Rob

Executive Summary: This book was a lot of fun. I don't read a lot of sci-fi, but this is the kind I seem to enjoy the most. A bit light on plot at times, but great/memorable characters. I'm looking forward to the second book.

Full Review
This is another of those books I'd probably have never heard of/picked up if not for Good Reads. Now that I have, I'll be adding my voice to the praise of several of my friends here.

I prefer space-opera to hard sci-fi. I love character-driven stories. This book is both of those. In fact for much of the book there is very little overarching plot and mostly a lot of interconnected vignettes about a crew of a ship whose job it is to create wormholes between planets.

The crew is about 65% human and 35% alien. Oh, and one fantastic AI whose named after Ada Lovelace! There are a lot of alien species in this book, not just those aboard the Waybringer. Most of the focus of alien culture comes through the crew members, but we do get to learn a bit about some others as well.

Ms. Chambers does a great job of trying to come up interesting and alien seeming perspectives on the universe.

The pictures she paints may feel unrealistic to some. In a small ship of about 8 individuals there is very little conflict among them. In fact all of them get along well with each other save for 1 crewmate. Most of the conflict is external to the ship.

She also explores a variety of relationship ideas and what it means to love someone. That isn't to say this is a romance book. I personally am not a big fan of books with big romance arcs. Instead these ideas are often presented as just another part (albeit at times a large part) of the characters lives. I liked the way she weaved these ideas in.

Overall, I found it a nice change of pace. I read to escape realism, and I'd love to spend more time among the Wayfayer. Luckily for me being so late to the party, I don't have long to wait for book 2. I'm looking forward to it.

If you enjoy light/fun character driven stories give this one a shot.

Executive Summary: A decent book that felt slow in places, particularly the last quarter or so, resulting in my rounding a 3.5 star rating down.Audio book: Christine Marshall was a decent narrator. She has a good clear reading voice and speaks at a good volume. I didn't find her particularly memorable one way or another. I'd consider the audiobook a fine option if you want to go that route, but nothing special.Full ReviewI knew nothing about this book or the author prior to this coming up for a vote in Sword & Laser. It sounded the best of the choices.Prior to reading it, most of what I heard was that it was incredibly bleak. Maybe I've read too much grimdark that I've grown too indifferent, but I didn't find this all that bad. It's certainly a darker and more serious book than some fantasy, but not nearly as dark as more popular series like Song of Ice and Fire or Malazan Book of the Fallen.The difference may be that I cared less for Baru Cormorant than I do for some of the characters in both of those series. When bad things happened, I wasn't all that upset. And bad things don't happen the whole time, though it may feel that way to some.The main point of interest to me was how the Empire of Masks used clever finance, and not military might to conquer. This reminds me a bit of Dagger and Coin by [a:Daniel Abraham 134 Daniel Abraham https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1207149629p2/134.jpg]. However if I had to recommend one “Fantasy Economic” series, it would definitely be Dagger & Coin over this one.That brings me to my next point. This is another one of those books that I think isn't being well advertised as the start of a series. I shouldn't be surprised as everything is a series these days. Things do come to a decent conclusion, but it's obvious that things are setup for a longer series fairly early on in the series.This could be that this is the author's first published novel (at least I believe it is), and sequels are contingent on how well this one does. However I think it should be made clear to the potential reader that they are committing to “yet another series”, and ideally how long. Standard trilogy? Something longer? One of the reasons I voted for this book over the others, is they were all part of series, and I didn't realize this was as well.I thought the writing was pretty good, especially for a first time author. I don't recall big info dumps or painful dialogue.There were definitely parts of this book I enjoyed, but it was uneven. Overall, I thought the world building of the Masked Empire was more interesting than the plot or the characters themselves. I enjoyed learning about the Mask Empire early on in the book, but by the end I found my mind wandering in places and simply eager to just finish the book. The weaker ending caused me to round down my rating instead of up. At this point I'm not sure I'll continue on with the next book in the series, your mileage may vary though.

