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drownedworld's review against another edition
5.0
There are few writers who worldbuild as well as Fran Wilde. She continues to explore the world she introduced in last year's UPDRAFT but this time through the eyes of Nat which I found immensely satisfying. To me, the world in which characters inhabit is the most important aspect of a story so I relished the opportunity to learn more about the society (especially its political scene which in many ways resonates with our current election cycle) through his eyes. I enjoyed seeing Kirit and the ramifications of her actions in UPDRAFT from someone else's perspective, too. And then you have the final part of the book which is one brilliantly executed action scene after another on top of revelation upon revelation that makes me wish HORIZON was out today!
jshaden's review
4.0
I thought this was even better than the first book. The POV character is different, although the main cast remains familiar, and the story expands on the unique world.
lizshayne's review against another edition
3.0
Leaving aside the "I cannot remember what happened in the last book or the names of any characters" problem that happens every time I pick up a sequel, I enjoyed this one. It's a...familiar story at this point - once the oppressive regime (which is also complex in its own way) is overthrown, where do we go and how do we keep the revolution good?
I'm glad to see this in fiction and it keeps the story interesting and realistic.
I'm not sure I care as much about Nat as I do Kirit (fortunately she's here too), but I found this deftly handled and interesting if not as compelling as book 1.
I'm glad to see this in fiction and it keeps the story interesting and realistic.
I'm not sure I care as much about Nat as I do Kirit (fortunately she's here too), but I found this deftly handled and interesting if not as compelling as book 1.
reanne's review against another edition
1.0
Review crossposted from Reanne Reads.
I reviewed the first book in this series last year and enjoyed it. But my memory is not so good and I’ve read a lot of books between then and now, so I had some trouble remembering all the details for this one. Cloudbound jumps right into the world of this series without any reminders or easing back in like you normally get in series. For this reason, I’d definitely recommend that you read this book immediately after reading the first one, and certainly don’t read it without reading the first one at all. Even having read the first one, I was pretty confused.
This book follows Naton, the friend of the protagonist of the first book. Maybe because of Naton’s personality or the fact that the big action happened in the last book, this book is much more about politics and vague threats. It takes quite a while for anything very exciting to happen. I’m sure some people enjoy reading about politics and shadowy threats, but that’s not really my thing. I was hoping this book would get more into the lore and history of the world, why these people ended up in the clouds, etc. I’d hoped the story would start expanding their world outside of just the towers. Apparently that’s not where the author wanted to take. I guess this is really more of a politics story than a fantasy adventure story.
The story does eventually get to exploring the world at the base of the towers and showing more of what that world looks like, but it doesn’t happen until about 93% through the story. While it was nice to see that and the story left off with a promising hook for the next book, I’m afraid that all came far too late for me. What happens at the very end of the book should have happened at the beginning. As in, inciting incident, then discovering the ground beneath the towers, then carrying on the story from there. Ultimately, it really did just feel like this author wanted to write a totally different book than the one I wanted to read.
The narrator’s style is more gently read it to you than really perform it for you. He read in a steady, smooth, clear, and very slow way which I’m sure some people prefer but which I didn’t care for at all. My favorite narrators are guys like Ray Porter, MacLeod Andrews, and James Marsters–narrators who really go all out in performing the story in a big, epic type of way. I love that. The narrator of this book was pretty much the opposite of that.
I reviewed the first book in this series last year and enjoyed it. But my memory is not so good and I’ve read a lot of books between then and now, so I had some trouble remembering all the details for this one. Cloudbound jumps right into the world of this series without any reminders or easing back in like you normally get in series. For this reason, I’d definitely recommend that you read this book immediately after reading the first one, and certainly don’t read it without reading the first one at all. Even having read the first one, I was pretty confused.
This book follows Naton, the friend of the protagonist of the first book. Maybe because of Naton’s personality or the fact that the big action happened in the last book, this book is much more about politics and vague threats. It takes quite a while for anything very exciting to happen. I’m sure some people enjoy reading about politics and shadowy threats, but that’s not really my thing. I was hoping this book would get more into the lore and history of the world, why these people ended up in the clouds, etc. I’d hoped the story would start expanding their world outside of just the towers. Apparently that’s not where the author wanted to take. I guess this is really more of a politics story than a fantasy adventure story.
The story does eventually get to exploring the world at the base of the towers and showing more of what that world looks like, but it doesn’t happen until about 93% through the story. While it was nice to see that and the story left off with a promising hook for the next book, I’m afraid that all came far too late for me. What happens at the very end of the book should have happened at the beginning. As in, inciting incident, then discovering the ground beneath the towers, then carrying on the story from there. Ultimately, it really did just feel like this author wanted to write a totally different book than the one I wanted to read.
