i got a lot out of it and at the same time if anyone told me they hated it on sight i would completely understaIS this really a four star read? well.
i got a lot out of it and at the same time if anyone told me they hated it on sight i would completely understand. i looked up to see if it was a debut and saw it's the same person who wrote the scapegracers and that makes perfect sense. i don't think they're fully an adult fantasy author yet in terms of structure. but i haven't read anything like it and that's nice.
from beat to beat it gets VERY fuzzy and confusing in a way that is absolutely an author skill issue but you can generally follow it if you lock in and unfortunately i was locked in because the protag is a butch who says ma'am reflexively and is beset on all sides by hot femmes just spilling out of their dresses. like every few pages. there's damask everywhere. the descriptions are fun, the world is detailed, it's unflinchingly horny. when the characters failed to fully emerge i didn't mind as much as i should have because the pov was so close/the protagonist is so dazzled by women that it was almost charming how much she didn't even need to know them, if that makes sense lol. but i wanted to know them more. i will read more books from this author. i hope they get better.
the ending is WILD too, i don't know how well it lands but at least i'm thinking about it + i got a kick out of the last line because clarke was absolutely raised on Justified...more
Do it for Her (s.g demiciri). sassy reminded me to throw this to my kindle and reread 'the crowning of the lord tazamkhet, vulture god of the eye' nowDo it for Her (s.g demiciri). sassy reminded me to throw this to my kindle and reread 'the crowning of the lord tazamkhet, vulture god of the eye' now that part 2 is available. shit owns...more
priory got points for its ambition but i think a second ambitious book should improve on the first book's clumsiness and this doesn't. and it's boringpriory got points for its ambition but i think a second ambitious book should improve on the first book's clumsiness and this doesn't. and it's boring most of the time because we know what the world state is going to be and the character work isn't strong enough to give it tension in the meantime. the protagonists are moved around by the plot more than their own interiority or growth, and despite them constantly saying they're willing to face consequences, none ever actually come. not to keep saying more fantasy writers should read jacqueline carey. also we still don't know shit about yscalin and i don't understand why.
good points are the worldbuilding, the romances, and it does have more dragons than priory did....more
it IS better than winterkeep in a lot of ways, but something in cashore's writing has softened over time. or dulled? this has always been a YA series it IS better than winterkeep in a lot of ways, but something in cashore's writing has softened over time. or dulled? this has always been a YA series but there's something in this book and the previous one that feels juvenile in a way the first three weren't. it's a language issue certainly but it's also the characters and romances. the endless ship facts in part 1 felt almost middle grade and look the thing about middle grade books is that they're short. this book is very, very long, so there's that. but i did like the foxes.
it's got a lot of Bitterblue's DNA, which is the thing that keeps it readable. the way that hava's trauma manifests is sensitively done, it makes her frustrating in a believable way. she's a fun character, mean, and it's nice also that she finds giddon and bitterblue's relationship absolutely nauseating lol. but the book is so slow paced that it draws her emotional beats out to a repetitive degree.
the romance was...whatever. cashore doesn't care much anymore about writing interesting romances with two well defined characters. the men exist to, i guess, model healthy communication and support and sensitivity as a part of the heroine's healing. and that's boring. hava had a far more interesting dynamic with the woman who tried to kill her. i'm also sick of the background gay romances, i've been over this. but hey bitterblue legalized gay marriage so maybe eventually it'll be legal for main characters to be gay...more
celehar didn't make much of an impression on me in the first book so i wasn't sure i'd be a fan of this spinoff starring only him, but i AM still a facelehar didn't make much of an impression on me in the first book so i wasn't sure i'd be a fan of this spinoff starring only him, but i AM still a fan of the slice of life style of these books and you know, i had no idea he'd be just an interesting, kind, not as sad as i thought he'd be, fancy man. with his fussy little coats and buttons and braided hair. also the budding fancy gay romance does what tj klune tries to do send tweet...more
you know i do like these books, what can i say. there's some surprisingly mature characterization happening with geralt and yennefer, together and apayou know i do like these books, what can i say. there's some surprisingly mature characterization happening with geralt and yennefer, together and apart, that's gonna power me through the whole series eventually, and it's well translated and fun to listen to. this book though, is burdened by info dumps, confusing structural choices, and the author has an almost charmingly stupid, old school case of main character syndrome in that geralt has yet to meet ONE SORCERESS who doesn't want to fuck him). but it was still a good time because the politics are fun and geralt is fantasy's own wife guy which simply never gets old. and really it's more ciri's story than his, though there's a bit at the end that i needed some help reacting to....more
the momentum fell off at around 65% but unfortunately vasya did some of her coolest shit in that 35% and the bear was everything so i'm not even mad.the momentum fell off at around 65% but unfortunately vasya did some of her coolest shit in that 35% and the bear was everything so i'm not even mad....more
it is NOT katherine addison's fault that she is more interested in fantasy steampunk sad gay sherlock holmes than she is in writing more goblin emperoit is NOT katherine addison's fault that she is more interested in fantasy steampunk sad gay sherlock holmes than she is in writing more goblin emperor. so i'm not docking for that, but in this go round i found some of the side villains flat and cartoonish and the mystery not as tight as the first installment. i much prefer it when it's being a slow slice of life exploration of grief. in the next one please let the fancy man kiss the theatre man...more
3.5. at times i really felt its length, and it still suffers from extra pov chapters that the author thought would make things deeper but really aren'3.5. at times i really felt its length, and it still suffers from extra pov chapters that the author thought would make things deeper but really aren't necessary. even chandra's could've been cut. at the end of the day there's just not much to the guy i'm sorry. and there was a decision in the middle that really fucked with the pacing. like if priya would do what she did at the end to put ahiranya first it doesn't really make sense that she would not have rushed home immediately when she realized what was happening there. it felt like when we play breath of the wild and we know it's urgent to save zelda but we spend 50 hours cooking. at that point i really wanted to pivot from what was happening in the empire lol.