Executive Summary: This series keeps getting better. I find it a bit funny that I don't seem to like most young adult books, but am really enjoying a Middle Grade series so much. I guess it goes to show that story is all. 4.5 stars.Full ReviewMuch like his Shadow Campaign series, I'm enjoying this one more and more with each book. After a bit of a slow start, this one grabbed me and didn't let go.I'm not a fast reader in general, but these books read a lot faster than an adult novel. I still tore through the last 25% or so in one sitting, something I haven't done with any book in quite some time. I never felt like I was reading a middle grade book. I was too busy enjoying the story.Alice is a great protagonist. She's likable, and capable, while not being some kind of wonderkin. She makes mistakes, and then learns from them. She's caring.In the last book, we get several new supporting characters, and I was happy to see them return here. We also get a few new ones that make for a great addition to the cast.And then of course you have the cats. People love cats it seems, so you can't go wrong by adding some amusing and well-written cats to your book.This book is definitely setting the stage for something bigger, but it did so without feeling like a transition book. The story was pretty self-contained, while building on the larger overall story. It ends in a good place where I'm eager for the next book, but don't feel like it just stopped.I'm definitely not the target audience here, but I'm nearly as eager for book 4 of this series now as I am for [b:The Guns of Empire 25845201 The Guns of Empire (The Shadow Campaigns, #4) Django Wexler https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1446499764s/25845201.jpg 45878017]. If you're looking for a fun, quick, and fairly light fantasy series. This is worth a look. Even better if you have some kids to share it with.

Executive Summary: Why did I wait so long to listen to this one? This book is a lot of fun. If you're a (Tabletop) RPG fan, I highly recommend picking this one up.Audiobook: Roger Wayne is excellent. He does a variety of voices for the different characters. He speaks with good inflection and volume. Audio is an excellent option for this series.Full ReviewMost if not all people who have played Dungeons & Dragons (or similar tabletop RPGs) or any RPG game for that matter have suffered the loss of a character before. You may have poured hours of time into it's creation, and even more into bringing them to life, depending how long you've been playing it. It probably hurt when they died. But then you just roll up a new character and go on.Did you ever wonder what the NPCs think about your death? Or what they get up to when you're not around to rob, maim or pump them for information? Drew Hayes did, and it's pretty amusing. This book is full of in-jokes, both about RPG games (particularly the dice-rolling variety) and their players.I had this on my radar for some time, but it took an audible sale and a friend reading/enjoying this book to finally get me to give it a shot. I shouldn't have waited. This book does for RPGs much like [b:Off to Be the Wizard 18616975 Off to Be the Wizard (Magic 2.0, #1) Scott Meyer https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1390179189s/18616975.jpg 24775619] does for general fantasy/video games. It's both funny and smart.The characters are excellent too. You'll never look at Goblins the same way again. Mr. Hayes takes some well worn tropes of RPGs and comes at them from every angle, all while telling a pretty good story that will make you want to run out and pick up your dice. Or at least it did for me.For you D&D sorts you may want to keep your copy of the player's handbook at hand, so you can look up various spells as you read. Or maybe that's just me. Perhaps you have them all memorized anyways.The writing is a bit unpolished in some places, but I was too busy having fun to really care. Great characters, story telling and my general nostalgia of the years I spent playing Dungeons and Dragons really endeared this book to me immediately.Mr. Hayes also sets things up nicely for a series. I'm not sure how many he has in mind, but I could read a whole bunch of them. I'm not playing D&D anymore, so this might be as close as I can get for now.This book has far too few reviews on Goodreads. I highly recommend picking this up, at least if you're an RPG fan. I'll be curious to see if it's as enjoyable to general fantasy fans. I think there is enough here that it probably will be, but I suspect many of the in-jokes may be lost on them.

Story
Another enjoyable entry in the series. It's the usual mix of action, perverse humor, and excellent storytelling. We get some backstory on Marko, while the main story moves along a fair bit.

If you haven't checked out Saga yet, you really should. It continues to be consistently great.

Artwork
The artwork is again fantastic. A bit too fantastic in places. I thought Fard was bad, I can't unsee some of the images Ms. Staples has now seared into my brain.

Executive Summary: One of Michael Crichton's best. There's a good reason why Jurassic World made so much money last year. Our fascination with dinosaurs. Crichton does a good job capturing that here.Audiobook: Scott Brick does a good job as always. His voice for Lex is so good as to be obnoxious and I found myself yelling at her to shut up just like her brother.Full ReviewThis is one of those rare books I read after the movie. I read it sometime in high school. I don't exactly remember when. However, I remember seeing the movie the first time vividly. I was not quite 11 years old. The perfect age really. I convinced my mother to take me to see it while my sister was away at camp. The movie both fascinated and terrified me. It's one of the few movies that have stuck with me so vividly over the years.By the time I got to reading the book I was a bit older, and that same sense of wonder had started to wear off. I was too young to enjoy the pseudo-science, and the action in my imagination just didn't live up to my memories of the movie. It was a good book, but “the movie was better”.With the 25th anniversary last year, a new audiobook got released, and I was interested to revisit the book. It was a lot better than I remember. I enjoyed the “science” better this time around, although the computer related stuff made me go: “Yeah that's what you get for tampering with such a complex system” a lot.It's been a long time since I've seen the movie now, and I plan to revisit it. This seems like one of those rare movies that doesn't tweak too much from the book. It's almost as though Mr. Crichton wrote it to be made into a movie. It wouldn't surprise me to learn that was true.My favorite Crichton book is [b:Timeline 7669 Timeline Michael Crichton https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1405420745s/7669.jpg 1525987] (whose movie adaptation is absolutely awful), but this book is probably my second favorite. The way he uses pseudo-science to create thrillers seems unmatched. This series is arguably his most successful. He takes our childhood fascination with dinosaurs to the next level. He also highlights the arrogance of men. You might think if given the chance, we'd be smarter than the characters in the book, but I'm not sure that'd be true. I fully believe if it were possible to recreate dinosaurs some greedy idiot would totally do it. There is part of me that'd want to visit the park too. Meanwhile the rest of my brain is screaming what a terrible idea it all is.All and all, this book is a fun ride full of wonder, terror and a lot of stupidity. I'm glad I revisited the book.

Story
This series continues to delight. The blend of camping, scouting and fantasy work really well. The characters are a lot of fun to read. I also get a kick out of all the new badges introduced in this volume.

I really wish boy scouts had a “Playing with fire badge” because myself and many others totally would have earned that one several times over.

I'll definitely be looking forward to the next volume and see what the Janes get up to next.

Artwork
The artwork is pretty good, but not always my favorite. I do enjoy many of the alternative covers included in the back. The images for each panel do a good job adding to the story, which is really what you want from a graphic novel anyways.

Executive Summary: I'm not really a big fan of horror, but I enjoyed this book. It's the type of horror I do tend to enjoy. The blend of historic fiction and the supernatural really worked for me.

Full Review
A lot of the early comments I saw about this book said how the characters in this book and the observations on life under Jim Crow were the best part, but the supernatural elements were a detriment to the book.

While I can agree to the first point, I disagree about the second. It just goes to show not every book works for everyone in the same ways. This book reminds me a bit of Get Out, in that the real horror doesn't come from the supernatural elements, but the awful way that people treat each other.

I thought all the characters were fantastic. I'm hard pressed to decide who I liked the best. The female characters were the most enjoyable. I think I liked Hippolyta the best. I enjoyed her parts of the story a lot.

However I thought the two sisters Letitia and Ruby also had great parts. And on the male side I liked Hippolyta's husband George and their son Horace a lot as well.

But I also really liked the world building. I've always been a fan of the secret history trope. Secret societies with magical power and influence over everything is not exactly new, but it takes on an even more sinister aspect in this book.

I should mention the story kind of jumps all over the place at times. There are a lot of sub plots going on, but they all tie-back in to each other by the end, and I actually liked the format of this.

Overall, I thought this was a really good book and I'm glad I picked it up. I liked it a lot better than I expected, especially after seeing so many neutral to negative reactions to the book from most of the early reactions I saw to our book club read for this.

I suspect this book won't be for everyone, but if you liked Get Out, this seems like a story in a similar vein. I'm looking forward to checking out the TV adaptation, especially since Jordan Peele is attached to the project.

Executive Summary: Predictable Fun. It's not nearly as good as [b:Ready Player One 9969571 Ready Player One Ernest Cline https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406383612s/9969571.jpg 14863741], but that's hardly surprising. 3.5 stars.Audio book: When I found out Wil Wheaton was narrating this, it was a done deal. He's the perfect narrator for certain books, and this is definitely one of those.Full ReviewI love [b:Ready Player One 9969571 Ready Player One Ernest Cline https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1406383612s/9969571.jpg 14863741]. It's one of my all time favorite books. It's not the best written, or the even the best story. It just hits all the right buttons for me. In fact, I reread it not to long ago and loved it just as much.I was looking forward to checking out what Mr. Cline had in store for us next. Could it be as good as his first book? Of course not, or at least I'd have been shocked if it were. However it seems like many people who loved that book were not only disappointed in this book, but downright upset.That wasn't the case for me. There a ton of similarities to Ready Player One and several stories, most notably the Last Starfighter and Ender's Game. Mr. Cline acknowledges that right away and makes it part of the narrative.Our protagonist Zach Lightman is a high school gamer who's obsessed with the games/music/movies of the past. Gee where have I read that before? This book isn't breaking any new ground. In fact it's treading on very familiar ground.I thought it started a bit slow, but once I got into it I was having a blast. That should be obvious when you see I listened to the whole thing in just two days. It's only 12 hours, but I normally average 3 hours/day. I kept finding things to do so I could keep listening.Ordinarily that kind of thing would mean a 5 star book for me, but while this book is fun, it's just not as good as others. It hits many of the same buttons as Ready Player One, just not as hard I guess. That doesn't make me mad or disappointed though.I'll probably give it another listen down the road though. The door for a sequel seems to have been left open, so maybe I'll listen to it again at that point.Not need to rush out and grab this one, but if you get it on sale, or need a light quick read, it's worth a look in my opinion.

