Jeff
As some one who started playing role playing games in my 20's with Pathfinder who has since moved to fifth edition. This book was a wonderful journey taking me through all the history and lore my favorite hobby has to offer. The stunning visuals and writing almost makes it feel as though I am reading a story not a history book.
Overall I really enjoyed this book, it was just a fun Fantasy Read. I didn't get the same Harry Potter vibes that a lot of people have commented. There were a couple points where the pacing or character advancements seemed forced or abrupt, starting to go by the Winter Wizard for example seemed to come out of nowhere.
Primarily I loved the relationships between characters, especially in the jumps forward as they are writing the book, and I could relate to the main character somewhat as I always felt like I missed that one important piece of info like he did in the beginning.
I am looking forward to the next installment. This book did seem to end somewhat abruptly, to the point that I could have used a little more explaining, so I am definitely looking forward to what happens next with the characters.
I liked the book because it was a Wheel if Time book, but I had issues with it. The first half seemed to drag without really expanding what he had already written if the tower. The second half flew by, to the point it felt rushed, and left a lot of things unexplained that would have cleared up some of the story. All the Malkieri customs, especially toward women, were my main thing. These are not touched on in the main books so they are never really expounded upon. We also never get the towers reaction to Moraines flight messing up her plans.
Overall I would probably give 2.5 stars primarily due to liking the world, but on the whole the book really doesn't add much to the series you don't already know.
It ended really well but I had a hard time getting in to this book. I was very confused at first, which I understand is somewhat the point, but it detracted from the story. I also personally had a hard time getting used to the gender neutral characters, not that I have an issue with it, it just made it hard for me to keep track of the characters. That being said by the end of the book I barely noticed anymore and I look forward to seeing how the series progresses.
Better than I expected I was very eager to continue reading as I was quickly sucked into the world he created. I have read some of the Fables comics in the past but not very much of them, they definitely are not necessary to enjoy the book. The ending was quite the enjoyable surprise if a little abrupt.
I was impressed with this book. What started out as a slow story that I thought would be the traditional “child deals with abandonment issues” type of book turned into quite the compelling story. There were points where the amount of climbing references, while necessary to the book, caused me to loose interest due to not being a climber myself. A slow starter but once you get into part two well worth the read.
This book was just what I needed. I had been reading epic fantasy for a very long time as I had finished my reread of Wheel of Time, and Brandon Sanderson's “Way of Kings”, and needed a break from the world of epic fantasy. This book did a great job of keeping you guessing and trying to solve the mystery while having a nice light fanciful background. What I really liked was how I didn't have to work as hard to keep track of everything going on as I had in other books that I have read recently, and the just nice sense of humor and joking that I found within.
