rg9400's reviews
226 reviews

The Forest at the Heart of Her Mage by Hiyodori

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book is a current SPFBOX Finalist!
This book is marketed as a slow-burn sapphic romance. I think that is somewhat misleading. Romance is definitely a part of this book, but it might actually not be the most prevalent part. Initially, I was excited about that. It starts out as an exploration of grief, a journey into the past when the main character Tiller decides to bring the ashes of her grandmother and guardian to the heart of a forest that used to be their homeland before it became too dangerous. There is a sense of dispossession and loneliness that lends a lot of weight to this opening. On top of that, her companion on this journey is Carnelian, a mage who is bursting with personality and charm. The price? Marrying her because mages are considered properties of the state, and only through marriage can they earn their freedom. There is a lot to really like about this first third of the book. Interesting themes, mysterious worldbuilding, really lovable characters. However, this book has a ton of worldbuilding. A lot of it is really cool and unique, but it starts to become a bit much as the story progresses. There is a ton of exposition, and we are constantly being introduced to new elements. While the themes of grief and a missing homeland are constantly there, I feel like they are mostly end up under the surface in the second half. I was really hoping  we got more interesting depth to the main character's relationship with her grandmother. The backstories for both characters are intriguing but feel more driven by worldbuilding at times than the emotional and thematic cores that felt so compelling to  me. I did enjoy some of the action sequences and concepts in the book, but I wish the author paired a lot of it down to focus on the relationship between the main characters as that is honestly the strongest aspect of the book. It works really well when the book is actively exploring it. It just feels like it isn't always the focus. I also wish we continued to get the absurd charm of Carnelian throughout as that was so much fun to read, and it feels a lot sparser in the latter sections of the book. Overall, I enjoyed this book and really liked certain sections of it, especially the first third, but I feel like it needed more focus to be truly great.

Royal Assassin by Robin Hobb

adventurous dark emotional reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I initially struggled with the first half of this book. It felt a bit aimless, mired in a political setup that felt very static. The book is very intimate with Fitz' experience and emotions, but I didn't resonate a ton with those in the beginning. In this series, I have found a lot of the other characters to be more interesting and compelling than Fitz himself, at least so far. The length and pacing of this first half had me thinking I would kind of be negative on this book overall. However, like the last book, the second half made up for the meandering first chunk of the book. The conflict properly emerged, shattering the status quo and forcing characters to make fundamental decisions. The impact and consequence of those actions landed for me, allowing me to overlook my frustrations from earlier in the book. I do still have criticisms. I felt like the setup in this book felt a bit cliched, something I have seen done a lot before. I don't particularly find the animal companions compelling, which I am slightly worried about in terms of how the rest of the series will play out for me. Finally, and most fundamentally, I think this book is too long and could have easily been cut by 20-30% without losing much. That said, I think when Hobb does pathos really well, hitting the right beats in her endings. I am fascinated by the way she is able to develop a variety of side characters despite the first person narrative, many of whom have only specific context when interacting with Fitz and disappear from the book for large chunks. It's very impressive and definitely the thing I appreciate the most about the book. I plan on continuing. 

Sleeping Worlds Have no Memory by Yaroslav Barsukov

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

This book's blurb mentions it is a meditation on memory, its fragile nature, and its profound impact on our perception of identity, relationships, and facts themselves. That sounded fantastic to me. Unfortunately, I do not think this book actually does that. It does touch on a ton of interesting ideas such as the way conflict escalates, the difference between loyalty to a person versus to a country, the constant search of a refugee for a home, but a lot of these are only at surface level. Still, the structure and premise of the book are pretty unique. Told across two parts, the two halves of this book feel pretty distinct. The first half focuses a lot on the construction of a gigantic tower, alternating between an exiled minister who tries to balance what his conscience tells him versus what is politically expedient and the chief engineer. I liked the backstory told in this half and some of the strange mysteries surrounding the tech supporting the tower. However, I found the moral quandry at the center of this half to be somewhat simplistic. The second half introduces diary entries alongside the prior two POVs, and this was a cool literary device that felt like it paired well when the author switched to it. I actually really like what he was trying to do, but I did not think the events in the first half were strong enough to give it the emotional weight it deserved. The problem with this half is that the politics again seem a bit simplistic, even if they mirror certain real-life events. As we get answers to some of the mysteries, those answers seem like they come out of nowhere and don't really build upon the themes of the book. Throughout, I was really hoping these strange mysteries would come together and provide that analysis on memory, but they really do not. I think this book functions as a unique and creative fantasy/sci-fi premise that is very easy to read and is an entertaining story in its own right. It has some strong prose and striking scenes. However, it never feels like the deep thematic reflection that it aspires to be.

