Latest Book Reviews and Comments
This is two tales in one book. the first tale was excellent but I struggled with the next, until it took off that is. When all the characters come together the tale improves leaps and bounds and the ending is unexpected. Sullivan is a very good author and his books are full of fresh ideas. Well worth reading.
Another good book, but I found this lacked the flair of the earlier books. At times it felt a bit aimless and the adventurers were wandering for the sake of it. A ship voyage was well researched and well written but as to the point... Having said that - I love the characters and I am hoping the next novel picks up. The characters have been left in dire peril and everything seems very very bleak. All their hopes and aspirations seem to have reached a very low point and I'm not sure how the author will recover the tale from this point. Could be interesting.
Another good book. Not as good as book 1 but still very enjoyable. The tale develops Hadrian and Royce further. The latter is a great character and quite spooky. I liked the addition of the Viscount and especially his introduction to the tale. Not a great deal of fantasy and the tale could easily be set in medieval times. Some good side plots that intertwine to develop into a very promising story. Very enjoyable
One of the best fantasy books I've read for a while. The tale is a little mixed; it starts very well, it's slow in pace, but you get the sense that it has considerable merit and, as you read, that proves true. There's a good climax at the end of the book. The mix of characters is its main strength, two opposing characters deliberately brought together to forge them both into better people. If they don't kill each other first, then this might just work. There's only a smattering of fantasy creatures in this first instalment, but there is a greater sense of more to come and the tale is sufficiently different to wet your appetite. I enjoyed this tale and will want to read more of Sullivan's works.
Another good book, mixing events in the north with those of the south. Again, the Mordant is a great character. I also liked the black blade and the events surrounding that. A little dull in parts as Kath finds herself stranded in the north. Whilst her and her colleagues grow bored, unfortunately so too does the reader. The writer can be forgiven though as the tale collects itself nicely and gathers paces trying to save the kingdoms of Erdhe. Nicely written and very imaginative. Once it got going there's barely a dull moment, some excellent creations and the plot has some nice and unexpected twists. Definitely a Saga for fantasy fans to read. Looking forward to the next installment.
efinitely well worth reading. This book concentrates and a few of the main characters in the north of the world, following the Mordant to his lair. The tale is less complex with fewer characters, but there's a lot going on. There's a good mix of magic, used in a sparing way that keeps you guessing and wanting more. The plot hums along nicely with enough twists and unexpected surprises to keep you guessing. I much preferred this to Game of Thrones as it has all the intrigue but with a much clearer plot line. An excellent read. I received the recommendation on this site which is great.
Laughter and tears (oh, yes, there's tears...) for all BDB fans.
There were parts I genuinely liked among all the things that were only so-so. Lauren Beukes is like a butterfly in this book, flitting from one subject to the next, trying to cover all the flowers in the field, and never really completely emptying one of nectar. In her wake is a host of flowers half-drained and unsatisfied. Oh, and for all that research she did, she really should have known a Smith&Wesson uses a magazine, not a clip :P
Although never quite boring(this book is about one thrilling heist and long con after another after all), this book was, at times, disappointingly predictable. It seemed like Lynch thought he was a lot smarter than he really is, thereby constantly underestimating his readers. Your interludes are not clever! They're just unnecessary, too revealing and defuse the tension you spent two chapters carefully building. All that backstory didn't really do much for the plot, or the worldbuilding, and at times it only felt like filler so Mr Lynch could pad out his book to a respectable fantasy-size. I felt like I was being force-fed information that I really didn't need, or had any desire to know, much like reading anything by Rothfuss. Both Lynch and Rothfuss seemed to have Hemingway's iceberg-principle backwards - only 20% are supposed to be visible, not 80%!!! I like the setting, though. P.S. I think Hannu Rajaniemi did a better job telling almost he same story, only with fewer words...
