Sara
I am going to add only the first volume even though I have read the whole series between 2020 and 2021. At the beginning I was not convinced about this series but the more I read the more a bigger story and world opened up in front of me and I ended up loving the characters and the worldbuilding with several different races.
3.5 stars.
Intro
After reading The Thief I thought I was done with the series. I was fed up with all the nonsense drama going on with established couples. I was frustrated to see that newly introduced characters were just recycled ones. To me, Sola was a copy of Xhex and Assail of Rehv. In addition, I was frustrated with the lack of solid story arcs in the most recent volumes. I was left wondering, Where were the big bad Omega and Lessening Society? Why the conflict was “seemingly paused”, meaning that we got little or nothing going on? I considered the series reaching a stagnation point, with no sign of which direction we were going. When I read the plot of Claimed, though, I found myself to be very interested in the premise: werewolves? yes, please! the main character who wants to protect wolves? Yes! Wolves being endangered by humans? Yes! I studied environmental protection and I love animals. That's probably why this premise sounded awesome to me. Aaand here I am back on the BDB train, with the desire of catching up with the series. However, I would love that we could just get a single BDB multi-POV series, instead of spin-off here and there, since some of the events happening in one spin-off book are relevant for other spin-offs (it seems that the concept of wolven was already mentioned in The Jackal) or for the main series, and vice versa.
Plot: two story arcs
In this volume, we have two arcs. One is from the POVs of Lydia and Daniel, making up around 80-85% of the whole book, and a minor one is from the point of view of Xhex.
The main plot was mainly focused on the investigation carried out by Lydia and Daniel, to figure out who was poisoning the wolves. The romance between them develops slowly and is very sweet, especially if compared with other PNR series (Immortals after dark, for example) or the first books of the series. This is an aspect that I really liked. I am fed up with the “predestined mate” thing, sex from the first page, everything revolves around sex or sexual desire, with no world depth nor interesting plot left.
However, much information is still left unknown. I guess and I hope the second book will again involve Lydia and Daniel, but here we get the revelations at 80-90% with no further explanation of how this came or if the character even knew about it. I will give you an example here but it's a major spoiler, so please, click on it at your own risk. Lydia is the werewolf (I actually thought since the beginning it was Daniel, so that was unexpected). Lydia asks for help from her grandpa. She kinda sees his spirit. Then, she goes saving Daniel as a wolf, and as she got shot she transformed back to a woman. That's it. No further explanation if she knew about it or if, how and when she got transformed into a hybrid or if she was born like that. Also no subsequent conversation about it with Daniel. I am a person who needs to know all the whys of what is written in a book. For some whys, I can be patient and wait to get the answers throughout the series, but for the ones that are related to a key revelation, I am not ok that they are left out. I wished it would have more depth through explanations and flashbacks and that several nonnecessary conversations would have been cut out. The plot felt pretty static probably due to the investigation. I have the same feeling with each book dealing with some investigation. Probably because there is little action.
The minor story arc is pretty vague. Xhex just escaped from some experimentation lab, something that was likely explained in a previous book and I missed something here, but this doesn't affect my rating because it's my fault. We also see some of the other Brothers, especially V and JM, and her brother Blade. Btw, I don't remember him. where did he show up first? I must have missed something here as well. Without entering in details or spoilers, what happened here is pretty is pretty vague. She goes to the Colony and meets with her brother. She also hears a whispering voice in the woods, saying that she has to do something otherwise she will die. Huh? Again, no real explanation of what was going on or who was talking. I hope we'll get more information in the next book. This thread loosely crosses the main one, through Blade and Daniel, but again how they know each is a mystery left unknown.
Characters
Both main characters are well characterized. I loved Lydia from the first page. She's very empathetic and caring. I could not connect very much to Daniel probably due to his cover (?). I also enjoyed to see the other Brothers through Xhex' eyes. It gave me a positive of feeling of connection to the series and, as I said, I would not mind if all these spin-offs would actually become just part of one solid bigger story arc.
