Silviya

13-Oct-2023
4.5⭐️
Still love this book!

Now, listen, as far as pure fantasy goes, this book is lacking a bit in some aspects - the world could've definitely been developed more. BUT, this is a fantasy-romance and as such, this book shines (wink wink)! This is one of the sweetest love stories and if romance is what you're looking for, romance you'll get. You'll also get an interesting setting, some decent battle action and main characters that are smart and likeable beyond measure. (Seriously, as a person who habitually dislikes the female protagonists in romance books, I was beyond impressed!)

Highly recommend!

14-Oct-2019
I loved it. I liked the main characters - smart, good sense of humour, good values.
I liked the world - though the story focused heavily on the romance and not as much on revealing the world, it somehow ended up very vivid in my mind. I am curious to find more of the races, the magic. Everything.
I loved the story. Every step of it. Now to be honest, people who like devastating drama and misunderstanding between people will probably find it boring. But I just loved how people talked to each other and didn't leave any room for pointless drama.
All in all, great fantasy and great romance between intelligent people who respected each other.
I am so happy I read it!

You know how there are those children's books that one is never too old to read?

Well, sadly, this was not one of them. I was a nice little read and I am sure had I read it in my early teens I would've loved it. But I didn't back then and the truth is I had a rather mediocre time reading it right now.

Okay, this was awesome!
Started weird, but it took very little time to get oriented and get into it.
The first few volumes were simple and easy, then things got suuuuper dark. And then the ending was strangely hopeful, which was a nice balance.
Not sure how I feel about the art style, to be honest (which changes at least once to a more simplistic one), but it didn't bother me enough to take away a star.

A very fast paced book and a suitable ending to the Second Era of the Mistborn series.

There was no lack of action, planning, mysteries and answers, of the type that brings more questions (which is really the best kind).
We got a better look at the Cosmere and multiple references to other, already familiar, worlds and characters.

As a negative I will point out the same thing I have already mentioned in the other books - lack of character debt. Not because their stories weren't well plotted, but because there was no time spared.
This makes the book very fast and easy to read on one hand, but robs the consequences of impact on the other.

I also feel that some of the “cameos” by characters from Eta 1, were slightly underwhelming. I somehow expected better set up and suspense building. Though it was nice to see said characters.

All in all, I liked the book and I am excited to read more about Scadrial and its future. And if for some reason you haven't read Era 2 but somehow ended this review, please do not skip it! It holds vital information for the Comsere and all evidence indicates that it will turn into a hot zone in the (maybe not so distant) future.

What a fantastic read!

A whimsical story about a simple girl in a beautifully weird world. It contains so many Cosmere nuggets - I was simply in heaven reading this!

But the best part - the narrator. Brandon Sanderson put the story on paper, but the storyteller, is actually someone else. Someone you have seen before...

The plot was interesting, the characters were very likeable and the world building was exquisite!

Highly recommend!

IMPORTANT: Please make sure you have read through the already published Cosmere novels before you read this one. I do not recommend to start here - you will be spoiled and miss out on SO much easter eggs.

I was not ready!

This book was sooooo good!!! So many things that we were waiting for came to fruition and we learned a lot of secrets. I think this book was the perfect setup for the final one and I can't wait to read it! I'd start it right now if I could!

Also, I am still in shock from the big reveal at the end, though I already suspected that there was something shady going on with Meical. His disregard for honour and oaths in the beginning and his over fixation on getting to Drassil was my first clue, and then when he asked Corban to hide and not follow him in the otherworld sealed my conviction. Still, it was a shock realising that this whole thing is just bait for Asroth.

And I swear to all that's holly, if the final scene in this book means death for this one creature, I will cry like a baby...

Great character work.
Great world building.
Great plot.
Great execution.

I was told that this book features amazing characters, but I shouldn't expect too much exciting action from it. And while the first part of that statement was on point, the second one couldn't have been more incorrect. The book doesn't lack for absolutely anything!

I highly recommend it!

Loved it!

2021
Do you have this thing, where you read book 1 from a series, love it, and then procrastinate reading book 2, because anticipating the read is often better than the read itself?
The Eye of the World was so good that 14 books in the series didn't seem enough. Yet I was worried to start The Great Hunt, as my expectations were a bit high.
Regardless, once I began reading, I couldn't really stop.
I loved this book even more than The Eye of the World (although book 1 will always hold a more special place)! I got to connect to the characters better and really started liking them. I got so much more curious about this seemingly endless world and all the secrets it's hiding.
As a negative, I will mention that there were a few times where the author created suspense, only to have a rather anticlimactic end of the scene.
Overall, I loved this book. 4,5 stars
I can't wait to start the next one!

