The characters felt really shallow in this one. I found Nyx annoying and the fake out death is still one of my mos2.5 Stars Yeah, didn't like this one.
The characters felt really shallow in this one. I found Nyx annoying and the fake out death is still one of my most hated narrative slights. Nothing kills tension better than a Back from the Dead trope.
I also found the plot to just meander a lot. The first hundred page are actually quite good, getting readers caught up with the characters from the first book fairly well and setting up the main conflict in an exciting way but then...nothing. The plot then just sorta meanders around for the rest of the book until it tries to add some artificial drama with the "death" mentioned above. But that doesn't last long and then the book decides it's time for the climax, which then limply happens and the book mercifully comes to an end. It ends up feeling like a mediocre video game plot. One of the thing Hurley notes in her acknowledgment is how she had to re-write the second half of the book because it didn't work at all in the original draft. We'll, it sure didn't work in the final one either.
Overall, despite Hurley's consistently excellent prose, this one just did not have that propulsive and exciting energy of the first. The world isn't utilize nearly as great as in the original, the characters don't feel like they've grown or been expanded on at all, and an interesting premise is ruined by an author's refusal to actual dig into some of the interesting dilemma's that arise from it (How would having Bel Dame rule actually be worse than a queen? Is the war really worth the desecration of the soul of the people fighting it? Why are they fighting in the first place?) and instead just settles for cheap thrills and dumb spectacle. ...more
4.0 Stars A solid sequel. Builds up a ton of world-building, character's continue to get more interesting, and the plot expands pretty substantially.
I 4.0 Stars A solid sequel. Builds up a ton of world-building, character's continue to get more interesting, and the plot expands pretty substantially.
I think the biggest problem with this entry is the lack of direction for many of the main characters. After the first book, many characters are scattered to the four winds, and thus are trying to acclimate to their new circumstances. This can lead to a feeling of stagnation in the plot, even if Tad Williams is providing the reader with a ton of backstory that will become relevant later in the series. That's why I think my initial elation with this book waned a bit in the second half, when Williams seem to be done playing world-building expansion and just settling back into his usual plodding storytelling.
It's not a bad book and arguable it's actually one of Williams best sequels in that it adds more than it takes away, unlike some of his other series' sequel. But the lack of focus in the plot does hamper this one a bit....more
3.5 Stars I love the premise of the book. I even love much of the execution of the premise. It feels way ahead of it's time, covering plot and thematic3.5 Stars I love the premise of the book. I even love much of the execution of the premise. It feels way ahead of it's time, covering plot and thematic territory that later works like Mistborn, The Broken Earth Trilogy, and even a little of the Wheel of Time would proclaim to do first.
The problem is really Donaldson writing style itself: It's incredibly inconsistent. You'll have sections that will be written in an accessible but flowery way that adds a sort of gothic fairy tale mystique to the story. But then there are large stretches of the novel (Primarily in Part 3) where Donaldson apparently gave himself the goal of using at least 10 weird words from a thesauruses on each page. It completely ruins the flow of the book because you're having to stop constantly and go "Wait, what did that mean?" before moving on.
Another problem is the use of the same words and phrases over and over again (coruscating, clenched, "Hell and Blood!") and it just feels like Donaldson doesn't give his books enough time to cook in the edit, combing through his manuscripts to remove repetitive words and phrases would make the book flow a little better since I wouldn't be shuddering every time Covenant utters "Hellfire" for the 631 time.
But like I mentioned above, the actual underlying story is genuinely thrilling and unique. The entirety of Part 2 is almost universally great and provides for some of the best moments in the book. Donaldson takes his first foray into straight up gothic horror and some of the imagery in here is incredibly unforgettable. There is still those wonderful Donaldson set pieces that really stick in your mind days after reading them.
So if your someone who didn't like the first trilogy (or even the first book) there isn't really anything here that's going to change your mind about Donaldson or this series. But if you enjoyed the originals like I do, I think it's absolutely worth continuing despite my problems with Donaldson's writing. Just make sure you have your dictionary on standby. ...more
Good writing and cool idea's doesn't hide the fact that this is a quite shallow urban fantasy that is just...there. It doesn't do an2.5 Stars
Very meh.
Good writing and cool idea's doesn't hide the fact that this is a quite shallow urban fantasy that is just...there. It doesn't do anything unnatural bad but there's just nothing here I haven't seen done better elsewhere. There were moments where I hoped the book might start to dive into some of the themes it was touching on in a little bit more depth but alas, it never does.
It's a solid first novel and shows a lot of promise for Polk but the book is just nowhere near the quality of the praise it has received and it winning the World Fantasy Award over other much more deserving works like The Poppy War is almost an outrage in and of itself....more
3.5 Stars A great post-climate soft apocalypse story that is actually a hidden treatise on PTSD that is marred by a bizarre decision to not include quo3.5 Stars A great post-climate soft apocalypse story that is actually a hidden treatise on PTSD that is marred by a bizarre decision to not include quotation marks for the dialogue. It's really, really distracting and I found it just so much harder to read than it needed to be. ...more
3.5 Stars Like the first, this one had slick, smooth writing with a plethora of great futurism world-building with some interesting characters that end3.5 Stars Like the first, this one had slick, smooth writing with a plethora of great futurism world-building with some interesting characters that ended up way too convoluted for it's own good.
