The authorial choices in this book were so baffling that I am retroactively questioning if books 1 and 2, which I have read multiple times each, were The authorial choices in this book were so baffling that I am retroactively questioning if books 1 and 2, which I have read multiple times each, were actually any good either.
Like the first two books, there are a number of different threads and mysteries. Unlike the first two books, none of what happens feels worth it. But I could have forgiven this if the author hadn't made two absolutely disastrous decisions.
(view spoiler)[ Number 1, which was less terrible but still bad, was having Iana tell Thara that he loves him as a friend but only has sex with women. It truly felt like the author looked at the first two books, realized she didn't ship them anymore, and instead of putting on her professional author hat and finishing the romance she'd been building up for two books, just decided Iana was too heterosexual for this. There's a substitute romance hinted at with Thara and his bodyguard that's shoehorned in in the last quarter of the book which feels clunky and uninspired. I was genuinely disappointed and do not understand why anyone thought this was the right way to take the book.
But even worse was Thara getting his powers to speak to the dead back in a literal act of god. Losing his powers in book 2 was interesting. He's vocally grappling with this in the beginning of book 3. And then it's just. Resolved. And for what? Plot convenience? The plot it kicks off doesn't even feel satisfying. Giving Thara back his powers was the absolute most boring thing the author could have done. It was a bad decision and it made everything else in the book worse. (hide spoiler)]
Forth Wing is not good. It's mostly not good on a sentence level, but it's also not good, though less bad, on a plot level. The first half or so was eForth Wing is not good. It's mostly not good on a sentence level, but it's also not good, though less bad, on a plot level. The first half or so was extremely readable anyway and I don't not recommend it, if you go in with eyes open.
The romance was unreadably dumb and I put the book down for a while until I could work up the momentum to keep going. The extremely explicit sex felt uncomfortable against a Hunger Games reading level plot/prose combo of the rest of the book.
The dragon lore is weirdly specific and yet never followed through on, in a way that feels like it's following rules established elsewhere, or like fanfic of a better book that makes things happen for reasons.
And it's also not a horse girl dragon book!!
In conclusion, read Pern. Or The Hunger Games. They are both much better than this book....more
I read 2 chapters and had to stop before I took more psychic damage.
I'm frankly offended that a major publisher is willing to put out something so poI read 2 chapters and had to stop before I took more psychic damage.
I'm frankly offended that a major publisher is willing to put out something so poorly written, and embarrassed that readers are reading it anyway.
It's just bad! It's not good! The craft is high school level at best and seems to have had absolutely no thought put into it. I didn't check if there's an editor listed but if there is, this is embarrassing....more
Do you like comics about gender and the fantasy of living in powerful seld sufficiency, just you, your chainsaw, and your pony? Then this is the book Do you like comics about gender and the fantasy of living in powerful seld sufficiency, just you, your chainsaw, and your pony? Then this is the book for you! It's good, really well told and with a lot of room to sit and think about what it's saying....more
Good? I guess? Not what I expected. It's an easy read. It's written informally, and you can easily hear it as this old lady telling you stories about hGood? I guess? Not what I expected. It's an easy read. It's written informally, and you can easily hear it as this old lady telling you stories about her life. It covers an interesting span of time, through both world wars. It's also like, nominally Rose's autobiography but it's mostly singing the praises of Lady Astor, one of the richest women in England at the time, who Rose worked for as lady's maid for decades. Lady Astor is painted as a hard to please, argumentative dictator, but ultimately a benevolent one who did great services for her friends, relations, and country.
Near the end of the book, Rose mentions in vague terms a scandal that touched the family. It doesn't actually say what the scandal was, so I finally went and looked at Lady Astor's Wikipedia page, and got whiplash from the immediate description of her as a vocally anti semitic Nazi sympathizer. You would not know that from reading this book!
I don't really recommend it, but it's interesting....more
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