The first thing anyone wonders when they know Percy Jackson but not this series must be, "So weird that Magnus' surname is the same one as Annabeth's." Yeah, OK, that's because they are family. And I don't think it's such a big spoiler to say that Annabeth does have her own small role to play. Until now, this is really the first actual reference in Riordan's book series that they are set in the same world and age (not counting the short stories of Percy, Annabeth and the Kanes). The second thing I noticed was that there was a chapter in which he names Jason Grace, which makes me wonder what will happen in the other four books. (He already revealed that Annabeth will appear more than once.) Riordan sort of turns his back to the 'Heroes of Olympus' books because in 'Magnus Chase' he just uses a singular I-character (Magnus, of course), like he did with the Original 'Percy Jackson' novels. Apart from Magnus - he's fantastic - there's my ultimate favourite for this series (it took me about one paragraphs, even before her name was said): Sam. She is so enormously wonderful. I really don't know how to say what I'm thinking - in my opinion, she's one of those kick-ass heroines of this time. So, the Gods of Asgard. Those are the Norse ones. Probably one of the things that I love about Sam is that she is a Valkyrie - I mean, can you imagine it: women, chosen by the highest god to reap dead men's souls who died a hero's death, with their weapon in their hands. Just one of my favourite mythical 'humans'. In fact, I just like the entire mythology, I don't know why. It really speaks to me and the images it puts in brain when I'm reading about it are amazing. An enormous tree that encompasses nine worlds! And even if you're not all that interested in the Old Norse myths - oh my god, just try this one. Riordan is a master weaver of stories, and he doesn't drop a stitch here.
I really liked Roberts Circle trilogy and thus O'Dwyer series has been such a big dissappointmet for me. Too often I found myself bored as the text and plot lacked the spark, passion and wit. I kind of got the feeling that Roberts wrote this series just because the genre is so "in" nowadays. Such a pity...
Hi, I would just like to thank this site, I have been looking for this book for over ten years! I read it along time and this book never left my mind, such an amazing book. I'm still in shock that I found it.. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!
Much as I admire much of the work by Harry Harrison I'm afraid I have to say that this is a really dreadful book, the basic premise is to ridicule the tawdry fiction churned out by the likes of E E “Doc” Smith and Robert Heinlein but unfortunately he takes the joke too far and it have would have been much better had it been written as a short story when it could have been over and done with in just a few pages.
An excellent selection of short stories by a highly respected author covering a range of subjects many of which which would have been controversial when they were first written and even now have not been adequately addressed, it would be difficult to pick out a favourite but if I had to it would be “The Final Battle” which at only two pages long does make you think. 1. Mute Milton (1966) 2. The Greatest Car in the World (1970) 3. The Final Battle (1968) 4. The Powers of Observation (1968) 5. The Ghoul Squad (1969) 6. Toy Shop (1962) 7. You Men of Violence (1967) 8. The Finest Hunter in the World (1970) 9. Down to Earth (1963) 10. Commando Raid (1970) 11. Not Me, Not Amos Cabot! (1964) 12. The Secret of Stonehenge (1968) 13. Incident in the IND (1964) 14. If (1969) (variant of Praiseworthy Saur) 15. Contact Man (1966) 16. The Pad(1970) 17. Civil Service Servant(1967) (variant of The Fairly Civil Service) 18. A Criminal Act (1966) 19. Famous First Words (1965)
Remember that feeling you had when you finished watching Donnie Darko, Primer and Coherence for the first time? Or even Prometheus, Memento and Inception... That weird feeling in the pit of you stomach telling you that you have all the puzzle pieces, you're just looking at the puzzle wrong? Fuuuuuuuck This was weird from start to finish, and I loved every second of it. I am in awe of Vandermeer's imagination, ingenuity, his poetic prose and his wonderfully odd characters. I don't think I'll ever read something quite like this again
645 pages of absolute, blissful heaven. That's what I call "Queen of Shadows". 645 pages of unexpected twists, world and character building and so much more. This is probably the best book in the "Throne of Glass" series up to now. It's amazing that somehow, Maas keeps on getting better at this. Book 5? Where are you?
What on earth did I just read? There were killer kitten tornadoes and mecha-chickens and an AI named Tammy... I can't even Ok, it was seriously funny, and gave me a unique insight into Erikson's mind.
This collection contains three short stories, The Devil Delivered, Revolvo and Fishing with Grandma Matchie. All of them are super weird, absurd and crazy. I'm not even sure what I read most of the time...