Reduce the character count, trim the book by about 200 pages, and make the story more focused and I think you could have had something really special here.
As it is, it reads like an incredibly talented writer did a whole bunch of research and wanted to show everybody her hard work. Sometimes you need to know what to keep in and what to remove.
Recommended for the veteran SF reader in your life....more
4.25 Stars A great end to an underrated but classic fantasy trilogy.
Though I will say that having the climatic confrontation of your fantasy epic end w4.25 Stars A great end to an underrated but classic fantasy trilogy.
Though I will say that having the climatic confrontation of your fantasy epic end with the ultimate evil big bad being destroyed by de-aging him through the power of laughter by a bunch of ghosts is a bold choice. ...more
The writing is great and the world is deep and well-thought but it never quite came together for me.
I kinda love when mystery have tA strong 4.0 Stars
The writing is great and the world is deep and well-thought but it never quite came together for me.
I kinda love when mystery have the big reveal and tie up all the seemingly unrelated subplots and characters into a nice clean narrative bow. I was eagerly anticipated that moment in Spin State from about the half way point but it unfortunately never really comes together at the end and I think with a story as somewhat complicated and complex as this one having that big moment where everything is laid bare for the reader would have been really cathartic and satisfying. Instead, the novel sort of has a climax where I didn't really know what the stakes where or really what the consequences were going to be and because of that the ending felt a little flat.
But for a 600 page book, it flew by, mainly because Moriarty's deep but quick conversational style prose always kept me engaged and interested. For a debut novel, it's very impressive and I am looking forward to digging into the PKD awarded sequel....more
4.5 Stars A fantastic collection of slightly-Sci-Fi-but-really-literary stories by an extremely talented author who seems to have flown pretty much und4.5 Stars A fantastic collection of slightly-Sci-Fi-but-really-literary stories by an extremely talented author who seems to have flown pretty much under the radar in SFF circles.
The early stories in this collection (particular standouts are "The Naturalist", "Useless Things", and "The Lost Boy" with "The Kingdom of the Blind" begin one of the best short stories I've read in a very long time) were incredible, incorporating a variety of themes and jumping genres between horror, Sociological SF, and straight-up literary.
I thought the back half of the collection suffer from the "Oh...that's it. Okay..." feeling. They were well written but seem to be half of an idea, focusing more on characters and theme than providing a satisfying conclusion. There's nothing wrong with that per se, but when one of the stories ends with a women leaving her child after the apocalypse (har har) and it being framed as something of a positive new beginning for the character, I quite don't know how to feel about that.
But the average story in here is so good that I feel it makes up for some of the weaker but still engaging stories at the end.
Recommend for SF fans wanting a little bit more literary in their cup of tea....more
4.5 Stars Does everything a sequel should: Expands the world, continues character arcs, and adds depth to the world, the characters, and the plot. It e4.5 Stars Does everything a sequel should: Expands the world, continues character arcs, and adds depth to the world, the characters, and the plot. It even includes an incredible "chase" sequence that is only matched by the equally incredible Chain of Dogs sequence in Deadhouse Gates. Part Two of The Illearth War might be one of the best and most thrilling stretches of epic fantasy I've read in a long, long time. Despite the fact that I did find Thomas Covenant a little more annoying this go around (Which is lessened by the large POV switch that happens a third of the way through the book) and some of the writing being a little too purply or dated, I thought this book improves on every aspect of the original and is right up there with Empire Strikes Back as one of the best sequels ever written....more
4.0 Stars A little slow in the middle but I found the slow burn reveal of what happened to a missing teen really engaging. Probably not Tremblay's stro4.0 Stars A little slow in the middle but I found the slow burn reveal of what happened to a missing teen really engaging. Probably not Tremblay's strongest book (That still goes to "The Cabin at the End of the World"), I thought this was an engaging read....more
Just felt way too samey to the first. Same configuration of characters in their respective plot lines (Leia and Ch2.5 Stars Yeah, didn't like this one.
Just felt way too samey to the first. Same configuration of characters in their respective plot lines (Leia and Chewie, Han and Lando, Luke and R2 *Yawn*), weaker writing, and no attempts to move the characters or the plot in any interesting directions.
The deterioration of the writing quality in particular stood out to me, with it feeling like Timothy Zahn throwing this one together because he was contractually obligated to, rather than it feeling like he was really passionate about the story. Just too much of original trilogy characters reminiscing about iconic moments from the original movies or straight up line copies from the movies. It just feels lazy and pandering in the worst way.
