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rg9400's reviews
207 reviews
Howling Dark by Christopher Ruocchio
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I was hoping Howling Dark would undo a lot of my trepidations for this series, and unfortunately, it doesn't really address my core concerns. To start, the pacing is absolutely glacial. So little happens, and the entirety of the book feels like it could have been told in a few chapters in someone else's hand. Ruocchio's prose is good (though his slower style does not suit the action sequences at all), but his tendency to have future Hadrian add unnecessary foreshadowing is very repetitive and grating. It happens so often, and it adds so little because it always revolves around a hyperbolic expression of the importance of a decision, explaining how he had an incorrect outlook towards a certain group of people, or explaining how we'll never see another character again. This type of framing device in Name of the Wind is used to highlight the arrogance of the protagonist and how unreliable they may be. In Empire of the Vampire, it is used for humor. I am not sure it adds much value in Sun Eater other than padding the length considerably. My final gripe is that outside of Hadrian, no other characters really get any depth. Valka is the only one that seems to have more going on under the surface, and even then, her role is mostly relegated to being passive and an object for Hadrian in this book. All the other characters are two-dimensional, leading to various moments that felt like they were supposed to have emotional heft landing completely flat for me. With all of the negatives aside, I do wnat to highlight that I continue to be fascinated by the worldbuilding in this series. When the story is allowed to get a bit more mystical or look back into the past, as we get to see the legends within the world come to life, I am completely enthralled. I just wish all the slog in between these sections could be eliminated.
I do want to try Demon in White, often praised by people as the best in the series, before completely DNFing it. I respect the people who rave about this series, and though I do see potential, I can't say I agree so far.
I do want to try Demon in White, often praised by people as the best in the series, before completely DNFing it. I respect the people who rave about this series, and though I do see potential, I can't say I agree so far.
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
challenging
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
This is a really impressive speculative fiction murder mystery. Brilliant concept with such cool rules and mechanics that I sort of want a videogame of this book, like ASAP. The prose is sharp, and it's doing some interesting things with characters as well. It's an extremely ambitious story about trying to unravel a murder while stuck in a loop, and anything more would spoil part of the reading experience. Uncovering how different things work was part of the fun. At the end, the 500+ page count might be a bit too ambitious as it becomes very intricate and slightly unwieldy, but I respect it a lot, especially because a lot of things do land even if everything does not. Highly recommended. Sharing some more detailed but spoilery thoughts below.
I think there are basically multiple layers within this book, and each layer is somewhat distinct. At the very base level, the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle and its resolution was pretty enjoyable. I do think it takes a backseat a bit in the second half, causing some of the reveals to not have as much impact, but I still thought it was overall very good with solid twists throughout. I did struggle to keep all the clues straight at times though. The prose and character work are fairly sharp for a murder mystery as well. The mechanics and concept of the story are brilliant. I've obviously mentioned multiple times how various rules are pretty cool, like how hosts worked together or how the sequence of hosts could change the result. Each host had unique limitations and abilities (though the writing of Ravencourt dripped with malicious fatphobia). It was also clever how he could jump back into hosts that lost consciousness. My main negative here is that I was hoping that at the end, I had an aha moment where I saw how the entire day worked from start to finish as one large plan by the host. But at times, I struggled to follow the sequence of events, causality, and even when the day "changed", struggled to understand how. I think the core issue was just the size of the book, making it become a bit unwieldy with so many hosts. The part of the book that left me wanting was the meta layer of all the different hosts and plague doctor. I was underwhelmed with the explanations, and I think a lot of those elements were underdeveloped and distracting, especially as they were not as well integrated into the underlying mystery and narrative. While I liked the reveal that Daniel was the third person stuck in the loop, I found his end to be a bit anticlimactic. We learn nothing about Silver Tear/Josephine to care about her. The reveal that Anna was a criminal was completely flat for me. She displays none of that in this book, and her torturing and killing Aiden's sister has no impact because we don't see it. We do not know who Annabelle Coulter was, so why should we care that Anna was Annabelle? The book emphasizes it more and more as it goes on, and though I like the idea of it, I found the execution to be distracting from what is otherwise an excellent story because it feels completely superfluous to the story. It would have been better had these been actual characters we see within Blackheath
