Nathalie
While there were some interesting ideas in here, it is just another self-help book with tons of references to its website and telling you to recommend it to your friends, while the advice itself could have been shortened into a nice article without losing much. It is a more elaborate and actionable “fake it till you make it” strategy, and it can work if you're open to it. But you don't need this book to help you with that. A short list of bullet points will do the same.
Even if there is a lot of fluff, I was interested in most of it and never wondered when it was going to be over. There's a bit of repetition at times, but as I listened to this as an audiobook, this wasn't as noticeable as it otherwise would have been. It's pretty much ideal for listening to while you're doing something else. But if this has 100% of your attention, I imagine you'd get bored with it quickly.
Started out promising, but unfortunately I just wasn't into it. The characters and story were eh. The politics in it were also very heavy-handed and so extreme it just bordered on ridiculous. It felt very much meant for an American demographic.
I imagine this is fun if you are from (or very familiar with) New York though. Unless you're from Staten Island
Oh, this was super fun! The entire book's chapters are separated like episodes, in that they each have their own story but have a few overarching elements, which ramp up a bit more towards the end. My favorites were the parts where we got to know a bit more about each of the main characters' history, especially Frank's.
Definitely a few cool takes on traditional fairytales, which is always interesting!
I really enjoyed this! It's a classic coming-of-age story, but with a few twists to make it stand out.
Reading wise, the beginning felt a little long-winded and it took me a while to get through it. I never felt like skimming any descriptions or action scenes though, so I really took it all in. The story was interesting enough and never got overly confusing or too simple.
As for the world, we haven't seen too much of it yet aside from the village, so there's lots more to explore there in the future.
But what always remains most important of all to me: characters!
I appreciate that our main character was allowed to have and make faults and be frustrating, while at the same time not begin rewarded for it and learning from it.
Sodar is the type of character that I normally like (father figure, emotionally vulnerable, protective) so him and Annev's relationship hooked me from the start. Too bad Annev had to be a total young adult about it though.
Titus is the sweetest and needs to be protected at all costs.
I am also strangely invested in a potential Fyn/Annev friendship, or just more Fyn in general. I really liked the growth he went through.
I loved the “romantic” relationship in it. As in, the reader could see that this was not any good, even if your main character couldn't. And you just hope that the writer is on the same page and doesn't try to sell it as the end all, be all of romance. I love that this didn't end up in the traditional way.
There's a lot of potential here and I am definitely keeping a look out for the sequel.
This one is very action-packed from the get-go, which makes it a bit overwhelming at the start as there is a lot of information to take in. It doesn't take too long to grasp everything though and then you're just along for the ride.
An entertaining and enjoyable story, with good, distinct characters. Due to their nature and their obligation to “the clan” I had trouble relating to them as they don't really show their emotions or talk about them. They could have been developed more.
Story-wise it went in a few directions that I certainly didn't expect, and at the same time I wished what I thought was going to happen would have happened. I did love the setting and the world.
This is currently being developed as a TV series and I think it's going to work even better in that medium! Especially with the action scenes being brought to life and a chance to give us more insight into the characters.
This is a grand, multiple POVs, big world story about war and magic, and I found myself caring very little for it.
Occasional interesting moments, but most of it was very okay. Had a really promising start, and there were a few POV's that I enjoyed reading more than others, but overall it didn't really leave a lasting impression on me and I'm just glad to be done.
2,5 stars ultimately. The start was very good, and a few chapters were definitely more interesting than others, but not enough to make me care about what was going on.
Oh, this is something very special. I assumed this went more towards atmospheric horror, so I was surprised to find this had some very heartwarming moments. I cared for the characters and their relationship by the end (the book is like 100 pages in total so that's a feat!). There's just something about stoic characters learning to care that gets me. Really unique setting too.
I liked this! It took a while to get going, but it got very easy to read as soon as Nevare arrived at the Academy.
I think it's unfair to compare this to anything from The Realm of the Elderlings, so I won't. This still has plenty of things I like from Robin Hobb - her characters, the way she introduces us to the world, and her writing in general. Those things remain my favorite to this day.
