serfraser

I loved The Book of Three. I thought it was clever, sweet, and a playful take on the hero's journey. The cast were fun and had great chemistry together. Overall a classic that lived up to its reputation.

I did not particularly enjoy The Black Cauldron. A dull plot without much going for it (the witches were okay but their part was brief), which I could totally forgive if the cast stayed entertaining.

Unfortunately everyone has become a dull shadow of themselves, and none of the newcomers bring much to the table. All the fun it seems had to bow out to leave more room on the page for Taran to sulk and tediously butt heads with Generic Smug Prince Ellidyr.

No great rush to read the next one, which is a shame, as I hear book four mentioned all the time as especially good.

Dense, fun, unpredictable, brutal, beautiful. Hard to compare to anything else. Imagine the grandad from Princess Bride reading to you a Malazan book full of Ghibli characters.

Can confirm, it's an Elric book. As I'm re-reading them in chronological order after many many years I'm basically rediscovering what that means. So far it's basically hauty, gothy sword and sorcery that's maybe a little po-faced but overall they're quick and easy reads.

This one starts a little muddled with all the Eternal Champion stuff not doing much for me, but things pick up as the focus turns back to Elric getting himself into yet another jaunt across time and space. Nothing super memorable, but if you like an Elric book you'll probably enjoy this one.

Judge Sherlock Dredd Holmes doesn't do as much detecting in this one which I found to be a shame. What we get is still a bunch of moody fun, but there's a heavier focus on the big picture, war and questing and stuff, that I don't think allows this premise to shine as brightly as it did in book one.

There's still plenty of dirty deeds - corruption, combat, and demon dodging - and it's still fairly well done (though I could do without the constant interjections from the narrator looking back on the story with useless foreshadowing about how wrong she was, how much worse things would get, etc. Stop undercutting the tension, Helena!)

I just wish this series had more Witcher style self-contained short stories about Sir Conrad's justicing (just icing?) around the fringes of society. It's a great premise in a spooky world with a fun cast, I would happily follow along to them roaming about solving murders and mysteries like a Witchfinder Scooby Gang.

Lovely story, fantastically unconventional main character, some really memorable one liners and insightful quotes, plus a cool villain.

That said I found the pacing a bit off - plot and character development fight for breathing room leaving certain parts one note (supporting cast) or rushed (the romance).

Still a sweet book, very enjoyable.