I think there are basically multiple layers within this book, and each layer is somewhat distinct. At the very base level, the murder of Evelyn Hardcastle and its resolution was pretty enjoyable. I do think it takes a backseat a bit in the second half, causing some of the reveals to not have as much impact, but I still thought it was overall very good with solid twists throughout. I did struggle to keep all the clues straight at times though. The prose and character work are fairly sharp for a murder mystery as well. The mechanics and concept of the story are brilliant. I've obviously mentioned multiple times how various rules are pretty cool, like how hosts worked together or how the sequence of hosts could change the result. Each host had unique limitations and abilities (though the writing of Ravencourt dripped with malicious fatphobia). It was also clever how he could jump back into hosts that lost consciousness. My main negative here is that I was hoping that at the end, I had an aha moment where I saw how the entire day worked from start to finish as one large plan by the host. But at times, I struggled to follow the sequence of events, causality, and even when the day "changed", struggled to understand how. I think the core issue was just the size of the book, making it become a bit unwieldy with so many hosts. The part of the book that left me wanting was the meta layer of all the different hosts and plague doctor. I was underwhelmed with the explanations, and I think a lot of those elements were underdeveloped and distracting, especially as they were not as well integrated into the underlying mystery and narrative. While I liked the reveal that Daniel was the third person stuck in the loop, I found his end to be a bit anticlimactic. We learn nothing about Silver Tear/Josephine to care about her. The reveal that Anna was a criminal was completely flat for me. She displays none of that in this book, and her torturing and killing Aiden's sister has no impact because we don't see it. We do not know who Annabelle Coulter was, so why should we care that Anna was Annabelle? The book emphasizes it more and more as it goes on, and though I like the idea of it, I found the execution to be distracting from what is otherwise an excellent story because it feels completely superfluous to the story. It would have been better had these been actual characters we see within Blackheath
The Lesser Devil by Christopher Ruocchio
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Lesser Devil felt fairly different from Empire of Silence. It's significantly more action-focused without the framing story to cover it. I actually found the core struggle for our main character to be more interesting in this book, and I liked the way religion played a role in the larger worldbuilding. I didn't find the action particularly engaging, so I kind of glossed over large chunks of this book. However, I still thought the thematic concepts to be compelling. It's essentially one plot beat stretched out to novella length, and if the combat was edited a bit better, it might have been able to even achieve the short story length (which would have suited it better in my opinion). Still, I enjoyed it as a whole due to the character work, themes, and lore.
Empire of Silence by Christopher Ruocchio
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
I had overall mixed opinions about Empire of Silence. On one hand, the world is fascinating, and though it does feel a bit like Dune or Red Rising, it also differentiates itself with a focus more on science, research, and religion that I really appreciated. I also really liked how one of the more prominent side characters is a scientist and Hadrian's expertise is in linguistics. This leads me to believe that the central mystery has a lot of potential and is the main hook for me to continue. The line-by-line prose is also pretty sharp, though I had issues with the larger structure and editing of the book.
Mainly, the pacing is glacial, but all of a sudden, you will get shifts in setting and circumstances that have no buildup. This leads to a weird experience reading this book where you just start to get comfortable with a story arc only for it to be pulled from under your feet. The other writing quirk I struggled with was that there is this framing story where Future Hadrian is recounting his past to us. The problem is that he often interjects into the story with context from the future, which could be interesting but often results in constant foreshadowing that started to feel a bit grating. Also, there is a tendency to hyperbole where multiple events in this book are claimed to be pivotal in his story that the concept starts to even lose meaning. My largest gripe though was related to the side characters. Like with the arc, as soon as I started to warm up to any character, they would suddenly disappear from the story to a degree that we learn they will never show up again (thanks Future Hadrian). This happens constantly, and most egregiously, there is one of the more interesting characters who ends up being one of the worst examples of fridging I've read in a while. This narrative loop is so common that I stopped even caring whenever a new side character was introduced because I just assumed they would not be relevant beyond a small section of this book, let alone in the series at a large. This prevents any character outside Hadrian from really having any development or depth (with the one character mentioned earlier as an exception). I struggle with this approach to the characters.
Overall, I am a bit reticent to continue with the series but will do so because of the insane hype around the series. There are aspects of this book that I really enjoyed, and when fully immersed in a specific story arc, I found myself really enjoying it. My problem is with how the arcs are stitched together. Still, the main story feels unique and interesting and with a lot of potential, so I will go through Lesser Devil and Howling Dark before deciding to finish or drop the series.
Mainly, the pacing is glacial, but all of a sudden, you will get shifts in setting and circumstances that have no buildup. This leads to a weird experience reading this book where you just start to get comfortable with a story arc only for it to be pulled from under your feet. The other writing quirk I struggled with was that there is this framing story where Future Hadrian is recounting his past to us. The problem is that he often interjects into the story with context from the future, which could be interesting but often results in constant foreshadowing that started to feel a bit grating. Also, there is a tendency to hyperbole where multiple events in this book are claimed to be pivotal in his story that the concept starts to even lose meaning. My largest gripe though was related to the side characters. Like with the arc, as soon as I started to warm up to any character, they would suddenly disappear from the story to a degree that we learn they will never show up again (thanks Future Hadrian). This happens constantly, and most egregiously, there is one of the more interesting characters who ends up being one of the worst examples of fridging I've read in a while. This narrative loop is so common that I stopped even caring whenever a new side character was introduced because I just assumed they would not be relevant beyond a small section of this book, let alone in the series at a large. This prevents any character outside Hadrian from really having any development or depth (with the one character mentioned earlier as an exception). I struggle with this approach to the characters.
Overall, I am a bit reticent to continue with the series but will do so because of the insane hype around the series. There are aspects of this book that I really enjoyed, and when fully immersed in a specific story arc, I found myself really enjoying it. My problem is with how the arcs are stitched together. Still, the main story feels unique and interesting and with a lot of potential, so I will go through Lesser Devil and Howling Dark before deciding to finish or drop the series.
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
I loved this book's opening, and as it progressed, my interest started to fizzle away. The book's setup is fantastic, and it promises a lot of interesting political intrigue, complex character motivations, and some dark fantasy occult magic, set against a unique pre-Columbus Mesoamerican queernormative setting that suggested interesting themes around gender, class, and prejudice. And yet, I feel like the book somehow failed to live up to all of that. There is some occult magic, and when it occurs, it is excellent. But the book seems to eschew any thematic focus outside of whatever comes packaged by virtue of its setting, and I feel like it fails to flesh out any character outside Serapio and to a degree Xiala.
Serapio's backstory wasn't very engaging or compelling compared to his introduction chapter in my opinion. Xiala, on the other hand, is great, but it's frustrating to see her mostly tied to a sort-of romance plot. There are some interesting elements with how she interacts with people from different regions, but the book quickly moves on from these dynamics, quickly resolving them to thrust her back into the central romance dynamic. To be honest, that's a lot of what the book ended up feeling like to me, the interactions between Xiala and this other character, and I simply did not care enough about this romance and felt like it hampered the development of these characters. We do focus on two other characters, Naranpa and Okoa. Okoa just shows up and disappears randomly, only being introduced like halfway into the book. He barely gets screentime, even though I feel like the book hints at a mystery in his storyline, it never explores it again. His motivations seem complex, but we never get to understand why he feels the way he does. Finally, Naranpa is arguably the second main character next to Xiala. I again loved her introduction, seeing both her past and where she ends up at the end of the book. Yet the story never focuses on how she ends up with such a change in circumstances, and though her storyline is the most political, it often feels incredibly simplistic, with her opponents making incredibly straightforward ploys that never seem like they should work.
Finally, the ending of the book sort of just ends, without delivering on the buildup that even the epigraphs in the chapters keep reminding us of. I get there are sequels, but the book itself has an arc that should have at least a somewhat satisfying conclusion.
I do have to give props for the setting and worldbuilding, which feels fresh and fascinating. But I do wish we get to see how the different factions ended up where they are, getting some more answers to what's happening. Overall, a lot of this book feels like it has all the elements I am very invested in, but it fails to deliver on them, instead focusing on elements that I did not care much for.