Conclusion
Overall I enjoyed this book and made me want to go back to one of my beloved series. I liked that more focus was given on the investigation rather than the romance. What made this lower rating are the holes with lack of explanations for big revelations, the not-so-sympathetic character of Daniel, the static plot, and the cliffhanger, that left me with the feeling that this book was inconcluded. As if the author was writing and a black-out occured. It could have been structured in a way to convey more depth to the world and its events and leave out nonnecessary details of sex scenes and superficial conversations between Lydia and Candy.
2.75 stars.
It was an enjoyable short story, but I could not connect to the characters. The plot was pretty simple, although the setting is still interesting. I would have appreciated more explanation about the world and the shadows in typical Sanderson's style, but due to space constraints I am aware it gets tricky doing so. I am curious to know more in detail how this story and characters will connect to the rest of the cosmere.
I love it when Sanderson creates a world with its own ecology and species. It's impressive how he could draft a new one compressed only in 50 pages!
On the other hand, this novella is too short for a decent characterization and I could not connect to the characters and the story as much as I wanted. I hope we can get more of it in a fully structured novel.
1,75 stars for that 15% of the book where I was looking for a nice plot and information about the world.
The rest was just sex, from the first to the last sentence.
You might ask yourself why I am even reading this. Well, years ago I read the lords of deliverance series and I loved it. So I wanted to know the events that led to that series and the background of the secondary characters. That's why. Now I am not even sure if I should waste my time going through books 4 and 5. Btw, I even bought all the series in paper copy and I feel sorry to give away those books without even read them.
A very nice conclusion to one of my dearest series and world. However, several plot threads were left unconcluded (the same happened with Shadowfever). I was sorry to hear of the health issues Ms. Moning had to go through. I wish her all the best and hope she becomes fit again and be able to write wonderful stories.
3 down-with-the-train-wreck-stars.
It is difficult for me to rate this book. On my emotional side, I enjoyed it, but on my rational side, there are still things missing.
Let's start with giving voice to my emotional side. I am surprised that I found myself enjoying being in Dani's head. I have never been a fan of her, but in this book, she has grown up and become more mature. That made me easier to connect with her. It was also nice to have some of the points of view from her to have a comprehensive vision of the overall story and world. I even enjoyed her moments with Shazam (cutie!). And I guess that's all from my emotional side.
Onto my rational side... Let's start with the plot. Basically, nothing solid happens in this volume. Chapter 26 is worth reading to get an overview of the Fae's timeline, told by Christian. The book is more focused on what is happening to Dani. Even though my emotional side enjoyed it, it doesn't seem to naturally fit Dani, if not for forcefully giving her a HEA with Ryodan and Shazam.
Even if I like Ryodan and I am happy that he gets his HEA, I don't feel the chemistry between him and Dani.
When I said that something is missing, I am referring to the what recently happened with Dani/Jada. We know that Dani had a bad and difficult and we got here some flashbacks with her mother, too. However, we do not get any (or very little) information of what happened to her in the Silvers and her coming back as Jada nor her transformation back to Dani. I also think that her relationship with Ryodan was not well-built enough and did not really grow over time. I do not see those characters slowly falling in love with each other as Mac and Barrons did.
3.5 stars.
It was nice to go back to Scandrial as it was at the beginning of the mistrborn trilogy, with ash falling down from the sky and strange-behaving fog. It made me recall the good memories I had when I was reading the mistborn trilogy six years ago. I loved Kelsier back then as much as Ioved him in this novella. Now I don't recall if his story with Mare and the Pits was explained in the first book [I just looked up in the summary provided by Coppermind and found very little information given. However, on the page dedicated to Mare, the references lead to the first book]. Anyways, I would have loved to have more information about what happened in the Pits and why. On the other hand, I understand that the scope for which this novella was written did not allow in-depth information.
My rating is kind of low, because plotwise there's little happening (understandable since the low number of pages), but you know, with Kelsier there's always another secret and I wanted to have more of pre-Mistborn Kelsier. :D
2.5 stars.
