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3.92 AVERAGE
3.92 AVERAGE
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I had to put this down a whole bunch to read other things (book club, books with holds, etc.) so my reading was a little scattered. This was fun, though, and I'm glad I have book 2 on hand!
Kind of a steampunk vibe, I liked it. I wish the maps were better, I never have figured out where Feros is supposed to be.
Kind of a steampunk vibe, I liked it. I wish the maps were better, I never have figured out where Feros is supposed to be.
Okay, so. I feel like I liked this book, but at the same time it was rather a chore to get through and I felt a sense of relief once it was over. Here's what I liked:
The world building was really cool. I thought it was a pretty unique setting to begin with, and then dragons! Awesome. It was steampunk-ish without being lame.
Some really great female characters, fully fleshed out and not just arm candy for the male characters. Really enjoyed this part, been sorely lacking in most books I've picked up this year.
Pirates! Sort of. And jungle adventurers! Sort of. Still, these are all definitely pluses in my book.
Okay, so what I didn't like. I didn't like the three different narratives--or, to be more specific, I didn't like the way they played out here. They all seemed really disjointed and they ALL seemed to end with some sort of major cliffhanger--"And then the enemy released the trigger!" "And then ten thousand drakes came out of the forest to kill everyone!" And on and on. It's a pacing thing, I think, and I just didn't like getting jerked around so much.
Also...the plot was kind of dumb. If I had to read one more description of our plucky heroes having to fight hordes of enemies I was going to scream. Every single battle in this book seemed to be about four or five good characters fighting THOUSANDS of idiotic bad guys. And by idiotic I mean totally brainless (literally, they were just pawns...or something), like the worst kind of AI from a crappy video game where the enemies just keep running into your bullets as you just kind of stand there and watch them die. Give me an interesting antagonist! Give me someone with brains who makes up complications for the characters that are more interesting than "How do we fend off ten thousand crazy fighters with twenty bullets?"
On a similar note, there were also WAY too many instances where our heroes are in a life or death situation and some wacky random event saves their asses. Actually, pretty much every single scene from Clay's POV ended like this. I'm not sure what he really did in this book, other than continually get saved by circumstances out of his control.
Okay, I could probably ramble for a while about this. Obviously I'm pretty conflicted about it since I did like it in some ways...however, it just didn't have that magic that Blood Song had. I know these are two completely different books, different POVs, different everythings, but Blood Song is something really special. I think I was looking for that spark again in this book, and I just didn't find it. That spark that just sets it apart from anything else, that just makes it something you know you'll reread every few years. Maybe I'm just too disappointed I didn't feel that this time.
And lastly, this book reminded me a lot of Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders, except that series is vastly superior in almost every way (even though I hate Kennit with every fiber of my being). There. I said it. I'm out.
The world building was really cool. I thought it was a pretty unique setting to begin with, and then dragons! Awesome. It was steampunk-ish without being lame.
Some really great female characters, fully fleshed out and not just arm candy for the male characters. Really enjoyed this part, been sorely lacking in most books I've picked up this year.
Pirates! Sort of. And jungle adventurers! Sort of. Still, these are all definitely pluses in my book.
Okay, so what I didn't like. I didn't like the three different narratives--or, to be more specific, I didn't like the way they played out here. They all seemed really disjointed and they ALL seemed to end with some sort of major cliffhanger--"And then the enemy released the trigger!" "And then ten thousand drakes came out of the forest to kill everyone!" And on and on. It's a pacing thing, I think, and I just didn't like getting jerked around so much.
Also...the plot was kind of dumb. If I had to read one more description of our plucky heroes having to fight hordes of enemies I was going to scream. Every single battle in this book seemed to be about four or five good characters fighting THOUSANDS of idiotic bad guys. And by idiotic I mean totally brainless (literally, they were just pawns...or something), like the worst kind of AI from a crappy video game where the enemies just keep running into your bullets as you just kind of stand there and watch them die. Give me an interesting antagonist! Give me someone with brains who makes up complications for the characters that are more interesting than "How do we fend off ten thousand crazy fighters with twenty bullets?"
On a similar note, there were also WAY too many instances where our heroes are in a life or death situation and some wacky random event saves their asses. Actually, pretty much every single scene from Clay's POV ended like this. I'm not sure what he really did in this book, other than continually get saved by circumstances out of his control.
Okay, I could probably ramble for a while about this. Obviously I'm pretty conflicted about it since I did like it in some ways...however, it just didn't have that magic that Blood Song had. I know these are two completely different books, different POVs, different everythings, but Blood Song is something really special. I think I was looking for that spark again in this book, and I just didn't find it. That spark that just sets it apart from anything else, that just makes it something you know you'll reread every few years. Maybe I'm just too disappointed I didn't feel that this time.
And lastly, this book reminded me a lot of Robin Hobb's Liveship Traders, except that series is vastly superior in almost every way (even though I hate Kennit with every fiber of my being). There. I said it. I'm out.
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-paced
After a long break I finally managed to get back to yeh Waking Fire. And I wonder why had it paused for about a year, as this was a gripping and addictive read!
I am not sure what I enjoyed more, the different main characters who I loved to see grow throughout the story, the cool Magic system, or the world building with all the drakes one can wish for...
There's some unexpected and well done twists, that kept me on my toes all the way through. And I loved exploring ever more of the lore, myths and history of this world.
Even though it's quite a big book, it's fast paced and a quick read (as long as you don't pause it indefinitely for no good reason...)
Definitely a recommendation from me!
I am not sure what I enjoyed more, the different main characters who I loved to see grow throughout the story, the cool Magic system, or the world building with all the drakes one can wish for...
There's some unexpected and well done twists, that kept me on my toes all the way through. And I loved exploring ever more of the lore, myths and history of this world.
Even though it's quite a big book, it's fast paced and a quick read (as long as you don't pause it indefinitely for no good reason...)
Definitely a recommendation from me!
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Even though Blood Song is one of my favourite fantasy books I've ever read (and recommend to everyone that is even remotely interested) I'm ashamed to admit I never knew Mr. Ryan had released a new epic trilogy before stumbling upon this beauty a few months back. Just browsing through the shelves of a local bookstore and catching the name Anthony Ryan almost making me gasp aloud. I've never bought a book faster without knowing what the book was about! (and also I've never bought a sequel without reading the first one first... until now.)
Needless to say, trusting my intuition paid off once more. A stunning book, grips you from the very first chapter with its writing and interesting characters. And uh.. dragons? Like, really cool dragons and a variety of different species? I was hooked.
Didn't quite reach the level where Blood Song took me, but I'm giving it 5 stars regardless, because this book was incredible and I can't wait to read the rest of it!
Needless to say, trusting my intuition paid off once more. A stunning book, grips you from the very first chapter with its writing and interesting characters. And uh.. dragons? Like, really cool dragons and a variety of different species? I was hooked.
Didn't quite reach the level where Blood Song took me, but I'm giving it 5 stars regardless, because this book was incredible and I can't wait to read the rest of it!
The first part of the book was a bit slow, a lot of characters, places and things to learn. But the world-building is incredible. But after the first 400 pages the action really kicked in and it was so much easier to read. The ending was wow!
I got attached to Clay more than the other characters I have to say. But given how the book ends I'm curious to see how will Hillmore fit in now.
I got attached to Clay more than the other characters I have to say. But given how the book ends I'm curious to see how will Hillmore fit in now.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
relaxing
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:
Complicated