This is definitely not my kind of story. I am not into poetry and I like my stories with more "meat" then whimsy in them. This reallStars: 2 out of 5.
This is definitely not my kind of story. I am not into poetry and I like my stories with more "meat" then whimsy in them. This really failed to capture my attention, and the 43 pages seemed to last much longer than they should have.
This is the case of it's not you story, it's me. Also, I'm not sure why this story is listed in the horror category. There is nothing scary in it....more
I was fully onboard with this book for the first 50% or so of the story. Granted, one of the main characters was too stupid to exiStars: 2.5 out of 5.
I was fully onboard with this book for the first 50% or so of the story. Granted, one of the main characters was too stupid to exist, and some of her choices were that of a braindead child. But the story moved along at a good pace, things were happening, there was a big mystery about, so was happy to overlook an annoying character or two. But then the book kept going... and going... and going with no end in sight. Episodes started repeating themselves without bringing anything new to the story, and I was quickly losing interest.
As I had mentioned, the characterizations in this book are... rather lacking. And forget about character growth. I think the only character that has any is Rapscallion, and he is a sentient robot. Which tells you everything you need to know about the other characters. So if you are looking for a character driven story, move along. This ain't for you.
But the mystery of what the heck is happening around Paradise-1 and why all ships sent there stop responding was compelling enough to have me turning the pages for about half of the book. And I admit that the idea of an alien contract that can invade our minds by planting a destructive idea is rather horrifying, because our bodies have no defense against a virus that isn't biological in nature. I also really wanted to discover what was on Paradise-1 that needed to be guarded so fiercely, and why was it worth so many human lives and so many ships to try and get it.
Unfortunately, this book is at least 300 pages too long, so the story started repeating itself. We get to yet another ship that's infected with different version of the Basilisk. We encounter yet another crazy AI and see the horrors that happened to the human crew. We don't learn anything that we didn't know by reading the first half of the book. The characters flee the ship, or are saved, or take the ship over... then the action switches to yet another encounter with another infected ship.
Honestly, I think the story should have ended after their attempt to run the blockade to land on the planet. The 200 pages after that were just filler, with a few exception, like actually encountering the Basilisk, and even that could have been incorporated into the story differently.
Oh, did I mention that the book ends on a cliffhanger? No? Well, it does. 700 + pages end with no emotional payoff whatsoever. We still don't know what happened on Paradise-1 and why it was so important to get there. The story ends mid-action. I guess the reader would have to pick up the next book in the series to find out what happened to the colony on Paradise-1, but guess what?
I won't be along for the ride. I am not willing to sit through another overlong book and follow annoying characters just to find out that the story isn't finished and there is another cliffhanger. No thanks, I'm out.
PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
This was honestly a meh read for me. The book just didn't feel polished enough. The story dragged in places, and the plot sagged anStars: 2.5 out of 5
This was honestly a meh read for me. The book just didn't feel polished enough. The story dragged in places, and the plot sagged and meandered. I also couldn't really empathize with any of the characters....more
I loved the first book in this duology so much that I rated it 5 stars. Needless to say, I had high hopes for the second book as welStars: 2 out of 5.
I loved the first book in this duology so much that I rated it 5 stars. Needless to say, I had high hopes for the second book as well. Unfortunately, none of my hopes were realized, so this book left a bitter taste in my mouth and a sense that I had wasted several hours of my life. Now I realize that some of this might be subjective, and some of it might be higher than usual expectations, but I think the biggest issue for me is that the story didn't go in the direction I expected it to go.
I expected a direct continuation of the events that happened at the end of Seraphina - a war with the dragons, and Seraphina, Krieggs and Celda in the middle of it, trying to protect the kingdom of Goredd from the scaly monsters who try to destroy them...
Instead we get this road movie where Phina travels to different places throughout the book, meeting new people that she will never talk to again once she leaves, in search of the other half-dragons she saw in her mind garden.
It makes for a very disjointed and rather boring story, to tell you the truth. Gone is the sense of urgency we experienced at the end of last book. Yes, Seraphina has a deadline by which to reach her final destination, but it has nothing to do with the imminent war with the dragons. And honestly, the book drags until about three quarters of the way through when things finally pick up.
The issue here is that I, as a reader, don't care about the new people Seraphina encounters, and the author doesn't give me enough time to get to know them to actually care about them before the story moves towards another location, leaving them behind. And I am once again introduced to a whole different set of new characters who stay on the page just as fleetingly.
But I think my biggest problem is the villain in this story. Jannoula is so overpowered that it's almost laughable at the end. Also, her powers are inconsistent. First, it's mentioned that she can only control one person at a time, and even that tires her, but by the end of the book, she is suddenly able to control all the half-dragons and make her aura "glow" so that it's visible to humans, and she can manipulate humans at her will. Not to mention that she always seems one step ahead of Seraphina, no matter what she does or what happens. And the way she is defeated at the end stinks of deus ex machina as well.
Finally, I really hated the ending. I think it wasn't fair to the characters, especially to Seraphina. She spent all her life hiding and lying. She decided at the beginning of this book that she would not lie about herself anymore... yet she agrees to be the other woman? To live in shadow? To live a lie for the rest of her life? How is that a good ending for her? Not to mention that this paints Krieggs in a horrible way as well. He is a coward who just manipulated her into doing what he wants, not considering how that will impact her life.
Anyway, this was a huge disappointment, and I am kinda glad this was only a duology, because I would not have picked up another book in this series.
When I read the blurb of this book, this sounded like it should be right up my alley. Unfortunately, the execution was decidedly uStars: 2.5 out of 5.
When I read the blurb of this book, this sounded like it should be right up my alley. Unfortunately, the execution was decidedly underwhelming. And the opinions of my Goodreads friends are split on this one. One absolutely loved, and another one DNFed it. I'm tending to agree with my second friend on this one, though I managed to finish the book, and I now think that I shouldn't have bothered.
I have several issues with this book, so let's talk about the biggest two.
First of all, this book feels rudderless. This less of a cohesive story than a series of events that happen to Aelis. A bear attacks the sheep, some mercenaries bring cursed gold, then a villager seemingly goes crazy and attacks his brother, then all of a sudden we get a detour to kill a Demon tree... You get the picture. Aelis isn't the driving force behind this story. It feels like she is just a leaf being dragged along the current of things that happen around her. She is reacting to external forces all the time.
And this isn't a bad thing, if done well. In fact, there are book that managed to create a compelling story around a protagonist who had no agency of his/her own. Unfortunately, this is not that book.
The problem is that Aelis has no stakes in the events that happen around her. She has no goals to reach and, honestly, nothing to loose. So there is really no sense of urgency in the unfolding story. Which also means that the story meanders without a clear goal, just like Aelis and Tun in the wilderness. I grew bored following them, to tell you the truth, because I didn't particularly care if she caught up with the crazy brother. And even when the stakes seemed to finally get bigger (like the discovery of a rogue enchanter a few days away from the village), I was already too disengaged with the story to care.
And that stems from the second issue I have with this book - the character of Aelis herself. To put it bluntly she is a pretentious and extremely unlikeable. She is extremely condescending to EVERYONE around her, just because she went to the Lyceum of magic, and they are "simple peasants". Yes, because her having purely academic knowledge and no field experience in pretty much anything is so much better than the experiences of people who have been through a war, or who learned to survive in a harsh environment since their birth.
I would have been better able to stomach this if she learned and evolved throughout the book, made mistakes, got her nose bloodied, and came out humbler and wiser on the other side. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen. In fact, there is no character growth for Aelis whatsoever. She is just as unlikeable at the end of the book as she is at the beginning of it.
So I finished this story, but I have no desire to continue with this series, because I really don't care about Aelis di Lenti and her overinflated ego.
PS: I received and advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
This is another example of a book where the idea sounds great when you read the blurb on the back, but the execution is sorely disStars: 2.5 out of 5.
This is another example of a book where the idea sounds great when you read the blurb on the back, but the execution is sorely disappointing. Honestly, the most I can say about this book is meh.
