Max Fray

“No one is obliged to take part in the spiritual crisis of a society. On the contrary, everyone is obliged to avoid the folly, and live his life in order.”

The kind of book that makes you rethink the 5 stars you've given to other fantasy novels...

While not a totally awful second entry, not an entirely convincing one for me, either. Perhaps, in the end, by trying to do too much, he did too little.

I was really excited for this one, but the pacing felt off and the dynamics of where most of the characters are at at this stage of the story is a bit perplexing to me.

I enjoyed a bit of it, but definitely not as much as book 1. Where book 1 was sharp in its focus, book 2 was lost in it's breadth. The more I've thought about it since finishing, the less I like it. I lean towards 3.5 stars.

“Ivan Ilych's life had been most simple and most ordinary and therefore most terrible.”

“Curiously, proponents of rigid use controls who object so firmly to death in the city, seem to object equally firmly to life breaking out in the city.”

4.5 stars. Second half of the book has been some of my favorite stormlight archive reading so far.

4.5 Stars

Last act of the book bumped it up from 4 stars for me, excited for the rest of the series!

3.5 Stars

The payoff of the book takes some time as Sayers takes you through the story of Jack Kerouac in the first 3/4 of the book, but once he gets to the point in the final chapters it all comes together excellently. Really good examination of how we got to where we are culturally.

Excellent look at where the Church is headed and what it looks like to return to a Gospel resilience that is Biblical and a better alternative to “cultural relevance.”

Anyone who is in a leadership position, or wants to positively influence the environments that they are involved in should read this book. It is deeply insightful to what makes a leader more than a person with authority. People are compelled to follow leaders who understand why they do what they do and this book is an excellent examination of what that looks like.

The idea of vocation is lost amongst Christian culture. It's hard to understand how work and rest play into faith when we live in an individualistic culture that has often reduced following Jesus to a get-out-of-hell-free card. This is a great examination of a theology of vocation.