Steve
Very grim, very dark but with an incredible Peaky Blinders inspired atmosphere. Although this is slightly more its own thing than the first book (which was basically Peaky Blinders with Swords), I still find that it is Cillian Murphy’s Brummie accent narrating the tale to me, which is no bad thing. I’m not sure I am completely happy with the level of gory violence, but this won’t stop me from reading the next in the quartet.
The first half is a little tropey, but does at least play around with The Chosen One trope by making them an asshole. Things pick up considerably when the story escapes the confines of the "school", and there is a very good, hard-left turn when the twist kicks in. Afterwards, it plays around with things in an interesting way, but does somewhat fall back into its credulity-stretching, tropey ways towards the end. Good in a lot of places; just OK in others.
If the first book was "let's see if I can write a stirring, nautical story" and the second book was "maybe I should pad out the world so I can write a series", this one is "let's bring it all together and really pull the stops out!".
HMS Surprise has the perfect combination of nautical, martial and personal, with a globe roaming narrative and just enough personal drama to full the gaps. As with the previous books, I am enjoying that the stories are largely focused on Stephen Maturin, who is by the far the more interesting character. Jack Aubrey has his place, but outside of the battles he does give off a "boys messing about in boats" vibe.
So, onwards to the next book...
Contains spoilers
So, 4 stars 'cos it's Scalzi and, if you like Scalzi, you won't be disappointed (although personally I find, particularly in more recent books, the witty patter is getting to be a little tiresome; this predates that however). On the other hand, the ending of this does feel a little rushed and it does require a literal deus ex machina to provide a solution (of sorts; it does feel like Scalzi reached a point with the whole Flows Collapsing thread and just threw his hands up in the air and said 'Fuck it!'). So, good but not great.
A popcorny, sci-fi thriller. On the plus side, it is fast moving and manages to tie up its time-travel threads well. On the negative side, if you think about the virtually any of the key plot-drivers in any depth, it makes no sense whatsoever. So, your mileage will depend on how willing you are to suspend disbelief. Personally I made it to the end, but it was a close run thing.
If you're looking for a fast-paced time-travel story with a bunch of dinosaurs and a neatly tied up plot, you could do worse than this.
In which Patrick O'Brian starts with a hard swerve into Jane Austen territory, which took some getting used to. It does finally get back into the more familiar Life On The High Seas, but it had me concerned for a while. It appears O'Brian decided that he needed to expand his world-building to setup the ongoing series, so I'm going with it. As the series progresses, this is beginning to feel more like the story of Stephen Maturin, which I am perfectly happy about because frankly he has the far more interesting character development and storyline. Jack Aubrey, on the other hand, feels more like a big kid who just loves messing about on boats. Looking forward to the next one...
That was…depressing. I’m not really sure if there was meant to be an overarching theme, but it was a pretty nihilistic one if there was. There is certainly a lot of striking imagery, which is why I am not rating this lower, but I cannot really relate to whatever the author ia trying to say (maybe something about being at the mercy of fate/other people’s desires?).
This trilogy has firmly secured its place among my favorite fantasy series. It's a true tour de force, with a plot that seamlessly carries the reader from one book to the next. The integration of every plot point into the overarching story is impressive, with seemingly minor events paying off across the entire arc. The pacing of the reveals is particularly well-executed, with details and explanations woven throughout all three books, rather than relying on the typical climactic reveal at the end.
If there's any critique to be made, it would be the extensive cast of characters, which can occasionally make it challenging to keep track of everyone (though it does contribute to the richly detailed world). Additionally, as the characters' fortunes ebb and flow across different times and places, it can sometimes be difficult to remember who possesses which powers at any given moment.
Nevertheless, a testament to the story's strength is the author's confident decision to drop an entire plotline, as explained in an end-note, without leaving the reader feeling that something was missing. The intersection of the omitted plotline could have felt like a deus ex machina, but its absence only highlights the robustness of the remaining narrative.
I'm eagerly looking forward to exploring more of this author's works.
An ultimately good, but weirdly uneven book. Blistering fight scenes, and some good character development, but leaves a lot of unanswered questions. The whole Robin sub-plot feels out of place; almost like a cameo from another book (which I now find out it is!). It is a shame that the series has been discontinued, as it held promise, but this did feel very self-published. Maybe if this had been overseen by a traditional publisher, some of the excesses could have been reined in, and maybe the author would have felt more confident to continue. Well, good while it lasted…
This is how you finish a trilogy: setup the story and characters in the first two books and then concentrate on wrapping up the plot for the finale. As with the first two books, a strong feature is the way the characters develop over the course of the story, however this doesn’t get in the way of action. I’d say this was Sanderson-esque in its conclusion, but that is not really fair as Hobb published first. Having not been overly wowed by the Farseer Trilogy, the Liveship Traders trilogy has given me a new found appreciation for Robin Hobb.
Contains spoilers
As with the first book, an intriguing tale, with an interesting bunch of characters. Admittedly, some of the character development doesn’t quite ring true (I’m sure it was stated at some point, but I can’t for the life of me work out how old Seldon is supposed to be; he seems to be anywhere between 5 and 15) and, as with the first book, there are some events that seem a little too convenient (convenient earthquakes always annoy me). But, overall, the story kept me involved and I am looking forward to the completion of the trilogy.
A bizarre story. The first 50% is basically like watching someone play an RPG, which could get a little boring but fortunately things pick-up when it becomes clear that there ia more to the story than a simple dungeon crawl. I initially thought I was one-and-done, but now I am actually looking forward to the next book…
This was far more involving than I was expecting and fell into the category of "finding reasons to read". This is partly because it is a well-written story of intrigue, and partly because it dropped enough hints about the wider world to make me curious where this was going. I anticipate/hope that the next books in the series will head off in unexpected directions, or at least move beyond the "simple" bounds of Lords and Ladies jostling for positions of power. I also would not have guessed this was written in the '80s, since the empowerment theme feels very current. Very much looking forward to the next in the trilogy.
A solid continuation of Shards of Honor. While the first felt like a series of short stories, detailing the developing relationship between the main protagonists, Barrayar is a more traditional beginning/middle/end story. I have not yet read any of the other books in the Vorkosigan Saga, however this introduction did make me intrigued to see how things develop from here.