2024 UPDATE:

Still feeling the exact same way, except this time around, I appreciate the story a bit more and I spotted a few possible hints at what will happen later on. I also think the ending was brilliant.
I would also like to highlight the things the girls went through at the end of the book and especially Egwene... that was brutal and very vividly done. I think it's one of the more emotional scenes in the series so far.

Not bad but a bit disappointing.

We have a post-apocalyptic setting with a new version of the great flood, where it hasn't stopped raining for a few hundred years and the dry land is slowly sinking.
We follow a young girl, who has lost her father in a diving accident and is now taking care of the inn he used to own and her younger sister. They receive a guest at the inn who wants them to go with her on a treasure hunt and the story goes from there.

The premise seemed super interesting to me and I was very much looking forward to reading this.

What I liked:
- The representation of grief in the book spoke to me on a personal level and I think it was done quite well.
- I like the author's writing style - short sentences to the point is one of my favorite styles when it comes to action novels.
- There was quite a bit of knowledge divulged in regards to diving. It seems that the author knows his stuff when it comes to that. I like it when things are well researched.
- The atmosphere - it was gloomy and the author managed to create this sense of eternal humidity that made me feel cold even on warm nights. I liked how the circumstances people lived in were reflected in their culture and language. It made it feel more real.

What I didn't like:
- The characters and their relationships. If there's one type of person I hate to see propped up in a book, that will be the ignorant know-it-all. And in this book, we had just that in the form of Jin's little sister - Tara. A kid of 14 acting with no care and common sense somehow turns out to be right every time. Even though by all we are shown on page, she shouldn't be. I can't stand this type of nonsense. It's a nice fantasy to believe that everyone cares for you and it's good to have a positive attitude, but you also need to be acting with at least a minimal caution. And if your character acts like a dummy, but still always get on top in a non-ironic way, then I conclude that you have no idea how to write a proper arc.
Additionally, I hated the stupid love story between Jin and whats-his-name. It was so dry and unrealistic. Not to mention his actions later on and how we were supposed to interpret them at the end... there's no way in hell that makes any sense in all the world. It was stupid, I can't call it anything else.
- The execution of the plot - the whole thing was written in such a meandering way that it robbed the story of all suspense and excitement.
-The ending - It was so lukewarm and resolved close to nothing. Especially with the glass beads... Or the big dream Jin was chasing.
-The fact that this is marketed as a sci-fi. There's no science in this book whatsoever. There are a few words of speculation, which were thrown in kind of as an afterthought and that was it.

I feel somewhat lukewarm towards this story and I am giving it a low 3 ⭐️

A great collection of short stories - probably the best I've read so far (though not being a fan of short fiction definitely affected my enjoyment).
I picked it up initially for “Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde” only, but decided to read through all stories and I am so happy I did! Each story had a paranormal twist and kept me curious till the end. Mind you, nearly all have a sort of an open ending, so beware if that's not something you enjoy.

My favorite stories were “Olalla”, “Will O' the Mill” and “The Treasure of Franchard”.

4.5 ⭐️

Oh, what a great read this was!

We have one of the most original and atmospheric (understand creepy) world, surrounded by danger and full of all kinds of weird science/magic.
The story follows a young assistant investigator (for the lack of a better word) who works under the supervision of a brilliant, if rather odd, detective (also for the lack of a better word). They get pulled into a very mysterious and horrifying murder case which takes them to the very dangerous borders of their empire and turns out to be masking a way bigger plot.

I loved every minute of this book. The pacing was perfect, the characters were illustrious and funny, the reveals were numerous, and the questions they raised even more so.

I took away half a star, because I found some of the reveals to have been slightly anti-climactic (but only some of them).

Overall, a great read and I can't wait for more books from this series to come out!

2024 Update:
I still stand by my original opinion that the book features too much. There is no possible way to fully enjoy it from the first read and any book that needs multiple reading to understand and enjoy can't be rated 5 ⭐️
Other than that, I did love the story and this time I was able to get way more and even have some wild theories.

2022 Original Review:
3.5 stars
I am so conflicted on this one.
To begin with, the story is quite interesting and rather complex, which I like. The world has debt and a lot going on. There were also some nice twists.
But there is simply too much going on. Too many storylines, too many mysteries, too many reveals.
That's not to say that I haven't read stories with just as many of the above and more, but they were never contained in just one book.
The amount of stuff the author has tried to stuff here, is way too much for even a trilogy, in my opinion.
I think it would've been better had he made the book slightly shorter and the series slightly longer, in order to pace the reveals a bit better. Maybe spend some more time on character development and interactions, flesh out some of the mysteries better, give us time and space to digest some of them before moving on to the next one.
Reading this book often felt like overeating - past a certain point, you stop enjoying the food, despite how good it is and need time to digest it before you are hungry again.
Despite all that, I will continue with the series as I am curios about the reveal of the set mysteries (the ones that I can remember).

