Warlord Reviews

I have similar feelings to this one as I had to Wicked Lovely. I found the characters interesting, well motivated, and the plot zipped right along.

Though the characters were interesting to read about, I admit, I didn’t like them very much. (Well, I liked the MHG. I always like the MHG.) The first thing Kaye does in the book is put a cigarette butt in her mom’s beer. EW. Which kind of set my attitude toward her for the rest of the book. Most of the time she was pretty clever about things, but there was that, and the time her friends said “please don’t do this because it’s important for our well-being” and she immediately went home and did it on a whim.

It’s probably just be me not really understanding the rebellious teenager characters. But she was consistently rebellious, which was good, since a lot of times it seems they kind of wuss out partway through. And she had lots of wonderfully described setting. If I ever go — I forgot the town’s name, but — there, I will be sure to wear a haz-mat suit.

This was an enjoyable book. I’d recommend it to anyone in the mood for a light, fast read.

Yes.

Ten yeses.

I got this one a while ago after hearing how great it was from a billion different people, but only recently got around to reading it. (Like I do.) I loved the easy to read prose, the villains were funny in their unfailingly evil way, and the main characters were so huggable. I don’t think there was anything that didn’t work for me here.

I was nervous after the end — I was afraid our hero wasn’t going to have learned anything — but then he proved he did, and I was very relieved. The book feels done, but it also feels like there could be more adventures one day. And I definitely want to know more about London Below.

Did I mention yes yet? Yes.

I got this one to expose myself to more urban fantasy and see what was out there besides the stuff I knew about. When I was trying to decide which book to get by this author, I kept seeing the “Author of…” on them all and tried to figure out if they were part of a series. I’m still not sure whether I managed to get a singleton or a book in the middle of a series or what, but it stood up by itself well enough.

What I’m mostly taking away from this book is, Oooh, pretty words. Because the writing is gorgeous and twisty like reading a melody. The grounding details are perfect and sharp, and she makes scenes come alive. Every time I picked up this book, I felt like I was drowning in how real it was.

However. (There’s always a however.) I’m still not sure about all the things that happened. I felt the narrator was being coy about what was going on in the story, using lots of POVs to draw out the tension I couldn’t really understand until the end…because no one ever told the main character what was going on and the other POVs didn’t think too hard on it. By the end it comes together and makes sense, but I was pretty frustrated for motivations a good bit of the book. Could be a personal thing.

I’m glad we got Nikki’s POV most of the way through. I liked her. I think she was the only character I really liked. The others were interesting and did lots of neat things, but Nikki was just a girl thrown into a war she didn’t understand. I understood her motivations, her desires and goals, and she was very sympathetic because people kept expecting things of her…and she had no idea how to give them, or whether she even should.

So, I liked it. I’m glad I read it. It’s a little dark for my taste, but it was definitely an interesting read.

Another one the Big M suggested, and who am I to deny her?

This was a quick read (it only looks huge, but the font is pretty big, at least in my copy), and there were lots of cute moments that had me smiling. I can see why it was so popular: it’s accessible, and fulfills a lot of romantic notions about vampires. “Good” vampire struggling against his nature, and the Plain Jane girl holding his attention when more beautiful girls couldn’t. (I’m not sure she really was One Of Us, though. She had like five guys begging for her time for a good bit of the book!) This is…a comfortable book.

I mean, some bad things happen, but there are good bad guys and they’ll help save you from the bad bad guys. There’s the hot guy you shouldn’t be with and you both know it, but love conquerers all and makes it okay. It’s comforting, because in reality, your hot vampires boyfriend would probably just have himself a nice long drink, but in this story, he’ll be a gentleman. (Anyway, the book is YA. There probably shouldn’t be nomming of the MC by her boyfriend. Others may attempt to injure her, but the boyfriend must remain good. Good-bad.)

So, I get it. I understand why this book was wildly popular. It’s a safe vampire novel, and it’s a safe fantasy novel for people who’re nervous about fantasy being too weird.

I’ll admit. I kept reading for the romance. I’m a sucker for angst and smoochies. I had a couple gripes as I was going, but it was, overall, a nice story. So, I’d say this is another yeah. A why-not? book. Because, in spite of its 500 pages, Twilight is a fast book, and worth reading, at least to know what the rest of the world is talking about.

The Big M recommended Briggs as a good Urban Fantasy read. And she was right!

The world in this book was fully built, filled with lots of intriguing people and conflicts that weren’t necessarily solved in this story. There’s clearly more story. (Which makes sense, since I’ve seen at least two other books in this series.) I liked that the main character was a chick mechanic, and that she had such a clear understanding of the power struggles around her.

(The cover kind of makes me laugh, though. It’s clearly trying to market this book as a butt-kicking chick in leather book, but I can’t imagine why a mechanic would wear something that showed so much skin — I mean, ow! The main character seemed way too practical to wear a skimpy tie-together-and-show-cleavage shirt while working on cars. Sigh.)

I also really liked how you never knew what was going on exactly. There were lots of things that could have been happening, but– oh no, there’s that one other thing that doesn’t quite make sense. It really was a clever plot, especially the last half, which was a lot more actiony than the first.

A couple of very minor gripes: there was lots of repeaty information, and the resolution was forever. (Why yes, I am the girl who thinks that five pages of resolution is plenty. More than plenty!) But, like I said, those are minor gripes. The book was entertaining and quick, and even though I’m not a werewolf book kind of girl, I’ll probably pick up the next one at some point. I’m more interested in reading some of Briggs’ secondworld fantasy. (I remember reading one a long time ago, and I liked it, but it was a long time ago.)

So, yeah. This wasn’t a big giant yes for me, but it was a yeah. It was enjoyable.

Well golly. I’ve been saving Robin’s books, trying to make the ones I haven’t read last, so that when I need something I know I’ll love, I can have it.

I think I hurt my face smiling so much while reading this book. Clever lines everywhere, characters I love, and even when I could tell what she was going to do, she still managed to surprise me about it. All the hints were there; I loved all the smart foreshadowing and the sense of awe and strange order of the world. Kat, Rosie, Aunt, and all the other characters were just darling. I want to hug them.

This feels like one of those books…when I reread it, I’ll find more layers and things I didn’t see. It’s like those pictures where you see more animals peeking out the more you look. (Much like the cover of this book, or Wildwood Dancing.)

Spindle’s End is a yes. A big, giant yes.

(Although it did make a little nervous, learning how to spindle spin and reading this book at the same time. I managed not to fall into enchanted sleep, thank goodness!)

Final book in the Obsidian Chronicles.

And I liked this one a lot more than the middle one. This was was nice and plotty with plenty of neat revelations to keep me interested when the plot slowed down. The first was probably the best of the three, but it was worth it to read all the way through to find out what happened.

I really, really liked all the southern magic with wizards and the leech-god. I thought all that was fascinating. I also loved the way everything grew even more complicated, but the main character kept trying to find a third option when only presented with two — both equally undesirable.

The thing that kept bothering me through this book and the last book was the repeaty. Motivations were repeated several times, and I was often reminded of plot points that happened just in the last chapter. It seemed like these parts of the novel were written for skimmers. Not being a skimmer myself, I found it more irritating than helpful. I even tried to skim over paragraphs I knew were going to be repeaty, but failed utterly.

The other thing that irritated me — although there’s a reason for it — was the main character. He…wasn’t always a nice person. Well, okay, I don’t require characters be nice, but I do like identifying with them. The main character of this trilogy was obsessed with revenge, which I get and makes sense, but he did a lot of things I was totally squicked about in the name of that revenge. The animals made me sad, and then what he decided in regards to his friend’s unborn child. It freaked me out that he was even thinking about it, and then he did it.

