Silviya

This is more of a fable than anything else and I quite enjoyed reading it.
I liked the characters and setting, as well as the plot, which was quite intriguing, even though I guessed the big twist rather early. Still it was quite exciting to see the threads line together and the bigger picture crystallising. II tip my hat to the author for the way he has woven the mystery.

The reason why this book isn't 5 stars is because in my opinion, the story deserved more world-building and character bonding to reach its full potential and deliver the most impact.

Still, I had a great time reading it and will be looking out for future works by the author.

This is a lovely little story, with some good characters, some vivid scenes and the perfect amount of mystery.
Very atmospheric read. Made me feel like an adventurous kid again.
I really like Enola's character and her back story. It was sad and hopeful, and very well illustrated in such a short book.
I took away a star, due to a few rather obvious conveniences and the slight dumbing down of Sherlock Holmes' innate attention to detail for the sake of the story.

I recommend this book to girls of all ages, and will continue with the series as soon as I can get my hands on book 2.

As in the first book of the series, the atmosphere of this one is amazing! I was so happy to be back in it and enjoyed it thoroughly.
I still love Enola's character and personality expression.

What I did not like is the ludicrous twist and wild conjecture used to explain the mystery. It was so out of nowhere and the conclusions were reached with so little proof (if any) that it ruined the entire plot.

I also don't enjoy it when the moral message of the book comes before the story. Even though I agreed with it, it was so on the nose, that it felt borderline insulting. I think a lot of authors these days lack the trust in their readers and venture to spell out things that any kid can deduce on their own.

One of the best works by the author!

This is a story of two young people who are lonely in their own way and forced to work together to accomplish a mysterious goal, and find understanding and redemption... But this is just one tiny aspect of what this book is about.

Let's start with the world building. One of the craziest and most original ones, not only in the Cosmere, but in literature as a whole. And the more you read this book, the crazier it gets. I promise you, this book will continue the surprise you all the way through.

The characters were simply exquisite! You get to have heroes, but you get to have them be utterly human - weak, afraid, flawed to heir core, undeserving and ashamed - what we ourselves often are.
And you get to see them stumble through things. But not only massive, incredible things. You see them deal with the seemingly simple daily things we sometimes struggle with, often despite all logic and better judgement.
And you get to see them face their stupid mundane ruinous fears in such a relatable way, it will likely make you weep for no (obvious) reason.
And it feels so good. It hits right home.

And you get to do that in an atmosphere of dread and high stakes. What can be better than that?

I'll tell you what - art. There is a distinct emphasis on art and more specifically what makes it valuable. And its deeper meaning to its appreciative audience, because of the soul of the creator. Yes, if you have been giving AI “art” the side eye, you'll feel seen in this book. And the author manages to perfectly illustrate his point, without denouncing technology, which people often do (rather hypocritically, I might add).

There is so much great about this book, I couldn't possibly encompass it all in one review, because I keep on thinking about it and things keep on coming to me.

I highly recommend this book be read after the rest of the already published Cosmere works (including the novellas and short stories), in order to not only avoid spoilers, but also be able to understand all that is being discussed.

P.S.: The visual art in this book is absolutely mesmerising!

3.5 ⭐️

I started this book not knowing what to expect and up until 30 - 35% of it, still had no idea what it is I was reading.
Then the story started making sense and I ended up enjoying immensely the world and the characters we followed.
I would qualify this as sci-fantasy for childish adults. Is there such a thing as adult-middle-grade?
The story is light-hearted in tone, though its themes and plot threads are quite heavy. Something like a cop action comedy with inter-dimensional travel. And magic.

If there's one thing that I reeeeally didn't like, it was the plot lines that went nowhere. I'm talking about the Black Bear and his dark beasts. Nothing came of it, it just seemed like empty lore for the sake of lore. There were a few things we spent time on, that went nowhere. It made the book seem like an earlier draft of a potentially great story.

In general, this isn't my favorite work by the author, but it is very original and I kinda wish it wasn't a stand alone.

I need to clarify that this book is definitely not what I would usually (or ever) pick up. I read it because it was a part of a reading challenge. So, if you like this sort of books, you will probably rate it higher.

We have a pretty wild family story and a beautiful setting.

