The seventh book in The Wheel of Time, the gang's up to some stuff, shockingly.
I'm probably going to stop reading this series. The only thing stoppingThe seventh book in The Wheel of Time, the gang's up to some stuff, shockingly.
I'm probably going to stop reading this series. The only thing stopping me from stopping is that I can get the audios for free from my library. Plus I also have people in my life who love this series... but I don't get it. Most of what I'll be saying in this review is retreading ground from the previous ones - it's almost as if these books get redundant! And to be fair to the slog books, I also haven't liked the last 3 books.
As always, the plot I liked most is about the White Tower and Egwene. Those politics are some of the only times I felt interested in the book. I thought that the grim-ness of the battles we saw were good. And Rand's relationship with the previous Dragon was interesting.
Let's talk about my complaints unique to this installment. First and most egregiously, one of the most sexist things I've ever read occurs in this one. It has to do with Nynaeve, and I was blinded with fury for her. (view spoiler)[So the only way for a woman to have power in this world is to "submit"?? And men have nothing of the sort? Absolute bull that this is the "one" power. It's the double standard, patriarchal power. (hide spoiler)] Matt's relationship in this book is supposed to be questioning his own sexist beliefs about courting, but the lack of consent was gross. Also, the fact that the Perrin/Faile jealousy argument continued on into this book is ridiculous and I wanted to commit an act of violence.
Now my complaints that are repeating from previous books: the gender essentialism, the men-are-from-Mars-women-are-from-Venus, the "all men are stupid" and "all women are unfathomable and jealous and have breasts I need to comment on" is too much. It's clear at this point that it is the opinion of the author and not a fantasy culture thing. It's also crazy to me that these characters, who have gone through seven books of adventures, still hold all these close-minded beliefs (and even characters who aren't from the Two Rivers have them). They haven't changed an ounce since they left, except they all have powers. Yippee. I also thought that in the last several books, not a lot of plot has gone on for the amount of pages we get through. I think doing a GRRM and splitting books between characters would've helped. Finally, when I'm not mad about stuff happening in this series, I'm bored because I'm no longer invested. I don't care about most of the characters because they're stock and feel like every other character. I don't care enough to follow all the plot nuances. I can't even remember what's happened once it's done. Cool other stuff can't save infuriating characters. To be very clear - I'm a huge fantasy fan. I love books that are a million pages long; I just can't stand these ones.
Overall, I hate that I put myself through another one of these books. Save yourself the time, read anything else....more
Thank you so much to Tor for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 stars Anahrod has been a fugitive for 15 years, scraping by in the Thank you so much to Tor for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 stars Anahrod has been a fugitive for 15 years, scraping by in the dangerous wilds between the towering mountains of her world run by dragons. When she falls in with a group of adventurers sent to find her, she gets enlisted in the ultimate heist: stealing from the dragon queen's horde.
This was a fun, not-super-serious fantasy standalone that was an easy one to get through. While it definitely departs from it, you can tell that the author was inspired by DND in the setup of the characters and plot. I think the strongest part of this was the unique world. We have fun settings, with a world that is defined by its giant mountains. The way that the story interacts with dragons was something I haven't seen much: magically-blessed dragonriders are chosen by dragons that are not their partners, but much more often their owners. Those dragons also all have unique hordes and abilities. There was also the cultural element of identity rings, where people wear rings with specific designs that describe their job, interests, gender identity, or sexuality, making this a queernorm fantasy. I liked the heist and how many things went wrong with it. I could've used even more expansion on the magic dragon riders use. But I think the element I struggled with the most was the characters, particularly the interpersonal relationships. I didn't feel like I knew Anarhod very well. Then, she goes on to have these really deep relationships (romantic or not) mostly with people she just met. It felt like these attachments had no build up; they were introduced and then bam - they're together forever. I was at first rooting for the romance as it is different from most, but it went from 0 to 100 (though this is closed door & not a fanro). This also doesn't make sense because Anarhod is supposed to have trust issues. Besides that, some of the plot felt redundant, like Anarhod getting knocked out about 6 times and getting kidnapped 4 of those times.
Overall, I think the strongest suit of this fun fantasy was its unique world building. The heist was also a good time, but I was left wanting from our supposed found family....more
In this cat-and-mouse game space opera, Jun is a hacker and a con artist, and the latest item she's procured seems to have connections to a genocide cIn this cat-and-mouse game space opera, Jun is a hacker and a con artist, and the latest item she's procured seems to have connections to a genocide committed decades before. Tracking her down are Essek, a brutal cleric and the head of an extremely powerful family, and her reluctant former mentee Chono - both haunted by the mysterious figure from their past known only as Six.
I read this for a vlog in which I read the best books of 2023 according to the booktubers that have the most similar taste in books as me. Watch it here!
I totally understand the comparison of this to the Teixcalaan duology - space opera setting, running for your life, anti-colonial themes. This was a space opera that while it discussed serious topics, also managed to stay very fun. This is set up in a cat-and-mouse like structure where we have Jun running from Chono and Essek, while Chono and Essek are both hunting and being hunted by Six. We also see in a past timeline through Essek's point of view, the original hunt Chono and her did for Six when Chono was her mentee. So, a ton of this book is running away from stuff so that's fun! I liked that our main characters are shown to have prejudiced opinions bolstered by propoganda, and those opinions get challenged. I generally really enjoyed Essek and Chono's perspectives as we dance around what happened in their past. Jun's perspective I expected to love but was underwhelmed by. This is probably because it pitches that there's a mystery about her artifact, but there really isn't -we learn everything in one fell swoop early on. I could've done with a bit more worldbuilding when it came to tech and politics. There were some plot devices that I felt were really obvious to the reader, but there was one plot twist I didn't see coming! (Should I have? Maybe). I think this series has a lot of potential based on this foundation we have here and would be interested to continue.
Overall, this was a fun cat and mouse game that also had more serious themes woven throughout. I wanted a bit more from the world, but I think the sequels can give us that....more
Humanity has always revered the Fhrey as gods - they're seemingly immortal, they can perform magic, they can't be hurt... until a human kills one. NowHumanity has always revered the Fhrey as gods - they're seemingly immortal, they can perform magic, they can't be hurt... until a human kills one. Now a war is coming between the races, and the humans are ill prepared.
I read this for a vlog in which I read the best books of 2023 according to the booktubers that have the most similar taste in books as me. Watch it here!
I feel like with such a premise, and such a glowing recommendation of the series, very little happened in this book. I was hyped up that the events of this series are legendary and epic, and maybe that happens in the next books, but not here. There seems to be big stuff going on in the background, but the scope of what we actually see seems very small. I kept going back in the audiobook thinking I missed something, but I didn't. I thought that having a Bronze-ish age setting was interesting and different from what you usually see in fantasy, which makes sense because this is a prequel to a normal-set series. I wasn't particularly invested in any of the characters, but Persephone - who's the wife of a late chieftain trying to keep her town from being killed by the Fhrey - was the most interesting to me. I felt like we got hints toward interesting fantasy things, like the magic system, going on but nothing got expanded on, and that was my main qualm. There are some setups of things that might happen in future books, and also I can get these audios for free, so I won't rule out continuing.
Overall, this felt like a first act rather than a full book. I kept waiting for something to happen, and they didn't - yet....more
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