Beattz
This is my favorite kind of nonfiction book. Stories of scientific discovery and the people that drove it to new heights. As a native of Tidewater, I am shocked by the fact that all of this was new information to me, and that is a real shame.
This is my favorite kind of nonfiction book. Stories of scientific discovery and the people that drove it to new heights. As a native of Tidewater, I am shocked by the fact that all of this was new information to me, and that is a real shame.
This was unsatisfying. I'm bummed because I loved the first two so much. I was 80% of the way through the book before anything really happened. Then what happened happens and that's great and all, but it just wasn't enough. This volume definitely felt much more like a set up for a conclusion than a conclusion itself.
That being said, the setting, the characters, the story are very well written, and still entertaining. It just felt hollow next to how full to bursting the other volumes in the series were. Like. I still have no idea why Gladys had any chapters at all. It was pure filler content. And I know this was loosely based on historical figures and all, but the fact that Mungo never really got a comeuppance was an incredible letdown. I wanted to see that man flayed for what he put Languoreth and Lailoken through. But alas...
*i see now that what i read elsewhere - that the next book will be a prequel is incorrect. that there will be a 4th installment. which is what i had thought after reading all the author's notes, but a (unfortunately not thorough enough) search of the internet lead I me astray. can you believe it??
So, the review stands, but i am very much looking forward to how this story really ends.
This was unsatisfying. I'm bummed because I loved the first two so much. I was 80% of the way through the book before anything really happened. Then what happened happens and that's great and all, but it just wasn't enough. This volume definitely felt much more like a set up for a conclusion than a conclusion itself.
That being said, the setting, the characters, the story are very well written, and still entertaining. It just felt hollow next to how full to bursting the other volumes in the series were. Like. I still have no idea why Gladys had any chapters at all. It was pure filler content. And I know this was loosely based on historical figures and all, but the fact that Mungo never really got a comeuppance was an incredible letdown. I wanted to see that man flayed for what he put Languoreth and Lailoken through. But alas...
*i see now that what i read elsewhere - that the next book will be a prequel is incorrect. that there will be a 4th installment. which is what i had thought after reading all the author's notes, but a (unfortunately not thorough enough) search of the internet lead I me astray. can you believe it??
So, the review stands, but i am very much looking forward to how this story really ends.
The Night Ends with Fire was a unique take on the Mulan story. Faced with a future married to an abusive merchant, Hai Meilin makes a desperate grasp for freedom, posing as an illegitimate son of her father and enlisting in the army on the eve of war. On her way out the door, her stepmother passes to her a jade necklace that once belonged to her mother, dead now many years after a bout of madness. There's more than meets the eye to this piece of jewelry though, and as secrets begin to be revealed, Meilin worries that she will meet the same fate as her mother in short order.
I wanted to like this book more than I did. It was pretty heavy handed and clunky when it came to the main character's motivations, at the same time, contradicting itself later on. Meilin thirsts for power and recognition and position in the army, challenging herself to rise through the ranks to get to a place of equal footing and acknowledgment, but then when strategy and politics come into play (a natural progression of such a station) she easily and, to me, strangely, says that such things are beyond her and should be left to the men? There's also a bit of a love triangle, and that's not my favorite trope. I like it enough to see how the story is going to continue to play out, at least at this point. It has an interesting magic system, and I hope it goes into more lore in the next volume.
The Night Ends with Fire was a unique take on the Mulan story. Faced with a future married to an abusive merchant, Hai Meilin makes a desperate grasp for freedom, posing as an illegitimate son of her father and enlisting in the army on the eve of war. On her way out the door, her stepmother passes to her a jade necklace that once belonged to her mother, dead now many years after a bout of madness. There's more than meets the eye to this piece of jewelry though, and as secrets begin to be revealed, Meilin worries that she will meet the same fate as her mother in short order.
I wanted to like this book more than I did. It was pretty heavy handed and clunky when it came to the main character's motivations, at the same time, contradicting itself later on. Meilin thirsts for power and recognition and position in the army, challenging herself to rise through the ranks to get to a place of equal footing and acknowledgment, but then when strategy and politics come into play (a natural progression of such a station) she easily and, to me, strangely, says that such things are beyond her and should be left to the men? There's also a bit of a love triangle, and that's not my favorite trope. I like it enough to see how the story is going to continue to play out, at least at this point. It has an interesting magic system, and I hope it goes into more lore in the next volume.
I'm not sure where to begin because I have so many thoughts, but here goes nothing.
I ended up enjoying this much more than I thought. The first half wasn't slow, exactly, it just didn't differentiate itself from other Roman inspired fantasy that I've read (ie, Red Rising). It took until Vis went back to Suus, I think, for the story to truly start to come into its own and pull away from the pack. From there on out, each minute felt like that scene from Indiana Jones when he's being chased by a giant boulder, only it's wild animals, what amounts to zombies in this world, and members of the rebel faction.
One thing I really commend this book on is the crafting of the characters and their relationships. We really have 5 main players- Vis, Eidhin, Callidus, Emissa, and Aequa. Each with their own goals and strategies, thrust into this academy by their parents or benefactors to be used as tools in the future governance of the realm. But we get to see beneath all of that to the people they are underneath, what truly moves them, what makes them human, how they think they can affect the world around them. And we get to watch as little by little waters are tested, feelers extended and they begin to trust one another with secrets and with intimacies. Each bit of ground earned with the text we are given.
And the end. I don't even know what to say. Part of it I sussed out sure, but the other bit?? Are you kidding me?? Please tell me we get dual POV now in each world. Anything else would be an absolute crime.
I'm not sure where to begin because I have so many thoughts, but here goes nothing.
I ended up enjoying this much more than I thought. The first half wasn't slow, exactly, it just didn't differentiate itself from other Roman inspired fantasy that I've read (ie, Red Rising). It took until Vis went back to Suus, I think, for the story to truly start to come into its own and pull away from the pack. From there on out, each minute felt like that scene from Indiana Jones when he's being chased by a giant boulder, only it's wild animals, what amounts to zombies in this world, and members of the rebel faction.
One thing I really commend this book on is the crafting of the characters and their relationships. We really have 5 main players- Vis, Eidhin, Callidus, Emissa, and Aequa. Each with their own goals and strategies, thrust into this academy by their parents or benefactors to be used as tools in the future governance of the realm. But we get to see beneath all of that to the people they are underneath, what truly moves them, what makes them human, how they think they can affect the world around them. And we get to watch as little by little waters are tested, feelers extended and they begin to trust one another with secrets and with intimacies. Each bit of ground earned with the text we are given.
And the end. I don't even know what to say. Part of it I sussed out sure, but the other bit?? Are you kidding me?? Please tell me we get dual POV now in each world. Anything else would be an absolute crime.
