Kali

4.5/5 stars

While I enjoyed the previous book, I was still iffy about how invested I could get in Mistborn era 2, bu† this book managed to surpass all of my expectations. The story here felt so much grander in scale, despite still not being at the same level as the original trilogy, and all of the new references to old characters made this so much more enjoyable to read. I kept trying to anticipate how this book would end while reading and in typical Sanderson fashion he completely surprised me with the twist in this book. This book has me questioning so much now and I'm beyond excited to see how the story continues to expand in the third book, and also what certain plot developments could mean for this universe.

Wow, I am going to need a while to process my thoughts and feelings after finishing this book. It's definitely a new favorite of mine, and I'm really glad I finally decided to pick this up.

I don't typically get emotional while reading, but this book almost made me cry more than once while reading. I've never read anything in verse before and wasn't sure how well it'd work for me but wow, I should have never questioned it. This book hit hard from start to finish and the ending felt very satisfying after everything.

Actual rating: 4.5 stars

I've heard so many good things about Fredrik Backman's writing and knew how hard-hitting his books could be, but wow, I was not at all ready for how emotional this would make me. I never thought I would have it in me to care so much about a grumpy older man but here I am, caring a lot. This book was both heartwarming and heartbreaking and everything about it felt painfully real. This is a story I can see sticking with me for a long time.

I am so glad that I got to this book before winter ended this year, because it felt the most fitting for a story like this.

I was truthfully a little nervous going into this book despite loving Uprooted, because I knew many people said these stories were very different. I had also seen mixed opinions on the way multiple POVs were used in this. Neither of those ended up being an issue for me, and I think the differences actually made me like this more than Uprooted, though both are still 5 star reads for me. The frequently changing POVs flowed very well in my opinion, and at most it only took a paragraph or two for me to realize whose perspective the story was being told from every time it changed. I found that it added to the story for me having a chance to see at least some things from most characters' POVs, and it helped me feel more connected to each character and understand where they were coming from. Some characters did things in this book that I wouldn't necessarily have agreed with until seeing their reasoning for what they were doing. Ultimately, that made it difficult to truly dislike much of anyone in the book, though there of course were still exceptions to that.

I found the plot very engaging throughout the story as well and it was interesting watching everything gradually come together, even though some plotlines initially seemed somewhat unrelated from one another. I also personally really enjoyed the balance of action scenes and quieter scenes that focused more on character dynamics. Both plot and characters are very important to me in anything I read, and I felt satisfied with how both were handled in this book. I especially loved the emphasis on found family.

Overall, this book had an interesting premise, kept me hooked with the constant developments in the story, and had an ending that felt genuinely satisfying. Now that I've read both Uprooted and Spinning Silver, I would love to see Naomi Novik write more fairy tale/folklore inspired stories in the future, because I truly love how she writes them.