The Core [Oct 3, 2018]

[Margret, Caladan Brood Face]

October 2018

[Niki Hawkes, I made it past GOTM... barely]

October 3rd.

[Mayim]

in

[Beste]

I don't dNF so I will wait for someone else to finish and give me feedback. The last book was boring.

[Narilka]

In. I'm planning to start as soon as I finish Skull Throne so may be a couple days late.

[Jessica]

I'm in and starting this one today.

[Jessica]

Alright quick update, I'm about 1/3 of the way in and really enjoying it so far! It's been a bit since I read the other books so I had to read a quick refresher, but otherwise it's been pretty easy sliding back into the story.

[Mayim]

I'll start tomorrow the latest. I don't expect to like it though and I'm reading only for the sake of finishing the series.

[Narilka]

Starting either tonight or tomorrow. I finished up Skull Throne but am feeling like I could use a 24-hour breather.

[Jessica]

Narilka wrote: "Starting either tonight or tomorrow. I finished up Skull Throne but am feeling like I could use a 24-hour breather."

Totally understand, it's been months since I read Skull Throne, I definitely needed a break after. It's a lot of epic darkness to get through.

[Jessica]

Mayim wrote: "I'll start tomorrow the latest. I don't expect to like it though and I'm reading only for the sake of finishing the series."

I had really low expectations for this one, but overall it's not as bad as I was expecting it to be. Though the Abban parts have been rough... and I'm starting to get annoyed with all the babies everywhere.

[Narilka]

I went ahead and started last night. Only read 3 chapters but to your point about babies. (view spoiler)[Good grief. He really wrote in that much detail how Leesha's baby is a hermaphrodite?? I wonder if that point will be relevant later on or just a product of using too much magic during pregnancy. (hide spoiler)]

[Jessica]

Narilka wrote: "I went ahead and started last night. Only read 3 chapters but to your point about babies. [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[Yeah... I'm guessing that it's gotta be all that magic she was using. I am really curious to see how the whole hermaphrodite thing plays out. I feel like it's gotta be relevant later on, or at least I hope it is. There are so many references to Leesha's baby and the sex seems like such a big deal. Curious to see what happens. Though I'm a tiny bit worried that she might turn into some weird super baby and be the real deliverer who some how saves everyone. I hope that doesn't happen though. (hide spoiler)]

[Mayim]

I think he should change his drugs. He is definitely on a weird trip. I am laughing out loud when reading. All is so preposterous.

[Narilka]

I'm in chapter 8. This has been seriously messed up!

[Jessica]

Mayim wrote: "I think he should change his drugs. He is definitely on a weird trip. I am laughing out loud when reading. All is so preposterous."

lol lol how far are you? This one definitely seemed like more of a weird trip than some of the other books in the series.

Narilka wrote: "I'm in chapter 8. This has been seriously messed up!"

Stayed up and finished it last night, some seriously crazy stuff goes down! Curious to hear what you guys think of the ending, it was... interesting

[Narilka]

It's funny how none of the reviews I scanned mention just how bonkers the story is. Unless it switches gears soon and it's only like this in the beginning? Jessica's note about the ending doesn't make me think so.

Screw it. I'm making myself a list :) This is only through ch 9 at the moment.

(view spoiler)[Hermaphrodite baby
Teen orgy
A man biting off another man's dick
A whole "army" of involuntary eunuchs - and they don't seem that upset? Did I miss something???? Rather than kill the guy who did it to them, they have fun by cutting off other guys dicks instead?
Men volunteering to have their dicks cut off in exchange for food
Women being punished by having their noses cut off (hide spoiler)]

[Solseit]

I took my tome to start but I am back on it!
I am about 3 chapters in and I keep being bored to death by Leesha. I wish she would be back to her original character. I really struggle with her at this point.

I was absolutely hyped when I was reading of the party traveling to the core - I comment on it as if they were on holiday.
Let’s see how it finishes!

[Narilka]

I'm in Ch 15 now and we've gotten past the weirdness. As Jessica mentioned above, I may just need to skim Abban's chapters.