I knew of the postsript before reading this novella and, with all honesty, that influenced my rating positively by half star. I found totally cool what Brandon did.
The novella per se was barely interesting to me. I was not interested in Matisse, the main character, nor the children. In my experience, I have noticed that novellas work for me if the characters are already introduced in a “canon” book and I had the time to get a connection with those characters. Novellas are in general too short for me to grow fond of new characters. I was expecting more a short anedcote focused on Sarene, Raodem and Ashe in New Elantris. However, it was nice to go back to elantris even for a few pages after so many years I have read the book. I noticed I also like its magic system with seons resembling somehow sprens of the stormlight archive. I hope we can come back to Elantris soon.
3,75 stars.
I enjoyed this one more than the previous one. I found this last installment a very nice conclusion to a light-hearted and nice series.
The plot was more interesting to me: more action-packed and containing more revelations about Alexia's father. I was waiting for that since volume one! I also enjoyed Alexia and Conall's moments.
Regarding character development, I found also in this one changes out of the blue that made me roll my eyes.
Even if I am left with a positive feeling about some characters, I don't feel enough interest to read further series set in the same world.
Premise
I had this and the last volume for the series lying on my bookshelf for years. I read the previous volume “Blameless” in 2016 and it is not optimal to read the story again after so many years, because I lose somehow interest and connection to the story. Unfortunately on the internet, I could not find any recaps, but on the other side, I read the mangas. That makes it as if I have read the first three books one and a half times. And I did not lose the connections to the original characters of Alexia, Conall, Lord Akeldama, and so on. I thought of writing this premise because it will highly impact my review.
Plot
I found the plot pretty uninteresting, besides a few revelations.
Characters
Regarding a couple of characters, Prof. Lyall and Ivy, we assisted a big change that looked out of character to me. I love dynamic characters: characters that change sides, that grow, that are well-developed. However, to write a well-round evolution, you need a larger amount of pages, to show the change to readers. I am not sure if these changes were hinted at in the previous books already and I don't remember them or if they were meant to be unexpected.
Conclusion
Overall, I found it a nice read. I enjoyed going back to my beloved and funny characters, but I found myself not very involved in the story and found those revelations not quite fitting.
4.25 stars.
As soon as I read the first sample page of this volume with the list of the houses and creatures, I decided I was in and I bought myself a copy. I have seen so many negative review though, that I was wondering if I did the right thing, but I decided to give it a chance anyway and I must confess that I was positively surprised by this volume. The book follows mostly Bryce's and Hunt's points of view.
Bryce is half-Fae, half-human, while Hunt is an enslaved fallen angel. Bryce's best friend, Danika, was killed at the beginning of the book and then Bryce and Hunt have to collaborate to investigate her death. Even if the book is set in a fictional world, Midgard, it has an Urban Fantasy feeling, due to contemporary setting and the presence of modern technology. It has also a small reminiscence of Rome, something I found in the Nevernight trilogy by Jay Kristoff, but less strong here, through for example, the Comitium, the Governors, but as I said, it was minimal.
The Lore
The reason I bought myself a copy at once was the lore and I was happy to stay in this world for quite some time (since the book has eight hundred pages!). In Midgard all the creatures you can imagine of exist and they have an affiliation of their own (e.g. House of Earth and Blood include shifters, witches, ordinary animals and many others). The book doesn't explain in detail each type of creature, but rather focuses on the affiliations of the main and secondary characters. On the other hand, 800 pages are justified to develop characters, plot and the lore as well. Information about the lore is given piece by piece, as soon as something new was introduced. However, for the first 90 pages, I struggled to keep up with all the information. There were names mentioned, places, and so on and it was too much to follow who was this and that, but afterwards, it got better and I could gradually put the pieces together.
Characters
Bryce is very immature, stubborn and impulsive. Her impulsiveness leads her to do often stupid things. This is why I could not sympathise with her nor could like her. On the other hand, she could also be funny or had some bright ideas. Here is a quote.
