LiquidGambit
There is a lot of hype going into this book as I had not heard a SINGLE bad thing about this book, and I'm happy to say it lived up to it and more. I intentionally didn't look much into what the book was about and I have been on a Sanderson kick for years, so this was the first non Sanderson I've read in a long time so it was a bit jarring, but it shows how well written it is when I fell in comfortably into the book anyways.
The world building is pretty well done, not the best I've ever seen, but the main focus was on the characters and the story they go through. The magic system isn't defined thoroughly like a Sanderson book but it is well done. If you like Avatar you'll like this.
The story is really following a family, and what cultural expectations does on an individual level. For me personally this hit very close to home and I felt like if I was in this world I could see myself going through the same issues. The emotional notes ended up hitting so hard I could feel my heart racing and it wasn't even in the action sequences.
Which brings me to the action scenes. They were written incredibly well, in my opinion some of the best action writing I've ever seen. She didn't shy away from writing details, but didn't go overboard with describing everything to death. The emotional notes hit here too and I was enthralled all the way through. The character work is done very well to where the (main) antagonist was setup as someone you were supposed to hate, and even when I knew they had some history that made them that way I still couldn't help but hate them. But as their history was explored you also grew to sympathize with them. Brilliant story telling.
This book is a MUST read for any fantasy fan and if this is indicative of ML Wang's future works she is now a must read author for me
I don't think Sanderson does comedy well. I should've read this after Words of Radiance and think that might have hurt some of the enjoyment regardless I just don't like Lyft. The comedy seems more geared towards teenagers which is fine, but I'm not a teenager so it doesn't quite cut it for me. I love the Edgedancer abilities and that part was fun.
There wasn't a TON of Cosmere related info in this at least not from immediate reading, maybe if I go back and read it I'll notice some easter eggs I'm sure. I also don't think this novella is particularly necessary to read not nearly in the way Dawnshard is. If you enjoy the comedy style of Lyft in Words of Radiance or Wayne from Mistborn Era 2 I think you'd enjoy it. Having said that it is a short novella and flows relatively well chapter to chapter so it wouldn't cost a ton of time to read it quickly before jumping into Oathbringer
A solid novella that expands the world and the cosmere. I feel like these types of books are important as they take away the need to build the cosmere from the main books in the series (which I have heard have started to be weighed down to further the cosmere). The nautical theme is something that I didn't realize is something I would naturally like but am loving. The mystery and questions this raises only piques the interest in reading the series further.
The only complaint I have and I've noticed Sanderson has done this in the past is that he will tease a reveal and right when you piece it together, he'll just tell you the next chapter. Now obviously he doesn't do this with every mystery but when he does it tends to be unsatisfying.
Not much to say without spoiling, great novella (miles better then Edgedancer) and a must read if anyone loves the world building of the Cosmere
In short, I enjoyed the series, but it had some issues imo. Before I get into the thick of it, I”ll just go ahead and preface this with saying, these are just my opinions, I'm by no means a professional critic, hell I don't even know if I'd be considered an amateur critic. On with the review.
I loved Dylans mental side of things, and being told mostly from his perspective it was messy, and unpredictable with sometimes he'd start telling the story at the middle then he'd jump back to the beginning as he realized he needed to tell it in more context. I loved that.
I felt it was a bit obvious early on he wasn't actually seeing the demon, and it was just a product of his depression and mental instability. But I love how the story weaved the demon in every time Dylan started to stray from murder, and when he fully embraced it the Demon wasn't there at all.
Dylan's fathers backstory was heartbreaking and gave me shivers. But to be honest these days being a father myself seeing that stuff I get effected by children stuff like that.
Now on to the stuff I absolutely HATED. The political commentary was a bit too much for me. The only saving grace for it though was that it fit the setting very well, but my god especially Vol 2 it got a little too on the nose for me. If you like social commentary you MIGHT like this, only reason I say might was because it gets really shoved in your face and imo doesn't have subtlety at all. And as much as I enjoyed the series, I'll be honest if this is how all of this authors works are I'll probably be avoiding them in the future. I read books and comics to enjoy there world, not be reminded of the real world. Also not on the story side but I found the art to be extremely weak, especially after coming from having read Saga Vol 1, the art was barely passable.
Spoiler for the ending I'd be lying if I said the ending wasn't somewhat predictable, I knew he'd die and the detective would catch him. The only thing I didn't predict was Kira picking up the mental issues as she would deal with the fallout from someone she loved going through that. I go back and forth in my mind whether or not I liked the actual execution, as of now I like it, that might change in a day lol
That's just my thoughts, like I said feel free to disagree, let me know what you guys think.
You can find the exact same review on /r/imagecomics subreddit. Please listen to our podcast KeepersOfTheBook where we go over fantasy/scifi books few chapters at a time