[Jessica]

Narilka wrote: "It's funny how none of the reviews I scanned mention just how bonkers the story is. Unless it switches gears soon and it's only like this in the beginning? Jessica's note about the ending doesn't m..."

Haha! The list is awesome! So much weirdness

(view spoiler)[Gah! The eunuch army was nuts... so many gross leaking, pee descriptions. It did seem really weird that they all seemed to fine with it. After spending their entire lives battling demons in the maze and being overall badass, they all just sign up to be eunuchs??? Like shouldn't they have put up more of a fight? (hide spoiler)]

[Narilka]

Jessica wrote: "Haha! The list is awesome! So much weirdness

(view spoiler)"

(view spoiler)[I did an informal poll of some of my male friends about this. They all agreed it was BS, they'd have gone down kicking and screaming and definitely NOT volunteered for castrating. (hide spoiler)]

[Narilka]

I finished. The second half of the book was completely different from the first. The first half was everything that had been annoying me from the series. The second though (view spoiler)[So glad that everyone finally came together at the end. It's basically one non-stop fight, above and below ground, everyone a bad ass. I'm thinking it's probably a 3.5 star book for me. Need to let the story sit some more. (hide spoiler)]

[Jessica]

Narilka wrote: "Jessica wrote: "Haha! The list is awesome! So much weirdness

(view spoiler)"

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[I felt like it was a strong 3 star book also. I was annoyed by the fact that absolutely nothing happened with Leesha's baby, or Renna's baby. All of the babies seemed completely unnecessary to me. All of that could've easily been cut out and the story would've been fine. I definitely could've missed something. I did like how Arlen became some crazy god at the end though and wiped out almost all of them. That was fun. I actually really enjoyed Renna, Arlen, and Jhadir (sp?) at the end. (hide spoiler)]

[Narilka]

Jessica wrote: "Narilka wrote: "Jessica wrote: "Haha! The list is awesome! So much weirdness

(view spoiler)"

[spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[All the babies at the end felt to me like a set up for a new series. The Demon Cycle: TNG! hahaha Otherwise, I agree, they were completely irrelevant to the story. So was Abban and the Eunuch army. It was rather frustrating having Inevera say how important he was all book and then, nope. If that whole plot thread had been cut it wouldn't have hurt the story one bit.

Basically, the second half of this book is what I was hoping for from the finale. I liked seeing the struggles in the world above when Sharak Ka starts even though it basically meant nothing if Arlen wasn't successful in the hive. The demons would have won if Arlen hadn't been willing to sacrifice himself at the end. He basically was a god for a few minutes there at the end. And I think they settled who was the actual Deliverer :)

It also gave me a sense that this is just a small portion of the world. I'm sure there are still demon hives out there. Just not in Thesa any more.

I'm sure Brett's not done writing. Not sure I'll rush out to buy anything else by him though. I'll let others read and review first :) (hide spoiler)]

Here's my review of The Core if you're curious https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

[Jessica]

Narilka wrote: "Jessica wrote: "Narilka wrote: "Jessica wrote: "Haha! The list is awesome! So much weirdness

Thanks for sharing your review! That's pretty much how I felt about it also. Beginning was interesting, middle was all over the place from meh to wtf?! and the end was good.

(view spoiler)[I didn't even think about the fact that all the babies playing together at the end was probably just a set up for a new series. That would make a lot of the random baby stories make more sense if he's planning on continuing the story.

And the Eunuch army... ugh... Abban had pretty much zero importance to anything. I kept waiting for something even remotely interesting to come out of that and there was nothing. Unless it's just a set up for the next series and that's where Abban becomes important... I doubt it though. So much torture and grossness for him just to be returned home. There didn't seem to be any point in it.

I did really enjoy how Arlen was able to take out the hive at the end. I was kind of afraid that somehow Renna's or Leesha's baby would end up being the Deliverer and pull some weird super baby moves and save everyone. I was really, really happy when none of that happened lol (hide spoiler)]

[Narilka]

OMG, that would've been awful! I'm glad that didn't happen too LOL