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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-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
Max Gladstone is an author I like a *lot*. He's half of the brilliance of *Time War*, and his Craft Sequence is amazing second-world urban fantasy. I went into this book curious how Gladstone would approach Space Opera, but confident I would like it – boy, was I disappointed. It took me the better part of a month to dig through this book, and it ust dragged on.
Our protagonist is a ruthless super-rich tech genius dick who sacrificed pretty much everything for her success (owning a super-Bezos like empire). She gets transported into a different world/universe/whatever, and is probably meant to take us on what cover texts tend to call a tour de force of that world. If that doesn't sound very relatable or compelling: damn straight. Her main motivation is supposed to be getting back to Earth, because a) she has plans and b) she maybe discovered her humanity idk man. In an effort to make up for her inherent dickishness, her intelligence and skill at thinking her way out of a problem is highlighted, sometimes, when the plot feels like it. I didn't care about her, but that's not to say that the story would have been better without her. I'm not even sure how this was supposed to work, as it's clear she's intended to be an arrogant bastard.
Anyhow, she gets transported to the wider universe and has, again for reasons, to battle the Empress of Forever, who is Evil because she destroys civilisations when they reach a too high level of tech advancement, because that kind of thing attracts the Blight (or whatever it's called). The mid-crisis reveal that the two sociopathic megalomanic women are the same person didn't feel very surprising at that point.
I'd normally like the way technology raises some people to near-godhood with powers to go with it, and the space monks looking for meaning in the Empress and her leftovers, and beings eating matter on the scale of plantes, and the revenge arc of the actually pretty cool imprisoned vengeful goddess Zanj, and the people who live with a mix of iron age and future tech remains in their shattered world, the humans who can think their way into spaceships and become them rather than pilot them – but all of it is just thrown together, a big heap of uncoordinated worldbuilding that occasionally remembers to advance the story. Don't get me started on the romance that would have been much better off as a friendship, or a swift kick to the protagonist's head. The romantic interest at some point tells the protagonist honestly everything that's wrong with her in a giant, well-justified rant, and then … nothing happens.
There are glimpses in the worldbuilding of what I usually love about Gladstone, but not enough. Or rather: too much, too uncoordinated, without rhyme or reason. And the paragraph-level writing is as amazing as always, and possibly the only reason that this isn't a one-star review. I'm not sure what happened with this book, and I'll definitely read Gladstone's upcoming urban fantasy release, but I sure hope that the Craft Series wasn't a one time wonder.
Our protagonist is a ruthless super-rich tech genius dick who sacrificed pretty much everything for her success (owning a super-Bezos like empire). She gets transported into a different world/universe/whatever, and is probably meant to take us on what cover texts tend to call a tour de force of that world. If that doesn't sound very relatable or compelling: damn straight. Her main motivation is supposed to be getting back to Earth, because a) she has plans and b) she maybe discovered her humanity idk man. In an effort to make up for her inherent dickishness, her intelligence and skill at thinking her way out of a problem is highlighted, sometimes, when the plot feels like it. I didn't care about her, but that's not to say that the story would have been better without her. I'm not even sure how this was supposed to work, as it's clear she's intended to be an arrogant bastard.
Anyhow, she gets transported to the wider universe and has, again for reasons, to battle the Empress of Forever, who is Evil because she destroys civilisations when they reach a too high level of tech advancement, because that kind of thing attracts the Blight (or whatever it's called). The mid-crisis reveal that the two sociopathic megalomanic women are the same person didn't feel very surprising at that point.
I'd normally like the way technology raises some people to near-godhood with powers to go with it, and the space monks looking for meaning in the Empress and her leftovers, and beings eating matter on the scale of plantes, and the revenge arc of the actually pretty cool imprisoned vengeful goddess Zanj, and the people who live with a mix of iron age and future tech remains in their shattered world, the humans who can think their way into spaceships and become them rather than pilot them – but all of it is just thrown together, a big heap of uncoordinated worldbuilding that occasionally remembers to advance the story. Don't get me started on the romance that would have been much better off as a friendship, or a swift kick to the protagonist's head. The romantic interest at some point tells the protagonist honestly everything that's wrong with her in a giant, well-justified rant, and then … nothing happens.
There are glimpses in the worldbuilding of what I usually love about Gladstone, but not enough. Or rather: too much, too uncoordinated, without rhyme or reason. And the paragraph-level writing is as amazing as always, and possibly the only reason that this isn't a one-star review. I'm not sure what happened with this book, and I'll definitely read Gladstone's upcoming urban fantasy release, but I sure hope that the Craft Series wasn't a one time wonder.
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I wasn't expecting to enjoy Empress Of Forever as much as I did. I love a good group dynamic and Gladstone is delivering on that front. I also wasn't too bothered by the logic of this univers. I didn't love the lovestory but it didn't bother me either. I could foresee the plottwist but I had a goodtime anyway.
adventurous
dark
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
funny
mysterious
slow-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:
No
This sounded like an amazing book but it just kept dragging on. None of the characters felt like real beings (though maybe just not the kind I’m used to) and I found some things a bit cringey, like The Suicide Queens. There also wasn’t enough build ip to events and the events didn’t impact the characters as mine as they could’ve. All in all, it was a bit like the Voyage of the Dawn Treader but set in space with a wlw main character. That just sounds so cool but was a major disappointment and was hard to get through, even in audio format.
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Max Gladstone always has interesting ideas, but this simply could not hold my attention for long periods of time. It felt like my brain kept sliding away from the book every time I sat down to read this. I honestly don't even feel like I read nearly 200 pages of this, because it never felt like anything was happening despite so much happening with the plot.
I'm always going to check out whatever Max Gladstone releases because he's got a weird, beautiful, creative mind, but this didn't do it for me.
I'm always going to check out whatever Max Gladstone releases because he's got a weird, beautiful, creative mind, but this didn't do it for me.
deeply weird in the way that sci-fi should be, and incredibly compelling. love me a good "ragtag band of misfits becomes family" with a side of "i don't know how to explain to you that you should care about other people".
A little Culture Wars, a bit of Star Wars, and a hefty happy dose of Fantastic Four. I enjoyed most of this romp, loose and wobbly in places, but overall a fun read.
adventurous
emotional
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes