jpsjps's reviews
43 reviews

This is going to be a long one.

I think I’m done with this series, at least for a long time. This book was very frustrating. There were elements I loved, but by the last third of the book I just started hate reading.

I hated Hadrian in this book. He was young and naive in the first book, but he was at least a little sympathetic. The biggest problem I had was Hadrian’s moral outrage at anything slightly different or mechanical. There were paragraphs after paragraphs about how disgusted he was by the interesting new things he came across. It sucks because I really liked the actual world, but his constant negative and repetitive reactions to it were unbearable.

Also, he just is an asshole. It’s pretty bad when every argument he has I’m always rooting for the other side, because Hadrian comes off as a whiny brat who wants to do what he wants no matter what. I worry that Hadrian is being set up to be a special little boy who is the chosen one and the ending solidified that thought. I also noticed that most characters don’t give him a hard time, in fact it feels like their sucking him off because he’s just so handsome and smart. It would help if Hadrian, the narrator, commented or disavowed his younger self, but he’s too busy smelling his philosophical farts and then wafting them in our face.

The writing was way too flowery, usually was pointless and did not go anywhere. If I read the word disquiet one more time I’m going to tear out my eyeballs. Anytime old Hadrian started meandering in his narration I groaned and prepared for him to jerk his brain off onto the page. The constant references to classic literature were also too much. We get it you’ve read Dante’s Inferno.

Petty shit incoming
I’m not one to disregard art because of politics, so these gripes are just things I noticed and don’t influence my score. I had enough problems with the writing and narration style to begin with.

I don’t know the author as a person, so take this with a grain of salt. Something felt off in this book that wasn’t present in the first. I have just come off “The Lesser Devil” so I read the blurb before hand stating that Ruocchio was a Catholic and thought cool you don’t see many religious fantasy/science fiction authors. I was glad it didn’t bleed into the first book and there were even a bunch of gay characters! Then I read the story. 

It featured a group of heroic Catholics that were real cool and smart and they saved the day. It was pretty eye rolling, but the story was decent and it was self publishing, so who cares? Then I started reading Howling Dark. I started to notice that Hadrian started referencing Christianity way more than the first book. I looked into it and found out that the author reconverted towards the end of writing the first book, then it all made sense.

I thought the sequence was cool, but  it didn’t help that the Painted Man was an evil, effeminate extrasolarian in makeup that flirted with Hadrian. It felt like a weird dig at drag queens. Also, was weird that Hadrian kept calling them it. That’s another thing why does Hadrian get so upset when people call the Cielcins anything other than it. I know they are aliens, but it comes off as a weird dog whistle.  Not to mention that paragraph were Hadrian disavows sex changes for some reason? 

I got to bring up poor Switch, the good gay, who got shafted in this book for doing the same thing that Hadrian did to Jinan. I’m being conspiratorial here, but it felt like now that he’s Catholic he’s got to write out the sympathetic gay character. He didn’t even introduce any other gay characters (who weren’t disgusting monsters, Hadrian’s words not mine), which I found especially weird because there were so many in the first book. Also, don’t reference Jordan fucking Peterson in a sci-fi book.

Time to get off my soapbox, I might be completely off base here, but too much shit lined up. I might pick this series up again, but I doubt it. I hated my reading experience towards the end and contemplating DNFing a few times, but I powered through. I think I’m going to do a reread of the first law series to get this taste out of my mouth.

Really good conclusions to all the characters. This book does benefit from multiple readings, as the story can get confusing. The biggest problem I had was the formatting. I did not like the constant jumping back and forth between characters and time. If I do a third reread, I think I will attempt to read the series in chronological order.

Not as good as A Study in Scarlet, but still pretty good. The structure was tighter and there were a lot of fun moments, but I did not enjoy the mystery as much. Also, the book was extremely racist at times. Still had a good time reading and I’ve heard that the stories only get better from here.

