Queku
Great read, loved the characters and the story got me thrilled to the very end.
As soon as one might start to think that the plot is getting repetitive, BAM! you get a plot twist that makes the story stay fresh.
I got emotionally invested in the characters and their relationships, and i am happy with how things have turned out at the end.
I will certainly continue this series.
The best book in the series so far.
This book has all the positives from the previous ones and more.
The highlight of this book is in my opinion the minimal amount of Rand's POV. Throughout this book we could learn more from the side characters that were shadowed by Rand in the first book. Mainly we get a deep dive into Egwene's, Perrin's and Mat's POV's, which I loved. Mat was so overlooked in the first two novels due to the dagger, but now that we got to see him in action he got such a great glow up. Perrin is still as cute as in the previous books, but now on the main stage. And Egwene is getting more powerful and wise than before, shes such a bad ass.
Once again I had the feeling the climax was a bit rushed, but still a great ending. But I do hope that we get to appreciate future stakes battles more. Let us get a taste of an epic conclusion pls.
All in all the best book so far in a series that I'm loving.
Can't wait to keep on reading.
It keeps getting better.
I enjoyed this book more than the first one. But not enough to get 5 stars (this book is more of a 4,5 stars for me).
The characters I liked from the first book came back even stronger, and the characters I disliked from the first book in the series, had some moments that made them be more liable. I still hate Rand, but a bit less than in the first book.
Somewhere in the middle I had some PTSD from the first book because it contained once again a chase section that was to drawn out for my liking. But the ending compensates for it. I had literal goosebumps reading the last scenes.
I also got into a false sense of security, because I thought Tavaren had plot armor and nothing bad could happen, well I was wrong. There is still a safety net under our characters, but I have the feeling that this net is being slowly removed in order to increase the stakes.
All in all this series has gotten a strong start and I cant wait continue reading. I was told it get even better.
Great start but a weak ending.
I've finally decided to tip my toes into the WOT, and what a great start. I was told this book was one of the weaker ones with some poor pacing issues. Well if this is one of the weaker ones I can't wait to see more.
I found myself fully invested into the world and our main characters from the very beginning and I did not find it had poor pacing. You basically always had a few chapters of chill chapters followed from some high intensity chapters. So you could rest with some world building between chase scene and chase scene.
The only problem I had was actually the climax. I found it rushed and confusing, but I'll have to reread the ending eventually.
The character cast was a varied one and you will find at least one character to root for (Egwene and Perrin are awesome) and if not at the beginning you will eventually do, as the characters are developed more and more. Just be aware that the beginning is very Rand centric.
I was also told that this is a transition novel from the classical Tolkien esc fantasy to the more modern fantasy we get today and could not agree more with that statement. It does give me a lot of LOTR vibes but IN MY OPINION this book is a lot more readable than LOTR.
I am very excited for this series and can not wait to check the second book.
The book was divided into two main parts, which I both found at the beginning interesting, but somehow felt they were dragging out at the end.
The Academia part was very interesting, we got to understand how the magic system works and we got some tastes of the etiological mechanisms at play. But just before the trip it became repetitive and a chore to read.
That's why the change of setting due ti the trip and the more importance of Hermes was very refreshing. I was very excited for the future of Hermes. But it just got depressing and boring at the end with the siege.
Yes this book caries some very strong and important messages, but most of them flew past me because reading became more of a chore than a pleasure.
I'm sure this book could be the favorite of some people, just not me. Too depressing for my personal enjoyment.
Great setup and great ending, but it lost me in the second third of the novel.
I found the initial setup with all the unknowns of the situation very interesting. I was reading in order to find out what was actually happening. I gave me the vibe of a science murder mystery.
But once the this mystery was unveiled it devolved into a pseudo science fiction, which is okay in its own, but the start was so strong and “scientifically based” that the contrast was annoying. But when I made the switch into reading a more fantastical approach to science fiction I enjoyed. It was just the initial shock.
I believe that first contact stories are very interesting and fun to theorize. But I believe the first contact part was treated a bit poorly... How should the aliens decipher a human language from a short message? They're supper computers translated it, but in order to translate a language you require knowledge of that language and that is impossible with a short text and no further context. But who know, maybe is human language not so complicated as we thought.