Serapio's backstory wasn't very engaging or compelling compared to his introduction chapter in my opinion. Xiala, on the other hand, is great, but it's frustrating to see her mostly tied to a sort-of romance plot. There are some interesting elements with how she interacts with people from different regions, but the book quickly moves on from these dynamics, quickly resolving them to thrust her back into the central romance dynamic. To be honest, that's a lot of what the book ended up feeling like to me, the interactions between Xiala and this other character, and I simply did not care enough about this romance and felt like it hampered the development of these characters. We do focus on two other characters, Naranpa and Okoa. Okoa just shows up and disappears randomly, only being introduced like halfway into the book. He barely gets screentime, even though I feel like the book hints at a mystery in his storyline, it never explores it again. His motivations seem complex, but we never get to understand why he feels the way he does. Finally, Naranpa is arguably the second main character next to Xiala. I again loved her introduction, seeing both her past and where she ends up at the end of the book. Yet the story never focuses on how she ends up with such a change in circumstances, and though her storyline is the most political, it often feels incredibly simplistic, with her opponents making incredibly straightforward ploys that never seem like they should work.
Finally, the ending of the book sort of just ends, without delivering on the buildup that even the epigraphs in the chapters keep reminding us of. I get there are sequels, but the book itself has an arc that should have at least a somewhat satisfying conclusion.
I do have to give props for the setting and worldbuilding, which feels fresh and fascinating. But I do wish we get to see how the different factions ended up where they are, getting some more answers to what's happening. Overall, a lot of this book feels like it has all the elements I am very invested in, but it fails to deliver on them, instead focusing on elements that I did not care much for.
The Silverblood Promise by James Logan
adventurous
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
This book is a debut by James Logan, and while a strong debut, it does show some signs of needing sharper writing expertise. Namely, there are weird sexual references that are sometimes randomly interjected into the story, fully off the cuff, which add no value. They are limited, but it felt just so unnecessary and did not fit the tone of the book, so they should have just been edited out. He also tends to repeat certain details, specifically about our protagonist's backstory -- instead, it would have been better had he fleshed out the more emotional side of this backstory instead of the actual events because I did not fully agree with the characterization/insight he arrives at about this backstory. That said, the book is paced very well, briskly moving between set pieces that feel distinctive and all entertaining. Plans go wrong in fun and unexpected ways. There seems to be a lot of stuff happening in the background for an overarching plot, but we get a fully self-contained story within the book. The world is pretty cool, with a focus on class strife and this idea of a disgraced noble scion navigating through an unfamiliar city and dealing with artifacts from an ancient pre-cataclysmic civilization. Though Lukan (main protag) felt kind of bland to me, we do meet other characters who are much more interesting. The setup for future adventures is very good, and I am hopeful that James Logan will be able to continue to give us these entertaining episodic adventures and investigations while building up the larger story, and I hope he can carve out more of a unique identity while doing so.
The Day Death Stopped by Rebecca Thorne
emotional
mysterious
fast-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
4.5
I picked up this book simply as a quick option while I waited for something else, but it surprised me quite a bit! It's narrated by (I think) the best audiobook narrator Moira Quirk, and she's fantastic here as usual. The book starts at the very end, and then it jumps across various periods in time as it slowly unravels the context of what happened. And I do mean various, with each chapter jumping to a different point in time, with very few events happening in sequence. People might struggle with this approach, but I was very impressed with the craft required to ensure the information was revealed at the right time. As soon as I figured out a twist, the book revealed it, never utilizing the fact that the reader is kept in the dark on events/backstories that our characters know as a way to create cheap twists. In some ways, it reminds me of the trend in literary fiction right now to hyper-focus on characters through long spans of time verus a puzzle-box style.
More importantly, it lets us get to know our main character Claire in multiple different contexts, getting to see who she becomes as well as how various events shaped her. I found Claire to be a strong character, with the exploration of her relationship to different parental figures to be very compelling. At times, I really felt her pain and anger. Reiki was also interesting, and we do get to see her side of things as well. This is a story about mistakes and how they compound, and how people can lie to themselves to assume they are doing the best they can. In that sense, though I became frustrated with some characters' actions, I also understood what led them to make those choices. The narrator also has that snarky voice that Rebecca Thorne is known for, and the humor is well-parceled throughout, adding levity to prevent it from feeling very dour, including via multiple footnotes.
