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davykent's reviews
294 reviews
Sweep of the Blade by Ilona Andrews
2.0
I found this book disappointing. I added Sweep of the Blade to my library holds shortly after it got added to the system and it was finally made available a couple days ago. I was looking forward to continuing Dina's story and reading about her hijinks with the Inn.
Imagine my surprise when I find out that this book is about a completely different character, and that most of the characters of the last three books are nowhere to be seen, including Dina, the MAIN CHARACTER.
Side stories are fine. The other series have them, and they're labelled as such. Why is this book labelled as #4 in the series when it's not about the main character or even the main story? It's a respectable character story but it's mislabeled, and that kind of annoyed me.
The quality of the writing is fine. The book is alright. It's just not what I expected or signed up for. I wanted Dina and the Inn and got Maud and some vampires instead. Meh.
(Note that I do not follow Ilona's blog, nor do I keep up with the web serials, and I don't read book descriptions from series sequels to ensure I always go in blind. I just read the books when they get published.)
Imagine my surprise when I find out that this book is about a completely different character, and that most of the characters of the last three books are nowhere to be seen, including Dina, the MAIN CHARACTER.
Side stories are fine. The other series have them, and they're labelled as such. Why is this book labelled as #4 in the series when it's not about the main character or even the main story? It's a respectable character story but it's mislabeled, and that kind of annoyed me.
The quality of the writing is fine. The book is alright. It's just not what I expected or signed up for. I wanted Dina and the Inn and got Maud and some vampires instead. Meh.
(Note that I do not follow Ilona's blog, nor do I keep up with the web serials, and I don't read book descriptions from series sequels to ensure I always go in blind. I just read the books when they get published.)
Storm Cursed by Patricia Briggs
4.0
Storm Cursed is an acceptable sequel in the Mercy Thompson series. It was a plainly enjoyable read without any unforgivable errors—however, it also wasn't remarkable. Lore-wise, it did not introduce anything new and interesting. Character-wise there was little to no development, so the cast was fairly stagnant. It was just more of Mercy Thompson.
Where that falters is that this led to repetition of, frankly, nonsensical story points. The constant referencing to the "pirate game" and its long-winded acronym is beyond annoying. The constant referencing of "Nudge." because Adam and Mercy are insatiable teenagers caught in lust is beyond annoying, especially when they're doing it in front of a crime scene that traumatizes both characters.
The miniature goat zombie interlude at the very beginning was cute at first but got a little tiring when it was repeatedly mentioned every couple paragraphs.
To don my British hat for a moment, it felt at times that Patricia was simply taking the piss with Mercy's characterization from the past few books, turning her into a caricature to guarantee that she's hitting all the points on the checklist of "How to write a Mercy Thompson novel."
So like I said, it's a Mercy Thompson book. It gives you more Mercy. That's all it really did. If that's all you want, great. If you want more, well, it can feel disappointing. For myself, I wasn't expecting anything groundbreaking, and I kind of enjoyed that there wasn't the convenient inclusion of lore to foreshadow the story in the next book as this is something that annoyed me in earlier titles. Although I'm sure some kind of nonsense will come from Sherwood's new cat and Coyote's obsession with dragons.
Other reviews mentioned a dislike of killing off Elizaveta and turning her into a quasi-villain. I don't agree. I found her story to be inevitable. She always skirted the rules, and Mercy mentioned time and time again that she only tolerated the witch because she was the Pack's ally on retainer. Wulfe being a white witch equal to Death no doubt foreshadows the new witch next book and how the Pack handles matters of magic.
In conclusion, the book was disappointing from a "new stakes and new developments" viewpoint, but it was just fine from a "Mercy Thompson" viewpoint. You want Mercy? You get Mercy in Storm Cursed.
Where that falters is that this led to repetition of, frankly, nonsensical story points. The constant referencing to the "pirate game" and its long-winded acronym is beyond annoying. The constant referencing of "Nudge." because Adam and Mercy are insatiable teenagers caught in lust is beyond annoying, especially when they're doing it in front of a crime scene that traumatizes both characters.
The miniature goat zombie interlude at the very beginning was cute at first but got a little tiring when it was repeatedly mentioned every couple paragraphs.
To don my British hat for a moment, it felt at times that Patricia was simply taking the piss with Mercy's characterization from the past few books, turning her into a caricature to guarantee that she's hitting all the points on the checklist of "How to write a Mercy Thompson novel."