“Any ideas?”“Promise me you won't go ballistic.”“Summoning a demon is a bad fucking idea.”
I liked Hunt, as well. He is less explosive than Bryce. However, what I found very annoying is the repetition every few lines about how much he is physically attracted to Bryce and her attributes. I am fine with such statements, since the author has to express the attraction somehow, but it was just too much and irritating. Also, another aspect that I did not like is the language: there were too many “fucking”. Again, it is ok if a character uses because he/she becomes emotional, but if you abuse it, it loses its value and becomes just unnecessary and annoying.Overall, I liked them together and I liked the fact that their relationship developed gradually, first becoming a friendship and then started to have feelings for each other.A special mention goes to Syrinx, the chimera, and Lehabah, a fire sprite: the cutest and sweetest companions ever. PlotThe plot is mostly focused on the investigation. It develops very slowly and by that I mean that before page 500 we do not have any revelation and before page 600 nothing big happens. However, I did not mind it. I enjoyed the slow pace because it gave me the time to enjoy the lore and the development of the relationships between characters, not only between Bryce and Hunt, but also between Bryce and her brother Ruhn. On the other hand, when the revelations come, it's a hit. First, because we get everything in such a short time that it's hard to digest and secondly because I did not see any hint. The last 200 pages are high-adrenaline finale and I had the impression that the ending was somehow rushed especially compared to how the plot developed for the first two thirds, but it felt like everything was put into the right place. Conclusion and future expectationsOverall, I enjoyed this book a lot and I spent a great time in Midgard, even though I found some aspects a bit annoying, so to say. What I hope for the next books is that Bryce will grow and become more mature. After I have seen other reviews, I hope that no heartbreak between Bryce and Hunt will happen. I also hope that we get the chance to meet new characters from other factions as well and hopefully a cross-verse between this world and the worlds of Sarah's previous series. Last, but not least, for the next book it would be great if we get a character list with their affiliation and briefly what they did in book 1.
Well, usually I am not a comic person, but since thus series provides additional stories taking place after the TV series' episodes and the only format available was comics, I had to go for it.
The promise takes place just after the TV series and it's about the restoration of the four nations after the defeat of the fire lord. Again, we see a very insecure Zuko in front of difficulties, always under the negative influence of her sister, Azula. That's Zuko, the same as in the series. Themes like integration and diversity are dealt with in this volume.
I enjoyed a lot staying in the avatar world a bit longer and see how the world is going to change.
I loved it, it was so nice to go through the first season again with a book! I did not want it to finish, I found myself to want always more.
On the other hand, I expected a bit more in-depth characterisation and more aspects that were not shown in the TV series. I would recommend it to all fans of Dragon Prince, though, since it adds more personality to the characters. However, if you have not watched the TV series, I am not sure if you could appreciate it enough, because the writing is very simple, barely contains description the lore and lacks solid characterization.
Age of swords is a book of preparation, a preparation for war.
After Age of Myth we are left with a threat of war between Runes and Fhreys. In Age of swords we see our characters planning and finding strategies to go to war.
I find the pace of this installment very slow especially in the first half and I found myself not interested in the characters of Moya and Roan. I found myself dragging off during this read. The second part was more fast-paced and it captured my interest again. I don't react positively to the death of animals, especially if they have a strong bond with characters, though. I cried for the last.. 40 pages or so?! That was torture, my poor feelings -_-
* I will never forget you for that, Michael Sullivan *
But at least I am glad if an author can connect to my feelings and make feel for the characters and the story :)
Overall, a nice installment with a good plot and with solid character development. Right now, I need a break from the series but I am curious to know what Age of War will bring.
3.5 Stars.
Contiene spunti interessanti. Mi sarebbe piaciuto però che l'autrice fosse andata più nel dettaglio. Inoltre, una biografia sarebbe stata utile, dato che l'autrice specifica che alcune teorie/idee le ha prese da altri autori.
In ogni caso una lettura che vale la pena per gli spunti che offre.
