Nadine K
My last book for age 27 😭.
Beautifully written as always. Ray Bradbury's works always reads poetic and lyrical. Sometimes you forget that this book was published in 1950 but OTHER TIMES you are very reminded.
It's wild how different times were when this book was written. It's wild that this imaginative author could imagine a Martian society a decade before humans first reached space but could not imagine a desegregated US just a handful of years before the first laws against it were put into motion. (Let's be clear this book is very much anti-racist, it just says a lot for the beliefs of the time.) Also, widely America (US) centric, which is another thing I blame on the time it was written.
A bit messier than the first two with more fanservice-y scenes. The first book out of the three that I genuinely thought “Oh this is for sure a boy-book” lmao. I still enjoyed it as I do like a good boy-book. Glad that that love-triangle was short-lived, always hated that trope. Looking forward to reading the next book next month ✌
An undeniable masterpiece. Holy shit.
Dan Simmons is an evil genius. What an ending.
The way the story is structured and unfolds is a work of art. The way he gives such distinct voices to each of the main characters is mind boggling. THE WORLD BUILDING.
How do you write like this? Is it innate talent? Can you learn it?
I'm kinda in awe.
Oh my god.
Its 3AM and i just finished this book. Review in the morning at a reasonable hour.
Edit:
I finished this book 4 days ago and completely forgot to come back to write a full review and now my mind is blank lmao.
I don't know what possessed me to make this 1000+ page book my first book of the year but honestly it was a good decision. It was fantastic. I cannot get enough of this series and the only thing stopping me from jumping right into the third book is it doesn't fit into this month's book budget :)
I loved it just as much (if not even more) than the first book and I cannot wait to get to the third one the second my paycheck drops.
I started the year with the first book of this series ([b:The Bone Ships 43521682 The Bone Ships (The Tide Child, #1) R.J. Barker https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1553245088l/43521682.SX50.jpg 67688478]) and, though I liked it enough, I wasn't sure if I would be picking up the second book. Then I found the second book ([b:Call of the Bone Ships 50637119 Call of the Bone Ships (The Tide Child, #2) R.J. Barker https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1654468932l/50637119.SY75.jpg 75640964]) on sale so I obviously had to get it and I think that was one of my best book decisions this year.It was a wild journey and it was all so very fun. I think this may the most unique world-building I've seen in a fantasy series (and I have read many). A matriarchal naval society with sea-dragons, talking bird creatures that control the wind, a social hierarchy system based upon the ability to give birth. I loved it. Additional a bad-ass hero who is a greying older woman? FANTASTIC.At one point I was so sure a woman wrote this book with how well it treated all its characters, imagine my surprise HAHAEverything about this series is refreshing. I will definitely be picking up more of R.J. Barker's books.
3.5 stars
I really liked it and thought it was a lot of fun up until the climax and ending. This may be purely on my personal beef with organised religion and how much I hate it when stories use religion like some kind of super power.
Otherwise, it was a good story that was very well written. It made me feel dread and fear and made me really care about the characters.
Again, pretty fun up until the end but that's mostly on me.
SO FUCKING GOOD.
I admit, it took ages for me to pick this book up because how much I disliked The City We Became, but I'm so glad I didn't skip this book.
The way the story unfolded was BEAUTIFUL. The writing was gorgeous, the story was FUN. My heart is palpitating...
It really feels like a testament to how much fantasy and sci-fi I've read that I could guess every single twist before it happened but that in no way discredits how GOOD they were and how SATISFYING it was to be correct.
This book had me jumping around my room shouting “I FUCKING KNEW IT. I KNEW IT.” Multiple times.
The most fun I've had reading a book in a LONG time. Will definitely be picking up the second entry.
I'm not going to lie, 60% into the book I was bored. I was so bored that the only reason I didn't DNF it was the fact that I never DNF books at all. Somehow though, the last 40% of this book saved it.
I am a character driven reader and I didn't like Emily. I thought that she was very competent and hardworking but boring without a hint of humour in her. HOWEVER, her reluctant romance with Wendell was really really cute. They remind me so much of Sophie and Howl (though, unlike Emily, I have loved Sophie from the start).
That last part of the book and their romance somehow pushed the book up from the 2.5 rating I was sure I was going to give it to a solid 4 stars. I do want to read more about them and might pick up the second book :)
