Josh

I definitely understand why people describe this book as a fever dream in many reviews. I think it's actually bit more layered then that and it's not quite as random and trippy as it may seem. It's one of those where if 10 people read it though you're going to get several different interpretations on what is really going on. 

My brief interpretation was that Samantha was suffering from mental illness and a lot of what occurs in this book are a mixture of imagination and auditory/visual hallucination. Take for example on the bus where the grandma is reading the symptoms of schizophrenia and Samantha is responding yes I have that, down said checklist. Or when Rob's head explodes and the next day one of the girls responds with “so that's what you saw” etc.

I can appreciate how this story was told, but overall it's not really the type of writing or story I gravitate to. 3 bunnies out of 5 for it's cleverness though.

A nice third book in the story with Spensa yet again at the forefront. I know there have been complaints about the other characters largely being missing in lieu of her, but I don't mind this as I enjoy how well her character has been developed. I also greatly enjoyed M. Bot's development and the further questions presented on AI ethics. There are also some great new characters introduced in this book, so suffice to say I really enjoy the characters overall.

The Sci-Fi elements, well, while I thought the delver storyline was well written, it did feel a bit on the simplistic side to me. I've always preferred harder Sci-Fi though so your mileage may vary.

The first book I mentioned how there were a few YA tropes present that I didn't care for. I have no complaints on that regard in the sequel. In fact I have no complaints at all. The world is still interesting, the characters continued to develop very nicely, and M. Bot was still hilarious. 

I enjoyed the themes present in this one more as well, especially in regards to Spensa's furthering development as a person. So all in all, the last one was a 4.5 so this one can only be a 5.

Skyward feels like an introductory to a much more complex story. That's not an indictment against the book, but the plot was on the simple side (thats not to say it wasn't interesting though) to me for most of the book. This being in spite of the pacing being rather quick and action packed.

There are some YA tropes in the book that I don't care much for as well, but thankfully not that many. Unfortunately some of these tropes do make parts of the book more predictable then they arguably should be. I really enjoyed the story though because it makes up for the issue's I have with compelling characters whether it be the protagonist, minor characters, or the antagonist. The character development in particular of our protagonist, I thought was extremely well done. And it has a sassy character full of sardonic wit, which is hands down one of my favourite character archetypes.

Interesting world building on display as well (though I wanted more) and when the plot does finally begin to get more complex, things get very interesting. I will definitely be reading the next book in this series with very high expectations.

King's talent for writing everyday life of a small town and populating it with interesting characters is on full display here. Granted there are times he goes into the small details that may not appeal to everyone, but for me as a non-visual reader he paints a picture that even I can see.

The atmosphere he builds while slowly increasing the tension is a great journey, which I thoroughly enjoyed. There were some elements I didn't think were particularly strong such as the romance Ben has and I thought there were a tad too many ‘random' characters. Overall though it's a great “modern” take on the vampire mythos.

I absolutely love the premise of this book. I'm a sucker for human's being the underdog and the prey. So this book was right up my ally with a world where demons owned the night and humans had to hide in their buildings behind wards. Wards that have to be set up precisely and if the lines are marred by a substance become ineffective. This makes an enemy out of things like mud, rain, dirt etc. Anything that can potentially break the perfect line's drawn.

I enjoyed our main character standing up and deciding he was done hiding. And some great battles (the last one in particular) provided heart pumping action. Yet...I find this book extremely frustrating. For starters, it feels to me like the author uses time jumps as a cheap way to develop his characters. Why write development when you can merely fast forward x number of years? This occurs several times over, in particular with Arlen who each time emerges as something more than he was...but you only read snippets of how he got there and that leaves something to be desired.