Story
I found this an improvement over the first volume. I love the Janes. This series is a great mix of humor, friendship and finding strength in yourself. The fantastical twist to scouting doesn't hurt either.

This volume seemed to largely wrap up the main story of the first volume, so I'll be curious to see where things go next.

In a world that seems to often be full of darkness and anger, it's a joy to read something so upbeat and just fun.

Artwork
The artwork is a good fit for this series. It's very different from most comic books, and is probably more akin to a cartoon strip in places, or at least in the design of the Janes themselves.

The colors are excellent and it makes things really pop. The more I read this series, the more I enjoy the style.

Story
My favorite Star Wars is actually the animated stuff Dave Fiolini has done. Ahsoka Tano is my favorite Star Wars character. However Clone Wars is a bit uneven and has a bunch of bad episodes.

Rebels on the other hand was a much tighter scripted series. I kind of had to roll my eyes a bit at the start that there were a bunch of other Jedi around. However the universe is pretty big, so I got over it quick.

I thought this does a decent job in filling in how Kanan came to avoid Order 66 and show eventually show up in the Rebellion. It probably would have been better had this been part of the show, but that might have taken away from the pretty tight plotting.

Overall pretty good. 3.5 stars

Artwork
I thought the artwork was fine. It's a bit tough since I think the animation of the show is fantastic and the characters didn't look quite right to me. However since most of this book takes place in the past I didn't spend too much time thinking about it.

Executive Summary: A very well written and fascinating look at the rise history of computers and the internet and those who helped to shape it.Audiobook: For any nonfiction book I simply want a narrator who reads at a good pace and tone and is mostly unremarkable. Dennis Boutsikaris was that for me. He did a good job at keeping me focused on the history and not his narration.Full ReviewI added this book to my list after listening to Mr. Isaacson better know work: [b:Steve Jobs 11084145 Steve Jobs Walter Isaacson https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1511288482s/11084145.jpg 16005831]. Jobs was fascinating and that book was well written, but I always feel like he gets way too much credit as an innovator.This book was a nice counter to that. While Jobs is mentioned as appropriate, he focuses mostly on the people whose technical knowledge led to the personal computer, the internet and eventually the smart phone.That said, he does spend time talking about the important of those like Jobs. People who are are to recognize, nurture and market a good idea so it has a chance to make an impact. In fact one of his main themes in this book was how much better innovation works in a team setting than it does with a lone genius.The book is pretty extensive in its coverage. It starts back with Eda Lovelace and ends with the rise of smart phones and social media. There were a lot of details and people I was already familiar with from other computer history books I've read, but there was a lot of material in this book that was new to me.I'm awful at names, so I can't rattle off all the key people, but the way Mr. Isaacson's went about telling the history worked really well for me. I love that he spent time on both the hardware and software and even did a brief chapter on video games. Overall I found this an excellent book both for people completely unaware of computer history or for people like me who are looking for a deeper dive than some other books on the subject.

Executive Summary: I seem to read nothing but grimdark fantasy these days, but compared to say Malazan or Song of Ice and Fire this isn't nearly as bleak. I enjoyed this one start to finish.Audio book: This is the first book I've listen to narrated by Paul Boehmer. He's a pretty good narrator. He speaks clearly. I never had trouble understanding him. He does a few accents for the various nations, but not really distinct voices. Sometimes I had a little trouble knowing who was talking, but not often. He didn't really add or detract from the book. He looks to read the rest of the trilogy, and I welcome that.Full ReviewI thought this book was going to be a 5 star one, but it lost a little steam at the end. It might have been the epilogue which was over 30 minutes by itself.That said, I really enjoyed this book. The pacing was good, I enjoyed the characters and the story. It probably has one of the best villains I've read in a long time. I was literally yelling at my audio book a few times in outrage at their actions. It's really hard for me to believe this is Mr. Week's debut novel.There are few silly things, like the term Wetboys. There are assassins and then their are wetboys. Wetboys are in a class well above just an assassin. That said, it's a really stupid name. Especially for a grown adult. Night Angel: cool name. Wetboy? Sorry, no. Couldn't he have come up with something better?The book itself is loosely based on the coming of age fantasy trope, with a much darker flavor. Instead of the young farmboy being whisked away on an adventure to save the world, we have a young street urchin named Azoth, who aspires to become the apprentice to the best Wetboy in the city Durzo Blint.The book has some pretty good action, and an interesting magic system that I don't really understand at this point. If you're looking for clear rules a'la [a:Brandon Sanderson 38550 Brandon Sanderson http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/authors/1201547425p2/38550.jpg] you'll have to look somewhere else.Overall I really enjoyed this one and I'm looking forward to the next book, which I plan to start immediately.

Executive Summary: I think this is a book that most of the hard core fans will gush over, but I thought it was just alright. 3.5 stars rounded down for reasons I get into (rant about?) below.Audio book: I haven't done any of the Kingkiller books in audio. I have friends who have gushed to me over both the [a:Rupert Degas 1149240 Rupert Degas https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-ccc56e79bcc2db9e6cdcd450a4940d46.png] and the [a:Nick Podehl 2803557 Nick Podehl https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1294338060p2/2803557.jpg] versions.I'm not sure if those people will bothered by this one being read by Mr. Rothfuss himself, but I thought for this book at least, he makes for a good narrator. As he was the one who wrote it, he was able to put emphasis on the words he wanted to and he has a good story telling voice.Full ReviewI'm going to try to write a review without getting too ranty, but I may fall short in that regard, so I apologize in advance.First a little background as to where I'm coming from: I heard about [b:The Name of the Wind 186074 The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1) Patrick Rothfuss https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1270352123s/186074.jpg 2502879] and [a:Patrick Rothfuss 108424 Patrick Rothfuss https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1351307341p2/108424.jpg] over four years ago from Penny-Arcade. Since that time I had several friends telling me I had to read it. I was reluctant to do though, because the third book hasn't been published and there is no real eta in sight. I was content to wait until at least their was an announced publish date. Until last year that is, when I finally caved and read both books with a few friends. I'm glad I finally did, though now I'm stuck waiting for the final book like everyone else.I seem to be in a minority of the fans I've talked to who thought that [b:The Name of the Wind 186074 The Name of the Wind (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #1) Patrick Rothfuss https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1270352123s/186074.jpg 2502879] was good, but [b:The Wise Man's Fear 1215032 The Wise Man's Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle, #2) Patrick Rothfuss https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1297311431s/1215032.jpg 2502882] was much better. So maybe that will put me in the minority of fans once again who find myself a bit disappointed with this story.Originally slated for [b:Rogues 20168816 Rogues George R.R. Martin https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1404616147s/20168816.jpg 27565413], Mr. Rothfuss set this one aside and wrote The Lightning Tree instead. It has a similar feel to this. We follow Bast around for a day in the life. I really loved that story. I felt like we got some good insights to his character we didn't in the main novels.Auri is definitely one of my favorite characters in his books, so I was really excited to see he had a novella about her coming out. Until I saw the price. I like to support authors I read so they will hopefully continue to write more stories I enjoy, but $17 for a 150 page novella seems crazy to me. So maybe I was already in a negative mindset coming into this book.I was planning to wait until I could get a copy from the library and if I enjoyed it, picking up a copy for my shelves if/when the price came down. However, I was fortunate enough to receive an early review copy of the audio book, making the price irrelevant to me personally.So I've written all these words now (and apparently you've kept reading them) and still really haven't talked about the book. That seems appropriate because there really isn't a story here. We follow Auri around for a week. We do get some insights into her thought process. Maybe someone smarter than me will argue we get a lot of insights. Maybe if I read it again, I'll come away with more. I don't know. What I really wanted was to know more about Auri's background more so than her character. As far as I'm concerned, you get none of that here. Maybe I'm just not smart enough.And that brings me to why I rounded down my rating of 3.5 to a 3. I was all set to round up to 4 because I really like [a:Patrick Rothfuss 108424 Patrick Rothfuss https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1351307341p2/108424.jpg], and I really like Auri. He seems like a generally nice guy who does a lot of great things for other people with his success and influence. But Mr. Rothfuss felt the need to include this long author's note at the end. He makes it out like an apology to his fans who may not “get” this book, or don't like it. But to me it came off as insincere and really more like him turning up his nose at anyone who doesn't love this story as much as Vi Hart.And the thing is, I didn't dislike it for any of the reasons he mentioned. This book definitely FEELS like Auri. I liked all the randomness. Auri's OCD makes me feel way better about my own. She really is a great character, and that shines through here. As I said my main disappointment was getting nothing about Auri's back story.But to talk about “There are plenty of stories out there for you, even if this one isn't” came off condescending to me. I'm probably just reading it the wrong way, because Mr. Rothfuss never stuck me as that sort of person before now.So if you want a story where nothing really of note happens and to just spend time with Auri, you'll probably love this story. If you like me were hoping for some kind of back story, you may be disappointed like I was. There definitely were a few hints dropped, but nothing that made any real sense to me, just left me with more questions than before I read it.

