2014 Group Read discussions: The Thousand Names * Finished reading / What did you think?

[Brenda ╰☆╮]

How did you like The Thousand Names?

[Em Lost In Books]

Read it last year. Found myself dragging through the first half but second half was much better.

[DavidO]

Woot! Finished. Much more militaristic than the Powder Mage trilogy.

I liked the book, but had one lingering question. How ugly is Winter than she can pass as a man for years?

[carol.]

I assumed androgynous more than 'ugly.' And perhaps it was a cultural thing: skirts=female.

[Luke]

I loved it. I agree that the second half did more for me. It actually almost felt like two completely seperate books with the first ending with the victory over the auxiliaries.

[carol.]

I'm not at all oriented towards military fantasy, but that said, Wexler did a nice job making me care. He had an interesting variety of engagements as well, which to me as a non-fan of the genre, kept my interest. Characterization was decent as well. My biggest concern was the way the majority of magical elements played out at the ending--it almost felt like a different story.

[Luke]

Carol. [All cynic, all the time] wrote: "I'm not at all oriented towards military fantasy, but that said, Wexler did a nice job making me care. He had an interesting variety of engagements as well, which to me as a non-fan of the genre, k..."

The whole green eyed "demons" (read as zombies) thing threw me off really hard. It broke the entire feeling for me, but the consecutive battle between the... what do I call them? Demon wielders? That fight scene was pretty cool and was much more akin to the feeling of the book.

Going back to the battle scenes, he did an awesome job with those. I've seen authors go too heavy on the strategy and the numbers and lose a lot of readers. Wexler perfectly split it down the middle. Enough strategy for people like me, and not too much for non-military fans.

[carol.]

Really, it is an awesome first book. If you read my review, I split my star rating partly because of the 'personal enjoyment factor.'

[Luke]

The GR 5 star rating system is horribly flawed, imho. I often split my ratings as well since I can usually appreciate skill even if something didn't quite work for me personally, and conversely I do realize when I'm starting to go googly eyed over an author above and beyond his actual skill level.

This was one of those that I probably enjoyed more than the book quite warranted, but it's still a very good book.

[DavidO]

Luke wrote: "The GR 5 star rating system is horribly flawed, imho. "

Agreed. I wish there was one rating for how much you enjoyed it and another for it's quality. Sometimes I end up rating a book low because it wasn't something I'd enjoy even if it were a great example of its genre.

[Luke]

DavidO wrote: "Agreed. I wish there was one rating for how much you enjoyed it and another for it's quality. Sometimes I end up rating a book ..."

Not only that, but with 5 stars I end up having to clump books together rating wise that I wouldn't normally. Take The Blade Itself and Alloy of Law for example. They both get the same rating, but for completely different reasons. 3 stars could technically mean anything from 50-70% satisfaction rating (2.5-3.5 stars).

[Brinn]

First book by Django Wexler that I've read. I like his style and the method of two protagonists in this book. I can get caught up in the military action and I think I met Winter in the Navy. We all swore there was something about the radioman, but don't ask don't tell.

[Sabrina]

I really enjoyed the story, despite the slow beginning. I did skim, but only twice when the description of the military maneuvering was a little too drawn out. I really love the characters and hated that the story ended. I will definitely be reading book 2.

[Daniel]

Carol. [All cynic, all the time] wrote: "I assumed androgynous more than 'ugly.' And perhaps it was a cultural thing: skirts=female."

That was my idea. I pictured Winter as Androgynous accented by dress. I picture Bobby having a harder time pulling it off for some reason, more feminine.

[Matthew]

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. And I agree, Winter is likely androgynous. I thought the author did a fabulous job developing the characters and the world and I liked the vague parallels to our world-history. The ending was sort of the anticipated ending, how things had to end, although I'm still not entirely sure I trust the leader. I liked how minor a role and power magic plays in the story and I'm excited to read the next book when it comes out.