I liked the writing style and I genuinely think the plot was good. The characters were quite endearing. There was nuance and high stakes. The romance was on point and both the main character and love interest were easy to like.
I liked the mother-daughter relationship exploration, it was very well done.

I am glad I read it and would recommend to people who are looking for a good contemporary romance with a generous dose of family drama.

This was quite mediocre.

There were two good things about this book:
1. The writing style - the woman knows how to spin a sentence that sounds good.
2. The bold ending - it was a bit out there and I liked that she did not pull her punches (though most people will probably be a bit annoyed).

The rest was entirely subpar.
The story was uninteresting, the characters were vague and boring, the mystery was all over the place... I did not like the interpretation of Greek Mythology and the way she used the Odyssey. I did not like how facts were revealed at random -like the author was adding things on the fly.
I did not like the romance (this love triangle was so stupid and badly constructed, I found myself wishing our main characters would just drop dead and release me from this suffering).

The whole things seemed shallow and lazy.

I am so conflicted about this book.
On one hand, we have an amazing concept and a super interesting world which has me completely hooked. Seriously, the author has fascinating imagination and has crafted a world so curious and extraordinary, as well as brutal and intriguing - I was stunned and very impressed.
On the other hand - we have really badly developed characters and terrible writing.
I can honestly say that I have never in my life read a book which had so many errors, nonsensical sentences and instances of outright wrong use of the language.
Here are some spoiler-free examples:
- Using words that have no way of developing and existing in this fantasy world. Such as - blip, spartan, gothic, baroque, medieval etc.
- Using multiple instances of the same word in a single sentence (‘...in his moment of truth there was no hesitation in his final moment.”, or “Stepping inside I noticed how stale the air inside was.”, or “With the help of another Watcher, Watcher Glenn was helped down.”)
- Characters referring to other characters by their name, before they know said name (Erefiel refers to Chroma by his name, 6 sentences before he learns it.)
- Misspelled words (cowl instead of scowl etc.)
- Outright nonsense. For example, the author describes what is essentially tentacles as “forked candles of gilded proportions”. What does “gilded proportions” even mean? How can proportions be gilded?? Or “Thoughts that no matter how vehemently I stirred refused to settle to the bottom of my pot.” How are things supposed to settle with stirring???
- Mixing different types of tenses (“All heads were bowed accordingly and, in silence, their prayers were made. My presence is a mere medium to unload their zeal onto. All I felt...”
- Using words and phrases incorrectly - The sentence “They took a wide birth from the strolling Ievarus.” should actually be “They gave the strolling Ievarus a wide berth.”
The author also used “duress” when he meant “durability”. And “I obliged his answer.” should've been I obliged him with an answer.

And this is just a tiny part of the MANY mistakes I managed to spot. And I'm not even a native English speaker. I don't know what kind of editing this book went through, but boy, did it need SO MUCH MORE!

I am still not sure whether I even want to continue with the series, despite being so fascinated by this world. I suppose I will give a chance to book two (whenever that comes out) and if the editing issues are still not fixed, I will not bother finishing it.

Reading this was like coming home.

I am nicely surprised. And I know I shouldn't have been.
But I expected this book to be a simplistic children's story with not much substance (and I don't even know why I thought so).
It was so so much more! Yes, it is written for children and you can tell. But it can still give you joy and make you smile, whether you are 8 or a 108.
One more beautiful proof that Tolkien was made of magic. I am so thankful for his undying legacy!

So, if you haven't yet read The Hobbit, please do it. It will warm your heart.

This will be the last book I read from this author.

I disliked profoundly the character work, the lack of development, the non-existent set up for the motive, the pace of the story, the way Ruth Ware beats me over the head with the same phrases until I grow to hate them.

And all of that wouldn't have been so bad, but for the fact that I am tired of contemporary domestic drama being sold to me as a thriller.

4 to 4.5 ⭐️

Oh, I am so satisfied with this read and so surprised!

First of all, I really liked how the series ended and the little cameos we got, as well as the tiny continuation of the Book of the Ancestor story.
My mind got so twisted around some of the revelations and I am brimming with theories, as well as some further questions, on the topic of the Missing and their “ascension”.
I think what I assumed after finishing book 2 is true namely, that the realm into which thye ascended is basically cyber space but still not 100% sure.
I am also now suspecting that Theus has appeared in earlier books by the author, which I just added to my TBR.
The one thing I didn't like was the (albeit tiny) focus on the romance and supposed love quadrant(?) we had, which was beyond unnecessary, in my opinion.
All in all, this was by far the best book in the series (mostly because of the setting, I think) and left me excited to read the author's backlist, as well as any future works in this universe.

3.5 ⭐️

I started this book not knowing anything about it and not expecting much.
And I was pleasantly surprised by my unexpected enjoyment of it.

The story starts with the standard - woman wronged by patriarchy, which I find myself kind of fed up with, being that I see it in every other book. It was original for a while, but I can certainly feel the over saturation of this trope.
However, I did like the spin the author put on it, as well as the fact that she was not afraid to make the characters grey and not cookie cutter good or bad (in the general case).
What I liked the most here was the writing style - very subtle and easy to go through, while still beautiful.
I liked the suspense and rhythm of the story as well. The ending sequence especially was very satisfying and kept me on the edge of my seat.

The book is not perfect, but it was quite an enjoyable read. And I sincerely hope we will get a continuation of the story (the ending certainly makes that possible).

A was pleasantly surprised by this book.
It had a relatively rough start - not very likeable main character and super depressing setting. And though, both of those didn't change much throughout the book, the story was good. And easy to read.
I guessed the big twist somewhat midway through the book, but to no detriment to it - I guessed it because I wanted it to happen that way, not because the author had done a bad job.
And that ending - loved it!
I took away a star because the world building was a bit rough and most of the side characters sort of blended together (which I guess is expected for a 300-page fantasy book).

I have never been this bored by a book written so well.

I was so impressed when I initially picked up this book; the author demonstrated both knowledge and philosophical prowess. Or so I thought, until I started getting deeper into the book and patterns started bleeding through the endless barrage of linguistic theory.

This book is the most unoriginal piece of work I have read in a very very long time. There is not a single original thought in this entire story. 90% of it is reformatted basic linguistic theory, made to sound not at all different from what you will find in any textbook on the subject (and what I am forced to assume was the author's own recycled university thesis). And generous part of the other 10% was spent on her criticising classic authors, through the lens of modern morals. As though the outdated political view on minorities and women from back in the day isn't widely criticised today by damn near everyone. You don't have to hate the authors of yesterday just because they lived when they did. You're not a better person for holding our modern views today, when it's easy to do it. I am baffled that people refuse to acknowledge it.

All of the characters were made to appear as mouthpieces for modern politics and you couldn't find nuance in them to save your life. They were bland, inconsistent and altogether somewhat distant. Like I wasn't reading a story about them, but rather reading a story that they happened to be dragged into at times.

But worst of all was the setting. Let me lay it out for you plainly - this is a rigid historical fiction that is masquerading as a fantasy. The setting is not based in history - it tries to copy history entirely, with embellishments that are supposed to be perceived as authentic. The author has injected magic into it, but made sure that said magic changes absolutely nothing!
Let me tell you this, if you had exactly the same Earth, with the only difference being that foxes were green, we'd have a vastly different history - with foxes being bred for camouflage wear, their natural habitats changing, lore and religion being influenced etc.
Yet in an Earth with MAGIC, history is exactly the same?! Please! This is just lazy. This is what you get when you have an author who is used to learning but has no imagination.

One last thing to mention were the footnotes, which was basically the author telling you plainly word for word what you should take out of a situation, instead of making the effort to weave the nuance into the story. She would just drop “context” in the form of “This is how you should feel about what you just read and why. Don't think about it, just accept it and move along.” I have rarely felt more patronised; like I'm not intelligent enough to be trusted with a story - I need to be guided through the intricacies of thinking. Kind of ironic considering the themes of the book...

To me, Babel was such a tremendous waste of time and a massive disappointment.

This was a nice collection of stories and perfectly captured the spirit of a Poirot mystery.
But you simply can't execute an intricate plot and unfold it fully in so few pages.
Three stories in I was already feeling a bit fed up. So, this would be nice to read in several sittings, rather than all at once.

Just like with the first book in this series, I both enjoyed it and was disappointed.

The good thing about this story is the idea and the plot of it. I like where things are going and I want to know more.

However, the execution is definitely subpar.

The world building was choppy, incomplete and often vague. After reading two books (one of which a novella, granted) I still have no clarity about the political system, the recent history or even the basic geography of this world. There are mentions of some different nations and races but it seems mostly like an afterthought.

The flow of the story was very messy. For example, the author would deliver crucial information by simply telling us what happened to character A, even though we followed said character at that time and this was never even hinted at. It felt like a plot convenience developed on the spot to move the story. But there has to be a set up for this type of thing in order for it to work well. One example that comes to mind is Chapman's supposed overuse of Yu'ib medicine. We followed him for months and never got a mention that Yu'ib even had medicine, and all of a sudden - here it is, he's been relying on it too much, and the strain of it is weighing on him.
The author would often rely on characters to dump exposition in order to “build back story”, again without any prior hint. Flip: "Holden, since I met you, you've been a mess. The minute we met you moved in with me for a month" Yeah, I believe Holden knows that he moved in with Flip for a month. So this is all done for our benefit , which makes it sound unnatural.

Storytelling was quite rushed, which caused the book feel more like a YA novel. And that made the sudden and frequent appearance of super gory scenes, which bordered and often crossed the border into body horror, a bit startling. Not to mention the one mega awkward sex scene.

The writing style is really lacking. Rather often, you'd run into a sentence that is borderline nonsensical (and some that are truly so). There were errors, missed words (“Holden [felt a] pang of shame”) and sometimes just plain bad prose (“His eyes lit on the open window. It was open.”) .
On top of that, the narrative switched between third person limited and third person omniscient point of view randomly (sometimes in the same chapter) which really pulled me out of the story.
Save to say, the book would've really benefitted from a more thorough editing.

But the worst thing, by far, was the dialog. It was so bad and sounded so unnatural, I had to re-read certain passages a few times to try and figure out what the characters mean and how they got there.

Despite all the things I didn't like, I still think the idea behind the story and where it is going is quite interesting, so I will probably read the next book in the series and hope for a much needed improvement in the writing of this author.

Another very good entry!

I especially loved the world building and the reveals we got in terms of the delvers and the Nowhere. That was honestly not what I expected thought some of my suspicions were confirmed.

There were some things that were missing, even if I can't necessarily put my finger on them - I know I didn't enjoy the book as much as book one, though I don't think there were anything specifically not okay with it.

I am pleased with Spensa's growth though, I think Sanderson has really done a good job with her arc.

I am so excited to read the last book in the series now!

I read the Illumicrate special edition.

I had no expectations from this book and was still rather disappointed.
Up to the about 60% mark, it was strictly average and then it became just nonsensical.
The writing wasn't impressive. The typos on the other hand - very much so.
The plot was a mess of nonsense to the point of making me want to DNF at like 85%.

Finished it be sheer force of will.

This book was simply amazing!
The world was so interesting, the characters were lovely, the mystery was well crafted. And no romance! What more could one want?
I would recommend it as an autumn read, because the atmosphere is going to be very suitable.

I was so worried that this would be just a standalone. So when I saw it is book 1 in a series I was immensely happy. I can't wait to read more from this world!

Well, did this surprise me...

It started strong - interesting plot, high tension right away. And being that it's a fairly short read there was pretty much no downtime, without jamming too much action.
But what demolished me was the ending. Brutal and gripping! I loved every moment of it! I read the book in a day and the only reason I'm sorry I did, is that I now want to read more of this story and there isn't.

I am giving it 4 stars because I did find some of the writing lacking. I am no expert in writing in any way, but I could identify lack of fluidity with the dialogues in particular, and some of the exchanges left me a bit confused. Given this is the author's first book, I have no doubt we will see a lot of improvement in future works.

I highly recommend! Though I feel compelled to mention that there is a lot of graphic violence. So if that is something that bothers you, you might want to consider it before reading. Otherwise, plow ahead boldly!

Very enjoyable read.
It had a good female main character (rare these days) - easy to like and to root for, without being bland. The rest of the character cast was also rather well done.
The storyline was quite interesting, though the book did lack in world building. One more thing I didn't like was the ending - felt rushed and not entirely well set-up, which is why the book didn't get 5 stars.
I will be happy to continue with the series.