It was fun, a quick and easy read. Maybe too quick and easy. I felt like something was missing while I read it. Now that I've had some time to think about it, I realize a lot of things bother me about this book. First and foremost, the relationship between Zack's parents, and Zack and his parents. They met in high school, she got pregnant and the he died one year after Zack was born. Now, 18 years later, Zack's mother is still pining away for her dead high school lover, and it's made out to be this great and tragic love story... but I don't buy it, at all. Also, Zack's obsession with his father is weird. This is a man who has never been a part of Zack's life, and yet he still feels this deep connection with him... I don't buy that either. Secondly, the characters are flimsy, some of them are straight up wish-fulfillment/ gamer fantasy personified and the dialogue is stilted and choppy, because Cline feels an incessant need to jam in popcultural references every which way. It gets real tiresome, real fast. These things have to come naturally to be good, but Cline seems to insist on putting the square brick in the triangular slot. The plot is very anticlimactic. I'm starting to wonder if dear old Cline is a one trick-pony...
Military fantasy with hints of The Crusades and the American Civil War. For readers who like military campaigns, tactics and strategies, comraderie between soldiers, crazy generals, muskets, cannons and a little bit of mystery and magic :)
Terry Goodkind is not a terrible fantasy writer, he's a terrible writer, period. I bought this book because my version had a dragon on the cover, and I thought "Fuck yeah, dragons!" Alas, I was sorely disappointed. Instead of dragons I got a boring and morally questionable hero who likes to kick little girls in the face, a super-powerful wizard who does exactly one trick during the course of the book, a villain who has the most annoying "tick" ever, a convent of SM-nuns, a plot that's pretty much a rip-off of The Eye of the World, and some rape to drive said generic plot forward whenever it gets stuck, which is often. And I haven't even gotten to the uninspired and choppy prose, or the way Goodkind force-feeds the readers his ideals and philosophies.
An action-packed breeze of a read. Some wacky ideas a little poorly executed. The prose is pragmatic and confusing at times, as Weeks doesn't differentiate between regular text, thoughts and dialogue, whatsoever. The appearance of howitzers really annoys me, not the guns themselves, but the fact that he hasn't been able to come up with a better term for them, that fits the setting better. Also, the whole drafting/Chromeria-business sounds a little silly, if you ask me.
Two thirds of the book is spent on backstory and character-building, and the book ends when things are finally getting interesting. Brett is also too obvious when moralizing, not clever when borrowing inspiration from the real world, and some of the things his characters do does not make sense, although we've spent almost two-thirds of the book getting to know them! It's basically Dragon Age: Origins, but not as fun or interesting.
Two of the stars are for the prose alone. Although this book very well-written, and I finished it, I didn't much like it. Seems too few authors these days appreciate In Medias Res, and letting the reader find out things on their own. There's just too much information, some of which is uninteresting and irrelevant, and the pacing is horrendously slow. When the information load is that great, there isn't much room for surprises. We already know what happens to (young)Kvothe, so when he finds himself in a dangerous situation there's no thrill or excitement there, because we already know he's going to pull through. His life is never really at stake...I find the outer tale to be far more interesting, and I wish he'd spent more time on that in the first book. I am going to read the second book just to see how things happen, and if there's more of a development in older Kvothe's story. But my main issue is that young Kvothe is, for me at least, a wholly unlikable character. He's too "perfect", he's selfish, ego-centric, reckless, disrespectful, inconsiderate and in general a major douche. But maybe I just think that about all teenage boys who have no siblings. A kid without siblings is an acquired taste, especially as grown-ups. That said I didn't like Harry Potter much either. Oh, I loved the series, but HP himself is a brat. Ronny Weasley, on the other hand, is a wonderful character. The problem with The Name of the Wind is that Kvothe doesn't really have a Ron Weasley to even out some of the douchiness... If I was going to compare this book to any other(without having read Lies) I would say Peter V Brett's The Painted Man. Almost two-thirds of the books is spent on backstory, and the plot itself is barely enough for a 100-150 pages.