This is a reread for me and I still love this story.

I think I even like the characters a little more the second time around, because I can kind of get the point behind their personalities a bit better.
I think this world is beyond fascinating and that Robert Jordan has created something really special with his magic system and lore.
I am so looking forward to continuing with the series and hopefully, finishing it this time.

I took away a star because I find the endless barrage of attire descriptions, and inns, and named innkeepers a little frustrating.

I never thought I'd give a book written by Joe Abercrombie 3⭐️ but here we go...

I loved The First Law trilogy mostly because of the author's character work. And I am sad to say that in this one he fell short.
Let me explain.

Moral consistency.
Your characters do not need to be good people, they do not need to be likeable and they do not need to be impressive. All I ask for is moral consistency.
In the First Law trilogy we followed flawed, terrible, selfish, lost and brutal people, doing some of the nastiest, most gruesome things imaginable. Yet, I loved every single one of them, partially because the books took their sweet time introducing us to every single aspect of them, but mostly because they were who they were and the author did not pretend like they were better. They were flawed assholes doing what needed and did not wax poetically about how they have been wronged. And if they did think about it, it was in a self-deprecating way. There was moral consistency between the actions taken by the characters and their representation in the narrative.

In this book, we have the exact opposite.
We have a lead character who we barely know, and who is represented in a more and more hypocritical way, the further in the book we get. We do get multiple points of view, but I think it's save to say that the main character here is Monza (and to a smaller extent Shivers). I find Monza utterly unlikeable and not only because I believe her to be fundamentally a bad person, but because of the way the author tried to pretend like that's not the case. And since we are talking about her entire arc, I have no way of discussing this in a non-spoilery way.
The whole shtick here, is that at the end of this book, we are supposed to realise that Monza is not guilty of what she considers herself to be, but a victim of the misrepresentation, bad decisions and manipulation of the terrible men in her life - namely her brother. Except, in this relationship, she had the power this whole time. She knew what and who he was, yet did nothing about. Each time she had a choice in the matter and each time she chose to go with it and even took initiative whenever needed. Not to mention that her actions post his death were plenty indicative of her true nature.Let's examine some of the evidence:1. Benna conspired with Orso to have Monza take over the thousand swords by betraying Cosca - a man who took them in when they were nobodies and showed them tremendous kindness, and she just went with it. But not only did she CHOSE to go with the plan to take his place, but she didn't even warn him and as such put his life at danger. Not only that, when she ran to ask his help later, instead of apologising or at least talking normally to him about it, she insulted and abused him continuously. Why? 2. And even if I was willing to grant that Cosca's betrayal was Benna and Orso's fault only (which I'm not), wasn't Monza the one who manipulated Day to betray Morveer? Wasn't she the one who, in her desire to work with someone more amiable, whispered in her ear lies (proven lies, since Morveer was never going to betray Day). And why? Because she didn't like the way he exposed her own hypocrisy when it came to killing many people to get to one? 3. Benna's incompetence and utter lack of interest caused the deaths of thousands of people, including little children and what did she do - jack sh*t. All she did was say "Ah, c'est la vie, let's be more careful next time" (paraphrasing here). And that's not the end of it. Not only did she tolerate her brother's nasty ways - she slept with him. And that is not cute, no matter how you try to present it to me (and yes, there is enough evidence throughout the book that she actually messed with her own brother - disgusting). 4. You'd think that Monza would've empathised with Shivers when he shared that he had lost his brother. Instead she felt only boredom... towards the person she slept with, when he shared something so personal and so similar to her own pain. Great gal...There are many many more examples of her being a nasty selfish asshole - I don't have all day to write them all here.And all of that would've been okay for me, had it not been for the "plot twist" the author was going for. That all this time she was not the monster she thought she was, but a victim of other people's manipulations, who stoically took all the blame. Where is the accountability, sir? So Monza is pure and blameless, despite all the murdering of innocents she did, because she was "manipulated" by men, but Shivers is a terrible person for becoming dejected and wanting revenge after suffering, being mutilated and at the end, ultimately being manipulated by a woman? Where is the moral consistency?
On top of that, I'm gonna admit, I felt bored through a big chunk of this book. I couldn't care less about these battles and these power struggles. Because I didn't know the people who were involved. We took close to no time to get to know anybody. The author counted on some notable “cameos” from the original trilogy and while I loved seeing them, I was ultimately uninterested in this cast.
And if it wasn't for the amazing writing style, strong beginning of the story and, of course, the one and only Nicomo Cosca, I would've probably given this book a lower rating.

