Nomad Scry

I really liked this world and the characters and even the ending. I didn't understand why the bad guy was wielding darkness but I might have just missed that detail because everything else was consistent. I'm taking a star off for incessant uninteresting and repetitive sex scenes that literally bring nothing to the story. I'm adding back a half star because they seem to have been contained to their own short chapters, allowing a reader to choose for themselves to skip or read without missing the actual story. I am aware that I'm reading in a genre that combines fantasy with erotica but #1 that's not how the first book went and #2 where else is the epic fantasy with female main characters?

The narration was excellent! But... some/most of the 1st person asides were jarring. I don't know how a single narrator could have done anything about that without altering the text, which just means this is a book best read instead of listened to.

I really liked the world and characters but Keema(sp?) and the "you" guy, as our POV characters, felt a little flat or unmoored emotionally from their pasts.

The turtles though. That was just perfect, through and through. A whole book of them would be too rich but I definitely want to read more with them or somethings like them.

Maybe rich people are the worst thing that ever happened to us?

MurderBot and Mensa(sp?) are so interesting. She happens to be right about MurderBot but how did she know it was going to be safe?

I really enjoy the little visits I get to have with Murder Bot and family.

Amazing. Somehow the self-centered child grew up.

These kinds of stories require an explanation at some point and yet that explanation is never actually satisfying. Wendig does as good a job as I’ve ever read but I’m not sure it’s possible to have the ending/conclusion that I want.

So confusing. Main character is insufferable in his whining and jealous longing for anything he doesn’t have. Maybe, just maybe, he’s finally learned something by the end… but I highly doubt it.

Montios flame? Eleven? I thought the blood cracked the heartstone, so how could the forging spell be renewed or altered? How could the heir oppose Diem? How did Luther know to call for help? Was Diem this flighty all along?

The nature of an audiobook lends itself to an uncertainty of how much story is left. At around the 5 hour mark, I thought the story was very nicely finished. And again, later with still several hours left, I thought we'd reached a strong conclusion. I've wondered how a story could end satisfactorily when there are only a few hours left and I've had books just end abruptly. This is the first time I've had one with multiple good stopping points where the story is complete... And then keeps going. That alone is a compelling reason to read Spinning Silver.

The way each POV character has a distinct internal narrator was really very well done. Without saying a name, I could tell right away which character's eyes I was looking out through. When a new one was introduced, I knew right away because it *felt* different.

If my children would ever take a book recommendation from me, this would be one of them.

Having all the names sound almost the same left me confused about who was the sister, the lady, the mother. When a "Perry" showed up I felt relieved because I could tell who he was by name.

I liked this more than the first, which I had completely forgotten, and the ending was satisfying. I wish the epilogue was just a bit longer.

I liked everything except using real world country names in a purely fantasy story and the secret, which made my heart drop.

So Rand Al'Thor is being raised by Fizbin when he runs into Aragorn and Dobby the Elf. He gets captured and meets Kahlah/Hermione. (etc.)

I generally enjoy stories that reference religious trappings (the afterlife, demons, creators, etc) when they aren't themselves religious stories. Nix has created a deep and unique supernatural world that resembles a popular variant of religious stories yet falls off into new imagining at the barest reading. The main character is also a mix of the tropes (from a middle-school novel POV) and interesting differences.

I wish my kids would read literally anything I recommend (they won't) because I think they would like this one... Though it's always how well a landing sticks that ultimately determines how I feel about a story. With that end another six books away, I don't yet know if this will end up being a two or four star story for me.

In the end, the story ends. It's weird because the conclusion is competent and makes sense. It even seems to be appropriate for the audience. But I wanted more and that might be because the last three books felt rushed and not sufficiently distinct and the conclusion came (and went) too quickly. It's a good story with a good ending and I'm really not satisfied.

Good job Alice!

In the current political climate, I'm not up to a story about the system trying to tear down the MC. I'm not sure if that's what is going on here, but it feels like the story is going that way. So, I'm out. Maybe later, if we survive the apocalypse, I'll revisit the Reaper.

I was oddly disappointed. Like, I had more and more unanswered questions as the tale went on and few answers along the way. Why is the narrator also that person? What is the point of those magics?

I like the ideas and there's nothing wrong with the writing, which is on part with the prior books, but there are too many characters and too many of them are Culture ships. Perhaps it's just a factor of the audiobook medium but the communications between Minds were opaque and confusing.

I was really enjoying the world, characters, story... And then there were those entirely out of character choices at the very end.

I'm perfectly fine with the most absurd story - as long as it is internally consistent. This ending breaks that.

I really enjoyed the story. It went places I wasn't expecting. Characters acted out of character and then we would learn why. Good story.

Then there's the politics, which are surprisingly relevant to (2025) current events. The story doesn't shy away from the consequences of the theories and policies in a way that I think is admirable and worthy of consideration. Good story.

It's my own fault. I knew what I was reading going in. But damn, I'm just so bored with every third chapter ending with a 20 minute sex scene. I really like epic fantasy/doorstopper with a primarily female POV and that's slim pickings if I veto romantasies. So, I really liked this but this is also my last straw for this genre. Sadly.

I was halfway through when it hit me that Nesta is Nynaeve.

Sticks the landing.

In the end, it's all futile and nothing is changed.