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josiah17's reviews
200 reviews
Dynasty of Evil by Drew Karpyshyn
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
1.5
Took me 5 days to read this because I simply didn't want to. As soon as I read the first two chapters and could immediately tell this was going to be the worst of this already mid trilogy. I would've dnf'd if this wasn't the final book in the series. But I plowed through.
Ironically, this has a legitimate attempt at some nuance to characters by Karpyshyn. Except he can't execute it whatsoever because the writing remains superficial and it's paired with such a clunky, shallow and unimaginative plot.
And for whatever reason, Karpyshyn just decides to write third-person omniscient a few times when the entire series has been thrid-person limited? It was super jarring, seemed unnecessary, and just felt like another example of the poor writing quality throughout these books.
Simply not a good read whatsoever, capping off this underwhelming trilogy with further disappointment. A Sith like Darth Bane deserved better.
Ironically, this has a legitimate attempt at some nuance to characters by Karpyshyn. Except he can't execute it whatsoever because the writing remains superficial and it's paired with such a clunky, shallow and unimaginative plot.
And for whatever reason, Karpyshyn just decides to write third-person omniscient a few times when the entire series has been thrid-person limited? It was super jarring, seemed unnecessary, and just felt like another example of the poor writing quality throughout these books.
Simply not a good read whatsoever, capping off this underwhelming trilogy with further disappointment. A Sith like Darth Bane deserved better.
Priest of Lies by Peter McLean
Great sequel to Priest of Bones in almost every way, even though it's more of the same. The plot maintains a sense of the same repetition from the first book with Tomas Piety managing his gang. Almost slice of life kinda stuff, but simply very bleak and violent. However there's a good chunk that explores a different city and delivers some fantastic political intrigue. Lots of different variables introduced in this book throughout and the plot clearly begins to head in a grander direction.
I also felt the side characters were better written here. Particularly the primary side characters in Bloody Anne, Ailsa, Luka, and Billy. Especially Ailsa who Tomas spends majority of his time with. She's really a fascinating and incredibly intelligent individual. Billy is also simply fascinating with his gift of the cunning. And I must express how much I love Tomas Piety's narrative voice. I said it in my review of Priesr of Bones: he has such a distinct tone and execution of his perspective on the world. It feels so well-realized by McLean. He's a fantastic, and harrowing, main character.
I think really the writing as a whole was slightly improved. McLean has a way with describing the ambience of an environment and conniving motivations, partially due to how well he's set up the grim reality of this world. Although the prose remains a little repetitive in some cases with certain phrases and whatnot.
Ultimately a very enjoyable read. The scheming in this series is simply entertaining to read. Could bump this to a 4.5 in time. Really looking forward to seeing how the last two books play out.
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"Vengeance is mine, sayeth Our Lady, and I am Her priest."
Great sequel to Priest of Bones in almost every way, even though it's more of the same. The plot maintains a sense of the same repetition from the first book with Tomas Piety managing his gang. Almost slice of life kinda stuff, but simply very bleak and violent. However there's a good chunk that explores a different city and delivers some fantastic political intrigue. Lots of different variables introduced in this book throughout and the plot clearly begins to head in a grander direction.
I also felt the side characters were better written here. Particularly the primary side characters in Bloody Anne, Ailsa, Luka, and Billy. Especially Ailsa who Tomas spends majority of his time with. She's really a fascinating and incredibly intelligent individual. Billy is also simply fascinating with his gift of the cunning. And I must express how much I love Tomas Piety's narrative voice. I said it in my review of Priesr of Bones: he has such a distinct tone and execution of his perspective on the world. It feels so well-realized by McLean. He's a fantastic, and harrowing, main character.
I think really the writing as a whole was slightly improved. McLean has a way with describing the ambience of an environment and conniving motivations, partially due to how well he's set up the grim reality of this world. Although the prose remains a little repetitive in some cases with certain phrases and whatnot.
Ultimately a very enjoyable read. The scheming in this series is simply entertaining to read. Could bump this to a 4.5 in time. Really looking forward to seeing how the last two books play out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, and Gore
Minor: Body horror
Rule of Two by Drew Karpyshyn
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
A smidge better than the first book perhaps? Still collecting my thoughts. Ultimately it's more of the same from the first book. Predictable, although less so with the ending which was actually pretty decent. The side characters are a little better here, probably because they receive some more POV's dedicated to introducing them and trying to flesh them out enough for their role in the narrative. But even then, this series still has almost no nuance to it. Character motivations are expressed so one-dimensionsal to me and Karpyshyn's writing once again feels very readable, but superficial.
