altlovesbooks
Added to listFantasywith 122 books.
Added to listAudiobooks Readwith 121 books.
Twins Mokoya and Akeha have some serious family baggage to sort through. Traded to a monastery by the ruler of the Protectorate–and their mother–to be raised, it’s not until their gifts start emerging that their mother starts taking an interest in them again. Unfortunately their mother being who she is, she’s only got selfish and power-hungry reasons for wanting to break the twins up after being raised together for so long. Frustrated and angry, Akeha begins to explore his own path away from his upbringing and his twin. A rebellion is growing within the Protectorate, and Akeha wants to be a part of it to free them all from his mother.
This book had some serious world building going on for something that’s just a novella’s length. I almost wonder what we would have gotten if the author had given themselves the space to expand on it all some more, because as it was, it felt very rushed and undeveloped in some areas. We handwave away a lot of cool sounding things, jump years in a matter of pages, and accept that anyone outside the small cast of main characters is a name and that’s it. As an example, (plot spoiler) at one point a character is sent on a quest to go to the top of a mountain and retrieve a phoenix feather to prove their willingness and worthiness to a cause. Rather than go with them on this quest, we get the resolution wrapped up in a single sentence, saying that they did the thing successfully. I get it, it’s a novella in length, but it really felt like the author was trying to do novel-length things with a novella number of pages making everything feel rather frantic.
It also kind of felt more like a family drama in a fantasy setting, as nothing really fantastical happens. Sure they have cool powers and all, but the bulk of the book was (plot spoilers here) Akeha coming to terms with being left behind by his sister, his mother being a right bitch, and feeling comfortable with his own gender and in his own body. These are all good things to explore, but everything being so down-to-earth made the rest of the fantasy book feel rather ordinary.
But that cover art though, right? I wish I liked the book more to have better things to say because of the art alone, but I don’t think I’ll be continuing the series.
Twins Mokoya and Akeha have some serious family baggage to sort through. Traded to a monastery by the ruler of the Protectorate–and their mother–to be raised, it’s not until their gifts start emerging that their mother starts taking an interest in them again. Unfortunately their mother being who she is, she’s only got selfish and power-hungry reasons for wanting to break the twins up after being raised together for so long. Frustrated and angry, Akeha begins to explore his own path away from his upbringing and his twin. A rebellion is growing within the Protectorate, and Akeha wants to be a part of it to free them all from his mother.
This book had some serious world building going on for something that’s just a novella’s length. I almost wonder what we would have gotten if the author had given themselves the space to expand on it all some more, because as it was, it felt very rushed and undeveloped in some areas. We handwave away a lot of cool sounding things, jump years in a matter of pages, and accept that anyone outside the small cast of main characters is a name and that’s it. As an example, (plot spoiler) at one point a character is sent on a quest to go to the top of a mountain and retrieve a phoenix feather to prove their willingness and worthiness to a cause. Rather than go with them on this quest, we get the resolution wrapped up in a single sentence, saying that they did the thing successfully. I get it, it’s a novella in length, but it really felt like the author was trying to do novel-length things with a novella number of pages making everything feel rather frantic.
It also kind of felt more like a family drama in a fantasy setting, as nothing really fantastical happens. Sure they have cool powers and all, but the bulk of the book was (plot spoilers here) Akeha coming to terms with being left behind by his sister, his mother being a right bitch, and feeling comfortable with his own gender and in his own body. These are all good things to explore, but everything being so down-to-earth made the rest of the fantasy book feel rather ordinary.
But that cover art though, right? I wish I liked the book more to have better things to say because of the art alone, but I don’t think I’ll be continuing the series.
Added to listFantasywith 121 books.
Added to listSci Fiwith 42 books.
"In a fight of one against many, chaos favored him."
I managed to squeeze in all four Sanderson secret project books before the end of the year, and that’s a big deal to me. Normally I don’t read authors/series back-to-back like this. I’m somewhat glad I did, because it lets me really compare the four books against each other in terms of my enjoyment and arrive at a (somewhat) legitimate review score. The tl;dr version is that it’s a decent book (particularly if you really sink your teeth into Cosmere stuff), but definitely not a stand-alone story, and be at least caught up with the Stormlight Archive through Rhythm of War before riding this ride.
Nomad, a key player in the Stormlight Archives, is on the run, and winds up on a murderous mudball of a planet. The sun is actively trying to kill everyone on its surface, forcing its residents to live in moving cities that travel just in the sun’s wake so as not to, y’know, fry. The Cinder King is the despot of this planet, trying to unify everyone under his singular rule (and thumb). The rebel faction on this planet are the ones Nomad falls in with, and the book follows his story of trying to escape this planet while also saving the people from the Cinder King’s rule.
From, basically, page 1 Sanderson throws you into the deep end of Nomad’s predicament, and from there it’s wall-to-wall action until the end. It’s a very fast paced book, which is somewhat uncharacteristic of Sanderson. It’s also rife with Cosmere spoilers for the unwary, so it’s important that you’re well-versed in your lore before tackling this one. I appreciate that the Cosmere exists, but I don’t do extensive Cosmere study, leaving me having to do some emergency cramming to understand some of the more intricate details. It’s definitely not a stand-alone read, which Sanderson owns in the afterword. This book is Sanderson’s gift to the fans, and it shows.
I ended up with a 4 star rating on this one, just because I definitely didn’t enjoy it as much as Tress or Yumi, but I did like it more than Frugal Wizard. It’s just really fast paced (have I said that enough?), and there’s a lot going on. It’s a must-read for anyone invested (hahahaha) in the Cosmere, though.
