Holy plot, Batman. Has complexity rivaling the Stormlight Archive. Features time travel, a 3000+ year history, so many cryptic conversations and fantaHoly plot, Batman. Has complexity rivaling the Stormlight Archive. Features time travel, a 3000+ year history, so many cryptic conversations and fantasy terms that will be explained "later," and so much foreshadowing. Characters and romances are pretty weak but I'll continue because I want to know what happens with the plot....more
Vitriolic grimdark without much plot to speak of. The entirety of this first book can be summed up as "the boys get together." I've heard a lot about Vitriolic grimdark without much plot to speak of. The entirety of this first book can be summed up as "the boys get together." I've heard a lot about the inquisitor character, Glokta. And while he's definitely unique, I wouldn't say I like him, or any of the other characters for that matter. Ferro, one of only two female characters, is so caustic all the time, snarling every time she speaks, it just becomes annoying reading her interactions. The other girl is basically an object for one of the main characters to lust over. I read the second book to give the series more of a chance because of how highly praised it is on reddit's fantasy sub, but I regret spending time on it now and have no desire to finish the last book....more
I wish I knew how to paint so I could create some of the scenes and imagery from this book.
It's a YA fantasy romp with a lot of familiar elements thrI wish I knew how to paint so I could create some of the scenes and imagery from this book.
It's a YA fantasy romp with a lot of familiar elements thrown together, a romance that moves perhaps a little too fast and a few developments that seem a little too convenient or predictable, but it's all presented in such a fast-paced and entertaining way that you don't really care. I had a great time reading it and enjoying the incredibly vivid and imaginative pictures it splashed across my mind: Ancient, rabid leather books flying in swarms like birds. A scrying mirror with ice dripping off it and forming a pedestal underneath. A book with different people's faces stitched into each page. Those are just a few examples that come to mind. The descriptions of light, extravagant architecture and natural beauty are especially productive in creating a magical atmosphere.
Wish it'd leaned harder on the horror elements though because as it is the demons of this story are more something out of a Disney movie. But meh, that's probably just the horror fanatic in me speaking....more
This was OK. There were some things I liked and some things I was unimpressed by. I like the creative magic system involving the constituent colours oThis was OK. There were some things I liked and some things I was unimpressed by. I like the creative magic system involving the constituent colours of light, which has echoes of the one in Warbreaker, (just don't think too hard about how all the battles are basically people throwing brightly coloured goo at each other) and how the main character is in a complex grey area, capable of being ruthless and cruel but also possessing a heart of gold. I suppose you could call him an antihero. The power trip you get reading from his perspective, as one of the most powerful men in the world, was a small guilty pleasure for me.
On the other hand, the deuteragonist, Kip, was annoying not because he was fat or weak or inexperienced, but because of the morose self-pitying attitude and constant bellyaching he had about all those things. I know it's a springboard from which his character development will be launched, but it doesn't make it any less grating in this book.
I also didn't like the sexual lens through which the author describes and treats all the women. It doesn't quite reach the level of Patrick Rothfuss, but then that's a high bar to be compared to in the first place.
There were definitely some interesting elements and scenes that were worth reading though. The colour dungeon for example, and the colour wights (which is basically what happens to someone who uses too much of the magic in this book). I'm not making a solid recommendation either way here, but I hope this will help you decide whether or not to read it....more
An OK fantasy. Plot kicks into gear much too slowly - hardly anything happened in the first half (200 pgs) and I might have dropped it then if I didn'An OK fantasy. Plot kicks into gear much too slowly - hardly anything happened in the first half (200 pgs) and I might have dropped it then if I didn't hate dropping things so much. Has shades of Harry Potter and definitely feels like a fanfic until you start nearing the end and it reveals itself to be fundamentally different. I thought the romance was underdeveloped. Why do Simon and Baz like each other so much? What does each one see in the other, especially since they hated one another for so long? I needed to see that basis for their relationship to be believable. Yes, there's sexual attraction - but that's not love. It's not enough.
Also, there are multiple viewpoint characters in this but all of their voices sound the same - male, female, young or old. Needed some differentiation there.
