goutham

Kinda a gorgeous book. The descriptions and the prose were beautiful and every sentence was vivid. It was succinct without making me feel like something was missing and it was just long enough to deliver its message. I also felt like the message was pretty neat and the way the book “shows not tells it” worked well for me. It was also the first book that I've read that was so deliberate about pronouns! I appreciated that the book did it without being super like “HEY LOOK WHAT IM DOING” about it.

Spoilerish Alert

There were a couple things that annoyed me though. There was a bit of “manic pixie dream girl” energy with the relationship between the robot, Mosscap, and our protagonist, Dex. Dex kept broadening his expectations and horizons thanks to their relationship and it just felt like sort of formulaic in that regard.

3.5

for the most part this book felt like a messier version of six of crows and other heist-y books. the characters felt super stereotypical esp the main guy severin and the heist was pretty confusing to follow. but i think a lot of the character interactions and the ending were actually really intriguing and i kinda am invested enough to keep reading! pleasantly surprised lol

Second Read: 3.5 Stars (leaning toward four)

I think my first read through review was fair. The book has a lot of STUFF you have to notice or put together and it can be really chaotic. But rereading it was super enjoyable since now that I knew what was going to happen I could understand all the mega confusing stuff from before and actually see a lot of the puzzle pieces. I still think the flashback/dream sequences were pretty uninteresting and its a lot of lore dump but it was far better than my first read through.






Middle book syndrome is omega real.

** SPOILER ALERT **




I have to give this book props though. The use of perspectives in this book was super interesting and fun to piece together. The issue was that it felt like nothing was happening during the first 70% of the book. All I got were tidbits hinting at the bigger picture and a whole lot of exposition about characters I just wasn't super invested in and I didn't think mattered. Same thing with the smaller “present” plot. The threat of the Resurrection Beasts felt super irrelevant (it basically was) and it just filled up space while Harrow was getting confused by her memories. I kind of felt like I got the point about her being an unreliable narrator and her needing Gideon after the first few references. However, the way it was written was excellent and it made me bump its rating up a ton though it required a ton of attention. I literally had to read it all in one sitting because I wanted to keep it straight in my head.

Side note: it was super hard to get into the flashback memories since they felt like they were there to keep sticking the same point.

But once the climax started to hit, the finally started to breathe. It was weird. I literally felt like the book was dammed up until Gideon finally surfaced. After that the book had the same feel as the first book in the series and it clicked into that familiar spot. The climax itself was really overwhelming though. There were so many weird twists with Gideon and her lineage along with all the reveals about the Lcytors, God, and the Blood of Eden were just like “ok. got it. alright I guess” etc. It took multiple reads for me to understand the actual lore there. Also I was so annoyed by the weird immersion breaking humor there. The climax in the River with Harrow was also weird and it felt like it just jumped the shark there.

I kind of just attribute a lot of it to middle book syndrome but I do end up comparing it to The Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson. Both of these books had this huge buildup about a mystery and not too much happening. However, Sanderson's execution made that all pay off well and it was super gripping. This one just felt less well executed.

Can't really rate a collection of short myths but norse mythology is always excellent and this book did such a good job painting the main players

downgraded from 4 to 3. Had really good worldbuilding and interesting heist plot. Magic was kinda handwavey but thats chill. Also characters were aight. Pretty solid 3/5 but the worldbuilding put it at a four for me.

But then i started thinking about the message of the book and how it took on freedom and slavery and shit and i was like its alright i suppose. It like got the job done but its just like inadequate in a sense :/ So back to 3

3 stars:

Cool concept. Cool world. Wished there was more agency and activity/choices in the book since it felt like it was a long exposition to the overarching plot. Villains were super caricature-y so I was pretty annoyed by that. The audiobook narrator for this honestly is amazing and makes it so fun as an audiobook. Very listenable and very engaging to listen to.

brain rot

4.75

This book was wayyyyyy too good. This was some of the most authentic, nuanced high school portrayals and characters that I've read. It rarely fell into some of the cliches of high school romance (apart from some Shirley stuff) and it deftly handled so many complex topics within its characters. The LGBT community, high school drama, Red Scare, women in science, San Francisco, and Chinese American identity were all elegantly interwoven within Lily's life in a way that made her feel so alive and real. Her struggle really opened my eyes to perspectives that I had never really considered and it managed to do so with a compelling narrative that kept me invested.

My only issues came from some overly dramatic bits in the beginning that felt very “floaty” and the places where the book meandered a bit too much.