Darth Zannah is a decent character I think, and she takes more of the spotlight here as Bane shapes her into his apprentice. But I thought she turned to the dark side wayyyyyy too easily regardless of being a child. It felt like her naivety was turned up several notches.
I do admit I was glad to visit Tython for a little bit, and there was a pretty solid battle that takes place there. I also appreciated more of the exploration with Sith Holocrons as Bane tries to learn how to create one himself and ensure the Sith are preserved for generations.
Altogether, this book is just fine I think. I still really wish this series was better written and had some more depth to it. It's unfortunate, but whatever.
Darth Zannah is a decent character I think, and she takes more of the spotlight here as Bane shapes her into his apprentice. But I thought she turned to the dark side wayyyyyy too easily regardless of being a child. It felt like her naivety was turned up several notches.
I do admit I was glad to visit Tython for a little bit, and there was a pretty solid battle that takes place there. I also appreciated more of the exploration with Sith Holocrons as Bane tries to learn how to create one himself and ensure the Sith are preserved for generations.
Altogether, this book is just fine I think. I still really wish this series was better written and had some more depth to it. It's unfortunate, but whatever.
Priest of Bones by Peter McLean
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
"When people have run out of food and hope and places to hide, do not be surprised if they have also run out of mercy."
Gang wars in a fantasy setting from the perspective of the boss, Tomas Piety. This is a solid book one to a series. It's certainly a setup book, and there's some monotony in the reconstruction of Piety's gang. But I enjoyed this enough and I will definitely continue the series.
The actual prose is decent overall, but the writing and structure as a whole makes this book so incredibly readable. I read it at such a quick pace while still digesting and retaining everything that was occurring. McLean also gives Tomas Piety such a distinctive narrative voice which I quite enjoyed. He's seen some stuff, and that's reflected through his view of the world and how he controls his gang. However, one downside to McLean's writing in first person, at least so far, is most of the side characters don't feel as fleshed out as they could be. Bloody Anne, Luka, and Ailsa were definitely the best written, and Jochan receives a bit of a backstory that makes you feel for him. I'm interested in Billy too, and his ability with the cunning (which is an intriguing and mysterious soft magic system). Otherwise there's not much to any of the other characters. It doesn't feel like it's awful writing, but just not as good as it could be. Although I do like the way Tomas interacts with his gang from his POV regardless of the their lack of development.
As for the world, it's grimdark alright. There's some nasty stuff Tomas encounters and discusses. There's the recent war of Abingon which Tomas and his gang are returning from, and it eternally resides in the back of Tomas's mind. It's clear how utterly horrifying the war was based on Tomas's own recounts of his friends actions and the PTSD (battle shock as its referred to) becoming visible in some of those who he served with. The gang violence itself is brutal too. Tomas doesn't hold back when taking back what's his, and he especially doesn't hold back if you cross him.
Overall, a good read. It's a very bleak and gritty book, but also extremely readable. I'm excited to check out the rest of the series because I believe it only gets better from here.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Rape
Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
5/21/24: Finished the trilogy and I'm bumping this down to 2.5. Not good.
---------
Despite this being extremely cliché and predictable—too much so for the backstory of a Sith like Darth Bane—it was more enjoyable than I expected. Karpyshyn writes the dark side of the force fairly well. And his prose is very readable which made this book fly by.
However, although I managed to enjoy it, so many of the side characters do not feel fleshed out enough and they make some really rash and stupid decisions. Githany probably had the most depth, but even then she was reduced to a sexy Sith who was seemingly quite deceptive and intelligent early on, but somehow isn't smart enough to escape a clear trap later? Maybe it's something about Karpyshyn's perspective writing outside of Bane that makes ever one else feel dumb and superficial in comparison.
Simply really wish this was better written because Darth Bane is a character and backstory that I was legitimately interested to read about. Oh well. I'll still finish the series because like I said, I did manage to enjoy it to an extent and I already own the other two books.
---------
Despite this being extremely cliché and predictable—too much so for the backstory of a Sith like Darth Bane—it was more enjoyable than I expected. Karpyshyn writes the dark side of the force fairly well. And his prose is very readable which made this book fly by.
However, although I managed to enjoy it, so many of the side characters do not feel fleshed out enough and they make some really rash and stupid decisions. Githany probably had the most depth, but even then she was reduced to a sexy Sith who was seemingly quite deceptive and intelligent early on, but somehow isn't smart enough to escape a clear trap later? Maybe it's something about Karpyshyn's perspective writing outside of Bane that makes ever one else feel dumb and superficial in comparison.
