“It does not matter that you do not understand the reason. You are the Beloved Child of the House. Be comforted. And I am comforted.�
Residing in a wor“It does not matter that you do not understand the reason. You are the Beloved Child of the House. Be comforted. And I am comforted.�
Residing in a world of interlocking halls bedecked with marble statues is Piranesi, the protagonist. The narrative is told through his journal entries and the story is expertly crafted - teasing the reader with the captivating mystery of the House and keeping us turning pages in the hope of understanding more about the strange realm and the many mysteries it contains.
While the ending felt a little abrupt and hurried to me, overall it was an absolute effortless pleasure and I genuinely looked forward to picking it up - a welcome breath of fresh air after struggling through the past few books I've read. A solid 4.5 (which I've rounded up to 5, because, yanno, Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ). ...more
This.... was not great. I really enjoy the First Law series and was saving this as a treat to read over the Christmas break. It was, in short, a huge This.... was not great. I really enjoy the First Law series and was saving this as a treat to read over the Christmas break. It was, in short, a huge let down.
Firstly, the characters are really dull. Shy South felt like a much less interesting version of Monza Murcatto from Best Served Cold, even to the point where she's also driven in part by revenge against wrongs visited against her family. The character who appears again in this book (whose identity I won't reveal because of *spoilers*) is truly wasted and brings their story to a pretty depressing, dull end.
The plot and the world is confusing. Not much happens, and it takes place in this very confused Medieval version of the Wild West. Not enough time was taken painting the details of this world and how it differs from the spindleweed-rolling, saloon-door-slamming Western cliches we're all accustomed too. There are so many random bits of plot thrown up which feel like after-thoughts.
I was really interested to see how the Ghosts, clearly inspired by Native Americans, would be handled. And they were handled appalling. The book draws attention to how white their skin is in order to give itself license to drudge up all the offensive, old-fashioned stereotypes against Native Americans. They are basically two-dimensional mindless, stupid "savages", and we're allowed absolutely no glimpse into their cultures or history - glimpses which might have made them feel a bit more nuanced and interesting.
So, yeah. I was really taken aback by how little I liked this book, considering I'm a fan of the rest of the series. ...more
Linus Baker is a lonely office worker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He's good at his job and has spent 17 years solidly plugging away Linus Baker is a lonely office worker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He's good at his job and has spent 17 years solidly plugging away at it without incident - until one day he's summoned to the Extremely Upper Management and given the task of reporting on a mysterious orphanage for magical children housing, among others, the 6 year-old Antichrist.
Sounds pretty cool, right? I thought so too. And I enjoyed the first 25%, it was pretty funny and had some neat ideas. But then, the novelty began to wear off. I was waiting for the world to gradually become more fleshed out, for the characters to unearth some kind of hidden depth. It never happened.
The children at said orphanage are pretty cute and interesting when they're first introduced. They all have funny quirks too - Lucy (Lucifer) likes to smile sweetly and tell everyone he's going to eat their souls, Theodore the Wyvern really likes collecting buttons, Chauncey the blob really wants to become a bell hop, Talia the gnome humorously tells Linus she's going to hit him on the head with a spade and bury him in the garden. But after reading, for the fifth time, how Theodore loves buttons, and that Lucy has once more entered a scene by telling everyone he's the devourer of worlds, it gets a bit repetitive.
But my biggest gripe, which I've seen other reviewers point to, is that the book throws up potentially huge, fascinating questions which are just wasted. Lucy is the SON OF THE DEVIL - so does that mean God is real? That he came from Hell? At one point he describes his soul as 'ancient' - cool, tell us more please! But there's really little there. It's the same with the other characters too.
I really, really, really wanted to like this book. It started off so well but there just wasn't enough to keep me coming back. ...more
“The dead can forgive. The dead can be forgiven. The rest of us have better things to do."
Best Served Cold tells the story of the mercenary Murcatto, “The dead can forgive. The dead can be forgiven. The rest of us have better things to do."
Best Served Cold tells the story of the mercenary Murcatto, the Serpent of Talins, on her quest across war-torn Styria to avenge her murdered brother. It's a tale of revenge, murder, greed, hubris and ruthless ambition.