The author spent time to develop these characters and make you love them, just so that you can then be tortured by everything they went through.
And what was the point of all of this at the end? What are the conclusions we are supposed to draw?
It's all meant to twist your feelings just for the sake of twisting.
To me this book has no meaning worth spending the time and the mental energy. it just sucked all the way.

Boy, was this a good book!

It is full of action and emotion and great plot twists, and even better relationships.
It started exactly where Six of Crows ended and I will admit, I was a tiny bit disinterested, as it had been quite some time since I read book one (almost a year and a half).
However, the story was crafted in such an intricate way, that it was impossible not to care. There were multiple peaks both in action and in character development and I was on the edge of my seat repeatedly. And just when I'd think everything was clear, the author would throw me a curve ball.
I even ended up shedding a tear or two at the end.

This duology really elevated my opinion of Leigh Bardugo's writing to a whole new level.

I highly recommend it!

Oh, dear, what a delight this has been!
I still struggled with the writing style a bit in the beginning and it made me read it a bit slower, but this book is so so lovely, that I couldn't possibly give it anything below 5.

P.S.: It's funny how in the movie I was more excited about Aragorn and company's adventures, while in the book, I enjoyed following Frodo and Sam way more.

This book is a collection of relatively short stories showing us the “origin story” of Celaena and I will highly recommend you read it after book 3 of the series - Heir of Fire.

Say what you will about Sarah J. Maas, the woman knows how to write addictive books and just when you think you've got her all figured out, she goes and sneaks in some subtlety.
I quite enjoyed this collection even though Celaena was fairly unbearable for a big part of it. But given that this is pretty much the beginning of her character arc, it's rather understandable. And we did see hints of improvement.
I am ashamed/happy to say that this book made me cry and experience some serious dread and sorrow. The hours where Celaena is waiting for Sam to return but he doesn't and you know he never will... this part killed me. I felt like it was I who was waiting and I have rarely experienced such sorrow from a book. It was masterfully done.
Great book!

Another nice entry, full of women with long legs and men with pecks strong enough to stop a bullet. What's not to like?
Out of the 3 books in the series I've read so far, this one had the most disgusting villain. Made my skin crawl and I kinda wish he had died more violently and suffered longer before that.
This book also ended quite differently than the other two. Which makes me slightly nervous about the next book.
Love this series though. Makes me feel like I'm 14 again and watching ridiculous action movies full of stereotypes. Good times!

I loved this one!
Started strong and didn't disappoint throughout.
The author is the absolute best when it comes to setting a scene and giving you a little too much details, without boring you with them. I think it's safe to say that if you're looking for a military related thriller, you will struggle to find a better written one.

What a lovely book this was! Probably my second most favorite Jane Austen work.

We have a second chance romance between two utterly sensible, kind and honorable people, which I am starting to understand is what I like in romance.

I particularly appreciated the fact that the main characters were more mature (if the age of 27 can be considered as such, and given the usual age range for historical romance heroines, I think it should be).

The story is quick and easy to read and as always features some rather illustrious characters.

Anne is definitely a lovely main character and Captain Wentworth was a suitable and believable love interest.

Loved this!

We have a fairytale inspired urban fantasy with a very nice art style and intriguing story.

It's essentially a murder mystery, but featuring a rather fun reimagining of some of our favorite fairytale characters and in a very unusual (for them) setting.

I had such a fun time and I am definitely continuing with the series!

Very well written on one of my favourite subjects.
Really liked the writing style and structure of the book.

First, I would like to state that Neil Armstrong has been one of the most inspiring people for me ever since I can remember. His life's story is nothing short of magnificent - filled with hard work and greatness and tragedy. I have nothing but respect and admiration for this great man!

With that being said, this book is very heavy on the numbers, and names, and dry facts. And while the factual truth is priceless, this writing style makes the book hard to read and the story hard to follow at times. Often the story will be interrupted by a lesson in engineering or another equally academic subject, making it slow and rather unaccessible.
I wish that the author would've shaved some of the minute details, while still sticking exclusively on the truth. This would've reduced the size of the book significantly and kept the reader's attention better (at least this reader).

What I really appreciated was the debunking of some of the “urban legends” related to Neil Armstrong and the sensationalism pushed forward by people with financial interest in it. It was refreshing and made me respect the author.

I am giving this book 3.5 stars and am grateful I got to read it.