smartflutist661's reviews
1281 reviews

The Engineer by Will Wight

adventurous funny lighthearted fast-paced

4.5

Exactly the amount of fun I've come to expect from Will. Excited for more adventures of the crew of The Last Horizon.

Swordheart by T. Kingfisher

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

4.5

Loved the bird. Sweet romance, complex characters, beheadings—can't ask for much more than that. Didn't quite have that special something, but an excellent read.

Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber

3.75

I enjoyed this a surprising amount. I think it was the setting and the language that did it for me. It's classic D&D "everywhen but now", with archaic language for the fun of it. The stories themselves were a bit mixed (the first half or so of Fafhrd's introduction was tough to get through), and you can tell that these were written as origin stories for reasonably well-established characters. But if you want pure sword & sorcery, where magic is always evil and our heroes' swords are always fast, this is it.

Defiant by Brandon Sanderson

hopeful fast-paced

4.75

Not quite perfect, but an excellent end to the series. 

System Collapse by Martha Wells

adventurous funny

4.25

Murderbot is, as always, a lot of fun. And, also as always, becoming ever more "human". There was some pretty direct conflict with a corporation in this one, which may be the first time? (Vs. the previous books where the conflict was indirect.) Not reaching the heights of the novellas still, but worth continuing the series.

Wild Country by Anne Bishop

dark medium-paced

4.0

A bit closer to the roots of the main series, and I enjoyed Jana as the protagonist-ish more than Vicki. Nothing new, but still a satisfying tale of bad people getting eaten.

Paladin's Strength by T. Kingfisher

adventurous funny lighthearted tense fast-paced

4.25

I didn't find Clara and Istvhan's relationship as compelling as Stephen and Grace's, but there was still plenty of adventure, head-chopping, and

bear-face-eating

. 

Paladin's Hope by T. Kingfisher

funny lighthearted tense fast-paced

4.5

Like book 2, I don't think the relationship here was as strong as in book 1. But I loved the

evil basement full of traps

, so that elevated it a little above Paladin's Strength for me. Plus Piper is possibly too much like me.

Paladin's Grace by T. Kingfisher

funny lighthearted reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

It's got beheadings, romance, poison, intrigue, and traumatic backstories. What more could you ask for in a book, really? 

No Gods for Drowning by Hailey Piper

3.5

This could have been a truly excellent book, but it was too disjointed to be more than just good. In particular, I didn't feel the characterization was well-motivated. But the world was creative and interesting. I probably would have ended up dropping this if it hadn't worked so well for a final reading challenge goal, but there was enough of a plot to keep me going with that reward in mind.