So like I said, it's a Mercy Thompson book. It gives you more Mercy. That's all it really did. If that's all you want, great. If you want more, well, it can feel disappointing. For myself, I wasn't expecting anything groundbreaking, and I kind of enjoyed that there wasn't the convenient inclusion of lore to foreshadow the story in the next book as this is something that annoyed me in earlier titles. Although I'm sure some kind of nonsense will come from Sherwood's new cat and Coyote's obsession with dragons.
Other reviews mentioned a dislike of killing off Elizaveta and turning her into a quasi-villain. I don't agree. I found her story to be inevitable. She always skirted the rules, and Mercy mentioned time and time again that she only tolerated the witch because she was the Pack's ally on retainer. Wulfe being a white witch equal to Death no doubt foreshadows the new witch next book and how the Pack handles matters of magic.
In conclusion, the book was disappointing from a "new stakes and new developments" viewpoint, but it was just fine from a "Mercy Thompson" viewpoint. You want Mercy? You get Mercy in Storm Cursed.
The Arrival by K.A. Applegate
4.0
The Arrival has a very weak start but gradually improves as you keep reading. Based on the first half of the book, it'd be worth a 4/10 at most. It rallies and claws its way back up to an 8/10 by the end.
This book illuminates slightly the war effort from the Andalites against the Yeerks, and displays (between the lines) how arrogant their species is. They are burdened with being the only species capable of containing the Yeerk Empire but see themselves as #1 first and foremost. Their strategies and tactics do not consider other life beyond what is most convenient for the Andalite war effort. This contrasts well with the youthful naivety of the Animorphs, who at times sacrifice significant gains in the name of moral principle.
In this regard, the book exceeds Middle Grade, and as an adult, I'm appreciative of that. It demonstrates to me once more the allure of a more mature take on the Animorphs lore and storyline.
This book illuminates slightly the war effort from the Andalites against the Yeerks, and displays (between the lines) how arrogant their species is. They are burdened with being the only species capable of containing the Yeerk Empire but see themselves as #1 first and foremost. Their strategies and tactics do not consider other life beyond what is most convenient for the Andalite war effort. This contrasts well with the youthful naivety of the Animorphs, who at times sacrifice significant gains in the name of moral principle.
In this regard, the book exceeds Middle Grade, and as an adult, I'm appreciative of that. It demonstrates to me once more the allure of a more mature take on the Animorphs lore and storyline.
The Weakness by K.A. Applegate
4.0
The Weakness gets 4 stars due to the quality of writing. It's a strong rating, but I have to say that I was actually a bit disappointed with the plot.
The premise and result were both fine. How the author got from Point A to Point B was not. For some reason, throughout this Animorphs series, Applegate and ghostwriters alike seem to make a sideshow out of Rachel when she's the focus. It is somewhat confusing. Rachel, when she is a side character, is portrayed reasonably. Flawed, but powerful and brave. Reckless, but loyal and committed.
As the main POV, however, she is inevitably presented as an infantile tantrum-throwing narcissist. The Weakness is perhaps the greatest offender of this, excepting the book where Rachel gets cut in two as a starfish (the worst book of the series, by far).
I can see what the author was going for: Rachel wants to be a leader and finds it overwhelming. Okay, fine. But this conundrum and challenge doesn't require portraying Rachel as a poorly thought-out caricature. In fact, it cheapens the moral of the story.
Yet, the book was a good read. The quality of the writing was great, and as mentioned, the actual premise and result were just fine. I just wish they stopped taking weird liberties with Rachel's character.
The premise and result were both fine. How the author got from Point A to Point B was not. For some reason, throughout this Animorphs series, Applegate and ghostwriters alike seem to make a sideshow out of Rachel when she's the focus. It is somewhat confusing. Rachel, when she is a side character, is portrayed reasonably. Flawed, but powerful and brave. Reckless, but loyal and committed.
As the main POV, however, she is inevitably presented as an infantile tantrum-throwing narcissist. The Weakness is perhaps the greatest offender of this, excepting the book where Rachel gets cut in two as a starfish (the worst book of the series, by far).
I can see what the author was going for: Rachel wants to be a leader and finds it overwhelming. Okay, fine. But this conundrum and challenge doesn't require portraying Rachel as a poorly thought-out caricature. In fact, it cheapens the moral of the story.
Yet, the book was a good read. The quality of the writing was great, and as mentioned, the actual premise and result were just fine. I just wish they stopped taking weird liberties with Rachel's character.