The second reason is because rape. Authors rarely handle rape well in their stories, fantasy authors even more rarely, and this most definitely is not an exception to the rule.
Leesha is one of our main point of view characters and a big point is made that she's a virgin. You see child bearing in this world is of utmost importance because of how many people the demon's kill. So her being a virgin is a significant deal, but none the less, she wants it to be with someone special. Understandable, but unfortunately near the end of the book, while on the road traveling she is robbed and raped by bandits. My immediate thought to this is “uh oh, fantasy rarely does this type of trauma right” and lo and behold, a day or two later Leesha is completely over this traumatic experience. So much so that Arlen (another main character) whom she's only know for a couple days...she's ready to have a romp in the mud with him. The demon intervenes so their sex is disturbed, but how quickly all this transpires is a joke. How lightly rape is taken is a joke.But it does not end there... apparently she has significant feelings for Arlen (again known him for a couple days) for reasons and now wants to have his baby. This all occurs in the span of 20 pages...but their romance and sexual tension is pretty much all but said will continue through the next book  

The above was so frustrating to me that this book went from a 3.5 or so and absolutely nosedived. It overshadowed any of the positive feelings I'd had up to that point. People I've spoken to about the series have said that stuff like this becomes more prevalent each book, so I won't be continuing on. To bad, because I really was sold on the premise.

The idea of being cursed and having to relive your life through out time is inherently interesting to me as I'm a huge fan of Fantasy and time as a plot device. It could be time travel, time loops or other forms of time manipulation...I'm in.

But this book suffers in that the first 250 or so pages, you're just slogging through the relationship drama with very little actual mention of the curse. And the first relationship imo is the weakest part of the book and a large point of frustration and annoyance. 

At any rate, explanations were in order for the curse, but it takes so long to get there, that I actually considered DNFing the book. At that point it was definitely a 2/5 for me, but it picks up from there and I had a much more enjoyable time in the last 200ish pages.  The second half delves into more interesting lives, the intricacies of the curse (my favourite aspect of the book), and some different romances. The latter part I'd put around 4/5 so I guess taking the average of 3 works here. 

I'd actually be interested in reading the same story from Luke's perspective. I think that would have the potential to be quite a good novel.

Overall I thought this one had the most interesting plot of the trilogy with more interesting characters than the second book and good queer representation. It also touches on some of the same social commentary and themes that I've enjoyed in the previous two books and adds in some new conversations of it's own.

I'd say the weak link in this one though is the romantic chemistry. In comparison to books one or two it does fall pretty flat. I was enjoying the plot enough that it didn't really detract much from my enjoyment though. Half a Soul was my favourite, but this is very solidly in the #2 spot.

A take on a Cinderella type story that while predictable has it's own flair. Compared to the first book I thought it had a much tighter plot with better pacing, but outside of Blackthorn I wasn't nearly as enamored with the characters. 

This book is one of those that while I do think it has some glaring issue's I ended up liking tremendously.  The first problem for me is that the plot felt like it became rushed towards the end and overall was pretty anti-climatic. The second is that while the concept is quite interesting with Dora and largely handled really well it does feel like there are times where she has greater access to her emotions and feelings then necessarily makes sense.

Enough complaining though! I am a sucker for the witty banter and while there are instances where it's more meanspirited in this novel then I typically would go for, I found myself having a good laugh seeing wit's collide! I also enjoyed the relationships over all, from the cousins, the friends, and the romance. Speaking of the romance, I was skeptical given how short the book is, but I did quite enjoy how it unfolded. Also a positive for me with some of the criticism on the class system, albeit this is touched on fairly lightly. 

Overall, a whimsical fast read that I had a great time with and I look forward to continuing the series.

Basically after three books, I'm tired of the relationship drama between Robin and Matthew. That's how the book opens with their wedding ceremony and all the drama/tension that it entails because Strike is there etc. 

It doesn't help that each book grows in page length, which hasn't benefited the books in any way imo, but rather the opposite. So after a couple pages of holding this heavy book and reading yet more drama, “I'm over this” is what came to mind so I won't be continuing the series further.

