Michael Smith > Recent Status Updates

Carol Berg should be one of the biggest names in fantasy. This book is absolutely incredible! I spent years thinking maybe I had exaggerated her brilliance. Coming back to her, I think I underrated her.

This book is stunning

Fans of Robin Hobb's masterpiece The Realm Of The Elderlings, and the soon to be classic Dragon Mage by ML Spencer take note:

Carol Berg will satisfy your needs for more dragonlore and heartfelt adventure and test your limits of how much you can stand bad things happening to good people. This is my first read of this book in a long time, and I can't fault it still.

I'm not even 60 pages in, and I think this is the greatest book I've read so far this year.

I love, love, love this book. The best novel yet? I think so!

A lot of this book feels...like padding. I'm liking it but at this point in any series, I wish for it to feel, I don't know, swifter? For all the complaints that Jordan wrote a slump and the praise that Sanderson improved things drastically, I'm going to be honest: this feels like a return to the slightly dull days of books 8-10.

So far, possibly in my bottom four books of the entire series. Still good though.

I just keep finding myself getting more and more enchanted by this book.

Not going to lie, the first half of this book drags. How can we be so close to the end, and yet it all unfolds like a middle volume? I can sense something magnificent building here, and whilst I feel a tiny bit let down by this book after the near flawless The Gathering Storm, I can't help but care so deeply and intimately for these characters, and enjoy it for what it is.

I stopped reading this earlier this year, certain that I needed to first read The Bane Chronicles and Tales From Shadowhunter Academy.

I was right. Reading it from the start after those two really helps this book come alive. Cassandra Clare has her detractors, her flaws too. But the writing here shows so much improvement. Watching her skill as a writer and storyteller grow book after book after book has been fun!

Okay, so I think I'm now starting to love this book. Quentin examining and critiquing his favourite childhood books, stories that kept him sane and he immersed himself in to escape into and love, really hit this once lonely book nerd in the heart.

I could be wrong, but I'm certain this may be one of this year's biggest surprises.

This is good.

This is very readable, addictive even. But I'm not immediately drawn to it like some readers; a lot here feels very derivative of other classic fantasy works. Knowing it's valued as something of a modern classic, it's already feeling very dated (it only came out in 2009).

However, I can't put it down, and I like that the characters aren't immediately likeable, but instantly relatable. Definite potential here.

I really enjoyed the first book. Didn't take long to get swept into this one either.

My being burned out on epic fantasy and all is fine, if I can continue just having fun with books like this.