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slowreaderpeter's Reviews (212)
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I’ve already written a review for a different edition of this book, so I’ll keep my reread review short. Adore this book so much. I never used to understand when people would say how much they loved and adored an author with such a personal sense of connection. Then I read this, and it made sense. Never before or since have I felt so at home in an author’s words the way I do Becky Chambers. And I wish everyone had the chance to experience her.
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
This was a fascinating book, and a very difficult one to review. It was neither as profound nor as fear-inducing as I had hoped it might be. But it was a very interesting character study and exploration of the unknown and unknowable.
The strangest and stillness of the world was met with the messiness of human and humanity in a way I cannot quite articulate. But that is perhaps my biggest takeaway, or just the thing that may linger with me longer.
Of VanderMeer’s writing, it is specific and clinical and almost poetic at times. I very much enjoyed his prose and would encourage you to focus on just the words themselves at times.
And overall interesting read that I will need more time to think on. I will definitely continue with the series as I have absolutely no clue what they might do next.
The strangest and stillness of the world was met with the messiness of human and humanity in a way I cannot quite articulate. But that is perhaps my biggest takeaway, or just the thing that may linger with me longer.
Of VanderMeer’s writing, it is specific and clinical and almost poetic at times. I very much enjoyed his prose and would encourage you to focus on just the words themselves at times.
And overall interesting read that I will need more time to think on. I will definitely continue with the series as I have absolutely no clue what they might do next.
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Strong character development:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
I’m not gonna lie, this book was a bear to get through. I really enjoyed the first two books of this series. I thought they started well, had interesting and different characters, and I loved the world and mythos that Gwynne was creating. But this book was just exhausting to read.
Right from the jump we were thrust into the action, and it didn’t let up for the entire first half of the book. Almost 250 pages of straight fight sequences, battles, and quick action to get us to other battles. It just never let up.
Additionally, outside of maybe one character, the character development kind of halted in this book. All of the various characters all became a bit same-y. At a certain point their depth all drifted away and they were all just looking for revenge and glory. And those things can only maintain interest for so long, especially if that’s every single character.
We did have a brief down spell to start the second half of the book where things slowed down, offered a little character work. This was easily the most enjoyable portion of the story for me, though I’ve seen reviews that had the opposite opinion. After that, it was right back to the first half of the book with constant action and repetitive language by Gwynne. All the fights blended together.
All-in-all, a solid and interesting first 2/3s of a trilogy that was really let down by its final installment.
Right from the jump we were thrust into the action, and it didn’t let up for the entire first half of the book. Almost 250 pages of straight fight sequences, battles, and quick action to get us to other battles. It just never let up.
Additionally, outside of maybe one character, the character development kind of halted in this book. All of the various characters all became a bit same-y. At a certain point their depth all drifted away and they were all just looking for revenge and glory. And those things can only maintain interest for so long, especially if that’s every single character.
We did have a brief down spell to start the second half of the book where things slowed down, offered a little character work. This was easily the most enjoyable portion of the story for me, though I’ve seen reviews that had the opposite opinion. After that, it was right back to the first half of the book with constant action and repetitive language by Gwynne. All the fights blended together.
All-in-all, a solid and interesting first 2/3s of a trilogy that was really let down by its final installment.
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
sad
fast-paced
A very solid and enjoyable sequel to The Bone Ships. While the first book took a solid 100 pages to get used to - through new terminology and worldbuilding - Call of the Bone Ships was easy to sink back into. The world was familiar and comforting, but never felt lazy. It was challenging us at all times, and the story remained creative and clever throughout.
Jordon’s character development across the first two books of this series is truly impressive. We see genuinely growth, genuine change, and without the melodramatic tendencies and emotional swings I see in many contemporary fantasy works. Not to sell short the development of other characters whose perspectives we do not read through. An impressive task by Barker.
I think the biggest thing this book did better than its predecessor is its pacing. Due to sheer terminology and adjusting to the prose, The Bone Ships began remarkably slow. Almost painful at times. And then the final 100-120 pages of the book felt like it was dragging things out by cramming in extra adventure, additional conclusions. But this book fell under no such thing. A much more evenly paced book from the jump, and a rather quick read now that I was familiar with the language.
All-in-all, a great sequel and one of the most creative series I’ve read in a while.
