mqabbadbest's reviews
125 reviews

I really enjoyed this book's story and I liked the way Cornwell writes, specially his battle scenes!

I usually find it difficult to follow battle sequences in books and therefore I find them boring. But in this book, I was hooked from start to finish. How Cornwell describes and writes his battles is extremely entertaining and understandable for the reader.

I also loved how he interwove very slight hints of magic with the Briton religion. Also, the battle for religious supremacy between Christianity and the Briton religion was interesting to see it evolve throughout the book.

Why do I give this book a 3.75 then? Well because other than what I mentioned above the book is pretty lacking in anything else. The most egregious is the World Building. No effort was done on that front, Cornwell just spouted out village and city names and that's it. There is no differentiation between Briton or Saxon or Irish Kingdoms. Every kingdom is just the same with different religions.

Then there is characterisation, where, in my opinion, lies the biggest fault of this book. These characters are one-dimensional except 2. Arthur and Derfel have some different qualities other than there most prominent but other male characters are pretty much all the same - soldiers or cowards.

Women are all pretty much the same as well. There apparenly are only three types of women in Dark Ages Briton: Druids, Whores (the MOST prominent type of women, as it seems like every women in this book is a whore), and mothers, who most of them hate their children. Only very few women were shown to actually love their children.

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

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adventurous mysterious reflective fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No

2.5

Is that it? Where is the literary masterpiece that this book apparently is??

The idea of the labyrinth is cool, but unfortunately that is only what this book is. If writing consists of 3 things: Plot, Characters, and World-Building, Plot and Characters get a 1/5 and 2/5 respectively for me. The Plot (although gripping) is just one massive trope, and I cared about none of the characters in this book.

Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

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adventurous emotional reflective sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This book is amazingly written. The characters and the world they live in and how it affects them are the main point of this book. Do not expect a action-packed cowboy story. Its how a group of men go from Texas to Montana. Lorena Wood, July Johnson, and Augustus McCrae will forever stay in my mind as their arcs had me hooked from start to finish. The reason why I docked .5 from my rating is the pacing. The pacing SLOOW, especially in the first 60%.

Content Warnings

Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Troy: Fall Of Kings by David Gemmell

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dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes

4.0

This book was a very good book, held back by its absolute breakneck pace. No time was given for these characters to grieve the deaths of their family members. We get an immediate reaction and that's it, the story moves a few days or a week later, in the next page.

Good Lord, was the Gershom reveal surprising. That shit made me put down my Kindle to ask myself how I missed it. I mean it was difficult to actually guess that Gershom was Moses, THE Moses. The biggest hint was his name...Ahmose. What I want to know is who are Yeshua and that healer that Ahmose brought to help Helikaon in book 2. One of them has to be God, right...? I mean Kassandra was talking to the healer apparently, in her visions, so maybe he was God?

Hektor and Achilles' end was also surprising, considering it is a BIG change from the story of the Trojan War. Both of them dying, Achilles by poison and Hektor succumbing to his wounds after they both killed Agamemnon's Followers gave me goosebumps. The deaths here suffer as well, as I feel like they could have had a bigger impact on the narrative if only the Gemmells slowed the story down.

Shield of Thunder by David Gemmell

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challenging dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.0

This book was a 4.5/5 after finising part 2. Unfortunately, the absolutely needless storyline that inundated 90% of part 3, massively effected my enjoyment of this book. It totally feels like this book was either only meant to be the first 2 parts or a bunch of story was removed, either between part 2 and 3 or after 3. Part 3 just felt like a bonus short story other than a continuation of the main storyline.

The fight between Achilles and Hektor was so awesome man. Achilles taunting Hektor and then getting absolutely pummeled by him was great. Also, Hektor worrying about the shame that Achilles must have been feeling after that was a nice touch. I WANT MORE KASSANDRA, MAN. She is so mysterious, yet not because she just tells everyone the future yet she isnt believed.

I was not a fan of the time jump. In my opinion, it doesnt really make sense for Gershom to wait 2-3 years to tell Helikaon to stop butchering and burning people when he could have done much earlier (especially when Gershom expected Helikaon to know how unhappy he was with all of this). Also, Helikaon's change after his convo with Gershom was too abrupt. Going from being a merciless butcher back to Helikaon the Trader in a period of a page was a bit too rushed.

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mqabbadbest's reviews 125 reviews

mqabbadbest's reviews
125 reviews