I can understand why and how he came to that decision. Still, in light of what he’d done to the animals, I was pretty surprised he’d even consider it. Once it happened, I figured out what was going on and what they’d made, but… Well, I can understand that he had issues and there were problems with what he’d become in the first book*, so he wasn’t exactly thinking about his friends’ feelings. But I sympathized with his friends a lot more than I did with him.

However, I think it was only because of his closed-heartedness that he could have the courage and even the ideas to do the things he did. Which did cause huge problems, but did a lot to make the world better, too. A character who wasn’t in his more-or-less unique situation wouldn’t have been able to accomplish what he did. So I kind of liked that, even while I wanted to throw things at the main character.

Overall, I’d recommend this trilogy. It’s fun and full of neat worldbuilding. The first and third are better than the second, but it’s worth it to go ahead and read all three. I mean, why not? Some important things happen. The first one remains my favorite, though.

*trying to avoid spoilers in all things…

This was an enjoyable book; the writing style is easy to get into and doesn’t leave me staring at a sentence and wondering what it’s trying to say. That’s something I always appreciate.

However, this book had middle book syndrome for me. There was a lot of planning and reminding of motivations when I was hoping for more plotty fun — like the first one had. Some neat things did happen in this book, but I was hoping for more.

I’m definitely looking forward to the final book, though. I have been assured my questions will be answered and there’s lots of plot. So I’ll start that immediately.

Okay, yes. More please.

I got this book a while ago, after reading the sample on Amazon. Of course, since it takes me forever to get around to actually reading anything, and this is a big book…

It’s long, but worth it. ELANTRIS is filled with all kinds of nifty worldbuilding and fun characters. I even liked the bad guys. And it’s so nice to have really clever and powerful characters I’d like to hang out with. Not only are they the world-saving sort, but they’re funny. And the MHG was hideous for most of the book. *grin* The characters were darling. I’d read about them again.

The cover appears to have nothing to do with the book. Except I recognize the one guy’s armor, and I suppose the woman is supposed to be one of the POVs.

I really liked the complex plot; I’ll admit to figuring out the problem with the magic as soon as they mentioned how it was connected to the land–and a couple other plot points–but I think that’s because I sat there reading and trying to figure it out as I went along. And how the author could really mess up life for his characters. He did a good job. Things got worse.

The only thing that kind of bothered me was the POVs. The story is told in rotating POVs — three points of view, one per chapter — but the first time there was a scene with someone’s POV when it wasn’t their turn, I felt betrayed. (I realize this is me being a POV-sensitive wussy. I have POV issues. The first step is admitting you have a problem.) And then… And then there were brand new POVs in chapter sixty. Mr. Sanderson, you have broken my POV heart! I thought I could trust you! (Yeah, I know I have weird issues. The other thing I always keep track of is the timeline; it worked out in ELANTRIS, though. Whew!)

The romance was so sweet. The first time they saw each other, I giggled like a twelve-year-old. And then they kept being so cute together. Yes, the romance is a win.

Overall? Yes. Lots and lots of yes. I have another of Mr. Sanderson’s books — MISTBORN — and I am really looking forward to it now.

Laurel suggested this one. She actually told me the end (I don’t care much about spoilers), but I had lots of time to forget while I took forever getting around to reading it.

I…didn’t really like the main character. He was a selfish jerk with no redeeming qualities I could find. He did all these things I found annoying or downright unlikable, but I kept reading. The world was cool, and gritty, and everything — the main character included — was terribly real.

The aliens we never see were fascinating, as were the humans’ attempts to figure out the technology. I liked all the systems they came up with for exploring, even though some of it seemed really harsh. (Air tax? Ow, harsh. But I suppose they’d need it.)

I was more interested in what happened in the past to mess up this guy so bad, rather than the present with him talking to the computer shrink, and I wish I could have seen the end through the past POV rather than be told about it later. But I shouldn’t complain. For a book that’s several years older than me, it’s still pretty darn good. The science wasn’t too out of date. Though it cracked me up that they were still using cassette tapes.

Would I recommend? Yes, probably.