Executive Summary: I thought this was the strongest of the series, but still not as good as [b:Crooked Kingdom 22299763 Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2) Leigh Bardugo https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1456172607l/22299763.SY75.jpg 42090179]. I think had I read this series first, I might not have continued on. 3.5 Stars. Audiobook: I thought the narration was very good, and one of the things that kept me going in the slower parts of the series. If you want to do this series, the audio is a good option.Full ReviewWith the Netflix series finally being released I really wanted to finish this book in case they brought some random details forward into season 1. I don't really recall there being anything but I blew through the show pretty quickly.There was a bit too much teenage angst and melodrama for my liking, but far less than the previous book. There was also a lot more plot.I still struggle with the cartoonish nature of the Darkling, but I probably like Nikolai enough to balance that out somewhat. Meanwhile the relationship between Alina and Mal felt less terrible, so it had that going for it.I thought the ending for this went about as well as I could have hoped. I'm tempted to do a reread of the sequel series before picking up [b:King of Scars 36307634 King of Scars (King of Scars, #1) Leigh Bardugo https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1525110825l/36307634.SY75.jpg 57978319] (which I already own).Overall this is one of those rare occasions where I like the show/movie better than the books. I hope they do more of the show and I hope they eventually get to do the stuff from the sequel series. I'm glad I read it finally, but I will not likely revisit them again and if I were to recommend the Grishaverse books to anyone, I'd suggest they skip this series and start with [b:Crooked Kingdom 22299763 Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2) Leigh Bardugo https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1456172607l/22299763.SY75.jpg 42090179] instead.

Executive Summary: An excellent, but not perfect end to what ended up being a rather enjoyable series. Just a few minor complaints keep me from giving it a 5 star rating. 4.5 stars.

Audio book: Mark Bramhall again does an excellent job that makes this a series I think is best done in audio. I will have to be on the lookout for other books he reads for in the future.

Full Review
This book almost made it to the end to secure one of my rare 5-star ratings. I always hated to stop listening, and found myself coming up with things to do so I could get in some extra listening time each day.

Unfortunately what seems to be Mr. Grossman's need to remind us that life is never fair and far from perfect at places, that I'm frankly sick of. I read to escape from reality, and while I'm not looking for everything to always work out, the negativity of this series wore on me at points.

Thankfully the amount of it seemed to lessen with each book. I think that largely has to do with Quentin's development. He has gone from a character I was indifferent towards, to one I didn't like, back to largely indifference in the last book, but at this point in the series I found myself finally liking him.

I find it hard to read a book where I don't like at least some of the characters. It's no wonder to me why so many people are turned away from the series by the first book.

The world building and the story is what kept me going until suddenly I realized I had actually become fond of these characters. Who would have guessed that?

This is one of those books that doesn't tie up every loose end. I think this keeps in line with Mr. Grossman's frequent injections of “reality” into the series.

I don't need all the loose ends to be tied up to find an ending satisfying, and this was definitely that for me. I'd love to see more stories in this world. If not with Quentin as his friends, then maybe with other students at Brakebills. Preferably ones I like much sooner.

I found Plumb a nice addition to the series, much as I did Poppy in the last book. It was nice to see that much like the real world, not everyone is so depressed and cynical all the time.

Overall I've found this an enjoyable series, which is likely obvious from how quickly I tore through it. I'm cautiously optimistic about the SyFy adaptation based on early details. Here's to hoping they get to tell the whole story, and maybe some other ones beyond it.

Executive Summary: I enjoyed parts of this book a lot, but overall found it a bit to uneven and slow in places. It's another one that suffers from lack of half star ratings. It's a solid 3.5 star book, that I initially gave 4 stars, but on collecting my thoughts for this review decided to round down to 3 stars instead.

Audio book: Finding out Michael Kramer did the audio from this made it go from wait for a library copy to buy it on audio. I was initially underwhelmed. It's probably not his best performance.

