Ethan Poole

A fantastic conclusion to an incredible series: First, phenomenal world building; the world felt more real than anything I've read in fantasy in some time. Second, interesting characters and compelling plot. Third, a touch of the literary; some of the themes that resonated with me: the roles of bureaucracy and the intelligentsia, cultural identity, the power of stories, power vs. morality vs. pride ("the grace of kings"), and the joys of food.

I was hesitant at first to pick up this series: it's very long, and I've grown kinda bored with epic fantasy. So, I'm very glad that I did take the plunge—worth it!

Kindred is intense and unabashedly unsentimental. I would recommend it to everyone. It feels fresh and pertinent even (especially?) in 2019. Butler does a beautiful job of unraveling the majority-serving narrative that we are fed in grade school and in the media: “slavery is a thing of the past” and “it wasn't so bad for everyone”. (Utter BS, am I right?) Butler really calls out and challenges this narrative by placing modern-day characters (well, modern for the 1970s) in the antebellum South and exploring how they fall into their prescribed societal roles. How easily they did so was extremely frustrating to me as the reader, as were other action by the characters, but I think that this drove the message right home. The plot is griping and fluid, and I read most of the book in one sitting. This is my first time reading Butler, and I definitely plan to read more of her work in the future.

Beautiful, lyrical prose. Fascinating structure: story-within-story-within story (which comes together in the end), use of all persons (i.e. first, second, third), and stage-like asides for minor and major characters alike. Very interesting world (e.g. psychic turtles!). Compelling characters. The atmosphere is part epic folk tale, part dream. Somehow also a love story.

I listened to the audiobook. The narrator was great and gave the story so much life, but I found myself having to rewind periodically, especially in the beginning while I acclimated to the POV switching. In hindsight, I would have preferred reading it.

I can appreciate that Slan is a sci-fi classic and a landmark in the genre. There are lots of interesting ideas and concepts in the book, many of which are especially impressive given that Slan was written in the 1940s. However, the execution is incredibly poor. The story is difficult to follow and progresses way too fast. I had a hard time visualizing the scenes, and the characters act too mechanically.

Just a beautiful, insightful story. I listened to the audiobook, and Meryl Streep's performance was (of course) above and beyond. For me, the book itself is 4-stars, but bumped up because of the narration. I'm so glad that I finally picked up a book by Ann Patchett, whose Friday book recommendations on TikTok I always look forward to!

I saw this all over BookTok, but I picked it up because of Sword & Laser. It is super trope-heavy (e.g. magical school, nerdy protagonist, love triangle, bonded dragons), but I was instantly sucked into the plot and had trouble putting it down. It's not a literary masterpiece, but it's very entertaining.

Fantasy is typically a genre of escapism—the author creates a little world full of adventure which we, the readers, escape to from our otherwise monotonous, boring lives. The Magicians rejects this premise. Grossman creates a world with parallels to Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia, but this fantasy world fails to relieve the emotional insolvency of the characters and therefore of the reader putting themselves in those characters' shoes. People talk about Harry Potter being a “dark” series towards the end, but this darkness was epic tragedy, a fight to preserve the very fabric of the characters' world. This is unlike the darkness that the average person faces in his/her everyday life. While the struggles of death and destruction are real, the day-to-day struggle of humans is much more basic, much more personal: to find happiness. Quentin, the protagonist, embodies this plight. He grapples with finding happiness, despite being able to literally change the fabric of his own world through magic. These themes resonated with me personally, and I suspect that they will for many other readers as well. This is a different type of fantasy. Readers looking for escapism may not find it here.

Given all the hype, I expected a 5-star read, but I got a great 4-star read. Having recently read David Copperfield in preparation, this book was an interesting reading experience in that I knew what was going to happen, but not how. The story was moving, but I think the messaging would have been more impactful if it were more subtle.