Stromboli

Gasoline.

A condemnation of Racial Oppression, the Patriarchy, and the Religious State wrapped up tightly in 500 pages that I blew through quicker than any book I've read with my eyeballs in probably 10 years. And that's to say nothing of the world building, the characters, or the unique and awesome magic system!

I didn't cry at any point tho so no 5 stars I'm sorry.

Every Silence Magic Trick consists of three parts, or acts. The first part is called The Pledge. The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object - perhaps he asks you to inspect it - to see that it is indeed real.... unaltered.... normal. But of course, it probably isn't... The second act is called The Turn. The magician takes the ordinary something, and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you're looking for the secret. But you won't find it, because of course, you're not really looking... you don't really want to know.... 

Rupert Degas sounds so uncannily similar to Steven Pacey that I had a lot of fun pretending that Kingkiller was some alternate timeline of First Law where old-man-Brogan Shinefingers owns a tavern and tells his story. That fantasy alone gave me a pretty decent amount of enjoyment out both books, and while I enjoyed NotW a fair bit (4.25), but WMF unfortunately felt more like the middle 1/3 of one giant book, rather than the middle book in a “Trilogy.” That enjoyment did actually continue for the first 40-50% of WMF, but by the time the ending finally came, I had mostly checked out. And then the ending itself came, which felt like the end of any other random chapter in the book, and then.... that was it. And that will continue to be it for....forever, probably.

I knew that going in, of course, so when I decided to try this “trilogy,” I was hoping to find that special... something buried in here that “everyone” else seemed to find that made reading these first 2 books worth the stonewalling, and I tried man, I really did. Silence just wasn't quite enough for me.

But you couldn't clap yet. Because making something disappear isn't enough... you have to bring it back. That's why every magic trick has a third act. The hardest part. The part we call...The Prestige.

I guess just wanted to be.....

Fooled. 

Maybe I was. 

“Here I pause. If you wish to walk no farther with me reader, I do not blame you. It is no easy road.”

Yeeeeeeah that's gonna be it for me dog.

Say one thing for Richard Nell, say that bastard knows how to write. 

Loa, pirates! 


Dark Sea's End wasn't quite as good as Kings of Ash/Heaven, but seeing as how those books both had a stellar book 1 to build upon, and were 2 of my favorite books of 2022, that is by no means a harsh critique of this one. 

Dark Sea's End was indeed an incredible return to the world of Ash & Sand, and I actually liked this one more than Ash & Sand #1 (Kings of Paradise), which bodes extremely well for the future of Beyond Ash & Sand.

I eagerly await more from Mr. Nell, this guy don't miss.