But even a so-so Michael Kramer reading is leaps and bounds above many narrators out there. This became even more obvious when I started my next book. I immediately missed his reading. You really can't go wrong with the audio though. I definitely wouldn't have finished this book so quickly if I was reading it.

Full Review
This book starts slow, but I enjoyed meeting some of the characters and the world building. Far too many fantasy worlds are based on medieval Europe. So it's nice to have one based on Asia instead.

I think the best aspect of this book for me was the gods as characters. This isn't the first fantasy series to do this, but it meshed in well and added an interesting element to the overall story.

Things built up slowly and then finally became interesting, but then seemed to slow way down again. Then it got interesting again before slowing down as things were sort of wrapped up in the final section. This made the pacing pretty uneven to me. The fight scenes and the actual rebellion didn't do much for me. And that's a large part of this book.

What I did enjoy was the actual plotting and administration of government. I appreciated the contrast between Kuni, Mata and the various Kings/Emperors. In some ways it was a bit too optimistic. Kuni is far from a perfect person, but seems incredibly proficient as a leader. Meanwhile Mata is entirely too stupid. Some of the characters actions just didn't make a lot of sense to me.

The other main issue I had was the female characters. This book had some really great ones. Jia, Soto and another I'll refrain from naming. However it felt like it took him far too long to include them as more than just minor characters in the book. I felt Jia was especially underused. I would have liked more time and involvement from them.

For much of the book it seems to be yet another fantasy world where women are relegated to the side lines/dismissed by most male characters. I get that's often how things have worked in our history, but does that mean it needs to be the case in EVERY fantasy series too? I'm hopeful that will be less of the case in future books though.

Overall there is enough here for me to want to check out the next book, but I found myself a bit underwhelmed after all the early buzz.

Executive Summary: Another decent entry in the Mistborn series, though I didn't enjoy it as much as some of the others. 3.5 rounded up, because it's still one of my favorite series.Audio book: I switched from text to audio with [b:The Alloy of Law 10803121 The Alloy of Law (Mistborn, #4) Brandon Sanderson https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1442889632s/10803121.jpg 15035863], and so long as [a:Michael Kramer 690164 Michael Kramer https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] continues his excellent narration, I'll never switch back.Full ReviewThis is probably one of my most anticipated books of the year. Unfortunately for it, it follows close on the heels to one the others: [b:The Aeronaut's Windlass 24876258 The Aeronaut's Windlass (The Cinder Spires, #1) Jim Butcher https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1425415066s/24876258.jpg 24239884]. Both are books by my favorite authors that I expect to be a lot of fun. Both delivered. However, I felt that Aeronaut delivered better.This book has excellent characters, great world building, and easily one of my favorite magic systems. In fact the only magic system I like better is the one from Mr. Sanderson's Stormlight series. However, writing humor isn't one of Mr. Sanderson's strong points. I really wish he'd stop trying. It wasn't nearly as forced or as groan worthy as some of his other books, but it did leave me rolling my eyes more than it had me laughing.I have a hard time deciding exactly why I didn't like this as much as the past novels. I was always excited to pick it back up and listen, but I found my attention wandering at times. I think if I had to pick any one thing, it was all the religion stuff. Normally I find mythology fascinating. Mr. Sanderson rewards the long time and careful readers with references back to past events and characters from the original trilogy. While I find the evolution of fact into myth and religion itself quite interesting, the frequent talk of it wore on me a little.Overall though, this is a fun book with some great action that always shines when Mr. Sanderson uses the magic system he built in new and unique ways. I'm interested in seeing how its use continues to evolve as the technology does as well.This book seems to do a good job of setting up the trilogy without feeling like it just stops. I have many questions and theories about what might happen next and I can't wait to get the next book to see where things go next.

Story
Once upon a time I was a boy scout. In fact I'm an Eagle Scout. Sadly nowadays various reasons have kept me from camping anymore. Maybe excuses would be a better word. One of these days I'd like to get back to it though. I have found memories of summer camp. Especially the two summers I spent on staff.

In the meantime, I'll have to live vicariously through the Lumberjanes. Add in the fantastical nature of Miss Qiunzilla Thiskwin Penniquiqul Thistle Crumpet's camp for hard-core lady-types (say that three times fast) and you have a premise I can get behind!

I found it started a bit slow, but by the end I was definitely hooked. The Janes don't earn the kind of merit badges I did as a scout, but then I never went to a camp quite so fantastical either.

I've been becoming a bit of a selective comic trade reader of late, and I'm happy to add another series to the list of things to read.

