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the_midwest_library's Reviews (797)
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Alright, so the good: the premise, the overall magic in the world and the plot and pacing is all pretty solid. The book flies by for being 500+ pages.
The bad: the characters were VERY flat for me, they were so one dimensional and spent the entire book just TELLING/THINKING about what was going on and not DOING things. Which leads to the second issue, that this book is all tell and no show to the point that legitimately I think 80% of the plot is told to us in the first 200 pages and I barely learned anything new in the back half I couldn't easily guess.
Here's the thing, while this isn't super strong the ideas are there and I did enjoy the writing. I would continue with this series to see if book 2 improved upon this one!
The bad: the characters were VERY flat for me, they were so one dimensional and spent the entire book just TELLING/THINKING about what was going on and not DOING things. Which leads to the second issue, that this book is all tell and no show to the point that legitimately I think 80% of the plot is told to us in the first 200 pages and I barely learned anything new in the back half I couldn't easily guess.
Here's the thing, while this isn't super strong the ideas are there and I did enjoy the writing. I would continue with this series to see if book 2 improved upon this one!
challenging
dark
informative
sad
fast-paced
What a tragically honest book. The content is heavy and the stories are difficult to read. But the reality is, we have a systemic problem in which victims of sexual assault are held down for the sake of protecting abusers. I would recommend along with this that you pickup Shout, Bodies on the Line, Entitled and Invisible Women if you want to read more in this space and covering women's rights and sexual assault.
So I picked this up because the author is a well known controversial figure in the Christianity space, she had an op ed supporting the Texas Abortion Bans and is all around not my kinda person. However the premise of this book sounded so interesting!
So this is a crazy book, it's essentially exploring the connection that culture and societal changes have had on the evangelical faith specifically looking at metaphors, symbolism and other items to push its thesis.
So I'm clearly NOT the intended audience of this book but was attempting to read in good faith because I like to explore what the other side is promoting. The ideas are there but the irony of this book, is its exploration of the imagination, and imagined meaning that metaphors and the like have had on the religion and finding the "true meaning" of these metaphors through Christ. It was a really eye opening read but I don't think in the way the author intended. It was exceptionally circular, self serving and there's so much cognitive dissonance I'm surprised I made it through. Loved every second of this crazy train book, two stars. Would not read again.
People of the faith would probably love this, and enjoy its preachy and self-helpy tone.
So this is a crazy book, it's essentially exploring the connection that culture and societal changes have had on the evangelical faith specifically looking at metaphors, symbolism and other items to push its thesis.
So I'm clearly NOT the intended audience of this book but was attempting to read in good faith because I like to explore what the other side is promoting. The ideas are there but the irony of this book, is its exploration of the imagination, and imagined meaning that metaphors and the like have had on the religion and finding the "true meaning" of these metaphors through Christ. It was a really eye opening read but I don't think in the way the author intended. It was exceptionally circular, self serving and there's so much cognitive dissonance I'm surprised I made it through. Loved every second of this crazy train book, two stars. Would not read again.
People of the faith would probably love this, and enjoy its preachy and self-helpy tone.
DNFing at 100 pages...I may come back to this but these characters aren't doing it for me.
adventurous
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Alright....so here's the thing, all these characters are stupid. Like....I just need them to get on the phone, send a fucking pigeon, smoke signals, magical messenger something so they can all get on the same page. This whole book was a giant miscommunication between every single main character while secondary characters do things off page to actually effectuate change in the world. I didn't hate it, I just wanted more from this world and these characters.
I think I will finish the trilogy but I don't think I'll continue in this world after the conclusion of the original trilogy.
I think I will finish the trilogy but I don't think I'll continue in this world after the conclusion of the original trilogy.
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
tense
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:
No
Wowowowowow I loved this. What a quirky book, but in the best way possible. The magic system is so RJB, if you enjoyed the physics/engineering based magic in Foundryside you'll love this. It's more....biological but still based in the hard sciences.