The narrator’s style is more gently read it to you than really perform it for you. He read in a steady, smooth, clear, and very slow way which I’m sure some people prefer but which I didn’t care for at all. My favorite narrators are guys like Ray Porter, MacLeod Andrews, and James Marsters–narrators who really go all out in performing the story in a big, epic type of way. I love that. The narrator of this book was pretty much the opposite of that.
jameseckman's review against another edition
3.0
Read the first one or you will be thinking WTF? Not bad but this protagonist (not the same as book #1) is still clueless and a bit of a victim. The weird society and environment is quite fun. The ending is a wannabe cliffhanger, which is OK, you know there's more but you can wait for it.
pers's review against another edition
3.0
Sometimes when an author switches to a different protagonist's PoV in the course of a series, it works really, really well (Pullman's His Dark Materials series, for example), and sometimes it works less well. Sadly Cloudbound (for me) is one of the latter. The second book in the 'Bone Universe' series is told from the PoV of Nat, who is a secondary character in 'Updraft'. Unfortunately (for me) Nat isn't an interesting enough character to carry the story - and this situation's not helped by the slower, less-action-based narrative of 'Cloudbound').
I'm about to being 'Horizon', the third and final book in the series, and I'm hoping the author will manage to re-engage my interest.
I'm about to being 'Horizon', the third and final book in the series, and I'm hoping the author will manage to re-engage my interest.
balrogboogie's review against another edition
5.0
A great follow up to the first in the series, UPDRAFT. This book is told from the perspective of Nat, who is the best friend of the main character from the first book, Kirit. Don't worry though, we still get to see Kirit plenty throughout this book. We also learn more about this fascinating world that Fran Wilde has created, and we *may* even get to learn the truth about the city's origin ;-)
All-in-all, it is a worthy sequel and really makes me look forward to the next installment.
All-in-all, it is a worthy sequel and really makes me look forward to the next installment.
elinab33aa's review against another edition
1.0
This was kind of unbearable. I couldn't get over how completely interchangeable all the characters were, with muddled motivations and and an utter lack of growth. All the supposed intrigue and backstabbing and political manipulation felt one dimensional, like the author has no idea how to weave these elements into a convincing plot. Speaking of convincing, everyone's beliefs and opinions were extremely flimsy. A character holds one position, someone suggests a thing, and then the character does a complete 180 and strongly believes the opposite. All the internal struggling built the impression that no one knows a goddamn thing and is constantly figuring everything out along the way. I couldn't make sense of why things happened the way they did and what everyone actually hoped to achieve. It was nonsensical and paper thin from start to finish.
Don't even get me started on the ludicrous "reveal" at the end. Just... what? WHAT. The additional world building made me angry instead of feeling rewarding. How much do I have to suspend my disbelief, exactly?
On top of that, the author's writing style just has no flow. Most sentences are very short, a lot of the time they're a repetition of names within the party, and any exciting action is broken up with descriptions of things that just do not matter. Dialogue is stilted and underlines how unrelatable characters are, especially with the constant opinion shifting.
I really enjoyed the first book, so I have no idea what happened with this one. It was a giant waste of my time. please don't waste yours.
Don't even get me started on the ludicrous "reveal" at the end. Just... what? WHAT. The additional world building made me angry instead of feeling rewarding. How much do I have to suspend my disbelief, exactly?
On top of that, the author's writing style just has no flow. Most sentences are very short, a lot of the time they're a repetition of names within the party, and any exciting action is broken up with descriptions of things that just do not matter. Dialogue is stilted and underlines how unrelatable characters are, especially with the constant opinion shifting.
I really enjoyed the first book, so I have no idea what happened with this one. It was a giant waste of my time. please don't waste yours.
tundragirl's review against another edition
3.0
For some reason this didn't hold my attention like the first one.
joreadsbooks's review against another edition
5.0
Updraft was a helluva debut and the second book of the Bone Universe exceeds its predecessor. We go back to the world of bone towers and skymouths in the aftermath of Spirefall. This time, we're treated to a first-person narration from Nat, Kirit's wing brother. It was a great to transition to a more character-interaction-driven story. The action sequences worked better when told from the first person and the voice was so right for this political, secondary-world fantasy adventure. Because the world-building was so thorough in the first one, the settings, culture, and science of the world felt familiar. We're introduced to a great villain, Dix, and the characters are self-contained.
My only hiccup with it was the reveal in the last few chapters. It's not that it was a "bad twist," I just wish we could have had more than 50 pages of a 396-page novel devoted to it. It was such a tease and it felt a little rushed. But, good news, there's another book on the way, but I may or may not be a little impatient.
A must-read for anyone who wants to study a sequel and how to seamlessly transition to a different narrative style that stays true to the spirit of the first book.
My only hiccup with it was the reveal in the last few chapters. It's not that it was a "bad twist," I just wish we could have had more than 50 pages of a 396-page novel devoted to it. It was such a tease and it felt a little rushed. But, good news, there's another book on the way, but I may or may not be a little impatient.
A must-read for anyone who wants to study a sequel and how to seamlessly transition to a different narrative style that stays true to the spirit of the first book.