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staceyjl's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
mlliu's review against another edition
4.0
I see I gave the first book in the series an actual rating of 4.5 stars. I'm inclined to give this one 4.5 stars as well. I wasn't sure how Scalzi would wrap up the series, but he did it, and I had so much fun reading about it.
t_shaffner's review against another edition
2.0
While my frustrations with the previous books continued (e.g. the word fuck and sex seem to be characters of their own), I still liked the first half or so of this book. It was fun! It had good parts, cool problems, interesting strategies, etc. etc. Then it felt like the author got lazy and wrote a bunch of cheat scenes to get to an easy ending that might seem "cool", and I was just very nonplussed. What's here has all the makings of a much bigger, and potentially great series. Instead though, it just manages mediocre.
max341q132543253's review against another edition
2.0
Wait, what?
The first two books were light fun and the plot moved fast. Admittedly I didn't care that much about the characters but I appreciated the dialogue and clever intrigue.
Here, the first 100 pages of this 300 page book felt like nothing but recapping and the next 60 still contained a lot. The number of pages left was dwindling fast, mostly gone, and it still felt like the book had barely started. Anything non-recapping was mostly telling-not-showing, with long paragraphs with zero dialogue or sensory immediacy, summarizing a character's boring behaviour over days or weeks (not really clear), often with literal lists that felt like chores to read through.
New plot finally happened in the last third but it was too little, too late. I won't give away the ending but it left me more annoyed than satisfied. Even the author didn't seem to care that much about how things turned out. In the acknowledgements he acknowledged that he rushed the whole book, doing it at the last minute like a teenager. A shame because the first two books were really good. Not sure I'd read more of his work.
The first two books were light fun and the plot moved fast. Admittedly I didn't care that much about the characters but I appreciated the dialogue and clever intrigue.
Here, the first 100 pages of this 300 page book felt like nothing but recapping and the next 60 still contained a lot. The number of pages left was dwindling fast, mostly gone, and it still felt like the book had barely started. Anything non-recapping was mostly telling-not-showing, with long paragraphs with zero dialogue or sensory immediacy, summarizing a character's boring behaviour over days or weeks (not really clear), often with literal lists that felt like chores to read through.
New plot finally happened in the last third but it was too little, too late. I won't give away the ending but it left me more annoyed than satisfied. Even the author didn't seem to care that much about how things turned out. In the acknowledgements he acknowledged that he rushed the whole book, doing it at the last minute like a teenager. A shame because the first two books were really good. Not sure I'd read more of his work.
duhwhoareyou's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
tense
fast-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
regalwater's review against another edition
5.0
In this book more so than the first one, I was more aware of how this book has been influenced by what’s come before and how likely it has influenced other works since. There is a lot of exposition, but I enjoyed it (I’m slow, please explain the back stabbing) and it set up the twists and turns of the novel in a fun way. I came away from book 1 wondering if the character voices were distinct enough and by the end of Fire I was pleased to see how each (surviving) character has evolved as taken their place in the story. I love Cardenia’s progress and how she grows more confident in how she’s stirring shit up.
Most importantly, though, this book really made me laugh and I need that right now!
Most importantly, though, this book really made me laugh and I need that right now!
jessln23's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
krislm's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
funny
inspiring
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? Yes
4.5