Alex Norton

I tend to really dislike High Fantasy (LOTR) And prefer it with plenty of sarcasm or wit (Abercrombie, Buehlman on the more lugubrious side). or definitely light (Becky Chambers, Travis Baltree, somewhat Pratchett) and this one falls definitely in the latter category. Use the Kindle version the names are the most truly annoying aspect of the book.

I unfairly always have Wolf Hall as my standard against which Historical Fiction and Political machinations are to be held against and The War of the Roses is such ripe ground for that. Stormbird fallls short, but was still a good read especially for such a complicated period. Iwill continue the series though as it is well written and, I presume, researched

I don't feel i need to apologize for giving out 5 stars to books i know I can always turn to to make me feel happy.

I realized this was a series I should have continued sooner. Went back, re,read the first and really enjoyed the style and wit, and the whole background of mixing Urban COntemporary with Fantasy Lore. Making a mental note to power though series I like rather thnan letting too much time between books.

Read this over the course of a year, dipping into a chapter in between books. But all the chapters were interesting, original, and self contained.

Like all of Eco's books this swirls with dead end intellectual red herrings, thoughts and meanderings but if you enjoy (put up with?) these you get recompensed with a rich tapestry and a good story. I know i will re-read this one in the future to try and catch the shitload of stuff I missed fist time round

Easy and fun read.

There is nothing here that elevates a good premise and starting plot line into a great book. On the other hand nothing seriously disqualifies either. I just found it a bit wooden but never felt it dragged so was a pleasant read.

My first Mieville was The City & the City and I, unusually for me, often think about it. Not so much for the plot but the for the rather remarkabe atmosphere the author was able to create. I probably wanted to love Perdidido StreeT station more than i did but too many times i found myself lost in the narrative and although the writing is sumptuous I had trouble keeping my barings. That is a reflection on me, not the book.

I really enjoyed Between Two Fires but this is a different book - firmly rooted in the Fnatasy camp, with a tone that is less taut that the more horror filled BTF. The plot is noting revolutionary but the quality of phrases make in stand out. My only criticism is that Kinch is a bit too heavily painted as that “lovable Irish rogue” and it can be a bit old after a bit. Will now line up the prequal of the story of Galva

I never really got into Terry Pratchett way back whene, and apart from Good Omens was somewhat diffident of dipping my foot into such a long established world. But someone on reddit suggested Going Postal as a taste that stands alone and I am so glad I did. Thoroughly enjoyable, whimsical, lovely characters. I think i will be back for more.

Rare for a third book of a trilogy to be the worse but this one easily was. I enjoyed the first two, and because it is easy reading sped through this one but it never really clicked.

Interesting book. The “old English” did not scare me. Simon Vance's narrating makes it easy to understand and puts you in context. My issue was really the fact that ireally did not care for the main protagonist, who tries to portray himself as a “post-Norman” partisan but is really just a vengeful thug that does not evolve.

The second book of the series takes just one character and changes from being quite wide scoped to more narrowly focused in time and place but is equally as satisfying. It is a bit weird, sometimes takes flights off topic but Tchaikovsky is a wonderfully talented writer. Looking forward to the third one.

A very solid four stars, reminding me a lot of VaL McDermids mix of disturbing uncomfortable reading with deeper look into characters. Might not be for everyone but Liz Nugent is accomplished and she is now on my tbr list

YA with snark.

Hovering between 3 and 4. I do so love the period so i just wish he would be a bit less concerned with driving forward the plot to allow us to poke around the corners of the period. I did not read the first book but that did not really hurt.

What was an obvious big tome was quite rightly divided into two. The first book had very different POV chapters. The second volume is a more conventinal structural narrative. If you read and enjoyed the first the second book will not dissapoint. Definitely in the top echelons of SciFi writing and age has not hurt it at all

Do not read this one until you have read the others. The reason is simply because Osman is getting better and better at it and there is a chapter in this book that is so masterfully written that it would deserve a sixth star on its own. But it does because of how Osman sets it up with the previous three books.

Yes, it is YA but there is a certain bite to it that recalls Gideon the Ninth and that gives it more depth than i could have hoped for.

Loved the format. I think it has aged very well I will need to line up the sequel

A creme brûlée of a bromance novel. Rich, satisfying with a hard crust to crack with nods to history, to science, to travel, to fantastical creatures (talking dogs and ducks) . Not an easy read and i know that 50% of it went straight over my head (will need to read the companion reader) but he does know how to write some lovely sentences so I can forgive cetain “er where are we going with this' sections.

Im not a LitRpg person - but this has been recommended so many times i decided to give it a go and im glad i did. I have enough peripheral knowledge of RPG to not be totally lost but probably lost some jokes. But the plot is fun and the audio book is nothing if not entertaining.

There were so many elements to like in this novel and i know i enjoyed it while reading it. But the scary thing, in thinking back a month after the fact is how little i remember of it. The irony is not lost on me.

The ugliness of the Slave Trade in the US is very adequately discussed. The same for the UK is less well so. It did not occur on British soil, hence the less we say about it the better. But the English were just as complicit in the horrors, and just because it happened “in the colonies” is no reason for it being glossed over. This is a book of Historical Fiction, but like all good historical fiction that i love it helps educate and inform me of things I did not know, and will spur me to learn more.