Hello Humans!
Once again I’m back with mini-reviews – putting together my quick thoughts on books that maybe don’t need a full review dedicated to them!
The Alloy of Law
I really enjoyed this book – love a detective story, love the Mistborn universe, love magic and Victorian technology meeting – yes it was good. As with all Brandon Sanderson books this could have been more gay – but never mind we live in hope.
If you like punchy action scenes and guns-meet-magic kind of worldbuilding I think you’d like this? Is it as good as Seven Blades in Black?…Probably not?
This is how you lose the time war
HOLY FRICK I LIKED THIS NOVELLA.
It was slow to start which I wasn’t expecting because everyone I know RAVED about this from start to finish – so warning if you’re fighting against the hype like I was. It definitely picked up in the latter half, and in the end I was left with a lot of queer feelings. YES YES YES.
Hold Back the Tide
Thankyou for the gift Nikki!
I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one – but I know I’ve enjoyed Mel’s books in the past (State of Sorrow is one of my favourite books). I mostly liked the story of this one – though it’s a bit ‘blink and you’ll miss it’. This book does do the thing that kills my immersion where they’ll use the historically correct term for something (in this case a garment) and because everything else reads ‘normal’ it just kills the immersion for me? That might be down to my lack of expertise when it comes to more historically leaning fiction but it bothered me.
Did enjoy overall but have liked other MS books much more.
The Gorgon’s Gaze
I loved this when I read it as a child – and it was lovely to get to go and have a nostalgic re-read. What I like about this series as a whole is that, while it is clearly focussed on the environment, it always feels honest and genuine. I don’t want to compare it too much with Maximum Ride because obviously, they are completely different books written for completely different audiences but where the environmental focus in MR didn’t make sense and just felt preachy and awkward it instead feels like a genuine call to action. While Middle-Grade readers aren’t able to hop on a magical creature and go into battle this book makes it clear what can be done – it’s empowering and there is also a baby dragon – what more do you want?
Steelheart
Quite the shift from MG to Brandon Sanderson but there you go. I liked this book well enough, I wouldn’t have said it did anything particularly groundbreaking but I like a superhero story and this book had some cool powers and really that’s all I needed it to be. As with all Brandon Sanderson’s work – could be more gay.
Mad Ship
I thought Ship of Magic was miserable and that was just how Robin Hobb’s books felt for me – but this book kind of proved me wrong? I didn’t find this emotionally draining, in fact, I really enjoyed it. Yes things are difficult and there are some truly horrific moments in the book but the overall sense is one of action and adventure which is something I really enjoy. Characters are growing on me and I’ve already picked up the sequel.
Senlin Ascends
I have to agree with some other reviewers on this one, I think the world is extremely creative and the story is interesting. I liked the plot and the references and all-in-all I wanted to love this book but the treatment of women was so BLAH that I can’t really recommend it. I might go on to read later books in this series but at the moment I’m probably going to get them out of the library rather than buy copies to keep.
That’ll do for now, hopefully you won’t mind another set of mini-reviews. I’m trying to dedicate more time to Booktube as that’s where my creative soul is at the moment. Check out Dead Good Book Reviews for more detailed thoughts and feelings!
J
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