A Reaper at the Gates [Jun 12, 2018]

[Miche]

Mayim wrote: "I have finished. Very mediocre, very predictable. Also, I hate the prophecy-driven books, they take all the agency from individual characters."

I don't mind prophecy-driven books, but this one didn't work well for me. I liked the book a bit more than you did, but I agree that it was very predictable.

This was another case of a series stretched too thin to make extra books. :(

[Miche]

Tammie wrote: "I finished this last night. [spoilers removed]

The way it ends makes me wish I could read the next book right away."

The end was good and it moved the story to an interesting spot. The next book has a good potential as there are great threads leading to it (view spoiler)[(the jinn; Keri's end goal; the Soul Catcher vs the jinn, etc). (hide spoiler)]

I will keep my expectations low for the next one. Maybe I will be able to enjoy it more.

[Mayim]

Exactly! I had identical impression! (I took on star extra for the hideous cover ;p)

[Miche]

Mayim wrote: "Exactly! I had identical impression! (I took on star extra for the hideous cover ;p)"

Don't you like the Assassins Creed rip-off? ;)

I understand why she wanted to update the cover and I agree that representation is important. The poses and the background was the "what were they thinking" part for me.

[Tammie]

I didn't like the cover either. The cover for the first book was so much better.

[Mayim]

Miche wrote: "Mayim wrote: "Exactly! I had identical impression! (I took on star extra for the hideous cover ;p)"

Don't you like the Assassins Creed rip-off? ;)

I understand why she wanted to update the cover ..."

The thing is, she didn't get these sentiments halfway through the series so really for me this is yet another sign of disrespect for her readers.

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

It feels weird being the one who is actually enjoying a book that's getting ripped. I'm usually the ripper not the rippee! :)

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

I think there's two constants allowing my continued enjoyment of the series. One, she makes me feel for the characters. Two, there's some grimdark scenes which keep it real.

I do have to agree on the cover. I don't know why they moved away from the motif of the first two books. They were simple, elegant and a little different.

[Miche]

According to her, the cover change was going to happen anyways. It was a decision of the publishing house. Once that was decided, she pushed to have more representation with the a South Asian girl and a Middle Eastern man featured prominently.

"Hey there. So authors don’t decide cover changes. Publishing houses do. They do this for many reasons, but the most common is trying to reach a new audience. (That’s also why you almost never see a book that’s being made into a movie or show with the original book cover–the studios want to reach more people.)

I am lucky in that I can give my ideas, which I did in this case. The cover change had been something I knew was likely coming. We’d all been considering it for a while, but the publishing house made the final decision. And actually? I was happy that decision was made. Because I cannot tell you HOW MANY kids have asked me why my characters aren’t on the cover, and if it’s because they are brown. When the decision became final, my focus was on pushing for POC rep.

I 100% get that people want their books to match. And you know, if you don’t like the covers, I get that. (Though I am glad that you do, anon!) Some people don’t like people on their covers. Or they don’t like the style or the font or layout or whatever. These are definitely Assassin’s Creed inspired (I love me some AC) and some people didn’t like that, either. Or they don’t like the colors. Everyone is entitle to their own opinion.

But I do believe if your main gripe is that your books won’t match, it’s important to see a bigger picture. The cover change was going to happen. And as a result, we have book covers where there is a beautiful South Asian girl and a beautiful Middle Eastern man featured prominently.

I believe that representation is a thousand times more important than matching book covers.

I know there are kids out there to whom matching book covers matter a LOT, and they can’t afford to go out and buy new books. My suggestion is, when you get pissed about it, think about all the brown kids who are going to see themselves on an ya fantasy. Think of how much it means to them. And ask yourself which is more important. :) :) :)"

Cover change reason as per the author

[Miche]

Scott wrote: "It feels weird being the one who is actually enjoying a book that's getting ripped. I'm usually the ripper not the rippee! :)"

I saw what you did there! ;)

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Miche wrote: "Scott wrote: "It feels weird being the one who is actually enjoying a book that's getting ripped. I'm usually the ripper not the rippee! :)"

I saw what you did there! ;)"

:)

Thanks for the author update.