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book had a ton of hype, so I avoided it, concerned it would not live up to the hype for me. The first half certainly had me feeling like that was an inevitability. It's pacing is methodical at best, often feeling very introspective and abstract. People really praise Hobb's character writing, but Fitz in the first half felt kind of like a typical angsty male teenager protagonist. The other thing I knew about this book and series was that it caused a lot of emotional damage, so I sort of knew what to expect in regards to how certain things were going to shake out, leading them to maybe not have the same impact. All of that said, the second half did a great job of reinvigorating my interest. The story becomes about court politics, but not in the grand scale but rather in this very intimate way, focused on just a handful of relationships. In general, the book manages to hone in on only a select number of characters and their relationships, allowing those dynamics to really grow. I also wasn't expecting to enjoy the world, but I actually found myself interested in how the different magic actually worked. Overall, I wasn't blown away by this book or Fitz as a character, but I was expecting that. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact that I still enjoyed it, namely its politics, its worldbuilding, and its side characters. In that way, I am much more optimistic about this series than I was for First Law because I definitely enjoyed this a lot more than The Blade Itself. I am looking forward to reading the sequel. 

Sargassa by Sophie Burnham

dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Set in a Roman empire that never fell outside of a brief cataclysmic period known as the "Quiet Period" 800 years ago, Sargassa jumps right into the political intrigue by opening with the assassination of the Imperial Historian. His last act is leaving an atlas showing countries that never existed and a mysterious black stone to his daughter. There are tons of mysteries and conspiracies and rituals, explorations about the cost of revolution, and plenty of queer characters. One is nonbinary and the book is plenty sapphic. Throughout, there is a strong thematic undercurrent about class strife, a caste system that leaves certain people born into a subhuman state of being and given only a fraction of the rights of the patrician nobles. This is explored from multiple different perspectives, the young heiress to the Imperial Historian who has all the privilege in the world, her bastard half-brother who was freed by their dad but still never had the same status, a servae slave, and a mysterious figure tied to the underground resistance movement. The book also explores the impact of knowledge and history on power in some fascinating ways. The characters, themes, and politics were the strongest aspects of the book. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of These Burning Stars, not in the least because it could have easily flubbed its ending but managed to stick the tight landing. It also reminded me a bit of The Will of the Many due to its Roman aesthetic, past cataclysm, and the analysis of actually being willing to bring about change (and how to do so). 

Though I do think that leads to one of the book's weaker aspects. The worldbuilding is fascinating in a lot of ways, but I never really got a sense of what the actual level of technology or culture was. This was exacerbated by some anachronistic phrases that would get thrown around and break immersion at times. I think there's a deliberateness to what Sophie is doing with the world, but I wish some of these phrases felt a lot less tied to modern slang at times. Outside of that, I don't have major gripes and will almost certainly be devouring the sequel when it is released. 

Ambessa: Chosen of the Wolf by C.L. Clark

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I'll split this review into sort of 4 sections/questions since this is connected to both the League of Legends franchise and the TV show Arcane, and so people might be curious how it interacts with all of those different properties.

Do you need to know League lore to enjoy Ambessa? I'll preface this by saying I know almost no League lore, so the answer is no, kinda. However, as I kept going through it, I became more and more curious and kept asking people for insights into various factions and characters. Most of the characters in this book are original to the book, but it does prominently feature a POV from a character who is from League but not Arcane, and that character was very fascinating. You don't need to know anything about them as this serves as sort of an origin story, but I just wanted to know their role in the wider lore. There are some other factions at play, but it's pretty easy to pick up on those within the context of the book. The core story in this book is easy to follow as it follows the Medarda family, but a lot of the worldbuilding uses League countries and factions, leading me to sort of gloss over actually understanding the world.