I do have one criticism, and that is Ozarik. Ozarik never feels like a developed character like Reiki and certainly nowhere close to the character that Claire is. His relationship with both characters is also something I felt was not established as well, with us more or less being told about the nature of relationships without ever seeing them become fleshed out. For most of the book, this is fine because Ozarik serves more as a juxtaposition to Claire, to highlight the life that she never had the opportunity to live. However, near the end, the book focuses a lot more on his actions, and his motivations don't make nearly as much sense. Especially since the book has done such a good job establishing the humanity up until this point. I also felt like it was weird to shift the focus to death since that isn't exactly the main theme of the majority of the book I would say.
This is a uniquely structured, character-driven fantasy book with a strong focus on the failures of parents and teachers, and the resiliency of characters in the face of that adversity.
More importantly, it lets us get to know our main character Claire in multiple different contexts, getting to see who she becomes as well as how various events shaped her. I found Claire to be a strong character, with the exploration of her relationship to different parental figures to be very compelling. At times, I really felt her pain and anger. Reiki was also interesting, and we do get to see her side of things as well. This is a story about mistakes and how they compound, and how people can lie to themselves to assume they are doing the best they can. In that sense, though I became frustrated with some characters' actions, I also understood what led them to make those choices. The narrator also has that snarky voice that Rebecca Thorne is known for, and the humor is well-parceled throughout, adding levity to prevent it from feeling very dour, including via multiple footnotes.
I do have one criticism, and that is Ozarik. Ozarik never feels like a developed character like Reiki and certainly nowhere close to the character that Claire is. His relationship with both characters is also something I felt was not established as well, with us more or less being told about the nature of relationships without ever seeing them become fleshed out. For most of the book, this is fine because Ozarik serves more as a juxtaposition to Claire, to highlight the life that she never had the opportunity to live. However, near the end, the book focuses a lot more on his actions, and his motivations don't make nearly as much sense. Especially since the book has done such a good job establishing the humanity up until this point. I also felt like it was weird to shift the focus to death since that isn't exactly the main theme of the majority of the book I would say.
This is a uniquely structured, character-driven fantasy book with a strong focus on the failures of parents and teachers, and the resiliency of characters in the face of that adversity.
Exordia by Seth Dickinson
I've already written a lot, but to summarize, there's a lot to like about this book. Yet, I don't think I did? I can't place it. I think the shift to the military action in the second half is a large part of it. Also, Seth Dickinson can clearly write more personality and witty and funny moments (indicated by Anna), yet a lot of the book maintains the sterile style he used in the Baru Cormorant series, which I did not enjoy at all. Finally, though the book is bursting with ideas, it jumps between them too much rather than managing to have them work in synergy, which combined with the jumps in time creates a story that fluctuates a lot in terms of how engaging it ends up being
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
slow-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
3.5
Exordia has a ton of different elements, and I feel like I need to review/discuss them individually in addition to discussing the story as a whole. Because the story as a whole failed to land for me, and I got progressively less invested as time went on. Yet, still, the individual elements seem fascinating in retrospect, so this is also just my attempt to try to figure out why it didn't all come together.
First, the first part of this book, roughly 10%, is fascinating. It's a sitcom-style odd couple approach with eccentric Anna Sinjari finding a crazy 8-headed alien in Central Park and becoming roommates with her. It's funny and filled with personality. And somehow, the rest of the book never even attempts this tone again. Anna doesn't remain one of the main POVs really, and her relationship with Ssirin is pretty much dropped after this opening act. Which is a shame, because honestly, the beginning of the book is extremely strong.
Second, the main focus of the story suddenly shifts to this mysterious ship that is causing weird sicknesses, and suddenly we get thrown into a multi-national (Uganda, Chinese, Russians, Iraqis, Americans, Iranians, Kurdish) group of scientists and military trying to figure it out. The closest analog I can think of is the Three Body Problem, and the book is certainly inspired by it due to numerous references to concepts and theories from that series. However, it decides to use a weird structure to the narrative, jumping in time across different events for really no reason. I think, had it been told chronologically, it would have been significantly stronger.
The characters outside of Anna vary a lot in quality. You have various pairs of characters, Clayton and Eric, Chaya and Aixue, Anna and her mom, but I only really enjoyed Chaya and Aixue's relationship. Clayton and Eric feel interesting as symbolic opposites, but their weird love-hate relationship didn't work for me. There is some action, mainly in the second half of the book. I struggled with the military aspects, and so the action didn't exactly work super well for me. I ended up zoning out through most of the second half because of this.
