competencefantasy's Reviews (912)

This is a solid, interesting, and relatively accessible look at a viewpoint that is underrepresented in the west. The prose was detailed enough to be interesting without being heavy, and the word definitions and supporting materials were a huge help. The author cites Hillenbrand so often that sometimes the book comes off as an advertisement for the weightier tome. So now that I've got the introduction, I'll be reading that next.

I just finished this one in a single sitting, and my head is still whirling. So many of the individual plotlines feel comfortingly like something out of a fairytale, but the combination of them is originally its own thing. The thing managing to feel modern and fairy-tale at the same time.

Reasonably functional historical mysteries are getting to be just not enough for my tastes anymore. I need something to go on, charactorization, interesting themes, a humourous voice, anything. The protagonist doesn't have to be likeable, but he needs to have some distinguishing personality traits, and for heaven's sake the pining over the woman he didn't settle down with has been done done done.

I have to give this credit for being one of the few fiction works set during the plague where it actually feels like the plague is going on and has some sort of effect on people. The Black Death was an apocalyptic level event and should feel like that in fiction. When everyone wasn't dying, the book was filled with characters that, as an academic, I find true if not always likable.

A fast paced combination of Aztec fantasy and crime mystery!

This one was hard to put down. First, the setting is fabulous. Beginning with the Mexica Empire in 1480, the book posits that the gods exist and that religious magic works. Then it jumps right in, following the High Priest for the Dead, as he tries to solve a disappearance. The early story very much follows the pacing of a mystery novel, with each new bit of information changing the path of the investigation. As the story moves along, the fantastical elements become more prominent, the gods become more deeply involved, and the stakes rise.

The first-person character is well fleshed out, with complicated feelings about his professional goals as well as his family. Even as the action ramps up to thriller pace, his personal development is forefront.

I've got the next one from the library, and I can't wait to read it as well.

This is my favorite thing I've read in a long while. So good that instead of putting it down when I finished, I put my copy in my bag so that I'd have it to hand to reread scenes any time my mood needed improving.

This is a wonderful second excursion into the world of the Imperial Radch. The complication is that the pacing is somewhat changed from the first book. The story chases a particular subplot, which gives the setting and world some needed time to breathe. The thematic elements are similar to the first book, with some additional development and nuance. It does, however, lack the driving sense of grief present in the first novel. Breq here is no longer as immediately shaken by the events in the flashback arc of Ancillary Justice, and as a result she enjoys some management success over a larger cast. The themes therefore stick a bit more to the characters in the subplot arc than to Breq, and I wonder if her doing too well might fit a little awkwardly with what I perceive to be the series' central point. However with the final book out, I don't have to wait long to find out. See next review shortly.

Sniff. Sniff. I'm easy for this sort of thing aren't I?

There's a well-argued interesting idea presented here. I hadn't considered the connections before, but now they seem obvious. I found the prose full of information and yet reasonably paced, but I think it could be dense for someone without a related background.