Meagon
This one rivals Crossroads as my favorite of the series. I know I say they keep getting better, but I can't help it, it's totally true. I'm shocked how quickly I read through this. It's a bitter sweet feeling to know that now I will be starting the final book in my beloved series. I'm not sure how I am going to cope. The husband and close friends have been warned of the eventual fallout I'll go through.
Sanderson has done an absolutely amazing job taking the reigns from the late, great Robert Jordan. I'm pretty sure if the writing stays this good, I'll most certainly finish the series by Christmas.
Many emotional moments in this one. I worried for the safety of some characters more often than previous books.
The last official chapter was absolutely wonderful. Welcome back, boy, I've missed you
Amazing, absolutely the best series ever, and I still have three books left. XD This particular book was the last in the series written solely by Jordan. The remaining three were finished by Brandon Sanderson. I hope the change is seamless. I honestly can't imagine finishing someone else's work, but especially on as huge a scope as WOT. I don't know how Jordan kept everything straight, and he's the one that thought it up in the first place! I'm excited/nervous to see how Sanderson's continuation compares.
I mean wow! I thought I was doing great getting through these books. I was loving every little bit of descriptive writing, world building, multiple character perspectives, etc. I've enjoyed some books more than others, by a tiny margin. Yet nothing could prepare me for Crossroads of Twilight. It felt like the last nine books were all little streams feeding into this vast river that grabbed me in book ten and dragged me on in a glorious whirlwind of storytelling. I read this book in eleven days!!! That is my absolute shortest read time for any of the books in this series, I usually average a couple of months... I cannot WAIT to get started on Knife of Dreams. cracks open next book
This series just keeps getting better and better!
I don't know what else I can say in a review without giving away spoilers, or that I haven't already said in previous reviews. If you've made it this far into this huge series, a review from some random stranger isn't going to change your mind about whether to continue or not.
I will say, bordering on a spoiler, that the last chapter is crazy intense...and I don't think I hate Cadsuane nearly as much as I once did. ;-P
Quite the introduction to Physics! The only reason it doesn't get five stars is due to my own limitations of absorbing the material put forth. Feynman is a fantastic educator and communicator, and even my poor excuse for a brain was able to glean a much better understanding of the subject.
I didn't do well with Science in school. Looking back, I can honestly say it was an equal mix of my not trying hard enough, and my writing off scientists as ‘evil people against my religion'; a detrimental state of mind inherited from my family. I've never studied Physics at all, and still enjoyed this book immensely.
I would suggest only reading this if you truly have a longing to understand the universe more. It's not something to pick up as a ‘light, entertaining read' for a vacation or airplane ride... And be prepared for SO many equations.
I'll admit, I'm definitely a Feynman fangirl now. I never paid nearly as much attention to any other science than Biology, and I'm glad I've found more areas of interest to expand my horizons. I have Mr. Feynman to thank for that. His words have lit up a passion in me similar to how I felt when I read Darwin and Dawkins.
I'm not a scientist, a teacher, or particularly clever by any means, but having people who are all of those things; and that are able to explain mind-boggling things to me so succinctly; is a truly marvelous feat. I am forever grateful to the great minds of this world.
I am definitely a simpleton when it comes to physics, but Czerski's explanations in a story form; more often than not humorous or amusing; were easy for me to follow and understand. I've already noticed myself looking at the world around me a little differently now. Tea and toast will certainly never be the same, and I love this book for that. If you feel like you know absolutely nothing about physics, but have an interest to learn, I would certainly say this is a good place to get your feet wet.
Every time I think I couldn't love this series more, Robert Jordan proves me wrong. I really am blown away by the man's talent to transport me so completely into not only another world, but different people's perspectives. I am surprised at how much I care for SO MANY of these characters now, and not just the ‘core group'. Even side characters play larger roles than you might first suspect. It's glorious storytelling.
Very reminiscent of the Goosebumps books. I really enjoyed it. Definitely an author I will have to keep in mind for introducing the future kiddos to horror and gothic stories. I loved the cute dynamic between Florence and Johnathan. Lewis is a wonderful hero; I look forward to reading the rest of his series someday.
Warning: Not so much a review as a vomiting up of personal thoughts on the story so far. XD
Love, love, love, LOVE this series!! I honestly can't get enough. I'm so happy this goes on for ages. So much happens in this book, it's crazy. It gets tough to talk about it to other people. No one else I know reads this series, and any time I try to explain it to an outsider, their eyes glaze over and I feel like a droning History lecturer...
The amount of cultures fleshed out in this series is probably one of the things that blows my mind the most. I really love the individuality of the lands and how all the characters become kind of a big melting pot. The characters are maturing so fast, you often forget just how old they really are.
