smartflutist661's reviews
1370 reviews

I've seen some criticism of the first book as romanticising residential schools, which I think fundamentally misses the point, which is (admittedly idealistic) someone trying to take down a terrible, brutal system from the inside, and taking what joy they can while they're at it. Now Linus and Arthur are almost on the outside, but not quite... and breaking free is a tough road. Honestly, this book made me want to reread Black Jewels (both the hearing at the beginning,

when I just wanted Arthur to burn it all down

, and the end, when

Zoe reclaims her rightful place as Queen and banishes the corrupt from KaeleerMarsyas

). Just as sweet as the first, with even a bit more hope at the end.

Minor criticism, it sometimes tries too hard to be overtly progressive. But it's not obnoxious about it like some books I could name, and mostly it's... not exactly subtle, but woven well into the narrative.

None of the three main characters were super well-developed. Relied a lot on preexisting knowledge of vampires (which is not necessarily a bad thing, but I think left things feeling a little thin). Did have an interesting connection with Dungeon Crawler Carl, in that a number of the other kinds of monsters that were present also showed up there.

I feel like the choose-your-own-ending here was a bit of a cop out, and also muddied the waters about the book's position on colonialism (which were already somewhat murky, though I think it's supposed to be a bad thing). Also not entirely clear why

it took so long for Gean Choo to wake up... unless the you was more literal there.

Somehow the tech felt more 1960s sci-fi than 1980s. This is the same year Neuromancer came out, after all. Though it took me some pages to get into it, I enjoyed Felix's parts a lot. Focuses sharply on the horror and pointlessness of war; while a lot of military sci-fi will play up the more darkly humorous side of the brass having no idea what's actually going on on the ground, Armor goes straight dark. Didn't hate the other timeline either, though it wasn't as impactful. 

To paraphrase Gordon Ramsay, “Finally, some good fucking carnage.” Though less targeted than the 6th floor, the 9th was basically one giant Dungeon World War. Plus a few bonus kills. Every bit of the former crawlers coming back was amazing, but especially the moments Carl had with some of the cookbook authors. Also,

the chaos spilling out of the dungeon at the end was glorious

, plus

“Scolopendra Awakens”

. 

Started off with a bang, but there was less hunter-hunting than I had really hoped for. Still, the hunters' desperation tastes sweet, and the conclusion(?) of the Signet storyline was quite satisfying.

Floor 8 feels a bit like filler between 6 and 9, especially since 7 was skipped. But there were a lot of good individual moments, plus

Uzi Jesus

. And the floor mechanics continue to be creative, though perhaps slightly less original on this floor than some of the others.

Also, the AI

has nothing to lose but its chains!

There were a few moments of awesome, but not as many as in the first two books. But the Tangle itself was well-designed, and there was drama aplenty. Loved the addition of Katia, though I miss the Carl/Donut bonding.

Carl

blowing up Loita

is awesome, and the bubbles are an interesting mechanic. But it feels a little like killing time until floor 6. Still, plenty of fun to be had.

Some choices here (Carl's race in particular) that will take a very long time to pay off. But I'm glad we finally got some more of the external influences showing prominently, as well.

Quite a bit more thematic depth than I was expecting; surprisingly, it reminded me of Chain-Gang All-Stars. Also, of course, it was just fun. The AI is great, Donut's great, Carl's great. Plus there are hints at machinations going on out there. Love the fact that it's more tabletop than video game flavored, too.