The science of the Trisolarian civilization is what pulled me out, because it entered the speculative and borderline pseudo science territory. But as mentioned above once I made the mental switch I actually enjoined the speculation part, but the proton super computer is still a bit too much. I don't know what the author was smoking when he came up with that idea.
Even though it is a pessimistic approach to the first contact story it hasn't fallen into the trap of having a pessimistic ending.
I believe the chapter Bugs does a great job to lift you spirit up after the Trisolarian “proton super computer” bs. Once you accept a foreign civilization has those That level of knowledge it becomes a bit depressing the possibility of contact.
Nonetheless I left the book with High spirits.
Fun read if you don't overthink it to much as I did.
Leí en su momento este libro para clase y como un acto de nostalgia he decidido volverlo a leer.
Esta bien el libro. La historia de Caín y el plottwist con Jacob están chulos, no obstante tuve la sensación durante la lectura de que los personajes son muy planos. No se sienten como personas reales, ni actúan como ellas.
Por ejemplo en la conclusión de la historia el sacrificio de Roland se siente vacío. El decide sacrificarse por una chica que conoce desde hace una semana. Si, han experimentado un evento traumático que los podría haber unido. Pero yo diría que los sucesos pasan de extrañas coincidencias a trauma en la secuencia final con la tormenta, lo cual no le deja tiempo para conectar de verdad. La relación entre los dos pasa de un lío de verano a un amor incondicional muy rápido.
Los padres también se sienten muy falsos. Entiendo que para la historia desarrollarse así los padres tenían que dejar a los niños solos. Pero se sigue sintiendo raro que desaparezcan y dejen a los dos niños en casa. Podría perfectamente haberse quedado uno en la casa con los niños sin necesidad de cambiar la historia. Todos los eventos suceden fuera de la casa.
Tengo la sensación de que se intenta hacer toda la caracterización de los personajes en los primeros capítulos y el resto de la novela centrarse en los sucesos, pero justo por ello se sienten tan vacíos, no hay evolución. Los protagonistas se sienten en el primer y último capítulo igual, a pesar de haber vivido muchas cosas que los deberían de haber cambiado.
Eso si la escena de la hermana pequeña en las escaleras me encanto.
A fun novel about one of my Favorit characters in the Stormlight archive. I loved this I don't give a f*** attitude that lift showed on her interlude in words of radiance and this novel is even more than that.
Nonetheless I found that the main problem got resolved too fast and too easy. After reading the authors note at the end I understand that the role of this book was to show the change of mind of a character between books 2 and 3. But I still have the feeling that this change of mind was too sudden. Yes seeing the Everstorm with your own eyes could change your mind... but even Seth was reluctant when first seeing it, and he wanted to believe it...
Therefore my main concern with this novella is that it is too short. Give us more lift and more time for the characters to assimilate the Everstorm.
It was okay.
I really liked the murder bot character, as this quirky and introvert AI, but I have the feeling that in this short format I could not care about the other main character and or the stakes of the situation. This series has potential. I just hope it doesn't turn into episodic stories where I am unable to care for the stakes at play.
This book has made me think about things I haven't thought of in a long time. Before you read this I have to war you that it will deal with death and grief in a very real and emotional way. Therefore if you lost someone close to you very recently it may be to emotional, in that case I would recommend you to wait until you are ready to read it. Because wow does this book make you feel things.
Stephen King has said that this is his most scary book, but if you are looking for a more traditional definition of scary (as in horror movies) then you should read the Shining. This book is scary because it toys with the concept of death and how far a human can go in his state of denial after a close death. The zombies aren't even that scary.
Dam. I am always impressed by King's ability to know the human mind and manipulate it with his writing. Like i said in the introduction this book has made me think a lot, and it got me caring for characters I thought i did not care.
I knew Gage was going to die (it gets spoiled in the introduction) and I never thought I was actually attached to him. But man, the scene with the kite and how it gets revealed he died it got me tearing up. This is the most effective way to reveal someone died, by giving us their last happy memory instead of all the details of the actual death. Which makes sense, when you lose someone you start to value the insignificant moments you didn't before.
