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unicornstamped3's review against another edition
1.0
I guess I can't quite believe I'm giving a Sanderson book a 1 star... I guess it's because this didn't quite feel like a Sanderson book. Which made sense when I realised afterwards that it wasn't just written by him, but Steven Bohls also.
So where to begin?
Let's start with the Narrator. MacLeod Andrews. You're awesome.
The Reckoners world, is one I like - It's got 'The Boys' vibe going on, but with Sanderson filling out all the surrounding details. There was some really interesting dynamics between Epics and how they worked. There were hints of that in this book as well, but only hints. I read later than you didn't need to read the other books to understand this one - I'm not sure I entirely agree with that, and if anything, knowing everything about the world and THEN reading this, made some things muddled and disappointing.
The main character Jax? Well, I just didn't like him. Which is a problem, because everything revolves around him. He is -the guy-. He started off too similar to the Reckoner's original main character, and then he never became a character I could get behind. I didn't like how Jax could McGuyver random things together constantly - there was no logic to some of it, and some of it was done so fast, it seemed improbable within the action.
Initially, the gizmos were cool, but they quickly took over everything - they undermined the efforts of the original Reckoners, while also not tapping into that interesting notion of how Weaknesses work. The story revolved around constantly failing, again and again, until Jax managed to bodge together enough 'stuff' in the middle of another mess!
It also has an issue of introducing a side character later on, a technowizard who hacks it all when the team runs into a problem the authors can't work around.
Unfortunately, a poor book is made bad, by the ending. It almost gave you like two endings, as if the authors couldn't commit to one or the other, and the second one was just... Christ. It was bad.
The audio book was so interesting for the first third as well... probably even the first half... and then it just came crashing down around.
Stick to the first three, don't spoil the world with this drivel.
So where to begin?
Let's start with the Narrator. MacLeod Andrews. You're awesome.
The Reckoners world, is one I like - It's got 'The Boys' vibe going on, but with Sanderson filling out all the surrounding details. There was some really interesting dynamics between Epics and how they worked. There were hints of that in this book as well, but only hints. I read later than you didn't need to read the other books to understand this one - I'm not sure I entirely agree with that, and if anything, knowing everything about the world and THEN reading this, made some things muddled and disappointing.
The main character Jax? Well, I just didn't like him. Which is a problem, because everything revolves around him. He is -the guy-. He started off too similar to the Reckoner's original main character, and then he never became a character I could get behind. I didn't like how Jax could McGuyver random things together constantly - there was no logic to some of it, and some of it was done so fast, it seemed improbable within the action.
Initially, the gizmos were cool, but they quickly took over everything - they undermined the efforts of the original Reckoners, while also not tapping into that interesting notion of how Weaknesses work. The story revolved around constantly failing, again and again, until Jax managed to bodge together enough 'stuff' in the middle of another mess!
It also has an issue of introducing a side character later on, a technowizard who hacks it all when the team runs into a problem the authors can't work around.
Unfortunately, a poor book is made bad, by the ending. It almost gave you like two endings, as if the authors couldn't commit to one or the other, and the second one was just... Christ. It was bad.
The audio book was so interesting for the first third as well... probably even the first half... and then it just came crashing down around.
Stick to the first three, don't spoil the world with this drivel.
jordandeanbaker's review against another edition
3.0
2.5/5 - I was excited to head back into the Reckoners universe, but this one didn’t quite live up to expectations. The first third and last third were good, but the middle really drags. The ending is excellent, but it falls flat without the context of what happened in ‘Calamity’.
I’d definitely be interested in more Reckoners and this one definitely hints at future sequels, so we’ll see!
I’d definitely be interested in more Reckoners and this one definitely hints at future sequels, so we’ll see!
idicalini's review against another edition
4.0
I was very excited to learn of this novel. I loved The Reckoners and wanted (and still want) to learn more about this universe after the trilogy had finished. So I was very interested in this audio book. After adjusting to characters, it turned into a pretty good book. There are some classic Sanderson characterizations and lines, and it was great learning about other Epics. The only thing I'm less excited about is the ending. The ending of the original trilogy was good, and I don't really like how the ending of Lux sets the scene for another kind of evil.... inside Paige, too, which I felt was a little cheap. I could happily read a few more books about other Reckoners, though!
yanniktk's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
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
menollyruth's review
4.0
This was a really fun spin off from the Reckoners. I like this new cast of characters, I like the scientific aspect, I like the mystery ending. I think it was really cool. The pacing was a little weird for me, and I don't think I loved the multi-POV, but I had a great time.
nraucardon's review against another edition
5.0
Officially a 4.5 rating. I thought this was fun and I loved the behind the scenes story while the Steelheart books happened at the same time.
bhgold1711's review
adventurous
medium-paced
3.5
I didn't love the original Reckoners series. But I really enjoyed Lux - I think it's my favorite book in the Reckoners universe.
dr_z's review against another edition
2.0
This book was awful. It basically was a poorly written fan fiction full of plot holes, plot armor, inconsistencies, and inaccuracies. I’d hope that Brandon Sanderson is ashamed to even have his name on this book. I gave it the extra star above 1 only because it was still somewhat fun to read more in the Reckoners world, and the story could have been good if it was written by Brandon himself instead of the other guy.
matt08's review against another edition
5.0
I could never get into the reckoners series, but this was amazing! Fantastic characters, great narration, and a story that made me eager to see more in this series.