The idea of a technology that allows humans to travel the multiverse is amazing, and there are so many ways a story like that could go! One of the best examples so far was The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson . Now that story had a heart. Unfortunately, this one doesn't.
Oh, it has plenty of interesting ideas. The worlds of Pandominion are fascinating, and the idea that in some version of our Earth, primates might not have evolved to dominate the land is intriguing. The fact that most of those diverse races manage to coexist peacefully is also wonderful to see.
However, a long story like that can't win on worldbuilding and concept alone. It needs engaging characters to carry the narrative and keep the readers engaged. And the characters in this book are extremely unlikeable. They are selfish to the extreme, unable to take responsibility of their own actions. They make often horrible decisions and commit atrocities and manage to justify it. I couldn't stand most of them. The only character I could more or less relate to was Paz, because she was mostly an innocent bystander at the beginning, and any actions she took afterwards were fueled by her sense of right and wrong. But we meet Paz a lot later in the book, and for the first 35% I really had nobody to root for, so this story was almost a DNF for me.
Also, we have an empire that spans countless parallel universes and includes a diverse variety of "selves", who manage to coexist even though some of them evolved from primates, others from wolves/cats, and even others from herbivores. But that empire itself is a repressive regime, where the only political actions seem to be strike first and annihilate the (possible) treat and ask questions never. Are you telling me that with all the bright minds available in all the multiverse, the Pandominion couldn't come up with a better form of government?
Why is it that this mighty and very technologically advanced empire didn't even try to communicate with the machines when they stumbled upon the mechanical civilization? Seriously, not a single attempt at communication was even considered. Or, you know, just leaving them alone. There are infinite Earths in this multiverse, so why not just blacklist this particular one and go explore somewhere else? No, the solution is to invade and annihilate. Without provocation, mind you. And they wonder why they get pushback? Or that they are being destroyed in response?
Finally, even though this book is about 500 pages long, it doesn't even resolve part of the story that is hinted at in the first chapters. It just sets up the stage and brings all the main characters together. Yes, I understand that this is the first book in a series, and that there is an overarching story. But you need to give the reader some kind of payoff for investing hours of their time into this book. At least one story arc should have been satisfyingly concluded by the end of this book. Unfortunately, it wasn't. And honestly? I won't stick around for book 2 to find out what happens to the Pandominion.
PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I am not sure why this was published as a book. As far as story goes, it's only Part 1 of a bigger book. The part that sets up the Stars: 2.5 out of 5
I am not sure why this was published as a book. As far as story goes, it's only Part 1 of a bigger book. The part that sets up the characters and the premise and doesn't nothing else. By the end of Steel in the Blood, the main conflict of the story was set up, alright, but no questions were answered, there was no emotional payoff for sticking with the story so far. It just ended. So if you want to learn what this story is actually about, you have to buy the next book.
Unfortunately, there is nothing I hate more in a book than a cliffhanger designed solely to make you buy the next book, so I'm afraid that this series and I will be parting ways. Which is a shame, because from the little I have seen of the world and history in this small installment, it might be an interesting story.
The human empire has existed for thousands of years, ruled by an immortal Empress. It's big, safe and prosperous (or so we're told), but it has stopped growing. Innovation is discouraged, exploration is non-existent. It's a well-oiled machine designed for one purpose only - to keep trade flowing to the capital worlds. No part of the Empire is self-sufficient. They all depend on each other for food, raw materials, trade, or goods. Each section of the empire is governed by members of different genelines, who have been cloned and enhanced to rule their sections for millennia as well. There has been no war in a thousand years, after the last Medicant Wars have ended. But now one is brewing...
Wonderful premise for an exciting book, right? That's what I thought as well. I already mentioned the first problem with this story - this book is only a set-up. A transit point from one geneline is seemingly attacked by agents of another geneline, even though the Executor of that geneline never ordered the attack he is accused of. He has to find those who are responsible and clear his name or a civil war will break out. He leaves to do just that and puts his daughter in charge of their whole sector... And that's it. That's where the story ends.
If you are expecting answers to all the questions asked in this book, you will have to purchase the next book in the series.
My second problem is that while the world setting is intriguing, the characters are a lot less so. Erick seems very naïve and indecisive for a leader who supposedly ruled his corner of the Empire for 400 years. Bryn seems a little more interesting, but we haven't really been in her head enough to get attached. In fact, the character I found the most interesting and whom I could empathize the most with is the Medicant. Yes, an android is has more personality than the humans in this story.
The ending also feels a bit flat - we are introduced to a whole assault team of characters we've never seen before who have a brief battle to capture a saboteur at a fold array. Said saboteur explodes, literally, damaging the array. The end. Again, if you were looking for answers and emotional payoff for sticking with this story for a few hours, buy the next book.
Maybe the story will get better, maybe not. I am out either way.
PS: I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
I feel bad giving this book less than a stellar rating, because it raises some pretty important issues about inclusion and the casuaStars: 3 out of 5.
I feel bad giving this book less than a stellar rating, because it raises some pretty important issues about inclusion and the casual mistreatment of those who are different. It also talks about trauma and healing and finding your purpose in life. So all the things that should be right up my alley, right? Yes this book left me pretty much cold. I see several problems with the narrative that made it so this book didn't work for me.
First, there is too much going on. There are demons ready to buy your soul and the competitive world of violin music. There are aliens escaping the collapse of a distant civilization. There is a traumatized transgender kid who is trying to find her way in this world that has never showed her kindness. There is the Queen of Hell, who already damned the souls of six of her most brilliant violin students and only need to collect one more to buy back her own.
On each own, all these stories would make a wonderful book. Reading about Katrina finding her own voice and melting the Queen of Hell's heart in the process would have been wonderful. Reading about Lan Thran building a new life on Earth for her family and finding a modicum of happiness. And also realizing that music might be just the thing that could heal the soul of her dying civilization. Or even reading about the strange and cutthroat world of violin competitions and the violin repair shop owner who had the power to repair and exorcise cursed violins. And it is also a story about immigrants and refugees who are trying to rebuild a life on distant shores, as demonstrated by the Asian diaspora in California.
Unfortunately, mashing them all together into the same narrative did a disservice to all of the stories.
First, it felt like a clash of ideas, but more importantly, there wasn't enough time to develop each story to the extent that it needed to be developed. There were too many characters to keep track of, as a result, almost none of them felt fleshed out. I could honestly say that the only two characters that felt "alive" to me were Katrina and Shirley. Ironic, isn't it, considering Shirley is an AI?
As it stands, I felt like all the stories were underdeveloped then forcibly woven together to create a happy ending.
Also, I found that for a book that seemingly had such high stakes - the souls of two women in jeopardy, aliens fleeing the destruction of their civilization, etc. I never felt any urgency in the narrative. We are told that the stakes are high, but we aren't shown that. Apart from that last competition where Katrina plays her heart out, I never felt like any of the characters were in real danger.
It might also be because violence is glossed over or threated with a passing shrug and nothing else in this story. Katrina is raped by her roommate and it is barely mentioned afterwards. I mean, she was betrayed by someone she trusted, yet again, but we will not dwell into that? Or when Lan's son casually kills a civilian and then Lan just disintegrates his friends so that they wouldn't go to the police? There is no aftermath for her for that. Oh, we just killed four people. Oh well, moving on. That felt very callous to me, especially in a story that talks about how music can heal our souls.
The ending is also something I didn't like about this book. I understand the author's desire to end the story on a good note, to create a happy ever after ending. Unfortunately, it cheapens Katrina's sacrifice and self-realization during the violin competition, and also Shizuka's real sacrifice after it, when she chose to forfeit her soul instead of damning Katrina. Shizuka was bound to Hell. That was the choice and the sacrifice she'd willingly made. It would have made for a heart-breaking, but beautiful ending of the book. One that I would have remembered and praised. Getting her out of that bargain by cope out space aliens was wrong, in my opinion. It sends the message that no matter what horrible things you did in your life, you can always escape punishment if you have the right friends.