2.5
damn i love the characters in witcher - and the mini arcs (the doctors were one of the best part of the book and the only part of the war stuff i cared abt). i also generally like the weird disjointed storytelling that comes together for a larger picture across the books it had a great tempo when the scenes were building

i wish that the main story was given more time cuz it felt rushed despite the 600 page length - prob cuz there was so much extraneous things. also i felt like there was so much weird out of character things like geralt chillin for a few months and just giving up ciri to emhyr. i also am v unhappy with the way ciri “accepts her role” near the end with the lodge it felt like such a weird scene. it made sense i suppose but like man it felt really weird. it also just carries over in general to the way all the antagonists view ciri - like jfc it went from one guy tryna have a kid with her to another to another to another and another and its like incredibly uncomfy and meh to read. it existed across the books but it was so bad in this one.

im sad to see the books end tho i liked them more than their general 3ish star rating - like overall the series gets a 4 even tho the individual books ebbed and flowed

neil gaiman is always so good

3.5
eh
sci fi brain rot

God this book is so nutty

5 stars both first and second read through

Spoilers

The first time I read through the Mistborn 1st trilogy, I think I missed a lot of the themes and ideas that Sanderson put into the books. The pieces about hope, trust, and faith were spelled out to a lot of the characters but on the reread I noticed how much he placed it throughout the books. The Hero of Ages in particular feels like the only book of the series that was able to execute on those themes better than those in Stormlight Archive. The book does a great job on building a sense of hopelessness and executes its themes through the characters and the plot. The central mystery is excellently delivered as well. On my first read through I didn't like how Vin and Elend were built as they felt static and boring through the book but the twist changed my perspective so I see other characters as the ones that push the change in perspective. As a side note, Sazed is one of my fav characters ever.

3.5 Stars

GREAT popcorn book. The first 25% was so cringey it was funny but the rest of the book was super enjoyable and a great page turner. Don't wanna read too much into it cuz it was a popcorn book and analysis for those is not worth the loss of enjoyment (TLDR stuff: flourish-y writing + mega edgelord + men writing women stuff + weird smut). I just love fantasy school settings and good worldbuilding clap

hard to rate cuz its a memoir

3.5

It was fun to read but it just felt like a lot of rising action and no climax. I kinda dug the narration style and the idea though. IDK i get the feeling I'll give the full series a pretty good rating but the first book alone was just aight

ok this was actually such a good short story collection and it was so much more interesting than the first witcher collection. i really enjoyed all of them - also helped that i watched the tv show and i felt like i got way more out of the book cuz of that

3.5
Actually pretty sad to say bye to these characters (end of this era of mistborn). I liked Wayne Wax Marasi and Steris a lot. But I feel like this book was a decent sendoff. I enjoyed the detectiveness (although it wasn't as good as book 1/2 in this era) and the character arcs were well executed. I think my gripes were that there was a bit too much cosmere-y powers that be in this book - i enjoyed previous sanderson stuff when the cosmere was easter eggs or at least clearly presented - this required me to have a bit more context, which i did have so it was fine but it was a bit frustrating at times. I also felt like the book dragged a lot in the middle - i think we as readers got a clear picture of what the bad guy plot was and it took forever to wrap up. but i'll miss this era of mistborn - it fits a weird niche of tech development in fantasy that is really rare. i feel like the only other place ive seen something like this off the top of my head is legend of korra.

solid fantasy fare w some p good worldbuilding and a fun heist plot. nothing to write home about but good fun

Another series binged. Another series i'll miss. Not as tight as the second book but satisfying nonetheless. Meta stuff made me laugh, deaths made me sad, and I'll miss these characters and this series.

4/5 would popcorn read for a fun week again clap

4.5

So much funnnnn. Same popcorn book status so not for analysis - same weird smut, men writing women, overly flourishy sentences etc. but the plot, characters, and world are so damn fun i enjoyed myself immensely.

another solid fantasy fare!! I think all the characters are solid and likable but none that I got super attached to. The only issues were that all the flashbacks were really heavy-handed in their transitions but they were solid character ideas. I really enjoyed the second to last chapter cuz it was super meaningful given the character journeys but otherwise i just wasn't super invested in my read. But it was definitely a page-turner!

1.5

I just could not care about any of the characters in this book. They were so uninspiring and uninteresting. 1.5 instead of 1 just cuz the premise was aight

neil gaiman is a gem. slow dance of the infinite stars is one of my fav lines of all time

still my fav novella cuz it just fits into such an enjoyable genre

Its also interesting to read this right after the echo wife. The Echo Wife just sidesteps the interesting philosophies and character discussions around cloning/identity stuff whereas this book considers it head on and poses art vs imitation as a theme for it. Very cool