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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
adventurous
medium-paced
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Has some interesting ideas, and I do really like the hovering island setting, but it never becomes quite as engaging as any of the books in the main Reckoners trilogy. I enjoyed it well enough, but it was all kind of like a summer popcorn movie: fun action that feels a bit shallow in the end. I think I would've liked it more if it were condensed to about half the length.
I read the first 3 Reckoners books a couple years ago and... I don't remember *anything about them. I figured I'd just roll with it and read this one, and I don't really feel like I was missing anything. The story was engaging and the powers interesting. Maybe 3.5 stars because it was fun, but it was a fluffy fun, so rounded down.
I honestly didn't really click with this story. I liked the Reckoners trilogy when I read it a few years back, but something about this one... I think it's the bland-as-fuck stereotypical characters. Even the ones that aren't strictly speaking stereotypes, are still very one-note and not particularly interesting. I often forget Sanderson is a Mormon, and I'm not saying anything in specific about that, it just means that when it comes to his very heteronormative romances, where the girl and guy seem to have no personalities but of course they're in love because they're the main characters in a story... I don't know. Makes you think. There's a more diverse range of human experiences when it comes to love and sexuality!
The worldbuilding had some cool moments, but something that didn't really bother me in the trilogy but that does bother me here is that if you get superpowers they turn you pretty much instantly evil. It kind of takes the interest and complexity out of the villains. They are irredeemable unless they're a random exception, and also it's not their fault because Calamity made it so. I don't know, maybe this is a nitpick.
I didn't have a godawful time with this story or anything, but it didn't totally win me over, either.
The worldbuilding had some cool moments, but something that didn't really bother me in the trilogy but that does bother me here is that if you get superpowers they turn you pretty much instantly evil. It kind of takes the interest and complexity out of the villains. They are irredeemable unless they're a random exception, and also it's not their fault because Calamity made it so. I don't know, maybe this is a nitpick.
I didn't have a godawful time with this story or anything, but it didn't totally win me over, either.
It's a 4.25, but I really want a sequel, so I'm rating it 5 stars.
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-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
It’s great to have another Reckoners novel! I enjoyed this world when I read the trilogy and now it continues on with Branson Sanderson enlisting a co-author, Steven Michael Bohls. I like this approach that allows stories to continue without (I have to assume) as much effort from BS.
The story here is good - more near omnipotent Epics wreaking havoc on the world with the scrappy Reckoners fighting with everything they’ve got.
Jax is our main character and he’s solid. Unique in his own way but also cut from the same cloth as David from the original trilogy.
Spoiler
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.
.
.
.
I look foreword to what clearly will be a next novel in this world!
The story here is good - more near omnipotent Epics wreaking havoc on the world with the scrappy Reckoners fighting with everything they’ve got.
Jax is our main character and he’s solid. Unique in his own way but also cut from the same cloth as David from the original trilogy.
Spoiler
.
.
.
.
.
I look foreword to what clearly will be a next novel in this world!
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced