Nathalie
Video game tie-ins are usually hit-or-miss, especially when featuring the same characters. Stakes can't be too high, and we can't develop any of the characters too much as you don't want any big changes to happen here instead of in the main game.
I was a big fan of the video game! Their interpretation of the characters is my favorite interpretation of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Especially Peter Quill. This book serves as a direct prequel to the game so we get more of the interactions that made the game so great, and more Ko-Rel! Weirdly I was more invested in the flashbacks involving Ko-Rel and Peter.
I would never say no to more of these characters (especially as a sequel to the game is highly unlikely at this point) so I really enjoyed this.
Some “huh, didn't think of it that way” parts, but overall very obvious. Maybe great if you really have no idea on where to start when it comes to getting better sleep and nutrition, or when you wonder where all your time goes to do anything productive.
I have also learned that I have an irrational dislike of the word “biohacking” lmao.
Ultimately very basic and incredibly easy to summarize. If you ever read any other self help book there won't be a lot of new things here. It's a good idea, and one I already did myself anyway, but outside of a few sentences that I thought “huh, never really thought about it that way”, I didn't gain much from this.
The first sci-fi book I read in ages and I enjoyed it a lot! I watched the first season of The Expanse a few years ago but remember not being too interested in it. The little I remembered helped a bit here because I had immediate images of the characters and knew of certain moments that were coming. For some reason the book version made things click more into place than the show did, so I might give that another shot soon.
I wanted to DNF this like five times throughout, but I kept on giving it the benefit of the doubt because on paper, the story is actually pretty interesting. And it's Raymond Feist! I have heard that name many times in the fantasy genre and this was the first time I ever read one of his.
Unfortunately I should have gone with my gut because the conflicts set up in this book don't even pay off here. The Hatu/Hava stuff, which wasn't even that exciting since Hatu kind of already knew anyway, is apparently saved for somewhere in the next books, so here the story just ends with some kind of other character-related cliffhanger that just made me roll my eyes. The character work in general just was very cookie cutter (also wtf at the sex thoughts every two seconds, I mean please calm down). The story itself wasn't much to write home about either. It is very much a ton of setup but nothing really so interesting that it's worth sticking out.
I was very neutral towards most of this book. Liked some parts, disliked some parts. I wasn't a fan of the main character. She's just so very incompetent for being known as “The Bitch Queen”. None of her guards or allies respects her whatsoever, and to be honest she does nothing to command any respect. Khine is a good character but waaaaay too forgiving for the shit she put him through. Rayyel had no redeeming qualities whatsoever in the flashbacks and it makes no sense that she was so head over heels for him (and to be fair, yes, love is blind, but nothing in the characterization for both convinced me on why she felt that strongly about him).
It's technically touted as being character-driven but ehhhhh. There's a lot of focus on character stuff but the events set in motion don't always make sense from their character's point of view, which makes it more plot driven than anything. (The Yuebek plan, I mean.. what?) I really thought I would like this because I found the first chapter very promising. It felt introspective and a bit Hobb-inspired to me, but it went downhill after that.
I think this might actually be the first time I enjoyed a grimdark story. The grimness of it in this actually feels earned and not just miserable for the sake of doing so or to be edgy. At times it gets very dark, like... I was in shock they went there haha.
Characters were great, in theory, as in the writing they kind of beat you over the head with their treats. Tinnstra is a coward and we have to hear that multiple times in all of her chapters. Dren is very angry. The villain is... well, very villain-y. It's very not subtle as you know those are what their character developments throughout the book are going to be about. It wasn't bad, and especially in the later chapters it's not an issue, but especially at the start it is something you might roll your eyes at :D I'm at least surprised how much development all characters were able to go through in just eight days and it not feeling too forced.
Writing wise it was very easy to read. It's not overly flowery, but also not overly simplistic.
Kinda curious about the sequels!
It started off well enough, and I was thoroughly enjoying it and interested. But somewhere at the end of the first part and going into the second part I just got more frustrated and it started losing me. I didn't care for Nona, and the others were either boring or predictable. Only Abbess Glass was great but she wasn't used enough (funnily enough when the kids wanted to go to Glass but then realize she would be gone and they would have to fix it themselves - Harry Potter déja vu haha). I'm also not one who cares too much for detailed descriptions or explanations or anything but the lack of it here just started to bother me.
I hate that the second part soured my experience with it so much, because the first part had genuinely good and interesting things. Mark Lawrence's writing might just not be my thing.
A very interesting, albeit frustrating, followup to Blood, Sweat And Pixels, in which we get another look inside the video game industry and how some great games were (or weren't) made. It's actually a wonder how many even get released at all, and even more that they still turn out good! Well done research and well written. Ideal as audiobook as well.
Timing wise it was fun to listen to the Ken Levine and Bioshock story and that they were still awaiting news for his new game, and then the trailer for Judas came out at The Game Awards.
Very fun and enjoyable read! Easy to pick up, easy to get invested. I really liked both Lin and Jovis (the rest was good but also iffy at times). The idea with the constructs and the shards I thought was very cool. Was unfortunately also pretty invested in poor Bayan but alas. It made me want to read the sequel but apparently that one isn't as great so we'll see.
So... I got this as an ARC via Netgalley quite a long time ago, but I was in a bit of a reading slump and never got around to it until now. I hadn't even realized it was a novella, otherwise I would have maybe pushed through anyway to finish it in time, but alas.
It's a dark story about witches and witchhunters, and I haven't read many books like that so that was nice. I was already into it from page one, and it was very easy to just keep on reading as the end of every chapter made you want to read the next one.
It's not perfect. The characters themselves are a bit shallow and not that developed, and the situations they fall into repeat themselves sometimes (even by characters making the same mistakes over and over). As it's a novella it's not as notable, but I've read other novellas where I already felt much more with fewer pages. But it is a genuinely scary story, even just as a social commentary and not necessarily just the gruesome acts in it.
I really enjoyed it, and would definitely read more from this author!
I randomly found this title when I was in my Final Fantasy phase (and to be fair, when am I not) so I was on the lookout for fantasy books that were inspired by it or drew from it.
I found this had a bit of a rough start. Sal, our main character, at first comes across as you average stereotypical badass tough female “men writing women” character. Thankfully that evolves later on, though she still remains a hard character to root for as she is very self-sabotaging. I can like that kind of character when I really get a sense of where they're at and I can see myself in that position, but this unfortunately wasn't it.
I really loved the side characters like Liette and Cavric. To the point where I couldn't understand why they kept putting up with Sal, when she just kept giving them shit over and over.
The world felt great, the story was entertaining enough to not put me into another slump (lmao) and it was overall pretty enjoyable. Apparently this is part of a series though, and I think I'm fine with leaving it here.
I never really properly got into this one for some reason compared to the previous books in this series. There were a few highlights that were really good, but everything else was either very meandering or just happened so damn fast that you had barely time to process it. The Solemn Muffasz thing for example was just like... why as immediately after they realize how dumb this shit is they change their mind but then it's too late when it seems like barely any time has passed? I just felt really weird about a lot of scenes that were meant to invoke an emotional reaction. It seemed a bit forced some of the time, which I didn't feel that much previously. Otherwise I really loved the parts with Meas and her mom, and a lot in those few chapters around it, and The Ghosts In The Fog.
This took me aaaages to get through. It's very long, and the start of it and certain parts were so slow that I had to really get myself to keep reading. The good parts are good though, and I like where things left off for the third book, whereas the end of the first book was a bit more open. Overall I think I was more invested in Master Of Sorrows, maybe because of the school system and everything was more focused. Making everything grander (with multiple POVs and more worldbuilding and everything) was necessary, but also worked against it at times.
Overall very entertaining! It's a bit juicy and it's got drama and it's got a few twists, as you would expect. It doesn't get overly unpredictable though, as the “bigger” twist isn't that hard to figure out, but it wasn't too on the nose either.