The main thing I want to discuss are the themes though. The book is bursting with ideas, and so many of them are really fascinating. It heavily revolves around mathematics, the interplay between math and science, and sort of the philosophy of math. I was kind of familiar with this area, but Seth Dickinson is very smart and pulls in a lot of new ideas and does a decent job explaining them. I found them fascinating. But it is very very theoretical and abstract. Think some of the most abstract parts of 3Body (Death's End) and this is still more abstract. The book is also very interested in the military industrial complex, and I really liked how it frames this concept of an alien invasion to the invasion of the Kurdish people by different nations. The book is almost entirely set in a village in Kurdistan, and it's a heavy part of the thematic heart of the story. And also, the book is, at its heart, a moral exploration of the trolley problem. We get multiple framings of this problem, at multiple scales. All of this is excellent. I just wish it all connected together a bit more, where each of the distinct themes weren't so disparate, instead working together, integrated into the narrative, and evenly spread out throughout the book (a lot of these disappear in the last half until the very ending).
Oh, finally, this book is setting up a series though the First Contact storyline is very much resolved here. I do find the aliens very alien and interesting, and you get concepts like narrative destiny, weird relationships between souls, objective morality and species that are predetermined to go to hell, morality engines, and explorations of free will. These are all very cool concepts, but we just get morsels of them as this takes a backseat to the rest of the story
First, the first part of this book, roughly 10%, is fascinating. It's a sitcom-style odd couple approach with eccentric Anna Sinjari finding a crazy 8-headed alien in Central Park and becoming roommates with her. It's funny and filled with personality. And somehow, the rest of the book never even attempts this tone again. Anna doesn't remain one of the main POVs really, and her relationship with Ssirin is pretty much dropped after this opening act. Which is a shame, because honestly, the beginning of the book is extremely strong.
Second, the main focus of the story suddenly shifts to this mysterious ship that is causing weird sicknesses, and suddenly we get thrown into a multi-national (Uganda, Chinese, Russians, Iraqis, Americans, Iranians, Kurdish) group of scientists and military trying to figure it out. The closest analog I can think of is the Three Body Problem, and the book is certainly inspired by it due to numerous references to concepts and theories from that series. However, it decides to use a weird structure to the narrative, jumping in time across different events for really no reason. I think, had it been told chronologically, it would have been significantly stronger.
The characters outside of Anna vary a lot in quality. You have various pairs of characters, Clayton and Eric, Chaya and Aixue, Anna and her mom, but I only really enjoyed Chaya and Aixue's relationship. Clayton and Eric feel interesting as symbolic opposites, but their weird love-hate relationship didn't work for me. There is some action, mainly in the second half of the book. I struggled with the military aspects, and so the action didn't exactly work super well for me. I ended up zoning out through most of the second half because of this.
The main thing I want to discuss are the themes though. The book is bursting with ideas, and so many of them are really fascinating. It heavily revolves around mathematics, the interplay between math and science, and sort of the philosophy of math. I was kind of familiar with this area, but Seth Dickinson is very smart and pulls in a lot of new ideas and does a decent job explaining them. I found them fascinating. But it is very very theoretical and abstract. Think some of the most abstract parts of 3Body (Death's End) and this is still more abstract. The book is also very interested in the military industrial complex, and I really liked how it frames this concept of an alien invasion to the invasion of the Kurdish people by different nations. The book is almost entirely set in a village in Kurdistan, and it's a heavy part of the thematic heart of the story. And also, the book is, at its heart, a moral exploration of the trolley problem. We get multiple framings of this problem, at multiple scales. All of this is excellent. I just wish it all connected together a bit more, where each of the distinct themes weren't so disparate, instead working together, integrated into the narrative, and evenly spread out throughout the book (a lot of these disappear in the last half until the very ending).
