Roo

Rating: 3.75 Stars

Matthew Reilly writes a very specific kind of book. I know this, and I went in knowing it. Matthew Reilly writes books that are more akin to big summer blockbusters with dazzling set pieces that have thrown realism out the window, because what are we here for, if not to be entertained? If you go in, knowing this, not expecting to read a book overly concerned with the practicalities of survival in life and death situations, then I believe you'll have a great time. Turn off the rational mind, enjoy the action. Let the ride take you along.

If you're the type to get bogged into “but that wouldn't happen!”, maybe set the book down. It's okay, it's not for you. Because make no mistake, Matthew Reilly writes books that doesn't overly care about the survival rates of limb amputations from a killer whale's bite, and cares more about the fact that that one soldier survived being dropped in a pool with said whales by stunning them, and that is cool. Rule of cool is the name of the game here, with a fair chunk of well researched knowledge about the weapons of choice of various commando units and what makes research stations go boom, but largely, we're talking rule of cool.

The plot is simple: something is found in a remote ice station in Antarctica, and the resulting distress signal sends that information out to the world. Multiple factions across the world converge on the titular ice station with various aims. We largely follow the American Marine unit sent it, as the base is American, who are sent to secure the station and ensure the safety of its research scientists. A few chapters every now and again weave in a few other characters who circulate around the plot that occurs in the southernmost continent of the world. Action comes thick and fast, and the writing suits it. This is Reilly's second book, but largely, his writing in my experience has always been the same - largely simple, easy to parse, and often in short sections that serve the action of the story well.

Reilly, in this book, is especially fond to two things. The first is cutting away to a different viewpoint or piece of action without revealing what a character has just understood in the aim of extending tension - which does work, to his credit - and occasionally inserting a few paragraphs that go to show that he has done great research on the matter at hand, even if it's done more so in an infodump fashion. In terms of being the most sophisticated writing in the world, this is not it. But, it gets the job done, and the job is simple: it is to entertain me. And I am entertained, rooting for the small Marine unit that comes under heavy opposition and facing stacked odds against it.

It's always been where Reilly succeeds. He loves an underdog story, of great odds and good people trying their best to overcome them. Sometimes, his villains are written almost larger than life, but I'm not here to consume these books to make think pieces and philosophical arguments about the roles of military use in the world. I came here to enjoy a fun ride that made use of, amongst other things, killer whales.

So, yes. 3.75 stars. I enjoyed my time. I'll probably come back to the book, as I have done before. However, I knew what it was. Reilly isn't trying to craft the next great novel of the twenty first century. He's not trying to create the new classic of the genre. He's trying to do something more achievable, and perhaps, more important: he's trying to entertain you. And if you come out of a chapter with a grin on your face because someone held the line and survived when they shouldn't, or finished an opponent with a quip, or simply because you found Wendy the furseal as the most adorable thing in the world, then he's done his job.

So grab the popcorn. Shut down the logical side of your brain. Anything that you need to keep in mind, you will be told. Otherwise, suspend disbelief, and for half a dozen hours or so, let yourself be pulled into a fantasy of an action film set at the bottom of the world. You just might have some fun.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

There is an intriguing world premise and magical system here. A world with magic harvested from dreams? Assassins who are both kindly caretaker for the end and also a tool for rooting out corruption? So much of that is so up my alley that I was ready to dive right in. The only issue is, the hook never quite set in.

I can't tell you what it is about this book that didn't quite grab at me. The plot itself is relatively standard but that doesn't mean it can't get inbetween your ribs. I've read books that are just about finding magical items or retrieving a lost family member, and they've hooked me well enough with just that alone. For the themes on murder and euthanasia/kindness in death, in life and death itself, those were all good things that I enjoyed. Of the three main characters, two of them were at loggerheads and some of the most interesting parts were when they argued with one another and made me think on the nature of the magic and the world's construction. There are good bones here, but I just... didn't feel a huge pull with the greater plot.

Was it the villain who was just potentially okay? Was it the shortness of the book, though I don't much think that adding more pages would have necessarily creating a more compelling narrative. I don't know. I liked it, but I wasn't enthralled. It didn't spin me into a dream and enchant me, and I was never frantically turning the page like I did for say, the Lies of Locke Lamora, to see what happened next. As a concept, it was good, but in reality, I just didn't get overly invested, which is part of what I want for a book.

Rating: 3 stars

Rating: 3.75 Stars

Rating: 3 Stars

I think, perhaps, I don't like coffee enough to enjoy this book.

Well, okay, maybe it's not that I don't like coffee. I have nothing against the cozy fantasy genre, but I think this style of cozy fantasy - the much more slice of life style, as opposed to a “small quests” type of cozy fantasy that I found in Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Fairies, which I did greatly enjoy - is not my cup of coffee. There was a certain degree of feeling like I was waiting for the story to really kick in when the characters were discovering new drinks and foods to add to the cafe menu, and that never truly left. Did I want five repetitions of the cafe menu? No. I wanted more exploration of the themes that were hanging just there, of starting anew, the struggle between past and future, in what we think we are determined to be by birth and upbringing and what we can choose to be.

But it just... never dove that deep into it, which was a disappointment to me, because that I would have been interesting to me. When the story delved a little into these areas, that's when it shone the most for me, but it never seemed to dive in enough to make the act of reading truly worth it to me.

Otherwise, it's a fine book. Nothing too grand to me, but I truly think it's just due to this style of fantasy, this slice of life style, not being suited for me. The point of the story wasn't an indepth exploration of themes, but an experience that was meant to make you feel warm and comforted. It makes sense to me that this was written in Covid, as a remedy to it, but I read Legends and Lattes in 2025 - my need for comfort and normalcy is no longer at the level that I might have needed it in say, 2022.

It's a fine enough book. I think for someone who likes slice of life as a concept, it's probably a really good book. But I think I'm good having just one cup of this particular drink, and nothing more. It's just, not for me.