I really think Rand should just go after the Dark Lord. I don't understand all the hesitation. It seems to me that maybe the Dark Lord is lying in wait so he can gather strength. If they busted into his ‘prison', wherever that is, and attacked him before he's ready, they might have a chance. Prophecies that the majority of a cast of characters know about tend to be the ones in fantasy that are full of the most bs.
I do wish Robert Jordan wouldn't skip over certain bits...I REALLY wanted to be there for Lan and Nynaeve's wedding, if not for their wedding night. Mwahahahahaha!
I'm worried Mat and Tylin won't end up a thing... If the Daughter of the Nine Moons turns out to be a Seanchan, I'll be shocked as hell.
Still think Rand needs to put more trust in his friends, but his baby steps with Min are at least promising... I don't trust Cadsuane any further than I can throw her, but I feel Rand needs her around since I trust Min's visions.
I have a feeling the ‘man' in Shadar Logoth was the special Myrddraal, Shadar Haran, if not Logain (though why the latter would be there is anyone's guess) or one of the few remaining Forsaken. Either way, his helping of Rand against Sammael (also most likely alive) is suspicious. Lots of ‘why?'s throughout this book, especially at the end.
If you love epic fantasy, do yourself a favor and READ THIS SERIES!!! I don't think I've ever loved a series more. Jordan's insight into people, not only as a culture but down to the individual, is uncanny. You believe every single person is real and truly motivated by their own desires, hang-ups, morals, and fears. It's truly an intense ride. If you like short, fast-paced books, this definitely isn't for you. But if you enjoy having intricate pictures painted in your head so that everything plays out like an exceedingly well-orchestrated movie, then this is definitely the series for you!
Side note:
Watching the characters grow and mature is probably one of the best/worst things about this series. It's nice to see the character arcs, but you feel so bad for the pain and betrayal they have to go to get there. Rand's trust issues still concern me, and I think they're only going to get worse... not that many people are doing the right thing to help with that....
Another epic installment to the series. There is SO much that happens in this one. Still loving the in-depth character development and world building. I can't help but worry about the battle-hardened people these young men and women will grow into. The tense, multi-layered relationships surrounding many of the friendships, and love interests makes everything seem genuine. I care about what happens to them, good or bad.
Love it! Wonderfully paced, and the world-building is still so EPIC!!! The characters continue to grow and mature; new scars, both physical and emotional, abound. Jordan has a really great grasp of how men and women tend to think differently, and how that difference manifests itself in each culture. Pretty much ANY interaction between two characters with chemistry has a laugh-out-loud moment in it for me. I'm a sucker for vague romances that leave plenty to my overactive imagination. I'm so glad we got to see more of the world Jordan has set out to immerse us in. His ability to make you feel like YOU'RE the one trudging through mud in Tanchico or having your skin baked off in the Three-Fold Land, is truly a gift. I can't wait to see where this goes. I'm for sure absorbing MUCH more than I did on my first read-through; I feel like I can't rest til the whole epic series is under my belt!
Loved it! The pace of the last half dozen chapters almost gave me whiplash. The characters are definitely explored more in depth throughout this book, minus maybe Rand, who's more like a supporting character. Egwene, Elayne, and Nynaeve all definitely come more into their own, learning new things about their powers with every obstacle they tackle. Perrin and Mat are shown to quickly be turning from boys to men; though both do have quite a bit more maturing to do. I feel really that Mat shines in this book. It's nice to finally have him doing something other than being coke-addict level paranoid or knocking on death's door.
A decent read if you just need some quick, good ol' guilty pleasure reading. Sexy vampires abound, and the heroine is fairly likable. One can't help but notice the single main female character; surrounded by handsome, hunky men; with zero other strong, sexy female characters. The only other women that feature are grey-haired maternal figures and a psycho dominatrix (who of course is described to be sexier than the main character, but is universally despised by all the male characters). Scared of competition much?
My odd quirk for falling for the bad guy; even amongst bad guys; has managed to strike again. Dragos' the biggest, scariest mofo that everyone's out to kill is the one male character I wouldn't mind reading more about.... Instead we focus on barely threatening Rurik with some smatterings of Tane, a.k.a Dragos Jr.
The series apparently continues to include some sort of ménage a trois; which while not inherently bad or even uninteresting; is still an odd way for this particular relationship to progress for me. This book was free, so unless someone gifts me the others in the series, I'm not looking to spend money to read further.
