Luke Harkness
Undeniably phenomenal but not without flaws
This book (well this and it's two original companions) pioneered fantasy and are the reason that elves, dwarves, long journeys and so much more are tropes of modern fantasy and have just become part of fantastical world's without explanation. In the 500 pages (only 1/3 of the full journey) this book explored such a variety of people, cultures and lands that it felt like a book of many smaller stories. Truly something special.
However, as mentioned, this book isn't perfect. At times the pacing can be very slow, there's also a LOT of text that is purely long text of the travelling they're doing and the land around them. If the land were fantastical and there were much to see during all of these, it would make sense, but often it is simply written to emphasise the length of their journey. As a result, it can drag and can sometimes take a little rereading.
However I cannot knock this book down for that as it is part of what gives the book its feel. It is supposed to feel like a long journey for naive hobbits travelling much much further than they ever have before and seeing many characters, creatures and cultures they never knew even existed. Can't wait to read the second...but may have a couple days off to build up the concentration levels again.
An epic!
Reading this book I often felt that too much description was being given to every single situation and thought at the time that I was going to write something along the lines of “some books are long because they describe everything in such detail, not because a lot actually happens in them. This is one of those books.” And a little bit of me feels like that with this book. But then in hind sight, this book tells two incredible stories. Theres a murder mystery embroiled in family drama whilst supporting a financial investigation. It's truly a great book.
Not as good as book 2 but still incredibly consistent
People love the Alex Rider books because they give you James Bond but written in a very relatable way. I'm 26 and he's 14, so it may not be THAT relatable. But it's definitely more relatable than some 40-something highly-trained spy.
The stories are constantly tense and this one doesn't deny us that feeling. I always feel like the villains are a little weak, but I guess the age this book is written for aren't worried about a convincing villain with an understandable motive. 4/5 would be about eight from me.
A very consistent series
My reviews for the Percy Jackson books continue to sound very similar. I feel they have the potential to be great but are just missing any sort of relationship building or character building. Percy himself doesn't really have any Percy and neither do half of the other characters. Grover is the only character who appears to show some humour and opinion on things. The rest are all just stubborn and defiant.
I do however thoroughly enjoy the world and the lore involved with these books. I love the many different monsters and googling them to see what they'd look like, along with the wide knowledge of the Greek mythological history that Rick Riordan has. Definitely going to finish the series as this book appears to be building up to something much bigger.
This book stepped it up!
As is expected with most sequels of books with a great concept, this second in the series is a massive are up over the first and gets more gory and more gritty than the first!
There's more obvious relationships being built between the characters now and the writing continues to have me smiling, whether it's because of humour or just the interesting detail and the phlamboyant nature with which Jim Butcher writes. Downloaded and started the next one already!
I have a new series to enjoy!
I absolutely loved this first book in the series. I don't tend to like Urban modern-day fantasy, but there was something about this that made it feel fantastical enough that it didn't feel like “yeah, someone would notice that”.
I like Harry as a character and I am a big fan of other supporting characters also. I do wish there was more of a group helping out as it leaves little in the way of relationships to grow, bond or break. Looking forward to reading the rest of the series!
Cracking twist at the end but a long build up
Hoping my title hasn't ruined any plot spoilers but I imagine everyone reading this book understands there's a twist. The writing isn't phenomenal and there's not a vast amount of action - but the fact I read this book in about 36 hours is a testament to how gripping it was. It really kept me hooked in and made me want to know the answer which was left very smartly on tentative hooks until the last few chapters.
One of the absolute greats
This book isn't just the best in the series, it's one of the greatest books of all time. The amount of action, the amount of content that's in this book is simply incredible. Without giving away too many spoilers, this book takes the series into a much darker, more serious area whilst making you fall more in love with the characters and giving them even more personality than before. It's truly sensational and is most certainly up there as one of my favourite books of all time.
Huge improvement over first novel
It's such a shame that the first Alex Rider movie was so bad as this is clearly a far superior story and plot and would have almost certainly been a success. It's got great twists, a lot darker purpose from the villain and offers up a great ending too. Thoroughly enjoyed rereading this as an adult.
Not my sort of thing but can appreciate it
As stated in my title, it's not quite the sort of book that I enjoy, in fact at times I found it a slog. This was not because it was dull or poorly written, likely more due to the fact that there were so many new names and names of places to remember and learn. Trying to remember which place was new, which they'd visited, what relevance each had the story took a real level of concentration.
The writing was interesting, at times it repeated the word ‘and' quite often but this didn't lessen the quality and the flow of the story telling. I'd recommend this for anyone who loves historical fiction and loves great wars and ship battles.
An American James Bond
My title says it all really. This felt a lot like an American version of James Bond. Multiple beautiful women, travelling around the world, often a woman companion to aid in his gun battles and fights.
It was a cracking action book and I'm glad I've now found another action series worth reading. Didn't quite blow me away like The Gray Man or The Terminal List did, but no other action books have. I look forward to reading the sequel at some point. Also nice to see an action character with a bit of a sense of humour and personality!
