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ashurredly's reviews
453 reviews
The Blood Trials by N.E. Davenport
5.0
Overall, I enjoyed this book - it moved fast and Kenna is flawed but in a way that is actually believable. The pacing got a little weird near the end - dropped to very slow at about 60-70% of the way through (where I thought it was actually going to end) and then picked up again for the last ten percent or so.
The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
funny
slow-paced
4.0
I'm reading through the whole Discworld series this year (hopefully). I've read The Color of Magic before and vaguely remembered disliking it. This time around, I liked it better and it was fun to see the roots of the series even if they're a bit rough.
Flash Point by Nancy Kress
3.0
A few spoilers below for the ending.
This was an interesting semi-dystopian novel. It's kind of a strange book, because it involves politics, but isn't really about them. There's major political events going on and lots of discussions of rioting and possible revolution ("Flash Point" refers to a point where something drastic needs to occur or a revolution will break out). But the characters are mostly teenagers affected by a major economic collapse who are now on a reality tv show that follows them everywhere. One of the characters is involved in protests, the others are affected by (and get involuntarily caught up in) the riots, but don't seem to have much opinion about them. The possibility of revolution seems to be dispersed by the end when major legislation is passed, but I don't get a feel from the author about whether this is a good or bad thing and it seems almost irrelevant to the overarching plot. Perhaps this is really a novel about the distraction and frivolousness that is reality tv, which is fine. The characters are interesting, the plot is engaging, and it's a very readable story. A few awkward sentences, but otherwise the writing is good. This is the first thing I've read by Nancy Kress and I'll definitely look for more.
This was an interesting semi-dystopian novel. It's kind of a strange book, because it involves politics, but isn't really about them. There's major political events going on and lots of discussions of rioting and possible revolution ("Flash Point" refers to a point where something drastic needs to occur or a revolution will break out). But the characters are mostly teenagers affected by a major economic collapse who are now on a reality tv show that follows them everywhere. One of the characters is involved in protests, the others are affected by (and get involuntarily caught up in) the riots, but don't seem to have much opinion about them. The possibility of revolution seems to be dispersed by the end when major legislation is passed, but I don't get a feel from the author about whether this is a good or bad thing and it seems almost irrelevant to the overarching plot. Perhaps this is really a novel about the distraction and frivolousness that is reality tv, which is fine. The characters are interesting, the plot is engaging, and it's a very readable story. A few awkward sentences, but otherwise the writing is good. This is the first thing I've read by Nancy Kress and I'll definitely look for more.