I adored our main characters. This book is a bunch of neurodivergent people together in a room trying to solve a murder mystery of the most complex, interwoven political nature. Everyone has excellent flaws, skills, and expertise that just made the group so compelling to read.
I liked this more than Foundryside, Ana is fabulous, I love her. She reminds me of a really extreme version of Ophelia from A Winters Promise, which is a really bizarre comparison but for some reason that's where my brain went.
I adored our main characters. This book is a bunch of neurodivergent people together in a room trying to solve a murder mystery of the most complex, interwoven political nature. Everyone has excellent flaws, skills, and expertise that just made the group so compelling to read.
I liked this more than Foundryside, Ana is fabulous, I love her. She reminds me of a really extreme version of Ophelia from A Winters Promise, which is a really bizarre comparison but for some reason that's where my brain went.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
4.5
So this is probably the clunkiest masterpiece I've read. What a beautiful book that was powerful and had such great character. But damn it could have been immaculate with a good editor.
The pacing was all over the place, the first 3/4 of this book were so compelling, unmatched. I was convinced this would be a new all time fav. But that last quarter man...it needed less. Honestly it felt like two separate books. I wanted to slow down and flesh out the first three quarters and lob off the last quarter. It would have been perfection. But it got damn close so I really can't complain!
So this is probably the clunkiest masterpiece I've read. What a beautiful book that was powerful and had such great character. But damn it could have been immaculate with a good editor.
The pacing was all over the place, the first 3/4 of this book were so compelling, unmatched. I was convinced this would be a new all time fav. But that last quarter man...it needed less. Honestly it felt like two separate books. I wanted to slow down and flesh out the first three quarters and lob off the last quarter. It would have been perfection. But it got damn close so I really can't complain!
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
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:
Complicated
I just finished the last book in the trilogy this morning and have thoughts. Overall the series is a solid 4 star read for me, I think the characters were overall pretty great and I appreciated the story for what it was. There was a lot of inspiration imo taken from the Wheel of Time throughout that I noticed, having just finished WoT last year so those elements were fresher for me. It didn't bother me, but I could understand the criticism I see sometimes on the series that parts of it are somewhat derivative.
My main issue is plotting, I think that if books 1 and 2 were edited or presented in a slightly different way, the impact of book 3 would have been stronger for me. That doesn't mean that the ending was bad, the ending was very satisfying. However, I am a bit miffed at the fact that without the book 3 epilogue for me the ending would have fallen flat. So I just think about how the book could have been presented in a way where those elements from the epilogue were presented in the core of the story and tightened up books 1 and 2 to get us there. It's definitely a petty complaint hahaha but for me, I can see all these fantastic elements that at times got a bit jumbled around and with a bit more editing the series would have easily become an all time fav of mine. It's also 1000% harsh criticism because the reality is, I have already read and loved Will of the Many and can see how far the author has come in terms of writing, plotting and worldbuilding. I can see the capabilities of greatness in this series but for me it fell just shy and was really good, but won't be an all time fav.
All that to say, read this trilogy it is good and I see why it is so many people's favorite!
My main issue is plotting, I think that if books 1 and 2 were edited or presented in a slightly different way, the impact of book 3 would have been stronger for me. That doesn't mean that the ending was bad, the ending was very satisfying. However, I am a bit miffed at the fact that without the book 3 epilogue for me the ending would have fallen flat. So I just think about how the book could have been presented in a way where those elements from the epilogue were presented in the core of the story and tightened up books 1 and 2 to get us there. It's definitely a petty complaint hahaha but for me, I can see all these fantastic elements that at times got a bit jumbled around and with a bit more editing the series would have easily become an all time fav of mine. It's also 1000% harsh criticism because the reality is, I have already read and loved Will of the Many and can see how far the author has come in terms of writing, plotting and worldbuilding. I can see the capabilities of greatness in this series but for me it fell just shy and was really good, but won't be an all time fav.
All that to say, read this trilogy it is good and I see why it is so many people's favorite!