"In a fight of one against many, chaos favored him."
I managed to squeeze in all four Sanderson secret project books before the end of the year, and that’s a big deal to me. Normally I don’t read authors/series back-to-back like this. I’m somewhat glad I did, because it lets me really compare the four books against each other in terms of my enjoyment and arrive at a (somewhat) legitimate review score. The tl;dr version is that it’s a decent book (particularly if you really sink your teeth into Cosmere stuff), but definitely not a stand-alone story, and be at least caught up with the Stormlight Archive through Rhythm of War before riding this ride.
Nomad, a key player in the Stormlight Archives, is on the run, and winds up on a murderous mudball of a planet. The sun is actively trying to kill everyone on its surface, forcing its residents to live in moving cities that travel just in the sun’s wake so as not to, y’know, fry. The Cinder King is the despot of this planet, trying to unify everyone under his singular rule (and thumb). The rebel faction on this planet are the ones Nomad falls in with, and the book follows his story of trying to escape this planet while also saving the people from the Cinder King’s rule.
From, basically, page 1 Sanderson throws you into the deep end of Nomad’s predicament, and from there it’s wall-to-wall action until the end. It’s a very fast paced book, which is somewhat uncharacteristic of Sanderson. It’s also rife with Cosmere spoilers for the unwary, so it’s important that you’re well-versed in your lore before tackling this one. I appreciate that the Cosmere exists, but I don’t do extensive Cosmere study, leaving me having to do some emergency cramming to understand some of the more intricate details. It’s definitely not a stand-alone read, which Sanderson owns in the afterword. This book is Sanderson’s gift to the fans, and it shows.
I ended up with a 4 star rating on this one, just because I definitely didn’t enjoy it as much as Tress or Yumi, but I did like it more than Frugal Wizard. It’s just really fast paced (have I said that enough?), and there’s a lot going on. It’s a must-read for anyone invested (hahahaha) in the Cosmere, though.
DNF at 10%. Maybe this was an audiobook thing, but it was hard for me to get into what was going on. It took about this long to even get a mention of 419 scams (even in an offhand manner), and at this point I was already losing interest in the flat characters. Putting it down for something else.
DNF at 10%. Maybe this was an audiobook thing, but it was hard for me to get into what was going on. It took about this long to even get a mention of 419 scams (even in an offhand manner), and at this point I was already losing interest in the flat characters. Putting it down for something else.
Added to listSci Fiwith 41 books.
”We are all chasing ghosts, Kovacs-san. Living as long as we do now, how could we not be.”
Man…. I wanted so bad for this series to be more than it ended up being. I found the first book amazing, the second book still good (but way different), and had hopes that it’d find its stride again in the third book to bring it all home again. It does not. In fact, it’s a super mediocre ending to a series that started out so great.
Kovacs gets spit out again, this time back home on Harlan’s World, resleeved and living out a personal grudge against—well, that’s the question for half of the book, isn’t it? As the reader, we’re not clued in on what Kovacs is up to personally until after things have already kicked off. Sure we’re along on his cyberpunk adventure as he hunts people down, but we don’t know why he’s hunting them down. Somewhere along the way, he gets wrapped up in Quellist politics, and we get entire segments of the book devoted to Harlan’s World political science and we’re treated to lengthy political debates amongst two groups of people that will never see eye to eye.
Also, that ending. Extensive ending spoilers here: I was all geared up for a Kovacs v. Kovacs showdown, but even that conclusion was taken away from me by a trigger-happy Jad. Talk about anticlimactic.
The cast of characters is extensive, way more than needed to exist for this book’s story to be told. The story itself felt really disjointed after Kovacs gets in good with the Quellists, and I hope you like copious amounts of sex, because there’s copious amounts of sex. There’s bits and pieces in here of what I liked so much from the other books, but you have to dig for them amongst the Quellisms and sexytimes.
I don’t know, disappointing ending to something that started out so great. Not a terrible book if you know what you’re getting into and like that sort of thing, but it definitely was a bad note to end the series on.
”We are all chasing ghosts, Kovacs-san. Living as long as we do now, how could we not be.”
Man…. I wanted so bad for this series to be more than it ended up being. I found the first book amazing, the second book still good (but way different), and had hopes that it’d find its stride again in the third book to bring it all home again. It does not. In fact, it’s a super mediocre ending to a series that started out so great.
Kovacs gets spit out again, this time back home on Harlan’s World, resleeved and living out a personal grudge against—well, that’s the question for half of the book, isn’t it? As the reader, we’re not clued in on what Kovacs is up to personally until after things have already kicked off. Sure we’re along on his cyberpunk adventure as he hunts people down, but we don’t know why he’s hunting them down. Somewhere along the way, he gets wrapped up in Quellist politics, and we get entire segments of the book devoted to Harlan’s World political science and we’re treated to lengthy political debates amongst two groups of people that will never see eye to eye.
Also, that ending. Extensive ending spoilers here: I was all geared up for a Kovacs v. Kovacs showdown, but even that conclusion was taken away from me by a trigger-happy Jad. Talk about anticlimactic.
The cast of characters is extensive, way more than needed to exist for this book’s story to be told. The story itself felt really disjointed after Kovacs gets in good with the Quellists, and I hope you like copious amounts of sex, because there’s copious amounts of sex. There’s bits and pieces in here of what I liked so much from the other books, but you have to dig for them amongst the Quellisms and sexytimes.
I don’t know, disappointing ending to something that started out so great. Not a terrible book if you know what you’re getting into and like that sort of thing, but it definitely was a bad note to end the series on.