nobodyschampion's reviews
418 reviews

Though not quite as good as the first, as it drags a bit in the middle for some world building that's necessary for the overall story, but doesn't feel necessary during this middle book.

Everything from the first book, is taken and expounded upon and made bigger. Larger stakes, (though it's hard to believe that after reading the first book), the world itself, the themes of Nobility despite Birthright and the concept of how love drives us to do better, and the characters and their arcs.

Everytime I read this, I forget just how intense the ending is. I know what's going to happen, yet the size, scale, and scope of the semi-final to final pages are legendary, and they make the book quite literally impossible to put down.

This is easily one of my favorite series of all times, and one of the reasons I read so much today.

This now is the last hurrah of Robert Jordan, and a return to form. The last couple of books were full of mostly uninteresting plot lines with a couple of high moments, but overall very little was resolved. This book not only rectifies that by ending every dragged out arc in a very satisfying way but also delivering some of the highest highs of the series. Easily one of my favorite books in the series.

A fitting, and climactic ending to one of my favorite fantasy series of all time.

The ending had lots of great moments with amazing payoffs from breadcrumbs left back in the first book. A really amazing experience.

Percy Jackson may have inspired my love to read, but Mistborn kept it going. I love Mistborn, everything about it:
The characters that may seem flat, but have a lot of hidden depth to them.
The truly unique and immersive world and magic system, that makes me want to live in this fictional world like no other.
The themes of religion without faith, what it means to grow.
The surprisingly fast-paced nature of the books, despite their large page count.
These books are fun to read, made possible by the accessible prose, and the action packed sequences.

It's always good to be reminded why I read.

Percy Jackson may have inspired my love to read, but Mistborn kept it going. I love Mistborn, everything about it:
The characters that may seem flat, but have a lot of hidden depth to them.
The truly unique and immersive world and magic system, that makes me want to live in this fictional world like no other.
The themes of religion without faith, what it means to grow, and that love really is only more powerful as it is what drives us.
The surprisingly fast-paced nature of the books, despite their large page count.
These books are fun to read, made possible by the accessible prose, and the action packed sequences.

The Storm is Gathering, and the end approaches.

Brandon Sanderson hits with a bang. Despite this world not being his creation, and stepping in after the passing away of Robert Jordan, Sanderson delivered a wonderful book full of immensely satisfying character moments.

There are some misteps however, some characters are handled poorly, and feel like caricatures of themselves, missing the nuances. However Sanderson hit it perfect with most. Rand al'Thor is one of best developed characters in all of literature, and the decisions made by, and for him, are brilliant.

I can't wait to read the next installment.

After finishing the Wheel of Time I realized I needed a specific type of series. I wanted to read a high fantasy series that wasn't too complex, but not that simple. Fairly lengthy, but not to short. An in-depth world, and not too shallow. The search turned me into Goldiocks, putting a pause on both A Darker Shade of Magic, and a Song of Ice and Fire. The Search lead me to Malice, a book that had been on my TBR for a long time, and am only now starting.

Malice is great, as it fits the bill perfectly. A Classical fantasy story with modern twists, delivered in a large but not sprawling world in a 4 book series.

John Gwynne is an wonderful author, creating a vibrant wolr full of complex characters. My only issue is that he introduces them so fast, and at first it's hard to keep track of them, making the beginning of the book hard to get through. The beginning of the Malice is also rather slow, but once the ball gets rolling, it evens out, as the pacing of the last 2/3rds of the novel is excellent.

Overall I enjoyed this book, as the action is incredibly well written, Gwynne seems like he's been in actual fights before, and the action flows that way, giving a really gritty attention to detail that is brutal and fascinating to read.

Taking place 300 years after the original trilogy, the Alloy of Law is a really fun Cowboy/Western adventure with subtle hints and callbacks to the greater world.

This book is really fun, and also really short (for Sanderson, it feels like a novela) however, it's greatest weakness, is also it's length, as things move so fast nothing has time to sit and develop.

Another fun cradle adventure that sets up the next arc, and closes the loop on a hanging plot thread set up since the beginning. This really is the endgame for The Cradle Series.

I always enjoy reading these, despite how simple they are, I always have a smile on my face.

Here's my short and simple review, because my previous one was deleted. I am too lazy to try again.

Another great entry, with good themes, great characters, deep world building, and not so good pacing. It's really slow at first, but once it gets going, it's great.

The Faithful and the Fallen is a lot like The Song of Ice and Fire with all of the fat trimmed off. However it feels like sometimes too much fat is removed. The word count is similar to Malice, but the excessive small chapters, (120 vs 80 in Malice) and numerous povs, (3 times the amount), really bog down the pacing of Valor. I felt like I would move on, right as I was getting invested into the situation.

However, like Malice, the pacing really picks up towards the latter half, and the book flies by, becoming a very compelling tale that is both new and familiar.

Overall, the end of the book is so good, that my issues with pacing are heavily outweighed. This is a good book