I would also argue that the way this book treated Katrina's trauma was very "fairy tale" ending as well. She has severe PTSD from all the abuse she'd suffered from her family and those around her. She has self-loathing and self-image issues. Winning one competition and finding her music won't solve all that. Finding one person who loves and support you helps, but doesn't eliminate the trauma. Katrina needs serious therapy and years of work and recovery to be whole. Yet that part is completely glossed over.
So yes, I like all the ideas in this book and a deep dive into violins and music was fascinating. I just didn't particularly like how they were blended together in this book.
PS: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review....more
The blurb for this book is what drew me in, and for the first 50% of the book I was a happy camper joyfully following the story anStars: 2.5 out of 5.
The blurb for this book is what drew me in, and for the first 50% of the book I was a happy camper joyfully following the story and getting creeped out by the excellent descriptions... Then the book started to drag. The descriptions were still excellent, but there was no "meat" to them. There are episodes that didn't bring anything to the story but took up extra pages, like when Vera drives several towns over to go to a bar... only to leave because the bartender is too chatty. That added nothing to the overall story or Vera's character that we didn't' already know. And of course the ending was a total miss for me. I expected a twist, but what the author choose for a twist simply didn't work and made no sense, at least for me.
So this leaves me with a sense of frustration and disappointment. I was ready to love this book to pieces and give it my first 5 stars of 2024... then I was so mad I almost 1-stared it. But upon reflection and some cooling down, I will give it 2.5 stars for the excellent first half.
I think the biggest problem is that there are no good people in this story. Vera is an awful person. The more you read about her, the less you want to spend time with her. I mean it's one thing to have mixed feelings about how you should feel about your father. On one hand, he is a serial killer that literally tortured and murdered people in the basement of his house. On the other hand, he is still your dad, and he loved you when your mother really didn't. So I understand why Vera still loves him and clings to her memories of him, and why she feels guilty about it.
But as the book progresses and you discover more and more of Vera's past, things turn very creepy and plain wrong. Just reading about her childhood and her reactions to what her father did made me feel dirty on the inside. Not a feeling I particularly enjoy, thank you very much. Also, not a character I want to root for. And I cared less and less for Vera the more the book progressed, so I quickly lost interest.
All the other characters are just as awful and honestly got everything they deserved, but also, not interesting to follow along with. So this left me with a protagonist I ended up hating and a story I grew more and more disinterested in. So this was a miss for me.
PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I think I am getting more and more disillusioned with Cassandra Khaw's writing. I have tried her Rupert Wong series, I have tried Stars: 2.5 out of 5
I think I am getting more and more disillusioned with Cassandra Khaw's writing. I have tried her Rupert Wong series, I have tried her standalone offerings, and now I have tried this series... and this is just not for me. Which is very sad because the blurbs of these books are excellent, and I get so excited to dive into them, but I emerge back out with a sense of disappointment and confusion.
This particular book was very short at barely 70 pages, but it felt like it dragged for at least double that amount. And the reason for this, in part, is the overwrote prose. Why use a clear and simple sentence when a monstrosity full of adjectives, adverbs, subordinate clauses and quirky comparisons will do? I appreciate interesting prose from time to time, and I love evocative prose as well as any reader, but here it feels just too much. The prose gets in front of the story and trips it. I can't appreciate what's happening or get to know the characters if I am constantly stumbling over clever similes and metaphors.
Well, in this case, there isn't much of a story to go on, since it's so short. And the characters feel a bit... meh, for the lack of a better word. I had noticed it in the Rupert Wong series as well - I can't related to her characters. In some cases, like in the Nothing but Blackened Teeth, I can't even visualize them or care about what happens to them. The same thing happens here.
I can't empathize with John Persons. He is a cardboard cutout of a "classic" private eye from noir series, but there is no personality beyond that. Nothing that makes him unique. Which is a shame since he literally is an ancient being inhabiting a human body. But we have no background on that, and honestly, we don't see much of his ancient being powers in the story either, even in the showdown with the big bad.
