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scottsofbohemia's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
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
peterkeep's review against another edition
4.0
The end of the series, or so I thought. It looks like the series will be continuing for a while, but maybe not in the same way that it's been going so far. So I'm counting this as an ending.
First, observations on the series. This quickly grew to be one of my favorites, strictly due to its originality. I just haven't read anything like this. As the 5 book arc continued, though, the writing got better and the books really were able to stand more on their overall quality rather than just their originality. I liked that each book seemed to have an overall message, or stand as some allegory to a modern-day issue. So often in fantasy (and maybe genre-literature as a whole), we value exciting plots and fun ideas over social commentary, but here they really stand on the same level. It was really exciting to see this series continue to develop that way, especially with the non-linear sequencing and characters re-emerging a book or two later.
Now, on the actual book. It wasn't my favorite of the series, which was fine. I felt like Gladstone tried a couple of new things with the writing that ratcheted up the surreality a few levels, and didn't hit as strongly with me as the writing in [b: Last First Snow|23168830|Last First Snow (Craft Sequence, #4)|Max Gladstone|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1411416296s/23168830.jpg|42713969] did. No big deal. The story itself felt like a culmination of all of the events thus far, even including a broader scope in its philosophy or allegory or whatever. Where earlier on in the series, the books included criticisms of modern banking and gentrification, this parallels large-scale fraud and county-to-country conflict. It's always cool to see how Gladstone interjects that kind of thing into his books, and again he does it really well.
There weren't many new characters, which was fine. The familiar faces that we see are changed enough through whatever events they've been through so they feel fresh and familiar as opposed to played out and boring.
My last thought is that I wish I had more time to read this book. It took me almost a month to read due to a trip and general life happenings...I bet I would've enjoyed it a bit more if I was able to pound through it all at once. Even so, I really liked the book and have loved the series as a whole.
First, observations on the series. This quickly grew to be one of my favorites, strictly due to its originality. I just haven't read anything like this. As the 5 book arc continued, though, the writing got better and the books really were able to stand more on their overall quality rather than just their originality. I liked that each book seemed to have an overall message, or stand as some allegory to a modern-day issue. So often in fantasy (and maybe genre-literature as a whole), we value exciting plots and fun ideas over social commentary, but here they really stand on the same level. It was really exciting to see this series continue to develop that way, especially with the non-linear sequencing and characters re-emerging a book or two later.
Now, on the actual book. It wasn't my favorite of the series, which was fine. I felt like Gladstone tried a couple of new things with the writing that ratcheted up the surreality a few levels, and didn't hit as strongly with me as the writing in [b: Last First Snow|23168830|Last First Snow (Craft Sequence, #4)|Max Gladstone|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1411416296s/23168830.jpg|42713969] did. No big deal. The story itself felt like a culmination of all of the events thus far, even including a broader scope in its philosophy or allegory or whatever. Where earlier on in the series, the books included criticisms of modern banking and gentrification, this parallels large-scale fraud and county-to-country conflict. It's always cool to see how Gladstone interjects that kind of thing into his books, and again he does it really well.
There weren't many new characters, which was fine. The familiar faces that we see are changed enough through whatever events they've been through so they feel fresh and familiar as opposed to played out and boring.
My last thought is that I wish I had more time to read this book. It took me almost a month to read due to a trip and general life happenings...I bet I would've enjoyed it a bit more if I was able to pound through it all at once. Even so, I really liked the book and have loved the series as a whole.
wordly_and_toggs's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
kataract89's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
iceman76's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
4.0
kestrelfire's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
karebearrawr's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
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? No
4.5
sandygx260's review against another edition
5.0
What an intense, insane read. Once again Gladstone introduces new characters to compliment old friends, diverse threads and plots but damn, by the end of this book, he ties everything together in a wonderful payoff. There's one particularly lovely scene near the book's end that will make anyone who has suffered under the weight of college loans stand up and dance.
Brilliant stuff.
Brilliant stuff.
squirrelsohno's review against another edition
4.0
I'm just going to say that I hope that ending was not the ending for those characters because there was like a minimum of wrap up.
awsams's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
I have no idea how Gladstone pulled this off. But I'll say this: he definitely f---ing did.