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podanotherjessi's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I really, really wish I hadn't taken such a long break before reading this because out of all of the novels so far, this is the one most referential to the rest. And starting with Three Parts Dead and ending with Four Roads Cross (except not quite) really does create such perfect book-ends for this series, leading perfectly into something bigger than these small (relative), individual stories. I'm so very, very excited to see what Ruin of Angels brings with all the set up done here.
I loved the characters arcs and the journeys everyone went on. I think Max is sending an interesting message - intentionally or not. I think he's set himself to make this anti-capitalist argument that I love, but it ends up being very pro-religion because of the world, and I don't really mind but I do wonder if he wants that. The world and writing continues to be amazing. The pacing in the middle-end was a little off, and I feel like the ending is trying to both tie up everything with a bow and leave loose strings in a way that clashes a bit, but otherwise I really liked this one.
I loved the characters arcs and the journeys everyone went on. I think Max is sending an interesting message - intentionally or not. I think he's set himself to make this anti-capitalist argument that I love, but it ends up being very pro-religion because of the world, and I don't really mind but I do wonder if he wants that. The world and writing continues to be amazing. The pacing in the middle-end was a little off, and I feel like the ending is trying to both tie up everything with a bow and leave loose strings in a way that clashes a bit, but otherwise I really liked this one.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction and Violence
Minor: Sexual content
noamberg's review
challenging
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
morganpk7's review
3.0
I enjoyed this book and it is a good followup to the events in Three Parts Dead. However, the ending lacked much closure. What is this 'partnership' that Tara and Seril work out? Did Cat become a priestess, and what does that entail? What is Abelard's role in the church? What about the reporter / Corbin's daughters / Adorne / Bede / Aev? There were several points where interesting moral conversations were almost had, but then backed away from - even in Tara's last conversation with Ramp! I also didn't like the villains, who seemed very self righteous as they murdered people because Ramp... doesn't like gods? Is afraid of demons, so she summons many of them and creates conditions for an unbound one?
I also felt, much more than in the first book, that the entire legal system was terrible. Ramp wants to prove that Seril is an unlisted liability for Kos, so if someone were to attack Seril this would be a risk to Kos's power... and to prove it, she tries to kill them both, which is totally fine with the court. I guess if she can kill them then her point has somehow been legally proven? Also, casualties in the city are never taken into account or discussed by the court. It seemed to me that if Seril is, essentially, a new financial liability of Kos's as is argued by Ramp, then the price of Kos's power should decrease, reflecting this new instability... like actual credit markets work. It is never pointed out - by anyone - that Kos and Seril are sentient beings who maybe have the right to love on another. Simply killing them to stabilize a credit market seems obviously evil.
Overall, I enjoyed spending more time with Tara, Abelard, and Cat. However, I'm not really able to visualize their lives after the end of this book, which is a bit disappointing.
I also felt, much more than in the first book, that the entire legal system was terrible. Ramp wants to prove that Seril is an unlisted liability for Kos, so if someone were to attack Seril this would be a risk to Kos's power... and to prove it, she tries to kill them both, which is totally fine with the court. I guess if she can kill them then her point has somehow been legally proven? Also, casualties in the city are never taken into account or discussed by the court. It seemed to me that if Seril is, essentially, a new financial liability of Kos's as is argued by Ramp, then the price of Kos's power should decrease, reflecting this new instability... like actual credit markets work. It is never pointed out - by anyone - that Kos and Seril are sentient beings who maybe have the right to love on another. Simply killing them to stabilize a credit market seems obviously evil.
Overall, I enjoyed spending more time with Tara, Abelard, and Cat. However, I'm not really able to visualize their lives after the end of this book, which is a bit disappointing.
_b_a_l_'s review
5.0
Max Gladstone writes such fragile, badass and wonderfully human characters - be they witches, gods, gargoyles or undying animated skeletons.
This is particularly awesome when it comes to his female protagonists because as a whole the fantasy genre often suffers from cardboard cut-out women.
As a bonus Tara is my favourite character and Alt Coulumb is my favourite city.
Some of the most beautiful bits:
“Your once human Craftsmen, who style themselves masters of the universe, have slim regard for awe or wonder, for anything they cannot buy and sell. So deadly are they, even hope becomes a tool in their grip.”
God was in the smoke, and God was in his heart, and God was in the blood that burned through his veins and the air into which he exhaled, and others too, all through the city, a constant heartbeat. To live was to be loved was to burn.
We’re so alone, she thought. We touch one another too firmly and wound or break, or else we pull away. We tell stories in which we are lone noble heroes, until we stand face-to-face with a goddess and see something older and bigger than each of us because it is each of us, our souls touching, the subtle interaction at a distance of minds with minds, when we reach the edge of loneliness and teeter uncertain at the brink.
