Gabe
I had to slow down my listen through this book, because I knew I was blazing through it too quickly, and ever after reading a few more books between the 6th and this one (Bobiverse, would highly recommend), I knew I still had a few months before the 8th book came out!
Faction wars was everything it was hyped up to be, and then still more.
Crawlers working together, more political implications, outside information, and the AI growing crazier still, this is exactly what I'd hoped for.
Not as engaging as the previous two books, but very nice to get some perspective into some other characters - which very necessary this far into the series, especially with Mare continuing to lament over the same thought spiral's she's been going over for the previous two books.
Will probably continue the series, but after a break.
This was the book where I really started to understand the scope of what Matt Dinniman was trying to do with the series, and oh boy do I ever love it.
Once he started reading the cookbook, I knew it would be hugely important (important enough to name the book after it, even...). The glimpses into what's going on outside the dungeon, the collaboration between the crawlers, this is in tough contention for my favourite book of the series!
This books was such a lovely vibe to listen to all the way throughout, and I would highly recommend the audiobook version. I'd imagine that re-reading the chapter titles, names of the rooms, and all the repetitively named elements might have grown old if I'd read the book, but they actually added to the feel and character of the story and location in the audiobook.
I'm glad that I read online that I don't need to pay attention and try to map out the location of the halls, because that would have been difficult, but Chiwetel Ejiofor made it such a pleasure to listen to.
Bundling my review of all 3 volumes because I listened to them all back to back and forget what happened in which book.
The story is fine, but somewhat predictable, and the characters felt like they didn't stay consistent to themselves, and their abilities and competence fluctuated greatly throughout. Some decisions and dialog felt like they were added to extend the length of the books, much to the detriment of the characters.
Another detractor is the fact that I listened to the dramatized audio, which I have yet to enjoy one of them in this format. The sound effects of feet on sand got old almost immediately into the first out of 3 books, and continued throughout, and the accents for the characters felt exceptionally cheesy.
I'm not sure how much of what I didn't like was due to the adaptation from comic to dramatized audio and how many of the decisions were made by GraphicAudio vs. Brandon Sanderson himself, but aside from the magic systems and world building it felt very much unlike the rest of the books I've enjoyed by him.
Perhaps I would have enjoyed this more if I had read the comic, so I'll have to check that out at some point, but I'll probably wait until the proper prose novel is released before revisiting.
I wasn't expecting to enjoy Skyward as much as I did, but I should have expected Brandon Sanderson wouldn't tone down any of what I love from his writing just because it's a Young Adult series (especially because I enjoyed his Alcatraz series so much, and that's targeted to an even younger demographic - even if that's the age I read it).
Some elements were predictable, but I very much enjoyed the development of all the characters, and was very quick to start book two after finishing this one!
I am a very big fan of both this book, and Glenn McDonald himself. Getting an insider's insight into how the algorithms that shape out listening experience are created, maintained, and fixed/replaced was very interesting. As someone who is interested in both software and music, this was a perfect crossover.
Some reviews I've seen weren't fans of the tangents and stories he would go into in some of the chapters, but I very much enjoyed getting that extra insight and backstory of either how something came to be, or how it impacted someone's listening.
My biggest takeaway that became increasingly clear at the end of every chapter, and also the book itself, is that Glenn McDonald loves music with all his heart and wants as many people to be able to listen to and love music as possible - and that's a message I can get wholly behind.
Having watched his YouTube channel the Nerdwriter for years, I wasn't sure how much of what I enjoyed would translate over into only written works, but I am happy to say that it was just as interesting, potentially even more so, due to the connected nature and references to previous essays that I had just read.
I really enjoyed Evan's perspective on everything he had to write about, and will certainly read whatever he decides to put out next.
This is a family favourite book in my house! It must be enjoyed as an audiobook, since Arte Johnson does such a good job I can't imagine consuming the story in any other way.
Probably over a decade since listening to the story in the van during a road trip, it remains quoted almost weekly with my family.
After hearing so much about the series, I had to give it a go.
I very much enjoyed the concepts and ideas explored, but my biggest issue is that it's hard to get attached to characters that are here one chapter, and in the next, they've been dead for 50 years and won't be seen again, except in mention from characters later in the series.
I understand that the draw of the series is the sci-fi, the politics, the concepts, the galaxy-scale plot playing out over the course of millennia, but it did take a minute to get into that mindset and really get into the series.
This is one of my favourite books from the Cosmere. I love Hoid's narrations, especially how whimsical it was in this book. The meta-commentary on storytelling reminded me very much of Brandon's Alcatraz series, which I really liked (was obsessed with) when I was a lot younger.
Now I want to know more about the moons that the spores come from! And dragons! I don't want to wait another 30 years to learn about everything opened up by this novel!
Very engaged read, left me very curious as to snow was alluding to had happened to him previously - which I have recently been informed is the plot of the previous book, A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes - so I'll have to read that soon!
The only thing I wasn't as much of a fan of was Haymitch's very repetitive lament about "my darling". I completely understand where he's coming from, of course, and the content itself was fine, however the audiobook experience got somewhat annoying hearing the phrase repeating as much as it was. Perhaps I wouldn't have even noticed if I'd read it instead of listened, but alas I did not.