I must say I actually liked better the introduction than the ending. I was fully invested until the point of no return, where Louis decides to bury Gage in the Pet Sematary. From that point on it felt like watching a car crash in slow motion, where you know it is going to end badly but the agony is dragged out unnecessarily. (In retrospective it was necessary)
If you think about it this part is only 100 pages in a 500 pages long book, but somehow those 100 pages felt longer than the whole introduction. I understand the role of those pages, where Louis is rationalizing something irrational due to grief. We are shown through several examples that people nor pets come back the same way as they went after being buried in the pet sematary. But somehow he manages to convince himself that this case is an exception, which is so relatable. At the end of the day, the fist stage of grief is Denial.
This is the only time in a horror media where I understood why the main character went into the dark basement.
I truly don't know how to feel about the ending of this book. Either it is absolutely genius or just cheap and lazy.
Because after everything that has happened with Gage, Louis decides in a heartbeat to also bury Rachel in the Pet Sematary. Which somehow feels stupid. I understood why Louis did it with Gage, but did the result of his experiment not open his eyes to reality? Why does he think that this time it won't be the same? he didn't even have time to grief over his wife. But then it does also feel like it will be different this time, but I don't know if that is just me being optimistic and buying into Louise's denial or what.
It also feels like the ending is rushed and inconclusive. There is no closure and I don't know if it deliberate, because you could read it as the lac of closure is directly related to Geage's premature death, he did not get any closure in his life. He may have been an Olympic swimmer, but we will never know, as we will never know the ending of this book. Is this deliberate or am I just trying to search for answers where there aren't any? I don't know and i don't know if this confusion was also deliberate or not.
This book has made think a lot of how we can convince yourself of the things we want to know, and the interpretation of this ending may be the prove of this or not, who knows.
P.S I know that the Micmac burying ground and the Pet Sematary are two different places, but I believe that the name Pet Sematary is more iconic that Micmac burying ground, that why I've used pet Sematary throughout the review.
Harry Potter and the hunt for the 10 Mcguffins.
Once again we get a cool world, with an okay story ruined by an annoying and useless main character.
The story on this book wasn't the best of harry potter, but also not the worst (I'm looking at you order of the Phoenix...). The story beats on them selves where repetitive and boring. All events on this book can be summarized by:
1. We got an idea of where we can get information and or magical Mcguffin
2. Lets plan an over complicated plan to get there which most certainly won't fail...
3. Get the information and or object
4. Something goes wrong and we are under attack
5. Somehow a group of 3 teenagers escape a group of highly competent wizards. Hooray!!!
This exact procedure is repeated at least 5 times, that I can remember from the top of my head. And it got really boring really fast. Somehow these 3 kids that haven't even finished their wizard education are invincible. They can get away from fights where they are clearly outnumbered and out skilled, but with the power of plot convenience they escape with at most a bruise.
Like in the sixth entry of this book I was mostly interested in the subplot concerning Riddle's and Dumbledore's backstory. And I must admit that the flashback with Snape was kinda cool, but that still was greatly overshadowed by the most annoying main character ever (The rant about Harry Potter will continue in the next section).
The part that got me the most confused was the sudden appearance and importance of the Deathly hallows. Was it setup in any way before, which I din't notice or did they really come out of nowhere. Because if it is the latter, it felt really cheap. We already where on the hunt for 7 magical Mcguffins (the horocrux) why do we need 3 extra new artifacts to look for? And how did they help?
I guess that the cloak has helped for the whole book series, but the other 2?
The Stone was basically a fan service moment, let's bring back everybody that Harry has died to protect this incompetent child for a big “you can do it” moment. Guy's Harry is so egocentric he doesn't need your support, from the moment he was proposed to sacrifice himself as a martyr or magical Jesus he didn't even hesitate.
And the elder Wand was basically used as a cheap way to keep harry alive. The final “Duel” (if you can even call it a duel) between Harry and Voldemort is a “well actually” this is how I think wands work and through shear luck that wand can't hurt me, bruh. If you want to survive an unbeatable wand don't tell that bullshit, just don't invent an unbeatable wand... I like how the system where wands chose the wizard and a wand of another wizard will only obey the new master if that wand was “won” by the new one (I put won in quotation marks because I don't know if the Draco Harry wand swap could be considered as winning a duel). But then they get overly complicated, where Snape didn't actually win the wand because it was arranged (If you ask me if you kill somebody you technically beat them even though it was arranged), therefore Draco won it, although he did not throw any spell on Dumbledore, and since Harry stole Draco's wand (the regular one...) the elder wand should be Harry's. Dunno man I think you are stretching the wand mechanics a bit, and with a bit I mean a lot.
Like I said I don't understand the existence of the Deathly Hallows, they generate more problems than solutions. This whole “well actually” moment ruined my enjoyment of the conclusion of the series, it felt cheap ngl.
Now let's talk about Harry role in the whole book series. Did harry actually do something useful at any moment? He can play quidich really good, to bad there where no brooms in the final battle.
He got carried by more skilled and intelligent wizards throughout the series, but he still gets all the praise. He is also the most egocentric and annoying main character I've read to this date. From the 5th book on I really wanted to punch him in the face each time he opened his mouth, it was horrible. He thinks that he is always right and that everybody else is dumb, even though he has been wrong several times in the past. But once in a while he gets it right and rides on that high through the next several errors. For example the whole mind connection with Voldemort has been a problem more times that it has helped.
Concerning Harry's ego, I liked the presence of Hermione as the voice of rationality, because she said to Harry the obvious things that every reader was thinking at that moment. But Harry knows better than to listen to the best student in Hogwarts, she doesn't anything about magic... At the end of the day he is the chosen one, he is the best wizard in the world. EXPECTRO PATRONUM.
The only time he listens to advice is when Dumbledore tells him that hes gotta commit suicide and he, as the egocentric ass he is, doesn't even hesitate. It is his opportunity to live on as the great wizard he never was, and he just has to stand there let himself be killed. But because he can not die he is actually a horocrux and Voldemort only killed the part of his soul that was from Voldemort. Don't get me wrong I like the idea of Harry being a Horocrux it has a lot of symbolism and it explains a lot, but why is harry the only horocrux that isn't destroyed in the process of removing Voldemort soul? They truly did destroy a bunch of valuable historical artifacts of unthinkable worth, but they did spare the boy? Something doesn't fit here. I would have loved for the book to end with the conversation with Dumbledore in heaven and then the same epilogue without harry, maybe Hermiones and Rons son is called Harry and is going to Hogwarts ore some fan service bullshit like that. Maybe even a final chapter where Nevil defeats the very debilitated Voldemort with Griffindors sword. By the way, how did the sword get to Hogwarts, didn't the lose it in the bank robbery?
It would have so much satisfying. You don't have to mess with the mechanics from the elder wand and you don't have to bring harry back from the dead.
Speaking of Nevil he is the Character with the biggest glow up and Luna is the most underrated character.
Now lets talk about Harry ethics, everybody thinks he is the best one and an angel. He even get praised by Dumbledore for not being fooled by his own power like he did. Excuse me... we are talking of the boy that once he knew of the existence of the stone that brings back people from the dead wanted to drop the whole horocrux hunt to get his parents back. We are also talking about the kid that once his expecro patronum stooped being effective started using dark magic spells. This kid should be locked up in azcaban.
I do not understand the hype concerning these books and their characters. At the begging it was nice, but it has such a face plant of an ending, that probably ruined the whole series for me. At least it gave me a bad mouth taste to end with.
I guess that its success rides on nostalgia of people reading it as a child and I've read it as a 20 year old so I won't get it... And I trully don't get it.
Stephen King is always a win.
This is a very simple book exploring a very simple concept, but it still got me captivated and on the edge of my seat until the very last page.
This book is about a bestselling author being kidnapped by his number one fan in order for him to write her a novel. A very simple premise and the hole story takes place in a single bedroom. But somehow it works. At the beginning I was skeptical on the premise, it sounded cool but I could not imagine how to maintain suspense and avoid it becoming repetitive and boring. And it did get more interesting as the book went on. On the one hand we have the main story line, then we get a peak at Paul's writing and finally we slowly discover about Annie's backstory.
I must admit at the end of the book the whole novel subplot became a little distracting, it felt like reading the first chapters of a book and then the last ones without any additional context (because this is precisely what happens) . In retrospective totally necessary, because Paul projects into the story and then the story projects back into Paul, and there is a parallel between one story and the other, but it felt confusing.
This book explores the impotence and sense of defeat when you are trapped and there is no viable option out. You are clinging to a very thin edge of hope, but as time goes on you slowly give up. This is masterfully represented with the character of Paul.
I loved the metaphors presented through the book in order to materialize Paul's feeling, the stone pilings(as pain), the hole in the page (as coping mechanism) and the African bird (as this feeling of being trapped until the end).
I must admit it is very visual, but that is King's specialty. I wouldn't it is specially scary but there were some scene which were unsettling. But more in the disgust direction than actual fear.
All in all a great starting point for King's novel, you get a taste of what he is good at without the nightmares and it is a short novel you will power through without even realizing it.
Came for Kennedy stayed for Sadie.
I started reading this book on the premise of: we are travelling back in time to save the president. Which in paper sounds awesome. But at the end I kept reading because I was more invested in the romantic subplot than actually saving the president.
I had a few problems with how the time travel works and I really struggled to get through the scenes where we stalked Oswald.
Firstly my problems with the time travel. In this novel we have a very soft time travel mechanic. Our main character enters a closet and appears in 1958. When he enters again he returns to 2011 exactly 2 minutes later. This is neat my problem come with the harmony and how fast it escalates.
The concept of harmony in this book is that the past harmonices with itself, or basically that history repeats itself. At the beginning this harmony is just characters with similar names and lifestyles across different towns. Then it becomes repeated actions across towns and it even becomes like a premonition tool. But at the end, all of a sudden it somehow provokes earthquakes. I found this harmony thing a neat part, with references to other towns and as a plot device to make the final chase to stop Oswald more tens and interesting. And then all of a sudden the whole us is constantly being hit by earthquakes because the president lived... there you lost me buddy. I could follow all other events that lead to the world in 2011 being like that, but the earthquakes killed me. I know it is a petty critique and it was not so bad and it didn't take away from the enjoyment of the novel it just bothered me at the end because I had the feeling it came out of nowhere.
Speaking of the past not wanting to be changed, I didn't like the whole amnesia part towards the end. It felt as a cheap way to make the end longer, because in no moment I felt like he was going to miss the assassination because he forgot who killed the president. It was nice because it shows there are no infinite money glitches in time travel. But with the beating it would have been enough, you don't need the whole amnesia part.
Secondly the Oswald plot. I did not like it, the whole stalking sequences I understand their purpose, but felt they were excessive. I understand the whole point of those scenes is to humanise Oswald and to generate a dilemma for the protagonist concerning the window of uncertainty. But they felt boring and excessive. I also got at a point overwhelmed by the amount of names introduced. If these parts where a little bit shorter it would have been a 4 stars for me.
Finally to the good part of the story. At the middle of the book we get introduced to the romantic interest of the main character and surprisingly I loved it. I never thought I could be more invested in the romantic subplot than the actual plot, but it happens with this novel. I loved every single interaction between them and the epilogue got tearing up.
All in all it is a great novel and would recommend it, but not as your first king novel. It is a little bit too long and some parts I had to push through but it was worth it for the epilogue.
Great story ruined by a bad main character.
Just like in book 5 (The order of the Phoenix) I found during this whole novel Harry Potter was just an annoying character. It got difficult to push through the parts of the story where we follow Harry in Hogwarts, since every piece of dialog that came out of his mouth made me want to stop reading. He is an annoying, dumb and egocentric teenager (once again props to Rowling for depicting an accurate teenager, but as discussed in the review of book 5, realistic teenagers don't make great main characters). In every dialogue with other characters he acts as if he is the only one who is right, and the whole world is just dumb for not sharing his opinion.
This especially got to my nerves with his obsession with accusing Draco Malfoy. Yes he was right at the end, but that doesn't justify being so mean to your friends who are just providing logical conclusion to dismiss his unfounded arguments. Especially because all his arguments can be boiled down to: “I saw Draco being kinda sus”
Each time Harry had a dialogue I just wanted to punch him in the face, which is a bad sign if we are talking about the main character and not the villain of the story.
Am i the only one who thought that the romantic subplot with Geany came out of nowhere? or did I miss something in the previous book, because I had to push through in order to finish it?
