3.5 stars. I'm not sure if I like this one better or worse than the last. Glad he got "his" song back but it's not the same (both the song and the sto3.5 stars. I'm not sure if I like this one better or worse than the last. Glad he got "his" song back but it's not the same (both the song and the story). Nothing has come close to equaling the very first book Bloodsong. I would argue that this duology is better than Queen of Fire in someways and maybe Tower Lord too though I didn't mind that one so much. Half the reason these feel better is that they aren't such a huge let down coming off of Bloodsong. We've had time and 2 books to reset our expectations. Combine that with Queen of Fire suffering more for being the conclusion to a trilogy and endings are notoriously difficult to do well especially when you've built up so much gravitas and mystery and mythology and weight over the 2 previous books.
spoilers for Queen of Fire: (view spoiler)[ Just as an example I thought the battle in the North was kind of anticlimactic. That people had his painting in a cave for hundreds of years and his coming representing this apocalyptic time of war/chaos (so much so that one old man apparently commits suicide just to avoid it?) and then it's 1 battle? A bad one sure, but as far as those people are concerned it's over, they had/have nothing to do with the rest of the war destroying Volar.
I felt equally let down with the final solution to the Enemy. I can't even remember the exact explanation, but Erlis got "infected" purposely and then was forced to touch the stone iirc, and somehow Weaver was essential and becomes even more powerful because he takes Erlis' immortality etc. Just weird and felt contrived.
3.5 stars. Still better than the first 2 or 3 books imo but definitely feels a little awkward in pacing and some tone. Conjuritis really? And it's a g3.5 stars. Still better than the first 2 or 3 books imo but definitely feels a little awkward in pacing and some tone. Conjuritis really? And it's a good thing Battle Ground is coming out only 2.5 months later, because this does feel like half a story arc and semi-cliffhanger....more
It's not a bad story but it really doesn't live up to the quality of the show or the movie. In addition, there are several mistakes in it which is kinIt's not a bad story but it really doesn't live up to the quality of the show or the movie. In addition, there are several mistakes in it which is kind of sad for such a professional nicely made book.
For example on the 2nd page:
"... and Jayne hasn't tried to sell 'em out since we got those medical supplies on Osiris, so that's a plus."
It was Ariel and the episodes *name* was Ariel. How does that mistake slip through between the author, the story concept creator and Joss Whedon as a consulting editor? For the record they correctly say Ariel later in the book iirc.
Other mistakes are grammatical, and I'm not talking about the non-standard Firefly lingo where they play fast and loose with conjugations and leaving words out etc.
page 177:
"... I would surely love to someone to tell me..."
There were a few other similar mistakes but it's been a couple weeks since I read it and I'm too lazy to find them again.
page 197:
"A map of the 'verse and its plethora of suns, moons and planets appeared..."
This one is an example of an inconsistency with the show and movie and it shows up several times in the book. In the show and the movie they constantly refer to the "inner" and "outer" planets. In the opening scene of the movie, they say humans "found a system with dozens of planets and hundreds of moons". A system, as in a star system, like the solar system with a single star. Yes there binary star systems and such but they're extremely rare and not conducive to stable livable planets iirc. And if they had the ability to travel *between* star systems fast enough to be practical (ie days or weeks or even months) then they never would have had to abandon Earth. They would have started colonizing new systems and Earth would just be like Europe was when they started colonizing the "New World" aka the America's, maintaining political and economic ties.
The whole point of having to find a perfect system was that they would be committing to that system for the future of humanity. They didn't and don't have FTL drives, the ships they took were generation ships, where people were born grew old and probably died before reaching the new system....more
**spoiler alert** Well it took me forever to finish this book. I blew through the first few books of the series (especially the short story collection**spoiler alert** Well it took me forever to finish this book. I blew through the first few books of the series (especially the short story collections) but the last 2-3 got more and more of a slog. The Plot just seemed to meander with no real direction or goal, jumping around and going on long tangents with random characters as a method of larger exposition. Basically as the series goes on, it's less and less about the Witcher, the character I (and maybe most readers?) actually care about and more and more about Ciri and the wider world/history/mythology/conflict. At least her feud with Bonhart was interesting but it didn't fill much of her pages.
(view spoiler)[ And such an unsatisfying and depressing ending seriously, makes the last 2 books or so really feel pointless. (hide spoiler)]
I don't know if I'll ever read the Season of Storms, but probably not. I've never played the games but from what I've heard their plot is very different, and no wonder. I hope Netflix does their own thing and judging from the first season, I think they will take it a different direction than both the novels and the games....more
Sadly, I don't think it's gotten any better in the 2 years since this book was published. If anything it's gotten worse and the mental disease of "safSadly, I don't think it's gotten any better in the 2 years since this book was published. If anything it's gotten worse and the mental disease of "safety first"/"safetyism" and its consequence, learned helplessness, is more apparent than ever during this pandemic.
I did not actually finish this book. I think I made it a little over halfway, maybe 2/3. It has all the problems of the first book and more. Even moreI did not actually finish this book. I think I made it a little over halfway, maybe 2/3. It has all the problems of the first book and more. Even more completely unnecessary character weirdness and while I was intrigued by mystery of the why's and how's of the world and it's history, it wasn't nearly enough to make me finish the book, let alone the next one....more
The history and world building and "magic" system are interesting but the characters are mediocre at best, not to mention overly weird.
An even bigger The history and world building and "magic" system are interesting but the characters are mediocre at best, not to mention overly weird.
An even bigger issue than that is the writing style. It's the oddest thing I've ever seen. I don't think I've ever seen/read a book in this style before. It switches between 2nd person (which I've never seen before on it's own) and this strange awkward conversational tone that seems to shift between all 3 view points, 3rd, 2nd and 1st person. It's a really annoying style that distracts from the story and serves no real purpose.
If It were written in a more normal style (even with the non-linear narrative, I'm fine with that), I'd give it at least 3 stars. If it didn't have the other problems but still used this stupid style, I'd also give it 3, maybe 2.5....more
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