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davykent's reviews
294 reviews
Persepolis Rising by James S.A. Corey
5.0
I was worried about the 30-year time skip, but I ended up really enjoying Persepolis Rising and it is one of my favourite books of the series.
Granted, the time skip still bothers me. I find it exceptionally unlikely that Holden and Naomi wouldn't pull on the Duarte and missing ships string, not even once, in that time span. So to get from the end of #6 to the beginning of #7 takes a bit of mental gymnastics.
Once you go through accepting this, however, the book itself is solid. Like I said, one of my favourites. Persepolis Rising also has a giant cliffhanger ending, which I typically dislike, but in this case I'm mellowed by the fact that I can start reading Tiamat's Wrath the moment I'm ready. I would have been significantly less impressed if I had read this book at release.
Granted, the time skip still bothers me. I find it exceptionally unlikely that Holden and Naomi wouldn't pull on the Duarte and missing ships string, not even once, in that time span. So to get from the end of #6 to the beginning of #7 takes a bit of mental gymnastics.
Once you go through accepting this, however, the book itself is solid. Like I said, one of my favourites. Persepolis Rising also has a giant cliffhanger ending, which I typically dislike, but in this case I'm mellowed by the fact that I can start reading Tiamat's Wrath the moment I'm ready. I would have been significantly less impressed if I had read this book at release.
Fortune's Shadow by Sue Archer
5.0
Fortune's Shadow is the debut novel of Sue Archer. This is her first, but hopefully not her last. :) I received an ARC of this book a couple weeks ago, hence the super quick review.
Let's jump right into the cons, first off. Please note here that many of these cons are things specific to me or simply the reality of this being book numero uno in a series.
CONS/CONCERNS
* The book is rather heavy on describing visuals. This actually isn't a bad thing by itself! But I have a wee bit of aphantasia and do not imagine what I read, so visual descriptions tend to make me impatient unless they're pertinent to the plot. So this is a con specific to me and not the writing; the actual descriptions are fine, and I suspect they're clear enough and compelling enough for those who DO imagine what they read to, well, imagine it.
* Fortune's Shadow has a bit of a slow start. Don't fret, however, because many fantastic authors have this problem, and the later portions of the book make up for it. There's only so much you can do in the beginning stages of a book to catch someone's attention, and it's rare that I find myself invested from the get-go. Keep in mind that this may just be a "me" problem, and again, not something specific to the writing. As contrast, Fortune's Shadow is quicker in getting to the good stuff than V.E. Schwab's writing, and I love Schwab's books! I mention this con only to encourage people to STICK WITH IT if they find their attention waning in the first act.
* The world struggles to feel truly alive. This is a problem unique to Fortune's Shadow being the first book in a series. Info-dumping the reader would be worse, but this does have the issue where a lot of the lore is vague. Consider it laying a foundation for a house. Just the foundation isn't super enticing, but once the house gets built, you'll be glad that foundation is there. Many of the questions I have regarding the lore can be answered with "Read the second book."
So this con is really, "Where's the second book, Sue?!"
* There is some character linearity. I enjoyed that the introduction of a strange character didn't end up in a bamboozle (about the best way I can phrase it without spoiling anything), but the characters by and large were What You See Is What You Get. There's little deviance from how they are introduced. Again, this might be something that's only relevant to this being the first book. It'll be easier to instill dynamic, unstable characters once the main cast is known. As is, you won't be surprised by any of the characters. Is that bad? I'm not sure, but it did stand out to me. I'm used to books throwing you a 180 at least once or twice.
* It's a little short. Well, actually, this isn't true. The length is average for a novel, I'm pretty sure, but I'm just getting off a ride of reading books in my e-reader that were 1000+ pages, and using the same settings, Fortune's Shadow was just over 450. I burned through this book in a single day with time to spare. If you like a shorter read, this is perfect. If you like a slower burn, you'll find yourself wanting more. Although wanting more could be a very good problem to have, from a certain point of view.
PROS
* The quality of the writing is great. Many authors have voice issues, habits they stick to that make reading a slog or less than what it could be. Sue's writing is concentrated and paced well; while the substance of a scene may not be inherently important, she keeps you moving along and you know there won't be any dilly-dallying. This is reassuring, because it's all too common that a book will get "stuck" in a scene and not know how to step out of it. This does not happen in Fortune's Shadow, ever.
* The Yu family is expertly written. Jocelyn is a fine enough character in her own right, but the Yus stuck out to me. Auntie was enticing, Grace was a charismatic force, and the brothers were set up for future shenanigans in the series. They are an excellent "sidekick" range of characters, and I hope they are prominent in later books.
* Resolving a major conflict in Jocelyn's life allows for deeper, more meaningful connections and stories later in the series. Doing this in the first book was appreciated; I would have hated for it to have been strung along for multiple books.
* I enjoyed myself. It usually takes me a while to finish a book, reading 10-30 pages a day. But as mentioned above, I finished Fortune's Shadow in a single day. I picked it up, I started reading, and I put it down when I was finished. This is rare. The short length makes this less impressive, but my restrained reading is true regardless of length. So the pro here is that it kept my attention from beginning to end. I wanted to know what happened next, so I kept going to find out. I'm usually okay with just putting a book down for a while, but here I wanted to read it all at once.
