jjwilbourne's reviews
239 reviews

The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.75

The spin-off is never as good as the original, right? That’s an immutable rule of entertainment. There is the rare exception, but when I dived into The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson, I anticipated that the rule to uphold. Sure, I expected the story to be solid, good even. But stand tall with the original trilogy? Unlikely.

Set 300 years after the events of The Hero of Ages, the world has changed. Allomancy has diminished but with the rise of the industrial era, the world has been built anew with trains, electricity, and gun powder. Away from all the shinny advancements, are the Roughs—the untamed outskirts of the modern world. And out in the Roughs, no one is a better lawman than Waxillium Ladrian. When he’s called home to the city to take on the mantle of a lord, Waxillium thinks he’s destined to hoister his guns for good until a string of elaborate robberies forces him to take on a private investigation with his old partner, Wayne, in order to save the life of his betrothed.

The first thing that struck me about this novel was how comparatively short it is compared to the first trilogy. On one hand, I was disappointed that I wouldn’t be getting the meaty novel I’ve come to expect from Sanderson, but on the other hand, I was excited to have a faster-paced novel to slot in with some of the other chunkers I planned to read. As it turns out, the Allomantic action sequences of the first three novels are even more fun when the pacing of the story is tighter, encouraging me to binge read the story like a 10-episode season of whatever new Disney+ Marvel story is dropping next.

Like most Cosmere novels, the plot’s twists and turns are intellectually engaging. I found myself trying to solve the puzzles of the novel as the clues were presented to me. Like a well-tuned detective novel, the story managed to fool me on more than one occasion!

Our primary cast is also a joy. Wax, Wayne, and Marasi were fun to watch together, and I’m hoping that the WMW crew reunite for the next installment. Each of the characters had a distinct personality, and their backstories were absolutely marvelous.

I couldn’t be happier to be back in the Mistborn world, and if you loved the first three novels, I’d definitely dive into this sequel series. While spin-offs are often complete misses, this one’s a hit.

Patterns in the Dark by Lindsay Buroker

adventurous funny fast-paced

3.75

After three books in a series, you might expect an author to begin to meander or lose the thread of their story. It’s not something you want to see, but it happens often enough that it’s a concern. In Patterns in the Dark, book 4 of the Dragon Blood series, Lindsay Buroker doesn’t slow. Quite the contrary. She slams on the gas pedal!

Continuing the… erm… pattern of the previous three novels, we’re again focused on Cas and Tolemek. While I still prefer Sardelle and Zirkander as the focus of these stories, I actually enjoyed this one more than the first time we were focused on this couple. As if the author could sense that the reader was less comfortable with them, she addressed it head-on, and I think it worked out brilliantly.

Aside from the pattern of the previous novels, having Tolemek and Cas as the primary characters was critical for the direction of the plot. Tolemek’s fear for his captured sister and Cas’s worry that she might have divided loyalties made the conflict richer.

But remember what I said about slamming on the gas pedal? The pacing in this story is fast. As soon as you think it’s okay to take a break from the book, Buroker hits you with another exhilarating adventure sequence. Even more than Deathmaker, this novel has the brisk efficiency of an action/adventure movie, and there’s not a boring moment to be found. I do prefer a slower pace in my fantasy, but I can’t say that it felt wrong. 

When I started this novel, I wondered if it would be the final one I’d read in the series. But Buroker has a way of making sure you keep going while still delivering a satisfactory experience with the story at hand. If you haven’t tried the Dragon Blood series yet, and you’re looking for a steampunk fantasy adventure series with a fair amount of romance, give it a shot!

Valour and Vanity by Mary Robinette Kowal

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

4.25

The Glamourist Histories has been a fantastic experience. Mary Robinette Kowal has consistently delivered a Historical Fantasy series that’s an absolute joy to read. But when I dived into the fourth and penultimate entry, Valour and Vanity, I was surprised with a shift in gear with the storytelling.

After the wedding of Jane’s sister, she and Vincent travel to Murano with the intent to test their theories about glamour within glass. Their plans are dashed when they are attacked by pirates just before they can reach port. Without their funds, they find themselves relying on the charity of one of the passengers until they can establish contact with their accounts abroad. But something was not quite right about the attack, and they may be involved in a much bigger conspiracy.

The official description itself claims that this book might be what you’d read if Jane Austen wrote a story like Oceans Eleven, and I find that to be an apt description. While there is still a strong element of character conflict that was often the driving force of most of the previous three novels, the external plot is really highlighted here, bringing a balance that agrees with my personal preferences a bit better than before.

There also seems to be a lot less focus on social issues as I’ve come to expect from an MRK novel. While I like that element, the novel didn’t feel less complete for it. It did, however, feel different in what drove the plot and my interest in reading it. This may have resulted in a bit of a pacing slump in the first half of the second act because for a moment there, I couldn’t place what direction Kowal was taking. Because I didn’t read the novel’s description before starting the book, I had no idea that was going to turn into a bit of a heist novel.

I also loved the exploration of the magic system. Before starting the book, I felt like I understood how glamour works and what it can do, but this story added a few more layers to that understanding, allowing the heist story to function even better than it could have if this kind of story had been attempted during the first novel.

In all, Valour and Vanity is certainly read-worthly addition to the Glamourist Histories, and I’m a little sad that the next book will be the last.

Deep Shift (Kilhaven Police Book 4) by Brock Bloodworth, H. Claire Taylor

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

4.0

Deep Shift by Brock Bloodworth and H. Clair Taylor is the 4th book in the Kilhaven Police series. And though I wouldn’t typically read, review, or recommend a series that’d I’d describe as a humor-driven, paranormal police procedural, the novels so far have proven to me that there are stories I’m overlooking that are well suited for me.

A few years after the events of book 3, Officer Norman Green comes home to find his kid sister at his apartment after running away from home and her shifter-ist parents. With a dangerous career as a police officer, the last thing Green is prepared to handle is a teenage girl. But his sister’s arrival leads him to something that rubs his instincts the wrong way: a string of child disappearances with no missing person reports. There’s something amiss, and it has led Green to the last miss he wants to run into: Heather Valance.

What can I say? The series has gripped me. Not only is each book the perfect length to help break up longer reads, but the humor of each novel is also a fantastic respite from the more serious reads I most often frequent. 

I wasn’t sure where the series would go after book 3, but I knew there were so many more secrets and mysteries in this world that Bloodworth and Taylor could explore. And explore they did. The world they’ve built only continues to expand, and it’s done so effortlessly that you don’t miss a beat.

Trust me. Stop what you’re doing and give this series a try. Thank me later.

*Full Disclosure — I work for the publisher, but I wasn't paid to review this book. While this is an honest review, I was involved in the production of the audiobook, but I make no profits from sales of this title.*

Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells

adventurous funny fast-paced

4.25

The best thing about the MurderBot Diaries is that it’s a fantastic series to break up longer reads, and Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells continues this pattern.

As it becomes increasingly difficult for our beloved SecUnit to simply live out its days without human interference, MurderBot has taken an interest in gathering evidence about its former “employer’s” illegal activity. MurderBot must gain the trust of Miki, a robot companion to an assessment team on the planet it needs to visit in order to find the evidence it needs.

Like the volume before it, how MurderBot learns to adapt to a new companion is the heart of this story. Miki is very different from his previous bot contemporary, and the AI was absolutely adorable and served as the perfect foil for MurderBot. 

This novella accelerates as quickly as the previous two installments, resulting in the SecUnit having to place its trust in another AI, Miki, that may or may not give him away. Because saying much more about the story would reveal too much of the plot, I’m left with simply saying that the ending is a real gut-punch in a way the previous two episodes weren’t.

I plan to read on, but I also hope that there’s a bit of an upheaval in the form of the storytelling so that it doesn’t become too repetitive.

