt like it was about to diverge... then it just didn't.

I know lots of people love this series, I wish I could. The second book almost got me there but with this as a conclusion I wouldn't recommend it either.

I really enjoyed this. The dread I experienced while reading this was fantastic, creative and engaging throughout. It goes from light and fun to pitch black in an instant all wrapped in that inescapable, inevitable doom that cosmic horror does so well. While it's not as inventive or original as other entries in that genre, It manages to be a lot more fun than most. I had a great time with this one.

Of all the books I've read to make people think I'm smart, this was the toughest to get through. I think it's that ancient propaganda vibe that got me. I read it after the Iliad and then the Odyssey and discovered I really don't have the same affinity for the Roman stuff. Obviously it's a little silly to give three stars to an ancient masterpiece but if you're thinking of reading this for the same shallow reasons as me, maybe don't. In retrospect I would much rather have read a book about the Aeneid before reading the Aeneid maybe then I would have had the context and enthusiasm to give this more than 3 stars.

This is a fantastic little interlude that's assembled with the same care and and quality of all the other entries in this series. This book is kind of a miracle in that It stretches what could've probably been a few pages of exposition into an entire novel that's actually worth reading! I enjoyed every bit of this and was surprised to find that very little felt extraneous or tacked on. It has great pacing, interesting characters, and meaningfully adds to the series as a whole. 4 stars!