Simply really wish this was better written because Darth Bane is a character and backstory that I was legitimately interested to read about. Oh well. I'll still finish the series because like I said, I did manage to enjoy it to an extent and I already own the other two books.
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Deluxe Edition 1 by Hayao Miyazaki
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
To Green Angel Tower by Tad Williams
adventurous
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Finally finished with this tome. It's the longest book I've read to date, and it didn't help that I got sick in the midst of reading it. It required some extra perseverance to finish this.
Firstly, I may have set my expectations too high, and I think it's a little bloated. There's still so much journeying and I think the pace could've quickened at certain points, especially with this being the last book. And I felt the resolution didn't quite touch up on everything.
However, this is still a great conclusion to a classic trilogy that deserves far more recognition from fantasy readers. Several epic moments and Tad's wonderful prose propels you through this slow and methodical final installment. Simon's journey comes full circle and I loved pretty much every bit of his growth.
Firstly, I may have set my expectations too high, and I think it's a little bloated. There's still so much journeying and I think the pace could've quickened at certain points, especially with this being the last book. And I felt the resolution didn't quite touch up on everything.
However, this is still a great conclusion to a classic trilogy that deserves far more recognition from fantasy readers. Several epic moments and Tad's wonderful prose propels you through this slow and methodical final installment. Simon's journey comes full circle and I loved pretty much every bit of his growth.
The Sunset Limited: A Novel in Dramatic Form by Cormac McCarthy
dark
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
4.0
A conversation between two people with opposing perspectives on life. One of optimism and faith, one of despair and hopelessness. Its raw and thought-provoking. Not as emotionally impactful as I had hoped, but still good and worth reading.
"The things that I loved were very frail. Very fragile. I didn't know that. I thought they were indestructible. They weren't."
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts
Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb
Chapter 26 graphic rape scene
challenging
dark
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
An overall very enjoyable conclusion to a wonderful trilogy. This book did feel a little lengthy near the end of it, and I was kinda ready for it to be done after some infuriating moments, but it was still a good read. Hobb manages to wrap up character arcs quite well and lay some interesting groundwork for the rest of the Realm of the Elderlings series.
In particular, Malta's character work and Paragon's journey really stands out to me. It's crazy how I quickly I went from still disliking Malta to loving her in this book. She's grown so much. Paragon's journey I found to be very compelling even though he remained annoying and childish at times. He too ends up in a completely different place and his maturity and new understanding he's found was amazing to read.
Unfortunately I was pretty indifferent towardss the whole Satrap plotline and Serilla's character arc. They just didn't do much for me.
Also very glad that Kennit and Kyle are dead. I was kinda enjoying Kennit after Mad Ship and then he becomes utterly despicable here.
Anyways, solid book, good trilogy. I was originally apprehensive to continue Realm of the Elderlings and get back to Fitz's story, but now I'm maybe more interested in the Tawny Man trilogy. Not sure if I'll get to it this year or next year, but I will be continuing.
In particular, Malta's character work and Paragon's journey really stands out to me. It's crazy how I quickly I went from still disliking Malta to loving her in this book. She's grown so much. Paragon's journey I found to be very compelling even though he remained annoying and childish at times. He too ends up in a completely different place and his maturity and new understanding he's found was amazing to read.
Unfortunately I was pretty indifferent towardss the whole Satrap plotline and Serilla's character arc. They just didn't do much for me.
Anyways, solid book, good trilogy. I was originally apprehensive to continue Realm of the Elderlings and get back to Fitz's story, but now I'm maybe more interested in the Tawny Man trilogy. Not sure if I'll get to it this year or next year, but I will be continuing.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual violence
Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
Kind of an untraditional exploration of horror, but beautiful in its themes at the same time. Bradbury uses a more flowery and almost dramatized approach to his prose which creates an interesting reading experience. Good book. Glad I finally read another Bradbury novel and I'll read more this year for sure.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
"Everything that happens before Death is what counts.”
Kind of an untraditional exploration of horror, but beautiful in its themes at the same time. Bradbury uses a more flowery and almost dramatized approach to his prose which creates an interesting reading experience. Good book. Glad I finally read another Bradbury novel and I'll read more this year for sure.
Dad," said Will, his voice very faint. "Are you a good person?"
"To you and your mother, yes, I try. But no man's a hero to himself. I've lived with me a lifetime, Will. I know everything worth knowing about myself-"
"And, adding it all up...?"
"The sum? As they come and go, and I mostly sit very still and tight, yes, I'm all right.”