If you’ve read the first two novellas in the MurderBot series, I would recommend continuing on to this one. It’s a fun read!

Artificial Condition by Martha Wells

adventurous funny fast-paced

4.0

Artificial Condition is the second entry in Martha Wells’s Murderbot Diaries series. This well-received, sci-fi story caught my attention some time ago, and after the first novella, I was curious where Wells would take the story. As you can probably tell, I found out.

Murderbot is now set on uncovering the mysteries of its past. It’s not sure how or why, but something went wrong—a malfunction that resulted in the death of many humans—during a job it was tasked with, and Murderbot’s memories aren’t quite intact anymore. After reluctantly teaming up with a transport AI, Murderbot takes on a commission as a disguised human so that it can do its own investigation of the massacre.

The appeal of this story circles around the protagonist itself: Murderbot. Still full of robotic angst, the SecUnit is as much a personality as any human character you’ll find on your bookshelf. I still hold that there’s a certain level of lovable, cute charm to the character despite its mood on the page. Perhaps it’s the extreme relatability I have with the character, or perhaps it’s the juxtaposition of our typical perception of an AI built to kill in modern media versus the anxiety and social reluctance that we so strongly graft onto the modern bookish sensibility.

Wells’s choice to pair Murderbot with ART was fantastic. Seeing two sentient AIs interact helped flesh out the fact that AIs live in a sort of shadow realm—a hidden world where they’re aware of us but we’re not quite aware of what they’re doing.

If you enjoyed All Systems Red, the sequel is an easy suggestion. I’ll probably return to the Murderbot Diaries sooner rather than later.

You're Gonna Need a Bigger Story: The 21st Century Survival Guide To Not Just Telling Stories, But Building Super Stories by Houston Howard

funny informative

3.25

Shift Out of Luck by Brock Bloodworth, H. Claire Taylor

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

4.5

Back again with the 3rd installment of the Killhaven Police series!

Cursed with bad luck, Officer Norman Green and Heather Valence are tasked with surviving a single shift without risking stepping in dog droppings, or—on their bad days—risking their lives and the lives of the officers around them. And if that’s not enough, there is definitely something illegal at play as children begin disappearing. Valence is determined to get to the bottom of the string of disappearances, and Green has to decide if he’s going to play by the book or join Valence’s rogue quest… and hope his luck doesn’t completely run out.

You don’t keep reading this series if Bloodworth and Taylor’s dark humor doesn’t fill your soul with something you didn’t even know you were missing. And while Green’s luck has been compromised, your luck is redoubled because this is possibly the most exciting and humorous installment yet. 

Book 1 was more or less an introduction to Green and his world of paranormal creatures. Book 2 was a bridge with enough of a hook to keep me reading. Book 3 is the fulfilled promise. Shift really hits the fan in this novel, and the ending payoff is the explosive action sequence I’ve been craving since the first installment.

These books are short and quick reads and are perfect palette cleansers between longer works. And even though I’m more likely to be found reading an epic fantasy novel, I find myself eager to recommend this series to readers who are looking for something that’s easier to digest.

Shift Out of Luck feels like a conclusion, but at the same time, a beginning in a world that continues to be fleshed out with layers of mysteries and dark plots. There’s more to be uncovered, and I’m not ready to leave this world. Hopefully, Bloodworth and Taylor feel similarly and keep the books coming until I get all the answers I need.

If you haven’t started this series yet and you love the idea of a supernatural police procedural that will make you laugh (followed quickly by the question: “whoa… is there something wrong with me?”) go pick up the first book, Shift Work, right now. No regrets.

*Full Disclosure — I work for the publisher, but I wasn't paid to review this book. While this is an honest review, I was involved in the production of the audiobook, but I make no profits from sales of this title.*

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

adventurous dark hopeful slow-paced

5.0

A strange thing can happen when you find your favorite series during your formative years. You might question whether or not something is actually “good” because you found it when you were relatively inexperienced or if your memories of it are saturated with nostalgia. When I decided to re-read The Wheel of Time series, I worried that The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan would slip off of the pedestal I’d set it on.

