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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I really want to have liked this, but to be honest on the whole I didn't. It's hard to summarise what I think went wrong for me here. The main selling point of The Expanse series for me is the combination of believable human reactions and behaviours with a sense of the realistic vastness of space. As the series has progressed, the writers have started including more characters that chapters are written from the perspective of. This works, because it gives a sense of the scale and repercussions of things that happen. Here though, I felt that the balance was off - there was not enough time developing the central characters and too many small chunks of other things, making it hard to keep focussed on the central plot at times. As a result of the fragmented narrative, a lot of important description is hastily written and it has the unfortunate effects that it feels like both too much and not enough was going on in this book.
There were some good moments though - weirdly, the middle was probably the strongest point. And I can see what was going on here plot-wise - there's a lot of development yet to come, and huge events in book 5 - and this book had to do the difficult job of bridging the gap. It was serviceable in getting there - but for a 536 page book, I felt like I only enjoyed about 175 pages and unfortunately just tolerated the rest. Which is a shame, because the series is great and ambitious - but I just think that parts of this volume weren't quite for me. I am looking forward to what's coming next, though.
There were some good moments though - weirdly, the middle was probably the strongest point. And I can see what was going on here plot-wise - there's a lot of development yet to come, and huge events in book 5 - and this book had to do the difficult job of bridging the gap. It was serviceable in getting there - but for a 536 page book, I felt like I only enjoyed about 175 pages and unfortunately just tolerated the rest. Which is a shame, because the series is great and ambitious - but I just think that parts of this volume weren't quite for me. I am looking forward to what's coming next, though.
Spectacular! In addition to the spectacle and the beautifully written characters, the philosophy is poignant and thought-provoking.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
tense
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
Finished it a few minutes into the near year- almost beat the clock!
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I viscerally felt every battle……
It was eerie and amazing. Excellent end to this plot. I wished for more alien from the last book and I didn’t get it necessarily but what was given was peak.
It was eerie and amazing. Excellent end to this plot. I wished for more alien from the last book and I didn’t get it necessarily but what was given was peak.
adventurous
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:
Yes
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Why do these books always start with such great setups and then devolve into flat political melodrama? if it weren't for Peaches and Avasarala this would be rated lower
adventurous
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes