Karl Davis
Not great, but a quick & fun read.
Definitely a YA novel. As long as you aren't expecting something... more mature, it's an enjoyable enough series.
Consent Issues
If a three or five year old animal turns into an adult-looking person, they're still three or five years old. Especially when they have a childlike view on relationships and boundaries.
Ick.
Did Not Finish at 79%
“He was walking arm in arm with another girl so I immediately swore to kill one of them.” That's a paraphrase/summary, but about where I checked out all the way. Very shallow characters.
Did not finish at 8%
Just want enjoying it very much. Part of it was how much of the narration was just off the main character's thoughts.
Did not finish at 17%
Writing style just really wasn't working for me. Far too much of the narration was focused on the thoughts in the main character's head, rather than on what was actually happening in the story. Probably just needs a couple rounds of editing, but it doesn't have them and I couldn't push through.
Did Not Finish
Finally stopped around 40%. I like the story! The characters are kinda interesting! But the writing quality is just constant paper cuts. The biggest problem, far and away, is how frequently it violates “show don't tell.” So much of the writing is the MC asking another character a question about what happened out of scene and then then rattling off a ton of exposition. It was alright for a while, but it's finally just too much for me — keeps pulling me out of the story.
Did not finish: plot too shallow
The pacing here is unfortunate; if this book just slowed down (a lot) it might be pretty good. Characters are decent (though MC is a smidge toxic) but end up feeling shallow, mostly due to the pacing. Got to around 70%.
Cried like a baby for about half of the book. (Happy tears.) Still tear up just thinking about it.
Next time, Jim, please try to not release your book in the middle of the work week. I'm about to die from exhaustion today, because I couldn't put this down last night.
Very similar to Ender's Game, but more nerdy and less moralistic. Fun read, and I look forward to the sequels.
Just read the first three books in the series. They're a solid 4/5, all around.
One thing the books desperately need more of is humor. The lack of it really struck me... makes the characters less relatable than they ought to be.
Alright
It was decently, interesting, well written enough, and managed to do a pretty good job of keeping my attention. Not a lot of real tension though: the main character is too overpowered (and a bit one dimensional) to allow for that.
Needs to flesh out some of the side characters a bit more, but still a very solid series.
This dealt with a very difficult set of subject matter (i.e. Hell), very deftly. Gave more details than I wanted, but still left me curious. Kudos to the author!
A Little Too YA for Me
Perfectly fine, but not novel enough to keep my interest. Felt predictable enough that I just had a hard time caring. Got tired of it at 50%.
Surprisingly Good
This book was an unexpected good time. Well written, well, edited, solid, characterization, sharp, plotting, excellent pacing, and a delightful intrigue. It is a bit shallow in that the main character isn't the world's, most likable, and the supporting cast doesn't have a lot of depth. However, it's pretty upfront about both of those things, and they don't detract much.
Obnoxious
An obnoxious ode to youthful toxic masculinity. I'm surprised I even made it halfway through this book. It was unpleasant and I don't like the MC enough to care about what happens to him.
Decent but a bit Slow
This was a decent book, but it just didn't hold my attention very well. It's a bit dry and lacks heart.
Needs Editing
Only got in about 2% before the lack of copy editing started to bother me too much. Main character seemed a bit flat, too, but maybe that was just the copy.
I'm going to call the competition now: Sanderson just won Book of the Year. Everyone else hoping to win that can pack it up and head home. Even though Brust's, Butcher's, and Pratchett's entries haven't been released yet, Sanderson wins. Hands down.
The sheer scope of this book is amazing. The execution is unparalleled. The story is gripping, the characters are real and engaging, and the world is incredibly vivid. It's a masterpiece.
While I enjoyed the prior book, The Way of Kings, it wasn't nearly this good (I'd give it a 4 out of 5). It's amazing how much Sanderson has clearly improved as an author since then. Words of Radiance is brilliant, top to bottom.
For those who read all the way through The Wheel of Time series, there's a scene towards the end of the series (not in the last book) where Egwene had me literally jumping up and down cheering. It took Jordan/Sanderson 12 books to get me that invested in a character. Sanderson has pulled it off here in just 2 books, with Kaladin's big fight scene.
This book was fantastic.