But my curiosity and unrelenting need to question my assumptions that are overdue for re-evaluation are stronger than my fear of disillusionment.

The Wheel of Time has turned, almost completing its revolution as the third age comes a close, forcing several young men and women from the Two Rivers into the pattern, for Trollocs have come to their small village to lay waste and find the one who is to become the Dragon Reborn. After narrowly escaping death, Moiraine, an Aei Sedai—one who can wield the one power to defend the world against the Dark One’s tendrils, arrives to spirit away the five young heroes to Tar Valon where they can be protected until the time comes when they must stand against the Dark One’s forces. With Trollocs and Darkfriends in pursuit, the party journeys into the unknown.

As you might be able to tell, this novel oozes elaborate and beautiful worldbuilding that might easily remind you of the Forgotten Realms or Middle Earth. The history runs deep and places like Baerlon and Caemlyn and Manetheren feel authentic, immersing you so deeply in the world that the novel itself becomes a portal into a new realm.

The story feels similar to The Fellowship of the Ring at the novel’s start, but quickly becomes its own distinct story by the midpoint. Pacing is probably the weakest element. While the sense of progression is constant, the novel does meander in a few spots, and near the end, the author is forced to do a bit of worldbuilding just before the climax, and that’s really not the best place for that.

Ask anyone familiar with this series who their favorite character is, and you’re sure to get as many answers as there are characters in the story itself. The story is cleverly written so that you can invest yourself in more than one protagonist so that if any one of them falls flat for you, there are two more who you love reading about.

Due to all of this (and a sizable dose of description), the length of the novel is probably longer than most readers are comfortable with. But if you’re the kind of person who searches for the thickest fantasy book on the shelf or the one with the most books in the series, Jordan’s The Eye of the World is already on your radar.

Conclusively, Jordan’s work is still at or near the pinnacle of my storytelling preferences. Perhaps nostalgia has permanently marred my ability to objectively critic the book, but I, unfortunately, can’t change that. After all, the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills.

If you happen to have this book on your TBR (and let’s face it, it’s been on it for years now), I grant you permission to bump it up to your next read. Whether it be for the traditional fantasy adventure, depth of worldbuilding, or a desire to engage with one of the core pillars of modern fantasy storytelling, The Eye of the World is a novel that you absolutely should experience. Full stop.

Same Old Shift by Brock Bloodworth, H. Claire Taylor

dark funny mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

Same Old Shift, by Brock Bloodworth and H. Claire Taylor is book 2 in the Killhaven Police series. I was pretty satisfied with the previous entry, and I wanted to see how far down the shifter hole this went.

After the traumatic events of Shift Work, Norman Green has gained a margin of respect from his colleges. But there’s clearly more going on in Killhaven than anyone in the department is willing to admit to the public, and Green’s former FTO, Heather Valance, has a nose for corruption and is willing to dig deeper to root it out. Will Green walk the straight and narrow and remain in the good graces of the department, or will he follow Valance into the dark and risk his career and his life?

If you’re wondering if the dark and irreverent humor established by the first entry in the series has remained, it has. The story had several laugh-out-loud moments that had me turning to my wife and saying: “I don’t know… you’ve just got to read this. It’s hilarious.”

Now that we’re well acquainted with the characters in the Fang 900s, Same Old Shift finally begins to uncover the larger story at work in the series. And while this story is definitely leading to a large event, I felt like this book suffered a little from being what I sometimes call a “bridge novel.” A bridge novel is often a necessary evil in a series, but the author’s strong grip on character, humor, and pacing saves the story from feeling anti-climatic.

If you enjoyed Shift Work, don’t stop there. There’s more for you in this paranormal, darkly comedic, police procedural. And it certainly feels like the best is yet to come!