Jordon’s character development across the first two books of this series is truly impressive. We see genuinely growth, genuine change, and without the melodramatic tendencies and emotional swings I see in many contemporary fantasy works. Not to sell short the development of other characters whose perspectives we do not read through. An impressive task by Barker.
I think the biggest thing this book did better than its predecessor is its pacing. Due to sheer terminology and adjusting to the prose, The Bone Ships began remarkably slow. Almost painful at times. And then the final 100-120 pages of the book felt like it was dragging things out by cramming in extra adventure, additional conclusions. But this book fell under no such thing. A much more evenly paced book from the jump, and a rather quick read now that I was familiar with the language.
All-in-all, a great sequel and one of the most creative series I’ve read in a while.
challenging
dark
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
This one is very difficult to explain. Parts of it are vivid and atmospheric, parts feel like pieces are missing. Overall an interesting read that I’m happy I read, but probably not one I intend on revisiting.
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
This was a fascinating read. I had expected it to continue to grow and grow and grow and get unwieldy in its scale of an epic conflict. And then, instead, it was a deeply intimate and introspective work of literature.
I found the themes came through incredibly strong, but not in a way that smacks you in the face. They were intelligently done. The story explored propaganda (and how personally earth-shattering it is to wake up from that), censorship, racism, nationalism, forms of trauma, and an expanded and broad-encompassing look at toxic masculinity.
This book was so much more than I had expected it to be. The writing genuinely surprised me, and I found some of the character and thematic work to be so vivid and strong. In many ways it reminded me of Babel by R. F. Kuang, but with the addition of some exceptionally written action sequences.
I found the themes came through incredibly strong, but not in a way that smacks you in the face. They were intelligently done. The story explored propaganda (and how personally earth-shattering it is to wake up from that), censorship, racism, nationalism, forms of trauma, and an expanded and broad-encompassing look at toxic masculinity.
This book was so much more than I had expected it to be. The writing genuinely surprised me, and I found some of the character and thematic work to be so vivid and strong. In many ways it reminded me of Babel by R. F. Kuang, but with the addition of some exceptionally written action sequences.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
medium-paced
While I’ll start by saying Sheine Lende is not as good as Elatsoe, it’s still a wonderful novel. The story, at times, isn’t quite as tight and the is a bit slower paced. It can meander a smidge, but it all ultimately serves to flesh out the world and characters.
Little Badger chose a very interesting storytelling decision for the final third of the book that took me a bit by surprise, but I found it quite interesting and am curious how other people took it.
And while it didn’t wrap everything up in a nice neat little bow, I think this was the exact ending this story needed, and I applaud Little Badger for taking that risk.
At this point, one of my favorite authors and I will read all of her books.
Little Badger chose a very interesting storytelling decision for the final third of the book that took me a bit by surprise, but I found it quite interesting and am curious how other people took it.
And while it didn’t wrap everything up in a nice neat little bow, I think this was the exact ending this story needed, and I applaud Little Badger for taking that risk.
At this point, one of my favorite authors and I will read all of her books.
adventurous
fast-paced
This book was honestly pretty frustrating. Reading the first two books in the trilogy I was engaged and having a lot of fun. I had some qualms about decisions I wouldn’t have personally made, but still found the execution to be quite good and overall enjoyable, and I was surprised by the quality of writing. With Catalyst Gate however, I found myself struggling to want to finish or get enjoyment. The first half felt a bit messy and meandering, making things unnecessarily muddy before a big reveal around the halfway point of the book. When that happened, I had hoped to be more engaged going forward, as I did like the way the reveal had been done. But then almost the entire second half of the book felt a bit generic space opera-y. It was messy and had a bad balance of character/action/and plot. While I really wanted to like this one, ultimately I was just happy to get through it, as I almost quit on it a few times.
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
I was actually rather surprised by this book. I had heard about it floating around booktube a bit, but it was still one of those books that has flown under the radar.
First, I was surprised by the author’s voice, the actual writing. It was more complex than I expected, and in some ways felt a bit throwback in style, not quite what I had become accustomed to in most modern novels. In some ways it reminded me of The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee, but distinct in its own way. I also found the way Barker used gendered phrasing and terminology to be both fascinating and subversive of conventional language, which was very cool to see.