 I will preface this with I'm not a huge short stories guy. I find that it often doesn't allow the type of plot or character development unfold that I tend to enjoy. I also tend to like anthologies even less, but as Joe Abercrombie is one of my favourite character writer's in darker fantasy, I figured I'd give it a try.

Overall you get the same action, dialogue, and character writing that I've praised the series so heavily for. In particular Javre and Shev were a great addition to the cast of characters. They have some genuinely amusing moments between them and luckily enough they are the center of attention for a good amount of the short stories. Those stories tend to be the more interesting.

Then you have the stories featuring existing characters and/or characters that are telling an event from a different point of view. Some of these are good, but for the most part they range from the uninteresting to the tolerable. Some highs in there for sure, but not quite enough to overcome the lows this time. Short enough though that still worth a read if a fan of The First Law series. 

I liked the first book, but thought the second was a significant step up so I was quite excited to read the third book. Even if it wasn't better than the second book, if it was just in that ballpark I would have a great time. Upon reading this one though, I can't help but think it's an absolute disaster as a mystery.

The series has always applied a form of fuzzy logic in catching the criminal. Strike tends to work heavily off intuition, but I tend to overlook this to some extent because he's not actually in law enforcement even if that's his background. In this novel however you can't overlook it because that's all the case is. At one point he literally says that there's no logic in the suspects he's been investigating for months at that point. Instead he says that “he feels it in his gut” that one of them is guilty. It's incredibly circular. He believes it to be true because he believes it to be. Him not being objective is of course intentional, but I find it incredibly frustrating when mysteries rely on “intuition” rather than deduction.

Then you have the conveniences. These have always existed in some way in the previous books, but never to this extent. Read the synopsis, Strike knows 4 people are suspects, though he dismisses one immediately with fairly flimsy reasoning. So 3 people left, who all happen to be similar builds, all happen to have the same haircut, all have/had sons that they are estranged to, all happen to be in London though it's not where they hail from. How do we know the killers characteristics? Cause for the first time we get their perspective intermixed in the novel, but even though Strike doesn't know that he still picked out 3 people immediately just from the crime (no actual evidence etc),  who fit the perspective given by the killer.  And many, many more instances across the story that would involve spoilers.

The good? Strike and Robin's working relationship is still the highlight of the book. The way they feed off one another is fun to read and you really get the sense of how integral she has turned out to be when it comes to investigating. Too bad that so much of the book is dedicated to the melodrama that is her relationship with Matthew. 

I'll still read #4 cause the first two were good enough to give Rowling the benefit of the doubt, but what a let down this was. 

I enjoyed the short stories, but when it comes to the full length novels my enjoyment consistently waned over each book. This is the second book where nothing much of consequence really happens. It's unfolding so slowly and I find that my interest in the overarching plot just hasn't been there. It doesn't help that I find the writing to be very clunky in the last couple novels and at times even hard to follow. 

I much preferred when it was a story about a Witcher slaying monsters, growing and coming to terms with his humanity. That's not what the series is in the end though and I think that this is where I'll get off the ride.

While I was able to read the previous 4 books fairly quickly I found myself struggling with this one. One of the main things I liked about this series was the arrogance that often presented itself in a rather amusing way with the character the series is named after. While the plot was often simple, I'd enjoy the banter between the trio as they got up to all kinds of mischief. 

In the latter book that started to take a backseat to a more serious storyline and in the last novel here that lightness is all but non-existent. That would be fine if the plot was strong enough to maintain my interest and it was for awhile, but there is one glaring plot hole that presents itself midway into the novel that stuck out like a sore thumb. It completely invalidates the motive for what's happening at that current time and as such the rest of the book itself since everything hinges on that plot line. It killed any motivation I had to continue, but continue I did.

