Hari Gopal
Couldn't get through this book. It felt like dragging myself through mud. Very thick, goopy, mud. The writing was dreadfully boring! I stopped when the protagonist and his girlfriend-like companion got to some weird huge greenhouse-like place where a whole bunch of weird things were happenening.
Combines the best qualities of the earlier books, and even improves upon them. Nathaniel has grown up, Bartimaeus still can't hold his tounge, and the story is grittier, darker, and at times, touching. A masterpiece of an ending. Jonathan Stroud is awesome!
Darker than the last one (not detrimental), but suffers from being the ‘one-in-the-middle'. Still an excellent read.
Lots of new and interesting characters enter (and some leave) Percy Jackson's world. His encounters with the Gods are great to read and the non-action scenes aren't entirely boring. Once again, the ending leaves the reader wondering what's next!
This book should be mandatory reading in all schools. Heck, everyone needs to read this book.
Wow. Just wow . The first three books were very good. This one was was incredible . I'm amazed at how well Weber switched what was, until now, a military / space-combat series into a character-driven thriller. Of course the characters mattered before, but in this book, they're always in front, and it's written so well, I just didn't want to put the book down.
IMHO, it's worth the time you'd spend reading the first three books in the series, just to get to this one, even if you're not interested in military sci-fi. 5 stars, and looking forward to reading the rest of the series!
After a second read-through, Eldest felt like a better book than Eragon - this was not how I'd remembered it. It seemed to me that Paolini's writing had become sharper. The introduction of Roran's viewpoint helped somewhat, though it would have been better if the two characters had been a little different, the fact that they're (foster) brothers notwithstanding. They're basically twins as far as character is concerned.
Percy starts to grow up... and everything starts to get mushy. There's really nothing new in this book. No ‘startling' moments, only more of the same from the last four entries in this series. To top it all, the ending was totally predictable. IMHO, this is the worst book in the series, but it's still ‘OK'.
I hate to think of the amount of time I spent on this, well, worthless book. My problem with it lies in how I kept hoping the story would start making some sort of sense - and it doesn't. I got to see a guy named Shadow take a ridiculous trip across America meeting some weird people and getting into some weird situations. At the end of it, I can't see what the point of it all was. Maybe its because I'm not American? I'm not so sure. There's something fundamentally wrong about this book. I can't say what it is though.
Protagonist is an ‘Angry Young Man'... Check. Has great hidden powers... Check. Meets a beautiful maiden at the beginning of the tale... Check. Falls madly in love with her... Check. Has powerful friends (Wizard / Warrior)... Check. His enemies are even more powerful, and are absolutely Evil (with a capital E)... Check. I could go on and on.
If someone were to sit and create a template for Fantasy-Action-Adventure genre, they'd be wasting their time - ‘Cuz this book is IT.
And I can't really recommend it or, the rest of the 12 books in the series. If its action you're looking for, there are better options - Gemmell's works, for example. If its quality of writing and a believable world, there are better - check out Guy Gavriel Kay or Dan Simmons. And if you have the time to invest in a epic storyline, you could do better there as well - see David Eddings' or Robert Jordan's work (though those aren't exactly high quality either, just better).
This book is just so... mediocre. I felt like stopping more than a few times, but I plowed through - to an ending that I saw coming a mile (and a half) away.
Entertaining, and gripping. Those two words describe this book for me. It isn't complex, in any way - but neither is any of the content dumbed down. I was surprised to learn that this book was published more than a hundred years ago - the writing felt surprisingly modern, well, except for some rare (glaring) oddities.
By the way, Goodreads' blurb for this book is misleading. It traces the entire life of our hero White Fang, and the nice prospector enters the story only towards the end.
Oh, and it has a perfectly happy ending. So yay for that!
Just couldn't bring myself to complete this one. Got about halfway through before I decided that I'd had enough of the whole air of hopelessness. I didn't particularly like the author's handling of ‘God' issues either. Every time the topic of a character's belief in god came up, all I could think was “Oh, please, not this again!” This sparrow is flying straight into the trash-can!
Easy, fun read. Bartimaeus is funny as hell, and the story is engaging. It also has a few dark moments. Lots of fresh ideas!
Jim Butcher is the first author I've encountered whose writing style reminded me of David Gemmell. And from my point of view, that's a very good thing. I didn't like how little time we spent with the main character, though - very non-Gemmell-ish in that respect, but the fast-paced action, grey-ness in good and bad, magic system is all very nice and gripping. Quite a page-turner.
I spent most of the nights this week immersed in this tale. Having to work half-asleep is a chore, but for this book, it's totally worth it.
Something about Lynch's writing style makes it impossible for me to put his books down once I've picked them up. His whipcrack-stlye jokes certainly play their part, but this isn't a comedy, so that's not all of it.
The characters, Locke and Jean, are super easy to root for. While Locke is obviously the lead character, I find Jean to be more interesting, overall. I find it easier to understand and empathize with Jean's worldview. Sabetha, who we meet for the first time in this book, was a bit of a disappointment. She's a strong female character with few twists. Locke's infatuation with her is a a hard swallow. However, revelations towards the end of the tale shed a possible clue as to why he follows her around the way he does.
This books going straight into my favorites list, and I'm definitely going to pick up the next book as soon as it's released!
Quite a different take on the “army-grunt gets take lead” trope. Thoroughly entertaining.
Obviously a children's book, but the subject matter is such fun that I just didn't want to put it down.
Quick read, just like there first book. Content is somewhat better, and the ending was surprising!
This second outing was a disappointment. It feels a bit like Ernest Cline forgot who, and what the first book was about - gamers and video-game culture.
Usually I find if troublesome to get through books with female lead characters. Thankfully, ‘The Final Empire' is an exception. This ‘totally serious' book describes a world where there is constant Ash fall (the source of which is never discussed), where a God-emperor rules with the an iron fist. Hah! See what I did there? No? Then read the book to find out. :)
This is high quality science fiction. Technical jargon is kept to a minimum, and the focus on character development is extreme. Do not skip this book if you're even slightly interested in the sci-fi genre.
There are a lot of fun moments in here, but everything is so similar to the last three books that it's hard to recommend it.
I was starting to think that picking up this book was a good idea.
But then the author decides to have the protagonist cheat in a game, a game he was sure to win anyway, when a character he knows is crazy supplies the opportunity.
And then he gets blackmailed for it, thus forming the reason for the story to get started. Pathetic. Lead character being an idiot and a cheater makes it impossible for me to consider continuing reading this one.
First of all, this is a must read for any fan of fantasy books. Go get a copy (quick!), and start reading.
There's everything in here that one expects from a regular fantasy novel, except that the quality is leaps and bounds beyond any ‘regular' novel.
Can't wait for the rest of this series to be published!