3.5 Stars rounded up for ending stronger than it started.

Artwork
I didn't love the artwork at first, but it grew on me. I'm not sure if a different artist did the cover, or if it's simply a matter of time spent. I didn't think the characters were as well defined in actual panels.

But as I said it grew on me as it went on. The colors are great and I enjoyed the various magical creatures.

Story
I found this one a bit slow after the pretty solid pace of the last 3 volumes. I got a lot of the answers I was looking for after rushing to pick this one up, but this felt like more of a side story. I'm not sure but I think this may have been released that way.

This plus the end of the year really kind of stalled me out on my read of the series but I'm hoping to pick it back up again soon.

Artwork
I continue to enjoy the artwork of this series, it really adds to the story.

This short story should be enjoyable to anyone whose already Riyria fan, and a decent intro the main characters of the series without any concern towards spoilers for anyone who hasn't read any/all of the books yet.The author's note indicates it takes place after [b:The Rose and the Thorn 17163514 The Rose and the Thorn (The Riyria Chronicles, #2) Michael J. Sullivan https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1362121827s/17163514.jpg 23589581], and I believe the story itself comments it's been 6 years since Riyria has been formed, making it about about 4 years after that book in fact.It's very short and there are additional details I would have liked, but I think Mr. Sullivan does a good job of alluding to a more action packed adventure without going into detail.I think this story really shows off his growth as a writer from the early Riyria stories as he's able to do a lot more with so few words.Audio book: I sound like a broken record, but I believe Tim Reynolds reading of the Riyria books makes audio book the best way to experience them. Plus you can pick up it up for free on audible (at least at time of this review) so no reason not to check it out.

StoryI'm done with this series. It's not as interesting as the main series or the quite excellent [b:Attack on Titan: No Regrets, Vol. 1 19138879 Attack on Titan No Regrets, Vol. 1 Gun Snark https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1398033046s/19138879.jpg 27173228].The story is moving along far too slow, and it has none of the characters I love for the original series. I found myself just eager to be done with this volume.Time to move on.ArtworkThis book is more art than story. Lots of actions scenes I found hard to follow. This stills are fine, but like the main series, this seems to suffer when it comes to depicting all the action that takes place.

StoryGruesome and crass, and I loved every minute of it.I'm not really big into comics anymore. I think they are overly expensive and generally uninteresting. But things seem to be changing lately. Or at least there is some really great stuff out there. First [b:Locke & Key 3217221 Locke & Key, Vol. 1 Welcome to Lovecraft (Locke & Key, #1) Joe Hill https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1377304780s/3217221.jpg 3251160], then [b:Saga 15704307 Saga, Volume 1 Brian K. Vaughan https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1351259514s/15704307.jpg 19113524] and now Rat Queens. These aren't comic books for kids.I could spend time talking about how the story is lead by four women who break all the usual tropes of fantasy stories, but other people have done that already, and it's not precisely the reason why this volume got the rare 5 stars for me.The characters are just great in general. Every one of them. But especially Betty. She's my favorite. I crave new and different stories. Stories where the tropes are either thrown out or turned on their head. This seems to have that in spades.Unlike [b:The Mirror Empire 20646731 The Mirror Empire (Worldbreaker Saga, #1) Kameron Hurley https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1399920947s/20646731.jpg 39939919] where the women felt like gender roles simply reversed, the Queens feel like women, even if they are unlike any women than I'm used to seeing, especially in genre fiction.They are not the type of women I'd want to party with. I'm too much of a lightweight to keep up with them. But I sure do seem to love reading about them.As a long time D&D player this story just seemed to press all the right buttons for me. On the surface it's your pretty standard party. You've your halfling thief/assassin, a human (I think?) cleric, an elven mage, and a dwarven warrior. But their battle plans and tactics are just ludicrous, and totally awesome all at the same time.And if that wasn't enough, the humor is just excellent. Mr. Wiebe seems to poke fun not only at role playing tropes, but story tropes as well.“I find it very strange that we've never talked about this before.”“This moment seemed convenient.”This hasn't quite convinced me to start picking up the monthly issues, but it's awfully close. I definitely can't wait to get my hands on the next trade.Highly recommend.ArtworkMr. Upchurch's artwork is excellent. I've seen comments about realistic body images, and I can't really speak too much to that, but I have watched plenty of anime and read many comics with unrealistic body images, so I can say the characters seem more realistic to me. And of course they are wearing proper armor for their class and not the standard +10 bra of super defense.But more importantly (to me anyways) the artwork is really excellent in general. I'm especially impressed at the facial expressions. There are more than a few scenes that are extra awesome due to the art.