Next, the world building was phenomenal. And what I also appreciated was that the world building was not all front loaded (though, there was a ton to adjust to in the beginning as you, the reader, gets used to the language choices). The world building continued to develop and grow throughout the book, and by the end I felt I was just scratching the surface of a much broader world.
Third (ignore I didn’t use second above), the characters were all very interesting. In some ways they’re all similar, in others they’re all unique. They all feel as though they naturally exist in this world, and in that way similar, but at the same time you can feel how distinct they all are. The individual baggage they come with. And it made for a very rich reading experience.
Fourth, pacing. Now, this book starts slow. Part of that is your brain is adjusting to the language and terminology, part is the actual pacing, but the first 100 pages or so do move slower than the rest of the book, and the final third feels practically racing by comparison. Not in a bad way though, and it certainly doesn’t feel disjointed. I would say though, that with all the events in here, it felt as though there were multiple conclusions to this book, and I was concerned it might be dragging a smidge too long, or including events that should maybe wait for the next book. But by the end, I totally understood the inclusion of everything.
In conclusion, this is a fascinating and unique world, and I was very impressed by the writing from start to finish. I would definitely recommend this book to any fan of fantasy, of dragons and creatures, and fun swashbuckling adventure.
First, I was surprised by the author’s voice, the actual writing. It was more complex than I expected, and in some ways felt a bit throwback in style, not quite what I had become accustomed to in most modern novels. In some ways it reminded me of The Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee, but distinct in its own way. I also found the way Barker used gendered phrasing and terminology to be both fascinating and subversive of conventional language, which was very cool to see.
Next, the world building was phenomenal. And what I also appreciated was that the world building was not all front loaded (though, there was a ton to adjust to in the beginning as you, the reader, gets used to the language choices). The world building continued to develop and grow throughout the book, and by the end I felt I was just scratching the surface of a much broader world.
Third (ignore I didn’t use second above), the characters were all very interesting. In some ways they’re all similar, in others they’re all unique. They all feel as though they naturally exist in this world, and in that way similar, but at the same time you can feel how distinct they all are. The individual baggage they come with. And it made for a very rich reading experience.
Fourth, pacing. Now, this book starts slow. Part of that is your brain is adjusting to the language and terminology, part is the actual pacing, but the first 100 pages or so do move slower than the rest of the book, and the final third feels practically racing by comparison. Not in a bad way though, and it certainly doesn’t feel disjointed. I would say though, that with all the events in here, it felt as though there were multiple conclusions to this book, and I was concerned it might be dragging a smidge too long, or including events that should maybe wait for the next book. But by the end, I totally understood the inclusion of everything.
In conclusion, this is a fascinating and unique world, and I was very impressed by the writing from start to finish. I would definitely recommend this book to any fan of fantasy, of dragons and creatures, and fun swashbuckling adventure.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
This is such a conflicting and difficult book for me to review. I desperately wanted to love it, and just couldn’t quite get there.
Lefteri’s prose is uneven throughout the book. Parts are some of the most beautiful and poetic passages you can imagine, and some just feel clunky and meandering trying to force metaphor or allusion in a way that doesn’t quite work. Parts of the story are tragic and compelling, and other drag for far longer than they should.
Minor spoilerI found the portion of the book that took place in Athens went on for far too long, and at times it felt like Lefteri was attempting to add a smidge of magical realism to the story, but didn’t want fully commit to this idea here. After reading the author’s note at the end, based on her own personal experiences it makes complete sense why this section would be so long and extra time devoted to it. But I do think it is the most difficult section to get through and dragged significantly.
On the whole, I would say this was a good but uneven reading experience. Perhaps I was not in the complete right headspace for this book, and one day may come back and revisit. Despite my complaints, I would say it is still of value in this world for the themes and topics it is trying to convey.
Lefteri’s prose is uneven throughout the book. Parts are some of the most beautiful and poetic passages you can imagine, and some just feel clunky and meandering trying to force metaphor or allusion in a way that doesn’t quite work. Parts of the story are tragic and compelling, and other drag for far longer than they should.
Minor spoiler
On the whole, I would say this was a good but uneven reading experience. Perhaps I was not in the complete right headspace for this book, and one day may come back and revisit. Despite my complaints, I would say it is still of value in this world for the themes and topics it is trying to convey.