Nonetheless this was a better book than the order of the Phoenix, yes Harry was just as annoying in both books, but the underlining story beat were a lot more interesting. I was pulled to continue reading by Toms flashbacks and the whole Horocrux plot. (Ironically in these were the ones were harry talked the least hahaha).
All in all if you've come this far continue reading there are only 2 books left in the series and you are obviously invested in the world and character, just push through Harry being a dumb Teenager.
Must Read
It is a high pace thriller, that will leave you on the edge of your seat through the whole story. Plot twist after plot twist your mind will be blown.
Sager's writing stile is somehow able to draw a perfect picture of what is happening without boring us with endless descriptions. He also manages to write a compelling and fully fleshed story in on of the most boring settings ever.
His writing stile is simply addicting, you will power through this book in no time.
It was ok.
I guess this book just isn't for me (even though I would consider myself a sci-fi fan), because I did not understand the hype around it. To me it was just another generic dystopian story with forgetful characters and boring plot.
It wasn't hard to get through the book, it is an easy read. But I also didn't get invested at all with the story.
If your thinking about reading it, do it. Maybe it clicks with you, but it didn't for me.
Quick question:
Why is this book set on mars? At no point was the fact of it being another planet used to drive the story. It could just have been the same if they were dropped in an Island on earth.
Easy 5 stars.
It is true that this book is carried in the shoulders of the way of kings. Since it is a sequel there is not such a big need for world building and introductions from the start, this book could focus on the characters and mysteries of the world and I loved it.
I was instantly hocked from the start to see where my favorite characters would end up and to see if my predictions and conspiracies from the first book would get resolved in this one and they kinda did, but also not. There are still a lot of mysteries to uncover in this world (they better due, because there are 10 books planed in this series xD) and I cant wait to continue reading.
Sadly it wasn't all perfect. i still got some critiques with the final battle and how some of the problems were resolved. I understand every choice made by Sanderson, but I expected it to be resolve differently. Still this represents only 4 to 5 chapters of the 90, therefore not a deal breaker and still a 5 star read.
1. Dragon Ball fighting...
I did not like the fight between Kaladin and Szeth. It felt very Dragon Ball to me, were they just fly around and the fight isn't grounded (no pun intended). I understand that if you have the power to fly you will use it to your advantage in a fight, but if both can fly it just makes it difficult to follow. I found myself skimming through this fight because it was a burden to get through.
2. Oathgate kind random...
I also got pulled out of the story with how the Oathgate worked. We were never introduced during this novel or the previous one to the ability to transport objects long distances, I understand that this is supposed to be an ancient power that was lost. But we still got introduced to “flying” and the Honorblades. Both essential to the resolution of the final conflict. But the fact that the Oathgate transports everybody on it (except for Szeth...) at the last moment possible, felt a little out of the blue. Maybe we could have been introduced to the concept of teletransportation during the interludes, as many other concepts were introduced.
3. Somehow nobody died...
To be honest I was expecting Dalinar to die in the final battle, because it would have been a pretty powerful death and it would have let the door open for Adonlin to step up into a more main role. At the end of the fight I was actually relived that they didn't kill Dalinar, because I love his character. But I still hope that they give Adolin a bigger focus on the next books. Because he is actually a pretty cool character, but his whole development is in the background of the other main stories.
At first when Jasnah was killed I was upset (Jasnah went pretty strong at the start of this book, she went from boring and strict to being really cool) and I was pretty sure she would end up coming back somehow. But at the end when I finally accepted her death she was broad back, and it was a bit unexpected and anticlimactic.
But at the end when they brought Szeth back it was the straw that broke the camels back. I loved the fact that they introduced Nightblood with his return and I understand why was chosen to return back, but man could you not have introduced a new bad guy. The one badass from the interlude that was hunting the heralds would have been a great fit for that role. But I guess if we can't kill the main characters, why would be able to kill the bad guys... haahahahaha
None of the main characters have died during these 2 books, although there have been 2 pretty epic and dangerous fights. Until now we have only lost secondary Bridgemen that I never actually noticed in the first place. I like that all my favorite charters are all still living, but it is starting to feel like the plot Armour is a bit too strong.
All in all I loved this Book and can't wait to continue reading the stromlight archive.