Through 39, boy the author got me with this one. What a brutal chapter and I never saw that coming.

(view spoiler)[OMG Keris keeping Cook around to break her when all along it was her mother. Terrific stuff. Looking back to book one it was so well setup. What a choice for a parent to make in that situation. I would have found a way to kill myself as well. (hide spoiler)]

If this ends well it might be another 5* from me. The pain of the characters still just draws it out for me.

[Miche]

Scott wrote: "Thanks for the author update.

Through 39, boy the author got me with this one. What a brutal chapter and I never saw that coming.

(view spoiler)

If this ends well it might be another 5* from me. The pain of the characters still just draws it out for me.
"

That one surprised me too. But after I read it, I thought : "how didn't I notice this before?"

If you are enjoying it up to this point, you will love the end. :)

[[deleted user]]

I get to meet her. I’ll be getting a signed copy then!

[Miche]

Slytherpuff wrote: "I get to meet her. I’ll be getting a signed copy then!"

Awesome! She seems to be really nice. :)

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Miche wrote: "I thought : "how didn't I notice this before?"."

I'm usually pretty good at picking these out and I was shocked I didn't read the tea leaves on this one.

[Tammie]

Scott wrote: "Through 39, boy the author got me with this one. What a brutal chapter and I never saw that coming.

(view spoiler)

If this ends well it might be another 5* from me. The pain of the characters still just draws it out for me."

I didn't see that coming either! I'm not typically a fan of grimdark, but this is one series that I can read despite there being some grimdark aspects to it. I agree with you Scott that the characters and everything that they are going through is what is keeping me reading as well. I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 like the first two books because I didn't like it quite as much as the first two. But I thought this one was still really good.

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

I'm done. Minus the cover and a few minor quibbles I love it. There were no revelations for me at the end. I had things such as the augers origins figured out. I really loved (view spoiler)[the idea of the two brothers walking into the beyond holding hands with a happy memory, their pain gone and turning back into the innocence of youth. (hide spoiler)]

[Miche]

It is so weird to see you giving 5 stars to a book I gave 3. Normally it would be the opposite. :)

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Miche wrote: "It is so weird to see you giving 5 stars to a book I gave 3. Normally it would be the opposite. :)"

Yes I'm typically a hard grader but something about her writing makes me empathetic.

You do have some lower ratings for other books such as LPQ and Malazan Empire.

[Miche]

I am an emotional reader. If the author doesn't stir my emotions, I drop one star automatically.

LPQ the problem was Maati. I found very hard to connect with him after the first book.

With Malazan Empire so far ICE hasn't made me feel for most of the characters. People die and I don't even care. Maybe Erikson drained my heart already. ;)

[Tammie]

Scott wrote: "I'm done. Minus the cover and a few minor quibbles I love it. There were no revelations for me at the end. I had things such as the augers origins figured out. I really loved [spoilers removed]"

I enjoyed that scene as well.

[Scott , Karsa Orlong]

Miche wrote: "I am an emotional reader. If the author doesn't stir my emotions, I drop one star automatically.

LPQ the problem was Maati. I found very hard to connect with him after the first book.

With Malaz..."

I'm surprised this book didn't stir your emotions. I generally am the same although there are exceptions.

LPQ and Beyond Redemption the uniqueness of the world was just so good it couldn't be denied for me. I'm reading A Man of Shadows and the characters are almost unimportant. They are portals into the world. Children of Time again just so damn unique the characters were made up for.

BUT it takes a truly unique book such as those to pull it off.

[Miche]

Scott wrote: "'I'm surprised this book didn't stir your emotions. I generally am the same although there are exceptions"

Laia and Elias irritated me throughout most of this book, with their actions yelling "ya main character throwing a tantrum". On the previous books both were paired with other characters that made their actions bearable: Laia with Izzy and Elias with Helene. At this book they were just making one stupid mistake after another. It gets hard for me to like characters like that.

Helene and the Nightbringer were the only povs I connected with. Elias at the end got interesting.

I hope the next installment will grip my attention as the first two books did.