What a good read. Like most people I’m familiar with the character of Sherlock Holmes, but I’ve never read the books. The first story did not disappoint. I liked how whimsical the the first half was and am glad it was told from the perspective of Watson. 

I don’t know how I feel structurally about the the detour the second half takes. I liked the section and it did show the murderer’a motive, but its position in the story felt just a tad awkward.

I was worried this book might be dated, but it was assuredly not. I did not have to look up many words and the prose flowed wonderfully.

Enjoyed it. Something that stopped me from loving it was the Catholic aspect was extremely heavy handed for a sci-fi story. The worst part was when a character implied that the crusades were good and necessary. Another problem I had was the constant mentions of Hadrian. They felt unnecessary and while I didn’t expect his name to be excluded, it was a bit much.

Besides that, there was some exciting action and good narration. You could tell that Hadrian wasn’t the one writing this story. I liked Kyra’s return and there was some interesting world building. I just hope I’m not going to be smashed over the head with a bible as the series continues.

Decent start to a series. I had some problems. There were some striking similarities to Dune, mostly in the beginning. Though I will say the book felt like it was finding its voice later on. Some of the early sections felt unnecessary in the long run, but I did not hate them. Lastly, I’m not a fan of the form of self spoiling narration and would of preferred Hadrian’s insights of the future to be more vague.

I did like the prose, they were on the verge of being purple, but did not go to far. My favorite thing about the book was the world building. I enjoyed it quite a bit and based on the ending, I expect it to grow a lot in scale. While I’m not a fan of people saying this about first books, this felt like a setup for the rest of the series. I liked this book enough that I want to see where it goes.

I feel weird continuously giving five stars to this series, but they have all been so good. The White Rose fits behind Shadows Linger as my second favorite so far. 

I enjoyed the mystery of the first half and the three different POV characters. The ending was incredible, I was glued to the page for the last third of the book. 

Darling and the Lady are the stars here, not surprisingly. I liked seeing Darling take a leadership role and Croaker and the Lady’s relationship was weird but enjoyable.

I know the series continues and I’m curious as to where, but this was the perfect ending to the first arc. 

Reread

Dang this book is so much better on a reread. On my first read, I would have given it a three or three and a half, but it was much easier to digest this time around. 

This book moves much slower than the first book, but I think it works for this type of story. The main problem I have is that the middle is a little too slow. I like Control and I feel for him as he’s pushed and pulled through the plot.

Not much else to say without getting into theories and speculating. Also, that one scene with Whitby is still one of the most terrifying things I’ve read.

What a disappointment. I feel bad because I know Gwynne went through a tragedy while writing this book, but that ending stunk.

The whole back half of this book felt extremely rushed. There were so many similar action scenes back to back, that my eyes glazed over and it all turned to mush. 

Surprisingly, Elvar went from my least favorite POV character to my favorite. I think this is because everyone else became just so bland. I also hated that at least five different characters arcs ended in “VENGEANCE IS GOOD. KILL KILL KILL.” It is so bad that not one, but two different children are taught this lesson. 

Then it ends with them saying it’s time to live a peaceful life, and in my head I’m just like “You guys are psychopaths!” It reminded me of the ending of a hilarious B-movie called “Miami Connection.”

It just sucks cause the first half of the book is of the same quality as the rest of the series, and then the last 200 pages take a nosedive. Damn.

Reread after Absolution

Hands down the best in the series. While a very good sci-fi horror book, Annihilation excels as a character study. The biologist is such an interesting character. The pacing here is great, switching between the biologist’s time in Area X and her recalling her past.

Southern Reach is not as present in Annihilation as it is in the other books, but there is a glimpse in the form of the psychiatrist.

Doing a reread is great because I’m picking up on a lot of things I missed. Knowing who Saul Evans and the Psychiatrist are cast the book in a new light.

The best part of this book is that it does not spell anything out for you. This is a theme that stays throughout the series. Do not expect to fully understand things. But, rereads and the rest of the series will help.