I see this book is quite popular and highly rated but I don't understand why. I personally would not recommend it....more
Children of Blood and Bone places a unique backdrop behind a painfully typical YA fantasy novel.
Tell me if any of this sounds familiar: an action herChildren of Blood and Bone places a unique backdrop behind a painfully typical YA fantasy novel.
Tell me if any of this sounds familiar: an action heroine with a traumatic past. A witch hunt against a race of people with magic, elemental powers, an arena tournament, and a Romeo and Juliet style enemies-to-lovers romance. We've seen it all before, played out over and over again in a thousand different iterations. I don't hate these tropes; I wouldn't read fantasy anymore if I did. What I don't like is how it seems every YA cliché under the sun is represented here and none are used in any interesting or thoughtful way, or fleshed out or developed with any nuance or intelligence.
The biggest reason behind that, to me, is the pacing. The book is over 500 pages long and still manages to feel rushed somehow. I've read novels half that length that manage to fit as much plot while still feeling relaxed. At the beginning, I enjoyed the fast pace because it drew me in right away, but as it went on at that blistering speed with no reprieve, it started to become wearying. It didn't allow for things to breathe and develop properly, and you can see the story suffer for it in the way characters make hasty decisions and change sides at the drop of hat, in the way the character development the author tries to elicit doesn't feel believable because it's happening too quickly and without enough transition time, and in the way ridiculously cringy and forced romances form overnight and then are discarded the next day.
The romance, my god. It has to be some of the worst I've ever read. I was cringing the entire time. One of the relationships would have had to develop over at least two books for me to find it convincing, but instead started and ended within a few chapters. I love the enemies-to-lovers trope, I really do. One of my favourite literary couples of all time are the embodiment of it. What I hate is the half-assed way the one in this book plays out.
The writing style also feels rushed and choppy. Lots of short sentences and repetition.
Especially about pain. And suffering! And fear. Fear I recognise. Pain I recognise. Pain from my youth. Again. And again. I've changed my mind. I see I was wrong. I'm good now. No, I can't do it! It can't work. I'm evil again. Is it annoying yet?
The only thing that stands out about this book is the setting, a West Africa-esque nation where every character is black, including all the gods. To its credit, I've never seen that before in fantasy. Even within their race, there are still some tensions depicted between those of darker and lighter shades of black, much in the same way that upper class Chinese in real life history discriminated against working class labourers because of their darker skin, developed from working outside in the fields. This was probably the most real and interesting aspect of the book for me.
However, if you swap the setting out for good ol' Medieval Europe ™, you've basically got Every YA Fantasy Novel Ever. Maybe fun, but only in a shallow way. Hard meh....more
An invasion of giant alien worms who trap people in crystallized secretions like insects in amber.
An ancient tree that grows strange beasts as fruit An invasion of giant alien worms who trap people in crystallized secretions like insects in amber.
An ancient tree that grows strange beasts as fruit to fight alongside bloodsucking warrior giants.
An island prison full of fire witches who make drugs.
Jelly monsters filled with fairy lights that tear people's skin from their bodies.
If that all sounds incredibly weird and like it couldn't possibly all fit together in one book, it is but it does. Somehow.
Most of The Ninth Rain is an adventure. We follow an eclectic group of main characters as their disparate paths converge, and they journey together to unravel the mystery of the worm aliens and the tree (which is currently dead as a doornail, or is it?) before a war prophesied through their dreams comes to pass.
There's fantasy, some action, daring escapes - and, well, there isn't really romance, just a bit of a dalliance that the book doesn't pretend is love, which I found refreshingly self-aware for once. Another fantasy novel might try to convince you that the two characters have actually fallen in love after only having known each other for a few weeks. Nice to have one be honest for a change. It's just physical attraction, but that's okay! It's a thing that happens between adults sometimes.
An intriguing as I might make it all sound, it actually took me a while to get into this. I was thinking of dropping it about a third of the way in but stuck through and ended up enjoying it quite a bit. The ending brings everything together nicely.
Do you like fantasy and strangeness? Give it a shot. It might be an acquired taste, but it could also be one of yours....more
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