I have said it before, but everything at the Academy was my favorite. I needed Nevare to interact with friends and other people in general outside of a family setting. It reminded me a bit of Inda by Sherwood Smith, which I have also recently read, but I found it more engaging here. In the background there was also magic looming, but I found that part only interesting sometimes. I was mostly here for the camaraderie.
The only thing that I was missing was a real emotional connection. It's hard to care about our main character Nevare. He is very obedient, to a fault. Very traditional, also to a fault. He's very comfortable with the way things are and does not see a need for change, and some of his comments (especially regarding his female cousin) are very eyeroll-worthy. Luckily there are other characters there to call him on his occasional bullshit, and he does get a chance to grow. There is still more room to grow, but he has changed for the better by the end, so it's a start.
I'm very curious about what the rest of the trilogy entails. You could in theory stop reading here, as there isn't a cliffhanger or anything, and I'm not sure about what story threads still remain unsolved.
I'm gonna check out at least the sequel anyway, so guess I'll find out eventually!
I don't usually read stories like this, and I think I found out why: I do not believe anything that happened in this book. I liked it, I loved how it was written, how it made me feel nostalgic for experiences I never even had, but I distanced myself from really getting into the story by not believing it.
All I kept thinking the entire time was that this entire story took place inside a boy's imagination, or at least everything that went inside supernatural territory. I feel like a lot of traumatic things happened to this kid in a relatively short time (Seeing a dead body, catching his father cheating, his father becoming abusive for a while after, his one friend either leaving or dying, and basically blaming himself for all of it) and that this was his way to cope with all of it. Maybe that was the point, and we are supposed to look for the meanings behind all of it, but it kept me from being really immersed in all of it.
The first half of the book I really loved. It had most of the nostalgia and it felt very atmospheric. Ideal for reading on a rainy day. The second half of the book really ramped up the “strange occurrences” and that's where it lost me a little bit.
A very unique read! This was the first time I had to change the book I read before bedtime because this one gave me some very strange dreams. Especially the first half feels very unnerving and so it didn't quite work as a relaxing read.
I think this type of magical realism is not my particular genre, but I still took enjoyment out of figuring out what had actually happened to this kid.
Did I barely have any idea what was going on? Yes. Did I enjoy it anyway? Also yes.
This book is a lot. Characters keep getting introduced up until the very last chapter, and even if you managed to keep track of all of them, there is still the story and the world and the alliances and the conflicts to remember. Gardens Of The Moon throws you in its world with very little context, but gives you more information bit by bit, and things do start making sense. I felt like I had a pretty good grasp on things up until around 60-65% in - that's when things started getting just a bit too chaotic and grand for me.
The story has a lot of unique elements here that I hadn't come across yet in other fantasy fare. There's a few developments that happen to characters that really caught me by surprise, such as deaths that are actually way more than just a simple death.
As far as fantasy elements go, this combines so many of them. The story has mages, dragons, shapeshifting, gods, puppets, possession,... as well as so many revelations about characters that it can feel very overwhelming. I don't feel I have a good grasp on what is and what is not possible in this world yet.
I am not super into military fantasy or just fantasy that is very epic and big, unless everything is revealed a little more gradually. This might start making more sense in the rest of the series though.
I however enjoyed the arcs of some of the characters and even though they were many, they all had a role to fill and had something interesting going on, which is a pretty rare feat.
Apparently when it comes to the Malazan series, in order to give it a fair chance you'd have to read the first 2-3 books, and I am eventually going to check out the second one. Right now I am not convinced I will read the entire series, but I am still intrigued enough to at least give that one a try.
I can always appreciate novellas. They can do so much in so little time. This one clocked in at about 100 pages and still had great worldbuilding and a complete story.
I wasn't into it enough though to warrant more than 3 stars for me. The author very much has a unique voice which I can appreciate and did fit in with the world, but wasn't something I was particularly into. A lot of the dialogue you had to read aloud to know what they meant. And sentences like:
It make my feet want to dance and it seem like the whole world is moving with me.
It adds to the world but for me it more often than not just takes me out of it.
I can say though - there are some very unique characters to be found in here, most of them female. I actually thought the author was a woman while reading, so I was a bit surprised to see that he wasn't. The nuns were my favorite!