that said i'm gonna round this up because it is greatly improved from the first one in tone. it's wild what unhinged deities can add to a story, lol. plus it IS romantic as hell and i will be finishing the series. ...more
rounding this one up, at first i missed the tight intimate focus from the first two books, of chih listening to mostly one storyteller, the clever wayrounding this one up, at first i missed the tight intimate focus from the first two books, of chih listening to mostly one storyteller, the clever way that story reveals itself. but this one adds something almost equally cool to this series: action with a long awaited wuxia element, and character movement for chih themself. felt appropriately like a fulcrum between the first half of the series and the remaining two installments, can't wait to see what's next....more
4 stars for the breakneck pacing, action, and scale. 2 stars for the characterization, dialogue, and prose. if you set a story in a society that is br4 stars for the breakneck pacing, action, and scale. 2 stars for the characterization, dialogue, and prose. if you set a story in a society that is brutal to women and make that the driving force for the main character, even if it's YA you can trust the reader to understand what's going on and vibe with her rage through without that character explaining it constantly and in such broad strokes. killing girls is bad! it's better if girls have agency! men should not be threatened by powerful women! every other sentence (meanwhile, in true poppy war fashion, zetian actually hates most of the women she meets on sight).
i hate to be in a position where i'm annoyed by feminism but it's about the execution, xiran i just came here to have a good time with the poly mecha pilots. ...more
this is too long - god why is it so long. the first third should've been brutally shortened. HOWEVER, there are dragons all over this thing! the queenthis is too long - god why is it so long. the first third should've been brutally shortened. HOWEVER, there are dragons all over this thing! the queen has like. two and a half knights who will never leave her side and would die to touch the hem of her coat! i'm so easy to please! everyone is so dumb! when kay lets the heroine spend more than five minutes with another woman she'll be unstoppable...more
this felt really long and had so many things to keep track of re magic systems and the sheer number of characters who were actually other characters, this felt really long and had so many things to keep track of re magic systems and the sheer number of characters who were actually other characters, or not, that i sort of zoned out and just tried to keep track of the political shenanigans (which the author seems the most interested in, that's valid and fun!) but even then this kid's whole family tree changed three or four times throughout the book. and the writing is fine, solid, but structurally i think it could've been more streamlined or even linear so that the twists and turns had their space to be impactful.
that said i think if i had time to sit and read it for extended sessions (very extended because this thing is 560 pages) i could've kept up, but trying to read a bit in the evenings and also listen at work was not doing me any favors. at one point kihrin was like "i looked up and saw....(big wizard bad)" in a shadow realm and i had totally forgotten that man existed i was like who???
the footnote narrator was bitchy and fun but eventually some of the stuff he was saying was more like when a friend wants to show you a movie but they keep leaning over to give you hints in case you didn't get something that they think is particularly cool. and that friend was jenn lyons.
3.75/5. this was pretty fun, if you give me a good conwoman i'm happy. it throws a lot at you and doesn't hold your hand as far as worldbuilding/magic3.75/5. this was pretty fun, if you give me a good conwoman i'm happy. it throws a lot at you and doesn't hold your hand as far as worldbuilding/magic, but i like that about adult fantasy, and i had a good time. it's clear that this is going to be serial and some stuff you're just expected to roll with until the writers have more to say about it. but i DO think if you're gonna do secret reveals and revelations involving the core cast that you do not reveal until the last page, don't spend quite so much time in those specific characters' heads throughout the book. some of that came out a bit silly and not just because redacted wasn't who i wanted him to be lmao.
god the way the rose transformation was executed though! chef's kiss! chef's! kiss! such a cool thing to imagine. it gets a whole star to itself. ren is awesome.
anyway, i've seen that this is sort of like the locke lamora books? so i'm going to move that up the list....more
soothing and satisfying in almost every way. just a sweet lad in a new place, going about daily courtly activities, protecting and being protected, masoothing and satisfying in almost every way. just a sweet lad in a new place, going about daily courtly activities, protecting and being protected, making me proud. i very much enjoyed the audio as well, the book has cool and considered worldbuilding in its language and i noticed the narrator would stress maia's mother's name differently when someone at court said it vs when someone of her people said it, that made me feel even warmer towards this book.
4.5/5 -- when characters are undone by love and kindness that never really gets old, and maia slowly collecting people who loved him was so satisfying, however, the queen's thief fan in me felt he also needed a stone cold bitch to meet and fall in love with, for flavor. that's just how i feel...more
This one's a bit all over the place structurally, seth has introduced a LOT of new systems to expand things and while that might be expected for a midThis one's a bit all over the place structurally, seth has introduced a LOT of new systems to expand things and while that might be expected for a middle book, he doesn't layer them as deftly as he might've wanted and there are pov and perspective switches that, while he does deploy them symmetrically during each act to provide some structure, was a HUGE swing.
but GOD the character work is sublime. i simply cannot hate. baru is an absolute mess and i'm just so compelled by her grief and her slippery grip on her own selfhood while she is deep in her own sunk cost fallacy. we meet so many interesting characters with fun voices who i didn't even want to like but were just too fun (apparitor u piece of shit), and there are so MANY hot, awful women. ...more
**spoiler alert** i mostly loved this--it doesn't quite deliver on the promise of KoS in a couple of ways but leigh really came to have a good time an**spoiler alert** i mostly loved this--it doesn't quite deliver on the promise of KoS in a couple of ways but leigh really came to have a good time and so did i.
4/5 because this has the same issues king of scars has re: povs we really didn't need that slow things down--i think in this one it is borne of leigh feeling like she needed to tie off every plot thread and it ended up with some underdeveloped characters on the shu han/khergud side of things. i think generally it's fine if a story ends and there are still problems in the world! instead the book tried to do way too much and it was disservice to some cool sets of characters. if anything it needed to be trilogy at least, so some of these plot lines could have more room to breathe.
the darkling chapters were unnecessary and not fun to read. i could not care less that he has thoughts. i still do not. i am howling forever at his ending.
more should've been made of juris and zoya's shared consciousness, it was the coolest thing but barely ever happened. and the whole thing could've been hornier, neither zoya nor nikolai is the pining kind but that's a nitpick. also shame about so-and-so, but genya/zoya/nikolai is locked in baby.
hanne and nina could've had a whole book and that would've been fine with me, as it was there was something not fully baked about it but i'm still pleased, as part of me was afraid that leigh wouldn't actually do it. plus i wanted nina to raise a LOT more hell--she barely used her powers at all!-- and for there to be a way for her to murder the jarl as he looked into her true face.
also i really try not to interrogate the worldbuilding of these books too closely but it IS unsatisfying that there's still a monarch situation at all even if it is the best possible bitch queen wife of a monarch situation. if i loved zoya and the dragon less i could talk about them more....more
**spoiler alert** i'm so frustrated when something i SHOULD love doesn't hit right. i respect that larkwood realized halfway through the duology that **spoiler alert** i'm so frustrated when something i SHOULD love doesn't hit right. i respect that larkwood realized halfway through the duology that she's only interested in writing bad adults so she pivoted to basically turn everyone in the last book into bad adults. that's pretty baller. but the awkwardness of moving the characters to that point was, well, awkward, and boring, and i struggled to get into this book. and WHY do you make your whole series about bad adults and then saddle them with a kid.
things DID get pretty interesting though, and shuthmili became this super readable character who i wanted to lose my mind over, but larkwood never fully commits, as if she was afraid for shuthmili to become unlikeable or something.
"Clearly you and I were written in the stars.
The stars are insensible fires, said Zinandour. I chose you."
the POTENTIAL that this has. what's better than a bitchy god who lives inside you. what's better than when the bitchy god intended to sublimate you when she took over but can't help making out with your girlfriend. these were the only times i really FELT it for csorwe and shuthmili's romance and larkwood should've leaned into it, hard. the rest of the time, when they would flirt with each other or remember each other or think about each other hornily, it felt awkward and rushed past. as for Csorwe herself, it's hard not to compare this with the rush of blood to the head whenever Gideon surfaces in Harrow. it's an own goal to even attempt to do something similar. god bless.
i really like larkwood's approach to fantasy and godhood but i'll never understand her restraint when it comes to some characters vs others. i should be feral rn but i'm not....more
i feel unhinged and satisfied at the same time. i'd say i've never read anything like it but it's a bit like harrow, isn't it, you have no answers so i feel unhinged and satisfied at the same time. i'd say i've never read anything like it but it's a bit like harrow, isn't it, you have no answers so you simply have to trust that the author knows what they're about, and she does.
oh and chiwetel ejiofor narrates the audiobook which is about as perfect as you think....more