Utterly incredible
I'm not sure I'm surprised that this book is so incredible as this is the reason I chose to read it - the reviews, lists and articles all mentioned this book (and series) as a must for all fantasy fans.
This may well be one of my favourite magic systems in any book I've read so far. Any good magic system has logic and it's fallbacks and those are really felt within this book. On top of that we see the book constantly keep to these rules by telling us how the characters are performing each feat, rather than just expecting us to presume that's a form of a certain type of magic.
On top of the amazing magic system, there's a very solid group of characters who are very likeable. A main character who shows development, another protagonist who just keeps throwing surprises and a support character whom you can't help but love and feel is very similar to that of a certain large lovable Harry Potter character.
The story is typical of fantasy stories (there's a big baddy who rules the land and they want to kill him) but it throws in enough lore and interesting curve balls to keep you reading and want to understand more and find out the answers to questions.
All fantasy fans should read this book.
Obsessed with this series
As my title says. I love the characters, I love the writing, I love that every chapter is filled with action and intrigue. My favourite character didn't feature quite as much (M-Bot) as I'd have liked and he appeared to have a little bit of an existential crisis, but I guess it made their character a little more in-depth.
The story takes place in a much larger expanse and introduces you to some great new characters and species that made it feel like it has far more longevity and possibility for other sub-stories. Can't wait for the next one!
Probably my favourite Reacher book yet
So this was the first Reacher book where it felt far more detective than action-hero. There was a lot less fist fights and car chases and such and more deliberating, discussing and using wits.
I enjoyed the slight change and it was a nice change.
Lee Child's writing continues to bug me a bit, describing places far too much with far too much description. Characters having conversations that lead the plot nowhere and feel like filler.
But this can all be forgiven as this was the most interesting Reacher book yet that has me guessing until the end. Whenever there's intrigue and suspicion to be had, you're always guessing in your head who the villain might be but it wasn't too obvious at any point for me.
Phenomenal first book!
The best way of describing this book is like I was reading the final book in a series. It was an absolute treat to read with constant action and constant movement.
Some action books try and build life around the protagonist but Mark Greaney managed to give Court Gentrey more personality in a book that contained pure action than these other books do by having them have personal lives.
Not only have I fallen in love with a new action hero but I'm wholly backing him to succeed every time. If any first book in a series really wanted to introduced their protagonist as a badass, this book did it. Thoroughly looking forward to reading the sequel and all sequential books!
Best Milton book yet
This is definitely the most I've ever read in a series of books. The Milton series are easy to read but have brought me into a world full of characters I genuinely want to keep reading about.
This book gets a little too close to death for Milton at times and is most certainly stretching him at his limits.
As I said before, this is the best in the series yet. Full of action and some interesting characters!
Best Milton book yet
This is definitely the most I've ever read in a series of books. The Milton series are easy to read but have brought me into a world full of characters I genuinely want to keep reading about.
This book gets a little too close to death for Milton at times and is most certainly stretching him at his limits.
As I said before, this is the best in the series yet. Full of action and some interesting characters!
Absolutely loved this book from a sci-fi/fantasy fan
As stated, I'm mainly a fantasy/sci fi reader, but absolutely loved this book. It had twists, turns, was fast paced and really made you understand the character.
The story kept throwing curveballs at me and huge twists that I didn't see coming (and I like to think I can see when a twist is coming).
The book is obviously about agoraphobia and it was fascinating the read this and understand the phobia better.
Would highly recommend!
A fantastic sci fi world that really drew me in with its initial premise. The story diverted quite a bit and it feels like the writer may well have not originally had the plot direction going the way it did when he began. However with interesting characters, continuing surprises and a, as aforementioned, fantastic sci-fi world, it kept me intrigued for the majority of the story.
Absolutely phenomenal series
This whole series has grabbed me like no other. Not only is it easy to follow but it is so encaptivating and enjoyable to do so too.
There are so many great characters and a hideously intriguing world that has been built here by Shusterman.
There's no doubt I'd read more if another trilogy was made of this series.
Always worth a read
I do enjoy the Jack Reacher series and as we learn more and more about him and grow more and more attached as his personal story develops, i will continue to like him.
However, as with the other two, I've felt there's been a lot of padding out with the story. Unnecessary scenes where it's literally just someone getting undressed or another character excessively self depricating that doesn't advance the story or even their character personality that much.
I also found this particular one in the series not to have a lot of action. I think there were two major action scenes in the whole book which is a shame. But I must say the rest of the story kept me intrigued!
A solid teen lit book
Easy to read and simply written make this a book that's enjoyable to follow. The story essentially consists of kids going through multiple.challenges, meeting different well-known characters along the way.
There are no amazing surprises and there's nothing that makes this series I'm desperate to continue with but glad to have read it
A consistently enjoyable read
It's very similar to the other stories. Very grounded, very down to earth and an easy and enjoyable read.
It was a nice change to meet a villain who could finally match up to Milton and made for a nice change in tone
If you've read the others in the series then there absolutely no reason you should give this a miss.