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slowreaderpeter's Reviews (208)
A Closed and Common Orbit, and really the Wayfarers series in general, is probably the most comforting and thoughtful series I’ve ever read. It is painfully and beautifully human, expressing so many feelings so perfectly into words. This book in particular is the first, MAYBE second, book I’ve ever read that made me tear up a bit. It understands humanity and compassion in a way few other works could hope to attempt.
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
sad
I maintain my the rest of my review below, but had to adjust the rating. The further out I get from reading this book, the more I realize just how much it sat with me. Continues to sit with me. Rating has been adjusted from 4.0 to 4.5 to reflect that. Rating adjusted from 4.5 to 5, as it continues to sit with me.
Like the rest of the Wayfarers series, I adored Record of a Spaceborn Few. I do think it struggled to get going a little bit. There were more characters to balance, bring together, and separate again. There were some growing pains early on that took a bit longer to settle into. But once you finally had the characters and a grasp on the new setting, it shone with the wonderful, and so very human, beauty of Chambers’ writing.
Like the rest of the Wayfarers series, I adored Record of a Spaceborn Few. I do think it struggled to get going a little bit. There were more characters to balance, bring together, and separate again. There were some growing pains early on that took a bit longer to settle into. But once you finally had the characters and a grasp on the new setting, it shone with the wonderful, and so very human, beauty of Chambers’ writing.
The Broken Earth trilogy is phenomenal! I won’t say I enjoyed reading every minute of it, no. Jemisin’s prose are specific and dense, and at times even feeling like you’re moving through stone yourself. But the intention of every word was felt to the core of this journey, and you cannot help but admire the gravity of the story.
Mild spoilers: seriously, nothing major if you’ve already read City of Brass.
I still have issues with this book and this series (the three leads are a bit too melodramatic for my personal taste), but like City of Brass, I found Kingdom of Copper quite enjoyable and the magical world quite wonderful.
I actually found Kingdom of Copper more enjoyable than its predecessor. I think it was helped by the separation of its three leads at the beginning and not trying to force the various romantic interests and interactions. Forcing the relationships and the potential love triangle in City of Brass was the biggest turn-off for me when starting the series. Backing off and letting them go a bit more naturally helped a fair amount in this sequel.
The only other thing that bothered me, which was present in City of Brass but not something I really noticed as much until Kingdom of Copper, was how the characters handled their emotions, or how we were told about their emotions. For example, we are told that Nahri is pragmatic and has always been good at closing off her emotions, same as we are told that Dara is hardened from war and has closed himself off aside from the death of his family, but then both characters are immediately shown to be very emotional and act on those emotions regularly. It’s not bad that they do this, that they are emotional and act upon those emotion, I just wish we weren’t told the characters are one way and then immediately shown they act another.
Still very enjoyable though. Looking forward to reading The Empire of Gold.
I still have issues with this book and this series (the three leads are a bit too melodramatic for my personal taste), but like City of Brass, I found Kingdom of Copper quite enjoyable and the magical world quite wonderful.
I actually found Kingdom of Copper more enjoyable than its predecessor. I think it was helped by the separation of its three leads at the beginning and not trying to force the various romantic interests and interactions. Forcing the relationships and the potential love triangle in City of Brass was the biggest turn-off for me when starting the series. Backing off and letting them go a bit more naturally helped a fair amount in this sequel.
The only other thing that bothered me, which was present in City of Brass but not something I really noticed as much until Kingdom of Copper, was how the characters handled their emotions, or how we were told about their emotions. For example, we are told that Nahri is pragmatic and has always been good at closing off her emotions, same as we are told that Dara is hardened from war and has closed himself off aside from the death of his family, but then both characters are immediately shown to be very emotional and act on those emotions regularly. It’s not bad that they do this, that they are emotional and act upon those emotion, I just wish we weren’t told the characters are one way and then immediately shown they act another.
Still very enjoyable though. Looking forward to reading The Empire of Gold.
I simultaneously loved and was frustrated by this book. Every word, every sentence was specific and precise. It told the exact story it wanted or needed to. And yet, despite all of this intentionality, and how engrossed you often felt, it still felt like a bloated prologue rather than the first part of a trilogy.