As for the other characters, they are just as unremarkable. Honestly, I am starting to believe that this author just isn't for me. All the books I read so far are overwritten story that lacks a soul....more
I grant it to the author, he is trying to tell an ambitious story here, so that necessitates a lot of set up and worldbuilding. UnfoStars: 2 out of 5.
I grant it to the author, he is trying to tell an ambitious story here, so that necessitates a lot of set up and worldbuilding. Unfortunately, that also means that most of these 700 some pages are exactly that - setup.
The story is very slow going and broken into three distinct POVs that don't even converge until the very end of this book. And even then, only two of them somewhat converge, I don't think Nasha ever made it to where Lunn and Adrian were. So we slowly get three different stories developing simultaneously, and up until the end, there was no indication at to how they were connected. Heck, even having finished the book, I'm not sure I understand fully what's going on.
I wouldn't have minded this too much if the characters were engaging, but as it stands, I couldn't connect with none of them. Yes, the author did a good job explaining their motivations, but there was some spark missing with the characters. They felt more like a set of characteristics than real people. So in the end I didn't particularly care for any of them, which made this story very difficult to commit to.
That lack of fleshed out characters compounded with a slow moving stories that were only loosely tied together made it for a very long read. I thought about DNFing it several times, but but then I had already committed so much time that I wanted to at least see what it was all about.
And that brings me to the final problem I have with this book. There is no conclusion to this story. Nothing is resolved, nothing is explained. These 700 pages are just introduction to the world and setup for the series, I guess. Where did the madness come from? We have no answer. Why some people loose their minds and other seem to still function normally when infected? No clue. What does that have to do with the clan lands and the sickness that kills the land? Your guess is as good as mine.
All this book did was set up the pieces on the board for the bigger story. I know that first books in a series have the thankless job of introducing the reader to a brand new world and characters as well as planting the seeds for the arching story for the whole series, but there also needs to be a completed storyline for that book. Readers need an emotional payoff after sticking around for so many pages.
This book didn't give me that. And since I didn't get an emotional payoff for reading this book, and I frankly don't care about any of the characters, I will not be continuing with this series.
PS: I received an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
This book was a chore to read, and I almost DNFed it at 32% when things were making to sense at all and I was getting very annoyed wiStars: 2 out of 5
This book was a chore to read, and I almost DNFed it at 32% when things were making to sense at all and I was getting very annoyed with the narrative. I powered through it and finished this book, but I'm not sure I made the right choice. It had been a long and often frustrating slog to get through all 700+ pages of this.
The concept itself is really interesting. I mean, I love Inception. I still think it's one of the best movies ever made. So I was really excited to read something similar. Unfortunately, this concept is a lot harder to bring to life on a written page than it is on the silver screen. Where in a movie you could add an element of crazy and reality not making sense in small visual queues, on a page it just makes for a very confusing and frustrating narrative.
It doesn't help that this confusion persists for the first 40% of the book. This is way too long to leave the reader wondering what the heck is going on. I have seen that a lot of readers DNFed this book around 30-35% in, and I totally understand why. Like I said, I almost did the same.
Once the protagonist emerges out of the simulation within a simulation he's been in for the first half of the book, things start to pick up steam and make slightly more sense, but even then, the action drags. Unnecessarily, in my opinion. I found that the final confrontation took too much time as well. I kept turning the pages and wishing for things to finally be over, yet the conflict still dragged and dragged. When I finally reached the last page, my thought was "thank God, it's done," instead of "wow, that was good book." That should tell you something about how invested I was(n't) in this story.
I got tired of the simulation within simulation within another simulation that was constantly going on. I also got tired of the double- triple- and quadruple-crossing going on in this book. It made my brain hurt. I might have enjoyed the twists and turns better if I cared about the characters, but as it stands, all of them are horrible human beings. Especially Mason. He is awful in the beginning of the book when he is in the simulation, and he doesn't get much better once he emerges into the real world.