Fangmouthswallowinggroundingoutgearsanddigestedtopulpbyathicketofthorncurledshapes to wake from the dark dream of herself in a well-appointed office where, told to sit, she sat Walkforwardtosomethingyouthinkisfreedomdownahalllinedwithrazorsangledin and with every step the razors near, halfway down the hall and they press against your skin, dimpling flesh, and you can’t turn back because the light beyond the door at the end of the hall is so beautiful you could fall into it forever, at last, happy—there’s a monster behind you but you’re not afraid of monsters, even ones like this sculpted from childhood centipede fears, hooked legs too large for that enormous body and moving fast, a primal terror that barely makes sense because when save in the farthest mouse-shadows of history did your ancestors have to fear spiders? No, monsters do not scare you. But to face them, to defend yourself, would be to turn from the light at the end of the razor hall, which you cannot do. Your life waits there for you. Light washes you like water, like the tears you weep, like—Mom—rare as a father’s approving smile, it’s there and only your own skin is stopping you so you step into the razors and the razors bite and you scream, you bleed, they’re inside you, cold lines rasping bone, but you’ve done this to yourself and having come so far what’s another step or scream?
“The world is breaking. The Wars made cracks, and we have broken it further. Our work turns soil to ash and water to poison. Even as we push ourselves to the brink of doom, beings of a size you cannot comprehend watch us with many eyes across vast gulfs of space. The universe is larger than this petty island of rock. As if we needed an external threat: this planet will not last forever, and when it dies we must be elsewhere. We have not done the work we need. Gods slow us with compromise. Small minds see only small context: local politics and squabbles of history. It takes genius to see large enough to build the tools to break the world, not like a man breaks a mirror, but like a chick breaks an eggshell. And great minds keep their secrets close.”
This is particularly awesome when it comes to his female protagonists because as a whole the fantasy genre often suffers from cardboard cut-out women.
As a bonus Tara is my favourite character and Alt Coulumb is my favourite city.
Some of the most beautiful bits:
“Your once human Craftsmen, who style themselves masters of the universe, have slim regard for awe or wonder, for anything they cannot buy and sell. So deadly are they, even hope becomes a tool in their grip.”
God was in the smoke, and God was in his heart, and God was in the blood that burned through his veins and the air into which he exhaled, and others too, all through the city, a constant heartbeat. To live was to be loved was to burn.
We’re so alone, she thought. We touch one another too firmly and wound or break, or else we pull away. We tell stories in which we are lone noble heroes, until we stand face-to-face with a goddess and see something older and bigger than each of us because it is each of us, our souls touching, the subtle interaction at a distance of minds with minds, when we reach the edge of loneliness and teeter uncertain at the brink.
Fangmouthswallowinggroundingoutgearsanddigestedtopulpbyathicketofthorncurledshapes to wake from the dark dream of herself in a well-appointed office where, told to sit, she sat Walkforwardtosomethingyouthinkisfreedomdownahalllinedwithrazorsangledin and with every step the razors near, halfway down the hall and they press against your skin, dimpling flesh, and you can’t turn back because the light beyond the door at the end of the hall is so beautiful you could fall into it forever, at last, happy—there’s a monster behind you but you’re not afraid of monsters, even ones like this sculpted from childhood centipede fears, hooked legs too large for that enormous body and moving fast, a primal terror that barely makes sense because when save in the farthest mouse-shadows of history did your ancestors have to fear spiders? No, monsters do not scare you. But to face them, to defend yourself, would be to turn from the light at the end of the razor hall, which you cannot do. Your life waits there for you. Light washes you like water, like the tears you weep, like—Mom—rare as a father’s approving smile, it’s there and only your own skin is stopping you so you step into the razors and the razors bite and you scream, you bleed, they’re inside you, cold lines rasping bone, but you’ve done this to yourself and having come so far what’s another step or scream?
“The world is breaking. The Wars made cracks, and we have broken it further. Our work turns soil to ash and water to poison. Even as we push ourselves to the brink of doom, beings of a size you cannot comprehend watch us with many eyes across vast gulfs of space. The universe is larger than this petty island of rock. As if we needed an external threat: this planet will not last forever, and when it dies we must be elsewhere. We have not done the work we need. Gods slow us with compromise. Small minds see only small context: local politics and squabbles of history. It takes genius to see large enough to build the tools to break the world, not like a man breaks a mirror, but like a chick breaks an eggshell. And great minds keep their secrets close.”
chillvamp's review
4.0
I enjoyed this one as well, it was so interesting to go back to the city of Three Parts Dead and see how the characters have been developing in the meantime! I wasn't sure what to expect on the Seril front or in regards to Cat; I expected a much bleaker ending considering how she appeared in Full Fathom Five. Raz was great and I can't imagine that he would ever not be. This book didn't hook me as much as some of the others but it was still a really engaging read!
with_the_ranks's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
accidentalspaceexplorer's review against another edition
4.75
I stayed up way too late reading this book - gripping, intense, characters I love, a fantastic plot, the worldbuilding as always is deep & fascinating - this book has it all!
elros451's review against another edition
3.0
3.5 stars
A few of the plotlines in this book kind of fizzled out for me towards the end but others easily had the best moments of the series so far. As an ending to the first Craft Sequence arc Four Roads Cross was phenomenal, I just wish it added some new things to the usual Craft formula.
A few of the plotlines in this book kind of fizzled out for me towards the end but others easily had the best moments of the series so far. As an ending to the first Craft Sequence arc Four Roads Cross was phenomenal, I just wish it added some new things to the usual Craft formula.
annie_lulu's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0