I don't know, if this is the best the Star Wars Legends books has to offer, color me unimpressed. It completely misunderstands what makes the original Star Wars trilogy so great (gradual and subtle character development, unique original world-building, and great thematic elements underpinning the tension and action) and focuses on the surface level elements of those movies people liked (mainly the action and cool set-pieces) rather than understanding the elements that elevated those movies.
I got my hopes up that Zahn would capitalize on the solid ending of the first to realize this story into something special but it just feels like he just doubled down on all the things I found weak in the first part. Really disappointed....more
3.0 Stars A solid but forgettable Big Dumb Object adventure that really feels it's age.3.0 Stars A solid but forgettable Big Dumb Object adventure that really feels it's age....more
3.0 Stars While this is solidly written and has a great premise, the book is crippled by a number of large problems:
1. The structure of the story compl3.0 Stars While this is solidly written and has a great premise, the book is crippled by a number of large problems:
1. The structure of the story completely destroys any tension that could have existed when we know who's going to survive from the opening pages.
2. The inconsistent nature of the "Mental Illness" people exhibit when they see the monsters. Some just commit suicide, some become violent and then commit suicide, and some have no effect at all. You can argue that that inconsistency adds to the horror but it's never brought up in the story nor mentioned by the characters which makes a minor annoyance at the start become something of a distraction by the end.
3. A repetitive sequence of building tension and releasing it that leads to nothing of consequence. They just seem to exists purely to look like something is happening.
4. While there is a good chunk of people in this book, none of the characters get a really well defined personality. When you're trying to emulate great works of horror like The Mist, strong characters and character conflict is essential. This book has very little of it.
It may sound like I hated it but I really didn't. I was just frustrated and disappointed. It's a quick read and there are some genuinely unsettling sequences (especially near the end) but I felt like there were so many problems that it hurt what could have been a standout horror classic....more
5.0 Stars Fantastic! Well written, tightly plotted, phenomenally paced, and with a surprising amount of emotional depth makes this not only one of the 5.0 Stars Fantastic! Well written, tightly plotted, phenomenally paced, and with a surprising amount of emotional depth makes this not only one of the best novella's I've read in quite a while but probably one of the best things Alastair Reynolds has ever written.
Really hope to see this getting a lot of awards recognition. ...more
3.5 Stars I could probably talk about this book in length but I don't quite have the patience to do one because I'm lazy.
So the bottom line is: *Weird 3.5 Stars I could probably talk about this book in length but I don't quite have the patience to do one because I'm lazy.
So the bottom line is: *Weird structural choice that doesn't add anything to the novel and instead ruins the flow of the story. *WAY too convoluted. Could have used some trimming. Instead of 60 doppelganger twists, maybe only needed like 20 of them. *Not enough time spent fleshing out characters or creating emotional connections between the characters and the reader. Would help creating a more visceral reaction from the reader when some major character trimming goes on in the last fifth of the book. *Fantastic prose *Really great world-building. Not as strong as some of the best, but it feels well realized and well used in the main plot. *If you can wade through all the overlaying convolution in the book, the plot line is actually pretty cool and is a nice mash-up of a lot of great fantasy novels and tropes. *The ending is pretty strong and does genuinely intrigue me into what's going to happen next.
I was really torn about this one but I'm genuinely glad I read it. It does add something to the genre even if it's seriously marred by really odd decisions, especially for a debut novel....more
3.5 Stars A Star Wars book for people who don't like Star Wars!
I think what I most admire about this book is how not enamored Zahn is with Star Wars. I3.5 Stars A Star Wars book for people who don't like Star Wars!
I think what I most admire about this book is how not enamored Zahn is with Star Wars. I think many writer's who do write for Star Wars write because they grew up with it and so write what essentially mounts to fan fiction. Zahn really comes off as someone who just wants to write a good story. He obviously likes Star Wars, I don't think he would have written as many books in the universe if he didn't, but he doesn't throw in all the standard Star Wars references and tropes. It's incredibly refreshing.
As to how the actual book is: It's solidly fine.
It starts off really well, gets a little slow in the middle but picks up in the last quarter or so to end pretty strongly with a nice hook for the next book.
I think my problem with the book has already been echo'd by others on this site: Thrawn springs up too fully formed in the book. In a book called Star Wars: Thrawn, you expect the book to really be about seeing a young Thrawn grow up and watch his growth into the tactical and military genius we come to know and love. Instead, he just sorta appears and starts being awesome immediately, which takes away a lot of the character growth I (and probably many others) picked up the book to see.
Instead though, the two main characters who perform alongside Thrawn are really where the meat of the character arc and growth comes from. The two characters, Eli Vanto and Arihnda Pryce, are strong characters who change drastically throughout the novel and thus I tended to find their stories far more interesting than Thrawn's. But Zahn's solid, clean, and precise prose coupled with his return of writing Thrawn seems to always deliver something solid and fun and makes up for the lack of Thrawn origin story I was hoping for.
I'd highly recommend for those who maybe want to dip into the Star Wars book cannon's without worrying about if the book sinks to the low of most normal tie-in novels. ...more
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