And continued right on along with a character I absolutely hate in Miranda. I dislike characters whose morality is black and white. Who reek of self-righteousness and when met with anything that challenges their worldview they double down on it rather than question anything. This simplistic and troublesome moral outlook can be used for great character development, but here? There are no real consequences and the behavior is rewarded. While I find it infuriating it is admittedly a matter of taste, but these two factors combine did drop the book down from something I enjoyed to something that was ‘meh'. 

In the end it was a decent series with the last book being the weakest of the 5 imo.

When I decided to start reading this book I noticed there was some debate on whether this was adult or young adult. So I went in thinking that it lied somewhere in between the two as some books happen to do. I think the opposite is true though. Of the three books in this omnibus I do think they lie in between, but in between middle grade and young adult.

As one would likely expect from that, you have a very fast paced and easy to read adventure that might have more action than actually warranted. For the negatives I found that the story overall is fairly simplistic, lacking in complexity, and did feel very repetitive across the books as there is a very clear formula repeated through each. The characters themselves while they do have some depth, barring a few exceptions don't really develop much and some of them felt rather one dimensional to me.

These are all pretty big negatives yet, I enjoyed this omnibus for the following reasons. The magic system is interesting as it mirrors something close to animism and I thought the author did a great job with the world building around this premise across all three books. By the time I finished each book I understood the world just a bit more . I was also so caught up in several battles that I could feel the blood pumping in my veins. That is too say the action writing was quite enjoyable albeit there may be a touch too much of it. But none of this is what I enjoyed the most in the series.

What I enjoyed the most was the banter and sarcasm largely from Eli, but some of the other characters at times as well. There were a plethora of instances where I legitimately laughed out loud. This is something I value very highly and the main reason I gave 3 stars. 

Would I recommend this to any of my adult friends? Probably not, because humor is such an individual thing and if you don't enjoy that aspect of the series, I don't think it really offers anything else worthwhile.

 Overall I enjoyed the wrap up of the plot quite a bit and the action as always is top notch. But as I said in the first review that were just a couple POV and side characters that I could never really get interested in which makes parts of the story drag. Also some of the events that unfold feel very much like “cause the author wanted” rather than “this is consistent with the narrative, world and character”.

The original trilogy is a cut above, but even still, there are enough positives here that this series is definitely worth the read. 

This book has quite the slow and meandering plot, seemingly getting distracted at every turn. The thing is though, that works with the content of the novel. In my mind while reading it I was just imagining this winding road that will eventually get us to our destination, but along the way we have to see the world's biggest ball of yarn, the Winchester Mystery House etc.

So something that would usually bother me quite a bit, does so less even though it's still not my preference of storytelling style. It also helps that I love the premise and I enjoy looking for the allusions towards mythological stories as well as enjoy the one's that are given explicitly. So even when it feels like the plot isn't going anywhere anytime soon, I'm always on the look out for that hidden god or reference to folklore.

Where the novel fails to grab me though is the main character. Shadow doesn't have much of a personality and little presence as a character. He has no pizzazz. No  je ne sais quoi. What you see is what you get and all I see is a “big guy” that takes up space and little else. This is actually commented on within the book itself to some extent, so him being written that way is deliberate and it does serve a purpose within the context of the narrative overall. Even if I recognize that though it doesn't make his perspective anymore exciting. I don't love him and I don't hate him. He's just lukewarm and that's arguably even worse and it does really put a hamper on the enjoyment.

It was a very quick read and it did have it's moments, but ultimately it failed to deliver. To start with I was having a hard time with this book because I just didn't the vast majority of the characters. They're all defined by one or more significant character flaws that makes empathizing with them somewhat difficult. If I don't like the characters in a book then the plot must be that much better for me to enjoy the book.

Unfortunately the plot here, while initially interesting (for a good 2/3rds of the book even), by the end felt very contrived. It was hard to suspend disbelief with how convenient all the relationships of both the killer and victim ended up being. It just felt incredibly forced. 

Good plot, great character writing (in particular the relationships between the characters), and good world building, especially for a stand alone book. I think it's an especially good transition book for those going from YA to Adult Fantasy.

Don't really have any complaints, it's just a really solid stand alone Fantasy with an interesting take on reincarnation.

Some of the characters are starting to grow on me and that's the large reason for the increase. In particular I think a pretty good job is being done with Sorasa's character development. She went from being a character who was just barely on my radar in the last book, to being the character I actively root the most for. Quite enjoyable. I also still think Erida is one of the most intriguing characters and I really enjoy her as an antagonist. This is definitely a middle book though, because it's a whole lot of journeying and very little of anything else.

Last thought on it would be....holy cliffhanger ending.

I greatly enjoyed The Poppy War and I legitimately thought this series had the potential to go down as one of my all time favourites. It still may, but after reading the second entry I'm not quite so convinced anymore.

I did not greatly enjoy approximately the first two thirds of this book. It feels like the character's, Rin in particular, regressed in development. While this can make sense given her experiences and the circumstances her character goes through there's a balance to walk there between how long a character wallows and how much time it takes before them to start developing again. I don't think that line is walked particularly well here and part of this is imo because of the significantly slower pacing. 

That being said the last third or so of the book is absolutely wonderful with a very satisfying concluding couple of chapters that completely changed my overall opinion of the novel. Given I'd lean towards 2 out of 5 for the first and second third and 5 out of 5 for the last third, 3 stars overall feels right.

I'm quite fond of historical fiction and fantasy so the fusion of the two is naturally right up my alley and this book does not disappoint in those regards. I really enjoyed the take on the pantheon and how gods played into the story of the Nanjing Massacre. Hard to read at times, because it can be quite dark and gruesome, but very gripping.

When it comes to the characters, I didn't really like most of them. I wouldn't even say that I was often rooting for them, especially Rin, but they are written to where their behavior at least is understandable. In that regard they are incredibly well written. Something else I really appreciate is the fact Kuang was also able to interweave history and mythology through the story in a way that made you feel like you were coming to understand the world, society, the gods etc. as Rin was in a natural way rather than relying on long info dumps or exposition.

I'd highly recommend this, but would definitely encourage people to look over the trigger warnings beforehand. 

When it comes to fantasy I would rank the factors that are most important to my enjoyment in order of importance as characters, plot, and then world building. There is a significant gap between 1 and 2, and 2 and 3 though.

This book hits solidly on 2 and 3. The plot is interesting and I wanted to keep reading to see how things would inevitably end up. It's also chalk full of world building. There are different cultures, biomes, races, languages etc. It is epic in scope in every sense of the word. 

But, the characters don't really resonate with me, falling flat more often than not. The group dynamics here and there are interesting and/or amusing, but largely fall they missed as well. The most intriguing character I find is Queen Erida, but by the end of the book it started to feel like certain elements were/are going to be shoehorned into her plot line that I wasn't a big fan of so even that ended on a somewhat sour note.  

I will read the next one though as the plot is interesting enough for that on it's own.

It took me quite awhile to get through this one. Watching the characters grow and try and find their way as mythical beings in 1910's New York makes for a fascinating read. I do miss more of the focus on Arabic culture that was more prominent in the first book, but the elements that are here are just as well done. 

Wecker is a very good writer and there are so many elements I enjoy so it's a shame that I can't say I enjoyed the book. In the first book I thought it got dragged down in the minutia of the historical details but, overall it was still an enjoyable experience because while those details slowed the pace they were interesting. In this one the pacing is even slower, but it's from the day to day lives of our characters which can be quite dull. 

I'm not one to shy away from large books or harp on length, but I would have enjoyed this significantly more if it was 100 to 200 pages shorter with some of the day to day living cut. This would have increased my enjoyment immensely as I thought the last 100 pages, give or take, were fantastic. It's a 2/5 for me, but I'd definitely recommend the first book as it would work fine as a stand alone.