Oh, finally, this book is setting up a series though the First Contact storyline is very much resolved here. I do find the aliens very alien and interesting, and you get concepts like narrative destiny, weird relationships between souls, objective morality and species that are predetermined to go to hell, morality engines, and explorations of free will. These are all very cool concepts, but we just get morsels of them as this takes a backseat to the rest of the story
I've already written a lot, but to summarize, there's a lot to like about this book. Yet, I don't think I did? I can't place it. I think the shift to the military action in the second half is a large part of it. Also, Seth Dickinson can clearly write more personality and witty and funny moments (indicated by Anna), yet a lot of the book maintains the sterile style he used in the Baru Cormorant series, which I did not enjoy at all. Finally, though the book is bursting with ideas, it jumps between them too much rather than managing to have them work in synergy, which combined with the jumps in time creates a story that fluctuates a lot in terms of how engaging it ends up being
The Book That Broke the World by Mark Lawrence
Regardless of my issues, I still really enjoyed this book and am very much looking forward to book 3.
adventurous
dark
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
I enjoyed this book, and I think the way the story manages to unfold in such a twisty way, where small nuggets from book 1 become relevant suddenly and the way the sequence of events tie so neatly together is pretty impressive. The book also increases the darkness quite a bit without feeling like it loses sight of the emotional core at the heart of everything. I loved the setting, I loved the epigraphs a ton again, there are plenty of great quotes, a very original concept and execution of the concept, and the ability to continue to surprise me in terms of direction. And I still find myself very engaged with the material. So I still really did like it, even though I had a few more issues compared to book 1.
I did struggle with some aspects this time around. The first is probably a fault of mine, but having not reread book 1 prior to this, I found myself struggling to remember characters or events or the chronology of everything, unsure of whether or not I forgot something or it was something that the first book didn't explain to me. Even now, I don't think I have everything really straight in my head. Second, I struggled with some of the thematic work in this book. Namely. I found the mythological conflict to not be as clear as in book 1. Like I get the thematic underpinnings, but I found the way various characters aligned to each philosophy to be a bit clunky. I don't know, it just didn't feel as strong as the way the first book linked this idea of cyclical violence into the character and plot developments. Thirdly, there was a bit of a middle book syndrome to it, mainly because it felt like a lot of arcs were left unresolved. I predicted the big "twists" with this book very early on, and the unanswered questions were left for book 3, so it wasn't as satisfying with the reveals compared to book 1.
I did struggle with some aspects this time around. The first is probably a fault of mine, but having not reread book 1 prior to this, I found myself struggling to remember characters or events or the chronology of everything, unsure of whether or not I forgot something or it was something that the first book didn't explain to me. Even now, I don't think I have everything really straight in my head. Second, I struggled with some of the thematic work in this book. Namely. I found the mythological conflict to not be as clear as in book 1. Like I get the thematic underpinnings, but I found the way various characters aligned to each philosophy to be a bit clunky. I don't know, it just didn't feel as strong as the way the first book linked this idea of cyclical violence into the character and plot developments. Thirdly, there was a bit of a middle book syndrome to it, mainly because it felt like a lot of arcs were left unresolved. I predicted the big "twists" with this book very early on, and the unanswered questions were left for book 3, so it wasn't as satisfying with the reveals compared to book 1.
Regardless of my issues, I still really enjoyed this book and am very much looking forward to book 3.
The Escape Room by L.D. Smithson
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
This book has an interesting premise that should, in theory, be right up my alley. I love escape rooms, puzzles, and mysteries. It starts out pretty cool, focusing on these 8 contestants in a reality TV show ostensibly about solving escape rooms and trying to figure out the mystery around this sea fortress. I zipped through the initial 60% of the book, enjoying the setup immensely. Why the very low rating then? Because this might be the fastest I've seen a book go from 100 to 0, delivering an ending that honestly made me mad. There is a specific event that breaks up the formula of the book, and in doing so, it starts a cascade of bad decisions and rushed resolutions. Suddenly, a bunch of important build-up for character dynamics just vanishes into thin air. A bunch of clues amount to nothing and are never explained again, specific things that happened or were said becoming completely forgotten. So much suddenly happens off-screen. And the true culprit and motive? Unbelievably dumb, simplistic, and unsatisfying in every way. I thought there was something interesting being done regarding the main character, but that's quickly discarded for a simple solution. I could probably go into spoilers, but I think this book's ending manages to fail in almost every single way, so even despite the interesting concept, it was a complete miss for me.