* The book is set up for a series. As you read in my cons, some of them were exclusive to "first book in a series" syndrome. While they can be seen as cons, this can also be seen as a pro. Often, you don't know why a story has been written for a series. The story is too self-contained, or you have no idea what could really be done next that would be appealing. Fortune's Shadow, while it is a satisfying read by itself, DOES leave you wanting more. You want to learn more about the world and you want to see what happens next. This means there's a series to be had. Of course, the flip side of this is that there's just the one book, and it's uncertain when the next will come out. If you're the sort to want to jump into a series once it's found its feet, you should wait, but you should not forget about Nexus Chronicles. Set a calendar reminder about this. It will be worth it.
In conclusion, Fortune's Shadow was an excellent debut novel, and a great first entry in a series. I expect future books to be just as good as this one. I look forward to being a fan of Sue's work, should she keep writing and publishing.
Let's jump right into the cons, first off. Please note here that many of these cons are things specific to me or simply the reality of this being book numero uno in a series.
CONS/CONCERNS
* The book is rather heavy on describing visuals. This actually isn't a bad thing by itself! But I have a wee bit of aphantasia and do not imagine what I read, so visual descriptions tend to make me impatient unless they're pertinent to the plot. So this is a con specific to me and not the writing; the actual descriptions are fine, and I suspect they're clear enough and compelling enough for those who DO imagine what they read to, well, imagine it.
* Fortune's Shadow has a bit of a slow start. Don't fret, however, because many fantastic authors have this problem, and the later portions of the book make up for it. There's only so much you can do in the beginning stages of a book to catch someone's attention, and it's rare that I find myself invested from the get-go. Keep in mind that this may just be a "me" problem, and again, not something specific to the writing. As contrast, Fortune's Shadow is quicker in getting to the good stuff than V.E. Schwab's writing, and I love Schwab's books! I mention this con only to encourage people to STICK WITH IT if they find their attention waning in the first act.
* The world struggles to feel truly alive. This is a problem unique to Fortune's Shadow being the first book in a series. Info-dumping the reader would be worse, but this does have the issue where a lot of the lore is vague. Consider it laying a foundation for a house. Just the foundation isn't super enticing, but once the house gets built, you'll be glad that foundation is there. Many of the questions I have regarding the lore can be answered with "Read the second book."
So this con is really, "Where's the second book, Sue?!"
* There is some character linearity. I enjoyed that the introduction of a strange character didn't end up in a bamboozle (about the best way I can phrase it without spoiling anything), but the characters by and large were What You See Is What You Get. There's little deviance from how they are introduced. Again, this might be something that's only relevant to this being the first book. It'll be easier to instill dynamic, unstable characters once the main cast is known. As is, you won't be surprised by any of the characters. Is that bad? I'm not sure, but it did stand out to me. I'm used to books throwing you a 180 at least once or twice.
* It's a little short. Well, actually, this isn't true. The length is average for a novel, I'm pretty sure, but I'm just getting off a ride of reading books in my e-reader that were 1000+ pages, and using the same settings, Fortune's Shadow was just over 450. I burned through this book in a single day with time to spare. If you like a shorter read, this is perfect. If you like a slower burn, you'll find yourself wanting more. Although wanting more could be a very good problem to have, from a certain point of view.
PROS
* The quality of the writing is great. Many authors have voice issues, habits they stick to that make reading a slog or less than what it could be. Sue's writing is concentrated and paced well; while the substance of a scene may not be inherently important, she keeps you moving along and you know there won't be any dilly-dallying. This is reassuring, because it's all too common that a book will get "stuck" in a scene and not know how to step out of it. This does not happen in Fortune's Shadow, ever.
* The Yu family is expertly written. Jocelyn is a fine enough character in her own right, but the Yus stuck out to me. Auntie was enticing, Grace was a charismatic force, and the brothers were set up for future shenanigans in the series. They are an excellent "sidekick" range of characters, and I hope they are prominent in later books.
* Resolving a major conflict in Jocelyn's life allows for deeper, more meaningful connections and stories later in the series. Doing this in the first book was appreciated; I would have hated for it to have been strung along for multiple books.
* I enjoyed myself. It usually takes me a while to finish a book, reading 10-30 pages a day. But as mentioned above, I finished Fortune's Shadow in a single day. I picked it up, I started reading, and I put it down when I was finished. This is rare. The short length makes this less impressive, but my restrained reading is true regardless of length. So the pro here is that it kept my attention from beginning to end. I wanted to know what happened next, so I kept going to find out. I'm usually okay with just putting a book down for a while, but here I wanted to read it all at once.
* The book is set up for a series. As you read in my cons, some of them were exclusive to "first book in a series" syndrome. While they can be seen as cons, this can also be seen as a pro. Often, you don't know why a story has been written for a series. The story is too self-contained, or you have no idea what could really be done next that would be appealing. Fortune's Shadow, while it is a satisfying read by itself, DOES leave you wanting more. You want to learn more about the world and you want to see what happens next. This means there's a series to be had. Of course, the flip side of this is that there's just the one book, and it's uncertain when the next will come out. If you're the sort to want to jump into a series once it's found its feet, you should wait, but you should not forget about Nexus Chronicles. Set a calendar reminder about this. It will be worth it.
In conclusion, Fortune's Shadow was an excellent debut novel, and a great first entry in a series. I expect future books to be just as good as this one. I look forward to being a fan of Sue's work, should she keep writing and publishing.