Sean

Empire of Silence is epic sci-fi, very much in the tradition of Dune and the later Enders Game books(some of my favorite of all time). It’s written as Hadrian’s memoir, thousands of years after the events of the first book, and is constantly dropping hints about what’s to come in the future as Hadrian evolves into this emperor/deity who is retelling his own story. This book is full of his personal philosophy and the phases of it each teach him some new lesson, in an almost religious way. Until the end when he meets the Cielcin, it doesn’t feel like the events of this book have major stakes for the story at-large outside of evolving Hadrians character. The most interesting part is the Cielcin, how unknown and inhuman they are, and how the majority of humanity views them compared to how Hadrian does, feels like the foundation of the series going forward and I’m glad I got to read about Hadrians first encounters with the aliens he’s so obsessed with. Knowing where the story goes makes me so excited to know how it gets there. This book itself wasn’t that great, but the world it builds and the future it sets up is what has me hooked.

The Will of the Many was textbook entertaining fantasy. It’s fast-paced, easy to digest, and has enough magic and politics to keep it interesting without going too much in depth. I also thought Vis was a strong narrator and I liked his emotional/intellectual depth, where I struggled with him was that he was just too overpowered. I recognize that he’s meant to be talented and have trained for a long time, but the fact that everywhere he goes he instantly is the best without really having to try too hard was frustrating. I feel like I’m leaving the book with a lot of unanswered questions, but it’s set up well to answer those and go beyond in the next book, which I will certainly be reading when it comes out next year.

This could not have been closer to being a 5⭐️ read. The sword of kaigen was one of the most unique fantasy books I’ve ever read. Hidden behind the usual fantasy elements like complex magic systems, political intrigue, and epic action sequences was a really deep story about family and loss and gender roles that gave it a very real feel in an otherwise fantastical world. Each character experienced real growth in the book in ways I didn’t see coming. That rings particularly true for Takeru who I feel I owe an apology to for how much I criticized him before finally learning who he was and instantly relating to him. My criticism of this book is the world building didn’t feel complete. There were snippets every once in a while but I need more to fully grasp the scope of the world. Also, misakis flashbacks to Livingston were almost entirely stolen from Batman Im pretty sure, right down to the characters name being robin and him shooting a signal over the city to communicate with the police. It was entertaining but I’m not sure why it was in this story. My only other thought is there better be a sequel soon. I need more and will absolutely read it the day it comes out.

This was my first time listening to an audio book and my opinions of this book are more shaped by that than by the book itself. I just struggled to engage with it in the audiobook format and while it was an interesting story I just didn’t quite get as into it as I would have if I’d been reading it for real. I’m not saying I’ll never try audio again, but I won’t be going straight for another one either.

Arctic dreams took me a very long time to read but I enjoyed every second. This book covered ecology, indigenous knowledge, arctic exploration, and more. Throughout it Lopez’s sense of place conveyed strongly and left me with a sliver of understanding of the arctic and a strong desire to travel there and experience the things that he did.

What an incredible, incredible, incredible book. As someone who’s never read this style of book before I was unsure that a story about game developers would have enough to it to engage me, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I ended up forcing myself to slow down and savor this story because i wanted to spend as much time with Sadie and Sam as possible. They are two of my favorite characters ever, the dynamic between them and the way it evolves throughout the story is what makes this book shine and the place it leaves them in I think was exactly where they were meant to be, despite all the ups and downs they faced on the journey. I also wanted to mention the NPC chapter. It was stunning and devastating, but so beautifully written. I felt like I should be in tears, and I think I would have been if I hadn’t been too busy being engrossed in the writing, specifically the way it was switching states of consciousness at all times. This became an instant classic in my mind and a book I will remember reading forever.

This book will never get old. The wow moments are a little less impactful on audiobook than they were reading it the first time but I still had chills and had to completely stop to process at a few different points. If you listen, just be ready for the sanderlanche to be interrupted by long strings of numbers every once in a while. The first time that happened I was completely thrown off.

There should be a separate star system for the stormlight archive. I’ve given plenty of books 5 stars but this reread made me realize how much more of a 5 star book this is compared to others. It’s a daunting reread but so worth it with all the Easter eggs for the rest of the series I had no idea about on my first read that had me excited every time something important was casually mentioned.

My review of the wager was all about how audiobooks didn’t work for me but I felt the opposite in this situation. Maybe to enjoy an audiobook all I needed was for it to be a reread of my favorite series of all time. The jury’s still out on audiobooks as a whole for me but I will continue with them as my stormlight reread preparing for Wind and Truth.

The most gentlemanly take on magic I’ve ever read. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell are engaging and interesting protagonists and the contrast between them makes for a great story. The plot was not entirely clear at points but this book was more about its characters and their world than specific actions or storylines.

I didn’t realize the power of Babel until the last fifty or so pages, but then it all clicked for me. The story wasn’t really about the characters themselves, rather the imperialist system they found themselves in. Using a magic system based on translation was a stroke of genius when it came to enforcing the message of the book. Language is the backbone of cultural identity, so to weaponize it as silver does, using a cultures own words to oppress them, was incredibly effective. Rf Kuang was not subtle in communicating the themes in this book, but maybe that was the point. There isn’t subtlety to the impacts of colonialism so why pretend that the book is about anything else. I do wish she’d spent more time building up the characters, especially as we get to know them in their formative years at Babel. I felt like I was being told about the bonds between the four main characters more than I was seeing them develop naturally. That led to a frustrating first half of the book, but from the trip to Canton onwards a switch was flipped. This is a book I think everyone should read at some point, I certainly am glad I gave it a second try.