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cherithe's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't like this one as much as I enjoyed the first two. I'm not exactly sure what I was hoping for in this final book of the trilogy, but I don't think this was it. No spoilers, but I was frustrated constantly by who Kirit had to carry around. I hated how pointless/useless Nat's efforts seemed to be as people reacted to his news, and followed him (sorta). Also, I wish Wik had been better used.
However, the continued world building was enjoyable. It was nice to find out more about the cities and where they come from. I wish there had been more about the ancient cities and artifacts though.
I will say, I appreciated how it ended and where everyone ended up at the end. And if there were more to this story and how the community moves forward, I'd definitely read it.
However, the continued world building was enjoyable. It was nice to find out more about the cities and where they come from. I wish there had been more about the ancient cities and artifacts though.
I will say, I appreciated how it ended and where everyone ended up at the end. And if there were more to this story and how the community moves forward, I'd definitely read it.
boogy_'s review
4.0
definitely my favorite in the trilogy but the ending felt very lacking… i’m still in love with the worldbuilding but wished we could’ve seen more of it. adding a third point of view seems like an odd choice. macal was likeable but i wasn’t really invested in him.
novelinsights's review against another edition
5.0
Another great read. Again, I really loved how Fran Wilde opened up her world more and more with each installment. I also appreciated the fact that this book was a little more open about its depiction of a poly triad relationship. The previous book didn't really outright state that this was what was happening, and it took me at least half the book to figure it out, while this one straight out says at one point that they're all romantic partners.
jakegray's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
paperbackmatt's review against another edition
2.0
This book, unlike Updraft and Cloudbound, has three main protagonists with their own viewpoints that are used to progress the novel's plot. Unfortunately, I've become disconnected with Kirit/Nat and really don't have much connection with Macal (the third viewpoint).
Despite the author's choice to have the three narrators I still got through the novel. About halfway through I had to start skimming some pages as I found the content very hard to get through. I found a few things 'unbelievable' when it came to dealing with the large population of the city. But it's a fantasy novel and I can appreciate the requirement for the novel and thought it was a good choice.
Wilde's use of Kirit to continue and create the elaborate and interesting world of the Bone Universe was definitely the biggest success in the novel. Kirit's exploratory nature, with Wik, is easily what kept me reading. I wanted to learn more, and see more of what Kirit was seeing.
I still look forward to reading more by this author! I will always remain fond of Updraft.
Despite the author's choice to have the three narrators I still got through the novel. About halfway through I had to start skimming some pages as I found the content very hard to get through. I found a few things 'unbelievable' when it came to dealing with the large population of the city. But it's a fantasy novel and I can appreciate the requirement for the novel and thought it was a good choice.
Wilde's use of Kirit to continue and create the elaborate and interesting world of the Bone Universe was definitely the biggest success in the novel. Kirit's exploratory nature, with Wik, is easily what kept me reading. I wanted to learn more, and see more of what Kirit was seeing.
I still look forward to reading more by this author! I will always remain fond of Updraft.
natavi's review
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Most of this novel felt like absolutely the best book in a very strange series that had gotten better with each new entry. The middle ~70-80% felt like the creation myth of a community or religion—some twisty, turny wandering journey through a desert, never fully certain of its goals or end point. It was unlike any other fantasy novel I've yet read, and a haunting love story + template for a found family- and community-focused way of living and loving (loving as a verb, I mean: loving as a series of actions).
But with just30 pages left, so much remained unanswered that I wasn't sure how the author would possibly land the plane. And even though she found a way to tie things up thematically, it felt so rushed that some pages felt almost like the bullet-point outline of a story. That, and a love story that came out of nowhere and was completely unnecessary, is what's dropping this from five stars + a place in the set of books I'd recommend to others in a heartbeat.
But I'll probably still recommend it, on occasion, for the reasons in the first paragraph of this review. Especially the community and found family angle—I needed that right now, and suspect I will carry it with me for a long time.
But with just
But I'll probably still recommend it, on occasion, for the reasons in the first paragraph of this review. Especially the community and found family angle—I needed that right now, and suspect I will carry it with me for a long time.
sailfin's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
verkisto's review against another edition
3.0
I enjoyed Updraft well enough to move on to the second book in the Bone Universe, Cloudbound, but the only reason I moved on to Horizon is because I wanted to see how Wilde drew her story to a close. I wasn't that impressed with Cloudbound, likely because I went from an audiobook to a physical book, and I started seeing more of Wilde's style. She uses a lot of sentence fragments (not as much as Blake Crouch, but still...) in ways that didn't match the mood or tone of the narrative. I can understand using them during action scenes to keep a sense of immediacy in the story, but she drops subjects when writing quiet transitionary scenes, and it took me out of the story too much. She does the same with Horizon.
Also, Wilde shifts her point-of-view characters from book to book. In Updraft, the narrator was Kirit; in Cloudbound, it was Nat; now, she uses three different characters to show the three different parts of the story. I didn't mind the shift so much between books one and two, but it felt inconsistent to then shift to multiple narrators. I can't see any other way she could have written the story without jumping to a third-person narrative, but it still felt weird to make that jump. Plus, in the end, the characters all had the same voice.
I also found it hard to make a strong connection with the characters in the book. I was engaged in the story by the events less than the characters. They didn't come alive to me, and it was hard to really root for or against any character (other than in the broadest sense) because they felt so flat. Even characters who had been established in other books, and with whom I should have already felt a connection, felt distant to me. Major (major) upheavals happened in this book, but it was hard to care about them because I lacked that connection.
Reading the Bone Universe reminded me a bit of reading Max Gladstone's The Craft Sequence: There are some great ideas and some good plots, but in the end, it was just hard for me to care enough about the characters to elevate the books above mediocre. Existing fans, and fans of The Craft Sequence, though, should finish out the series.
Also, Wilde shifts her point-of-view characters from book to book. In Updraft, the narrator was Kirit; in Cloudbound, it was Nat; now, she uses three different characters to show the three different parts of the story. I didn't mind the shift so much between books one and two, but it felt inconsistent to then shift to multiple narrators. I can't see any other way she could have written the story without jumping to a third-person narrative, but it still felt weird to make that jump. Plus, in the end, the characters all had the same voice.
I also found it hard to make a strong connection with the characters in the book. I was engaged in the story by the events less than the characters. They didn't come alive to me, and it was hard to really root for or against any character (other than in the broadest sense) because they felt so flat. Even characters who had been established in other books, and with whom I should have already felt a connection, felt distant to me. Major (major) upheavals happened in this book, but it was hard to care about them because I lacked that connection.
Reading the Bone Universe reminded me a bit of reading Max Gladstone's The Craft Sequence: There are some great ideas and some good plots, but in the end, it was just hard for me to care enough about the characters to elevate the books above mediocre. Existing fans, and fans of The Craft Sequence, though, should finish out the series.
detailsandtales's review against another edition
3.0
This book didn't grab me as much as the earlier books in the series. I had to force myself through it. I did feel like getting to the end paid off, though. The end of the book was my favorite part. It's just that it was sometimes a struggle to get there. I think this was partly because the first two books explored worlds that left me with a sense of wonder - the sky, the mid-cloud, etc. In this book, though, every setting is one of fear, and the new world we get to explore - the ground - is nothing but danger. There's no sense of awe. Still, it was nice to see the characters' stories reach their conclusion and the end was satisfying.