You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
I really enjoyed Bakker's first installment on his Second Apocalypse series.
Specially its writing, setting and world building.
I'll be honest: Bakker's writing style made reading this book a breeze. This is subjective of course but the balance between his flowery and simple style was handled perfectly.
On top of this writing style you add a really interesting setting filled with superb world building and it makes for a great read.
I'll comment briefly on the characters. Bluntly, most if not all of them are pieces of shit. Now... this normally would lead to having unlikable characters but I don't think that's the case here. While I wouldn't necessarily say that the characters present in this book are "likeable", they ARE charismatic and all of the main ones serve a purpose for the story, for displaying a specific view of this world.
Not only the characters enhance and take part in the world building in a beautifully written way, but their internal conflicts and interactions with each other are superb too.
Achamian, Cnaiur, Kellhus, Esmenet, Conphas and Proyas are all really interesting and distinct POV's.
Lastly I have to mention that this book is DARK. Women are handled horribly in this world and it sure does make reading this book uncomfortable a lot of times, but I think it's handled kind of tactfully... I guess? Or rather not disrespectfully... I think that's better wording. Of course it's difficult to tell and I'd totally understand if someone were to drop this book because of it but I, personally, didn't think it was purposefully disrespectful towards women. It just showcased a dark, patriarchal world where women are treated horribly but in no way was it glorified.
Ok that's it for this review/rambling.
I think I'm gonna go for a 8/10 or 4-star rating because the potential of this series is so great that I'm intrigued to see how much better it WILL get.
EDIT: in the course of writing this review I decided on a 9/10 and 5-star rating to better reflect how much I like this book, so that's that.
Specially its writing, setting and world building.
I'll be honest: Bakker's writing style made reading this book a breeze. This is subjective of course but the balance between his flowery and simple style was handled perfectly.
On top of this writing style you add a really interesting setting filled with superb world building and it makes for a great read.
I'll comment briefly on the characters. Bluntly, most if not all of them are pieces of shit. Now... this normally would lead to having unlikable characters but I don't think that's the case here. While I wouldn't necessarily say that the characters present in this book are "likeable", they ARE charismatic and all of the main ones serve a purpose for the story, for displaying a specific view of this world.
Not only the characters enhance and take part in the world building in a beautifully written way, but their internal conflicts and interactions with each other are superb too.
Achamian, Cnaiur, Kellhus, Esmenet, Conphas and Proyas are all really interesting and distinct POV's.
Lastly I have to mention that this book is DARK. Women are handled horribly in this world and it sure does make reading this book uncomfortable a lot of times, but I think it's handled kind of tactfully... I guess? Or rather not disrespectfully... I think that's better wording. Of course it's difficult to tell and I'd totally understand if someone were to drop this book because of it but I, personally, didn't think it was purposefully disrespectful towards women. It just showcased a dark, patriarchal world where women are treated horribly but in no way was it glorified.
Ok that's it for this review/rambling.
I think I'm gonna go for a 8/10 or 4-star rating because the potential of this series is so great that I'm intrigued to see how much better it WILL get.
EDIT: in the course of writing this review I decided on a 9/10 and 5-star rating to better reflect how much I like this book, so that's that.
A challenging, Malazan-esque (but not nearly as good) read. Intrigued enough to continue the trilogy, though.
I didn't really "read" this one, as I couldn't finish it. It seemed like a good book, I even read a few pages thoroughout before I brought the thing. I should have seen this coming, but the section I read was interesting. Next time, I start fromt the beginning.
The characters are flat, unengaging, and sound alike. Even the women sound like the men. There is no real clear to what some of the characters look like. The world is filled with large words, there is no clue how to pronounce them. It feels like there are six levels between the action of the book and reader, so the reader is totally unattached to anything.
The characters are flat, unengaging, and sound alike. Even the women sound like the men. There is no real clear to what some of the characters look like. The world is filled with large words, there is no clue how to pronounce them. It feels like there are six levels between the action of the book and reader, so the reader is totally unattached to anything.
dark
Hate women? Don't like too much character depth? Want a bland, midieval-ish backdrop to some tedious political "drama"? Believe in the meritocracy? Hate poor people?
Then this book is for you!
Then this book is for you!
Well written book that explores various different personality types. Engaging page turner. Although it is plagued by irritating names.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Where no paths exist, a man strays only when he misses his destination. There is no crime, no transgression, no sin save foolishness or incompetence, and no obscenity save the tyranny of custom.
Fantasy promises to deliver a murky world unspoiled by technological ennui and yet a world able to deliver something approximate to the epic if not the heroic. There is a subset of the grimdark which is monochromatic. Thankfully this isn’t it, despite efforts to paint it as bleak misogyny.
The opening thirty pages are a prose poem: think Cormac McCarthy in his East Tennessee milieu. Then matters stall as the dreaded world building has to occur via stilted conversations. That’s never fun. What we have is Nietzsche in the guise of Casper Van Dien strolling the Silk Road while Steve Runciman screams, the Crusades we’re a murderous lie! There’s also plenty of magic. The races are humanoid, so matters are closer to Braudel than The Witcher. Once matters are established, the political element becomes less expository, and the endpoint of crusade and prophecy coincide. The first of a trilogy and undoubtedly the pieces have yet to be utilized past a sounding gesture or movement. Color me intrigued. 3.3 stars
Fantasy promises to deliver a murky world unspoiled by technological ennui and yet a world able to deliver something approximate to the epic if not the heroic. There is a subset of the grimdark which is monochromatic. Thankfully this isn’t it, despite efforts to paint it as bleak misogyny.
The opening thirty pages are a prose poem: think Cormac McCarthy in his East Tennessee milieu. Then matters stall as the dreaded world building has to occur via stilted conversations. That’s never fun. What we have is Nietzsche in the guise of Casper Van Dien strolling the Silk Road while Steve Runciman screams, the Crusades we’re a murderous lie! There’s also plenty of magic. The races are humanoid, so matters are closer to Braudel than The Witcher. Once matters are established, the political element becomes less expository, and the endpoint of crusade and prophecy coincide. The first of a trilogy and undoubtedly the pieces have yet to be utilized past a sounding gesture or movement. Color me intrigued. 3.3 stars
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
This one makes you hang in there and take a fair bit on faith. Let the names, races and kingdoms just soak in until they start to arrange themselves into alliances.
I enjoyed this book immensely and bought the second one for Kindle as soon as I finished the first. Fabulous interplay between primary characters. Good description, good dialogue, great culture development, excellent observation.
Violence gets sort of gratuitous from time to time.
I enjoyed this book immensely and bought the second one for Kindle as soon as I finished the first. Fabulous interplay between primary characters. Good description, good dialogue, great culture development, excellent observation.
Violence gets sort of gratuitous from time to time.