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4.26 AVERAGE
4.26 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
I came very, very close to DNFing this book in the first 20% or so. It was so cringe, in an "oh, I'm socially avoidant but really discerning and better than everyone else and also a twat but don't realize it" kind of way. I got these vibe that the author had no friends but didn't know why and kind of quietly raged against the world so he wrote a book where even if he still didn't have friends, he could at least be cool somehow.
Anyway, it turns out the author was trying to show a character arc, and MC becomes progressively more bearable as the book progresses. He does a fun job with the time loop concept, and it's honestly quite fun and interesting at times.
You can tell he took heavy notes from lame anime when writing the book. For instance, every time loop starts with his little sister waking him up. I think it's supposed to be cute, but it's just anime-cringe. Tbf, he does slowly develop the characters and relationships.
Not good, not great, but I don't regret reading it.
Anyway, it turns out the author was trying to show a character arc, and MC becomes progressively more bearable as the book progresses. He does a fun job with the time loop concept, and it's honestly quite fun and interesting at times.
You can tell he took heavy notes from lame anime when writing the book. For instance, every time loop starts with his little sister waking him up. I think it's supposed to be cute, but it's just anime-cringe. Tbf, he does slowly develop the characters and relationships.
Not good, not great, but I don't regret reading it.
This was the perfect fun, summer read for my husband and I to listen to while we worked on putting together a huge puzzle and took a couple of short road trips together!
In a few glaringly obvious ways, this book reminded me of the beginning of the Harry Potter series. I don't know whether that was intended or not, but regardless, it wasn't unpleasant. The story and characters are vastly different, however, so while this may be reminiscent of the Harry Potter series for me in some fun ways, it is very clearly not a cheap knock-off. I thoroughly enjoyed the explanation of how magic and mana work for the characters, even into some of the more technical details.
I also appreciate the time travel twist, making this probably equally science fiction and fantasy in my mind. Time travel is always fascinating to me to read about in any work of fiction, but I am repeatedly frustrated with the way in which it is handled. In this book, however, because of the nature of the time loop instead of direct time travel, it's a fun twist on the normal concept of time travel and also avoids most of the pitfalls of working with time travel as a plot device. The fact that the same events unfold repeatedly with mostly one or two people making up the only differences is really intriguing, as well, and allows for much more character exploration, which I love. I feel this allows the main character a lot of growth as a person (not just in stats, but from sort of a jerk to a nicer, more empathetic person - see what I did there?), and allows the reader to learn a lot about the more minor characters as well, since we see them react to various situations unfolding in drastically different ways.
I'm excited to keep going with this series. For my husband, this first book of the series was a re-read because he wanted to show it to me. Now that I've caught up to him, he's not allowed to continue on in the series without me. I see more puzzles and road trips set to the "tune" of these audiobooks in our future!
In a few glaringly obvious ways, this book reminded me of the beginning of the Harry Potter series. I don't know whether that was intended or not, but regardless, it wasn't unpleasant. The story and characters are vastly different, however, so while this may be reminiscent of the Harry Potter series for me in some fun ways, it is very clearly not a cheap knock-off. I thoroughly enjoyed the explanation of how magic and mana work for the characters, even into some of the more technical details.
I also appreciate the time travel twist, making this probably equally science fiction and fantasy in my mind. Time travel is always fascinating to me to read about in any work of fiction, but I am repeatedly frustrated with the way in which it is handled. In this book, however, because of the nature of the time loop instead of direct time travel, it's a fun twist on the normal concept of time travel and also avoids most of the pitfalls of working with time travel as a plot device. The fact that the same events unfold repeatedly with mostly one or two people making up the only differences is really intriguing, as well, and allows for much more character exploration, which I love. I feel this allows the main character a lot of growth as a person (not just in stats, but from sort of a jerk to a nicer, more empathetic person - see what I did there?), and allows the reader to learn a lot about the more minor characters as well, since we see them react to various situations unfolding in drastically different ways.
I'm excited to keep going with this series. For my husband, this first book of the series was a re-read because he wanted to show it to me. Now that I've caught up to him, he's not allowed to continue on in the series without me. I see more puzzles and road trips set to the "tune" of these audiobooks in our future!
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Don't let Zorian's annoying personality at the beginning turn you off this book. He grows and matures and becomes much more of a protagonist you want to root for. It is a phenomenal time loop story with great attention to detail.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I devoured the entire series within a few days - so bingeworthy!!
+ extremely detailed and creative worldbuilding
+ very interesting and morally grey main character
+ amazing power progression + great fight scenes
- writing style fluctuates a lot; everyone sounds exactly the same in dialogues in book 1, and it only gets a bit better in the others; dialogues in general are not this author‘s strength
- sometimes repetitive and not very structured
- lackluster female characters
- characters in general seem emotionally distant from whatever happens to them and fall a bit flat as a result
+ extremely detailed and creative worldbuilding
+ very interesting and morally grey main character
+ amazing power progression + great fight scenes
- writing style fluctuates a lot; everyone sounds exactly the same in dialogues in book 1, and it only gets a bit better in the others; dialogues in general are not this author‘s strength
- sometimes repetitive and not very structured
- lackluster female characters
- characters in general seem emotionally distant from whatever happens to them and fall a bit flat as a result
adventurous
informative
mysterious
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
Story about a student in the dndish magic school, who gets stuck in the time loop. And uses that to get better with his skills. The hook itself was enough to caught my full attention.
The main thing that made these books so good was that the whole plot and ideas were figured out before writing it. The author wasn't winging it, and the plot was a lot more complex than it first seemed. And we're just learning about the bigger picture with the protagonist as the story goes along.
The whole story and its arcs are together around 2.5k pages, and it never felt that it dragged on.
The main thing that made these books so good was that the whole plot and ideas were figured out before writing it. The author wasn't winging it, and the plot was a lot more complex than it first seemed. And we're just learning about the bigger picture with the protagonist as the story goes along.
The whole story and its arcs are together around 2.5k pages, and it never felt that it dragged on.
adventurous
medium-paced