Do I need to have watched Arcane to read Ambessa? No, not at all. There are no characters or plot points from Arcane referenced outside of Mel and Ambessa, and other than knowing what happens to them post this story, watching Arcane won't really add much. There is one scene that is copied over from Arcane, but it's pretty much an exact copy.

If I watched Arcane, is Ambessa a must-read? Not really, no. Because it is a prequel, the book doesn't really give any sort of continuation on the story threads left open in Arcane. However, it does add some context towards Mel's storyline in Season 2. I can see this book setting up some important threads for a future spin-off show in Noxus, but in a way that I think can easily be explained within that show for people who skipped this book. The main thing this book is doing is building the backstory for the aforementioned League character as well as really exploring Ambessa as a character. In a way, she's the same as she is in Arcane, but this story really highlights how her life philosophy impacts her, those around her, and her relationship with her children in much more detail.

Given all this, is this book worth reading outside of the League/Arcane connections? Yes, I enjoyed it. I think being in Ambessa's head is a bit much at times, but I like how the book splits that up by giving us the POVs of a handful of other characters including Mel. This is really a story about how ambition at all costs can leave a path of destruction, and I think it captures that pretty well. I certainly did read it trying to find all the various connections to this franchise, but I also just enjoyed the experience in general even if it has a bit of a lull in the middle. The core story is relatively simple though. The voice actress for Ambessa in Arcane narrates the audiobook, but she does some weird high-pitched voices for other characters that felt off.

Overall I would recommend Ambessa for those who are looking to get some more exposure to this franchise or enjoy League lore or just want a no-frills succession war storyline and enjoy being in the mind of a morally ambiguous protagonist. It might not be essential reading, but it is certainly enjoyable reading. 

Grave Empire by Richard Swan

adventurous dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

To be honest, I didn't love the first book of the prior trilogy, Justice of Kings. However, Grave Empire seemed to have a fascinating and completely different type of story which enticed me to give the author another try. Unfortunately, by the end, I had ended up still struggling with the book even though I really liked certain aspects of the story. One of the things I had trouble with was the imagery. There are a variety of horror flourishes throughout, yet the scenes and descriptions remained elusive for me, struggling to build that atmospheric vibe that is so critical for the horror to land. Similarly, I found the characters kind of bland. Renata starts out interesting, a low-level ambassador to a country of mermen that she's never met. As the story progresses, her internal conflicts tend to get ignored for the larger-scale conflicts, a decision I felt detracted a lot from her POV. Don't get me wrong, I was excited to read about mermen with great white shark mounts, but unfortunately their pagetime is limited. Peter's POV starts out similarly really cool with him exploring mysterious and gruesome deaths, but I found that story got away from itself as it went on. Count von Oldenberg is the most interesting of the three perspectives even though I found the worldbuilding within his sections to not be anything special. The reason is that the character itself feels more fleshed out as you start to see his ambitions play out. The real problem with this book (and maybe what I struggled with in Justice of Kings) is that the story ends up going towards these larger scale end-of-the-world type scenarios even when the much smaller character-driven setups feel far more compelling to me. Couple this with mechanical prose that isn't very evocative and focusing on plot over character, and I end up disengaged. It's a shame because I think this story starts out extremely strongly, and I was really enjoying it initially.

Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson

adventurous dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I don't even know how to begin reviewing a behemoth of a book like this. I'll start with something I was fairly clear on. I have always heard criticism of Brandon Sanderson's prose, and I never really took much stock in it. Maybe because I was listening to it through audiobook or because I read many of his books just when I was starting to get back into reading, but it always felt fine to me. I am not sure if it is because I have read a lot more since I last read him or if this book just struggles more, but I did notice issues with the prose this time, namely within dialogue and often associated with moments of humor and romance. There is a level of cheesiness that is hard to ignore at times. To be clear, Sanderson can still write a very effective action sequence, and there are still quotes that feel impactful and profound. The issue I noticed seems to lie more in the connective mundane sequences that make up the journey. And this book is a lot of journey. As the longest book in the series, Wind and Truth really does feel like a marathon. It's split up across 10 days leading up to a big event, and the pacing starts to meander a bit after the halfway mark. I was feeling pretty immersed and able to easily listen through the first half, but as the book progresses into a lot more skirmishes and battle sequences that seem to be drawn out, I started to find it a bit harder to continue. The day structure is also a bit strange because it messes with the timescale a lot and often never really feels exactly relevant to the story by adding urgency. I never actually felt like just a day had progressed in most of the arcs, and each location seemed to be operating at a completely different scale in terms of time progression. However, as the book entered Day 9 and 10, it sped up considerably as it started to line up all the pieces for the conclusion. And the conclusion is phenomenal, ending up feeling both unexpected but also entirely true to most of the character journeys. Some of those moments at the end hit very hard, and I think Sanderson still remains completely capable of landing a haymaker of a chapter and endpoint to a character arc. Not every character arc through these first 5 books feels as well-defined, and I did find a few that felt repetitive and a few that felt insignificant. Thankfully, this book does allocate pagecount accordingly, so the stronger characters do get the meat of the focus. Similarly, I thought where the plot and story ended up was good as well, acting as a good midpoint to the story within Stormlight Archive as well as having real ramifications for Sanderson's shared universe of the Cosmere. Throughout this series, the refrain has been "Journey Before Destination", but unfortunately, I did find the destination was much stronger than the journey for this book. I am still glad I read it, but I do hope that Sanderson is sharper with his editing in the future and legitimately aims for conciseness instead of self-indulgence since it will make the stories tighter and let him hone his prose more. Regardless, I do think the destination was worth the journey.

The Way Up is Death by Dan Hanks

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book starts out similarly to Dungeon Crawler Carl. A sudden tower appears, people need to climb it, ascending past multiple levels, each different. However, it doesn't really have any other litRPG elements. Instead, it goes for a much horror-driven approach, with each level being very different and associated with a different style of nightmare. This is pretty effective at first with some really strong imagery and creative threats/level designs. Unfortunately, the characters aren't super complex, and as the book progresses, it tries to give them arcs and conflicts that tie into an overarching theme of the story. At just slightly over 300 pages, I was impressed that the author was able to make the character journeys, mystery behind the tower, and his themes come together in alignment. Unfortunately, it's just not enough time for them to have actual depth, and it ends up meaning the last 1/3rd of the book moves away from the horror aspects which I felt were its strong suit. Still, an easy breezy read that does have some cool imagery and progresses very quickly 

Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

This is an interesting book for me to review. Initially, I really struggled with it due to the insane amount of exposition explaining all the different mechanics of the game. However, once the setup is done and the book settles into its rhythm, it actually started becoming fun. I still really struggle with the constant mention of skills and stats, most of which often cause me to start tuning out. However, I was impressed with the amount of creativity involved with all the different boss battles. The book also has a lot of humor which might not always land, but I found a bunch of moments amusing and entertaining, especially centered around the cat, Princess Donut. The book does a surprising amount of setup for future books as well by mentioning different items or mechanics that will only trigger in future floors, and the whole spectator/competing for entertainment aspect leads to some interesting worldbuilding. The audiobook is also really impressive, a very immersive production. The achievements can be funny though there were so many in this book that it got slightly irritating. Overall, this is a really fun pulpy book that feels like a cross between something like The Hunger Games, an MMORPG, and some irreverent comedy series. Unfortunately, I do think the LitRPG elements of skills, stats, and game mechanics lead to a ton of exposition with minimal value, and I found myself annoyed enough at those elements to prevent it from becoming an instant favorites. It might be a hot take, but I think this book would have been so much better (and more popular) had it been almost exactly the same but with those parts omitted or toned down. Even then, I found it more than entertaining enough to continue to the next book.