Part of the mystery here is not only who did it, but it also takes up until the last quarter of the book to figure out who actually got killed. And then after finding out who, the book very suddenly ends and there are a few plot points you don't really get closure on.
A fun read though, especially the audiobook.
This trilogy has been very hard to rate, and this final entry may be the hardest of all. The first half lacked most of the characters I had grown to like and love, was painfully slow, made the main character even more passive than before, and spent most of the time with characters I didn't care for.
But at some point in the second half things picked up and there managed to be a pretty good resolution. The story itself goes places and has ideas that I never quite come across in other books, and the writing is still as great as ever. It just doesn't really come together as a whole. It doesn't leave me feeling empty or fullfilled or anything, I'm mostly just indifferent. I'm relieved of the fate of certain characters and how certain issues were resolved, but I can't quite say I really liked the book (or trilogy) as a whole.
As I was in a bit of a reading slump for quite a while, I hadn't kept up with any of the new Star Wars canon, so this wasn't even on my radar really. But the Star Wars Badonkagonk podcast hosts decided they were going to read this and then review it by the next episode, so here I am!
From the very first chapters it's clear that Mike Chen has their voices and relationship down. These characters are Anakin and Obi-Wan, with a fun and entertaining storyline to boot. The prequel trilogy and The Clone Wars will always be near and dear to my heart as they were the ones I grew up with and the first I ever saw of Star Wars. After all the content we've already gotten, it's still surprising to get even more stuff. Even the new characters were great.
I spent a lot of time highlighting quotes because I just wanted to take them in for a bit. Even if it was just a dig at sand lmao.
Very much recommended if you're into this era!
I honestly don't know how to review this! Did I enjoy it? Yes! Would I recommend it? Uh...
As always I adore Robin Hobb's writing, as well as characters such as Spink and Epiny. I also wanted to know where the story would go, because I was invested in that.
The story in itself is super miserable (which is fitting considering the setting in the latter half of the book) and could get pretty “really?” at times. Nevare himself, well, if he was frustrating in the first book, it gets even worse here. It was tough to root for him at times. He makes the miserable story even more miserable so it's all just misery upon misery upon misery and that's not something everyone necessarily wants to read about.
Now, as for me, I definitely don't mind it as long as everything else makes up for it. The side characters are great as always, and just because I jive so hard with Hobb's writing I find it very easy to get into it, but obviously that's not going to be the case for everyone.
I'm honestly just glad I managed to finish a book this year :D
It has been eight months since I finished this book, and what I've learned from this experience is that I should never TBD a review and instead just do it immediately, as it is a certainty I just end up postponing it to the point that it's not even useful anymore.
I barely remember it, but the things I do remember were great. I liked Davian, the main character, but I got less interested in him from a specific plot point. I was very intrigued with Caedan. The plot points (and certain twists) were interesting.
Don't think I'll be continuing the trilogy though. I'm not reading enough as it is, so that's only reserved for obsessions :D Though I do recommend the book!
19/08/2021
It took me months but we made it! RTC when I have time.
I received a copy from Rebellion Publishing in exchange for an honest review.
I thought the book looked grander in scale than it actually ended up being. We had only two different POVs, both of which were different enough and served their purpose in being a bit more personal and developing their side of the world. (Which I like!) I switched a few times between the two when it came to which POV I was interested in the most. At the start it was Bordan, then in the middle it switched to Kyron and so on. They both had their high points and their lower points.
The story itself was interesting, but it had an incredibly slow start. It took me about halfway to really warm up to it, and I was pretty invested by the time I hit the 80% mark, but because of that it took me ages just to get to that halfway point.
I scoff a bit when I hear people's reviews of something being “I know the start is pretty so-so, but it gets good later, I promise!” which is often something I don't agree with. In this case though, I would say it's true. Not that the start is so-so at all, it's just slow, but as long as you're semi-interested in the characters and what's going on around them, the road to the end is going to pay off. It isn't as straightforward as it appears to be.
Certainly a promising start!