In fact, all the characters do is fight with each other, bicker and hurt each other. There isn't a single healthy relationship to be found. They never talk about their issues or try to resolve them. They just lash out and make things worse. The relationship between Mason and Carter is especially toxic, and nothing is done about it.
To be honest, by the end of the book I was cheering Mason on when he held the logic bomb, because I would have actually been happy with an "and everybody died" ending for this group of wonderful human beings. As it stands, the ending is rather unsatisfying, because I don't think our protagonist learned the most important lesson he had to learn - that hiding from his issues isn't a solution.
I am still giving this book 2 stars, because it is well-written, and the concept is amazing. With more likeable characters you could root for, this would have been a very good story.
PS: I received an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
Well, this was a disappointment. Do you sometimes happen across a book that should, by all accounts, be right up your alley, but realStars: 2 out of 5
Well, this was a disappointment. Do you sometimes happen across a book that should, by all accounts, be right up your alley, but realize that it's a complete miss? This is what happened to me with this book.
First, I didn't like the worldbuilding itself. The world is too reminiscent of the Roman Empire with a little bit of magic added for good form. Oh and a monotheistic religion that mirrors what Christianity became at it's worse - intolerance towards other religions, Inquisition, and witch hunts. Though in this case, we should probably say mage hunts. Other than those parts, the world itself has no originality. There is nothing that makes it unique or memorable, or even "fantasy".
I am still fuzzy about the geography of this world or the different people who live in it. We talk about the forest tribes and the Empire, but it's mentioned that the Empire conquered a lot of other people as well... yet I don't see this diversity in the book. Even the tribes looked like a monolithic block to me, despite the fact that Emlyn mentions several times that each tribe is unique. We are told that, but we aren't shown it.
Same with the Empire itself. It's just an homogeneous mass of soldiers to me. I can't even tell you what the main characters look like. Kyron is supposedly descended from the tribes, so does he look different than another citizen of the Empire? One descended from the original invaders that came from overseas? No clue. Speaking of that, why is the capital of the Empire on this new continent if the Empire originated elsewhere? Who governs that part of the Empire? Are they aware of the death of the Emperor and all the drama that follows? There is no mention of that. It's hinted that it's a big territory, yet it's not important enough to even mention more than once in the story?
This moves into the second problem I had with this book. There is no sense of scale. The author hints at a huge continent and the Emperor is somewhere north of it with his army... yet it takes them what, one or two weeks to get back out of the forest and almost to the capital? Considering that they were moving on forest trails and with heavy carts full of with provisions, as well as the Emperor's body, they weren't moving very fast. Probably even slower as than a normal march. So if this was a big continent, it would have taken them a month or two to get out of the forest and into proper roads. And the author mentions that it took the Princess and her retinue a week to sail to the city with the bridge... yet they were back in the capital rather quickly after that battle. This creates such a confusion about geography and distances. I don't "see" this world at all, thus I'm not interested in it.
Finally, I didn't click with the two protagonists either, though I liked Bogan better than the whiny Kyron. Yes, the kid does some growing up in the course of the story, but he is still as selfish in the end as he was in the beginning. And his actions at the end of the book only prove it. His grandfather begged him to leave and do nothing. His master begged him to leave and do nothing. Heck, a lot of other people who know what they were talking about begged him to just save himself. Did he listen to any of them? Of course not. And by acting against the wishes of the person he is trying to save, he makes things so much worse...
Also, if found that the ending was at least 60 pages too long. The battle at the bridge was a very nice climax to the story with a great emotional payoff... but then the story kept going... and going... and going. Frankly, I lost interest and started just scrolling to the end, reading a word here or there. Even the twist and the big reveal didn't manage to recapture my attention. I think it's because that twist is so out of character for the actual villain of the story. Either that or Bodan can't read people to save his life.
If this book is a standalone, then the story isn't wrapped up by the end. If it's the first in a series, unfortunately, it didn't make me interested enough to wait for the next one.
PS: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
The premise was promising, but the execution was lacking. There is a lot of tell and not much show.
The characters had as much personality DNF at 50%.
The premise was promising, but the execution was lacking. There is a lot of tell and not much show.