The story itself was okay. Nothing too engrossing. This was definitely more about the characters and the world.
This started out as a definite 4 stars and by the end I felt like it felt more like a 3 rating, but I'm rounding up. EDIT 11/08: Eh, I ended up rounding down after some more thought.
I appreciate that the story and setting was easy to get into. The characters though? I thought they were fine. But only fine. I liked Kell, but I took a really long time warming up to Lila, and everything else I never really warmed up to.
And while it was easy to get into, I found the story to be just okay. Nothing super exciting.
An enjoyable read, but not enjoyable enough to really look into its sequels.
Weirdly interesting! If you care about language (or at least the English language) at all, I would recommend this! Not too long either, so it doesn't overstay its welcome.
If I had more writing talent I would try to sneak the proper use of a semicolon into this review, but alas; you'll have to make do with this abomination of a sentence.
Unfortunately wasn't as into it as I would have liked to have been. The different names and the omniscient narration took a bit to get used to but were fine by the end. Didn't get as invested into the story and characters as I would have hoped though. I saw that this book was recommended for fans of Robin Hobb so maybe I just went in with the wrong expectations. Loved the Inda/Sponge friendship though but kind of expected more from that as well. Maybe that's something that's more developed in the next few books but I don't think I'll be reading those.
The book tells the story about ten different video games and the hurdles they managed to (or not to) overcome during development, all the way to release. I especially liked the stories of Stardew Valley and Star Wars 1313.
It seems like every game's success story boils down to excessive crunch time, which is a bit sad. The stories are interesting (even if you're not familiar with the game being talked about), but man I do not want to work in the video game industry.
3,5 stars ultimately, and after debating with myself for a while I ended up giving it 3 stars.
I did not have high expectations. The only reason I wanted to read this is because I was curious, and with the movie coming out soon it gave me a deadline to finally get to it.
The world that is built here is impressive. There's a lot to learn at the start, but you'll grasp the concepts eventually. There's a history to everything, including the planet and its people. And of course, politics!
However, what usually attracts me the most to a book are its characters, and although there were a few nice moments here, I found most of them to be rather “matter of factual” instead of more on the emotional side, if that makes sense? I found most interactions to be rather cold and so I found it difficult to really get invested in the characters and their relationships. That's probably the only thing that stopped me from caring too much about what was happening sometimes.
It was nice to read an actual complete story for once, though. I mean, I know there are continuations, but they're mostly seen as optional. The ending here ties everything up nicely, and as someone who's more used to series, this was very refreshing.
Originally I wasn't going to read this, as it looked quite nonessential and not super exciting, but I was able to pick it up for free during a May the Fourth sale. And I have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised!
As Queen's Shadow is about Padmé's transition from Queen to Senator, this book isn't very much high stakes or super thrilling in any way, but I did find it an interesting and enjoyable read. The politics in this are fun, and it's always great to get some more info on Palpatine, the Organas or Mon Mothma. There's a few side characters here as well that Clone Wars and Rebels fans will recognize. It also gives you a bit more insight into Padmé's relationships with her handmaidens, who were not as prominent in the movies.
Overall, not an essential book to read in terms of catching up with the new canon, but still a nice read if you want something quick and light. It's definitely not a waste of your time.
This was just not for me.
And honestly, that's my own fault. I should have looked into it more. I wanted a book that would give me nice life descriptions of some of the more famous pirates back in the day, because I'm genuinely interested in that sort of thing and I was hoping for something that's more exciting to read than a Wikipedia page. Some cool side info on piracy in general was also a nice addition!
Unfortunately the “general history of the pyrates” is a bit too... general for me. It had more to do with who took whose ships and what was on that ships, or just geography information that went on for pages at a time. The worst part for me is that it was all in very classic and dated English, and as someone whose first language isn't English, it was very hard to get through.
The only worthwhile chapters for me were Mary Read's and Anne Bonny's, as those went more into their personal lives, as well as parts of Edward Low's chapter.
So.. would not recommend. It would have already made a huge difference for me if only the language was a bit more modern. So I think a modern version of this book, that sort of seeks to tell the same things, would work better.