I do a terrible job of keeping up with Marvel and their ginormous stable of characters; which made the beginning of this book rather confusing. I was quite lost through a few of the first chapters. There are many moments where the timeline jumps from the past to the present with zero notification of a change. The authors/artists take the time to put a little box explaining WHERE you are, but not WHEN. Your few hints that maybe this is a different time, are things like Spider-Man being a completely different person, or a female character's hair being straight rather than wavy. I'm sure all of this would have been more understandable to me if I followed Marvel's mythology more closely. Thank goodness for my bestie/Marvel-Guru. If you don't have one of these, get one at your local comic book store, or get REALLY talented at reading Wikipedia without spoiling anything for yourself (unlikely).
That all being said, this story is phenomenal! I am blown away by the relevance to today's issues of whether thought and speech are a crime that is legally/morally punishable. Do we punish people for what we “know” they're going to do? Then of course, the age-old questions of fate and free will and whether either exist. Heart-wrenching, gut-twisting events made me flip through the pages in a single day. The story also finally fleshes itself out and things start clicking into place less than a quarter of the way through. So despite starting out hopelessly confused, I quickly started to gain enough of an understanding to enjoy the story immensely! I'm even chomping at the bit to read more about certain characters that really stood out; female Thor never intrigued me until now, and The Inhumans REALLY caught my interest.
Whether you're an avid Marvel fan, or just the casual reader; I'd most definitely recommend the Civil War series! It's a great snapshot of the Marvelverse, and gives a wonderful preview of what the franchise has to offer.
Robert Jordan's world building astounds me. He knows how to make it part of the story. You want to constantly learn MORE about EVERYTHING! This book was a LOT of world-building, especially at the beginning. The last 15 or so chapters is where most of the action really is. However, without the rest of it, none of what happens in those final chapters really makes sense or much of an impact. I didn't have as much free time to read this one as I would have liked, so I'm hoping I'll have more time to devote to the third installment!
I loved this book! I can't wait to start the next one!
Robert Jordan certainly created a masterpiece. I loved the world-building and the character development. It's woven effortlessly into the story, and makes you just want to learn more about the world he's created. The characters are believable and familiar; you could be one of them. The humor is subtle and appreciated. The running joke of Perrin and Rand both wishing they had the others ‘way with girls' is hilarious and endearing. It shows how they're just a couple of country teens being thrown into the most terrifying thing possible, war. Jordan's grasp of how to slow burn romance is also impressive. I love that there's this angsty longing between some of the characters. I can't wait to see how that develops, and hope that more little romances sprout up!
I want to know SO much more about EVERYTHING in this world. What's going to happen to each character?!? Is Rand going to go nuts? Perrin becomes a werewolf? Does Mat stay tainted? Do Lan and Nynaeve get together?!? Is Ba'alzamon really dead, or just injured like Moiraine claims? What the heck is an Aiel?! Does Rand end up with Egwene, Elayne, or Min?
SO many questions, plenty of books to find the answers in!
I just can't anymore.
I wanted to LOVE this book. Dinosaurs + knights = a how-could-this-go-wrong epic. Right?!?
Nope. This book was TERRIBLE! So terrible I couldn't even finish it. If there was a way to give it zero or even negative stars, I would! Infuriatingly goes NOWHERE, with characters you care NOTHING for!
I am so disappointed. The premise sounded great, but when there's no actual plot, character arc, OR anything remotely realistic on behalf of the dinosaurs behaviors to keep you enthralled. WHY read on?!?
Hoooly crap! Finally caught up with where I had left off the first time I read the series, and my mind is seriously reeling! What is everyone going to do? The world is unraveling faster and faster into a tangled mess of questions! So many “What if's?” and “Why's?” The battle between Eren's titan form and the Armored Titan is EXCELLENT! So well-drawn, and I love the use of actual fighting techniques! Hajime Isayama truly does his homework for the series! Can't wait to read the next volume!!!
I love the way Reiner and Bertolt just nonchalantly reveal themselves to Eren at first! It's just, “Oh yeah, FYI, we're the reason most of humanity, including your mom, are dead. Wanna go chill with us, bud?” No idea what they were really expecting of him. Great cliffhanger ending! I love the last page of Eren bursting from Reiner's hand! “Game on, biatch! Game ON!!!” You feel the rage as a reader; the complete bewildered rage of poor Eren. He trusted them, especially Reiner, and for THIS to be how it has to play out is heartbreaking.
Omg!!! Superb!!! The best in the series so far! Eren is AMAZING!!!! I don't know what this “coordinate” is that Reiner mentioned, but I'm glad Eren's badass enough to possess it!! Not really understanding Ymir's thought process or what truly motivates her, but I'm sure that will end up being explained sooner or later. Was hoping for a Mikasa/Eren kiss finally, but the damn titans had to ruin that too! Aaargh!