This is the perfect kind of book to read on a beach. Sadly, under present circumstances, I had to settle for my living room. But it's everything you'd want for a holiday read - great writing, pure escapism, page-turning cliff-hangers and action-filled cinematic episodes. It's really fantastic....more
Ugh I'm torn. I don't know how I feel about this book. I'll leave myreview like this until if/when my thoughts crystallize. But I did like it, hence tUgh I'm torn. I don't know how I feel about this book. I'll leave myreview like this until if/when my thoughts crystallize. But I did like it, hence the 3 stars....more
“Those with the least always lose the most in war.�
So this didn't quite live up to the promise of the first book, but it was enjoyable reading all the“Those with the least always lose the most in war.�
So this didn't quite live up to the promise of the first book, but it was enjoyable reading all the same. The characters are really well-rounded, all of them interesting (apart from Quai, the apprentice, who the book seems to forget is there half the time). These characters aren't in stasis, they evolve and change over time as they go through certain events or have certain realizations - so often this never happens in books such as this, so it was refreshing to read.
It lost a star for me because there were a few lazy plot devices and throw-away episodes, plus a stomach-churning gross sex scene ¯\_(�)_/¯...more
As a total newcomer, I picked this up thinking it was the first in Hobb's series set in this world. It took me about 50 pages to realise I was mistakeAs a total newcomer, I picked this up thinking it was the first in Hobb's series set in this world. It took me about 50 pages to realise I was mistaken, but actually it didn't matter - Hobb sketches just enough of the background story I missed to help me understand.
Sci-fi or fantasy can so often lose sight of the humaness of the world it's created, always to its detriment, but Hobb never does - her world is alive with people going about their everyday business, with realistic thoughts, desires and motivations. It made it all the more easier to get lost in.
Overall, I'd give this 3.5. There were a few things I found grating - the main character's propensity for brooding self-flagellation and Shun (who, in this book at least, is a two-dimensional stereotype of "spoilt rich young woman", almost offensively so) being my two biggest bones of contention. But I didn't mind the rather slow pace of it. As Withywoods is restored, it reminded me of the base-upgrading missions in games like Assassin's Creed which I LIVE FOR. And the slowness made the intense final act even more dramatic!...more
“Now any dogma, based primarily on faith and emotionalism, is a dangerous weapon to use on others, since it is almost impossible to guarantee that the“Now any dogma, based primarily on faith and emotionalism, is a dangerous weapon to use on others, since it is almost impossible to guarantee that the weapon will never be turned on the user.�
Okay, I am all about court intrigue and cloak-and-dagger power struggles - that's why, imho, Games of Thrones peaked at seasons 3 and 4. And Foundation has all that in spades!
It charts the rise of the Foundation - from a small fledgling city of bumbling scientists on an uninhabited planet on the edge of a crumbling Empire - to a regional super-power. It tells the story episodically, with each new segment of the book zooming forward a few decades and focusing on a different character, which in turn is used to chart the rise of the Foundation itself. The dialogue is fantastic, witty and often funny, the setting and characters totally believable, and what it has to say about religion, propaganda, foreign relations and populism feel just as relevant today as they did when the book was written in 60 years ago.
However, be warned, this book is a TOTAL SAUSAGEFEST. It suddenly dawned on me 100 pages in that I hadn't come across a single female character. Not a single one! And this continued right up until the end when one minor female character is introduced - and she's this awful stereotype who only stops nagging her husband when he gives her some pretty jewelry I AM NOT JOKING. Sure it was written a while ago, but because this book felt so fresh and modern in many other respects, it's attitude to women was especially jarring. I hope when Apple make this into a TV show they address the gender imbalance!...more
this plot of this novel defies explanation. its highly imaginative, comic, really dark, and entertainingly confusing. it sometimes verges into the "nothis plot of this novel defies explanation. its highly imaginative, comic, really dark, and entertainingly confusing. it sometimes verges into the "nothing makes sense because i am a v. clever author" j.g. ballard zone, especially during the middle section, but makes it out again to finish with a great ending....more
genuinely conflicted about this book. everything i loved and enjoyed about it, i also found irksome and irritating in equal measure.
i really appreciagenuinely conflicted about this book. everything i loved and enjoyed about it, i also found irksome and irritating in equal measure.
i really appreciate that madeline miller chose as her main focus the relationship between achilles and patroclus, instead of the big-budget spectacle of the trojan war. and it's so refreshing to read gay characters as warriors. but the book spends so much time focused on the nuances of the relationship that all its flaws and irregularities become glaring and irritating. to me, it felt oddly one-sided and perhaps too focused on the physical. i never really got what stuck them together for decades and there wasn't enough to sustain me hundreds of pages in.
i was fully ready to give this book three stars, but the ending! the ending was unexpected, daring, surprising and very moving. thetis, patroclus, achilles - ugh! the last few chapters alone were worth it....more
Loading...