The characters had as much personality as a toaster and tended to blend together so much that even halfway through the book I couldn't keep their names straight. They were no more than functions: Ethan = doctor, Sam = protagonist, whatever his name is a bad guy, etc.
Most of the backstory is told in infodumps. And when action happens, it's written in such a distant way that I couldn't visualize it or feel involved. Of course, not caring about what happens to any of the characters didn't help either. I don't feel like finishing this, because I just don't care enough to find the answer to the mystery of the crash landing....more
I honestly don't understand all the 5 stars ratings and raving reviews for this book. I didn't see complex characters or well-realiz Stars: 2 out of 5
I honestly don't understand all the 5 stars ratings and raving reviews for this book. I didn't see complex characters or well-realized world. All I saw was gratuitous violence, oversexualization, and very wobbly worldbuilding.
My biggest pet peeve is the worldbuilding, actually. I am a firm believer that in fantasy, you either create your own world with its own geography, mythology and religions, or you use our world, but very carefully. Then it's called alternative history anyway. What we have in this book is a complete mess. It's set up in the fictional land of White Cloud, where two kings rule and an evil Hungry King had been defeated barely a year ago. Of him, we don't know much. He was a cannibal, maybe? He had magic, maybe? Who knows. We never get any details on him apart from a few mentions... There is a tall mountain, and a city at the border of a vast desert, and maybe evil metal that fell from the sky. With me so far? Okay. All that is good. All that paints an interesting and fictional world...
And then we get the mention of God and Jesus Christ and real places like Jerusalem. One of the characters is a Norsewoman... who carries a katana. No, seriously, a real Japanese katana... and was given a Japanese name.
So are we in our world or some kind of invented one? If we are in the real world, then where exactly is this land of White Cloud on the map of our world? When are these events taking place in reference to our present time? And if it's NOT our world, why mention a religion from our world? Especially since it has no influence on this story whatsoever? Why give your Viking woman a Japanese katana? Again, it isn't relevant to the story. All it does is kick me out of the story and irritates me, because I can only suspend my disbelief so far.
The characters are also nothing to write home about. All the women are good and righteous, even in their anger and thirst for vengeance. Other than that, we are not privy to their inner thoughts or desires. All men are overly sexualized pigs... apart from a few obviously good guys who somehow overcome their base nature by the end. Again, we aren't particularly privy to their thoughts either.
By the end of the book, I sincerely couldn't care less for any of the characters. I skimmed the last 10% of the book just to get to the end of the story. This hasn't become a DNF only because I was almost at the end and I was too stubborn to quit. Honestly, won't recommend this.
PS: I received an advanced copy via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review....more
This really was a bit of a disappointment. The premise was interesting and had so much potential. I mean, what better place to telStars: 2.5 out of 5.
This really was a bit of a disappointment. The premise was interesting and had so much potential. I mean, what better place to tell all the urban legends of different places and countries, right? Yep, that didn't happen.
Instead we have a collection of mostly uninspired short stories, some of which don't really have anything to do with the concept of the book. I'm looking at you, the Corpse from Chicago. I mean, this story read straight like a short story in an urban fantasy series... which isn't bad in itself, but this collection is supposed to be about magical places in our real world, not an invented one... or did I read that definition wrong?
All in all, it was disappointing. I couldn't even tell you if there was a story I liked best, because they were pretty unremarkable. But it served its purpose as a palet cleanser between bigger books, so I guess that's that....more
The blurb for this sounded so promising, and I loved that book cover... unfortunately, the content of the book was a disappointment.
The stDNF at 45%.
The blurb for this sounded so promising, and I loved that book cover... unfortunately, the content of the book was a disappointment.
The story moves at a snail pace. None of the characters are interesting enough to be memorable. I mean, a duo of supernatural hunters, brother and sister at that, should be fun, right? Wrong. Probably because their POVs sound so similar that I can barely tell them apart. The other characters are not memorable at all.
And as I said, the story is so slow that nothing really happened by the time I reached the almost halfway mark.
PS: I received an advanced copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review....more
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