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shadybanana's review against another edition
4.0
Way better than the last one. I liked the pacing of the action and the implied philosophy at times. The plot was predictable but that’s pardonable. We got more dimensions in old characters, which is exactly what I wanted. Natalie. John and to some extent Shannon. Things seem less ambiguous now. One thing that bugged me slightly was the fact that Nick was remorseful over his decision to “reveal the truth”. The alternate idea he’d had in the previous book was umpteen times worse than this. I mean blackmailing President Walker, someone who had ruthlessly killed all those people was never going to work out well. Secondly, he wouldn’t have played according to John’s plans and that would’ve pissed him definitely. By sharing the video, Nick not only revealed the truth but he also nevertheless got the position as the special advisor to the President. Were he doing something else in the DAR or simply retired, he would never have been in on the action. But I digress.
A particular detail somehow bothers me more than it should. There’s just this one line about Ethan being a kind of protege who won Noble Prizes and stuff. Looks flawless. Except I mean the existence of Brilliants brought down the entire financial system, I don’t understand how the Noble Prize Institution would’ve fared through the Brilliants constantly guzzling innovative stuff and the Normies just standing by the bylines.
I sound so petty
A particular detail somehow bothers me more than it should. There’s just this one line about Ethan being a kind of protege who won Noble Prizes and stuff. Looks flawless. Except I mean the existence of Brilliants brought down the entire financial system, I don’t understand how the Noble Prize Institution would’ve fared through the Brilliants constantly guzzling innovative stuff and the Normies just standing by the bylines.
I sound so petty
zer0faults's review against another edition
4.0
A good followup, but with a greater cliffhanger that I am not too pleased with. You pretty much see it coming 4 chapters away, largely because there isn't time left to clean up all that has been done before.
Ignoring the cliffhanger ending that tied up so little, it was still a good read. Starting to like the characters more as we explore their pasts, their motivations, etc. Even the switches in motivation / alliance seem to flow better then some other books I have read. I think its largely because from the outset you understand you are reading all of this from one person's perspective as he tries to unravel it all, and you know the people he is trying to understand are master planners. It feels more like a ride you are taking with Cooper and not simply turns added for the sake of throwing off the reader.
I am eagerly awaiting the next installment, though I hope its not too far off ...
Ignoring the cliffhanger ending that tied up so little, it was still a good read. Starting to like the characters more as we explore their pasts, their motivations, etc. Even the switches in motivation / alliance seem to flow better then some other books I have read. I think its largely because from the outset you understand you are reading all of this from one person's perspective as he tries to unravel it all, and you know the people he is trying to understand are master planners. It feels more like a ride you are taking with Cooper and not simply turns added for the sake of throwing off the reader.
I am eagerly awaiting the next installment, though I hope its not too far off ...
shadybanana's review against another edition
4.0
Way better than the last one. I liked the pacing of the action and the implied philosophy at times. The plot was predictable but that’s pardonable. We got more dimensions in old characters, which is exactly what I wanted. Natalie. John and to some extent Shannon. Things seem less ambiguous now. One thing that bugged me slightly was the fact that Nick was remorseful over his decision to “reveal the truth”. The alternate idea he’d had in the previous book was umpteen times worse than this. I mean blackmailing President Walker, someone who had ruthlessly killed all those people was never going to work out well. Secondly, he wouldn’t have played according to John’s plans and that would’ve pissed him definitely. By sharing the video, Nick not only revealed the truth but he also nevertheless got the position as the special advisor to the President. Were he doing something else in the DAR or simply retired, he would never have been in on the action. But I digress.
A particular detail somehow bothers me more than it should. There’s just this one line about Ethan being a kind of protege who won Noble Prizes and stuff. Looks flawless. Except I mean the existence of Brilliants brought down the entire financial system, I don’t understand how the Noble Prize Institution would’ve fared through the Brilliants constantly guzzling innovative stuff and the Normies just standing by the bylines.
I sound so petty
A particular detail somehow bothers me more than it should. There’s just this one line about Ethan being a kind of protege who won Noble Prizes and stuff. Looks flawless. Except I mean the existence of Brilliants brought down the entire financial system, I don’t understand how the Noble Prize Institution would’ve fared through the Brilliants constantly guzzling innovative stuff and the Normies just standing by the bylines.
I sound so petty
h3dakota's review against another edition
3.0
Good follow to the first one. Action packed. Not keen on the developing love triangle though.
debbie13410's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
jmoses's review against another edition
4.0
I didn't like this as much as [b:Brilliance|17171909|Brilliance|Marcus Sakey|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1372505433s/17171909.jpg|23599367], but I'm not sure why. The story didn't feel as coherent and unified, I guess. It was still an entertaining read in a _really_ interesting world, but...I don't know. I'm almost 3 stars on this, I just feel "meh" about it.
gertrude314's review against another edition
4.0
This was another one that was so intense that I had to put off reading until I could handle the stress! It ended in more of a cliffhanger, but that's fine because I planned ahead and have the third book ready to start right away. This series is so entertaining, I wish more books were like this!
madskbae's review against another edition
1.0
This book is wet garbage. Not that Brilliance was great literature - but it was good, pulpy fun that I blazed through in 3 days. THIS one took me a month to slog through, and I only finished it out of grim determination. Not that it was worth it, what with the total cliffhanger ending: if Brilliance read like the screenplay to a mildly enjoyable sci-fi action film, this read like the pilot script to some shitty NBC adaptation of said film.
Almost no new, interesting characters or twists are introduced. Everything, down to the settings, are just retreads of the same people and places from the first book. And good lord, what's with the unnecessary recapping of Brilliance? Why are you reading this if you haven't read the previous book, and why not just put a recap up front if you have to bring everyone up to speed? I checked - at 65% in, Sakey was still recapping events from the first book whenever they went to a new place or met a new character.
So many nitpicks. Shannon is still the most annoying, clichéd "cool girl" character ever (Sakey in general writes women terribly - an angry woman is described as a "fierce mama bear". Why isn't her equally angry husband described as a "fierce papa bear"?). The protagonist is supposedly superhumanly good at reading people, yet he is SHOCKED when his ex-wife, drunk on red wine, the two of them sitting inside a tent in their living room on Thanksgiving, leans over and kisses him. A secondary protagonist is introduced, since we needed the perspective of ANOTHER grimly determined family man on the run in this book. I could go on forever.
In short: this book is absolutely horrible.
Almost no new, interesting characters or twists are introduced. Everything, down to the settings, are just retreads of the same people and places from the first book. And good lord, what's with the unnecessary recapping of Brilliance? Why are you reading this if you haven't read the previous book, and why not just put a recap up front if you have to bring everyone up to speed? I checked - at 65% in, Sakey was still recapping events from the first book whenever they went to a new place or met a new character.
So many nitpicks. Shannon is still the most annoying, clichéd "cool girl" character ever (Sakey in general writes women terribly - an angry woman is described as a "fierce mama bear". Why isn't her equally angry husband described as a "fierce papa bear"?). The protagonist is supposedly superhumanly good at reading people, yet he is SHOCKED when his ex-wife, drunk on red wine, the two of them sitting inside a tent in their living room on Thanksgiving, leans over and kisses him. A secondary protagonist is introduced, since we needed the perspective of ANOTHER grimly determined family man on the run in this book. I could go on forever.
In short: this book is absolutely horrible.
hank's review against another edition
3.0
Meh. I wasn't in love with this one. Good but it felt flatter than the first. Second book in the series, moved the story forward but without much cool factor. Will read the third but somewhat less excited and I won't grab it right away in hopes a break will make it more cool when I pick it up.