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turtles1738's Reviews (93)
The book started really slow and I wasn't sure how I felt about it. However in Abercrombie we trust, because after about 20 chapters this book finally gets cooking. You start seeing all the webs Lord Grimdark was weaving and let me just say he was cooking up something great. My favorite ending of any First Law work I've read. Can't wait to see how he concludes this trilogy.
Wasn't my favorite of The First Law universe. Definitely felt more like a prologue to set up the characters and plot for the rest of the story to come.
I can understand why some wouldn't like this book, but if you're into dense world building this is for you. I can't wait to see where the rest of the series goes.
This book really ups the ante from the first. I'm not even really sure what else I can say about it without spoiling some major plot point. I will say I think Switch was justified and Hadrian was a massive dick. However in the grand scheme I can see where Hadrian was coming from. So I'm super conflicted!!!!!! 4.5/5
I really enjoyed Demon in White, but it definitely had some pacing issues. It felt like Ruocchio wrote two books and then merged them into one. If it just ended with Hadrian getting the ring from the emperor and then flying off to the library, it would have been a 5-star banger. However, it adds a whole book worth of content right after that which feels rushed. Well at the same time dragging because you already read a whole book before all this. Overall, I’m excited to see what's coming next, but it does feel like we’re starting to tread into Dune territory. Lisan al Gaib!!!!! 3.5/5
2.5 stars, This book started strong and I loved everything about the Commonwealth. Then Hadrian gets captured and the book becomes almost unbearable with how long it deals with his imprisonment. It feels like 40% of the book is just him being tortured with nothing else really happening. Don't get me wrong I'm a fan of grimdark. Abercrombie is one of my favorite authors and Dark Age by Pierce Brown is my favorite read of last year. The difference is Kingdom of Death has almost zero plot progression during this unnecessarily long torture sequence. Like 90% of it could have been cut and nothing would be lost, because we already know how bad the Cielcin were from the previous books. Also Ruocchio is pretty bad at writing characters you care about.
Spoiler
This became pretty apparent when most of Hadrians crew dies near the end of the book. I honestly didn't care about any of them, despite them all being in series since book 1. Gibson hit and that was about it.
Despite the various plot holes and inconsistencies. I did enjoy Scythe for the most part. The concept was unique and the story had me engaged the whole time. However with such an interesting premise of global immortality I felt like it's effects on society weren't really explored all that much. Like what does it mean to live forever? Would the vast majority of people even want to continue living after a certain point? These question are briefly addressed toward the end of the book, but not to a satisfying degree in my opinion. Also if your facing an overpopulation problem that makes gleanings necessary. Then why not implement birthing policies? Or only let people live for 200yrs.
Quick fun read that doesn't overstay it's welcome. Which was just what I needed after reading Kingdoms of Death. I will say the dialogue does become pretty grating by the end of the book. Also wasn't a fan of how every character is basically the exact same archetype. Which is chronically online reddit user.
This book had me hooked from the very first chapter and I couldn't put it down. Crouches prose is easy to read and concise. Making the pacing of this book amazing. Loved the swerve toward the end, but wasn't a huge fan of how the book ended. It felt a little too deus ex machina for me. On a side note, I'd love a short story about the family that owns the cabin showing up in the summer to the scene that was left behind.
More like a 3.5
Thunderhead does address my main issues with the first book. Which was how little Scythe explored the effects of immortality on society. In Thunderhead I got many of the answers to the questions I had from the first book. However it mostly came down to the AI self-imposing restriction on itself for the sake of plot. Which I just found to be really lazy writing. Like Shusterman said, yeah I realize regulating birthing would solve the overpopulation problem but the AI didn't want to put restrictions on humans freedoms... So instead in the Age of Immortality you can just get killed seemingly at random.
I did like that we got to see more of the world in this book. Exploring how immortality has effected society and the kinds of groups that popped up as a result of it. Also the overarching plot kept me engaged throughout and the ending was wild. I'm excited to see how the series wraps up in the next book.
Thunderhead does address my main issues with the first book. Which was how little Scythe explored the effects of immortality on society. In Thunderhead I got many of the answers to the questions I had from the first book. However it mostly came down to the AI self-imposing restriction on itself for the sake of plot. Which I just found to be really lazy writing. Like Shusterman said, yeah I realize regulating birthing would solve the overpopulation problem but the AI didn't want to put restrictions on humans freedoms... So instead in the Age of Immortality you can just get killed seemingly at random.
I did like that we got to see more of the world in this book. Exploring how immortality has effected society and the kinds of groups that popped up as a result of it. Also the overarching plot kept me engaged throughout and the ending was wild. I'm excited to see how the series wraps up in the next book.